Beyond the Clouds_Retaliation

by Daniel Chappell

  We reach the squad room and I deposit the extra bags in a pile at the front of the room. Kat and Akane drop the others next to them as I look around the room to find the usual suspects. I greet them before checking the lock box for documents requiring my attention.

  “I’ll be in my office if anyone needs me,” I tell the group. “Smith’s crew is on mission.”

  I walk out the back of the squad room and up to the dorm housing my office. Once inside, I deposit my bag unceremoniously in front of the couch before walking around the desk and plopping down in my chair. The press of a button causes a screen to rise from my desk and come to life. A few commands and passcodes later, I have a radar visual of the emergency sortie. Looks like they’re about twenty miles off the northwest coast.

  It doesn’t seem like anything has gone down out there yet. In the spur of the moment, I pull up my contact list and tap one of the names. The word connecting hovers in the air in front of my desk as a dial tone begins to play. It rings for a long time with no answer. Maybe she’s out? As I get ready to hang up, the call connects and a figure appears projected in the middle of the room.

  “Nii! Sorry it took so long to answer. I just got out the bath and had to put on some clothes. How are you?”

  “I’m okay, sis. Just getting back to my home away from home, so busy as usual. How’s things on your end?”

  “I miss you, as usual, but other than that I’ve been pretty good. Dad decided to stay out here with grandma and grandpa for a while, so I enrolled in the school nearby.”

  “Oh, that’s good. I was wondering what you were going to do about school. How do you like it there?”

  “It’s okay, I guess,” she says while drying her hair. “I have that bonus ability of being the mysterious, beautiful transfer student, so everyone’s been super interested in me. They seem really nice, though.”

  “They better be. If they try anything weird with you, though, I’ll drop a bomb on their garage.”

  She giggles. “You would, too. Don’t worry, though. Most of the boys around here get really intimidated when I tell them my older brother is an air force colonel. The others instantly start talking nonstop about planes.”

  “Can you really blame them? Planes are pretty cool, and I can be totally intimidating when I wanna be.”

  “Intimidating? You’re like a big teddy bear. I honestly wonder how someone as laid back as you manages to be a commander.” We share a laugh at the thought. It’s true I was pretty passive before I joined the air force. There’s a moment of silence between us as the laughter subsides. “Nii?” she says finally.

  “Hmm?”

  “Are you sure you’re okay? You seem really down today.”

  “Yeah, I’m fine, sis.”

  I must not have put enough cheerfulness into my words. She fixes me with a look laced with skepticism. An eyebrow raises, and her eyes scan my body language.

  “Something happened. With someone close to you, I bet. Hitomi?”

  Damn, she’s good. I swear she’s way more accurate than the radar we use. It’s almost supernatural.

  “Okay, you got me. Again. I had to send Hitomi home.”

  “Why? Did she get hurt or something?”

  “Yeah, pretty badly. It could have been so much worse, though. Still, she didn’t take it too well when I told her I was sending her home to recover.”

  “I’m sure. As much as she might deny it, she’s scared to leave you alone.”

  “I know that all too well. She actually came out and told me a while back. But this is the best thing I can do. She’ll understand eventually.”

  “Mhmm. Hitomi onee-chan can’t stay mad at you for too long. It’s against her nature and her super dere personality when it comes to you. I’ll call her sometime tomorrow and try to cheer her up.”

  “You’re right. Thanks, sis.”

  “Anything for my big brother. Hey, I’ve gotta go, but it was good to see and hear from you again. Be safe as always. I love you, Nii.”

  “I love you too, Kanade.”

  She hangs up and call terminated hangs in the air for a moment. I’d made sure to keep an eye on the screen relaying battlefield information to me during the call with my sister. They ran into a pair of enemy contacts at one point, but that was quickly taken care of. There hasn’t been any action since. Maybe it was just a scout team.

  I look at my watch and then tap another contact on my list. A dial tone plays, and a call time appears right above the edge of my desk, counting up from zero. The call rings several times before connecting.

  “Rion! Hello. How are you doing today?”

  “I’m doing alright, thanks. How are you, Mrs. Saruyama?”

  “Good. Busy with the company as always. You know how being in charge goes. To what do I owe the pleasure today?”

  “I wanted to let you know that I’m sending Hitomi home for a while and ask where you guys are at right now.”

  “We’re out in Osaka trying to sort out the new company headquarters. Did something happen?”

  “Yes, but it’s over now. She’s going to need your support, though.”

  “Okay, I understand. I need to get back to my meeting but thank you for letting me know. Take care of yourself.”

  “You too.”

  My last call goes to Colonel Feng to set up Hitomi’s ride home. He lets me know that it’ll be a few days at least before he can get anything ready. With everything set up—and with Smith’s squad now returning to base—I set to work on the day’s paperwork.

  Chapter 18

  Lt. Col. Orion Tachibana

  January 19, 2113, 20:00

  The familiar groupings of expectant faces greet me as I enter the squad room. This morning, I told everyone to meet me at eight o’clock sharp for an important briefing. At the time, even I didn’t know the details. Now that I do… let’s just say it’ll be interesting.

