Operation Pacifica: The Long Twilight Struggle "No plan survives contact with the enemy." -- Helmuth von Moltke COMMANDER AIR GROUP'S QUARTERS, _DTT FREEDOM_, 1742 HRS. SHIP'S TIME DAY SIX OF OPERATION PACIFICA "Shee-it!" J-Rock said this as he watched a Paladin Pimp Squad storm through his Ork city, mowing through anything sent to stop them. Even he had to admit that the dwarves sent against his own pimp squad of Ogre Magi was a stroke of genius. Chalk that one up to Yearnshaw, and surrender. J-Rock had the worst luck at the network games set up throughout the Dobe Fleet. He had gone down at least five times to Samhain in the Deathmatch on Night One before realizing that he was using a hacked weapon. After that, he confined himself to DukeMatches, MechWarrior II, and Warcraft II, figuring that few could beat him when logistics were involved. Or so he thought.. "Care to try your luck again?" Jim offered over the commlink. "Not unless it's MechWarrior," J-R responded. "Oh, no, you cheat." "I used an Aidan Pryde Timber Wolf. It can be found in an actual BTech sourcebook. Hardly cheating, if you ask me. Look, I'll use Haji this time." "You're on! As long as you don't add jump jets." J-Rock was already in MWII NetMech adding an anti-missile system to his Marauder IIC when his JihadLinker (tm) message signal went off. ... FIVE MINUTES LATER... "My God," Geoffries said after he had seen the saved message on J- Rock's JihadLinker (tm). "There _are_ warships headed this way." "And during a full moon," Tolkan interjected. "What wonderful targets we'll make!" "Mr. Tolkan, what's the ETA on their arrival?" "2300 hours our time." Geoffries sighed and turned to J-Rock. "You have less than two hours to prepare and get your planes kitted out. At 2215, I want a magnum launch: All fighters than can go up, will." "Aye aye, sir," J-Rock replied. Defending the fleet would require careful planning. Fortunately, he already had a plan in mind. ... PILOT'S BRIEFING ROOM, 2110 HRS. SHIP'S TIME "Settle down, settle down," J-Rock said to the pilots under his command as they sought to find open seats. "We don't have much time, so hurry up and find a seat." After all the pilots had settled down, he continued, "Within the next hour, a B'Harnate fleet will be within airstrike range. Their orders are to find the fleet, and sink as many ships as possible. Our objective, for the most part, is to stop them. "The majority of you will fly to given intercept points around the fleet. Stop any and all fighters that try to get past you. I will take four fighters from Dragon squadron and perform a strike of our own at sometime during or shortly after the intercept. Hopefully, we can harass a few cruisers, and maybe even get the carrier." "Won't you already be in the intercept?" DarkSide asked. "For a bit. I'll be flying Dragon 307 this time. DS, you've got Tiger 200. Think you can handle it?" "Aye aye sir!" "I'd like it back in one piece, if at all possible. Persephone, I know you're probably tired, but I want you and Simkin on Ready-5. You'll back up the main intercept in case any of them get through. And if it's anything like this morning was, we'll certainly need you." "Question," Yearnshaw said. "Why are you prepping for a strike at this time?" "You're right," J-R replied, "I'd have to be crazy to try something like this. Even a Wyrm-Minion could figure that out. And that's what I'm counting on." ... DOBERMAN F/A-18 FIGHTER (CALLSIGN: DRAGON 307) FLIGHT DECK, 2217 HRS. SHIP'S TIME # "Red Alert" _Robotech Perfect Collection_ "Pull!" J-Rock shouted a few seconds before his Hornet was sent into the Wild Blue Yonder. As soon as he had cleared the launch path, another Hornet was launched on the catapult next to it. The _Freedom's_ crew was doing a great job of getting all the planes up in the air quickly. After all, this was what they had been trained for. Looking out into the evening sky, he could already see the outlines of planes forming up at the pre-determined points. The Tomcats were well engaged in combing the sky with their radars, looking everywhere for the Luv Fighters they knew were coming. "Contacts!" Yearnshaw declared. "Bearing one-five-nine, Angels Eight, 900 knots closure." "How many?" J-Rock asked. "Five." 