Once upon a time in a Transition World...
The World of Transition Presents: The Familial Skies
- Thread starter Mister Anemone
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Opening
Mister Anemone
"Dab Master is just Cyn wearing Drew's clothing."
- Pronouns
- She/They
[INITIALIZING...COMPLETE]
[WELCOME BACK, FLA_95]
[PLAY LOG #71]
Many names would call this particular phenomenon that saw nations, cities, towns, and even families from different universes - both real and fictional works - finding themselves on an empty planet that is filling-up overtime (and would continue, sparsely, even after it had filled up): ISOT, Mass Teleportation, Transference, Great Exchange, Trapped In Time, etc.
Except for one name that the world would officially call it: the Transition.
The Transitioned world - as it was officially called by its inhabitants - was very known in its early years as the days where both Real Life (or Legacy, as the people coming from that universe, would like to call it that way) and Fictionland would collide through cultural exchanges and establishing relationships with each other...while at the same time, engaging on bloody wars to each other, especially the empowered ones such as Goku, Ruby Rose, Superman, etc, over things such as petty reasons or the way their world, both Real Life or Fictionland, works.
But as time passes, and the aftermath of those bloody conflicts has become such of concern for both Real Life/Fictionland entities and nations that could entail an end-of-the-world scenario for the Transitioned World (especially after the destructive Yellow Triangle War of Aggression, Voldemort's Rampage, and Grand Brotherhood of Nod War) in the next coming years, the world itself has encountered a turning point that changed the way how the war would work in the Transitioned World, forever...
The Belkan War.
A war that stemmed from various reasons such as glory, despair, and many more; the Belkan War not only saw the full decline of empowered-influenced conflicts that plagued the early years of the Transitioned World, but it also introduced to the world (alongside the arrival of Ijitsu) of the type of warfare that some saw it as a blessing and others as a curse that would permanently shaped the geopolitics of the Transitioned World, for better and for worst.
Aerial warfare.
An warfare to end all warfares.
[END OF LOG #71]
-=-=-=-=-
[INITIALIZING...COMPLETE]
[WELCOME TO THE INTERNATIONAL AERIAL GUILD SYSTEM - PILOT REPOSITORY]
[ACCESSING PILOT LOG - #AW1728]
[...OPEN]
Pilot Name: [REDACTED FOR SECURITY REASONS]
TAC-Name: Filia
Birthplace: [REDACTED FOR SECURITY REASONS]
Trained In: Cloudfall Academy, Pacifican Core State, Pacific Federation
Employment Status: [REDACTED PER PILOT'S REQUEST]
Well-known Deployment(s):
-. Sixth Equestrian-Pacifican Border War
-. Great South African War
-. Third Tributary War
-. Operation Gold Mine
-. Disorder Crisis
-. Spratly Island Tension
-. Boiling Isle Insurrection
-. River Republic Civil War
[WELCOME BACK, FLA_95]
[PLAY LOG #71]
Many names would call this particular phenomenon that saw nations, cities, towns, and even families from different universes - both real and fictional works - finding themselves on an empty planet that is filling-up overtime (and would continue, sparsely, even after it had filled up): ISOT, Mass Teleportation, Transference, Great Exchange, Trapped In Time, etc.
Except for one name that the world would officially call it: the Transition.
The Transitioned world - as it was officially called by its inhabitants - was very known in its early years as the days where both Real Life (or Legacy, as the people coming from that universe, would like to call it that way) and Fictionland would collide through cultural exchanges and establishing relationships with each other...while at the same time, engaging on bloody wars to each other, especially the empowered ones such as Goku, Ruby Rose, Superman, etc, over things such as petty reasons or the way their world, both Real Life or Fictionland, works.
But as time passes, and the aftermath of those bloody conflicts has become such of concern for both Real Life/Fictionland entities and nations that could entail an end-of-the-world scenario for the Transitioned World (especially after the destructive Yellow Triangle War of Aggression, Voldemort's Rampage, and Grand Brotherhood of Nod War) in the next coming years, the world itself has encountered a turning point that changed the way how the war would work in the Transitioned World, forever...
The Belkan War.
A war that stemmed from various reasons such as glory, despair, and many more; the Belkan War not only saw the full decline of empowered-influenced conflicts that plagued the early years of the Transitioned World, but it also introduced to the world (alongside the arrival of Ijitsu) of the type of warfare that some saw it as a blessing and others as a curse that would permanently shaped the geopolitics of the Transitioned World, for better and for worst.
Aerial warfare.
An warfare to end all warfares.
[END OF LOG #71]
-=-=-=-=-
[INITIALIZING...COMPLETE]
[WELCOME TO THE INTERNATIONAL AERIAL GUILD SYSTEM - PILOT REPOSITORY]
[ACCESSING PILOT LOG - #AW1728]
[...OPEN]
Pilot Name: [REDACTED FOR SECURITY REASONS]
TAC-Name: Filia
Birthplace: [REDACTED FOR SECURITY REASONS]
Trained In: Cloudfall Academy, Pacifican Core State, Pacific Federation
Employment Status: [REDACTED PER PILOT'S REQUEST]
Well-known Deployment(s):
-. Sixth Equestrian-Pacifican Border War
-. Great South African War
-. Third Tributary War
-. Operation Gold Mine
-. Disorder Crisis
-. Spratly Island Tension
-. Boiling Isle Insurrection
-. River Republic Civil War
Prologue - Part 1 (Briefing/Operation Sand Storm)
Mister Anemone
"Dab Master is just Cyn wearing Drew's clothing."
- Pronouns
- She/They
Contract Code: #PGSF-9
Operation Name: Sand Storm
Contract Given To: Horizon Aerial Security Inc.
Contractor: Persian Gulf Security Force
Mission Details
- Relieve the last remaining operational oil refinery from insurgent attacks.
-=-=-=-=-
[RECORDING...PLAY]
Slash: I have never expected a single moment just as we enjoy the last day of our contract with the Persian Gulf Security Force before we move on to better things. But, at least it's a miracle that our company could earn a couple of dough of the last chosen sortie before we are going to leave the dunes, glass towers, and fancy oasis that the United Arab Emirates has to offer.
Shadow Team, since you haven't got much deployment time unlike other teams of this company, you are going to take point on an urgent job that the contact has given to us after the supposed contract with another mercenary squadron has fallen wayside due to some...unfortunate problems that they currently have. So listen carefully in the briefing.
Unit Briefer: Twelve hours ago, we received a distress signal coming from an oil refinery complex known as Ember Sector, currently owned by Schnee Industries and its security of the aforementioned complex was currently manned by a well-esteemed private military group known as Epele General Security Inc, just tens of kilometers away from the city of Al-Jubail in neighboring Saudi Arabia.
The analysis of the distress signal reveals that they are being attacked by an notorious insurgent group, Eternal Winds of the Night, whose MO is to conduct numerous raids in various oil refinery complexes in the Persian Gulf region in exchange for extortion so that they could fund their war machine in raids after raids in the future. All in the name of keeping lands away from the so called 'infidels'.
Due to some unfortunate circumstances that the Epele General Security Inc. have experienced right now, such as the unavailability of their high-quality mercenary teams such as Nature Team and Wild Team as of this moment, is the reason why we took the offer in the first place.
Shadow Team, you are tasked to keep the insurgents out of the Ember Sector and destroy its oncoming waves of reinforcements from supporting the first wave of attackers; it is imperative to keep that particular oil refinery complex safe, now that it is confirmed through additional distress signals that the insurgents have destroyed two of the three facilities in the complex during the attacks, leaving the last one operational and the surviving EGS ground unit, Desdemona, trapped. Keep the complex safe until reinforcements have arrived.
Keep in mind, according to some reputable sources, that the Eternal Winds of the Night have several pilots, both mercenary and homegrown, on standby; just in case their usual MO has suddenly gone wrong.
Slash: Before the five of you proceed to your respective planes; I am gonna remind you right now, because of some...personal things that led to a hotshot pilot of the team leaving the company, that the blonde-haired woman in this room, Filia, will become the new leader of the Shadow Team. I hoped all of you enjoyed her being a new leader. Dismissed.
[...]
Slash: Hey, blondie, proceed to your plane right now. Don't say that I owe you my help back in Boiling Isle two years ago. There's a reason why you are in this company right now. And that's because of me.
Good luck out there.
[END OF RECORDING]
-=-=-=-=-
Inventory
Plane: MiG-29S
Weaponry: STDM/MLAG (2x)/MLAG-2 (2x)/MLAA-2 (2x)
Operation Name: Sand Storm
Contract Given To: Horizon Aerial Security Inc.
Contractor: Persian Gulf Security Force
Mission Details
- Relieve the last remaining operational oil refinery from insurgent attacks.
-=-=-=-=-
[RECORDING...PLAY]
Slash: I have never expected a single moment just as we enjoy the last day of our contract with the Persian Gulf Security Force before we move on to better things. But, at least it's a miracle that our company could earn a couple of dough of the last chosen sortie before we are going to leave the dunes, glass towers, and fancy oasis that the United Arab Emirates has to offer.
Shadow Team, since you haven't got much deployment time unlike other teams of this company, you are going to take point on an urgent job that the contact has given to us after the supposed contract with another mercenary squadron has fallen wayside due to some...unfortunate problems that they currently have. So listen carefully in the briefing.
Unit Briefer: Twelve hours ago, we received a distress signal coming from an oil refinery complex known as Ember Sector, currently owned by Schnee Industries and its security of the aforementioned complex was currently manned by a well-esteemed private military group known as Epele General Security Inc, just tens of kilometers away from the city of Al-Jubail in neighboring Saudi Arabia.
The analysis of the distress signal reveals that they are being attacked by an notorious insurgent group, Eternal Winds of the Night, whose MO is to conduct numerous raids in various oil refinery complexes in the Persian Gulf region in exchange for extortion so that they could fund their war machine in raids after raids in the future. All in the name of keeping lands away from the so called 'infidels'.
Due to some unfortunate circumstances that the Epele General Security Inc. have experienced right now, such as the unavailability of their high-quality mercenary teams such as Nature Team and Wild Team as of this moment, is the reason why we took the offer in the first place.
Shadow Team, you are tasked to keep the insurgents out of the Ember Sector and destroy its oncoming waves of reinforcements from supporting the first wave of attackers; it is imperative to keep that particular oil refinery complex safe, now that it is confirmed through additional distress signals that the insurgents have destroyed two of the three facilities in the complex during the attacks, leaving the last one operational and the surviving EGS ground unit, Desdemona, trapped. Keep the complex safe until reinforcements have arrived.
Keep in mind, according to some reputable sources, that the Eternal Winds of the Night have several pilots, both mercenary and homegrown, on standby; just in case their usual MO has suddenly gone wrong.
Slash: Before the five of you proceed to your respective planes; I am gonna remind you right now, because of some...personal things that led to a hotshot pilot of the team leaving the company, that the blonde-haired woman in this room, Filia, will become the new leader of the Shadow Team. I hoped all of you enjoyed her being a new leader. Dismissed.
[...]
Slash: Hey, blondie, proceed to your plane right now. Don't say that I owe you my help back in Boiling Isle two years ago. There's a reason why you are in this company right now. And that's because of me.
Good luck out there.
[END OF RECORDING]
-=-=-=-=-
Inventory
Plane: MiG-29S
Weaponry: STDM/MLAG (2x)/MLAG-2 (2x)/MLAA-2 (2x)
GamingandReading
Browses and Replies With Haste
- Pronouns
- He/Him
What were they fighting over? I mean, I can infer some reasons. Killing threats, how to fight crime, the danger of uncontrolled Supers, etc. But, those are pretty stupid reasons. Especially since in DB Planet Busting is f@cking dangerous as all hell, Krillin is part of a legal police force, and most of the Z fighters are part of society like you or me.
Pretty same reasons for RWBY. Huntsmen are legal, fight for the greater good, are in training, etc.
I just want to know why the fighting instead of talking to each other about their worlds?
Mister Anemone
"Dab Master is just Cyn wearing Drew's clothing."
- Pronouns
- She/They
Typical for ISOT Map Games that you saw in AH.Com - there will be misunderstanding and war in the early days of the post-ISOT world.
GamingandReading
Browses and Replies With Haste
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Oh~. A new term, did an extensive search, I got it.
Still would like to see what caused the fighting, instead of an espionage/benefits run chapter. But, it's kay I guess. I'll wait for "The Process".
Prologue - Part 2 (Sortie/Operation: Sand Storm)
Mister Anemone
"Dab Master is just Cyn wearing Drew's clothing."
- Pronouns
- She/They
Prologue - Part 2
A First Step
Last Day (Day 27) Of The Current Contract | Operation Sand Storm
| 27°23'53'N, 48°41'35'E
| Weather: Clear
| 73.8 Kilometers Away From City Of Al-Jubail, Saudi Arabia
| Ember Sector, Schnee Industries Oil Refinery Complex #2
| 5:28pm - Local Time
-=-=-=-=-
The sun had begun to set at this point, just as the flight of 5 planes - 4 fighter planes and a single E-7 Wedgetail AWACS plane - was cruising above the desert sands of Saudi Arabia after taking off from an airbase back in the neighboring nation of United Arab Emirates.
It was an uneventful flight to the AO for the newly appointed leader of the Shadow Team, Filia, aside from a few small talks and banters between the pilots of the team that she became a leader of it after the pilot who once sat on this position, Firefly, wasn't pretty much liked by everyone in the team; especially Prince, a mercenary who once lived a sheltered life back in the Canopy Kingdom…and the one who always throw smugness or petty insults to fellow pilots of the company everytime the aerial teams went into countless sorties in different parts of the world.
But at least, not as worse as Firefly's ego, that is completely inflated achievements that he liked to brag about to everyone and, if one anyone managed to "scratch" his egoistic feeling, then it's a recipe for brawl between fellow mercenary pilots in the company she is part of. Something that Filia couldn't completely understand the mercenary culture it contained after she became part of it for…at least hundreds of years now.
Speaking of Canopy Kingdom, she missed going back to that particular nation that was located in the Cascadia region that the Legacy people would like to call it after many, many, years after she left over a reason that she wanted to forget in the first place.
A reason that is too complex and too emotional to describe it.
Just as they currently flying towards the AO, of which they could see a huge, billowing black smoke far away that is coming from the two oil refineries that were destroyed by the insurgents on the ground as described in the briefing in the distance, a voice came up on their comms that completely broke-up the near silence during the uneventful flight throughout the endless sands.
??? : Hello, Shadow Team. Sorry if the old geezer wasn't here in his usual position.
[Prince: Huh? Wait happened?] Prince, flying on a Su-35S that is sporting black-red lines that nearly covered the plane alongside a white circle with a black umbrella in its middle that was painted on its tail, said with some worry on his tone.
A voice of a woman flying on an F-14D that was minimally decorated with a single black stripe on its left swing-wing and an emblem that consisted of a pencil with wings on it, came into the comms and replied. [??? : Come on, Prince. You should know it already. Shirley has told me that Dragonaut left the building 'cause he's getting too old of being an AWACS operator for us.]
Prince: Wh-what? What do you say, Rum?
[???: She means that you should stop drinking alcohol every time we are on the ground.] A voice of a middle-aged man - and Rum's WSO - replied in annoyance.
Prince: Come on, Journalist! I'm just asking for it!
[???: Hey, hey! Can both of you stop with the insults for a moment, please? Just let my formalities kink out first before I introduce myself to the five of you.] The AWACS operator called out both of them with some frustration in her tone over the usual insult war between Prince and Rum/Journalist in every sortie that the Shadow Team has undertaken for many years now.
