Chapters The first light of dawn killed the darkness of night, as the sunlight covered the runway of the Magnus Airfield, located about 20 miles Northeast of Mt. Canterlot; the geographic location has the airfield from enemy sights, plus the Northern side is just plain ice, the last thing in the diamond dogs' plan is to cross the Northern Mountains; however, the temperature around this region would drop below zero when midnight hits, and the maximum temperature during daytime is 27 degrees Fahrenheit. The pilots would have to heat up their jet about half an hour before their patrolling mission.
But this time, no more slow heating.
Alarm hit as the once lone airfield immediately flooded with pilots and ground supports, each of them, with flight suits on about twenty minutes ago scrambled to their hanger. The ground support crews got onto the Vipers first; heating up the electronic systems and the engine with the ECS. The external tanks were needed as their plan would be following a long-range bomb run. The pilots were already up two hours ago, with their mission briefed; their main priority was launching a ground strike on the diamond dogs' military facilities near the front. Gallus had a nervous look on his face, although it was not his first mission and his first blood, it was his first time leading a squadron; after Rainbow Dash retired, Gallus, as the second in lead, became the head. However, he's into doing things with as little hesitation as possible, the Griffon closed the canopy, turned on the HUD, and started the engine. The ground crew removed the obstacle as his Viper slowly gilded forward. He checked his flaps, then the engine status, last the weapon selection; Standard double 9x, two AMRAAM dash C, two sets of three GBU-39s, and two external tanks. The Super Hornets would be the lead of this attack as they had already destroyed the S-300s and their radars, then the A-10s would destroy the diamond dogs with their lead storm, and lastly, Gallus's squadron would knock out all the remaining enemy facilities.
"Tower, clear the runway, and began the take-off procedure." Gallus connected the radio, as he glided towards the runway, behind him were Archangel 2, 3, 4, and 5. Archangel 1 is obviously Gallus, 2 is a hippogriff name Seattle, 3 is a Pegasus name Lighting McRay, 4 is a Changeling name Clickbug, and Archangel 5 is an Abyssinian named Razor. Gallus's wingman is Razor, these two had been flying since the Equestrian-Griffon war, they together are two killing machines.
"Archangel 1, this is the tower, runway cleared, attitude restriction lifted, clear to take-off."
"Archangel 1 copy." Gallus then pushed the throttle to its max thrust, he felt the Viper shake as the fuel was being pumped into the turbofan engine as the afterburner roared. The viper advanced forward slowly, then upon reaching 130 knots, nosed off first, airborne. Gallus then maneuvered his aircraft towards his 3 o'clock, where the Archangel Squadron would form out and begin their operation.
Soon after, the remaining fighters formed behind Gallus, "Archangels proceed to the mission, Warthogs just finished their close air support, now it's up to you guys." Tower briefly acknowledged them.
"Wilco." Gallus responded, "Archangels form up behind me."
The formation continued to climb until they reached the attitude of Angel 45, Gallus gazed at the warmish orange paint on the clouds, and as the first rays of the sun cast his shadow on the control panel, they were heading South towards the Appaloosan Mountain range, where the front is located.
"Alright, listen up boys, we got some juicy targets to hit today," Gallus began, swallowing the nervousness as he remembered Dash's pieces of advice, "but don't go playing hero just cuz the Super Hornets knocked off the S-300s for us, there might still be some hidden Buks, Goas, or triple-A in the area." Gallus could still remember that time when he was painted by a Buk, he was a rookie at that time and barely notched the missile.
"Righto cap!" McRay replied, his voice still the same mix between cocky and confident.
"Better keep that fiery altitude of yours down for now," Archangel 2, Seattle spoke up, "We all know what happened at the Red VS Blue two months ago."
"Yea pal, don't wanna fly straight into the SAM again this time.", Archangel 4, Clickbug popped into the conversation.
"That was an accident, geez..." McRay murmured.
"Archangels, hate to break the fun but..." Gallus glanced at the data link, "We're about 5 minutes from reaching the targeted airspace, keep your senses sharp; it's a mountain range at the end of the day, plus it's known to be the paradise for the SAM sites."
Tension rose in the cockpit, except for Razor and Gallus, the rest of the squadron was on their first hunt, which made Gallus even more anxious.
Suddenly, five blue dots popped into the data link, MccRay was the first to jump, "Are these the bandits?"
