1: just another day at the office...

The Red-hot bullets soar past my cockpit... My warning light has forgotten what it's like to be off... The bullets begin to find their target, hitting the tail of my fighter, and i begin cursing myself for going against lead's advice and keeping my Eagle, instead of upgrading to a Typhoon like her. Now i was stuck ducking-and-weaving between the mountains of B7R at Mach 2, instead of turning-and-burning with the Berkuts on my tail. I watch the three fighters in my mirror, all vying for the kill.
Out of nowhere, a fifth fighter joins the fray. I look all around, but the only sign of this newcomer is the sound of its engines howling. Then, i focus once again in the trio of aces who're trying to flame my arse as they, too, begin to evade. Only this time, their pursuer scores a kill. The Typhoon, hidden behind the three Sukhoi fighters, lets loose a short burst of gunfire that peppers the trailing Berkut, and sends it spinning earthward. The other two Berkuts' pilots turn for home, not willing to join their brother-in-arms. The gunmetal Typhhon forms up ahead of me, two emblems clearly visible : one of a dog, that's the logo of Doberman PMC, our employers. The other: a razor-blade slicing through a fighter.
"Dammit, Leto... I thought you were a goner!" Lead half-sighed, half-yelled at me.

"Chillax, cap'n... I'm an Ustian! We dont die!" I shot back, laughing.

"Let's just get gone before you get yourse-"

"Warning! Warning! Razor team, we've got two high-speed bogeys inbound on vector 329!" our AWACS cut in.

"Two-on-two... Diamond-eyes, give me an aircraft make!" Lead replied

"Two... hold on, im patching through the shape..." Diamond-eyes said, before my Tac Display showed the shape of every pilot's worst nightmare... or at least it would be if they knew what it was.

"Any idea on what they are?"Lead asked, her usually calm voice betraying a hint of worry.

"Negative. We've never seen this before!"

"I have." i cut in. "And the results weren't pretty."

"Leto, you've seen this?!" Lead turned her attention to me.

"Yeah. And not even your plane can take these..." I warned. "Run."

"They're faster than us!"

"Did i say anything about outrunning them? Just run!" I yelled, simultaneously turning my nose towards the two fighters.

"Leto, don't you dare!" She yelled at me.

"Just run. I promised i'd protect you, and i'm not going to go back on that promise now!" I shouted back, before i turned my radio off.
The two fighters begin to weave one another's paths, in that defensive manoeuvre only the top Belkan aces use. I flipp my Master Arm switch, and waited for a shot. Soon, they stop weaving. I loose 2 XMAAs and bank hard to the left, not looking to see if my missiles hit, simply because of the terror the payload of those experimental fighters i had fired at caused...

Showers of molten metal thousands of feet wide... I didnt want to get hit by one of those missiles.

I light my afterburners and risk a look back. One of the fighters, miraculously, is actually going down in flames, but the other one is bearing down on me hard. Without any warning, i pop my airbrakes and stall the fighter, pointing my nose straight up. Soon, the gold-and white fighter that had been bearing down on me catches up, and starts to fire his guns at me. I slam the throttle into full-afterburner, and begin to climb, pefore i pop my afterburners again, putting me in the perfect position for a guns kill. I dont hesitate, and bullets pepper the enemy fighter, before it disappears in a fireball.

Finally i flip the radio back on, only to be greeted by my lead threatening to kill me.

"Easy, miss! im back now!"

"What the HELL do you think you're playing at, Leto?! You had me worried almost to death here!"

"Sorry Lindsey, but i couldnt concentrate with you screaming at me!"

"Let's just head home." she sighed.

"Lets." i replied, forming up on her right wing. "i'm sorry for that, Caz, I really am."

"Let's just get home and see what the Commander has for us to do tomorrow, David..." She sighed again, as we lit our afterburners and left the airspace to the south-east.