Aces High

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October 7th, 2559
Traso Airport, Boundary
0043 Hours
"Let's go." Alex Vens muttered to his copilot as he began to sluggishly fit on his gear. He hated late night sorties more than people who overcharged him at bars when he went into Traso proper. Yawning, he turned to his copilot, who was still busy rolling out of his bed, and said "Meet me outside once you're ready." Tightening his harness, with his helmet and oxygen mask in his left hand, Vens slowly thumped down the stairs of the Traso Air Militia's dormitory. There was only one guard at the front desk. "Hey." Vens grunted to the young man, who, judging by his youthful appearance, and metal eagle on his gray beret, was a cadet there for training. The young man looked up at Vens' greeting, and once he was out of sight, closed his eyes again.
Opening the door, Vens shivered at the blast of colder night autumn air as he walked out to his car, an MLX that had been given to him by his father, who had, according to him, "laterally transferred it from man to man via nonmonetary means", which it did not take a genius to understand it had been stolen back during the uprising in '29, Vens thought to himself. As he walked around to the driver's side door, Vens looked up at the news of a ruckus being caused in the dormitories, and strangely enough, his copilot, his gear haphazardly thrown on, moving with a purpose towards him.
"What's going on?" Vens asked with concern. "Fire?" he continued.
"No, something's very wrong." his copilot responded, breathing heavily from his sprint out to the car.
"What?"
"We just got news that the UNSC's attacked. They wiped out our navy, and we're getting reports they are going to begin a ground invasion."
Vens' mouth went dry and he could feel the blood drain from his face. "Get in." he ordered as he threw open the door to the sports car and got in, quickly putting his helmet on, tightening the strap to the point where the piece of equipment did not move at all. Neglecting to put on his seatbelt, Vens stuck the keys in the ignition, and, turning them, the engine of the MLX purred to life. Stepping on the acceleration pedal, he pealed out with a loud squeal, and sped towards the entrance to the tarmac.
As Vens tore through the militia's section of the Traso Airport, it became evident the news was spreading quickly. Men in fatigues were pouring out of various buildings, various equipment on them or in their hands. Slowing down as he took the turn towards the tarmac, Vens knew it was becoming bad as he saw the floodlights that usually illuminated the shelters holding the T-76 Talon II's were turned off. Even in exercises, they were on. They would only turn them off if they afraid of the shelters being bombed for real.
"Fuck." Vens' copilot muttered as the MLX came to a stop, and they both opened their doors. Jogging towards the tarmac, the militiaman at the entrance stepped out to stop the two. Flashing his identification card to the guard, she stepped out of the way, saluting as they moved towards their T-76, the first aircraft as one headed towards the shelters. As he approached, Vens breathed a sigh of relief as he spotted two militia quickly loading the two twenty millimeter rotary cannons, and the aircraft appearing to be all ready to go, with the crew ladder leading to the cockpit in position.
"Once you're finished, back off the aircraft!" Vens yelled at the two militiamen as he gripped the ladder, settling into the Mark 2524 ACES ejection seat. "Start the jet up." he said, turning around towards his copilot, who was sitting in the rear seat, which would have been used for instructor pilots, when the T-76 was still being used for that.
Tightly belting himself into the aircraft, Vens looked as the ground crew got clear of the aircraft, and as if on cue, the whine of the two jet engines filled the air, and the jet's glass cockpit lit up. "Let's roll. I'll take us up." Vens said, pulling down and locking the canopy, as his copilot did the same. Slowly throttling up the jet, Vens began taxiing towards the runway. Strapping on his oxygen mask, Vens keyed up his COM. "This is Quill 1. Moving towards the runway. To any civilian traffic, immediately halt any and all attempts at takeoff and landing and yield to military aircraft." he spoke into it as he turned right onto the runway.
As he straightened the T-76, Vens saw something fly low overhead. "The hell was that?!" he exclaimed, and his stomach dropped as he saw a red-orange explosion near the dormitories. "Go!" his copilot yelled, and Vens gripped the throttle, pushing it to its maximum power, sending the T-76 thundering down the runway. Pulling up slightly on the stick, the jet rose into the sky. Flipping the landing gear lever into the "up" position, Vens turned sharply to prevent a lock on him.
Flipping the master arm switch, Vens quickly pressed several buttons in the cockpit, bringing a circular gunsight up on his visor mounted HUD, already set for night vision. "Dropships, above us!" his copilot exclaimed into the COM. Craning his head skyward, Vens saw them. Several D77-TCI 'Pelican' dropships directly over the T-76. "Hang on!" he responded, pushing the throttle forward again, and pulling back on the stick, sending the Talon II rocketing towards the formation. "I've got you..." Vens muttered to himself as he pressed a red button on his control stick, sending a burst of rounds towards one of the dropships.
