"Touch the Sky with Glory" - Indian Air Force motto

: This chapter will be the first to introduce "elite" Caliphate fighter squadron as opponents, commonly led by aces.

Will the Indonesians survive?

"Alright, listen up everyone" said Group Captain Manoj beginning his briefing for the next mission, which will be jointly undertaken by Indonesian and Indian pilots.

"We are expecting another round of combined enemy manned aircraft and drone attacks on this base, and so we had increased the number of our Hunters which functions is to accompany yours and to take the bullets meant for us - wait - alright, we got leakers; a large formation of UCC missile-carrying bomber aircraft supported by drones and manned fighters is heading towards Mumbai, planning for another raid on it... They think they can demoralize us by targeting our entertainment and financial capital. Intel confirmed that those bombers were to reach firing range in 25 minutes!"

"Be brave out there, ladies and gentlemen, move out and show them what you got!"

The Indian No. 20 squadron (Lightnings) took off first in their Abhayas, and later the Indonesians.

I'm now the Emerald 2 flight leader as Emerald 2-1.

Under Wing Commander Vijay Kumar Dighe, 10 similar-to-F-35 looking fighters with Indian colors and their HAL CATS Hunter drone companions were the first to rendezvous with the assigned air controller, still aboard the Airbus A330 platform. In addition, unlike the first mission, there was a converted Boeing 737 Electronic Warfare platform in the area that would take control of the wingman drones in case of emergency.

"This is AWACS Thotti, glad to see you guys again. Anyway, let's get started. We got multiple bandits contact heading 1-0-4, 40 at 30.000 feet, track east, hot, confirmed hostile, unmanned JF-17 Thunders with Turkish-made TAI TF-24s in control. Second contact heading 1-2-0... ID manned JF-20s and Burraq-4 wingmen drone (1) Engage and destroy!"

"Arm all the drones to autonomous mode." both my CO and the Indian squadron commander ordered, as fast maneuvering contacts on radar began their approach to our position; like us, they were surely want their drones to engage first. The drones and the manned fighters were not long managed to merge with some of us, including Evy and I.

"Fox two!"

JF-17s were relatively easy to shoot down, but the smaller flying wing like Burraq drones was a different ballgame, and to conserve ammo, Medi had ordered us to leave those little buggers to our own wingman drones and to take out the TF-24s instead. However, to our consternation but also gratitude at the same time, at that point the Indians had began to chip out the TF-24s.

"Mumbai is not yours, scum!" one of the Indian pilots swore on the radio, just before one of his wingman was shot down.

Nothing we can do but to look for the primary objective with the bombers were closing in; detected as a copy of Russian Tu-160 Blackjacks, whose design was stolen by Five Pillar hackers during the time of Great European War or better known as European Civil War, that also affected the newly restored monarchy in the way resembling the 1990s era conflicts in the Caucasus region.

Medi was the first to call for Fox three shot, followed quickly by his wingman. One TF-24 tried to intervene only to be shot down by Wenda.

"Missile evaded" Artificial Intelligence augmentation was really helpful in increasing the speed on how we take decision, especially in evasion as well as prioritization of targets in the vicinity.

I put my plane upside down just as I managed to lock on the offending TF-24, and dispatched it.

"Great shot, now let's get the bombers before the Colonel bag it all!" I agree with Evy.

"Fighter on our tail!" ordered a UCC bomber pilot as his electronic warfare officer increased the jamming input to maximum. However, we have means to deal with it; which is the anti-radiation variant of the R-87, two per aircraft. The missile homed on the jamming source and I swerved away as it ripped the ripped the wing right off the fuselage, I head for the closest bomber only for Evy had already fired two R-81s into it's belly, the Blackjack erupting into flames.

"We're sending those desert monkeys running back to their sorry excuse of a state!" I cheered.

The quick loss of their bomber was enough for a mission abort. But we know it was not mean to be a quick end, as we returned to a forward base erected along the portion of Virar-Jawaharlal Nehru Port Highway to rearm.

"Be advised" piped the AWACS. "You are being reinforced by RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force) F-35Ds with their companion drones from it's No. 80 Squadron. Exploit this moment well. Right now they're being engaged with missile carrying JF-17 unmanned fighters." Minutes later, "All flight, Bushmaster, be advised we have incoming enemy planes. Size, estimated five squadron of J-31 stealth fighters with accompanying unmanned J-10s. Engage and destroy the bandits."

