move that McLanahan made after that. Before he knew it Chee-
tah had banked up on its right wing and was turning directly
into DrearnStar on a collision course.
Maraklov's first decision was to roll with Cheetah and out-
turn him, but the radar quickly informed him that he had no
room to bank away from the sudden roll-Cheetah was so close
that if DreamStar went into a right bank his left wingtip would
certainly strike Cheetah's right wing. Marakl6v was near-
transfixed by the sight of Cheetah swooping in on him. He had
no place to run. Only a few yards remaining . . .
Suddenly the pain that had been with him ever since his suc-
cessful interface with ANTARES returned full-force. It was so
intense it nearly blinded him. His shoulder throbbed, the pain
seemed to spread out across his entire body, intensifying the
electrical shock generated by the metallic flight suit. The head-
ache that had seemed to go away when he attacked Cheetah was
now like a red-hot thing buried in his head. He knew he did not
black out-his seat was still upright and he was not being force-
fed blasts of oxygen-but he was out of control as he tried to
figure a way to escape Cheetah's attack.
At some point during the maneuver ANTARES took control.
The computer commanded full down deflection on the nose ca-
nards, full downward thrust from the vectored-thrust nozzle, full
adverse pitch on the flap strakes in the tail. The effect was a
rapid elevator zero-pitch descent at negative seven Gs, almost
486 DALE BROWN
at the structural limit of DreamStar's airframe and, more im-
portant, twice the normal safe negative-G limit of the human
body. Cheetah's right wingtip missed DreamStar's bubble can-
opy by a few yards-if the canopy had been made of anything
but ultra-strong polymer plastics it would have shattered from
the hurricane-like force from Cheetah's wingtip vortices.
Maraklov, already partially incapacitated by the sudden in-
tense sheets of pain rolling across his body, was on the verge of
unconsciousness from the negative Gs. He was quickly past the
red-out stage, where blood was forced up into his brain. Blood
vessels burst in his eyeballs and nostrils, and one eardrum ex-
ploded. The computer sensed Maraklov's semi-conscious state,
immediately reclined his ejection seat and shot pure oxygen into
his face mask. But the increased pressure in his face only forced
blood from his n-o-strils back into his throat, nearly drowning
him.
Once DreamStar's all-aspect radar detected that Cheetah had
rolled well clear, it discontinued the hard horizontal descent,
selected full afterburner and began a hard climb up to a safer
altitude. But DreamStar was flying on full-computer control as
Maraklov fought for consciousness. The pain had suddenly sub-
sided, but Maraklov was still trying to recover from the effects
of the negative Gs as DreamStar zoomed to thirty thousand feet,
then leveled off.
ANTARES performed a systems self-test and prepared to is-
sue an all-systems-nominal report-as soon as Maraklov re-
gained full consciousness.
The system self-test never included the pilot.
"Colonel, what the hell are you doing? " Preston called out.
"Recover, dammit, recover."
McLanahan immediately let up on the stick pressure, allowing
Cheetah's automatic roll-and-yaw damping mechanisms slow the
roll rate. When he firmly saw which way his roll was going, he
eased in left-stick force and rolled Cheetah wingslevel.
"Where is he, Marcia? Where did he go?"
She was still shaken from the sudden maneuver but quickly
pulled herself together. "God, what a ride. I don't see him any-
where.
"I've gotta risk using the radar." He hit the voice-command
DAY OF THE CHEETAH 487
button while continuing to search the skies around Cheetah.
"Radar, search, transmit, voice warning."
"Attack radar transmit, " the computer replied. "Voice warn-
ing activated. Fifty mile range selected, no targets. "
"Get some altitude back," Preston said. "He had the upper
effectively if you stay above him."
He began a rapid climb. "But remember, DreamStar is a new
kind of fighter. It's hard to explain-it took years to figure
it out and months to explain it to me. There's only one way to
get him, and I just showed it works."
"By almost killing us? By pulling a kamikaze on him? If that's
how we're going to play we might as well get out-"
The computerized voice cut in: "Target, range twenty miles,
bearing ten left.
"There he is," Preston called out. "Eleven o'clock high,
straight and level." -
Tally ho. I'm going for a shot." He hit the voice-command
button. "Radar target designate . - . " The blinking circle-aiming
cursor appeared on the windscreen, superimposed on DreamStar
as the only radar target in range. "Now."
'Radar lock. " McLanahan hit the missile-launch button and
watched as one of the AIM-120 Scorpion missiles streaked out
from underneath the fuselage toward its target.
"Missile's tracking by itself," Preston said, scanning her
weapons indications. The Scorpion missile needed guidance
from its launch aircraft only until its own on-board radar locked
onto the target. Then the carrier aircraft could disengage and
look for other targets. "Try a left turn, get around behind him
in case he gets past the missile."
