June 6th, 2017

Operation Free Dove

Satellite footage on the news showed a massive black… it looked like a flying wing. Those kinds of ships hadn’t been used in decades. They became outdated in the 50s and replaced by more effective aircraft designs. The thing is that this one was larger. Much larger. The image was blurry because, well, it was a satellite image, but you could still make it out.

Again, I got a phone call from the military. Drove out to Estheron for the briefing. The airfield wasn’t overactive, but the panic and tension were the same.

We entered the briefing room to get an explanation for being pulled in off our leaves. Highlander was there to give it. Everyone let out a collective sigh when he delivered the news.

Highlander: “The war isn’t over.”

There was the groaning. Highlander continued.

Highlander: "Seventeen hours ago, both Astean and Imperial satellites picked up this image.”

And he brought up the image of the flying wing on screen. It was even bigger on this screen.

Highlander: “Imperial High Command revealed to us what this was. This is the Harbinger. It’s a super-weapon the Empire was developing during the war but didn’t get the chance to launch it by the end of the war. It’s an Aerial Warship, the first of its kind. Two days ago, it was stolen.

The group that stole it was named the Imperial Radicals. According to Imperial sources, they were former Imperial Military personnel that refused to surrender and defected. One of the radicals was captured during the theft of the Harbinger. When he was interrogated, he didn’t give up their goal, but denounced the Empire for “being weak.”

Stronghold spoke up.

Stronghold: “I’m surprised at how willing the Empire is to share this with us barely a full month after Closing Curtain…”

Highlander: “I will admit it’s surprising, but I think they’re trying to cover their own asses in the event of political fallout. They don’t want to take the blame for whatever happens.

Anyway, as I was saying… the Harbinger and the Radicals are heading towards Sapent. We don’t know where they’re heading exactly, but we know where it— “

An airman burst into the room. He looked out of breath.

Airman: “We found the Harbinger! It’s attacking Canerest!”

Highlander: “Canerest? There’s hardly any military presence there.”

Airman: “It’s the capital of the United Provinces. That’s reason enough!”

Highlander: “Goddamn terrorists.”

The airman walked up to Highlander and handed him a file. Highlander looked through it and his eyes narrowed.

Highlander: “New orders! Crucible Squadron is to head to Canerest immediately! You have the only operational aircraft left that can reach Canerest. Get going!”

Highlander ran out of the room, presumably to his aircraft. I rushed out of the room right behind Moneybags and Tally. We were in the air in ten minutes, flying full-burn to Canerest. It took two hours to make it into the area. Two hours too long.

Raindrops pelted our cockpits, making a quiet crack noise every time one contacted. The water would then be whisked away from view, pulled away just as quickly as it had appeared by the sheer speed of the aircraft.

Crucible Squadron descended through the storm. Even in our pressurized and sealed cockpits, wearing their insulated G-suits, they still felt cold. There was a feeling of tension about us. We couldn’t relax. We knew what they were here to do.

Piercing below the cloud layer, we went wide-eyed as we saw it. The city of Canerest in flames. An enormous object hovered above the city, its black underside illuminated by the burning capital.

The Harbinger. Its ominous form cast a colossal shadow over the buildings it was trying to destroy.

It fired its full arsenal at the city. Skyscrapers burned and crumbled. The whole city was ablaze.

Tally: “My God.”

Tally’s words summarized how we all felt. Looking back now, I saw this chillingly similar to New Grace. Then I knew what it felt like to be on the receiving end of all of this. If karma was a person, I would kick them in the balls.

Looking back now, I think I may have deserved it. Just a little bit. But I was sure beyond a doubt that nobody else in the city deserved it. A single plane orbited around the black aerial warship.

A Su-57D Marauder.

Maestro.

Maestro: “The Astean Empire was a peaceful nation. When we tried to establish peace, you killed any chance of that with our diplomat. Remember that all of this, all this death and destruction, is your fault. You drove us to this. This is vengeance for our Empire!

Your greatest monsters are the ones you make yourselves.”

He singled out Crucible 1 as usual. 1 started to engage but gave us an order first.

Crucible 1: “Crucible, destroy the airship! That’s the only thing that matters! Take it down!”

