Vol 1 Chapter 1 (2/2)
” And if the plan fails?”
” We will have to reford”
It was easy to see how reckless this plan really was Squadrons involved in the first operation would have suffered heavy losses, and the pilots' fatigue would be at its peak However, there was no choice, in the event of failure The loss of several TSF squadrons to save the breaking front line was quite acceptable from a purely military perspective In fact, there have been a multitude of precedents
”Of course, even noe're already losing two squadrons”
Marai could only pray for a successful hunt - otherwise, the only result of this accumulation of casualties would be a complete defeat
”Howat? ”
”Our estih, sir, but we expect around five hundred units Following the AL artillery strikes and the propagation of heavy metal clouds, we expect their numbers had declined to less than three hundred ”
”Which squadron would come into contact first?”
” Triple-six, sir,” - answered Marai quickly, not showing a hint of emotions that suddenly swelled within her
” The 666th was spearheading the assault fro through by now”
”Hm, those fellows are quite reliable, aren't they”
”Yes, sir They're not called the top squadron of the DDR for nothing”
In command of the 666th was the hero of the last phase of the Polish caain demonstrated enviable tactical acumen By this time, the squadron had more BETA kills on record than any other in the NVA, and its reputation for being top-grade aces ell deserved That did not mean, however, that their brothers in arms bore any affection for them - many, especially in front line units, had different ways of calling them, the least offensive of which were ”those da, but she also understood that it was, in a way, inevitable
”Besides”
Froe as a commander, but at the same time too flawless and beyond any reproach
” We can only rely on their bravery,” she said, turning away to look at Hannibal She followed his gaze, and had to hide a sudden surge of irritation His eyes were fixed on one spot on the wall screen - the marker that represented the 666th squadron
+++1130 hours
++Territory of the former People's Republic of Poland
++22 kilometres east of the Neisse river, in BETA-controlled space
In the raging snowstor their way through gaps between the BETA, flying at only five hing those snowy fields Their engines were blasting up massive plumes of snow and dirt behind the machines Their cockpits were filled with the shrill TAWS alar to disable the auto balancing systeht
Being a target for the lasers kinda seems easier
Making an effort not to curse into the open coroup of grapplers, only eight hundred metres in front He pulled hard on a control stick,speed
Scheisse, will you ever end?!
Another group in front of hi in fast, and a crash seemed an all too real possibility, - he yanked the joysticks towards hi maneuver over the heads of the BETA, - all in less than 235 seconds, which was thehit by lasers
Goddaive us the new MiG-23s already, or some of the western kites!
His face, tense because of the G stress, had a singularly fierce expression
The 21's not made for these bloody acrobatics!!
Breaking for the BETA, would have meant certain death, - after all, in this situation the other man Theodore himself had to abandonseparated However, it could have been even worse If the diversion hadn't worked, they wouldn't even have a gap to squeeze into
” Outta my way, you bloody h his headset, followed by the rattling of an assault rifle burst Theodore clicked his tongue in disapproval Walter, guessing what happened, snapped angrily:
” Schwarz six, hold your fire! Did you forget your Goddamn orders?”
” Negative, sir! Just got rid of a few buggers in et, sir!” fiercely replied second lieutenant Annette Hosenfeld, piloting the last uard Her short hair shook a little with every burst she fired ” I said move, you filthy octopus!!”
That idiot how dunore Walter's orders
Annette continued firing on all grapplers in sight Several muzzle flashes later, her MiG-21, thrusters at full, swept above the goryPerfect control and flawless execution of the attack, - but if one looked at the bigger picture, it beca delayed by such reckless actions, getting through the BETA was not easy
” Co with that!” Gretel sounded hysterical again She knew that Irisdine left all personneldiscipline, to Walter, and so didn't even bother talking to the captain
” These TSFs are precious equip ammo is treason!! Do you want your subordinate to see a military prison from the inside?!”
” Schwarz six, did you hear that?! Cease fire! Now!! ”
” This is Schwarz seven! I'll go with six!”
Another co initiative this tihild Bronikowski, also a pilot of the rear-guard flight Like Annette, she was 18, but to Theodore's eyes she looked , wavy hair and elegant countenance The three of thehter pilot school, and ain in the squadron
” Annette, please, get a hold of yourself! You're putting us all in danger!”
” I know! I I know that!”
The tone of Annette's voice lost all its fierceness Her psychological state was clearly far from normal - in fact, a pretty common symptom of shellshock Theodore knew the reason very well: that week Annette lost three people closest to her, three friends from her childhood days The coincidental death of several friends and comrades hom she survived the harshest of battles made her lose her balance In the past several days, her behaviour had been rude, erratic, and generally almost unbearable
” I I'm happy only when I kill thes don't help! I dreaoes on, I” by now she was ra almost incoherently
Well then maybe you should've stayed out of the bloody cockpit!
