Ch 3

Mihaly and his two wingman looked at the satellite info coming in, knowing that the flight of Osean aircraft were heading home from their recon flight.

"Any idea what they saw?" Wit asked.

"No idea. There's nothing of importance this far in. But we have to stop them. Wheels up in 30." Mihaly answered.

The three pilots headed to their planes, and were heading to Yinshi Valley.

…

Mihaly tailed the enemy MiG-29, wanting to know what his enemy was capable of. He was also mindful of the strong winds that threatened to smash him against the canyon walls, as his aim was thrown off. The enemy performed a Cobra, an impressive stunt.

Mihaly let his enemy tail him, his radar warning him of a missile lock. He then pulled the stick into his gut and performed a Kulbit and watched as the enemy appeared into his view. He fired a missile and outright destroyed the MiG in one move.

"You could have done that sooner." Wit reminded.

"I want to understand the enemy." Mihaly said, in a bored tone. He had already been in many engagements with the Oseans, and he was disappointed with the current crop of Osean pilots.

Mihaly fired another missile and shot down one of the recon planes and saw another enemy head towards him, guns blazing.

"Sol 2, Sol 3. Get the rear-guard. The better one is mine." Mihaly ordered, as he and his new enemy fired there guns and missiles at each other. He saw his enemy was flying an F-4. His words came back to haunt him.

'This driver was good. Very good. Knew his plane inside and out.'

"Copy that king." Sol 2 replied.

"Don't call me that." Mihaly growled.

The Phantom fired it's missiles, and Mihaly dropped flares to stop them.

"Sol 1, what's your status?" Wit asked.

"My status? Well, I'm feeling a little excited." Mihaly grinned. He was having to much fun to worry about anything else at the moment. He dove into the tight canyon, feeling the winds toss him about.

He struggled for breath, and his aircraft computer, tied into his new g-suit, was warning him. As if he didn't already know.

"Sol 2, moving to assist."

"Do your jobs and I'll do mine." Mihaly ordered.

The fight went into the clouds above the canyon and Mihaly fired two missiles, but failed to hit.

"Missile didn't connect. That wasn't the plan." He muttered and fired a third missile.

"Missile hit." He said.

"Is he down?" Sol 2 asked.

"He took it in a non-critical area. I'll show you when I get back." Mihaly said as the fight continued. He saw the three lines on the plane, and wondered what they meant.

Once again, the two came close and fired at each other. Mihaly quickly knew his enemy was well experienced in close range combat. But he couldn't hold out forever. He ignored the escalating warnings his suit put out, and focused on the fight, gritting his teeth in the process.

"Clever flying." He said, praising his enemy as he stayed with Mihaly the entire time, even flying an obsolete plane. He saw a missile heading towards him, and he rolled and let the missile hit him, doing the same move his enemy just did.

While keeping his eyes on the new foe, a lightning bolt struck his plane and shortened out his electronics for a few seconds. He continued the fight, firing guns at his enemy and scored a few hits.

"Sol 1, storm is getting worse. We should head back." Sol 2 advised.

Mihaly listened to his wingman and fled the scene. He calmed his breathing and reflected on the fight, like he did with all other fights. His enemy was cunning and smart, and pushed his plane to the edge.

"Looking forward to our next meeting, pilot with the three strikes." Mihaly said.

…

Upon landing, Mihaly knew he was in bad shape. His hands were shaking, and he could hardly breathe. He pushed the canopy opened and all but fell out of the cockpit. He saw the princess and his squadron help stand him up on their shoulders, and as much as he wanted to protest, he was in no position to do so.

"Col, what happened?" Rosa asked.

When he was sat down, he spoke with a grin on his face.

"I went up against an enemy. He was tough and skilled. He flew like none other. I found someone who's my equal. All in a days work." He said.

Rosa looked at his squad mates, and they were just as confused as she was. Mihaly wanted to show his squadron the maneuvers he and his enemy did, but everyone convinced him to wait a few days until he got better.

That night, he was talking to his squadron, granddaughters, and Rosa about previous missions.

"In '79, I was flying F-4s against the Communists of northern Usea. Some back ground info first. Erusea first acquired F-4 Phantoms and F-104 Starfighters from Osea. The Phantom didn't have a gun, so it wasn't as good as the Yuke MiGs were in dogfighting. The starfighter was worse. It was useless in dogfights, even worse than the Phantom was. And it had a gun! Great logistics, assholes. The fighter that can hold its own in a dogfight doesn't have a gun. And the flying coffin does have a gun." Mihaly ranted.

"Didn't we give all those planes back to Osea?" Rosa asked.

"We did. We gave them back to Osea and bought planes from Belka and Yuktobania. You can only imagine how pissed Osea was. They just can't help but give themselves fellatio." Mihaly darkly joked.

"Colonel!" Rosa exclaimed.

"Relax, Princess. My granddaughters are living at an air-force base. They've heard their fair share of dirty jokes." Mihaly said.

"The Belkans and Yukes were more pragmatic than the Oseans. Their planes were purpose built for combat. The Belkans quit using the Starfighter early on after many accidents. They also put guns on their own Phantoms. And the Yukes built MiG 21s and 23s by the hundreds, until the Fulcrum and Flankers replaced them." Mihaly said.

"So tell us about your mission." Semour said.

"I was up against the Communists, against Phantoms of all planes. But these Phantoms didn't have guns. Ours did. The fight turned into a slaughter. We closed in and shredded them. They couldn't use their missiles at close range, but we could fire our guns from sun up, to sun down. And the missiles were complete crap." Mihaly continued.

"Sounds like fun." Rosa absently said.

"There were fun memories. But also bad." Mihaly answered, a tired look in his eyes. Mihaly didn't look like the hard and invincible ace he is, but a tired old man who had seen too much blood in his life time.

…

Night came, and everyone was asleep except Rosa. She looked at the many fighter jets that dotted the ground, near the hangers. It now dawned on her, that war was no laughing matter. In Farbanti, she could make all the speeches about how Erusea had to fight against an imperialistic Osea.

But now she was here, living with some of the many soldiers who put their lives on the line. These were people, loyal citizens who loved their country. What right did she have to tell them to go and fight, if the current war was without just cause?

"Dad, I could use your help right now." She said.