[???: Go ahead, I'm tired of seeing those two pilots throwing words at each other.] Another voice of a woman, this time flying an F-16C that was sporting a camo that could be only seen in the Israeli Air Force (except for its roundels) whose aforementioned plane was currently in service and an old microphone emblem on its tail, said.
The AWACS operator sighed for the moment.
AWACS Aileen: Alright. This is your friendly Aerial Warning and Control System Aileen, and I will be your guide for this sortie. Is everyone on the clock right now? Pilots of the plane that I am currently in told me that they could see two huge black smokes at a distance right now.
Prince: Good. Shadow 2, punching in.
Rum: This is Rum. Shadow 3 is ready for tasking whenever I and Shirley go-
Journalist: What about me?
Rum: Oh yeah, I always forgot about you.
Opera: This is your lovely songbird, Opera! Shadow 4, I'm fragged in right now.
Prince: 'lovely songbird', huh? You aren't that lovely when someone steals your kills-
[Opera: *groaned in annoyance* Cut it, Prince! Nobody asked!] Opera groaned in annoyance at his stealth insults to everyone in the Shadow Team.
AWACS Aileen: It seems that everyone is ready; what about Filia?
[Prince: Her?] Prince replied, just as the flight have finally slid into the AO; the HUDs of their planes immediately show a column of enemy ground units - consisting of T-72s, Technicals, and several Grads - and some Little Bird attack helicopters that are currently pounding the last remaining facility in the distance. [Prince: She doesn't want to talk to everyone. Rummy said that it could break the blondie's composure, especially during the sorties we were in.]
AWACS Aileen: Oh? I never expected that all of you would tolerate her eerie silence in every sortie that the company has done.
Opera: We basically tolerated since she had the backing from the Boss himself after she came into this company after begging her to do so.
Journalist: Or rather, the Boss helped her back in Boiling Isle two years ago, right?
Opera: Yeah.
Prince: I hear favoritism from him. Christ, pfft.
Rum: Calm your nerves for a while, Prince. Shirley isn't completely happy right now with you.
Prince said nothing of it.
EGS Ground Unit #1: What?! What do you mean we have four unknown bogeys inbound?! We're screwed, Jimmy, we're screwed!
Filia simply smiled at Prince's comments about her, for she admits to herself that talking too much could spill some things that she doesn't want her wingman to know about her past and everything...including the 50-year-old MiG-29S - sporting invasion stripes on its wings and an emblem that consist of a grinning emoji that is placed upside down - that she was currently in.
After noticing a group of targets that are showing on her HUDs, which are currently surrounding the last remaining facility of the complex that contained several 'blue' squares that indicate trapped friendly units that are fighting to keep the last facility operational before reinforcement. Filia immediately throttled her plane away from the flight and fired a single MLAG-2 salvo (which consisted of four missiles each) that destroyed 3 technicals and a T-72 in an instant before looping back and popping two Little Birds with two STDMs.
EGS Ground Unit #1: Wha-what the fuck is that?
EGS Ground Unit #2: Negative, Desdemona 2-1, that just a friendly merc helping us out after bosses leaving us out here to dry.
[AWACS Aileen: Wait a sec, Filia is engaging right now without telling the rest of her team?!] Aileen said with some concern on her side. She sighed for a moment [AWACS Aileen: Alright then. Shadow Team, weapons free on those insurgents!]
[Opera: Righto. That's our cue to act right now, Aileen. You should expect that one.] Opera replied just as she took out the remaining Little Bird in the air with guns and two T-72s with missiles.
[Rum: Yeah. Shirley is right about it, I'm going to engage.] Rum said, banking towards a column of 4 Grads that are currently pounding the facility and destroyed it after dropping a single UGBL (Unguided Bomb - Large) on it. While Filia went on to destroy another column of 4 Grads that were located on the now ruined oil refinery with a single salvo of MLAG-2.
Journalist: Right on the jackpot, Rummy!
Rum: Thanks. Shirley likes that.
<<Insurgent: What?! The infidels have sent in air support to take us out! Inform those bats to do their jobs right now! >>
EGS Ground Unit #3: Thanks for those fairies in the skies. Too bad our superiors wouldn't want their top-notch Wild and Nature Teams to send them here to help us.
EGS Ground Unit #1: Yeah. Too busy to do anything. Pfft.
[Prince: Me too. Nice seeing those insurgents for a while, not the monsters[1] that I've always seen in this region] Prince belatedly said, taking out the last two technicals with a combination of missiles and guns.
[Opera: I don't like them a lot.] Opera replied, moving on to try and destroy the last remaining T-72 that was attacking the facility before Filia stole it and took a kill for herself. Opera would have nevertheless grunted at stealing her desired kill, but well-knowing who Filia is in person, so she decided to let it slide instead and link up with Filia's Fulcrum on its tail.
Prince: Why?
Opera: Don't ask.
EGS Ground Unit #2: That's the last of their support! Desdemona 4-7, pop the MGs to those insurgents with AKs on their hands!
EGS Ground Unit #4: But we're gonna run out of our-
EGS Ground Unit #2: Ignore it. We'll show those so-called 'Eternal Winds' for attacking a fortress like this!
<<Insurgent: Stand your ground! Stand your ground! Allah will protect all of you when time comes. I've called our fellow brothers to help us.>>
AWACS Aileen: That's probably the last of those insurgents, Shadow Team. But put on standby mode for a while just in case the insurgents have sent in their reinforcements. I'm gonna contact the ground commander for some important updates. So stay tuned.
Just as the Shadow Team reformed its flight formation after a quick pass on those insurgents in the ground, the voice - probably the commander of the Desdemona unit that is currently taking shelter on the last facility - spoke through the comms that nearly made Filia jumped on her seat for the possibility that the insurgents could send reinforcements at any moment now.
EGS Ground Unit Commander: This is Major Nathan Webb of the Desdemona Ground Unit of the Epele General Security Inc. Glad you finally arrived to help kick those insurgents out of this complex, Horizon. They have completely destroyed two of the three oil refineries here in the sector, and we can't risk those insurgents destroying this facility; so we managed to fortify this facility with the remaining members of my unit until friendly reinforcements arrived. Don't worry, we have mostly evacuated the civs out of this sector...but we are going to run out of ammunition, rockets, and shells for our two howitzers on this facility. The last remaining Abrams tank that we have placed in the entrance of this facility have been completely destroyed by those insurgents before you arrived, so provide air support for us as possible. Thanks.
[AWACS Aileen: Thank you, chief. Much appreciated.] Aileen said in assurance before closing-off the frequency between the two. [AWACS Aileen: Alright, Shadow Team. Back to work. I have finally detected the first wave of reinforcements coming into the facility, coming from due west, hot. Mostly ground units. Just the right time...*sigh*]
[Prince: Again?!] Prince said in annoyance. [Prince: I'm a good pilot! Only taking out planes! Not the mud that dirtied my clothes off!]
[Rum: Try to put that in practice, Prince.] Rum replied in annoyance just like him. [Rum: Shirley doesn't like to get annoyed by you and your useless ego!]
Prince: Tell Shirley to screw it off!
[Journalist: Here we go again...] Journalist said with a sigh in its tone just as the Rum/Journalist's Tomcat and the Prince's Flanker-E glued to each other, despite the usual bicker between the two, and picked-up speed towards the oncoming reinforcements.
As Filia is currently moving her Fulcrum to the path where two column, one consisting of obsolete T-55s and the other consisting of two Technicals and two Grads, are currently located and are on the move towards the facility just like the others; she glanced Opera's Viper moving on her right.
[Opera: Hey blondie, are you willing to help out?] Opera suddenly asked her out of nowhere that nearly broke the composure of not talking to everyone that Filia kept it up ever since she joined Horizon Aerial Security Incorporated, thanks to the numerous (and sometimes, persuasive) offers that the founder and the CEO of the company, John Herbert; also known by its TAC-Name as "Slash", given to her after the latter helped her on an international-supported operation that stomped-out an attempted insurrection in the Boiling Isle and her second encounter with him and his company during her short stint in the last days of the civil war on the River Republic.
It seems that fate has pleaded with her to stop running away from things that shouldn't run away from it.
After she gives an 'okay' sign to Opera, signifying that she is willing to help her in an attempt to take out the incoming reinforcements, Filia then move in to make a long pass that involves firing two salvos of MLAG-2 and a machine gun fire towards the insurgent convoys; resulting in the demolition of the aforementioned two columns and another one after she looped her plane back and destroyed another column of reinforcements, consists of two T-72s and two Shilkas that she expertly manoeuvred her busted-up Fulcrum when the guns began firing towards her, which completely exhausted the supply of the MLAG-2 and went on to take out a flight of Little Birds with STDMs and machine gun fire instead.
AWACS Aileen: Shadow 1 has completely destroyed half of the enemy reinforcements!
<<Insurgent 1#: Wait, what?! What do you mean we're getting killed out there?! It's impossible that those infidels have the sky right now!>>
<<Insurgent 2#: Where the hell is our air support?!>>
[Opera: Nice moves out there, blondie! I'm going to engage as well!] Opera said with amazement on her face, as she destroyed another two columns of reinforcements (one of them consists mostly of troop trucks and the other a mix of two Grads, one Technical, and one Shilka that barely scratched Opera's Viper as a result) with STDMs and machine gun fire before leveling up and went back to Filia's tail.
<<Insurgent: For Allah's sake, don't stop! Don't stop! We'll show those infidels on how we work out on this land!>>
EGS Ground Commander: I could see far out with my binoculars and I didn't expect those boys and girls of Horizon to keep those pesky insurgents away from us.
Seeing that the other two worked it each other to take out the oncoming reinforcements, Prince moved in to take out three column of reinforcements each with a single drop of UBGL and went back to take out a column of troop trucks by shredding it with machine gun fire, since he believed that wasting STDM is such a wasteful effort on taking out such defenseless vehicles. As Prince finished his turn, Rum/Journalist went on with another pass of its own, wiping out another three column of reinforcements with another drop of UGBL, of which one of them have an single SA-6 Gainful as its escorts that forced Rum/Journalist's bulky Tomcat to expertly dodge the missile that is tracking them.
[Journalist: Damn those AA missiles!] Journalist groaned as they managed to recover after being locked-on and finally took out the last remaining flight of reinforcements that consisted of 4 MI-8 Hip transport helicopters. Completely wiping-out the first wave of reinforcements that the insurgents currently have.
<<Insurgent: Dammit!>> A completely saddened insurgent suddenly spoke on the comm that was strangely picked-up on Shadow Team's comms, possibly witnessing the burning wrecks of Hips that crashed back to earth. <<Insurgent: I've lost my little brother Fahid out there! We should call off the attack right now!>>
<<Insurgent Commander: We can't! The more we retreat from the battle, the more the infidels could rip away our land in the future. We've got our brothers on our backs, Allah will promise that…>>
<<Insurgent: Damn you, Mutahar.>>
EGS Ground Commander: Woohoo! The insurgents are beginning to hurt themselves right now! Keep it up!
[Prince: You should have bought some high-end plane of your own.] Prince said with a smug in its tone.
[Rum: What the fuck are you talkin' about, little Prince?] Rum replied, already irritated by his smugness and his endless banter towards them. [Rum: You think that buying a high-end plane that could perfectly manoeuvre like yours is a good idea? Well guess what, Prince, Shirley have told me that we bought this plane for an approximately-]
Then Aileen cuts both of them off after another round of insult war between the two. [AWACS Aileen: Can you please shut-the-fuck-up both of you for a while, please?! I am completely tired hearing both of you bickering to each other on this sortie at this point that I nearly forced myself to change IFF status to both of your planes to hostiles. Don't try and test me! Especially you, Prince!]
Prince: Okay! Okay! I am calming myself down! Happy now?.
Opera: That serves you right, Prince.
As soon as another round of bickering between the two finicky pilots stopped, their flight radars immediately highlighted another wave of reinforcements, now with the support of ground attack planes and its single fighter escort that Aileen immediately noticed.
AWACS Aileen: Shadow Team to ALCON, I have detected another wave of reinforcement columns coming on hot. I have also detected three aerial groups coming from bearing 120, 90, and 60 simultaneously.
Prince: BD please?
AWACS Aileen: Based on IFF signatures: 6 AMX International ground-attack planes and 4 MiG-21s. Unknown type of IFF signal, so they're probably stolen by the insurgents or unregistered mercenary IFFs.
Prince: Mud movers, huh? Those insurgents are getting desperate to take out that last facility.
Journalist: Those insurgents are willing to die for it. Just to bleed those oil barons like Schnee Industries[2] of money every year.
Rum: Yeah. Shirley's right.
EGS Ground Commander: This is it, boys! This is what those so-called 'Eternal Winds' have in their arsenal to try and take out this castle. Go into your positions!...I-I don't care if we don't have available tubes for our TOWs in positions, nor ammo belts for our MGs. Move our wounded to the basement right now; for this our final last stand!
Opera: Filia, me and you will go and take out those mud movers so that we can refocus destroying those ground units, okay?
Filia said nothing just as the flight of four eventually split up with Prince and Rum/Journalist together going towards the approaching reinforcements while Filia and Opera peeled-off and went towards the incoming flights of ground-attack planes and its escorts on the other side of the AO.
[Opera: Righto then, blondie.] Opera said in response to Filia's "passive" response to her concocted plan.
<<Insurgent #1: Shit! I didn't expect for infidels on the skies wearing crusader armor at the first place!>>
<<Insurgent #2: Don't you worry, brother. Allah has blessed us with more power that we could kick those infidels out…*sigh* even if it wasn't for some foreign infidels wearing sheep's clothing that our commander sent us here.>>
<<Insurgent Pilot #1: May Allah guide me this time.>>
<<Insurgent Pilot #2: Wh-what?! Shit! We're pinged! Evade, eva->>, the insurgent pilot said its final last words after their AMX Internationals was hit by a volley of three MLAA-2s that rocketed out from Filia's Fulcrum, though it completely missed an MiG-21 after it managed to dump its flare from the oncoming missile.
[AWACS Aileen: Two missiles connected and one missile trashed, Filia.] Aileen said in response as Filia managed to fly behind the completely scared escort and shredded it with machine gun fire, completely killing the pilot before zooming the completely damaged plane down to its destruction.
[Opera: I've taken out another group, Aileen. Three kills on my shoulder!] Opera happily said after nailing an AMX International and MiG-21 with a machine gun before turning back and blowing another former plane in the rear with two standards.
AWACS Aileen: Noted, Opera. One aerial group remained in the sector and they will be no factor in no time.
Opera: Righto.
<<Insurgent Commander: What?! W-we've suddenly lost our air support so quickly? We cannot keep-up at this point!>>
<<Insurgent: You should have told that to yourself a while ago.>>
Meanwhile, Prince dove in towards two reinforcement columns, one consist of 4 T-55s and 1 Technical and the other consist of 6 troop trucks, and destroyed with a single drop of UGBL before moving away to let Rum/Journalist drop the same huge unguided bomb towards another two columns of reinforcements on the ground before leveling up.
<<Insurgent #1: For Allah's sake, let's get out of here!...Don't you see that I saw a vehicle blown-up in front of my face?!>>
<<Insurgent Commander: What the hell are you doing? Stop retreating! You are abandoning the fight!>>
<<Insurgent 2#: I'd rather stay with my family back in Karbala rather than getting killed by those infidels or eaten alive by those Monsters out here.>>
[Opera: Blondie, I'll go take out those ants on the ground while you take out those four remaining bandits. Just wanna help, just in case.] Opera said to Filia as she went and destroyed a column of 4 BTR-80s and another lone SA-6 Gainful that barely locked-on unto the Viper before being blown up into smithereens.
