War for free love

Chapter 5: The Strike

In the six hours before launch, I helped Ash make sure the aircraft were ready for the mission ahead.
While most of the Hornets launching would be used to attack the Marine base, only eight Hornets were being deployed to the city.
The f 22s had already launched, and the Osprey and chinook helicopters carrying the ground team had already also taken off and were headed for their destination.
I was sitting in the cockpit of my blue and grey camouflaged Hornet, already hooked up to the steam catapult number two.
The sky was already beginning to turn grey, and I watched as bright flashes of light popped up every so often from around the carrier as the escorting vessels fires their cruise missiles toward their intended targets.
I was carrying four AIM 9 sidewinder missiles and seven one thousand pounder JDAM bombs, ready for my support mission.
Ashley was in the Hornet next to mine on Calapult One, also ready to launch.
Steam billowed across the flight deck, temporarily obscuring Ash from sight.
I quickly gave my flaps another check, mainly just waiting for the go ahead to launch. The flaps all worked as they were supposed to, and I returned them to the takeoff position.

The ground team had left the carrier nearly a hour ago, and we was still awaiting word for the fighters to launch.
Fortunately we didn't have to wait much longer.
All of a sudden static burst in my helmet, momentarily surprising me, before a cool and collected female voice spoke.
"Ground team has landed. Fighter aircraft, you are cleared to launch."
The same voice that spoke in my helmet also spoke out across the flight deck over the PA system.
Ash gave one final check of all the systems of her aircraft, then the shooter hit the button, and the F18 roared down the flight deck, dipping down for a moment before climbing up into the dawn sky.
Seconds later once Ash was cleared, it was my turn to launch.
The woman in the yellow shirt backed away from my aircraft, giving a few hand signals for me to check my flaps one last time.
I gave the flaps one more check, then I was ready to launch.
I nodded to the shooter, and a spilt second later I was shooting down the flight deck.
The sudden g force pushed me back into my seat, and practically drilled my eyes into the back of my skull.
The brief sensation didnt last long however, as my F18 quickly reached the proper flying speed, and I grabbed the flight stick and pulled back on it, having my fighter climb up into the morning sky.
Within just a few seconds I pulled up my landing gear and climbed up to from up on Ashley's wing, on her starboard side and a little behind.
We circled around the Strap-on until the other six Hornets had formed up, then we turned and headed for Los Angeles.

************************************

Not long after, we reached L.A., only flying about two hundred feet off the ocean waves as to avoid radar.
I saw several burning ships scattered around the bay of L.A. slowly being taken by the sea. The fleet had done their job perfectly, taking out what few U.S. Navy vessels that had been near L.A.
We waited until we was flying above the city before Ash broke radio silence and contacted the ground team.
As ash communicated with the women on the ground, I kept my head on a swivel for any enemy contacts.
Smoke drifted up from the city in several locations, marking the successful strikes the F22s had made.
So far I didnt see any enemy aircraft anywhere, but that didn't mean they wasn't coming.
Camp Pendleton had been effectively wiped off the face of the earth, so no effective forces would be coming from there.
I was suddenly pulled from my thoughts when my radio buzzed.
"Alright Dildo squadron, the bank is being robbed as we speak. Everything is going smoothly so far. The ground team is in position ready to repulse attackers. Our job for right now is to bomb some of these other police stations nearest the bank and keep an eye out for enemy forces. Split up into pairs and drop your bombs."
"Copy that," I replied, following Ash as she broke away from the formation.

************************************

For the next two hours everything went smoothly. Most of the squadron had delivered their payloads, knocking out numerous police stations.
Four A-10 Warthogs had joined the combat zone, delivering precise close air support for the women on the ground. The LAPD had finally managed to respond, sending what units it could to combat our people.
I had already dropped all my bombs, and I was now flying around the city keeping an eye out for enemy aircraft while the Warthogs delivered their payloads.
I glanced at my fuel readout and noticed that my fuel states were starting to get a little low, but I still had about a hour of flight time before I'd have to return to the carrier to refuel.
I was about to radio Ash about my fuel state when I saw a bright flash catch my vision.
I glanced out of the cockpit to my left and below, and noticed one of the A10s was burning. The aircraft was still in one piece, but the blast must had disoriented the pilot because I watched as the aircraft rolled over to its left side and slammed into the side of a skyscraper before careening into a flaming ball before smashing into the city streets. There was no ejection of the pilot.
I immediately reacted, dumping flares and turning on my starboard wing and putting my fighter into a dive, rolling out level just above most of the buildings around downtown LA.
My head was on a swivel as I searched for the enemy aircraft. It only took a few moments before I finally saw one of the American fighter aircraft. I glanced at my radar and noticed twelve enemy contacts.
The Americans had sent in F15 Eagle fighter aircraft, one of their best air superiority aircraft.
I banked my fighter into a turn to port and gained some altitude, but was forced to put my fighter into a sharp roll back to starboard to avoid an A10 Warthog coming over one of the skyscrapers, just barely clearing the top.
I noticed the A10 was heavily damaged, with its port engine smoking and most of the hull was riddled with bullet holes.
I reacted quickly, switching over to guns and squeezing the trigger.
As I had expected, an American F15 came roaring over the same skyscraper the A10 had cleared, but had gone a bit wide in anticipation of the A10 diving low to pick up speed.
But what the enemy pilot had not expected was that I had him in my sights.
The 20mm rounds flew true, catching the enemy fighter at the nose and tracking up through the cockpit and down the spine of the aircraft.
It was an instant death sentence for the pilot. Both engines burst into flames as the enemy fighter, flying dead, continued in its dive until it slammed into the side of a building, exploding in a massive fireball.
I switched radio channels to broadcast across the allied battlenet.
"All remaining A10 aircraft, return to the boat immediately. You are floating ducks for the enemy. You can return to the combat zone as soon as we cleared the skies."
There was no reply, but a quick check of my radar showed the three surviving A10s turn and head back out to sea.
I switched radio channels back to the squadron frequency and contacted Ash.
"Dildo Two to Dildo Lead come in."
There was no reply for a few moments, just the deep grunting of G forces, before Ash's voice came back.
"I copy you Dildo Two. Send the mail."
"We need more aircraft if we are going to gain air superiority." I paused as I put my fighter into a sharp turn to port, settling in behind an enemy F15.
I checked my distance and noticed I was just out of gun range, so I switched back to missiles. A beeping noise filled my helmet as the missile worked on getting a lock. The enemy pilot was warned of a missile lock, and he put his aircraft in a turn to port, trying to outfly me in a turn fight. That was his biggest mistake. The F18 excelled in the turn fight, and it was only a moment later when I got tone.
I waited for the F15 pilot to dump flares before I squeezed the trigger and sent a missile off the rail. I watched as the missile tracked toward its target, the F15 pilot desperately trying to avoid the missile, and the ensuing explosion of the tail end of the F15.
I roared past as the front end of the F15 began to go into a flat spin, heading off toward the bay.
"Copy that Dildo 2. Im a little busy right now. I got two enemy fighters on my tail and I can't shake them. Youll have to contact the Strap-on." Ash finally came back over the radio.
I switched radio channels and contacted the carrier.
"Mother bird this is Dildo 2. We need immediate reinforcements in the air over LA!!! I have numerous aircraft down, we need immediate air support!!"
"Copy that Dildo Two. We can spare a few Tomcats and possibly a couple more Hornets. ETA twenty minutes."
"Understood." I switched back to the squadron channel.
I scanned the skies around me, looking for more enemy contacts as well as looking for Ash. It didn't take long to find Ash, as I swung back around to come over the skyscrapers I spotted Ash trying to outfly two F15s that were hot on her trail.
I pushed my engines into afterburner as I tried to get a missile lock on one of the F15s.
Ash put her fighter into a spin as I noticed one of the F15s pull off a bit to get range for a missile lock.
My helmet rang tone for missile lock, and I let a missile off the rail as the same time as the first F15 fired its missile.
I watched in horror as Ash attempted to dump flares to no avail as the enemy missile detonated in close proximity to Ash's fighter.
My missile connected with the second F15 as I closed within gun range, letting loose another stream of 20mm rounds, catching the lead F15 along its port wing, ripping it free and causing the F15 to burst into flames.
"Ashley!!" I cried out as I pulled my fighter closer to Ash as she continued flying straight.
The missile hadn't connected with Ash's jet, but had proximity detonated, causing massive damage to the fighter. The left engine was in flames and most of the right side of the tail was gone, with massive damage to the right wing.
"I'm alright Hailey. The stick is hard to handle, and turning is sluggish. Im going to try to make it to the boat. Im losing fuel fast though." Ash replied back as she began to put her fighter into a slow bank to head back out to sea.
"I'm on your wing my love." I replied as I settled in on Ash's starboard side. As we made our way back out to the carrier three F14 tomcats roared past, eager to get some revenge for the pilots we had lost.

************************************
We finally made it back to the carrier about fifteen minutes later. My fuel states were getting dangerously low, and I knew Ash had to be worse off since the missile strike had caused her fighter to leak most of her fuel.
As we was lining up to land on the carrier and Ash was on final approach, my heart lurched into my throat when ash called out she was flying a dead aircraft, calling both engines were out.
"Strap-on, rig the barricade. Dead aircraft on approach, emergency landing." I spoke into my radio, contacting the carrier so that the barricade could be erected to catch Ash's Hornet when it landed.
I circled high around the carrier, keeping a close eye on Ash as she glided her aircraft closer and closer to the carrier.
I couldn't breathe as the F18 slammed down on the deck hard. The front landing gear snapped off, as the right wing sheared off as the F18 skidded into the barricade, taking a moment before finally coming to a stop.
It was only when I saw Ash climb free of the cockpit as the deck crew worked to clean the accident so I could land did I let my breath out.
Things were getting out of hand, and we still had a long way to go before the robbery was complete.

************************************