ABS FIESTA REDUX

[NoZoner]

"Mjolnir flight, status!"

Richard's plea for answer was met only with metal--Aesthian metal, to be exact. It's one of the many bands that once kindled wild emotions within a much younger Richard Geary. To be sure, the song is still potent enough to kindle wild emotions within the now-thirty-year-old him, though perhaps for entirely different reasons. One of those reasons might be how easily it drowns out the missile approach warning tone blaring in the background.

The comms volume dial is turned counterclockwise.

"loving stuff! Sabre, defending inbound Fox 2!"

The power drops, flares ignite, and Richard pulls back on the stick as hard as humanly possible, hoping that the Raven's piss-poor IR signature doesn't forget his chances of survival too hard.

edit: forget me i was too late

[Ad Bot]

[Qwepir]

considering your post was probably being typed as i was still making the update, i'll throw in that action
just gimme a sec, i think i'll move the post to this spot anyway so its not at the bottom of the page

I drop two packs of flares and break hard right to evade, making sure I don't hit the carrier.

The missiles go for the bait, but the drones keep you in their sights.

Bell fires a burst of autocannon fire at Drone-4 and proceeds to engage Sabre-2 with a radar missile to attract the pilot's attention, so that Gladiator is free to engage the Drones with Artemis.

Though a difficult target to hit, the burst of cannonfire takes the drone's wing off, sending it spiraling down towards the sea. Sabre-2 either doesn't notice or isn't intimidated by the radar lock, laying into Gladiator with the pulse lasers and firing off its MMS-12.

Walt enter a vertical climb to get try and get out of the clouds, no communication and vision don't seem to work well.

You fly up and over where most of the fight is going on, and drones 2 and 3 leave you be to pursue other targets.

With comms jammed up, it'd be unlikely he'll get any help. There never really was another choice. He disengages the attack angle and G limiters, pulls the nose of the aircraft up sharply and engages the lift fan momentarily, throwing the plane into an almost 90 degree stall. The aircraft's computers panic for a moment, and Gus is slammed into his seat. The frame of the plane shudders slightly. Hopefully it will hold together. A combination of torque and thrust vectoring begin to pull the nose back down.

The Sabre recognizes the maneuver, albeit somewhat late, and the pilot aborts its dive. It still ends up overshooting and ending up ahead of you, but retains some of its altitude advantage and appears to be attempting to climb again. Still, better than being divebombed, and at least you have a chance of returning some fire now.

Jaakko immediately picks up a lock, and drops flares to compensate.
He scans for targets.

There are nine drones still operational near the carrier, engaging everyone nearby; two Sabres slightly further out, engaging Faw and Tempest; three unidentified contacts closing fast; one large unidentified contact far away; and that aerial torcreep that just blew past you, being shot down by point-defense only at the last moment and still crippling flight deck operations (at least in the short term). The 8 pilots in the air right now are all that stands between the enemy and the carrier.

I then realize I'm being locked on. I pop flares and do some evasive maneuvers to try and lose the two HSM's that are locked on.

You successfully evade both of the heatseekers.

"loving stuff! Sabre, defending inbound Fox 2!"
The power drops, flares ignite, and Richard pulls back on the stick as hard as humanly possible, hoping that the Raven's piss-poor IR signature doesn't forget his chances of survival too hard.

The missile goes for the bait, flying past you and getting got by the carrier's point-defense before it can do any harm to anything else. You are now the only pilot with nothing else out for your blood, but that could change at any moment so you'd best make the most of it.

Shortsword, Crash, and Tourist get no time to pat themselves on the back for their kills and evasive maneuvers, as the incoming planes open fire with a salvo of RGMs. The drones elect to hold their fire, but try to get behind Crash, Hawkeye, Sabre, and Tourist. With the exception of Drone 5, which spontaneously explodes.

[Operator¹]

Bell turns around and fires a radar missile at the Tukreb tracking her. She deploys chaff in the middle of the turn.

[Agent Legit 22]

Could I join again?

[Gojira]

"Ark dammit, this music is annoying!"
I turn down the volume on the comms channel, then attempt to lock on to one of the drones with a heatseeker, then fire away.
Ark's exhaust, I hate heavy metal.