Complying with what Opera said to her, Filia immediately throttled towards the remaining four insurgent planes in the air before firing another valley of MLAA-2 towards them. Two AMX Internationals and a MiG-21 was destroyed, leaving the remaining escort that attempted to down Filia with its machine gun head-on, but she dodged the escort's way and forced to conduct some manoeuvres here and there to try and tail that escort, of which she didn't expect for an insurgent pilot to have that kind of skills in the field for a while, before managing to down it with two standards and some machine gun fire.
<<Insurgent Pilot: Losing control of my plane! I'm with Allah->>
AWACS Aileen: Sweet! All enemy air units in the AO are no factor! Great job, Opera and Filia.
Opera: You have our thanks, Ail.
[Prince: Woohoo! I'm enjoying this rollercoaster ride!] Prince said with excitement on its tone after destroying another two columns on the ground with the last of its UGBL loadout.
[Rum: Enjoying that much after you teased me so much?] Rum said in her irritated tone, just as she and the Journalist managed to take out a column of Grads with its last UGBL as well.
Journalist: Can you please shut it for a while, Rummy? Even Shirley would be scared at herself if Ail actually goes off on her imagined threat.
Prince: Listed to the old man behind you, Rum.
Irritated at this point after so much bickering throughout the sortie, Rum replied in an irritated tone. [Rum: Fine!]
After conducting several passes towards the endless ground columns and destroying incoming several strike fighters and its nimble escorts that the Shadow Team have to undertake, and emptying some of its current load-out for this simple sortie, the insurgents on the ground and in the air as well decided to call it quits on trying to destroy the last remaining facility that is evidently being heavily defended by mercenary pilots on the air right now.
<<Insurgent Commander: …We don't have a choice, brother. We lost half of our army to those crusaders in the sky. That's an order. It's official.>>
[Prince: Ail, hey Ail! Take a look at this!] Prince called her as he glanced on the ground that the several reinforcement columns began to tail and flee from the combat zone that they formerly sucked in.
AWACS Aileen: Wait a sec…Holy shit. I have never expected that one. The insurgents have begun to retreat out of the Ember Sector. I repeat, the insurgents have halted their attacks on the Ember Sector right now and they are completely withdrawing from the AO as of this moment.
EGS Ground Commander: This does mean we are finally safe now that the so-called 'Eternal Winds' have finally retreated?
[AWACS Aileen: Definitely speaking, chief. The insurgents are no factor at this point…] Aileen replied with a sigh on its tone, just as the Shadow Team managed to reform its flight formation for a second time.
Opera: Does it mean we are going to RTB right now, Ail?
[Prince: Yeah.] Prince added with a yawn on it, possibly tired of taking out numerous insurgents at this point. [Prince: Since we're gonna leave this godforsaken region to seek better contracts, am I right?]
Soon enough, a group of six unknowns suddenly came up into their radars from the northwest.
Opera: Oh…shit. Are you seeing this, Ail?
AWACS Aileen: Thanks for the heads up, Op. Shadow Team, I've detected a group of six bogeys bearing 320 entering the AO. They are flashing mercenary IFFs on us and I believed that they are the mercenary pilots that those insurgents have on standby per briefing.
Journalist: BD on them? I've noticed on the radar that they're quiet fast movers out here.
Prince: I kinda like being a fast mover. Just ask me.
[AWACS Aileen: Based on the IFF pattern on each plane that is currently in operation as of this moment so far in the Transition World, they're Gripen NGs] Aileen replied with some concern in its tone. [AWACS Aileen: Top of the line fighter plane that is currently in service in some parts of the Transition World. I don't exactly know who are those high-paying mercenary pilots on those six high-end planes that are traversing towards the AO, so I'll go searching on the 'net for some clues. Just be ready to face them head-on, Shadow Team.]
[Opera: Righto. I'm gonna face them no matter what!] Opera said in its defiant tone as the flight itself immediately changed its course to meet-them head on, with Filia as its lead.
Journalist: You sure ready for this one, Rummy? This plane isn't as top-notch as Prince or Opera have.
Rum: As hell as I am, as Shirley would tell me. This plane is capable of taking anything on its path; just look at our flight lead's 50-year old MiG-29! It looks fully rusted now, but it is still packing a punch that no other pilots around the world could compare. Shirley is impressed by it!
Journalist: Be grateful that Prez and the twin-tailed girl on this flight is still around in the company. Without it, well, that plane will disintegrate in flight.
Opera: I hear ya!
<<Mercenary Pilot 1#: I never expected that sheltered bitch Eliza dumped us 6 of here in the sands to serve for a typical insurgent group who likes money more than their own people, while she and five other pilots of this company that she founded went on to sign on the so-called 'Fighter's Honor Program' in other regions away!>>
<<Mercenary Pilot 2#: Just calm down for a moment, Iroha. Besides, we're going to drop this contract with those terrorists after we help them fend off their enemies in the backyard. Simple as that.>>
<<Mercenary Pilot | Iroha: *sigh* You're right, Kaori. Honoring the contract is much more honorable than serving as a means by an terrorist group to hurt the world more…Ao-chan, what's the sitrep? I hope that your twin, slutty, sister is enjoying vacationing in that goddamn program that Eliza bitch signed-on.>>
<<Mercenary Pilot | Ao: Bad news, Iroha. I've spot a four-man flight inbound towards us, hot.>>
<<Mercenary Pilot | Iroha: *sigh* Alright, girls, we're moving to engage!>>
Opera: Any update on them?
[AWACS Aileen: I've finally got some info about those 6 Gripen NGs.] Aileen replied. [AWACS Aileen: Just a heads up, Shadow Team. The mercenary squadron that you are going to face right now is a Japan-based mercenary group known as Magicami Contracting Group. Contracting, because they are one of the few Japan-based mercenary companies that is currently not operating within that country's borders, because of some law that banned mercenaries, both local and foreign, from operating within their country. Nothing specific about the MGC, but they've got records of which they earned more than the teams of Horizon combined. They are a 12-man…er, woman team; 6 of them have gone on to sign on a…certain contracting program in the continent of North America and the rest of it are…here, unfortunately enough. So be careful, they've got skills under their belt.]
[Prince: Don't care about them.] Prince shrugged on it. [Prince: But I am gonna show the skills that I also have under my own belt!]
Unfortunately for Prince, however, Filia fired the remaining six missiles of its MLAA-2 loadout towards the formation of six Gripen NGs that were tagged on by the HUDs of her plane. Only two of the high-end planes were shot down, leaving only four remaining to respond by firing standards against the Shadow Team, of which they managed to either dodge or dump flares in an instant.
<<Mercenary Pilot 4#: Dammit! We've lost Seira-chan and Akisa-chan to those dogs, Iroha. I didn't see them popping-out their chutes.>>
AWACS Aileen: Looks like Filia fired the first shot of the upcoming furball. Shadow Team, weapons free on those mercs. Shooting 'em down will grant us more bucks that the Boss could pay us out.
[Prince: I'm on it!] Prince enthusiastically said as he locked on an Gripen NG that was coming towards him and fired two standards on it, but the fighter managed to miss it that resulted in several moves that led to the Gripen NG managing to tail his Flanker-E, much to Prince's disappointment.
[<<Mercenary Pilot | Iroha: Just as I have expected!>>] Iroha groaned as she turned the plane towards the F-16C and tried to get a lock on it but to no avail, thanks to Opera's actions that kept her plane from getting locked-on or shredded by its machine gun fire. [<<Mercenary Pilot | Iroha: Coconyan, take out that F-14; the pilot is trying to find an opening against us.>>]
[<<Mercenary Pilot | Cocoa: I'm on it, Iroha-chan!>>] Cocoa happily replied as she moved her sights towards the F-14D that Rum and Journalist were in and fired two standards on it. Unfortunately, it failed to hit its mark as a result of the latter managing to dump flares and went on to engage an evasive manoeuvre that frustrated her so much for a cheerful pilot like her.
After noticing that Prince is in deep trouble, Filia went there to relieve him of which she managed to scratch an Gripen NG that is chasing Prince's Flanker-E from behind by machine gun fire that popped out a black smoke on it.
[Prince: Thanks for the assist, Shadow 1. I owe you that one.] Prince happily said to her as he moved away from the combat zone to try and relieve his usual target for insults, Rum, leaving the completely damaged Gripen NG to proceed on a knife-fight towards Filia.
[<<Mercenary Pilot | Ao: You'll gonna pay for this!>>] Ao angrily said as she tries to get a lock on the aircraft that Filia is currently in; to no avail, thanks to Filia utilizing every evasive manoeuvres that she had learned back when she was an air cadet of an prestigious air academy known as Cloudfall Aerial Academy in the Pacific Federation.
After expertly dodging two STDMs that the Gripen NG had fired towards her, Filia then carefully stalled her Fulcrum to finally catch the tail by overshooting it and fired two standards of its own towards the fighter. The missile connected in the rear, and Filia saw no chute coming out from the burning wreck as she passed by.
AWACS Aileen: Shadow 1 shot down one bandit in the AO. Three to go.
[<<Mercenary Pilot | Cocoa: Ao was shot down! Shit, we didn't expect that the enemy sent top-caliber mercs on tap in this area!>>] Cocoa said in a frustrated tone, pushing its afterburner to try and take out the Tomcat after the two STDMs barely connected after the Rum executed a tight turn that surprised her.
<<Mercenary Pilot | Kaori: Top-caliber mercs?>>
[<<Mercenary Pilots | Iroha: Don't you see the three flags on their tails?>>] Iroha added, completely losing track to the Viper after Opera violently banked its plane on the left after Iroha managed to fire two SAA missiles on it.
<<Mercenary Pilot | Kaori: What do you mean, Iroha? You sound completely worried right now!>>
[<<Mercenary Pilot | Iroha: Pacific Federation. Osean Federation. Canopy Kingdom. Those are the three countries that have the best pilots in the world than us!>>] Iroha angrily said, just as her Gripen NG was rocked by several bullets that were coming from Filia's Fulcrum before managing to line up behind her.
[<<Mercenary Pilot | Cocoa: Iroha-senpai! Kaori-chan! I need to back up now!>>] Cocoa screamed for help after a single standard damages her Gripen NG from Prince's Flanker-E (another standard didn't connect due to Cocoa dumping flares), coming in to save his "insult buddy" from a minutes-long goose-chase, completely relieving Rum/Journalist's Tomcat as a result.
[<<Mercenary Pilot | Kaori: I am coming to save you, Coconyan! Use some evasive manoeuvres on your advantage!>>] Kaori loudly replied to her, dodging a head-on machine gun fire by Opera.
Opera: Goddamn it! I've missed the bandit!
[<<Mercenary Pilot | Cocoa: I'm trying, I'm trying! I just want to go->>] Cocoa said its last words after Prince's Flanker-E proceeded to shred her Gripen NG with a machine gun, getting her killed and the pilotless, and damaged, fighter simply careened down into the sands below.
Prince: Woohoo! I gunned that merc down. Thank me for saving your asses, Rummy and Journal!
Rum: And thank you for ignoring your barrage of insults to us a while ago. Shirley will appreciate it.
AWACS Aileen: Shadow 2 downed another bandit. Two remaining.
[<<Mercenary Pilot | Kaori: Shit! Shit! Coconyan's down! I can't risk it at this point, Iroha. I'm withdrawing!>>] Kaori said before turning her Gripen NG around after failing to hit Opera with its standards, realizing that she and Iroha were completely screwed at this point.
[<<Mercenary Pilot | Iroha: D-don't leave me, Kaori-chan! We have a contract to finish!>>] Iroha angrily said to her as she rolled her plane down to avoid getting hit by two standards that were fired by Filia. [<<Mercenary Pilot | Iroha: Where are you going?! Don't leave me here!>>]
[<<Mercenary Pilot | Kaori: I'm going to pack my bags back at the base! I should have asked Eliza->>] Kaori replied to her, before being cut-off after the Gripen NG that she was in was completely disintegrated into pieces by two standards coming from Opera, who noticed her sudden retreat during the furball and took some special opportunity to do so.
[Opera: Righto!] Opera said happily in response to another kill as she flew away to the skies, glancing at the burning wreck that completely crashed into the ground a couple of moments later. [Opera: I've splashed another one! *chuckles* Got it recorded, Ail?]
AWACS Aileen: Sure, twin-tail. Another bandit down. Last bandit remaining. I could see Filia is on that station for that one. *sigh* Hey, Illium, can you give me a coffee from that dispenser? Thanks.
Rum: Hey, Prince. It's your time to shine. Wanna steal blondie's third kill?
Prince: Nah. *slight yawning* I am getting tired at this point.
Journalist: *slight chuckle* Yeah, too tired to throw insults at us. Hah!
After the enemy Gripen NG barely dodged another salvo of two standards that rocketed out of her Fulcrum, Filia immediately followed her as the enemy fighter ascended further up to the skies where a not-so-big cloud was staying there. As Filia got a lock on it, the enemy fight makes a very tight turn back to the lower altitude as before and resulting in Filia trying to control the HOTAS stick of her rusted, 50-year old plane as it flew through the cloud, which resulted in her plane on an shaky sensation that she expects at the first place, before exiting and fired several rounds that impacted several areas of the enemy's plane, but not heavily damaging it.
[<<Mercenary Pilot | Iroha: Curse you for killing my friends!>>] Iroha angrily cried as she tries to get a piper on the latter's tail, but Filia managed to prevent from getting tailed by executing a quick displacement roll on the Gripen NG; which resulted in her getting a quick lock on it and two another two standards when ping came.
One standard completely missed it when the pilot of the Gripen NG dumped its flares, and another standard managed to barely destroy the whole plane itself; resulting in ripping away the right wing of its plane.
As Filia pulled her plane beside the now descending and heavily damaged Gripen NG, Aileen then called the pilot of the enemy plane [AWACS Aileen: To the mercenary pilot of the heavily damaged plane: this is Aileen of the Horizon Aerial Security Inc., eject now before it crashes into the ground.]
[<<Mercenary Pilot | Iroha: I won't!>>] Iroha cried. [<<Mercenary Pilot | Iroha: I didn't want to see myself being defeated by Horizon. *chuckle* Tell Slash to kiss->>]
Just before she could finish her words, the damaged Gripen NG simply crashed into the sands that resulted in a huge fireball on it as Filia pulled her plane away and reformed its flight formation with other pilots of the Shadow Team.
Journalist: It's bad to see those gals fighting for the wrong boss and at the wrong time.
Prince. Yeah. Sad to see them wasting their pilot skills to fight for the wrong cause, like this one.
[AWACS Aileen: But don't forget that they've showcased those skills against us, Prince.] Aileen reminded him. [AWACS Aileen: Anyways. That's the last of 'em. Picture is clean. Shadow Team, RTB immediately. Just the right time that the sun is now setting in.]
EGS Ground Commander: Thanks for the assist, Horizon! I never expect to enjoy such dogfight with my binoculars on.
AWACS Aileen: Such pleasure, chief.
Opera: Thank God for that one! My body is getting sore riding on this claustrophobic plane that I regret being a favorite of mine.
Prince: Getting sore 'cause you've got a big bum than the rest of-
Opera: Shut it, Prince!
Rum: Me too. Shirley wants to sleep right now.
Journalist: But I wanna eat some dinner first before sleep if I were you.
Prince: Hey, Ail! Who is the pilot of this flight who got many kills on this sortie? I hope it's me…
Opera: Hoping too much, Prince.
AWACS Aileen: Based on the killfeeds on your planes; it seems that Filia got the most kills in this sortie. She's gonna treat us to some dinner for us when we land back in the base.
Prince: That blondie?! *groan in annoyance* Come on…
Rum: That serves you for being a prick to me.
