Yerill fighters were clawed from the sky as the Rangers went to battle. Their first salvos had hit home well, the aggressive approach taking several of the unnervingly organic-looking and matte-black aircraft by surprise, and turning them into flaming balls of scrap as contrails twisted and looped through the morning skies. 
Nonetheless, the Yerill had not fought Earth's forces and put them on the ropes through idleness. With manoeuvers the were near gravity-defying and certainly beyond the limits of human physiology and engineering, the remaining fighters regrouped with near right-angle turns and surged back in at their attackers, splitting evenly into leading and trailing groups and keeping separation as they closed in, sensors already scouring the skies for the MiGs that had hurt their numbers. Warbling lock-on warnings sounded for Clem, Xi and Lonnie. 

[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMronwfcmFc]Down low,[/url] Ryan threw the big Intruder through the air. Down low, the attack jets' big wing did it well, and he weaved and ducked around terrain features, hugging the treeline and nosing over every contour of the land. Outside the cockpit, the world was a blur of green, brown, and occasionally blue as Ryan worked the stick and pedals like a conductor, and Di's hands played her console like an instrument. Almost immediately she had targets locked up. 
"Got 'em," she said in a clipped, terse tone as she swayed in her seat straps with the jets' movements. "'Rill light walkers and GEV's* to our west, moving through the treeline. Second group south-east, four clicks out and moving down a creek bed".
"Roj," Ryan replied in the same tone as he smoothly guided the A-6 into a sharp bank, rolling wings level on a parallel course to the ridge. The red hawk painted on the topside of the aircraft gleamed wickedly in the morning sun as the Intruders' engines rumbled and whined as it closed in on its' prey.
"Yo, Ranger Two. Chairforce, I've got some hostiles down here in the mud. Two groups, one to my south-east. What say you take 'em, I've got these, over"
To Diane, he nodded his head sideways. "Let's get these; ready up the special delivery".
"Right, right - irons' hot, got 'em on the nose. Watch the ground fire".
"Roj," he replied, eyes and voice steady as he jinked the big tin tadpole with precise, firm, yet smooth movements. Lines slid into place on the HUD, and he mashed the weapon release button, smoothly yanking back as the fat shapes of bombs detached from the underside of the A-6F and sailed gracefully landward. A sharp wingover and a spread of chaff and flares completed the run, and were capped by the rolling flash and thunder of explosions along the ridge, and a diminishing curtain of firepower chasing the retreating naval jet. 

Similar plumes of lashing shells and energy erupted up from the creekbed as they searched out the rest of the jets, and the warbling tone of SAM search radars intruded into the ears of the Ranger squadron as they circled toward and away from their targets. 

"What the hell were the survey team looking for?" muttered Ryan as he craned his neck sideways, the Intruder in a sharp bank over the combat area. "There must be half a Yerrill standard combat formation down there, with the amount of fire we're seeing. Not to mention those fighters".
"That's about... ten to fifteen ground vehicles? Plus troops," Diane replied, looking again over her instruments and frowning. "Does seem a lot of a survey team just snooping around. Think there's something else down there?"
"The team must've accidentally stumbled onto something, or kicked over the ant's nest. The 'rill seem pissed".
"Ranger Lead, this is Cavalier, how copy?"
"Good copy, Cavlier. What's up, over?"
"Ranger Lead, the situation looks pretty gnarly from here. The Osprey can't get in for extraction with all the activity. I've got another aircraft, latecomer to your unit. I'm vectoring him in; Name's Ground Bird, callsign for this mission will be Ranger Five."
"Roger that Cavalier, patch me through."
There was a momentary hiss and fuzz and Ryan cursed under his breath, nosing the A-6F over a slope and ducking deeper into the weeds as more fire sprung up. A spurt of the 20mm's under each wing drove the shooter back into hiding as he wheeled around and blasted past, low enough to shake the trees in his wake.
"Yo, Ground Bird. This is Ranger Lead, you'll be our number five. Good to have you with us, and time to start earning your pay. We've got a surplus of bandits, go high and team up with Ranger Three and Four to suppress the enemy fighters. Two, stick with me and let's keep beating the bushes until the extraction bird arrives". 

As if reacting to Ryan's words, The Yerill pursuing Clem and Xi took a more hostile posture, darting in as close as they dared, and jockeying for advantage. Warbling search tones took on the harsh buzz of lockons, and missiles filled the air.

* = GEV'S, ground effect vehicles; essentially directed-thrust hover platforms with mounted weapons.