CHAPTER THIRTEEN Shoot The Enemy

24 hours later, they were on the carrier.

"Gentlemen, this is bull's-eye. The communication ship SS Layton has become disabled and has wandered into foreign territory. A rescue operation is to begin within the hour. Your mission is to give air support to that rescue. There are MiGs in the area, and tensions are high. If you witness a hostile act, you will return fire. Those MiGs carry the Exocet anti-ship missile. They can fire that missile from 100 miles away." Stinger explained to them. "Gentlemen, this is the real thing. This is what you've been trained for. You America's best. Make us proud." He continued.

Kate sighed, quickly looking at Stinger as he announced call signs.

"Ice."

"Yes, sir."

"Hollywood."

"Yes, sir."

Stinger then looked at Kate. "Kerosene."

"Yes, sir." She answered.

"Sector two. And Maverick, you back them up with Merlin on Ready Five." Stinger instructed.

"Yes, sir."

"Rise!"

They all started standing up. Pete looked at Kate. "Be careful up there." He told her.

"I'm always careful. It's my middle name." She sarcastically replied, walking out of the small room.

Kate checked her plane, smiling as she climbed into the cockpit. One of the guys gave her the thumbs up, to which she responded by doing the same. She took off a little bit before Iceman and Hollywood. Kate didn't know how to explain the rush of adrenaline she felt throughout her entire being when she lifted off the carrier every time she did.

"Mustang, can you give me a mode-four check?"

"Voodoo one, you've got a pair of bogies, 12 o'clock, 15 miles."

"Voodoo one, Voodoo one, 0-9-0, radar contact 15 miles. They're doing 500 knots."

"Roger, that's your bogey."

"Got them dead ahead, 15 miles, air speed is 600 knots. Bogie's air speed, 650. We're a little close together. Let's take a wider split. They're at 15,000 feet now, dead ahead, ten miles. Air speed is still increasing. Eight hundred knots. Dead ahead, now, eight miles."

"Shit." Kate cursed, hoping someone would tell them what to do, either that or Kate was gonna start giving the orders.

"Okay, Wood, I'm taking the lead. Let's identify them." Ice informed.

Kate furrowed her brows, hearing a new sound coming close.

"Roger, Ice, you got the lead. I'm on your left side, a little low."

"I'm on your right." Kate informed Ice.

"Hollywood, my bogey's still locked up. He's drifting to the left. Still maneuvering course 0-9-0."

"Bring it to the right, you'll get a better angle."

"Roger, Kerosene."

"Ice, we got a problem here. Now I'm breaking out four aircraft on the radar— holy shit— there's six! Not one pair, two pairs, three pairs. Repeat, six bogies."

"Wood, we've got six bogies."

"Wrong! Make that seven!" Wolfman exclaimed.

"Oh, shit! He's got a radar lock on us!" Hollywood informed.

"Get out of there, Hollywood! Get out of there, goddamn it!" Ice ordered.

"Pretty sure he's trying to, Kazansky." Kate replied in a slightly annoyed tone.

"Thanks for the commentary, Maxwell."

"Break left!"

"I'm hit! I'm hit!"

"We're coming apart! I can't control it! Hold on! We're going down!"

"Eject." Kate ordered.

"Wood's been hit! Wood's bit hit! Shit! Wood's been hit!" Ice informed. "Voodoo one! Wood's been hit! Wood's been hit! We've lost Hollywood! Repeat, we've lost Hollywood! We've lost one of our wingmen."

Kate turned her plane to the right to see a plane underneath her, causing a string of curse words to escape her lips. She flipped her plane to an inverted position and then turned it back when she got on his tail. Then, she saw a plane trailing behind her. The one behind her had gone to missiles. She kept moving the plane side to side in order for her not to be put in a lock, then when the missile was finally fired, she quickly lifted up, causing it to miss her plane by a metre as it went to the enemy aircraft ahead of her.

Kate then dropped behind the aircraft previously behind her. "Permission to fire?" She asked, half-sarcastically.

"Permission granted." Stinger answered, getting tired.

So, with the answer, she switched from guns to missiles and got the plane in missile lock, and shot down the plane.

"Two down." She informed, flying back up to Ice.

"Maverick's airborne." Pete announced.

"Ice, Kerosene, what's your position?" Merlin asked.

"0-9-0 at 180 miles." Ice answered first.

"0-9-0 at 175 miles." Kate responded.

"We're coming in left!"

"Three MiGs, dead ahead, coming down the left side. I'm going after them. I'm bringing it around to the left."

