The strategic air force defense guards immediately requested help from the Third Airborne Brigade stationed in Smad after being forced to retreat by Black Mamba. The Syrian military had ruled that the invasion was conducted by the Muslim Brotherhood. In Kaparja Valley, there were ANO special forces specialized in explosives and guerrilla warfare. The military had judged the situation with optimism. It was Hassan’s misfortune, as well as Assad’s.

  Hassan didn’t like rainy days. It had also rained 15 years ago, on the day when his father burned. The Wahhabism[1] rioters had orchestrated a merciless massacre in the village. All the heathens and Shi’ites had been killed, while the unsympathetic Sunnis had been accused of betrayal and burned at the cross.

  His father had been crucified. The flames had burned mercilessly despite the pouring rain. He could never forgive the murderers who had borrowed God’s name. On that very day, at the age of 19, Hassan had willingly joined the Ba’ath Party. He had picked up a rifle and led the battle against the Wahhabists. Hassan had his own sense of justice. He had heard his father screaming while it rained on. He hated the rain.

  I curse my fate,

  I wanted to live peacefully.

  My father had shouted at me,

  Kill all who use God’s name.

  I couldn’t deny the order.

  I’m walking into the fire.

  I’m sending the traitors to God.

  I love my wife,

  But I love Assad more.

  I love my son and daughter,

  But I love the Levant even more.

  The heathens to hell,

  The traitors to hell.

  Allah-hu Akbar,

  Allah-hu Akbar.

  Hassan hummed his own composition.

  Cling—


  His humming stopped. The old fuel dispenser nozzle was acting up again. That was an aircraft he’d maintained for at least 100 times over three years. Now, he could recognize any issue by simply listening to the sound. There wasn’t a problem with his flight, but it had bothered him.

  “Those damn white b*stards!” Hassan complained as he slowed down.

  Two Hind attack-models were placed in storage centers because it had lacked certain parts. The reason why they couldn’t create a unit was due to the Slavic white pigs. The military has had enough of their rip-offs.

  This was a reconnaissance mission. Two Hinds was more than enough. The Muslim Brotherhood were damned traitors who were no more than grasshoppers jumping around with RPGs and Kalashnikovs. Grasshoppers were grasshoppers, no matter how they jumped. When crushed under a tank, they turned into shawarmas[2].

  Just thinking about the remaining Wahhabists being wiped out by their strong machines and Gatling guns cheered him up. Hassan would never have imagined the existence of a special grasshopper that could catch eagles.

  Hassan lowered his altitude once he entered Kaparja Valley.

  “Number two, the watch isn’t working. Remain at 600.”


  “Fahimt[3].”


  There were eight assault search soldiers on the second craft that followed. In the event of an assault, they would check for victims on the first Hind.

  “Flight captain, the watch isn’t working. I can’t observe the ground. I’ll lower the altitude to 400.”


  “Fahimt.”


  Hassan pulled on the pitch lever and lowered the altitude.

  “Did I go astray?”


  The training center buildings couldn’t be seen even after he had lowered the altitude to 400. Hassan tilted his head. He couldn’t trust the buildings made by the Slavic white pigs. He rushed to pull the aerial map up on his console. The coordinates were correct.

  “Two, something’s wrong. I can’t see the buildings.”


  “Flight captain, I think there’s a problem. Requesting for assault search team deployment.”


  “Lower your altitude to 200 and check again.”


  Hassan delayed the deployment. He didn’t want to create unnecessary casualties since the remnants could be preparing for an ambush attack.

  “Fahimt.”


  “That damn rain is turning me blind,” Hassan complained.

  The rain didn’t stop. His sight was hindered by the fog that rose from the valley. He activated the night vision and connected it to the hood.

  “Flight captain, all the buildings and facilities are destroyed. I see countless corpses. Nothing is moving. Requesting assault search team deployment.”


  “What? The ANO’s been destroyed? I can’t believe it. Send the team down.”


  “Fahimt.”


  Hassan didn’t believe it. Kaparja was an impregnable fortress. The Muslim Brotherhood could do nothing to it. Uneasiness crept within him. Like always, he was unfortunate on rainy days.

  Number two lowered its altitude. Hassan raised his altitude and guarded the premise.

  Black Mamba’s sight was similarly hindered. His field of view didn’t even reach 10 meters because of the rain and fog. His scope became useless.

  Boom—


  He activated his inner eye and dimensional sight at the same time. Like a camera, the dimensional sight focused on a target before zooming in on them. A machine wasn’t all-rounded. A human’s natural ability was as important.

  The target was the pilot of an armed Hind, which was lowering its altitude. The weakest parts of a rotorcraft were the tail boom and tail rotor. Unfortunately, the Hind was flying face front. He couldn’t see its tail.

  At a distance of 800 meters, south-west wind at eight meters per second, +/- 110 millimeters, Black Mamba adjusted his aim according to the Barrett’s technicalities, which shot a bullet at 1,080 meters per second.

  All rifle’s accuracy had improved considerably since the 1970s. The scope’s development turned a moderately trained soldier into a good shooter. But there was a difference between a good shooter and a good sniper. The ability to shoot well was a minimum requirement of being a sniper. Aiming in a different direction was also one of them.

  Black Mamba had chosen the armed aircraft to find the zero-point. It was burdensome to fight against a heavily armed attack aircraft with a new Barrett.

  Attacking the weakest first was a common skill in the animal kingdom too. Another reason was to find the Barrett’s zero-point in advance, before dealing with the attacking Hind.

  It’s said that bad things came in pairs. The armed Hind hovered 30 meters above the ground. A fast rope was thrown out from its side door.

  The moment the assault search soldiers attached themselves on the fast rope, sparks flashed from the oversized muzzle brake[4].

  Bang—


  The powerful 50-caliber 99 millimeters bullet pierced the three-layered bulletproof shield. The large bullet started tumbling after losing most of its momentum.

  Crack—


  The 12.7 millimeters bullet flew horizontally and landed directly on the center of the pilot’s face. The result was obvious. It was just like a melon that had been stepped on. The cockpit was painted with blood.

  “Ahh!”


  The stunned co-pilot had blood all over him. The pilot, who had his face crushed, collapsed forward. The control stick moved together with the dead pilot’s arm as it was pushed to the right. The aircraft tilted to the right instantly. The co-pilot, who’d zoned out, banged his forehead against the console.

  His nose broke, but thanks to that, he came to his senses. The strongest human instinct was self-preservation. The co-pilot instinctively moved before he could even grasp the situation. He pushed the pitch lever and control stick as far as he could and pressed on the right pedal.

  The co-pilot had long forgotten about the assault search soldiers who were hanging on the fast rope.

  Vrrm—


  The engine’s RPM increased rapidly. The aircraft lifted its head, leaned slightly to the right, and raised its altitude.

  “Aaaaagh!” Screams echoed.

  The assault search soldiers, who were hanging on the fast rope 50 meters above ground, fell one by one. The Hind wasn’t in a position to care about those soldiers. It tried its best to escape another attack by continuously raising its altitude.

  “I’ll cut off your tail.”


  The Hind’s tail was revealed as it turned to its right. His inner eye could see lice eggs on the hair shaft in the shape of a wagon wheel. The tail rotor shaft approached the crossbeam.

  Distance 1,100m, south-west wind at eight meters per second, +/- 120 millimeters, adios!

  Black Mamba ruthlessly pulled on the trigger.

  Bang Bang—


  Flames flashed.

  Crack—


  The tail rotor shaft, which received two hits, fell apart like it was sliced.

  Prrr—


  The silver-colored pallet, which separated from the tail boom, soared into the air. The Hind, which was about 250 meters high, hesitated.

  Using Newton’s law of motion, a helicopter’s tail wing would balance the aircraft’s body according to the main rotor’s movements. The direction of the main rotor’s rotation changed according to the manufacturing design of each country. European and U.S. helicopters rotated counterclockwise while French and Soviet helicopters rotated clockwise. Since the Hind’s main rotor rotated clockwise, the tail rotor would stabilize the aircraft tilting to its right by rotating counterclockwise.

  The body, which lost its tail rotor, started spinning around. It would end up falling, but the co-pilot made a fatal mistake. When its altitude dropped, he pushed the pitch lever as hard as he could.

  A strong lift was applied to the main rotor. Without a tail rotor to stabilize its tilt, it triggered a descending thrust. The Hind’s body whirled around like a pinwheel. Everything happened in the blink of an eye.

  “Ah, what…what is it doing!”


  Hassan, who witnessed the unnatural movements of number two, searched the ground. He couldn’t see any anti-aircraft weapon that could have possibly shot it down. The second Hind spun like a pinwheel and hit the ground.

  “Number two, number two, Altun, Altun!” Hassan cried aloud.

  A reply in the form of an explosion was heard.

  Bang—


  The large body crashed against the opposite cliff. The Hind, whose cockpit was shattered, slid down the 70 degrees steep slope.

  Crrrrriiing—


  The sound of the iron plate scratching against the rocks echoed through the valley like a crying ghost.

  Bang—


  The metal frame couldn’t overcome gravity without its wings. The Hind, which dove straight into the valley’s floor, exploded again. Dark red flames and smoke filled the sky.

  Phiiii—


  A large amount of water vapor surfaced and clouded his watch.

