Author's Note:I would like to give many thanks to Modas for submitting his flight info to me on a consistent and timely manner.  Also, I would like to give thanks to Boa who has taken the added duty as my acting editor and for setting up the web page for these CMC Histories.  Also, I would like to thank and acknowledge Boa and his better half, B, for their personal contributions to the overall story line and world which I have placed our exploits in.  This acknowledgment will become clearer as these histories progress.  And finally, I'd like to thank all CMC and non-CMC that I write about, for making these stories possible through your weekly exploits.

He was just forming up on his wing when Awulf's Niki exploded.  Bits of debris slammed into Modas's plane.  "AWULF, NO!!" he yelled.  There was nothing he could do but watch as the burning debris tumbled down to Elwood.  Shaken by the sudden loss of his wing mate he scanned the sky for Boa and Exile.  Spotting them way out ahead in the he sparkling blue sky he turned his niki after them.  How could this have happened, he asked himself.  His anger began to rise up.  Let the enemy base, Katana, suffer for this loss then, he swore to himself.
The enemy fighters were up at Katana but not close enough to bother him or Boa as they prepared to kill the two ack positions.  "Modas, drop on the forward ack while I take the rear ack." Boa called over the radio.  "Roger" came Modas's reply.  Hitting the arming switch Modas followed Boa into a rolling dive on the base below.  Both ack crews spotted the diving niki's and feverishly began trying to tear them from the skies.  The terrifying screams of the diving predators was to much for some of the ground crew as they tried to dive out of their sand bagged ack bunkers.  It was to late as the tower personnel watched in fascinated horror as their only two ground defenses were utterly destroyed by direct hits.  "Call the 69th CO and tell him we need more forward fighter cover. NOW!" yelled Katana's Commanding Officer.
Modas pulled up out his dive skimming the ground at nearly 300 knots.  Behind him were two smoking piles of rubble.  "WOOHOO Boa!  We did it!" he cried over the radio.  But his excitement was short lived as two P51's dropped out of the sky on him.  It was to much.  He couldn't lose them both and finally tracers found his engine.  Smoke and oil pouring from from his diving bird he tried to open the canopy to bail but it was stuck.  NO! he thought.  The ground was climbing up to engulf he and his dying plane when through the smoke he saw huge feathered wings.  "Wha...?" and then it was over his niki furrowed the earth west of Katana.
"One enemy rat down." crackled the P51 pilot's voice over the radio.
Modas came to in the Elwood infirmary.  Sitting up he scanned himself for wounds.  "I'm alive and unhurt." he exclaimed aloud, somewhat incredulous at his intact condition.  Running to HQ for his updated orders he stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of Awulf sitting in the room.  :Awulf! You're....  You're...." "Alive" finished Awulf.  "But I saw.... I mean there was no way...." Modas stuttered.  Awulf simply looked away a haunted look in his eyes.  "I know" was all he said.
Boa came in at that moment.  "Modas get airborne now.  Awulf join us as soon as the problems with your niki are fixed."  "Yes sir" came the twin replies.
As he winged to Katana with Boa, Modas couldn't help but think back tot he events of Awulf's exploding plane.  Could he have survived that explosion, he wondered.  It was to confusing to worry about right now.  He needed to concentrate on the objective ahead.  He couldn't be lucky enough to survive another crash like the one he walked away from earlier, he thought.  Again he and Boa came in high enough to be unmolested by the enemy fighter cover.
As his bomb hairs settled on the maintenance building he could see the ground crews scurrying from the structure.  "Wise move." he muttered to himself as he released his bomb.  Its whistle died away as he pulled out of his dive.  Looking behind him he saw his bomb puncture the roof like paper and then the whole building came apart in a fiery explosion.  The maintenance building next to it a smoking ruin from Boa's attack.  Boa calls over the radio "Modas, looks like a C47 is coming in from Angels.  Go kill it."  "Roger" comes Modas reply.
Thinking it would be low he dropped down to 5000 feet in search of it.  He is dismayed when he spots it high with a P51 escort.  The P51 dives on him its lead tearing he and his plane apart with its first pass.  Blood is every where in the cockpit.  His plane is plummeting to the water below.  He was dying and knew it.  Just before consciousness completely faded away he found himself peering into the most violet pair of eyes.
The niki exploded on contact with the ocean.  Ssniff who was circling above in the P51 called over the radio "enemy destroyed, 47.  You're clear."  Peering at the boiling black smoke he tried to get a better look at the burning debris.  Wings? Naw, musta been his imagination, he thinks to himself.

Epilogue:
He sits at his desk looking at the pictures of the destroyed base as Wheel Chock continues on with his debriefing "As you can see the 69th Shepherds couldn't keep us from meeting our objective.
However, we did suffer major casualties at the hands of their fighters."  Putting his paperwork in the folder Wheel Chock looked up and said "The squad is performing well as a team Boa.  But the strain of the unknown is beginning to show."  "I know." Boa quietly states as he puts down the pictures and turns in his chair to look out the window to the tropical storm raging outside.