Mobius Squadron: Shattered Skies

Chapter 37: Breaking Arrows #1

Mobius 1

Mobius had decided to try and get some more rest tonight than usual. It was a nice and cool night so he hadn't had to worry about the heat keeping him awake. He had just gotten off to sleep when the door to his quarters opened. "Get up, sortie order just came through". With that, Rebecca departed to ready the F-22. Mobius grumbled as he got into his flight suit and made his way through the corridors to the briefing room. When he got in there, he saw an equally tired Sky Eye and crew standing there as well. The base commander walked in, and offered something to Mobius. It was a thermos filled with coffee. Mobius accepted it, with a muttered thanks as he sat down. The technician started up the briefing screen as the commander started to talk. "Sorry about the rude awakening gentlemen, but something has come up that needs the attention of our top ace". Well, that wasn't a surprise. Specialty sorties seemed to be the only thing Mobius was undertaking now. The blue and red coloured map of Usea lit up the now dimmed room as the commander carried on. "With Stonehenge out of commission, the landing operations are now underway on the northern part of the mainland." Mobius remembered hearing about this as the map adjusted its colouring to match the indicated attacks. "In response, Erusea launched a missile campaign to dislodge the landings. Bravo team took care of the ballistic missiles, but a large number of cruise missiles were launched against the ISAF landing forces. Our radar is unable to pick up these missiles that fly at ultra low altitudes. Failure to destroy these missiles will put our troops in danger." A pause to let the Ribbon Fighter absorb the information, then he continued. "Your mission is to shoot down each and every cruise missile. Keep the thermos, you'll need the caffeine." An odd way to finish, but Mobius wasn't complaining. With that, the lights came on and the Ribbon Fighter exited the room to go stop the cruise missiles.

The taxiway and runway lights were the only guide the AWACS and ace had to guide themselves over to their respective planes. The lights were on in only two of the hangars, as Sky Eye and his crew started taxiing with the E-767. His crew chief was single handedly loading the Sidewinders, AMRAAMs and QAAMs? "Why the QAAMs?" Mobius asked as the weapons bays closed up with their now loaded ordinance. "Well, these cruise missiles are important right?" Mobius nodded "Then they're going to guard them with their best fighters, so the QAAMs will be needed." He couldn't fault her logic. "Get some rest at least" Mobius said as he climbed up the ladder. He looked over, but saw that Rebecca had already collapsed into the same configuration Mobius had set up all those months ago in North Point. It seemed like an eternity, as Mobius thought back while finishing the preflight of the Raptor. The drop tanks fed the engines as the F-22 roared off into the night sky, illuminated by the hot exhaust of its afterburners.

Yellow 13

San Salvacion was quiet. No one was awake, except for a certain Erusean ace. Yellow 13 was sitting in the ready room. He was working on the guitar. He didn't know why, but he couldn't sleep. Well, at least he still had the guitar to work on, 13 thought as he started to strum the now familiar turns of the song the boy had introduced him to. Nobody stirred for that, and 13 was left in his solace. For that period, 13 remained the loneliest man in the world.

Mobius 1

The drop tanks fell off the Raptors wings and into the dark abyss below the aircraft. Mobius activated the master arm and made ready for the interception mission. <<Sky Eye here, first wave of missiles inbound, five targets at vector 010. Also got a message from the ground forces for you: 'we're relying on your efforts! Good luck'. Mobius 1, engage>> his AWACS cleared him on the first wave of missiles. Mobius saw the blips pop up on his radar as he threw the F-22 into a dive. The altimeter started to unwind and he brought it up at just 50 metres from the ground. No wonder the missiles were hard to detect. Mobius quietly thanked the Pulse Doppler set nose mounted in his fighter. It wasn't that affected by the disruption of the terrain. The first one became visible as Mobius saw the solid rocket motor that propelled the missile firing away. A growl filled his headset: the heat signature was large enough for the Sidewinders to gain lock. Once the indicator turned solid, he fired off a single AIM-9X from the side bays towards the missile. That one detonated as Mobius repeated the process. Number 2 went down to a Sidewinder, as did 3 and 4. 5 went down to a burst of 20mm cannon fire. Mobius pulled away from the exploding warhead. <<Alright, first wave down. New contacts, 10 missiles in two groups of 5. One's moving west and the other east. Intercept and destroy>> came Sky Eye as his large disc radar mounted to the top of the E-767's fuselage picked up the missiles. Mobius banked hard to the east and burned towards it. He was aiming slightly behind the missile pack. Off his right, he saw the pack pass right by him. Pulling a high-g turn, Mobius found himself right in the rear of the missiles. A salvo of AMRAAMS was released from the main weapons bay. All 5 tracked home and 5 detonations followed. <<Pack is 10 kilometres from escaping!>> Sky Eye was monitoring the other pack as Mobius opened the throttle and aimed his nose directly towards the threat. The process repeated as AIM-120s followed through and impacted. <<Mobius 1, we have an XB-70 far in the north east. Shoot it down>>. Mobius climbed to gain altitude. He broke through the cloud layer and lit his afterburners. The engines pushed the darkness away from the F-22 as it closed in on the Valkyrie. Two AIM-9Xs fired and shot down the bomber. Just as the ace was relaxing, his missile alert sounded. Thinking quickly, he reached across the instrument panel and toggled the flare bypass. Several magnesium orbs flew from the rear as two heatseekers passed wide. Mobius turned in his seat to try and locate the bandit. He saw him two seconds later. It was an Erusean F-22. Mobius didn't wait to ponder his situation and instantly started to bank and climb. His opponent tailed him near perfectly, and both fighters ascended in the night sky. A computerised voice started to call out and warn Mobius about the fact that his engines were about to stall. Mobius was anticipating it. He kept the nose pointed up. Suddenly, his forward momentum stopped and the Raptor came to a stop. His opponent sped past, his Raptor having conserved more momentum. There was a split second, where his opponent came into his gunsight. But a split second translated to about 200 rounds of 20mm high explosive. And Mobius had just unloaded all that into the engines. The enemy Raptor started to dive quickly. So did Mobius, but after a few hundred metres, he regained enough control to level out. The bandit didn't and a small orange explosion dotted the white landscape below Mobius. The Ribbon marked F-22 now orbited lazily awaiting a call from his AWACS.