[AWACS Aileen: Hold that babble between two of you for a moment. I've detected a group of bogies approaching from the…wait a sec, the same flight path that we took a while ago. Just the right time for such a victory celebration for us…] Aileen urgently said through the comms as Filia noticed a group of four F-15E Strike Eagles that sported colored wingtips that consist of four colors - red, blue, green, and dark yellow - suddenly came out on the radar.
Opera: *groan* Just as I had expected!
AWACS Aileen: To the four bogies approaching toward us, flash IFF immediately or we will flag four of you as hostile and get shot down by us!
Forte Squadron | Forte Bass: Hostiles?! You are making a mistake there, Horizon. We will flash our IFFs right now! Don't shoot! I am Forte Bass of the Forte Squadron, what the hell are you doing in our AO?!
Forte Squadron | Forte Drums: I should have told you, Gail, that we shouldn't have bought this million-dollar multirole plane if our competitors like Horizon always stole our contracts. We're losing our money to pay for the downpayment on acquiring this plane.
Forte Squadron | Forte Key: Yeah. Debbi's right.
Before Aileen could answer why in the world the Shadow Team was in their AO at the first place; a voice that was recognized by everyone in the Horizon suddenly came up into the comms.
Siren 1 | Slash: Sorry I am going to interrupt, Ail…This is the leader of the notorious Siren Squadron, and my TAC-Name is Slash. Current owner, CEO, and an ace pilot of the Horizon Aerial Security Incorporated, Forte Squadron. I know that you will be mad by this revelation but…due to some unfortunate circumstances that your current contract is now ours. You understand that?
Forte Squadron | Forte Lead: You stole our contract, you fucking asshole!
Prince: Hey, stop calling our Boss an 'fucking asshole'! Do you understand that you clueless moron!
Forte Squadron | Forte Bass: Roni, cut that out! I'm gonna talk to their boss for a while, shall we?
Forte Squadron | Forte Lead: *groan* Fine!
Forte Squadron | Forte Bass: Sorry for that…unfortunate outburst in my squadron, I guess. In regards to the issue of why our contract is now yours to begin with; there are some technical problems that involve forgetting to refill the fuel of Forte Drum's plane and I have to haggle with the base commander to get her fueled first before the others waiting in line. That cost us money to bribe that guy. Oh, and we are packing our stuff and flying out towards North America, since we're going to finish the contract here by today. Just like you, Horizon.
Siren 1 | Slash: I see. So that's why the contact ripped the contract out of your hands and went to us…since it's an urgent one that the contact doesn't mention to the four of you. Look around, this place is a warzone.
Forte Bass glanced to the ground below that was now filled with smoldering wrecks of vehicles and two oil refinery facilities from an insurgent attack that was stopped by the timely arrival of the Shadow Team.
Forte Squadron | Forte Bass: I see. Usual insurgent attack, huh? So typical.
Forte Squadron | Forte Drums: Pfft. Yeah.
Journalist: Hey, I've heard you mentioned something about North America. What the hell just happened there, and why the merc team that we fought a while ago said that they've signed-up to a program known as 'Fighter's Honor Program'? Can you give us an idea of what it is?
Forte Squadron | Forte Bass: That one? You see, there was a woman dressed as an nurse, and badass one at that, going in and out of our hangout back in Dubai a couple of days ago; trying to convince freelancers, mercenary teams, and even some private security firms to sign-up on the program that you've mentioned, boy. When I decided to sign up for my squadron on the program, the woman in nurse dress told me that there was a continental-wide civil war…err- rebellion, I guess, that was happening in that continent, and the Coalition in that continent, as she says, is so strapped for available planes as most of them either defected to the rebels or destroyed in battle. Seeing that the Fighter's Honor Program presented us an opportunity to get us out of our current financial straits, I simply signed it away instead.
Prince: Civil war? In North America? Why have I never heard that one from the news before?
Forte Squadron | Forte Bass: We are supposed to use the payout on the contract that you stole to pay for fuel and accommodation expenses while travelling eastwards to our destination in war-torn Canopy Kingdom. But since you stole the contract from us and we don't have any money at this point to travel on that continent, it seems we'll have to drop out from the program instead-
[Siren 1 | Slash: Hold that thought for a while, ladies. I have a solution for it…] Slash said to them as he quickly changed the frequency back to Aileen. [Siren 1 | Slash: Ail, do we detect a group of monsters in areas near Shadow Team's AO in the last ten minutes? Those ladies need some cash, and I don't want them to blame me for stealing their jobs, okay?]
[AWACS Aileen: But why do we need their help, Boss?] Aileen asked. [AWACS Aileen: By the looks of it, they're nuggets on-]
Forte Squadron | Forte Key: We're not nuggets, you dumb-
[Siren 1 | Slash: Shut it, lady!] Slash cried towards Forte Key. [Siren 1 | Slash: Ail, do what you need to do; we don't want those ladies to further antagonize us in the future, okay?]
The pilots could hear a slight grumble from Aileen towards their Boss. [AWACS Aileen: Sure enough…Boss. Forte Squadron, I've detected two groups of Squiggles[3] and a large group of Leviathans[4] 30 klicks away from this AO in the south and they are currently approaching a possibly defenceless village, probably needing air support. Wiping them out will grant 40 or 60 grand, enough to sustain a long-ass trip to North America of yours. Happy now?]
Forte Squadron | Forte Bass: As happy as I get. *chuckle*
Opera: 'Squiggle', huh? I wonder who chose those catchy nicknames for those Monsters…
Rum: Why did you say that?
Opera: Oh, that's nothing about it, Rummy. That word seems familiar to me…
[Forte Squadron | Forte Bass: Alright, Mister Slash. You win this time. But don't worry about it, mister. It's just business between us…and I'll hope we all understand about it.] Forte Bass said before she and the Forte Squadron flew away towards the south where a large herd of Monsters are presumably located.
After minutes of soaring up in the now silent warzone, just in case that the insurgents decided to attack the facility once more, Shadow Team decided to call their sortie a day then turn their tails and fly back towards the same route that they and the Forte Squadron used to while the sun have began to set. It's 6:07pm on the clock, and they all felt tired at this point.
Filia, on the other hand, has some deep thought about the things that she heard
during the long conversation between their boss and a likely pissed-off squadron leader about an idea that she wished was just a dream that was more of a nightmare for her ever since.
A dream of going back to a place that she wished she was never there in the first place.
North America.
-=-=-=-=-
[RECORDING…PLAY]
Siren 1 | Slash: The urgent sortie was an unprecedented success, Shadow Team. Not only did you save our allies and a sole facility from an relentless attack, but you also took half of the insurgent's firepower on that sortie that could result in a complete paralyzation of its raiding activities in the next few weeks.
Now, in regards to the continental-wide civil war in North America, I'll talk to some of my buddies before we'll deploy ourselves in a first for this company that I built with my blood and sweat.
Dismissed.
[...]
Sup, blondie. You look scared when I speak about North America, eh? Go to rest, Filia. You got the most kills in the sortie than any other pilots in the Shadow Team.
[RECORDING END]
-=-=-=-=-
[1] - A nickname given to the Kaiju-like creatures in Gareth Edward's movie: Monsters. Especially in the sequel that takes place in the Middle East: Monsters: The Dark Continent. They are currently present in the Transition World in the particular region even after getting ISOTed…and it has now spread to the anarchy-filled areas in former FLaG'72!South Africa after the Great South African War.
[2] - Not based on the RWBY one. Instead, they are based on an TL in AH.Com known as The Silver Knight.
[3] - A term given to the adolescent-aged Monsters.
[4] - A term given to the adult-aged Monsters.
A First Step
Last Day (Day 27) Of The Current Contract | Operation Sand Storm
| 27°23'53'N, 48°41'35'E
| Weather: Clear
| 73.8 Kilometers Away From City Of Al-Jubail, Saudi Arabia
| Ember Sector, Schnee Industries Oil Refinery Complex #2
| 5:28pm - Local Time
-=-=-=-=-
The sun had begun to set at this point, just as the flight of 5 planes - 4 fighter planes and a single E-7 Wedgetail AWACS plane - was cruising above the desert sands of Saudi Arabia after taking off from an airbase back in the neighboring nation of United Arab Emirates.
It was an uneventful flight to the AO for the newly appointed leader of the Shadow Team, Filia, aside from a few small talks and banters between the pilots of the team that she became a leader of it after the pilot who once sat on this position, Firefly, wasn't pretty much liked by everyone in the team; especially Prince, a mercenary who once lived a sheltered life back in the Canopy Kingdom…and the one who always throw smugness or petty insults to fellow pilots of the company everytime the aerial teams went into countless sorties in different parts of the world.
But at least, not as worse as Firefly's ego, that is completely inflated achievements that he liked to brag about to everyone and, if one anyone managed to "scratch" his egoistic feeling, then it's a recipe for brawl between fellow mercenary pilots in the company she is part of. Something that Filia couldn't completely understand the mercenary culture it contained after she became part of it for…at least hundreds of years now.
Speaking of Canopy Kingdom, she missed going back to that particular nation that was located in the Cascadia region that the Legacy people would like to call it after many, many, years after she left over a reason that she wanted to forget in the first place.
A reason that is too complex and too emotional to describe it.
Just as they currently flying towards the AO, of which they could see a huge, billowing black smoke far away that is coming from the two oil refineries that were destroyed by the insurgents on the ground as described in the briefing in the distance, a voice came up on their comms that completely broke-up the near silence during the uneventful flight throughout the endless sands.
??? : Hello, Shadow Team. Sorry if the old geezer wasn't here in his usual position.
[Prince: Huh? Wait happened?] Prince, flying on a Su-35S that is sporting black-red lines that nearly covered the plane alongside a white circle with a black umbrella in its middle that was painted on its tail, said with some worry on his tone.
A voice of a woman flying on an F-14D that was minimally decorated with a single black stripe on its left swing-wing and an emblem that consisted of a pencil with wings on it, came into the comms and replied. [??? : Come on, Prince. You should know it already. Shirley has told me that Dragonaut left the building 'cause he's getting too old of being an AWACS operator for us.]
Prince: Wh-what? What do you say, Rum?
[???: She means that you should stop drinking alcohol every time we are on the ground.] A voice of a middle-aged man - and Rum's WSO - replied in annoyance.
Prince: Come on, Journalist! I'm just asking for it!
[???: Hey, hey! Can both of you stop with the insults for a moment, please? Just let my formalities kink out first before I introduce myself to the five of you.] The AWACS operator called out both of them with some frustration in her tone over the usual insult war between Prince and Rum/Journalist in every sortie that the Shadow Team has undertaken for many years now.
[???: Go ahead, I'm tired of seeing those two pilots throwing words at each other.] Another voice of a woman, this time flying an F-16C that was sporting a camo that could be only seen in the Israeli Air Force (except for its roundels) whose aforementioned plane was currently in service and an old microphone emblem on its tail, said.
The AWACS operator sighed for the moment.
AWACS Aileen: Alright. This is your friendly Aerial Warning and Control System Aileen, and I will be your guide for this sortie. Is everyone on the clock right now? Pilots of the plane that I am currently in told me that they could see two huge black smokes at a distance right now.
Prince: Good. Shadow 2, punching in.
Rum: This is Rum. Shadow 3 is ready for tasking whenever I and Shirley go-
Journalist: What about me?
Rum: Oh yeah, I always forgot about you.
Opera: This is your lovely songbird, Opera! Shadow 4, I'm fragged in right now.
Prince: 'lovely songbird', huh? You aren't that lovely when someone steals your kills-
[Opera: *groaned in annoyance* Cut it, Prince! Nobody asked!] Opera groaned in annoyance at his stealth insults to everyone in the Shadow Team.
AWACS Aileen: It seems that everyone is ready; what about Filia?
[Prince: Her?] Prince replied, just as the flight have finally slid into the AO; the HUDs of their planes immediately show a column of enemy ground units - consisting of T-72s, Technicals, and several Grads - and some Little Bird attack helicopters that are currently pounding the last remaining facility in the distance. [Prince: She doesn't want to talk to everyone. Rummy said that it could break the blondie's composure, especially during the sorties we were in.]
AWACS Aileen: Oh? I never expected that all of you would tolerate her eerie silence in every sortie that the company has done.
Opera: We basically tolerated since she had the backing from the Boss himself after she came into this company after begging her to do so.
Journalist: Or rather, the Boss helped her back in Boiling Isle two years ago, right?
Opera: Yeah.
Prince: I hear favoritism from him. Christ, pfft.
Rum: Calm your nerves for a while, Prince. Shirley isn't completely happy right now with you.
Prince said nothing of it.
EGS Ground Unit #1: What?! What do you mean we have four unknown bogeys inbound?! We're screwed, Jimmy, we're screwed!
Filia simply smiled at Prince's comments about her, for she admits to herself that talking too much could spill some things that she doesn't want her wingman to know about her past and everything...including the 50-year-old MiG-29S - sporting invasion stripes on its wings and an emblem that consist of a grinning emoji that is placed upside down - that she was currently in.
After noticing a group of targets that are showing on her HUDs, which are currently surrounding the last remaining facility of the complex that contained several 'blue' squares that indicate trapped friendly units that are fighting to keep the last facility operational before reinforcement. Filia immediately throttled her plane away from the flight and fired a single MLAG-2 salvo (which consisted of four missiles each) that destroyed 3 technicals and a T-72 in an instant before looping back and popping two Little Birds with two STDMs.
EGS Ground Unit #1: Wha-what the fuck is that?
EGS Ground Unit #2: Negative, Desdemona 2-1, that just a friendly merc helping us out after bosses leaving us out here to dry.
[AWACS Aileen: Wait a sec, Filia is engaging right now without telling the rest of her team?!] Aileen said with some concern on her side. She sighed for a moment [AWACS Aileen: Alright then. Shadow Team, weapons free on those insurgents!]
[Opera: Righto. That's our cue to act right now, Aileen. You should expect that one.] Opera replied just as she took out the remaining Little Bird in the air with guns and two T-72s with missiles.
[Rum: Yeah. Shirley is right about it, I'm going to engage.] Rum said, banking towards a column of 4 Grads that are currently pounding the facility and destroyed it after dropping a single UGBL (Unguided Bomb - Large) on it. While Filia went on to destroy another column of 4 Grads that were located on the now ruined oil refinery with a single salvo of MLAG-2.
Journalist: Right on the jackpot, Rummy!
Rum: Thanks. Shirley likes that.
<<Insurgent: What?! The infidels have sent in air support to take us out! Inform those bats to do their jobs right now! >>
EGS Ground Unit #3: Thanks for those fairies in the skies. Too bad our superiors wouldn't want their top-notch Wild and Nature Teams to send them here to help us.
EGS Ground Unit #1: Yeah. Too busy to do anything. Pfft.
[Prince: Me too. Nice seeing those insurgents for a while, not the monsters[1] that I've always seen in this region] Prince belatedly said, taking out the last two technicals with a combination of missiles and guns.
[Opera: I don't like them a lot.] Opera replied, moving on to try and destroy the last remaining T-72 that was attacking the facility before Filia stole it and took a kill for herself. Opera would have nevertheless grunted at stealing her desired kill, but well-knowing who Filia is in person, so she decided to let it slide instead and link up with Filia's Fulcrum on its tail.
Prince: Why?
Opera: Don't ask.
EGS Ground Unit #2: That's the last of their support! Desdemona 4-7, pop the MGs to those insurgents with AKs on their hands!
EGS Ground Unit #4: But we're gonna run out of our-
EGS Ground Unit #2: Ignore it. We'll show those so-called 'Eternal Winds' for attacking a fortress like this!
