Chapter 2: Lady Luck


After a short conversation with her new wingman, and checking some errors in the Dove's flight system with the Doctor, Elise rushed straight to her private room. Yet another benefit of working for the ERU. She all but tore open the large footlocker that sat in front of her bed, scrambling through it until she found her mother's old marine jacket. She practically wrapped herself in it as she sat on the bed, pulling her legs to her chest as the events of earlier played over and over again in her mind. Every single time she closed her eyes she saw that first bomber exploded all over again. Sure with some of the other planes she shot down, the pilots might've gotten out in time. But that first craft had been blown in two, there was no way anyone could've survived. What scared her most was how easy it had been, how quick and effortlessly she had shot not only them but every other plane down. She didn't even hesitate once it really started.

This was why she had accepted the ERU's offer when she finished flight school early. All she wanted was to fly, she didn't want to fight. Sure, to some degree she had expected needing to at one point or another when she applied to the air force. She had been willing then, or at least she thought she was, to put up with the idea as long as she could be in the sky. But once she joined the ERU all thoughts of combat were dashed from her mind. And now here she was, with bloodied wings.

You never said it was this hard mom. Elise thought bitterly as she pulled the jacket tighter around herself. A little bit of a warning would've been nice…

Whatever other thoughts she was about to have were interrupted by a knock at her door. Taking a moment to collect herself, Elise stood up and moved to the door. She stopped short of opening the door to realize her hand was shaking. With a deep breath she pushed her anxiety away, and turned the handle. Staring down at her from the doorway was the calm and friendly face of Dr. Tennent, relaxed as usual save a few new wrinkles on his brow.

"Hello Elise, mind if come in?" He asked kindly, keeping his hands behind his back.

"Of course, feel free." She nodded, stepping aside to let him through. As he passed by she noticed the large thermos in his hands. He pulled the chair out from her desk and slipped into it, unscrewing the cap of his thermos and pouring himself some of whatever was in it into the cap/cup.

"Quite the room, I dare say some of our own technicians would be jealous." The doctor spoke up.

"Well I am a squadron leader now." Elise scoffed with a light roll of her eyes.

"Yes quite." He nodded, taking a sip of his drink. "Not the way I saw today going if I'm being completely honest."

"I don't think many of us did." Elise sighed, plopping down on her bed. "So did you need something? Is there a problem with the Dove?"

"Of sorts, nothing so direct as needing you in the cockpit however." He shrugged

"So what's wrong?" She asked

"I believe you will have to tell me if were to make progress on fixing the problem." Dr. Tennent looked up at her before offering her the cup. "Tea?"

"Sure…" Elise trailed off, confused as she took a sip. It certainly did wonders to calm her nerves, though she still felt a gnawing sensation in the back of her mind. "What exactly do you mean?"

"Well I thought it quite obvious. The pilot is as integral a part as any other piece of the aircraft." He explained, taking the cup back and pouring some more tea into it. "When she isn't operating at her peak, it tends to affect the performance of the craft as well."

"She?" Elise raised an eyebrow.

"I wanted to check up on you, see how you were holding up after that…sortie." The doctor sighed, using the word like it was some kind of curse. "You never should've been up there, and seeing how you rushed back here so quickly I can venture a guess on how you're feeling."

"I'm fine." She insisted, but even she didn't believe it as the words came out of her mouth.

"You're far from it. You've just experienced combat for the first time." Tennent added, his voice remaining soft as he spoke. "And what's more, you've garnered an impressive flight record in a single engagement. Traditionally that would be cause for celebration, a job well done as it were."

"And yet were not throwing a party." Elise fired back.

"And yet were not throwing a party." The Doc repeated "I doubt anyone in the ERU saw you having to go up there as a joyous occasion."

"You can say that again." Elise sighed, her face falling into her hands. She didn't dare look up as she heard the doctor move, only glimpsing his legs through her fingers as he knelt in front of her.

"You can talk to me Elise." He said, gently putting a hand on her shoulder. "Though I may not be that kind of doctor, I can help. But only if you let me."

Taking a deep breath she lifted her face from her hands.

"Just another part to fix, right?" She asked slowly, desperately hoping to be able to put this behind her as easily as the metaphor made it sound.

"That's right. Just another part." Tennent smiled warmly as she let out another shaky breath.

"I…it was, a lot easier that I thought it should've been." Elise admitted after a moment. "And it's so much harder now that it's all over."

"It's easy to forget there are people piloting those planes in the heat of the moment." The doctor told her "All the more so when you know they're attacking those you know are people."

