Introduction 1.4
-Introduction- 1.4
You held the skid for what felt like an eternity, the control column threatening to jump out of your grasp all the while the fighter moved sideways in the air. The airspeed indicator on your control panel ticked down as drag took it's vicious toll, and your altimeter wobbled threateningly.
The Tessari plane streaked past, it had already been burning hard to catch up with your faster jet, and the enemy pilot was obviously unwilling to put their craft into a similarly dangerous maneuver to drop speed and maintain a firing solution.
The blood began to pound in your head, whilst your hands felt cold and numb. Finally the nose began to move back in your direction of travel, and you threw the throttle forward to power out. The Super Shrike was ahead of you now, and beginning a dive to try and extend out and escape your engagement cone.
But it was too late.
Unintended or not, the skid had put you right on the other plane's tail. The HUD pinged pleasingly and a green lock diamond formed around the rapidly diminishing shape.
"Fox two." You shouted again into the mic, and thumbed the firing stud.
The missile thundered off it's rail and sped hungrily towards the glowing hot tail pipe presented to it. The Tessari pilot must have heard their own warning receiver go off, and tried to evade. But it was no use. With a flash the missile ignited it's warhead, blotting out the Super Shrike' silhouette with a burst of orange and white.
Youm waited a moment as your breathing returrned to normal, and then murmured "Splash one bandit." into your mask. Entirely forgetting to hit the send button on the radio.
Now unengaged you pulled your plane into a climb to regain altitude, only briefly looking over your shoulder at the greasy fireball that hung in the sky. A lifetime ago back on the tarmac you had thought you would be exultant now, happy at your first kill. Now however a prickling feeling tugged at your gut, as you thought about how easily that could have been you.
You banished the thought as soon as it wormed its way into your head. There was no room for doubts right now, they could kill you as surely as a bullet. You scanned the sky in front of you, trying to see how the battle was progressing.
Four enemy aircraft remained aloft, twisting and turning to try and get good firing angles on your squadron mates, whilst they attempted the same in turn.
You could see that Rook 1, old Harold Rook himself, the squadron commander, was dueling with a pair of them, using his Spectre's powerful twin engines to mount fast slashing attacks that seemed to be keeping both his opponents off balance, and unable to manuver into firing positions.
Rook 2 however was in trouble. Poor Winston Yang had an enemy Firefly buzzing hot on his tail, and he was having to take his Kestrel lower and slower to avoid its target lock. Eventually he was going to run out of room and airspeed, and then the Tasseri pilot would have him.
You were about to turn your nose in that direction when a strained shout came over the radio.
"Hey Rook 3! I've got a bandit turning hard on me." It was Rook 4, Erin Brocke, your Wingman. "I'd really appreciate it if you could come swat him off."
You checked the radar display for a heading, and twisted your head in that direction. Rook 4 was still high up, in almost entirely the opposite direction to the stricken Yang. She was indeed in a twisting corkscrew chase with the Super Shrike that had escaped your first missile. Neither aircraft currently had the upper hand, but were both vulnerable if a third party interrupted their dance like maneuvers. You had two missiles left and enough altitude to comfortably engage either enemy.
What do you do?
[] Aid Yang
[] Aid Brocke
[] Aid Rook 1
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A/N: So because you held the skid, which is an even better air speed bleeding manuever than the slip roll (albeit a lot more dangerous), your other two rolls were both under target and so you were able to achieve a firing solution and with a perfect six o clock shot your missile guided to target.
You held the skid for what felt like an eternity, the control column threatening to jump out of your grasp all the while the fighter moved sideways in the air. The airspeed indicator on your control panel ticked down as drag took it's vicious toll, and your altimeter wobbled threateningly.
The Tessari plane streaked past, it had already been burning hard to catch up with your faster jet, and the enemy pilot was obviously unwilling to put their craft into a similarly dangerous maneuver to drop speed and maintain a firing solution.
The blood began to pound in your head, whilst your hands felt cold and numb. Finally the nose began to move back in your direction of travel, and you threw the throttle forward to power out. The Super Shrike was ahead of you now, and beginning a dive to try and extend out and escape your engagement cone.
But it was too late.
Unintended or not, the skid had put you right on the other plane's tail. The HUD pinged pleasingly and a green lock diamond formed around the rapidly diminishing shape.
"Fox two." You shouted again into the mic, and thumbed the firing stud.
The missile thundered off it's rail and sped hungrily towards the glowing hot tail pipe presented to it. The Tessari pilot must have heard their own warning receiver go off, and tried to evade. But it was no use. With a flash the missile ignited it's warhead, blotting out the Super Shrike' silhouette with a burst of orange and white.
Youm waited a moment as your breathing returrned to normal, and then murmured "Splash one bandit." into your mask. Entirely forgetting to hit the send button on the radio.
Now unengaged you pulled your plane into a climb to regain altitude, only briefly looking over your shoulder at the greasy fireball that hung in the sky. A lifetime ago back on the tarmac you had thought you would be exultant now, happy at your first kill. Now however a prickling feeling tugged at your gut, as you thought about how easily that could have been you.
You banished the thought as soon as it wormed its way into your head. There was no room for doubts right now, they could kill you as surely as a bullet. You scanned the sky in front of you, trying to see how the battle was progressing.
Four enemy aircraft remained aloft, twisting and turning to try and get good firing angles on your squadron mates, whilst they attempted the same in turn.
You could see that Rook 1, old Harold Rook himself, the squadron commander, was dueling with a pair of them, using his Spectre's powerful twin engines to mount fast slashing attacks that seemed to be keeping both his opponents off balance, and unable to manuver into firing positions.
Rook 2 however was in trouble. Poor Winston Yang had an enemy Firefly buzzing hot on his tail, and he was having to take his Kestrel lower and slower to avoid its target lock. Eventually he was going to run out of room and airspeed, and then the Tasseri pilot would have him.
You were about to turn your nose in that direction when a strained shout came over the radio.
"Hey Rook 3! I've got a bandit turning hard on me." It was Rook 4, Erin Brocke, your Wingman. "I'd really appreciate it if you could come swat him off."
You checked the radar display for a heading, and twisted your head in that direction. Rook 4 was still high up, in almost entirely the opposite direction to the stricken Yang. She was indeed in a twisting corkscrew chase with the Super Shrike that had escaped your first missile. Neither aircraft currently had the upper hand, but were both vulnerable if a third party interrupted their dance like maneuvers. You had two missiles left and enough altitude to comfortably engage either enemy.
What do you do?
[] Aid Yang
[] Aid Brocke
[] Aid Rook 1
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A/N: So because you held the skid, which is an even better air speed bleeding manuever than the slip roll (albeit a lot more dangerous), your other two rolls were both under target and so you were able to achieve a firing solution and with a perfect six o clock shot your missile guided to target.
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