Thought Theodore, holding back his irritation at both Annette and Irisdine It idely known that shellshocked pilots put themselves, and by consequence their coerous than an ally you cannot rely on Despite that, Irisdine let her fly, citing the necessity to have eight uessed, that Irisdine did it on her own responsibility, - her continued silence at Annette's outbursts proved that Perhaps she had even ordered Inghild to keep an eye on Schwarz six For Theodore, however, this was no excuse, even if otherwise this would have destroyed Annette as a soldier and a person
While she's whining, her et killed by BETA!
” It's all right, Annette, everything's okay I'll protect you” said Inghild in a very soft, cal voice, which only served to annoy Theodore even hild, a child of an old Junker family [1A 12], and as such, always treated somewhat distantly, Annette was the only person hom she really connected This relationshi+p perhaps was the link that kept Inghild close to Annette, even despite her current mental state
Ugh, I'onna puke
These tere really getting on Theodore's nerves In his opinion, a pilots, who lived with the fear of death at any s, and would only hasten their departure to the next world
” Everything all right, Schwarz seven?” Walter asked, his voice tense Theodore felt that they were just words - the veteran er as all other pilots Gretel's face only expressed sincere disgust - she hated former aristocrats with a passion
” Yes, sir, covering Schwarz six everything will be okay, - right, Annette?” replied Inghild, trying too hard to be cheerful Annette, her eyes suddenly lifeless, nodded slowly, as if in a daze
” Copy hey son, you watch those two as well, all right?”
Walter's unexpected order caught hi
”Why me of all people?!”
” You got it?”
”Yes sir, I copy,” - Theodore answered, trying very hard to keep his annoyance out of his voice, and grabbed the control sticks so hard it looked like he was trying to squeeze the life out of them
Not a second later caet Prepare to clear out LZ in five hundred metres It's time for the hunt! Do keep me company!”
On thethe swarets
”Well, here's where we live or die!”
With a shi+ver, he looked at the horde of BETA they were approaching Froht in close quarters, completely surrounded by the enemy
Several groups of laser-class units were surrounded by a sizeable force of other BETA To complete their main objective they would have to eliminate those first, otherwise the squadron would be crushed betaves of monsters In the worst case scenario, fort-class species from the very back of the horde would reinforce the eneress as fast as possible
” Not a very pleasant sight, I must say, ma'am I wonder, how does this compare to a Hive infiltration op?” asked Walter, and Irisdine answered in the same, level tone: ” Oh, much easier” ” Really? Why so?” ” I'm afraid I've no sense of direction”
This tihed, but it was a fact that this short exchange did relieve some of the tension after the incident with Annette
” Canister shot, two volleys! Feuer!!” finally came the captain's order
The barrage wiped out a part of the herd that was underfoot Severalthe dead BETA bodies, - and ahters in perfect battle formation
+++1135 hours
++Territory of the former People's Republic of Poland
++30 kilometres east of the Neisse river, in BETA-controlled space
Looking over the dreary panoraain The retinal display showed his comrades in formation, and the endless sea of enemy contacts around them Grapplers and tank-class species swarmed towards them like flies to a corpse
And the Lux are on the other side of this wall?
He gritted his teeth Completely surrounded, the unit could not use fire and retreat tactics, and could not attack the laser-class fro a perfectly coordinated assault, using the BETA closest to theh to the pockets where the laser-class groups were
No way in hell aonna die in this place!
He grinned savagely, and in that grin were both the bloodlust and the mortal fear of a cornered beast
” All units, achtung! ” Irisdine's confident voice rang in his ears ” Coe in close quarters, second provides covering fire Bestow upon them our black marks! 666th squadron, vorwärts!! ”
At her command, all the machines of the 666th rushed forward as one
Irisdine was charging ahead across the snowy field, using short boost juain speed Walter followed her close, Theodore was behind and to the left of him, and Gretel even further to the left In front of therapplers with a hundred tank-class beasts surrounding them
” We'll cut through theht, cover us!”
Irisdine was a firm believer in the idea that the commander should be at the forefront of his unit, and under no circumstances would let anyone else have the honour Even Theodore had to recognise her bravery and determination even if it annoyed him oh so much
Only a dozen ave a triuines, she soared above the grappler
Suddenly reversing her booster nozzles so that they pointed up, shethe ”Shürzen” so that its bladed edge pointed towards the sensory organs on the grappler's back Predictably enough, the edge split the beast's filmy skin, and sliced its torso in two Thick red fountains of whatever passed for blood aotten kind sprayed over herin all directions That grappler was most certainly out of the picture A le, and another grappler found itself hacked apart
daood!!
