ONS Part 4

"Shogun, cut off the lead parts of the right column." Cherry Picker ordered.

Mark, Blank and Dart still with him, moved back towards the action. His only option now were his Paveways, and the batteries of smoke launchers and the Shtoras was making things hard. He radioed to the FAC again.

"Cherry Picker, Shogun 205, do we have any JTACs down there? Ah need a solid lase." He radioed. The pause was brief, but with the tanks coming like they were, he felt like even that was too long.

"Roger that Shogun 205, we have two guys lazing." she radioed.

Mark decided to laze as well for extra measure and maybe overwhelm the countermeasures on the tank he'd targeted. As he eased in, he noted that the T-90s were also starting to be met by the Marine M1s as they rolled through town. Good, he smiled. The pilot also made a dive towards his target to aim his bombs at the targets for good measure. He decided to release two for good measure.The second he got a solid beam, he went for it.

"Shogun 205, bombs away." he radioed.

As the pilot pulled off to let his fellow F-21s attack, the "lock" was lost. the two bombs glided down and impacted short of one T-90, heavily damaging but not totally killing it. An M1 advancing down the street finished the machine. The follow up bombings by the next two Thunderhawks managed to disable one T-90 and damage the Shotra of two others. Fresh AH-1s coming into the fight were sent after them to help the M1s force their way onto more open ground.

In addition, Basilisk's attack was going to be avenged; the destroyers off shore had fired a few Tomahawks at the Tungskas armed with combined effects munitions warheads. The bigger targets were still well within the SA-19's prey list, however. The attack had limited success, destroying two Tungskas and damaging the radar of a third. The other two missiles were shot down as they began to release their payloads, dealing only light damage to their targets. More M1s and AH-1s were moving towards that sector as well to back up the infantry trying to fend off the remaining tanks.

After finishing their drops, the two wingmen rejoined their leaders. Sunny nodded in satisfaction, and it was at that moment that another air support request was received.

"Sunny Lead copies. Laze the target and we'll take care of it".

Sunny would take make the first run with a Paveway. Then if that wouldn't work, Rosie would go next. And so on, and so on.

Sunny pushed over in a shallow dive towards 10'000 feet and released Five-hundred pound guided explosive towards the offending bus station.

Circling overhead, the four Mirage pilots awaited their next instructions.

Irenee informed, "This is Eagle Flight. Awaiting new tasking."

"Roger Basilisk. We're gonna get the Straight Flush radars, go in and clear what you can in terms of TELs with your remaining weapons." The leader of the F-35s.

The flight of four JSFs broke and ascended so that the SA-6s would be the only threat that could reach them. From his cockpit, the Lieutenant heading the fourship watched as his AGM-88E "Super HARMs" went through the formalities as he trailed some chaff to defend himself. The pilot rolled as he reached the top of his ascent and leveled out right side up. On the right side of his touch screen, he got a solid track on one of the radars.

"Coliseum 307, Magnum." He reported. Other SEAD aircraft made their own shots.

As the HARMs went off with solid tracks towards their targets, the F-35s broke as the SA-6s tried to return fire. By now some had learned shutting down the radar was useless, so the next best thing was to take a few with them. Other still had the option of optical shots, although this was less accurate.

The AH-1s that'd come upon the damaged T-90s finished them with Hellfires before circling back towards the cityscape. With the threat of anti-aircraft hardware still present, the taller buildings became cover for them. The armored threat was now loosing its numbers advantage, and being forced to hold position. The open desert meant the fleeting darkness was their only cover. The order was given to pull back any BMPs and other light vehicles. The Osean M1s, supported by AH-1s, pushed harder for their breakthrough.

James watched as Sunny's GBUs hit the building. He flinched a bit; the weapons had landed closer to him than when the fighters had been bombing the mortars. The Marine fired a few more rounds before hunkering down to reload his weapon.

"Good hits, good hits Sunny! Standby for further requests!" The JTAC shouted over the chaos.

In Shamlak, the fight was dying down for the time being. The Mavericks fired by the F-16s had helped in picking off more of the dwindling Shamlaki counterattack, and the arrival of the Tigers meant the fast movers could soon be relieved. The next threat was another wave of Shamlaki forces, to include some of their tanks, but follow-on flights would be the ones to deal with that.