  “So, what’s the deal, Rion?” Saika asks. “What are we after this time?”

  “Weather control.”

  I let the two words hang in the air for dramatic effect. Most of the room’s occupants look utterly confused, probably thinking their leader has finally lost the rest of his mind. Kat, however, seems to get what I’m talking about and her face lights up.

  “You mean we finally get to take care of that?” she asks excitedly.

  “Yes.”

  “Oh, yeah!” she exclaims. It’s such a departure from her usual calm and quiet demeanor that the others look even more confused.

  “Okay, I’ll stop with the secretive theatrics,” I relent. “For those of you who haven’t already heard, the Republic has developed and deployed an advanced system capable of seeding clouds and having dramatic, unpredictable effects on weather. We’ve already encountered its effects on several missions thus far. We believe we have finally located the device again after several months under the radar.

  “The mission we’ve been tasked with is flying into the area and destroying the weather control device and any auxiliary components nearby. Needless to say, this is a priority one objective and must be completed at all costs. With that thing out of the picture, all our pilots can fly a little easier. We’ve lost a lot because of its existence, but that changes today.”

  A round of applause goes around the room. Now that I’ve told them all about the device, a lot of things have probably clicked for them. The Republic’s most outrageous toy has been making trouble for us for a long time.

  “Now, let me give you some more information,” I continue. I press a button on my data pad and a three-dimensional rendering of the weather control device appears between the group and me. “This is the device in question. It’s presumed to be hardened, but the only information we have on the structure is visual observation. We’ll be hitting it with large ordnance until it pops. Honestly, I don’t know what effect its destruction will have on the surrounding area. It could make things ugly or do nothing at all.

  “On to personnel. Colonel Feng has asked me to
personally lead this one, despite being down a pilot. Two other squads will be accompanying us. While I’m sure you’d all like to come along, I had to narrow things down and choose the best people and equipment for the job. Yamada, you and your guys are our anti-surface experts, so you’re in for sure. We’re also expecting heavy airborne resistance, so I want Smith’s squad to help take care of that.

  “Let’s get this one done quick and clean so we can all go home. As always, let’s make sure to watch each other’s backs up there. Questions, anyone?”

  “When do we leave?” Saika asks.

  “How fast can you get ready?”

  ***

  The dark nighttime landscape passes below as we soar through a mostly cloudless sky. A radio silence order for the duration of our initial infiltration has given me no sound other than my plane systems and my own heartbeat for the last hour. My onboard computer flashes a muted alert on my HUD and I adjust my course to the planned heading.

  A myriad of emotions flow through the back of my mind. We can finally take care of a threat that’s been running amok for way too long. On the other hand, it’s going to be extremely dangerous. The device can turn the tides of battles almost in an instant. Because of that power, it’s also going to have a lot of backup.

  Another alarm flashes on my HUD and I look at my radar to see a group of enemy planes approaching at high speed. No need to worry yet, though. My group executes a predetermined course change to keep away from the enemies in hopes that they haven’t noticed us yet.

  As we fly along on our new, slightly altered path, I keep a close watch on my radar. As each sweep pings the group of hostiles, they move further along their path without changing direction. Another alert warns me of a second group coming toward us from the opposite direction. The first group switches to an intercept course as soon as their friends are on radar.

  Both groups draw closer and closer to us. We adjust our heading and altitude a few times just to see if it’s a coincidence. Perhaps they’re flying toward each other instead of us. Their repeated adjustments dash any hopes of that, however, as both groups follow every move we make.

  “Alright, I’m making the call. Cancel radio silence,” I tell the team. “Adjust to an intercept course with the group to our northwest. We’ll take them out before they can come together.”

  We take a heading for the first group, the closer of the two, and I ready my weapons for air combat. I give out an order to avoid wasting missiles and take them down with machine cannon fire. The enemies start to execute evasive maneuvers, obviously aware that this fight isn’t in their favor, but we already have them locked in our sights. With eleven of us against eight of them, it doesn’t take long before they’re out of the sky.

  The other group has gotten much closer by now and we swing back toward them to engage. They fire at us, narrowly missing Smith and Saika. Both groups dodge each other while throwing shots back and forth, no doubt looking like the world’s most deadly airborne tumbleweed from afar.

  After a few minutes—and much more ammunition than I would prefer—we manage to take out the second group. A glance at my radar reveals no further hostiles approaching us, but we’re behind schedule now. There’s a good chance someone got word to the enemy base and they’ve started moving our objective. Granted, they can’t move it too fast given its size, but sooner is better than later for us.

  Almost on cue, my plane is buffeted by a sudden patch of turbulence before settling back down. It looks like they’re about to start the show. I push the throttle all the way and my strike group screams across the sky toward our objective.

  A few minutes later, we enter visual range of the enemy base. The second we do so, my radar lights up like the world’s angriest Christmas tree. Dozens, maybe even hundreds of enemy signatures appear clustered together: ground targets, air targets, radar installations. I’m sure if they could’ve found a lake nearby, they’d have shoved a few battleships in it. I don’t even know where to begin.

