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GAINST THE BACKDROP OF THE ONGOING AND BITTER BATTLE BROUGHT ABOUT BY THE GERMAN INVASION OF THE SOVIET UNION, AND WITH CASUALTIES MOUNTING ON BOTH SIDES …

...PILOTS YANA BELINKY AND DREW GRANGER WERE TWO COMBATANTS WHO HAD FACED THEIR OWN SAVAGE TRIAL BY BATTLE AND SURVIVED TO TELL THE TALE...JUST.

STORY MAC MACDONALD ART CARLOS PINO COVER CARLOS PINO


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DREW’S WAR HAD BEGUN BADLY WHEN HIS FAIREY BATTLE HAD BEEN HIT HARD AND HE ALONE OF THE THREE-MAN CREW HAD SURVIVED THE SUBSEQUENT DITCHING. HIS SISTER, SERVING IN THE WOMEN’S AUXILIARY AIR FORCE HAD BEEN KILLED IN A GERMAN BOMBING RAID...

...SO IT WAS IN A DARK AND TROUBLED MOOD, WITH HIS CONFIDENCE AT ROCK BOTTOM, THAT HE HAD BEEN TRANSFERRED TO RUSSIA AS PART OF A SCHEME TO LIAISE WITH THE SOVIET AIR FORCE. WHEN HE WAS POSTED TO AN ALLFEMALE SQUADRON USING ANTIQUATED POLIKARPOV PE2 LIGHT BOMBERS AGAINST THE GERMAN INVADERS HE FOUND HIMSELF BACK IN THE THICK OF THINGS...

...EVENTUALLY FLYING AS GUNNER FOR LIEUTENANT YANA BELINKY — ONE OF THESE FEARLESS ACES TERRORISING THE ENEMY WHO DUBBED THEM NACHTHEXEN...NIGHT WITCHES.


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IT HADN’T HELPED EITHER YANA OR DREW THAT A RUTHLESS, SCHEMING POLITICAL COMMISSAR, CAPTAIN GLEB REVNIK, HAD THE POWER TO MAKE THEIR LIFE A MISERY...

...ALL THE TIME HIDING THE SECRET THAT HE HAD LOST HIS NERVE AND FLED COMBAT, COWARDICE THAT HAD SO FAR PASSED UNPUNISHED. THE TWO PILOTS HAD SURVIVED A LOW-LEVEL RAID ON THE GERMANS BY THE SKIN OF THEIR TEETH. THIS WAS A GIFT FOR THE PROPAGANDAHUNGRY RUSSIAN AUTHORITIES, A HEROIC EXAMPLE OF ALLIES CO-OPERATING AGAINST THE NAZIS.

I HAVE NEVER FELT SO TIRED. ALL THOSE NEWSPAPER INTERVIEWS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS CATCHING OUR EVERY MOVE.

AND ALL WHILE WE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE RECUPERATING FROM OUR WOUNDS. AT LEAST WE HAVE A BREAK THIS WEEKEND.


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YANA HAD BEEN THE MORE SERIOUSLY WOUNDED AND HER LEFT LEG WAS STILL PITTED WITH PIECES OF SHRAPNEL, SOME OF WHICH WORKED THEIR WAY PAINFULLY OUT THROUGH THE SKIN. DREW HAD BEEN LUCKIER BUT HE HAD STILL LOST A LOT OF BLOOD.

THANKFULLY THERE IS NO SIGN OF OUR GLORIOUS COMMISSAR TODAY.

EASY NOW, JUST MENTIONING HIM IS TEMPTING FATE.

IT SURELY WAS, FOR REVNIK APPEARED FROM NOWHERE JUST SECONDS LATER LIKE SOME MALEVOLENT JACK-IN-THE-BOX. RELAX AND ENJOY YOURSELVES WHILE YOU CAN. I AM OFF TO H.Q. WHERE A GRAND SCHEME IS BEING PLANNED FOR US. I WONDER WHAT IT WILL BE?

NOTHING WOULD SURPRISE ME AFTER THE LAST FEW MONTHS.


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REVNIK MISSED THE IRONY IN YANA’S TONE, FILLED AS HE WAS WITH HIS OWN SENSE OF IMPORTANCE. HOWEVER HE MADE SURE SHE KNEW WHERE SHE STOOD WITH THE AUTHORITIES JUST TO REINFORCE HIS POWER OVER HER. IT WARMS MY HEART, LIEUTENANT, TO SEE THAT YOU HAVE TURNED YOUR BACK ON YOUR FAMILY’S TSARIST PAST AND TAKEN TO THE SKIES SO BRAVELY FOR THE MOTHERLAND.

WE’RE ALL ON THE SAME SIDE NOW. FIGHTING THE GERMANS IS THE PRIORITY.

