Alarms blared and Charnel swore, both in his native tongue of English and in his acquired tongue of Italian, the two mixing together to form somewhat of an artistically drawn out oath. He silently prayed that his radio was off transmit as he jumped into action, throttling up he folded the wings of the jet all the way back and took her into a sharp turn away from the island, his breathing beneath his mask becoming labored as his suit tightened and the blood rushed from his head. As he did this Charnel released his own countermeasures, the flairs jumping away from his jet, their light blazing even in the morning sun. Pulling out of the turn Marciano poured on the speed to gain some distance as the alarms began to fade, indicating the missile had taken had taken the bait of the flairs. He was about to cut speed when it hit, the shockwave making the Hound fishtail a bit, as Marciano renewed his swearing. Cutting speed he unfolded his wings and banked back towards base, a look of astonishment making its presence known beneath the mask and visor.  

[quote]"That... that was a kinetic kill weapon. From orbit. Whoever we're fighting has access to one... but why did they target us? And why when they had an invasion underway... what the hell is going on here... All aircraft," he continued, finding the stern-ness back in his force as he shook his head, sliding his visor back up his helmet. "Report status and check in. We'd better overfly the island and see if there's anything we can do to assist with the SAR, and be ready for any hostiles... over"[/quote]

[i]"Such a specialized weapon, and not a cheap one."[/i] Marciano thought to himself, he recalled a magazine article about the weapons a few months back, he had paid it very little thought until know. Still he had a job, and he began to transmit "This is Charnel, im alive and well and carrying a decent compliment. Im falling in, but will keep an eye out for those bandits that peeled off." 

He hoped his voice didn't sound to shaky, to be brutally honest the idea of what just happened still felt foreign to him, in an unnerving sort of way. Somewhat blaming the adrenalin, Charnel continued to bank, bringing himself into a following pattern behind the squadron leader