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After the Globemasters and Herculeses finished unloading ordnance and spares; including truck launchers used to launch the Gvardiya drones (Guards in Russian), the 42nd squadron were immediately tasked for air superiority duty.

"Alright, listen up! The front is still fluid despite no land gains from both sides after UCC offensive petered out short of Delhi, as they also need to divide their forces to defend against Chinese offensive immediately in response of the invasion, with the latter have their own agenda it served to weaken the UCC Army in this case. Their air forces from Pakistan and occupied Northern India were having regular air raids in cities like Delhi, Vasai-Virar, Agra, Jaipur, Bhopal, and Pune itself. In fact, the government of India have not yet been evacuated from Delhi, with both President Jaitley and Prime Minister Viswan insisted to remain in the city."

"You're to be part of the PPDU 3rd Allied Tactical Air Force (3 ATAF) tasked to defend the Southern India under Air Marshal Megh Barigai..."

"And.. you also should know that the city of Amritsar, the Sikh's holy city, has been destroyed by missile attack."

My blood boiled upon hearing the said information, while others had found themselves further motivated by revenge. Revenge for the Indians, and us too.

"Now we've just receive a transmission from the TAF HQ, approximately up to four squadron of enemy fighters, had departed from Oman and Yemen and are making its way here to Pune. It's easy to know what their intentions are, which to knock this base out. This is India's first line of defense, but we can't afford to lose Lohegaon. Your job is to intercept and destroy them. Intelligence estimated the enemy types are unmanned Typhoons and Strike Eagles with manned Chukars on hand. Currently Indian assets are mostly occupied, including here. So, we are the main force here and will be the first to engage, along with a squadron of Abhayas from Alahabad which have been airborne and ready to assist as needed if they deployed more planes or even bring their bombers and stealth fighters to counter us." said Medi.

"We can't screw this up, as those unmanned fighters carried long range cruise missiles that can be nuclear tipped. That's all I can say. 42nd Squadron?"

"ALWAYS VIGILANT, ALWAYS VICTORIOUS!"

The flights of the 42nd were quickly driven into their respective hangars when their jets were sheltered. The pilots held their best under the scorching 41 degrees celsius of heat in which some had a little bit of problem of it, such as Petrus "Smoke" Wenda, who hailed from cold mountains of Timika in Papua. "You'll be fine, Wenda."

"Yes sir."

......

En route above Arabian Sea. "Emerald 2, form on me" I ordered.

Twelve planes with twice as many as drones lined up.

"This is AWACS Thotti (Hook in Malayalam, one of the Indian languages), Indian Air Force. Welcome to Arabian Sea for our Indonesian guests. All squadron operated in this area will be under my command." said a male voice in a distinctive Indian-accented English. An A330 AEW was now in the area to provide early warning,

We passed through the said Airbus to further confirm our identity, especially with the always vigilant autonomous DRDO CATS Hunters escorting it and two dual-seat HAL Abhayas behind the jet.

Not long. "This is Thotti, multiple contact heading 0-9-2, 40 at 30.000 feet, track east, hot, all 40 hostile, 12 F-15SA and 20 Typhoons with eight JF-20 Chukars. Weapons free, cleared to engage!"

"This is Emerald lead, Emerald 1 and 3, engage the enemy in front of us, 2 and 4, engage the enemy from the Northwest." said Medi.

"Yes sir" said all flight leads breaking off towards the designated targets.

This will be an equal combat...

"Nobody in their right mind want to bail out into the water in their first combat mission. We're counting on you, Lead." Pandu told me.

"The enemy has not noticed us yet, and probably will never know it" said Evelyn confidently. Her jet's radar had tracked the Caliphate fighters clearly.

"Perfect" I said. Soon, the Sukhois locked on and released the first barrage of R-87Ms.

The unmanned fighters scattered on to avoid the oncoming Adders and dumping chaffs, but even with the AI controlling them, not every craft prevailed. Added with the fact that the Sukhois were stealthy, those aircraft weren't able to see us much to gain a lock for their air-to-air missiles, as well as their cruise missiles affecting their maneuverability.

"Splash one! Eat that, goatf***er!"

After my first kill, two other Typhoons were soon downed by Pandu and Evelyn respectively with substantial maneuvering works.

Multiple long range missiles were released by the opposing side, upon AI voice inside the cockpit had warned that some of us had been detected by enemy stealth fighters.

Sure enough, some of the drones were sacrificed. The "Guardians" were awfully cheap compared to the bigger bird that I am riding right now. Nevertheless. "Emerald 3-2 is lost from radar, he bailed."

"Emerald 2-3 is hit!" Pandu reported.

"Shit, I'm hit!" cursed Andik. "I'm bugging out!"

"Don't bail above the ocean, if possible. Those drones are not that merciful!" I warned, before waving him off for an uncertain fate. The battle must go on, and five Typhoons and five Strike Eagles, confirmed as carrying cruise missiles, were forced to either jettison their ordnance or got destroyed.

"No one can touch our ally's soil anymore!" I exclaimed, just as I ordered the surviving Gvardiyas attached to my flight to release their own long-range missile barrage against the drone fighters. It was followed by the rest of the squadron's drone companions and close quarter engagements.

"Fox two!" The destruction of two Strike Eagles in front of me was my third and fourth kill respectively. But the UCC refused to call it quit. "All allied flight we have multiple group contacts, same heading, 0-9-2. ID manned JF-20 with unmanned JF-17 and Rafale. Destroy the enemy." Said AWACS Thotti.

