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Aquila Flight- Attack on Fort Sentinel

Edward sat in his Dictator humming an old video game theme song as he typed in commands and listened to Happy's report on the current state of the ship. Everything seemed in order. That is until the klaxons and explosions started.

Edward gave a sharp cry in surprise as the hangar was buffeted by shockwaves. Hearing the Captain's orders Edward got right to work, his hands nervously running over the controls. The Quatro kicked forward briefly then lapsed into standard speed to maneuver out of the hangar.

"Happy, first thing we gotta do is lock down their communication frequencies. Start cycling through and find them," Edward said as he started his take off run.

"Aww come on little buddy, even at high speed thats a lot of work," came Happy's reply.

"I know it is but I once heard that Reds keep nuts in the comm freaks."

"Well then, I am on it! You know how I love nuts!"

"Yeah, that's what she said," Edward dead panned as he became airborne, "Aquila 7 in the air and working on jamming their comms Sir. Gonna cripple their organization."

Edward took a few moments to prep the 'Best of Happy the Squirrel' episodes to blast over the enemy communication frequencies when he is able to gain access.
 
"Good morning, Herr Kreuger." A too-cheery male voice greeted him, "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Niklas sat on the lip of the 01's cockpit hatch. Staring at the pixelated display that had popped up when he first put the chip into its slot.

"Might I ask for your information and voice confirmation, Herr Kreuger?"

Niklas stared for a moment longer. The Navy emblem turned as if that were the eye to face him. He looked at the emblem. The emblem "looked" back at him. Neither party said much of anything. Niklas had been more than capable of flying without something like this - to the point that he'd been a qualified ace in his own right. And now here he was face-to-face with some fancy combination of circuits and programming that was supposed to help him fly the sorts of birds that he'd been flying for the past few years.

Finally, he spoke, "Niklas Kreuger, Lieutenant. SHS784922T."

"Installation confirmed, Herr Kreuger. Its a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Would you like to set this unit's name? Further settings can be modified by consulting with your unit's technical experts."

Niklas found himself rather lost, but soon spoke up, "Butler. Seems appropriate, all things considered."

"Very good, Herr Kreuger. This unit is now identified as 'Butler'."

With that out of the way, Niklas hopped down from his craft's cockpit. A motion that made him wince and realize he could have planned his landing far better. So he had stepped forward and was resting with one hand on the fighter's forward-most skid when things promptly went from annoying to hellish. Explosions echoing out - one right at the hanger doorway. Niklas didn't even need to know many details to know that some how, somewhere, a sensors operator was going to end up losing their job for this. But that would be for another time as he set eyes on the power-armor lockers not far off and broke off in a dead sprint with others who were going to get suited up. By the time he'd gotten his HOSTILE thrown on and was on his way back to his craft, the first few friendly planes were getting onto the tarmac to get things up and running.

"Butler!"

"Yes, Herr Kreuger?"

"Get things spooling up! Now!"

"Of course, Herr Kreuger."

The engine was beginning to power up, with his new assistant already proving its usefulness. With that taken care of it was a simple matter of taking stock of his 20mm and 30mm cannons and the apparent compliment of two-stage missiles his bird had already been equipped with. Once he was secured and the cockpit sealed, it was a matter of taxiing out to the runway. And from there - FTL drives. While they weren't necessarily intended for use in atmosphere, they were still capable of letting an 01 move theoretically in any direction . . . such as directly up off the tarmac. And then propelled forward to join up given how he'd lagged behind others.

Once in the air, Niklas began punching in for targets.

"This is Dead-Man, in the air."
 
Almost as soon as Jo had given her craft a name, the voice changed somewhat and became more like the one she was training with in the "Candidates".

"Jo...what are we doing in a live one?" Jethro asked. With the naming of her co-pilot and her designation, Jo was able to bring Jethro from training to battle with her.

"Well..." Jo hesitated as they prepped for take-off and shrugged a little. "You know how good we were in training...right? It seems that the new Aquilas need us now as well. For real. Not training."

"Right. So we get to earn our wings the hard way, huh?"

Jo smiled. She always loved being able to banter with Jethro when they were up in the air on simulated attacks. "Right. And now, they will get to learn how I got the name Smokey."

Jethro's mechanical laugh resonated with her own as they made their way to the runway.

"Aquila 6 taking off."

Almost as soon as she had said those words to the control tower, she was already in the air and targeting for bogeys. She was lucky. The ship she chose happened to have almost the same specs as she would typically request, allowing her to be much more stealthy than usual.
 
"Body temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure all in normal ranges"
Spoke the tender feminine artificial vocalization of the assistant.

Leo was starting to get comfortable in the cockpit, glancing around with his helmeted head at the interior of the space in which he remained as he would decide to manually begin the process to wake the machine up. Moving his hands about the cockpit now and again nearly just because as mentally he also offered commands to the systems as the engines outside of this beast begin to hiss and whine, heating themselves up. The artificial intelligence confirming to him what he already knew; he had been training for this day.

"Auxiliary power unit engaged, energy converter online; left engine spooling up to idle, right engine spooling up to idle. Systems in normal ranges auxiliary power disengaged"

Knight grumbled from his depths within the power armor. "I know"

The heads up display would appear as he activated the interface and lines of light coupled with numbers would appear before him through the interior of the cockpit, he would first familiarize himself with the controls before taking a deep first few breaths.

"Combat interface beginning test mode"

Leo then abruptly roars from his depths under the helmet at the artificial intelligence "We don't have time for this shit!"

Without yet waiting for the test to complete itself he manually would switch the systems over into a previously set standard quickly before letting the computer finish the job and then abruptly requested over the line in his usual course tone of voice, sounding seemingly impatient.

