Ch 1

Mihaly looked at the radar, still showing nothing. Allowing a small moment to himself, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a photo of his granddaughters. He remembered how the radical leaders approached him at gunpoint, and held his granddaughters as hostages. He wanted to take them to the Kingdom of Shilage, away from the fighting.

But it was not to be. Mihaly looked up at the night sky, noticing how different it felt. Before, he saw the skies as freeing and inviting him to show his skills as a pilot. But at the moment, he felt more alone than he felt before. His squadron was at Shilage castle, his granddaughters were with the radicals, and he was now flying on a personal mission that had a high chance of failure.

"Lord, if this is my last flight then so be it. I just want to get my granddaughters away from the war." he prayed.

As if God had answered his prayer, the radar chirped and he saw the transport… with 8 heavily armed fighter escorts. Looking at his munitions count, he knew his options were limited. He had to make every shot count, and avoid being pulled into a drawn out engagement. He briefly thought about disengaging and falling back to get his squadron, but knew that the transport would be long gone, most likely at the now-impregnable lighthouse tower.

With nothing to lose, he positioned himself at the large formation's rear and came closer. He could get close before they saw him, but that meant shutting down his radar, most of his electronics, and lowering his speed to mask his heat signature.

The IRST sensor was activated, and while it didn't have the accuracy or range of traditional radar it couldn't be tracked. By the time someone could pick up the IRST band, it was too late.

"I say again, we're carrying civilians. We're not here to fight." Dr Schroder said, as the Osean pilots flew past the plane.

Mihaly looked up, and saw the lead plane, an Su-35 with three strikes.

"It's mister X!" one of the Osean pilots exclaimed, fear in her voice.

"Great fucking timing." another Osean said, angry.

"Three strikes, have your pilots stand down. I'm not here to fight." Mihaly said.

"What are you here for, Colonel?" Trigger asked.

"I'm here to get my granddaughters back." Mihaly said, as he moved in closer to Trigger.

"We heard a girl on the plane. I think she identified me, saying 'that's the plane with the three strikes. The one grandpa talked about.'" Trigger said, confused.

Mihaly opened the small glove compartment on his plane and pulled out the morse code machine and sent a message to Trigger.

'Help me get my granddaughters, and i won't interfere in your mission.'

A few seconds later, he got a from Trigger.

'Deal.'

"Alma, Ionela, are you there?" Mihaly asked.

"Grandpa?!" Ionela asked, surprised.

"It's me, sweetie. I'm here." he said, looking at the transport, putting a hand on the canopy glass.

"I knew it. I told you guys grandpa would come save us." Alma triumphantly said.

Mihaly could only chuckle at her bravado. It seemed both his granddaughters inherited his grit from him.

"I can't believe it. Grandpa and three strikes flying together." Ionela said, seeing the two Flankers flying in perfect formation with each other. The rest of the Osean pilots moved away from Mihaly, as if they were afraid of his presence.

"Colonel Shilage, you know your orders. This is not part of the deal!" another voice said.

"I'm altering the deal, Ms. senator. Pray i don't alter it any further." Mihaly growled.

"Colonel Shilage, i didn't expect this stunt from you of all people. But it seems every man has their price." the senator said.

"What are you talking about?" Tabloid asked.

"She means this." an Erusean soldier said, followed by the sound of bolt being charged.

"Grandpa, help us! They're going to kill us!" Ionela screamed before her voice was muffled. Mihlay yelled in anguish, threatening to kill the Eruseans.

"Touch my granddaughters and you're fucking dead!" he swore.

"Shit! We got contacts bearing down on us. Unknowns!" Long Caster said.

Angry at the distraction, Mihaly joined the Osean pilots in taking down the Erusean fighters, though he focused on the escort drones to prevent any drone reinforcements from coming in.

"Last fighter is down. Mr X, what are you doing?" Long Caster asked, seeing the Erusean ace rocket towards the transport, now tailing the rear.

"You going to shoot us down, Colonel? You'll kill your precious grandchildren as well." the senator said.

"Senator Macron, you were for the drone program. Correct?" he asked, seeing Trigger and another of his pilots fly next to him.

"Correct. And you did a great job in advancing it." she smugly replied.

"Yes. And it allowed me to sharpen my skills even more." Mihaly said, firing a burst of gunfire at the far right engine.

With the engine on fire, Trigger destroyed the far left engine and all three fighter pilots watched as the transport fell from altitude and towards the ground.

"And here we go." Mihaly muttered, as he watched the belly-landing.

"Three strikes, i'll cover you from the air. Land and get my granddaughters out." Mihaly said, as he fired missiles at the incoming Erusean ground forces.

Taking a deep breath, Trigger and Tabloid landed their planes on the ground away from the crashed transport.

"Remember, grab the girls. Forget about everything else." Trigger ordered, as they headed towards the wreckage, pistols drawn. Suddenly, gunfire erupted from the crash-site, as Erusean radicals open fire pinning them down.

"Shit!" Tabloid shouted, firing his G18.

"Mr X, we've stirred up a hornets nest down here. We could use some support!" Trigger shouted, as put his 9mm in his holster and pulled out a spare revolver from his boot and fired until he ran out.