"Hold on Archangel 3, that's the Warthogs returning from their mission." Razor sighed, "I believed I briefed it through already, but I'll repeat it since some of you knuckleheads still bears the risk of shooting down a friendly; On the data link, our allies are marked blue, the bandits would be red, and the bogeys are yellow. Copy?"
"Right, sir..." MccRay replied.
"Damn, I can already see the smoke." Clickbug noticed, "They sure wrecked the hell outta the pups down there."
"Well, that's war alright," Seattle replied.
"Archangels, precheck the payloads, get familiar with your targeting pods, we're going in." Gallus's voice rang as his plane ignited its afterburner and dived down. The rest of the squadron followed smoothly, well, almost, if we were to ignore MccRay's wobbling wings.
"I have the targets in the pod," Razor said, "ten in total; three ammunition storages, three hangers, and four unknown facilities."
"Drop the four facilities first, those might be where their leaders' are hiding." Gallus ordered, "We're now 43 nautical miles and approaching."
He then switched to Air to ground mode as he locked onto a facility, with the radar cursor showing a solid diamond shape; the target is being tracked perfectly. Gallus kept his eyes on the 'Time on Target' indicator, as the numbers shrunk rapidly, his talons moved closer to the pickle.
"Pickle!" Gallus lightly pressed the pickle as two SDBs jettisoned from the weapon racks, their foldable wings spread immediately as their GPS navigation system guided their way down.
The rest of the Archangels dropped their payloads as well, ten SDBs are gliding perfectly to their targets.
Meanwhile, down below, in one of the facilities; A diamond dog base commander is in fury, "Where the buck are our planes?! I thought our 'superior' fifth-gens were out!!!" The four lower-rank officers stood there with their heads down, but their trembling paws betrayed their emotion. It's a slap in the face of the Diamondia Caninia, before the war they were all out setting up propaganda and bragging about their newest 'Su-57' stealth fighter and their upcoming Su-75 Checkmate, and saying how they'd be Raptor killers and shit. Yet there they are, being bombed the heck out of and the Felons are nowhere to be seen.
Sure fits their role as 'stealth' fighters.
Suddenly, they heard a crack on the ceiling, before they could look up, they heard giant explosions as their world went dark forever.
"Direct hit!" Razor reported, "Good kills."
The ammunition storage went up with massive fireworks, hangers were crushed along with the remaining aircraft, and as for their leaders? Well, they're down at Tartarus having a tea party.
"Nice work Archangels, all targeted facilities are knocked out," Gallus sighed in relief, "check your fuels and RTB."
Now their jobs are done, however, Gallus's internal frown deepened instead. Where the hell are their SAMs at? They should've been shot at when they approached the airfield, yet none of them were painted. These SAMs won't kill themselves unless the Warthogs finish them... Or... they might be purposely leaving this area clear for...
Gallus's eyes widened, Plus there were fewer fighter aircraft than expected, where did they go?
Then, as if confirming his theory, his RWR began to sing a horrible song, "Shit! We're being painted! Archangels jettison all heavy load outs and began evasion!" gallus called out as he pumped the two external tanks and the remaining SDBs off while defending down. The Archangels followed as they spread out. The rookies were a bit chaotic since it was their first time engaging hostile missiles.
"Smoke in the air! Smoke in the air!" MccRay's call made Gallus's heart-rate sprint up, he looked to his five o'clock, a smoke trail was approaching them from the skies behind, seems to be coming from the mountain range. Ambush!
"Damnit..." Gallus gritted his beak, "Archangels attack!"
About 10 minutes ago, on the other side of the Appaloosan Mountain Range, a squadron of four Diamondian-painted Su-35s are circling this area. They are indeed the Skull squadron that is stationed at the airbase right next door, however, instead of sprinting to protect their airfield, these guys had other ideas.
Their co-leader, an experienced pilot who scored five confirmed kills over Equestria, whose callsign is Bandog, came up with this idea; which at first was disagreed by the rest of the squadron. Their intense nationalism and militarism ideologies forbade them from abandoning their territory. However, after knowing that their enemies were a squadron of F-16, C variants, their minds changed.
Not only does their F-16 are the older versions, but also the pilots in the box; a bunch of rookies led by only two experienced ones, in comparison the members of the Skull squadron had been through several combat situations. Their pride and extreme nationalist viewpoints overwhelmed their senses.
"Oh come on, find us some other worthy targets." Skull 3, a cocky hotshot grunted, "Uggghh! Just thinking about wasting my time on some rookies is making my blood freeze..."