"Canis, Eagle, we have no further tasking at this time. The helicopters shall handle the rest of the enemy force. Good job." the Rafale acting as Forward Air Control radioed.

Taking advantage of the tanks being pinned down, each Marine Hornet expend their targeted JDAMs onto the remaining armor, along firing off the few Mavericks they had at the BMPs below them. "Broadsword is off target Winchester, requesting permission to RTB." said Hacker from the rear seat.

Shamu radioed, "Roger that, Coliseum.  We'll wait until you've finished your runs."  In the meantime, he slaved the Sniper pod to the SA-6 site, programming the coordinates of one of the TELs into the WCMD hanging in the tunnel.

In the other three Basilisk jets, the RIOs did the same, each making sure to target a different TEL.

When the F-35s cleared off, Shamu radioed, "Cherry Picker, Coliseum's off target.  Basilisk is in hot."

Making sure the ECM system was working, Sharky rolled onto the proper attack heading.  "Shamu, give me computer release."

"Roger that."

The fall line appeared on his HUD.  Lining it up with the target diamond depicting the SA-6 TEL, Sharky held his heading as the pipper tracked down the screen until it reached the diamond, at which point the CBU-103 fell free of the F-14 with a resounding clunk.  Once he was sure the bomb was free, he called, "Basilisk 1's off target."

"Two's in hot."

The three other Basilisk jets made their runs as well, pulling off target as the cluster bombs fell towards their targets.

"Cherry Picker, Basilisk is calling Shotgun.  Requesting RTB."

"Roger, holding" Sunny replied. The flight reformed and returned to its station at some Fifteen thousand feet, waiting for more targets.

 Overall, the flight still had plenty of ammo to work with, but they had to a be a little careful now.

The remaining two members of Canis flight now formed up on the lead two aircraft who had established an orbit, observing their handiwork from a safe distance. The whole team expressed elation at how well things had gone during their time on station.

"Impressive work everyone! We managed to get them ashore with few losses and we're not trailing smoke and fire as a result." Zack said to his flight as Predator called to notify them that they we're cleared to RTB.

"Copy that Predator, Canis flight is off target and RTB at this time. It's been a pleasure working with you, excellent work out there. All callsigns form on my wing and egress from the AO."

"Color me fucking pleased, the baguettes didn't get burned and we manged to avoid getting spammed." Alyosha snarked.

"Looks like Eagle managed to keep it together too. Now that we are cleared to head back to home plate. I think celebration is in order." Hime said as she followed her beau closely while the two other gunship grey F-16's formed on their six o clock position.

"Damn straight it's time to celebrate." Alyosha smirked.

"Amen to that!" the Aslani shouted.

The F-16's pulled away and headed in the direction of the nearest tanker before vectoring towards King Falud.

As the F-35s were picking off the Straight Flushes, Mark had more room to breathe. He decided to make his last run from behind to further negate the Shorta systems. With his last Paveway, he targeted a random T-90 and set the laser on the back of its turret and waited for a return. The pilot came from the left of the enemy tank, moving a little slow to give himself time. When he got the proper angles, the pilot let the weapon go.

"Shogun 208, bomb away." He reported, speeding up and pulling to the left.

With flares in his wake as an SA-24 was fired at him, the pilot headed for the coast. In the meantime the bomb had a much better situation going for it. The Shtora's dazzlers were't pointed at the laser, and the more vulnerable rear armor was where the bomb would land. It exploded and knocked out the T-90. By then Mark was long gone, bound for his home ship.

Irenee replied, "Roger."

He then informed the nearby AWACS, "AWACS, this is Eagle flight. Requesting permission to leave the airspace to refuel."

The TELs tried for optical launches at the offending Tomcats, but their attempts were largely in vain. With the PMC aircraft naturally staying unpredictable, the large missiles couldn't be effectively guided by the human eye and hand. The guided CBUs went down unopposed as well, scattering their bomblets across parts of the sites they'd each targeted. The thin-skinned launchers were no match for the weapons.

