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Battle of Middleman's Cove

“Home by winter. Home by Bah'mas. What a lie that was.”

---

A man could give a thousand lordships to find either love or honor. No matter, in the end of time, the man would find neither.

Eliezer had seen all manner of people fight in battles such as these. Noblemen of esteemed lineages. Rich magnates over vast sums of wealth and power. The poorest of the poor with little to nothing to go back to. Those of the low were sometimes eager to either fight or die, only for the reason being that they had nothing to lose. Even in these skies, as white and ash they were. The glossiness of the canopy couldn’t hide the truth. Remnants. Anarchians. Draganisians. Stonehollese. It mattered not. All men bled the same.

…

Middleman’s Cove, Red Villa, 4 Miles From the Northern Stonehollese Border… Operation Wintertide.

<<I got a visual. Alpha One, do you copy?>>

… <<Copy Endragon-Two.>> The Draganisian flight lead was in charge of the SEAD operation. The Anarchians had fortified their positions all across the coastal valley with batteries. Able to counter any attempts by the JWC forces to pincer towards the cove. This wasn’t their first sortie… and wasn’t the last either. Another battery had been sighted on a seaside ridge overlooking the beachside of Middleman’s Cove. The gray azure was a splendor, but the retaliatory missiles of the foe were not so. <<Goldeye One, do you read.>>

<<Copy Alpha One. I read you loud and clear.>> The Goldhollese flight lead was in position. Captain Joseph Cossette had ordered them sent to reinforce the Allied lines in Draganisia, but the pilots had refused. To that extent, Eliezer appreciated their bravery but was worried about their upcoming court-martial.

<<Open up Goldeye Three and trail. We need a full load watching our rear.>> Goldeye Three would be watching their rear as they approached the cliff. Different from when he and Vita were on the tail-end of the escort in the prior sorties.

Vita was puzzled, so from the internal comms she called. “Eliezer, the hell you're thinking? Goldeye Three is to help conduct the SEAD operation? The Endragons and the Goldeyes have the Magnums.” (Magnum = anti-radiation missiles)

“In case the others don’t make it, we need Goldeye Three in the rear. We’re not equipped with any Rifles, Vita. Keep an eye on the infrared sensors, the Anarchians have held their positions here for three days now. Enough time to set up hidden positions along the cliffs. I’d rather we go down with enemies downed than if we go down with nothing.” (Rifles = air to ground missiles)

<<Alpha One my radar’s showing a bogey closing fast.>> Endragon-Two called in.

“Vita,” Eliezer called, “Get the dope?”

“Wilco, I’m on it.” She called out to the Endragons as Alpha One’s radars finally detected the incoming bogeys. <<Endragon-Two, they have the old IFF. Two bandits, flanking, four miles, and approaching fast. >>

<<Copy. Alpha One, can you hold them off?>>

Eliezer took a look at his own systems. The old identification was the one the Anarchians were using, but Eliezer looked even closer at the rate of their calculated speed. It was numbers he hadn’t seen in jets before… only once. When they had first arrived at Red Villa. “They’re not the Anarchian jets we were expecting?”

Vita’s voice rose through the comms. “It’s them?”

“Who else?”

“That means the airships won’t be far behind.” Vita called out, <<Bloomer. All friendlies go Retrograde and Gate. Two bandits fast approaching… Screw the mission… Scatter! Best you save yourselves. It’s the Bastards.>>

The five jets in the Goldeye squadron and the four in the Endragon SEAD squadron immediately broke off from the sight of the cliffs. “Vita, call for the Steel Wolves. I need Commander Tin’s squadron up here now. And call for a Bird barrage from the OSS Amelia II. If Vice Admiral Roydark gets even a few missiles up there, we’ll be clear enough to engage the experimentees.”

“Eliezer,” Vita responded, “There’s no clear assurance that the Navy’s missiles will arrive in time to relieve us.”

“Better that they can do it than they can’t, Vita. Send the transmission. And go secure on comms.”