"No shit Skull 3, the Equestrians are out of their minds, sending their young bloods to die." Skull 4, a somewhat normal diamond dog sighed, "Don't they care bout' their pilots? I knew their brainwashing method would screw themselves up."
"I don't think we need the boss to show up," Skull 5, their squadron leader's fanboy replied, "the Equestrians are digging their graves here."
Their chatter was cut as a radio stutter came through, "Huh, I thought they'd last longer." Skull 3 scoffed, "Base's down, so we're up or what?"
"Alright, time to clean the mess, Skull Squadron search and destroy!" Bandog ordered, as his jet pulled up toward the exit of the mountain range, Skull 3 groaned as he followed, and the rest of the Skull squadron immediately moved in.
Bandog's radar blimped the moment he was in the clear sky, "Tally 5, 10 o'clock, angels two-one, let's give em somethin' to think about."
He switched to the longer-ranged R-77-1, locked the first bandit up, and fired, "Fox 3 on the leading bandit!" The rest of the Skull squadron fired as well, "Break!" Then they spread wide open like a blossom of death, each heading towards a bandit they'd locked up.
Switching back to the Archangel squadron, each of the members had their tail glued with an incoming missile.
Gallus grunted as he hit a high-G notch, in which the R-77 lost track as it exploded mid-air, "Archangels status report!"
"I notched it!" Comes Archangel 4.
"Phew! Close call..." Comes Archangel 5.
"I'm good squadron leader!"Comes Archangel 2.
"I'm trying... Holy-" And then it was cut off by a radio stutter.
Gallus's heart stopped for a second, "Archangel 3 do you copy over?!" It was silence for a few seconds before Archangel 3 went back online, "Ugh, the shards got me, uh, the engine isn't functioning right."
"Archangel 2 cover Archangel 3, MccRay RTB." Gallus sighed in relief, however, the constant radar warning prevented him from speaking any further, "Tally 4, 3 o'clock! Angel one-five and closing in hot! Engage bandits!"
Then it was when streams of rounds passed through the air around his cockpit, then he merged with the bandit, "Merge! Bandit is a Flanker!"
The two aircraft merged as they went to a split-S, with the Flanker taking verticle and the Viper descending. Gallus had seen how thrust vectoring works as he tried hard not to lose too much airspeed, the Flanker's nose pointed at him before the Viper could pull his. A stream of rounds came flying by, due to the distance it all missed.
Gallus peered over the HUD, airspeed is about 380 knots, just have to be careful not to cross the 350 knots line, his beak gritted as he felt pressure crushing his head.
The Viper's nose finally came back around and was met with the Flanker, the two whizzed by into a two-circle. Gallus had a plan in mind, instead of pulling the bandit into the HUD he was driving toward the Flanker's high six. Another stream of rounds flew by followed by a Fox-2 shot, Gallus calmly popped the flares as the missile went for the decoys. However, the Viper has the upper hand now, with each circle closing in, the Viper has the Flanker tighter in its grip.
The battle is closing to its end as the Flanker was unable to pull the Viper into a nose-on, Gallus saw the chance, and he wasn't gonna let it slide. Seeing the Flanker now dropping toward the ground, he went full pulling the HUD onto the bandit. The air brakes were opened as the Viper's nose swung onto the Flanker.
"Fox-2!" A single 9x was launched as the Flanker went desperate, dumping all the flares as he can, but unfortunately for him, he was facing a 9x.
A fireball erupted as the entire left wing got torn off the Flanker. No ejection, the flames have already engulfed the cockpit.
"Splash 1 Flanker." Gallus then turned towards the rest of his squadron.
"Archangel 5! Get him off me!" Clickbug's desperate voice rang through the radio.
"I can't! Got my six plenty!" Came Razor's voice, with two Flankers on his tail. Two of them snatched his six o'clock tight, flares and streams of rounds were everywhere. Razor gritted his teeth, he notched another R-73 as he hit a high-G maneuver, now having his brakes out. One of the Flankers went overshoot, taking this chance, Razor pulled it into the HUD.
"Give me tone, give me tone..." Upon hearing the missile growl, Razor pressed the pickle, "Fox-2!"
The missile went straight up the Flanker's engine, before the flame could engulf him as well, Razor made a hard dive left. However, the Flanker following him lack reaction time and flew right through the fireball. Its engines coughed a couple of times before completely shutting down, after a failed attempt to restart the engines, the Flanker pilot ejected.
"Splash two bandits!" Razor then searched wildly for Clickbug's plane, "Archangel 4 hang on!"
