Wing and a Prayer
Ch3
**Lightning**
I kept my cool as I maneuvered my jet to match the captain's F-15, but it isn't easy to keep up with somepony who is flying a jet far faster than yours, the tight turns and violent pitches took their toll on my body, I was worried more about dad though, I was young and my body could take this abuse, dad however, was 37. Well, I guess I shouldn't worry too much, after all, he did make it this far into training, and barracks seemed to be handling well, and he looked older that dad! Still…I couldn't shake this feeling that something bad was going to happen to him…
Training was over, and it was time to land, I went through landing checks and lined up with the runway, until I heard control tower radio in about 4 planes that needed checking out, we turned around and headed to where we were told to intercept, the planes had some weird markings I hadn't seen before. The captain radioed to them, telling them to land at our base, but they went complying, finally we got the clearance to engage, and the jets scattered.
I broke formation, immediately targeting a bandit on my 1o'clock,, I heard my missile lock siren wale as my prey came into my sights, I released an AIM-9 Sidewinder missile his way, and it zoomed up his tailpipe, detonating and turning his plane into an exploding fireball of hot shrapnel. My first kill.
"That's a kill for me!" I exclaimed
I was excited about my first kill,, but there was no time to celebrate, there was still three bogeys in the sky, I looked around and saw my wingman Blaze flying after a jet, he seemed to be struggling for a lock on, I decided to go in and help him, but spectrum took that opportunity, swooping in and taking out the enemy in a few maneuvers.
"Thanks for the help spectrum!" I heard blaze say
She was a tough mare, the only one who managed to make it on our squad, I respected her.
"Two down two to go, nice work spectrum" I complimented
I looked to my six and saw the captain being trailed by a bandit, he turned left and right but the enemy jet stayed on his tail, then, the captain pulled a maneuver that probably would have killed us rookies, he pitched up violently, decreasing his airspeed, putting him in a stall, his F-15 dropped, and the enemy zoomed past him, then he punched the throttle again and pitched back up out of the stall and putting him right behind the bandit, and with one missile, he ended it…
"that's three" said the captain
"wait weren't there four" I asked
That's when I heard it, my dad shouting over the radio..
"I'm being targeted! He's got me locked! GET HIS ASS OFF ME!"
I looked around and saw him, he dad a bogey trailing him, I turned hard in his direction, and prayed to Celestia I would make it. Punching full throttle I caught up to the enemy jet, but I made a mistake, a mistake that can prove to be fatal, I overshot the enemy, he took advantage of my flaw and switched to targeting me.
"SHIT" I called out "HE'S ON ME!"
I turned left and right, pitched up and down, doing all I could to keep the bandit form locking me up, I did split-s turns, loops, reverse split-s turns but nothing seemed to work, then I heard the most dreaded sound a pilot can hear, the sound of a missile warning siren, frantically I pumped out chaff and flares, hoping the missile would fall for them. It worked, the missile trailed off into the clouds following a flare, but the jet was still on me, and there was still a missile lock siren screaming in my headset, I prayed for help, and that's when I heard it, an explosion and a flash of light behind me, I looked back fearing the worst, but instead of seeing my planes backside on fire, I saw the bandit dropping out of the sky.
"who took him out" I wondered,
Then I saw an allied fighter fly overhead, it was dad, he managed to get on my attackers six and take him out, I let out a sigh of relief.
"thanks da" I said "I owe you that one"
Finally, all the jets were down, we landed at the base, I kissed the ground, never so happy to be out of the air, the fight had shaken us up, but we shook it off and got some rest.