>>620215
>Check the base's post office, maybe you have mail?

>>620215
>Find one of your comrades and chat about the extra interviews (who?).
The Germans.

>>620215
>Find one of your comrades and chat about the extra interviews (who?).
The German girls.

Also we should flirt just a tiny bit with Weiss.

>>620215
>Get some rest before the flight, you're still pretty tierd from the mission for some reason.

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Your next port of call was the barracks, if only because your comrades were likely to be there. The trek over there was fairly simple, all you really had to do was follow the flight line past the hangers. The only thing you had to look out for was the jets taxing from the apron to the runway, and they made more than enough noise for you to avoid them. You arrived back to the hut to find things were quieter than usual.

Of the 6 or so people inside, only 2 were awake. As luck would have it, the pair that remained awake was the Germans. Both Weiss and Knobloch sat on the couch, reading magazines.

"I would have thought you would have been asleep?" You said to your wingmates as you lent over the central section of the couch. The sound of receding footsteps telling you that Zeus had decided to grab some sleep while he could.

"Say the same for yourself, you look like you could use the sleep." Weiss spoke up without even looking up from her magazine.

"Say that to the spooks. Fuckers woke me up early to ask me a bunch of redundant questions." You bitched as you walked around the couch and sat in the space between the Germans, said space having been given up by Weiss taking her stocking-clad legs off the couch and resting them on the floor.

"It sounds like they've been doing that to everyone. First Dredd and his RIO, then Ahab and Ishmael." Knobloch spoke up as she flicked through one of the pages of her magazine, one of the Japanese comics that her and Zeus liked so much.

"I doubt it, bu now they ought to have gotten the memo that we all told the truth during the first debrief, there should be no need for them to bother us any longer." Weiss offered calmly as she fiddled with one of her twintails, twirling the long lock of blonde hair around her finger.

"Do you honestly think that any damn spook is that smart?" You asked your wing mate sarcastically. "They're like savants, they have to get all of their data on their own terms or they will throw a fit."

"That is certainly true..." Weiss agreed calmly, before yawning rather loudly.

"Sounds like someone else needs some sleep." Vampire stated calmly. "Or are you still going to argue about it?"

"I told you, I'm fine." Weiss replied defensively.

"Still acting like a child? What's it going to take for you to actually admit that you need some rest?" Vampire asked as she lowered her magazine and looked straight at Weiss, the irritation in her voice coming across clearly.

"I thinks she wants someone to tuck her in." You suggested with mock innocence. Weiss stuttered at this, but her reply was cut off by her RIO.

"More like she wants you to give her a kiss goodnight." Knobloch paused for a couple of seconds, before adding one simple phrase to make her pilot squirm.

"Not the French kind, the Australian kind~" Vampire cooed, only for Weiss to kick her in the leg.

>CONT

>>620814

"Fine, I get the message." Weiss said gloomily as she stood up and walked over to her bed, quickly climbing in of her own accord.

You and Knobloch shared a short laugh at the blonde German's expense before Knobloch spoke again.

"In all seriousness, you look like you also need the sleep. I don't think that Zeus particularly wants to crash, just because you decided to stay up..." The German RIO stated as a matter of fact.

>"Sure, all that shit with the spooks wore me out."
>"I don't feel that tired, I just need coffee."
>Other (write in)

>>620822
>"Fair enough, I am pretty worn out. Sweet dreams, Weiss~"

I find myself using the ~ key a lot in this quest.

>>620847
This.

>>620847
This.

>>620847
This

"Fair enough, I am pretty worn out." You admitted freely as you stood up. "You remember to take your own advice Vampire. Get some rest."

Knobloch nodded at you before you made your way over to your bunk, a quick check at the clock mounted by the couch told you that you still had a few hours before your flight. You quickly took off your boots and climbed into your bunk, only stopping to flirt with Weiss one last time.

"Sweet dreams, Weiss~" You cooed as you flopped into bed, dozing off before you could hear Weiss's response.