"But still, I didn't even hesitate once I started going." She went on "I just lined up the sights and fired. I didn't think, I just did. Like it was second nature to do so."

"Well with how many practice drones you've shot down I should think so." He said, earning a brief glare from her. "Sorry, that's not what I meant. You're a good pilot Elise, you become part of the aircraft itself when you're up there."

"Is this going somewhere?" She asked suddenly, feeling like a pep talk was not what she needed at the moment.

"Yes, if you'll let me get there." Tennent coughed "When you're that good, you don't think about what you're doing. You just know what to do and act before you can process. That you were able to respond to a crisis like that so quickly is both a blessing and a curse."

"I'd say it's more of a curse right now." Elise muttered.

"Dear girl I'd be more worried if what you did wasn't weighing on you so much." Tennent laughed freely "You're human after all, and quite young to be in a war at that. Had you not been affected by it I would've pulled you from the ERU."

"You're not going to are you?" She asked quickly, her eyes shooting wide open at the thought of her wings being taken away.

"Well given that reaction I can see you still want to fly." The Doctor smiled "Let me ask you something, what made you decide to attack rather than stay away and evade like I told you to?"

"I…I saw one of the bombers drop its payload downtown." She admitted "After that, everything kinda just became instinct."

"So you only acted when you saw that people were in danger?" He asked, getting a nod in response. "Well then, I'd say you're more than welcome to keep flying provided you keep that protective mentality should you see combat again."

"What do you mean?"

"Elise, you know what the 44 can do. You've been piloting it every step of the way since it could achieve takeoff. And you know the weaponry I'm developing for it." Tennent added, growing more serious than she'd ever seen him before. "You know full well what it could do in certain hands. And right now, in the midst of a war, I'm trusting you to make sure it is not abused. To make sure it is used to defend lives, rather than simply taking them."

"Is that what I did?" she wondered aloud.

"Tell me, what do you think would've happened had you not stopped those bombers, hmm?" he asked "What would've happened had you not intercepted some of those fighters?"

"People would've died, innocent people. People just defending their home." Elise breathed out

"Exactly. And however many people survived, did so thanks to you." The doctor went on "I'm not going to glorify what you did, but you made the best of a terrible situation."

"Does it ever get any easier, killing?" Elise asked, her voice quiet as the question slipped out.

"I most certainly hope not, though I'm afraid it just may." Tennent sighed, looking apologetic for the first time since Elise had met him.


The next morning Elise found herself face down in the Dove's cockpit, feeling a bit better after a good night's rest despite her uncomfortable position. A small electrical issue had caused the lights on her dashboard to go out. And between her familiarity with the entirety of the Dove and her smaller size she opted to fix the problem herself rather than have one of the technicians pull the whole cockpit apart to get at it. That was the last thing she wanted, not only would it be a waste of time, but she'd have to reset her adjustments once it was all put back together. That working on the Dove helped get her mind off the previous day only added to her reasoning.

Like her, her new wingman Marcus "Shamrock" Lampert was working on his own plane at the other end of the hanger. He mentioned something about a small delay on missiles being deployed and went to take a look. She simply nodded before joining Tennent and the rest of the ERU teams working with the Dove. Although the more she thought about it, the more she realized she should probably be trying to get to know her wingman a little. Her gut was telling her the battle over Gracemeria wasn't going to be her last sortie. And as much as she wished that weren't true, if it was then having a wingman she could trust would be important. Especially if she froze up in the air like she had once the adrenaline had worn off yesterday. Shaking the thoughts away for a moment Elise spotted the loose cable causing the problems and inserted it back into its slot. Lights reflected off the open canopy she was using as a makeshift mirror and a satisfied smile popped onto her face as she double checked the wiring for any other problems.

"Damn Danny, looks like I owe you fifty bucks." A slightly familiar voice called outside. "I thought you were kidding."

"Nah Marcus here is obsessive about his bird, I've known him for ages and that hasn't changed in all this time." Another voice answered, making Elise wonder where on earth she had heard them before. They sounded eerily familiar, but for the life of her she couldn't place them.

"Just goes to show why I always perform better than you in the air Dan." Her wingman shot back suddenly, clearly recognizing the two himself. The friendly banter between them all making something click in her mind. Were these some of the other pilots?

