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10th of August, 2038, Fort Van Doorn, Republic of Free Texas, 05:46
Firebrand got up before the hour of the alarm. It was difficult to sleep in a way, as today was to be the big day. She thought of how today's flight would play into the larger picture. It has been over two years since the treaty of New Warsaw and surrender of the remaining Advent units, and she had little time to rest during that time. XCOM and later Terran Alliance required pilots, ground crew and experienced officers.. The handful of alien defectors with sufficient experience generally already was employed, but the needs were hardly fulfilled. But not only were they lacking men, they also were lacking aircraft.
The fleet of captured UFO vessels has been largely diminished in the final battles of the war. They had however much success with repurposing the old advent dropships, and the few civilian airliners that Advent used to provide transportation for the most loyal of citizens, but the truth was that if the Temple Ship and its fleet returned, they wouldn't have much to stand up to them. As part of the preparations, XCOM spearheaded the Firestorm project. It was loudly announced as the first human - designed spaceship, and while that designation wasn't exactly accurate, it would be an important morale boost if it did make it to orbit. Today's test however wasn't about it, but rather to test its speed at the height of 60 000 feet.
The choice of the pilot had been obvious if in a way political. While there were a handful of better pilots, mainly the defector aliens, but also some really talented recruits like Vuković, she was a symbol of victory. At least in the eyes of much of the population and military enthusiasts. Thinking about it, she realised how objectively true it was. The fact that the Skyranger II was never shot down before the destruction of Leviathan base was a miracle and a monument to her skills, and the quality of the craft. Sadly the years weren't kind to her. Firebrand turned 49 last month, but in some ways she felt even older, as the last 3 years have been pretty much constant work between flying, performing aircraft maintenance or learning more about alien technology. Her red hair for which she got her callsign, were now showing more and more grey strands.
Reading herself she proceeded to meet up with the rest of the squadron stationed in the base. Fort Van Doorn was built in the middle of the desert and was one of the main training centres for the Terran Alliance. Named after a famous war hero, the facility operated a handful of fighter aircraft assembled from parts from the remains of the Tucson aircraft boneyard in Nevada, and a few planes which survived the War for Liberation. A few F16s, F15s, F18s, even a single F104 and F14 were part of the bases’ complement. While she loved the Skyranger and the Dropships she was forced to switch to, these fighter craft were better. Faster, immensely manoeuvrable, and more importantly reminded her of the world that once was. Were it not for the occasional Viper, Muton or even one Andromedon in the base, one could think it was still 2014. Switching to interceptors had another advantage in a way , so long as there was relative peace it was safer. During the war for liberation she would fly the skyranger so low that once she rammed an old power line with it, here however such precision wasn't necessary and the hard deck was respected. Accidents still happened however and it was why her squadron currently had 11 pilots and 3 WSOs. in other words, two short.
She entered the mess early, but it seemed much of the squadron was already here. Major Dragan "Scav" Vuković, her second in command, who got his callsign for supposed "kill stealing". He was flanked by Juice, a city-dweller who still didn't drink despite ADVENT being gone. By another table one could see some of the newbies. First was Parrot, a Mexican who had a knack of mimicking other people's speech. On the other side of the table was Rainer, a female pilot from the British Isles, who tended to be as gloomy as the weather back home, and Stardust who was the WSO she was paired with. Next to them was Hazmat, an ex Reaper who was a WSO for Parrot. The next two pilots were by the counter, picking up food. Screech was from one of the northern states and Firebrand knew him less well but apparently he got the nickname for his terrible singing ability. Finally, there was Pirate, who started his flying career when he stole an advent dropship and crashed it into others on the airfield. The latter opened up the conversation.
“So, I heard you'll be testing that craft in the hangar we can't go into, Sir?,"
It was difficult to hide such a thing from members in the base, plus that fact wasn't exactly classified.
“Wouldn't you want to know? But yes, so today Scav will be handling your training. Don't crash this time," Firebrand responded, which led to a few short laughs around the room. Yesterday Pirate went below the 5000 feet limit during the exercise, which essentially meant he crashed as far as mission parameters go.
At that moment a viper slithered into the room, judging by the scales it was Athena, the pilot of the advent supersonic airliner which had been repurposed into an AWACS by the Liberation Army. She was flanked by Eagle Eye, the radio operator of the aircraft. While the AWACS wasn't assigned to the squadron directly, it's been here for a long time and so the pilots were acquainted with its crew.
"What's the plan for today?," Parrot asked, having just finished his food.
"Ground strike on a defended target. I will tell more once we're in the briefing room, but F18s will be armed with laser guided bombs and freefall bombs, and escorted by a pair of F15Cs. Those of you who fly on F16s will represent the target's defences and will be tasked with intercepting the attackers," Scav explained.
"Hmm who is staying on the ground?" - Juice added noticing that it would mean one of the pilots wouldn't have a plane in the air
"No one, I will be taking the F14 along with Oldman and we’ll be replacing AWACS' role," Scav added.
The old aircraft still had a role as it was refitted to hold a powerful radar and a set of gravitational wave detectors under its massive fuselage. Additionally, it was modified to be able to carry Avalanche missiles.
"We were tasked with observing and monitoring the test flight so you'll need to make due without us," Added the Viper
And so the breakfast continued, after which Firebrand went over to again take a look at the machine and speak with the engineers and technicians. The flight was scheduled at 1400 hours, but first a number of things needed to happen. One hour long briefing, final ground tests of the machine. Arrival of a Space Fleet Rear Admiral, who was to oversee the test. All of the above were going to turn the wait into a torture. However it seemed something was off when she arrived at the briefing…
"There has been a change of plans," The mission coordinator said. The man was black and despite his age entering the late 50s still seemed to be flowing with energy. He was the second in command of the base, and one of the veterans of both wars.
"What change, don't tell me it's been cancelled?," Firebrand asked with a concerned voice..
"No, no, better. The President of the Republic decided to come, along with some big fish from XCOM,"
"Indeed, needless to say this means we need to impress them, as a good performance will mean additional funding," That came from General Kelleher, the main supporter of the Firestorm Project.
"I see.. I reckon the test flight turns into a showcase of abilities?," Firebrand asked
"That's the idea. After checking craft's operation, you will engage in a simulated dogfight with one of your trainees, and afterwards you will attempt to reach Firestorms' specified speed, if possible you will cross the 3500 metres per second line,"
The line was an important mark to beat, it would mean the firestorm would be faster than any of the alien ships at the test altitude.
"Close to the design parameters. How far should I push it?," She questioned
"Not more than 6900 knots.. we cannot afford an accident to happen, especially with audience,"
Finally after a few hours the time was near. At 1245 the fighters from her squadron took off, timed in such a way where they could make a pass over the airfield as the delegation arrived. Firebrand had already been in the flight suit envisioned for the aircraft. It was designed to be able to work as a space suit in an event of damage to the cabin when in space or high up in the atmosphere, so it was fully sealed. Among the VIPs, to Firebrand's pleasant surprise, was Bradford himself. Following a professional but genuine greeting, she boarded the craft.
Firestorm's cockpit was much different than that in a normal jet or dropship, utilising the COFFIN concept. The cockpit cover was made from a special, semi - transparent alloy, augmented with external sensors which connected with pilots' helmets, giving great situational awareness. The pilot didn't sit but rather was partially lying in the cabin, which reduced the cabin's height and more importantly would allow her to more easily withstand the gs that this craft could pull.
She had memorised the cockpit set up and take off procedures very thoroughly, and followed through them with confidence. As she was preparing the craft, the ground control was verifying the readings and making final checks on their part, relaying subsystem status to one another and Firebrand.
"Sensors good to go"
"Telemetry nominal"
"Propulsion ready"
"Ground control ready"
"Weaponry ready"
"Satellite uplink nominal"
The craft was pulled out of the hangar onto the tarmac. It was sitting on a special wheeled platform that made access easier to the belly of the craft when performing maintenance
"Demon - 1 asking permission for takeoff," Firebrand radioed the control tower on mission channel.
"Demon - 1, Permission for takeoff granted,"
Firebrand turned on the lifters located under the craft. Near immediately the ship jumped up from the platform and started gaining altitude. She waited for it to reach 150 feet and switched the engine mode to forward propulsion, giving the ship less than half the thrust. It jumped forward, smashing her body into the crash couch. In under 10 seconds, it breached the sound barrier. Firebrand eased on the throttle a bit. After one minute she was already at Mach 3.
"Base to Demon - 1, what's your status?," Control tower asked.
"Everything looks fine. Demon - 1 returning to make a fly by above the airfield,"
Firebrand started to decelerate and turn at the same time, pulling accelerations of at first 8, then 7 and 6 Gs. With the speed of the craft, she didn't do a full U turn but instead made a large circle and approached the base from north east, accelerating at the end. Back in the base, windows rattled with the power of the shockwave.
"Demon-1, proceed with manoeuvrability test,"
"Demon -1 acknowledges,"
Firebrand put the ship into a climb and made a vertical circle over the base. So much power that gods' Gs won't be of use much she thought to herself, while levelling out. Next she checked ships' jinking capability, using the special feature of the craft which allowed the pilot to sidestep incoming rounds without changing the direction of flight. Next, she made an 8-turn over the base, finishing it with a display of released chaff and flares.
Next was roll rate. It was somewhat sluggish compared to some fighters, due to the lack of control surfaces, but with the jinking potential it still allowed for a version of rolling scissors that could be used to throw off missiles or UFO targeting computers.
"Good job, Demon -1. Now proceed to zone 2 where you will engage in combat with Warthog flight,"
Warthog flight, that means Juice and Screech. They are smart and likely got an early warning so they will climb to get a better range for their missiles and more energy. Best I approach.. At 45 degrees or so to their position and low, they will launch fake missiles and use up fuel and energy trying to chase, while giving me space to make a vertical turn
And so she lowered altitude while accelerating to roughly mach 3. Craft's sensors detected the 2 blips at 110 kilometres, and soon the simulated missiles were launched. She increased power to the engines while slightly turning away, baiting the missles to lower their altitude and burn out much of their propellant, before putting on more gas and beginning a climb. She was at 50 000 feet.. 60 000 feet in no time, continuing the turn that would take her into near space. Meanwhile the avalanche missiles, simulated by the training software shared between all fighters in the base, used up their propellant. Passing through the stratosphere, the ship began to heat up but it was only temporary, and soon she found herself in a perfect position to use the plasma cannons. But the defenders were well trained and launched more missiles while continuing evasion. This forced her to break off the attack to evade. The game continued. With the second wave of missiles defeated, she made another turn , similarly the system not registering any simulated hits on the enemy.
With enemy's munitions running low however, she felt confident she can press on the attack. The targets launched final simulated long range missiles, but Juice's craft was declared destroyed by the Firestorm's fire. Firebrand turned to evade the approaching missiles, this time opting to climb out the incoming missiles while turning away, however it wasn't going to be enough.. As such she began her rolling scissors manoeuvre, forcing the computer on the missiles to constantly make course corrections and thus losing energy. By now she was exhausted but managed to shake off the remaining missiles. With the long range fight won, it came to round 2 in the form of a traditional visual range dogfight. Her opponents were good, but had effectively no chance against a ship that outright ignored rules of energy fighting.
"And you're dead Screech," Firebrand stated, after the computer declared he'd have suffered a direct hit from the plasma cannon.
"That's not fair, that fighter is too powerful," Screech argued.
"Life isn't fair. We were invaded by aliens, but good job holding out as long as you did," Firebrand responded, before turning back towards the base.
"Mission control to Demon - 1, you are to proceed to the speed test," Firebrand was somewhat happy to proceed to the final phase, the dogfight tired her significantly.
"Copy,"
The Firestorm climbed to the specified altitude and Firebrand increased the throttle to 90%. She was once more pressed against the couch as the ship accelerated.. The display could be toggled to show speed in a number of units, but Firebrand was running with knots for that was the obsolete standard on the aircraft they had in the base. The speed rose quickly.. 3000.. one minute later 4000.. 5000 after a few minutes it reached 6000..
Faster than a battleship . The canopy heat warning appeared. Just a warning. She switched on a reserve cooling system to assist. 6500.. 6600 .. the alien alloys making up the armour of the craft began to change colour slightly.. 6650.. 6700.. Firebrand finally increased the throttle to maximum. 6800.. 6850..
canopy heat shield warning
engine temperature warning
6875.. 6890
"Alright Demon that's enough," Ground control warned.
690…5
Firebrand lowered the throttle and the fighter began to decelerate.. the metal of the cover started returning to its natural colour, and warnings disappeared..