'Sky Keeper, Panther Squad, on approach from bearing 170. 50 kilometres to target.'

'Copy, Panther. Mage 2 should breach the radar net shortly.'

June 6, 2019, 1600 Hours

Operation Lighthouse Keeper

'As proved by the failure of our previous strategy, the Arsenal Birds have bolstered the enemy's anti-air network. This'll be difficult to overcome. However, we still need to get swiftly to the space elevator, no matter what it takes. Someone there is counting on us. The hero of the Circum-Pacific War and the man who spearheaded the construction of the space elevator. Osea's former president, Mr. Harling. Mr. Harling was inspecting the elevator when the war broke out. He's been classified as missing since the elevator was taken over by the Erusean forces. However, according to the latest intel, a military officer accompanying Mr. Harling hid him inside the facility. Both are waiting for a chance to escape. Enemy anti-air radar network has been set up around the space elevator. It's likely a large squadron would be detected. We will send a single aircraft through the network, and send in a rescue team soon after. A number of anti-air radars have been set up around the space elevator.l However, our reconnaissance suggests their network is weakest along the southeastern coast of Selatapura. So, we can elude the enemy's observation. There are a lot of rain clouds this time of year. Flying through the clouds will enable us to stay hidden from their radar. Once Trigger busts through the network and eliminates the anti-air network, secure the rescue craft's landing zone and escort Mr. Harling's craft after rendezvous. Good luck out there, everyone.'

'Risky plan coming straight through the gauntlet.' Bullet noted, referring to the plan to send one pilot through an entire radar network. While the Panthers themselves were in the radius to be detected by radar, they ran their F-35s in a clean configuration, taking advantage of the aircraft's stealth capability to remain unnoticed.

'And a bold one at that. This Trigger guy must be good.' Haunter, leading the Navy spearhead, replied. 'We've got support from one of Blaze's wingmen. We should be fine.'

'Speaking of Blaze,' Talon started talking. 'He's alive out there. He saved Harling twice. Why isn't he joining the operation?'

'A damaged plane, in the middle of Erusean-controlled waters and airspace, with no support and too far a distance for an Su-33. You tell me, Commander.' Bullet's sarcastic tone came through.

'Fair enough.'

'All elements, Mage 2 has eliminated the anti-air network around the space elevator. You are clear to approach.' Sky Keeper announced the moment that Trigger destroyed the last SAM battery. Panther Squad heard the instruction and pushed their engines harder to close the distance between them and the other squads. A long distance behind them, a CV-22 Osprey followed into the AO. Metal Squad, a backup should Sea Goblin need reinforcements. Their radars went active and started transferring tracking data to all friendly forces.

'Minimal amount of aerial activity. Should be clear skies in and out.' Haunter checked her radar display. Indeed there were only a couple of MiG-29s on CAP in the region. The blips related to the two aircraft disappeared, one and then the second. Someone else had blown them out of the air. The upper tether of the space elevator came into view just over the horizon. As Panther got closer, the rest of the gigantic structure popped up. Even from a distance they could see other Osean aircraft orbiting around the area.

'Panther is entering AO from the south. Metal should be engagement range in five mikes.' The three F-35s made heading for Selatapura airport, the most likely avenue of aerial reinforcement. Two F-15Es joined them for the approach. Aggressor paint schemes. Their tail markings indicated them as the Air Force Wolf Squadron, while the canopy paints indicated that the pilots were Huntsman and Taipan respectively. In a five-ship formation they zipped over the airfield at supersonic speeds. No military activities. Some civilian airliners were lining up for takeoff.

'No apparent activity over the airfield. Diverting to barrier position.' One of the F-15 pilots transmitted. His voice sounded cool. Kind of like a surfer.

Closer to the space elevator, Grimm and his wingman Mythic were circling when sensors pointed out something from the city bay. 'UAVs coming from the port. MQ-99s. Titan, engaging.' Grimm and Mythic peeled off from the barrier around the elevator to go intercept the approaching drones. There were four of them. Equipped with AMRAAMs, Grimm fired a pair off to hit them, Mythic doing the same. Three fireballs appeared in the sky, the fourth drone peeling off and launching a missile of its own at the pair. To evade, Grimm and Mythic approached close to each other to appear as a single radar signature. When the missile got closer, they split off to spoof the missile. Confused with the appearance of a new contact, it zipped between the two Titan pilots and self-destructed harmlessly. The pair engaged the drone in a 2-on-1 dogfight. Against both aces, the MQ-99 stood no chance as it was nailed by a Sidewinder from Grimm after it rolled to avoid one fired by Mythic. The four destroyed drones were replaced by another wave of six more.