"Guard Dog; requesting permission to taxi to runway"

"Clear. Taxi to runway 11"

Carefully easing the machine forward he tactfully manages both the rudders and the nose wheel steering in unison, guiding the machine across the marked lines slowly, as it left the hanger he would feel the light of day fill the cockpit and he knew for the first time that this was it, the moment he was waiting for, that which he had been preparing for. Nobody was going to get in his way, he wasn't going to stop till death graced him now. Grateful that these enemies had made themselves known, for the fires of battle would separate the warriors from the soldiers.

The whine as he finally lines the craft up with the runway increases, activating the breaks before glancing about and doing one last check on the systems himself before decidedly requesting permission yet again.

"Guard dog, requesting permission to take off"

"Clear to take off, good hunting up there"

Without warning he increased the thrust to maximum velocity and then just before it could overwhelm the breaks he released them as the Uno lurches forward and begins to screech down the runway in a blur of motion as the cry of the engines resonates far into the distance, controlling the craft as it accelerates soon the pressure both above and below the wings change in the midst of the velocity, low above and high below; providing the lift required to get clear up off the runway as the world falls out from under him and the machine. Barely off above the ground as the landing gears retracted into the craft he would then briskly twist it over towards the left before spinning it in a barrel roll, the tips of the wings cut through the air with white streaks as a product of the pressure differential while the craft daringly spun over several more times before he shifted the turn over towards the right now at the same time he manages the rudder control. Streaking in a broad turn that shifted the craft above It's angle of attack, the nose pointed towards the sky as he intentionally slowed it down to where it was nearly ready to stall before doing a cobra maneuver instead. Turning back around to take another turn around the air field to join up with the rest of the squadron as he tilted the Uno back into It's natural AOA whilst increasing speed yet again.

"Yeaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

 
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"Lilith, run the system diagnostics as we get into the sky. I need thrusters, the Vogel drive and shields as first priority." Jayden situated himself quickly, his nerves unusually well under wraps despite having been so close to an explosion and seeing his CO take such a bad hit.

"Commander~, this is going to be a lovely first date! Vogel drive and STL thrusters are on line. Shields are coming up, though oddly slow."

He raised an eyebrow but it was do or die now, well beyond the point of no return. "Sentinel Actual, Aquila 2 joining the fray." Jayden called out before engaging his thrusted to exit the hangar.

"Roger that Aquila 2. Good hunting." The tower replied.

As the last to exit the hangar, Jayden activated the Vogel drive as soon as the nose of the ship breached the open air and it couldn't have come any sooner. Hanger 6 erupted in another massive explosion, wiping out the ruins of Hanger 5 as well as triggering a chain reaction in the munitions stored in Hanger 7. Before long, the entire row of hangers had been ruined - flames amid warped metal sending dark billowing smoke up into the sky.

Looking back to the catastrophic destruction behind him, even for just a moment, it struck a bitter chord with him. It didn't matter that he had been in the hanger only a moment before and likely would have been killed before he could launch. What had truly pissed him off was the fact that someone hadn't been doing their job, which could have prevented all of this. Such a waste of life and resources - Yet another example of what pushed him to be better, to expect more from everyone around him. Weakness could be fixed, ignorance was choice, and he wouldn't tolerate either if he didn't have to.

Once in the air, Jayden set his sights on the vector that the enemy bombers were coming at them from. "Lilith, what's going on? Why don't I have sensors reporting yet?"

She hesitated to respond, "There are a lot of errors in the system right now Commander, just give me a moment to... there, sensors are online. Tell me you love me~" She cooed to him at the end, drawing his ire once more.
 
As Nero flew at full speed towards the NRF forces, Cipher updated him on the status of his flight. "Crux, everyone is in the air. Time to assign the targets. Also, Virus's cyber warfare was successful. He has disrupted enemy comm trafic. They are now listening to... "

Nero grew impatient. "What is it Cipher? Spit it out."

What came next sounded odd. Cipher seemed amused. "Sir, he is playing an old cartoon on playback. They are listening to that stupid cartoon over and over."

Nero laughed "Roger that Cipher. Open up a Com link with the Team." As he said this the first NRF fighters came into view. "Enemy bogeys at twelve o'clock high. All units, weapons free." He said as he launched a salvo of missles at the incoming targets. "Aquila Lead, Fox 2!" he called. Two of the four targets were blasted out of the sky, while the other two seemed more skilled in their flying. Not skilled enough though. Nero pulled the Uno X into a steep climb, and watched as the two targets tailed him. 'Good their playing right into my hands.' he thought. "Sir, the enemy has a weapons lock." Cipher said just before his craft did. Nero smirked. "Hold on Cipher." He said as he intiated an FTL bubble. His craft dissappered, then reappeared instantly. However now he was flying towards the enemy pilots. Nero yelled "Guns guns guns!" he unleashed a deadliy salvo of cannon fire and clipped both craft. "Striker report." He called, turning back towards the incoming bombers.

Jayden had a lot on his plate at the time he heard Nero call to him. "Striker, I have good news, bad news, and..." Jayden cut Lilith off as he engaged the Vogel drive yet again to narrowly evade another salvo of missiles and cannon fire. "Out with it Lilith, this is not the time to play around." While the rest of the Aquilas struck out defensively, Jayden pushed his Uno X hard to pre-empt the incoming bombers. "So hostile, I love when get all angsty~ Due to the prototype equipment used on this ship, you have no rear cannons. Your shields are at half strength and the internal missiles are jammed. The good news is your twin-linked 30mm cannons are operational." Jayden was seething, and Lilith could tell it was long past the time to gear serious.

"Striker, heads up. This attack vector is giving them a near perfect lock on you." It looked like Jayden was getting ready to ram his Uno into the enemy formation. "Guns Lilith, light them up." His twin 30mm cannons started pounding out a brutal torrent of FTL assisted shots that peppered a number of targets before taxing the Vogel drive once more in the atmosphere for evasion and taking fire that effectively knocked out his shields. "Crux, first wave of bombers are scattered but not detered. I've taken fire but I'm still in this fight."