  Haa—


  Jamal exhaled the breath that he’d been holding back. Sir Ddu-bai-buru-pa had taken down the Hind with two shots. He’d promised himself not to be surprised anymore, but he couldn’t help it.

  “Ddu-bai-buru-pa-hu Akbar!” Jamal shouted with his arms raised in the air.

  “Ugh, traitor of Islam, I will not leave you be.” Hassan pounded on the cockpit with his fists.

  The sudden barrelling of number two happened because its entire tail rotor had fallen off. Number two hadn’t been shot by a missile or anti-aircraft artillery (AAA). It was hard to believe, but a sniper had blown off its tail rotor with a large caliber firearm.

  Could one tear off a tail rotor with a firearm? If it was a joke, it was a bad one. Altun was too unfortunate. To be shot down by a stray bullet—even a camel would laugh at that. He’d been complaining about how he couldn’t perform the salat while aboard, and now, he was abandoned by Allah.

  Hassan was burning with a desire for revenge. The risk of a sniper wasn’t even considered. Coincidences were coincidences because they didn’t repeat. To snipe a 50 millimeters target from 1,000 meters away while the rain poured on? That couldn’t even be considered a joke. Altun was simply unfortunate.

  He could see through the rain with his night vision. The opponent was blind. There was no reason to avoid the enemy. He suspected that the sniper was on either side of the cliffs.

  Tututututu—


  He steered up the valley and searched the left cliff. He searched until his eyes were about to fall out but couldn’t find anything suspicious. The spot where he suspected was good enough to snipe number two had crumbled entirely, all 100 meters of it. Black Mamba had caused it the day before.

  Black Mamba stared emotionlessly at the attacking Hind that traveled up the valley. It wasn’t a good angle for targeting. The moment the b*stard turned to descend was his time to target.

  The Mi-25P Hind GOES-342 TV/LR flight equipment and HUD system had night vision capabilities. The night vision and display were set up together. It was enough to search the cliffs from a close range.

  Hassan turned the aircraft before an air defense strategic base. He grew suspicious of the right cliff.

  Whoosh—


  Whoosh—


  Two 30 millimeters machine guns started firing from the Hind.

  Bang—


  Bang—


  The explosions shook the cliff. A moment later, Hassan launched the rockets again. His target was the black hole of a protruding cave.

  A third shot was directed towards the cave’s entrance.

  Bang—


  Smoke escaped from the cave’s entrance. If a sniper had been hiding there, they would’ve turned into a roasted chicken. Hassan shot wherever he deemed as suspicious. It was basically a rug-tufting shot.

  Tutututu—


  The helicopter approached their hiding place. At a distance of 500 meters, the Barrett shot the target without hesitation once it came into sight.

  Boom—


  At that moment, the Hind’s head lowered. Hassan, who had discovered the suspicious cave, also launched an artillery attack.

  Bang—


  Two explosives landed on the cliff, which was 10 meters away from the cave.

  Cling—


  The bullet, which had been directed at the pilot, hit its blade instead. A hole had developed on the blade’s hinge, but it wasn’t enough to land an impact on the Hind.

  Bang—


  The second bullet hit its blade again. Unfortunately, it was the same one he had hit with the first bullet. A part of the blade fell off.

  “Tsk!”


  Black Mamba clicked his tongue as he’d been aiming for the cockpit’s shield.

  “You damn traitor, you’re there, huh?”


  Hassan had seen the flames’ sparks from eight parts above the opposite cliff. The helicopter’s body resounded, but he didn’t care. The old helicopter frequently rattled due to its age. It wasn’t something to be bothered about.

  Whoosh—


  Woosh—


  The 30 millimeters GSh-30K fired away.

  Bang—


  Bang—


  Bang—


  A grand firework display scattered across the cliff. The cave shook. Its particles even flew into the cave.

  Black Mamba’s sniping position didn’t change at all. He had followed the Hind’s movements without moving himself. Even Jamal felt at ease. As Allah’s messenger, it was impossible for Sir Ddu-bai-buru-pa to be defeated by machines. His faith was unwavering.

  Battling against the Hind, which had machine guns and four-turn Gatling guns, the Barrett was obviously at a disadvantage. It couldn’t stand a chance in terms of firepower. That wasn’t all. Black Mamba was stuck in a cave, while the Hind could move freely.

  Hassan, who was a seasoned pilot, raised the altitude and increased the distance. Black Mamba was in a difficult situation. He couldn’t see the Hind’s tail due to the protruding cliffs. When the Hind started attacking at a 35-degree angle, the cockpit was covered by its main rotor.

  [1] It is a form of Islamic practice that insists on the literal interpretation of the Quran.

  [2] It is a type of flatbread dish in the Middle East.

  [3] Roger.

  [4] A device attached to the muzzle to counter recoil and unwanted muzzle rise.