"As long as I look into the muzzles, nothing can happen to me. Only if he pulls lead am I in danger."
WWII Luftwaffe Ace, Hauptmann Hans-Joachim Marseille
Ch. 4 Victory and Defeat, Switch and Repeat
-April 20, 1995. Valais AFB, Ustio. Approx. 1745 hrs.-
"Tower, this is Galm Team. We have both sustained heavy battle damage, and require an immediate emergency landing. Scramble the ambulances and fire crews," I nervously spoke desperately trying to get the F-15C's flaps to cooperate.
"Roger Galm Team. Good to see you guys made it back, you're clear for immediate landing on runway 27. We're ready for you," The tower responded with cheers audible in the background.
"Thanks tower, coming in hot."
I threw down the lever for the gear, and luckily the steel struts came out from their places and locked in position under the Eagle. I rammed the flap lever down again trying to get them to lock in maximum drag position. They wouldn't. They just wouldn't.
I lined up on course with the runway, and completely cut the engines. This was going to be a gliding landing. It was the only way it was going to work.
It was dead silent. The Eagle was gliding down to Earth, but much too quickly, my airspeed was still reading over 210 mph. As I came nearer to the ground, I reared up and pushed the tail up just like every other landing. The speed was still too high, 195 mph. About ten feet off the ground, I stamped on the rudder pedals, engaging the speed-brake. The F-15C dropped like a brick and landed hard on the rear wheels. Fortunately, the support struts didn't collapse and the tires were still intact.
Lucky bastard, I thought to myself.
I gently lowered the nose and eventually I made a soft-touchdown and eased the engines back on. Once I was at taxiing speed, I turned off the runway. I looked in the mirror to see if Pixy had made it. The solo red wing Eagle was further down the runway, but Pixy had the luck of cooperating flaps. He had a much easier time putting his Eagle on the tarmac.
I gently parked my Eagle by the team hangar, and the whole base was rushing out to meet me. Lothar broke through the crowd, and got the ladder hooked on. I opened up the canopy, and climbed out. Lothar gave me a salute, and everyone else followed in example. I returned and found the gang, who were standing further back in crowd.
"I told you I would come back," I said happily to the Halo group.
"You're not one to lie about that kind of thing," Vixen responded with a small smile, "Well done."
"You lucky jerk!" Buzzard yelled as he came over wrapping his left arm tight around my neck, and throwing me around, "I knew you could do it!"
"You….choking…..me…."I barely managed squeak out.
"Oh, sorry," he replied quietly, as I regained my composure, and my breath.
"You're fine, Buzzard. Just, don't do it again, without prior warning."
They all had a good laugh at that as Pixy caught up with me and we headed to The Jet Wash for the party. It was fucking ridiculous, everyone was really drunk except me and Pixy. There was some singing, some major spills, and some wasted people at this party. Pixy and I just sat quietly at the bar, giving thanks for anyone's congratulations. I decided this was a good time to ask him about why he was acting weird about that stuff over The Round Table. I took a swig from my beer bottle, and looked over at the ace. Pixy was staring at the wall in front of him holding his hands together in front of him. He looked to be deep in thought about something.
"Pixy, what was that stuff you were going on about today?"
"What are you talking about?" he asked stirring from his thoughts.
"You damn well know."
"Oh, that. You just remind me of somebody I used to fly with."
"Who's that?"
"A wingman of mine, that I flew with in one of the proxy wars, about 5 years ago."
"What about me reminds you of him?"
"Your tenacity. He'd never let a target slip from his grasp. Once he was on you, he never let him off, ever. He was one of the best pilots I've ever had the chance of flying with, but he got himself in trouble for not knowing his limits."
"What was his name?"
He turned to face me, and looked me over.
"Joshua Bristow."
"Wait, you flew with Bristow, of the Wizard Squadron?!"
"Yeah, he was my wingman back in '90. He flew a F-14A back then, but man, he could make that bird dance."
"Wow, I wish I could get to fly with him."
"You just might, buddy. With the way you're going, you might even surpass him."
He got up and quietly walked out of the bar. Pixy was an enigma. He was always a mystery to me, the Solo Wing pilot's past incredibly unclear. Even so, I trusted him as much he trusted me. Completely.
-Four Days Later. April 24, 1995. Futuro Canal, Sapin. Approx 1300. hrs.-
One more mission. That's how much was left in my Eagle, according to Lothar, after being almost completely trashed over The Round Table.
We were on cruise at about 30,000 feet over the canal, providing top-cover for the Osean 3rd Fleet, flag-shipped by the new Hubert-class aircraft carrier CVN-30, the Kestrel. This was her first run, and it was going to be a baptism by fire.