Theodore, covering the lead machines, had the time to fully admire this display of skill It was quite clear that no one without the exceptional control over their machine that those tere able to achieve could hope to perform such a feat Such precisely tie pilot wouldn't even be able to imitate And thanks to the efficient coordination of the four rapplers were down in less than sixty seconds There didn't see in the immediate vicinity
” Schwarz one to four and eight! Secure sector 05-8!”
” Roger!! I'ht!”
”Jawohl!”
This time it was Theodore and Gretel's turn to et In their sector were a dozen grapplers and fifty tank-class BETA, the latter already being chewed up by covering fire fro the threat, began to move in
Hah, as if we'd stop here!
Theodore, giving several bursts fro, rushed onwards Annihilation of the BETA was secondary to securing the marked coordinates, so they paid no heed to the enenated point, crushi+ng sorappler corpses under their iron boots
” Four and eight, you got inco at three o'clock! Vorsicht!”
They barely had tied from the blizzard They were barely three hundred metres off
” Ah, no!” Gretel moaned
At this range, it was clear that they wouldn't have time to stop them with fire alone Theodore instantly took the decision, discarding his assault rifle, - immediately, an automated auxiliary arm took the CIWS-1A corabbed it with his right rip
” L-lieutenant Eberbach?!”
”Please stay back! I will stop the He nor, but in this situation it was the last thing on his mind
”Support fire, lieutenant!”
” Roger!!”
To say that taking on a grappler in close co of the smallest classes was reckless, would be an impressive understatement One hit from their massive forearms, and the TSF was scrap
Ready to win or die trying, Theodore waited for the first grappler to approach and lift his arround with a hoarse battle cry With split-second tiht shoulder joint, and took the blow on his shi+eld
The Shürzen's reactive armour exploded - Theodore's field of vision was filled with a blast of brilliant orange, and half of the beast's claas blown off The TSF shook viciously under the terrible impact
” bastard!!”
He glanced at the system monitors - it looked like the pressure on the left elbow joint had spiked beyond critical Not even waiting for the ed his posture, anticipating the rappler, whose left arm was still functional In the next mo clean through the beast's other joint - his blade rent thefeebly
” Next!!”
As if through sheer force of will he righted his rappler head-on, this tie in the middle of its torso Its whitish skin wasn't a match for that steel
” And you're finished! ”
The re reactive arnificently - the explosion blew the beast to pieces Any others?
Looking around, he only saw Gretel finishi+ng off soone, he could finally catch his breath, stowing away the co to control his breathing to calering mortal terror
Just as Walter and Irisdine were unmatched pilots, Theodore excelled in close quarters coether Thishe needed to survive this hunt for the laser-class
Well, that's it, can't do the same next time
He glanced at his shi+eld, scorched by the explosions of the blocks of reactive armour, and frowned It wouldn’t be able to save him from the laser anymore
” Schwarz one to four and eight! Move to 05-0!” he heard Irisdine’s urgent voice in his headset
” Visual on Lux, repeat, visual onto draw other BETA from them! Make it fast you two!!”
Finally! We got them…
Theodore didn’t notice hiht shone upon the snow, in-between the other BETA, soroup of the laser-class species, about thirty units
” Rear-guard! Cover four and eight!”
” Roger that!”
Only then Theodore noticed the voices of Annette and Inghild a orders The twoenemies that came from that direction Annette’s MiG carried a weapon unusual for European battlefields – a standard PLA Type-77 long sword [1A 13]In the past, the DDR ih very few squadrons continued using it For ordinary pilots, not too fond of close combat, it was an unwieldy weapon, but Annette had displayed her affinity for it ever since TSF pilot school
” Take this!!”
Raising the glaive above her head, she slashed down at the grappler in front of her The grappler raised his ar bits of cracked ar
” There’s more where that came from!! Diiiieee!!!”
Her heavy glaive rose up slowly, and fell again on another grappler
” Annette, tank-class on your ten! Careful!” shouted Inghild, who had been giving her partner precise covering fire all this tih time because of Annette’s wild and unpredictable movements She didn’t let it show on her face, however, and continued her support action, but her eyes darted back and forth as she tried to follow the positions of the forward units at the sareat deal of strain on her, and was frankly dangerous – she had to understand it very well herself
” Forward, four and eight – take those Lux down! I give you sixty seconds!”
Spurred on by Irisdine’s order, Theodore looked forward The captain and Walter had drawn off two dozen grapplers by the the laser-class
” Roger!! Corapplers on our eight as a shi+eld, and give a volley of canister shot!”
”Roger!”
