Thirty thousand feet in the air, eight Wraith Fighter Aircraft were flying in formation, heading towards the Britannian Home Fleet position at cruising speed. The roaring sound of their jet engine whistled in the tranquil night sky.

“This is Viper zero-one, squad leader of this squadron, contacting all call signs. I know that we weren’t briefed about this particular mission and were only given the bearing and distance of the Britannian Home Fleet. It is still going to be a walk in the park for us as the Britannian warships can’t see well at night. Though they have radars, their anti-aircraft can’t keep up with our speed. However, don’t let your guard down as the caliber from the anti-aircraft batteries can tear through our fuselage, sending you crashing down the ocean.”

“Copy that boss!” said all the pilots, who were listening attentively to the squad leader.

“Are there any questions?” the squad leader asked them.

“So once we make contact with the Britannian warships, what’s the rule of engagement?” one of the pilots asked.

“Our rules of engagement are simple. Choose your target, and sink the target,” the squad leader answered simply.

“This is going to be a lot of fun!” another pilot added. “I’m sure our ships would be pissed that they don’t get as much action as we do.”

“You’re right, especially our battleships or battlecruisers. Like what’s the point of their existence? The longer I work in the navy, the more I realize that we don’t need battleships.”

“There is a saying in the old doctrine, whoever has the biggest guns in the sea, controls the world. But I think the right phrase would be, whoever controls the skies, controls the sea,” the pilot quoted.

“Battleships have no place in naval warfare anymore. Soon, it will be replaced with aircraft carriers. A nation with the most aircraft carriers controls the sea,” another pilot quoted.

“Okay zipped all your mouth as we are closing into the Britannian warships,” the squad leader announced and continued. “Remember, the Britannian Home Fleet is composed of four battleships, one heavy cruiser, two aircraft carriers, two light cruisers, and one destroyer.”

“Four battleships?” one of the pilots spoke. “I thought there were five battleships?”

“You were really dozing off when the news circulated,” the squad leader sighed. “Listen, one of their battleships went rogue and fired at their own ship, specifically the HMS Illustrious. You must be wondering why there were only sixteen aircraft attempting to attack our fleet, that is because the rest were probably damaged from the salvo,” the squad leader explained.

“Wait, squad leader. You said two aircraft carriers right? Then what happened to another carrier?” the pilot asked.

The squad leader hummed as he thought. Indeed, there were two aircraft carriers. So why did the Britannians only launch sixteen aircraft? It should be a lot more than that. A mistake? No, that’s impossible, the Royal Navy is one of the best maritime forces in the world. They knew how to use their ships in accordance with the situation.

So if they didn’t launch it, the aircraft in the second aircraft carrier must have been…

“Everyone, keep your eyes peeled. We might encounter Britannian aircraft at any moment. If you see them, use all means necessary and shoot them down!” the squad leader instructed. “Any questions?”

When he said that, one of the pilots noticed something in his navigation panel.

“Uhm…speaking of the devil. I’m receiving feedback from my navigation panel. It must be from the aircraft carrier, Viper zero-one. Should we proceed to engage hostiles?” one of the pilots asked.

“I told you just earlier, if you find one, shoot them down with all means necessary,” the squad leader repeated.

“Copy that Viper zero-one, Viper zero-five breaking off formation,” the viper zero-five pilot increased the speed of his aircraft by pushing the throttle. He engaged the master arm and pulled the trigger that it’s in the yoke.

The 20mm rotary cannon of the Wraith fighter aircraft burst forth with a flash, unleashing a stream of strobing lights into the darkness. The bullets tore through the night, leaving scorched holes in the Britannian aircraft ahead of them. Some of the Britannian planes got hit by the rounds and began to explode like popcorn in a microwave, while the others managed to evade it by banking to the left or right.

“If possible, do not use missiles! Save it for the ships,” the squad leader advised.

And so all the Wraith fighter aircraft fought the Britannian aircraft with 20mm guns, making it fair for the Britannians as they don’t possess missiles yet. Nevertheless, the Britannian aircraft were at a disadvantage. The Wraith Fighter Aircraft is faster and more agile thanks to its maneuverability, the Britannian aircraft were slower and stiff. Even if they want to fire at the Ruthenian fighter aircraft, they simply just can’t as they can’t even line up their aim.