'These things are like hydras.' Mythic commented. For every one they destroyed, there was invariably a backup to clap unsuspecting pilots. The AMRAAM wave was more successful this time, with all six going down after being hit in the nose by them. Only two took their place.

'Can someone hit the containers in the port? They're just keep coming.' Grimm requested to an available squadron while hitting his MQ-99 with yet another AMRAAM. Mythic missed her shot and decided to spray the second drone out of the skies with 20mm HE-I shells, a stream of red tracers smashing their way into the airframe of the fighter.

'Panther Squad, engaging.'

Haunter, Bullet and Talon appeared from rainclouds to the north to drop in on air defences and drone control centres in the city proper. ZSU-23-4 batteries started firing into their skies in their general direction, tracers lighting up the skies. The F-35s painted the targets with onboard laser designator pods for the escorting F-15E attackers to drop a series of missiles and bombs on the targets. Once the most dangerous targets were marked, Huntsman and Taipan burst out of the clouds at rooftop level, missiles coming off rails to intercept the targets. For most of the ZSU vehicles they had no time to react before getting blasted away by explosive warheads. One or two survived by a thread and did not try to open fire on the Osean aircraft again.

'AAA batteries destroyed.' Captain Webber had done a good job, he decided. 'Engaging the fuckin' robot launchers.' Webber and Taipan moved to the port with bombs armed for a guaranteed kill. Above, the Panthers lased the targets.

'Targets lit, cleared hot Huntsman.'

Webber confirmed he had the laser locked and dropped his bombs, a pair of GBU-12 500lb bombs. 'Bombs away.' The GBU spiralled towards an opening cargo container. An MQ-99 could be seen suspended on rails popping out from the top of the container. Before it could launch in a puff of steam, the bombs hit dead on the target and blew both it and the personnel around it to pieces in a flash and puff of debris. Elsewhere in the port, Taipan's GBUs had the same effect.

'Afirm, active targets destroyed.' Taipan said from the cockpit of his F-15E.

'Port is clear, Wolf Squad returning to barrier position.' Webber and Taipan came towards the space elevator to assist other squads with protecting the local airspace. Below them, a pair of CH-47F Chinooks flew over the water surface, on approach for the base of the elevator. The Sea Goblin rescue crew. Around sixty Marines. They would be joined by an additional twenty from Metal Team once their Osprey made it to the area.

'All squads, provide air support if possible for the marines on the ground.' Sky Keeper said to the various fighter squads. Easier said than done for most, since only Wolf Squad were equipped with anti-ground weaponry.

'Sky Keeper, none of us are armed for anti-ground. Once Sea Goblin lands, it's up to them.' Knocker, Golem Squad's leader, said what most of the pilots were thinking. Let's give the Eruseans a run for their money then, Webber thought to himself.

'Panther, Wolf, requesting laser designation for infantry targets.'

'That's cutting it close captain. You sure you want to engage?' Haunter made sure that Webber was certain he and his wingmate could pull the maneuver off.

'Wouldn't have asked if I wasn't confident.'

'Copy. First target, sniper position on the cranes around the coast.'

'Acquired. Huntsman, engaging.' Webber dived towards the target. His targeting pod detected the laser quickly, informing him that he could drop a GBU. Webber did, and as he banked upwards to avoid smacking into the floor, he saw an explosion right on the money. Target destroyed.

'Target destroyed.'

'Second target, cluster of infantry surrounding a VTOL. Lased.'

'Seen.' This specific target was on a helipad suspended above the ground level. Webber dived again on what he was trying to hit. While there were no dedicated air-defences left, the soldiers on the ground saw the approaching F-15 and fired their rifles and LMGs at it. While they wouldn't be able to cause any significant damage, Webber swore he heard a bullet bounce off the front of his canopy glass as he dropped a GBU. The GBU hit the Osprey resting on the helipad right in the cabin, going through, passing into the ground below and exploding. Nailed.

'Don't think they survived that one. Waiting for new targets.'

'Negative, wave off. Sea Goblin has arrived.'

'Copy, Huntsman disengaging.' Webber flew upwards to gain altitude in case of any drones attacking. He was curious. The airspace around the space elevator was supposed to be protected by a minimum of one Arsenal Bird. Where the fuck is it?, Webber said to himself subconsciously. There weren't even any MQ-101 drones defending.

