//------------------------------// // I: Intercept // Story: Malta Mayday // by WainbowHedgie //------------------------------// 8 October, 1969 RAF Luqa, Malta No. V (AC) Sqn Razor 1-2 Fg Off. James Burkley Field Training Exercise "All flights, Magic, begin exercise." With the cut of the radio static, I knew that this zone was now an active training zone. The coast 12000ft below was certainly about to hate us, extra noise from the afterburners interrupting the latest English Sunburn Tournament. I love Malta, so hot that anyone who comes back with no tan is almost certainly lying about their visit. Not great for us in these speedy greenhouses. The Lightning F6, a great improvement over the F3 by... very little actually, wing pylons able to carry external tanks are great, in anything other than a dogfight like this. The itinerary for today is chasing some Vulcans from 50 Sqn over the Maltese coast. Again. These two Redtop's will start to get bored of this view stuck if I don't fire them off sometime soon. "Magic, Razor 1-1, request Bogey Dope. In an instant my ears perk up at the radio activity. Waiting on the answer to start looking for our oversized bomber friends. "Razor 1-1, Magic, BRAA 288 for 20 at 15000, Flanking Snapping to the left, I look high to see an object somewhat far away. We were flying at bearing 300. Time to catch up then. "Razor Lead, 1-2, Visual" "Razor 1-2, Lead, Roger. Razor Flight, Lead, maintain heading for intercept, climb at 10, engage burner on my mark." "Razor Lead, 1-2, Climb 10, burner on mark" "Razor Lead, 1-3, Climb 10, burner on mark" The simultaneous answer was a testiment to our training. I pull to 10 degree AoA and maintain formation with Razor Lead. With just the three of us out and a single Vulcan up this morning, there wasn't much radio chatter. I'll admit that I'm a little bored here. What I would give to have something actually happen for us to get to do some real work. We have state of the art aircraft, capable of hovering vertically just above the ground and even climbing in that state, albeit not very quickly and very limited in terms of maximum altitude. Take that Yanks! Your Phantom cant do that. Neither can ours but that is besides the point. "Razor Flight, mark." Thump. The aircraft shook a little at the immense power of the afterburner, the mach meter was startying to tick up rather quickly going from just below mach 1 to mach 1.2 in roughly 25 seconds. These engines are absolutely beautiful, hungry, but beautiful. I check my IR cool as we rapidly approach the target. With the heads cooled and prepped, leaving my fingers far away from the missile release trigger and gain a lock on the not-so-gentle giant. "Fox 2" I call turning off the IR cool and master arm. At this range, that would have likely been a splash, no telling whether the bomber would live to tell the tale though. "All flights, Magic, ENDEX. Razor 1-1, rogue aircraft entering airspace BRAA 042 for 20, 17000, hot. Intercept and determine hostility." "Magic, Razor 1-1, Roger." "Lads this is not a drill, turn to merge 042, maintain climb of 10. Prepare Redtops for emergency. Me and my big mouth. Just can't shut it can I? "I have visual, on my mark, break and form escort." "Mark" Being on the left wing, I cut the afterburner and pull out left to swoop onto the right wing of our intruder. As I started my turn in, a sudden very heavy turbulence cuased me to almost lose control of the aircraft. This bird is fast, it works, but it just hates to actually fly in anything other than a straight line sometimes. Looking around I saw absolutely nothing. No con-trails, no specks in the sky to indicate other aircraft. Maybe I'm just being blind. "Magic,Razor 1-2, I've lost sight of everyone.Requesting Bogey Dope," ... "Magic, Razor 1-2, radio check, over," ... In theory Magic should be further ahead of my current bearing and should be less than 40 miles away. The radar however has other ideas on where the aircraft should be. Such as simply ceasing to exist. Glancing around and seeing no damage to the aircraft nor any change in handling confirms that I've not been hit by a stray bullet or missile. What I do see however is a coastline off to my right wing, with diminishing fuel load currently sat at roughly 40% in the mains and 50% in the ventral, I have to find a runway to land on and sort this mess out. Princess Twilight Sparkle "I shall consider your request carefully and report back to you soon on whether you have been granted the funding or not." Nodding to the guard to let the court-goer leave the room. Very quickly my visage goes from the false smile to a tired frown. Why on Equus would I ever give ten thousand bits to open yet another resteraunt with more of the same dishes down resteraunt row. To think I wasn't ready for this at my coronation just one month ago. I can also see why Celestia and Luna both agreed to retire and leave all this behind them. Looking at the register of appointments for today, thankfully that was the last one. Not one of these nobles actually had anything good to say or request in their appointments, treating it more like spending time with royalty that I don't really care about except the pay check if I play me cards right. I suppose that I am thankful with how they go about trying to get under my tail, they're about as subtle Rainbow Dash is patient. Speaking of whom, she just burst into the throne room. "Twilight, we may have a huge problem on our hooves." She continued pulling out a map from under her wing, "A regular training patrol spotted some flying contraption moving at high speeds of the coast of unknown origin and our top flyers