>CONT

>>621181
Woops. Double post.

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>>621392
Usually, sleep was a dreamless affair for you. You would only remember the seconds before you closed your eyes when you woke up. Your dreams were either non-existent or you just couldn't remember or visualise them. Sometimes however, sometimes you dreamed, and of those sometimes, a few would turn into the few nightmares that you had in your life.

This, seemed like one of those few times...

Your eyes snapped open as you felt the familiar feeling of blacking out tugging at your sight. You sat in the seat of an F-14 -your F-14- as it streaked through the sky. The many noises assailing your ears from both the radio and the numerous warning systems inside your jet.

Almost mechanically, you registered the siren-wail of your missile warning system telling you that a missile was locked on you. You hit your bird's countermeasures as you rolled and climbed.

A glance to your right showed you your assailant, a blue-grey splinter pattern Flanker, like the one that the loud soviet pilot had flown was bearing down on you. It's pilot lining up for a gun run on you.

You responded by hitting the breaks and pitching up and to the right. Your preemptive stall spoiled his shot and caused him to overshoot.

You brought your nose down and instinctively hit the selector for short-ranged missiles, you smiled as your heads up display showed you that you still had some short-ranged weapons remaining.

You hit the launch button and sent the missile away, the comparatively small weapon screamed off your missile rail and tracked the Soviet pilot. The missile didn't even need to hit him in order to kill him, the proximity detonation was enough to send shrapnel into both his engines and his tail stabilisers. The resultant loss of power and control was more than enough to force the pilot to eject from his stricken aircraft.

>Check the area and radio, find out just what the hell is going on...
>Check in on Zeus, he's being awfully quiet...
>Search for more Soviets, you want more prey...

>>621401
>Check in on Zeus, he's being awfully quiet...

>>621401
>Check in on Zeus, he's being awfully quiet...

>>621401
>Check in on Zeus,hes being aqfully quiet...

shit man dont make me have flashbacks of top gun.

why do the RIOs always die?

>>621401
>Check in on Zeus, he's being awfully quiet...

>>621446
Because they are non-essential personnel for the operation of an aircraft and are most of the time the best friend of the pilot. Makes for good drama.

>>621588
That was satirical. it makes for great drama.

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As you levelled out, you quickly began to check to see why you couldn't hear Zeus. A quick check in the rear-looking mirror intergrated into the canopy told you that he was still allive. A quick glance showed you the problem.

Zeus, in all his wisdom had forgot to fully plug in his helmet. Thankfully, all it really took was a couple of hand gestures for Zeus to realise his problem, and a few seconds more for him to correct that problem.

"Well, that was stupid of me." Zeus said with slight anger as you looked out of the window.

From what you could tell, you were flying over Tokyo bay. Even from here you could see the tell-tail sights of the Imperial Palace and many notable skyscrapers in the central area of tokyo were all too noticeable.

However, war had descended on the Japanese capitol. Hundreds of aircraft, from bombers to fighters all danced in the skies. Fighters twirling about each other while Soviet bombers reigned terror from the skies.

"Zeus, where is the rest of the unit?" You asked as you pulled up a list of your fuel and weapons. You were armed with 3 AIM-95 Agiles and 2 AIM-120 AMRAAMs. Your nacelles were clean as you had dropped the tanks off them a long time ago.

"They're in that damn furball over the financial sector." Zeus notified you, and sure enough there was a very large concentration of fighters over there. You could see the forms of Tomcats and Flankers dancing alongside many other fighters. The unfortunate jets fell from the dogfight engulfed in flames, the meteor-like streak of jet-fuel tracing their terminal dive into the streets below.

"We've got other issues, Bears are incoming and if they get through then the damage to the boys on the ground will be irrecoverable..."Zeus warned you, giving a pair of options.

>Head into that furball. If any of your comrades are still flying then you need to help them.
>Intercept those bombers. If they get through then all of your effort will have been for naught.
>Other (write in)

>>621618
>Intercept the bombers.

