A Mortal Star

r/HFY
u/GIJoeVibin

He’s climbing, climbing, climbing.

The jet’s engines are screaming to their absolute limit. This was a strenuous job even when the plane was new and well-kept: this one is neither, though it has at least been tuned for this occasion. The sound barrier has broken not once but twice today, and everything aboard is paying the price.

He has steady hands, even when the jet shakes. Clarity of purpose amidst the most confusing of missions, the most chaotic of wars.

Up above, in the heavens, a target. He knows not so much about it, only who is aboard, and how it can be killed. So does the jet. More importantly, the missiles too.

Supersonic speed, and the mother of all climbs. The light on the instrument panel is blinking furiously, weapons begging for their chance to launch. Not yet.

Thirty thousand feet, forty thousand feet. There are more jets in the black, half a squadron clawing skywards at once. More are flying and dying elsewhere today, a distraction for any radars, and fighters, that might otherwise be drawn to some mysterious climbing F-15Cs.

Gauges twirl in the fading light, altitude and speed and g force. There’s five hundred pounds on his chest, more than Earth would ever dare put on him itself.