“In position for chase.” Lenn reported over the radio.

“Copy, accelerating to mach two-point-five.” One-six answered.

They were speeding through the night at treetop level, One-six ahead and Lenn several kilometers behind. This is the first part of their plan, to fool the Europeans into thinking that One-six was one of them, and was being chased by a hostile VX-200.

While the Europeans would definitely find it suspicious that an unidentified European fighter would be fleeing from an enemy, even though they should all be escorting the carrier, it would take a while for them to work out a solution. One-six hoped that the brief delay needed for the report to work its way up and down the chain of command would buy them enough time.

“Do you have the fleet on radar yet?” Lenn asked.

“Not yet…”

“We should spot them anytime now.”

Even though all European fighters are equipped with passive and active stealth, allowing them to be invisible to radar and infrared search at long distances, the large carrier aircraft does not.

This means, while their radar can see the carrier, the fleet will not be able to detect them yet.

A blue dot popped up on One-six’s radar display as they flew over a slight hill, followed by One-five calling out “Contact!”

“Twelve O’ clock, one hundred kilometers.” One-five reported. “IRST has lock, switching off radar.” [1]

Even though the radars of the European armada wouldn’t be able to detect them, their radar warning receivers would still recognize that they were being locked by an unknown source. To maintain as much stealth as they could, they would use infrared track, which did not broadcast any sort of waves then watch for reflections, and only passively searched for infrared light from potential targets.

“Tracking…”

As they got closer, more and more targets began to fill their radar screens. Soon the Europeans would burn through their passive and active masking, and have the ability to spot them on radar.

Just as the range between them and the swarm of European aircraft closed to just below 80 kilometers, the radar warning receiver inside One-six’s F-51 began to beep steadily.

“They have us illuminated.” Two-five mumbled, sorting through the data on her screen. “No lock yet, and no launch yet.” [2]

“I think they’re still trying to figure out what is going on.” One-six whispered to himself, then spoke on the radio to Lenn. “Do they have you on radar?”

“Yep, just got receiver warning a second ago.”

“Alright, launch on me, then go radio silent. We’ll follow the plan from there.”

“The missile with the dummy warhead right?” Lenn asked jokingly.

“…Yes.”

“Right okay, thanks for reminding me.”

Then the radio shut off, and the static was replaced with silence.

A moment later, another contact appeared on their radar warning screens. It was from behind them, and it had them locked.

“Launch. Launch.” The missile approach warning spoke calmly in a mechanical voice. “Launch. Launch.”

A missile from Lenn’s plane was now chasing after them, quickly closing the distance. Of course, it’s warhead had been removed, just in case One-six was a little too close.

Far ahead of them, in the European fleet, confusion was spreading among the pilots.

“Contact, two O’clock, eighty kilometers, hot.”

“IFF reports friendly.”

“Second contact chasing first eight clicks behind, IFF reports hostile.”

“Since when did we have a fighter that far ahead?”

“We don’t.”

“…TWR on both, prepare to fire on command.” [3]

“Roger.”

“Missile in the air from hostile contact, appears to be chasing friendly contact.”

“Alright, engage hostile contact, do not target friendly contact yet.”

Dozens of missiles leapt off of their rails in trails of fire, twisting and diving down towards the incoming targets. At around 70 kilometers, it was stretching the range of the missiles a little bit, especially at such a low altitude.

Down below, in the cockpit of Lenn’s VX-200, the missile launch warning system began to sound.

“We got launch on us!” Kang called out. “Two… eight… a lot of missiles!"

“Press a little more.” Lenn calmly said. Having a dozen or more missiles being sent your way was in no way something to be calm about, so Lenn had to try very hard not to let his voice shake. “Ying, can…” He began, but quickly realized that Ying was absent. “Right… I’ve got to do the shooting myself.”

He tapped a few buttons on one of his displays, switching over to the targeting submenu. He selected some random targets amongst the incoming fleet, and began to volley off all the missiles he had in store.

“You know that those missiles won’t reach.” Rei told Lenn.

“Yeah I know, just trying to get as much of their attention as possible.”

“Alright Lenn, we should really start defending…” Kang said anxiously, turning his head around to look at Lenn. “Those missiles are getting real close.”

“Got it.”

He rolled his plane to the right, and pulled a tight 180. Now they were speeding away from One-six and the incoming fleet.

“It’s all up to them now.”

“Yeah…”

"Goodbye, soldier..." Lenn whispered to himself.