On the ground, Goblin 1 and Goblin 2 touched down in an open area. The rear doors of the dual main rotor helicopters opened and out came a gagglefuck of medics and Marines. Each man was dubiously equipped, with decked out HK416 rifles, bulletproof vests, helmets and enough ammo to last through an entire siege. One of the first into the tropical air of the region was First Lieutenant Thomas Hewlett, leader of the overall Sea Goblin ground unit. Rifle with underbarrel grenade launcher in hand, Hewlett used hand signals to direct the men behind him to get to cover. There was black smoke rising from several points around the area, product of destroyed vehicles and structures. He and his command group sprinted away from the helicopters to a 360 security position. Bullets from surviving Erusean soldiers cracked overhead. The Oseans got the first ground kill, Hewlett blasting someone away with a 40-mike-mike grenade. Members from the various squads assembled in their positions to set security around the helicopters. They shot at any hostiles that moved close. This lasted for a mere 10 seconds while everyone disembarked. Hewlett was tapped by his platoon sergeant, who indicated that both squads had disembarked.

'Goblin 1, Goblin 2, Siren Actual, clear to lift off!' Hewlett had to shout to get above the noise of gunfire and helicopter engines. Without an answer the two Chinooks lifted off and went to form a holding pattern around the elevator. The M134D miniguns that the Chinooks were armed with spat out hot brass and tracers as the crew chiefs of the helicopters lit up groups of Eruseans shooting at the marines. Once the noise had gone to levels where Hewlett could hear and talk, he issued orders.

'Siren 5-1, Siren 6-1, move to the barrier!' The gagglefuck sprinted forward, some elements staying put to provide covering fire while the rest ran for some hesco-blocks and concrete roadblocks. The lieutenant ran with the main body of the group to the barriers. One of the helicopters contacted him mid-stride.

'Siren Actual, Goblin 1, we've located Harling and the officer! They're hiding in an alcove near the centre of the space elevator.'

Once Hewlett made it to cover he responded. 'Roger, Siren elements bounding towards the VIP's location!' He leaned over the concrete barrier he was hiding behind and popped off a couple of shots, hitting someone in the distance. 'Siren 5-1 and 5-2, Siren Actual, assemble on my location at the concrete!'

The two element leaders, a pair of sergeants, quickly found their way to the officer. Their names were Mayworth and Lewis based off the nametags on their platecarriers. 'What's up boss?' Mayworth said when he arrived.

'Mayworth, your team and I are going to bound across the area over to the centre. The VIP and his escort are there waiting. Lewis, get your men to hold this position and cover us as we go over. Tell your men and get ready to bust ass!'

'Copy' was the reply from both team sergeants. Hewlett smiled and continued to fire random shots whenever he got the chance. So far, no losses to them. A minute later, Mayworth and his team, Siren 5-2, assembled near Hewlett.

'Set!' Mayworth called over radio.

'Set!' Lewis responded.

'Alright, GO!' Hewlett vaulted over the barrier along with 5-2. The SAW gunners and riflemen in 5-1 unleashed a torrent of fire everywhere where there was an enemy presence. The suppression locked down the Eruseans from firing back at the advancing 5-2 element. 5-2 moved quickly for all the gear they were carrying, succeeding to make it to the main ground body of the space elevator in just under ten seconds.

'Contact right!' Hewlett's platoon sergeant, Sergeant First Class Jester Goodwill, called out while firing on full-auto at the soldiers he had seen. Part of 5-2's right flank stopped, crouched and fired more precise shots, quickly killing or injuring the group they had seen. The rest kept sprinting while suppressing from their own location when possible. In another 10 seconds the element made it halfway to the location of Harling and the officer escorting him. The first casualty to the Osean force came when one of the riflemen on the left flank was hit in the chest and knocked down. Hewlett saw the man get downed.

'Keep going!' He called to 5-2, then himself running to get the wounded soldier to cover. One of the group's four medics came to tend to the guy as well as a pair of other riflemen and Hewlett's platoon JTAC. Hewlett and one riflemen dragged the rifleman by his armpits to behind a flipped over Caiman MRAP while the others shot the Eruseans who had shot the wounded rifleman. Once behind that MRAP, the medic got to work, checking the spot where the guy had been shot. Hewlett and the others continued to fire at hostiles converging on their position.

'Sir!' One of the escorting riflemen called out to the lieutenant. 'Tanks on the bridge, 9'o-clock!' Hewlett looked to his left to see what the rifleman was talking about. Indeed, there were Erusean main battle tanks crossing the bridge from the city to the space elevator to eliminate the attacking Oseans.

