Author's Note
CALLSIGNS:
ALLY
Egret 1 (Hikari) - Blizzard
Egret 2 - Air Roller (Earth Pony)
Egret 3 - Boulder (Griffon)
Egret 4 - Kitsune (Hippogriff)
HOSTILE
Ember 1 'Checkmate'
Ember 2 'Vulcan'
Ember 3 'Stinger'
Ember 4 'Skyfire'
Checkmated
UNKNOWN REGION
MIKIRO BRIEFING ROOM
NOVEMBER 13, 2022
0426 HOUR
The sound of electronic blinking beeped as a virtual slide deck was activated, the lights were immediately killed as the briefing room fell into complete peach darkness, then the virtual hologram blinked open as navy blue light became the sun of the room. Once chatty air fell into silence, sharp clip-clopping hoof steps can be heard approaching from the end of the room toward the front.
A figure or an Earth pony to be specific walked up to the side of the hologram with a remote control in his hoof-catcher; a device invented by some eggheads to help ponies grab onto flight sticks. As the figure scrolled through the hologram, it was soon revealed that four barely recognizable figures sat in front of the presenter. Their eyes were shining different looks from the reflection of the blue light radiating off from the hologram. Two cocky hotshots; one with pale gaze, and one dead calm.
After several blinks, the hologram projected a large badge slowly spinning; the virtual badge revealed to be a wolf head with two bright red blood marks sliced from both of its ears into its growling mouth, rounding words can be read surrounding the badge 'Mikiro'. Around the square-shaped screen edge were numerous blinking data. The bottom right of the hologram was a mini-map of the Equestrian continent.
The presenter then coughed loudly to grab the attention of the badasses down below.
"Is everycreature here?" The presenter asked, then quickly jumped to the topic, "All right time for briefing."
With a light click, the screen switched to two pictures; one with the city of Las Pegasus; in ruins of course, and another one showing a bombed-out runway of a wrecked airfield with ground crew members scattered all over the place.
"Earlier this noon we received a bounty from the Equestrian government's high ranks; as you can see from the photographs taken from the homefront, the Equestrians are getting their ass kicked, not that I'm much surprised. These guys were unable to launch a successful retaliation against Draconian bombers and attackers due to their elite fighter squadron Archangel being nearly wiped off the stage."
"Pfft." Came a noise from below.
The presenter ignored that as he continued, "As for the ones responsible for the near destruction of the Archangel squadron," he then clicked the remote again, now switching to a photograph taken from a jet camera; in the middle was a Draconian fighter; a J-10C, with red painted nose and tails., "I believe most of you; No, ALL of you have at least heard of this callsign 'Checkmate' from the battles before. Well, it's usually a pain in the Equestrains' asses, not ours. But this time, the Equestrians set a juicy amount of bits on this guy right here. The ENADF was advancing several days before Checkmate and his comrades showed up and smashed up the party, Equestrian bombers, and cargo aren't getting through. Jets are starvin' and so are the pilots. We don't give a single fuck bout that. But since it's our job to clean creatures' asses and get paid well, we'll have to play a game with Checkmate."
"Why this guy? I have to admit he shot down the Archangels but still, we can waste our time killing some Draconian bombers other than focusing on this one dude right that can't even get his elite kill counts up to two digits." A cocky voice burst from below, his tone then changed quicker than a laser-gun pod, "How much are we paid?"
"150,000." The presenter said in a deadpan tone, "If you guys get the job done quick enough."
"Anyway, our mission's main objective is to take out Checkmate, as for the other targets such as the bombers or Checkmate's little friends... They're up to you guys. But don't go 'king-of-the-hill' mode; according to the newest intel, the Draconian just had their MQs a major upgrade, we don't know their full potential yet."
"Alright, time is money. Dismissed." The presenter ended with a slightly relaxed tone as he turned off the hologram. The briefing room fell into complete darkness again, but this time with multiple rapid clip-clopping leaving the room...
(End music)
The hanger entrance flew open, as a slender pale grayish-white pegasus walked in whistling. He threw the leather jacket onto his closet and grabbed a G-suit plus helmet, then walked to smack the big red on the hanger main gates. Although he's very aware of his capabilities of withstanding 9G plus, this habit has already morphed into him from day one of touching the flight stick.
A lone iron eagle parked in the middle, with the daylight being its highlighting source, the canopy was washed till the slightest sunlight would bounce off. Seems like the ground maintenance got paid really well for this to happen...