<<Insurgent: Stand your ground! Stand your ground! Allah will protect all of you when time comes. I've called our fellow brothers to help us.>>
AWACS Aileen: That's probably the last of those insurgents, Shadow Team. But put on standby mode for a while just in case the insurgents have sent in their reinforcements. I'm gonna contact the ground commander for some important updates. So stay tuned.
Just as the Shadow Team reformed its flight formation after a quick pass on those insurgents in the ground, the voice - probably the commander of the Desdemona unit that is currently taking shelter on the last facility - spoke through the comms that nearly made Filia jumped on her seat for the possibility that the insurgents could send reinforcements at any moment now.
EGS Ground Unit Commander: This is Major Nathan Webb of the Desdemona Ground Unit of the Epele General Security Inc. Glad you finally arrived to help kick those insurgents out of this complex, Horizon. They have completely destroyed two of the three oil refineries here in the sector, and we can't risk those insurgents destroying this facility; so we managed to fortify this facility with the remaining members of my unit until friendly reinforcements arrived. Don't worry, we have mostly evacuated the civs out of this sector...but we are going to run out of ammunition, rockets, and shells for our two howitzers on this facility. The last remaining Abrams tank that we have placed in the entrance of this facility have been completely destroyed by those insurgents before you arrived, so provide air support for us as possible. Thanks.
[AWACS Aileen: Thank you, chief. Much appreciated.] Aileen said in assurance before closing-off the frequency between the two. [AWACS Aileen: Alright, Shadow Team. Back to work. I have finally detected the first wave of reinforcements coming into the facility, coming from due west, hot. Mostly ground units. Just the right time...*sigh*]
[Prince: Again?!] Prince said in annoyance. [Prince: I'm a good pilot! Only taking out planes! Not the mud that dirtied my clothes off!]
[Rum: Try to put that in practice, Prince.] Rum replied in annoyance just like him. [Rum: Shirley doesn't like to get annoyed by you and your useless ego!]
Prince: Tell Shirley to screw it off!
[Journalist: Here we go again...] Journalist said with a sigh in its tone just as the Rum/Journalist's Tomcat and the Prince's Flanker-E glued to each other, despite the usual bicker between the two, and picked-up speed towards the oncoming reinforcements.
As Filia is currently moving her Fulcrum to the path where two column, one consisting of obsolete T-55s and the other consisting of two Technicals and two Grads, are currently located and are on the move towards the facility just like the others; she glanced Opera's Viper moving on her right.
[Opera: Hey blondie, are you willing to help out?] Opera suddenly asked her out of nowhere that nearly broke the composure of not talking to everyone that Filia kept it up ever since she joined Horizon Aerial Security Incorporated, thanks to the numerous (and sometimes, persuasive) offers that the founder and the CEO of the company, John Herbert; also known by its TAC-Name as "Slash", given to her after the latter helped her on an international-supported operation that stomped-out an attempted insurrection in the Boiling Isle and her second encounter with him and his company during her short stint in the last days of the civil war on the River Republic.
It seems that fate has pleaded with her to stop running away from things that shouldn't run away from it.
After she gives an 'okay' sign to Opera, signifying that she is willing to help her in an attempt to take out the incoming reinforcements, Filia then move in to make a long pass that involves firing two salvos of MLAG-2 and a machine gun fire towards the insurgent convoys; resulting in the demolition of the aforementioned two columns and another one after she looped her plane back and destroyed another column of reinforcements, consists of two T-72s and two Shilkas that she expertly manoeuvred her busted-up Fulcrum when the guns began firing towards her, which completely exhausted the supply of the MLAG-2 and went on to take out a flight of Little Birds with STDMs and machine gun fire instead.
AWACS Aileen: Shadow 1 has completely destroyed half of the enemy reinforcements!
<<Insurgent 1#: Wait, what?! What do you mean we're getting killed out there?! It's impossible that those infidels have the sky right now!>>
<<Insurgent 2#: Where the hell is our air support?!>>
[Opera: Nice moves out there, blondie! I'm going to engage as well!] Opera said with amazement on her face, as she destroyed another two columns of reinforcements (one of them consists mostly of troop trucks and the other a mix of two Grads, one Technical, and one Shilka that barely scratched Opera's Viper as a result) with STDMs and machine gun fire before leveling up and went back to Filia's tail.
<<Insurgent: For Allah's sake, don't stop! Don't stop! We'll show those infidels on how we work out on this land!>>
EGS Ground Commander: I could see far out with my binoculars and I didn't expect those boys and girls of Horizon to keep those pesky insurgents away from us.
Seeing that the other two worked it each other to take out the oncoming reinforcements, Prince moved in to take out three column of reinforcements each with a single drop of UBGL and went back to take out a column of troop trucks by shredding it with machine gun fire, since he believed that wasting STDM is such a wasteful effort on taking out such defenseless vehicles. As Prince finished his turn, Rum/Journalist went on with another pass of its own, wiping out another three column of reinforcements with another drop of UGBL, of which one of them have an single SA-6 Gainful as its escorts that forced Rum/Journalist's bulky Tomcat to expertly dodge the missile that is tracking them.
[Journalist: Damn those AA missiles!] Journalist groaned as they managed to recover after being locked-on and finally took out the last remaining flight of reinforcements that consisted of 4 MI-8 Hip transport helicopters. Completely wiping-out the first wave of reinforcements that the insurgents currently have.
<<Insurgent: Dammit!>> A completely saddened insurgent suddenly spoke on the comm that was strangely picked-up on Shadow Team's comms, possibly witnessing the burning wrecks of Hips that crashed back to earth. <<Insurgent: I've lost my little brother Fahid out there! We should call off the attack right now!>>
<<Insurgent Commander: We can't! The more we retreat from the battle, the more the infidels could rip away our land in the future. We've got our brothers on our backs, Allah will promise that…>>
<<Insurgent: Damn you, Mutahar.>>
EGS Ground Commander: Woohoo! The insurgents are beginning to hurt themselves right now! Keep it up!
[Prince: You should have bought some high-end plane of your own.] Prince said with a smug in its tone.
[Rum: What the fuck are you talkin' about, little Prince?] Rum replied, already irritated by his smugness and his endless banter towards them. [Rum: You think that buying a high-end plane that could perfectly manoeuvre like yours is a good idea? Well guess what, Prince, Shirley have told me that we bought this plane for an approximately-]
Then Aileen cuts both of them off after another round of insult war between the two. [AWACS Aileen: Can you please shut-the-fuck-up both of you for a while, please?! I am completely tired hearing both of you bickering to each other on this sortie at this point that I nearly forced myself to change IFF status to both of your planes to hostiles. Don't try and test me! Especially you, Prince!]
Prince: Okay! Okay! I am calming myself down! Happy now?.
Opera: That serves you right, Prince.
As soon as another round of bickering between the two finicky pilots stopped, their flight radars immediately highlighted another wave of reinforcements, now with the support of ground attack planes and its single fighter escort that Aileen immediately noticed.
AWACS Aileen: Shadow Team to ALCON, I have detected another wave of reinforcement columns coming on hot. I have also detected three aerial groups coming from bearing 120, 90, and 60 simultaneously.
Prince: BD please?
AWACS Aileen: Based on IFF signatures: 6 AMX International ground-attack planes and 4 MiG-21s. Unknown type of IFF signal, so they're probably stolen by the insurgents or unregistered mercenary IFFs.
Prince: Mud movers, huh? Those insurgents are getting desperate to take out that last facility.
Journalist: Those insurgents are willing to die for it. Just to bleed those oil barons like Schnee Industries[2] of money every year.
Rum: Yeah. Shirley's right.
EGS Ground Commander: This is it, boys! This is what those so-called 'Eternal Winds' have in their arsenal to try and take out this castle. Go into your positions!...I-I don't care if we don't have available tubes for our TOWs in positions, nor ammo belts for our MGs. Move our wounded to the basement right now; for this our final last stand!
Opera: Filia, me and you will go and take out those mud movers so that we can refocus destroying those ground units, okay?
Filia said nothing just as the flight of four eventually split up with Prince and Rum/Journalist together going towards the approaching reinforcements while Filia and Opera peeled-off and went towards the incoming flights of ground-attack planes and its escorts on the other side of the AO.
[Opera: Righto then, blondie.] Opera said in response to Filia's "passive" response to her concocted plan.
<<Insurgent #1: Shit! I didn't expect for infidels on the skies wearing crusader armor at the first place!>>
<<Insurgent #2: Don't you worry, brother. Allah has blessed us with more power that we could kick those infidels out…*sigh* even if it wasn't for some foreign infidels wearing sheep's clothing that our commander sent us here.>>
<<Insurgent Pilot #1: May Allah guide me this time.>>
<<Insurgent Pilot #2: Wh-what?! Shit! We're pinged! Evade, eva->>, the insurgent pilot said its final last words after their AMX Internationals was hit by a volley of three MLAA-2s that rocketed out from Filia's Fulcrum, though it completely missed an MiG-21 after it managed to dump its flare from the oncoming missile.
[AWACS Aileen: Two missiles connected and one missile trashed, Filia.] Aileen said in response as Filia managed to fly behind the completely scared escort and shredded it with machine gun fire, completely killing the pilot before zooming the completely damaged plane down to its destruction.
[Opera: I've taken out another group, Aileen. Three kills on my shoulder!] Opera happily said after nailing an AMX International and MiG-21 with a machine gun before turning back and blowing another former plane in the rear with two standards.
AWACS Aileen: Noted, Opera. One aerial group remained in the sector and they will be no factor in no time.
Opera: Righto.
<<Insurgent Commander: What?! W-we've suddenly lost our air support so quickly? We cannot keep-up at this point!>>
<<Insurgent: You should have told that to yourself a while ago.>>
Meanwhile, Prince dove in towards two reinforcement columns, one consist of 4 T-55s and 1 Technical and the other consist of 6 troop trucks, and destroyed with a single drop of UGBL before moving away to let Rum/Journalist drop the same huge unguided bomb towards another two columns of reinforcements on the ground before leveling up.
<<Insurgent #1: For Allah's sake, let's get out of here!...Don't you see that I saw a vehicle blown-up in front of my face?!>>
<<Insurgent Commander: What the hell are you doing? Stop retreating! You are abandoning the fight!>>
<<Insurgent 2#: I'd rather stay with my family back in Karbala rather than getting killed by those infidels or eaten alive by those Monsters out here.>>
[Opera: Blondie, I'll go take out those ants on the ground while you take out those four remaining bandits. Just wanna help, just in case.] Opera said to Filia as she went and destroyed a column of 4 BTR-80s and another lone SA-6 Gainful that barely locked-on unto the Viper before being blown up into smithereens.
Complying with what Opera said to her, Filia immediately throttled towards the remaining four insurgent planes in the air before firing another valley of MLAA-2 towards them. Two AMX Internationals and a MiG-21 was destroyed, leaving the remaining escort that attempted to down Filia with its machine gun head-on, but she dodged the escort's way and forced to conduct some manoeuvres here and there to try and tail that escort, of which she didn't expect for an insurgent pilot to have that kind of skills in the field for a while, before managing to down it with two standards and some machine gun fire.
<<Insurgent Pilot: Losing control of my plane! I'm with Allah->>
AWACS Aileen: Sweet! All enemy air units in the AO are no factor! Great job, Opera and Filia.
Opera: You have our thanks, Ail.
[Prince: Woohoo! I'm enjoying this rollercoaster ride!] Prince said with excitement on its tone after destroying another two columns on the ground with the last of its UGBL loadout.
[Rum: Enjoying that much after you teased me so much?] Rum said in her irritated tone, just as she and the Journalist managed to take out a column of Grads with its last UGBL as well.
Journalist: Can you please shut it for a while, Rummy? Even Shirley would be scared at herself if Ail actually goes off on her imagined threat.
Prince: Listed to the old man behind you, Rum.
Irritated at this point after so much bickering throughout the sortie, Rum replied in an irritated tone. [Rum: Fine!]
After conducting several passes towards the endless ground columns and destroying incoming several strike fighters and its nimble escorts that the Shadow Team have to undertake, and emptying some of its current load-out for this simple sortie, the insurgents on the ground and in the air as well decided to call it quits on trying to destroy the last remaining facility that is evidently being heavily defended by mercenary pilots on the air right now.
<<Insurgent Commander: …We don't have a choice, brother. We lost half of our army to those crusaders in the sky. That's an order. It's official.>>
[Prince: Ail, hey Ail! Take a look at this!] Prince called her as he glanced on the ground that the several reinforcement columns began to tail and flee from the combat zone that they formerly sucked in.
AWACS Aileen: Wait a sec…Holy shit. I have never expected that one. The insurgents have begun to retreat out of the Ember Sector. I repeat, the insurgents have halted their attacks on the Ember Sector right now and they are completely withdrawing from the AO as of this moment.
EGS Ground Commander: This does mean we are finally safe now that the so-called 'Eternal Winds' have finally retreated?
[AWACS Aileen: Definitely speaking, chief. The insurgents are no factor at this point…] Aileen replied with a sigh on its tone, just as the Shadow Team managed to reform its flight formation for a second time.
Opera: Does it mean we are going to RTB right now, Ail?
[Prince: Yeah.] Prince added with a yawn on it, possibly tired of taking out numerous insurgents at this point. [Prince: Since we're gonna leave this godforsaken region to seek better contracts, am I right?]
Soon enough, a group of six unknowns suddenly came up into their radars from the northwest.
Opera: Oh…shit. Are you seeing this, Ail?
AWACS Aileen: Thanks for the heads up, Op. Shadow Team, I've detected a group of six bogeys bearing 320 entering the AO. They are flashing mercenary IFFs on us and I believed that they are the mercenary pilots that those insurgents have on standby per briefing.
Journalist: BD on them? I've noticed on the radar that they're quiet fast movers out here.
Prince: I kinda like being a fast mover. Just ask me.
[AWACS Aileen: Based on the IFF pattern on each plane that is currently in operation as of this moment so far in the Transition World, they're Gripen NGs] Aileen replied with some concern in its tone. [AWACS Aileen: Top of the line fighter plane that is currently in service in some parts of the Transition World. I don't exactly know who are those high-paying mercenary pilots on those six high-end planes that are traversing towards the AO, so I'll go searching on the 'net for some clues. Just be ready to face them head-on, Shadow Team.]
[Opera: Righto. I'm gonna face them no matter what!] Opera said in its defiant tone as the flight itself immediately changed its course to meet-them head on, with Filia as its lead.
Journalist: You sure ready for this one, Rummy? This plane isn't as top-notch as Prince or Opera have.
Rum: As hell as I am, as Shirley would tell me. This plane is capable of taking anything on its path; just look at our flight lead's 50-year old MiG-29! It looks fully rusted now, but it is still packing a punch that no other pilots around the world could compare. Shirley is impressed by it!
Journalist: Be grateful that Prez and the twin-tailed girl on this flight is still around in the company. Without it, well, that plane will disintegrate in flight.
Opera: I hear ya!
<<Mercenary Pilot 1#: I never expected that sheltered bitch Eliza dumped us 6 of here in the sands to serve for a typical insurgent group who likes money more than their own people, while she and five other pilots of this company that she founded went on to sign on the so-called 'Fighter's Honor Program' in other regions away!>>
<<Mercenary Pilot 2#: Just calm down for a moment, Iroha. Besides, we're going to drop this contract with those terrorists after we help them fend off their enemies in the backyard. Simple as that.>>
<<Mercenary Pilot | Iroha: *sigh* You're right, Kaori. Honoring the contract is much more honorable than serving as a means by an terrorist group to hurt the world more…Ao-chan, what's the sitrep? I hope that your twin, slutty, sister is enjoying vacationing in that goddamn program that Eliza bitch signed-on.>>
<<Mercenary Pilot | Ao: Bad news, Iroha. I've spot a four-man flight inbound towards us, hot.>>
<<Mercenary Pilot | Iroha: *sigh* Alright, girls, we're moving to engage!>>
Opera: Any update on them?
