"We are the servant of the people. There are just like consumer which means they are King." - Joko Widodo, 7th President of Indonesia (2014-2024)

This chapter will show another important milestone of this war. Want to know more? Read until the end!

Music: The Fight for Freedom by Manowar. A fitting title for this kind of liberation battle...

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"Ladies and Gentlemen.. today, we will carry out the Liberation of Tehran, codename, Artaxerxes. It's time for the Iranian people to finally have their capital back! Our strike package will consist of the 120 which will provide air superiority along with the 102 NAS' A flight, while the 117 will be in an attack role along with the 102 NAS' B flight. Furthermore we will deploy a C-32 configured in a swarm drone carrier configuration, in order to keep enemy laser turrets, indicated here, busy, while we are taking them out one by one." 120 NAS B flight will serve as Alert 5."

"Our ground forces in the first wave will consist of the three Iranian divisions; 2nd Imperial Guards Mechanized Division, 92nd Armored Division and the 77th Infantry Division, up to seven Indian divisions, two Korean, one Japanese, three Indonesian, one Commonwealth, and two American which will assault the city from the east, and south. The west we have VP forces with it's core the elite Russian 150th Motor Rifle Division along with Chinese 52nd Mountain Infantry Brigade and 31st Heavy Combined Arms Brigade..."

"Do your best, and their people will be thankful for our part of it. Make our people proud! Dismissed!"

After that we head up to the deck to inspect our jets.

"Finally we're in Tehran. Honestly I feel bad that Paulus and Evy aren't here to fight with us." I sighed to Lt. Arif, which will be my wingman in this mission.

"Well, you know him better than me; he, Evy, and some others were sent home for further education in the Staff College, remember. Especially for those his age, it's quite normal. Look at our Majors. Also, my brother is one of it's ammo handler, and he said that there are rumors that the 42nd and the entire 7th FW are going to be transitioned to the -36. East to West." he replied.

"Interesting. Honestly, I think the Iranians had enough karma." I said again. "With they once a significant sponsor of terror just like the Saudis back then I can't believe that before the war they finally tasted freedom for a short time with the Pahlavi Restoration."

"Agree with you. Whatever our order is, Captain, as long as it lawful, we are going to obey it."

"Indeed, everybody is eager especially those sixth gen drivers." I said.

"Well, it should be. We're Naval Aviators, the best our nation can offer, Captain." answered Arif again.

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"Saint Michael, defends us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil..." A short convocation echoed inside my heart as I lined up my IF-34 into the cat.

There are a lot of talk in secured channels and on the carrier itself about a possibility that the Wali (governor) of the Islamic State of Iran, the official name of "autonomous" but occupied state under UCC confederacy, is contemplating a surrender, the same case as the neighboring Iraq along with Yemen. Furthermore it reinforced my opinion that some people in the Caliphate still have their humanity left.

"This is Sriwijaya control. Altitude restriction lifted. Good luck and Godspeed" said the controller as I retracted the landing gear to line up with my lead element, commanded by the today's flight leader Maj. Akbar "Trusty" Santoso. At 42, he's one of the few surviving first generation Navy carrier pilots. He had flown precision strike missions from KRI Berdikari in the Civil War in a Rafale M, before the Rafales were put into reserve and replaced by IF-34s, itself designed to be capable of operating from STOBAR carrier like the Berdikari, not just the catapult equipped Majapahits. This is my sixth time flying with him as the lead.

His experience helped him to obtain "ace-in-the-day" status in a raid on Aden targeting command bunkers and communication nodes with a large strike package from three other carriers nearby ours; Shoukaku, Vishal, and Lexington when he shot down six J-31s and two F-15SAs defending the city. He was small in stature and the late-starter in this war, but I could see that experience matters in adapting on different combat situations, which manifested itself in form of a calm radio chatter despite under fire.

Following us is another four-ship flight of IF-34s with a stealth C-23 Humpback behind it as a swarm drone carrier to reinforce the allied one.

"All Sriwijaya strike packages, we've made it this far..." Another motivational speech from AWACS Pasai, this time an E-23 instead of E-2, supplied by Northrop Grumman as a single package with the C-23s. "...Our country's standing ride on this mission. So we must prevail, and Iran will be free!"

