Ch 2

Cossette watched as the lone fighter landed and headed towards her, as if the pilot wanted to run her over. The plane stopped and the occupants came out. She smiled upon seeing her fellow students, Alma and Ionela Shilage.

"Madam princess." Mihaly said, saluting his Commander in chief.

"No need to be so formal." She said.

She smiled and motioned for the girls to approach her. The trio began to sing an old Erusean song in the native Erusean language.

Mihaly's face showed no emotion, yet he was happy for his granddaughters. They clearly adored the princess and looked up to her. Schroeder looked at the scene, and realized that he still didn't know Mihaly. His nation was completely conquered by Erusea, yet he didn't seem to care at all.

"What do you care about, other than your granddaughters and squadron, you old terminator?" The Dr said to himself.

"Erusea's area 51, Kapustin Yar, and Edwards AFB rolled into one." Cossette said; she was given a tour of the facility and made references to the top secret air bases that Osea and Yuktobania had.

"Isn't much to look at. This base was used as a test site for EASA. Now it's home to the elite Sol squadron." Schroeder said, as they approached Mihaly's fighter jet. Her eyes were drawn to the electronics device that occupied the second seat. She could only imagine how difficult it must be to fly a plane that required two pilots.

Entering her office, she noticed how Spartan it was compared to her room at Farbanti. It cemented the alien situation she was in. She put the dress away and swapped it for a t-shirt and some pants, and opened the door when Ionela and Alma came in.

"Princess, me and Alma were going to practice some gymnastics. Want to watch?" Ionela asks.

"Sure. I'd love to watch." Rosa said.

Outside, Rosa and Mihaly watched as the two girls moved and contorted their bodies, Ionela being the better gymnast. Mihaly quickly pulled out some sticky notes and furiously scrubbed on them. Rosa looked over and saw some words with arrows on the paper, and realized he was writing air combat maneuvers.

She also noted he was wearing a shirt that said 'I have beautiful granddaughters. I also have a gun, a fighter jet, a shovel, and an alibi.'

"You two are very good. How long have you trained?" Rosa asked.

"Several years. I was watching the Yuktobanian gymnastics and decided I want to try it." Ionela said.

Mihaly turned around and headed to a hanger that housed an Su-37. He climbed into the plane and rolled down the dirt tarmac and into the clear skies.

"What's grandpa doing?" Alma asked.

"He's going to perform his gymnastics routine." Rosa answered.

The three watched as he performed acrobatics that defied the laws of physics, pushing the plane's envelope. Even though the 'Terminator' was near the end of its life span, Mihaly showed why it's still to be feared and respected.

"In Yuktobania, the laws of physics obey you." Rosa sarcastically said.

"There's no way a plane can fly like that." Ionela said.

"Ionela, you just did an oversplit. Most humans can't bend their legs like that."

They watched as the jet headed towards them and pitched straight up and the rotated ninety degrees as if it was tethered to the ground via the nose. The jet continued to perform several aerial cartwheels, as if it were an alien ship instead of a normal plane that was bound by the laws of physics.

Mihaly straighten out his routine and was about to give another display when the fuel alarm went off. Annoyed that he didn't fill up on fuel, he proceeded to land his bird. Parking next to the other planes, he stepped down from the cockpit and was approached by his ecstatic granddaughters.

"That was amazing! How can you do all that?" Alma asked.

"Years of practice and experience. Also a jet that is built for such a thing. The Yukes sure know their stuff." Mihaly answered.

"You performed cartwheels in mid-air. How's that possible?" Ionela asked.

"3-d thrust vector engines. With those, you have access to maneuvers and stunts like none other. But acrobatic flashy stunts do not help in air combat. I remember when I first flew for the Erusean air force. There was this guy, a Mr. Bandini. Cocky bastard. He was an aerobatics pilot. Skilled and had potential, but way in over his head." Mihaly said as they headed inside to eat.

"I take this story doesn't have a happy ending." Rosa said.

"Right on that. He barely survived his first sortie. A Phantom jumped him and almost killed him. And this driver was good. Very good. He knew his plane inside and out, and seemed to anticipate every move Bandini did. Of course, the fucker couldn't believe that someone could be as skilled as him, and fly an F-4 as good as he enemy did. I had to save his sorry ass." Mihaly said, eating a sandwich.

"And next?" Alma asked.

"A few battles past, and the guy just wouldn't shut up about his supposed skills. J had enough and challenge him to a duel. He was flying an F-16, and I chose an F-4."

"Colonel, I have to interrupt but we hardly have any knowledge of the planes you're talking about. Could you enlighten us?" Rosa asked.

"The F-16 is a small and highly maneuverable fighter, though not in the league of the Yuke flankers. The F-4 is a flying brick. That's one of its nicknames. So we had our duel. And I kicked his ass from one end of the base to the other. He was humbled at that point. Or so we thought." The Ace answered.

"Let m guess. He wasn't." Alma said.

"Bingo. We were jumped by enemy planes, and I gave the order to retreat. The enemy had the initiative, and we were loosing planes left and right. Bandini was jumped, and the only way to escape was to outmaneuver his enemy. He was killed before he could blink. All that aerobatic flying doesn't prepare you for real combat, especially when it's up and close." Mihaly said, starting at his coffee.

"You must have seen a lot." Rosa said.

"Three wars, including this one." He gruffly replied