that he dared to even question the nature of his mission. But that was the nature of a fighter pilot?to take responsibility for his own life, to make his own destiny in the skies. They might think he was simply a glorified carrier pigeon, but Yuri knew better.

Yuri tipped the nose of his MiG up to grab altitude, climbing to meet the Hornet.

1208 Local Hornet 301

Thor bore down on the MiG that was separated from the rest of the pack. It puzzled him momentarily why this one bird seemed to be avoiding the growing furball behind him. Was the other pilot frightened, running away from the battle?

If so, why wasn’t he headed back the way he’d come, to the east?

Or would that take him within range of his own radars, quickly exposing him for the coward he was?

Maybe the MiG was looking for a nice, safe corner of the sky to hide out from the battle, hoping to join the survivors after the action and finesse his way back to home base.

Attracting Thor’s attention had just eliminated that possibility.

“Kill them all and let God sort them out,” Thor said aloud. He waited until the MiG began its maneuver to gain altitude, then fell in behind it, easily pacing it.

As soon as he was in position, he selected a Sparrow, waiting for the tone lock telling him he had a good radar fix for the semiactive guidance head to follow. No tone?what the hell?

He tweaked and peeked, trying to regain radar contact on it, but there was simply nothing on his scope.

Too far for a Sidewinder?have to close him. Maybe even get in guns range if he could. Thor kicked his Hornet in the ass and headed off after the aircraft. The only contact he had on it was visual, and he was damned if he was going to lose that.

The MiG streaked upward, then rolled into an oblique turn that was the beginning of a maneuver to circle back on him. With two fighters of relatively equal performance capabilities, battle often came down to this?a matter of maintaining the proper angle of separation to enable a lock on the bogey.

But how was he going to get a lock?

Whatever it was about this MiG, it sure as hell looked like a ghost on radar. That left only guns and a Sidewinder, the heatseeking missile that didn’t give a damn about the radar-reflective characteristics of an aircraft. All it saw was the hot, burning hell of jet engines and afterburners.

Thor let the MiG begin its oblique roll and descent to the left, holding his own hard turn until he judged he was directly over the bandit.

He snapped the Hornet over at the top of his turn, dove back down, and was annoyed to find himself slightly leading the bogey.

A rolling scissors?that’s what we’re getting into. Not a bad tactic against a similar fighter, but a dangerous way to live, at least half the time. The aircraft in the top of the serpentine maneuver generally had the better firing position, and as they looped through the sky, alternating altitudes and relative advantage, Thor’s Hornet would be exposed to a rear-quarter-aspect missile during the period when he was at low altitude.

Well, it was better to cut this short. Thor rolled out of the scissors, then threw the Hornet into a tight starboard turn, all the while watching over his shoulder to see what the other pilot was doing. With any luck…

Luck was with him. The other pilot continued evasive maneuvers, but continued pressing in on the carrier. Now just what was so damned urgent about the carrier?

Thor checked his radar again to see if there were any heavy bombers coming in behind the fighters, but his radar screen showed nothing. Not that that meant anything, not with the lack of contact that this bogey was generating. Still, it was possible that there was a flight of stealth-equipped bombers carrying antisurface weapons just behind the fighters.

Thor tucked the jet into a tight roll and dropped back into a high rear-quarter position on the MiG. He was just barely within range of his Sidewinders, and had only two on the wings. He debated waiting, trying to gain a more favorable position on the MiG, but decided against it. The MiG seemed bound and determined to head for the carrier. Ergo, Thor was bound and determined not to let him do it.

But what was the bogey carrying?

Thor replayed his last glimpse of the aircraft’s undercarriage in his mind, simultaneously readying the Sidewinder. He heard the low growl indicate a lock, and toggled it off.

The missile on the undercarriage had looked like a standard anti-air missile?now why the hell would he want to be close to the carrier with that?

A number of possibilities flitted through his mind, and suddenly the only reasonable one seemed obvious.

Another tactical nuclear weapon?that had to be it. Thor felt his blood run cold. Even if the missile didn’t strike anything, the resulting EMP would effectively wipe out every aircraft now in the air, as well as destroying the combat capabilities of all ships within range. He reached forward and jammed throttles into the slots as hard as they would go, desperately seeking a few more knots. The Hornet responded, almost exceeding the design specifications on the books. Thor urged her on silently, rocking forward in his seat as though he could help her gain a few more knots.

He toggled the weapons-selector switch to Sidewinder again, waited for the growl, then let it rip. The first one was still en route to the jet.

The first missile locked onto the MiG’s starboard tailpipe. It bore in at Mach 2, entranced by the blazing infrared radiation coming out of the tailpipe and the jet’s hot exhaust.

Another target?the missile wavered for a moment, confused by the sudden profusion of bright heat spots around its primary target. It settled on the strongest one, changed course slightly, and headed for it.

Four seconds later, it exploded harmlessly in the middle of a flare in a cloud of chaff.

Thor swore vehemently. The MiG had ejected flares and chaff and executed a hard port turn. The first Sidewinder was decoyed. He fixed all of his hopes on the second.

The second missile had a steady lock on the port exhaust. The MiG’s turn only served to present it a more favorable aspect. The MiG spat out a last-minute flurry of chaff and flares, but even if the missile had been decoyed, its momentum would have carried it straight on. It rocketed up to the exhaust, poking its nose into the broad flow of hot air before exploding.

MiG-31

I’m going to dump it. Even with a Hornet on his ass and odds that he was just moments away from having to eject, Yuri felt an odd sense of relief. He closed his hand around the bar labeled Weapons Jettison. Just as he started to yank it, he saw the second missile, felt the cold clear knowledge that this one wasn’t going to miss. Rage engulfed him, an overriding regret for the rest of his life?or what could have been the rest of his life were it not for his superiors, for the Hornet welded to his ass. It isn’t fair?all I wanted was a little freedom. Without even pausing to reach for his ejection switch, he slapped his hand against the stick and fired the missile under his wing.

Hornet 301

Thor shut his eyes against the glare as the MiG exploded in midair. A violent black and yellow fireball, shot through with red and white flames, erupted. He heard the small ping of shrapnel hitting his fuselage, and broke hard right to avoid it. That would be a hell of a thing?to shoot down a MiG and then get dumped in the water himself with shrapnel in his engine intake.

Over tactical, Thor could hear the cries and victory yelps from his compadres. The first aircraft launched from the carrier were just starting to arrive on station, and the desperate fighters that had held the line alone were breaking off one by one to seek out the tanker. He glanced down at his own fuel status?fine for a while. He went buster and rejoined the fray.

As he selected his next victim, Thor’s mind scampered back briefly over the odd, stealthy MiG. Had it been carrying nuclear weapons?

Someone on the carrier would know. No doubt the explosion would have spewed radioactive material through the air, and the damage would be detectable by the ship’s radiac meters. Still, at least he’d gotten it before it detonated. It took a helluva lot more than a fireball to set off a nuclear tactical weapon.

“Vampire inbound!” the E-2C TACCO howled. “Thor?he got it off just before you nailed him!”

Tomcat 201

“Just in time.” Bird Dog saw the tanker off in the distance, and cut the Tomcat sharply to the right to swing

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