When Twilight Sparkle, magical pony from another dimension, stumbled into Rainbow’s life, it changed everything. It helped her reconnect with several friends she thought were lost. Also, it introduced her to magic. Real magic.
She had yet to see any evidence that Pantera Prowl knew anything about that. Sure, she dressed freaky and talked a big game, but if Rainbow hadn’t seen and touched magic herself, she might actually believe Pantera.
As it was, Rainbow decided the smart move was to keep her mouth shut. That was not her usual tactic, but there was no telling what the UTA might do if they discovered Rainbow’s magic abilities when she was with her friends. The worst would be if the UTA also kidnapped them.
Rainbow resolved to bury that part of her deep. That should be easy, as long as she didn’t talk about it. She’d never managed to “pony up” alone, or while feeling such constant despair.
Even if she was going to keep the magic under wraps, though, her knowledge of it made Pantera an obvious poser in Rainbow’s eyes. After that, her makeup and tribal tattoos seemed ridiculous rather than intimidating.
Pantera, magic or no, noticed Rainbow’s dismissal. However she interpreted it, her attitude turned sour. Fortunately, she didn’t often associate with the other pilots. The rest of them seemed fine with that.
On a much different note, Rainbow happily accepted Striker Cyclone’s offer to play soccer. He was good, and both of them got a challenge. Lightning, though not as enthusiastic, was also talented. Stratus could occasionally be persuaded to play. Pug hung around as if wanting to join, but Rainbow had taken a measure of him and knew that he wouldn’t. He was the kind of guy who wouldn’t try anything for fear of being seen losing.
Not that there was much to lose or win. There was no playing field, and the ball was patched with duct tape. But it was one of the few sources of entertainment available. They occasionally were able to make a pickup game with the UTA gunmen.
Rainbow would have called them soldiers, but after listening to Soarin’ rant, had changed her tone. She’d casually used the word as the two of them worked on the Tucano, preparing it for another flight.
“Soldiers are professionals,” Soarin’ said. “Soldiers fight for their country and their principles. They have discipline. They have pride.”
Rainbow looked at him. She hadn’t seen him so worked up about anything. “Okay, so they’re not soldiers.”
Soarin’ shook his head, fire leaving him. “Not that it matters. They’re still the ones in control.”
Rainbow wasn’t sure how to react. She could clearly see how far he’d fallen, from a top pilot to a broken mechanic. Comforting people was not part of her skill set.
She tried a distraction. “So, when I was on the mission, somebody shot a missile at me.”
Soarin’ nodded. “The Soviets built thousands of man-portable air defense systems, and they popped up all over the world. They’re so easy to use that children could do it - and some do. A lot of the launchers aren’t so good anymore, but as a general rule of thumb, most of them can at least track on you within three miles. That’s vertically, too.”
“How are we supposed to go down low to bomb accurately, and stay safe?”
He looked at her. “You don’t. Flares help.”
Rainbow looked at the Tucano. “Does this thing even have flares?”
“No. Fortunately, MANPADS aren’t really common. But it’s always something to be thinking about. Honestly, gunfire - AK’s or something heavier - is probably a bigger concern.”
Rainbow shook her head. “Is there anything not trying to kill me?”
“No.”
Rainbow tried to keep his pessimism from spreading to herself. At the same time, she remembered Kiel’s prediction: Most of us won’t make it to one hundred.
Reality was starting to set in, and hard. Rainbow’s adrenaline was spiking, and she wasn’t even flying. She was going to have to fly perfectly. A single mistake could too easily be her last. Even for someone like Rainbow, who always drove to be the best, it felt like a challenge that only got harder the longer she considered it.
“Well, if you hang around for awhile, you might get something nicer to fly,” Soarin’ allowed.
That instantly caught her attention. “How?”
He shrugged. “Deaths or departures. Either a new plane will be brought in as replacement or someone leaving will vacate one. Either way, you’ll have to fight for it.”
“Is there a lot of competition?”
“When getting a better plane might mean the difference between life and death, what do you think?”
Rainbow glanced at the other planes in the hangar. “Where do all these come from? Do warlords really have that much cash?”
“Some were captured when the country broke apart.” Soarin’ gestured at Kiel’s former Talongo Air Force fighter. “Some were found or bought elsewhere. Some were smuggled. We aren’t talking top-tier equipment here, but there’s a decent budget for weapons and gear. The UTA has control of a lot of natural resources in Talongo. Some gold mines. They basically run them with slave labor.”
Rainbow’s stomach turned. And she was fighting for people like this? Not that the Freedom Army she’d heard about was any better.
Of course, how did she know? Was the UTA spreading rumours about the Freedom Army’s cruelty in an attempt to prevent defection?
“How do you know about the slaves?” Rainbow asked.
“I saw it on the news back home before they brought me here,” said Soarin’.
Fair enough. “But if it’s on the news, then why hasn’t someone intervened in this war?”
Soarin’ shrugged. “Who would care? You hadn’t even heard of it.”
What little hope Rainbow had of getting outside help drained away. But it only stiffened her resolve to get out of here. What lay ahead was probably the hardest thing she would ever have to do in her life. But she had to do it. “I’m going to get out of here. Even if I have to play by the rules and do all hundred missions. I’m going to tell the world what’s going on. Maybe the US will finally care when I say how many Americans have been kidnapped.”
“You don’t actually think they’ll let you go after you finish flying the missions, right?”
Her head snapped in his direction. “What do you mean?”
“Think about it. It doesn’t make any sense for them to actually let you go. Of course they know once you’re free you’ll try to get some help and bring them down. They’ll play nice and give you a little send off, but when you get on the C-130 to leave, who’s to say they don’t just take you for a ride, shoot you in the back of the head, and push you out somewhere? Nobody who’s left here has ever come back with help.”