>>621618
>Intercept those bombers. If they get through then all of your effort will have been for naught.

>>621618
>Head into that furball. If any of your comrades are still flying then you need to help them.
In a nightmare, every choice you make becomes the wrong one.

>>621618
>Intercept those bombers. If they get through then all of your effort will have been for naught.

>>621671
Just like in real life...

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>>621706

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You though for a couple of seconds before making your decision, as much as it pained you to do so...

"Zeus, where are those bombers coming in from?" You asked as you looked back towards the growing furball. You knew that your squad mates would be alright. They had graduated TOPGUN for a reason, they were the best trained and equipped on this side of the pacific!

Even so, you couldn't help the feeling the pang of guilt as you left your squad mates to their own devices. If this wasn't some kind of betrayal then why did it feel like one?

"They are inbound from the north-west, bearing 288." Zeus responded with a slight hint of surprise. "They should be in range for an AMRAAM shot now."

Sure enough, the bombers were within range. From what you could tell on the radar, there were 5 bombers with 8 escort fighters.

You locked the first pair of Bears up and fired an AMRAAM at each of them. Both of your remaining BVR missiles dropped off the semi-recessed hardpoints on your centerline stations and rocketed away. You watched the display as each missile went hot and screamed towards it's target. One missile hit it's target but failed to stop it, the other re-tracked onto a different Bear in the same formation and blew it out of the sky.

Almost immediately, your missile warning system screamed again as you drew the ire of an enemy fighter. You immediately hit your countermeasures and rolled away from the missile.

You could see the incoming bandits, a pair of flankers were diving on you from high above.

>Draw them into the furball. Hopefully a friendly will be able to get them off your tail.
>Drag them into the city, it's going to be much harder to track you around the skyscrapers.
>Call out to Scorpion, where the hell is she?!
>Other (write in)

>>621882
>Call out to Scorpion, where the hell is she?!

>>621882
>Draw them into the furball. Hopefully a friendly will be able to get them off your tail.

>>621882
>>Call out to Scorpion, where the hell is she?!

>>621912
This

As you weaved back and fourth, trying to both shake your pursuers and keep out of their boresights, you quickly brought the radio online, hoping that your wingmate was still alive and kicking.

"Freelancer 2-1 to 2-2, do you read me Weiss?" You called out for support, praying that your wingmate was still in the fight.

Nothing but static greeted you as you launched an AIM-95 in an over-the-shoulder shot. The missile slammed head on with the encroaching flanker and blew it out of the sky.

"Come on Weiss, I know that some flankers aren't going to get the drop on you." You pleaded through the radio as you managed to pull up almost alongside the remaining flanker. The pair of you beginning to enter a thatch weave, only for you to turn tighter than him and get a good enough shot with your 20mm cannon, the stream of SAPHEI rounds tore the jet's wing off and sent it spiralling towards the deck.

"Razor?" Finally, Scorpion replied to your calls.

"I hear you Scorpion, what's your situation?" You called out calmly.

"I'm over the Imperial palace. Just shot down a pair of Fitters. I see your IFF, do you want me to link up with you or for you to link up with me?" Scorpion asked from her perch.

>"Get over here, we have a mission to do."
>"Standby, we'll link up with you."
>"We'll meet up halfway."
>Other (write in)

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>>622232
>>"We'll meet up halfway."
This is going to end horribly.

>>622232
>"We'll meet up halfway."

>>622256
We're all waiting for the other shoe to drop, aren't we?

>>622232
>Get over here, we have a mission to do.
>>622296
Yep.

>>622232
Is it just me or is this session going really slow.

>>622324
In terms of the number of player or how fast I'm writing?

>>622366
Honestly both.

>>622366
I count 6 maybe 7 people active in the last 4 story posts and about 3 it the last one counting me.

>>622416
Yeah, though that seems to be a trend almost every time we run, the number of players starts out low, gets to a peek and then decreases over time. I'll see about running earlier next week so we can maximise the number of players.

>>622449
yep, I dont know, something just feels different today. maybe im just off.

