Beyond the Horizon | Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw

Part Thirteen - Search and Rescue

Without tower or command chief to direct me, I'm pretty well stuck on my own. I start heading towards the valley, but don't fully intend on flying through it again. I know that all the SAMs were deployed, so in theory, the skies above the valley lay undefended, giving me a green light.

In a couple of minutes, I've arrived at the entrance of the valley. I decrease my speed thus making it easier for me to scan my surroundings. I check the radar screen and see that there's no one around me, I'm in the clear.

Flying steady at 440 knots, I'm careful to keep an eye on the SAM stations, all of which, so far, have been emptied.

As I approach the end of the valley, I hear tower coming in, "We're receiving a signal from Rooster's ESET. It must be a malfunction."

Malfunction or not, hope sparks in me.

"Have you lost him?" Someone in the tower asks.

"No, sir. He's supersonic."

Holy shit. Rooster's alive.

"Overwatch reports an F-14 Tomcat is airborne and headed for our position." Rooster sure as hell doesn't know how to fly an F-14, leaving only one other person he could be with right now who could make a museum piece like that airborne. Maverick made it out alive.

"Dice to Tower, how far are they from me? I can go lead them in," I suggest.

"Not far. Keep heading to the bombed enemy airstrip and they'll come on your radar." I silently celebrate tower's approval of my individual search and rescue. I increase speed to 500 knots and head for the airstrip.

Despite it being bombed, there are still people running around, trying to salvage any planes they can. After a few seconds of milling around the area, a blip pops up on my radar. It's labelled as Rooster. I've found them.

Before I get too close, I see two bogeys have also popped up on the radar. Tower hadn't dispatched anymore aircraft, so it's safe to assume that they're bandits. I try to maintain a distance that keeps me out of their radar, while still maintaining as much eye sight on them as I can.

Hopefully, Mav and Rooster can bullshit their way through an interaction with these fifth gen fighters to the point where they peel off without engaging.

Without having any radio transmission with them, it's difficult to stay out of the way of the enemy aircraft while also letting Mav and Rooster know I'm here.

Suddenly, I start to see the second fighter moving behind Mav in weapon's envelope. This can't be good. They continue to fly steady for a few more seconds before Mav sharply banks the plane, signaling the start of the dogfight. He turns in such a way that the guns of the fighter behind him hit the other fighter now in front of Mav. The hit fighter starts to go down in a spiral of flames.

As Maverick starts to level out his plane, the fighter sends a missile. Mav sharply drops his plane in front of the burning fighter, leaving the missile to strike the already crashing jet. In terms of evasive maneuvering, Maverick's doing alright, but it's only a matter of time before the fifth gen fighter inevitably catches up with F-14.

Not out of it yet, the fighter fires another missile. Mav pulls the plane sharply up and ejects the flares, successfully taking out the missile. Immediately after, he splits the throttle, turning the left engine off completely. This takes the plane in a nearly vertical U-turn, diving back to the fighter, this time, Mav is behind. He assumedly gets missile lock tone as he fires a missile.

Evasively, the fighter rotates horizontally in the air, floating past them perpendicular to the ground. Struggling to stay back from helping, I inch ever closer to the dogfight, having a clear shot.

I decide not to take it as Mav inverts and dives to lose as much altitude as he can. He stays close to the ground, hoping the terrain confuses the fighter's targeting system. The fighter follows suite and continues to pursue Mav through the rocky, high-walled mountain valley.

As the pilot switches to guns, the jet tries to get as close as he can to Mav's plane as he can, hoping to get a hit. To avoid the incoming bullets, Maverick flies nearly parallel to the mountain side, allowing all the bullets to hit the mountain and not them.

I continue to fly above the canyon valley they're in, not wanting to be noticed. I pray they make an exit soon, giving me a chance to engage and take this sucker out.

The fighter continues to spray bullets in Mavs directions, not getting any good hits. Maverick opens the wings as he beings a sharp incline out of the valley, similar to the egress we made out of the target's canyon earlier today. Once he reaches a high enough altitude to do so, the jet now in front of Mav, he levels out the plane and begins a drop back into the valley, now putting the fighter in defensive mode, and Maverick and Rooster in offensive.

Maverick drops another missile, the fighter now deploys his flares. The missile gets taken out by the flares, rendering their attack unsuccessful. He now switches to guns and starts firing relentlessly at the fighter. A couple of bullets make contact with the fighter, but it's not enough to leave substantial damage or bring him down.

With one last chance left, Maverick fires.

His bullets successfully hits the fighter's engines, forcing the pilot to eject before his plane gets run into the mountain side. I celebrate on their behalf.

Maverick escapes the valley and starts to head back to the direction of the ocean. I continue to follow behind them, staying off their radar, for no reason other than wanting to see them make it on their own in that piece of ass aircraft.

Then, another plane shows up on my radar. Surely it's shown up on theirs by now. An aircraft is headed directly at their nose. A missile is fired and Mav engages in a barrel roll while deploying flares. The missile is taken down as the two planes fly past each other, both at a ninety degree bank. The bandit fighter turns back around, missing me completely and switches to guns firing mercilessly at Maverick.

"Tower to Dagger spare, why aren't you engaging? Rooster's being shot at. Step in, now!" Tower calls at me.

"Shit," I breathe as I speed up and try to catch up to the fighter. I can only assume Maverick is trying to get them enough altitude to eject as he points the nose to the sky, heightening their altitude. The fighter continues to follow them, sitting at the perfect angle for them to get a missile lock and fire.

I have a lot of ground to cover before I can get a missile lock on the fighter, so I increase my speed. My throttle is already at it's maximum, so I turn on the afterburners, thus pushing my plane forward with a lot more force, allowing me to quickly gain on the fighter. I mess around with the missile target trying to get a good lock. As the missile lock tone starts to fill my cockpit, the fighter ahead of me releases another missile. I launch mine a second faster and it hits the jet, blowing both it and the missile down to the ground. Hearing the explosion behind them, Maverick slows his aircraft down, allowing me to catch up.

"What, were you boys not taught any manners? It's time to thank your savior," I say smugly flying along side them, thankful that tower got our radios connected just in time. Rooster laughs, alleviated from his dogfight stress. Maverick gives me a thankful thumbs up.

"Hey Dice, that was good," Rooster says.

"I am good, Rooster. I'm very good," I say proudly. "I'll see you guys back on deck." I peel off and make a straight away to the carrier.