Part 1 - http://www.greatwriting.co.uk/content/view/3895/77/

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Kelly turned her attention to fuel, she did her sums calculating she could remain here until eleven o'clock and still make it back to Bagram without any drama. She noted the time was now nine twenty, giving her ninety minutes in the area without Widow's tanker; assuming the tanker is only ten minutes in and out. "There are some things a girl most take care of herself; Fuel first before we extend our stay, so it's a tanker by eleven or I'm out of here," she told herself as she changed direction to head north, back towards Sarhadd for the third time. She was passing to the west of the town and wondering if they had running water on tap down there when the radio started up, "Killer this is Widow, we have received a Joint Star report of vehicle movement in Pakistan heading towards your area. They seem somewhat suspicious we have four vehicles, two loaded lorries and two lightly loaded pick-up sized vehicles. A satellite pass has been requested and we will have the results in a few minutes. Should the vehicles continue towards you at the current pace they will be in your area in approximately seventy minutes. How is your fuel state for that time frame?"

Kelly replied, "Widow that would be towards the end of my fuel window. Perhaps we should book a hook-up with your Extender for say, fifty minutes. This would allow us to loiter here until round two o'clock if we need to. Hope you enjoy your silver service lunch up there, after you go to the bathroom and freshen up! If these vehicles are hostile it is a good bet we are being observed in this area. How is Greenheads transportation out of here progressing?"

The radio responded, "That's an affirmative Killer we will have our Extender in position above you ready for a hook-up in forty minutes. In the meantime try not to put yourself in visual contact with the vehicles, no need to scare them off. We have detected no communication from your locality this morning although we did catch someone having a rather long chat at dusk yesterday while Greenhead was settling in for the night. Greenhead's Chinook is in the air; estimated time of pick-up is also forty minutes. However we have asked them to delay until we see what these vehicles are doing. The Chinook will be re-fuelling on the Extender immediately after you and prior to the pick-up. You have a nice mental experience for lunch down there and when we have time I'll tell you all about the bubble bath I'm going to have tomorrow morning, when we land; Widow out."

Gee that was a low swipe, Kelly thought; it's all right for some, based in Holland, probably living in a quaint little house with a view over the canal, a husband looking after the kids. I wonder if Wendy knows I am sharing six showers and one washbasin with one hundred eighty-seven other females at Bagram. God she thought, how would she like to try and stay clean while wading for eight minutes through three inch deep dust to a cot in a tent with a dirt floor and five snoring tent-mates. I'll bet she doesn't know what it's like to balance the merit of getting dressed for a sixteen minute round trip in the dirt to the porcelain or a quick squat out the back, like an animal, at three in the morning... I'll bet she has a chardonnay and some strawberries while she takes her bubble bath tomorrow morning, Kelly thought as she turned to travel east towards china for a few minutes.

After her time was up flying east Kelly headed southwest to return towards Greenheads position. To break the boredom she started to wobble her ailerons so the plane banked sideways and sat upright at right angles to the ground, first to the right and then the left she used her rubbers to prevent the plane from losing altitude. After six of these 'hand stands' she rolled over and flew upside down for a minute before returning to normal flight, she told herself gymnastics was a healthy exercise. Kelly passed over Greenheads position, high above him knowing that her altitude and low throttle setting would allow her to pass unnoticed, everything seemed quiet down there so she turned northwest tracking towards Karkat. After several minutes and as she approached the town she turned south. Kelly started to wonder if the Afghan farmers down below had morning tea or kept working through to lunch without stopping.

Kelly flew south for three minutes and was about to change direction to travel northeast when she noticed the imprint of a large plane suddenly appearing on her locating radar above and a little to her west, "That will be the Extender," she thought as it started to display a KC-10 friendly tag identifying it. Further to the southwest at a lower altitude she noticed the CH-47SD friendly imprint of the Chinook and was interested to notice the helicopter was miles inside Pakistan, "Must be taking a shortcut. I wonder where they have come from," she thought. On cue Wendy came over the radio, "Killer this is Widow it's time for your ten thirty fuel stop, the Extender will come down to your current altitude and sit four miles off to your west. The low altitude is to pick-up the Chinook immediately after you, so maintain a lookout for both aircraft as you approach. We have a confirmation of the vehicles they are definitely hostile the lorries are covered but appear to be transporting troops. Both the pickups are armed, the lead vehicle, has a light anti-aircraft gun mounted in the rear and the second appears to have a mortar tube mounted in it. So, we will have a job for you after you refuel; Widow out."

Kelly acknowledged the message and steered westward ahead of the Extender so they would merge rapidly, in only a few minutes she sat in position behind the Extender, a large Boeing DC-10 ex-passenger plane, which had been converted to a flying service station.  During the approach to within a few feet of her seat at the rear of the Extender, Kelly could see the Boom Operator was female. Kelly watched closely as the re-fuelling boom lowered into place just inches in front of her cockpit and noticed with some intensity the fuel levels starting to rise. In two minutes Kelly was again full of fuel and 'backing' slowly away. As she slowly moved left out from behind the Extender Kelly noted the Chinook moving into position to take fuel and to her surprise noticed the Army pilot flying it was female, "Must be ladies day," she thought as she manoeuvred a safe distance away from the other aircraft. Kelly waited until the Chinook also moved back from the Extender and watched as the large plane gathered speed, pulling ahead as it commenced to climb up to wherever it had come down from.

