Red Harrier

by Gryphon Gaming


Ch.1 HARRIER DOWN!

Before you come down on me about "HEY NUMB NUTS! IT'S A BLACK EAGLE, NOT A HARRIER!" let me say how I know! I say it's a harrier because I like to fit in with the American air fleet when we rain Hell on Yuri. I don't like being the black sheep of the fleet. So I call my plane a harrier, not a Black Eagle.
"Americans need an air strike on a building near the oil pump near Yuri's slave miners!" A voice on the comlink radio in my cockpit commanded "Head over there and support them!" the accented commander cut the line and I flipped the engine switch to ON and lifted into the air slowly. Near the edge of my view I could see the American Airport. They were firing up their engines in their planes too. I could also see their lightning storm machine flaring up and their chronoshift also. I reached an appropriate altitude and I shot off, my three other comrades in pursuit behind me as we conjoined with the American fleet.
"God damn..." I could hear one of my fellow pilots through the radio. Even I was looking in awe. There were at least 50 planes in this squad! It blew my mind to think there could be that many airports in such a close proximity! Not to mention Russian war blimps were also joining the party. On the ground below, American tanks and Russian Tesla tanks drove in the same direction along with Korean foot soldiers, taking positions in buildings near Yuri's base. Hell was about to be brought to the small island Yuri was positioned on.
"Danger close." The radio advised, continuing a few seconds later "Be advised, Russians are arming their nuclear silos! Pull out as soon as the sirens begin to ring!" I chuckled to myself, thinking that Yuri was done for now that we had warheads aimed at his sorry ass. I broke from the main bunch of planes along with two American harriers. One got in front of me and the other behind me. We approached the targeted building as I armed the HE missiles with a flick of my finger. The red button to fire below my thumb. I knew why the Americans were around me. They were to take the fire from below so I could complete the run. The screen in my cockpit counted down the time before launch.

1 kilometer and 10 seconds
900 meters and 8 seconds
700 meters and 6 seconds
I began my descent for an accurate shot to the base of the building which would make the thing collapse on its self. Simple arms fire from mind controlled soldiers in the building ricocheted off my plane's armor. An evil grin crawled onto my face.
300 meters and 2 seconds
100 meters, and one second
50 meters, fire and pull up!
Before I could do so, the building exploded! The pressure wave forced me back as my plane stalled and flew directly straight up. The American planes short circuited and plummeted, exploding into rubble below. Where the building used to be was now a giant purple orb. It was clear enough so you could just see inside. Electricity on the inside rode around like a motorcycle in a steel cage at a circus.
"ALL UNITS, SIEGE COMPROMISED! RETREAT BACK TO POSITION DELTA!" which was an oil refinery in the middle of the 3 attacking nation bases, far away from Yuri's base. I had just regained awareness and tried to comprehend what was happening. Sirens rang below as the soviets fired their nuke. Seconds before hitting the base, it began to glow purple, held in stasis by the sphere. Below, all the ground units were either upside down or under Yuri's control. The planes were all fighting each other along with the mash of UFOs entering in and destroying the Americans.
I flipped my plane into a nose dive and turned off my equipment. Yuri's influence began to creep into my mind when all of a sudden, I smash into the globe, smashing it completely even though the glass had to be meters thick. The mind control left my mind and the ground soldiers. The nuke fell and exploded, destroying the walls, barracks, and war factory along with a turret on the ground. The upside down troops went upright and finished off the ground units. The American planes took back control of the air and brought Hell down onto the UFOs.
Just before I touched the ground, the electricity which was in the globe smashed into my plane, sending me flying into the ocean that surrounded Yuri's island base which was connected to the main land by two steel bridges. My dashboard came to life in a blue, electric glow and I was suddenly split apart, atom by atom.
I remember waking up as I was falling from the sky. My equipment, which turned on without me touching the on button again, showed all the signs of engine failure and unnecessary altitude changes, which in this case would be losing altitude faster than normal. Beyond my cockpit windshield, I could see a tower of crystals, the size of the average radio tower. The crystals were white and silver with smooth ends if they jutted off.
Pulling up on my plane sent me into a spiral. "FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK!" barked around in my head as I tried every protocol for emergency landings. I knew I was done for when suddenly I cut the engines and put out the landing gear. It was all done by instinct and I focused the fuel to the rockets below the ship, slowing my descent. Now I just needed to deal with the main engines failing. The descent warning light dissipated and I focused on my engines. I was lucky the secondary engines and motor still worked.
Snow fell from my plane as I opened the cockpit. I jumped from the plane, the heat from plane melted the snow below. I ripped off my helmet, gasping for clean air since inside the cockpit it smelled of oil and engine exhaust.I laughed at my luck, surviving a crash. Snow crystals landed on my nose and brought me back to reality. Where was I? Why was I here? Did we win?
I could guess some answers. Maybe the Americans saved me with the Chronoshift. But then why was I in Antarctica, or where ever I am? I scoffed at the idea that the three allied nations failed to take down Yuri. I collected my helmet and the insulation that fell out of it and climbed back into my plane, getting my repair gear. I'm glad It wasn't destroyed. I secured some thick and dense snow under the plane just incase the landing gear buckled and I went to work on the engine.
The glass globe didn't cause too much damage, but it did crack the power circuit and made it damn near impossible to use properly. To fly this plane, I would need to use the secondary engine. But the secondary engine isn't as powerful or fast. If a UFO or hostile Siege Chopper were to pass by... I didn't want to think about it. I got out from beneath the magnificent Korean plane and sad against one of the snow piles. There was no doubt that I was stranded and would be here for a while. So I knew I would need to get one essential item : food