Kate looked behind her quickly. "Boys, we got four more on our tail! Makes six of them!" Kate told them.

"Who do you think is hooking in the guns range? He's firing! Break right!"

Kate narrowly dodged the guns.

"Mustang, this is Voodoo one, we are totally defensive. Launch the alert fighters."

"Maverick's supersonic. I'll be there in 30 seconds."

"Move your ass! Get up here! I'm engaged with five. Repeat, five. Maxwell—"

"Dealing with my own shit right now, Kazansky." Kate said through gritted teeth as she kept dodging guns. Then she looked at the radar, then she noticed the plane on her tail. "Shit."

She didn't see the fear spread across Pete's face when she said that one word.

"He's got missile lock on me!" Kate shouted, mainly due to the loudness of the planes. "Come on, Kate, think." She whispered low enough so no one would pick up on it.

"Come on, Kerosene, think!" Her RIO (Dust) urged.

"I can't shake 'em." Kate exclaimed.

The terrain was as rough as it was flying over British Columbia, not to mention the tree bandits. Two were on her tail, one was in front.

Before Kate realised it, they used a missile to shoot down the engine. "Shit! We got it." Dust informed her.

"Yeah, no shit!" Kate responded with anger. "Eject! Eject!" She ordered.

"They're not working!" Dust informed her. "They're stuck." He breathed out.

All they could do was wait five seconds for a harsh collision impact with the mountains. Kate's vision was fuzzy when she woke up fifteen minutes after the fact, all she saw was Dust's lifeless body, colour drained from his face.

She crawled over for confirmation, then she said, "fuck."

It was only then that she noticed the blood on her hands, tears in her uniform, and felt the dry blood at her hairline and all over her face. Kate brought her fingers up to her right eyebrow, it stung like a motherfucker: she got a cut.

She was gonna have to tell Dust's family what had happened and how she managed to survive while their son didn't.

Kate snapped herself out of her trance just in time.

"One MiG, 12 o'clock high! One MiG, 12 o'clock high! Watch your back! Watch your back!" Slider warned. "Break right!"

"Shit, that was close!" Ice exclaimed. "Maverick, Kerosene, how about some help here? Where the hell are you two?" Ice requested.

"Alright, give me one sec to light this guy's ass on fire." Kate told him. And she did light the guy's ass on fire, or at least the plane. She shot guns at the guy's engine to make it stall, much like he tried to do with her plane, the only difference was that Kate actually got the target.

She heard Ice let out a sigh of relief when she came flying over.

"Maverick, how about some help? Engage, goddamn it!" Ice yelled.

"Maverick, we got a MiG on our tail." Merlin told Pete.

"Watch out! Watch out!"

"Shit, we flew right through his jet wash." Merlin was telling Pete.

Kate suppressed the urge to turn around to shoot down that specific MiG, and she went over to save Ice's ass. Thankfully, after a bit, Pete rengaged himself and the plane to help Ice.

"I can't get him off my tail." Ice explained.

"Ice, I've got your MiG dead ahead. I've got him dead ahead." Pete replied, pausing, "Kerosene, you got a MiG on your nose."

"Thanks, Mav, I didn't see that." She responded sarcastically.

"I've got tone! I've got tone! Firing!" Pete informed, shooting down the MiG trailing behind Ice.

Kate was now going head to head with the MiG in front of her. She narrowed her eyes, "let's go, you son of a bitch." Kate muttered.

The other pilot must have realised how close the contact was getting and pulled up, causing her to follow the pilot's trail. She was below him, and a little to the right of him. She decided to have a little fun, besides, if he was going to do what Kate figured he'd do, they would have one less plane to worry about. She took her plane and flew over his plane, seeing the pilot in the cockpit as she flew inverted. She took a chance by giving him the finger before he flew almost as fast as he possibly could. Kate grinned, flipping her plane back to the normal position, then she followed him with the same speed as she had her finger against the missile control.

"Give me tone, give me tone." She whispered. "I got tone! Firing." Kate informed.

She fired the missile after she got the lock, then let her plane drop down enough so she was near the same level as Ice and Pete.

"Two MiGs, dead ahead. Closing at 800 miles an hour." Merlin told Pete.

"I see them. I see them. I'm gonna take them down the left side." Pete responded.

"Oh my god. Ice is right below us. He's got a MiG on his tail." Merlin stated.

"He's firing! Break left! Break left!" Slider exclaimed.