Hikari flip-opened tablet, he scrolls through the selection of weaponry arrangements, and his whistle then fades as he locked the weapon arrangements with the full set of eight IRIS-T. Turning off the tablet, threw it back directly into the pocket of his hanging jacket, suited up, helmet on, then flew into the cockpit.
With the whirring of the engine, as it began to breathe in, the main control display and HUD lightened up as the Gripen sprang to life. Putting on the mask, the mercenary pilot spoke, "Control this is Egret 1, requesting permission to taxi." He said in a low resonated voice.
"Egret 1, the runway's cleared, you're good for take-off." and came the main control.
Pushing the throttle to ten percent, the Gripen slowly glides forward, out of the hanger, and onto the taxiway. Along the four taxiways outcomes four different aircraft; Egret 1, the Gripen being the first taxiway; Taxi way 2 belongs to Egret 2, who's inside an F-16C. Taxiway 3 belongs to Egret 3, inside a Mig-35. The Final taxiway belongs to Egret 4, who's inside a Super Hornet.
"Egret squadron, form up behind Egret 1 once taking off. Altitude restriction lifted, happy hunting." The control tower said with a casual voice.
Hikari yawned lightly behind his mask, and push the throttle to max. Bright violet-colored afterburner shot from the engine as the Gripen's frontal canards flipped for a minimum take-off distance. Egret 1 single eyed the airspeed and pulled the stick backward once it reached 210. Gripen is airborne and away. The rest of the Egret Squadron followed closely behind the Gripen as their afterburner faded into the horizon...
SOUTHWEST EQUESTRIA
LAS PEGASUS
NOVEMBER 13, 2022
0543 HOUR
After an airborne refuel, the Egret squadron quickly made its way near the active warzone of Las Pegasus. Egret 2; Air Roller, being Egret 1's wingman, Egret 3; Boulder and 4; Kitsune is a pair. Air Roller and Boulder were both hotshots; they were once military criminals found guilty for multiple reasons they just don't feel like talking about; or simply don't give a fuck. Despite their somewhat negative attitude towards their squadmates, their excellent flight skills and never-ending fighting spirit made them a valuable part of the team. Kitsune on the other hoof, is the opposite of the two hotshots. She once served in the Seaquestrian Royal Navy onboard their carrier HMS Queen Novo, however, her rebellious personality, she found the Navy being too much of a cage for her and decided to become a mercenary. Unlike the ones that would do anything if bits were given the right amount, Kitsune has her own justice scale.
"This is AWACS Hawk Eye, I'll be your guide on this mission." The AWACS covered their radio channel, "Your objective is simple; down ANYTHING that flies, the Equestrian fighters were out of this area long before we're here."
"Haha! Just like usual, we blow the hell outta everything." Boulder laughed arrogantly as he pushed the throttle of the Mig-35 to max, "First come first served!"
Hikari sighed as he made the call, "Kitsune, watch that chunk so he doesn't do anything stupid."
"Yo, you guys wanna bet the chunk's gonna become 'chunks'?" Air Roller's voice came in with his daily betting, although he never really won any of them yet.
"I wouldn't bet on this mission if I were you Air Roller, intel says they might deploy combat drones," Hikari smirked in a mischievous manner, "last time someone bet against a drone couldn't even finish his betting before getting shot outta the damn sky by an MQ.*"
"Ugh, fucking tin-cans," Boulder grunted, "is it just me or are they actually getting smarter and smarter?"
"I have to agree with Chunks here," Kitsune said, "I'd heard rumors about an experimental Draconian fighter drone that specifically targets enemy aces, they fight them and copy their moves, eventually it'd gather all of their combat habits and kill anything that stands in its way."
"And you actually believed that?" Air Roller laughed.
"Hard to say, the war's gonna end soon, and things are getting crazier." Kitsune sighed.
"They're not gonna learn anything from me..." Hikari scoffed.
"Hey! Hey! Hey! Don't steal all my kills cap!" Boulder whined.
"You said it yourself, first come first served." Just as Hikari finished his comeback, his datalink blinked.
"Egret Squadron, I just updated your datalinks, enemies are about 50 nautical miles. You're clear hot." Hawk Eye suddenly popped into the conversation.
"And so your last hunting season begins." Air Roller laughed as he dove down towards Las Pegasus.
"Egret attack." Hikari then went down, followed by the rest of the squadron.
Six Draconian H-6K bombers roamed slowly through the skies above Las Pegasus with their twelfth J-11B as escorts. Although they knew that their forces are in full retreat, Las Pegasus is a hard city for them to abandon; not only is it the closest to the Dragonland Border, but it was also where they kept most of their MDW and ballistic weapons.