Hearing them continue talking outside, and sure that there wasn't anything else wrong with her cockpit, Elise pushed herself up and took a good look at the three men standing at the edge of the hanger doors,. Her wingman was one of them, laughing cheerfully as a man with short and messy blonde hair passed a wad of cash to the third one, a man Marcus's height with an absolute mess of shoulder length black hair. Like her and her wingman, the other two were in flight suits. Switching 'attention' back to her cockpit, Elise tested a few of the basic systems while watching the men out of the corner of her eye.

"You know that's a low blow pal." The one with black hair said, smacking Marcus on the arm "We both know I let my squadron share in the glory."

"So does mine, maybe yours just need to go back to school." Marcus joked. "Maybe I'll give em a couple lessons."

"While I'm sure you've a wealth of experience old man, I don't think they could learn much from you. Her on the other hand…" He trailed off, nodding over towards Elise while she bent over the cockpit. She lifted her head as the group's attention was clearly being shifted onto her.

"So this must be the infamous Talisman." The blonde stated, a small smirk forming on his face. "I don't think we've met."

"I don't think any military outside the ERU had met her before yesterday." Marcus added, she couldn't quite tell if he was defending her in some way, or just stating a fact. Given the look on his face she settled on the former, which did a bit to warm her up to her new wingman.

"That's because they haven't." She spoke up, sliding out of the cockpit and down the ladder. She did her best to ignore the brief looks of surprise that flashed on the two men's faces as she walked up to them. "Before yesterday I didn't fly combat ops."

"Well the ERU wouldn't need to fly into combat normally would they?" The blonde shrugged, kind enough to ignore her obvious age. The man next to him didn't gather himself so quickly, still in slight shock.

"No they wouldn't, but I guess yesterday was a special case." Elise sighed, focusing her eyes on the blonde and her wingman.

"Well in that case introductions are in order. Guys meet Captain Elise Sterling, Garuda 1 Talisman." Marcus smiled before gesturing to the blonde. "This here is Lieutenant Freddie Durand, newly appointed leader of the 2nd Strike Fighter Squadron."

"And what a promotion it was." Freddie rolled his eyes, before giving Elise a sad smile. "You probably know me better as Avalanche."

"I thought you sounded familiar." Elise nodded, putting a face to the name she'd heard yesterday. Until now all she had in mind had been the F/A-18 Hornet he flew.

"And the one who just managed to close his jaw is Captain Dan Pollini. Windhover." Marcus went on, elbowing his friend in the side. He at least had the good grace to look embarrassed.

"Y-yeah sorry." He smiled awkwardly, scratching the back of his head. "My bad. Not gonna lie though, if I hadn't heard your voice yesterday I might not have believed you were actually Talisman."

"It's fine." Elise shrugged, it really wasn't but she wasn't about to say that. Instead she stayed quiet, letting the group fall into an awkward silence. She was getting the feeling she'd get used to that disbelief before the war was over.

"Those were some pretty crazy moves you pulled yesterday." Freddie spoke up, filling the silence. "Where'd you learn to fly like that?"

"Couldn't say, I've always had a knack for it." Elise admitted, she'd shot through flight school fast enough to break records but she had no idea where she got her talent for it all. "To be fair, I've gotten better after working with the ERU for a few years."

"I bet." Fred nodded "Simulated combat for us is still just virtual. But you have to test weapons right?"

"Yeah, you can't do that in the battle simulator." Marcus added

"And with the weapon systems the ERU cooks up I'm in the air pretty often." Elise smiled, pointing over her shoulder at the team working almost nonstop on the Dove. "Though lately they've been focused on—"

"Captain, may we borrow you for a moment!" Tennent shouted, not even looking up from the console he was at. "We're ready to test the vectoring nozzles' new parameters!"

"Duty calls." Elise shook her head with a smile.

"That bird's got thrust vectoring?" Dan asked, another look of surprise coming onto his face.

"Yup." Elise smirked proudly "Jealous?"

"A little." He nodded, eyeing the aircraft up and down as she made her way over.

"Hey, one sec." Freddie stopped her "The three of us were heading out for drinks after patrol tonight. You're free to join us if you want."

"Maybe." Elise bit her lip as she wrestled with the thought. "I'll consider it if were not bogged down here."

"No pressure, we'd just love to get to know our latest comrade." Freddie smiled "Right Dan?"

"Y-yeah." He said, still eyeing the Dove. "And maybe that bird's flight speed."

"Hey, my eyes are down here you know." Elise laughed as she climbed back into the cockpit, ready for another long session of simply moving the flight stick around. She didn't miss the way Freddie guffawed as she did and decided that he, like Marcus, wasn't half bad.


