Soaring into the Sun - Part Two

Posted on Thu Sep 15th, 2022 @ 3:45am by

1,207 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Mission 1: Relaunch
Location: Various Locations - USS Red October
Timeline: 1830Hrs - March 5th, 2398

"Any questions about your assignment Ripcord?" a third officer inquired as to if he concealed from out of the shadows.

"No sir," Archer responded. "This is to let the Chinese know they can't muscle us around.." the taller woman responded with a smile. "I know my assignment sir."

"Good... Good hunting and good luck Major."

"Thank you." Ripcord answered.

Colonel Shin Rae Soo regarded Archer. "You and your wingman are up next... Good luck" as she drew her gear and maps before she went off to her assigned bird, she lifted her helmet and slipped it on, a sigh escaped her as she climbed into her bird, her weapons systems officer climbed in behind her. "We ready Ripcord.?"

Ripcord smiled as she tapped the display to close the canopy. "Let's do this." as she slowly advanced the throttles forward, the air controller guided her to the end of the runway as she inquired. "Permission to launch?" she asked the forward air controller.

"Permission granted. "

Ripcord gently rested her left hand on the throttle, her right hand was on the stick. Archer took a moment to make sure she was all set and lined up for taking off. "Alright, ready back there Rae?"

"Ya." came the squeak from her Weapons Systems Officer who had the callsign of 'Mouse' as when she spoke, she sounded like a mouse.

"Alright..." and with that Archer pushed the throttle forward as she quickly picked up speed, her plane advanced down the runway before she gently pulled the stick back. Her Eagle rose into the air on two massive jets of fuel being vented out the back. "Time to show the Chinese they can't screw with us." Mouse commented as Archer kept her mouth shut.

Suddenly the announcement came over the com. "Viper Two Oh Five, come left to heading Three two one... We have four unidentified contacts.."

"Confirmed," Archer responded, now fully alert as all of her senses came alive, she could feel the rush of adrenaline through her body. "Two Five... you still with me?"

"Confirmed Oh Five... I see them." Archer answered as she regarded her display before her.

Archer nodded. "Mouse, warm em' up... Let's be ready... just in case..."

"Copy Ripcord. I'm still with you." came the response from her wingmate who as fortune had it, was an American and not a Korean.

"Magic. I need a sitrep?" Archer asked of the Boeing 737 AEW&C E-7 Wedgetail based three hundred miles away over the south end of Korea. She knew that four of them were airborne at present and several others were being maintained, two of them at her home. Osan Air Base.

"Confirmed, Bogeys are on a direct course for Seoul." came the expected response.

Ripcord knew that things were about to get serious. Archer suddenly felt cold as she nodded her head. "Alright..." she sighed as the call came in, the one she was expecting but not wanting. "Ripcord, If those Chinese bastards cross the Yalu River and if they refuse to turn back, intercept them and turn them back."

"Confirmed." Ripcord was not going to question her orders as she knew that history would play out as it did once before. Ripcord shoved all of those details out of her thought processes as she flew her F-15K. "Mouse?"

"I have them." the younger woman responded. "We'll turn them into smoking craters if they so much as twitch funny."

"Then we should go to meet them.." Ripcord responded before she pushed the throttles forward, she shot away from her wingman who slowly moved off to the right of the original heading, moments later Archer spotted the four Chinese bogeys as her eyes narrowed. "What the hell?" as the four-shot passed her.

Mouse commented. "Dammn... It's four Chinese Shenyang J-31's."

"How can you see them?" Ripcord asked.

"They have dropped their stealth but intentionally giving away their positions." came the unexpected response.

Ripcord yanked on the stick before going rolling over, doing an Immelmann turn, she looked around. "Boozehound?"

"I'm still with you Ripcord." came the response.

"Ripcord. Bandit's intentions are hostile. Shoot to kill." came the alert from Magic.

"Confirmed," Ripcord responded, saying that she understood the order and would follow it. Suddenly her 'SAM' alarm began flashing. "Magic. I'm being painted for a missile lock." Archer called over the com, keeping her voice calm and level.

"Confirmed," responded Mouse. "The Lead Shen has us pinged for a missile lock."

Archer gently slid her finger ever so slightly to the rest of the 'release' of chaff and flares, to either decoy the warhead away or kill the warhead on the flight while she waited for him to make his move.

Inside the Chinese plane, Major Chae Ku-Ho smiled evilly as he pulled the trigger twice, causing two missiles on the rails to ignite before speeding off into the early morning. Ripcord pushed the stick over as she squeezed her own trigger, causing a few flares and chaff to exit out the back of her Slam-Eagle. One of the missiles exploded in flight while the second missed Ripcords bird.

Archer caught sight of the contrail as she rolled inverted before diving into the cloud layers. "Magic, I have been engaged..". The words had deep implications for herself but also for her adopted home and the greater world at large.

Archer turned her head as she rolled right and then snapped left off of the heading that she was just travelling before she watched a missile launch off of another of the Chinese Shenyang J-31's but she pressed the trigger, a line of tracers went from her fighter to the Chinese in a fraction of a second, one could almost hear the crunching sound of metal on metal as the slugs impacted the Chinese jet.

Smoke began to trail from the jet as Archer snapped the stick over to the left before beginning a barrel roll to bleed off some of her airspeeds, it worked just as she had intended, her tracking system began to speak to her and once she got a solid lock. She did not hesitate as she squeezed off the one missile off of her wings. It flew straight and true into the back of the Chinese jet, disintegrating it in a molten fireball.

Archer did not celebrate her kill as she got a cruel reminder that she was still in trouble as a missile shot past her nose about a hundred yards off as she turned out her wingman's voice on the radio screaming for help.

The two remaining Chinese Shenyangs all turned and fled as if routed but Archer knew better. This day would only further heighten issues and cause more problems, it didn't matter that the Chinese started it. "We're screwed now," Archer said over the coms.

Magic muttered something back at her as a sigh escaped her lips. "Abort your mission Ripcord, head on home... We'll bring in two replacements for you."

"Confirmed... Heading for home." Archer pulled inverted as she pulled over the top, doing a rather fancy barrel roll as she began her trip home, she knew it would be anything but quiet or peaceful, all because the Third World War had come to Korea.

 

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