A/N: Yumi means "bow" in Japanese. As the Coalition Force continue to reduce North Korean military capabilities to ensure a successful decisive strike on their leadership, our ace will meet his nemesis for the first time.

Enjoy!

Song used: Sabaton - Reign of Terror

---

August 11th, Ulsan AB. 0100 hours.

"Ladies and gentlemen, good morning and sorry for the inconvenience. As you know, your flight schedule today are supposed to fly alongside a flight of Polish F-35s hunting AA and undergound installations near Wonsan. But we have a new target of opportunity sprung up this morning and the high command want it immediately. Your target is those people." 4th Squadron Operations Officer, Major Taneda Risa, also flying as "Symphonia 1-3" apologized.

She soon switched the presentation and showed one North Korean general and one Iranian.

"This is Lieutenant General Ko suk-Chul. He is the Commander of the IX Corps, responsible for North and South Hamgyong Province. His corps might be the so called reserve but it's elements had reinforced KPA First Echelon's Corps (I, II, III) in the invasion of South Korea. And he's competent in his duty, and in particular his reinforcement to the II Corps allows them to punch their way south, bypassing Seoul, until they are stopped near Daejeon. It was the watershed of North Korean invasion."

Second target "This man here, is named General Karim Razavian, the overall commander of Iranian effort in Korea. He is part of the Quds Force (literally Jerusalem Force), special forces of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards."

"Objective: Escort four Strike Eagles from the 2nd Squadron to take out both of those men"

"Ma'am, can I ask a question?" Kousei stands up and raised his hand.

"Cleared to speak" she said.

"Do we have stealth assets to back us up?"

"Negative, All stealths are currently committed, either near the border, or in both East and West Coast in preparation of Operation Sejong."

She soon changed the slide to show a supposedly abandoned facility in Kilju County.

"All-aspect intelligence confirm that he's hiding in a bunker complex near Punggye-Ri Nuclear Test Site, It was abandoned four months ago as Chinese geologists had found it collapsed and unusable after the last nuclear test in September 2017. As the result, North Koreans in months leading up to war convert it into another of their command bunkers, with AA and SAM positions protecting the facility. Air threat, expect Firebirds (J-10), Flankers (Su-27 Series), MiGs, and possibly Saeqehs as well, from nearby Toksan Air Base. Other report mentioned that J-10s operated from Toksan are considered as elite and some of its pilots are aces, so, if you're engaged, fight to the death if you able. Otherwise, bug out. The air threat is the reason we are committing Symphonia 2 and Symphonia 1. Symphonia 3; Sugar (Maj. Honoka) and Stringbag (Capt. Shiro), you are to take off and make it into the first refueling point before turning back, in case there's one of us having mechanical problems and unable to continue the mission.

In the plus side, our first aircraft carrier, modified Ford-class, the CVN-10 JNS Shoukaku (1), built in the USA, which has been commissioned two days ago along with her sister ship, CVN-11 JNS Zuikaku, has been positioned in the Sea of Japan. It's Super Hornets and Lightnings are currently engaged, but they are ready for assisting us shall it needed."

Meanwhile, kilometers away, in Daejeon..

"We will send four jets each, two for each bunker in case of a miss" said Major Nishimura.

"The terrain will be tough as you know, as the site was located inside Hamgyong Mountain Range, specifically, Mount Mantap."

"Air activity will be standard to avoid arousing suspicion, but once they know we're there, Toksan Air Base nearby will send reinforcements that might include elite, ace pilots, so keep your eyes open. Two flight of 4th Squadron F-15Js, callsign Symphonia, will take out any air threats near you. We also has been notified from the Navy that the Shoukaku are in position and it's planes, in particular it's F-35s, are ready to support us in this endeavour. Furthermore, a nearby ROKAF raid will serve as a distraction in case more reinforcements are needed."

"What our weapon be? GBU-28?" ask one of the 2nd Squadron pilot assigned in the mission, Capt. Minoru Takazawa, callsign "Trident", and flight callsign "Temple 1-1".

"Exactly, Trident. Like I said in the beginning, each plane will carry one so if there was a miss, the second could take a shot."

"How we make sure that the bunkers we hit are real and not dummies?" Tsubaki asked.

