Convergence

The Four F-15E Strike Eagles quickly made their way across the desert.  Along the way, Alex found himself glancing at the convoys that could be occasionally seen moving towards the portal.  He swallowed nervously.

Are we really doing this?

The question rang in his mind.  Slowly, different words began to ring through his head.

I pledge allegiance… Alex grunted, To the Flag, of the United States of America.

To the Flag? What did that mean anyway?

And to the Republic, for which it stands.

Republic?  The republic that he liked to remember would never attack a country without any provocation.

One nation, under God.

God. Alex somehow doubted that God would be very happy with murder.

Indivisible, with Liberty and Justice *FOR ALL*.

Alex wasn’t sure what this was, but it most certainly wasn’t liberty, or justice.  Alex slowly shook his head.

“Attention Devil and Striker teams, this is Magic, prepare to enter the portal, over.”

The Eagles dispersed themselves, getting in a long, single file line.  Alex and James, also known as Striker one one, were third in the formation.  Alex watched the first two jets soar through the hole, and then they dove in.  He noticed a change from the last time; a radio tower had been erected on both sides of the portal, with a cable feeding through the portal, connecting them.  He had heard that transmissions couldn’t penetrate the portal, but apparently that worked.

The formation formed up again on the other side of the portal.  The target had been described as a large fortified city built next and onto a mountain, codenamed “Atlantis.” Alex and James both knew the real name; Canterlot.  The jets soared ever closer to the city.  Alex switched the weapons systems to ground attack.

What the heck am I doing?

“Striker one one, this is Devil one one, we will commence the attack on your mark, over.”

WHAT?

Alex and James blood ran cold.

“Devil one one, I was told you were squad leader over.”

“Slight change of plans, Striker team, you lead the formation.”

The Eagles of Striker team edged forward, while the two Devil team fighters took up a trail position.

“Target is in sight striker one one, prepare to fire.”

James fingers hesitated on the controls of the jet.

“Target is locked.”

In the cockpit of Devil one one, Captain Newt spoke.

“Striker one one, fire now.”

The lead Eagle did nothing, then;

“No.”

“What did you just say?”

Alex disarmed all anti ground weapons, disgusted that he had ever equipped them in the first place.

“No, I refuse to fire on a city full of civilians, belonging to a country that has not provoked us in any way.”

In the cockpit of Devil one one, captain Newt flicked off his IFF.

The transmission from Striker one one continued; “And I’m afraid that I can’t let you do that either… sir.”

“Striker one one, you are in violation of a direct order, release weapons now.”

“Negative.”

Captain Newt pulled the trigger.

A missile blazed from the left wing root of Devil one one, sailing through the air towards the disobedient fighter.  James yanked back on the stick, popping flares.  The missile soared past the jet by a few yards, as the F-15E began to climb.

“Magic, this is Devil one one, Striker one one has gone rogue, repeat, Striker one one has gone rogue.  Striker one one is hostile, over.”

Colonel Desjar, otherwise known as “Magic”, was stunned by the transmissions from the attack team.  Slowly he put his head in his hands.  What the heck was going on with the world these days?

Captain Newt’s plane trailed Striker one one, desperately trying to line the plane up in its sights.  James handed waited on the controls of his fighter.  Eight thousand… nine thousand… NOW!  James killed the throttle and opened his air brakes.  The F-15 dropped, no longer maintaining enough speed to climb.  Newt cursed as he overshot the rogue fighter.  James’ finger curled around the trigger; a stream of twenty millimeter bullets impacted Newt’s fighter, right between the engines.  The plane exploded in a shower of smoke, fire, and debris.

James then pushed forward on the throttle, and dived towards the ground, recovering lost speed.

“Magic, this is Devil one two, repeat, this is Arrow, Striker one one just splashed Devil one one, repeat…”

Magic was unresponsive.  Suddenly another voice broke through;

“Arrow, this is Jackpot, splash Striker one one, repeat splash Striker one one, take those traitors down!”

“Copy that Jackpot, moving to destroy.”

  Alex watched the two other Strike Eagles turning towards them.

