"Well, everyone. Today's the day," Gates announced at the front of the briefing room with a wide grin on his face. "We're going to be executing a coordinated attack all over Erusea's remaining strongholds. Firstly, our main force will move in to capture Farbanti, and while they're doing that, another group will be destroying the satellites that Erusea hacked at the start of the war. Then, there's our job. While they're doing that, we'll be making our move on the Eruseans here, finally taking the mass driver and securing a path to the Space Elevator," Gates explained as he paced around the room. "The war could very well be over by the end of the day, but first…" He walked down the aisle between the chairs and stopped in front of Eva and the others. "Nexus Squadron, I've officially gotten your transfer orders to Fort Grays Island."

Eva's eyes lit up once she heard the news, and the others had similar reactions. "Are you serious?" she asked. "We're finally going home?"

Gates nodded. "Indeed you are," he answered with a smile. "I will say, though, that's it's been a pleasure working with you all, and I'll definitely miss you. Here's to hoping we'll meet again after the war sometime."

"And what about our pardon?" Magnum jumped in. "Since you got their transfer order, you should have no issue getting what you owe us."

"Have you ever considered the fact that maybe you don't deserve a pardon?" Crosswind asked her. "Or did you forget that you killed someone while in prison and attempted to kill someone else?"

"You know, the thought must've crossed my mind," Magnum replied with a grin that seemed crooked. "Although that's probably because that bastard didn't mean jack shit to me; same goes for Diamond too or did you forget that she got Slipstream killed? Because let me tell you something, I sure as hell haven't. None of us have," she said, gesturing to Axe and Dodger.

"Listen, Rogue Squadron. I'm working on getting you pardoned, I promise," Gates assured them. "It's just that there are more hurdles to jump over than I expected."

Axe scoffed. "The more you tell us that bullshit, the more I feel like you're just lying to our faces, Gates."

"Do you really think Gates wouldn't try and get you guys a pardon?" Vortex jumped in, coming to Gates's defense. "Because if you do, then you clearly don't know him well enough."

"Funny how you seem to conveniently ignore the fact that you were pissed with Gates for not getting that transfer order sooner now that you actually have it," Dodger pointed out.

"Except none of us were pissed with Gates because of that," Poet jumped in. "We were frustrated, sure, but we kept doing what was asked of us because we knew that it would help our case, not to mention it's our job to do so."

"What about you, Tabloid?" Lucky asked the pilot, who had been quiet for the duration of the conversation. "You got a pardon, right? Did you get it by keeping faith in your base commander?"

Tabloid shrugged as he leaned back in his seat. "Nah, my base commander was kind of a real shithead," he admitted. "If it were up to him, we would've all been dead before he'd even consider giving us a pardon. The pardon actually came from High Command, and it was honestly kind of a shock to all of us."

Magnum gave Eva and the others a vindicated grin. "See? If it's up to High Command, then there's not a chance in hell we're getting pardoned."

Eva was about to respond, but another soldier burst into the room. "Commander, we've got incoming!" they announced. "Erusean ground forces are on their way here, and there's a lot of them too!"

Gates looked back at the pilots. "Alright, let's go, then. Nexus Squadron, I know you guys have your heart set on leaving, but we could really use your help- just to repel the attack, then you can be on your way."

The pilots in Nexus Squadron all looked at each other and nodded before turning their attention back to Gates. "Alright, we'll do it," Vortex said.

Gates smiled. "Excellent!" he replied. "We'll send you up with drop tanks instead of special weapons so you can just head for Fort Grays as soon as you're done."

"In that case, I guess this is gonna be the last time we'll be seeing each other," Charger pointed out.

"Indeed, I suppose it is," Gates agreed with a nod. "Good luck and godspeed, Nexus Squadron. I hope we meet again in different squadrons."

Vortex reached out and shook his hand. "Thank you again for everything you've done for us, sir. We won't forget it."

"The feeling's mutual," Major Tillmin chimed in. "You all saved my life, and I owe so much to all of you. I hope your journey is swift and fortunate."

"Well, I suppose we'd better get up in the air," Vortex said. "That Erusean counterattack won't repel itself."

"Man, they weren't lying," Tabloid said. "That is a lot of ground troops."

"Well, we have air superiority, so there won't be much stopping us from taking them all out," Vortex pointed out. "But let's be careful all the same."

"Hey, how's the weather down there, Crosswind?" Eva taunted the AWACS operator, who was still sitting on the runway, getting delayed from taking off.

"Screw off," Crosswind replied with a chuckle. "Just focus on repelling the attack."

"Well, you sure as hell don't have to tell me twice," Magic chimed in. "Sooner we're done here, the sooner we can leave."

"Amen to that," Poet agreed. "Let's get to work."