Freddie whistled as the three of them stepped out of the hanger after Marcus's insistence. In the short few hours he'd been with the ERU he had come to realize they liked their space, and sometimes they needed it even more than they let on. The thankful looks he got when the technicians saw his plane pushed up against the far wall had been the first clue.

"Damn, there goes my ego." Fred joked "And here I thought I was the youngest squadron leader out there."

"Tell me about, I'm almost old enough to be her father." Marcus laughed, patting the younger man on the back. He had almost fifteen years on his fellow lieutenant, and was still following someone else's lead. Though he kind of preferred it that way. "She's more than earned it though. You saw her flying yesterday."

"How could I miss her?" He laughed "I could barely go a few seconds without seeing her streak by and blow someone out of the sky. What was it like following her?"

"I could barely keep up." Marcus admitted "And it wasn't because of that plane."

"No way." Dan agreed "I don't care how advanced that bird is, she pulled off a cobra. I heard rumors about people using that maneuver in combat but I thought it was just that until now."

"Still can't wrap my head around that." Fred added "I get its risky but I didn't think it could be done so quickly."

"Tell me about. Even if the rest of that squadron hadn't been engaged with the lot of us she regained speed fast enough for it to not make a difference." Marcus nodded

"Okay can we talk about those guys?" Fred asked, suddenly growing serious. "Cause that was absolutely insane, who the hell were they?"

"No idea, I've never seen fighter's that coordinated." Dan shook his head "It was like they were trying to drive us into one of their buddies. I couldn't even get a good look at them."

"I did." Marcus weighed in "Su-33's, black and red markings, with a reaper's emblem on the tail."

"I'll do some digging, see what I can find out." Dan told them "I've still got a few friends in Intelligence, and right now we need every edge we can get."

"Yeah, we can't all have Lady Luck back there on our side." Freddie laughed, nudging Marcus in the ribs.

"Who knows, maybe they'll decide you're unfit to lead and transfer you to our squadron." Marcus fired back.

"Man, if only, I aint that lucky." Fred said wistfully "Alright, I gotta get the squadron ready for patrol. Catch you tonight."


"Everything's green on my end doc." Elise called from the cockpit, tired from hours of pushing the stick back and forth while the engines' vectoring nozzles were adjusted. All she wanted right now was to lay down, comfortable as her flight seat was. Not bothering with the ladder Elise slip off the Dove and landed on the floor, taking a moment to stretch before turning to the Doctor.

"Excellent, that should improve maneuverability by five percent." Tennent nodded to the numbers on his screen.

Had she not known how much of a difference that could really make, Elise might have made a comment about all that time being for such a small amount. But after years with the ERU she had come to appreciate just how significant the numbers behind everything meant. Five percent here meant tighter turning, faster response, and potentially the life of a pilot being saved.

"Sorry I had to take you away in the middle of your conversation earlier." The Doctor offered "Though I'm glad to see you're making friends."

"Well it can't hurt to know some of the other pilots out there." Elise shrugged, trying not to blush as the comment made her feel like she was back in high school.

"No it cannot, despite your skill they do have experience they could lend you should you need it." He added with a thoughtful look and Elise knew he was referring to the conversation they had the other night.

"I think I'm all set for the time being." Elise told him firmly, in truth she was feeling better. Still a little shocked by what she'd done, but she felt that was understandable given she had never expected to be in combat with the ERU. The Doc's rationalization and justification of it all helped a bit too, even if it still felt hard to justify killing.

"Well either way there aren't any other adjustments we need to make to the 44, I dare say you have the rest of the day off." Tennent smiled.

Elise nodded as she pressed down on her back, something about sitting in the cockpit before takeoff tensed her up. And just sitting in it running tests gave her the same feeling, only with tests it lasted hours. She honestly wished they could adjust everything while she was in the air to spare her the stiffness she felt afterwards.

Deciding to take a walk around the hanger while the team swapped to working on some of the new weapon systems, Elise found herself heading in the direction of her wingman's aircraft. Marcus seemed like he was part way through re-attaching something underneath when she stopped by, leaning on the craft while she waited for him to finish up. Hardly a second later he rolled out from underneath, sitting up off the wheeled board he was using.

"Still trying to fix that launch delay?" She asked him, intentionally giving him a bit of a start.

"Just finished up actually." He told her after recovering from a small jump that nearly sent the roller out from under him. "What about you captain, done with the Dove?"

"Yeah, she's all calibrated now." Elise smiled, looking back over at her fighter. "And please, drop the captain bit. Not really me and I figure it's a little weird for you too."

