Ashes of Victory

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Bastards. You bastards!

Lieutenant Deng Xiangsui of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force tightened his grip on the control column of his MiG-17F “Fresco” as he glared in disbelief at the distant aerial battle marring the clear skies beyond his cockpit’s windscreen.

The shoreline of mainland China rushed by ten thousand feet beneath the swept-wing interceptor, replaced by coastal waters as the newly minted pilot advanced the throttle fully forward with his left hand.

How can this be happening to—?

The kick of the new VK-1F engine’s afterburner slammed him into his seat as he gasped beneath his oxygen mask. Deng had practiced going into burner in a simulator but never in an actual MiG. Fuel simply cost too much.

Now, though, that expensive fuel flowed freely, injected into the exhaust nozzle by the revolutionary engine and doubling his rate of climb, rocketing the Fresco through eighteen thousand feet in thirty seconds.

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