'Ok,' J-R thought. 'Makes it even odds... waitaminit. Since when do Sponges use even odds?' An inherent risk of J-Rock's plan was spreading the forces too thin in an attempt to cover all the bases. That left four to five fighters at each point. J-Rock accounted for that by having a "free safety" flight at the _Freedom_ itself in addition to the Ready-5 aircraft. "Tiger 208, come high right," he radioed. "They may be stacking to hide their numbers." "Copy." The Tomcat had barely come up when he radioed, "I'm picking up ten fighters now! Correction, twelve! Repeat, twelve fighters headed this way!" "Dammit to hell," J-Rock grunted. "Ranger Flight, get over here now! Launch the Ready-5 aircraft!" "I've got missile launches from five of 'em! Targetting the _Freedom!_" # "Rocket Away" _"The Rock" soundtrack_ J-R called out, "Vampire, Vampire! Mother Goose, be advised, five leeches headed your way!" [1] "Copy, Dragon 307," the tower replied. "Break formation and open fire!" J-Rock radioed. "By God, let's tear them a new one!" The Tomcats launched a swarm of Phoenixes at the escorts while J-Rock bracketed a ASM missile boat in his recticle. "Suck on this one time," he taunted as he let loose an AMRAAM [2]. The Luv Fighter made a very good impression of "Oops, I died" as it went up in a ball of flame. Meanwhile, the _Freedom_ wasn't doing any better. The point-defense missiles had claimed only one inbound missile. "Engage the CIWS now!" Geoffries commanded, barely keeping his voice under a shout. The Phalanxes opened up with their artillery, claiming two more. The remainder flew at one turret that couldn't decide which of them to shoot, so it shot at neither. Those missiles struck home at various places on the carrier's deck, exploding after they had punched through. "F**k!" Geoffries said as large chunks of his flight deck flew up into the air. "F**k!" DarkSide said as he watched large chunks of the flight deck fly up into the air. "F**k!" J-Rock said as he watched large chunks of the flight deck fly up into the air. "99 Rattler," he radioed, using the prefix that meant the command for everybody in the strike force. "Time to hiss." With that, he kicked the Hornet in the ass and dropped to 5000 feet, aiming for the Spongin carrier dead ahead. # Motorhead "Burner" _Bastards_ ("I don't think you know about your future yet I don't think you're gonna like the one you're gonna get") The other members of Rattler flight formed up on J-R, priming their own Exocet anti-ship missiles. "Use both fangs," he told his flight. "We've only one shot at this... ready.. now!" The carrier was already in the process of launching its own Ready-5 aircraft in addition to prepping the second half of the attack planes for runs on the battleships. As such, it was entirely unprepared to ward off ten incoming Exocets. Four missiles fell to the carrier's defenses before the rest impacted the carrier in various places. Three hit the hull, sending chunks of the takeoff/landing strip into the night sky. One punched through an existing hole and hit the fuel tanks. The center of the flight deck erupted in a firestorm of exploding aviation fuel, scattering planes as if they were toys. The last missile hit the bow catapults, causing even more planes to scatter as if some child was having a tantrum. Subsidiary explosions from exploding planes and munitions wracked the carrier even more, pitting the flight deck and causing many fires. "Yeeesss!!!" Yearnshaw shouted. "Scratch one flattop!" "Let's not pin the Star of Grimace on just yet," J-Rock cautioned. "They may have lost their carrier, but the battle's far from over." As if to underscore J-R's thoughts, the beep-beep-beep of an attempted missile lock echoed in the ears of all present as the Ready-5 Luv Fighters turned their attentions towards them. ... THE OBSCURE [1] Vampire: Radio communication meaning "Incoming anti-ship missile". [2] AMRAAM: Stands for Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile. The AIM-120 AMRAAM is the next step up in medium range radar-guided missiles, and is slated to replace the Sparrow in U.S. Navy fighter operations. To be continued in "The Fall of Night"...