Chapter 14

(Jet's POV)
The next morning Natalie and I rolled up to the edge of the landing strip only to have to argue with the race official about our engines sending a blast of fire behind us. After a few minutes of arguing the officials agreed to have us launch from a parallel airstrip so that when the other racers took off one by one they wouldn't be injured by our jets. Nat and I rolled up to our positions with Nat slightly ahead of me because of her placing and waited for the other racers to get into position. Once everyone was in position Dusty was signaled to launch and he was shortly followed by Ripslinger and once he was in the air we were signaled to launch. Natalie went down the runway at full throttle with me close behind. Once we were airborne my radar picked up the other racers launching from the runway behind us. I quickly flew next to Natalie before we both nodded and sped forward taking Ripslinger by surprise as he was passed on both sides. After we had passed Ripslinger we moved into a fighter formation behind Dusty and stayed in that position as we went thru the obstacle course throughout the German country side. This leg of the race would have gone by without any further incident but that was not true because as soon as Natalie and I crossed over a mountain range and leaving Dusty behind us an air raid siren went off in a nearby german military base. At first we thought that it didn't concern us but we were proven wrong when German fighter planes where heading our way.
"Attention unidentified aircraft. You are entering a restricted area. Turn back now or we will open fire."
"Woah woah woah. Hold on dude we are in the wings around the globe rally and currently we are in first and second place.."
"Standby."
After a few minutes of silence with the squad of German jets tailing us the radio crackled to life.
"Your clear to proceed. Squad fall back to base and you two follow me through the restricted area."
"Yes sir."
"Right behind you Jet."
All of the German jets broke pursuit and left us alone with their commander. We slowed down to let the commander pass us then we formed up behind him.
"so you two are the jets everyone is talking about. It seams like you two have all of the nations watching in anticipation to see how the race will end."
"really."
"Yeah. Everyone wants to see if the jets have the skill to beat the best prop racers."
"cool."
"Well here's the edge of the no fly zone so I'll let the two of you go now."
"Thanks for the escort sir."
"No problem. Good luck."
With that the commander broke formation and returned to base while we continued on with the race. When we reached the end of the obstacle course Nat and I floored our throttles and used our boosters to add speed. I started to pull ahead of Natalie with my superior speed when a Mach cone started to form in front of me.
"Nat! Fall back. I'm about to break the sound barrier."
I heard the sound of her air-brakes activating then the Mach cone imploded. The sound was deafening as the loud boom sent out a shockwave to my sides and behind me. I looked back to see Natalie struggling to stay level as the shockwave hit her. As I flew on I noticed that she was getting farther and farther behind until she was just a spec in the sky. When I looked forward again I was surprised to see another Mach cone forming with it being with two cones instead of one. The only downside was that I was approaching the finish line for this leg of the race fast and if I didn't slow down then a lot of glass was going to shatter as well as causing me to shoot past the airport. I started to apply my own air-brakes when the worst thing happened. Both Mach cones imploded causing a very loud double boom while at the same time the sudden burst of speed damaged my air-brakes with the semi audible sound of metal screeching as it bent back. Everyone on the ground winced at the two loud booms while others near windows dodged away from them as they shattered. As I continued to pick up speed I attempted to apply me air-brakes again but all I got was the sound of the air-brakes struggling to move. As I shot over the finish line everyone cheered but I wasn't feeling so cheerful as I had no way to stop immediately and with my air-brakes out I couldn't land safely. I kept calm as I started to circle the airfield and lower my throttle. After about five laps I was back to about normal speed but I still needed to slow down. It was at this point that everyone was wondering what was going on as I kept circling the airfield.
'Um Jet this is the air control tower. What are you doing up there? You've already crossed the finish line so you can land now.'
"Sorry tower but I can't land without possibly crashing."
"WHAT! Why?"
"My air-brakes got damaged and I can't use them to slow down to a safe speed."
'Do you need emergency crews to help you land?'
"I don't think that will be."
I was cut off by the sound of my low fuel indicator blaring an alarm at me telling me that I was on empty. Then my engines lost power with the turbines slowing down with a dying whirr.
"On second thought tower I will most likely need the emergency crew cause um. I JUST RAN OUT OF FUEL!"
'Roger jet. The runway is clear with emergency crews standing by.'
"Alright I only have one shot at landing."
I lined up with the runway just as my momentum started to slow down and putting me into a glide. I slowly made my way to the landing strip and was about to touch down when all of a sudden a strong wind came up and lifted me up higher off the landing stripe. I was running out of useable runway when I made a split second choice that could possibly disqualify me. There was nothing in front of me but open fields with no buildings for miles so I did the only thing I could think of to push me back. I opened fire using the training rounds to prevent damage to anything nearby. There were several screams and gasps of terror as my main guns opened fire while at the same time I felt myself get pushed back from the recoil. After a few seconds of firing I was out of rounds but it did the trick as I landed on the airstrip and engaged my brakes immediately as I skidded across the airstrip with my back wheels fish tailing. I was rapidly approaching the end of the airstrip with everyone holding their breath as I drew ever closer to the end. At the last second I fired a single test round that was left in the chamber. The recoil was enough to stop me on the very edge of the airstrip with there being only inches between my wheel and the edge of the airstrip. Everyone including me released our breathes as the near tragic crash was avoided. My vision went blurry as the adrenaline started to wear off and the emergency crew rushing towards me. The last thing I saw before I past out was Natalie landing with an excited smile only for it to turn to a look of worry when she saw me being surrounded by emergency crews.
(AN) Cliffhanger. Will Jet be OK to race or will he be pulled out of the race for being armed or from damage; who knows. Until next Time.