The bombers were on their way to what it seems like a suicide mission; bomb out a heavily secured Equestrian command center. They didn't come this far without any preparations; earlier before taking off, the flight leader contacted 'Checkmate' and their Ace will be hidden near Las Pegasus at a low altitude in the Applewood Mountains while providing cover for them.
"Thunder 1 this is Expo one," The bomber flight lead began, "any sign of contact on the radar?"
"Expo Squadron group of bogeys just appeared on the data link, they're approaching fast from 3 o'clock." Thunder 1 said as he quickly took command, "Thunder six to twelfth stay in formation; The rest of you guys form up behind me, we're going for IFF."
"Captain, bogeys aren't responding." Thunder 3 said, however, his cockpit soon filled with RWR warning, "SHIT I've been spiked! They're bandits!"
"Break formation! Tally 4 bandits! Angels 12 and descending! Thunder 3 evade!" Thunder 1 called as he maneuvered his Flanker, the six J-11Bs soon broke up and scattered across the sky, however, with a fading in the whiz of a Fox-3 shot, one of the evading Flankers was blown apart.
"Fuck! Thunder 3's down!"
"I have bandits on my radar! Damn, they're fast!"
"Locked on! Fox-3!" Thunder 6 said as a PL-12 broke off from the weapon rack, the rocket motor ignited as it sprinted toward the bandits. However, after traveling straight for a while, the missile began to wobble up and then down, a few seconds later, the missile made a hard dive down and plunged into the ground.
Meanwhile, back to the Egret squadron.
"Good notch there Chunk." Kitsune said as she checked her target, "Bandit splashed."
"Egret 3 and 4, take care of the escorts, Egret 2 and I got missiles better to take onto larger targets, we'll go for the bombers." Hikari ordered, "Egret 2 engage." He peered over his shoulders as the F-16C fired all four AMRAAMs.
"Shit!" Air Roller cursed under his breath, "All four Fox-3 went stupid! They must have got a jammer or somethin' along the bomber escort!"
"That's what I like to hear..." Hikari said as he switched to IRIS-T, going for some Flanker hunting." Hikari never really liked hitting still targets, his blood would freeze, plus they might've hidden an Electronic-warfare J-16 in the middle of the escorts.
"Alright then, I'll go for the Badgers." Air Roller said, unknowing that this decision would nearly end his career.
"I have visuals on the bombers, heh, the Flankers are coming," Hikari smiled cruelly as he aimed his gun at one of the incoming Flankers, "Adios."
The aircraft shook as rounds are being kicked off, the Flanker's cockpit was shattered by the 27mm gun as it ignited its jet fuel, exploding into a firework. Hikari expressionlessly went for a hard break right as he quickly got onto the six of an escaping Flanker. A single IRIS-T broke off from the rack as it turned a wide oval trajectory toward the Flnaker, who thought he flared the missile off.
"Splash 2." Hikari looked up, seeing an unusual J-16 with two huge jamming pods hanging onto its wingtips, "Gatcha." With an over G pull upward, the 27mm gun round sliced through the J-16 like a hot knife through butter, "Jammer's dead, Egret 3 go for the bombers, I'll kill off the escorts one by one."
"HAHA! Bits are mine!!!" Air Roller laughed wildly as he sent two bombers down in flames, "They could burn with their load-outs!"
"Egret 3 to Egret 1, bandits are eliminated." Boulder's voice came, "Seems like you lost your bet again Air Roller."
However, despite the escorts being down, Hikari still got that sense of an Ace instinct, he looked over the Applehood Mountains with his eyes squinted, and then scoffed.
"Bombers are mine!" Air Roller whistled as he gradually took out the last four bombers, "Woo-hoo! Dinner's on me tonight!"
Suddenly, AWACS Hawk Eye's voice came in, however, this time he sounded shocked, "Attention all Egret Squadron, multiple bandits just popped up on the radar, I couldn't even see where they're from!"
"Eh? Is it more 'escorts'?" Air Roller sneered.
"Hold on, that's a squadron of four J-10s, what's the matter with them?" Hawk Eye suddenly shouted, "Egret 2 you've been spiked! Missiles are being fired from the bandits! Break now!"
(Start at 1:24)
"Damn it! Why are they all targeting me?!" Air Roller's frustrated voice growled as his F-16C turned around and started defending with chaffs being absolutely flooded out.
"Interesting..." Hikari murmured, then decided, "Egret 4 and 2, cover Egret 3 then retreat, you guys are outmatched by them."
"But cap-" Kitsune started, but was cut off.
"That's an order."