YANA, STILL NEEDING TREATMENT ON HER INJURED LEG, WAS CALLED AWAY FOR THAT. THE COMMISSAR JOINED DREW FOR A STROLL. YOU HAVE PAID A GREAT PRICE, FLYING WITH THAT ILL-FATED BATTLE SQUADRON OVER FRANCE, THEN LOSING YOUR SISTER. I SALUTE YOUR FORTITUDE.

THE CALCULATED REMARK UNSETTLED DREW WHO WAS STILL TRYING TO BUILD UP HIS OLD CONFIDENCE. THAT LOUSE KNOWS JUST WHAT TO SAY TO RILE ME. BLAST THE MAN!


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THE CALCULATING REVNIK WAS INDEED PLAYING A CRUEL GAME. FINDING THE PHOTOGRAPH OF DREW’S SISTER AMONG THE R.A.F. PILOT’S BELONGINGS HAD GIVEN THE COMMISSAR AN INSIGHT INTO DREW’S STATE OF MIND AND HIS WEAKNESSES.

I HAVE HIM AND BELINKY WELL UNDER CONTROL. ESCORTING THEM WILL KEEP ME WELL CLEAR OF THE FRONT AND DANGER! IT COULD NOT HAVE WORKED OUT BETTER, AND NO DOUBT THIS LATEST ASSIGNMENT WILL SUIT PERFECTLY.

HE COULD NOT HAVE BEEN MORE WRONG. THE TOP BRASS, SOVIET AND BRITISH, WANTED THE TWO PILOTS — AND THE COMMISSAR TO KEEP AN EYE ON THEM — IN BRITAIN SO THE PROPAGANDA VALUE OF THEIR STORY COULD BE EXPLOITED THERE.

THE CONVERTED PETLYAKOV PE8 BOMBER THAT WAS THEIR TRANSPORT ALSO CARRIED A DELEGATION OF SOVIET TOP BRASS HEADED FOR AN IMPORTANT CONFERENCE. REVNIK — WHO HELD THAT EVERYTHING WEST OF LENINGRAD WAS SUSPECT — WAS DISMAYED…BUT HE HAD HIS ORDERS.


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DREW, TOO WAS TROUBLED. ALTHOUGH IT WAS A RELIEF TO BE RETURNING HOME, HE KNEW HE WAS NOT FULLY FIT IN ANY WAY. HE REALLY WANTED TO FLY AGAIN…

...BUT EVEN AFTER THE RAIDS HE HAD GONE ON WITH YANA, HE WAS STILL NOT SURE HIS NERVE WOULD HOLD. REVNIK’S HARKING ON ABOUT PAST HISTORY DID NOT HELP.

YANA SAW THE WHOLE SCHEME AS A WASTE OF TIME. SHE ONLY WANTED TO PILOT A COMBAT AIRCRAFT AGAIN AND ANY TRIP TO THE U.K. WOULD PUT THAT BACK.

SHE MIGHT HAVE SHAKEN OFF THE SHADOW OF THE TSARS BUT SASHA, HER ONLY BROTHER, HAD BEEN TOO OUTSPOKEN AND HAD BEEN FLUNG INTO A SOVIET PRISON CAMP...

FINALLY MY PRIVILEGED PARENTS AND MY UPBRINGING SEEM NOT TO BE A PROBLEM. YET I STILL CANNOT FIGHT.

...AND WAS NOW, ACCORDING TO REVNIK, SERVING WITH A PENAL BATTALION, WHICH WAS AKIN TO A DEATH SENTENCE. ANOTHER CHIP THE COMMISSAR HELD AGAINST HER.


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DREW AND YANA WERE NOT THE ONLY ONES WITH TROUBLES. A STORM HAD BROKEN AHEAD OF THE PETLYAKOV, GIVING THE CREW A REAL AND DANGEROUS HEADACHE. REVNIK, ALREADY AIRSICK AND CURSING THIS FLIGHT, BARELY NOTICED WHEN ORDERS TO BRACE THEMSELVES WERE SHOUTED FROM THE COCKPIT.

WE WILL CLIMB TO TRY TO AVOID THE WORST OF THIS. MAKE SURE THAT YOU ARE ALL WELL STRAPPED IN.

THE COMMISSAR SUDDENLY NOTICED THAT THE GROWL OF AT LEAST ONE OF THE FOUR ENGINES SEEMED DIFFERENT. HE TURNED TO YANA, A MORE THAN PERCEPTIBLE QUAVER IN HIS VOICE. SHOULD THEY NOT ALL SOUND THE SAME?

NOT NECESSARILY. THE PILOTS WILL BE ADJUSTING THEM TO THE CONDITIONS.




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