With the Straight Flushes down, the F-35 Wild Weasels decided to target the SA-19s to clear the air some more. In the meantime Cherry Picker granted Basilisk's request to leave the area. Broadsword was also cleared to go as their JDAMs had good effect on the stationary T-90s and BMPs. Unlike the last run, all weapons fired hit their targets.

The JTAC attached to James's unit observed the building as the smoke was clearing. Two squads were advancing under the shock of the air attack to secure the position. For now the shooting seemed to have died down as the majority of the Kedhani garrison was being ejected from the settlement. There was one last target from another JTAC, however.

"Sunny Flight, we have a sniper in a hotel pinning us down. He got one of our guys and we can't recover him. Standby for coordinates, danger close." the man said as he stayed behind a low concrete wall while a nearby LMG gunner tried to nail the guy himself. He passed the GPS coordinates to the F-21s.

In Shamlak, the Mirages were cleared to go home. They'd have a tanker waiting for them on the way if they needed fuel. Their fellow countrymen gave them silent nods and  thanks from below.

Right, crunch time here. 


Sunny received the report and received the GPS coordinates from the stressed JTAC.

"Rosie take the run, I'll laze." Sunny ordered his wingwoman. 

"Roger".

Repeating a very similar pattern, Sunny used his Sniper pod to designate the target for added insurance. The GPS coordinates were programmed into the GBU-12 Rosie planned to drop.

Another call of "Pickle" and the bomb dropped towards the target, hopefully right on top of the sniper and not near him.

The landing for the four Thunderhawks was made quickly, as the carrier was keeping up near-constant operations to support the landing. Eric and his fellow pilots could probably expect to go up again sometime later in the morning, but for now the wing was not short of aircraft.

The blonde sighed tiredly as he pulled off his helmet and left the plane to his crew. Dawn patrols had always had their sense of romanticism, but early-morning CAS was not as fun. Eric didn't like having to employ the F-21's secondary attack abilities in any fashion; he was a fighter pilot first and foremost. He didn't even like SEAD, something Mark could get a kick from.

The pilot also had his brother to worry about, who he knew was on the ground and doing his own thing. Whether he'd made it or was already dead was irrelevant to Eric; the pilot deemed him alive until he got a letter and saw the body bag. He had confidence in little James. The pilot, tired but at least able to walk in good stride, made his way inside VF-138's briefing room. Mark joined the party soon after.

Upon receiving clearance to RTB, the four Rosenthal Tomcats also returned to the boat, landing without incident.  While their jets were rearmed and refueled, the Basilisk pilots walked down to the ready room they were sharing with VF-138.  On the way, Shamu said to Sharky, "We've gotta do something about those MANPADS."

Sharky sighed, "I know, I hate having a 13,000 AGL hard deck as much as you, but what can we do?  Go in with a couple of Bones and carpet bomb the joint?  Because that's about the only option we have if they keep popping out of buildings like that."

"I'm sure corporate could get its hands on a pair of Bones..."

"Shamu..."

"Kidding, kidding.  Besides, unless we cut down on the crew size we'd have issues with them anyway.  We don't have anyone that's OSO or DSO trained."

"Exactly.  Now come on, let's get some food.  I'm fucking starving."

"Roger Cherrypicker, you boys have a good one." said Hacker, and the Hornets roared off to their base. Landing, the Rhinos where herded to their places on the ramp, and Broadsword shut down for the day. The aircraft were immediately set upon by the maintenance and ordnance crews. 

"Those GBU-53s are cool, but I think they are too ineffective for CAS," said Hacker, before taking a sip of scotch. 

"Damn right they are, reminds me of the AIM-4 failure. Good, but not for this, next mission, GBU-31s and laser guided Mavs. Those damn dust clouds denied us some kills." said Riley, nodding his head.

We need something to take care of those MANPADs as well, I saw some of the streaks chasing the Rosenthal guys. I was listening to their freq and they sounded pissed." stated Chart.

"Too bad we can't blow away entire buildings. But enough of this, want to hit the town?"

The Marines didn't even flinch as the GBU struck the sniper's postion. The room he was in collapsed, spilling rubble outwards and onto the pavement of the parking lot before the building. The JTAC started shouting about good hits to the Navy planes. Cherry Picker then chimed in.

