The ground strikes were majorly successful as the rebel's northern front of Sinnamary collapsed with a gaping hole in their lines, leaving Knight One's Tomcat virtually unopposed from any kind of ground fire as he made his own attack run with the artillery pieces in sight. After making a clean run on the big guns, Heartbreak's laser guided Paveways made quick work out of the artillery, engulfing the cannons into a surging inferno of fire and twisted metal. All that really remained were a large smoldering craters from the blasts with red hot husks of the former batteries.
Else where, Rodriguez noticed two airborne explosions from the West as the rebel attacker craft were hit by Eagle flight's interception. It was hardly considered an a fair fight; the A-37 Dragonflies were simply ill equip nor were aerodynamically capable of performance against the more air dominant craft of Eagle flight. Already seconds into the engagement the rest of the rebel aircraft bugged out, obviously wanting no part with the fates of their wingmen and reversed course back to which they came. However it appeared that the air confrontation was over, Spirit felt that the engagement was too easy; too easy in a different sense that just one squad of A-37 were all that the rebel could throw air-power wise.
For the briefest of moments, Rodriguez swore that he saw something shimmering in that sky that almost appeared to be- "Targets on the river...Three groups of four, moving at slow speed. Got small arms comin' off of em, looks like the reinforcements. I'm rollin' in hot, over!"
Spirit snapped back to the situation in hand as Heartbreak called up a tally on incoming gun boats up the river, poised for an flanking attack on the town defenders.
"Knight Five, roger that. Vectoring in on hostile craft." radioed Rodriguez as he banked his F-16 up towards the river and gaining altitude as he planned his his next attack run. Knight One's report rang true as three groups of attack boats came down the river throwing tracer fire into the air in a desperate attempt to keep the aircraft away seeing as though all their support that would have covered them literally went up in smoke. Rodriguez came in with a very loose formation with Hearbreak and Short round before they peeled off into their own attack vectors.
After circling around the small fleet, Spirit had then designated his targets for death as he made a dive towards the lead unit. Small arms fire opened up as he came into his approach, additional tracer leaping specifically for his craft while he painted the boats for the the Hydra 70s to scream against. Once the ping was perfect he called out Fox 1 and pressed on the weapon release, rockets spewed from their respective launchers and made contact with the riverborne craft. Personnel and armaments flew out of the boats as each rocket split them in two from not only the initial impact but the blast as well. Because of the tree line surrounding each side of the river, Rodriguez pulled up almost immediately, branches and foliage were sent in wind created by the F-16 directed thrust.
Once he had enough altitude, Spirit surveyed the results of his attack and confirmed the destruction of the front group. Seconds later, Hearbreak's run had dispatched the rear craft with ease, leaving only the center unit alone and completely at the mercy to Short Round's and her incoming attack. The painted scene was grisly perhaps in the perspective of the last surviving team of boats as they were surrounded by the sinking smolders of their comrades river craft. In a poetic sense, Hawk flight could be depicted as a pack of circling sharks, waiting for an opportunity to strike the hapless sailors locked to the lifeboats from a sunken seaworthy vessel without any real support or safeguard to rely on. The thought was not relishing in the slightest but these rebels posed a sure enough threat that needed to be eliminated.
