Rise of The Terran Alliance- Crosspost

Chapter 14- Battle of Australia

Chapter 14- Battle of Australia

In the Australian outback, a formation of aircraft from the Australian Air Force streaks north, low over the ground. The formation is comprised of 12 F/A-18 Hornets and 8 F-111 Aardvarks, all armed for ground attack.

The Battle of Australia has been going on for almost 24 hours. An initial droid landing near Sydney had proven disastrous, as Australian fighters had devastated the landing ships before they could even touch down. And once the droids had been on the ground, Australian troops had devastated the droid formations. The result was the loss of 30,000 of the 45,000 droids in the initial landing force.

10 hours into the battle, the Separatists had switched tactics, and landed a very sizable force in the Australian outback. A total of 180,000 battle droids and 2,000 heavy droid units had been landed while Vulture droids kept the Australian Air Force at bay. While the Australian fighters had destroyed most of the Vultures while taking few losses, the Vultures had managed to keep them away from the landings.

Australian airstrikes against the droids had started as soon as the aircraft could be armed for the strikes. Some Australian soldiers stationed in the Outback had engaged the droids and managed to slow them down. Now, 20,000 troops, which comprise about half of Australia's troops, are on their way to engage the droids, along with 5,000 clones. The air attacks so far and the advance troops have whittled down the droid forces to about 160,000 droids and 1,600 heavy droid units.

Finally, the Australian fighters come into view of the advancing droid armies. The F-111s streak ahead of the Hornets, descending to just 500 feet. They streak low over the droids and drop cluster bombs on the droids. The heavy load limit of the F-111 is shown as the over 60 cluster bombs split open, spreading their bomblets over the droids and destroying almost 7,000 droids.

As the F-111s climb and prepare for a second run to drop their remaining weapons, the F/A-18s streak in for their runs. Each Hornet is armed with 8 AGM-65 Maverick missiles and three 1,000 lb bombs.

The Hornets descend and begin firing their missiles at AAT tanks. Once their missiles have been expended, they drop their bombs on any other tanks they can get to. By the time the Hornets have started climbing again, they've destroyed 132 AAT tanks and over 500 battle droids.

As the Hornets climb to establish a protective patrol in case of a Vulture attack, the F-111s fly in the release their remaining bombs. Dozens of cluster bombs fall on the battle droids, destroying another 8,000 of them.

As the Australian fighters start pulling away, a squadron of Vulture droids streaks down from the sky. The Hornets pull up to engage them as the F-111s continue their path home.

The Vultures fire their laser cannons at the Hornets, but the Australian pilots weave their way through the laser bolts and get past the Vultures. Once they get past the Vultures, it's over for the droids. The agile Hornets turn sharply and get behind the Vulture droids. They start firing their AIM-9 Sidewinders, each missile scoring a kill. It doesn't take long before all the Vultures have all been shot down.

As the Australian fighters retreat, and another wave takes off and prepares to head to engage the Separatists, the Separatists decide to try a new tactic. As the next Australian attack wave heads towards the outback from its base near Sydney, a Boeing E-7A Wedgetail AWACS aircraft detects a massive formation of aircraft coming down from orbit. The formation is 60 Vulture droids, 100 Hyena bombers, and 40 Tri-Fighters.

The Australian fighters react instantly. The F-111s in the strike force continue in the direction of the Outback, while the 24 F/A-18s in this strike force turn towards Sydney, jettison their air to ground weapons, and prepare to engage. At the same time, in Sydney, surface to air missile batteries, exported from the US in preparation for the Separatist attack, begin warming up.