"We'll meet up halfway. Try to stay low to avoid getting noticed by Soviet CAP." You instructed your faithful wingmate as you turned to head towards the Imperial palace.

"Understood, I-I'll try to not get noticed." Weiss responded, her attempt at attempting to sound calm failing as her voice broke out of stress.

"What's your current load?" You asked calmly, trying to keep Weiss on track as the pair of you converged on each other.

"A pair of Agiles plus guns. That's it." Weiss replied calmly as the pair of you linked up, you noticed that her port-side engine was smoking a bit and impact marks from shrapnel marred her jet's matte grey paintwork.

"Good enough, I've only got one Agile plus the gun. So we're running low as it is." You replied as you checked your gun ammo, you were down to 450 rounds on the gun, apparently you had fired the gun a few times before you had shot that flanker down.

"Understod sir, we-" Scorpion was cut off by the sound of your missile warning system blaring into life as yet another flight tried to attack you.

"BREAK, BREAK, BREAK!" You called out as you snap turned between a pair of skyscrapers, breaking the lock on you as you dumped countermeasures.

"Flankers! Inbound form angles 5, they're on me!" Weiss cried, any calmness in her voice had been replaced by pure fear.

"Standby, I'm heading over!" You called out as you reversed your course in one smooth motion. You saw the flankers diving in, your sole remaining Agile jumped off the rail and screamed towards the flanker.
Your missile connected with the lead flanker, but not before the second flanker launched a pair of missiles.

"I'm locked up! Ra-" Weiss didn't even finish by the time the line went dead, static replacing the voice on the other side.

"Weiss, don't you do this to me. Weiss, respond!" You called through he line as you hit the afterburners, the remaining flanker tried to peel away, but a quick burst from your 20mm cannon blew away his tail and sent him into one of the skyscrapers.

"Razor..." Zeus spoke up, his voice sounding more sorrowful then you had ever heard before. "Razor she's gone, I'm not seeing her IFF on the entire net."

The news hit you like a freight train, but as it sank in, you felt something else...

>Sorrow
>Fear
>Hate
>Rage
>Nothing
>Other (write in)

>>622599
>Sorrow and rage.
Starring: Punished "Venom" Razor

>>622599
>Rage Hate Fear Sorrow Hate Rage.
In that order.

>>622623
This

>>622599
Killem all.
Blast Motörhead shootem down on all frequencies.
or tree top flyer, but Motörhead is more angry.

>>622599
>Sorrow and rage.
Succumb to the Dark Side.

>>622599
>>622623
This.

>>622599
>Sorrow and rage

We American Andrei Markov soon?

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You felt a pair of emotions at the loss of Weiss and Knobloch.

The first was sorrow. Sorrow at the loss of your trusted friends and wingmate. Sorrow that you had failed to watch their backs as they had watched yours. Sorrow that you could not protect them when they needed you the most.

The next emotion you felt was rage.

Rage at the Soviets for killing someone so close to you. Rage at the Soviets for their barbarism, and brutality. Rage at the pilots who had launched the missile and all of his comrades.

You felt the rage and the sorrow of a man who wanted his debt paid in blood, and paid twice over!

It was rather fitting, that the closest formation was a flight of Fulcrums and Fullbacks. They didn't even have time to react as you screamed at them going mach 1. Your first run scattered the formation and claimed you Fulcrum, it's cockpit having been brutally cut away from the body of the aircraft.

Your next target was the remaining Fulcrum, while the Fullbacks were armed with a few missiles, they were weighed down by the weight of their ground attack systems and bomb load.

The Fulcrum didn't even have time to react as you pulled such a sharp turn to get a firing angle on him. You dragged the pipper of your 20mm cannon from tail-to-tip of the aircraft. The pilot only surviving as he ejected rather than submit to his fate.

Your victory was short lived as a panicked yell from Zeus told you that another pair of Flankers had attacked you. You barely managed to hit the airbrakes as the Flankers fired at you.