Not only that, the psychological aspects of the battle are at play here. The roaring sound of the engine akin to thunder, and the whistling of it as it encircled them instilled fear into the pilots.

The fact that their numbers are slowly whittling down while they are still locating the Ruthenian fighter aircraft is a terrifying realization that the Ruthenians are more advanced when it comes to naval aviation. Something the Britannia Empire is trying to catch up with.

It’s unfair to them. It’s like they are fighting aliens. So, knowing that they will die eventually no matter how hard they try, the pilots gave up and simply pulled the trigger of their cannons, firing at the unknown and hoping that one of the rounds would hit the Ruthenian aircraft. But after one hundred to two hundred rounds, the only thing that it hit was air.

“Shit!” the Britannian pilot cursed in frustration. “Show yourselves, you cowards!”

Shouting at the top of his lungs, he noticed the air around him change when one of the Ruthenian aircraft flew dangerously close between him and another Britannian aircraft.

The sound of the engine that whizzed by tore their eardrums, causing blood to trickle out their ears. This momentary disorientation led them to lose control of the aircraft and went on a nose dive.

It took them ten seconds to regain their senses. They pulled their yoke up, ascending into the air, only to be turned into swiss cheese as another burst of rounds was fired from the Ruthenian fighter aircraft.

“This is Viper zero-seven, all aircrafts neutralized. I repeat, all aircrafts neutralized.”

“Copy that Viper zero-seven. This is Viper zero-one, status reports.”

“We are good and clear, ready to fight more if necessary,” one of the pilots said with a chuckle.

“I have exhausted my ammunition but I can still fight using my missiles,” another pilot said.

“Okay, we intercepted 25 aircraft and it seems that’s all of them as I don’t see anyone coming,” the squad leader said. “Now that we have taken care of them, let’s sink our real target.”

In the air, the squad leader looked down and saw warships the size of a caterpillar worm launching illumination rounds into the air, lighting their perimeter.

He knew their capabilities, they don’t have radar-guided weapons so in order for the Britannians to shoot them down, they’ll have to manually change the angle and direction of their anti-aircraft batteries—

A flicker from the deck of the four Britannian warships interrupted his train of thought and instinctively pulled the yoke to the right.

The Britannians just fired their main batteries! This shocked all the pilots as one of them saw a glimpse of a 381-millimeter shell passed by him closely.

“Shit! Did you see that?” one of the pilots exclaimed.

“And now they are firing their anti-aircraft batteries,” the squad leader commented. “Disperse and follow the rules of engagement.”

After saying that, the squad leader pushed the throttle and activated the afterburner, propelling the aircraft forward with extreme velocity. He peered down from the canopy again, finding the aircraft carrier all the while running away from the deluge of bullets hounding him.

“You see the aircraft carrier?” He asked his co-pilot.

“Yeah, over there, at the center!” His co-pilot pointed.

The pilot looked over at the center and saw an aircraft carrier with an empty deck. It was billowing smoke from the side, meaning, it must be the aircraft carrier that was fired upon by the rogue battleship.

“We are sinking that aircraft carrier, hang on!” The squad leader made another circle around the fleet and prepared his anti-ship missile.

***

Meanwhile, as the onslaught ensues in the air, Admiral George was being flooded with reports sustained by the fleet.

“This is HMS Queen Elizabeth! Our hull has been busted! Taking heavy fire from hostile aircraft!”

“This is HMS Hood, one of our turrets has been disabled!”

Listening to a string of bad news, Admiral George simply sat on his captain’s chair all the while his crews in the bridge deck were working their hardest.

“There’s no way we can win this…” George mumbled. “This is an entirely different warfare. We can’t even use any of the tactics. Our doctrine is useless,” he mumbled on and on until a huge explosion rocked their ship, listing the ship to the right by ten degrees.

“This is a mistake…” George uttered and saw the silhouette of the Ruthenian aircraft closing in.

Under its wings, an arrow-shaped projectile was released and it streaked toward him.

He closed his eyes, accepting his fate, and before he even knew it, the island of the HMS Illustrious was engulfed with flames.