Project Top Gunman: Ace Combat

Chapter 4: Long Day In Independence (Mission 6) Pt 1

Usea, Roca Roja.
July 4, 2019. Operation One Pair.

Tabloid: So...one more time, what's the plan again?"

Tabloid.....I swear to god." Prez growled into her mic. "We are barely a klick away from the AO and you're asking this again."

Prez: Look the last two times had way to much jargon. Once more, I do not have any military training." Okay...Simple terms. We're hitting the south most base first. It has an airfield. We hit that as hard as we can. Not as many enemy fighters to deal with. Then it's open season on ground targets."

Tabloid was silent.

Tabloid...." Prez turns in her seat, staring at Tabloid's Mirage 2000-5. "Tabloid...Spare Eleven!"

Yeah! Yeah, sorry. Just...looking at my radar. Figuring out which way is south and all that..." He sighed over the coms. "This is frustrating."

Trigger chuckled slightly, checking everything once more. "Tabloid, just follow us, and you'll be fine. Prez and I can keep an eye on you."

Prez tilted her head slightly, "Yeah, we said we would Tabloid. We don't go back on our promises."

Tabloid was quiet for a while, then cleared his throat. "Yeah...alright, thank you."

Prez chuckled slightly, giving Trigger a thumbs up. "We're all set. Curious to see what these bombs and agms will do."

He returned her with thumbs up, then turned back and got comfy in his seat. He was on edge, this mission was going to be tough, and they may loose a few pilots. Convicts or not, they were all pilots here.

The coms crackled to life. "Spare Squadron, this is the FOB for operation One Pair. You're on your own for most of this. We hope you live up to your reputation. We'll move our ground forces into the AO once we've got the intel we need." There was a long pause, Prez was even taking a breath to crack a joke, but the FOB cut back in. "You may be criminals, but you're flying a dangerous mission. Our return line is open to you. We'll supply you with whatever you need." The coms closed.

"Huh...what'da know, some people do have a heart." Count cut in and chuckled. "Maybe they realize how good we are?"

"Some Welcome." Bandog huffed into the coms, upset. "All Aircraft, spread out and attack."

"So, we're clear to attack then? I thought the regular forces were going to clean things up?" Count's nervous voice was rare, but it never came without merit it seemed.

It's just like before. We blow the shit outta everything!" Champ's excitement was a complete opposite to what Trigger was feeling.

"Sharp as a tack, aren't you, Spare Eight?" Bandog's smug voice came over the coms again. "Regular forces can reduce losses if you tenderize the target. If you can't handle that, just fly and be a target."

Count chuckled at that.

Spare Squadron, engage, weapons free." Bandog cut his coms.

"Alright, this would be a great place to make the cash flow, to bad this ain't Sicario." She flipped the master arm switch, as the agms are ready.

Trigger chuckled, doing the same and making sure Prez had control over what she wanted. "Would love some extra cash honestly." He took a deep breath, angled the F-16XL to the left a little. "Trigger and Prez, Spare Fifteen, engaging." Then punched the throttle, they hit max speed within less than a minute. Speeding towards the Erusean runway, hoping to catch them unaware. "Prez, targets up ahead."