7.
Blindsided

The next day, Wardog was flying in a remote region of Yuktobania. Drake was finally back in his beloved F-15, which had been finished the night before. Drake had declared it better than before during the test to make sure it was combat worthy. It now responded to a very light touch, and he had even added a tuner to pick up civilian radio signals. He was currently listening to some rock music with the volume all the way up.
"Wardog, cleared to engage enemy transports," Thunderhead said. Drake barely caught it, and clicked his mic twice.
"Dragon, everything okay?" Blaze asked. Drake turned down the volume before answering.
"Yeah everything's fine," he replied.
"Lieutenant Draca, turn off that music," Thunderhead ordered.
"Hey man lighten up, if he wants to rock on he should," Chopper said in Drake's defense. Thunderhead grumbled and said nothing else.
"Transports and escorts up ahead," Blaze called. Drake saw them on the radar, but something was wrong.
"Amazing!" Edge exclaimed. There were an ungodly amount of target on his radar, and Drake's HUD was red with planes.
"Do you think every plane is up there?" Archer asked.
"Well lets ask them, 'Hey how many planes you got there?' Man this is makin me cry," Chopper replied.
"There couldn't be that many people," Drake commented. He locked onto a signature and popped off a missile. The projectile, however, passed right through the target. "What the hell?" he shouted.
"I think I've got it," Archer commented. Drake rolled out of the way of a barrage of gunfire as he listened.
"Well do share your keen insights, huh, what's up?" Chopper asked.
"First Lieutenant Chopper, jammer aircraft," Archer replied.
"That's it! I'm going upstairs for a bit," Drake declared. He rose up to 20,000 feet started looking around for jamming planes. He soon saw an airplane with a large dish on it's back. That had to be one of them. He unloaded two missiles and ten seconds of 30mm chaingun fire. Fire sprouted from the fuselage and the plane fell to earth. Drake smiled with satisfaction and flew on in his search for more jammers. Below, his wingmates were engaging the enemy, and voiced their thanks when a few of the radar hits disappeared.
"Dragon, you seem to have things covered. Keep on the lookout for any more jamming aircraft."
"Rodger, I'll lift this curtain of deceit that they lowered." Drake flew around a little until his radar picked up another jammer straight ahead. He primed up a heat seeking missile, locked on to the signature, and let it fly. The missile detonated right on the aircraft, causing decompression and subsequent loss of altitude. Static had been building up on his radio ever since the mission began, but by that point it had gotten so Drake couldn't hear his wing mates clearly enough. He had lost the civilian signal long ago. Chopper said something to Blaze, but the transmission was severely garbled.
"ECCM restore communication link!" Thunderhead yelled. Drake's radio blared to life and he adjusted the volume knob.
"We have reports that a squadron of Osean aircraft just bombed the engineering college," came in over the civilian radio.
"All units operating in sector Charlie Omega, attacks on civilians are forbidden. Cease fire immediately," Thunderhead ordered.
"That's right near us…" Archer started.
"Hell that where we're supposed to be," Chopper said, cutting him off. "Do you see those idiots anywhere?" Drake scanned the sky but couldn't see any planes.
"I'm no joy, my picture's clear," Archer replied.
"Yeah, I can't see anything either," Drake put in.
"Wardog, did you engage in an attack on a civilian complex?" Thunderhead asked Blaze.
"No we did not," Blaze replied calmly.
"Yeah weren't you watching from up there?" Chopper quipped. Drake wholeheartedly agreed with him. There weren't too many transports or escorts left, so Drake was just mopping up. Soon there wasn't any planes left in the airspace.
"Wardog squadron is to report immediately to Oured," an official sounding voice issued from the radio, "Repeat, all combatants in Wardog squadron are to report to the capital city Oured immediately." Drake got the feeling that although they had won the battle, they were going right into another.