We turned away from the third dance between these two pilots and engaged the airship. The airship unleashed its many defensive measures onto us. Flak guns. Anti-aircraft guns. CIWS. All mounted on an airship that is staying aloft by some Imperial engineering witchcraft. Oh! I almost forgot they also had railguns!

Railguns. These were relatively new weapons that had only made their appearance in the last decade or so. It wasn’t very widely used for two reasons: They were expensive, and they destroyed they eroded their barrels if fired too much, making them very inconvenient for combat use. Frankly, I didn’t think railguns would be used for another decade or three.

But then again, I felt the same about the idea of aerial warships. That ought to teach me.

The first shot made a loud crack as it broke the sound barrier immediately after it fired. We swerved to avoid the next two shots. The second shot sailed off into the sky and the third shot impacted with a skyscraper, causing an explosion and part of the building collapsed, with debris sliding off the side of it and falling to the street below.

It then started firing its wide array of other weapons at us. I dodged bullet sprays and flak clouds as we continued to approach the airship. Speaking from experience, battleships are tough bastards to down. But battleships don’t fly.

If we could take out this thing’s engines, it would turn from a flying fortress into a brick really fast. All we had to do was hit it.

Yeah. Easier said than done.

Stronghold: “We can’t approach that thing without taking out its weapons!”

A spray of bullets grazed my wing. I lined up with one of the Harbinger’s missile launchers and pressed the button to fire a missile.

Nothing. Shit. Should have remembered. We left in such a hurry to get here we didn’t have time to load missiles or bombs onto our planes. The only weapons we had were whatever bullets were still left in our plane’s guns. I looked down at my dashboard. I was down to thirty. That was barely a second of fire.

Another railgun shot soared by me and sheared the left wing off Tally’s Phantom.

Tally: “Damnit! I’m hit! I can’t keep this up. Ejecting!”

She ejected from her plane, parachuting safely down to the city as her plane disappeared into the flames.

Moneybags: “I’m out of flares!”

Just as he said that a missile hit his plane and he was forced to eject, too, his aircraft careening into a skyscraper.

1 was still busy fighting Maestro.

Stronghold: “Come on. We just got to hit its engines. That’s all it’ll take. It’s up to you, Rookie. I’m all out of ammo!”

Yeah. No pressure.

Another shot grazed my cockpit, cracking the windshield and setting off a dozen different alarms on the dashboard, illuminating my cockpit with an unsettling red hue.

I lined up with the Harbinger’s engines and fired. But nothing happened. I still had my thirty shots left. My gun was jammed.

Me: “Damnit! My gun’s jammed! I can’t shoot!”

There was a moment of silence as we both realized what this meant. We couldn’t down the airship. 1 and Maestro were still going at it. It was down to us, and we had failed. Then I heard Stronghold speak up over the comms.

Stronghold: “Rookie?”

There was a long moment of silence. She had a very emotional tone in her voice, as if she was saying this while crying.

Stronghold: “Tell my story...”

That was the last thing she said. Before I knew it, she had rammed her plane into the Harbinger. An explosion erupted out of the airship’s engines as the titan dreadnought plummeted to the Earth. It fell to the city below and detonated once it hit the ground. It was followed by a blinding white flash of light that filled the sky.

Every building within twelve blocks of the airship crash was either flattened or vaporized by the explosion. A blossom of fire and smoke bloomed up around it.

I could barely think through what had just happened. It had all happened so fast, and I felt so... helpless to do anything about it. In that moment. Two words came to me through the tears.

Me: “I will.”

I turned my attention back to the fight between Crucible 1 and Maestro. Maestro’s aircraft was falling, breaking into pieces with each second. Over the comms, I heard Maestro’s last words to 1. He sounded like he was in pain, wounded from the battle.

Maestro: “Crucible 1... Your skills are unlike anything… I have ever seen. Truly… legendary…”

His plane exploded shortly after he got his last words out. There was no chute. He was dead.

I wish I could say I felt a sense of peace about any of this. We had just taken out the Radicals. Their aerial warship was destroyed, and their best pilot had been killed. Their plans had been foiled.

But had they? As I looked around the burning skylines of Canerest, it didn’t feel like we had won. Not even close. The city still burned. Thousands had still died and Stronghold… my best friend… was dead.

I flew back to base that night and cried myself to sleep.