Chapter 1: Prologue: Icarus Down
Since ancient times, the Kingdom of Ojimia and the Kingdom of Arteminia had been rivals; the Arteminians saw their neighboring nation as rich with resources and became power-hungry, with their greed for survival and the expansion of their territory, both the Ojimians and the Arteminians clashed for centuries. Even in the modern days, both nation's relationships can only be described as dead-on foes.
Especially with the recent interference by the Oquilian Federation, the nation with the largest economy and the most advanced military technologies according to them. They act as international policemen, interfering in almost all of the conflicts between Ojimia and the Kingdom of Artemisia. However, with the ending of every conflict, the Kingdom of Arteminia found itself always on the losing side, especially on territorial issues.
Finally, the conflict burst into reality after decades of compression.
On July 11, 2020, the Arteminians suddenly announced to change their nation's title from a Kingdom back to Empire despite the International Peacekeeping Organization not approving of such change. During the following month, the Empire of Arteminia began to spread its extreme nationalistic ideologies, claiming that the Ojimians and the Oquilian Federation were responsible for the loss of their ancestry lands that had been theirs for the past thousands of years and that their culture was in risk of being completely wiped out. 'For the glory of the Empire and to restore what was lost to the enemies.', this quote became extremely popular among the Arteminians, no matter rank and age. Within a month, this nationalistic ideology spread throughout the globe, the Arteminians around the world began to return to their Empire, and the Arteminian Military began to be active and were caught several times by the Oquilian satellites preparing heavy weapons and other types of equipment.
The Oquilian Federation officials were freaked out.
Together with the agreements with its ally, Ojimia, both nations with the International Peacekeeping Organization (IPO) warned the Empire of Arteminia to turn down their military activities and respond to the IPO's instructions.
The next day, the ambassador of the Empire of Arteminia withdrew from the IPO. A week after, the Empire of Arteminia gave the Oquilian Federation and Ojimia an ultimatum; to withdraw ALL forces from the Oji-Arteminian border within the next 24 hours.
The Federation did the opposite.
Which then triggered the biggest, bloodiest, and most aggressive war that was ever known to the world, this war is later known as the 'Enlightenment War.'
The world was shocked on the very day of October 15, 2020.
The citizens of the Azure Shore City were brutally woken up by the sound of explosions and air raid alarms. Within 15 minutes, the entire city was in ruins. Turned out that morning, around 4 AM, the Azure Shore City of the Oquilian Federation was bombarded by the medium-range ballistic missiles fired by the Arteminian Army, later in the day, several other major cities of both the Federation and Ojimia were attacked by Arteminian missiles, despite being able to intercept the last several waves of the missiles, both the Federation and Ojimia suffered heavy casualties; less than three of the attacked sites were military, the rest were mostly populated by regular civilians.
After the missile attack, airfields near the Oji-Arteminian Border were bombed out by Arteminian bombers and attack aircraft, Federation harbors also suffered major damage, three of the five aircraft carriers of the Oquilian Navy were sunk, with one severally damaged, multiple cruisers and destroyers were sunk as well.
Arteminian Forces stormed several islands that were part of the Ojimian territory as well as most of the major cities, the president of Ojimia was forced to evacuate from the capital, and Ojimia was on the edge of falling into the Arteminian hands.
This day was called 'The Darkest Day' by the Federation and Ojimia.
Without any hesitation, the IPO declared war on the Empire of Arteminia, and all of the allies of both sides joined as well, turning this into a world war.
Luckily, some of the Ojimian aircraft were sent to a repair facility hidden in the mountains and were spared from the attack. With limited equipment, the Ojimian Air Force was faced with problems from both sides; Either scramble to fight the Arteminian Air Force that has an overwhelming amount of aircraft, or to surrender when their forces came over. Arteminians offered the Ojimian military to have an unconditional surrender, but the Ojimians refused. Thus they were faced with more fierce attacks.
Many units were scrambled, rebuilt, and sent to the front line immediately. Many of the pilots only received less than 72 hours of training, most haven't even completed their solo flight.
The experienced pilots were becoming less and less.
Even with a massive disadvantage, the Ojimian forces continued to fight. All pilots were ordered to at least bring down two Arteminian units before being shot down.
The Arteminian Forces are rapidly approaching their capital city.
There is no recovery time for the surviving Ojimian pilots.
The average survival time of a single pilot is less than 14 hours.
By this time, the Ojimian pilots were not only fighting for their country.
They are fighting for their lives.
They need anything and anyone available.
A rumor about a new miracle weapon being released began to spread among the Ojimian forces. Even a spark of hope can become the belief for the Ojimians to fight on for another day.
