Keyrah is a fairly withdrawn and soft spoken individual, for a Sothian at least. She was born into an ordinary Second Tier Family, and had an unremarkable upbringing, when she reached Conscription Age, she had already decided which Military Occupation she wanted to pursue, she had always been interested in flying, since her Father had told her many stories of his time as an Attack Pilot in the War. After some years she became a Mesonaut (A Pilot Specializing in Very High Altitude Flying), which she still is to this day, though she had moved to Reserve Status so she can pursue other other things.
The text that follows is an excerpt from Keyrah Siniah's book, 'Mesonauts', which has become the standard text for High Altitude Pilots.
We had very specific orders, and we knew any deviation from them would result in the failure of our mission. All three aircraft of our wing sat on the runway, 2 A-Variants, and 1 B-Variant. The B-Variant differed from the A-Variant in that it had tandem cockpits, the rear of which supported our Mission Commander (MC).
At precisely the planned time, we all moved out throttles into the take-off position, immediately after our gear left the ground, we retracted it and pitched up 45 Degrees. It took only minutes to reach our cruising altitude in the Mesosphere, at which point we levelled out and accelerated.
Each aircraft carried two Kinetic Kill Vehicles, equipped with orbital insertion boosters, soon we reached our planned firing position, at maximum altitude and velocity, we opened our weapons bays in unison and released the first of our KKVs. The heavy ordnance dropped from our bays, I felt my aircraft suddenly lurch upwards as it shed the weight. The booster ignited shortly after, I watched the missile streak out in front of my nose, and then pitch upwards sharply, climbing toward the Thermosphere.
With the success of the first salvo, we tapped our triggers again, launching our second KKVs, all missiles performed flawlessly, so we closed our bay doors and began our turn for home. Turning 180 Degrees in Lower Atmosphere is much simpler than in the Mesosphere, travelling at Mach 15. The air is so thin that such velocity is necessary for the engines to receive enough oxygen to function, turn too tightly, and your intakes will not face into the oncoming air any more, your engines will stall, and you will lose all control of your aircraft.
It was around halfway through our turn that my Missile Warning Alarm sounded, as per our training, MC aborted our turn and we slammed our throttles into the full position, accelerating to maximum velocity. I could feel the acceleration pressing me back into my seat, as I watched our speed increase.
Shortly after reaching Mach 17, there was a powerful 'Thud!', I felt it more through my seat, than I heard it. Immediately my aircraft pitched upwards uncontrollably and began to tumble over and over. The G-Forces pinned me in position, I reached for the Ejection Handles between my legs, but could not pull them upwards under such force.
Soon one of my wings tore off, and the entire aircraft lurched violently to one side, my head slammed into the side of the cockpit, and that is the last thing I remember...
The next memory I have, is of awaking to a throbbing pain on the side of my head, and to the sound of my Ejection Warning, 'Eject!...Eject!...Eject!...' it toned over and over. Drowsily, I reached between my legs and grasped the handles, yanking them upwards with more success this time.
With a deafening roar, my canopy blew off, and I was blown clear of my crippled aircraft...Only to see the ground approaching fast below me. My parachute opened just in time, but not fast enough to slow me completely, so I hit the ground hard...
I awoke some time later to more pain, this time in my leg as well, I knew at once that it was broken. I rolled over onto my back and removed my helmet, I was fortunate to have broken my visor in the impact, otherwise I could very well have suffocated inside my pressure suit.
The remains of my aircraft were still burning nearby, and I knew the smoke would only aid my rescue...
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