Without another word, Eva angled her plane down and dove toward the Erusean ground units. Her first targets were a group of APCs, which went down without any difficulties, but as she passed over the enemies to loop around and make another pass, she noticed a missile lock start to go off. Instead of making any attempts to evade right away, Eva waited, continuing to fly straight off and put more distance between herself and the enemy assault. Just before the missile was about to hit, though, she jerked her plane to the left with a high-G turn, moving faster than it could keep up with. Eva kept turning until she made a complete loop around to make another pass over the enemy. She spotted the culprit that fired the missile at her, an AD tank, and prepared to take it out. However, the tank kept its eyes on her and fired another missile. Eva fired two missiles at them and moved away before their missile hit her. One of hers hit its target, but the other got intercepted by the AD tank. While they were doing that, though, Eva took the opportunity to take out a pair of AA guns with her machine guns. A SAM launcher tried firing at her, but she was already passing over them by the time they did, so their missile missed entirely. Eva fired a pair of standard missiles at a tank and looped around to finish off the AD tank from earlier as they destroyed their target. Another missile came her way, but she was able to evade it with relative ease as she destroyed the AD tank with machine guns.

"Well, this all seems to be going pretty smoothly," Eva remarked as she pulled up readied herself to deal with her next target. "As long as we keep this up, we should be out of here in no time." For a moment, Eva could've sworn that she heard Magnum mutter something under her breath, but she couldn't tell what it was.

"You might wanna hold that thought, Diamond," Crosswind warned her. "We've got an enemy rocket unit getting into position. If they manage to fire, our ground forces won't stand a chance."

Eva was about to volunteer to take care of them, but an incoming missile grabbed her attention. She pitched up and into a loop, turning to face the SAM launcher that fired it at her as she took it out with a single missile. However, the missile was still after her. She made a sharp turn to the left, taking out an APC as she did, but the missile persisted. The beeping missile alert got quicker and quicker with each second, and eventually, Eva decided to deploy countermeasures. With the missile off her tail, she turned toward a pair of tanks moving in on the allied ground units. She fired two standard missiles at the first one and went in for guns on the second one. It took quite a few hits, but the second tank eventually went up in flames, and Eva pulled up and round to group up with the others.

"Finally!" Crosswind exclaimed. "We're taking off now," he informed the pilots. "Destroy that last group of targets."

Eva felt her heart race as she finally realized that the only thing standing between her and going back home was a couple of AA guns, SAM launchers, tanks, and APCs. The thought of finally being back at Fort Grays made her far more excited than she was able to express, so instead, she channeled her eagerness into her flying. She angled her plane downward and took out as many SAM launchers in a single pass as she could before they had a chance to fire. With them out of the way, it was relatively easy to take the rest out, especially with all 11 pilots working together.

"Well, I suppose that's it, then," Vortex said. "Crosswind, it's been an honor working with you."

"And you as well," Crosswind replied. "Goodbye Nexus Squadron, I hope we meet again someday."

Eva followed the others in formation and turned in the direction of Fort Grays. It was hard for her to believe that it was finally happening. After five months of hardship, fighting, and loss, they were finally ready to return home. Part of her was going to miss the 262nd Squadron, although it was mainly Crosswind, Gates, and Tillmin that she was going to miss.

"Hey, who's got a radar lock on me?" Tabloid's sudden question quickly grabbed Eva's attention, and it seemed to get the attention of the others too.

"Rogue 2, what the hell are you doing?" Crosswind asked. "That's not the enemy. Hold your fire!"

"We're doing what we should've done ages ago, Crosswind. We're taking our freedom back," Magnum snarled. "By force."

"Shit, I'm hit," Tabloid reported. "I'm bailing out!" Eva saw the canopy fly off, and Tabloid shot up, deploying his parachute not long after.

"Rogue Squadron. Let's get to work," Magnum ordered as she, Axe, and Dodger split up. "Ah, Gates," she said with a satisfied sigh. "You have no idea how long I've wanted to do this."

"Commander, get out of there. You've got incoming!" Crosswind cried out helplessly as Magnum shot two missiles right at the control tower, causing it to crumble. "Commander Gates? Major Tillmin?" Once he realized he wasn't a response, he unleashed his venom on Rogue Squadron. "You damn cons!" he snapped.

"Better get ready, Crosswind," Dodger sneered. "Cause you're about to get the same treatment. Man, I've been wanting to shut you up for so damn long I think I might've lost track of how long it's been."

"Crosswind, get the hell out of there, now!" Vortex ordered as he and the others turned back around, hoping they might make it in time. Unfortunately, Dodger fired two missiles right at him, and Crosswind's E-767 started going down with a trail of smoke behind it.

