Chp. 37: The Great Sideshow

March 20, 2024

Over the Sea of Shimoji

"CIC's asking if the Shimoji Task Force commander's relief 767 is on station yet. They need direct comms with 'em if we're gonna coordinate our aircraft." The CICO said, looking to the man on his left.

"Yeah they just arrived on station...Lint, go ahead and put us at max range." The ACO replied.

"Gotcha Slick."

The E-2, working in conjunction with a freshly-launched Hawkeye and the aforementioned 767, were busy tracking a growing Verusean fleet that had just reached the open waters of the Sea of Shimoji. It was the biggest force of Verusean ships he'd seen since the war kicked off. So far roughly 18 ships, some having been reported coming from other areas along the coast; the bulk seemed to have been placed in Won-Zhuu and set sail after the others had arrived. They had at least one Mainring watching over them. The CICO checked back in with the carrier, trying to reach any submarines who were supposed to be patrolling that area. He got the same answer he had last time he asked: they were still trying to reach the boats supposed to be in that area.

"We've also got airborne contacts...about eight at Heading 220, Angels 22. Looks like escorts for a strike package. Radar signature suggests Flankers, looks like more but they aren't transmitting right now. At least two jammers trying to blind us." The ACO reported.

"Copy that...Thunderdome CIC, Thunderdome CIC this is Breadfan. Be advised we've got multiple bandits on Heading 220 approaching the group's outer perimeter. Advise we commit some of our CAP assets to back up the Valiant and the Morton." The CICO relayed.

CAG approved it immediately and gave the Air Boss a call. The eight F-21s detached to counter the raid were to be backed up by F-35s not already assigned to intercepting the Verusean flotilla. If they could swing it, the 16 jets returning from their missions over the islands were to be re-armed and turned around to help. Eric and the rest of his fourship were kept with the strike. The two initial flights of Pegasus drones and Lightnings had formed up and settled into formation for the duration of their approach with one of the Growlers in trail and one right with them. McGavin had the Thunderhawks placed around the front like a shield. Almost as soon as the Verusean attack had been detected, its groups of escorting fighters split up to meet both threats.

"Shogun 2-1 be advised, Shogun 3-1 and 3-2 are inbound to assist...ETA five minutes." Vixen called, with a hastily scrambled Mark on her wing.

"Roger, be advised that we've got bandits at our Three...go straight for 'em, Vixen. Saber, Blank, break off and keep your nose on 'em. Don't stray too far." McGavin radioed.

"Three copies."

"Four copies."

Eric snapped to the right and set his radar and weapons to the combination needed for an AMRAAM shot. Blank went a minute later, and the two angled towards the closest group of enemy fighters before turning away in the same staggered fashion. They zoomed back towards the rear end of the strike before repeating the move. Two of the VF-123 birds moved into a better position to help keep them covered. Still, eight Thunderhawks against a dozen or so band guys wasn't favorable odds, even with just about every of the former holding ace status. It wasn't impossible, though.

"Saber, Blank, when they break 100 Miles commit and engage, how copy?" McGavin added.

"Three copies."

"Four copies."

"Saber, Tex and I'll commit at the same time, hopefully bracket 'em." Vixen chimed in.

Almost immediately after, the four Thunderhawks committed to the threat as its components went to a combat spread. The two 123 birds would fire off two AMRAAMs each before they rejoined the main strike force. The battlegroup's second Tico-class, OFS Joseph Steward, was enroute to help get the airspace under control. Eric selected two of the lead four bandits, J-11s, and let the weapons gulp down all the information being fed into them. He looked to Blank and signalled him to break and go high as soon as he'd fired. The fellow pilot flashed a thumbs up with some enthusiasm. The Flankers turned fully towards him and accelerated, probably aware of all the platforms his missiles were getting info from. Eric ditched his centerline tank and waited as the RWR and the time to radar lock started their inevitable race. He picked up additional contacts going low and fast, probably in afterburner as they raced to shoot at him before he could threaten the Flankers. Eric stayed the course as long as nothing was being fired at him.

"Shogun 208, Fox 3." He called.

"Shogun 210 Fox 3." Blank echoed.

Almost immediately after the two newest contacts, Firebrands, salvoed off two PL-12s each. Eric selected the J-10 who'd fired on him, deployed chaff and broke away from Blank.

"Take his wingman, Blank!" He added.

"Gotcha Saber, good hunting." The fellow Lieutenant replied.

Eric rolled and dove towards the sea with chaff blossoming behind him. The J-10 followed him and kept closing as fast as it could. Eric craned his neck, searching for the incoming missiles and the Firebrand who'd shot them. He spotted a flash of light he thought were more missiles, but the hints of black suggested it was one of the Flankers. Maybe both; that was probably only gonna piss the Firebrand pilots off more. He nosed up, deploying more chaff, and sought an angle that would let him shake the missiles while getting a lock on the J-10. He banked to the left for a few seconds before he broke again, snaking to draw, then slip around the PL-12s. The J-10 started to track him again as the first two missiles closed.

