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"Well, you know more about your own military than I do. The formation of our unit is only what officer Gunter Eisbehotz declared to us mere moments after touching down on the Indomitus. Really, the only thing I have to prove to you our squadron exists is the patch in my chest pocket."The old man reaches into your chest pocket and pulls out the patch, examining it with a flashlight.
"... I betrayed my nation well before arriving here," Ash states plainly, "I'm Lieutenant Ash Zaman of the Imperium's First Auxiliary Squadron of North Aesthia. I was fighting the Coalition's nuclear bombing escort when my aircraft was shot down. Your soldier found me as I was wandering the streets trying to escape the city."
"He's still in hiding another street over," Ash explains, "I lured the Aesthians away to the corner of this street, but I don't know how long they'll stay there. There's five of them in total, all of them armed with automatic rifles and wearing plate carriers."
Ash lights up as he recognizes the older man's voice.
".. You're the one that was speaking to the young man through the radio! Can you understand me?"
Ash walks forward to the pace of the soldier's shoving.
"Will I have a chance to speak?"
"Agh-"The soldier moves his rifle over his shoulder and lets it sit on his back by its sling, drawing his sidearm instead. He jams the barrel of the pistol into your side and plants his other hand on your upper back, urging you towards the AAA site.
Ash puts his hands on his head and slowly gets up--not that he could stand up any faster, with the ground twisting and turning underneath his feet and stars appearing where there shouldn't be any.
Ash throws his hands up and prays to the Ark mother this soldier has the trigger discipline and kindness to not immediately brain him.Not the best choice of words, given that the generic phrase "Glory to Austerra" could hardly be considered unknown to foreigners.
"Wait! I'm not an enemy!"
He reaches in his memory to find something that might more easily identify him as one of theirs.
"... V-Vulthus Austerra!"
forget, that was close!
Ash takes off his helmet. He calms himself down and decides trying to call the soldier directly in front of him.
"Help! Help!," He cries, keeping his voice hushed.
Ash takes the pistol in hand.You get closer and closer to the grumbling sound of an engine, making use of the sturdy concrete streetlamp bases as concealment. As you hunker down behind cover about a hundred feet from the corner, you hear a voice shouting, followed by a rocket engine igniting. The glow of the exhaust bathes the street in light, allowing you a few brief moments of clarity before it streaks into the distance and leaves you in darkness again. While the street was illuminated, you saw:
"... You know, my whole flight was shot down. No-one else ejected but me. I was so loving bent on tearing up any imp I saw I-," Ash trails off again and sighs, "Well, point is I'm glad you guys showed up and smacked some sense into me. Like really, thanks." He puts the gun in his holster and takes another deep breath. "I'll do what I can to scout the place out."
Ash peers around the corner once more to make sure the coast is clear. "Alright, wish me luck," He moves out and down the street, careful to keep his silhouette concealed.
Holy stuff, this might actually work.
"I'll deal with them one way or another." Ash takes a moment to peak around the corner. "To tell you the truth, I wasn't planning on making it back."
Ash clenches his knife handle and strums it for effect.The point man peeks around the corner again.
"With what I have in mind, a survival knife might be enough. It's sharp enough to sever a couple electrical or hydraulic lines. That's enough to take it out of commission.
"Maybe that sounds a little far fetched," he admits, "But I'll take any chance I can to get back at these sons of bitches."
"I saw a missile launch down this street not too long ago. Went in to take a closer look, and that's when they started firing bullets. Pretty sure that's a SAM battery they have down there..."
Ash trails off again and takes a deep breath to appear as if he's collecting himself.
"... I'm going to try to sabotage it."
Ash lets out a sigh of relief.The crewmembers, all five of them, turn off the flashlight attachments on their weapons to avoid giving their position away as they follow you. One of them briefly peeks around the corner.
"I'm... alright," He trails off before picking back up, "Holy stuff, I never thought I'd see another friendly face ever again. I don't know exactly where the gunshots came from, but my guess was probably from over there," Ash turns around and points to the side street. He motions for the airship personnel follow him as he walks there and presses himself flat against the corner.
"I heard the word Kobalt. What did that guy say about us?"
Jaakko keeps looking at his radar, assessing the Aesthian formation. He watches as the Imperial squadrons sweep in and close ranks with his flight.
"Affirmative, commander, much thanks. Falling in pursuit with the rest of the squadron."
She takes a quick pause, looking at the state of their maniple.
"Command, is there any opportunity for resupply, at all?"
Ash looks at the soldier trembling in front of him and takes pity. Poor sod probably isn't even out of his teens, he guesses.The soldier nervously glances up at you and watches you go without moving or saying a word. Even though you're certain he didn't understand your suggestion, it seems unlikely he's having any ideas to the contrary. As you start walking down the street, you are bathed in harsh white LED light.
"... Hey," he taps the young Imperial on the shoulder, "Stay here and keep out of sight. I'm going to try luring them away."
Taking a deep breath, Ash gets out of cover and starts moving towards the side street where he recalled seeing the ignition of the SAM booster. Ark preserve me.
Bell falls into formation and looks around to see if there are any incoming craft.A handful of Aesthian planes are retreating to the battlegroup, but don't look particularly interested in picking a fight along the way.
Jaakko looks at his radar MFD to find a new target.
“Copy, how long until they’re here?”
Ajka clicks on the comms.
"Commander, are our forces in any condition to pursue the retreating enemy airframes? I don't think the strike package would appreciate the enemy coming in at an inopportune time for them."
"If we survive, I can land this scrap heap. Getting back alive is a bigger concern."The landing gear works, at least. As does the brake.
Markus checks the status of the landing gear, airbrake, and flaps, just to be sure.
Ash darts to the storefront and finds cover adjacent to where the Imperial soldier is hunkering down. He draws his pistol, takes the safety off and pulls the hammer.You reach the alcove, startling the boy across from you. Reaching for your holster, you find nothing. You worry you may have lost your sidearm somewhere along the way, but no- the Imperials disarmed you when you surrendered yourself to them. Racking your brain for solutions, three things immediately come to mind for Ash Zaman:
