Dense Air

Chapter 1

"Fox-2, fight's on!" Haya yelled just before one of her aircraft's four air-to-air missiles rocketed away. The hostile aircraft deployed flares, dove, and spun trying to lose the missile. It succeeded, and immediately afterwards aimed towards Haya's aircraft and opened fire from its gun. Haya reacted by rolling to the side to avoid the gunfire. "Shit, this guy isn't going down easy!"

Kazashi's Yak-38 dove towards the MiG, firing back and damaging a wing. The enemy aircraft kept going in the direction of the Harrier despite the gunfire. At the same time, Mako dove behind her, following up with more gunfire, but missing. The MiG kept going at Haya's Harrier, and got behind her, not letting Haya get into any position to fire back. Haya panicked. "Shit, left engine is on fire! N1 power is dropping fast!" Several warnings were lighting up on the panel in front of her. She had to think fast. "That MiG has one damn good speedbrake... but it doesn't have thrust vectoring!" She slammed the speedbrake to full, flaps down full, thrust vector pointed straight down, then pulled back hard and slammed the throttle. At around 7Gs, this wasn't more than what Haya had experienced before, but it was sustained for a good 5 seconds until she was behind the enemy plane. She armed the SRAAMs, dropped the throttle, flaps and speedbrake, and put the thrust vector back to normal. As she steadied the aircraft, the missile seeker pierced the air with a high pitch noise, indicating it was locked and tracking. "There's a reason the Harrier's been in service for 71 years, you fuckwad." After letting that out under her breath, she keyed her radio. "Fox-2!" Under the wing of the harrier, an SRAAM's engine roared as it sped off the rail towards its target, following the MiG's every move like an animal chasing its prey. Air combat happens very fast, and it had been less than 15 seconds since the other two dove at the enemy. But as they saw the missile's flaming exhaust light up the sky, they knew it would be over faster than they could react. Haya rolled and pulled away, letting the missile do its job. Barely a few seconds after it was launched, the missile reached its target. The detonator triggered, and the warhead exploded. It seemed to happen in slow motion as every aircraft in the area watched the ball of flames viciously engulf the MiG, ripping it apart and bringing it to an instant stop where it was. Flaming pieces of metal fell from the sky like fireworks. "Splash. Enemy aircraft destroyed." Haya said over radio, out of breath after holding it from anxiety.

Now that the fight was over, Haya looked to the instrument panel, seeing that the left engine was on fire. She quickly cut fuel to that engine and deployed the in-engine fire extinguisher before getting on the radio. "Misawa Tower, Yasukuni is declaring an emergency, I've lost engine one, repeat Yasukuni is declaring an emergency, engine one is lost." She quickly received a response. "Yasukuni, Misawa Tower received, clearing all runways, fire and EMTs will be standing by all runways. Do not attempt VTOL, vectors are available." She sighed, and got on the radio again. "It's not that bad... I think. Vectors won't be needed." As her crippled aircraft made its way back home, she frustratedly complained to herself while trying to keep the Harrier flying the right direction with just one engine. She wouldn't be able to use the usual vertical VTOL landing with just one engine, and would have to land normally.

As she approached the air base, she put down gear and flaps, preparing to attempt a landing. Landing with one engine isn't extremely dangerous, but if it's done wrong, there's no second chances. She knew that she had to do it perfect the first time. The other engine, while off, was still on fire and not fully extinguished, creating a trail of smoke behind her. "Misawa Tower, Yasukuni is on short final for runway two eight." She was lined up with the runway, nearing the point of touching down. Fire trucks and ambulances waited at each end of the runway. As she got closer, the ground proximity warning system's pre-recorded voice started to call out her distance from the ground in feet. "One-hundred... fifty... forty... thirty... twenty... ten..."

She saw that there was not enough length of runway left, and pulled back up, using full throttle. "Yasukuni, going around." She was going to try again, and started to ascend again so she could turn around and get lined up with the runway again. As she did that, the fire reached the other engine and it started to lose power. "I've lost engine power, landing is no longer an option!" She wouldn't be able to glide back to the runway because of low altitude and slow airspeed. She quickly got her Harrier over the ocean, right beside Misawa. She hesitated for a moment, gliding. "Yasukuni is ejecting over the ocean. Repeat, Yasukuni is ditching." She pulled the ejection handle. The canopy of the Harrier blew off, slamming the wind from outside the aircraft into her face. Immediately after, the seat she was in separated from the jet with extreme force, sending her rocketing away as the crippled jet started to fall out of the sky. After a few moments the parachute opened and she began her descent, which wasn't far because of the low altitude. She watched the Harrier spiral towards the water, and explode as it slammed the surface. That was depressing for her, seeing her plane be destroyed. She continued to descend towards the water, and as a rescue helicopter was starting its engine at Misawa, she was plunged into the water of the Pacific Ocean.

It was cold. There was no air, and water filled her lungs while she struggled. As she sank in the ejected seat, she could see the light at the surface getting fainter. She quickly removed the straps that held her to the seat, and removed her helmet, and started swimming to the surface. She gasped for air when she hit the surface, and struggled to stay on the surface. She quickly removed her baggy flight uniform and gear, which made staying at the surface easier, but also made everything much colder. She could hear a helicopter, which soon steadied itself above her as a rescue diver jumped in the water with a splash. From a combination of stress, being cold, lack of air, and other factors, Haya passed out as the rescue diver reached her.

She was lifted into the helicopter, and rushed back to Misawa where she was checked for injuries. She was mostly uninjured, and soon woke up in the on-base hospital. Kazashi, who was sitting down waiting there for her, jumped up when she saw Haya regain consciousness. "I can't tell if you're an amazing pilot or a complete idiot." Haya sat up. "Maybe I'm both." She rubbed her head as she remembered everything that happened. "Fuck... my Harrier's gone, isn't it..." Kazashi nodded. "Fuel exploded on impact. But that was an old plane, the GR1 was first flown in 1967, and-" Haya interrupted her. "But it's still my plane! It worked well for me, and I liked it. I know finding another is probably impossible now, since they haven't been manufactured in so long..." She lowered her head, getting depressed just thinking about it. "Anything other than a Harrier won't work... what the fuck am I supposed to do without a plane I can actually use?!" She started to get irritated, raising her voice. Kazashi came over and put her hands on Haya's shoulders. "You can find a newer variation of the Harrier, it's not the end of the world, right?" She pat Haya's head. Haya, still slightly frustrated, didn't pay much attention in a bit of a pouty way. "Whatever, but absolutely nothing is the same as a Harrier GR1. Nothing." Kazashi sighed. "Exactly. A Harrier GR7 or GR9 would be different, because it would be better." Haya got up and walked out, unable to find a good response. She knew Kazashi was right, but hated the idea of giving up on the Harrier she knew and loved. She went straight to the barracks, which at the time only was occupied by her, Kazashi and Mako. She flopped down onto her bed, exhausted from the experience, and happy to be done. It was getting late, so she fell asleep there for the night.