"Damn it! I can't get him off! He's good alright!" Clickbug panted as he constantly hit high-G, his airframe shook as streams of leads whizzed passed them, leaving several smoking holes. His aircraft shook as the engine began to cough.
"I'm hit! Not critical though! I can still-" Before Clickbug could finish his sentence, his engine blew up.
"Archangel 4! Eject! Eject!" Razor cried as he chased after the Flanker who shot down Clickbug.
About five seconds later, the wrecked F-16's cockpit blew open, as a changeling went flying out with his parachute opened. gallus immediately called the search and rescue party, however, Clickbug would have to deal with his own survival problem until the party gets here...
Inside the Flanker cockpit, Bandog had a dark expression on, "Can't believe they got taken out by these rookies... huh, the one with blue streaks on the tail is a bit challenging." After taking out that F-16. Bandog was immediately engaged by what appeared to be his wingman, "It doesn't make any difference though." He then breaks right, driving the Viper along with him. He looked up upon the rear mirror and saw a smoke trail approaching his tail fast, with a scoff and a few pumps of flares the missile went stupid.
"Skull 1 where the fuck are you?" Bandog gritted his fangs, although he has no problem taking on this Viper yet it was getting on his nerves, "It takes you this long to pick your target?!"
"...Hold them off a bit longer..." A deep voice said through the stutters of the radio, "I'll take on the blue-streaked one."
"Yeah just hurry the hay up." bandog said as he pull the stick back while decreasing the airspeed, his vision went from horizontal to vertical, and his eyes peered over the side, the Viper had overshot. Bandog has been practicing the Cobra in an effective way since the war began, and had taken out several bandits with it, he's confident that this one would be no different.
Pushing the nose down horizontally, he lined up the bandit with his HUD, hearing the tone he smirked as he pressed the pickle, another kill mark.
Meanwhile, Gallus, once again, was being radar locked.
"Shit! There's another bandit?!" Gallus gasped as another high-G turn rammed against him, the missile then went whizzing past his cockpit, exploding in the distance, "Archangel 4 status report!"
"He's glued onto my tail! This guy got something..." Razor's voice came, followed by exhausted pantings.
Gallus couldn't reply back since he was merged again by a Su-30 with a skull painted on the side of its nose. The two aircraft clashed with one another, circle after circle, round after round...
Razor isn't any better than Gallus, his wing took a hit from the shards before, it must've hit the fuel tank, and now white smoke is trailing off. Bandog, who was getting impatient with his bandit, laughed manically as he landed several shots on the Viper's airframe, but to his surprise, the Viper is still flying.
"Enough air show, the next shot will end this," Bandog growled as he waited for the tone, his paw on the pickle, Razor had dumped all his flares, a Fox-2 shot at this range would definitely kill him.
Suddenly, his RWR began to scream loudly, Bandog's heart missed a bit, where?!
It was too late.
Bandog's jet exploded.
Razor looked back as he sighed in relief, "Thanks, Gallus! I owed you one!"
"What the hay was that?! It's not me?! Ugh! This bastard's still onto my six!" However, Gallus's frustrated reply send the Abyssinian into confusion and fear.
"Return with your wingman now," A new voice he'd never heard before suddenly broke into his channel, "I'll take over."
"Who the hay are you?" Razor, although having suspicion, did as he was told. If that's from an enemy he's dead already.
"It doesn't matter right now, do your job and I'll do mine." The mysterious voice ended the conversation.
Gallus, although confused by the sudden withdrawal call from Razor, broke off the dogfight and dove down, with the Flanker following close behind. Skull 1, the eldest and the deadliest member of the Skull Squadron frowned at the sudden unusual move of his bandit, something told him this is a trap. However, before he could break off, the RWR screamed.
This time, however, he was met by yet another Flanker head-on. Turning his jet to the side in time, the two Flankers merged,
Skull 1's eyes widened, it cannot be...
With its thrust vectoring and canards going full power, the Su-37 Terminator turned back the circle almost instantly, its yellow wing tips and the bright '013' on the side of its nose sending chills along Skull 1's spine.
"Das Gespenst..."
Skull 1 knew he have to react fast, this guy's not to be messed with. His memories flooded his brain; from the day he enlisted in the Diamondian Air Force many moons ago, he has been told an Urban Legend about a 'Ghost'. At first, he simply laughed it off, thinking it was some fiction that the old birds made up to freak the rookies. That was until that very day... When he was on the airfield, he saw it with his own eyes; A smoking Mig-29, with the Diamondian camo, was desperately trying to shake off a bandit. The bandit was closing in fast, it bite hard on the Fulcrum as if it was glued onto it, despite the Mig's all-out effort, a single missile ended its miserable life.