"Roger that Striker. Form up on my wing." He reopened the comms link. "All right Aquila flight, listen up. Smokey, Guard Dog, Spirit, Virus, and Ermine. You all are to take down the enemy bombers and transports. Dead-man, Banshee, and Striker. You all will follow me and we will pick off the escorts fighters. I know we haven't known each other long, but today we become one family. Today, we fight as one. Today is the day that the world will learn our name. Watch the skies boys and girls, because the birds of prey are here to play!" he yelled kicking on the after burners. He moved to form up with his squad.

The first wave was coming in. Ten bombers with, seven fighter escorts all ten. 'This should be fun' Nero thought.

"Jayden... diagnostics have come up with a rather disturbing finding. This Uno has all but been crippled. Power levels are dropping rapidly and as hard as you're pushing, we're lucky we're still in one piece. None of the last three maintenance reports have been signed off properly, nor were they approved." Jayden huffed, wondering what else karma seemed to have in store for him. "Crux, I think this runs deeper than we could imagined. My Uno has been sabotaged. Right under our noses..."

Nero switched over to a secure private channel. "Shit, are you and Lilith alright?"

"Things could be better. We'll survive." He said flatly. "My lovely Commander will get us through Crux!" Lilith added.

Nero cursed under his breath. "Fine, take it easy amd fly back up for me and the others. I know it is not what you want, but I can't put you in harms way with a busted plane. THE FUCKER THAT DID THIS TO MY PILOT WILL HAVE HIS FACE SLAMMED IN!" He yelled,causing another bout of coughing. "Sir, you coughed up more blood. Control your temper..." Cipher replied. "Oh give it a rest Cipher." Nero sighed. "I know your trying to help, but I can handle this. The Aquilas need me."
 
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"All right Aquila flight, listen up. Smokey, Guard Dog, Spirit, Virus, and Ermine. You all are to take down the enemy bombers and transports. Dead-man, Banshee, and Striker. You all will follow me and we will pick off the escorts fighters. I know we haven't known each other long, but today we become one family. Today, we fight as one. Today is the day that the world will learn our name. Watch the skies boys and girls, because the birds of prey are here to play!" Crux's impromptu speech was filled with passion and determination, carrying a somewhat fatherly aura with it. Sounds like something Father used to say in his speeches, Miranda mused wryly with a small smile. "Copy that, Aquila Lead. Aquila 6 engaging, keep those escorts busy for me." she announced on the radio, before turning to the flashing electronic eye of Help and smirking. "Let's begin."

"Affirmative, Pilot Bannings. Weapons primed, all systems functional." Despite its electronic monotone, the AI's voice somehow carried an edge of excitement. "Ready to engage."

From its relatively sedate orbit above the now-ruined airfield, the lumbering Hornet suddenly banked hard to the side, slipstream howling as the bulky bomber performed a high-angle turn and faced itself towards the enemy squadron, still scattered from Aquila 2's attack. Slamming the throttle to full, Miranda was pressed into her seat as the Hornet shot forward, engines screaming and belching fire like a dragon of lore. "Help, spike those escorts with radar locks, then power plasma cannons." Miranda intoned, beelining straight for the bomber formation as Help beeped in acknowledgement, target locks filling the screen. With the panicking fighters swerving in all directions to dodge imaginary missiles, punching throught the escort screen was no challenge and the Hornet rocketed directly towards the bomber formation, its cannons glowing. For a precious second, the air was still as the bombers failed to react, seemingly stunned by Spirit's sudden appearance. Then Help spoke.

"Within gun range."

"Turrets, target the bombers to the sides of my target! Rake the formation and scatter them!" Miranda hissed, singling out one of the central bombers in her crosshairs. "Going for guns!" she called as she squeezed the trigger, the Hornet's cannons spitting out spheroid globs of superheated plasma as its rotary cannon turrets buzzed. The central bomber seemed to glow as the plasma bolts burrowed straight into the plane, completely shredding their way through the armor before detonating, the bomber seemed to puff out like a balloon before exploding in a blossom of fire. The other bombers veered off, rounds ricocheting off their hulls. In a heartbeat, the rocketing Hornet blasted right through the reeling bomber wing and back into the open sky. "Aquila 6, splash one bandit."

"Out of gun range." Help announced, its voice back to its customary electronic tone. "No imminent threats detected. Threat levels indicate that it is safe for another pass, hostile forces are sufficiently disorganized and will not be able to respond adequately." Looking back at the bombers, Miranda shuddered from the sheer adrenaline rush her stunt had produced. Now, this? she couldn't help but grin, her teeth glinting in an almost predatory manner, this is how we do things here. Charming, isn't it? As the Hornet wheeled around and began to pursue the enemy squadron, organic grey and holographic blue eyes shone from behind the reinforced canopy.

"Plotting course for attack run. Recharging plasma cannons and reloading rotary cannon turrets."

"Welcome to Fortuna. Enjoy your stay."
 
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Guiding the Uno he was flying back around clear about the air field before he followed the squadron into the contested airspace, it seemed they weren't far away at all as it was only a brief period of flight before he received his orders from the Aquila flight lead and watched as the enemy was engaged. The formations broke into s mixture of turns and covering turns. Carefully Leo picked out his approach vector. Covering their squadrons bomber as they opened fire. He had hesitated for the first shot for a reason, he wanted to bag himself a fighter. The machines he was tasked to destroy by the orders didn't feel like fair challenge and so he paused for that brief instant as the bombers got raked before performing a high yo yo maneuver while one of the fighters turned in to try and engage the hornet.

Leo had paused in attacking the bombers just to open that opportunity.

Locking the fighter at the last moment while it prepares a lock on the friendly hornet he aggressively shifted his concentration over toward the weapons systems as the metal panel shifted over on his uno to reveal the 30mm cannon. He knew in those moments that the fighter craft he was attacking had little chance to evade the Vogel assisted rounds .

"Guns!"

In a flurry of explosions the fused anti matter rounds detonated in the air and rippled their way across the target in a burst of twenty rounds from Leo's main cannon before the enemy fighter was abruptly destroyed in a single terrific explosion from critical damage. Scattering pieces of debris through the air in a descending broadening cloud of smoke laced with metal falling towards the planet below them.