"Just a little." Marcus shrugged as he stood up "No offense."

"None taken." She waved him off "I joined to fly, I couldn't care less about rank and what not."

"Yeah I got the feeling." He added with a small smile "Kids don't tend to care for stuff like that. Authority and such."

"Hey now." Elise warned playfully before laughing alongside him. "You talking from experience."

"Yeah, my daughter's about your age. Well fifteen but to me that's lose enough." Marcus admitted with a look of longing in his eyes.

"I'm sure she's a handful." She snickered "God knows I gave my dad hell growing up."

"You have no…actually yeah you probably do." Marcus laughed "She's always got me worried about something or another. Especially now."

Elise would've had to be blind not to see how rapidly his mood shifted at the end there. It was obvious from the way his entire body shifted, almost drawing into itself, along with his tone.

"She's was in the capitol wasn't she?" Elise realized, her own voice dropping.

"Yeah, her and my wife." Marcus added as he sat down with his back against the wall and his eyes shot off to the east, towards Gracemeria.

"I know the feeling." Elise told him, sliding down next to him. "My dad was too. But I imagine the refugee camps are chaos right now. Maybe they just can't contact anyone."

"Yeah maybe." He said hopefully "Just your dad? What about your mother?"

"My mother…my mother was a marine." Elise sighed lightly "She died in Estovakia."

"The Vistoc Incident?" Marcus asked, eyes widening as he slowly started putting the pieces together."

"Yeah, just trying the help people rebuild after the civil war." Elise said bitterly "She'd probably do it all again though. That's the kind of person she was."

"I'm sorry I shouldn't have asked—" Marcus began

"Its fine," She insisted with a sad smile on her face. "You didn't know, besides…it was a while ago."

"Still…" He trailed off, silence filling their corner of the hanger as Marcus stumbled to try and say anything.

"So tell me about your family." Elise suggested, trying to fill the silence "What are they like?"

With a genuine smile on his face, her wingman reached into his flight suit and pulled out a small photo. On it was him in regular clothes, but with slightly longer brown hair. Still swept back but in good need of a trim. Next to him was a lightly tanned woman with bright red hair, tied and hanging over her shoulder. Between the two was a young girl, probably fifteen like Marcus had said, with auburn hair and a face full of freckles. It looked like the three of them were grouped up at a beach all wearing bright smiles.

"Well there's my wife Monica, she's a chef at restaurant down on 35th street. Fantastic cook, taught herself." Marcus explained "And my daughter Jessica, she's looking forward to driving next year. She's a spitfire let me tell you, gets it all from her mother."

"I'm sure." Elise laughed

"You have no idea." He laughed "One time when I got back from a deployment they—"

"Attention all forces! Enemy bombers incoming, they're heading for the city." A voice crackled over the base's speaker system "All ground units assume defensive positions! Garuda Team scramble!"

"So much for that story." Elise muttered as Marcus stood up, offering her a hand.

"We'll save it for another time." he nodded as he pulled her up.

"Right, you go ahead and take off first." She ordered as she started making her way to the Dove. "It's going to take us a few minutes to get all these cables unhooked, by the time you're in the air I'll be on the runway."

"Got it, I'll see you up there Talisman." Shamrock nodded as he clambered up to his cockpit and slid on his helmet.

Giving him a quick nod before climbing up in the Dove, Elise slipped her own helmet on and nodded to Dr. Tennent who gave the order to start detaching all the lines from the aircraft. Right about now she was wishing he used wireless transmissions to transfer data back on forth, but he had insisted hardwire cables were faster. Plus he was kind of old school.

"Should be just a few minutes Elise. In the meantime I can brief you on your latest weapon." The doc spoke into her com.

"Latest weapon?" She asked in surprise "Doc is this really the time?"

"No time like the present they always say." He spouted with more zeal than she felt appropriate. "I'm not sure when else were going to get a chance to test weapons, and you just may need every trick we can give you."

"And if they don't work?" She asked, looking out the cockpit at him with a glare.

"They will." He insisted "But in the unlikely event you still have all your regular munitions. The EMLs will be stored in your top weapon bays. They sort of have to be."

"Fine whatever, what exactly are these EMLs?" She asked with a roll of her eyes, it would still be a minute or so before the cables were detached and she welcomed the distraction.

"Electromagnetic Launchers, my own design, they're miniaturized rail guns." Tennent explained proudly, hell if she didn't know better she'd almost call him smug. "They don't have the same payload as most other prototypes but they should still pack quite the punch. We've already updated your software to give you a reticle for them on your HUD."