[AWACS Aileen: I've finally got some info about those 6 Gripen NGs.] Aileen replied. [AWACS Aileen: Just a heads up, Shadow Team. The mercenary squadron that you are going to face right now is a Japan-based mercenary group known as Magicami Contracting Group. Contracting, because they are one of the few Japan-based mercenary companies that is currently not operating within that country's borders, because of some law that banned mercenaries, both local and foreign, from operating within their country. Nothing specific about the MGC, but they've got records of which they earned more than the teams of Horizon combined. They are a 12-man…er, woman team; 6 of them have gone on to sign on a…certain contracting program in the continent of North America and the rest of it are…here, unfortunately enough. So be careful, they've got skills under their belt.]
[Prince: Don't care about them.] Prince shrugged on it. [Prince: But I am gonna show the skills that I also have under my own belt!]
Unfortunately for Prince, however, Filia fired the remaining six missiles of its MLAA-2 loadout towards the formation of six Gripen NGs that were tagged on by the HUDs of her plane. Only two of the high-end planes were shot down, leaving only four remaining to respond by firing standards against the Shadow Team, of which they managed to either dodge or dump flares in an instant.
<<Mercenary Pilot 4#: Dammit! We've lost Seira-chan and Akisa-chan to those dogs, Iroha. I didn't see them popping-out their chutes.>>
AWACS Aileen: Looks like Filia fired the first shot of the upcoming furball. Shadow Team, weapons free on those mercs. Shooting 'em down will grant us more bucks that the Boss could pay us out.
[Prince: I'm on it!] Prince enthusiastically said as he locked on an Gripen NG that was coming towards him and fired two standards on it, but the fighter managed to miss it that resulted in several moves that led to the Gripen NG managing to tail his Flanker-E, much to Prince's disappointment.
[<<Mercenary Pilot | Iroha: Just as I have expected!>>] Iroha groaned as she turned the plane towards the F-16C and tried to get a lock on it but to no avail, thanks to Opera's actions that kept her plane from getting locked-on or shredded by its machine gun fire. [<<Mercenary Pilot | Iroha: Coconyan, take out that F-14; the pilot is trying to find an opening against us.>>]
[<<Mercenary Pilot | Cocoa: I'm on it, Iroha-chan!>>] Cocoa happily replied as she moved her sights towards the F-14D that Rum and Journalist were in and fired two standards on it. Unfortunately, it failed to hit its mark as a result of the latter managing to dump flares and went on to engage an evasive manoeuvre that frustrated her so much for a cheerful pilot like her.
After noticing that Prince is in deep trouble, Filia went there to relieve him of which she managed to scratch an Gripen NG that is chasing Prince's Flanker-E from behind by machine gun fire that popped out a black smoke on it.
[Prince: Thanks for the assist, Shadow 1. I owe you that one.] Prince happily said to her as he moved away from the combat zone to try and relieve his usual target for insults, Rum, leaving the completely damaged Gripen NG to proceed on a knife-fight towards Filia.
[<<Mercenary Pilot | Ao: You'll gonna pay for this!>>] Ao angrily said as she tries to get a lock on the aircraft that Filia is currently in; to no avail, thanks to Filia utilizing every evasive manoeuvres that she had learned back when she was an air cadet of an prestigious air academy known as Cloudfall Aerial Academy in the Pacific Federation.
After expertly dodging two STDMs that the Gripen NG had fired towards her, Filia then carefully stalled her Fulcrum to finally catch the tail by overshooting it and fired two standards of its own towards the fighter. The missile connected in the rear, and Filia saw no chute coming out from the burning wreck as she passed by.
AWACS Aileen: Shadow 1 shot down one bandit in the AO. Three to go.
[<<Mercenary Pilot | Cocoa: Ao was shot down! Shit, we didn't expect that the enemy sent top-caliber mercs on tap in this area!>>] Cocoa said in a frustrated tone, pushing its afterburner to try and take out the Tomcat after the two STDMs barely connected after the Rum executed a tight turn that surprised her.
<<Mercenary Pilot | Kaori: Top-caliber mercs?>>
[<<Mercenary Pilots | Iroha: Don't you see the three flags on their tails?>>] Iroha added, completely losing track to the Viper after Opera violently banked its plane on the left after Iroha managed to fire two SAA missiles on it.
<<Mercenary Pilot | Kaori: What do you mean, Iroha? You sound completely worried right now!>>
[<<Mercenary Pilot | Iroha: Pacific Federation. Osean Federation. Canopy Kingdom. Those are the three countries that have the best pilots in the world than us!>>] Iroha angrily said, just as her Gripen NG was rocked by several bullets that were coming from Filia's Fulcrum before managing to line up behind her.
[<<Mercenary Pilot | Cocoa: Iroha-senpai! Kaori-chan! I need to back up now!>>] Cocoa screamed for help after a single standard damages her Gripen NG from Prince's Flanker-E (another standard didn't connect due to Cocoa dumping flares), coming in to save his "insult buddy" from a minutes-long goose-chase, completely relieving Rum/Journalist's Tomcat as a result.
[<<Mercenary Pilot | Kaori: I am coming to save you, Coconyan! Use some evasive manoeuvres on your advantage!>>] Kaori loudly replied to her, dodging a head-on machine gun fire by Opera.
Opera: Goddamn it! I've missed the bandit!
[<<Mercenary Pilot | Cocoa: I'm trying, I'm trying! I just want to go->>] Cocoa said its last words after Prince's Flanker-E proceeded to shred her Gripen NG with a machine gun, getting her killed and the pilotless, and damaged, fighter simply careened down into the sands below.
Prince: Woohoo! I gunned that merc down. Thank me for saving your asses, Rummy and Journal!
Rum: And thank you for ignoring your barrage of insults to us a while ago. Shirley will appreciate it.
AWACS Aileen: Shadow 2 downed another bandit. Two remaining.
[<<Mercenary Pilot | Kaori: Shit! Shit! Coconyan's down! I can't risk it at this point, Iroha. I'm withdrawing!>>] Kaori said before turning her Gripen NG around after failing to hit Opera with its standards, realizing that she and Iroha were completely screwed at this point.
[<<Mercenary Pilot | Iroha: D-don't leave me, Kaori-chan! We have a contract to finish!>>] Iroha angrily said to her as she rolled her plane down to avoid getting hit by two standards that were fired by Filia. [<<Mercenary Pilot | Iroha: Where are you going?! Don't leave me here!>>]
[<<Mercenary Pilot | Kaori: I'm going to pack my bags back at the base! I should have asked Eliza->>] Kaori replied to her, before being cut-off after the Gripen NG that she was in was completely disintegrated into pieces by two standards coming from Opera, who noticed her sudden retreat during the furball and took some special opportunity to do so.
[Opera: Righto!] Opera said happily in response to another kill as she flew away to the skies, glancing at the burning wreck that completely crashed into the ground a couple of moments later. [Opera: I've splashed another one! *chuckles* Got it recorded, Ail?]
AWACS Aileen: Sure, twin-tail. Another bandit down. Last bandit remaining. I could see Filia is on that station for that one. *sigh* Hey, Illium, can you give me a coffee from that dispenser? Thanks.
Rum: Hey, Prince. It's your time to shine. Wanna steal blondie's third kill?
Prince: Nah. *slight yawning* I am getting tired at this point.
Journalist: *slight chuckle* Yeah, too tired to throw insults at us. Hah!
After the enemy Gripen NG barely dodged another salvo of two standards that rocketed out of her Fulcrum, Filia immediately followed her as the enemy fighter ascended further up to the skies where a not-so-big cloud was staying there. As Filia got a lock on it, the enemy fight makes a very tight turn back to the lower altitude as before and resulting in Filia trying to control the HOTAS stick of her rusted, 50-year old plane as it flew through the cloud, which resulted in her plane on an shaky sensation that she expects at the first place, before exiting and fired several rounds that impacted several areas of the enemy's plane, but not heavily damaging it.
[<<Mercenary Pilot | Iroha: Curse you for killing my friends!>>] Iroha angrily cried as she tries to get a piper on the latter's tail, but Filia managed to prevent from getting tailed by executing a quick displacement roll on the Gripen NG; which resulted in her getting a quick lock on it and two another two standards when ping came.
One standard completely missed it when the pilot of the Gripen NG dumped its flares, and another standard managed to barely destroy the whole plane itself; resulting in ripping away the right wing of its plane.
As Filia pulled her plane beside the now descending and heavily damaged Gripen NG, Aileen then called the pilot of the enemy plane [AWACS Aileen: To the mercenary pilot of the heavily damaged plane: this is Aileen of the Horizon Aerial Security Inc., eject now before it crashes into the ground.]
[<<Mercenary Pilot | Iroha: I won't!>>] Iroha cried. [<<Mercenary Pilot | Iroha: I didn't want to see myself being defeated by Horizon. *chuckle* Tell Slash to kiss->>]
Just before she could finish her words, the damaged Gripen NG simply crashed into the sands that resulted in a huge fireball on it as Filia pulled her plane away and reformed its flight formation with other pilots of the Shadow Team.
Journalist: It's bad to see those gals fighting for the wrong boss and at the wrong time.
Prince. Yeah. Sad to see them wasting their pilot skills to fight for the wrong cause, like this one.
[AWACS Aileen: But don't forget that they've showcased those skills against us, Prince.] Aileen reminded him. [AWACS Aileen: Anyways. That's the last of 'em. Picture is clean. Shadow Team, RTB immediately. Just the right time that the sun is now setting in.]
EGS Ground Commander: Thanks for the assist, Horizon! I never expect to enjoy such dogfight with my binoculars on.
AWACS Aileen: Such pleasure, chief.
Opera: Thank God for that one! My body is getting sore riding on this claustrophobic plane that I regret being a favorite of mine.
Prince: Getting sore 'cause you've got a big bum than the rest of-
Opera: Shut it, Prince!
Rum: Me too. Shirley wants to sleep right now.
Journalist: But I wanna eat some dinner first before sleep if I were you.
Prince: Hey, Ail! Who is the pilot of this flight who got many kills on this sortie? I hope it's me…
Opera: Hoping too much, Prince.
AWACS Aileen: Based on the killfeeds on your planes; it seems that Filia got the most kills in this sortie. She's gonna treat us to some dinner for us when we land back in the base.
Prince: That blondie?! *groan in annoyance* Come on…
Rum: That serves you for being a prick to me.
[AWACS Aileen: Hold that babble between two of you for a moment. I've detected a group of bogies approaching from the…wait a sec, the same flight path that we took a while ago. Just the right time for such a victory celebration for us…] Aileen urgently said through the comms as Filia noticed a group of four F-15E Strike Eagles that sported colored wingtips that consist of four colors - red, blue, green, and dark yellow - suddenly came out on the radar.
Opera: *groan* Just as I had expected!
AWACS Aileen: To the four bogies approaching toward us, flash IFF immediately or we will flag four of you as hostile and get shot down by us!
Forte Squadron | Forte Bass: Hostiles?! You are making a mistake there, Horizon. We will flash our IFFs right now! Don't shoot! I am Forte Bass of the Forte Squadron, what the hell are you doing in our AO?!
Forte Squadron | Forte Drums: I should have told you, Gail, that we shouldn't have bought this million-dollar multirole plane if our competitors like Horizon always stole our contracts. We're losing our money to pay for the downpayment on acquiring this plane.
Forte Squadron | Forte Key: Yeah. Debbi's right.
Before Aileen could answer why in the world the Shadow Team was in their AO at the first place; a voice that was recognized by everyone in the Horizon suddenly came up into the comms.
Siren 1 | Slash: Sorry I am going to interrupt, Ail…This is the leader of the notorious Siren Squadron, and my TAC-Name is Slash. Current owner, CEO, and an ace pilot of the Horizon Aerial Security Incorporated, Forte Squadron. I know that you will be mad by this revelation but…due to some unfortunate circumstances that your current contract is now ours. You understand that?
Forte Squadron | Forte Lead: You stole our contract, you fucking asshole!
Prince: Hey, stop calling our Boss an 'fucking asshole'! Do you understand that you clueless moron!
Forte Squadron | Forte Bass: Roni, cut that out! I'm gonna talk to their boss for a while, shall we?
Forte Squadron | Forte Lead: *groan* Fine!
Forte Squadron | Forte Bass: Sorry for that…unfortunate outburst in my squadron, I guess. In regards to the issue of why our contract is now yours to begin with; there are some technical problems that involve forgetting to refill the fuel of Forte Drum's plane and I have to haggle with the base commander to get her fueled first before the others waiting in line. That cost us money to bribe that guy. Oh, and we are packing our stuff and flying out towards North America, since we're going to finish the contract here by today. Just like you, Horizon.
Siren 1 | Slash: I see. So that's why the contact ripped the contract out of your hands and went to us…since it's an urgent one that the contact doesn't mention to the four of you. Look around, this place is a warzone.
Forte Bass glanced to the ground below that was now filled with smoldering wrecks of vehicles and two oil refinery facilities from an insurgent attack that was stopped by the timely arrival of the Shadow Team.
Forte Squadron | Forte Bass: I see. Usual insurgent attack, huh? So typical.
Forte Squadron | Forte Drums: Pfft. Yeah.
Journalist: Hey, I've heard you mentioned something about North America. What the hell just happened there, and why the merc team that we fought a while ago said that they've signed-up to a program known as 'Fighter's Honor Program'? Can you give us an idea of what it is?
Forte Squadron | Forte Bass: That one? You see, there was a woman dressed as an nurse, and badass one at that, going in and out of our hangout back in Dubai a couple of days ago; trying to convince freelancers, mercenary teams, and even some private security firms to sign-up on the program that you've mentioned, boy. When I decided to sign up for my squadron on the program, the woman in nurse dress told me that there was a continental-wide civil war…err- rebellion, I guess, that was happening in that continent, and the Coalition in that continent, as she says, is so strapped for available planes as most of them either defected to the rebels or destroyed in battle. Seeing that the Fighter's Honor Program presented us an opportunity to get us out of our current financial straits, I simply signed it away instead.
Prince: Civil war? In North America? Why have I never heard that one from the news before?
Forte Squadron | Forte Bass: We are supposed to use the payout on the contract that you stole to pay for fuel and accommodation expenses while travelling eastwards to our destination in war-torn Canopy Kingdom. But since you stole the contract from us and we don't have any money at this point to travel on that continent, it seems we'll have to drop out from the program instead-
[Siren 1 | Slash: Hold that thought for a while, ladies. I have a solution for it…] Slash said to them as he quickly changed the frequency back to Aileen. [Siren 1 | Slash: Ail, do we detect a group of monsters in areas near Shadow Team's AO in the last ten minutes? Those ladies need some cash, and I don't want them to blame me for stealing their jobs, okay?]
[AWACS Aileen: But why do we need their help, Boss?] Aileen asked. [AWACS Aileen: By the looks of it, they're nuggets on-]
Forte Squadron | Forte Key: We're not nuggets, you dumb-
[Siren 1 | Slash: Shut it, lady!] Slash cried towards Forte Key. [Siren 1 | Slash: Ail, do what you need to do; we don't want those ladies to further antagonize us in the future, okay?]
The pilots could hear a slight grumble from Aileen towards their Boss. [AWACS Aileen: Sure enough…Boss. Forte Squadron, I've detected two groups of Squiggles[3] and a large group of Leviathans[4] 30 klicks away from this AO in the south and they are currently approaching a possibly defenceless village, probably needing air support. Wiping them out will grant 40 or 60 grand, enough to sustain a long-ass trip to North America of yours. Happy now?]