"Splash one"

"Confirmed kill"

Yanking and banking back in the direction of the bombers, clouds stuck themselves briefly to the pressure pocket above his wings before he cuts the turn into a lag displacement roll further widened by the use of the rudder surface while producing locks on one of the bombers that had gotten passed at by the rounds of the heavy hornet and was scattered into a solid kill zone. Knight locks onto the craft and begins to input the targeting program before he heard the sound of lock warnings in his ear, a disturbed smile spreads under his helmet unseen and he made no attempt to evade at that instant. His chest rising and falling in steep breaths and a stinging sensation as the forces crushed into his frame in the midst on the turn, now breathing heavily he croaks forth.

"Fox one"

"Take immediate evasive action, enemy lock"

With a single volley he fired six anti armor missiles at once from a pod, the swarm hissed and streaks forward as their own systems activated and all six swirled through the open sky before impacting an evading bomber in a sequence of detonation which literally ripped it in half, deafening eruptions of fire and death ringing through that beautiful sky before a rain of broken machinery was to follow in it's wake. Their countermeasures proves uneffective to stop the missiles at those close knife fight ranges.

"Splash two"
Knight was preparing to lock the next bomber when the artificial intelligence spoke up yet again.

"Ensign Knight, what are you doing? Take evasive actions immediately you remained locked by an enemy aircraft preform evasive maneuver"

Now panting within his helmet the man found himself in the midst of combat high. Stimulants flowing through Knight he could sense that death was close at hand, or perhaps he only wished it so. His focus lost as he thought back on his wife in the moments before crashing the airbike, her ginger tone ringing through his mind.

"Leo No!"

Without warning the rear mounted 20mm cannon released a spray which sweeps accurately across several air to air missiles which had been destined to be the ones to end him had it not been for the artificial assistance provided by the thinking machine interfacing with his craft. Still panting wildly like an animal inside his power armor the pilot regains some focus and composure. Trading altitude for airspeed as he decided to finally begin evasive maneuver before one of them could try for guns. Flying a split s turn as he tries to shake the bandit off his ass.

"There will be plenty of time left for that after YOU'RE ALL DEAD!"

Shooting a short burst of five 30mm fused shells from his main cannon he then abruptly Vogel assisted the rounds to a stop in the midst of the air before flying past them, as the fighter behind his aircraft nears the rounds they all detonated at once in a burst of anti matter before it flew through the explosion partly damaged. A secondary burst from the rear cannon 20mm rounds cut through the cockpit of the enemy fighter instantly killing the occupant with sheering metallic cracks before it spins downward toward the planet below them in a long streak of smoke destroying his third target

Leo could feel his hands shaking slightly as he struggles to control his breathing, teeth clattering against one another, he looked like an addict "Splash three" his predatory hues as wide as they could possibly be Leo forgot what blinking was it seemed.
 
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With the limited skill in finesse flying that Edward possessedhe knew he had to be smarter than his enemies... that wouldn't be a problem. "Happy, talk to Lilith find out what the problems are and report." There isn't much Edward could do right now but if the problems were electronic or electrical, Edward might have some work arounds.

Edward spun the ship into Striker's path and, using the FTL reversed to keep pace with the ailing ship. "Striker, I'm laying down a salvo of DESCO beams around you to deter tails. Stay on heading. Get me the frickin laser beams, Mr. Happy! " Thay being said, Edward rapid fired standard powered DESCO beams, forming a glowing tunnel for Striker.

"Aww, a love tunnel for you and the XO. How cute."

" Shove a tail in it Happy, I'm bad enough at this kind of stuff..."
 
As gunfire erupted into being and bullets moved at near FTL speed towards their targets that exploded into fire, Sayoko 's Uno X rose above the din to join the three others on an attack vector towards the 7 escort fighters. She had left her disturbing visions behind on the ground and now was ready to get to the dirty business of war in the skies. And it seems it was already getting dirtier than usual, with the mention of sabotage of the XO's jet almost getting him killed only minutes off the tarmac.

"Striker, Crux... that means Red spies have deeply infiltrated Fort Sentinel. If you would allow me the honor of personally removing them for you," requested Sayoko over the comms with a solemn tone. Exactly how she was going to accomplish this was unspoken, but the commander knew her background well enough to know the former IPG member was quite serious. "But first, we prepare a place in Hell for them with the bodies of their conspirators."

"Shiori... make sure all systems are functioning and no sabotage is present." Sayoko commanded to the AI. "Already on it, sis. All systems are showing green, shields not compromised and weapons and countermeasures are active. Installed upgrades are looking good. If you ask me, the Aquila 2 likely got their jet targeted intentionally so he'd be shot down and Captain Nero was expected to be killed on the ground in the explosion. Lucky for us, neither of those happened."

The Jiyuuian nodded at the assessment, as she pushed forward on the controls then charged the escort group without further delay. "Aquila 4, beginning my attack run. It'll be easy pickings if I can smash their formation," The 30mm gunports flared to life on the Uno X, as now she added her own white-hot bullets to the symphony of chaos. "Guns!" The FTL-assisted projectiles streaked at the escort fighter that had tried to take down Striker before but failed, as she aimed to get revenge. The green-haired pilot made sure to control her speed so she did not overtake the bullets, and before the anti-matter explosions and tungsten shells impacted the enemy fighter's shields roughly she pulled up the to dodge any return fire. As she did this, Shiori punched in the targeting information of the group of 7 bogeys to the missile launchers and Banshee deployed a trio of 2-stage Anti-Mecha missiles nearly right on top of them. "Fox 2!" she announced, as the nozzles on the missiles fired and propelled them in zig-zagging directions right into the center of the enemy formation with a series of explosions that would be difficult to avoid unless the enemy group broke formation and send them into disarray. As the jet screamed spaceward, she then rained down 20mm gunfire from above from the rear of the jet as a parting gift, just to add to the confusion of attack vectors.

