Jackson could hear the gun’s whine. He watched as the rounds ripped through the horizontal stab on the right side of the tail. The honeycomb split and shattered, sending shards into the rudder.

He felt sick, watching it begin to lose control, suddenly in a sharp descent. Angling his own nose downward, he tried to keep the aircraft in visual.

Keying his mic, Jackson somberly reported the kill. “Actual, Lima 1.”

“Go Lima 1”

“Bogey is hit. Dropping. 30,000 and descending rapidly.”

Jackson toggled his gun to SAFE and watched as the Airbus rolled violently to the right, plummeting towards the ground.

He dropped his flaps to slow his own decent. I’d hate to get hit by debris he thought to himself.

“Roger, Lima 1. We have bogey on screen. EOD and Emergency Response have been dispatched.” Came the ground’s reply. “Alert group Lima, return to nest for debrief.

He pulled out of his descent and headed home. He was about to flip on the civilian frequency again, but didn’t want to hear the screams.