"He shot down Champ! He was toying with him!"
"Spare 10 lost...another one..."
"One recon aircraft lost! What's with this guy? That's an Su-30..."
The breath caught in my throat when I heard Bandog, our AWACS Controller, identify what type of aircraft it was that had brought down Spare 8. But even before he spoke I had known what it would be, and without seeing it I could guess that it had orange wingtips. Even now, Brownie's panicked voice sounded in my mind's ears clear as crystal, her frantic begging for support as that orange bastard toyed with her before finishing her off without mercy, the same begging that kept me up at night since that day over Chopinburg...
"All Spare Squadron aircraft provide support for Cyclops and Strider. Keep the bandit off of them."
Almost instantly there was a chorus of "unable to comply" or "negative, not possible" coming from the rest of my squadron mates. Good. They would just get in the way.
"Bandog, Spare 15..."
The tone my voice has taken on would have surprised me in a normal circumstance, almost sounding like a wolf let out of its cage. But that doesn't matter to me at the moment.
"...the lead bandit is mine. Spare 6, Spare 11. Form an element and take the other two bandits."
I didn't bother to wait to listen for any replies from Full Band, Tabloid, or even Bandog acknowledging me. As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I reached up and dropped my helmet visor over my eyes, then brought that hand back down to the throttle and pushed it up to the firewall, causing my Griphen to accelerate forward into afterburner to close the range between myself and the radar contact that had appeared on my screen. My fingers maneuvered on the stick and throttle like a concert pianist performing a piece of classical music, selecting my last remaining AIM-120 AMRAAM medium range missile which sat on the center pylon underneath the fuselage, uncaging it's radar guided seeker and telling it to lock onto the lead Su-30. As I got closer my suspicions were confirmed. An Su-30 with orange wingtips.
As soon as the lock was confirmed, I pulled the trigger.
"Spare 15, Fox Three."
This is for Brownie you son of a bitch...
I watched as the missile left its pylon and the rocket motor ignited, sending it arcing towards the target. When the bandit suddenly swung hard and fired off a series of flares and chaff, I was surprisingly not disappointed like I usually was when a target evaded my missile. I found myself grinning despite the anger and fear coursing through my veins. That feral grin on my face grew even wider as I saw the bandit turn towards me and accelerate rapidly, almost excitedly like he was anxious to see who had the gall to fire on him.
Good. I want you to know who kills you, you bastard...
He didn't fire as we merged, and neither did I. As soon as he passed I swung my Gripen around towards him again. He managed to get the turn done a few seconds faster than me, probably thanks to that Su-30 of and it's super maneuverability. Once I saw the nose of his Su-30 come around and point at me I dropped the nose of my Gripen towards the deck and threw the throttle forward again, causing the tracer rounds from his 30mm cannon to arc overhead and behind me as I dropped a thousand feet then pulled up, angling towards the karst canyons I had previously chased the drones through. A quick glance over my shoulder and the warning sounds of a missile lock in my headset confirmed my suspicions as I saw that my opponent, seemingly called "Mister X" by Cyclops and Strider Squadrons, had followed me down and was currently chasing me through the canyon. As he fired his missile I swung my Gripen to the left and around a karst outcropping and loosed some countermeasures, causing it to fly off and explode harmlessly against another wall.
As soon as the warning sounds of an incoming missile ceased ringing in my headset, I pointed the nose of my Gripen up towards the cloudy sky and pulled back the throttle, dumping off airspeed as I spun the aircraft on its back and craned my head for a better look. Sure enough, when my opponent came around to chase after me he shot right past me, and I dumped the nose back down and accelerated again to stay in trail, my fingers moving across the stick and throttle again and selecting my two remaining missiles, a pair of AIM-9 Sidewinders mounted on my wingtips. As soon as I uncaged the warhead I was rewarded with the distinctive tone in my ears of a Sidewinder that's presented with a perfect target.
How does it feel now that you got someone on your tail, you bastard?
As soon as the tone went consistent to indicate a good lock, I squeezed the trigger once, feeling the slight jolt as the rocket motor ignited and the missile left my right wingtip. I watched as it traced across the sky and arced towards my opponent, only to feel that familiar twinge of disappointment in my gut when he suddenly seemed to yank his aircraft around ninety degrees at the last possible second, sending the glowing orb of my missile off into the distance. As his nose came back around towards me I didn't dive for the deck like before, instead I kicked my fighter up and to the left just as that 30mm cannon of his came to life, shredding the missile mount on my right wingtip before I could get it out of the way. It didn't phase me though as I spun my Gripen onto its back and pulled down, activating my guns. Once the gunsight came up and was on him, I pulled the trigger for a single second, sending a dozen 27mm cannon rounds at him. He managed to spin away, but not before I saw a few bright sparkles of exploding MINE rounds slam into the space between the two engine intakes. He seemed stunned a bit by that hit as he didn't maneuver too much even as I circled around and came back on his tail, but he started to move around again once I uncaged the heatseeker on my other Sidewinder.
This time, instead of firing right away once I got a good lock on I let stew for a bit with the sound of the missile alert in his headset. I had an idea that he would avoid it the second I fired, but I wanted him to know what the last sound Brownie had probably heard before he killed her. After a few seconds I released the missile, and sure enough he threw that Flanker of his into a steep diving turn and fired off a series of countermeasures, causing my missile to fly off into the sky and explode harmlessly. But as soon as I fired that missile, I swung my aircraft up and into a climbing barrel roll, then pulled the stick back as soon as I was inverted and pulled down towards the ground, my gunsight up and and my finger hovering a skincell away from the trigger, ready to blow that bastard away.
Or I would have, if fate hadn't intervened to save his miserable life.
Just a millisecond before I would have pulled the trigger, a bolt of purple lightning arced out from the clouds and made contact with my Gripen, causing my electronics to sputter and fizzle like they'd been doused in water. Despite this I pulled the trigger, but the strike had short circuited the circuit and my guns remained silent. Before my systems could reboot, the Su-30 arced up and into the same cloud that had spawned the lightning bolt that had saved him, then vanished without a trace as I watched helplessly. Once I regained control of the aircraft I brought the wings level again and stared at the cloud that had prevented me from taking my vengeance, the same hot anger flooding back into me like it did that day over Chopinburg.
"DAMN IT!"
I swore violently as I ripped the mask from my face as I silently raged at the cloud, before Bandog's voice broke through my anger and brought me back into the present, causing me to turn back towards the egress bearing that we had agreed upon before the sortie. My hands tightened around the stick and throttle before I reached up and pushed the visor back up and away from my eyes as I felt the tears moisten my eyes, only to growl in annoyance as Count can't seem to keep his trap shut for once in his life.
"Trigger, kindness gets you killed."
Usually I would have a good comeback to one of Count's sarcastic comments, but the anger at having failed this time is too much to deal with at the moment, causing me to grab my mask again and bark out a reply that startles everyone, including me.
"Shut the hell up, Count."
It has the desired effect though, and for the rest of the flight back to Zapland I'm allowed a moment's peace from even Bandog, though I notice gratefully he shuts down attempts by Cyclops 1 to engage me in a conversation. Good. I can't deal with anyone else right now. Not when I failed her.
I'm sorry, Brownie...
A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this little vignette I cooked up, please feel free to rate and review as it is my first time, and I'd love to see what I can improve.