Forte Squadron | Forte Bass: As happy as I get. *chuckle*
Opera: 'Squiggle', huh? I wonder who chose those catchy nicknames for those Monsters…
Rum: Why did you say that?
Opera: Oh, that's nothing about it, Rummy. That word seems familiar to me…
[Forte Squadron | Forte Bass: Alright, Mister Slash. You win this time. But don't worry about it, mister. It's just business between us…and I'll hope we all understand about it.] Forte Bass said before she and the Forte Squadron flew away towards the south where a large herd of Monsters are presumably located.
After minutes of soaring up in the now silent warzone, just in case that the insurgents decided to attack the facility once more, Shadow Team decided to call their sortie a day then turn their tails and fly back towards the same route that they and the Forte Squadron used to while the sun have began to set. It's 6:07pm on the clock, and they all felt tired at this point.
Filia, on the other hand, has some deep thought about the things that she heard
during the long conversation between their boss and a likely pissed-off squadron leader about an idea that she wished was just a dream that was more of a nightmare for her ever since.
A dream of going back to a place that she wished she was never there in the first place.
North America.
-=-=-=-=-
[RECORDING…PLAY]
Siren 1 | Slash: The urgent sortie was an unprecedented success, Shadow Team. Not only did you save our allies and a sole facility from an relentless attack, but you also took half of the insurgent's firepower on that sortie that could result in a complete paralyzation of its raiding activities in the next few weeks.
Now, in regards to the continental-wide civil war in North America, I'll talk to some of my buddies before we'll deploy ourselves in a first for this company that I built with my blood and sweat.
Dismissed.
[...]
Sup, blondie. You look scared when I speak about North America, eh? Go to rest, Filia. You got the most kills in the sortie than any other pilots in the Shadow Team.
[RECORDING END]
-=-=-=-=-
[1] - A nickname given to the Kaiju-like creatures in Gareth Edward's movie: Monsters. Especially in the sequel that takes place in the Middle East: Monsters: The Dark Continent. They are currently present in the Transition World in the particular region even after getting ISOTed…and it has now spread to the anarchy-filled areas in former FLaG'72!South Africa after the Great South African War.
[2] - Not based on the RWBY one. Instead, they are based on an TL in AH.Com known as The Silver Knight.
[3] - A term given to the adolescent-aged Monsters.
[4] - A term given to the adult-aged Monsters.
Files Archive - Part 1
Mister Anemone
"Dab Master is just Cyn wearing Drew's clothing."
- Pronouns
- She/They
A/N
Before I'll proceed to the two operations of the story that involves Horizon travelling to North America and Operation Doorknock of this story; here's the Files Archive (pretty much inspired from Project Wingman) and an Interlude (also pretty much inspired from Sleepless Domain). Enjoy!
-. Mister-Anemone
-=-=-=-=-
Aerial Mercenaries - Worldbuilding
While mercenaries as an idea existed for a millenia, that is depending on the countless history that the Legacy historians would like to record it flawlessly just to further the understanding of the countless Legacy worlds that many entities in the Transition World came from; Aerial Mercenaries, however, was an idea that took off in the Transition World because of the several factors that saw the creation of an idea where people would like to fight in wars up in the skies rather than in the ground.
While many military, aviation, and political experts and ordinary people throughout countless decades alike point the origins of Aerial Mercenaries industry to the existence of flight-oriented nations of the Transition World (Belka, Erusea, Osea, and the Pacific Federation) and the Belkan War (56 - 57 A.T) itself that saw a shift of wars centered from empowered-influenced to one of the pure, unadulterated joys of modern war; that was not the case. Instead, it was the aftermath of the Belkan War itself (that saw huge downsizing of its militaries by its participants - including the defeated Belka - before the nations of North America managed to rebuild back up to pre-Belkan War decades later) that saw retired or newly-built, but never used, fighter planes suddenly finding itself on the hands of illegal privateers, insurgents, fortune-driven pilots, etc, around the Transition World and the fact that the mercenary pilots were first and widely used by Poland (as a way to build-up its fledgling air force to fight against the superior Belkan pilots before the aforementioned war happened) which saw one of them, flying an Su-37 with yellow wing tips of it, becoming an ace legend known as: the Ghost of Warsaw during throughout war itself.
It was further compounded in the years after the Belkan War when an another bloody war happened many years later, known as the Great South African War (81 - 83 A.T), named so because of the perpetrator - South Africa from Fear, Loathing and Gumbo of '72 Elections (which were secretly backed by Brotherhood of Nod remnants) - declared war on every neighboring countries for percieved for spreading of "Communist" ideas into their country, saw well-known legends within the Aerial Mercenary community (such as: The Demon Lord of South Africa, Botswana's Eternal Light, The Shooting Star, etc) being established that further captivate several people around the people of the Transition World to become an mercenary pilot like them, and the sudden arrival of Ijitsu (that saw most of Central Asia, entirety of Xinjiang region, and northern half of the region of Tibet to be completely covered) that not only saw some mercenary groups stationed outside of the relatively lawless land to immediately travel to that and began seeking fortunes there; but resulted in mercenary groups that stationed within that land to seek-out and buy top of the line fighter jets (after all, why would they fight with prop planes of theirs against an technologically advanced mercenaries?), just to compete with the outside forces entering Ijitsu. The latter event is the reason why many nations who have an hostile relationship towards mercenaries (especially the Pacific Federation, thanks to their, unprofound, fear that the mercenaries of the Transition World could form its version of the Mercenary Cabal back in the Legacy World) have begun to warm-up with them as a result…as long they will act itself as an "civilized" ones from their "barbaric" counterparts, that is.
As of today, despite having a typical love-hate relationship towards every nation of the Transition World, the Aerial Mercenaries will continue to be not as an permanent fixture of the current international economy; but a visible safe-space to those minorities who were persecuted by some nation's governments, socially outcast individuals, and people who wanted to relieve their glory days, etc, throughout the Transition World.
Horizon Aerial Security Inc. - Groups/Squadrons
Founded by former fighter pilots and several personnel who stayed loyal to them from Osea, currently stationed in the far reaches of the Pacific Federation (but will not serve any contracts that is originated from the aforementioned nation, due to how "crowded" the industry it is, according to its founder), and mostly staffed by people coming from the Canopy Kingdom.
That description would describe the mid-sized aerial mercenary group known as Horizon Aerial Security Incorporated. Despite being currently led by an very charismatic person (and its founder) known simply as Slash, having one of the few aerial mercenary groups who have low-turnover rate of its mercenary pilots due to how good the pay it is, and one of the few of the fewest aerial mercenary groups around the Transition World to have an AWACS plane on its tap; they pretty much never got a major break in its service history ever since its creation and they're pretty much bogged-down in doing mundane things such as anti-insurgency and piracy operations, conducting Inter-Continental League peacekeeping patrols, being an DACT squadron, being an guardian angel when distress calls that were sent by their fellow mercenaries, escorting high-level individuals either in air or in ground, etc.
And even if they've got a major break in its service history, it would be either got an "NDA Tag" on it by their high contacts (such as the Boiling Isle Insurrection) or they were pretty much late to the party of it (such as the River Republic Civil War or the Third Delta Crisis).
Because of it, and the fact that the Anti-Flag Switching Laws that was still active by the time the Horizon was born, that they didn't have an official airborne ground unit as a result - much to the frustration of its charismatic founder/leader.
Filia | Shadow 1 - Pilots
While there is no known records of what her personal life or her service records is aside from baseless rumors that she is the fabled "Demon Lord of South Africa" that reigned terror during the Great South African War (81 - 83 A.T) or she is the one who killed the Bill Cipher in the last days of the Yellow Triangle War of Agression; Filia was pretty much well-known within Horizon as the most quietest pilot ever to date, thought some managed to struck her and start a lovely conversation that some Horizon personnel remarked that she: "voiced like an mother than an 21-year old person she was".
Her current plane of choice is MiG-29S Fulcrum that she served faithfully for 50-years…and a complete nightmare for mechanics as well, due to how completely aged the airframe and its avionics is.
Prince | Shadow 2 - Pilots
While many would describe him by its fellow mercs or even within Horizon itself as an hedonist who always drink whenever parts of the Transition World he would go or always having "fun time" to local women (especially in the case of the Isekai Land in the western part of the Australian landmass in Oceanian continent), and an very brash pilot who can spat insults or 'take-thats' to its fellow pilots both inside and outside of Horizon - especially to Rum and Journalist - in every sorties the company conducted every time; Prince is pretty much an competent fighter pilot of its own and will manage to control its worst aspects that his personality have especially when things go awry during the sorties, especially when Rum and Journalist is in trouble. There is a very popular rumour that is well-known within the aerial mercenary community that Prince is a child of the former (and controversial) monarch of the Canopy Kingdom, late Queen Aegis Renoir, who controversially dropped his royal duties and instead became an mercenary pilot just like everyone else.
His current plane of choice is an Su-35S Flanker-E…and that one isn't spared from the nasty rumours that her mother bought the plane for him.
Rum | Shadow 3 - Pilots
Rum, especially to those who known about her, was an very aloof person that is known to be completely irritated to everyone else who insulted her (or couldn't figure it out the sarcasm) to no end, especially by Prince, and she is known to talk more with her "personal friend" known as Shirley than Journalist himself - her official WSO. Unlike the rest of the Horizon personnel, Rum is not a kind of sociable person and thus she would like to holed up in her room before and after every sortie.
Her current plane is an antiquated F-14D Tomcat, something that Shirley herself mused to Rum that the plane isn't as "high quality" as other planes of the Shadow Team have…unless she's counting Filia's MiG-29S.
Journalist | Shadow 3's WSO - Pilots
If Rum's aloof personality had its official counterpart; then the Journalist 'sane man' personality could pick-up that slack. Calculative, curious and well-knowing of things he encountered in every sorties, and easily angry whenever things aren't going too well for them to handle; Journalist is the perfect choice for Rum's current personality and a partner for her fighter plane of choice. He is also an unofficial arbiter, sometimes, whenever an insult war between her and Prince flares up in every sorties that the Shadow Team have conducted.
Opera | Shadow 4 - Pilots
A lovely songbird. That's what the Opera would like to describe to herself, as she was well known within Horizon for having a voice that was more heavenly as some personnel would describe it, very helpful to anyone else - despite having tendencies of her pissing-off everytime when someone stole her supposed kill on bandits that she got locked-on - especially to Filia, always having an cassette tape full of music that was taped to her plane everytime when she participated on sorties, sometimes (much to the annoyance of AWACS Aileen)…and the fact that she is well-known for having an 'adolescent-like' face that spooked some of the older personnel of Horizon. Opera also knows some things about a certain fighting game that she doesn't know why it existed in the first place. A lot.
Aside from being an esteemed mercenary pilot, Opera is also an established plane mechanic that saw her working together with Prez, Horizon's chief plane mechanic, in her spare time.
Her current plane of choice is an F-16C, something that she is ashamed of liking for the fact that she had a huge 'bum' that some Horizon personnel, especially by Prince, called on it over the fact that she, somehow, managed to get fit on the not-decidedly spacious fighter plane of all the fighter planes.
Slash | Siren 1 - Pilots
Once an accomplished pilot of the Osean Air Defense Force, or OADF for short; Slash, or Boss as it was called by personnel and pilots of Horizon, have managed to accomplish his lifelong dream of being an mercenary pilot after getting an dishonorable discharge from the service and served as an independent mercenary pilots serving contracts after contracts around the Transition World until he, and his former comrade-in-arms, decided to establish an mercenary corps (or company, as he called it) known as Horizon Aerial Security Incorporated. From there, he managed to build a cult following within his company that still remains to this day.
His current plane, and the current plane of a squadron that he currently led, Siren Squadron, is the most famous of all fighter planes that is currently in service in many nations of the Transition World: Eurofighter Typhoon.
AWACS Aileen - Pilots
Once an child actress of an very famous child show back in the Canopy Kingdom, Aileen have managed to become the official AWACS operator for Horizon after the sudden retirement of the company's favourite, Dragonaut, due to myriad of health issues and wanting to have some bonding time with his family back in the Pacific Federation. Though her succession was the end result of Dragonaut's strict training of her practicing a job that was stressful by many, thanks to her lacking such experience of doing so, and the fact that the Horizon pilots, mostly consisted of Canopy Kingdom's citizen who managed to recognize her, have successfully vouched Slash in placing to become the new AWACS operator for the company.
Her AWACS personality is pretty much the standard ones that many mercenary AWACS operators have experienced: jovial at first, being serious later. Aside from having a tic of saying: "Just the right time", liking coffee, and being the one who could stop (and sometimes, threaten to change IFF designation to hostile) the incessant insult war between Prince and Rum in every sorties.
Eternal Winds Of The Night - Groups/Squadron
One of the few insurgent groups within Monsters: The Dark Continent!Saudi Arabia that are still operating even after getting Transitioned…and could claim to be the first insurgent groups to be established when the U.S forces arrived into the country to halt the spread of Monsters within the aforementioned country back in the Legacy World.
The Eternal Winds of the Night, as it was called, was now the shadow of its former self after various developments throughout the decades that not only the major nations have managed to completely control the spread of Monster herds throughout the Middle East (though it didn't stopped from managing to spread it towards the Terra Nullius zones in southern Africa) and several economic successes and the establishment of Persian Gulf Security Force that saw the disbandment of several militant insurgent groups as a result.
Though the events have forced the Eternal Winds to instead conduct an "extortion or be raided" campaign throughout the vulnerable oil-related facilities that they could find, with major successes, much to the irritation of the PGSF. The Eternal Winds have pretty ran-out of steam when, despite having boasted huge numbers of (obsolete) armored vehicles and several fighter and strike planes in their arsenal and several mercenary pilots on tap, as a result of its huge earnings from countless extortion money, they decided to attack the Ember Sector…and were completely obliterated by the Shadow Team as a result. In the aftermath of that incident, it seems that the Eternal Winds have completely collapsed for good after reports of infighting between rival groups have surfaced, mainly over money.
Epele General Security - Groups/Squadrons
This Azur Lane!United Kingdom-based private military corporation was one of the many ground-based mercenary groups that sprung-up in the aftermath of the Transition World's crackdown of 'Flag-Switching' incidents (or the idea of switching the entire armoured or infantry division of the national armed forces into an independent mercenary groups or be part of an larger mercenary corps) that is completely solidified when the Intercontinental League have officially passed a resolution that outlawing such practice in 154 A.T.
Despite being focused on mostly ground-based contracts, the Epele General Security have managed to expand its company by establishing three aerial mercenary teams - Nature, Wild, and Breeze - that came as a result of an controversial incident where their ground unit, Prismatic Ground Element, was completely massacred on an ambush by bandits in one of Terra Nullius zones in southern Africa.
But even with the creation of its fleet of aerial mercenary teams, however, they were criticized by members of the company for being unavailable when needed help; one such case for that is the Eternal Winds' attack on Ember Sector, which necessiated Schnee Industries to contact Forte Squadron, later Horizon, for immediate assistance.
Forte Squadron - Groups/Squadron
This Pacific States of America-based independent mercenary squadron, whose pilots came from The City in the Belkan Federation, have no major events in their records so far, aside from serving as part of ICL Peacekeeping Force and the Persian Gulf Security Force, back and forth. They also served within Ijitsu as well.
Ember Sector - Worldbuilding
Schnee Industries Oil Refinery Complex #2, also known by its other name as Ember Sector, is one of the many oil-related industrial facilities that is dotted around the oil-rich region of the northeastern part of Monster: Dark Continent!Saudi Arabia.
