[center][h2][b]Heartbreak & [color=00aeef]Valkyrie.[/color][/b][/h2][/center]

Valkyrie had tried her best to keep up with the enemy F-15, but the pilot was using its strength against her Gripen, but couldn’t afford him to get too much wiggle room and despite her efforts that is exactly what they were able to achieve. She was laser focused and knew this fighting would push her to her limits, she wasn’t alone in this fighter either thankfully. Her lock alarms then sounded and before she knew it, a missile was in the air and coming for her and within the NEZ too. 

[color=00aeef]“Knulla”[/color] She said to herself, immediately she pulled of Gripen into a break turn and dive maneuver, she rolled the Gripen onto its back and then pulled a steep high-G dive forcing the missile into a high-G lead pursuit while releasing chaff in the process, in combination with her craft integrated EW system she hoped it would bleed out the energy of the missile and make it harder to re acquire its target. The high G’s putting strain on her while doing so. 

After this she pulled her craft into a notch maneuver putting the missile 90 degrees to her own flight path to use the ground clutter to confuse its radar and ultimately lose its lock; she hoped the missile wouldn’t cause too much collateral damage. But in doing all this she had lost temporary sight of her target, as she quickly scanned around her surroundings. [color=00aeef]“Cobalt one, Cobalt six, you got eyes? Enemy F-15 has gone down low,over”[/color] 

Scott’s Harrier sped in close, eating up the miles between them. The black F-15 blended in far too well against the blacked out city below, and even the collateral damage from the battle hadn’t wrought so much destruction that fires had spread everywhere. The Titan pilot was canny; going down low had also got them against the clutter of the ground, making it harder for even the AESA radar retrofitted to Scott’s AV-8B to pick out; intermittent returns kept coming back, especially with the enhanced stealthy features the twin-tailed jet sported. But it couldn’t last forever: if nothing else, the Silent Eagle was moving faster than anything around it, and that movement pulled it out from the background clutter.

[b]“I’ve got him; eight o’clock off my nose, down in the weeds. I’ll try and herd him up to altitude, six. You pounce on him when he pokes his head up!”[/b] Scott only had a single sidewinder left; other than that it was down to cannon rounds if he wanted to go hunting. That in mind; letting fly with it wasn’t even necessary; it was the threat of being hit he was going for - Freyja could make the pounce and bag the kill, if all went well. 

He selected the AIM-9X and the familiar warbling of his plane’s systems searching for a lock-on sounded in his ears as he edged the stubby Harrier lower and tighter into a turn, sliding in behind the F-15 as it leveled out briefly. Smoothly, he followed the silver-edged plane into a bank, reversing direction and the sound in his ears changed, the growl of a firm lock-on. Immediately, the Silent Eagle pitched up, pumping out flares. [b]“Cobalt Six, Cobalt One - he’s coming up, get ready to pinch him!”[/b]

[color=00aeef]“Acknowledged!”[/color] Freyja replied as the F-15 formed its maneuver to avoid Heartbreaks missile, the enemy pilot was getting gruntled but knew his actions was buying time, buying time was their mission after all and holding up more of the team was proving its purpose, however in doing so was leaving the f-15 pilot in a situation of being outnumbered and no matter how good one was, eventually the numbers game would win. Seeing the enemy craft pitch up with it;s flare going at her two o’clock, Freyja immediately moved to intercept following the flight path of her target the only just managed to evade a missile, throttling up he barely had time to react as the Swedish pilot had lined him up for another shot.

Then another missile was flying his way, he gained enough altitude but he pulled off a Kvochur Bell maneuver to dodge the missile with the last of his flares. For a split second both pilots looked at each other as during the move she flew past him, when he completed the move he began heading back towards Heartbreaks Harrier. Freyja banked her craft  and followed the F-15 back down towards her squad lead. He was making it difficult for her to get a stable lock, as she contemplated using her cannon but needed to use it at the right opportunity. [color=00aeef]“Cobalt Six, Cobalt one, he is a slippery one, he is coming back for you, over.”[/color] She needed to do something fast, hopefully with the enemy concentrating on Scott while giving her an opening, hopefully he will forgive her for using him as bait, she switched to cannons not bothering with a target lock to spook them. 

As the Eagle swooped down toward him once more, Scott heeled over hard, contrails drawing from his wingtips in the cool night air of the desert. He was thankful for how nimble his Harrier was compared to the heavy, but powerful F-15. Between his plane and Freya’s being smaller and lighter, it was like hounds nipping at the heels of a buffalo, each taking turns to lure the bigger beast and wear it down. It was his turn to play the lure now; a task he didn’t relish, but his experience and skill seemed more-than fit for the task, and he played the part well, dancing the punchy little AV-8B enough to make things challenging for the heavy twin-engined jet on his tail, but not so much to throw him off completely.

[b]“Roger, Six; I’m giving him enough of a show to keep him occupied; flashing him my ass to keep him interested. Knock him down while he’s getting a good look, over!” [/b] The silver-trimmed Silent Eagle closed in, and Scott could feel his skin crawling on the back of his neck as his radar warning receiver blared about the hostile lock on, the F-15 settling firmly on his tail, it’s pilot fixated on Heartbreak’s Harrier as it screamed over the rooftops of Tripoli.

Freyja smiled a little as she let out a little snort at her squad leaders comments, In honesty though, his ass shaking was working, but it would only work for so long and the Gripen was re-positioning itself to get in close and pepper the enemy with her cannon, the hope being that it would force the F-15 to break off and leave the combat zone. Time was off the essence however and the Swedish pilot turned towards her target. 

Her finger resting on the trigger as she throttled up to close the gap quickly, By the time she was close enough and pulling said trigger to unleash whatever rounds remained in her cannon, the F-15 also was in the process of firing a missile, this made Freyja worry for that split second, Scott's movements to her relative meant that the underbelly of the enemy fighter was showing when she fired. Bullet’s were hitting their target, striking the bottom of the craft and the missile as it was launching, before she could process what was happening there was a sudden explosion as the missile went off. 

The craft was going going in flames, Freyja had no idea id the pilot even had the chance to eject or not, so quickly it happened she held her breath as she flew through the flames from the tail end of the explosion, adjusting herself in her seat and taking a moment of silence to one process what the heck just happened and to make sure herself was in one piece and no panels were alerting, she broke radio silence. [color=00aeef]“Cobalt one, target is down… that was some serious twerking. Sir.”[/color] She joked as she flew up beside her squad leader.

The timing could not have been more perfect, and luck was clearly on their sides. The Titan pilot’s finger curled around the trigger on his joystick, in the same instant as Freyja opened fire. Scott heard the missile launch warning at that same instant and thumbed the controls for the Harrier’s exhaust nozzles and slapped the countermeasures button. Even as the sidewinder leapt off the Silent Eagle’s underwing pylon, the 27mm shells from the Gripen’s cannon smashed home. The explosive shells tore ragged chunks out of the thin-skinned jet, smashing flight controls, engines, and systems, before the red-hot shrapnel ignited the volatile fuel, lubricants and hydraulic fluid within the aircraft.

All of this happened in a matter of microseconds, the jet turning into a ragged fireball in the same instant the middle flew. Without the helmet-mounted sight to guide it, it mindlessly homed on the heat source in front of it; the pillars of hot exhaust from the harrier and the blaze of hot flares, the AIM-9X detonating harmlessly as Scott smoothly slid the Harrier back into formation with Freyja’s Gripen. [b]“Roger, Cobalt Six,”[/b] he replied, waggling his wingtips as he came alongside her. [b]“And glad you enjoyed the show. Your next drink is on me, for sure”[/b].