Halo squadron had participated in an operation earlier in the day, Round Hammer. They had destroyed the Belkan fleet stationed at the canal, the port, and the surface weapons that would have destroyed the fleet, if left untouched. They had refueled and rejoined the fight for Operation Costner, which was our operation, where we would be protecting the fleet from any and all air attacks. Halo was just there to take out any ground forces that could have been missed by the other ops. It was nice to fly with my friends again.
"Hey! Rainman!" I called mockingly.
"What! Shut the hell up Cipher!"
"Tonight, I'm going to hold you to your promise!"
"What promise?"
"The one that you could take us all on by yourself! You said you could in training."
"You guys don't really think I.."
"Now, now," I said cutting him off, "Don't chicken out on us."
"Yeah," Buzzard chimed in, "I can't wait to get back now!"
"We'll see if it humbles Mr. Knight over here," Lobo chuckled.
I heard a beeping coming from my left in the cockpit. I took a look at the radar. The IFF squawk was now going off like crazy.
"Eagle Eye, I'm picking up heavy enemy activity, confirm on your end, over," I broadcasted over the comm.
"I'm not liking this," Pixy muttered.
"Me either," I whispered back.
"Galm Team, this is Eagle Eye, IFF activity is confirmed on our end. Looks like several waves of ground-attack aircraft. You are cleared to intercept. Halo squadron maintain current heading and altitude."
"Roger, Eagle Eye, Halo will maintain course, " Tiger called back in, restoring order among his cubs.
"Roger, Eagle Eye, we're on the move."
We rolled over in our Eagles and dove for the attackers closing in from both sides of canal.
"Pixy I'll take the western bank to defend, you take the East."
"I copy, Cipher."
We split off to engage the bandits. Four F-1's were coming in the first attack wave. I dove left, steadying about 2,000 feet, to start my attack. I lined up the F-1's for AMRAAMs. As they entered effective range, I let them loose from their chains.
"Fox 3! Fox 3! Fox..ah, forget it."
The Slammers blitzed through the air, and swatted the F-1 attackers out of the air like flies. I gained altitude readying for the next wave. Tornado GR.4's this time. More of a challenge.
I started my attack by making a tight Split-S to get behind the five craft, and immediately let rip with my cannon. The furthest back Tornado was caught in the gunfire, and quickly flopped into the sands. I moved up after the next one, and he tried climb up and right, but I pulled a deflection shot, and he too, was done.
The other three then broke off their attack on the fleet, and decided to come after me. I jumped up on full power, and sped away from them, pulling into a 85 degree climb. The Tornadoes came up after me, and I was ready to make my move. At about 27,000 feet, I stalled and flipped the Eagle to come down and go after them. At about an 80 degree angle of attack, I opened fire with my cannon on the Tornadoes. I fired into the cockpit of the lead, scoring a direct hit. It rolled out of my path, and I continued my fire on the other GR.4's. The second came into range and I made another cockpit shot, again, I was right on the money. The final one weaved out of his climb before I could get to him, and he tried to run for the fleet to get at least some of his ordnance off. I got right behind him, and gave him a little present. A sidewinder quickly rammed into the Tornado's tail, nicely ripping it off. I checked my radar for more bogies. Nothing on my end.
"Saw the whole thing," Vixen called, "You're getting pretty good Cipher."
"Ruthlessness and patience make a good combination,"Zero hailed on the comm.
"Aw, guys, I'm flattered," I said beaming. I checked the radar and there were still a few signatures coming up.
"Pixy how's it looking on your side? I'm no joy over here."
"I'm almost finished up here, got two Tornadoes. I've almost got them wrapped up."
"Roger, keep at it."
I checked the scope again, and three pairs of new bogies were coming in. One on my side of the river, another coming from the north of the canal, and the last one on Pixy's side.
"Uh, Eagle Eye? You seeing this?"
I waited for the tactical controller's response.
"Roger Galm 1, you are advised to engage the squadron on your side of the canal and the same goes for Galm 2."
"Roger," Pixy grunted, sounding like he was going through a high-G turn.
"Halo squadron!" The AWACS controller barked.
"Yes, Eagle Eye?" Tiger called back.
"We're picking up additional aircraft entering the engagement zone. You and your squadron will attack the two targets to the north of the canal."
"Roger Eagle Eye, let's roll cubs."
There was a chorus of rogers, and from the corner of my eye, I saw Halo's six F-16 XLs zooming to the north.
I turned my attention to out West where two signatures were coming in from. I was circling in my area of engagement at 28,000 feet, and two specks were coming in from eleven o'clock at about 10,000 feet. I took out my monocular, really my sawed-off half of a binocular, and focused in on the specks. I wasn't happy with what I saw.
"I got Flankers on my end," I said as I put my monocular away.
"Mirages here," Pixy replied.
"Tigers are closing in on us, ready your cannons," I heard Captain Cho order.
