Bird At Sea

Chap 14

I hop out and direct the Manjuus to arm the Harrier for air-to-air. Ark comes rushing over to me, "What the hell is going on?!" "T-theres this, uh, shield protecting the Orochi we can't bypass it!" "Well what do we know?" "It can't last forever... can it?" She shrugs, her eyes wide, all of us have adrenaline through the roof. Not only is this battle still tight with the numerous Sirens, but the outcome of the battle will also have a heavy determination of the future as well. I was about to get back in the jet before Ark grabbed a hold of my hand, I looked back and she now has an eye of worry, "Please be safe..." She pleads. "I'll try." It was all that I could really say.

Back in the air, the four Attackers had also rearmed and headed out for combat. A squadron of S-1s headed straight for us. "Red section, why don't we play chicken?" Throttle at max, we didn't break formation, we both got in gun range and began firing. Just before we collided, it was the S-1s who veered off, giving us the change to get behind them. I square up to one who pitched up, then did an S-split maneuver down, I follow it, pulling a tight turn and once I line it up with the gun sight I fire, down it goes even further. Below me, the Attackers were finishing up the other S-1s, I went in to assist. As a S-1s was trying to fly away from a Attacker, I attacked it from a high angle perpendicularly, with guns blazing the S-1 became fire. Forming back up, we head for the core of the battle. We need the heat of battle, smoke streaks were numerous around the skies, signifying a death, whether it be from one side or the other who knows, too many to keep count of.

I picked something up in the mirror, looking back for a better view, the figure went straight up, one with incredible speed compared to all the other aircraft, it hides itself through the blinding glare of the sun. Suddenly, it shoots out something, one of a turquoise colour. "Red-3, behind you!" But it was far too late, the Attacker, Red-3, went up in flames. "Break, break, break!" I S-Split down and pulled as much of a tight turn I could. Meeting the new foe, it was just barely in view before it passed overhead,(M-1) its airframe was polygonal, under its wings were two things, best described as the Siren's gun pods. I continued the turn to get nose on it, but the M-1 also pulled up, we engaged in a scissors maneuver. Up, down, up, down, doing this for some time, should one relax even a bit it could be the end for them. From all of the chaos just outside our own battle, I let myself slip and the M-1 had nose on me. I Break hard down left, pushing the throttle further and pulling the flight stick harder, as the jet begins to shake, even the Harrier is having difficulty withstanding the intense forces as I am, being absolutely squashed down by the invisible force. Just some hundred feet above the water, I ViFF and forced the M-1 to overshoot, but the M-1 continued its turn. Now the challenge was getting a lock on it. I found myself having shortness of breath, trying to gulp as much air as possible, from my waist down it began to cramp from how much flex, but it must be done to not blackout. Realizing I was out of its turn circle, a ViFF maneuver is placed in action once more. Managing to croak out, "Fox-2!", the missile chases the M-1, the Siren jet sharply turns into a vertical, throwing the missile off. I myself chase the M-1 to the heavens. As we raced to the top, the air got thinner and we both were nearing a stall. I broke out of the chase and hovered, seeing where the M-1 was going, I get distracted by what was behind it, the deep blue sky, absolutely clear of clouds, I thought I could see stars, looking at the instruments, we clocked in at about 45,000 feet (13,716 m). Narrow misses of the turquoise projectile snaps me back to reality, the M-1 did not take the bait. Diving back down for my life, I was starting to run out of options and time, not even knowing how long I could last myself. Racing to the bottom and managing to dodge a couple of missiles on the way down, we get back to the battle below. I flew right by the Orochi, remembering its shield, I veered off away, as I did the M-1 attempted to take shots on me. The Turquoise plasma-like projectile flung past me, it went to the Orochi, bypassing its shield and hitting the ship itself, of course it barely did any form of damage but it was interesting nonetheless. "I need support!" "Over here!" It was Cleveland and a few of her sisters cruisers have good AA, this should do it. Flying in nice and low and shooting past the cruisers, they begin to light up my pursuer shortly after. A wall of black smoke and lead buffets the enemy jet, but it nearly did nothing other than scratching and slowing it down. The three remaining Attackers, as well as a He-162 with some interesting red markings, came to aid. The four of them were just barely able to go toe-to-toe with the M-1, but the foe was able to move in a way that can be described as 'elegant'. I take the time to mentally stabilize, I gasp deep amounts of air practically hyperventilating. To the side, The Orochi ominously glows, its orange cracks glow a bright red, moving and manifesting to one point of the ship for it to then flicker away, but it was far from done. A port opened on the said point of the Orochi, a towing object loomed, it was an ugly structure, black with red cracks all over it. "What the hell did they just activate!" Said an ally, too focused on the thing to know who it was. "It's an ICBM!" "What?" "InterContinental Ballistic Missile!" "What!?" "That's their WMD!"