The rounds found their mark, the craft exploding into flames as Vens' jet flew vertically through the formation. "Hang on tight!" he yelled to his copilot as he turned the jet to the left, and inverted the T-76, pulling back hard on the stick to perform a split-s, bringing the jet right behind the dropships. "BING!" the radar warning receiver chirped. "Crap." Vens muttered, popping countermeasures as he simultaneously pulled the aircraft into a sharp left turn and craned his head around to try and see his foe.
"I got nothing. You see anything?" he asked his copilot.
"Uh...nada." came the response. "Wait! No, I see 'im!" he interjected again.
"Where?"
"On our six! Broadsword!"
"I got it! Hang on, let's see if we can outdo this Oonskie pilot!"
Pulling back on the throttle, Vens tensed his body as he pulled the T-76 into a sharp turn. "He still on our six?" he asked. "Yeah." responded the copilot. "Alright, slowing. Tense up." Vens responded.
Watching the display closely, once the aircraft's speed was what it needed to be, Vens quickly and violently yanked back on the control stick, sending the aircraft vertical and quickly dropping its speed, but keeping its altitude constant. As a result, the Broadsword shot past the Talon II. Pushing the throttle back up, Vens leveled the jet out, and pursued the Broadsword.
"Gotcha!" he muttered as the gunsight moved over the enemy jet. Pressing the red button on his control stick, Vens released a prolonged burst of fire from both cannons. The rounds found their mark. The Broadsword's controlled maneuvering became an uncontrolled spin as it spiraled towards the ground. "I saw it explode." Vens' copilot said several seconds later. "Good kill." he continued.
"Where's the rest of the squadron?" responded Vens.
A crackle came over the radio, and the familiar voice of one of Vens' fellow pilots came over. "Don't worry Al, I've got your back." the voice said. "Good to hear." Vens responded as he turned the Talon II towards Lesno. "What's the word on Oonskie aircraft over the city?" he continued.
"Word from the guys is the Pelicans were dropping airborne troops, but they've gone."
"Any targets then?"
"Yeah, so I've heard a Vulture is coming to destroy the base."
"W-what?"
"Yeah. Radar picked up a big contact, escorted by several other small ones."
"Shouldn't we defend the city first?"
"The airfield is first priority, or else this will be our last sortie."
"Alright then...lead the way."
"Roger that, rocking my wings, follow me in."
Vens scanned the sky, and spotted the aircraft rolling back and forth, before following him in a turn away from the city. It was quiet, peaceful almost, the only noise to Vens being the whine of the aircraft's jet engines, and his own breathing through his oxygen mask. He felt a pit form in his stomach. A Vulture was a veritable flying siegeworks, and with its escorts, destroying it was going to be near impossible.
As Vens looked down as the aircraft passed over the perimeter, an idea came to him. "Hey Sarah, we have ack-ack over the perimeter of the base?" he asked over the COM.
"I think." came the response.
"You have anything other than your cannons?"
"Negatory."
"Alright, we're taking out the escorts, and harassing the Vulture to lure it into the range of the guns."
"Sounds good, let's do it."
"Uh, sorry to break in, but I've got contacts!" interjected Vens' copilot.
"Scatter! Take out the escorts!" yelled Vens.
Locking his aircraft's radar onto one contact, Vens spotted said aircraft in the distance. As the two converged, Vens' stomach dropped. Staring him dead in the face was the Vulture. "YAAAAAAHHHHHH!" yelled Vens in a battle cry as he depressed the red button on the control stick, sending the rest of the Talon II's cannon rounds at the massive craft. "You got the cockpit! Goo-" came the congratulations from his wingman, but Vens never got to hear all of it. An explosion thundered off his port wing, sending the aircraft spinning as if it were in a dice cup.
"Shitshitshitshit!" Vens yelled as he attempted to regain control of his jet while he turned it around. "Hey, give me directions back!" he ordered, turning to his copilot. "Must have been knocked out." Vens thought when no response came. In the distance, Vens could see the faint lights of the taxiway. Looking at his gauges, he saw he was losing speed quickly, and pushed the throttle forward until it began to hold steady.
"Tower, this is Vens, I'm coming in to land on the taxiway."
"Uh...roger that Vens."
Grabbing the yellow handle near his ejection seat, Vens yanked it, and with a thump, the landing gear was forced out. Coming towards the line of lights that marked the taxiway, Vens breathed deeply as he watched the aircraft's speed come dangerously close to stall speed. A squeak sounded as the rubber met the asphalt, but Vens had little time to celebrate as the sound of screeching metal replaced it. "Damnit!" he swore as he cut off fuel flow to both engines, and hung onto the canopy.
Category:Until All Is Lost
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