Eric made a hard cross and came back before the missiles could turn to meet him. Just as soon as he'd avoided them, the J-10 seemed to be seconds from a lock. Eric reversed hard, deploying chaff, and moved for the edge of the J-10's radar cone where he might buy a few more seconds. His own radar had been tracking off and on the whole time, aided by the Hawkeye where needed. Eric was a mere 20 miles out when he got the chance to fire, and lobbed a second AMRAAM at the Verusean fighter.

"Shogun 208, Fox 3." He reported.

He hit the weapons selected on his stick and let his Sidewinders take over the fight. He passed over the J-10 as it was trying to keep its nose on him and pulled back on the throttle. The F-21's wings extended and, just for a second, he had an excellent balance of speed and maneuverability. The J-10 was still in a left turn; Eric kept up his right and the two raced towards each other. Eric craned his neck and tilted his head to bring the Firebrand into his HMD's reach. The Verusean fighter deployed flares and rolled hard left. Eric nosed up and swung to the left after him, braving the Gs to keep the enemy fighter in his HMD's sight. The Firebrand reversed hard, obstinate to force Eric to use more energy to keep on him. Eric felt his plane's movements become more and more sluggish as he ran out of momentum to keep up with the J-10. He saw the Firebrand's nose drifting up too as it seemed to also be facing the same issue.

Eric took the chance to duck away as soon as he was just inside the J-10's blindspot. The J-10 kept on in the opposite direction, eventually banking to the left enough that it was obvious Eric had left the pursuit. Eric watched as the J-10 kept nose down; he made a gentle turn to the left and pushed the throttles up. The Firebrand then nosed up and made a sharp right, going into afterburner. Eric instinctively did the same and hailed his wingman.

"Engaged offensive with the guy your bandit's drawing you towards." Blank replied.

Eric peered ahead and saw a missile's rocket motor flash. He broke to the right just as he heard his wingman call "Fox 2", then yanked back the other way as the J-10 had hit the brakes again and slashed towards him. Eric barely missed a burst from the jet's cannon and pulled hard left, spiraling around in search of the Firebrand. He set his gaze on the enemy fighter again as it rose towards more of its allies, further up with Vixen and Mark. Its friend was a fireball now.

"Vixen, Tex be advised I'm chasing one of those Firebrands up your way." He warned.

"Ah see 'em off my eleven low! Gonna pass by at your eleven." Mark replied.

"Watch your three too, Saber!" Vixen chimed in.

Mark passed by "below" Eric in pursuit of a J-10 and Vixen hit the brakes as she chased that Firebrand's wingman off Mark's tail. Eric looked back, then forward again as the J-10 rolled to the right and nosed over into a dive. Eric went outside his opponent's turn and under Mark and his opponent as the two crossed paths again.

"Blank? That other guy really dead?" Eric called, hailing his wingman.

"Yeah he's toast and I'm enroute." Blank snapped.

Blank came at the J-10 Eric was dueling with and took a shot from the hip with a Sidewinder. Eric kept his distance, then pushed the attack when it spooked the J-10. He followed the Firebrand in a dive towards some clouds, Sidewinder's seekerhead chasing something solid to go on. The Firebrand then suddenly nosed up and hit the brakes. Eric yanked back on the throttles and let off a stream of flares. The Firebrand tried to roll after him but the laws of physics wouldn't let him get the Osean fighter with reach of its close-range missiles. Eric cut back on the throttle and swung back towards the J-10 as it clumsily tried to pull away and seek refuge in its blind spot. Eric managed every little bit of energy he had, every tick on his speedometer, with the intent of getting all he could out of them. The Firebrand drew closer and closer as its pilot gambled everything on some yet-unseen final move.

Eric's M61 soon became his best option. The J-10 pilot seemed to be able to foil every attempt he made with Sidewinders. He was gonna gun this guy down and he wasn't going to do it any other way unless the opportunity of a lifetime to do so came. He hit the switch and worked stick and throttle together with the rudder pedals. The J-10 kept closing while he carefully rotated to the right and eased the nose back. His whole body stiffened as his vision shook and went in and out of focus. The J-10 entered the upper left corner of his HUD and he squeezed the trigger. The M61 rumbled and cut a line through the sky and into the Firebrand. Sporadic sparks and flashes appeared down the spine of the jet, ending on its right wing. Eric passed by behind the bandit and nosed up, looking back as the pilot ejected. Blank moved to keep up with him, staying as loose as possible in anticipation of more bandits.