Then the bandit made a hard dive down, it pulled at least 8G, and it was coming towards the airfield. Skull 1 could still remember its color; bright yellow wingtips, with the devious number 13 labeled on the side of its nose... This... 'Ghost' wrecked all of the hangers with its payloads, then soared off into the distant skies, disappearing from our radar.
After the attack, Skull 1 met the survivor; one of the old birds that told him about the 'Ghost'.
The surviving pilot told him, that they were on an air-to-ground attack mission, and they were halfway to their targets when it came for them.
"It... It happened so fast..." , the survivor's trembling voice said, "The... The Ghost just swoop in like a shark... each bite took out one of our planes..."
"Did you guys fight back?" Skull 1 asked.
"It's no damn use..." The survivor took a shaky breath, "It fired all of its missiles, then gunned the rest of us down one by one... It's... Desperate... Honestly, I still have no idea how I made it back in one piece..."
The survivor committed suicide a day later, he's been traumatized so deeply, the night before he killed himself, he has been screaming maniacally about the 'Ghost' coming for his soul, and some other shit that can be heard from a mentally unstable stallion...
That's when he realized...
Skull 1's mind snapped back into reality as his RWR screamed in full volume in his ears. Despite his trembling paws, Skull 1 immediately took a hard break left while dumping chaffs and flares. However, despite his RWR's continuous scream, there's no sign of smoke trails in the air. He's toying with me?! Skull 1 finally understood why that poor guy committed suicide, it's too much for a mortal brain to take in... He felt as if his heart was about the burst open, then, his plane shook as streams of rounds whizzed past his tail, which torn 1/3 of it down.
He snapped.
"AAAAARGGHHHHH!!!!" Skull1's eyes became red with blood vessels now flooding his sclera, "FUUUUCK YOU GHOST!!!" He then pulled hard onto the stick, now taking verticle, "DAAMMNN YOU!!!" His desperate plan is to stall the bandit out, although doing so would put him at a disadvantage as well. However, the Su-37 is still maintaining the same safe distance behind Skull 1's six. Finally, the Su-30 stalled out first.
Its nose fell straight down, Skull 1 has lost his mind, in range, he fired a stream of rounds toward anything in front of him, but of course, it hit nothing. The 'Ghost' opened its brake as it magically turned a smooth half-circle down. With the RWR once again screaming, Skull 1 pulled his plane horizontally and began to aimlessly roll. while dumping large amounts of flares.
Skull 1 doesn't know how long it has been, time itself is as if was wiped out of existence, Skull 1 looked toward the back mirror, however, there was nothing behind him, and at the same time, his RWR stopped screaming. Everything went dead silent.
Skull 1's mind began to cool off, Where? His heavy panting filled the cockpit with anxiety, then it went downhills.
He felt a blast behind him, then the jet went out of control, his stick wouldn't respond, the HUD turned off, and the fire alarm went crying out loud, "NO!!! AT LEAST LET ME SEE-" Then the second explosion occurred, and the entire cockpit was blown to pieces. Out of the smoke and debris, the Su-37 rose into the air from the bottom, using the same tactic he use to take out that one Diamondian squadron many moons ago.
The Terminator continued to survey the airspace, inside the cockpit, through the dark visor, showing a calm pair of eagle eyes. Wind Blade looked down at the data link, so far so good, and slightly disappointed at the quick death of that unlucky bandit, Wind Blade shook his wings as he prepared to turn back. Suddenly, his date link blinked, however, it disappeared a second later.
"Another group of bandits..." He murmured as he flew towards the bandit group, "Stealth fighters huh..."
On the other side of the airspace, the group of bandits revealed its identity; another squadron of Diamondian fighters; their wide wing spread, split tails, thurst-vectoring capable engines, and the 'stealth' paints, it'd appeared that the Diamondian forces finally decide to let out their fifth-gen Su-57 Felons.
The Bulker Squadron is one of the most unique squadrons of the Diamndian Air Force; not only is it the first unit to arm its newest stealth fighter, but its members were also handpicked by the Air Force colonial himself as elite members from each regular squadron. Before switching their aircraft to the Su-57, each Bulker Squadron member flew Su-35s, before their war, they use to go to flight schools in Equestrian, in which they learned and acknowledged some characteristics of the Equestrian aircraft.