Again the radio started up with Wendy's familiar voice, "Killer this is Widow we might have you home in time for lunch. I'll ask you to remain undetected but move closer to Greenheads location in preparation for a strike. The vehicles are now some six miles from his position and I'm expecting him to report them shortly. They are travelling approximately two hundred feet apart and making thirty miles per hour. It would be rather convenient if you could pick off both the lorries before anyone has the opportunity to deploy from them. The two smaller vehicles are more likely to want to fight so they should be easy pickings. All the vehicles are now in Afghanistan and have been targeted, as you will now be seeing on your systems. However we would ask you to wait until they display hostile intent or Greenhead requests your intervention before you take them out. I will shortly be patching Butch Lady in the Chinook onto Greenheads voice channel so they can commence their pick-up procedure. Good Hunting Killer; Widow out"

Kelly acknowledged Widow’s message and immediately headed north east, back towards Sarhadd and commenced to reduce altitude. She started targeting the vehicles and allocating ordinance from the detail now showing on her heads-up-display. As she worked away on her systems she listened to the conversation on Greenheads voice channel,

"Greenhead this is Butch lady on-board Chinook please respond."

"Butch Lady this is Greenhead; what can we do for the lady in the big green whirly bird this morning?"

"Greenhead more the other way round, I think. I have a note here from the Big Preacher saying go pick-up some lost souls in need of a bath, spiritual cleansing and a drink. I hope you are all packed and ready to go as my estimated time to your location will be seven minutes. I hope you guys have a good landing pad ready, as I intend to be at your location fifteen seconds maximum, so get off your thumbs."

"Copy that Butch, seven minutes will comply; God, whatever happened to all the nice southern girls who know their place, speak politely and always wear two petticoats?"

"Who knows Greenhead; they probably all work in Baton Rouge, in Daddies millinery store; I know they all failed boot camp so you won't be finding any around here. Get your kit together if you're coming with us. Contact me and guide me in when you have a visual; Butch out"

"On you Sister," Kelly thought as she continued to ready herself for a strike. She was a little disappointed she didn't know what would transpire before she loaded up this morning. Had she been carrying a CBU-97 Sensor Fuzzed Weapon on-board, she would have been able to sit well above and neutralize the whole convey in one big bang, all nice and clinical, poor buggers wouldn't have known what hit them. But life is full of compromises, now they will have to watch as I give them a couple of AGM-65 Mavericks for the trucks, and an GAU-8 cannon burst on the pick-ups, all from the front, so I can be sure the Mavericks hit something solid and explode. I should be able to affect this in one pass, if they co-operate. Then I'll turn back on them, with a steep starboard turn so I don't point towards Greenhead, and pick up anyone I missed with a few Mk82 five hundred pounders or one CBU-87 cluster bomb; they can choose which for me, at the time.

Kelly started to plan her route in detail for the strike; it would be low level, up the valley towards the south. This would take her directly over Greenhead's position, again, "poor dear," she said to herself through a wry smile. The voice channel started up, "Butch, this is Greenhead I can hear you but have not yet got a visual. Hold off where you are for now as we have company here; out to you. Killer this is Greenhead we have vehicle movement on the road to the south of us coming our way. Would you take a look-see for us."

Kelly replied, "That is a negative Greenhead; I have been instructed to lay low until these vehicles demonstrate hostile intent. We have been watching and tracking them for some time. We are ready and in position to strike. To bring you up to speed; The lead vehicle is a pick-up with a mounted light machine gun, the second vehicle is also a pick-up and it seems to have a mortar tube in the back, following are two covered trucks which may be carrying troops. They are travelling approximately two hundred feet apart at thirty miles per hour. It's your call; Feel free to stir them up and bring it on."

Greenhead immediately responded, "God, I hope they are lousy shots. My mother warned me I'd be sidelined on a dusty Afghan hill if I didn't study hard; I should have listened to her. There seems to be no room for real men in this man's army any more. I think I need a sex change. Killer thanks for the heads-up and support, good hunting. We will fire a few shots to get their attention, standby."

Kelly had by now turned south again and was commencing her run into Greenheads valley at low altitude. She armed her Mavericks and targeted the first to find the third vehicle using the electro-optical trace coming via the AWACS and was automatically set to follow that vehicle. Kelly estimated she would gain visual contact with the target from eight miles out and could dispatch this missile giving her time to target a second Maverick on the other truck and fire, five miles out. Kelly would then be free to manoeuvre herself to bring the cannon to bear on the two pick-ups. "Shame I cannot target several weapons at once, it would make life so much easier," she thought as she started to build up speed and set herself on what she felt would be the optimum altitude.

At fourteen miles out and travelling at three hundred and eighty knots, the radio came to life, "Killer this is Widow we have detected rifle fire coming from Greenheads position, standby."