While your plan partially worked, a stray shot managed to plant itself in the worst place possible.

The loud BANG from right behind you and the splatter of crimson was more than enough to tell you the fate of your best friend and loyal RIO.

Zeus's death only served to make you more angry. Lo and behold, your rage drove you to seek out more Soviets. The pair of flankers broke apart, one pulling up hard while the other continued his dive.

You strafed the one that had pulled up, only loosing a couple of seconds on the one that had continued to dive away, and in your aircraft such differences didn't matter as much. You cut him down with a burst across his port engine, the sudden cut in power meant that the pilot was unable to recover from his dive, and slammed into a bridge that you passed over.

As you levelled off, only about 50 meters above the deck, you found yourself charging a Soviet fighter. With no ammunition remaining, your options were limited.

>Crash into him, no survivors.
>Try and force him to go evasive, and hopefully hit a building.
>Break off, there are other things to hunt...
>Other (write in)

>>623098
>Try and force him to go evasive, and hopefully hit a building.
Obligatory:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ89B2kxdyw

>>623098
Break off, ram a bomber at max speed.

>>623098
>Try and force him to go evasive, and hopefully hit a building.
Don't die for your country make the other guy die for his.

>>623098
Paths of Hate, fun stuff.

>Get in front of him and try to make him eat your jetwash and stall out.

>>623098
>Try and force him to go evasive, and hopefully hit a building.

>>623098
>>Try and force him to go evasive, and hopefully hit a building.

>>623193
changing to this.
get right in front of him then slam the afterburners on.

>>623193
Changing vote to this.

>>623193
Oh man this.

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With no ammo, no backup and no RIO. It probably seemed like you were the prime candidate to try and ram someone, with the soviet in front of you being your unfortunate target.

However, even filled with such rage, you weren't stupid. You wanted to give the impression that you were going to ram him, and hopefully force him to crash int a building.

Your tactic was essentially to play a game of chicken with him. You kept your jet's wings locked out as you advanced towards him. You could hear the groan of metal as the jet's air frame objected to being put under such stresses.

However, as you got closer and closer, the Soviet didn't divert from his path, instead it looked more like he was planning to call your bluff. The tense stalemate continued as the distance between your aircraft closed, 200 meters, 150, 100...

At around 50 meters, you rolled and banked hard to the right. Aiming to dive between a pair of buildings and get away for another pass. Unfortunately for you, your soviet counterpart had the same idea.

He entered the gap just behind you, with less than 20 meters separation. And in an attempt to both gain separation and stall him out, you slammed the throttle forward and hit the afterburners, sending a stream of hot, oxygen-less gas at his engines.

It certainly worked, you did get further away from him and he began to lose altitude as his engines shut down. But your escape was short lived as a chorus of rapid explosions marked him shredding the tail of your aircraft with his cannon as you tried to escape. He nailed your port-side engine and caused you to loose thrust asymmetrically.

Your bird flat spun once, twice and almost finished a 3rd rotation before you slamming into a skyscraper, causing your lateral speed to retard and for you to tip nose-down, giving you a good look at the pavement as you streaked towards it.

>CONT

>>623479

Your eyes shot open as you woke up with a muted yelp, your body still drenched in cold sweat from your nightmare.

"Hey, you good?" Weiss asked quietly from her bed. "You were twitching like a rabbit... I hope I wasn't interrupting anything fun?"

You rolled over onto your side to face the wall, hoping to hide your troubled expression from your wingmate in a vain attempt to retain your masculinity.

"Far from it..." You finally responded after a few seconds of listening to the blood pumping through your eardrums.

The pair of you were silent for a couple of seconds, before you sighed and got out of your bunk. You still had about an hour unit you had t be wheels up.

"I'm going to see about getting a quick shower. Make sure to get Zeus up for me." You instructed Weiss as you grabbed your wash-bag and walked out of the hut that VF-21 had been sectioned into.

For what felt like the tenth time in a day, you prayed that a future like that wouldn't happen...