"They need an aiming reticle?" Elise raised an eyebrow as she saw a small circle pop up when she swapped over to the EML on her controls.

"Yes well, the downside to a railgun is that it fires much like a normal…gun." He went on, excitement still evident in his voice. He really was like a kid sometimes, taking too much joy in testing his toys. "Just imagine it's your machine gun only with more range and destructive force. Oh! And less air time, these suckers really send em flying."

"Right…well it can't hurt to try them I guess." Elise sighed as the final cable came out and she taxied to the runway, swapping to standard coms. "This is Garuda 1 Talisman, ready for takeoff."

"Garuda 1 you're clear." Ghost Eye replied quickly "Those bombers just passed through the mountains. They're heading right for the city of Vitoze, this territory is all we've got left and there are still civilians trying to evacuate from the city. We've got to intercept those planes."

"Roger that, consider it done." Elise responded, taking a deep breath to calm herself as she pulled the Dove into the sky.

"Talisman good to see you up here." Freddie (Avalanche she reminded herself) called out cheerfully. "We've got a mess of enemy fighters up here along with the bombers. And I for one don't want to steal all the glory."

"This is Windhover, you keep shooting your mouth off like that and it's gonna fly right off your face Avalanche." Captain Pollini chuckled

"All fighters focus on the bombers, we can save the escorts until they're dealt with." Ghost Eye ordered "Our priority is protecting the city of Vitoze."

"Negative Ghost Eye," Elise argued "We go for the bombers first and those escorts will pick us off one by one. Avalanche, Windhover, can your squadrons cover me and Shamrock while we deal with the bombers?"

"Is 'Lady Luck' Talisman asking us for help?" Avalanche asked in fake surprise.

"I'm asking you to save me the trouble." She fired back playfully "Unless of course you want us to take all the glory for ourselves?"

"This is Avalanche, moving to support Garuda Team." He laughed openly into coms as Elise watched his squadron bank and follow above while Shamrock pulled in behind her.

"This is Windhover, Avalanche ought to be enough." He called out "We got a lot of scattered bogies up here though, my squadron will run interference before they can get in your way."

"Roger that, watch yourselves." Elise confirmed.

To a degree it still scared her how quickly she was able to swap into combat mode, and part of her had a feeling she'd been in much the same state after this mission as she was her first. But for the moment she pushed those thoughts aside, once again there were bombers on their way to hurt people. It might not have been Gracemeria, but Vitoze was full of civilians all the same. And there was also the risk her fellow pilots could be hurt if she wasn't around to take even a small amount of pressure off. If for nothing else, those two reasons were enough to get her moving. She hit the afterburner, accelerating rapidly as her eyes scanned the various targets marked by all the radar facilities on the ground.

It didn't take her all that long to find the first bomber. A single lone craft, probably got over eager and rushed ahead of its formation. And it was passing right in front of her, crossing from her right to left. Elise wasn't in the best position for a missile, she was too close, if she fired now it would go wide thanks to the bomber's flight path. Sighing and shaking her head, Elise thumbed the switch on her dashboard and activate the EMLs. IF they worked like Tennent had said, then a slight turn would put the bomber smack dab in the middle of her line of fire. But there was one thing she had learned above most else since working with the ERU; if was a hell of word to gamble on.

"This is Talisman." She said through gritted teeth as she banked left. "Firing EML."

"Firing what?" Shamrock asked just before Elise pulled the trigger.

With an almost deafening crack the railgun fired, Elise swore she could see the air ripple as the charged round burst into the bomber. It impacted on the wing, practically disintegrating a good portion of it before piercing through and tearing into the body of the bomber. The craft listed, almost like it flinched from the hit before the wing tore off and the entire bomber split in half, falling to earth. Elise watched for a moment in stunned silence before shaking out of her daze and pulling the Dove back on course.

"Whew…" Avalanche whistled as Elise watched the bomber split into more pieces while it fell. "Remind me to screw with the ERU."

"Hey Doc…" Elise flipped her coms to the private line. "You're insane. Brilliant, but insane."

"It worked didn't it?" He asked happily, taking her following silence as an answer "Hah! Excellent! And my colleagues said it couldn't be done!"

Elise sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. As she turned back north she caught sight of a group of bombers. Diving briefly she pulled up in a tight U, rolling back to normal after coming out behind the bombers. She quickly ordered Shamrock to take the half on the left while she acquired lock on her two. Letting her missiles loose she turned to the lead plane, wincing as she swapped to the EML and fired. This time the round caught the aircraft on the back of the body near the tail, severing it. Missing its entire tail the bomber started tilting downwards. Elise let out a relieved breath when she saw a pair of parachutes pop before it could go completely nose down.