"... Copy that." Hikari could hear the indecisive tone in Kitsune's voice as she replied, the Super Hornet then turned back, disappearing into the low air.
"Hawk Eye, I'd stay out of this if I were you," Hikari said as he sprinted towards the four bandits.
Meanwhile, the hostile J-10s were approaching fast.
"Bandit is hit," Ember 3 grunted, "ugh, he notched the rest of them though."
"You tried, Stinger, I'll get the rest of them." Ember 4, his wingman replied.
"Huh, three of the four retreated, their flight lead is coming straight at us." Ember 2 said.
Then their leader spoke, "We'll see about that." Ember 1 rocked his wings, then fired another Fox-3, "Round him up and score the kill."
"Copy that boss." Ember 2 smirked as he and the two other J-10s broke the formation, each going in a different direction to corner the incoming bandit.
Hearing the RWR screaming, Hikari popped a few chaffs before starting to defend hard since he might've been into the PL-15's kill range. Just as he did that a missile went whizzing past his tail, plunging into the cliff nearby. Hikari scoffed as he switched his radio channel while continuing to advance.
"Hm, Bandit defeated the missile, he got what it takes." Checkmate's eyes squinted, "I'd like to see your reaction to this situation though..."
"Bandit is within visual range, a single Gripen. Engage!" Ember 2 said as he fired a Fox-2 at the Gripen, which was flared off with a high-G maneuver.
"Holy! That's at least 10G! I bet his airframe is damaged." Ember 4 exclaimed. Just as he finished saying that, his radio began to static, before he could switch channels, a new voice broke into their current channel.
"So, Ember Squadron isn't it?" A low resonating voice said.
"Who the hell's this guy?!" Ember 4 growled, "FUCK OFF!!!"
"You're quite noisy, shut it." Then Ember 4 felt the back of his aircraft shake violently as smoke began to plunge out of his wings, "SHIT?! WHEN?! HOW-" His jet hit the ground with a massive explosion.
"EMBER 4!!! DAMN IT!!!" Ember 3 roared in anger, "YOU'RE GONNA DIE FOR THAT!!!"
Hikari grunted, irritated by the guy who he just killed, "You know," he began, easily dodging an incoming PL-10, "that's not how an Ace squadron should look like." He then merged with an incoming J-10A, both forming a one-circle fight. Ignoring the wobbling airframe of the wings, Hikari looked up at the still-turning J-10A with his helmet-mounted display.
Hearing the shrill of the Fox-2 launch signal, an IRIS-T was launched high-off boresighted.
The J-10A immediately pumped a large number of flares as the IRIS-T went past him, then he took verticle before turning his jet sideways, ready for a Fox-2 shoot, however, his left-wing suddenly got ripped apart. A slightly visible large circular fading trajectory can still be seen.
"ARGH! FUCK! Ember 2 I've been hit, I'm bailing out!"
Seeing the parachute slowly descending to the ground, Hikari rolled his eyes, "Well that's a first.*"
"Hey, Ember 2 is it?" Hikari spoke toward the remaining enemy wingman, "Do me a favor and get your squadron leader here."
Ember 2 responded with a Fox-2 shot.
"Oh well, I guess I'll just have to do it myself then," Hikari muttered as he gracefully pulled another high-G maneuver while manually entering an accelerating flat spin which dodged the missile while firing another IRIS-T. The J-10A flared while jinxing, and the IRIS-T made a quick comeback but was confused by the second set of flares as it plunged into the wrong target.
Stopping his flat spin immediately after his missile got defeated, Hikari and Ember 2 merged again, but this time they're both taking vertical. However, since both jets have similar thrusts, both of them stalled out at the same time. Ember 2 growled, "Enough of this dirty trick of yours!"
"Nah man, this ain't some dirty trick," Hikari's relaxed voice came, "It's just that I'm better than you."
Before Ember 2 could react to that, the Gripen suddenly did a flip and had its nose pointed directly at the falling J-10A, a post-stall maneuver he learned from someone he knew who also learned it from another creature called hoo- hyu- whatever. Anyway, that someone died a long time ago.
"Zai Jian." Hikari spoke in Draconese as he blasted 27mm rounds at the cockpit of the J-10A. Ember 2's vision fell dark as flesh-torn noise became the last thing he heard.
"Alright Checkmate, it's me and you now," Hikari said out loud.
"I'm quite impressed, Egret 1." Checkmate sighed, "But you took out my comrades, you'll pay the price."
"Now we're talkin'," Hikari smirked as he saw a black dot plunging down toward him from the sun, "Old war tactic huh."