"He'll get past it-guaranteed," McLanahan said. To the
computer: "Select radar missile. Arm missile."
"Warning, radar missile armed. " He hit the launch button
and a second Scorpion missile streaked out.
DreamStar abruptly heeled over to the right, making a turn so
tight that the Scorpion missile's automatic proximity detonation
missed by over a hundred feet-the proximity detonation circuits
could not keep up with DreamStar's remarkably fast jink.
McLanahan watched, transfixed, as DreamStar headed directly
down at Cheetah, rapidly closing the distance even before his
AIM-120 medium-range missile left the rails. Shaking himself,
488 DALE BROWN
McLanahan banked hard right and up, selected zone-five full
afterburner, trying to get underneath DreamStar, spoil his aim
and get out of the way before Maraklov could finish his sudden
attack.
Maraklov had recovered from the effects of negative Gs just in
time to receive the new warning of radar lock-on and missile
uplink-a Scorpion missile was in flight. This time there was no
pain-in an instant Cheetah's location was plotted, its direction
and all three of its axis velocities were recorded and assimilated
and a counter-offensive move and several alternate maneuvers
processed. He selected the first choice a fraction of a second
later. It had been timed perfectly, and the missile rushed well
past DreamStar without detonating until it had passed out of
lethal range.
In the same instant ANTARES had selected an AA-" infrared-
guided missile and had just received a lock-on signal from the
missile's seeker-head when a new threat was detected-a second
missile in flight from Cheetah. A moment later he saw Cheetah
head straight for him, chewing up the distance. Now two threats
were closing on him-the second Scorpion missile and Cheetah
itself, fast approaching optimal cannon range.
ANTARES commanded the AA-" to launch. At the same
time it made a tight right roll followed by a hard break, turning
in a tight circle to align once again with Cheetah.
"Missile launch! Dead ahead!"
McLanahan hit the voice-command button. "Chaff. Flare.
As the radar and infrared decoys ejected off into space, he jerked
the control stick right, descended a few hundred feet, then lit
the afterburners and pulled up. But not fast enough. DreamStar's
AA-" missile followed Cheetah's turn and descent, then deto-
nated its ninety-pound warhead just as McLanahan began to hard
six-G pull. The missile detonated ten feet to the right and slightl
aft of the right engine, piercing the engine case and sendin
9
showers of metal and compressor blades in all directions.
But at the same time ANTARES detected Cheetah's second
Scorpion missile still in flight-the two or three seconds it had
taken to launch the jury-rigged Soviet missile gave the big, high-
speed AIM-120 missile time to lock on and reach full speed.
The all-aspect radar detected the missile still closing fast.
DAY OF THE CHEETAH 489
The radar range to Cheetah's second missile turned into a
high-pitched squeal of warning, transmitted directly to Marak-
lov's already exhausted brain. ANTARES had no choice but to
evade the missile-DreamStar's jammers' ere ineffective against
Cheetah's radar or the Scorpion missde'swon-board radar-they
had reprogrammed the AIM-120's on-board radar to a different
frequency outside DreamStar's known jammer-range in antici-
pation of this fight-and DreamStar could not continue the right
turn to pursue Cheetah with the missile closing in.
With Maraklov allowing ANTARES now to select the fighter's
maneuvers and counter-maneuvers, ANTARES reversed its di-
rection of flight, went to full afterburner, and aimed its nose
right at the missile, presenting its lowest radar cross-section. At
the last possible moment DreamStar jinked upward hard ...
and the missile passed underneath.
'.'Engine fire on the right," Preston called out. McLanahan
yanked the right throttle to idle, lifted it out of its idle detent
and moved it to cut-off, then hit the voice-command switch:
"Right engine fire, execute." The computer commanded the
right-engine fuel valves and supply lines closed and fire retar-
dant sprayed inside the engine compartment.
"I'm showing fuel cutoff and engine fire light out," Preston
said. She turned in her seat, scanning the area for damage. "We
might have a fuel leak on the aft body tank. The smoke is clear-
ing.
"Where's DreamStar? Is he behind us?"
Preston scanned the skies, expecting to see that unreal plane
diving out of nowhere with guns blazing. But it was nowhere to
be seen. "I can't see him."
"I'm getting some altitude. Power coming back to mil,"
McLanahan said. With an engine fire and the potential of more
damage in the left engine casing, the use of afterburner was
unwise exce in an emergency. "I've still got full flight con-
Pt
trol." The engines were close enough together on the F-15 so
that single-engine handling was not a problem, and the vectored-
thrust nozzles, mission-adaptive wings, and canards would com-
pensate for the loss of rudder control and the asymmetric thrust.
