Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Stargate SG1. However, the MFX-01 Chimera is my idea and my design and hell; even the control surfaces belong to me. So, yeah, that's about it.
April 31, 1999: Milky Way: P2C-414: High Orbit: Galileo
"What the hell did you do to my Raider, Cipher?" the crew chief, Miguel was his name, asked angrily as he pulled out yet another fired circuit. "How in god's name you got this thing on the hanger deck is beyond me." Shaking his head he pulled on a thirtieth circuit.
"We were firing nuclear bombs, here, Chief, give us a break," Pixie sighed as he came up to Harry's shoulder. Annoyed, Miguel stood up.
"These things won't be ready to fly in at least a week and that's if I put all of my attention into it," he reported. "I've got better things to do than rebuild my own two planes from scratch." With that he walked off.
"Wait a minute," Pixie waved his arms at no one in particular. "Isn't it his job to rebuild the birds that we mess up?" Harry turned and walked back towards the door. "Harry?"
"You need to learn to respect the deck crews, Pix," Harry chided. Pixie rushed to catch up. "It's going to get you killed one day."
"Yeah, well, I just turned quintuple ace today so it shouldn't really matter," Pixie shrugged as he came into line with his flight lead. The other man looked at him strangely.
"How do you figure that?" he wondered with a curious smirk on his face.
"Well, you said that Mothership counted as five, right?" Pixie confirmed.
"I said it was two," Harry shook his head.
"No, you said it was five."
"Two."
"Five."
"Two."
"Five."
April 31, 1999: Milky Way: P2C-414: High Orbit: Galileo
"So, Sam, would you care to explain why there just happened to be a Hatak Mothership on a supposedly uninhabited planet?" Harry inquired as he stepped onto the bridge still in his jock smock. He'd left his helmet in his plane.
"Apparently, this planet was the central mining planet for a minor Goa'uld," Sam explained while Jack looked over the radar. "He only had a Mothership at his disposal that you and Pixie just destroyed. He was on it, as well."
"How could you determine that?" Harry wondered. "This ship doesn't exactly have powerful sensors like the Asgard do." Sam gave him a strange look. "What? Do I have something on my face?"
"Harry, how do you know the Asgard?" Sam asked confused. "You were gone when we'd met them."
"Who are you talking about?" Harry asked oddly. "The Asgard: who are they?"
"You just said that the Asgard have more powerful sensors than we do," she repeated slowly.
"Well, I don't know why," the CAG shrugged. "Continue regardless."
"We've located the Stargate in the wreckage of the Goa'uld ship," Jack explained walking over. "It's been placed on the ground and some surveyors are going to come through sometime soon to survey if we can get anything from it."
"So what are we going to do now?" Harry inquired shifting his weight.
"Well, the Chief has informed me that your Raiders have been all but destroyed," Jack shrugged. "Therefore, there isn't much that you can do here without getting replacement planes which we don't exactly have right now."
"But I'm the CAG," Harry reminded. "I can take whatever plane I want. You know as well as I do that me and Pixie is the best pilots on this ship." 'Ego, Cipher! Everyone who's full of himself is dead.'
Jack smiled and walked back to the radar screen. "That's correct," he admitted. "However, since we'll be over this planet for a while supervising the surveyors, the CAG can't do very much, now can he? Instead, you and Captain Folk will head back to Earth to supervise a project of your own." Harry blinked.
"Jack," he said slowly.
May 1, 1999: Milky Way: Earth: Area 51
Cipher and Pixie walked grudgingly through the halls of the Nevada military base. A while back they'd traded in their flight suits for standard U.S. Air Force Battle Dress Uniforms. Pixie's was brandished with his double shiny bars showing his rank of Captain while Harry's had the silver oak leaf consistent with Lieutenant Colonel.
"I've always hated these things," Harry muttered as he fingered his insignia. "They just seem to set me off balance."
"Buddy, those things weigh less than three ounces," Pixie reminded him.
Harry smiled sarcastically at him. Between the two of them, the difference in rank meant nothing seeing as how Harry had only been a First Lieutenant when he could last remember. Therefore, by subtracting the former difference from the latter difference one got… well one got nothing so it didn't really matter.
The duo walked into a hanger at the center of the base. Unguarded, the hanger could not be distinguished in any way from the others beside it.
"So, what do you think they want…?" Pixie trailed off as the pilots stepped into the room. Inside sat two planes. Before they could admire them, a scientist walked over to them offering his hand. Harry took it first.
"Colonel Cipher, Captain Pixie," the man acknowledged as he shook their hands. "It's an honor to have you two here. I am Tom Sacra, head scientist of the Super-Fighter Program." The pilots regarded him oddly. "It's the project that created the MF-1 Raider that you two are well known for piloting."
"I wasn't aware that we were famous," Larry commented, his eyebrows raised.
"Well, when two of our creations shoot down two full squadrons of enemy fighters, we pride ourselves in knowing before anyone else," Sacra laughed.
"So, Tom, what exactly are we here for?" Harry inquired gesturing at the two planes.
"These are the MFX-02 Wraiths," Tom explained proudly. "We designed them off of JAS 39 Gripens and added all of the latest bells and whistles to come out of the Science Division. Cosmetically, they're identical but internally, they couldn't be more different." Tom walked over to the two machines. The pilots followed immediately. "There may only be one engine but we've discovered a way to up the power rating to that of two of the Raider's engines."
Harry casually climbed the ladder of one of the fighters and climbed into the cockpit. He felt the controls around them, enjoying the simplistic feel of the most advanced fighter on the planet. Then something caught his eye. "An afterburner," he muttered confused.
"That's precisely our new invention," Tom smiled. "Tests showed that when fuel is released directly into the engine's exhaust, the power is tripled in a manner similar to conventional jet engines. However, with this new feature, the Wraith can reach up to Mach Six on its own power alone."