This new miracle weapon is a part of the 'Firmament Hunter' program and aims to develop an artificial intelligence companion for a pilot that can assist them during combat and take over if necessary.
However, with the sudden outbreak of war, the 'Firmament Hunter' program was forced to shut down and be destroyed to prevent the Arteminians from getting their hands on the newest and perhaps the most dangerous technology that may change the tide of the war.
Little did both sides know, that the prototype of this developed program had already escaped when the self-destruct program was activated in the lab...
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The Evelynin Mountain Range is covered with a silver-white blanket of snow. During this time of year, many teams of hikers and challengers come and attempt to reach the peak of the mountain range, while the tourists skate at the bottom of the mountain range.
However, the Evelynin Mountain Range's beauty attracted no tourists this year. This entire area was turned into an active war zone.
High above the Mountain Range, five contrails were stretched across the azure sky, the rumbling of the jet engines ripped the air current around them. A formation consisting of five Su-35s at their cruising altitude.
The Cobra Squadron of the Ojimian Air Force is one of the remaining five combat-ready units left after the catastrophic attacks by the Arteminian Forces. Due to the sudden decrease in the number of experienced pilots, this squadron is mostly filled with newbies who just graduated from the Air Force Academy, with only two senior pilots with combat kills.
The squadron leader knew this would be a suicide mission for the newbies, but this hour was their best intercepting window against the Arteminian Bombers that were on their way to one of the Arteminian Air Bases.
Mark MacSwer, despite surviving several catastrophic air raids as well as shooting down more than 40 enemy aircraft, felt the suffocating pressure put on his shoulders. As the last few of the combat-ready squadron, survival became the primary objective. However, Mark himself wasn't too confident with this idea of leading four newbies with little to no experience in air combat to intercept a well-protected Arteminian Bomber formation with Fourth and Fifth-Gen fighters as escorts.
Having pilots is better than no pilots, as he was been told by his commander back at the base, we need everything we've got.
"Cobra 1-1 to Cobra Squadron," Mark said through the radio, "do not turn on the FCR until we see the contrail of the Bombers; they're at a higher altitude than us, stay low and we might get a chance to sneak up on them. If any of you get spiked in the process, we're dead meat. We only got two Fox-3 and the rest are Fox-2 missiles, don't waste any of them, shoot only when you're 200% sure you have the shot."
The newbies replied, and that was it. No further conversations, Mark knew very well that the newbies were overwhelmed by fear; he couldn't blame them, because Mark himself wasn't any different.
After about five minutes of silent flight, Mark scanned the sky in front and above them, immediately he spotted two groups of nine contrails; the five contrails in the middle were the bombers, and the smaller four contrails belonged to the escort fighters.
"Cobra 1-1 'Icarus' to the Cobra Squadron, warm up your missiles, bandits are dead ahead, attack the bombers first, then the escorts. Fire at my command." Mark ordered as he switched his weapon system to MSL, more specifically, the Fox-3 missiles; two R-77 under his air intakes.
Mark waited until he was about five to six o'clock behind the formation, then made the call, "Cobra Squadron, engage."
As Mark flicked his FCR online, the two bombers in the exterior sides were locked on as he pressed the trigger on the flight stick. With two slight shakes of the airframe, the two R-77 missiles were launched from the aircraft, streaking toward the bombers. The moment Cobra Squadron's FCRs were online, the cockpits of the escort fighters and the bombers were screaming with alarms, the escorts immediately released countermeasures as they broke formation, the two bombers however, were too slow to maneuver as the R-77 reached them.
Seeing two fireballs falling, Mark didn't celebrate. He switched to the Fox-2 missiles as he continued to lock onto the infrared signals of the bandit aircraft's engines. Behind him, the rest of the squadron opened fire as well. Within seconds, the first formation of bombers was wiped out.
"Cobra 1-3, two bandits are on your 8 o'clock!" Mark's eyes widened as he saw two escorts formed up behind Cobra 1-3's tail as they shot at him, "COBRA 1-3 EVADE!!!"
Luckily, the newbie pilots knew their instructions very well. Flares did their job, as the FOx-2 missiles shot by the enemies missed their targets. However, the enemy J-11s immediately switched to guns. The rest of the squadron was scrambled as the escorts reacted; the Cobra Squadron consisted of mostly newbies at the end of the day.
"Cobra 1-4 evade-" Mark's voice was stuck in his throat as he watched the J-11 shoot a missile into Cobra 1-4's engines, the aircraft plummeted down, the cockpit was blown off, and the pilot was ejected. Suddenly, one of the J-11s streaked towards the ejected pilot and fired its gun on him. The 30mm rounds tore the pilot into shreds, leaving pieces of flesh falling onto the ground below.
