I swipe through the holographic screen, missing no detail on the Royal Sakura. The Royal Sakura, an F15EX heavy artillery class, specified with the sole task of target obliteration. Carrying well over a hundred of our Astrapi loaded missiles, well over 2 times Smoked Barrage's carrying capacity. As well as carrying more payload than Barrage, it has a better radar, more countermeasures, higher service ceiling, higher top speeds, and acceleration. It also has the next generation engines as well, the 07's. Having a sixth stage, as well as a new activation system. instead of injecting the Astrapi cylinders into the jets exhaust stream one at a time. It instead, slowly injects every cylinder at once as your raise the throttle. Having both a smooth transition of power and easier transitions than Spirits voice commands. That's not all either, It boasts excellent anti-air capability with its radars multi-lock, and track capability. being able to lock dozens of enemy aircraft at once, and guide a missile to each target. In terms of avionics, it's by far the best AeroCord to date. And in the off chance it gets into a dogfight, it has very capable agility and a helmet-mounted sight to lock targets away from the crosshair. With all this, is me being an escort even necessary? It only has two flaws, its radar is unable to distinguish friend from foe when locking large portions of targets. But when will you be locking more than 10 enemies at a time? And fully loaded, its agility is severely diminished. But even so, with its sheer amount of missiles to spare and its radar, getting into a dogfight seems very unlikely unless she lets her guard down.
Having Spirit refueled and reloaded, I take my place on the runway. Rolling into position behind me, the Royal Sakura with Clover inside. Her hood lays over her head as a mask shields her face. I guess that oversized hoodie was her flight suit from the looks of it. And I take it that mask is the "helmet" mounted sight.
Jax: "So, how much time have you flown the Royal Sakura so far? Just as a base."
Clover: "I've flown Sakura for the two-hour trip here..."
Jax: "That's all?.."
Clover: "But!.. At school, we had trainers that mimicked Sakura's performance... So I'm familiar with Sakura's performance..."
Jax: "Hehe, those trainers are much, much weaker than the real deal Little Bird. Be careful about controlling that beast, she sounds menacing."
Clover: "It's Royal Sakura!"
Jax: "I'll be the judge of that."
I let out a small chuckle as I check over my controls and dials.
Jax: "CO, permission for take-off?"
Chloe: "Permission granted."
Jax: "Well, time to earn your stripes Little Bird."
It's my first time as a flight lead, and I'm not sure how much throttle I need to match Sakura. So, for now, ill be on the tamer side, sinc-. Sakura overtakes me on the runway as she launches into the sky. leaving me on the runway as the rich blue flames of the Royal Sakura's shock-diamonds bellow into the echoing skies. The files weren't lying about its acceleration, that's for sure... I throw forward my throttle, calling out for the fourth stage. I launch out into the vast blue skies, catching up to the meteoric jet and matching its pace in seconds. I look into Sakura's canopy as Clover does a double-take. Being startled by my ability to keep up with her rocket climb, she jerks away. I follow suit, sitting closely behind her.
Jax: "Quit being evasive, we're not doing this directly above the base, follow me."
I pull off, flying out into our usual dueling airspace. Clover pulls in beside me, fluttering back and forth trying to find the proper throttle. I raise my throttle to give her an easier time as she falls in to proper speed.
Clover: "How... How did you follow that?.."
Jax: "What? Did you think the Royal Sakura was the best fighter here?"
Clover: "Yeah..."
Jax: "I thought they'd tell you a little about the AeroCords we have on base... I read over Sakura's files, in terms of performance, Sakura would place second below Spirit."
Clover: "Oh... They said Sakura was better than Spirit..."
Jax: "She is in most situations. But in flight performance, Spirit is unmatched. But don't worry, ill match Spirits flight performance to Sakuras so we have a fair even fight."
Clover: "Spirit can do that?.."
Jax: "It was a system implemented exclusively for Spirit due to how difficult she is to handle. But it works pretty well as a balancer for friendly duels. Speaking of duels, you do know the standard rulesets right?"
Clover: "Right... Three seconds on target... Or three snapshots... And the fight begins after we cross..."
Jax: "Right, and since your inexperienced, if I feel it's needed ill implement a three-strike rule on top of that."
Clover: "A three-strike rule?.."
Jax: "Basically, I need to get what I consider, three fatal strikes. On top of the already established three-second rule before I call it my win. If I call a strike, that doesn't mean the battle is over. You, on the other hand, can call a win the second you get your three."
Clover: "Don't... Don't you think you're underestimating me a little too much?.."
Jax: "I'm just saying if I think it's needed, you'll know if I decide it's necessary or not... Well, we've arrived. Split off left ill go right, turn back in after 5 seconds. Feel free to use any strategy you need. And just as a reminder, treat this as if you're fighting a clone of Sakura. I have no advantage performance-wise over you."
She doesn't say a word, instead just lets out a little "hm" as recognition.