After this barrage was finished she banked and dropped back to the side of the enemies with great speed and started unleashing another peppering of 30mm rounds from a distance, taking an elliptical, arcing path that kept her just out of close engagement range, unless one would break to chase her. In fact, she was counting on that to take heat off of Striker and the others.
 
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Jo heard the order to take out the bombers, which was what she was hoping for. She decided to focus on the two that were at the rear of the formation, since they'd have had time to dodge those going after the ones at the front. She maneuvered around and wound up just behind the two at the rear. She smirked to herself before murmuring to Jethro.

"Weapons hot! Foxtrot 2 right! Foxtrot 2 left!"

The two missiles went to their respective targets and were direct hits, causing massive destruction as they blew up in a beautiful double bubble of fire and smoke.

"Smoke, you've got incoming!" Jethro warned her just as she saw the indicator that one of the escorts had started to try to get a bead on her.

"I see 'em. Ready?"

"Always. Punch it!"

Smokey was already heading towards the last of the smoke still hanging in the air, so she got in and punched the FTL, disappearing from view of the escort and reappearing behind the bogey.

"Guns, guns, guns!"

Smokey fired at the escort with her forward guns, though at this point it's not clear if the escort is able to out maneuver her or if another was also trying for this particular target.
 
Whether it would be able to outmaneuver her or not, Smokey's target wouldn't get the chance. Ermine's quattro rocketed up into sensor range from below, where two more enemy bombers seemed to already be canting to the left and trailing smoke. His calls must've been lost amidst the din of everyone else's, his softspoken tones played beneath the more gruff and enthusiastic cries of fellow pilots. But, now, everyone could hear him speaking just as softly through a gap in the mayhem.

"Akeela Five, Guns." He said, as his turrets turned to lance the escort with fire from below to match Smokey's from behind. Virgil almost winced when he saw the tiny fusion reactor in the hostile fighter breach containment, and said over the airwaves, "It's a guns kill. Thank you for sharing, Smokey."

Then, he unceremoniously broke off and twisted in a wide loop that branched up behind Smokey and then arced back down towards the bombers, his eyes set on one unfortunate bomber in particular that he intended to remove with scalpel like precision.
 
Nero sat back and watched as everyone began there attack run. Everyone was doing well, though Guard Dog did concern him. He flew like he had a death wish. Then Banshee opened up a comm between him and Striker. "Roger that Banshee, we can deal with that once we get on the ground. For now, just watch your ass." He looked down at his radar now that most had started their attack run. "Sir, there are 6 bombers and 4 escorts left. It is strange..." Cipher paused for a moment. "Nero, they are bugging out." Cipher seemed concerned and so was Nero. He opened up the comm link. "Striker, are you reading this. Everyone is bugging... Something is up."

"Striker, I've managed to reroute power to your shields but the Vogel drive is draining available power much more quickly than we can produce it." Lilith chimed just before Nero came over the comms. "Listen Nero, I can already tell you that we've got bigger problems on the horizon. Call it a hunch. They sent their weakest flight to catch our attention, just to test us out. I'd bet you a bottle of Fortuna's best whiskey that we aren't sailing into the sunset so easily." Jayden stated flatly as he tried to work his magic with the failing equipment on his bird.

Nero heard Jayden, but Nero's vision started to blur. 'Shit, I must have a concussion.' He was having trouble trying to concentrate. Just then, a new voiced crackled to life on all channels. "This is the NSS Oracle to all Fort Sentinel Defenders, if any one can here this please respond..." Nero snapped himself back into focus. "Oracle Actual, this is Captain Nero Vega of the Aquilas. We are currently flying defense for the base. It is good to hear a friendly voice." There was a few moments of silence then the young women from the Oracle answered. "You won't like me very soon Captain. There is a massive flight incoming. We are deploying our Grunts to support you, unfortunately they won't reach you before the NRF does..."

"Shit, looks like I owe you some whiskey Striker..." Nero looked towards the horizon as the Oracle sent in its data package. His hud lit up the sky with targets from a completely different vector. There were 30 bombers and 40 escort fighters. "Holy shit... Aquilas take evasive action NOW! How is that evacuation going Sentinel Actual?" Nero could clearly see the base from ten thousand feet up, completely ablaze. "Captain, the base is 35% evacuated." Nero swore "What in the fuck are you doing down there?!? Get the shit on a shuttle and get it out of here. I will hold them off for as long as I can." Nero said banking hard and gunning it, turning towards the heart of the swarm.

"Crux, I don't know what you're thinking right now, especially piloting wounded like you are. Don't go signing your death wish just yet." Jayden announced over the comms not only to Nero, but to the entire team. Engaging his FTL drive once again, he maneuvered out of Virus' DESCO beams after having uplinked his ships diagnostic reports to the ECM specialist. His ship was holding together well enough but this firefight was escalating quickly leaving them all little choice on how to proceed. Fight, run, or die. "Commander, Cipher has provided a direct data feed from the NSS Oracle, since our long range communications are down. I would recommend we bail out and cozy up in another ship." Jayden shook his head and scanned over the data quickly, all the while trying to catch up to his equally reckless CO. "We don't have time, we're just going to leave it all here in the sky Lilith. No regrets. And no excuses."

Nero cut in as he heard Striker. "No Commander, Lilith is right." He wheezed. His injuries catching up with him. "Take the rest of the Aquilas and get the hell out of here. I... I will take the Grunts and hold them off. Get everyone out safe." He coughed and felt more blood leave his lungs.

In a direct channel to his CO, not wanting to be blatantly insubordinate in front of the others, he sharply spat out. "Don't be a damned fool Nero, I didn't sign up for you to be a martyr before Aquila gets it's chance. You need to fire what missiles you have left and get to the Oracle. I may not have rank, but I will override you sir for your own good. I can hear you coughing up blood. Aces aren't the best simply because we aren't afraid to die. We are Aces because we work harder, think smarter, and make the impossible reality." Jayden found himself 2 clicks behind Nero when Lilith warned along with the system.