A 16-ship formation of Shenyang J-31 "Firehound" stealth fighters supplied to (former) Pakistan and later locally manufactured by the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC), leading 4 J-10 unmanned fighter squadrons, were heading towards the allied forces.

"Zarrar Lead to all Zarrar flight, arm your weapons, time to hunt some infidels. Send them to hell, Takbir!" said the lead, by the name of Colonel Yahya Sabir "Swallow" Khan, one of the Caliphate's ace with 12 kills; four Israeli F-35As, three Imperial Iranian F-15EXs, three Indian Rafales and two Abhayas. The pilots shouted Takbir in reply.

------

"All Allied units, the Brimstone flight (Australian F-35s) will engage the J-10s while Emerald and Lightning flight will engage the Firehounds." Said the AWACS on the radio.

"All Emerald flight, full power on the radar" Medi ordered.

"Roger" the Indonesian Sukhois powered up their radar and closing towards the last known enemy position alongside the Indian Abhayas; all missiles armed.

Soon, two J-31s were marked on my HMD, one heading towards him 11 o'clock and the second, flying away from his relative position, 1 o'clock. I quickly turned avoiding the first Firehound cannon fire. The fighting has becoming a full-contact, in-visual range dogfight, between 5th Generation Fighters and their unmanned drone wingmen.

"I have you now!" I am now behind the J-31 that attacked mine first.

"Emerald 2-1, Fox 2!" The Asp once more living on its reporting name and bites hard the Firehound; blowing it up completely.

In the meantime.

"Holy shit!" Pandu was amazed upon looking at a J-31 in front of him suddenly executed a Kulbit to shook him off. He decided to execute Split-S and later, found himself obtained a good firing solution for the R-81, which he executed. It hits. Not destroying the Firehound as the fuse somehow detonated prematurely, but enough to forced him to retreat from the battlefield due to engine and control surface damage.

But later he redeemed his failure by catching another Zarrar squadron plane which are chasing an allied Indian fighter.

"Zarrar 4-2 to 4-1, get him off my..." His transmission ended as Pandu had shot him down just with a single R-75.

Next "Splash one!" said Pandu, after downing other J-31 with cannon fire after he forced his enemy to enter a turning fight and spend almost six minutes maneuvering using almost every geometric plane his Sukhoi is capable of; it's pilot managed to eject.

On the other hand, Andik, however, is in trouble. "2-4 to 2-3, Those bastards are on my tail and cannot shake them off! Requesting immediate backup!".

Evy was the first to reply. "Coming in to assist". Soon, Evy and I saw Andik's plane being chased by three J-31s. "Cosmo, you engage one, me and Raden will engage the rest". "Roger" Pandu said.

"Emerald 2-4, Fox Two," called Pandu as his Firefox managed to obtain a good lock and released an R-81 which downed one J-31.

Later "Zarrar 3-2 is hit, ejecting!" as his plane was dispatched by Evelyn. Suddenly Andik decided to do a Cobra, the last pursuing stealth fighter cannot see it coming and overshot. Outsmarted, he was immediately downed by Andik via gunfire. The third kill for Andik. Two J-10s crept out from 3 o'clock try to engage him. He quickly turned toward the enemy as fast as he can while distancing his plane at the same time to avoid the agile PL-13s or A-Darters carried by the Thunders, and even locked one of them for BVR engagement with his remaining R-81s, but his moment was ruined when those two J-10s exploded by missiles fired from (apparently) Indian Abhayas. "Blast, those Indians stole my kill. Anyway, time to bag those stealth. Much respect to those people with more combat experience than us. Four times winning wars with Pakistan is their evidence." He said to himself, in appreciation of the Indians' military prowess.

"Aaahh!!" another Zarrar squadron pilot screamed when his plane exploded by a R-81 fired by Emerald 1-4. He had performed a roll to close his position to be in-range to fire his Adder. The J-31 was his fourth kill. In retaliation, his wingman fired two PL-21s towards Pandu, but he managed to thrash the shot by deploying his chaffs and activate his stealthy ECM pod carried in his wing to full power.

Meanwhile, I solidify my status as an ace after another of my R-87 shot killed the second J-31. I later found the pilot inside is a woman named 1st Lieutenant Haaritha Rizvi. She was unable to eject from her burning fighter. Back to battle, after some maneuvering two enemies, a J-31 and a JF-17 were inside my engagement range. Two more Asp went off the stealth weapons pod below my wings, hitting both target straight and true.