[Operator¹]

seriously somebody find out what the large contact is

[Gojira]

seriously somebody find out what the large contact is

take one guess

[CypherX]

Gus shakes his fist in triumph as his maneuver works. While it may not have put him on the Sabre's tail, he's at least out of its gun sights. He bursts the afterburners to regain some speed and chases the Sabre, opening up with the RAC in short bursts, aimed at the engines. He fires an HSM as he closes.

[NoZoner]

No radar spikes, no missile approach warning. All clear. "Sabre, Fox 2 defeated!"

The BVR scanner picks up a particularly large signature sitting somewhere in the back of the enemy formation. Richard, understanding the implications of the situation, picks up on the opportunity. "Mjolnir flight, this is Sabre, I've got a pretty beefy contact on radar, 12 o'clock, moving in to engage." All four turbofans go to work as Richard slams the power lever forward and begins ascending, making his approach towards what is likely the thorn in Mjolnir's side.

[blockguy™]

I drop chaff and try to get on the tail of one of the drones that is tailing me.

[Gojira]

"[How in the infernal armpit do they know our operating frequency? Why don't we just change that stuff? ...unless they're broadcasting on all frequencies. Right.]"
I calmly wait for the music to stop.

[Mr. Hurricane]

Jaakko calls in futility that he's going after the large contact. He slams the afterburner and releases chaff to ditch the missile. He gains altitude and maneuvers on to the vector of the large contact.

The engines sound like rockets. As the aircraft breaks mach one, the engine noise disappears, except for that which is transmitted through the air frame.

[ZombiLoin]

Faw slams back on the throttle to reduce his aircraft-s heat signaure while popping both of his flares.

[Qwepir]

Bell turns around and fires a radar missile at the Tukreb tracking her. She deploys chaff in the middle of the turn.

The Tukreb starts attempting to break out of the circle, but you are able to keep it locked in for the time being. One of the drones (Drone-2) capitalizes on the distraction, and falls in behind you, readying to fire.

"Ark dammit, this music is annoying!"
I turn down the volume on the comms channel, then attempt to lock on to one of the drones with a heatseeker, then fire away.
Ark's exhaust, I hate heavy metal.

The missile destroys Drone-9 outright, and Drones 7 and 10 open fire with heatseekers of their own.

Gus shakes his fist in triumph as his maneuver works. While it may not have put him on the Sabre's tail, he's at least out of its gun sights. He bursts the afterburners to regain some speed and chases the Sabre, opening up with the RAC in short bursts, aimed at the engines. He fires an HSM as he closes.

The Sabre takes evasive action, but you manage to get a good few hits across his back with the gun. The HSM is let loose and your opponent responds by dropping his last set of flares and breaking hard to the left.

I drop chaff and try to get on the tail of one of the drones that is tailing me.

In your haste to get on the drone's tail, you allow the Tukreb to get on yours. They fire an AAM to remind you that you have more pressing matters at hand than drones. But if you really want to kill this thing, the drone is still in your sights for the time being.

Faw slams back on the throttle to reduce his aircraft-s heat signaure while popping both of his flares.

The flares dispel all but one munition from the MMS salvo, but the enemy pilot capitalizes on your slower speed to lay into you with the beam laser, carving a deep gash into your starboard side. At his current heading, a head-on collision is imminent unless one of you pulls off.

All four turbofans go to work as Richard slams the power lever forward and begins ascending, making his approach towards what is likely the thorn in Mjolnir's side.

Jaakko calls in futility that he's going after the large contact. He slams the afterburner and releases chaff to ditch the missile. He gains altitude and maneuvers on to the vector of the large contact.

The two fastest planes in the squadron tear ass towards the unidentified contact, revealing it as the Imperial AWACS responsible for the jamming and a lone Tukreb left to defend it. Tukreb-2 takes the opportunity to get on Crash's tail as he speeds by, and though he is unable to keep up, the RGM he fires is more than capable.

On the bright side, the carrier has progressed beyond the thick cloud cover, and there's nothing but clear skies ahead. All those nasty, view-obstructing water droplets are behind you now.

[Gojira]

"I only have so many flares, starfishs."
I drop enough flares to drop the missiles, turn towards the drones firing missiles, and counter with a heatseeker of my own against drone 10.