"Good question, Kinetic, We already marked which one are genuine ones, and the data has already being uploaded into your aircraft's on-board computer. Alright, any further question?"

"Who's the primary bomb-droppers?" asked Temple 2-1, Capt. John Matsumoto, callsign "Weaver".

"That's for you two to decide among yourselves, the most important is both Chul and Karim received their sentences." the Major closed the briefing.

---

"Symphonia 1, this is Ulsan Tower you are immediately clear to taxi on runway 3-A"

"Symphonia 1-1, copy" said Lt. Col. Hamada, callsign "Pouch"

"Symphonia 1-2, roger that" Capt. Izamu "String" Kikuchi chimed in.

"Symphonia 1-3, copy" Maj. Taneda "Lancer" Risa replied while taxiing her F-15.

"Symphonia 1-4, copy that Tower" replied Capt. Robin "White Sun" Chen.

"Symphonia 2, this is Ulsan Tower, you are cleared to taxi on Runway 3-A, position and hold"

"Symphonia 2-1, taxi to runway" Capt. Hanae "Eyepatch" Natsuki replied.

"This is Symphonia 2-2 taxiing, in position and holding" 1st Lt. Yoshiro "Warhound" Nakajima chimed in.

"Symphonia 2-3, in position" Kousei, now a Captain, reported.

"Symphonia 2-4 holding" Emi said.

Symphonia 1 are the first to take off, and later the Symphonia 2.

"Symphonia 2-3 and 2-4, you're clear to take off, immediate climb to 4.000 feet.."

Both Kousei and Emi, each inside their respective F-15, powered up their F100s and lift off, fully loaded with air-to-air load with two conformal tanks which also functioned as additional hardpoints for four AAM-4s.

---

Above the damaged city of Sokcho. Symphonia pilots had set their course to north-northeast to get into North Korea by passing the part of the old DMZ in Kangwon, now under South Korean control.

"Symphonia, this is Hekla (a volcano in Iceland), you're approaching the rendezvous point." a German-sounding English notified the Japanese pilots.

Kousei kept his composure steady as he and his flight met up with their support AWACS, a NATO-operated, Luxembourg-registered, E-3 Sentry.

"Roger that, Hekla, what's the status of Temple?" Lt. Col. Hamada replied.

"They are on schedule and you will see them soon enough" said AWACS Hekla.

The information surprised Kousei as the attack force was revealed to be from Tsubaki and Watari's squadron.

"Mitte! (Look)" Yoshiro said upon his eyes saw four dots approaching their position from the southwest, relative to their positions. He banked slightly and engaged the magnification device, revealed four Strike Eagles.

"Temple, this is Symphonia 1-1, we have you in sight"

"Symphonia, this is Temple 1-1, we see you, changing course to 002 , do you copy?" said the Temple Squadron 1st flight lead.

"Copy that, we take up north" Hamada replies.

The F-15s went up north into the site, assuming pre-planned formation, with their radars switched off and radio silence.

The AWACS soon broke the silence by notifying the escort flight that they are permitted to turn on their radars upon the jets approaching their target.

ECM systems in the Japanese Eagles soon warned them of medium-long range SAM threats, KN-06.

"KN-06. Temple, stay on course. We will draw their fire" Hamada called the strikers.

---

Tsubaki, assigned as "Temple 1-3" in this mission, can only watched as her escorts, two of them are Kousei and Emi, peeled away and lit their afterburner to climb before rolling over into a dive, in a bid to "play with the SAM".

Unlike the single-seaters, the F-15EJs keep their radar off, instead, they used interactive maps displayed on their HMDs along with LITENING pods for navigation. She's currently struggled to gain visual on the bunkers, along with matching it with the map to ensure her bomb hit real bunkers and not dummy, as North Koreans has extensive use of realistic dummies for tanks, airplanes, air-defense sites, bunkers, and many more.

"Watari, any visual?"

"Clouds ain't helping, but I almost got it" Her CSO (and boyfriend) replied.

She decided to wait and look back and forth, then into her wingman, Lt. Hashimoto Junichi, previously "Temple 3-2".

After almost an eternity. "Target confirmed and matched, lasing, drop, Kinetic, drop!" Watari ordered.

"Bombs away" Tsubaki pressed the launch button without hesitation.

