Operation: Pacifica, ...Must Come Down
by DarkSide (darkside@seanet.com)

       "Aw sneck," said J-Rock as the blips finally showed on his
  screen.  "Jett your drop tanks now! They're locking on!"

       DarkSide decided to not be one to argue, and jettisoned his
  tanks as his lock-on indicator screamed to life.  "Let's hope your skills
  are still there," he said to himself as he executed a roll, dispensing a
  cloud of chaff to ward off the incoming deluge of missiles.  He managed to
  avoid all of them, some just barely.  A bright flash caught his attention as
  a lucky shot sheared off Persephone's port wing, forcing her to bail out.
  He watched as she cut the straps of her 'chute, sending her into a freefall,
  but he turned his attention back to the immediate task... she'd be fine.

       He let fly with an AIM-9 as a spongin fighter attempted a
  game of chicken, which then peeled off at the last moment, successfully
  dodging the Sidewinder.

       "Damn!" exclaimed DS, pulling up and around to draw a bead on
  another.  "DarkSide cannot take your call right now.  Please leave your name
  and number, and die at the sound of the beep."  His missle lock indicator
  beeped.  He fired.  He missed again.  "Son of a- Charc, you got one coming
  around behind you!  5 o'clock high!"

       "Urrgh.. I can't seem to shake him!"

       DarkSide lined up.  "Break left..... now!"  Charc broke hard
  left,  the Luv Fighter adjusting to maintain it's pursuit, leading itself
  into DS' sights.  A squeeze of the trigger sent the 20mm Vulcan spinning,
  spewing forth a volley of shells into the doomed plane.

       "Crap!" yelled DS as he peeled off, another B'harnate fighter
  settling in on his tail.

       "Thanks DS," said Charc, lining up on the craft tailing DS.
  He fired off his missle as another Luv Plane fired off a round targeted at
  his.  Charc's missle hit dead aft, reducing the plane to shrapnel, as he
  broke hard right, spewing flares.  The bird exploded to close for comfort,
  thoroughly fucking Charc's plane over.  "I'm hit!" he yelled.  "Bailing
  out!"

       "Shit!" said DS as he saw Charc rocket away from the plane.
  A lock on warning suddenly snapped his attention to the two planes that had
  settled in on his tail.

       "Wantin' t'play Follow-the-Leader, are ye?" he said.  "Fine
  with me. Let's do it!"  With that he rolled over, sending Tiger 202 into a
  nosedive, with the Luv Fighters in pursuit.

       "So.. you are as dumb as I thought you were," he muttered.
  "Let's just hope I'm not dumber..."

       His altimeter ticked down steadily, and soon he disappeared
  into the cloud cover with zero visibility.  "Gawd, you *are* dumb," he
  muttered to himself.  He watched the dial, the only indication of his
  altitude, as he leaned on the throttle a bit more.  He broke through the
  cover at a thousand, with the Luv Planes still in pursuit.  "Okay," he
  mumbled to himself, "here's where we see just how rusty we are."  He pulled
  back on the stick, quickly beginning a level-off to 50 feet as the altimeter
  hit 200.  He glanced behind him as one Luv plane began his level-off early,
  settling in behind him again.  The other pulled up too late, finding itself
  nose-first in the drink.

       "One down," grinned DarkSide.  His celebration was
  interrupted by a damage indicator screaming to life as a volley of 20mm
  rounds plinked up his tailsection.  "Crap!  Okay, follow the leader," he
  said, closing up the wings and gunning it.  A shockwave rattled the cockpit
  as 202 went Mach, with the B'harnate fighter on his tail. He began to nudge
  down a bit, inching closer and closer to the water's surface.  The fighter
  followed suit.  DS nudged up about 20 feet.  The plane followed.  "You play
  well," he muttered.  "Bad idea."  He nudged down again, then pulled up
  quickly, gaining another 50 feet, the Luv Fighter mirroring his moves.  He
  then kicked it down, sailing 20 feet over the ocean's surface at Mach 1,
  kicking a huge rooster-tail of water up into the face of the chasing craft,
  sending it out of control.  DS pulled up sharply and glanced back at the
  magenta plane skipping across the surface like a rock.

       DS eased up on the throttle as he climbed back up through the
  cloud cover, breaking through only to have another plane fall in on his
  tail. "Agh!" he exclaimed.  "I just can't win!"

       "DS!  Check six!" shouted J-Rock as he turned on the fighter,
  opening up on it with his cannon.

       "*Sigh* Thanks J-R," said DS, exhaling deeply.

       "No autographs, please.... DS! THREE O'CLOCK!"

       Alarms blared in DarkSide's cockpit as 20mm rounds ripped up
  his starboard side.  "Fuck!  Now you tell me!"

       "Now you die, you Jihaddi meanie," the Spongin pilot taunted
  as jry pulled up on its tail.

       "Why does somebody in these battles always say, 'Now you
  die'?" Yearnshaw asked he let loose on the plane with a Sidewinder.  "It's
  so uncreative."

       "They're spongin, jry," DarkSide said.  "Go fig."