They were kept in secret by the military with their explanation being 'to keep the best in check and use it in the right moment', this angered the Bulker Squadron; each member was dedicated to their nation and felt as if they were a joke now. As a result, after they received the order of engagement they were onto their target really fast.
However, when they got there, all they saw were wreckages and smoke, as if someone had just swooped in and stolen their food.
"Something isn't right, said Bulker 1, the leader, "Bulker 3 and 4 go survey the airspace sector 24. Bulker 2 and I will go for sector 13." The formation then splits as the pairs part ways. On their way here, Bulker 1 received an order to take down a single bandit which had taken out the Skull Squadron, instead of nervousness or confusion, the Bulker Squadron all went hotshot mode; These members were brainwashed and can be extreme when they're onto something.
However, their radar wasn't picking up anything, which made Bulker 1 frustrated, "Ugh, I thought they said the Felon's max scan range is 400 kilometers."
"Bulker 1, this is shittier than I thought." Bulker 2 groaned, "Ya know, after all that we did for them, they just send us off like a death squad or some other bullshit..."
"Whatever they said, just get this over with and we'll get the hell outta there." Bulker 1 sighed.
Suddenly, radio static from Bulker 3 and 4 came, it lasted several seconds before becoming completely silent. Bulker 1's heart missed a beat, "What the hay? Bulker 3 and 4, status report!"
However, continuous radio statics is what came to reply.
"I wouldn't be surprised if this thing gets blocked by some jammers, heh." Bulker 2 scoffed sarcastically, "Bulker 1, excuse me cuz I'm gonna look after the boys myself." He then broke off formation towards the airspace where Bulker 3 and 4 are last contacted.
"You better pull your head outta your ass Bulker 2," Bulker 1 groaned as he followed his wingman, "I'm not gonna look after your six this time."
When the two Felons got to sector 24, all they saw were clear spaces, no sign of Bulker 3 and 4.
"They went into the mountain range didn't they?" Bulker 2 sighed.
"Hold on, are those..." Bulker 1 turned his aircraft upside down, and what he saw made his eyes widen, "Shit..." he murmured.
"Why do I see two wreckage on the damn floor?" Bulker 2's voice came through in a frustrated tone, but was immediately swapped, "Huh? Hold up! Can't be, this... how?"
"Bulkers 3 and 4 have been taken out, I don't see any SAMs nor receiving radar locks anywhere!" Bulker 1 grunted as he lowered his attitude, after a closer look at the wreckage, he sighed, "Yup, they're goners."
He then turned to look at Bulker 2, who was flying right above him, "Bulker 2 can you-" His sentence paused dead in his throat as he saw a fireball rained down from where Bulker 2 once flew.
"BULKER 2!!!" Then he saw the attacker, it shot out of the sides of the cliffs, a Su-37, with yellow wingtips and-
"HAH! THE GHOST!" Bulker 1's blood began to boil, "SO YOU ARE REAL!!!" He then went full thrust chasing the Terminator, "NOW I'M A BELIEVER! HAHAHAHAHA!!! I DON'T GIVE A FLYING FUCK ABOUT YOUR IDENTITY! BUT THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE GHOST EXISTING IN THIS WORLD! I'LL PROVE IT TO YOU!!!"
The two aircraft clashed with each other, the duel began with a merge.
Water vapors formed along the wings of the Felon as extreme G forces were being crushed onto the airframe, its thrust vectoring squeezing everything it'd got, flaps are down, and the pilot in the box straining his stamina... The Su-37 Terminator is in the same condition, and their same thrust vectoring caused the two aircraft to enter what seems like an endless dogfight.
Hearing the short-lived tone, Bulker 1 fired his missile, its infrared seeker lost track almost immediately when the Su-37 did a sudden 9G turn in the opposite direction. The Felon repeated the high-G turn as well.
It's now no longer a duel of aircraft, but a duel between two Ghosts...
With the victorious one being the final writer of its final legend...
The Felon made a slight decrease in airspeed, the Terminator caught the chance; a missile came whizzing past the Felon as it exploded a few feet away, one of the shards left a long scar along the smooth surface of the Felon's airframe. However, the Felon's nose made a sudden uppercut as air dragged the aircraft backward towards its enemy, which the Su-37 dodged, however, the tide has been turned with the Felon being on the offensive.
At least that's what Bulker 1 thought.
