Satan's Tail

“Real” pilots probably wouldn’t have chosen the attack—for one thing, they’d be flying aircraft with missiles capable of engaging the enemy at long range—but the plan took advantage of the Flighthawk’s strengths. The computer was much better at making close-quarter rear-end attacks than it was at any other angle; in fact, it was probably as good as Starship was, so letting C3 take the plane and follow that attack plan gave it a high chance of success. The small profile of the aircraft meant that neither plane would be detected by the MiGs’ radar until practically the moment that Starship began firing. He’d not only be able to begin the engagement on his terms, but probably fire and be beyond the enemy fighter before it even knew he was there.

If he missed and both Yemen aircraft went after HawkThree—the aggressive and logical action—Starship could easily turn and continue to concentrate on his original target, even if the enemy’s wingmate maneuvered to get on his tail. That’s what he wanted it to do, since it would give Hawk Four an easier and more predictable target. And if both planes turned to run away, they would be sitting ducks, SATAN’S TAIL

345

at least until their afterburners helped them regain momentum.

Ironically, the strongest answer to Zen-Two was to split and take each Flighthawk head-on—then go for afterburners and cruise home at a couple of times the speed of sound.

While it was unlikely to yield a kill for the MiGs, it also presented the Flighthawks with the least amount of tango time—and the higher the tango time for the Flighthawks, the higher the tomb time for the opponents.

One of Kick’s favorite sayings.

Kick’s not here, Starship thought. Time to let him rest.

“Hawk Three? What’s your situation?” asked Brea

“Lining up for an intercept. Weapons are ready.”

“Roger that,” said Brea

“No acknowledgment,” said Spiderman after a few seconds.

“All cha

The warning was repeated, again without an acknowledgment. Just for good measure, Spiderman repeated it in English.

“They certainly know we’re here,” said Telly, the airborne radar warning operator. “Their fuzz busters are probably hotter than a toaster in a boardinghouse.”

“Intercept in zero-two minutes,” said Starship. “What’s your call, Captain?”

“They’re activating weapons radars!” said Spiderman.

“Trying to lock on us!”

“Hawk Three and Four, engage enemy aircraft,” said Brea

“Roger that,” said Starship, leaning closer to the screen.

346

DALE BROWN’S DREAMLAND

Northern Somalia,

on the ground

0023

THE WOMAN’S GRENADE FLOATED IN THE AIR TEN INCHES FROM

Da

A blackness filled his eyes in the next second. He became blind.

Then he was falling, crashing against the rocks, pulling the woman who’d tried to kill them against the ground.

The grenade exploded somewhere below. Da

Da

“The lieutenant grabbed the grenade and threw it,” said Boston. He pointed to Dancer. “She shot the bitch too.”

“She had another grenade in her dress there,” said Dancer, motioning with the gun. Her voice had a tinge of regret.

“Fortunately she couldn’t pull the pin. Crazy.”

“You better search this one,” Da

“My pleasure, Captain.”

Aboard Baker-Baker Two

0023

THE THING STARSHIP COULDN’T FIGURE WAS: WHY MAKE IT SO

easy for us?

SATAN’S TAIL

347

Why attack at all? We’re just going to shoot you down.

The lead MiG did not see the Flighthawk, either on radar or visually, until the computer turned Starship’s firing cue yellow. By then it was too late for the MiG to do much of anything. Undecided about whether to fight or flee, the Yemen pilot attempted to do both, launching an all-aspect R-73 heat-seeker at the Flighthawk and trying to tuck hard on his right wing and roll away.

The R-73—known to NATO as an AA-11 Archer—was an excellent weapon, able to accelerate to Mach 2.5 and guided by an extraordinarily sensitive infrared seeker in its nose. But even the best infrared seeker—and the R-73 certainly was in the ru

missile flew past the Flighthawk, the MiG that launched it had burst into a U-shaped ring of red flames.

Starship pulled off abruptly, afraid the explosion would spray debris in the U/MF-3’s path. He cleared without getting hit, and corrected slightly north to line up an intercept on the second group of aircraft, some thirty miles away.

He wanted to execute the same plan, but Hawk Four was having trouble with the MiG it was assigned to nail. The Yemen pilot turned toward the Flighthawk’s path before Hawk Four was in range to fire, and the computer changed its attack pattern. It managed a few shots as the two planes passed, the MiG heading farther west. By the time HawkFour came around and got on the Yemeni plane’s tail, it had launched a pair of R-27R radar missiles—not at the Flighthawk, but at the Megafortress guiding her.

Starship blocked out the sounds of the crew responding in his headset, taking control of Hawk Four himself to press 348

DALE BROWN’S DREAMLAND

the attack. Anticipating that the MiG would try to run home, he cut back north, slamming the throttle—and sure enough, the MiG swept back, accelerating so fast that even though he’d expected it, Starship nearly missed the shot.

Nearly wasn’t good enough for the MiG driver, though—Starship punched two dozen slugs through the rear engine housing, crippling the aircraft as surely as a knife slicing a horse’s knee tendons. The pilot bailed a few seconds later.

Starship turned back north, trying to get into position to take the run on the second element of Yemen aircraft. But Hawk Three was now too far ahead to pull the same maneuver; he had to settle for what they called Train Attack One—one ship in a deep trail, reacting to whatever was left after the lead aircraft made its attack. He jumped into Hawk Three just as the computer closed in for the kill; he got a red in the target screen and pressed the trigger. The computer was too optimistic—his bullets trailed downward, and the MiG

jinked hard to Starship’s right. This element of aircraft was flying parallel, and Starship flew through without another shot. He banked to get behind the flight, turning as sharply as he could, the small plane recording more than eight g’s on her air frame.