Righting the Dove and looking around for more bombers Elise noticed her hands were shaking once more. She grit her teeth and fought back against her anxiety again. She was far from ashamed of it, in fact the logical part of her brain knew it was justified. But it was the last thing she needed right now. Flying compromised like that would get her killed, and other people could be hurt if she went down.

"You alright Talisman?" Shamrock called out "You seem tense?"

"Still getting used to all this." She told him curtly

"Take a deep breath." Her wingman told her "You're doing fine."

"Try tuning into civilian radio." Avalanche suggested "A bunch of us listen to music up here. Makes things a bit less tense."

With a brief nod she knew no one could see, she started playing with the receiver in her cockpit. Adding another channel was easy, but finding a station seemed impossible.

"You sure about that?" She asked as she went through station after station only to be met with silence.

"Yeah a lot of em have gone offline since the war started." Avalanche sighed "Keep tuning, should find one of the one up eventually."

"Yeah…" Elise shrugged, keeping her eyes on the sky while her free hand tuned through the static. She eventually found a station, and was surprised when she checked the number. "Huh, Emmeria Public Radio is still broadcasting."

"EPR? No way, that was the first station the Stovies took off the air when they invaded." Shamrock said in shock.

"No she's right its up." Avalanched confirmed "Dead quiet but running anyw—"

Anything else he would've said was cut off as the radio flared to life. A heavily accented voice ringing out clearly as the station began broadcasting audio again.

"Emmerian continental forces have succumbed to the might of our army and wisely admitted defeat." An Estovakian voice echoed throughout Elise's cockpit.

"What the hell?!" Windhover roared into the coms, breaking his short silence.

"It's the Stovie's propaganda broadcast." A woman's voice explained in clearly restrained anger.

"Bastards are using our own radio station." Avalanche growled.

Elise found herself found herself almost at a loss for words, it had barely been a day and already the Estovakians had enough of a grasp to use Gracemeria's radio station. Hell any public place was probably packed full of people looking for shelter after losing their homes. Or did the Estovakians just not care enough about the civilians the bombed to help them instead? The explosions in the air around her and the ruins on the ground told Elise all she felt she needed to know.

Her eyes narrowed on the latest formation of bombers beneath her. She pulled her plane to the left and rolled over, pitching her nose down until she came back out ready to cut across the bombers. Elise loosed two of her four remaining missiles and unloaded her machine gun into the rest of the formation, streaking passed them in an instant and hearing their planes exploded behind her.

"Our merciful government in their benevolence has taken it upon themselves to restore order to your former capital Gracemeria." The broadcast went on "But some would continue this pointless conflict to fulfill their warmongering desires."

"Damnit, what a bunch of lies!" Shamrock finally yelled, pushed passed his limit.

"Focus Garuda 2." Elise chided, even if she was feeling the same way. "One more bomber formation ahead. Looks like the last one."

"I see em." He confirmed, banking with her to come up behind them.

Elise silently fumed, thumbing the trigger the instant one of the bombers was locked on. She watched the missile streak out, exploding as it came in contact with the aircraft she was aiming for before she turned her attention to the next one down the line.

"Shit, I've been strafed!" the female pilot's voice cried out.

"Laner! You okay?" Windhover called out.

"I'll be fine, Garuda you've got incoming!" 'Laner' warned

"What the—?!" Elise exclaimed as a fast moving bogey closed in on radar. "Garuda 2, bank!"

She watched as Shamrock followed her order without question, banking his craft to the right as tracer fire burst into the space he was not a second ago. Gold flashed in her vision as the fighter responsible shot by.

"Damnit, breaking off the formation." Shamrock winced as he started pulling away.

"Negative stick with them, their almost over the city!" Elise ordered "Avalanche, leave your squadron with him and back me up."

"Talisman?" Shamrock asked, confused but following her orders.

"I'll take care of that fighter before he has a chance to come back around. You're still in position to finish them, I'm counting on you Shamrock." Elise explained, already gunning the throttle as she kept her eyes on the streak of gold far ahead of her.

"Roger that, Blizzard you have command." Avalanche said to his own squadron before falling in behind her quickly.

Almost everything else became a blur as the Dove accelerated, screaming as it tore through the sky. She was on the tail of her target within seconds. A brightly gold painted F-16 with a large black bird painted on the tail.