"Roger" We replied into the AEW.

"Look at what the UCC had done to this city." Patricia, served as Akbar's wingman, remarked.

"You're right, 1-2. We're closing. Ladies and Gentlemen, it's time to dance." Akbar commanded.

As we reached Tehran's airspace Allied fighters including Russian and Chinese made ones from the Caucasus and Syria were already engaged. Furthermore allied small drone swarm had saturated the sky even further, mostly ground launched.

The city was heavily fortified with bunkers, mines and other area denial explosives including IEDs, and blast walls, Furthermore, Medina tank mounted lasers were active as well, downing drones and manned platform alike.

"Break!" called Akbar as two separate laser beams were aimed at us.

"Another drone down!" called an ally.

Following Major Akbar we lowered our altitude as we went deeper into the city, and that's when our radars picked up a lot of airborne contacts; literally; as a swarm of Saegheh combat drones emerged from various points of the city, had been activated, they are armed and ready.

"Arm laser"

"PLS armed" Meanwhile our Capung drones had armed their TLP as well and began spamming beam left and right towards enemy Saeghehs.

Drones killing drones; manned fighters engage manned fighters. Fair enough; as we also detected six JF-20 Chukars heading for our position, bearing 130.

The Chukar pilots soon realized who they are up against.

"Shit, those are... " the unfortunate pilot's transmission was cut off by a TLP shot from an IF-37 from the 102 NAS.

"We need backup... immediately" a frantic call from the leader of the Chukars, hampered by extensive jamming net from drones and manned assets were intercepted by the AEW.

"Those -37s had given us an opening, cut them all down!" called Akbar as we lined up and engaged our radar in full power, before they finally merged on us. A barrage of Buzzards went out from my jet and Arif, aimed towards two Chukars that are chasing Major Akbar. One immediately burst to flames and went down upon impact and one severely damaged, then I saw the pilot from the second Chukar decided to bail out, knowing that his plane are beyond saving.

"Thank you for coming" called Akbar.

"You're welcome, continue engagement" I replied to the major. Meanwhile radio chatters had suggested that strike fighters are taking out the laser tanks one by one.

"Missile incoming" the AI kicks in when a Saegheh fired two R-73s at me; flares pumped out, and standard maneuver were executed to lose the missile.

"Missile evaded"

"Sea Eagle 101, Fox two" called Akbar, as he managed to lock two JF-20s on his scope. They evaded the AIM-10s so he and Patricia which is below him slightly engaged them with the PLS. Meanwhile after I downed two more Saeghehs on my port side with PLS I found a lone JF-20 with it's nose are heading for Akbar and Patricia. I called Arif and we then fired two AIM-122s. Realized they were under attack they aborted the chase and turned right to engage me and Arif. We had a shared kill as a result to that engagement, with both of mine and Arif's PLS pod were credited for downing the Chukar. To our relief we then receive call from Patricia that she and Akbar had successfully defeat the last two JF-20s.

Meanwhile allied ground forces were advancing slowly thanks to the determined and fanatical UCC soldiers and Fedayeens, ready to sacrifice everything to stop Allied advance in their tracks. Many Fedayeen members from the Iran were former members of the Islamic Republic-era Revolutionary Guards, which rendered them tough adversary in street fighting despite their militia status. Furthermore, the Khomeinist RAI had also launched a simultaneous uprising inside the city and engaging both Allied supporting the Imperial forces, and the UCC. Flashes and smokes from exploding IEDs or UCC suicide bombers below went up almost every minute of combat.

Then, the Caliphates obtained a good news from their HQ.

"Alright, backup arrives!" cheered a Quds Legion officer to his men engaging a platoon of Indonesian infantry, knowing who is coming to their aid from the air.

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Several downed Coalition drones and manned fighters from tactical laser strikes heralded the arrival of twenty-four J-20 Finflashes sporting desert camo with a lion marking on it's tailfins.

"Sir, I can confirm those IF-34s are the Indonesian 120 Squadron. Sea Eagles." said a pilot.

"Those guys who destroyed the Kuwbra Squadron?? Masha Allah.." replied another Asad Squadron pilot in disbelief.