"Bloody hell, how many drones are they have??"

"Everyone, regroup on my position. Check your ordnance and choose your target carefully" ordered Medi.

All the planes only had two R-87, and two R-37 left for long to very long-range engagements, while the rest were R-81 heatseekers.

The second phase started with our volley of R-87s that took out up to one squadron of the enemy fighters. Later, a barrage of radar-guided missiles from nowhere further decimated the enemy formation.

"Reinforcements!" Our radar was lit with the sign of incoming friendlies in the form of Indian HAL Abhayas and Hunter drones.

"Raden, Fox 2!" Evy called the shot. Two AA-15 went off hers but the unmanned Rafale she pursued managed to shake it off by flares. I saw her plane went into a Cobra that allowed her to launch another R-81 that took the Rafale down.

"Good kill, that thing is no more." Medi piped on the net.

In the meantime, the manned JF-20s had decided to earn their stripes as well with us as well as the Indians in order to save what was left of their drones.

"Guns", the 30mm rounds destroyed the tailplane of the Rafale I was stalking, before my attention was taken by the two JF-20s closing in behind me!

"Radar lock, break!" Evelyn exclaimed, before we broke the lock after three attempts.

"Excellent, Wise!" exclaimed Evelyn. She later turned left followed by me in a two-ship flight.

Then my RWR went off again. "Radar lock, break!"

With a classic Russian tactic, we launched the R-81 IRs at them and later, when the JF-20s were unaware, our final R-87Ms went off the launcher.

"Boom!" exclaimed Evy as the Arab fighter exploded. My target, however, managed to escape. No ace in the day for me, which was quite an embarassment with the one who got it was Evy instead. However with the air to air kill from the Civil War, the title Ace still belonged to me. Pune AFS is safe for now.

"Emerald to all planes, check your fuel status"

Then my HMD flashed a Mission Update.

"Be advised, this is Thotti, we detected an enemy AWACS plane with escorts. Seems they try to bug out, but we have golden opportunity to further hurt them. All planes, engage and destroy the AWACS.

"Roger that, Thotti, we still have some R-37s on board so we're engaging." replied Medi.

Soon we caught on the enemy AWACS, an E-7 Wedgetail, escorted by four drone Rafales. Emerald 3-2, 1st Lt. Kevin "Senator" Liu decided to prove himself by taking the shot and engaged the E-7 with his R-37Ms (AA-13 Arrow) along with his wingman Wenda, while the Indians suppressed the drone escort.

"Fox 3!" Two Arrows hit it's mark, breaking the Boeing 737-derived plane in mid-air.

---------------

As my Sukhoi slowed down on the apron of Lohegaon AFS, my eyes can see the ground crew running, both Indonesian and Indian. As I go down, two Indonesian crewmen sprayed me and the entire squadron with apple juice. Later some Indian crew joined the celebration by hoisting us into the air,

"Good work, son! Damn good work you have done!" boomed Lt. Colonel Medi petting me on the shoulder.

"Thank you, sir, but everyone had earned their share too!"

"How's your feeling now that you are an ace now, Major?" said Medi.

"Well, I just did my duty. Truth is, it's exhiliriating to be back in the air soon, but I know that this is just the beginning."

Showered with welcome, everyone was in jubilation. Any question about the next move of the UCC would be answered later, as we were shepherded to the briefing room, Indonesians and Indians alike. Even the dark skinned Indian with the A330 AWACS brevet on his chest pocket was present, giving us one or two ideas of what happened after our success. He introduced himself as Wing Commander Ramaswamy Chandrasekar, from Tamil Nadu.

"Gp Capt. Manoj told me that you people had doing a great job, and we had washed out those who bailed, friend and foe alike. Nobody is KIA today, something that you people should celebrate."

"Thank you, Chandrasekar." replied Medi.

"What matters is that we have had the advantage in that battle today. and caught them by surprise. But with their AI around, they are giving a stiff resistance. they were ready for us."

Medi sighed. "People, those Five Pillar bastards had a lot of scientists from around the globe who swore allegiance to the Caliph. In addition, even with their oil had less influence today, those people had a steady source of income, including agriculture... "

I sighed, crossing her arms and leaning back in my chair. "And I'll bet everything I have that we have a lot of collaborators back home who financed them and not yet been rooted out."

Just as she said this, their conversation was cut short as Manoj cleared his throat and brought all eyes to him, before his expression changed into a jubilant one. "Well, the operation was a success, and we're proud of you people! India expect more from all of you next time, and Indonesia also, Colonel Medi... Stand by for further orders. Dismissed."

They had a long day and now they were getting a much deserved break, much more as to further adapt with India's climate. And yet I had a feeling that there are more than meets the eye. We are still need to defend this area for sometime before the PPDU can start their counterattack to liberate the occupied territory of India. However, Evy helped me by saying. "You are not alone, so you shouldn't worry about what's next. Come."

Tonight, all of us pretty much free of any responsibility and it was time to unwind a bit and worry about less urgent topics.

I smiled to myself. I wonder what Indian food we can have for dinner. "Sir."

Gp. Captain Manoj faced Evy and I.

"Do you happen to have good recommendation for dinner from the restaurant next door by any chance?"

"Sure, gather your pilots, including your squadron leader. It's time to introduce you with India's hospitality much more."

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The 42nd scored their first victory, but what awaits them? Stay tuned, and don't forget to vote and comment!