IN SKIES UNKNOWN

CHAPTER ONE

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About a month ago when Russian Naval forces entered the waters and attacked both the NATO countries of Sweden and Finland. The war in Sweden ended in about four weeks due to how planned the Swedish were but when it came to Finland; Finland was not prepared for such an attack and fell within about four months from the bombings. attacking strategic places of the country we were able to push the Russians back to the eastern coastlines. We didn't anticipate such an attack as well, due to that Russia had lost quite a bit of their military force back in 2023, but it's been a few years now since then, so they've had time to rebuild since their failed invasion of Ukraine...and have become stronger since then. We've been fighting above the front lines above our home of Germany and parts of the border of western parts of Poland. I've become the second-highest NATO ace in the war so far with a kill toll of about twenty-three so far. No one knows how long this war will be...And how many will die...All we can do is pray, pray that this war ends soon and that we'll be able to stop this once and for all...

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23rd May 2033.  

012:45 PM Zulu.

Taktisches Luftwaffengeschwader 31  "Boelcke" Nörvenich Air Force base, Germany.

Large scattered clouds, Mild rain.

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Mission: Cripple Russian Anti-Air defenses near Dresden.

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Walking to my typhoon, I feel the tapping droplets of rain land on me as I walk toward my typhoon. My attention momentarily turns to two typhoons roaring down the runway and into the air.  I look and see a crew chief standing next to the deployable ladder of my typhoon, he notices me and salutes. "Guten Abend "Wizard",  Let's have a good one shall we?" He said with a smile. I smile back and nod before saluting him, climb up the ladder, sitting down in my seat. and settle myself in, I attach the oxygen hose to the oxygen port and slide my helmet on, and clip on my mask. I watch as the ground crewman walks to the front of my raptor and gives me the hand signal to start my typhoon's engine.  I look down and flick on my master battery and APU and then let the battery reach full and start the left engine first. I listen to the sound as the engine spools. Then the right. my canopy lowers as I taxi down the taxiway of the airbase with four other typhoons of the squadron. 

I feel the force of my typhoon's EJ200 engines push me into my seat and glide down the damp runway and into the air. I push the lever up to retract the wheels and I let the raptor climb up to my desired altitude. so do the other raptors who are coming with me on the mission. after a few minutes, we form up with six Tornado IDS from the 33rd Tactical Air wing from Buchel airbase. I admire the eerily beautiful sleek dark grey and light grey underbelly color of our typhoons with the tornados, With the moonlight from the moon above reflecting off our paint. I couldn't help but pull my phone from a pouch on my vest and take a quick picture. "Das ist eine gute Wahl." I say, a small smile on my face as I stare at the picture before sliding it back into my vest pouch. We continue our climb until we reach an altitude of 7,620 kilometers (25,000 feet).

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It's been twenty minutes now and we finally reach the combat zone. I turn on the master arm. selecting a wide search for my radar, looking for anything that would attack us. There is nothing for the current moment. I quickly figured that the enemy air defenses that were here were probably destroyed by previous NATO bombardments and strikes from the past few weeks. The calm silence is broken when a pilot of the formation says something. "Sure seems quiet this time." He says with a chuckle. Soon a few others follow. "Yeah, it's kind of strange...". I say looking down at my radar once again only to still see no enemy contacts on radar, the only thing that appears on the radar is what looks to be four A-10s to our three o'clock, clock eighty kilometers away and a few other allied aircraft. I start to feel a feeling that I haven't felt in a while. the feeling of butterflies in my stomach, the almost nauseous feeling soon followed the slight feeling of fear. but I quickly return to reality when the voice of the friendly AWACS sounds in my helmet.