"Airspeed's down below five hundred knots," Preston said,
continuing to search for DreaniStar. "And you're hardly climb-
490 DAIE BROWN
ing. We've had it, we don't have the power to even consider
dogfighting with him any more."
"I'm not giving up. Listen, something's happening here. If
Maraklov was flying at one hundred percent we'd be dog meat by
"
now. He's not engaging, I think maybe he's reached his limit ...
Wishful thinking ... ? He began a turn back in the opposite
direction and activated the air-to-air attack radar.
Immediately the computer reported, "Radar target, range
twelve miles, bearing fight.
He hit the voice-command button: "Select radar missile.
Launch missile. Launch missile."
The pain that racked Maraklov's body was constant now, rolling
across every nerve ending like a brush fire out of control. The
numbness in his left shoulder spread to his left arm and elbow-
it was the first time in two years that Maraklov ever noticed
anything about his appendages while flying under the neural-
computer interface system. The sensory dichotomy created mo-
mentary confusion. He became aware of still more problems
with his body-he was incredibly thirsty, weak as a kitten. He
was aware of the taste of blood-he could even feel blood drip-
ping down the side of his head and pooling inside his oxygen
mask. Taste? Feel? These sensations were as foreign to him while
under ANTARES as mental radar images had been when he first
saw one.
At the same time, ANTARES was warning him about a hun-
dred other things. Cheetah was in a left turn, heading back for
him. Fuel state was critical-less than twenty minutes fuel left,
without reserves. Oxygen was low. That last Scorpion missile's
miss was not altogether harmless-ANTARES was now report-
ing minor ventral fin actuator damage and a few sectors of the
ventral superconducting radar arrays malfunctioning.
It was time to destroy Cheetah, once and for all.
But DreamStar had barely completed its turn back toward
Cheetah when more missiles were detected in flight. And now
they were in a head-on engagement, with one, then two missiles
in flight. Maraklov began a series of high-speed random, maneu-
vers, trying to make the missiles swing farther and farther away
on each turn. At the same time he moved farther and farther
from Cheetah, getting a few more yards of lateral separation,
DAY OF THE CHEETAH 491
waiting for the moment to begin a lead turn into the F- 15 to start
his gun pass.
This time, Maraklov thought, he could not miss. McLanahan
had become lazy-never go head-to-head with his DreamStar.
"Scorpion missile tracking ... stay with him, Patrick, he's get-
ting outside you
McLanahan blinked beads of sweat out of his eyes as he
nudged the control stick farther right toward Cheetah. He had a
steady JOKER indication on the heads-up display-less than fif-
teen minutes of fuel remaining, enough to get him back to La
Cieba or Puerto Lernpira. If he continued to fight much longer
the number of possible landing sites, ii Honduras or Panama,
would steadily decrease to zero until he would be forced to put
down somewhere in Costa Rica.
"Patrick, watch it," Preston called out, "he's turni ng in on
you-"
He had let his mind drift off at the worst possible moment.
That momentary lapse of concentration had allowed DreamStar
to get the angle on him. Maraklov was now bearing in on Chee-
tah from the right side. A turn in either direction would expose
himself even more to a cannon attack.
He lit the left afterburner and pulled Cheetah up into a hard
climb. Preston hung from the handlebars in the back seat, strain-
ing against the G-forces as she tried to keep DrearnStar in sight
over her right shoulder.
II Warning, missile launch, the computer threat-receiver
blared. Then: "Warning, airspeed low. Stall warning. Stall
warning. "
"He's turned inside us. Missile launch. Get out of here."
McLanahan hit the voice-command button: "Chaff . . .
Flares," he grunted, forcing the words out from the pressure
against his lungs. He saw the decoys-eject indications on the
heads-up display.
"Where is he?" he called out to Preston.
"Five o'clock low, climbing with us. He's still coming
McLanahan pulled back on the stick even harder, his neck
and jaw muscles quivering against the pressure. He rolled in-
verted, ejected more chaff and flares to decoy the missiles, then
plunged Cheetah earthward. They were head-to-head once again,
but this time they were fighting in the vertical, not the horizon-
492 DALE BROWN
tal-Cheetah was in a full-power descent, rapidly building air-
speed, and DreamStar was in a screaming climb, heading right
at him ...
ANTARES adjusted each flight control surface and every pound
of two-dimensional vectored thrust to keep Cheetah centered in
its crosshairs. Measuring by DreamStar's precision millimeter-
wave radar and calculating by computer several times a second,
Maraklov commanded DreamStar to open fire seconds before
McLanahan's finger even closed on his trigger. They were still
almost two miles apart when DreamStar opened fire, dead on