The last journey

A semi-futuristic piece...

The last journey
The day was warm and sunny, and it was a right day for flying. However, my mood was definitely not as great as the weather. As I stood by my plane, I could only think about the impending bombing that could decide the Great War raging in Middle East. Thoughts like that definitely cannot give a person any nice thoughts.
The world had now split into three super states: the North and South American continents under the state of America, Europe, China and Russia under the state Eurasia and Africa, Australia and what used to be South and Southeast Asia under the state of Oceania. Unfortunately, though this had solved many problems within the continents themselves, it started a host of many other issues. Many summits had to be held, but due the many differences in views of the people form the continental factions, the talks soon broke down and culminated in the most peaceful solution to the problems of the factions: War!
I was a fighter pilot from Eurasia. Our team had been engaged in battle with the opposing team from Africa, but despite years of long fights, heavy bombing and staggering casualties, both sides did not seem to have benefited much from the long tussle for power in the disputed territories of the oil-rich Middle East. For all their furious attacks, Oceania fighters were able to take control of part of Saudi Arabia, while we held Iran and Iraq. Still, the reigning government of Eurasia decided that a surprise attack on the purported African base in Egypt would definitely bring the Oceania African fleet down to its knees. However, we were given stern orders that no task force would be sent to save us in the event of a disappearance, to maintain absolute secrecy of the mission. I was part of the surprise strike force together with six other elite Eurasian pilots.
Looking back at the years of my life, I realised that my life had almost been all about fighting. I was born in the early years of the War, trained from young by the Russian Federation of Pilots to become one of their best fighters, then sent up almost everyday, without notice, to do battle with our greatest and nearest contenders in Asia, Oceania. In fact, I felt a great envy for the people in America. Though by being cut off from the rest of world by the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean they were unable to do much trade with the other super states, this had also been able to cut them off from much of the fighting that now embroiled the other two super states.
The situation was now looking bleak for Eurasia, though. Oceania troops had increased tenfold overnight just as we thought that we could finally drive them out. The tables had been turned, and now they were gradually pushing us out of Middle East. However, upon capturing a few of the Oceania troops, the scientists unveiled the shocking truth that Oceania was now using clone armies in battle. If we failed in our mission to bomb the barracks, it was possible that Oceania would, with the force of their inexhaustible armies, overwhelm Eurasia.
All seven of us had gathered by our planes: three bombers and four fighters to guard them. Seeing a red flare that signaled that the mission was about to begin, we climbed into our cockpits, tense and ready. Then, a green flare lit up the sky. Not a moment later, all of us throttled our engines and we spiraled up into the sky. Being an espionage mission, all of us were cloaked in special prototype “Shadow shields”, where a layer of light would vibrate around us, putting us out of the visible spectrum. This also served as interference at any radar that the enemy might throw at us. Safe in our invisible state, we flew quickly to our coordinates.
Zipping past the coast of the Mediterranean, we saw some of our bombers strafing the Oceania battleships. Unfortunately, upon the other shore we sighted our men being slew rapidly by the great clone armies, as numbers could defeat even superior skill. Saddened at the sight of the loss of life, I made up my mind to chase the Oceania armies out of Middle East once and for all, even if I had to die trying. Driven on by this new determination, I pushed my engine forward. It was a solar-powered engine producing neither sound nor exhaust, which was why we were carrying out the attack in the day. The sand shimmering past our windscreens, we soon arrived at our destinations. What we saw shocked us: Oceania was utilizing the Pyramids as their army base!
Sick to our stomach at this blatant disrespect for the final standing Ancient Seven Wonder, we spread out in scouting position according to plan. We dropped a HoverBoy, also shielded, and with lenses designed to penetrate any solid materials. Unfortunately, it seemed that the Oceanians had cloaked their deeds with a layer of alternating current which shorted out our HoverBoy. Still, it was able to capture one image before it fell limp: A map of the concealed bases under the pyramids, in the legendary Valley of Kings, showing that the cloning mechanics were in fact hidden in the tomb of Amhotep III. Upon receiving this information, we flew forward to the Great Earthen wonder.
Now hovering above the curve of earth which was the Valley, covered all over with tiny holes marking the entrance to the tombs, we soon identified the tomb of Amhotep III. However, we now face the problem of trying to avoid bombing the rest of the tombs, all priceless artifacts to our long, rich history. All of a sudden, just as we were hovering above the tombs, a group of Oceania fighters materialized as if from nowhere. We thought at first that they were a routine patrol crew, but then a hail of plasma bursts were released towards us without warning, and we realised, to our horror, that our shields had been compromised. Seeing no further reason to exhaust energy in keeping the shields up, we uncloaked and dodged the glowing shells of pure energy, which could immobilize our weapons if it hit us. We immediately returned fire soon after, utilizing the new guided “Lancers” tipped with pulse grenades that would scatter and explode around the target after it struck it. Fortunately, the Oceania fighters were evidently not prepared for the swift projectiles, and many of their number went down. However, this did not deter them, and more plasma burst came our way…
Even today, it still surprises me that almost all seven were able to get out of that dog-fight alive and intact. I believe that it must have been our small number that had saved us, as we were able to twist and turn to avoid the blasts as well as our team mates rather easily, while they had to execute extreme carefulness to avoid hitting one of their own. Needless to say, trying to focus on both and enemy plane and your allies’ ones is a hard task and quite a few Oceania craft crashed together and sank to the ground in flaming wreckage. At the end of the fight, though all the Oceania craft had been shot down, we were dismayed to find that of the three bombers essential to complete the task, only one had survived the battle.
All of a sudden, I had an idea. Unfortunately, I knew it would result in the destruction of all our crafts. Still, remembering our vow to stop the production of the clone armies at all costs, I decided to relay it to the others. As the bomb we would employ to destroy the tomb was similar to a bio-bomb, which eliminated all organic matter but leaving the non-organic historical artifacts intact, it was run on solinium, a component of our solar cells. I proposed that we beam all the solinium in our cells to the remaining bomber, to make up for the loss of the other bombs. To my surprise, all my crew-mates agreed to my proposition without a question. We began to project the solinium from our craft to the bomber, and to our relief, the bombing was a success. However, all our fighters had no energy left to make a return trip. Climbing out of our crafts, I composed a message in a digital storage device, recording the success of our mission and a request for some body to bring us home. However, we all knew that this would be our last flight, and our last journey. Without craft to transport us, we had no choice but to wait for the dim possibility of a rescue…