Jax: "Alright, split!"
We break off in opposite directions as we count the seconds. I load the flight performance of Sakura that Doc sent me, fluttering the controls to get a quick grasp. It's agile... Much more so than the others on base. The throttle control and angle of attack I'll learn as we fight. I pull back in, seeing a dot in the far distance following suit. I push the throttle to the max, getting the most speed I can out of "Sakura's" engines. The only issue, is unlike the actual Sakura, Spirit doesn't have a smooth transition of stages. And during a loaded flight preset, Spirit automatically shifts them for me. Spirit shifts into a low fourth stage setting, jolting me once more. Sakura pushes Spirit into her fourth stage to match her full speed?! Although it's a very weak fourth stage it's the fourth nonetheless... The rest at most push Spirit midway into third. Sakura is a beast not to be underestimated. We merge at high speeds, crossing each other in a blink of an eye. We both pull up into a loop, meeting head-on once again. We cross noses once more, rolling around each other as we spiral higher into the air. She's pretty good, it seems I will need the three-strike rule. Suddenly, Sakura rolls away, letting me fall in place directly behind her. She tries to fix her mistake by once again pulling into a vertical loop. in her attempts to get away, it just gives me an even easier target
Jax: "Strike one, What was that??? Being passive in that situation was a bad idea."
I dive away giving her time to recover at a better angle. She doesn't respond, instead, she inverts and dives after me.
Jax: "No explanation? Alrighty."
I watch Sakura's nose as I roll and dive, slowly drawing her in closer and closer. She closes too fast as I pull on the stick hard, draining my speed quickly. She shoots out in front of me as I reposition myself for a shot. She rolls downward, giving me another easy shot to use.
Jax: "Strike two, in that situation why didn't you pull up? I wouldn't have been able to follow. By diving down you just gave me an easy shot."
Once again receiving no reply I split off in the opposite direction of her inverted loop. Leveling out a few hundred feet from the sandy dunes below. We both fly a few seconds away from each other. Regaining our speed before turning back in. We once again merge at a high speed, going high into the sky. Instead of committing to another head-on, she goes straight up, opting to drain my speed than getting into a close-range dogfight. Valid tactic for a gunfight like we're simulating. I take her bait as she begins to form horizontal circles, attempting to force me into a stall. I mimic her horizontal circles, giving nor receiving any ground as we circle in the blue sky. If this keeps up we'll be here all day, ill give her an opportunity to win. I roll over into a shallow dive, remaining in the circle. If she dives down now she'll have a pretty good shot. She doesn't take the opportunity, instead opting to remain in her unchanging circle. After gaining speed back from the shallow dive I pull back into the sky, once again falling behind her.
"Strike three, seeing and taking opportunities for victory are crucial in combat... Next time I get three seconds on you, I win."
I once again pull away from her, allowing a chance of recovery. She straightens out, flying off into nowhere. An odd tactic, I guess she's flying away in order to pull a reversal of sorts? I turn back towards her, trailing a few miles behind. I push my throttle to its limit once again to gain closer behind her. I watch my radar's ranging estimate, seeing it's neither gaining nor closing. She's sitting well over 8 miles away, plenty of distance for her to do something. But even so, she remains unchanging in a straight line.
Jax: "Clover? You've been sitting on this heading for a while now, there are 8 miles of separation for you to use. I'm pretty sure you're getting annoyed at your RWR's constant yelling from my radar lock... You gotta do something."
Clover once more remains silent. Not speaking a word or attempting any form of aggression.
Jax: "Clover, at this range you have options available for you to use. You can't just run forever. If you won't fight then ill just take it as my win."
Clover: "I'm still fighting!"
Jax: "Then do something! were under the exact same flight preset. If you were outnumbered or outclassed, running would be a valid tactic. But for the fact we're flying the same plane, with nothing but our skills as difference, it's nothing but cowardly. You won't die from losing a mock duel, you have nothing to lose but a little pride."
Clover: "I'm still fighting!.."
Jax: "I see... Stage five."
As the engine's modest howl turns to a screeching cry, a bright red hue begins to fill the cockpit as stage five's shock diamonds stream dozens of feet behind. Spirit's frame begins to vibrate while the miles of separation quickly drop to nothing. As my crosshair centers on the Royal Sakura, Clover quickly snaps away, trying to avoid my lightning closer. But it doesn't matter, I snap right behind the Royal Sakura pitiful attempt.
Jax: "Knock it off. I've won... A tip for the future, I fight skill with skill. And cowardice... With cowardice... But I'll admit, for an amateur, you weren't too bad. But you still have much to learn before your worthy of Royal Sakura's name."
Her voice quivers as she mutters out the words: "Right..". She falls into formation beside me as we fly off into nowhere. Her soft quivers barely crackling over the radio.
Jax: "But... I can help teach you to become worthy of its name, alright?"
The quivers begin to fade as she regains her composure.
Clover: "Right!"