Quoted By:
You follow the escort, banking to the slight left. Then, just ahead, you spot it. Another Panther, this one equipped with plenty of rockets. It’s a risky move, but you come screaming out of the sky, just off the escort’s wing. You power through, throttle locked at MIL. (-1 Fuel) The earth comes up at you, as you put the tail of your enemy in your sights. You inhale, hold, pull trigger, exhale.
Twin 23mm and a single stream of 37mm tracers rip through the centerline of the aircraft, then you dive below it. Behind you, it bursts into flames and lumbers towards the ground. You don’t keep your head turned around long enough to see the crash, but you heard the low roar as something exploded.
[KILL CONFIRMED]
Kill Tally: 1
Your airspeed rises, almost reaching red. You keep going. The tracers rip around you, the escort you passed, finally catching up, overshoots. It chases you, firing, then crossing to your left. You don’t pull into it, instead continuing to speed away. (-1 Fuel)
[Current Fuel]: 49
Dawn is starting to break, and as you look back and right to the burning wreckage, miles away, the glint of another fighter comes into view. A wingman! Coming to help the Panther who was back and to your left. You reassessed the situation, if you turned to engage, the wingman would surely catch you in its guns, having lost all your energy. You knew they wouldn’t be able to out-speed you, but if you dared to turn back now, you’d lose all energy, and be caught up in their game, not yours.
You…
>Disengaged. You weren’t sure if more were coming, and even with the extra fuel, you wanted to land safely. You got a lucky kill, you weren’t ready for the rigors of air dueling.
>Turned to engage. You had fire in your soul. That was enough to match your enemy!
Something on the avionics panel blinked, then you saw it. Your radio! You hadn’t noticed the headset in the night, hidden behind part of the cockpit paneling, but something was hailing you now, and you donned it the headset.
“-on Manta 2, let’s-.... turning, these kids don’t know when to quit… Hang on… I think they’re listening.”
A female voice, calm and collected, spoke to her wingwoman, the escort who had just missed you. Your chest heaved, your lungs in your throat. You tasted blood. The sun glared into your right eye. The sun was rising.
“Manta 1, he’s right there! Go and get him!”
“Shut up-! ….Oh little pig~ I can see you now, are you listening? That was some show you put on! Sneaking up on us like that, well done! Please, come back and play… I’ve been waiting for more fresh meat to butcher!”
Her voice was sick and sultry, full of malice.
You…
>Clicked the receiver, and held a heading that kept you close, but out of interception range. (Write-In Dialogue)
>Continued your heading silently, not acknowledging the strange voice on the radio at all.
>Wagged your wings, showing you could hear, but didn’t respond.
