“Combined Orlish and Asanaian armored forces punched deep through North Hebeian lines in the east Ginzhu Province. Beside them, South Hebeian forces, supported heavily by the Lorathian and Gallian armored corps, are slowly creeping northwards to threaten the Ginzhu Metropolitan Area once more, which is still forty-three kilometers from the South Hebeian lines. Constant bombardment from the combined MN navies are also ongoing, as they are reportedly unchallenged by the North Hebeian naval forces.”

  - Liberty One Radio

  +++

  East Hebeian Sea

  Strike Force Seven

  ONS Rebenslof

  “This is ONS Blackgem reporting. We are firing our SM-2006 interceptors. We’re firing fourteen of them.”

  “That’s good. That should thin them up just a little bit,” Albert replied to the captain of the ONS Blackgem, one of the escort destroyers of the Rebenslof. “They’re not sending above fifty to us anyway.”

  “Around forty-eight coming our way, yeah,” the captain said. “These aren’t the very fast types. We should be able to intercept them all with the short-range Shield IIs when there’s just around thirty of them.”

  “Yeah, that’s the plan. May it work,” Albert relaxed on his seat as he watched the Blackgem fire its missiles. One by one, plumes of smoke rose from the VLS cells of the destroyer. Due to the nature of their operation, with the battlefield mostly transparent for both sides, Albert was expecting bad news if they used up their SAM too fast.

  He only really had three destroyers with him. Though the rest of the MN fleet technically protected them, he could only rely the most on his three destroyers. Each one of them carried ninety-six VLS cells since their last refit. They sailed out with ninety-six quad-packed Shield II short-range interceptors, thirty-six SM-2006 interceptors, and thirty-six HASM cruise missiles each.

  That meant in total, his three destroyers had the potential to intercept three hundred ninety-six missiles at most with their interceptors, not counting the close-in weapons systems mounted on each one of them. The Rebenslof itself also carried eight four-pod canisters with the Shield II interceptors, which meant they could also intercept thirty-two extra missiles.

  There was also the ONS Rolentz, which carried a hundred twenty-six VLS cells. With the forty-eight quad-packed Shield II interceptors and another forty-eight SM-2006 missiles, it could defend the fleet from two hundred forty enemy missiles. Nearly half of the rest of the fleet’s interception strength.

  A lot, indeed. But this was going to be a very long battle.

  Right now, only the Blackgem fired their long-range missiles. That was their main bottleneck. The problem with the smaller interceptors they had, which made up the majority of their interception strength, was that they weren’t as long-ranged. Albert already had experience with problems regarding them.

  Sometimes, the enemy would launch a complete wall of missiles that would blot out their tracking systems. Unlike the SM-2006 which had an active radar seeker, the Shield II only had a semi-active radar seeker. That meant it somewhat needed guidance from the vessel that launched it. At the moment, his ships could only guide twelve missiles effectively each.

  Hence why their first act was to thin out the enemy’s forty-eight missile barrage. With fourteen slashed off their volley, hopefully, there would only be thirty-four enemy missiles incoming. That should be manageable for their short-range defenses.

  Albert looked back at his crew. Then on the report screens. It seemed that the enemy’s missiles finally breached the one-hundred-kilometer mark. He waited for his missiles to reach them until the first interceptions were reported by the CIC. He calmly nodded when they gave their numbers: fourteen missiles were intercepted in total.

  That’s a damned good interception rate.

  He turned to Captain James Vogel.

  “Signal our escorts to fire forty-eight Shield IIs,” Albert ordered. “Twelve missiles each. That should take care of the bastards.”

  “Aye, aye, sir,” James turned to his microphone. Soon, the first missiles flew out of the VLS cells of the Blackgem, Rumwall, and Seafire. The ONS Rolentz, which was right ahead of the Rebenslof, also began firing its missiles from its forward deck’s VLS cells. It was a pretty bright display from the fleet, and soon, the skies were blotted with forty-eight SAM missiles.

  Albert walked toward the screens that showed the trajectories of the enemy missiles and his unit’s interceptors. It took a few minutes, but soon, the first interceptions began. The reporting from his commanders was mostly dry. A few of their interceptors managed to miss, but it didn’t even cause much panic.

  Soon, the skies were clear. Albert immediately grabbed his microphone.

  “Good hunting folks,” he smiled. “Resume our ground strike missions.”

  +++

  Empire of Asanai

  Yamaka Airbase

  1st Eastern Air Wing

  16th Fighter Squadron

  “They’re retreating?” Anja asked. Bianca could only shrug as she ate her food faster. It was a short break that was afforded to them after they landed. They were supposed to fly immediately with naval strike load-outs, but her higher-ups informed her that they were now going to change missions.

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  “Yeah. We’re going to fly out with glide bombs again,” Bianca replied, as she emptied her bowl of chicken soup. “It seems that the boys on the ground are already needing more and more air support. So that’s why, I suppose. We’re also not flying as a full squadron because of that.”

  “So the skies are clear again?” Anja skeptically asked.

  “Yeah. Actually, you wanna fly with me?” Bianca asked, tilting her head to the side. “They’ve identified an ammunition depot used by those North Hebeians, just north of Ginzhu. We can fly quickly there in short order to remove it. Then fly back here and wait for a bigger list of targets.”

  Anya groaned as she poked the piece of roasted beef on her plate.

  “It’s another risky mission,” Anja complained. “Isn’t that area still saturated with enemy air defense? And we’re supposed to fly to a lone target together? Alone?”