"Warning, enemy has target lock. Evasive maneuvers."

"Striker, the enemy is using some sort of new long range missiles!" Lilith's voice switched from a loving tease to highly concerned. "Lilith, Cipher, deploy all countermeasures and evade!" It was going to take every trick in the book to get out of this one, as the HUD displayed to Jayden.

"COUNTERMEASURES OFFLINE"

Nero moved into action, flying close proximity with Striker. " Cipher... deploy the.. the countermeasures now!" As he spoke, Cipher deployed a field of flares. "Striker lower engine output!" As he said this the missiles came into visual range. 'Shit' Nero thought as the first of many explosins rocked the air around his Uno. Every shutter sending him into agonizing pain, causing him to growl defiantly through gritted teeth. Just then a voice came over his comms. It wasn't any of his team mates, the Oracle or Sentinel Actual. This voice was one that haunted his dreams. The one that caused him so much grief. "Hello old friend, in a bit of pain I hear. Don't worry though, me and my children will end your suffering. And once we finish with you we will kill your family too. Just like old times..."

"No, this cant be possible. This... can't be fucking possible." He was back to his multiple battles with the Reds. This one group of pilots some how always seemed to best Nero and his old flight. Until one battle where Nero shot down that man, and his wing man. The day he earned the title Southern Cross. "Diomides, you should be dead... I shot you down myself. I saw the fire ball. You can't be here right now."

"Oh, you remember my name Nero. I feel so special. You did shoot me down, but I able to eject and was picked up. My wingman however is dead. You did kill him, now I will kill you. Phantom Flight engage." He saw a squad of ten fighters rocketing towards the Aquilas. Nero threw down the throttle and picked his targets. "Sir, this is unwise..." Cipher began.

"Can it Cipher!" He yelled caughing again, locking on to five of the ten and launching a massive salvo of missles. Nero screaming, "Die you son of a bitch!" The missles screamed across the sky but didn't make contact with anything as the enemy flight scattered and evaded with ease. Nero moved to engage Diomides, now fueled by blood lust and rage. This 'Phantom' from his past wasn't going to hurt his family. 'No fucking way...'

If it weren't for Nero reducing his speed and deploying his countermeasures like he did Jayden would probably have found himself in a ball of fire heading for the unforgiving ground from ten thousand feet up. "You've got to be kidding me." Jayden huffed and flipped his Uno up and back corkscrewing tightly away from the incoming enemy squadron."Some first date this turned out to be. I don't want to die like this, we're supposed to have children and everything. Hmmpf!" Lilith whined. "Lilith, you do realize you're just an AI right?" He stated, wondering if she knew what she was or not. "Y-you can believe that all you want, jerk! So ungrateful!" She responded rather quickly.

In a short few moments thereafter while shaking his head at Lilith's childing, he wondered if the Reds had targeted him specifically or if it was just some random dumb luck they crippled him. "Aquila Flight, this is Striker. We have to hold the air a bit longer before we can retreat and regroup. Fort Sentinel is at 64% evacuated, however those bombers cannot be allowed to complete their run." Jayden pushed his Vogel Drive once again to gain some distance between himself and the aggressors aiming to bring them down, this Phantom Flight as they were called. Once again Jayden was alerted to the warning systems of his Uno.

"Power systems at 32%, Auxilary Power 45% and dropping. Shields 12% - Unable to recharge. System Critical."

"Lilith, override the limiter and give me everything. I can't let Nero do this alone." He was going to push as hard as he could for as long as he could.
 
"Wow, that was fast. They're breaking off already." The Hornet had eased off its high-G turn when the rest of the Quattros laid into the bomber wing like a pack of hungry jackals, Miranda opting for the "scenic" route and watching the skirmish unfold while Help guided the bomber into a much gentler turn around. As the enemy bombers scattered and broke off in all directions, she idly hummed a small tune to herself as Help completed the turn and the Hornet settled back into cruising speed. That Uno really laid into those fighters back there, she mused, eying the small specks in the distance. Was something wrong with that guy? He's been pulling high-risk maneuvers from the very start. Absentmindedly watching the fleeing bombers as they peeled off into the distance, she briefly considered gunning the engines and hunting them down. Nah, let the others have 'em, my guns aren't really good for intercepting anyway.

All of a sudden, the radio began to crackle as a voice came hissing through. "This is the NSS Oracle to all Fort Sentinel Defenders, if any one can here this please respond..." Perking up at the start of the transmission, Miranda listened in onto the conversation between Crux and the NSS Oracle with rapt attention, her eyebrows furrowing at the mention of the "massive flight incoming". "Pilot Bannings, incoming datalink transmission from NSS Oracle. Accept data package?" Help intoned, its holographic eye flashing along with the stock system alerts in the cockpit HUD. "Accept transmission." Miranda ordered, restlessly drumming her fingers on the flight controls as her helmet HUD updated with the new data. Surely it can't be so bad?

"Oh my god." she whispered just a second later, as the cockpit screen lit up with red.

"Help, give me a munitions check! Engaging afterburners!" The Hornet shot forward like a bullet as Miranda slammed down on the throttle, nearly redlining the engine as the metal beast screamed through the dry desert air. "Reactor operating within normal parameters," the AI announced, the pixel orb whirling and fluctuating. "Current on-board armaments are: K1-W3102 4ATGM, one unit. Pufferfish Airburst Missiles, three units. DMV32 80mm Rocket Pods, two units. Vulcan and autocannon ammunition sufficient." Upon hearing the report, she hissed in agitation under her breath. "Thanks, Help." Crap, that's nowhere near enough missiles for this swarm. I've got 4 missiles, 3 bombs and 8 rockets. Fat lot of good they'll do in an aerial battle.

Keying the flight comms, Miranda stared uneasily at the incoming horde of hostile contacts on her screen as the Hornet rejoined its Flight. "Aquila 6 here, I'm fitted with a ground-strike package here. Requesting orders, over."
 