Elise had a lock for all of a second before the fighter banked right, trying to evade. It was far from enough, as she turned with him, glued to his tail as she attempted to shake her. She followed as close as she dared, waiting for the perfect shot. The Dove only had a single missile left after all the bombers she had dropped, and she had no intention of wasting it. Blood roared in her ears as she turned back and forth, keeping pace with the golden aircraft in front of her as it barely stayed off of a firing angle. She briefly recognized Avalanche's voice crackle into her ear as a missile lock was gained on her only to disappear a second later. She tuned it out and focused solely on the F-16, whatever else was out there he seemed to have it handled. For a second it passed in front of her firing reticle, and Elise loosed a burst of MG fire that passed over the craft and scratched its hull.

It might not have done anything to the plane but it was enough to spook the pilot, and he turned sharply cutting his speed with the craft's airbrake as he banked and tried to pull a U turn. Rather than stick with him Elise nosed up, hitting her own airbrake and rudder at the same time as she went completely vertical. Her plane slowed down rapidly and kicked over like it was turning on the tips of its wing. The moment her nose was facing the ground again she hit the afterburners, shooting down and towards her target as it completed its turn. She came in right behind the F-16 and fired the second she had missile lock. Her last Sidewinder shot out, smoke trailing behind it as it screeched through the air. And her target popped flares.

"Damnit!" Elise shouted as the missile detonated on the countermeasure, confusing the flare's heat for the engine of an aircraft.

She thumbed her flight stick, switching to her secondary weapon bays, forgetting for a moment she didn't have missiles in the upper bays. When an aiming reticle larger than her usual gun one popped up an almost feral grin spread across her face. Gotcha.

"Counter this!" She yelled as she pulled the trigger and the crack of the EML filled the air. The magnetically fired projectile ripped into the sky, piercing the engine of the golden jet and exploding out the front. Where before all the hits had been glancing or intersecting blows, this one round tore through the entire craft. Elise rolled the Dove up and over the fighter as it shattered, bursting from within. The entire aircraft turning to dust and smoke as it blew, nothing but bits and pieces falling to the ground.

"Enemy formation down!" Ghost Eye cheered

"You expected anything less?" Windhover asked, voice slowly losing the edge it had now that any hostiles were gone.

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried" Ghost Eye admitted "But I have to say you handled things well."

"It's all thanks to that great air cover." Elise said as she steadied the Dove, adrenaline leaving her body as control confirmed it was all over.

"You know heapin' all that praise on us has got me a little too red in the face to go back home." Avalanche laughed, pulling up next to her and giving her a quick wave.

"Roger that Avalanche," Ghost Eye started with barely contained mirth. "I'll just report you as gunned down and missing in action."

"Hah hah, that's pretty harsh Ghost eye." Shamrock chuckled.

A small smile wormed its way to Elise's face as she turned back to the airfield, her heart rate lowering as she guided the plane back gently despite the shaking that was quickly returning to her hands. She took a deep breath, then another one as she briefly looked back to the smoking ruins of the bombers on the ground.

"You know what, boys." She started "I think I'll join you for that drink after all."


A/N

Alright chapter 2, it longer on this one. Not quite sure how that happened but eh. Frankly Im surprised I got this much out for what is probably the most boring mission in the game. Taking out the bombers in Vitoze is always easy even on Ace difficulty. Hence my addition to the story both before and in combat. People who played on hard or higher might recognize the enemy ace that shows up here. Things like that are ideas I'll be toying around with to keep things interesting. Basically the hostile aces from the game will pretty much be showing up in any mission without Strigon team, and maybe some with them. It would be pretty boring if things were simple after all.

One thing I certainly have to mention is the first section of this chapter. I in no way claim to be an expert on what it is like to be a soldier and have to kill people. I have no idea what it is like and the kind of toll it must take on the person doing it. Elise's reaction after everything calms down is what I gather it would be like for a lot of civilians who are put in similar circumstances. For a scene like that I am constantly going back and re-working it, so if you're reading this chapter and have anything to add that might help make it seem more realistic or natural please let me know. Even if its just something like experience or knowledge you've gained through people you know or research you've done and don't mind sharing. My time is a bit limited so I unfortunately wasn't able to dig too deep into the psychological effects of taking a life on someone who isn't trained for it.

In the meantime; comment, critique, tear my work apart and point out all the glaring flaws if you feel like it. Just try to be constructive, I can't fix anything if all you do is slam it. I'l see you next time!