"Sunny, we have a flight of Hornets inbound to take over. You're cleared to RTB if you wish." the backseater radioed.

James heard the explosion, but he only looked in that direction for a minute while the rest of his platoon was picking through the rubble, looking for any Kedhanis that might want to surrender. Most were retreating so they could regroup and counterattack. Designated Marksman shot at any that were threats, but otherwise let them go to show that the UN force was not the bunch of barbarians the Kedhani media painted them as.

In the meantime, Eric and Mark approached their mercenary compatriots.

"So I heard you guys got trolled by the guys on the ground with MANPADS, too." Eric commented.

Sharky nodded, "That we did.  Too bad there's nothing we can do to be more proactive about them though."

"Ah can't think of anything else besides hoping the straight-legs flush em out first." Mark shrugged.

Sharky shrugged, "As my intrepid RIO suggested there's always the option of carpet bombing with Bones.  But I dunno how the UN feels about that."

"Sunny copies. Flight RTB. Good luck out there, Cherry Picker". The senior F-21 pilot replied, deciding not to press the flight's luck. They had plenty of ordnance left, but they had been airborne and hitting targets for awhile now. Sunny was starting to feel it, and he imagined the rest of the flight wasn't much better.

"Sunny to flight you heard, them let's call it a day". The Lieutenant Commander said over the squadron frequency.

"Finally" Dusty said with a sigh, and if he could he would be stretching to get the kinks out of his neck. 

"I think we're the only ones from the Excalibur still up at this point" Rosie noted.

"Well let's not keep em waiting, also congrats Bait on managing to kill something" Sunny noted the contribution of the previously unlucky Tomcatter.

"Thanks sir" Bait answered with a small but noticeable amount of sarcasm.

The four VF-3 Thunderhawks went on a heading away from the beaches and finally back over a sea, towards the Excalibur. 


Back on the "boat", Sunny filled out the necessary paperwork for the mission while Rosie and Bait heading to get something to eat happened upon their counterparts in VF-138 plus the Mercs.

Rosie was the first to speak.

"So how did you gentlemen do? It honestly felt like we were getting calls for support every few seconds."

Shamu shrugged, "Eh, we weren't all that busy, actually.  We actually came back with a couple bombs.  I guess they gave us the big stuff while you guys got stuck dealing with everything else."

Showtime said smugly, "As is befitting of the superior swing wing jet..."

Red groaned, "Ay, not again..."

Rosie nodded.

"We actually came back with a good amount ourselves. Surprising considering calls for support seemed to come up every few moments."

Bait chose this moment to chime in.

"Yeah everything else period, those jarheads were in a hell of a fight down there." Noting Showtime's taunt, he turned to the Ronins for support.

"Hey Ronins, you gonna let them talk about our T-hawks like that?"

"Eh, Ah don't waste my time on it. We all know they secretly wanna fly em, so we just smile and nod when they poke fun at our birds." Mark said with a shit-eating grin.

"To be honest I was finding those T-90s to be a pain with their Shtora systems.  lasers couldn't get a solid lock and JDAMs were long gone. Whoever gave us those loadouts oughta have their heads checked." Eric said.

"Y'all just don't like strike." Mark chortled.

"I'm in a VF, not a VFA." Eric pointed out.

"There, there, anyways while we could carpet bomb MANPADS positions, that would be a gross waste of resources in my opinion. A sniper bullet or simple strafing running by yer buddy after he shoots might help. If he's in a building, drop it." Mark suggested.

Sharky chuckled, "You know wrong, my brown haired friend."

Shamu agreed, "Single seat jets are boring.  But anyway, that's why you use SFW on armor, Saber."

To Mark Sharky said, "Getting a sniper in position isn't a sure thing, and a strafing run is an even bigger risk.  Honestly right now our best option is to keep a decent hard deck and keep our eyes open."

Bait just shook his head sadly.

"Such denial, its tragic you know. Some people just can't admit things to themselves"

Rosie noted the turn of the other conversation to carpet bombing and frowned slightly. 

"I wouldn't use carpet bombing unless it was a VERY last resort. This isn't  over Belka during the 40's you know?"