Chapter 27

Anna quickly assessed the situation. They might have time to head back and save themselves, but the fact that the enemies were not on radar means they were also using some kind of stealth cloaking technology, so the Citadel wouldn't see them coming either. Which means that there is only one choice.

"Chris, we need to take them down before they can get close to the Citadel," Anna said firmly.

"Take them down? How are we going to take them down?" In contrast to the collected Anna, Chris is still in a state of panic.

"Do you trust me, Chris? Owen, Charl, and everyone on the Citadel are on the line here. We can't back down."

That seemed to have calmed Chris down. Anna's current seriousness reminded Chris of the airsoft skirmish, and there was nothing Chris could trust more than Anna when she gets serious.

"Y-Yes."

"Great, here goes nothing."

Anna pushed down on the thrust lever and the jet began heading straight for the enemy squadron.

"Target locked on!" Anna yelled.

"Firing missiles!"

As Chris said that, two rockets launched from under the jet's wings and shot out toward the bomber. Before they could make contact, each of the aircrafts shot out flares. The bomber pulled up while the jets broke formation and curved to either sides.

"Let's take care of the jet at 10 o'clock first," Anna said.

"Roger."

Anna tilted the stick in pursuit of the jet on the left. Carefully, she placed the jet in the middle of her crosshair to lock on.

Before Anna could call out to Chris, the alarm sounded again.

"Enemy missile incoming!"

"Dumping Flares!"

Anna rolled away from the potential blast zone, therefore losing sight of the jet they had previously locked on to.

"Do we have any more flares?" Anna asked.

"That was our last one, but we have one more round of chaff."

Realizing that they can only survive one more missile, Anna clenched her fist and directed the plane to the hostile who just fired the shot.

"Enemy locked on!"

"Firing missile!"

The missile quickly approached by the enemy jet. Anna was expecting it to fire off its last round of flares, but there was no countermeasure. The missile connected with the enemy aircraft and with a bright flash, the plane became engulfed in an explosion. What looked to be remains of a plane flew out of the ball of flames toward the water far below them, leaving a fiery trail like a meteor.

"Enemy down! They seem to have only one round of flares," Chris said.

That was good news. Anna paid no attention to the fact that she just secured her first kill in aerial combat. The situation was too tense to celebrate. However, Anna did look for a parachute, which she saw floating down toward the water. She felt a slight sense of relief, even though she perfectly understood that they were enemies who were after her life just as much as she was after theirs.

But they are different from Jason and his mercenaries. Jason was truly despicable, while she didn't know the enemy pilots. For all she knew, they could have families that they will never be able to return home to, just like her father…

That thought did not discourage Anna, in fact, it motivated her, because she knew that if she failed to take down the enemies, everyone on the Citadel would be in deep trouble, including her brother.

"Do you have a visual?" Anna asked.

"Affirmative. Hostile bomber at 4 o'clock."

Anna yanked the flight stick and they began heading for the bomber, which was the real threat.

"The bomber will definitely have many flares in reserve, so use the 20mm instead."

"Roger."

Soon, the clunky bomber came into view. It was much bigger than the jets and was moving at a slower speed. Anna could tell that it was also not as weaponized as the jets. The bomber was built for one purpose, which Anna was on a mission to stop.

Sensing that Anna's jet was rapidly approaching, the bomber tried to move away from her course, but it was too late.

"Firing!"

Followed by what could only be described as thunder cast by divinity, bullets rained down on the aircraft in front of them at a rate faster than rain itself, each with the force and power to penetrate 2 inches of hardened steel. It was no wonder where the machine guns received their nickname - the Hands of God.

Like snow under spring rain, the bomber immediately became riddled with holes. Smoke emerged from the body as the metal essentially melted under intense fire. The plane went straight down into the water. Unlike the jets, the bomber had no ejector seats. There was absolutely no way anyone aboard was going to survive. The splash it caused from hitting the ocean surface was colossal. Pieces floated back up on top, but the plane itself, along with the passengers, disappeared into the depth and will never be seen again.

