This one may be a bit controversial. Wrote this in the spur of the moment five days after watching Russia invade the sovereign country of Ukraine.

"Krait 22, Krait 23. You are not authorized for take-off. Shut down your engines and abort immediately!" Came the call from the Polish ATC Tower at Air Force Base 32, located roughly 400 kilometers from the Ukrainian Border. In the cockpit of the A-10 Warthog registered as Krait 22, Flight Lieutenant Ian Wake scowled.

"No can do, Tower. We have the equipment and know-how to help those people, and I'm tired of watching people die for one man's madness. Court-martial me when we get back, I'm blowing up some Reds!" Was his reply, openly declaring his intent to do what no one else would or could.

Before the Tower could respond to his declaration, the American Pilot swapped radio frequencies, tuning in to the plane-to-plane channel with his wingman. "Ready for this, Black? No going back now!"

"Damned straight, Wake! I just hope my wife understands why we did this..." the Flight Lieutenant grunted his agreement, rolling the throttle forward and listening to the twin General Electric TF34-GE-100A turbofans scream with power.

Thanks' to Poland's almost universal Ready Status in the face of Russia's Invasion of Ukraine, when Wake and Black had slipped into the hangar where their planes were stored before dawn, they'd found the planes already fully loaded with munitions on the off-chance they were needed.

As the two heavily loaded planes took to the skies, their pilots carried in their hearts the knowledge that if or when they returned, they would likely never fly again. It was worth it.

When Ukrainian Early-Warning Systems detected two unknown contacts riding low and slow north of Kyiv as the sun rose, a pair of UAF MiGs were sortied to investigate. When those MiGs arrived on scene, they found a pair of fully armed A-10 Warthogs cruising straight towards the nearly 40 kilometer long Russian Convoy outside Kyiv.

Radio contact was initially ignored, but when one UAF Pilot closed to a distance small enough to communicate via simple hand signals, contact was finally established, albiet only briefly. The lead plane broadcasted two words, then cut contact again and broke away. Those words were "Slava Ukraini!"

Half an hour later, fireballs bloomed on the horizon, reconnaissance units reporting that the lead section of the Russian Convoy had been hit by heavy air attack, and that a large section of the road had been blocked or destroyed in the action.

Less than an hour later, Starokostiantyniv Air Base in Khmelnytskyi Oblast reported two unknown aircraft requesting permission to land, reportedly the same pair of Rogue A-10s that had been spotted earlier that morning. After verifying the identities of the the two planes, landing authorization was given, and the two pilots were welcomed to Ukraine with offers of drinks bought.

Written 03/01/22