"YOUR MINE!!!" Bulker 1's crimson eyes nearly explode upon seeing his current status, he pressed the pickle as a Fox-2 shot followed by a stream of gun rounds burst toward the Terminator, however, his wishes did not come true. The Su-37 made an unbelievable stall maneuver as it flipped above the Felon, two flips is all it took for the hunter to become the hunted. Of course, the missile could not handle such a sudden load of extreme G forces and went stupid.
"AAARGGGH!!! WHY WON'T YOU DIE!!!!!!!!" Bulker 1 screamed in rage as he did a hard barrel roll to the left while dumping flares, dodging an incoming missile. The two fighters went up, down, left, right, diagonal, high roll, negative dive, cobra, and extreme overload... All that they could think of... 30mm rounds whizzing past each other, and the explosions of failed missiles, they all turned this duel into a concert of death.
"GHOST!!! I FOUND WHERE I BELONG!!! AHAHAHA!!!!" Bulker 1 exclaimed through the radio as if this can be heard by the Ghost himself, "AFTER ALL THAT I SERVED FOR MY NATION!!! THEY ENDED UP DUMPING US LIKE SOME STREET DOGS!!! WE FIGHTERS HATED BEING USED AND TRASHED, IT'S NOW!!! I FOUND THE REAL PARADISE!!! LET'S FIGHT FOR THE REST OF THE ETERNALTY!!! WAGHAHAHAHA!!!!"
However, what he wanted to say after was cut dead by a cold voice through the channel.
"Great speech, but it ends now."
Bulker 1's mind exploded, followed by heavy panting and his gradually hoarse voice, "ENDS NOW?!?! I DON'T FUCKING THINK SO!!!" With his final desperation in an attempt to reverse the hunting role, the pilot in the box has unlimited and infinite potential, however, the Felon has already reached its critical point...
With an explosion from the air intake, one of the engines broke down.
"NO! NO! NO! NO! NOOOOO!!!! AAARGGGGGHHHH!!!!" Bulker 1 screamed as if he was being taken over by the devil itself, "I'LL KILL YOU! GHOST! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!"
Ghost's reply to that was simple.
A missile went straight into the dying Felon's remaining engine, it penetrated through the structures of the airframe as it ignited inside of the aircraft, setting off the fuels.
"THIS WILL NOT BE THE E-"
The Felon was torn inside out with a huge fireball.
"Splash..." Came to the same calm yet cold voice from the Su-37, however, if listened closely, a sense of exhaustion and tiredness can be heard from a simple word...
The Ghost won another battle, however, it's his last...
Not everything could handle such stress, Wind Blade knew he ended this fight in time, otherwise, the wings of the Su-37 would've come off. Windblade breathed heavily through the oxygen mask, his legs, and talons were slightly shaking, not from the dying excitement of dogfighting such an entertaining opponent...
But from his dying body...
Author's Note
Attention, we're nearing the end of the story of Wind Blade.
But off to a new story of the new generation of the 'Ghost.'
Gallus waited near the runway, with the rest of the squadron members beside him. Archangels landed safely, and MccRay's plane returned without starting a fire. Now, they're waiting for the search and rescue party. Although they trusted Clickbug's independent personality and his ability to get himself out of trouble, the Rescue party officer did tell them as a heads-up that he might not make it back due to the harsh environment of the frontline, plus there's no record of the Diamond Dogs showing any mercy to their POWs.
"Say, wanna bet whether Beatle's gonna get back in half-hour?" MccRay suggested, although sounding harsh, the squadron knew his attempt to raise the team spirit.
"Appreciate that Mac," Gallus sighed, "I did promise you boys to get each and single one of you home."
The squadron then fell into silence. Time ticked-toked by as anxiety slowly began to take over, MccRay looked pissed, Seattle had a dark expression, and Razor placed a comforting paw onto Gallus's shoulder. Gallus's talons trembled in anger, towards himself of course.
Suddenly, MccRay's ears perked up, "Hold it, you heard that?"
The sound of rotors came closer, a small black dot appeared on the horizon. As it flew closer, it was soon revealed as a Black Hawk. The squadron, despite their nervousness, went up the hovering chopper. As the dust was blown onto their faces, Gallus rushed up toward the cargo door, and together with another ground crew member, they opened the door.
"Ah you lucky sonnova!" It revealed no-creature other than Clickbug himself, however, a bleeding bandage on one of his bottom hooves signaled a great story to tell them.
"Yea, some bastards snuck up on me, I took care of them though." Clickbug let out a stuffed breath, his voice is still a bit shaky from his wild, wild run behind the enemy line.
"Glad your here dude! You're good now." Gallus patted his shoulder as he helped the Changeling on his hooves with MccRay, "Let's get you to the medic."