The day saw the birth of another Indonesian ace after the Colonel in the form of Nana Soepono "Chemist", Emerald 1-2 after he defeated Zarrar 2-4 in an intense duel with the enemy managed to bail out. His way of victory against the J-31 was quite dramatic too as the enemy chasing him, he executed a tail slide, greatly helped by the Sukhoi's thrust vectoring, allowed him to acquired a good lock even before his position is exactly on Zarrar 2-4 six. But he decided to switch to gun. The enemy was fooled and thought Nana was to fire a short-range missile, and his split-second misjudgment cost him his jet as 30 x 165mm Russian from Nana's Sukhoi ripped the Chinese-originated fighter apart.

"This is Zarrar 3-4, controls are trashed, going down..." Another UCCAF J-31 plummeting, on fire, into the desert below. It went down by collaboration of Medi and Nana counted as shared kill.

Meanwhile, the Zarrar's lead, Yahya "Glacier" Khan, found himself duelling with two Abhayas. He showed his skill by shooting down one of the Indian-made fighter, but the pilots inside bailed out safely in the Indian side of the border. He also had shot down another Abhaya in the opening phase of combat. Another Abhaya approached him from 4 o'clock below unknown to him, and when his missile warning went off, he tried to avoid them, and managed to defeat it all by discharging flares. But two other Abhaya behind the first jet managed to shoot down one of his wingman, Zarrar 1-3, named Captain Mohommed "Red Eye" Rashid, another ace with 6.5 kill, all of them were Indian aircraft. He failed to eject.

After a taking a split second to rethink their strategy, Yahya and his wingman, Major Khalid al-Walini, thinking that I am a soft target, decided to lose the Indians and took me and Evy in a separate close quarter, turning combat.

They were trying to work the two together to where they could instantly switch targets and attack the other without giving them any time to react. But it didn't work. Zarrar 1 broke away from Evy and managed to lock at me for a heatseeker shot, but in the split second with the warning siren starting to blare, in a flash I deactivated my AI limiter before cutting the engines almost to a crawl and pulled back on the flight stick, the plane flipping over on a dime until it was upside down, I gunned it not only past the missile fired at him, but straight at Zarrar 1, allowing me to finally took down the Jihadi ace with a missile to the right wing.

"The commander's been shot down! Requesting back-up!" pleaded the said wingman before Evy shot him down, the remaining UCC fighters hovering outside the combat zone completely baffled by the take down of one of their most elite fighter squadrons, with exception of the drones that true to their nature were the last to die.

"All UCC reinforcements confirmed down. Mission complete. Return to base." announced Thotti as the allied pilots formed up over the ocean before being vectored back to their respective bases.

---

After a gruelling battle with a Caliphate elite squadron, the Indian and Indonesian squadron finally landed on Lohegaon Air Station. In the Indonesian side, the Colonel and Pandu's plane turned out to be substantially damaged, so they must fly the spare plane for a time being. While in the Indian side, two of their HAL Abhayas were shot down by drones, but all the pilots survived.

"Excellent work, all of you. The government will shower you with medal, confirmed, people." Said Lt. Col Putu and Grp Cpt. Manoj who ran from the base upon the landing and shake the pilot's hands.

Later, the awarding ceremony; All Indonesian pilots were awarded Satyalancana Pertempuran (USAF equivalent: Combat Action Medal), and with pride, I accepted the Bintang Jasa Yudha (roughly similar to US Silver Star), along with the Bintang Swa Bhuwana Paksa Second Class/Pratama, and Satyalancana Bhakti Dirgantara (Air Medal equivalent). In particular, all pilots regardless of the number of kills, who managed to shot down stealth fighters or autonomous drones in the battle were also awarded it. The Indians were awarded Vir Chakra medal, the third highest individual distinguished service medal in wartime in the Indian Armed Forces equivalent to US military Silver Star.

In unit level, the Air Force Headquarters immediately issued approval to award the Equatorial Emeralds with the Satyalancana Dharma Kesatuan, Pratama. A good start to our nation's first foreign war, if Confrontation with Malaysia wasn't counted for.

Motherland is counting on us. And the more we kill them, the more likely we will have a country to go home.

---