Rainbow didn’t want to believe it. But who did she trust more, him or her kidnappers? She wanted to reply. Something smart. Something biting. But just like her situation, Rainbow didn’t see a single thing she could do.
Even still, she needed something to believe in. But if she was just going to be killed at the end, then there was a deadline. She had to figure out how to escape.
Just then, Lightning jogged in. “There you are. Kick the tires and light the fires! We got a mission.” She handed Rainbow a scrap of paper. It was titled Patriot 4 and contained hastily-written directions.
Lightning’s ground crew went to work. Soarin’ gestured Rainbow over and showed her how to help load the Tucano’s guns. The bombs from the last mission were still hanging under the wings. Rainbow thought that maybe they should have been stored in a safe place or something, but the UTA air force had already repeatedly astonished her with its total disregard for safety or protocol.
After a quick prep, Rainbow climbed in and started the engine. She and Lightning taxied for the runway, joined by Angels and Pantera.
“All girls, huh?” Angels observed.
“What’s that one joke?” said Lighting. “‘That means it’s not a cockpit, it’s a box office.’”
In spite of herself, Rainbow laughed. “What’s with you today? ‘Kick the tires and light the fires.’ First you quote Top Gun and then you’re telling dirty jokes?”
“It’s an air-to-air today,” said Lightning.
Rainbow paused. She looked at the other three jets, which were carrying missiles. “Wait, then what am I doing here?”
“I’m going to love finding out,” said Pantera, sounding like she was grinning like a cat.
Her gut tightening, Rainbow followed the others to takeoff. Once airborne, they seemed eager to press forward, leaving her Tucano struggling to keep up.
They flew north in a straight line for fifteen minutes, following notes. Up ahead, Rainbow saw Angels rock her wings. Was it a signal? Why not say something on the radio?
She got her answer as two grey darts split their formation, moving so fast they were hard to even see. The combined speed of closing was probably more than five hundred miles per hour, and Rainbow barely got a look at the two jets that streaked past.
She immediately pulled the stick to her belly, bracing her legs and trying to remember how to keep blood from pooling in her lower body as the g’s piled on. As an afterthought, she thumbed the bomb release. They fell off, and the Tucano turned harder.
Though it shouldn’t have surprised Rainbow that the slow, nimble Tucano had completed its about-face first, she still wasn’t expecting to have no other aircraft between her and the two other planes that were still circling back. The arrow-like profiles she caught in the afternoon sun told her they were MiG-21’s.
Being that Rainbow was closest, both of them immediately turned for her. She pulled the trigger for a short burst, the guns rattling in the general direction of the two enemy fighters, but the distance was too great to even hope for a lucky shot.
“Four, dive!” commanded Angels.
But that would expose her to the oncoming jets. If they got on her tail, the Tucano couldn’t hope to outrun them. But had Angel misled Rainbow so far? Her voice had guided the previous mission and they’d all come back alive.
Rainbow made a snap decision and rolled the plane one hundred eighty degrees, pulling for the ground.
Tracers flashed past her cockpit and she actually heard one of the Fishbeds thunder past her. Rainbow’s neck was twisted over her shoulder, looking for it.
“Fox two! Splash one!” Lightning shouted.
Rainbow was vaguely aware that meant one of the enemy fighters had been shot down. She didn’t consciously relax, but allowed herself to focus more fully on the jet that had nearly gunned her down.
She found it, still hurtling away after the attempted attack. Her slower speed had caused it to overshoot. That, and the timely call by Angels.
Rainbow’s nose came up, the gunsight flashing past the retreating MiG, and she pulled the trigger. This time, she was close enough that a lucky shot - if she’d made a lucky shot - that might have actually connected. But it was a diving attack and a missile from Angels that took out the other Freedom Army fighter.
Rainbow, once again, was left breathing hard and shaking. This time, it was because the engagement had lasted less than thirty seconds, so fast that she never had time to to consciously think about it while the bullets were still flying.
That fast - she could die.
Angels’ jet was the only one with radar, even rudimentary as it was. She did a sweep of the sky and declared it clear. The four of them headed back to base. Rainbow peered down at the two piles of burning wreckage miles below and wished she hadn’t.
Back at base and safely on the ground, Rainbow climbed down from the Tucano, drenched in sweat. Soarin’ looked at her. “Do you want to see the gun camera footage?”
Rainbow considered it, but shook her head. “Nothing to see.”
She walked over to Lightning’s plane, where the other pilot was just climbing down. Lightning was smiling and held up her hand for a high five. One of her mechanics gave it to her.
“Not bad,” said Lighting, though Rainbow thought she might be talking to herself. She glanced at the side of her jet, where two miniature flags were already painted. She tapped her finger next to them, as if envisioning where the next one would go. Rainbow thought they must be Freedom Army flags.
“That was some move you pulled,” said Lightning, turning to Rainbow. “If you hadn’t turned in, those guys would have cut you in half. They almost did.”
“Angels told me to,” Rainbow said.
“She told you to be bait while she got into position,” said Lightning.
“But...she manages everything so well.” Even as Rainbow said it, she knew it was a weak argument.
Lightning smirked. “She’s a tactical expert. I’m actually looking forward to her finishing ninety five and leaving so the rest of us can have some fun.”
“Ninety five?”
“Right. She shot down a runner a while back.”
Lightning looked at where her mechanics were already painting her third kill on the side of the Hunter. She picked up her helmet and walked out of the hangar.
Over her shoulder, she called, “Do all the killing you can. It’ll get you out of here faster.”