Sayoko replied back to the command Aquilas with a curt, "Roger, it looks like we have them on the run." She was indeed momentarily surprised by just how effective her intended scattering attack was along with the prowess of her wingmates, as the remaining escorts bugged out before she could gun them down one by one as planned. But the further the situation progress, she realized that this too was all an elaborate ruse by the cunning Reds they were facing. The situation had suddenly went from bad to worse, as her display lit up with targets approaching fast from the southeast quadrant. These were the real threat, and with the way their commander had suddenly began to act over the shared comms, it seemed that an old score was about to be settled with the Aquila flight caught in the eye of the storm.

The Jiyuuian knew this scenario all too well that was playing out, an overwhelming attack as people below were trying to evacuate desperately. Old wounds on her neck, hidden by her scarf, began to itch and burn with a fire that was never quite forgotten as the scenes struck too close to home for her. Her hands went white as they gripped the controls and a shiver went up her synthetic body's spine. No matter how many enemies she faced in these dusty skies today, the only one she truly feared was the one inside of her. She had to channel the anger, and not let it overwhelm her and maintain control.

In her struggle, she remembered something from long ago in the Yamatai academy and opened up a channel to the whole flight as she leveled out. "I know a tactic that saved many lives in my encounters with the NMX and their superior numbers... Anyone in an Uno X, switch on your High Ground Gravity Projectors and match to incoming projectile trajectories. It should create localized interdiction fields that can nullify the FTL bubbles of the guns and missiles as they pass through, allowing more time to dodge and blunting the impact on our shields. We need to stay up in the air as long as possible to cover the evacuation."

Banshee then raced to catch up with the first officer's jet and provide counter measure and covering support as she had Shiori program and engage her own Uno's Gravity Projectors to test out the theory. The green-haired pilot also noticed the high degree of heat coming from Jayden's sabotaged craft as the power levels were dropping. "Aquila 2, that sabotage must be causing you to losing engine power due to overheating. Vent some liquid metal coolant out the rear ports and it may give you more time... and distract those missiles with false heat signature like a flare."

Even though she wasn't an officer, the previous suggestions were spoken with the matter of fact tone of experience, not commanded or thrown in one's face. It was up to the others to choose what to do with the information... but hopefully they would heed it. Their lives may depend on it from here on out.
 
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Leo continued to trade altitude for airspeed on his way down towards the planet below them, the retreat of the enemies was unexpected but then he learned shortly after why it was so and he couldn't help but smile slightly. It was strange he thought, that all this time he had been preparing himself for this and fate would grace him with the purest form of combat to throw his nature against. For the first time since he took flight in the air he decidedly spoke over the communications channel that the Aquila's were exchanging words on, in truth he didn't consider himself among them, he had no number or position, he was purely known by his call sign now to them.

"With respect, I'm never going to fucking run away with my tail between my legs, let's face our fate"'

Knight lowered the craft even further as the speed increased, shifting it in a long turn that directed it now towards the detachment of fighters who were attempting to intercept his allies, the self proclaimed phantom flight. Leo was less than a thousand feet from the ground and he would use the proximity to avoid being caught in the initial volley of the long ranged missiles which blazed on their approach; he knew that if they didn't manage to turn this fight back around the other direction they would be stuck in defensive before they closed distance and that would mean merging at an incredible disadvantage. He also realized of course that because of his close proximity to the ground there would be less potential energy to exploit in altitude; however this was balanced when considering that his attack vector in a short moment had the chance of forcing the enemy flight to break and counter, he wished to throw a wrench in that relentless charge they were conducting.

"Ensign Knight you must always obey the orders of a superior"

"Will you quit busting my balls, if you spent that same time giving me shit I don't already know we would have won already"

"That is incorrect"

"If I'm not dead by the end of this I'm ripping you out of the machine"

"You are not authorized to make such changes to this craft"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" raged knight at the monotone intelligence.

Leo realized that he had virtually no potential spare energy apart from what his engines would provide while as close as he was to the ground, flying briskly over the terrain as he regained his composure in small increments, peering through the helmet at the heads up display as he flew an increasingly dangerous pattern just above the ground, he was flying the traditional Uno and lacking the advanced systems that would be provided on the X, there would only be a few chances for him to engage these enemies effectively to provide an adequate distraction in which the others might be able to use as grace for changing from defensive to offensive tactics with the nearest group of fighters who had launched the long ranged munitions. The adrenaline running through his body made him feel sick to his stomach while the forces from the speed crushed back into his frame. Soon his vector despite being so low would cross under the nearing formation of ten by thousands of feet, he felt certain that a number would choose to attempt to dive down upon him they had all the spare energy in the world for that battle by contrast to his own, he was left in a tactically bad position and he knew it all to well.
 
Nero looked back at his flight as he began engaging. "Shit, looks like your all just as stubborn as me." He pulled a high-g corkscrew pulling behind Diomides. "Guns!" He called as he let loose a salvo from his cannons. Diomides dodged it with ease. "Fucker, die already." He said, grunting from the pain in his chest.

"Alright everyone listen up. Banshee, Smokey and Guard Dog on my wing. Everyone else deal with the bombers. Let's kill these sins of bitches!" He yelled as he fired another salvo of cannon fire. The rounds seemed to all miss there target, but a few rounds managed to clip Diomides. It did do any damage but he hit the bastard. "Okay everyone. Let's kick some ass!"
 
After successfully covering Striker, Edward drifted to a slow forward flight. He was dripping in nervous sweat. His breathes came in quick heavy reps. He blinked and shook his head briefly. Rereading his displays it seemed the enemy was in retreat. He did it. He survived in the skies against the enemies of Nepleslia.

Then he recieved the new transmission. Edward's heart rate rockets again, the sweat flows. "I'm just an Analyst, what am I doing here? I shouldn't be flying a ship to take on a fleet with only 8 others..." he thinks to himself. He sits frozen at his controls, the Quattro flying lazily forward.