'Jackson!' Hewlett shouted to his JTAC. 'Call for fire support on the tanks crossing the bridge!' Jackson looked and saw the tanks, pulled out a book from a pocket on the side of his radio bag, checking for coordinates and available strike packages.

'Huntsman, Dagger, requesting fire mission, over!'

In the air, Webber heard the call. 'Roger Dagger, send details.'

'Fire mission as follows. Target is a pair of main battle tanks crossing the bridge, grid coordinates 1534003013, moving south-east. Requesting 500 pound bomb drop, target will be lased, confirm fire mission.' The JTAC knew what he was doing.

'Two tanks, 15340-03013 heading south-east, two times GBU-12, confirmed.' Webber read back what he had just been told.

'Roger. Huntsman, you're cleared hot.' Now Webber could actually attack the tanks with confirmation. He maneuvered into position coming from the east to strike them down. He had a lase.

'Bombs away.' With both GBUs away, Webber pulled up to a safer altitude and circled around, waiting for a BDA.

'Both targets destroyed. Thanks for the assist.'

Both tanks had basically been thrown off the bridge into the water from the force of the explosives that hit them. No longer a threat.

'5-2, Actual, have you gotten the VIP?' Hewlett, behind cover, contacted Mayworth.

'Both Harling and Colonel Johnson, moving back to 5-1's position now!' The wizzles, cracks and pops of gunfire going over their heads could be heard over the radio.

'Meet you there.' Hewlett put away his radio. 'Corporal, can you move?' He asked the rifleman that had been shot. He was propped against the back of the MRAP with his platecarrier opened for the medic to see the extent of damage.

'Winded, but I'll live sir.' The soldier was out of breath, but he could move as evident by the fact that the man stood up and changed magazines for his HK416.

'Good, let's go.' Hewlett slung his rifle and helped support the rifleman. The other riflemen, Jackson and the medic readied for a bound back to their landing zone. There was a delay of about ten seconds before they actually did bound. They only did so when 5-2 passed them, VIPs in tow in the centre of the group.

'Goblin Flight, Siren Actual, we have the VIPs, requesting extract at RZ Alpha!' The rescue below was going along better than planned. Grimm flew circles around the space elevator, ready for enemy reinforcements. So far, nothing. The CH-47 helicopters approached the site at which they had landed where a full squad of marines were holding. A pilot from one of the Fort Greys squadrons saying something distracted Grimm from looking at the rescue effort on the ground.

'Sky Keeper, new bogies on radar, bearing 220!' Knocker, Golem 1.

'Sighting confirmed as MQ-101, forerunner for Arsenal Bird!' Sky Keeper confirmed the contact.

'Figured it'd show up at some point.' Grimm mused to himself. Actually, he was surprised it took so long for the bloody thing to come to the space elevator. 'Mythic, Wolf Squad, head on to engage drones.'

'Mythic, engaging.' The quiet but confident voice of 2LT Sara Hunter.

'Huntsman, engaging!' By comparison, CPT Michael Webber's voice was louder and carried more charisma with it.

'Taipan engaging.' Taipan's words went by so fast that everyone else almost missed it. Combined, the 242nd Fighter Squadron formed into one single flight and at a stand-off distance started firing long-range AMRAAMs into the many MQ-101s on approach. The other squads - Mage, Golem, Gargoyle and Panther - elected to close the distance and dogfight against the drones. The first dogfights started just as the 242nd's wave of AMRAAMs hit their targets. It barely took a chunk out of the numbers of the 100 or so drones.

'Titan, Wolf, keep hitting them. We'll thin their numbers one at a time if we have to.' Grimm released more AMRAAMs at the drones along with the rest of his squad.

In the brunt of the fight, Haunter hit the first wave like a hammer with off-vectoring Sidewinders nailing the drones that passed to the sides and behind her. Bullet went with the more stand-off approach, engaging from the maximum effective range of his Sidewinders. Three drones decided they weren't having any of his shit and came to intercept the Navy pilot. Bullet managed to cap one at close range but two more joining the engagement forced him to engage in his main combative weak point, dogfighting. He was placed in a bad position right off the start when a missile coming from the front detonated off his right, blasting off the tip of the wing and spraying a thick black opaque liquid onto the side of his canopy.