“Wilco,” Vita stated.

<<This is AWACS Shell, Alpha One. Reporting BRAA: Group 070, 120 north, Angels 13, Hot. We’ve received your transmission for a bird from the flagship OSS Amelia II. Surface ships are approaching the Middleman’s shoreline but it will take some time. There is active counterfire along the shore, and without SEAD units it will take time.>>

<<Two of the Bastards were detected by Endragon-Two. Do you have a visual?>> Vita asked.

<<Negative, Alpha One. You sure it’s not a ghost.>>

<<They’re still on our radar, AWACS. Not sure what you’re seeing,>> Eliezer said.

<<I’m telling you Alpha One, we have nothing. All ASUW units report no aerial sightings of any kind.>>

“Eliezer, I have a Ladder. Our two bandits and one bogey,” Vita stated.

“Consider all three hostile, Vita. They’re contact to us but not the AWACS. The AWACS can’t see them, the navy can’t… We’re alone here.” Eliezer sighed, the heaviness of the moisture in his breath sticking onto his teeth. “How long ‘till our tumbleweeds arrive.”

“Reinforcements will be arriving in five minutes. They’ve just pulled chocks.”

<<Alpha One, do you read me. I’ve gotten no transmission from you.>>

Alpha One. <<...>>

Eliezer knew he had to make a choice here. And it was the one he’d wished to avoid at all costs.

<<AWACS Shell, transmit to JWC and Commander Raquelin. I am Unable. Alpha One will be maintaining tactical control over itself. Alpha One will switch its directives to Weapons Free and to Kill. AWACS Retrograde Green East with the Navy. I’d rather not see an Anyface shot down by the Bastards.>>

<<Wilco. Good luck, Alpha One. Bahamut bless.>> The AWACS Shell broke off from their rendezvous with Alpha One.

“You’re willing to fight three of them?” Vita questioned.

“Us Wolves have already killed one. What’s three more?” Eliezer said. The reluctance in his voice was hard to hear. But it was there. “I didn’t want this, you know.”

Eliezer knew even the best of pilots felt fear. So he knew that Vita was uneasy by this decision of his. They were going up against three jets they barely knew anything about. Out-of-range of reinforcements for now. And without the backing of any other forces from the ground.

They had to do this, though. Who knew what those three jets could do to the allied forces on the ground trying to break the siege of Middleman’s Cove. A pilot and a Wizzo.

“Good,” Vita echoed. “At least you know you’re not invincible.”

…

“Vita,” Eliezer knew the tone of exhaustion well enough, “are you alright?”

“Gods, no!” she shouted through the comm. “I’m doing great.”

One minute in…

Eliezer had managed to avoid four separate Aim-120s, the three hostiles had launched in unison. Activating Alpha One’s afterburners to put themselves as much distance away from the hostile experimentees. They were trying to take him out with BVR methods… which was the logical method, but he knew his way out.

“Confetti, south, and trailing,” Vita called out. Signifying she’d dropped chaff ordnance behind them. “I tell you're going to lose the rest of the missiles in the cliffs.”

“The chaff’s useless,” Eliezer grunted. He kept the jet’s movement forward. “Let them think I’m getting desperate to avoid them. That’ll keep their confidence up.”

Two minutes in…

“Negative visibility, Eliezer.”

“They’ll be closing in soon. Stay ready.”

The missiles swerved to and fro as they persisted towards him. Eliezer closed in close to the cliffs, and then suddenly banked. The thing about the cliffs of Middleman’s Cove was that the brush and trees covering them were numerous. The missiles one-by-one lost their persistence of him. Two slammed into the cliffs. The others lost into the trees. The orange glows emitted through the night were enough of a sign.

Just when he thought he was relieved. “SAM launch. North, head off—”

Three minutes in…

He was now stuck hovering over enemy airspace. Not just one SAM but several began to target him. Eliezer kept close to the cliffs now, using the land to his advantage and the thick brush. But he knew he couldn’t keep this up.