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

I'm going to call it here for this week's run. It was much shorter than usual. But hopefully the number of players stays similar next week?

Either way, if you have any questions then feel free to ask them and I will answer them as soon as I can...

>>623487
A few setting-based inquiries:

Have India or China made their positions in the coming conflict clear or are they hoping the US and USSR nuke each other out of commission so they can have their shot at being the premier world superpowers?

Speaking of nukes, does anyone have them here when in OTL 1989 they didn't?

Do NATO and the Pact consist of the same members as OTL or have countries like Sweden, Finland, Greece, and Yugoslavia decided to take a stand?

That's another thing, how's Yugoslavia doing?

Did the Iran-Iraq war still happen more or less as OTL or did it end up being more of a proxy war?

>>623556
I think it would be easier to ask "whats different".

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>Wishes a pretty girl sweet dreams
>Has a horrible nightmare where everybody he cares about gets turned to red paste

>>623565
I guess that's true, but it'll probably be easier for Thunder to answer specific questions. A general overview of the geopolitics here would be nice though.

>>623556
>Have India or China made their positions in the coming conflict clear or are they hoping the US and USSR nuke each other out of commission so they can have their shot at being the premier world superpowers?
China is on the USSR's side due to both being communist nations, India is very much neutral having gained full Independence from the British only about a decade ago. Up until then they were only part of the British empire in name and that they occasionally sent money to the British as part of their dues (they had control over most of their laws and such). They are still semi-reliant on British training units to help give them some military experience before shit hits the fan.
>Speaking of nukes, does anyone have them here when in OTL 1989 they didn't?
Very few nations have access to nukes, nuclear weapons research hasn't really progressed because nuclear weapons are far more theoretically tested as governments are more afraid of nuclear fallout as it hasn't really been tested. Just to put it into perspective, there are more nuclear reactors the nuclear bombs.
>Do NATO and the Pact consist of the same members as OTL or have countries like Sweden, Finland, Greece, and Yugoslavia decided to take a stand?
It's pretty much the same, however Greece followed the Swiss model and split from NATO and declared neutrality. It's not expected to be recognised by the Soviets, but hey, at least they tried.
>That's another thing, how's Yugoslavia doing?
It's still part of the soviet block, so it's doing about as well as can be expected.
>Did the Iran-Iraq war still happen more or less as OTL or did it end up being more of a proxy war?
It was more of a proxy war as both the US and USSR funded and supplied opposite sides and deployed "training" units. Though aside from that much of the fighting was confined to just the Iraqis and and Iranians. The only major difference was that the US placed bounties on all Iranian F-14s, thus making them a higher priority target. This didn't lead to more F-14s being shot down.

>>623487
See you next week, Thunderhead.

Given the lack of nuclear weapons, was anything like the XB-70 ever developed?

>>623685
Thanks for running!
See you next weekend.

>>623688
Yes, the idea was that the XB-70 and similar aircraft would fly in and attack enemy command and control units or runways before the enemy could respond, however growing SAM development and limited growth potential for the design caused only a few prototypes to be produced, and even then their service lives were short due to high running costs. There are rumours that modified SR-71s (similar to the YF-12) are used as the delivery units for the US's few nuclear weapons.

However, those are rumours. Just like how there are rumours that the USN plans to re-activate USS Enterprise (CV-6) specifically to fuck with the Soviets.

>>623728
why would the russskies be butt hurt about that? Not like there are planes that can take off from her that can give a mig21 a problem....or is there..?

>>623728
>>623763
yea..... why would they care about that.
I mean IRL they were a little pissed we finished off japan before they could get their hands on it but.
Why would they give a shit if we reactivated a old, tired and outdated carrier.

>>623763
Theoretically, attack helicopters or Harriers could take off from her. But even then it would require many of the ships's old and non-functional systems to be removed. So she would require a full-on drydock refit.
>>623785
The idea being that re-activating CV-6 would be more of a publicity stunt than a political statement. But then again, these are just rumours that Razor has heard...