I focused back on my business, and took off in pursuit of the Belkan Flankers. They immediately turned and came back in my direction as soon as I began pursuit. I readied my finger over the special weapon release button on my joystick, and continued accelerating towards the Flankers. The twin engine Sukhoi fighters were closing the distance fast, and were about to enter their effective missile range as well. It was a standoff to see who could fire off their missiles first.
Tick…..
Tock…
Tick…
Tock…
Tick…..
Lock! I fired off two Slammers and waited for the confirmation on the enemy missile fire. After another two seconds, my missile warning began screaming in my ear as I waited for the missiles to come to me. I could see them snaking at thousands of miles per hour through the heavens towards the nose of my Eagle. As soon as I could see the tips of their AMRAAMs clearly in the distance, I hit the afterburners and dove low under the path of the missiles. They couldn't keep up the loop and I was free. I looked around for the Flankers and I caught a glimpse of smoke trails from where they had been. I followed them to the ground, and the fighters were a heap of wreckage on the sands of Futuro. So much for that.
"Sit-rep Eagle Eye," I called instinctively.
"The west and east sides of the canal are clear. But…."
Oh shit.
"I'm on my way north! Pixy get on my tail now!"
"Roger Cipher!"
We hauled as fast as we could on full combat power to get to Halo's position. They still hadn't managed to shoot down the Tigers, which I didn't hold against them. Some pilots just aren't marksmen with their cannons, and they hadn't received any sort of air-to-air missiles for the operation.
"Halo squadron, clear the area immediately. We'll take these bandits," I hailed on the comm. as we rushed into the swarm of lead and contrails.
"Roger, they were….." Tiger said but he was cut off rather quickly. I saw his XL heading my direction away from the fight at my high-twelve, but in a flash, the delta-wing Falcon exploded, and almost took me out as it crashed down from the heavens. Tiger had the most unfortunate missile contact I'd ever seen. The sidewinder had slammed right into the remaining ordinance on his wings, which also detonated on impact. The Falcon was torn in half, and there was no chute or safe ejection. Tiger rode that thing to his grave.
"NO!" I called, "Eagle Eye, Halo 1 is down! I repeat Halo 1 is down!"
"Roger Galm 1," the controller called, "The faster you clear that airspace, the quicker we can send the rescue choppers."
"Copy that," I scowled. "Buzzard!"
"Yeah Cipher? I'm a bit busy shaking these guys!"
"You're next on the chain! Get the rest of the guys out! Pixy and I will splash these jokers!"
"Roger Cipher! Vixen! Lobo! Rainman! Zero! Get out now! We don't stand a chance!"
I quickly locked up the Tigers and fired my Slammers in their direction. I had to get them to move so I could safely evacuate Halo. The quick lock-and-fire had scared the jumpy Belkans, as the two F-5's quickly turned tail, to try and set up another attack. This distraction was just enough to get Halo Team out of the Belkans' grasp, and they managed to safely bug out.
"Thanks for the assist, Cipher," Buzzard panted heavily.
"Watch over them," I quietly and calmly ordered the new Halo 1.
"I will."
"Pixy, down 'em both."
"Roger, let's get them," my wingman replied.
The Tigers came head on at us, but we didn't fire and just made them move out of our way. We immediately reversed, and took to the chase. I was chasing the one that shot down Tiger, and decided I was going to torture him, just a little bit. I rode the F-5's tail, spiking him with a missile lock. I refused to fire, closing in to less than 500 feet behind the fighter. He leveled from a climb and just sat there, thinking he was dead. Seconds continued to pass as he continued flying straight south. I pulled up on his left and looked over at him. He was shaking uncontrollably and he looked rather afraid, as he turned to look at me. He actually had a Tiger painted under his cockpit. I scowled and got back behind the Belkan's tail. I fired my sidewinder without hesitation, and the F-5 shattered, and the collection of metals and compounds fell to the Earth, and a pilot in a parachute was not far off. It took all my strength to not shoot him in his chute.
"That was for the real Tiger, you bastard!" I growled over the radio.
"My target's down Eagle Eye. Probably think it's time for us to go home," Pixy hailed.
"Roger Galm 2."
"This is Captain Weeker on the Kestrel, we received no damage from the enemy ground-attack planes. Couldn't have gone any smoother. My thanks goes out to our escorts. We've already sent a chopper out to the downed plane," the jubilant captain said from the safety of the bridge on his aircraft carrier.
"Thanks Captain," Buzzard called over the radio.
"Galm and Halo teams are to RTB immediately, over." The AWACS called.
"Roger," Pixy called, "Let's go Cipher."
We turned and headed north-east back to Valais. I slowly looked over my shoulder to see if Death was on my tail. He wasn't. Not today.