A short delay ensued then, "Killer the lead vehicle has stopped and is firing towards Greenheads position. You are authorized to eliminate all targets, good hunting."

Kelly replied, "Will comply, out"

Kelly then turned her attention to Greenheads voice channel, "Greenhead your targets have turned hostile I'm on the case from your north and am preparing to returning fire. On my command check your fire; I don't want you grunts shooting up my rear-end; standby"

Kelly banked slightly right to follow the valley, noticing she had visual contact with Greenhead and the vehicles, her display was showing eight point six miles to target. She levelled the plane to eliminate any 'G' force that might impede missile guidance. The six seconds wait for the first strike seemed like two hours but finally the missile demonstrated it had locked on target. A plume of white smoke engulfed the left side of her cockpit for an instant, a sure receipt for a successful dispatch. Kelly immediately turned her attention to targeting the second Maverick on the fourth vehicle, a task she completed with twelve seconds to spare. Having no reason to delay she dispatched it and received the same smoky response. Getting back on the radio she called Greenhead,

"Greenhead, check fire, you might as well sit back on your 'chairs million aire' and watch the fireworks; Killer out"

Kelly noticed all the grunts turn their head towards her as each of the missiles took their turn to streak past, no more than fifty feet above them. "They must make one hell of a noise," she thought as she used her rudder to keep the gun sight aligned on the lead vehicle and also bring the second vehicle into the same alignment. She noticed the flashing of tracer-fire from the forward vehicle stream through the air in an arc as it turned away from Greenhead towards herself. Kelly watched the first missile hit its target with devastating results. There was a flash followed by a debris plume, then nothing but a patch of twisted black, with debris still floating around it. As the second truck suffered the same fate she noticed a flash rise from the second pick-up and immediately turned her attention to warn Greenhead but before she could speak Wendy came through the voice channel, "Greenhead, incoming hostile motar round prepare to take cover, I will call splash; out to you. Good shooting so far, Killer."

Kelly ignored any response as she was approaching her point to fire on the two pick-ups. She gave the forward vehicle a quick burst and watched as the whole thing erupted, initially disappearing in a dust ball, then exploded in a flash of flame, which quickly turned deathly black. This obscured visual contact with the second vehicle for what seemed like ages. Eventually she caught a sighting through the gloom; made a quick adjustment to the aircraft attitude and fired another short burst and got the same result on this vehicle too.

Kelly flew across the target area then banked sharply right to turn around as planned, in mid-turn she heard Wendy's 'splash' come through the voice channel. She passed back over what had seconds before been four vehicles and many people. It was obvious there was no need to use any more ordinance today, no one was going to walk away from down there. In the distance, to the left and forward of Greenhead she noticed the explosion from the mortar round as it returned to earth out of harms way.

Kelly opened up to her voice channel again, "Greenhead I guess it's time to go home, these guys will not be bothering you or Uncle Sam any more."

The radio immediately responded, "Killer, copy that; Butch come straight in and get us. I'm becoming home sick. Jesus Killer, remind me not to ever get dirty on you. I noted your tail address, EL207; a Louisiana Belle if I'm not mistaken. You know my Momma lives over near Alexandra and would just love it, if we came a calling for tea one Sunday afternoon. I can hear her now' "Do you take two sugars my dear; my goodness Bernie where ever did you find such a cute young thing?" That's when I could tell her, "Why Momma she is a..." - Butch this is Greenhead we have a visual on you; we are located to your northeast; throwing smoke now; over,"

Butch replied, "I see green."

Followed by Greenhead, "Come and get us. You cute southern thing, you."

And Butch again, "Greenhead, get your mind out of your pants. Killer, impressive work you have done here. You keep that ugly thing of yours well away from me, please."

Kelly steered away from the Chinook and watched it approaching Greenhead, as it slowed the rear door started to wind down and the smoky dust curled around it like a large waterspout engulfing the rear rotor. The rear wheels had no sooner touched the ground then Greenhead and his team raced up the ramp disappearing inside. The Chinook immediately started skyward again with the rear door closing.

The radio started up again with Wendy's familiar voice, "That's a wrap guys not a bad result all round, Killer we have plotted your return path to escort Butch and her cargo southwest until you are parallel with Jalalabad then you can make a quick northwest dash for the waiting bathroom; the course is in your display. We have conveyed our compliments to your Squadron, the ground crew will be waiting to mark your nose count with four more notches."

Killer again acknowledged and started a climb up out of the valley with the Chinook. The trip home went quickly and without incident. While they were passing to the west of Jalalabad Kelly and Butch exchanged a few niceties over the radio, before Kelly peeled off altering her course to the northwest. Kelly had just called up Bagram control and was given clearance to land when to her surprise the radio sounded again, "Killer this is Butch, something I thought I should share with you before put your head down tonight. The fifteen horny grunts sitting behind me, with nothing to do and plenty going on in their minds have just voted you their favourite mystery pinup girl. You are now their official ‘Warrior Chick’; in the context of what these guys go through each day it's the best compliment you will ever receive. Sweet dreams, you take care; Butch, out."