Originally an oil drilling facility, it was quickly converted into an oil refinery facility by Schnee Industries' higher-ups after it was discovered that the surrounding area that Ember Sector was currently located is revealed to be lacking of sufficient oil reserves underneath, thanks to an inaccurate report by an local and low-quality geological survey that the Schnee Industries contracted before the construction of the facility.
Since then, and thanks to an string of bad luck that the facility have experienced during four years of operations such as deadly accidents within the facility, the Ember Sector was supposed to end its operation by October of 178 A.T…until an unfortunate attack by the notorious Eternal Winds of the Night has completely hastened its closure.
-=-=-=-=-
Total
Worldbuilding - 2
Pilots - 7
Groups/Squadron - 4
Before I'll proceed to the two operations of the story that involves Horizon travelling to North America and Operation Doorknock of this story; here's the Files Archive (pretty much inspired from Project Wingman) and an Interlude (also pretty much inspired from Sleepless Domain). Enjoy!
-. Mister-Anemone
-=-=-=-=-
Aerial Mercenaries - Worldbuilding
While mercenaries as an idea existed for a millenia, that is depending on the countless history that the Legacy historians would like to record it flawlessly just to further the understanding of the countless Legacy worlds that many entities in the Transition World came from; Aerial Mercenaries, however, was an idea that took off in the Transition World because of the several factors that saw the creation of an idea where people would like to fight in wars up in the skies rather than in the ground.
While many military, aviation, and political experts and ordinary people throughout countless decades alike point the origins of Aerial Mercenaries industry to the existence of flight-oriented nations of the Transition World (Belka, Erusea, Osea, and the Pacific Federation) and the Belkan War (56 - 57 A.T) itself that saw a shift of wars centered from empowered-influenced to one of the pure, unadulterated joys of modern war; that was not the case. Instead, it was the aftermath of the Belkan War itself (that saw huge downsizing of its militaries by its participants - including the defeated Belka - before the nations of North America managed to rebuild back up to pre-Belkan War decades later) that saw retired or newly-built, but never used, fighter planes suddenly finding itself on the hands of illegal privateers, insurgents, fortune-driven pilots, etc, around the Transition World and the fact that the mercenary pilots were first and widely used by Poland (as a way to build-up its fledgling air force to fight against the superior Belkan pilots before the aforementioned war happened) which saw one of them, flying an Su-37 with yellow wing tips of it, becoming an ace legend known as: the Ghost of Warsaw during throughout war itself.
It was further compounded in the years after the Belkan War when an another bloody war happened many years later, known as the Great South African War (81 - 83 A.T), named so because of the perpetrator - South Africa from Fear, Loathing and Gumbo of '72 Elections (which were secretly backed by Brotherhood of Nod remnants) - declared war on every neighboring countries for percieved for spreading of "Communist" ideas into their country, saw well-known legends within the Aerial Mercenary community (such as: The Demon Lord of South Africa, Botswana's Eternal Light, The Shooting Star, etc) being established that further captivate several people around the people of the Transition World to become an mercenary pilot like them, and the sudden arrival of Ijitsu (that saw most of Central Asia, entirety of Xinjiang region, and northern half of the region of Tibet to be completely covered) that not only saw some mercenary groups stationed outside of the relatively lawless land to immediately travel to that and began seeking fortunes there; but resulted in mercenary groups that stationed within that land to seek-out and buy top of the line fighter jets (after all, why would they fight with prop planes of theirs against an technologically advanced mercenaries?), just to compete with the outside forces entering Ijitsu. The latter event is the reason why many nations who have an hostile relationship towards mercenaries (especially the Pacific Federation, thanks to their, unprofound, fear that the mercenaries of the Transition World could form its version of the Mercenary Cabal back in the Legacy World) have begun to warm-up with them as a result…as long they will act itself as an "civilized" ones from their "barbaric" counterparts, that is.
As of today, despite having a typical love-hate relationship towards every nation of the Transition World, the Aerial Mercenaries will continue to be not as an permanent fixture of the current international economy; but a visible safe-space to those minorities who were persecuted by some nation's governments, socially outcast individuals, and people who wanted to relieve their glory days, etc, throughout the Transition World.
Horizon Aerial Security Inc. - Groups/Squadrons
Founded by former fighter pilots and several personnel who stayed loyal to them from Osea, currently stationed in the far reaches of the Pacific Federation (but will not serve any contracts that is originated from the aforementioned nation, due to how "crowded" the industry it is, according to its founder), and mostly staffed by people coming from the Canopy Kingdom.
That description would describe the mid-sized aerial mercenary group known as Horizon Aerial Security Incorporated. Despite being currently led by an very charismatic person (and its founder) known simply as Slash, having one of the few aerial mercenary groups who have low-turnover rate of its mercenary pilots due to how good the pay it is, and one of the few of the fewest aerial mercenary groups around the Transition World to have an AWACS plane on its tap; they pretty much never got a major break in its service history ever since its creation and they're pretty much bogged-down in doing mundane things such as anti-insurgency and piracy operations, conducting Inter-Continental League peacekeeping patrols, being an DACT squadron, being an guardian angel when distress calls that were sent by their fellow mercenaries, escorting high-level individuals either in air or in ground, etc.
And even if they've got a major break in its service history, it would be either got an "NDA Tag" on it by their high contacts (such as the Boiling Isle Insurrection) or they were pretty much late to the party of it (such as the River Republic Civil War or the Third Delta Crisis).
Because of it, and the fact that the Anti-Flag Switching Laws that was still active by the time the Horizon was born, that they didn't have an official airborne ground unit as a result - much to the frustration of its charismatic founder/leader.
Filia | Shadow 1 - Pilots
While there is no known records of what her personal life or her service records is aside from baseless rumors that she is the fabled "Demon Lord of South Africa" that reigned terror during the Great South African War (81 - 83 A.T) or she is the one who killed the Bill Cipher in the last days of the Yellow Triangle War of Agression; Filia was pretty much well-known within Horizon as the most quietest pilot ever to date, thought some managed to struck her and start a lovely conversation that some Horizon personnel remarked that she: "voiced like an mother than an 21-year old person she was".
Her current plane of choice is MiG-29S Fulcrum that she served faithfully for 50-years…and a complete nightmare for mechanics as well, due to how completely aged the airframe and its avionics is.
Prince | Shadow 2 - Pilots
While many would describe him by its fellow mercs or even within Horizon itself as an hedonist who always drink whenever parts of the Transition World he would go or always having "fun time" to local women (especially in the case of the Isekai Land in the western part of the Australian landmass in Oceanian continent), and an very brash pilot who can spat insults or 'take-thats' to its fellow pilots both inside and outside of Horizon - especially to Rum and Journalist - in every sorties the company conducted every time; Prince is pretty much an competent fighter pilot of its own and will manage to control its worst aspects that his personality have especially when things go awry during the sorties, especially when Rum and Journalist is in trouble. There is a very popular rumour that is well-known within the aerial mercenary community that Prince is a child of the former (and controversial) monarch of the Canopy Kingdom, late Queen Aegis Renoir, who controversially dropped his royal duties and instead became an mercenary pilot just like everyone else.
His current plane of choice is an Su-35S Flanker-E…and that one isn't spared from the nasty rumours that her mother bought the plane for him.
Rum | Shadow 3 - Pilots
Rum, especially to those who known about her, was an very aloof person that is known to be completely irritated to everyone else who insulted her (or couldn't figure it out the sarcasm) to no end, especially by Prince, and she is known to talk more with her "personal friend" known as Shirley than Journalist himself - her official WSO. Unlike the rest of the Horizon personnel, Rum is not a kind of sociable person and thus she would like to holed up in her room before and after every sortie.
Her current plane is an antiquated F-14D Tomcat, something that Shirley herself mused to Rum that the plane isn't as "high quality" as other planes of the Shadow Team have…unless she's counting Filia's MiG-29S.
Journalist | Shadow 3's WSO - Pilots
If Rum's aloof personality had its official counterpart; then the Journalist 'sane man' personality could pick-up that slack. Calculative, curious and well-knowing of things he encountered in every sorties, and easily angry whenever things aren't going too well for them to handle; Journalist is the perfect choice for Rum's current personality and a partner for her fighter plane of choice. He is also an unofficial arbiter, sometimes, whenever an insult war between her and Prince flares up in every sorties that the Shadow Team have conducted.
Opera | Shadow 4 - Pilots
A lovely songbird. That's what the Opera would like to describe to herself, as she was well known within Horizon for having a voice that was more heavenly as some personnel would describe it, very helpful to anyone else - despite having tendencies of her pissing-off everytime when someone stole her supposed kill on bandits that she got locked-on - especially to Filia, always having an cassette tape full of music that was taped to her plane everytime when she participated on sorties, sometimes (much to the annoyance of AWACS Aileen)…and the fact that she is well-known for having an 'adolescent-like' face that spooked some of the older personnel of Horizon. Opera also knows some things about a certain fighting game that she doesn't know why it existed in the first place. A lot.
Aside from being an esteemed mercenary pilot, Opera is also an established plane mechanic that saw her working together with Prez, Horizon's chief plane mechanic, in her spare time.
Her current plane of choice is an F-16C, something that she is ashamed of liking for the fact that she had a huge 'bum' that some Horizon personnel, especially by Prince, called on it over the fact that she, somehow, managed to get fit on the not-decidedly spacious fighter plane of all the fighter planes.
Slash | Siren 1 - Pilots
Once an accomplished pilot of the Osean Air Defense Force, or OADF for short; Slash, or Boss as it was called by personnel and pilots of Horizon, have managed to accomplish his lifelong dream of being an mercenary pilot after getting an dishonorable discharge from the service and served as an independent mercenary pilots serving contracts after contracts around the Transition World until he, and his former comrade-in-arms, decided to establish an mercenary corps (or company, as he called it) known as Horizon Aerial Security Incorporated. From there, he managed to build a cult following within his company that still remains to this day.
His current plane, and the current plane of a squadron that he currently led, Siren Squadron, is the most famous of all fighter planes that is currently in service in many nations of the Transition World: Eurofighter Typhoon.
AWACS Aileen - Pilots
Once an child actress of an very famous child show back in the Canopy Kingdom, Aileen have managed to become the official AWACS operator for Horizon after the sudden retirement of the company's favourite, Dragonaut, due to myriad of health issues and wanting to have some bonding time with his family back in the Pacific Federation. Though her succession was the end result of Dragonaut's strict training of her practicing a job that was stressful by many, thanks to her lacking such experience of doing so, and the fact that the Horizon pilots, mostly consisted of Canopy Kingdom's citizen who managed to recognize her, have successfully vouched Slash in placing to become the new AWACS operator for the company.
Her AWACS personality is pretty much the standard ones that many mercenary AWACS operators have experienced: jovial at first, being serious later. Aside from having a tic of saying: "Just the right time", liking coffee, and being the one who could stop (and sometimes, threaten to change IFF designation to hostile) the incessant insult war between Prince and Rum in every sorties.
Eternal Winds Of The Night - Groups/Squadron
One of the few insurgent groups within Monsters: The Dark Continent!Saudi Arabia that are still operating even after getting Transitioned…and could claim to be the first insurgent groups to be established when the U.S forces arrived into the country to halt the spread of Monsters within the aforementioned country back in the Legacy World.
The Eternal Winds of the Night, as it was called, was now the shadow of its former self after various developments throughout the decades that not only the major nations have managed to completely control the spread of Monster herds throughout the Middle East (though it didn't stopped from managing to spread it towards the Terra Nullius zones in southern Africa) and several economic successes and the establishment of Persian Gulf Security Force that saw the disbandment of several militant insurgent groups as a result.
Though the events have forced the Eternal Winds to instead conduct an "extortion or be raided" campaign throughout the vulnerable oil-related facilities that they could find, with major successes, much to the irritation of the PGSF. The Eternal Winds have pretty ran-out of steam when, despite having boasted huge numbers of (obsolete) armored vehicles and several fighter and strike planes in their arsenal and several mercenary pilots on tap, as a result of its huge earnings from countless extortion money, they decided to attack the Ember Sector…and were completely obliterated by the Shadow Team as a result. In the aftermath of that incident, it seems that the Eternal Winds have completely collapsed for good after reports of infighting between rival groups have surfaced, mainly over money.
Epele General Security - Groups/Squadrons
This Azur Lane!United Kingdom-based private military corporation was one of the many ground-based mercenary groups that sprung-up in the aftermath of the Transition World's crackdown of 'Flag-Switching' incidents (or the idea of switching the entire armoured or infantry division of the national armed forces into an independent mercenary groups or be part of an larger mercenary corps) that is completely solidified when the Intercontinental League have officially passed a resolution that outlawing such practice in 154 A.T.
Despite being focused on mostly ground-based contracts, the Epele General Security have managed to expand its company by establishing three aerial mercenary teams - Nature, Wild, and Breeze - that came as a result of an controversial incident where their ground unit, Prismatic Ground Element, was completely massacred on an ambush by bandits in one of Terra Nullius zones in southern Africa.
But even with the creation of its fleet of aerial mercenary teams, however, they were criticized by members of the company for being unavailable when needed help; one such case for that is the Eternal Winds' attack on Ember Sector, which necessiated Schnee Industries to contact Forte Squadron, later Horizon, for immediate assistance.
Forte Squadron - Groups/Squadron
This Pacific States of America-based independent mercenary squadron, whose pilots came from The City in the Belkan Federation, have no major events in their records so far, aside from serving as part of ICL Peacekeeping Force and the Persian Gulf Security Force, back and forth. They also served within Ijitsu as well.
Ember Sector - Worldbuilding
Schnee Industries Oil Refinery Complex #2, also known by its other name as Ember Sector, is one of the many oil-related industrial facilities that is dotted around the oil-rich region of the northeastern part of Monster: Dark Continent!Saudi Arabia.
Originally an oil drilling facility, it was quickly converted into an oil refinery facility by Schnee Industries' higher-ups after it was discovered that the surrounding area that Ember Sector was currently located is revealed to be lacking of sufficient oil reserves underneath, thanks to an inaccurate report by an local and low-quality geological survey that the Schnee Industries contracted before the construction of the facility.
Since then, and thanks to an string of bad luck that the facility have experienced during four years of operations such as deadly accidents within the facility, the Ember Sector was supposed to end its operation by October of 178 A.T…until an unfortunate attack by the notorious Eternal Winds of the Night has completely hastened its closure.
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Total
Worldbuilding - 2
Pilots - 7
Groups/Squadron - 4
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Some (Unfortunate) Author's Note
Mister Anemone
"Dab Master is just Cyn wearing Drew's clothing."
- Pronouns
- She/They
Hello there, ordinary readers and dear watchers.
While I have taking a day-off rest before starting writing on another chapter of this beautiful story, I have officially to end the SV version of this story and instead focusing on starting the AH.Com and SB version of it.
The reason why I decided in the first place is because of a complete indifference to this site's community about stories that takes place on an Post-ISOT World, especially mixed with real and fictional ones, and a lack of some good comments that could help my writing career - of which it begun to get improved throughout the few weeks thinking about starting this story of mine.
Sorry if I suddenly decide to end the SV version of this story. See ya next morning!
- Mister-Anemone.
While I have taking a day-off rest before starting writing on another chapter of this beautiful story, I have officially to end the SV version of this story and instead focusing on starting the AH.Com and SB version of it.
The reason why I decided in the first place is because of a complete indifference to this site's community about stories that takes place on an Post-ISOT World, especially mixed with real and fictional ones, and a lack of some good comments that could help my writing career - of which it begun to get improved throughout the few weeks thinking about starting this story of mine.
Sorry if I suddenly decide to end the SV version of this story. See ya next morning!
- Mister-Anemone.