"Asad 1 to all units, we're going to stop Tehran for falling to those infidels by fighting like Lions.. or die trying. Stick to your formation and never think of going back without any authorization, is that clear?" said the Asad Squadron CO, Lt. Col. Sami al-Ramadhan, callsign "Torch"

"Yes, sir."

"God be with us!"

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Opposing the J-20s were two flights of the 120 NAS, with the B flight, led by Maj. Stella, was the Alert 5 crew before the commander ordered them to launch to reinforce the A flight; four sixth-gen IF-37 from 102 NAS, and four Indian Navy Abhaya Ns from the Vishal.

"You should consider yourself lucky. Not many pilots manage to stay alive for so long when they engage me." called the Asad squadron commander at the open channel as he shot first; a barrage of PL-21s, which were all evaded.

We didn't bother to answer the taunt and raced ahead to merge with the J-20s. Not for long I obtained a good 80 degrees lock on a J-20 as it trying to get away from my scope. The pilot couldn't even react as a couple of missiles hit his plane, destroying it. Luckily he was able to punch out.

"Asad 2-1 is down!" reported a member of the squadron.

"Worthless infidels! You'll pay for that!" hissed Col. Sami, which rolled and after a good lock fired two PL-13s at me, which I evaded by the skin of my teeth.

Soon I lost his track and decided to look for more J-20s to shoot down.

"Fox two!" Meanwhile, Arif called for another salvo of AIM-10. One missed, but one hit the mark.

"This is Asad 1-4, I'm hit... bugging out..." his transmission was cut short by his plane gave up and went down straight into the burning city below.

Four separate flash of light; than the radio reported four shot down; three from the IF-37s, but the last report was an Indian Abhaya went down.

I switched to the PLS and my hunt immediately bore a sweet fruit as I pressed the trigger, aiming at another J-20. The burst tore off its tail, resulting in an enormous explosion.

"Splash another Asad" I called.

"Excellent work, keep it coming!" praised Maj. Akbar, which had shot down three J-20s so far in conjunction with his wingman.

This time, both Asad 1 and his wingman flew towards me and Arif, trying to corner us. Arif was the first to engage with his PLS, but missed.

The J-20s then switched to tactical laser and this time two Belalang swarm drones from the C-32, with the virtue of their AI took the beams for us. Then Arif reacquired Asad 1-1 wingman and dispatched it with the pulsed laser.

The enraged Sami then tried to aim for my IF-34 cockpit, 30mm passed overhead. I conducted another evasive maneuver and finally engaged the leader. As his wingmen went down one by one by allied pilots he still thought that he would come away victorious and avenge his squadron, but suddenly, I managed to get to his starboard side and pulled the trigger for the PLS. Three pulses hit, resulted in smoke outside his plane. I think the heat from the laser and shrapnel had wounded him gravely.

I can see the Arab was bleeding to death. He could barely keep his J-20 airborne. Then my radio went live.

"I took this mission because I thought you were just a legend despite being an Infidel. You people have the same reputation as the 'Angel of Azrael'

He confessed on the open channel, barely audible due to his wounds.

"Just a story. A story to motivate us. But you and your squadron are more than we expected; the bloodthirsty demon who dares to resist the Will of God. Now tell me... why is your country not just keel over and join us with most of your people... are Muslims?"

"It's personal. And revenge for my fellow countrymen including Muslims who died or lost their innocence because of your sick ideology. That's all. And you can blame your so called Caliph and the clerics that brought you here." I replied, with Arif sticking on his port side.

"It was them the one who sent you, and who knows how many soldiers, to their deaths."

Lt. Colonel Sami died shortly after he said that. His plane went down and crashed outside the city. The encounter had further increased my empathy towards those people that often called as "camel-piss drinkers" as mostly victims of their sick interpretation of religion, instead of what propaganda said about them, which manifested with many cases of bad treatment of captured UCC soldiers. In short, those people are not faceless monsters.

Nevertheless our victory boosted Allied morale, and as we're withdrawn back to Sriwijaya the Allies announced that 35% of Tehran is under our control.

The battle goes on...

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Hope you enjoy!