Eric felt a little less weight on his shoulders and ascended until he was in the upper reaches of the loosely-defined furball. He searched the sky until he saw a piece of gray moving through the rest of the grey. Then another piece of the grey was moving out of sync with all the rest.

"Blank heads up, movement at our two low." He radioed.

The two F-21s winged over and came around into a dive. A mile or so below, Eric saw the movement form into the shape of jets. Flankers, ones with longer canopies. Two J-16s, probably part of the strike against the battlegroup Eric guessed.

"Shogun 3, Shogun 2 be advised that Shogun 2-3 and 2-4 have spotted two new bandits. Strike Flankers at my twelve, coming from the west." He spoke up.

"Gotcha 2-3. Tex, can you break and meet 'em?" Vixen asked.

"Gotcha Vixen."

Eric reselected his Sidewinders and the two Thunderhawks pounced on the strike fighters. His wingman was clear to split whenever he wanted. As they swooped down upon another kill, the bandits broke to the right. Seconds later, Eric saw a third J-16 flash by less than a hundred feet away. The Osean pilot and the duo in the Strike Flanker exchanged looks while the other F-21 went for the first pair. Eric looked back and saw Blank had already broken off. He pulled right and slowed to keep the J-16 in his reach. The new threat seemed to pick almost exactly where the first had left off, but this time it was a whole other beast.

The J-16 had immediately broken to try and get around and aimed at him, but by that time Eric was already committed to his turn. He went to the outside of the Flanker's move and pulled back on the stick further, trying to slow down so he'd slide into a good position behind the Verusean. The J-16 reversed and the two crossed by again, maybe even closer this time, before Eric pulled a partial barrel roll to switch back to the left. The J-16 had lit its afterburners in its turn and was rapidly gaining distance and momentum. Eric used the chance to gain back some momentum himself before the Flanker's crew could capitalize on their move. The J-16 leveled out and nosed up. Eric duly followed, keeping the J-16 from drawing him to another J-16. Mark passed by below in a classic tail-chase with the other Strike Flanker.

Instead, the J-16 reversed hard left and nosed over, leaving Eric to push nose-up into a high yo-yo to follow him. The F-21 swung its wings outwards, then back as Eric lost, then gained speed. The J-16 was above him, still in a hard turn. The pilot tapped the brakes and snapped towards Eric, who nosed down and away from the threat. He ended up still under the J-16 as it passed by, and kept on his course to avoid stalling. The Strike Flanker cut back towards him and he turned hard right, braking just enough that he was in a bad position for the J-16's PL-9s. The two jets passed and Eric got to work making his position just a little bit better with each pass they tried to set up against each other. The Strike Flanker seemed to retain all the agility of its purebred fighter form, but it was still big. Maybe even bigger than a J-11 or Su-27. Eric selected his gun again and, when he had the chance, sacrificed a good deal of his energy to get a shot at the J-16. Just enough to damage him, spook him.

The M61 purred once more and its bullets clipped the outer reach of the J-16's right wing. Eric zoomed by and accelerated, looking back as the Strike Flanker pilot instinctively tried to evade further rounds. Eric banked left and braked again, back to his AIM-9s s he brought the J-16 into his reach. The enemy strike fighter scattered flares all over the sky but Eric kept his HMD on the bandit in the hope his Sidewinder would follow his guidance. He rolled to stay behind (and below) the enemy aircraft and, with the Verusean pinned between Eric and the ocean, fired.

"Shogun 208, Fox 2." Eric said.

Eric stayed the course, keeping the J-16 in its corner until he saw the explosion. He pulled away and pushed the throttles up as far as his fuel gauge would let him. As he ascended, he saw three aircraft in a loose formation, with one trailing a little smoke. Their triangular shapes told them they were fellow Thunderhawks. He announced his arrival and found himself with Vixen (who'd taken the damage), Tex and Blank. Mark was circling the XO's bird every which way, commentating on the damage.

"Alright now that we have four on board, Blank rejoin your lead and keep our six clear." Vixen spoke up.

"Gotcha Vixen...be advised I'm at bingo fuel at this time. Tex what's your state?" Eric replied.

"Might as well be at bingo...we'll switch covering as needed. Blank, y'all good to go?" Mark drawled.

"Good enough, we'll make it work." Eric's wingman assured coolly.

Eric gladly accepted the situation, confident it was going to be one of those days where he would plug into the tanker just before he got in deep trouble. It was best to head home for now…

"TAO, relay from Tremor: Valkyrie 2 is splitting to engage new bandits at Bearing 277, Valkyrie 1 and 3 remain engaged with bandits at 180. Valkyrie 4 to remain on station, Wyvern is ten minutes out."

Lieutenant Commander Hiro Shinonoiya, Tactical Action Officer (TAO) aboard the destroyer Atago (DDG-180), keyed his radio as the dots representing Verusean shipborne radars entered ideal weapons range.