With another battle cry, Theodore charged the enemy
+++1150 hours
++Territory of the former People's Republic of Poland
++30 kilometres east of the Neisse river, in BETA-controlled space
A vibration… that wasn’t one of our shells…
Inghild was the first to notice it Providing fire support for Annette, she was distracted for a split second
The blizzard and the clouds of dirt and snow that hung above the battlefieldbut one’s ihild didn’t even bother to look at the radar, which was as good as useless under the heavy metal clouds, but instead turned her eyes back to Annette’s e weapon, but she was more and more worried
Please come back safe…
The thought that at this point Annette was accuue and stress didn’t leave herto an end, and soon she would be sent back to the base to recover her mental stability Cases of shellshock were common on this terrible field of battle What awaited those whose mind broke was a stay in a special military hospital – which, in this country, was little different from a labour ca The current administration of the DDR did not even want to admit the existence of soldiers whose spirit was broken
But then if this war ends, and she survives, maybe there’ll be ti, for her sake!
Only fifteen minutes from the start of the battle, the 666th had already eliroups of laser-class BETA, and were now breaking through to the third and last The presence of four other groups had also been confirnal flares indicated that the other TSF squadrons, previously delayed, had successfully ets Ten minutes remained until the planned start of full-scale bo ell, they had largely enough tilers
Gah, again!
She glanced at her co However, even if her MiG-21 was equipped with vibration sensors, with these numbers of BETA around it was si that a huh,abnor buzzer
”It can’t be! Here?!”
The e spelt death for the entire squadron
A herd of destroyer-class?!
◊◊◊
”Destroyer-class?! ” Theodore whispered, looking at the sa to believe his own eyes,
We’re in the bloody middle of the BETA herd!
” No hild ” Around seventy units, distance 2500, speed… over a hundred and fifty kiloe in less than sixty seconds! Proceeding in close formation!”
Theodore growled, gritting his teeth
Sheisse! Just a bit et!
A ht fighters, surrounded by an entire herd, standing against a rush of the destroyer-class – one couldn’t call this situation anything other than desperate Seeing as they weren’t finished with the laser-class, they wouldn’t be able to evade by with simple boost juet was down He couldn’t expect the political officer, Gretel, to allow it
Desertion under enemy fire is punishable by death, after all…
Perhaps the only option reht until the last ines to overload and destroy the with any BETA nearby Was this then the end? He gripped the control sticks once again, growling in protest ” Don’t get distracted!” came Irisdine’s sharp coe by one iota ” All units, form on me!”
In the face of imminent destruction, her voice was also perfectly steady
da?!
But he hi, and several short boost ju next to the lead MiG-21 Other ht, covered in BETA entrails They had on average thirty percent a Annette, was beloenty
” Why this, coain, pale-faced, clearly aware of the destiny that awaited the squadron ” We should spread out and head towards the laser-class! If even one or two h, our mission would be complete! It’s not too late yet! And if we’re killed, it’s even--”
” We would be killed before reaching them I cannot accept such a tactical move”
” Then what, are you planning to meet them here?! Impossible!”
” Listen up, squadron! Fire by rank, switch your 120noring Gretel completely
She was the first ready her assault gun, and Theodore followed reflexively, all the while staring angrily at the commander’s face in the comm
Is she insane? Firing by rank is just as suicidal against the Ruitare!
” …You do realise that stopping them is imp--”
” We will fire at the front group, stop theroup!”
Wha…
Theodore was speechless again This time he really doubted the captain really
…break through them?!
Not paying heed to all the other pilots, clearly at a loss for words, Irisdine continued:
” Behind the charging destroyers there have to be very few BETA We’ll use that! We don’t have any other choice for destroying them until the bombardment starts!”
It was essentially, true, - the speed difference between the destroyer-class and other BETA ap quite likely Really… no other choice…
Theodore understood the theory behind this h a destroyer-class wave fro co he could do was follow orders No matter how uneasy they made him, or how much he hated the captain
” All units, fire ondestroyers!”
” Roger!”
Theodore shouted in reply, feeling despair encroach upon his soul It ht have been the same for the others, too
” Then, on h maneuver Do not, I repeat, do not break your element[1A 15]! If we stop them, they’re not a threat anymore!”
The tre more and more noticeable, and their TSFs shook
” Once we break through, we turn towards the Lux, finish theet out of here!”
Walter’s rough voice interrupted her:
” Visual on destroyer-class, distance 1000… they’re here!”
In the next h the blizzard in front of the curtain of snow…
Twenty seconds to contact Theodore’s heart was seized by a dreadful, oppressing feeling
Stopping… that?!
” All units, feuer frei!”
” Jawohl!!”
They focussed all their attention on the approaching eneht flashes erupted fro to see if the shells hit, they fired one volley after another
This has to stop them… it has to! Or
Irisdine’s calculations seeets – the destroyers didn’t even pause, and rushed on, scattering bits of gore, but the second and third hits exploded legs, sending them off balance, and one after another they tumbled The ones that relentlessly caot caught and tumbled themselves, - and so did the next wave In one tremendous