"Hey kiddo! Oh man, what a ride," Happy's voice rings out in the cockpit. Cheery dispite Edward's anxiety attack. "And it looks like we have more buckaroo's coming to join the party! This is going to be super...say it with me Eddie...DUPER! Eddie? Kiddo? I know I said I like nuts but don't crack on me now. GET MOVING!"

With the loud wake up call Edward jumps in his seat. It's like a switch went off. He starts furiously typing commands into his armrest keyboards. Numbers, codes, all gibberish to the untrained. "Happy, keep us behind the Aquila's but lay down Desco fire when in range of those bombers.

Striker sir, I'm sending you a file, have Lilith enact it right away. Your power armor is interfaced with the Uno but it usually takes things from the ship to PA. This loop will attempt to reverse that connection and allow you to increase your ships power levels using your Hostile's power source.

Additionally, when those Grunts enter our airspace I'm going to slave them and direct them from here. No offense to the girls and boys on the ground but they can't see what I can."
 
Banshee had shared her wisdom before, but now the time for banter was passed and it was action that spoke loudest as engine noise of the encroching enemy craft filled the sky. As their stubborn leader gave the orders to her to cover his wing as he dogfighted with his chosen foe, she peeled her Uno X off and ended up suddenly behind him where two of Diomedes' wingmen were trying to take him out from behind. "Got your six, Crux. Guns!" she yelled as the 30mm guided shells tore into one of their shields. They were not novices like the previous flight, though, and stood their ground returning fire from the rear guns back at the Aquila. The Jiyuuian enjoyed the challenge of a worthy foe. though, slipping into a roll to evade the worst of the counter attack.

Shiori the ACE was doing well trying to predict bullet trajectories with the anti-FTL tactic, but she piped up with an alert. "Shields are holding, sis, but I think you pissed them off now. Detecting multiple missiles target locking on to you! We can't stop all of them with the High Ground system. Evasive action now!"

Banshee immediately pulled up and executed a split-S maneuver as a barrage of several anti-mech missiles fired by the other wingman rocketed past where she was only a second ago, and continued to give chase with their 2 stage rocket in the other direction. Countermeasures were activated, but the chaff didn't confuse all of them... Three were coming dangerously close.

Banshee gritted her teeth and pushed the Uno X as hard as its afterburners could go, aiming right at the wingman with the damaged shields at full throttle and forward guns blazing. It opened fire on her blindly to try to stop what the enemy pilot percieved as a ramming attack, but at the last second the sneaky Sayoko rolled again and skidded literally right across the top of its rear wingtips with the belly of her ship through the holes in its shredded bubble she had made. Unfortunately for the Phantom wingman, the missiles that she had been dodging came in right behind her and they stayed to play, causing the jet's reactor to breach containment and erupt into a explosive fireball. "Aquila 4, one Phantom down!" Banshee announced, as if to show everyone their enemies were not invincible. Her Uno X was a little worse for wear, but she did not let up, giving chase now to the one who nearly shot her down...
 
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Adjusting the momentum and angle of attack to prepare a rising glide as he heard the command from the flight lead he glances up at that instant towards the sky above; it seemed that they would die, at least to him at that moment considering the odds at his leisure, those of survival. He was letting his mind stray from the control of his craft while doing so, preforming a high g maneuver almost unconsciously towards the sky in the direction of his flight lead to be an asset in their combat spread instead of shark bait, knowing that many of them likely didn't share his philosophy. He couldn't blame them really having a purpose to live inspired a deep urgency he knew it all to well once upon a time yet the spark has seemed to fade, the light in his eyes no longer prevalent. He respected the flight lead and his eagerness to sacrifice his life for the rest of the people he served with. Despite having a damaged craft and being wounded the well regarded ace was attempting to do all he could...

Knight knew that he had to get focused again; that he had to be just as eager to continue killing the enemy, that he had to think beyond the selfish imperative to earn an honorable and in this case a literally explosive death and leave the others to do the combat. Still having munitions remaining and since there were so many enemies might as well finish the job in earnest he concluded. This was a more expensive coffin than most assholes get anyway. He just wished it didn't talk as much.

Eyes were wide open beyond the power armor with a glacial intensity.

"Roger" Spoke Knight to confirm his order

..."Good boy"

"Huh?" He tilted his head and glanced across the hud at the same time quizzically as if searching for the information he missed, thinking he must just be going deaf or fortunate that the intelligence decidedly silenced itself for some time. Surely he misheard?

"Guns range!"

Leo inhaled deeply in the midst of the turn as the ground seemed far behind him now, intentionally straining his body further to prevent the blood to rush elsewhere it was difficult to breath with the intensity of the motion, he didn't know if he could deal with the computer getting increasingly weird and do combat at the same time, gliding up through the air with subtle grace only moments before one of the enemy craft rolled up from behind him, the warning was brief but the reaction was fluid. Rudder and aileron shifting at the same time as he ducked over in what appeared to be a low yo yo maneuver all while rounds begin to flare and explode in his wake while some of the concussive energy is absorbed by the shields, weaving up more before exploiting some energy in the form of a brief dive down as Leo merged with his attackers geometry. When he tightened the turn to try and force an overshoot Knight rolled into a high yo yo with enough inertia to get a shot at firing when the lines intersected due to the fact that he adjusted speed at an unconventional moment for that exchange, directly going against the grain of common sense to catch the opponent off guard due to the fact he yet again abandoned so much energy against the rules of combat for the purpose of a gamble which few professional pilots would ever make due to the fact that It's likely to kill you, but every now and again.... It shifts into the pure pursuit because they didn't see it coming and nobody was there to cover their ass in time.

"Guns!"

30mm rounds exited the weapon in a flurry of deafening cracks and flashes to fill the sky. Twenty fused rounds intended to hit the phantom squadron member as they maneuvered; tracers rippling in an arc before the explosions which were sure to follow if they should reach the enemy craft or not.
 
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