"BASTARDS!!!" Mark's eyes reddened as he jerked his aircraft toward the J-11 that just killed one of his pilots, he was on the J-11's six and fired his Fox-2 missile, despite the J-11's effort to evade, the distance was too close. The J-11 was hit as the flames detonated the fuel tanks, and the enemy aircraft exploded into a giant firework.
"Cobra 1-2, Fox-2!" It wasn't long before Mark realized that his wingman just splashed a bandit on his six that was about to gun him down.
"Good kill Cobra 1-2, thank-" Then he watched his wingman getting blown into pieces by another missile.
"'Icarus'! Five new bandits just appeared on the radar!" Came Cobra 1-3s desperate voice, "Shit! The leader's on my tail! I can't shake him off damn it!"
"Cobra 1-3 hang in there get out of there!" Mark gritted his teeth as he turned toward Cobra 1-3. The Ojimian Fighter was chased by an Arteminian J-10 fighter, the enemy aircraft was pitch black, with a shark face painted onto the front of the fighter, and the crimson 'eyes' glared at Mark; for whatever reason, it made Mark feel uncomfortable.
However, just as Mark was about to lock onto the bandit leader, his RWR began to scream, forcing Mark to disengage and evade the incoming missiles.
"Fuck! He's still locked onto me!" Cobra 1-3's terrified voice sends chills down Mark's spine, "Why the fuck isn't the bastard firing?! It's like... It's like... He's toying with me!"
"Cobra 1-3 keep your sane together!" Mark called as he dodged a stream of gun rounds, he knew that the bandit's wingmen were buying time for their leader. With a swift thought across his mind, Mark pulled back the throttle as he performed his iconic maneuver. The enemy pilot found himself astonished and shocked by the bandit's move; the Su-35 suddenly lifted its head upward as it spun 360 degrees, forcing the bandit to overshoot.
"Darkshark 1-4 to Darkshark 1-1, bandit pulled a Pendulum Manuver, identified as 'Icarus'!"
Mark flattened his aircraft as he heard the tone, "I have you now." As if knowing Mark's next move, the bandit pilot ejected before Mark's missile reached his jet.
"ARGH! I'M HIT! I'M GOING DOW-" An explosion silenced Cobra 1-3 forever.
"Bandit is down, Darkshark squadron, engage Icarus." Darkshark 1-1's icy tone had Mark on the death penalty.
Now, with all of his squadron wiped out, Mark found himself ganged up by the five bandit jets; Mark knew very well that the J-10s are smaller and lighter than his Su-35, which are heavy fighters, despite its good maneuverability, engaging more than 2 bandits is already a perilous situation.
"Darkshark 1-3, Icarus is on your tail, Came Darkshark 1-1, "jinx right, I'll gun him down."
Mark fired off his last Fox-2, however, it was flared away by the bandit fighter, before he could curse, he felt the airframe shake violently, and then came the alarm, "RIGHT ENGINE FIRE."
"That was a good show you put up there Icarus," Darkshark 1-1 said cooly, "but it ends now." Then a Fox-2 left his weapon rack.
Mark tried his best to level out the damaged fighter, but nothing on the aircraft was obeying his command, with another explosion behind him, the Su-35 had completely given up.
"HYDRAULICS FAILURE. FUEL LEAKAGE. FCS SHUT OFF." Mark knew this was game over for him, without hesitation, he tensed up his upper body as he pulled the ejection handle underneath his sat.
The canopy was blown away as the rocket booster fired up, launching Mark away from the Su-35, which then exploded into a fireball below him. A few seconds later, his parachute was released as Mark slowly descends.
The Ace pilot found himself having a difficult time catching his breath, his heart running wild, his stomach being thrown around, and cold sweat all over his body. He knew by now that he was the only survivor of his Cobra Squadron. Mark glared at the egressing J-10s... Wait... One of them is coming back... Towards him.
The last thing Mark remembered seeing was that ferocious shark face coming right at him, and then his parachute was torn apart by the 30mm rounds.
Mark watched himself plummet down helplessly, it was a 1500-meter fall, and below him was the snow-covered woods, and the only chance of survival for him was for the branches to-
A sharp and powerful pain from his legs was the last thing he felt before the world went completely dark on him.
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The Ojimian Air Force suffered a catastrophic loss that day, not only did they lose three squadrons, but they also lost their most respected Ace, 'Icarus'. Without his leadership, many pilots lost their faith. The Arteminians ripped through the Ojimian Defences like a hot knife through butter. All hope seems to be lost...
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