Location: Somewhere above Central California

Unit: The Winged Hussars, 355th Fighter Wing

Date: July 21th, 2021 CE

"Shit!" An A10 pilot called out, damning the anti-air crew, "Hotel-1, can you distract the AA gun?"

Wolf responded, "I can try," Wolf paused, "Hotel-4 put up a smoke screen, Hotel-5, how many fireworks have you got left?"

Hotel-5, Firework, spoke, "Uh, just the one!"

Immediately Kalinichenko flanked the cannon, flicking a switch, and a large trail of black smoke jetted out the back of the modified MiG29; her engine started to glow red. The thick black fog now completely covered the vision of the anti-air battery.

Suddenly Fireworks F35 whizzed overhead, letting off a single entity off his left wing. Before the crew could recognise the incoming threat, it passed overhead. Dropping several smaller devices. Flashbangs.

Landing among the aircrew, they popped. A blinding white light filled the crew's eyes.

The remaining three bringers of death opened fire no more than a second later.

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRTTTTTT!

The Rotary Cannons span, releasing a large mass of high explosive ammunition. Shredding through skin, bone and steel, nothing could stop it. The Hogs carried out their runs, leaving mangled bodies and exploded weaponry. Within a single run, the beasts of the sky had destroyed any threats to their air power.

An A10 pilot cracked a smile beneath his helmet, "Tangos evaporated."

Rockslide checked his scanners, "No movement detected, heat signatures fading."

As Rockslide looked from his sensors, his cockpit started to rock.

VAADDUM!

The Gun imploded causing hot streaks of shrapnel to be blasted hundreds of metres into the sky. Rockslide tried to keep control, fighting nature, he attempted to keep the aircraft control stick straight.

"Dammit, dammit all!" he cursed his stupidity and luck, "My sensors are broken and my hull seems to be peppered with shrapnel. I'm going down!"

Wolf's eyes widened, "Eject! quickly!"

"Mayday, Mayday, Mayday!" Rockslide repeated before hitting his ejection button.

Suddenly the canopy of the F35 blasted in the air and the chair followed. The explosions in the cockpit propelled the pilot into the air as the fighter jet went down and smashed into the ground.

Wolf watched with worry, "Something feels wrong..." he trailed off. The main parachute, it wasn't opening...

The falling pilot scrambled in panic, desperately hitting the back of his chair, "Open god dammit! Open!"

Rockslide, looked towards the ground... it was approaching fast. There was nothing he could do but keep on hitting it.

Then, it opened, no more than 100 metres from the ground, and it finally opened. But it was too late. There wasn't enough time, he couldn't slow down.

All the pilots watched in horror, Wolf yelled, "NOO!" as the seat smashed into the tall trees and the parachute came off the seat.

Wolf's mouth dropped at the sight he just saw, before his eyes, he'd just seen what he assumed to be the death of one of his pilots.

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A call came over the radio, from the convoy, "Hotel-1 we have several groups of Bandits inbound! break. We need you to intercept and hold them off."

Wolf's veins went icy cold, "Fine, I'll deal with them, Hussars. Defend the convoy from any that get past," He pulled the control stick to the rear and his F16 jolted into action, "And most importantly, don't die."

Ghost began to speak, "We're all pissed, but don't get --"

Wolf flicked a switch and the communications went silent.

He continued towards the enemy formation, as he came into view he counted thirty no... forty. But in return, he smiled removing his oxygen mask. Flicking his stick to the left, his aircraft span around dodging a single missile.

Immediately letting off a burst of rounds from his machine gun, two enemy fighters exploded. The huge fighter group broke formation, going to surround the lone fighter pilot. Firing a single rocket towards an enemy fighter, it launched off the wing and propelled itself through the air. Slamming into its target, the aircraft exploded.

Putting his aircraft into full throttle, the jet unleashed hell onto the enemy, machine guns galore, and lead filled the sky. Several more aircraft were peppered with bullets.

