0845 April 15th, 2020 CE (Washington DC Time)

0245 April 15th, 2020 CE (Hawaii Time)

Air over the “Pacific”

From the open bay doors in the center belly of each F-22 Raptor, an AIM-120 AMRAAM dropped down. 

<<<“Fox Three!”>>>

All the AMRAAMs propelled forwards at once with a blaze coming from each of their tails. 

 

Only a few seconds later, another AMRAAM dropped from each of the F-22s. It wasn’t long before each Raptor expanded all 6 of their AMRAAMs in their central bay. 84 AMRAAMs streaked through the sky. 

 

A few minutes later, the 70 F-16s followed suit. Their AMRAAMS launched forwards from where they were situated under the wings of the F-16s. One after another, the missiles shot forward with a blaze. Each F-16 fired off their 4 AMRAAMs.  A total of 280 AMRAAMs were fired from the F-16s.

<<<“We got enemy Arrows approaching! Break formation! Break formation. Evade! Evade!”>>>

Because of the similarities between the description of the human weapon used to shoot down planes and the arrows fired from a bow and arrow, it was decided to dub them Arrows. The once organized fleet of propeller aircraft started crisscrossing. They went in every direction in order to try to confuse the missiles. Ra-189N dive bombers and Ra-1 torpedo bombers started diving. The Ea-192N fighters started turning left or right. 

 

The pilot of an Ra-189N, Siveril Ralocan, put the nose of his plane down and followed the other Ra-189Ns. His back seat gunner, Camus Heirora, panickedly shouted as he watched one of Arrows curve towards them. 

“Siveril! It’s coming right for us! Change directions!”

The plane started banking left. Nonetheless, the Arrow quickly gained on them. 

“It’s right in my fa…”

The Arrow smashed right through the tail and exploded. 

 

It didn’t take long before more of the Arrows started hitting.

“It’s turning towards me!”

“I can’t shake it off! It keeps follo…”

“Protect the dive bombers!”

 

In the sky, Elven aircraft burst into fireballs. Pieces of metal floated down from the orange, fiery explosions. Confused by the mass of crisscrossing planes, one or two of the Arrows went off course. All others hit. 

The remaining Elven aircraft got back into a few v formations. The commander of the air fleet had barely survived. 

<<<”We have lost a majority of our aircraft. No clear loss count yet. We still have more than 50 aircraft at least.” 

“Continue the assault. Do not back down.”

“Understood.”>>>

 

Lieutenant Colonel Alex Jackson, commander of the 199th Fighter Squadron, looked at his radar.

<<<”Multiple bandits hit. We still have many survivors. 90 or so aircraft. Closing in on targets.”>>>

 

A few minutes later

<<<“Enemy aircraft ahead!”>>>

What seemed to be silver arrowheads were approaching them at incredible speeds. 

 

With their remaining targets getting closer and closer, each F-22 opened up both of their side-bay doors.

<<<“Fox 2! Fox 2!”>>>

AIM-9 Sidewinders flew out from the open side bays. 

 

<<<”Enemy aircraft have fired Arrows! Break!”>>>

 

The Raptors flew towards the elven aircraft that were breaking formation. Sidewinders started hitting. An Ea-192N that was banking left exploded as a Sidewinder hit it. Its main body disappeared in the explosion and the wings fell out of the sky. All 28 Sidewinders found their targets. Only 12 Ea-192Ns, 23 Ra-189Ns, and 19 Ra-1s remained. 

 

<<<”They seem to have spent their Arrows. We are about even in terms of numbers of fighters. Form up and engage!”>>>

It wasn’t clear who was giving orders since their commanders had already died but the Elven pilots followed what was said. The Ea-192Ns started turning around. The 20mm M61A2 Vulcan rotary cannon on one of the F-22s opened up. It shredded one of the elven fighters. The F-22 banked left and avoided the debris from the destroyed fighter. 

 

The Ea-192Ns tried to get behind the F-22s but they were just too fast. An F-22 quickly turned and got behind one of the Ea-192Ns.

“There’s a hum…”

The elf pilot stopped as he watched his fellow aircraft get hit and go down. His face was flushed with anger, 

“Death to these humans!”

He banked his aircraft left and turned towards the F-22. Then he shook violently. His plane dipped towards the ground. He frantically looked back at his tail which was completely gone He was so blinded by anger that he failed to notice an F-22 strafing his tail while flying by. 

 

The Ra-189Ns and Ra-1s tried to get out of the dogfight but the F-22s quickly started pursuing and shooting them down. The remaining Ea-192Ns tried to get the F-22s off of them. 

A lone Ra-189N flew in the sky. It had miraculously gotten out of the dogfight. The pilot, Ninleyn Padan, got on his magiradio. 

<<<“My aircraft is possibly the only one remaining. 14 human aircraft shaped like arrowheads and capable of extreme speeds engaged us. We were the only ones to escape.“ 

“Orders have not changed. Continue assault and do not back down.”>>>

A heavy silence fell for a few seconds. 

<<<“Understood”>>>

Ninleyn turned to his back seat gunner, Ivasaar Lorayra.

“Anything behind us?”

“Seems like they didn’t follow us.”

Ninleyn turned back to the front.

