Ace Combat: Highwayman

Chapter 1: Oprocz Błękitnego Nieba (Beyond the Blue Sky)

<Kaliga: As the remaining combat records detailed in the Warsaw Accords were released in 2030, I was one of the many officers who decided to delve deeper into the aerial combat detailed in said records. Many of them were detailed, but among them, one in particular was detailed, but appalling. A lone Polish fighter that flew some of the most crucial combat missions of the war, was the scourge of Russian pilots for two long years, and stands as the only pilot of the 21st century to have each and every kill confirmed by credible and mostly independent sources. By the end of the war in early 2026, he was credited with shooting down 305 Russian airframes, and living to tell the tale. After reviewing the files, I decided to seek out the allied and enemy pilots he was in the sky amongst, and interview them about their encounter with the then Podporucznik Mateusz Brezinski, or as he was named by allies and enemies alike...>

<Kaliga: The Highwayman.>

<ROLL TAPE>

<REC... REC... REC...>

<JAN.20.2030>

<Podporucznik Kaliga: Will you state your name for the record?>

<Major Dvorygin: Ilya Andreevich Dvorygin, commander of the 5th Fighter Aviation Squadron, 23rd Fighter Aviation Regiment, Far East Aviation. I was deployed to fight in Poland in 2024.>

<Major Dvorygin: You want me to talk about him. The Polish one.>

<Podporucznik Kaliga: Mateusz Brzeziński.>

<Dvorygin: I did not know his name then. Only the way he flew. We were given a grid square near Łomża. Clear weather. NATO strike package was supposed to be light, escort, maybe a few strike aircraft. My Su-57 had the advantage. Stealth, sensors, long-range missiles. On paper, it was not a fight.>

<Dvorygin: He came in low. Not even trying to hide or run. That should have been stupid. But he was using the ground like a knife edge, popping up just long enough to take a look and vanish again. My radar kept catching ghosts. I locked him twice. Both times he broke the lock with timing so precise it felt like he was reading my cockpit.>

<Dvorygin: I fired first. Long-range. He didn't flare. He didn't dive. He just slid sideways out of the missile's field of view, like he knew exactly when the seeker would go blind.>

<Dvorygin: That was when I understood this was not a NATO pilot. This was an ace.>

<Kaliga: What happened next?>

<Dvorygin: He went vertical. Straight up, engines screaming, bleeding energy like a madman. Every doctrine says never do that in front of a fifth-gen fighter. I followed. I thought he had made a mistake.>

<Dvorygin: He hadn't.>

<Dvorygin: At the apex, when both our aircraft were hanging on vapor, he rolled inverted and let gravity do the work. I was still trying to pull my nose up when he fell through my turn like a knife through silk. My warning systems went insane. I never saw the missile. I only saw the shadow of his jet pass over my canopy.>

<Dvorygin: If he had fired a half-second earlier, I would be dead. If he had fired a half-second later, I might have escaped. He chose the exact moment where there was no future left for me.>

<Kaliga: But you survived.>

<Dvorygin: Barely. My aircraft did not. The missile sheared off my left intake and half my control surfaces. Fire everywhere. I punched out over friendly lines and watched the wreckage fall like burning paper.>

<Dvorygin: As my parachute opened, I saw him circle once. Just once. Not to gloat. To make sure. Then he disappeared back into the clouds.>

<Dvorygin: That is what haunts me. Not that he beat me. But that to him, I was already finished before I even knew I was losing.>