"Incredible," Anna couldn't help but exclaim under her breath.

Their main mission had failed, but that didn't mean Anna could relax. The last jet now had no objective to protect, and it could crash itself into the Citadel as one last hail Mary if it wanted to, making it much less predictable and more dangerous.

In her moment of awe, the last jet got behind Anna and Chris, and that dreadful alarm began sounding again.

"Enemy missile incoming!" Anna yelled as she sped up forward.

"Dumping Chaff!"

Burning metal shot out of the back of the jet, confusing the missile, blowing itself up in the middle of empty sky.

"They have our six!"

Bullets whizzed past Anna's jet. Because the jet is a much smaller and faster target, none hit. There was a sudden rush of adrenaline to Anna's head. They were on their last straw. One more missile and they were done. The very real possibility of not getting out of it alive clouded Anna's mind.

"Taking fire!"

Anna tried to fly in all sorts of directions and perform many maneuvers, but their enemy was no amateur and would not be shaken off their tail. It was a matter of time before they were hit with a bullet or a second missile.

"Damn, what do we do?" Anna asked desperately and was losing her composure.

Chris, who had been relying on Anna's calmness to keep himself composed this whole time, realized the situation was extremely dire for Anna to act this way.

"It's fine Anna, we will get out of this alive. We still haven't seen the stars, remember?" Chris tried to hide the tone of panic in his voice.

"What?" Anna asked while chuckling nervously.

"I trust you with my life. I know if anyone can do this, it's you Anna."

"You say that, but…"

"Don't you get it? I am putting all of my faith in you, so you should stop doubting yourself!" Chris's fabricated composure came crashing down.

Anna was shaken by Chris's statement. At that moment, what she felt toward Chris was more than simply a comrade or a friend, exactly what she didn't know. With his support, the flames of determination ignited once again in Anna.

She pulled the stick up so that they were rocketing into the sky. As expected, the enemy plane followed her in her ascent.

"Hold on to your seat!"

Anna reached out to a lever on her right that she hadn't touched since her summer job at Hamilton-Douglas. After completely tossing any form of hesitation aside, Anna jerked the lever back.

"Engaging vector thrust!"

The jet tilted slightly backwards with a jolt and there was an extremely sudden drop in speed. The hum of the engine was gone. The world was filled with no other noise but Anna's own intense heartbeat.

Unexpecting such immediate drop in speed from the stall, the enemy jet zoomed past Anna who was almost in freefall. After Anna got behind, or more specifically, under the enemy, she pushed the vector thrust lever back to the zero position.

"Engaging afterburner!"

Anna flipped and switch and the thunderous roar from liftoff came back. She was tossed back into her seat and she is now on pursuit.

"Enemy locked on!"

"Firing missile!"

The contact was instaneous. The enemy pilot had to chance to eject.

There was a moment of silence for the two to digest what just happened.

"Amazing! I knew you could do it, Anna! You are so amazing. I love you so much!"

Chris's unspent adrenaline dissipated, in which Anna caught something that made her jump in her seat.

Anna thought Chris probably didn't mean what he said, but she felt a sense of happiness, nonetheless. That feeling of happiness made Anna finally realize what she felt in Chris, but her mind was racing from everything that has happened, so she didn't have time to process her newfound realization.

After the last jet was destroyed, the radio seemed to function properly again.

"Anna? Chris? Can you hear me? Are you two okay?" It was Owen's worried voice that broke through the radio.

There was loud chattering in the background. People in the ATC island were evidently swarmed.

"Yeah, barely," Anna said.

"Oh, thank God. Please return now."

"Roger."

With a beep, the radio turned off.

"I can't believe we got out of that," Anna said.

"I knew we could, I knew you could."

Chris didn't seem to pay any mind to what he exclaimed in excitement earlier, but Anna did. She blushed at Chris's praise, which of course, wasn't visible to him.

Anna, who was now clear with her feelings, flew the plane back toward GMRS Citadel.