29 August, 1951, somewhere over the 38th Parallel
A lone Hawker Hunter slowly reduced altitude, the pilot’s head constantly on a swivel. Having last contact with her flight, the pilot had made the wise decision to turn for home rather than keep going alone. But that did not mean she was out of the woods -- she was still in airspace the Neuroi routinely penetrated. She wouldn’t be safe until she returned to Pusan.
Something bright red flashed far below her aerocraft. More than a decade’s worth of experience had the pilot instantly tense, her eyes drawn to the neuroi’s laser. It had not been aimed at her -- and it had missed whatever it was aimed at, as the burning tree on a far away hill could agree with. The pilot was forced to roll inverted to see what was going on. Two small, fast Neuroi - and a target - zipping along the hills below.
If it had been a proper-sized aerocraft, Kain could’ve identified it instantly. But whatever they were shooting at was slightly larger than the average witch’s strikers, yet not big enough to be even a fighter aerocraft. Thus... a bomber witch.
With a third Neuroi diving upon her from above.
Kain’s inverted roll turned into a split-S, and she armed the cannons upon her Hawker Hunter. Unsure of what frequency the witch was on, she did not bother to shout any warning, knowing it was unlikely to be heard. Instead, Kain had to warn the woman by shooting down the threat.
The third Neuroi was approaching the bomber witch from her front, intending for a deadly head-on confrontation. The red hexagon on its nose began to glow, but just before it fired, the Neuroi’s rear section was pierced by several 30mm cannon rounds. The Neuroi spun out of control and slammed into the ground, never having fired its laser, the core being breached by the trunk of a tree and exploding. The Hawker Hunter managed to stop diving just feet off the ground, quickly pointing its nose skyward and clawing for altitude again.
Perhaps, even without communications with her, the bomber witch would be able to keep the other two occupied long enough for Kain to get them. The Hunter pitched onto its back again after gaining just a few thousand feet of altitude, screaming at extreme speeds, the pilot fighting hefty G-forces as she turned about for another diving pass.