  “Come on,” Bianca frowned. “Dozens of sorties are happening each hour. Folks are flying in and out of the battlefields. Not to mention the squadrons permanently assigned to CAP. Though…yeah, I suppose most sorties are targeting the frontline areas. Not the behind lines yet. Especially with glide bombs.”

  “I wonder why we’re not being assigned to it,” Anja said. “Ah, I know now. That’s why this mission is on us. It’s really deep that our stealth is needed.”

  “...Yeah, but, again, it’s not like we’re flying there without cover. There should be a few guys in their LF-20s flying around to help out if someone jumps us,” Bianca tried to smile. “Besides, we’re already decent at this. I don’t want to assign newbies to this mission.”

  “Can’t they just give us a proper SEAD munition? Like, come on. It’s north of Ginzhu. That’s way too far. We’ll have to fly too deeply to even have a chance of hitting those ammunition dumps. And we can’t fly low either because…obviously,” Anja seemed a bit shifty. “I don’t know. Why can’t they just send a cruise missile on it?”

  “So much complaining. You’re going to fly out with me anyway though, no?”

  “Obviously.”

  Bianca giggled as she finished the beef on her plate. Then, she turned to her dessert, which was a simple strawberry cake she bought from an out-of-base shop out of her pocket. The food they ate in this base was usually of the best class compared to other normal airmen. Unlike them, Bianca and her squadron were noblewomen.

  Which meant they had a lot of pocket money to buy things with.

  She enjoyed it. It wasn’t exactly advisable to fly out with these kinds of things stuffed in her stomach, but truthfully, even Bianca feared the mission. It was too deep in enemy territory. It would only take a few mistakes for her wings to be clipped. And then this would be her last meal.

  She shook those bad thoughts off her head.

  No way! She thought to herself, as she cleansed her palate with a cup of cold, mango fruit juice. We’re just going to fly in and fly out as is normal. It’ll be fine.

  “Right,” Bianca clapped. “I’m ready. You’re done?”

  “Give me a minute or two,” Anja said, as she picked up her pace. On the other hand, Bianca took her smartphone and checked it for any alerts. There was none. It seemed that things were still normal. She relaxed back briefly to her seat.

  This was going to be a hard mission.

  +++

  East Hebeian Sea

  The two of them were now streaming westwards over the relatively calm waters east of Ginzhu. They were high above the skies, almost around sixteen thousand meters from the ground. Bianca breathed in deeply as she analyzed the constant stream of information and reports on the battlenet.

  “I guess there are no enemy air sightings here right now then,” Bianca said. She craned her neck to the side to look at Anja’s plane, which was flying slightly above her. “We’re now only two hundred kilometers off our target. Should only take us a few more minutes.”

  “Yeah…we’re… alone here though,” Anja nervously laughed. “And we only have two air-to-air missiles.”

  Bianca laughed.

  “If it comes down to it, I’ll even try dogfighting the bastards if need be,” she joked.

  “Really now? Have you ever taken proper high-g training?”

  “...Nope,” Bianca replied with a light laugh. “But I think I can do that…hey, do I not have the right to pull off cool things?”

  “I bet if you do that you’ll just fly straight to the ground.”

  “Oh shut up,” Bianca wheezed before turning back to her controls. She soon sighed as she looked to the northern side of the world. “You know…it’s always so beautiful to fly. It’s cool already I guess.”

  “Flying is pulling out a cool move I suppose.”

  “Yeah…” Bianca’s voice lowered. “I joined the Air Force because it looked nicer than the rest. And I get to fight for the Kingdom. All while remaining almost untouchable.”

  “That’s surprisingly naive.”

  “I know.”

  “Well, we’re already breaching their air defense area. But no alerts yet. Seems like we’re flying undetected. Have they given any updates?”

  “Yeah. They already pinpointed the buildings we’re targeting. The AFI sure works hard.”

  “You know, I’ve been wondering. What kind of ammunition depot are we targeting?”

  “Apparently, one of the most important ones. They’re offloading a lot of APFSDS and HEAT rounds on that depot. The ammunition for their tanks. So if we target it, we’ll place a further strain on their tank forces’ ability to resupply…for a few hours maybe.”

  “Enough to buy time then…”

  “Yeah…”

  They continued onwards. Still no signs of detection. Bianca felt her spirits slowly rise. Perhaps the earlier SEAD operations truly knocked down a lot of the enemy’s air defenses. That was good news, as they were now around a hundred kilometers off their target.

  Below them, they already began passing through the destroyed remnants of the Ginzhu Metropolitan Area. It briefly reminded Bianca of Halia and her surrounding towns and cities. Destroyed. Reduced to rubble. From above, it was hard to see the destroyed city from the clouds without using her sensors. But she could tell that most of the massive spires down there were either flattened or damaged.

  She sighed. This war was truly taking its toll.

  Soon, they neared their targets. Bianca immediately began searching for it using her targeting cameras. The two began analyzing the different buildings that they were seeing on the ground to the pictures taken by Orlish satellites and reconnaissance planes, which had a mark of the targets according to the AFI’s reports.

  Soon, Bianca managed to get a positive visual. She immediately sent the rest of the data to Anja, who also began flying her plane into a position to target it.

  “Alright,” Bianca said, as her finger hovered near the launch button. “Let’s do this.”

  “Bombs away!”

  “Bombs away too!”

  The two immediately pulled away after their glide bombs were discharged. She hoped that this attack would be worth it for the boys and girls on the ground.

  Soon, a massive explosion struck the North Hebeian lines. The ammo depots were hit.

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