Kate had enough of this bullshit. She dropped down even more to fire at the MiG. To her, she could only see the side of the plane.

Unfortunately, the shots she took only damaged the plane slightly, not enough to bring it down, but it did enough damage for the guns to not work properly.

"I got two MiGs dead ahead." Pete stated.

"I got him, Mav. One MiG passing between us." Ice replied.

"You got a MiG on your left. On your left! 3 o'clock! He's gonna fire, he's gonna fire!" Slider shouted. "Maverick, check the guys to the north! Check the guys to the north!" He told him.

"Banking left. Banking left. There he is. Get him, Ice. Get him!" Pete told Ice.

"Maverick, we got a MiG coming around on our tail!" Merlin yelled. "We gotta get out of here!"

"I can't leave Kerosene, or Ice." Pete stated.

"He's still coming around! He's gonna get behind us!"

"I'm not leaving my wingmen." Pete replied through gritted teeth.

"I'm on his tail. I'm on his tail. I'm going for it. I'm going for it. I'm going for the shot right now."

"Roger, engage. I've got radar lock."

"Good tone. I'm taking a shot. Fire!"

Kate let out a sigh of relief when she saw the missile crash into the MiG.

"Bingo!" Ice exclaimed.

"Wash that sucker, yeah!"

But the celebration was too early. Kate checked to her left and saw a MiG. "Motherfucker!" Kate cursed once again. "Kazansky! Kerner! I wouldn't celebrate this early." She warned them.

"Ice, watch out. There's a MiG to your right. He's firing!" Pete warned.

"Get him off me, Kerosene!" Ice instructed.

"I can't get a clear shot, Kazansky—"

"Just shoot!"

"I could end up shooting your plane."

"Since when do you care about the rules?"

"Since when do you break them?" Kate retorted.

"I'm hit! I'm hit!" Ice exclaimed.

"Come on, come on!" Kate told herself, trying to get him in a lock. She groaned when he kept swaying from side to side. "Fuck this shit."

Kate switched to guns, and started firing, aiming directly at the MiG.

"We're hit in the right engine!" Slider informed.

"I'm shutting it down. I'm shutting it down." Ice stated.

"Coming in, Ice. Coming in." Pete said. "Ice, that bogey's still behind you. I'm maneuvering for a shot. Maxwell—"

"Moving over." Kate told him, moving her plane so she wouldn't get shot at by accident.

"Stay with him, Mav, stay with him!"

"Take the shot! Nail him! Nail him!"

"Shit. Ice, I can't get a tone."

"Shoot, Maverick! I can't get him off my tail! Maverick, we're hit! We're hit again!" Ice said in a panicked tone.

Kate was pushing the speed her plane was going. "Holy shit!" Merlin cussed, referring to the intense speed Kate was flying at.

She flew right past the MiG with danger in her eyes as she finally turned around to be on the MiG's nose. "Alright, you son of a bitch. You wanna fight dirty, let's fight dirty." Kate threatened.

"Ice, on the count of three, break hard right!" Pete instructed Ice. "Maxwell..."

"I'm staying in position."

Ice did as Pete instructed him to do. "Firing!" Pete informed.

As Pete shot the missile from the MiG's tail, Kate did guns for the nose. "Damn it! I missed!" Pete stated.

"Don't let him go. Keep on him, Mav. Keep on him."

"Here comes the shot." Pete said.

Both Kate and Pete fired missiles at the MiG, and it was shot at and blown to pieces.

"Scratch three!"

"Maverick, move! There's a MiG on your tail! There's a MiG on your tail!"

"We've got a problem here. We've only got one missile left." Pete said.

"I've got two left, Mav."

"What are you doing? You're slowing down! You're slowing down!"

"I'm bringing him in closer, Merlin."

"You're gonna do what?"

Eventually, Pete pulled up and managed to get a lock on the MiG as Kate also pulled up, flying above the two planes.

"I got a good lock. Firing." Pete stated. "Woo! Scratch four!"

"Mustang, this is Voodoo three. Remaining MiGs are bugging out."

Kate swooped down, flying steady beside Pete. "Good shot, Mitchell."

"Did the Kerosene just compliment my flying?" He sassed.

"Just land the damn plane, Mitchell."

"You got it, Cap." Kate and Pete just worry about each other the entire timeSo, one more chapter, then the epilogue, then a little end note thingOkay, bye!

Kate and Pete just worry about each other the entire time

So, one more chapter, then the epilogue, then a little end note thing

Okay, bye!