16 Before The Attack

Admiral Andersen observed the port every day from the radar and noticed that the number of battleships and frigates in that port was increasing and forming a naval barricade. Since that ambush, Admiral retreated his CSG for about a hundred kilometers from the port. At the same time, they're planning the attack plan.

In the Admiral room, Dima had a meeting with the Admiral concerning the capabilities of the enemy. Though, Dima's idea was purely Shock and Awe to the enemy. Nothing can stop them from doing that for sure since the enemy didn't have any counter-attacks.

"But General Vyacheslavovich, we simply don't want to take a risk," Admiral Andersen said after he heard Dima's plan.

"Please call me General Dimitri, that name is too long," Dima said to him.

"Ok, General, I agree with your idea of shock and awe, but I don't want General Sharrington to take part in the operation with a super hornet, it simply can't carry big enough firepower," Admiral Andersen said.

"Look, Admiral, one of our cruisers, is more than enough to take care of their whole naval fleet. But the goal of shock and awe can only be shown by a big amount of force," Dima replied.

"Fine, but get an F-15, I don't think a hornet will carry enough firepower for him," Admiral Andersen said.

"Ok, We agree, and the operation will commence tomorrow at 0900 hours," Dima said as he looked at the clock, which shown at 1800.

"How will you transport the general?" Andersen asked as he was going back to the island.

"Easy, I will be his wingman," Dima said as he left the briefing room for Lance's quarter and they took a shower.

After they took a shower, They walked to the flight deck, and an F/A-18E was parked on it. Lance wore a flight suit and a g suit and had his flight helmet on his head. Dima was the same too. Each of the jets has its own name painted near the cockpit. They entered their own jet.

The magnetic flight catapult was attached to the jet and the shooter; the person wearing that orange vest gave them the signal. They took off from the CSG and heading to the island again for a change of plane. During the trip, they were on the cruising speed without the afterburner so they can travel the 2000 km relatively with good fuel consumption. There was only a dark sky and ocean along the trip. So Dima decided to ask Lance about his previous deployment.

Dima: "What was your most dangerous flight mission?"

Lance: "What do you mean? In my young year or in my old year? Well, there was no most dangerous mission since they all were dangerous. However, I got a weird mission when I was 23."

Dima: "Ok, tell me."

Lance: "So Here is the story...."

Today was a typical day, but this time I got a contract of eliminating a rogue fighter jet flying across the sea of japan and on heading of south Chinese sea. Well, my loadout was using the Su-57 "Felon," which was a state-of-the-art jet fighter during that era of Russia's second glory. They fixed the unstealthy part of that aircraft and made it as smooth as the F-22, and they added more powerful engines that could give about 60.000 lbf of thrust. Basically, they fix every flaw that that jet fighter has. They fixed the unstealthy air intake and etc. The design changed a lot, but still had some of the distinctive flanker design. Their avionic had changed a lot too, well, that was because Russia had turned into a semi-capitalistic country too.

Ok, back to the story, I was taking off from the Vladivostok international airport. I was equipped with a full stealth loadout and took off to the territorial water of Japan. Well, I got authorization from their government for entry, although I was in a Russian fighter jet. I was heading over to the sea of japan before suddenly I got intercepted by an F-15J. Still, something was weird about that Japanese eagle.

The whole plane was painted in shining yellow, and the cockpit wasn't made of glass at all. That fighter jet was not a usual eagle by its margin. It was very agile. Well, too agile, since when an F-15 could put a sudden pugachev?

Anyway, I started to dogfight them, as usual, in my agile Russian jet fighter aircraft, I pulled a close pass and launched a missile from the bay of my jet fighters. The missile was launched, and I was surprised to see the jet dodge it quite easily.

Suddenly other fighter jets appeared, a red JAS 39C "Gripen." Same as the F-15J, the jet looked didn't have any cockpit, and the jet was shining in red. Gee, I almost thought that the JASDF did something weird again, but no. This fighter jet was agile as hell, even me in the Su-57 was having a very hard time fighting them. The table was turned against me, and now I'm the one that was trying to evade the missile which accuracy only god can explain; very fucking accurate.

I did many violent maneuvers that I never thought I could do. My eyes were having Redout multiple times. Banking maneuver, everything, I had tried to do it, but just because I can't get the upper in that dogfight situation. Then another problem came, a blue F/A-18E came from a distance; the same config as before, shining and no cockpits whatsoever.

I did many maneuvers and fired a few of my missile until it ran out. The fuel gauge on my jet also showed an almost empty state. I almost gave up on hope until this one person from the merc business that I very knew about came. Like an angel from heaven, he did a violent maneuver, even more, brutal than me. His jet was not an F-22C nor the same Su-57; it was a joint engineer fighter jet between the US and Russia. The design incorporating the forward-swept wing of the Su-47 and the sleek design of the YF-23, it was the actual state-of-the-art aircraft; the Lockheed Sukhoi X-02A fighter jet. The combination of American technology and Russian maneuverability in an aircraft.

The aircraft was very agile and fast, the rumor said that it can go toe-to-toe with around 30 F-22C and 20 Su-57. It seems impossible right, but trust me, it's the truth. The plane forward-swept wing folded and unfolded during the flights. He shot them down one by one without the same haste as I did. The jet utilizes its superb missile to shot them down, and its machine gun is just like a guided missile, very accurate.

I turned off my afterburner and saw the jet that I supposed to shot was falling down one by one. The jet fighter that was shot down didn't eject their pilot, which raise another question for me. Are they really humans? I turn my attention to the sudden appearance of an unknown fighter jet.

I saw his wing, and he had no insignia on his wings whatsoever. Only a 'UN" underneath his cockpit and a Mobius ribbon on his wings. I never thanked him, and he suddenly flew away, leaving me behind to fly back to Vladivostok.

END OF FLASHBACK

Dima: "Wow, I never thought anime-like things exist IRL."

Lance: "Neither do I. I heard that they were genetically engineered fighter jets that were produced in 2019. But I don't believe that either. The point was I got my money."

Dima: "Genetically engineered? They live?"

Lance: "I don't know. Maybe, though, I heard some girly voice from my headset back then."

Dima: "What about that other fighter jet? Did you know it?"

Lance: "The X-02A "Wyvern"? That was a fighter jet produced by the US and Russia to counter the massive amount of jet on the rebel hand. Yes, the rebel had fifth-gen fighter jets back then. However, all of them were the basic variant and not the improved one like my Sukhoi, but still better than this jet that we ride now. Piloting that was every pilot wet dream, only the UN that had it back in the day."

Dima: "How about the pilot?"

Lance: "The pilot? I don't know much about him. He was known simply as the ribbon fighter or the grim reaper by the rebel."

Dima: "I wish I can try that X-02 fighter jet that you are talking about."

Lance: "I wish I could too."

Though Lance's story was short, the trip came to an end as they saw the runway of the island. They landed their aircraft there and switched to another aircraft, which was an F-15E "Strike Eagle."