“Good we might have slippe…”

Ivasaar, facing the back of the aircraft, was scanning the sky. He noticed that Ninleyn stopped his sentence midway.

“What’s the matter?”

Ninleyn didn’t reply. The Ivassar looked behind him and towards Ninleyn.

“Hey, Ni…”

 

<<<”We have a single elf aircraft in front of us. Seems like a dive bomber.”>>>

The 70 F-16s flew closer and closer to the single Ra-189N. 

<<<”Fox 2.”>>> 

The lead F-16 opened fire with a single Sidewinder.

 

Ninelyn gritted his teeth and started turning his plane towards the sea. It was too late. The Sidewinder struck the canopy of his aircraft. It exploded and evaporated him and Ivasaar. 

 

<<<“One of the bandits slipped through”

“The F-16s got them.”

“We are Winchester and RTBing.”>>>

The F-22 Raptors turned and started to head back. 

 

0911 April 15th, 2020 CE (Washington DC Time)

0311 April 15th, 2020 CE (Hawaii Time)

Elven Fleet

“We lost all aircraft.”

A silence fell over the meeting room. A few of the elven naval officers were surprised. Admiral Vaynore stood there quietly and expressionless. He had long expected the end result. After a moment of silence, he started giving out commands.”

“Tell all remaining aircraft carriers to toss all torpedoes, bombs, and aviation fuel overboard. We don’t have any use for them anymore. They are now just unneeded explosives that could set off if another Arrow hit us.”

 

Washington D.C.

“All enemy aircraft have been shot out of the sky. No loss from combat.”

A few of the people in the Situation Room started clapping. President Hayes interrupted it.

“Save your clapping for later. It ain't over till the fat lady sings. Give me a quick sitrep on the naval engagement.” 

“The Navy is still firing their missiles and they are preparing another wave of F-18s. The missiles are having some trouble destroying what we believe to be the battleships. They have taken multiple hits and haven’t sunk. However, we should be able to damage them enough to become inoperable.” 

 

US Fleet

“We are detecting multiple submarines approaching.” 

The 11 MH-60R Seahawk on the USS John C. Stennis has been rotating in order to keep a constant eye for submarines. After a few hours of rotations, they have finally found the Elven submarine fleet. 

RUM-139 VL-ASROC missiles launched from the Ticonderoga-class cruisers and Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. 

 

Elven Fleet

The elven naval officer had grim faces as the damage report was given. 

“The NN Zumlar has been hit 9 times. The crew has done emergency repairs but it is still limping. The NN Valqen has been hit 5 times. It has sustained some damage but nothing too detrimental. The NN Ulahice and NN Cairan have been hit 4 times. Not much damage reported for either of them. Our ship has been hit 2 times and miraculously is still afloat. It probably won’t last another hit. A few cruisers and carriers have also already been hit but suffered nothing major. We have lost, so far, a total of a battleship, 2 fleet carriers, 3 light carriers, 56 destroyers, 7 cruisers, and 10 submarines.” 

The elven naval officers, already shocked by the news of the loss of their entire air fleet, were further disheartened by the report. It was nearly half of their fleet. Admiral Vaynore didn’t seem fazed by the report. 

“We will continue heading for the area where the enemy fleet could be.”

“Admiral, we will be destroyed before we even get there. Our air wing has been destroyed. We have lost almost half of our destroyers, cruisers, and aircraft carriers. We need a new strategy. Should we try to split apart so they can’t all target us at one location?”

Admiral Vaynore shook his head. 

“Even if we run now, the humans can still destroy us. The chances of us surviving were dismal from the start. The only path we have now is forward.” 

 

Skies over the “Pacific”

An RUM-139 streaked through the sky. Then, a Mk 54 torpedo dropped into the ocean from it. Multiple other RUM-139s were right behind it. 

 

S-89

The Captain of the S-89 had been constantly checking in on his UMWE operator. He was scared of a repetition of the last attack. 

“Anything on the UMWE?”

“All is clear.” 

And then something shook the submarine.

“What's that?”

A few minutes later, the magiradio officer shouted. 

“Report! S-23 has been hit!”

Another explosion shook the submarine.

“We are under attack!” 

Even more explosions started. 

 

Elven Fleet

On the deck of the NN Conquereor, torpedoes and bombs were pushed over and splashed into the sea.

“Report! Our submarines are under attack by torpedoes.”

“Are they the same ones we experienced before?”

“No sir, they explode on contact like normal torpedoes.” 

 

S-89

The S-89 shook violently as something hit and exploded on it. 

“We are taking on water! We are taking on water!”

“Surface! Surface! Surface!”

“We can’t, sir! We are taking on too much water!”

Slowly, the S-89 sunk into the bottom of the sea

 

0845 April 15th, 2020 CE

0722 Sun 15th, 2020 CE

Near the Magus Imperium

ASROC missiles were also being fired from the Arleigh Burkes and Ticonderogas that were guarding the 5 aircraft carriers. 

“The elves seem to be increasing their submarine patrols.”

“They probably know where we are at now.”

“I’m surprised that there’s not a bigger response.” 

“I think they sent most of their forces to attack the West Coast.” 

The American fleet near the Magus Imperium was preparing to start the air campaign against the elven homeland.