Vita called out, “Losing our energy here. Bandits are trying to lock.”

“I’m trying, Vita. The turn and burn.”

They had fuel still… which was fine. But they would, they be fine to engage the three bandits… Eliezer was already doing ill here. But they could still survive.

Two minutes in…
“SAMs stopped launching. Tumbleweeds on two.”

Gray shadows in the mist. In the darkness. All they wanted was to finish off this jet. Except they were hidden still, waiting for the opportunity to strike their prey. Eliezer took this moment to lead them towards the east…

One minute in…

<<Alpha One this is Fairness 3, Status.>>

<<Alpha One Engaged, Three Hostiles, Negative visual>> Eliezer called out. <<Took you long enough to get here, Tin.>>

Vita called, <<Bastards are four miles north 080. They’re Anchored… just moving in circles..>>

<<Orbiting?>> called Fairness 3, or Commander Tin. <<Alpha One, we still have no Visual of Hostiles. We’re Blind.>>

<<They’ve stopped,>> Eliezer called.

<<I can see that,>> Tin called out. <<Fairness 4, Trailer Alpha One.>>

<<Wilco,>> called Fairness 4.

The two jets approached cautiously. Fairness 4’s F-16 tailed Alpha One as they kept their distance, but able to see the jets of the Experimentees. As they’d seen in prior footage of the jets, they were extremely irregular. Oddly shaped and with several additional fins. They seemed so orthodox from any other air forces… they looked funny to him.

Behind that shape were three devils on the other hand. Ones that had been able to wipe out entire squadrons. They nearly managed to down him just from a distance. But they were no longer chasing them. They were watching from the tops of the cliff.

<<We’d best withdraw to Green East. If they’re not putting in chase, we can cover the Navy.>>

“You sure about that, Eliezer?” Vita questioned.

“They don’t seem to want to engage. I’d say we leave with the Fairness Squadron.”

…

The Anarchians had done their best to achieve their goal. They had crossed the Red River, penetrated through the cliffs and surrounded Middleman’s Cove, putting it under siege with all its forces. The shorelines were littered with naval batteries holding back the warships of Elhtiol Bay, and the cliffsides were covered with parasitic SAMs now.

Eliezer had survived this engagement. But it was quiet. The six jets of Fairness Squadron and Alpha One were making their way close to the surface action group operating in the Elhtiol Bay. It was quiet. A serene moment, perhaps… he’d escaped death. The Steel Wolf.

<<Alpha One, to all units, Hostiles Approaching Hot, Fast… and… oh,>>

Rowandalian Admiral Russ Roydark from the OSS Amelia II called in. <<Alpha One. Fairness 3. Forty-seven bogeys are inbound east 170. Over.>>

Then they all heard the roar…

“Airships!” Vita called.

---

In an hour, they’d lost fourteen pilots. Commander Tin, half of Eliezer’s own Alpha Squadron that had come in to reinforce mere minutes once the drone swarm came. When the airships arrived pummeling the ground forces of the Alliance in Middleman’s Cove with such scale yet scene anywhere but here. Not even the besiegers in Blenice, with their horrifying tales of bombardment and assault from the airships had seen anything like this.

The Steel Wolf perservered. A story he'd rather not tell. A story retold in the new war. First in Rowandale. Now here.

It took an hour to clear them out… but at what cost.

Middleman’s Cove was won in the end. The one they called the Battle of Bah’mas. But the fight had not yet ended. More would come, Eliezer knew.

Only that soon those battles would entail the final step against Anarchia and Trutinia. The finality of the efforts of ideology and war within the lands of Oceania. The matters of peace and war brought to an indecisive conclusion. The beating heart of St Abbaddon being fought with blood and steel. Rowandale. Rowandale. Rowandale, came the hidden clamor. One he knew nothing of what would come. Nothing of the sacrifices that would be made. He did not know that soon the paths he'd ventured through would reach their end in Rowandale. A promise fulfilled. A friend made and lost.

Rowandale. Rowandale. He didn’t know that. He would soon.