The warning lights in the F/A-18's cockpit were flashing bright red. Lieutenant Coralee M. Randolph turned in her seat to look over her shoulder at her copilot. What she saw was nothing more than a smoking corpse covered in glass. Lightning had struck the cockpit and burst through the glass, killing her copilot. She then turned back around in her seat to check her instruments and reassert control over her plane. The pressure leak had caused her to drop in altitude and Coralee began to make adjustments to her flight path to try to level out.

It was like the rain was actually pushing her down. She tightened her face mask and punched the afterburners. She was gaining altitude again but another lightning bolt clipped her left wing and sent a power surge through her systems. Her altimeter flickered but remained active, her weapons HUD did the same, but powered off completely as did her Satnav. She could now only tell how high and how fast she was going. Coralee's composure was quickly draining away as all her training gave way to panic.

"Mayday, Mayday. Mayday. This is Lieutenant Coralee Randolph of the USS John F. Kennedy. I've been struck by lightning and my copilot is dead. Several key systems are dead and I'm losing altitude. My exact position is unknown, please, is anyone picking me up on radar?" Her speed began to dip below 200mph and the nose of her plane began to point down and it seemed like everything around her began to blur. It wasn't a G-force induced grey tunnel but to her eyes it felt very similar. The rain and the wind seemed to swirl around her plane and at this time all her instruments went black.

She tried to punch out, but her ejection system wasn't working at all. The now lifeless F-18 now plummeted through the clouds with greater speed. She tried with all her might to pull her plane out of this spiral but nothing seemed to work. Coralee started flipping switches in a vain attempt to restart some broken system or another. A third lightning bolt struck her plane's nose and sent another power surge through her consul and a few systems began to boot back up. Her plane crashed through the bottom of the clouds and into the main rain columns. She was still flying a dead stick but now she was able to punch out. Coralee pulled the red ejection lever as hard as she could and her canopy popped up and shattered in the storm. Shortly after, her seat's rockets fired and she shot upward into the air and she pulled her shute. She gripped onto her harness as she watched her plane and her copilot plummet towards the water below.

Coralee continued to repeat her mayday as she fell towards the water below. "Please is anyone receiving me? My exact position is unknown. This is Lieutenant Coralee Randolph from the USS John F. Kennedy." As before all she got was static, but after a few moments a garbled voice answered back.

"Reading you...the recon...ISAN...Cardinal...please repeat...ident..."

This new voice instantly filled her with hope, "Oh my God yes! This is Lieutenant Coralee Randolph from the carrier USS John F. Kennedy. My satnav was knocked out before I ejected so my exact position is unknown."

"...F. Kennedy?...last position...storm dying down...spotters on their way...ere soon...hang in there Lieutenant..."


Once her seat hit the water, she opened her dye valves. Her flight suit was already soaked from the rain and the sea water wasn't going to help that. She unhooked her mask from her face so she could breathe easier. The rain was very steady but wasn't pounding as hard as it was up above. She rolled her sleeve up to read her watch; 13:47. Then above the sound of the swelling waves and splashing rain she could hear the faint roar of two jets approaching. She brushed her sopping wet hair from her eyes to see better as they got closer. Two navy blue F-5 Tigers, with white markings, roared overhead as Coralee took her helmet off and waved to them. They banked and sharply turned around so they could see better on another pass. Both planes wangled their wings signaling that they could see her and then spoke over the radio.

"Lt. Randolph? This is ISAF Rapier 1 from Allenfort Airbase on Newfield Island. The Recon ship Cardinal as sent a rescue chopper to your position. ETA should be around 20min. Do not resist once aboard and you are taken in for questioning."

Coralee looked confused as both F-5s returned to the direction that they came from.

"I'm sorry, say again? Taken in for questioning?"


Author's Note: Well here it is, my first Ace Combat fan fiction. If you enjoyed it so far, please hit follow to stay up to date and leave a comment with whatever you liked or disliked. Updates will be irregular, but they will be posted. Thanks again and fly safe!

-Colonel Zutan