ACES Online

Chapter 6 - The Road to El Dorado Canyon

The next morning had been a surprising wake up call for the players of ACES Online. Mainly as that wake up call was at just after sunrise... or around 04:45 in the morning, after a night of celebrating.

As was to be expected from about twenty pilots, many of whom were still in ''high spirits'' from the night before, as Diavel had euphemistically described them, the meeting that morning had not been a stellar example of airmanship. Between them, only Kirito's small group, Fuurinkazen and Liberator Flight had reported for training anywhere near on time - and even then, Fuurinkazen were still late. Just nowhere near as late as some of them, as players continued to walk into the briefing over an hour late. Asuna honestly wondered why they'd even bother turning up, when they would have absolutely no idea what was going on.

At the suggestion of the base commandant, two days of training sessions would be held, to ready the elements of the strike force and the decoy force for the mission they were about to undertake. The first day would be spent teaching Basic Fighter Manoeuvres, and fighting against opponents on a similar level to them.

To ensure there had been no favouritism in how the fights would go, twenty pairs of lots had been put in a bowl, and the players who drew the pairs would go head to head with each other. It also meant that no one would have too much chance to strategise before take off, and thus, have an information advantage. Kirito and Argo had drawn the short straw of the lot, and would be engaged with Diavel - an interesting fight, and one that he may have been looking forward to, in a weird way as his Phantom was more than a match for the fast flying, but slow turning Starfighter that Diavel flew...

Asuna had drawn her lot, and would be engaging with Liberator Two - Lind, if she remembered his name correctly. She had reservations about that situation, not knowing an awful lot about the F-102 he flew, other than the details that Lisbeth had mentioned to her, after she'd had Wind Fleuret revealed to her. It was an interceptor designed for speed, much like her Lightning, and with a similarly awkward weapon load out, in the form of the AIM-4 Falcon, but as for how it flew? She couldn't answer that one, other than saying that it was, at least on paper, less agile than her Lightning too, and probably slower as well.

Koharu's lot hadn't been much more reassuring, seeing her go toe to toe with a player called Alice. Unlike the others, who'd at least had the faintest idea of who they may be facing, she had no idea of who, or what she may be facing. Kirito had given her some tips on how to fly the Hunter in a fight - the advice being to keep her opponent in a turning engagement within visual range, where the Hunter excelled against most things. Whilst her Hunter had been modified by Lisbeth, the modifications were mostly cosmetic, such as the new crimson fin flash. What hadn't been modified yet, was its air-to-air armament - it still had none, bar its cannons and if she was a very lucky shot, unguided rockets. She really hoped she was fighting someone in a similar aircraft, rather than going head to head with something far superior to her Hunter...

/-/

The first group of players had all taken off together, which had been quite a sight to behold, even for the pilots involved, as a wide variety of fighters from many nations climbed into the morning sky, two by two.

''All aircraft, once you've completed your engagement, break away and head west to rendezvous with tanker support. Callsign for the tankers is Whale.'' The controller in the tower called, as the first players approached the area marked for the BFM training.

Before too long though, the majority of players had reached the marked area, and the tower controller called the first lot of players to the area. ''Lot 1, you're up.''

The Phantom turned away from its orbit, and headed into the area. As they'd circled, it had been decided that, whilst Kirito scanned the sky visually, Argo's head would be firmly on the radar scope. She had a hunch that Diavel would use hit-and-run tactics, releasing Sidewinders from his F-104, before heading to relative safety. No matter what happened though, the Starfighter was at a disadvantage in a dogfight against the Phantom...