Chapter 47: Chinese

"Interdictor base, this is Guardian."

"Guardian, Interdictor base."

"Base, be advised we are tracking a launch of bandits from the Khartoum area. Three groups of six bandits each, eighteen bandits total, now dispersing to three vectors. Assuming armed and hostile intent. Preliminary tracking indicates arrival over Angels main base in thirty minutes from north, east, and south attack approaches. Advise meet and greet with extreme prejudice. Copy?"

"Copy, Guardian. Issuing launch order now. Expect request for vectors in five; request maintain overwatch and guidance for duration of intercept."

"Confirmed, Base. Maintaining overwatch."

"Launch, launch, launch!" Flight officer Madison punched his public address microphone. Six Interdictor flight crews in the Masi'shen Interdictor ready room dropped their books or threw down their cards, or set hot coffee mugs aside. All scrambled for flight helmets, personal gear pouches, and jogged out to the flight line where crew chiefs and technicians hurried to assist the launch. Six Interdictor class shuttles lifted off and immediately assumed full cloak mode while streaking eastward across the desert wastes to intercept.

"Guardian, Angel Flight lead. What have we got out there?"

"Angel Flight, we're tracking three groups inbound from capital city east. Six bandits each group, eighteen total. Three approach vectors. Assume arrivals from north, east and west to Angel main base. Assume hostile intent."

"Confirm, Guardian. We're receiving your vector feed now. Initiating intercept, Mach 9."

"Angel Flight Bravo, Flight Lead. Brad, take southern intercept. Ops order delta. Put 'em down hard."

"Flight Lead, Bravo. Confirm. Order delta."

"Angel Flight Charlie, Flight lead. Stan, take northern intercept. Ops order delta. I say, put 'em down hard."

"Flight Lead, Charlie. Confirm order delta, bust 'em and dust 'em."

"Angel Flight, Lead. Lead will take eastern intercept. Make status reports to Guardian, as per usual. Stay cloaked, guys. Assume the hostiles carry bad news packages. Don't get tagged."

"Angel Flight all units, Guardian. Be advised we have ident on bandit aircraft. We have eighteen Chengdu F--10 Vanguard strike fighters. Chinese manufacture. Mach 2.2, one 23mm twin-barrel cannon, missiles, bombs. Single pilot."

"Angel Flight, Lead. All copy? These varmints are rabid. I say again, order delta. Put 'em down."

Interdictor Flight "Charlie" comprised two heavily-armored Masi'shen shuttles, equipped with EMP-pulse beams, tractor beam emitters, and upgraded cloak shielding. Pilots were "Charlie Lead" Stan Morgan, former USMC F--16 fighter jock, and wingman Ralph 'Kid' Johnson, former US Navy Anti-Submarine helicopter pilot.

"Behind and above, Kid. Close and lock on the trailing bandits. Stun and snatch, set 'em on the deck. I'll take left, you get his wingman. We'll come back for more grabs. Good for you?"

"Good for me. I cue on your action. Whenever you're ready."

The Sudanese attack group flew in a ragged 'diamond' pattern with a single leader on point, three following in line abreast, and two flying rear guard. The Interdictors came in cloaked, high and following, matching speed. Stan's ship descended to within 50 feet above the left-hand trailing F--10. He punched a tightly focused stun beam into the craft's cockpit and engaged a tractor beam to seize the jet in mid-flight. Timing his action with his leader, pilot 'Kid' Johnson closed on the right-hand straggler, zapped the enemy pilot and snagged the jet with his tractor beam.

"Got 'em!" 'Kid' Johnson radioed his lead.

"Ease back and descend to the deck. Let's make this quick. Just before you release the lock, EMP his ass to kill the systems and the turbine. I'll drop a tracking buoy so our Llama squad can tie a ribbon on 'em."

It took less than three minutes to descend to the desert floor, neutralize and release the disabled Sudanese fighters, and resume intercept with the remaining invading formation. A squadron of Masi'shen "Llama" ground forces were alerted and tracked the beacon. Within minutes, Desert Fox warriors had popped the enemy pilot's cockpit canopy, pulled the pilot free, and were setting explosive charges on the aircraft and its weapons. Everything was video-recorded to DVD disks, in detail. The disks, together with in-flight video footage from the Interdictor intercepts, would provide proof positive of the Sudanese attack plan.

There were two casualties.

Angel Flight Lead's group engaged the west-bound Sudanese fighters, taking down four of the attacking F--10's and setting them on the desert floor. As they rose to zap and grab the remaining two enemy fighters, one of the Sudanese pilots must have realized that four of his group were missing. The pilot rammed his jet into after-burner and pulled straight up and over, desperately seeking some unknown enemy. In panic, he blindly fired his entire cluster of air-to-air heat-seeking missiles. It was his last mistake. Not having a known target, two of the missiles locked onto his wingman. The remaining missiles arced around, and finding only one remaining target in the sky, obliterated it. Both Sudanese pilots died instantly.

"Holy crap... !"

"Yeah," Angel Flight lead murmured. "Let that be a lesson, guys. Panic and lose your head, and you lose your sorry ass! These guys are obviously not cool dudes. Guardian, you got telemetry on this? You got our camera feed of that suicide screw-up?"

"Angel lead, Guardian. Yeah, we got it. Sorry it happened on your watch, Cap. We know how Ops Command hates to see something like this. No sweat. You guys are clean."

"Ok, Guardian. How's the threat scan looking? You need us out here for anything more, or do we head for the barn?"

"Nothing on the display. Guess that's all they sent. The Foxes report all surviving bandit pilots are in custody and the planes are gone, nothing but scattered debris and big holes in the desert. FYI, they were carrying heavy munitions. Four laser-guided 300-kg bombs plus a full rack of missiles, each. They intended to put a lot of hurt on our base."

"Copy that, Guardian. Thanks."

"Angel flights, all units. It's a wrap. We'll debrief at the barn. Lead, clear."

"Chinese F--10 Vanguard fighters. Only two countries have 'em: the Chinese, and the Pakistanis. So it's no big mystery how the Sudanese government got their eighteen. From the Chinese, via Pakistan. Right?" Michael asked.

"That's our analysis," General 'Buzz' Mikelsen answered. "We've asked for an intelligence follow-up from Pietor's group. Their preliminary report confirms, however, that we're pretty much on target. The Chinese are playing their 'proxy' game again. They'd like to see us hurt here, or discredited, before we become a problem for them at home."

"Classic," Mike retorted. "Well, Sudan is suddenly short eighteen fighters and pilots. That's a big hit against their arms budget, and a big dent in their so-called air force. I wonder how long it will take for replacements to come via Pakistan?"

"Depends, I guess, on how long the Chinese want to play this proxy game, and how deep they're willing to go. We've found and destroyed the SAM clusters, and pretty much discouraged the rebels from firing their shoulder-launch missiles. Now we've taken down an entire fighter group. Maybe they'll get the message. Or maybe not. Either they'll back off, or -- which I think is more likely -- they'll decide to test us with a sample of their latest and best. So far they've sent their standard 'export' models, the common-grade stuff. I wonder what they've got as a hole-card up their sleeve?" Buzz said.