  “Alright. Nine’s squad and mine will take care of the airborne threats. Thirteen’s squad will start getting rid of the ground defenses. Take out their eyes first, then delete their AA. This could be a long fight, so everyone watch your ammo.”

  The squads break off in the direction of their assigned roles and get to work. My squad moves to intercept a group of fighters headed after Yamada and his guys. We manage to get their attention but, almost immediately, another enemy squad joins the fray, putting us at a nearly three to one disadvantage.

  My combat instincts kick in and things seem to slow down and become clearer. With what feels like the most nonchalant flick of my flight controls ever, I maneuver behind one of the enemies and shred one of his wings. The loss of control sends him crashing into his wingman and the two planes twist around each other as they spiral toward the ground, leaving a trail of smoke behind them.

  Two more fly up behind and try to get me lined up in their sights. I quickly start evading while moving toward the other members of the squad for support. Kat catches on to my intentions and flies toward me, destroying one of my pursuers and causing the other to disengage. Meanwhile, I take care of the enemy shadowing Akane, freeing her up to maneuver and take down another two.

  It doesn’t take us long to mop up the last of the enemies in the group. With so many of their fellow pilots shot down despite their superior numbers, they seem to have lost their composure. I take the brief moment with less people trying to kill me to assess the wider battlefield.

  Smith’s squad is still tangled with a group of enemy fighters, but they seem to be handling it just fine. The enemy’s radar domes and dishes have been destroyed and a large portion of their surface-to-air defenses are in flames.

  Near the middle of the base, a huge object catches my attention. The thing glows dangerously and is surrounded by even more defenses than the rest of the place. A four-rail railroad track leads from the contraption, through the base, and off into the distance.

  It matches the description of the enemy weather control device exactly and, in case that wasn’t proof enough, the clouds begin to gradually grow thicker. I feel feedback in my flight controls as the wind intensifies and rocks my plane. Even knowing that it’s artificially affected, the speed at which the weather changes astonishes me. Rain splatters against the glass of my cockpit with a quickly escalating tempo.

  “All units, watch yourselves,” I warn my team. “Things are probably about to get intense.”

  As the words leave my mouth, a massive bolt of lightning carves its way through the sky, searing the ground just outside the confines of the base. A blanket of water falls from the sky all at once, so thick that it feels like I’ve flown into a lake. Wind picks up and the sky grows ever darker as the storm clouds thicken.

  A renewed attack by the enemy takes my focus away from the weather. A large formation of fighters approaches from the west, likely reinforcements arriving from the nearby airfield. They descend on us like a nest of angry wasps. The first thing they do is launch missiles our way, causing us to dump flares and evade while they close the distance between us.

  “Thirteen, start working on that target while we hold these guys off. I don’t want us to be here any longer than we have to be.”

  “Copy,” he replies quickly.

  Out the corner of my eye, I see his squad take a dive toward the weather control device. A flurry of missiles and shots flies toward the device, blooming in large fireballs upon reaching their destination. I don’t have the luxury of watching the result, however, as the enemy reinforcements have reached us and engaged in close combat.

  The rattling sound of shots bouncing off of my armor joins the clatter of rain on my windshield. My plane shakes a little as some of the shots hit hard enough to penetrate. I mute the alert and continue fighting as the plane’s repair system takes care of the damage.

  I maneuver out of my pursuer’s line of sight and pull into a barrel roll, gliding out of it behind an unsuspecting bad guy. A quick
volley of shots destroys the plane as I continue playing a deadly game of tag with the one behind me. Before I can even see which teammate it is, a friendly plane swoops over my head and blasts the enemy on my tail to bits.

  “One, we have a problem,” Yamada’s voice comes through the radio.

  “What is it?” I ask as I continue to fight the remaining planes.

  “We’re out of missiles and the target is still standing.”

  “What?” I nearly yell incredulously. “That’s impossible.”

  “It’s got an active protection system,” he informs me. “We’ve taken out most of the nodes, but we have yet to make a scratch on the target itself.”

  “Damn. Alright, switch. Nine’s squad and mine will lay down some more fire while you guys mop up the last of the hostile air support.”

  “Copy. Switching.”

  The four planes of his squad fly up toward the fight wrapping up in the air. Once they have the attention of the remaining handful of enemies, the seven of us comprising my squad and Smith’s head in for a bombing run on the target.

  I have the others attack in waves of two, with me bringing up the rear by myself. Missile after missile flies toward the weather control device, shrouding it in a curtain of fire. As I approach, I let loose two missiles of my own. They track toward the locations I last observed APS nodes before igniting their payload on impact.

  My plane rocks in the wind as I pull out of my attack run. The smoke clears enough for me to get another look as I bank for another pass. The behemoth still seems largely unperturbed, but a thin stream of smoke pours out of the spot where one of the nodes lay.

  Suddenly, it doesn’t feel like we brought enough explosives for this. We make several more runs, knocking out APS nodes along the way until I’m pretty sure we’ve gotten them all. Unfortunately, I’m down to my last missile and the others have spent all of theirs taking out its defenses. There’s only one chance left to take this thing down for good.