Cold War Rivals in a New World

Chapter 10

Airspace near Alaska, 19th of July 1990, 8:16 pm.

"Pallas 3, attempting to establish radio contact."

Pallas 3 informed the rest of the flight.

"This is a United States Air Force combat aircraft. Identify yourself now or be shot down."

The response was full of interference and static that fully deleted some words from it.

"I --- not care --- Gra Valkan Empire --- reconnaissance --"

"Please adjust your frequency to 83 megahertz."

"This is a bomber of the Supreme Air Force of the Gra Valkan Empire. I  am simply conducting reconnaissance on a nearby landmass."

"The nearby landmass is already property of the United States of America."

"We don't care. You cannot shoot us down anyway."

"If you are going to encroach on United States airspace any further, you will be shot down."

"We don't care."

"He who does not listen has to feel."

Communications between the aircraft ceased entirely. This was serious.

Pallas 1 was tired of the antics, and asked for permission to shoot down the bomber.

"This is Pallas 1, asking for permission to shoot down the bogie."

"Permission granted."

"Pallas 1, Fox Three!"

An AIM-54C detached itself from its rail, and was making its way towards the bomber that had refused to leave US airspace.

The AIM-54C was a radar guided missile, but could use its own internal seeker to find its target when it was close enough. This was referred to as "going pitbull". Since the bomber was over 100 miles away, the missile would be guided by the F-14s radar and only go "pitbull" when within 8 miles of the bomber.

The AIM-54C screamed across the sky at Mach 5, with the crew of the bomber only becoming aware when a new radar contact appeared.

"New radar contact, closing in fast! 9 o'clock!"

The radar operator called out.

"How fast?", The pilot asked.

"At about 1 mile per second!"

"1 mile per second? That's impossible!"

"It's on an intercept course with us and seems to be capable of course correction. It will be here in less than a-"

A muffled bang could be heard from outside the bomber, and the fuselage was ripped open. The bomber began to tumble put of control, leading the crew to bail out.

As they were hanging on their parachutes and slowly descending towards the cold Ocean, a small patrol boat was speeding to their eventual impact point. They would be taken as prisoners of war.

A loud splashing sound could be heard as the stricken bomber crashed belly first into the water, and quickly sank beneath the surface.

"Splash One Bandit. Literally."
Pallas 1 called out.

"This is mission control, proceed with mission. Permission to engage given if contact is confirmed hostile or does not respond after multiple attempts at communication."

"Understood. Over."

The F-14s continued on with their flight. It was not very eventful, mostly consisting of verification of radar contacts.