"HANG ON!!! UNKNOWN AIRCRAFT APPROACHING FAST!!!" Suddenly, a sharp call from the tower made everyone jump, "EVERY CREATURE TO YOUR STATIONS- Wait, that's a Su-37."
That's when they heard the roar of jet engines roaming past their heads, each looked up and was met with a pair of familiar yellow wing tips.
"The Ghost!" Gallus's eyes blinked in surprise.
The Su-37 did a slow yet smooth turn towards the tower, buzzing it so fast that one of the poor stallions spilled himself all over with coffee. It then aimed towards the runway with its landing gears and air brake extended.
"CLEAR THE RUNWAY! MOVE IT! MOVE IT!" Gallus shouted as they backed off.
The Terminator aircraft touched the runway with a loud screech of the tires then it began slowing down as the engines decelerated. The ground crew and pilots rushed towards the slowing aircraft as the Terminator glided slowly back towards the hanger with one stallion with light sticks.
The Cockpit slowly opened as the engine shut down completely, the same old bird that Gallus once saw slowly yet shakily walked himself out of the ladders. Suddenly, one o his legs went numb and he fell backward, two medics immediately rushed forward as they took away his helmet and stuffed his face with an oxygen mask. White vapors can be seen appearing and disappearing rapidly as the legendary pilot breathed heavily as if he was dying.
About three seconds later, Wind Blade ripped the mask off, "Ugh, enough with this muffed-up piece of shit, I'm still breathin'..." He then saw Gallus, "Oh hey boy."
"You went up there?" Gallus asked, with admires in his voice.
"Yeah, I'm still a little excited, ha!" Wind Blade laughed, "Quite an entertainment, oh, by the way, Gallus, you're a good Squadron leader."
"Wait that was you?!" Razor's eyes widened, "Holy- Whoa, just... Wow."
"Still got a long way for you kid." Wind Blade landed a heavy slap on Razor's shoulder.
The pilots slapped each others' shoulders, laughed, and walked themselves to the debriefing room...
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"Are you still going to fly for the ERAF?" Gallus asked.
"Nah... Old bones like me aren't a match for the young stallions up there." Wind Blade shook his head, he then sighed while looking up toward the starry night sky. After the debriefing, they were invited to the bar to have a drink, however, Wind Blade dragged Gallus to the runway to have a chat, the others acknowledged as they went on.
"You know... I'm not getting up there... Ever again..." Came Wind Blade's calm voice, however, a sign of sadness can be heard in his tone, "The medics told me that my insides aren't functioning as normal anymore... Probably due to the UV rays or some other shit from the high altitude flight and those high-G hits."
'Wind Blade-" Gallus started, but was cut off by the old Griffon.
"No, young birds like you aren't meant to be on the ground," He said with a chuckle, "your generation is more suitable than me. I felt it when I killed that guy, my bones and muscles screaming for a halt, my eyes blurring out, and my nerves rattling... It all led towards that one automatic death sentence for a fighter pilot..."
Silence.
"I'm grounded... Permanently."
Then there's a long period of quietness.
Wind Blade shook his head lightly, a bright smile on his face, "Don't think too hard about it, it's how things work. The old gets replaced by the new, blah blah yata yata..."
"But... We won't have a Ghost anymore..." Gallus murmured.
"Eh?! Who the fuck told you that?!" Wind Blade's volume suddenly raised.
Gallus jumped, Wind Blade sighed as he took a deep breath, "Listen, kid, I'm only gonna say this once..."
"The Ghost is not one, but of all of the Equestria... The Ghosts existed not in physical form, but in the minds of every soldier; It's a spirit, an everlasting fighting spirit of defending things you viewed as precious... The Ghosts never cease to exist, from time to time, generation to generation, tale after tale... Whenever the old Ghosts passed on, new Ghosts were born. Everywhere on the battlefield, every soldier, every pilot, every medic, every officer, and everyone who believes in those who fought for them... Despite not knowing who there were..."
He then looked at the young blue Griffon, "Now, tell me Gallus, who are the Ghosts?"
The young Griffon thought about it for a long time, with the answer in mind, he looked Wind Blade straight and firm in his eyes.
"We are the Ghosts."
Author's Note
Inspired by the fictional legend of the Ukrianian Ghost of Kyiv, although we may not know who they are, what we do know is that they're men and women, each dedicated to defend their land from the hellfire of war.
Respect for every Ukrianian soldiers out there. Be safe. God help Ukriane.
