The Solitude of Silent Struggle

There was dead silence in the cockpit except for the click of controls and my own laboured breathing. I pushed the control stick as far right as it would let me, holding down the countermeasures release as if my life depended on it - which it probably did. Time on target was ten seconds, though at ultrasonic speeds that meant I was dozens of kilometres away still.

Tensing my legs to keep the blood in my brain, I relaxed on the stick and pulled down out of the corkscrewing turn with one eye on the horizon and the other on the missile that was chasing me through the upper atmosphere despite my attempts to lose it.

More warnings flashed on screens while I fed power into the dive. I opened the weapons bay doors, swinging my missiles out into the airstream. Only chance to take a shot, especially at this speed.

"Go for launch. Weapon release. Weapon release. Weapon release."

I set my foxes running and banked upwards for home, leaving this world to its own misery.