R A I D O N V L A S K O A F B
V L H A K I A N 1 1 T H A I R W I N G: T H E D E V I L ' S S T R I D E R S
The morning sky was easy on the jet's wings as the Devils flew over the Vlhakian southern border northbound to Vlasko Air Base. Behind them was an air bomber group, three TU-160's followed by three escorts fighters consisting of MiG-31s. That wasn't the concern on Winkoop's mind though, he flew in a V formation alongside his four other comrades. The Devil's all flew Su-27s painted all red with a low-vis Vlhakian flag on their tails of course.
Winkoop looked over to his left, his wingman Lieutenant Michael Zarkev was looking at his instruments before he caught the flight leader's gaze. He gave him a thumbs-up, Winkoop removed his stern gaze on him before looking forward to the objective in front of him, Vlasko was only ten minutes out. The Devils started to lower their altitude dangerously low, about 300 meters or so above the empty farm fields they were close to crashing into. The whole flight had been briefed on the importance of evading the Antrean radars, so much that radio chatter would only be opened up as the attack on Vlasko began.
Antrean ground below was vanishing as they drew up speed, starting to zoom by the ground as they gained up speed. Winkoop's thoughts went back to the days of cruising through the dark blue skies during the Delrosa campaign, Delrosa was such a beautiful country had it not been strife with civil war maybe more pilots would be going home to their families. Alas, that was the price of war he snapped back into reality as he looked up to the airbase he was soon approaching. They woulden't know what was about to hit them, hell it was better to the one taking the first shot than receiving it in war. It's just part of the game, his mind started to block off his vague moralist views as he switched the comms back on to announce to the flight.
Devil-1: "Attention flight, targets approaching - for the Queen, raze Vlasko to the ground!"
...
October 14th, 2019 - 0700 Vlasko AFB
A N T R E A N A I R D E F E N C E - 4 5 0 T H A N G E L S Q U A D R O N
Breakfast had just been served in the chow hall, just some eggs and bacon the usual it was lean mean and it helped the base remain a tip-top fighting machine. No one was able to sense what was about to come, by the time the sound of engines broke the sound barrier nearby the base the attack had already began. Angel-1 'Jackson' 450's flight leader was already in the air but for a bit of training with his derelict 104C Starfighter, it was an easily maneuverable plane but lacked armored it was more of a touch and go aircraft. He would be the first off the Angels to engage with the Devil's.
Unfortunately for him he would be the first downed fighter of the war.
Heading just a few kilometres outside of the base, right in front of him was a zooming V formation of Su-27s before he could even react the lead target had already a hail of 30mm towardes the small Starfighter immediately crippling the plane as it nosed dived into the forrest below as the assault group flew over the now downed flight leader. The Su-27s broke off besides Winkoop and Zarkev who stayed together in a formation over the air field.
The Su-27s began to descend on the airfield firing onto the planes and crew that were left outside during daily duties and maintenance. Their rounds struck home and eviscerated a few staff along with blowing up a A-10, and a few F-14D Tomcats and one Starfighter. Fire struck and broke out, in the chow hall a hail of 30mm blew through the roof shooting into the kitchen, the lineup and to the tables full of airbase staff & pilots soon turned into a frenzy leaving the injured to fend for themselves as everything inside scattered.
Outside the security, crews had gotten a few AAA guns up and one SAM site, they had been seemingly unmanned during the morning shift. Rounds started to fly back striking one of the Su-27s wings but the Devil's responded with rocket fire and 30mm putting almost all of them out of commission in a few minutes. The base had been scrambled by now and the alarm was blaring over base's sound system as pilots began to run to their planes and taxis off to sortie against the Vlhakian air force.
Meanwhile in the sky already and some distance away was AWACS Gravestone, some knew him as the ace from the secession war while others knew him simply as 'Old Man'. He kept to himself mostly but today would be a different day, back in the saddle the old man operated his instruments with his small crew
Analysis: . . .
VAF - TU-160 X3
VAF - MiG-31 X3
VAF - Su-27 X5
Sortie
Angel Squadron β
Angel-1 Jackson - KIA
Angel-2 Teale - β
Angel-3 Rose - β
Angel-4 Valentine - β
Angel-5 Carter - β
Angel-6 Robins - β
Establishing comms...
AWACS Gravestone: "Angel Squadron, this is AWACS Gravestone. Bogeys to the south, Vlhakian IFF. 3x TU-160s"
AWACS Gravestone: "plus MiG-31 escorts. The objective is to stop the bombers from passing on the base, or else it's over for everyone on the ground.
...
AWACS Gravestone:Also, Angel-1 was downed by a Su-27 in all red, it's a some kind of elite squadron. Your priority is the bombers first, I don't want anyone running on me, or dog fucking everyone is pulling their weight. Or we'll all end up dead."