*****

“They’re defending.” One-five reported, looking at the rear facing radar screen. “They’ve got a lot of missiles after them. The guns are going to be turned on us soon.”

The fleet was flying at a little more than the speed of sound, while One-six and his team was speeding through the night at some mach 2.5. With the combined closure rate, the distance between them closed at an unbelievable speed.

“seventy kilometers.”

One-six held altitude and offset his heading a little bit to the left. This way, he could hide his intentions for as long as possible.

The European fleet flew low, with the carrier being just five hundred meters above ground, and the highest escort plane flying less than a kilometer above ground. This is because the range of the plasma weapon is not quite far enough to place the carrier outside the range of New Asian early warning radar. So, by staying low, they could hide below the curvature of the Earth, and pop up at the last moment to fire upon the city. That way, there would be no way for the New Asians to react and mount any sort of defense.

But, because the carrier flew so low, there was barely any escort aircraft flying below it, giving One-six a clear line of sight from below.

“sixty kilometers…” Two-six reported as the swarm of European fighters closed in above them.

*****

“Friendly contact has turned west, now flying parallel to us.”

“Hold fire.”

“Copy.”

"Missiles approaching from the front."

"Defence matrix can take care of it. Proceed with primary mission.”

Radio chatter filled the communication network of the European attack fleet. The sudden appearance of a friendly aircraft being chased by a hostile one was unexpected to say the least. But nonetheless, the General decided to continue with the mission.

He sat in a large chair in the middle of a complex control room, surrounded by screens and control panels, all displaying various information about the fleet and the mission.

As soon as the report of an unidentified friendly aircraft fleeing from a hostile came, he had suspected what might be happening.

“You mad mad people,” he whispered to himself, a wide grin on his face. “You’re not going to do what I think you’re gonna do, right?” Then he got back on the radio to the attack fleet, and ordered the commander aboard the carrier. “Do not engage the friendly contact.”

*****

“Missiles are closing.” Rei announced to the rest of his crew.

Lenn looked down at his rear-facing radar screen, and realized that Rei was right. The many missiles had been speeding after them for a good while now, and will soon score a hit on them.

“We don’t have any defense matrix do we?” Lenn asked.

“Nope.”

“Damn…” He closed his eyes and sighed, “Guess we’ll be going back to the good old days.”

Back when the war had begun, before defense matrix became a thing, pilots had to evade missiles by draining them of energy, or by simply outmaneuvering them.

A missile’s motor does not burn constantly, instead, only during the very beginning seconds of its flight to boost the missile up to speed. After that, the missile uses its own momentum and speed to travel to the target and intercept it.

By maneuvering and turning, a pilot can force an incoming missile to turn and bleed its energy, causing it to eventually become unable to maneuver in the terminal phases of its flight.

Put simply, a plane can maneuver lots, but a missile can only maneuver a little. If a plane can force a missile to maneuver, the chances of getting hit will decrease significantly.

“Time to impact in seven… six…” Rei read out the numbers from his display.

“Lenn!” Kang shouted. “We won’t outrun the missiles!”

“Now!”

Lenn yanked back on his joystick hard, forcing the nose of his aircraft up into the air.

If you couldn’t outrun a missile, you better outturn it.

In an instant, ten times the force of gravity was crushing down upon the three. Even with a G-suit, Lenn could feel blood draining from his brain and his vision beginning to turn black. Under such immense G-forces, the human heart just isn’t strong enough to pump blood up to the brain. [4]

He grimaced as the seat dug into his leg, and his arms became pinned to the armrest. He could feel his spine compress, and the flesh on his face getting distorted downwards.

But alas, it was a worthy trade. Because the missiles, having glided across many tens of kilometers of air, simply didn’t have the speed to keep up with Lenn’s maneuvers. They simply flew past harmlessly some fifty meters from the tail of their plane. Three more missiles flew by, all being unable to keep up with Lenn’s maneuvers.

“There’s more…” Rei managed to squeeze out from between his teeth as he fought against the immense G-forces. “Dive…”

Lenn rolled his plane over, continuing with the turn, and began to pull towards the ground. By now, they had sacrificed a good portion of their speed to evade several missiles, but it meant they didn’t have the maneuverability to dodge those that still have yet to arrive. By diving, they could force the missiles to change direction in order to intercept them, thus bleeding their energy, and also allow them to recover some of their own lost speed.

“Closing still… five seconds to impact.”