"Copy that. Get your heads down." Mihaly said, performing a strafing run.

Tabloid and Trigger crouched as they heard gunfire erupt ahead of them. They were always in the sky, diving down on their hapless foes. Now they were in the trenches like everyone else.

"Coast is clear! Grab a rifle and follow me!" Trigger said, leaping from cover and headed to the plane. As he ran forward, an Erusean soldier rose up only to get 5 rounds in the chest. Trigger grabbed the soldier's rifle and continued to the wreckage.

"Alma, hold my hand. We're leaving." Ionela said, coughing because of the smoke. She lead her younger sister thru the wreckage, hearing gunshots and the roar of jets above. Looking thru the smoke, she saw an adult figure approaching them. Thinking the person was friendly, she headed towards the figure, only to stop cold when she heard the senator's voice.

"Where do you think you're going?" she growled, pointing a submachine gun at the girls.

"You'll never win. Grandpa and three strikes are here." Ionela firmly said.

"If you think that'll intimidate me, you're…" she started, when bullets hit the metal behind her.

Turning around, senator Macron gasped in pain as she was stabbed with a bayonet. Falling onto her back, she rolled on her stomach and attempted to crawl away on one hand, the other hand clutching the bleeding wound.

Ionela backed away, keeping her younger sister away from the carnage. Behind the dying Macron, another person appeared, holding a rifle with a blood-stained bayonet at the end. He walked towards Macron and stepped on her foot, stopping her from crawling. She looked at the pilot, and began to beg for mercy. But the soldier was not in the mood for mercy.

Raising his weapon, he brought it down thru her eye and burrowed the blade up to the rifle barrel. "Mr X, your granddaughters are safe. I'm taking them back to me and Tabloid's planes." Trigger said, pulling his rifle out of the corpse.

"Make it fast, You got ground targets heading to the crash. There might be fast movers also. I almost forgot. My granddaughter's names are Alma and Ionela. Is Tabloid flying a two seater?" Mihaly asked.

"He is." Trigger said.

"My granddaughters will ride with Tabloid. I'll buy you as much time as i can. Sol 1, out."

Trigger lowered his weapon and approached Ionela, who was rightfully afraid of him. Dropping to a knee, he put the rifle down and removed his helmet.

"I'm the pilot with the three strikes. Your grandfather sent me to save you two." he said, extending a hand out, hoping that Ionela would use her senses.

Ionela carefully grabbed his hand, wondering if this wasn't a trick. She did just see him brutally kill the senator who was about to murder her. Would he do the same?

"It's okay. I'll take you to your grandfather." Trigger said. That seemed to calm both the girls and they grabbed his hand.

"Tabloid, take Alma to your jet. I'll take Ionela. We're moving out." Trigger ordered.

"Copy that. Come on, Alma. lets meet Mr X." Tabloid said.

Both pilots left the wreckage, a weapon in one hand, and a girl in the other hand. Trigger would have laughed at the situation they were in, but he was in no mood to do so.

"Trigger, take point!" Tabloid said.

With Mihaly flying top cover, the two ran towards their jets and turned around upon hearing a massive explosion, as Mihaly dumped his remaining ordnance onto the cargo plane. Snapping himself out, Trigger headed to Tabloid's F-18F, seeing Tabloid opening the canopy.

"Ionela, you go first. Your sister will have to sit on your lap." Trigger said, and he lifted the girl to Tabloid.

"When will we see grandpa?" Alma asked.

"Very soon." Tabloid assured.

Tabloid ascended into the air and was followed by Trigger. The two looked for Mihaly, and saw the black-orange aircraft heading towards them.

"Three strikes, i'd like to speak with my granddaughters." Mihaly said, flying next to Tabloid.

Tabloid took off the mouthpiece and and tossed it to the girls.

"Grandpa?" Alma asked.

"It's me. I told you two i'd come for you." Mihaly said.

"I'm so happy. Thanks grandpa. Thank you!" Ionela exclaimed.

"Grandpa, are you coming with us?" Ionela then asked.

Mihaly looked down at the burning wreckage of the Erusean transport, and his heart sank. Once again, this war was separating him from his granddaughters.

"No. I can't." Mihaly said.

"Why not?" Ionela asked, holding back tears. Her grandfather put everything on the line to rescue them, and now he couldn't go with them?

"They'll be searching for me. I killed Erusean soldiers. They know who flies this plane. It's the only way to keep you girls out of harms way." he said.

"Grandpa, please!" Alma exclaimed, tears running down her face.

"I'm sorry. Alma, Ionela. Listen carefully. I love you two so much. When this war ends, i'll come look for you. I promise." Mihaly said, struggling to hold back his tears.

"Pilot with the tree strikes, take good care of my granddaughters." Mihaly said, as he peeled away from the two Oseans.

"Colonel, when the fighting ends, where can we find you?" Trigger asked.

"I'm sending you two coordinates. I'll be in one of those coordinates." Mihaly said, sending the message via morse code.

Looking down at the paper coming from the morse code machine, he gave the numbers to Longcaster, and he responded.

"Trigger, one is the light-house. The other is deep in Erusan territory. What's your plan?" Longcaster asked.

"Survive, let alone win, this war. Then take the granddaughters to see mr X." Trigger said.