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Susan sat there with the squadron yearbook sitting in her lap. As the squadron leader she was supposed to be responsible for the people under her command. She shook her head. That sort of thinking did nobody any good whatsoever. Her pilots needed her, now more than ever.

She looked around at the remaining pilots. Simon and Lewis sat in a corner playing chess. Those two were so close they could have been brothers. She didn't know them well but she knew that Simon was the joker of the group, always smiling. The absence of that smile depressed her. Lewis on the other hand was a dreamer, who frequently got roped into whatever plans Simon came up with.

Now they were almost half of the squadron's strength. Charles was in the air, flying a defensive CAP and Lionel was working on his plane. It had been less than a few hours since they had repulsed the Versuans attack and everyone was on the edge. A second attack on the base seemed to inevitable and everyone who could fly was just waiting, waiting for the signal to get airborne.

The first attack came at midnight. Susan saw the glow of a jet engine as she was flying at the edge of her CAP. Flying closer she saw that it was a squadron of Aeritalia G91 Gina's. There was only one force in the region that would use G91's. Locking her missiles on their tailpipes, a slight whoosh sound came from her wings as two R-60 missiles left her wings.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl until the two missiles hit the enemy planes, lighting up the sky with their flames. Suddenly time sped up again as the Versuans panicked. Two of the planes flew into each other as they desperately attempted to turn their planes to face their enemy. One flew into the ground, causing no damage but lighting up the scene. Then came reinforcements in the shape of her squadron.

"This is Knight. Engaging."

"This is Rook. Engaging."

"This is Pulse. Engaging"

"This is Judgement. Engaging."

The Versuans didn't know where to turn to. Despite having numerical superiority, they were torn to shreds. Knight (Simon) launched his R-60 missiles into the front two fighters, right into their air intakes. Rook (Lewis) on the other hand used his cannon to chew apart the two G91's who obligingly flew into his sights.

Pulse and Judgement on the other hand threw themselves after the fleeing fighters.

Charles fighter caught the first enemy plane with an R-60 missile, meanwhile Judgement used his sidewinders to deadly effect as he caught the second Gina diving. Smiling to himself as he watched the plane dive he fired his sidewinder. This guy was the only one he had seen do anything approaching professional. Pulling his nose up, he saw the last Gina float into his sights. As he fired his cannon however he was not alone. A Mig 21 with a lightning streak on its side had also had the same idea. The Gina exploded as the two planes fired.

"Sorry about that Judgement. Still half a kill is better than none I suppose."

"No worries Lightning. Hey is it me or are we all still here? We've just taken out an entire squadron and we don't have so much as a scratch."

"This is Rook. Didn't you hear what Susan said when this all kicked off? We're the best." To which they all cheered.

Unfortunately this raid was the first of many. Time and again the Versuans threw themselves at them. The rest of the week passed in a blur of tiredness as time and time again. Lionel's plane crashed on landing, but he escaped unharmed and instead used one of the spare Mig 21's lying around. At the beginning of the second week however Susan decided that a change of tactics was needed as the promised reinforcements had yet to arrive.

"Right this is what's going to happen. We know that these attacks are trying to wear us down. Sooner or later we'll start losing pilots to them as we start making errors from tiredness. We've been able to extrapolate where their coming from and so I have decided to take out their bases one at a time. Now be careful during these attacks, I don't want to lose any more pilots to them." Susan said to the still far too empty briefing room.

Ho Chang airfield, thirty minutes later.

General Ali looked at his pilots. They stood in front of him with gaps in their ranks. Destroying the enemy pilots who held him up had become an obsession with him. He had shot one of his officers earlier that day for suggesting that he focus his planes on his enemies. Despite the fact that he knew that his original goals were unobtainable, the attacks pointless, he continued to attack.

"Pilots" he began in an angry tone. "You have betrayed the trust placed in you as the strength of my arm, the trust of your forefathers and the.." at this point cannon fire tore into their assembled ranks. Looking up he saw the five planes attacking the airfield. At this point he decided to follow the example of his men and flee.

Susan looked at the airfield in front of her. Enemy planes were almost obligingly lined up together. Then she saw the pilots all lined on parade and brought her cannon to bear. She didn't need to tell her pilots what to do, they already knew, of that she was sure. Bringing her thumb over the cannon-firing button, she pressed down. Behind her so did everyone else.

The surviving pilots had either fled or desperately tried to get in the air. Those that attempted to get airborne however failed as they were destroyed before they even got airborne, bombs hitting planes and runways alike.

As the planes departed, General Ali growled with frustration. His airforce was no more. Now he would use his one last trump card against them. He didn't care about the fact that the Yukes would destroy him, well beyond anything they would have done before. In his mind only one thing mattered any more. The destruction of his vile enemy, no matter what.