'Fuck. This is Panther 2, I need assistance.' Despite his situation, Bullet was calm. A missile alert blared. Bullet started deploying countermeasures. They worked partially but that missile also detonated near the airframe, poking holes all through the top of his aircraft. The canopy cracked from shrapnel strikes. The final death blow for Bullet came when a drone came from his front, cannon blazing. The shells passed clean through the canopy and into Bullet's unarmoured body. 30mm explosive shells exploded inside the cockpit, spraying parts of the now-dead pilot onto the inside of the canopy in a wash of red before the F-35 exploded, crippled and broken. Talon saw Bullet's aircraft explode before she could make it to his aid, and cursed.

'Panther 2 down. Don't see a parachute.' Talon avenged the death of her wingmate by blasting away the drone that had killed him. Four of the MQ-101s formed up behind Talon. She locked on and fired with Sidewinders, the missiles zipping off behind her and taking out two drones. The X model of Sidewinders were capable of being shot at extreme angles from aircraft equipped with HMDs like the F-35. Down to two interceptors, an Air Force F/A-18F shot by and managed to hit those two and bring them down. Talon didn't have the time to thank the pilot because immediately afterwards she went to chase a lone MQ-101 that was heading for the space elevator. This one appeared to be different. It was black instead of the usual grey-white and possessed orange wingtips. In addition it was moving much faster than a normal drone would, even at full speed. Talon closed the distance and fired a pair of missiles at it. About halfway through intercept, the drone pulled off a maneuver that she would only expect an advanced fighter to do. It did a sharp barrel roll to face in Talon's direction and with a laser weapon of some sort intercepted and destroyed Talon's missiles before they could hit the now-still MQ-101. To make things worse, that drone then focused the laser weapons and some quick-moving missiles onto Talon's plane. Unable to avoid the lasers, they cut into the metal of the hull like it was butter. Various alerts played, varying from fire alert to system malfunctions as the aircraft was turned into swiss cheese around her. Talon was not about to go down so easily however and utilised her still functioning cannon pod to release a stream of shells at the enemy drone. She managed to hit the damn thing before it shot off to avoid taking any more damage. That left the missiles which were quickly converging on Talon. The latter dived and turned around to get some distance from the missiles, dropping chaff and flares. They seemed to be unaffected by the decoys and continued on a direct course. Down to her last resort, Talon dropped something from her weapons bay and shut off her active systems at the same time, banking away while doing so. The thing dropped was a radar-emitting decoy designed to make a replica of the F-35 on radar. While originally designed for the Typhoon, the OMDF had integrated a similar system to the newer F-35Cs in the fleet. This worked, distracting one of the missiles and throwing it off-course to explode elsewhere. However, there was still the second missile to avoid. Talon had no time to register the missile exploding a fair distance away, because the pieces of heated metal tearing through the airframe, canopy, into critical systems and into the neck, arm, chest and legs of the naval aviator. Talon screamed and flinched as those metal fragments broke both bones in her right arm as well as opening her uniform and skin like a zipper down her body. In that moment she passed out for a minute or two. Three things saved her. Firstly, the automatic fire extinguisher putting out a fire in the engine and weapons bay so the aircraft wouldn't explode automatically. Secondly, an autopilot system pulling her out of a death spiral heading for the ocean surface. Finally, her squad leader Haunter engaging the special drone in a dogfight. Lieutenant-Commander Ashley North had seen her number 2 and brother get downed. She also witnessed Talon get shredded by the drone. This battle was not going well for VFA-051. By god, the leader would save at least one of her wingmates.

The MQ-101 was damaged, if only slightly, and was now coming over to finish off Talon. Haunter got close before the drone fired more missiles and released a stream of missiles and cannon fire at it. The missiles missed as the drone did a high-g turn to evade, but the shells were faster and caught the drone roughly at the seam where its port wing folded. The connection damaged, that wing sheared off which put the MQ-101 into a death spiral. However, it still maintained some control on its pitch. This was a bad thing for Haunter. As the drone spiralled around to face Haunter, it pitched up to face the approaching F-35 and shot one beam from its laser at her. A dead-on hit. The laser pierced the canopy and hit Haunter square in the gut, just below the ribcage, blasting open a hole in her abdomen and severing her spine. Haunter grunted as a stream of blood was forced out through her throat and mouth. The blood got stuck in her helmet. In that moment, Haunter realised that she was doomed to death after looking at the wound. Even if blood loss and organ damage didn't kill her, she couldn't move her legs to operate the rudder pedals. Haunter ripped off her helmet with blood streaming down her chin and looked at Talon's smoking F-35.