“I’ll drag them into the ground.” Lenn calmly said. It felt a little weird to be this calm, the sense of doom and panic he had just minutes ago had all but left him. Right now, he was completely focused on the task at hand, he was fully in flow.

“You can’t judge accurately enough.”

“I’ll let the ground avoidance system do it.”

Their altitude dropped rapidly. Seven hundred, six hundred, five hundred…

Just five hundred meters above the surface of the Earth, the ground collision avoidance system kicked in, pulling them out of the dive with just meters to spare. Once again he and his crew got crushed into their seats as their plane kissed the top of the trees.

The missiles, having been diving along with Lenn and his crew, couldn’t turn hard enough to avoid hitting the ground, and all ended up burying themselves into the hillside.

“Clear…” Rei breathed out a sigh of relief.

Their radar warning receiver had stopped blaring its alarm, telling them that they were no longer being tracked.

Lenn leveled his plane out, and entered a shallow climb. They had left the European attack fleet far behind them, and were now more or less out of danger. However, their mission didn’t end there.

It was time for the second part of their plan.

“Flight to control,” Lenn shouted into his radio, “European fleet approaching from the west. I repeat, European fleet approaching from the west. Hundreds of contacts in formation. Appears to be an all out attack. Please advice. Over.”

Static was all that answered their call for help for a few seconds, until a noisy voice came through.

“Copy. Standby.”

*****

Captain Yuki rushed down the narrow hallways, towards the flight control center. He had just been notified by an informant that the attack has happened earlier than planned.

“You really weren’t lying…” he muttered to himself.

He too had been skeptical when Takeshi told him about the crazy weapon which the Europeans have invented, but decided to take his word. The Merchant’s Cabinet had been hard at work to try and spread this information around, and the government seemed to have taken some notice.

Yet, when the report of the attack came from Lenn and his team, the generals decided to ignore it. They didn’t believe such a weapon was possible, and it was just a bait to lure out their planes.

If they refused to believe it, he would have to do it by force.

He charge through the door to the command center, slamming the door open in the process. The controllers turned to look at him in surprise.

“You’ve all heard the report.” Captain Yuki announced. “I want every available aircraft scrambled.”

“Sir… with all due respect, higher authorities have commanded that only a few scout planes be sent out.”

Captain Yuki sighed, and drew his service pistol.

“I think a gun is the highest authority here.” He smiled as he swung the gun around the spacious room. “You heard what I said.”

The controllers were all frozen in their seats, unsure of what to do. A few put their hands up, and a few ducked under the table.

“Come on, there’s no time to-”

“Hey! Drop the weapon!”

Armed guards came charging in through the open door, fanning out behind Captain Yuki.

“Drop the weapon!”

Then there was a gunshot, then another, and another. The sound of bodies hitting the floor resounded through the room.

Captain Yuki stood there, unhurt, just with slightly ringing ears. He cranked his head to look at the dead guards, then looked forward again to see who was responsible.

“Sister…”

“Captain Yuki,” the woman spoke curtly, clicking the safety of her pistol on, and sliding it back into the holster. “You can court martial me after the fact.”

Captain Yuki laughed. “We’ll both be court martial’d after the fact.” Then he turned back to the other controllers. “You heard me. I want every available plane in the air now.”

Maybe the controllers needed a little bit more persuasion, because no one did anything. Maybe it was the fright, maybe they just didn’t want to disobey orders.

But then, one person gasped. And another turned to look at his screen. Then quickly, the atmosphere in the room changed from fear, into confusion and panic.

“Understood sir, We’ll have every available plane in the air now.”

Captain Yuki looked at one of the radar displays, and saw hundreds of dots blotting out the far western sky.

They were here. The European fleet of destruction was upon them.

[1] IRST (InfraRedSearch and Track), a type of search and track system similar to radar but looks for the infrared signatures of hot objects (i.e. a jet engine exhaust). Can be seen on most modern Russian fighter aircraft.

[2] "Illuminated" in military aviation means when an aircraft is being hit by radar waves, thus being "illuminated" by a radar.

[3] TWR (Track While Scan) is a radar mode which allows targets to be tracked while still searching for other targets (as opposed to either searching for targets or tracking a singular target).

[4] To give some perspective, braking as hard as you can in your car is about 1.6g. F1 drivers experience more than 5g around fast corners. A motor vehicle accident can be upwards of 50g. And 100g directly to the head is almost always fatal.