"Conn, CIC, four enemy ships Bearing 240, 217 Kilometers. Radar signature suggests same Luyang-II destroyers that attacked Shiromura and Hinahara. We've got a fix on two Sovremenny-class destroyers in support." He reported.

"Roger CIC, standby to engage with SSM-2s. Are they painting us back?" The flotilla commander, Captain Nayonara, replied.

"They just began. Recommend deployment of chaff and evasive maneuvers until radar lock is achieved."

"Copy, standby for evasive maneuvers."

"Aye sir...Weapons, standby to fire, then switch to Standard-2s. Be aware of friendly chaff."

The destroyer began maneuvering with the two "non-AEGIS" destroyers, Fubuki and Yuudachi,to close the gap. Three three frigates that made up the remainder of the first surface group kept to the rear, zig-zagging in search of threats beneath the waves. At 200 Kilometers apart, the Sovremennys launched a salvo of YJ-12 anti-ship missiles. The ships increased the distance between them, deploying another wave of chaff while Atago switched to her RIM-156A stocks. They shared the information with patrolling F-15s assigned to cover the surface group.

"CIC, Conn, two of our escorting frigates are going to swing out to our port to engage with their SSMs. Do you have those Vampires locked yet?" Nayonara demanded. Shinonoiya replied as he watched the crew moving furiously.

"Five seconds."

"Nothing takes that long! Fire as soon as you have lock!"

Two F-15s unleashed a salvo of AAM-4s in conjunction with the destroyer's barrage. Her sister ship Kirishima let loose at roughly the same time while the remaining ships started launching their Type 17 anti-ship missiles. The two leading ships sent up no fewer than 24 missiles each against the barrage of 16 missiles. As soon as the Standards were away, Shinonoiya gave the order to change to the SSMs and ready the ship's point defenses. The YJ-12 was slightly faster than the Type 17, screaming a few hundred feet above the waves at Mach 2. It would take less than five minutes for their side's missiles to reach the Veruseans. In the meantime, the Shimoji anti-air missiles started to go from an errant flock to a coordinated effort. The TAO watched as tracks on the CIC's primary display changed and aligned to intercept the ones coming from the top of the screen.

"Vampires have broken 100 Kilometers." One of the radar operators reported.

"TAO, second wave of SM-2 is ready." the Weapons officer chimed in.

"Standby…" Shinonoiya replied.

His hands clenched into fists as the distance between missiles closed to meet meters. Then came the running commentary from his subordinates. Hit...hit...hit...tracks stopped and soon were cleared from the screens. Inevitably, as if it were a requirement of combat, at least one Standard missed its target. The remaining three YJ-12s, two against Atago and one against Kirishima, split up and entered their terminal phase. Atago deployed more chaff and angled to allow both of its Phalanx Close-In Weapon System (CIWS) stations.

"Conn, CIC, sound the alarm! Brace for impact!" Shinonoiya barked.

While alarms began to wail through the ship, the forward CIWS jerked into position and cried a fierce roar in the direction of the first YJ-12. The missile nosed down and tumbled into the ocean; the second waivered towards the chaff, then started to turn towards the destroyer again. The rear CIWS caught it at the very edge of its firing envelope, then the frontal one took up that mission. The warhead exploded some 10 Feet from the ship, just close enough to do some superficial damage.

"Status of those SSMs the other ships launched?" Shinonoiya asked.

"Remaining missiles have 20 seconds to impact." One of his men replied.

"What about those F-2s?"

"Wyvern is at launch point. I'm picking up Bruiser calls...second wave of ASMs away. Repeat, second wave of ASMs are away."

Twelve F-2s, the entirety of the 8th Tactical Fighter Squadron, had been sortied to bring it home against the Verusean flotilla. While the surface ships duked it out, Lieutenant Colonel Yuuya Ishuu watched as his two ASM-3s roared away, clawing for Mach 3 as fast as they could. The rest of his squadron, organized into four ships, rippled off their weapons before all the groups made coordinated breaks from the looming threat of Verusean fighters and the remaining surface ships. Namely, two Yuzhao-class amphibious transport docks and six smaller Yuting III landing ships. The previous Osean raids had forced the lead to be taken by a single Jiangkai and knocked out a few transport ships.

The two SDF surface groups split away from the line of Verusean ships pushing across the seas, turning things over to the E-767 and E-2 watching the battle. Again, and for the final time in the battle, tracks raced towards one another as the first Shimoji anti-ship missiles reached the enemy ships' last line of defense. The lone frigate lashed out in every direction against them, but in vain. The AWACS crews watched as tracks reached their targets, most of them bound for the escorts. The remaining transports, the remaining amphibious ships, those would come later. Chen's grand counteroffensive was going to be a lot less spectacular than he planned. Even if the events in Shen-Jiau still held the spotlight.