Ch 1
Mihlay looked ahead and saw the Osean pilots struggle against the drones that the arsenal bird crapped out. His eyes caught two planes breaking away from the main fight. Yawing to meet them, he noticed one of the Hornets was damaged, leaking smoke.
"Perfect." He said.
The lead fighter moved to engage, firing a missile. Dropping flares, he returned fire with his guns and forced his enemy to break away.
He chased his enemy and locked on, firing a missile when the opportunity presented itself. The dogfight lasted less than he wanted. It seemed Osea wasn't bringing their best. He focused on the wounded prey, and hounded the unlucky sap.
Instead of killing the pilot, he wanted to see what the prey was capable of. The hornet quickly pulled up, attempting to dogfight him. While Mihaly could respect his enemy's will to fight, he also knew that this pilot was already dead; just didn't know it.
He trailed the enemy, and matched her move for move.
"I'm scared!" his enemy exclaimed, fear evident n her voice.
Arming his missiles, he locked on and waited for the perfect shot. He watched as his prey attempted to run; jinking, yawing, using every trick in the book to try to escape.
"Mage 2, support! Somebody, support!" she screamed, just as Mihlay fired a missile up her tail pipe, killing her.
"Bandit down." He said.
Pointing his nose away, he accelerated away from the fight.
EASA
68 experimental fighter squadron
Landing the jet, he stumbled out of the cockpit clutching his chest in pain. Alma and Ionela helped him sit in a chair, and gave him an oxygen mask. Clutching the mask, he breathed in and out and lay back in the chair.
"Grandpa, are you okay?" Ionela asked.
"I'm fine." He hoarsely replied.
Waiting 5 minutes, he stood up and headed to the hanger where doctor Schroeder was waiting for him.
"A successful flight?" the scientist asked.
"Yes. I bagged two kills. One was a stubborn pilot. Pity she went down so easy." The ace laconically said.
"What do you mean?" Schroeder asked.
"Her plane was damaged. If it wasn't, she could have lasted longer." Mihaly said, mentally going thru the fight and how things could have gone different.
Mihaly headed to his plane looked it over for and damage it may have received. The doctor shook his head back and forth. Mihlay could be so stubborn, and he had grit.
Ionela looked at the doctor with suspicion. She knew about her grandpa's past and how he was a test pilot for the air-force. She always wondered how it would be, flying in the skies.
"Grandpa, I have a question." Ionela said.
"Shoot." Mihaly said from under the plane as he was tightening a bolt. She lay on her back and scooted next to her grandpa seeing the underbelly of the fighter, along with it's missiles. She lay in awe of the massive plane, and the fact that her grandfather flew this plane like it was nothing seared his skills in her head.
"Can you take me for a ride?" She asked.
"Sure thing." He said, reaching for another tool.
"In your plane. If you'll get in trouble, then no."
Mihaly put the tool down and smiled at Ionela.
"Sure thing." He said.
That night, Mihaly was with his squadron, going over the recent engagements they all took part in during the current war.
"Took out three in one pass. Oseans didn't know what hit them." Sol 2 said.
"Osea doesn't seem to have many good pilots left. They must have all been killed during the war with Yuktobania and Belka." Sol 4 said.
"You're wrong. Osea has many pilots. More pilots than we can field. Hence the fucking drones." Mihaly said, putting down his drink and slammed it onto the table when he mentioned the drones.
They talked about the drones when Mihaly asked a question.
"Yet what is a nation? Can we actually see the physical lines that divide one from another?"
Silence filled the room, and Sol 2 responded, disheartened at situation they were in.
"People can no longer speak the language of our homeland. My grandparents always look sad when see I have no idea what they're saying to me."
Mihaly didn't say anything until later. The squadron waited until no-one was around. Even Alma and Ionela had to leave before the squadron could talk.
"Erusea will lose this war. It's only a matter of time until it happens. We have a limited window of opportunity. We must move quickly and decisively to secure the future of our homelands. For the moment, we wait." The old pilot said; his squadron nodded in agreement
A week later, and Mihaly was walking towards his fighter, his granddaughters next to the jet. He climbed up the ladder and opened the rear canopy. The girls climbed into the cockpit and put on the straps as best as they could.
Giving the girls one more look, he closed the canopy and started the engines. He rolled out the hanger and yawed towards the tarmac.
"Control, this is So 1 requesting take off."
"Take off granted, Sol 1."
Grinning, he accelerated down the tarmac and lifted into the air, the skies about to greet him…
"Sol 1, Erusea 1 is heading towards the tarmac opposite of your position. Abort now!"
Mihaly growled in anger, knowing that he passed the point of no return. He was forced to retract the landing gear and pushed the throttle forward and kept the attitude just above the ground. He kept an eye on the incoming transport plane, counting until they intercepted.
The girls could only scream in horror as their death was imminent, yet Mihaly stayed cool. With a sonic boom accompanying him, they passed the transport and pointed up towards the sky.
"Grandpa, that was close!" Alma exclaimed.
The Col. had something else in mind. He angrily called the tower, wondering why the incoming transport wasn't waved off.
"Prncess Cossette is onboard." The tower responded.
Mihaly shut off the radio and calmed his nerves. He couldn't afford to be lose his nerves, even if he felt justified in doing so. Already in the air, he decided to perform several acrobatics to give his daughters a taste of what he was capable of.
"This is what your job is?" Alma asked, as she was thrown around in the cockpit, her stomach doing summersaults.
"Grandpa was a test pilot." Ionela said.
"Correct. I tested every plane EASA could make. I remember many of those flights…" Mihaly said, absently looking at the sky.
On the ground, Cossette looked above and saw the lone fighter performing several acrobatic stunts.
"Excuse me, but who's up there?" She asked.
"Col. Shilage and his two granddaughters." A mechanic informed