can't catch it. Whatever it is, this thing is going faster than me post-rainboom." "How much faster?" "Not too much according to my most recent reports, older reports seem to present it as moving faster. To add, it seems to be shaped like a pegasus of some kind and not a balloon." "It's slowing down, try to guide it to somewhere safe to stop on the ground." "I've already sent a team to guide it to the runway at the academy." "Clear the rest of my day Raven, I think this is a matter I must tend to personally. I shall fly myself there, a detachment should not be necessary for the location, I believe Lieutennant Dash is perfectly capable of providing protection." Raven leaves with a nod. I stretch my wings popping slightly.I need to get out more. My wings feel numb and achy and I havent even taken off yet. This day just became more interesting. Fg Off. James Burkley There really isn't too much to see. Cruising by the coastline at mach 1.1 and no afterburner for the obvious reasoning. There have been signs of civilisation. The odd city here and there and from what I can tell at this distance, an active airstrip on a mountain at my 10 'o' clock. With no frequencies though nor any real way of knowing where I am, landing will be hard. A short flyover should allow me to see if the landing is even feasable. Judging by the small wings being deployed around me and attempting to catch up, this has to be a military base for training purposes, any other base would have supersonics on my wings right now trying to contact me. The lack of new friends on my wings suggest that these are subsonic aircraft and more than likely to be turboprops from their size. Pulling back on the throttle and deploying the pitiful excuses for airbrakes I begin to slow. These thin sheets of reinforced aluminium may have worked well for the sabre about 20 years ago, but we need something better than that for this beast. Dropping subsonic now and good timing too as I'm sure the locals don't like their windows being smashed now that I am down lower. Needless to say, this mountain base is certainly different. Heck, this mountain is different. Pretty sure mountains don't just poke out of the ground like an apple core left on the desk. Who climbed that anyway to actually build the runway? How did any form of logistics get to the base with no visible road to be see around it? Why do I need to ask all this when all I want is fuel, a map and a cup of tea to rest after this flight. ... Well my speed has dropped nicely for a makeshift pattern to check the runway. 500 miles per hour should do me well enough to check, turn and land should the runway be clear. Everything looks normal in truth, activity is high but runway has been left clear. Interesting building design and certainly well done, they almost look like real clouds despite the obvious building shapes up top. If it looks like this underneath then from the ground you might not even know there is a base here besides the traffic. Not seeing any aircraft out nor any obvious hangers, not my problem on how they store aircraft provided I don't have an extended stay. Lets not push my luck any further after all this. Going out long I have time to slow and turn in to line up for a final. 300 mph. Flaps fully down, drogue shoot prepared and airbrakes retracted. Stay cool. An overshoot could lead to a problem with that cliff but this bird should stop in time. Good descent rate. Coming over that cliff edge. 250 mph. Runway under me now, steady. TOUCHDOWN. Drogue deployed. Steady. Maintaing direction with braking and rudder. 100 mph, we're safe. Coming to a steady stop. Leaning back in silence, I have the chance to relax for a moment. Down and safe, time limit removed. Seems like I'm being redirected off the runway by some ground crew, never seen that uniform before. Pulling off the runway into a clear spot, I shut down and disconnect myself from all the oxygen feeds. Opening the canopy and taking off my helmet I look to the side. ... "Ah." Princess Twilight Sparkle Silence dominated in part due to the horrendous noise of this... thing but also from the unbelievable craft. "How did this fly faster than you Rainbow? I can't find any trace of magic either to actually allow it to fly in the first place." "You tell me Twilight. You're the egghead, I'm just an officer in line for Captain when Spitfire retires." "That could be sooner rather than later judging by her sudden need for time off. Before you ask, her reasons are not for me to share Rainbow. She will tell you in time." Soon enough the noise died down and stopped altogether, thank Celestia. The small glass cabin opened up to reveal a creature removing a helmet. Hold on, this looks like a human from the mirror world but not as colourful. "Ah." Well, it speaks I think? "Is my oxygen mask working correctly because I'm pretty sure horses can't build airfields." "Your mask is working fine, you have landed in Equestria, I am Princess Twilight Sparkle." "They talk too, wonderful. If I'm really here can you just get me a ladder so I can get out of the aircraft?" Rainbow is already on the case. A small team of ponies move to retrieve a ladder from the storage area. Not sure why Pegasi need a ladder but I can't complain. A few moments later, a ladder is placed under the cabin and the creature climbs out. Very much a male of the species judging by the voice. He seems to be tall, wearing a green suit with all sorts of wires and pipes connected to it. His light brown mane is matted from the helmet. Once he reaches the bottom of the ladder and streches he turns around. "Equestria huh? Never heard of it. Do you have a map to compare?"