Another missile.

The F16 used its flares and the missile lost track of the aircraft, exploding in mid-air.

Immediately coming around, he critically strikes another two aircraft. As Wolf looks around he noticed his wings peppered with bullet marks, then behind him, several NZA fighters attempted to shoot him. But they were missing.

Wolf shook his head realising he was on autopilot, what he was doing wasn't skill, it was instinct.

He put his aircraft into a straight ascend, shooting into the sky.

The enemy aircraft followed, there were three of them. Suddenly, he slowed down his aircraft. The enemy fighters flew past narrowly dodging the Polish Pilot.

Firing off a barrage of unguided rockets, all three aircraft were wiped out.

***

"What the hell!" one of the ground Operators called out. Diving behind cover he watched the aircraft dance through the night sky. A single F16 was dropping enemy fighters and taking bullets like it was nothing. The operator felt a sense of pride, watching the American-made jet withstand so much fire.

"Get down Jackson!" One of the other Operators called out, "Or you could take this!"

The second Operator threw a Stinger FIM-92 surface-to-air missile, at the Delta Operator named Hubert Jackson. Catching it, Jackson slung it over his shoulder and readied to fire.

"Firing," Jackson spoke before pulling the trigger, immediately a rocket shot out the front, locating its target, its speed increased. Attempting to flare, the enemy pilot engaged in invasive manoeuvres. But the Stinger followed.

Suddenly, the missile hit. Causing the enemy aircraft to go up in flames.

Another aircraft flew overhead, releasing thick black smoke above the soldiers. A MiG. Following it close behind another enemy aircraft passed over the troops. Suddenly the MiG pointed towards the sky, releasing the remaining smoke.

The enemy just carried on, desperately searching. But it was too late. The enemy aircraft exploded, in front of the crowd of Delta Operators. Going up in a column of flame the cockpit shot into the ground while the rear part tumbled in the air before exploding.

A message came through the radio, "All troops, retreat to the convoy, we are leaving!"

Jackson, carrying his M4 and the empty stinger ran towards nearby JLTV, climbing into the back seat, tapping the driver on the back, he spoke, "Get us the hell out of here!"

The driver nodded and reported they were ready to move.

One of the pilots spoke in a male Ukrainian voice, "Understood, but one of our pilots has turned off their communications and we lost one, in an unexpected crash."

The Operator next to Jackson spoke into a radar, "Understood, we should still have four escorts left correct?"

The Ukrainian spoke again, "Sir, we can't leave until we either confirm a crash or he breaks off his attack."

Jackson spoke, "Sir, respectfully, maybe we should hide for now and wait till the skies are clear."

The Operator that sat next to Jackson was the Master Sergeant of this Delta Force team and the current highest ranked soldier in this platoon as well as the one in charge of ground protection forces during the operation to recover enemy technology.

The Master Sergeant turned his head, "Respectfully," the Operator said in the least respectful tone, "Shut the fuck up," before he turned back to his radio and spoke again, "We don't have time for this, we are leaving."

The vehicle went dead silent, no response came for a few seconds, then the Ukrainian voice came back sending shivers down the spine of the whole convoy, "Respectfully Sir... I'd advise you to take the advice of your subordinate, the A10s can make it back to friendly lines faster than the enemy can intercept and they should need to refuel soon as well."

The Master Sergeants felt himself choking on the thick atmosphere around him, he couldn't respond. He hadn't had his radio on, so how had this pilot heard his argument? Unknowingly to them, Ghost had bugged every Delta Force vehicle to keep an eye on the convoy.

Jackson was shocked at what he just heard, a Delta operator being scared into submission, over a radio, by a foreign fighter pilot.

The Master Sergeant suddenly recovered, "I'll have your ass fired for this."

The Ukrainian over the radio just laughed, "You can try."

The American leader cursed and sneered into the radio while speaking, "Fine, you have five minutes."