The two Aces merged as they went for a one-circle Fox-2 fight. Checkmate knew how tough this guy is, after he single-hoofed took out three of his elite squadron members. Suddenly, a cold feeling rose up from the bottom of his heart, If I'm going to die here, at least bring me a good final fight first.
Hearing the tone, Checkmate firmly pressed the pickle as a PL-10 made a dash toward the Girpen, instead of flaring it off, did yet another negative dive and then an 8G verticle climb, as the PL-10's frag exploded near the area, the Gripen's already out of the AoE range.
"Is that all you got?" Checkmated somewhat asked the question, yet did not at the same time.
"Alright man you really gotta stop acting like Mr. Thriteen-words-in-a-name man," Hikari grunted as he pulled a 10G turn-back with its nose pointed at the J-10C, with a shrill tone, his last IRIS-T went off the rack toward Checkmate. Then it's the part that made the mercenary fighter pilot's blood boil; The J-10C pulled a Kulbit maneuver, then followed by nothing other than Hikari's unique post-stall maneuver, during his critical maneuver, numerous flares were being pumped out, it formed a shape of a lotus which the IRIS-T got lost in. The J-10C fired his last PL-10 toward the Gripen at the same time, which the Gripen successfully dodged with a few pops of flares and a hard jinx plus barrel roll to the right.
Hikari's eyes widened slightly in surprise, and his tone changed from tiredness to somewhat active, "I fucking saw that!" His arms began to shake, not in fear, but in excitement, "You there, Mr. Checkmate, is the first to ever copy my post-stall so perfectly... And to use it so FUCKING... ARRRGH!!! HAHAHA! But it's such a shame that you'll also be the last to ever do so!"
The 27mm gun hummed its rhythm of death as the storm of lead covered the J-10C in lack of airspeed to recover itself from such an over-G maneuver, however, due to the distance, the traces of leads spread out imperfectly, only a few rounds landed onto the airframe. The J-q0C's fuel tank has been hit and white smoke began to trail off.
Just as the J-10C recovered, the Gripen is already on its six, "Com' on Checkmate! I'm just gettin' a little excited! DON'T MAKE THIS END SO QUICKLY!!!" Hikari's right eye began to turn slightly red due to his continuously building up blood vessels.
"Tsk... *Gasp* Alright there young stallion... You asked for it..." Checkmate's somewhat exhausted voice came through the radio as the J-10C began to rock left and right, making it harder for Hikari to aim his gun. Just as the Draconian fighter was about to cross the nose, it suddenly flipped 90 degrees upward as it was dragged backward towards him.
"A Cobra won't save you..." Hikari's tired voice hit again, "But this does put a good air show for me." He then breaks left, dodging the incoming J-10C, then took off verticle with his airbrake extended, which successfully caught the J-10C off-guard by ending up at his rear again.
"Good show, but it's over with this next shot." Hikari emotionlessly said as he lined the nose up with the dying aircraft, "You are a good pilot Checkmate, but you served with the wrong team." He then pressed the pickle.
The whip of leads sliced the J-10C in half, starting from the bottom, as the whip made its way toward the cockpit, time seemed to slow down as Checkmate's mind flew into the memories of the past...
With a massive explosion, the finale of the Draconian Ace is marked with a perfect period in his story.
On his way back to base, after rejoining his Egret Squadron, Hikari's blood and mind began to cool down.
"So Egret 1 gets all the big bits again." Air Roller groaned, "Seriously bro what's yo problem with stealing kills?"
"I had my fun, and you had yours." Hikari said, "Besides, don't expect we don't know you like to stick your head in the asses of bombers."
"Oooookay cap, that's enough for the day." Air Roller whined.
The group got quiet for a moment, then Kitsune asked the biggest question the squadron each had, "So... Cap if you don't mind telling... Your new kill counts..."
"That's a story for another time hahaha..." Hikari shrugged it off, "Plus, I don't really need to say anything bad about it; it's a good ending for him... For a guy who gave his life to the sky..."
"Good job Egret Squadron, the bits are yours to take." Hawk Eye said, ignoring the strange feelings in the air.
"Dude read the celestial-damn room..." Boulder grunted.
Watching the sunset near the Horizon, Hikari's mind slowly drifted away to his past memories... He frowned as a strange yet familiar memory flooded into his mind, it was neither his nor anywhere recorded on this continent...
"Hmm... Something Belka... Pixy... Continental... Mobi-... Dared... Ugh, what the hell?" Hikari groaned under his breath. These random memories he never knew of are getting worse, they're appearing in his mind every night now at this point... As if they were trying to remind him about a long lost memory of his that had been sealed away by.........
.......
.......