“Dang it guys!  Don’t shoot at us; we’ll have to shoot back at you!”

A loud beeping indicated a radar spike locking onto the jet.  James swiveled back to look at Alex.

“Looks like they’re going with the shooting option.”

James banked the eagle over, trying to get on top of the jets.  The pair broke in two, splitting up.

“This isn’t going to be easy…”

Alex started shouting into his helmet once more;

“Stop, everybody just stop, cool down, we don’t have to kill any more of our brothers today.”

“Dang you Alex!  Why couldn’t you two just drop the freaking bombs!  Now Newt and his RIO are dead, and you two will be soon!”

“I don’t freaking care!  It’s wasn’t the right thing to do!  If some hyper advanced alien race discovered our planet, I wouldn’t want them to go bombing our cities!”

“SHUT UP!  ALEX, JUST FREAKING SHUT UP!”

The two eagles were going head to head now, directly towards each other.  Missiles came from both planes.  James looked up to see the hostile rocket pass between his aircrafts tail fins, missing by inches.  Then he looked forward.  The air to air missile impacted Devil one two square in the cockpit.  The explosion completely vaporized the front of the plane.  The wings and tail section fluttered lazily down to the ground.

Suddenly, the lock on warning filled the cockpit of Striker one one.  Alex turned to look.  Directly behind them was the last remaining F-15.  The missiles adorning its wings glared at them, ready to immolate the rogue fighter.  Alex slowly closed his eyes and waited.  The shots never came.

The pilot of the other fighter, Bill Quiency, could suddenly be heard on the radio;

“Fox two, Fox- wait, what the?”

There was a slight pause.

“Dang it Jonathan, rearm the missiles!”

Alex opened his eyes again.

“Wait Bill, we don’t need to kill anyone today.”

“Dang you!  Those traitors shot down Devil team!  Rearm the missiles!”

“And you and I would have done the exact same thing if we had been shot at.  Cool off man, we can think about this.”

“Darn it, you will be court martialed when we get back!  I don’t need you anyway!”

A burst of Twenty millimeter fire sprayed from the fighter, barely missing Striker one one.

“Well then, I’m sorry Bill, but I’m afraid I have to do this.”

“Do what?  Wait, No wai…”

The transmission was cut off as the canopy burst off of the trailing Strike Eagle.  A pair of ejector seats followed in short order.

Both Alex and James could tell that Jonathan had been the only one ready for the ejection.  Bill must have had his neck twisted to look back at his rebellious RIO when the seat punched out.  The crew of Striker one one turned their gaze away from the mangled result.  Jonathan himself; however seemed to be doing fine.  A parachute soon deployed above the falling man.

The crewless F-15 turned over, almost lazily, before plummeting to the mountainside below.

“I have a chute.”

James stared at the slowly descending man.

“Who are you telling that to?”

“I,” James hesitated, “I have no idea.”

Alex looked down at Canterlot, his eyes drawn to the long road in the middle of the city.

“Same plan?”

James banked the Eagle towards the City.

“Same plan.”

<(^)>

“But… but why did they fight each other?”

Twilight was bewildered by the sudden turn of events.  Princess Celestia turned her gaze to her most faithful student.

“I think...”

Both ponies looked up as the only remaining plane banked over the city, its landing gear deployed.

“…That we are about to find out.”

<(^)>

“You’re telling me, that not only did Striker one one go rogue, but they also managed to shoot down all three other aircraft that accompanied them?”

The unfortunate messenger gulped.

“Well, technically Mr. President, Striker one two bailed out, there was nothing to indicate that”

“Dang it man!  The effect is still the same!  Now, not only have we lost four fighters, we’ve also managed to give one to our enemy, and we’ve lost the element of surprise.  It also puts us in damage control mode.  If we tell the men that Striker one one went rogue, there will be more… unrest.  And, if we tell them they shot the four planes down, then they’ll think that these ponies have some miraculous anti-aircraft system.”

The President rested his head in his hands.

“Get me General Anderson; I want to talk with him immediately.”