Feisler knew the only chance he had was his aircraft's maneuverability. He rolled, dived, did whatever he could to shake the warhead that was locked onto his tail. Finally, he confused it with a split-s maneuver, watching in relief as the deadly missile ripped past, disengaging. Now he could observe his surroundings better.
Most of his team had avoided being targeted by the missiles. It was the Friebenese planes that were having the most difficult time. The Typhoons were trying to use team tactics, flying in close proximity and maneuvering around each other to confuse the missiles, while the Bird of Prey simply used its superior maneuverability to evade his pursuing missile in one turn.
What really impressed Feisler, however, was the orange-marked F-8 and its squad. Their flying was perfection itself, and the missiles were no trouble. The strange attack, it seemed, would be over soon without casualties. Then, he heard an explosion nearby. What followed was pieced together later on by Feisler based on what he saw and the testimony of others in his flight.
Only one member of the Mamba training flight was locked onto by a missile: Lieutenant Ayel. She reacted immediately, pulling away from her squadmates with the missile pursuing. As before, her maneuvers were top notch. She was having no trouble keeping the missile at bay, until her moment came; the moment in a person's life when he or she must choose between saving themselves and possibly risking someone else's life or personally accepting one hundred percent of the risk.
Ayel rolled once, to confuse the warhead, and realized her error: flying her current course evasively would bring her right over Mamba flight, running the risk of forcing the missile to accept a new target. If she chose not to evade the missile, her flight would be spared. Ayel chose the latter option without hesitation. The missile detonated alongside her aircraft, peppering it with shrapnel and shredding its right wing. The explosion produced a small shockwave which tossed the small plane out of control, sending it tumbling. At the same time, all aircraft in the vicinity experienced a small EMP surge, which played havoc with their systems. Now, Feisler's attention was had, and he saw what was happening.
"Ayel!" he cried, diving towards her craft. Amazingly, despite the damage, the Lieutenant managed to stabilize her aircraft. Feisler pulled up alongside her, and could see that her aircraft was getting steadily worse. Her shredded right wing had caught fire, and was now leaking fuel.
"Ayel, give me a sitrep!" he said over the radio. Ayel's voice came back, full of static interference.
"This is... Mamba 2. Blast... shorted... systems. I can't do much. Controls... manual."
"Can you eject?"
"Negative," she said after a few moments. "That's busted, too."
"No," Feisler whispered, then had another idea.
"Mamba 2, manually detach your canopy and parachute and get out of there."
"I'll try, sir."
Feisler watched as the pilot next to him stood up and released the parachute from the back of her seat. The fire was spreading now, and it was close to the fuselage. She didn't have much time. She was at the canopy now, good. She disengaged the clamps and tried to lift. Something was wrong, however. Lieutenant Ayel saw it as soon as she turned around. A piece of shrapnel was jamming one of the releases. She sat down again, calmly.
"Not much I can do sir, sorry." Her voice came over the radio again, clear now. Feisler felt a tear forming in one eye.
"Ayel, Christine- is there anything I can do?"
"No sir, don't worry about it. Just get my friends back home safely, alright?"
"I will," Feisler said, "I swear to you I will."
"Goodbye then, sir," Ayel said, "Mamba 2 out."
She dipped her wings in a salute, then pulled sharply upward. As soon as she went vertical, her AT-6 exploded, breaking apart in a tremendous fireball as the flames reached her fuselage's fuel tanks. She died instantly.
"Dammit," Feisler whispered, "who did this?"
Then the TU-95 next to them exploded.
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Captain Franz Heibald, one of the Gheist pilots, shook off his missile quickly. When he saw what happened to the Remertian pilot, he felt he had no other option. He quickly flipped the safety off his "commit" button on his control stick, lined up perfectly, and sent an AIM-7 Sparrow missile right up the TU-95's rear. The bomber exploded in a fiery flash.
"What the hell was that for?" Hyerich's voice came over the radio.
"They shot at us!" Heibald said.
"We don't even know who shot at us!" Hyerich responded. "Do you realize what you've done? Gheist, return to base!"
The five aircraft turned around, heading for the base, leaving the remnants of the Remertian squadron and the three mercenaries alone in the sky.
