Captain John Bakerman pulled back on the flight yolk of the Rockwell B1-B Lancer and felt the plane pull up smoothly. The two F-16s beside him momentarily went out of his sight before they caught up to him in the climb. He looked down at the flight controls to make sure that everything was ready to go. "Look alive, we're on final to the target, commence dive in twenty seconds."
He sat back in his seat and relaxed for a few moments. The computer automatically took them into the dive. He felt his sensitive stomach begin to flip as the negative Gs took effect.
Down below, the vast fields of tiberium became visible, along with enemy ordinance and the base itself. At fifteen thousand feet, the bomb doors opened and racks of Mk82 and Mk84 bombs dropped out.
The bombs made contact with the Nod base. He saw their main target, a chemical weapons factory, take a direct hit and lift into the air. Clouds of smoke and rolling balls of fire obscured his sight of the field momentarily. He saw the F-16s drop even lower then he was and drop several Mk82 bombs on the runway, taking out a pair of C-130s and a Russian AN-124 Condor that was parked on the tarmac.
Then they shot past the base and continued on. With this one strike, they had cut Nods ability to operate in Sudan in half. He made a lazy turn and began to set the autopilot for the long flight back to their airfield in Saudi Arabia. His radar screamed as it picked up two enemy contacts.
Lieutenant Tahoua Agadez shot across the desert in his MIG 23. Bearing down on him was a second MIG 23 from behind. They were on a training exercise outside the base perimeter when the base had put out an SOS. He saw the bombs make contact with the ground, making giant craters and lifting tons of sand and vegetation up into the air with every hit. "We have bandits in our area, prepare for supersonic flight." "Rodger," communicated his fellow pilot from behind him.
He hit a switch that swept the MIG's wings back and blasted through the sound barrier. In moments he was moving at the MIG's highest rated speed, he even threw the afterburners in. "You take the F-16s, I will take the B-1." "Understood"
He activated his AAM targeting system. His HUD showed a solid lock, but then lost it. He acquired it again, but lost it. The electronic jamming from the B-1 was preventing his missiles from picking up a solid lock. He switched over to his twenty-three millimeter cannons. He held down on the trigger on the flight stick and raked the Lancer with his cannons. The bomber went into a complicated series of turns and flips. He let it go. The F-16 still flew on straight and level as if it hadn't even realized that there was a battle on.
Agadez got a positive lock on it and fired a missile. The pilot finally reacted to the situation and made a hard dive, dropping chaff as he went. The missile was at first distracted by the chaff, but then bore down on the F-16 as intended. The rear portions of the F-16s engines exploded in a fiery flash. There was a loud explosion and the pilot was thrown from his cockpit by his ejection seat. He watched the parachute float down to the ground.
He swung around and began to bear down on the Lancer, which was now some distance off. He sparked his afterburners again. Fuel veins in his engine sprayed raw fuel into the fire, he shot forward on a jet of blue flame. He ran on it for several seconds, and then shut it down. The afterburner used his fuel at three hundred percent more than normal. He centered his gunsight on the B-1 and fired. His cannon rounds slammed into the B-1s fuselage. He cut off as a low fuel alarm sounded on his boards. He immediately pulled off target and pointed the nose towards the base.
As the base moved towards him he cut down his engine power and dropped the underside fuel tanks. As the tanks dropped away he could feel a noticeable improved in the jets responsiveness.
The engines began to sputter at they ran out of fuel to burn. He was almost to the base runway. He still cut through the air a quick speed so he dropped the gear and lined up for an approach. The lines on the runway guided him in and he came in low to make contact, but he was moving too fast. He threw his flaps on full and then dropped to the runway. He hit hard and was thrown against his harness. He felt the plane skittering to the side so he threw on all the brakes he could manage and felt the plane slide to a stop.
Master Sergeant Taggert could not believe the destruction that he was witnessing on the ground. The Mk82s and 84s make tremors that felt like earthquakes as they made contact with the ground. Towering walls of fire consumed everything in its path. Men ran around screaming, on fire. Tanks and planes went up in smoke as bombs made contact with the runway and storage depots. He was on the outskirts of the base so it was unlikely a bomb would drop on him, he counted his blessings.
An even louder explosion shattered the air next to him, but he could see nothing. The planes that were dropping the bombs were to high and to fast to be seen. The war factory went up in rolling fire and black smoke. He saw one of the MIG 23s make a shaky landing on the runway, and then rocket sounds as three SAM missiles shot up into the air.
He looked over beside him as a SAM site took a direct hit. The rolling fireball forced him to the ground and he felt shrapnel cut into his back. Then, the world faded into blackness…
Seth stormed around the room. He was so filled with rage, he felt like slamming his fist into the expensive conference table that two figures sat at, but he restrained himself, barley…
The two people that sat at the table looked very nervous. The woman was Nod's main radar operator; the man was the controller of the single SAM site that had never fired one shot during the engagement.
"Can you explain to me why we just installed a new radar system that failed to detect this oncoming attack, and why the other SAMs detected the bombers, but not yours?" He demanded with a shaking fist.
"Sir," the woman cried out. "The radar system is an old soviet variant and may be faulty, the same with the SAMs, or the aircraft may even have been stealth."
This time he did slam his hand down on the table, making everyone in the room jump, including the guards at the door. Then ignoring the pain in his hand, he spoke. "Two pieces of equipment failing at the same time, that is highly unlikely."
She started to speak, he cut her off. "I find your excuses displeasing. The Nod operation has no room for incompetent malcontents." He drew his 9mm sidearm. "I will give you the option of doing it yourself, however."
He extracted all but one round from the clip and then slid it across the table to her. She looked at the gun for several seconds, then picked it up and examined its cool, nickel-plated surface, then looked him right in the eye and asked, "And if I were to use this weapon on you…?"
Seth smiled. "If you were to use this weapon on me, with only one round the guards would capture you. You would then be crucified and disemboweled. You would die slowly, while the buzzards picked at your innards, a most unpleasant way to die, I assure you."
"I see,…" she said. Then in one fluid motion, she jammed the pistol into the man beside her. She pulled the trigger. The man looked at her with an openmouthed expression, moments before a rivulet of blood slid down over his lips and onto his shirt before he slumped back into his chair.
Seth laughed and clapped his hands. "Excellent, only a person as highly trained to Nod expectations would consider eliminating a companion to save her own life. I congratulate you lieutenant."
She forced a smile and threw the gun onto the table, then sat back in her chair. "You may go now, lieutenant."
She stood up and walked out of the room. A guard turned to follow her out. Seth picked up his gun and replaced it in his holster.
The door opened and Kane walked into the room. "Do you think you should have let her live?"
Seth looked at the high commander of Nod. "We can't afford to lose highly-trained people like her. The radar system was faulty, if her self-preservation instincts are that strong, she could be a valuable member of the Nod High Council."
"It's your call," said Kane. "On another topic, the troops in town 172 are encountering too much resistance to make it worth our while. You can withdraw them, but leave a few snipers to terrorize the local populace." Seth saluted and left the room.