'Ad Astra.' Haunter said to herself, punching the throttle to maximum and pointing the nose at the drone. 'Come here you fuck.' The last thing that Haunter saw was the nose of her F-35 colliding with the body of the MQ-101, tearing through it. Flames consumed both aircraft and suddenly all Haunter saw was black.

In the back of Goblin 1, a team of four medics were inspecting their special cargo for injuries. Lieutenant Hewlett had his HK416 leveled out of the back of the Chinook, intending to shoot any drone that snuck up behind them. 5-5-6 wouldn't do anything to the metal frames of an MQ-101, but a last resort was better than nothing.

'Sir, any double vision, headaches, chest pains of any sort?' The most senior of the medics was questioning Harling. Colonel Johnson, the officer, was onboard Goblin 2.

'I'm fine thank you. Not my first rodeo.' Harling was collected but looked relieved to not be in the middle of enemy territory anymore. 'Where are we going?'

Hewlett answered while not averting his gaze out back. 'The aircraft carrier Kestrel sir. Should be a half-hour flight.'

Talon came back to life to find a sharp pain in her forearm and blood pouring out of many wounds she had inflicted. Several indicators and alerts were going off. She needed to get out of the combat zone and back to the carrier. Talon coughed up some blood and hit the transmitter for the radio.

'Panther 3 damaged,' A pain in her ribcage caused her to stop for a second to recompose herself. 'Returning to ship.'

Grimm tore through a drone, bringing his tally up to twenty kills, the highest of all aircraft currently in the AO. Beside him, Mythic crippled a drone and properly destroyed another, bringing her own tally to ten. The various air squadrons had managed to destroy about half of the attackers but many aircraft were starting to run out of ammo, and they had inflicted some losses of their own. Panther had been rendered ineffective with two and a half losses, Golem had lost one and Gargoyle were down from eight to four. Speaking of Gargoyle.

'Attention, Gargoyle Squadron, Babel, Babel, Babel.' Gargoyle 1 started saying over the net the air coalition was using.

'Gargoyle 3 to Babel.'

'Babel, roger.'

A single Gargoyle aircraft fired long-range missiles aimed at the space elevator. A drone detected the missiles heading for their source of power and placed itself in the path of the missiles, exploding in a fireball but keeping the space elevator safe. The rest of Gargoyle Squadron followed, firing almost all of their remaining weapon reserves at the space elevator. In response a larger swarm of drones took most of the missile hits. There were a lot of explosions and destroyed MQ-101s, but one missile made it through the swarm and impacted the white construction material of the windbreak. The F-14D squadron found itself chased by drones, which a Mage pilot in an F-16 chased and destroyed. Based off the tail markings, it was Trigger. Grimm saw Trigger chasing after Gargoyle. What followed next was a series of events that Grimm would later admit to not having a clue what happened.

A stream of cannon fire came from Trigger's F-16. It poured into the F-14 of the Gargoyle pilot that had managed to hit the elevator.

'I've been hit-' The pilot's desperate screams were cut off by the F-14 falling apart in a stream of flame. Trigger didn't attempt to shoot down the other pilots and broke off to do his own thing again.

'Trigger, the fuck?!' Grimm contacted the Mage pilot over the radio.

'We have people up there who need a way back.' Trigger's voice was quiet, disturbed, as if he understood what he had just done. 'It had to be done. I hope you can understand sir.'

'Jesus Christ.' Grimm muttered to himself.

'All aircraft, Sea Goblin is safely out of the AO. Return to base.' Sky Keeper.

Grimm opened a comms link with Captain Webber. 'Michael.'

'Yeah, I saw it too. Me and Taipan are sticking to his ass.' Huntsman had predicted Grimm's orders before he said them.

'Rog. I'll stick below him.'

Spring Sea

Aircraft carrier OFS Kestrel II

Talon's breathing was shaky and her vision fading and going to grey. Blood had soaked her flight suit, fatigues and cockpit. Controlling the F-35 with one hand was easy but could prove testing over long distances. On her right wing, Luna guided Talon down in his F/A-18E.

'Kestrel, Razor 5, get a medical and recovery on the deck ASAP. Pilot and aircraft are in red condition.'

Luna pulled off at the last possible second to avoid smashing into the superstructure of the Kestrel II. Talon touched down on the deck, the bouncing aggrevating her arm and profuse blood loss. She almost passed out then and there. Luckily she had caught the wire so she didn't slip off the deck. The last thing she did with the last of her strength was to throttle down and turn off the engine before passing out.