The second element also reported their bombs has hit the target and destroyed it, as two F-15J trailing behind the strikers to assess the damage. It seems another mission went well for the Japanese.

"Hekla, this is Temple, target confirmed destroyed"

"Roger, I'll send ground units to confirm that. But be advised we have a flight of six bandits taking off from Toksan and closing fast on your position. It seems the diversion is either failed or the enemy know that it's a diversion." AWACS Hekla warned.

"Symphonia flight, protect Temple flight as they are exiting the area. Contacts identified as J-10 Firebirds, you are weapons free. I repeat, you are weapons free! Also, I have report from your carrier, the Shoukaku that they has dispatched a flight of Lightnings to assist you. But they need some time, so you will be mostly on your own."

"Understood Hekla, moving to intercept" Hamada replied.

---

Hamgyong Mountain Range, 0500 hour, 60 miles east of Japanese fighters.

A six-ship flight of North Korean J-10 Firebirds raced on to meet the Japanese.

"Kouteun (curtain in Korean) team, you're weapons free. Shoot down those Fascists for the Fatherland." ordered the North Korean flight lead, Lt. Col. Hae San-Ha, nicknamed "She-Dragon", with nine kills in her name. She also the commanding officer of the 801st Fighter Aviation Squadron, 35th Fighter Regiment, 1st Air Combat Division, exclusively flying Chinese Chengdu J-10C.

F-15 pilots are advised to not get into close-quarters sharp turning fight with the Firebird, which possessed higher thrust-to-weight ratio and rate of climb than the F-15 not unlike MiG-29 Fulcrums.

"Roger that, Comrade Commander. Long Live Dear Leader!" said her wingmen.

--

Symphonia 1 are the first to engage the enemy. Meanwhile, Kousei's element was ordered by Capt. Natsuki to detach and reinforce the first flight as his own element is escorting the Temple squadron Strike Eagles home, and closing in from the east of 1's position. "Symphonia lead this is Symphonia 2-3, we're ready to assist you!" Kousei reported, eager for battle.

"Confirm Symphonia 2-3, for this engagement you will be under my command, If I shot down 1-3 will took over the lead" Hamada replied.

Symphonia 1 opened the engagement with a barrage of four AAM-4 towards oncoming J-10s, but all missed.

Undeterred, the North Korean attempted their own BVR engagement with their own PL-12, The Japanese immediately pumped chaffs and dived to avoid the missiles.

Kousei and Emi managed to evade one, but other PL-12 still chasing Emi's plane.

"Persistent bunch" she said as she put her Eagle's nose in front of the missile's trajectory and increase the ECM power to overwhelm it's guidance system.

"Love Sorrow, above!" Emi said. Kousei wasted no time and broke right to avoid a burst of 23 mm from a J-10 diving towards them with guns blazing.

Then "This is Symphonia 1-1, I'm hit, ejecting!" It's their Squadron Commander.

"Symphonia 1-3 to all planes, I'm taking over from here." said Major Taneda.

"AWACS, this is Symphonia 2-3, We have a pilot down near Hamgyong Mountain Range, requesting rescue assets, over" Kousei reported while he and Emi pulls up and climb to avoid two more J-10s approaching their positions in pursuit.

"Hekla to Symphonia, rescue tiltrotors on it's way. Cover them as they are approaching your sector, while we also reports that your reinforcements will soon arrive in the area, ETA 30 minutes. Hold them until they arrive, Good luck!"

After some time, Kousei and Emi split up while climbing, confusing their pursuers.

"Kouteun 1-4, I lost the enemy"

"So do I, comrade Kouteun 1-4" said Kouteun 1-5.

Then without warning, Kouteun 1-5 is lost from radar as his J-10 has been shot down by Emi with gunfire. The explosion got Captain Kae-Ha Sun's attention, as one of his wingman was shot down by the Japanese he just lost contact. As he try to pursue Kousei and Emi, Symphonia 1-3 shot him down with an AAM-4.

Losing situational awareness, Kouteun 1-4 was soon shot down by Kousei's AAM-4.

Meanwhile, "Symphonia 1-2, Fox two!" an AAM-5 streaked towards a J-10 which are currenly pursuing 1-4. The missile hits home and as it exploded while the Chinese made fighter was diving, it resulted in the jet spiraled out of control. No ejection.