"How much fuel can it carry?" Pixie wondered as he examined the pylons on the outside of the plane.
"Seeing as how the engine normally uses no fuel whatsoever, we can compensate by only having a minimal amount for afterburner," Tom continued. "Five hundred gallons at a rate of two gallons per minute should suffice."
"That can't be right," Harry interrupted jumping out of the cockpit. "You're telling me that we could fly at Mach Six for twenty five minutes straight?" Tom nodded. "Oh."
"Moving on, we've completely redesigned the weapons systems to work better in a space environment," Tom continued not missing a beat. "More fuel allows the conventional missiles to travel much farther than conventional and with a proportional kinetic energy, there's more power behind the weapon. Total, the Wraith can carry four of these 'Sniper' missiles."
"That won't be nearly enough," Pixie shook his head as he came out from under the wing. "All of our…"
"…one…"
"…dogfights have been at…"
"…relatively…"
"…close quarters. Four missiles won't cut it against a squadron of Death Gliders," Pixie finished, unfazed by his flight lead's corrections.
"We understand that," Tom nodded. "That is why we've added the Hydra missiles to the Wraith itself." Pixie slapped his head synonymous with Harry's simultaneous slap of the back of his head.
"What's the Hydra missile?" Harry inquired massaging his hand from the denseness of his wingman's head. Even as he spoke, a technician activated the weapons system. Eight slots opened on the top and the bottom of the Hydra's fuselage revealing sixteen soda can-sized objects.
"Hydra missiles are the close quarter's missile weapons of the Wraith," Tom explained. "Though the range is only about a mile, eight of the missiles can be fired at a time, all at separate targets. Each missile can take out a Goa'uld Death Glider with ease" Harry and Larry stared.
"Twenty missiles…" they said in unison.
"…Along with a reloading mechanism for another magazine of missiles," Tom continued. The pilot's jaws dropped. "That brings the total up to thirty-six missiles and eight hundred rounds of gun ammunition."
"What kind of tracking ability do these things have?" Harry asked through a whisper.
"If lab tests are anything to go by, Hydras can very nearly be fired backwards and still hit a target as long as the object is pinpointed by radar," Tom nodded, smiling at the shocked looks he received.
"So what are we going to do?" Pixie inquired as quietly as Harry.
"You'll be the test pilots for the MFX-02s and take them into combat should they be successful," Tom explained.
May 3, 1999: Milky Way: Earth: Area 51
Making quiet conversation, the two new test pilots suited up in their now-standard flight suits. The 'jock smocks', as they were affectionately called, were completely unlike the standard flight suits of the U.S. Air Force.
Instead of an oxygen mask and tinted visor, the helmet had a full plastic face mask. The normally clear plastic could be tinted with the flick of a button on the helmet making the mask opaque on one side. The suit, itself fully pressurized, allow for a pilot survival in the event of a space ejection.
(AN: For cosmetics, look at the flight suits that the pilots in Stealth or Battlestar Galactica (2003 Version) wear. I'm sure almost all of you have seen one of those.)
"You know, man, for once I actually like the top brass," Pixie laughed as he zipped up the torso of his flight suit.
"What are you talking about?" Harry wondered as he grabbed his helmet. "You got on the Galileo, didn't you?"
"Yeah, but you were the one that recruited me," Pixie reminded as the duo left their shared locker room. "I am damn lucky that I was assigned as your wingman for that Red Flag exercise."
"I was the lucky one," Harry insisted as they left the air conditioned building and walked towards their hanger in the searing Nevada heat. "If I didn't have you, I might have been the wingman of someone like Hollywood." They both enjoyed a good natured at the image of their squadron mate flying with CAG. Still laughed, the aces entered the hanger.
Their Wraiths awaited them fully fueled and armed. Harry almost laughed at the sight of his name on the plane along with Cipher. Almost… the second he caught sight of the tailfin all humor was lost.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa," Harry cried waving his arms in the air. "That tailfin has the wrong symbol!" he pointed at the object in question. "We aren't even going to think of taking off until that thing has the right insignia."
"And what insignia would that be?" Tom wondered as he wandered (he he he) over.
"The 66th Air Force Unit has a red Demon Dog chained to the plane," Harry explained, his patience waning. "Look it up for all I care! Just get the right insignia on our planes!" Shrugging, the lead scientist walked off.
"Do you think you were a little hard on them?" Pixie wondered as he placed a hand on his wingman's shoulder.
May 3, 1999: Milky Way: Earth: Area 51 Airspace
"This is Galm 1, reporting in," Harry called into his radio from the cockpit of the lead Wraith. "We're here and ready to begin our test. Climbing to eighty thousand feet…" As one, the two super-fighters climbed to the aforementioned altitude. Leveling out, the two pilots scanned the sky out of habit, every once in a while taking a look at their radar.
"Yo buddy, I've got a radar disturbance in orbit," Pixie reported. "They're Death Gliders."
"Prometheus is on the other side of the planet, right now," Harry shook his head as he looked at the screen. "I count forty bogeys, projected course is…"
"… Washington D.C." Pixie finished for him.
(End Chapter)
Fuahahahaha! An evil cliffhanger should get your hearts racing and your tempers boiling. This one I had quite a bit of fun writing especially when I imagined a dogfight between Cipher and Pixie in MFX-02s. Ah, well, it's in the past now. But, for the people that would like to see such a fight, check out my profile for a youtube link. It's INTENSE.
Anywho, I'm implementing a review cap for this chapter. You won't get to see the end of the cliffhanger unless I get seventeen reviews. On average, I barely get ten so for you people that don't, review! Moving on, Ja Ne.