       "I just shot my last missile.  How's everybody else doing?"

       "I have one left," DS said.

       "Let's get the hell outta here," J-Rock said. "There's five
  fighters left, and I'm Winchester."

       The remainder of the squadron peeled off, headed back to the
  _Freedom_.  DS watched unnerved as his starboard fuel gauge drained slowly
  but steadily.  He felt the plane respond sluggishly.  This was not a good
  sign.  The trip back was not going to be pleasant.

...

       "You sure you can make it back?" J-Rock asked DarkSide as the
  ragged survivors of Tiger flight formed up at the pre-approach point.  DS
  glanced up as another flight of fighters from _Freedom_ passed overhead,
  undoubtedly headed to intercept the remainder of the Luv Fighters.

       "Yeah, I'll be OK," said DS, swallowing hard.  He hoped that
  he wasn't lying.  It was going to be hard enough with this damn night
  landing. He really didn't need more complications.

       "All righty then, see you on the ground, or what passes for
  it out here," J-R replied.

...

 DarkSide cursed to himself as yet another light lit up on the
  Christmas tree that was his damage indicator.  His F-14 was already bucking
  like a wild bull, and it was all he could do to keep the bird from quickly
  becoming a fish.  He had been circling for about fifteen minutes, waiting
  for what remained of the squadron to hit the tarmac, watching as his
  starboard fuel tank drained away slowly.

       "_Freedom_ to two-oh-two, you are cleared for approach,
  over," came the voice of the airboss.

       DarkSide sighed and eased back on the throttle, noting once
  again that it wasn't dropping to a reasonably safe landing speed.  The
  landing flaps were jammed too, the hydraulic lines having been severed by
  20mm gunfire, leaking away fluid on the way back, further complicating the
  situation.  The speedbrakes helped a bit, but not a hell of a lot.  At any
  rate, his landing wasn't gonna be pretty.  "_Freedom_, be advised that the
  crash nets are going to be necessary... I'm coming in hard, and there's not
  a whole lot I can do about it, over."

       As DTT _Freedom_ came into view over the horizon, DS gave the
  gear lever a pull, listening to the whine of the landing gears as they
  extended and ground to a halt at half-mast.

       "Shit," he muttered to himself.  "What else is gonna go
  wrong? _Freedom_, this is two-oh-two.  Scratch the approach... gear is
  jammed... I'm gonna ditch, over," he said, as he passed over the deck at
  about 300 feet and began to climb again.  [Well Kirk,] he thought to
  himself, [looks like you aren't going to be avoiding that swim.]  He gave
  his altitude a quick check, and grasped the cockpit jettison handle, giving
  it a good yank.  Nothing.

       A slight whimper escaped DS' throat.  [Well,] he thought,
  [you asked what else was going to go wrong.  Moron.]  He flipped on the
  comm. "_Freedom_, this is two-oh-two again... uh, scratch the splashdown...
  I seem to be having trouble with the ejection systems too... I'll uh, be
  making that approach after all... out."

       With a sigh he brought the fighter around for his approach,
  extending the tailhook down, which at least was working.  It would help to
  slow him down, but that still didn't change the fact that this was really
  gonna suck.  The deck crew scattered as the crash barriers came up, DS
  bringing the Tomcat in low and fast.

       Along Tiger 202's fuselage, fuel was finding its way out
  through 20mm holes, playing along the side and underbelly in streams, coming
  dangerously close to large, sparking, exposed holes.  The volatile liquid
  continued along in its mini-torrents, twisting and turning down the length
  of the arresting hook, finally ending in airborne spray.

       The next few seconds seemed an eternity.  The hook.  The
  deck.   A spark.  Flame.  An instant before the hook caught the first
  arresting cable, the starboard fuel tanks of Tiger 202 erupted into a
  brilliant plume of fire, sending the craft careening into the deck,
  engulfing the rest of the plane in flame, sending burning aviation fuel and
  debris everywhere. Ordinance exploded, spewing 20mm rounds about pell-mell,
  ripping holes in craft and equipment, as the huge fireball continued its
  course down the carrier deck.  Another blast rocked the runway as DS' single
  remaining Sidewinder exploded, tearing a huge chunk from the tarmac and
  sending the burning hulk sideways into a waiting Hawkeye, embracing the
  craft in its destructive aura.

       Rescue crews scrambled, frantically trying to extinguish the
  inferno.  Somewhere inside the blaze, there was a movement.  Crewmen stared
  agape as a figure strode from the fire, completely engulfed in flame.  The
  figure stopped and looked about the damaged runway, fire still roiling off
  his body.

       "Y'know," said Captain Felton, turning around to look at the
  remains of the Hawkeye and his plane, "that really.... sucked."  He glanced
  around at the rescue crew, who were all staring at him wide-eyed.  He
  smirked a bit and looked down at his burning, naked body.

       "Say....," he said as the fire danced about his skin, "Can
  someone get me some damn clothes?  I'm starting to get a little chilly."

Copyright (c) 1996 DarkSide Studios