"You're good, young one." said a strange voice in Kousei's radio. It's in English but laced with heavy Korean accent.

"Whoever you are, how do you know our frequency?" Kousei retorted as he executed a Split-S to lost another J-10 pursuing him, but failed.

"Don't ever underestimate the Democratic People's Republic. In fact our spies know who are you once in the past. Broken and abused and even lost your loved ones twice, but you rise from the ruins. Just like what we faced after the Capitalists bombed and flattened almost the entire land back then (2)." said the voice, turned out to be the leader.

"Well, it's my past indeed. Admire as much as you want, but you should know that 2-4 here will soon send you into the grave."

"What?" She said.

He immediately went into Split-S once more, this time to the right and executed an Immelmann, putting it into Hae's tail. He fired an AAM-5 but defeated by the flares. Then he switched into gun. It damages her tail and her portside wing, caused it to leaking fuel, but not enough to shoot it down.

"Argh, those Capitalists are good, Kouteun flight, retreat! Even Dear Leader know that in many cases live and fight another day is better than dying." Hae punches the afterburner and retreated with her surviving pilots, under a rearguard cover of a new flight of nine J-11s.

Meanwhile, the remaining Symphonia pilots reorganized, just in time as AAM-4Cs (a variant of AAM-4 created to fit on F-35 internal bays) streaked over the sky and destroyed three J-11s. The promised reinforcements, four F-35CJ from the carrier Shoukaku had arrived.

"This is Sky Sword flight to Symphonia, we'll tackle the Flankers for you and protect our rescue assets. Do you copy?" said the Japanese Navy flight lead, from the VF-161, 252nd Carrier Air Wing (CVW-252).

"Roger that Sky Sword, we can still on station for 10 minutes before we all hit bingo fuel. Proceed to follow your flight" Taneda replied.

"I got a lock, Fox three!" She released one AAM-4, followed by the remaining Symphonia flight, downed two and damaged other two Flankers.

"Look!" said Symphonia 1-4 upon he saw two US Air Force CV-22 Ospreys approaching the mountain range, searching for Hamada based on his last known position. Five minutes later one of the tiltrotor deployed it's PJ (3) and hoisted a man into it. Another protected it from hostile fire, firing it's Miniguns.

"This is Caboose, evac successful, heading home" The Americans went away from the battlefield, flares deployed to avoid enemy MANPADS.

"Hekla, this is Symphonia, all enemy aircraft has been shot down or retreated, the evacuation confirmed successful" Taneda called the AWACS

"Excellent work, Sky Sword will remain on station for a while, Symphonia, your high command had cleared you to return to base" Hekla replied.

"By the way, your squadron leader wants to talk to you while you proceeding to return home" The AWACS added and soon connected the squadron into the V-22 with Colonel Hamada on board.

"Great work out there, minna. Thanks to you, I am now heading home just like all of us, alive and well. The Japanese Air Force will never left any single airmen behind and I'm in debt to all of you. Stay safe and may the gods be with us. Pouch out."

A/N:

1. In-universe explanation: In this story, aware that it's potential opponents, China and Russia beefing up their carrier fleet especially China and the Japanese resolve to reduce dependency on the American forces while remain a major ally, the Japanese Ministry of Defense secretly proposed their own carrier program in early 2009, and after an equally closed Diet meeting, the program was approved in September 2009. Due to Japanese penchant of quality over quantity in it's naval doctrine, also American lobby, the Japanese choose a modified Gerald R. Ford class design. The construction was commenced in 2010 and completed eight years later, as Shoukaku-class, reusing two World War II era Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carriers, Shoukaku and Zuikaku.

2. During the hot phases of the Korean War (1950-1953) US bombers utterly flattened almost the entire northern part of Korea in a campaign of indiscriminate carpet bombing including firebombing with napalms. 85 percent of buildings in North Korea was destroyed in the campaign. The country need to be reconstructed almost from scratch after the ceasefire was in effect.

Big disclaimer: I don't intend to be sympathetic to North Koreans in this explanation. You can start by reading this Wiki article before continuing to other source. Beware of pro-North Korean views in some of the articles about this bombing you found on Google!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_North_Korea_1950-1953

3. Refer to a member of the United States Air Force Pararescue, a USAF special forces unit tasked for personnel recovery especially downed pilots.