"Ro- Nexus Squadron," Crosswind corrected himself mid-sentence, grunting in pain. "I'm sending you new ID data. Shoot these bastards down." The only thing Eva heard after that was static as his plane smashed into the ground.

Axe snickered. "Trench, this is your last chance, kid," he said, getting behind the young pilot's MiG-29. "Are you gonna be with us and take back your freedom, or are you gonna be a bootlicking coward until the end?"

In a much more aggressive response than Eva expected from Trench, he spat a simple, "Go to hell," and threw his plane up into a cobra. However, he ended up miscalculating the distance between himself and Axe, and he started stalling before he could get behind him, which Axe took advantage of as he shot him out of the sky.

"TRENCH!" Poet cried out. "Axe, you son of a bitch. You'll pay for that!"

Axe scoffed. "Come and make me, then. I dare you," he challenged him.

"No more distractions now," Magnum said. "Just us and you. Now it's time to finally do what we've been waiting for. Diamond, I hope you're ready to pay for what you've done."

"Nexus Squadron, split up," Vortex ordered. "Two or more on each target."

"Axe is mine," Poet growled.

"I'll take him, too," Magic offered.

Eva took a deep breath. "I'll deal with Magnum," she finally said. "It's me she wants anyway."

"Not alone, you won't," Vortex told her. "I'll go with you. Charger, Lucky, you two deal with Dodger."

Without another word, Nexus Squadron split up, and Eva set her sights on Magnum's F-15. Right off the bat, she fired two standard missiles right at her and pitched straight up before Magnum could do the same. Before either of Eva's missiles could hit, Magnum rolled her plane onto its side and made a sharp turn to the left as Vortex followed after her. As Eva tried to turn back around, Magnum pitched up into a loop, getting behind her and firing off a single missile before Vortex forced her to break away. Eva ignored Magnum for the moment and inverted her plane to pitch down and evade the missile. She watched as the missile narrowly went by her canopy before she leveled herself out and switched on the afterburner to go back and help Vortex.

"Do you even remember him?" Magnum asked spitefully as she broke off from Vortex and flew straight at Eva.

"Every single day," Eva answered without hesitation. "I remember all of them."

As Eva and Magnum went head-on at each other, they both started firing machine guns once they were in range. Eva tried to fire a missile at Magnum, but she was at a bad angle by the time it fired. After making a quick check over her instruments to make sure nothing was damaged by Magnum's guns, she started to put as much distance between herself and the F-15 as possible. Magnum got a radar lock on her for a few seconds, but Vortex intervened and started chasing after her before she could fire. With Magnum off her back, Eva turned back around and went to take another shot at her. Out of sheer habit, she tried switching to her 6AAMs before remembering that she didn't have any loaded. As she closed in on Magnum, she passed by with a brief machine gun burst, hitting a few shots on Magnum before she turned sharply to get away from Eva.

For a brief moment, Eva's HUD flickered and glitched, but she didn't even notice. She was too busy chasing after Magnum. The only thing she could think about was bringing Magnum down for good. After everything Eva had gone through, and after everyone she had lost, she thought the most challenging part was behind her. What was worse, though, was that Eva knew all of this was because of her. Crosswind, Gates, Tillmin, and Trench were dead because she couldn't save Slipstream. If anything, though, that just made her more determined because now that they were gone, she was dead set on making sure that they didn't die in vain.

"Charger, missile on your six, evade!" Lucky called out.

"Thanks for the heads up, Lucky," Charger thanked him. "I might've gotten hit if not for you, but these guys are just too damn fast."

Dodger snickered. "Revenge is one hell of a motivator," a pointed out. "But you'll figure that out once we start shooting you down one by one."

Magic scoffed. "Revenge? I'd say spite is a more accurate description."

Eva grunted with frustration as Magnum evaded another missile. No matter how hard she tried or how close she got, none of her missiles would hit their target. Not only was it frustrating, but it was also starting to take a toll on Eva. Very few dogfights managed to get her to a point where she felt legitimately tired, but this was one of those rare cases. It made her realize she never noticed how good a pilot Magnum was, but she was still starting to get tired of it. It seemed Vortex agreed too.

"We need to end this," he decided. "The longer this goes on, the more likely it ends up that someone gets killed."

Suddenly, an idea popped into Eva's head. She knew Vortex wouldn't work, but it was like he said, they ran the risk of dying every minute this dogfight went on. "I've got an idea," she finally said. "I'll fly around and be bait for Magnum. You get behind her and shoot her down."

"No way. Not a chance," Vortex said almost immediately. "Too dangerous. I don't want to lose any of you."

Eva's mind went back to her fight with Draugr Squadron and how effectively they used the strategy. "Come on, trust me," she insisted. "Besides, I'm the one she wants. She'll chase after me."

Vortex hesitated for a moment before letting out a heavy sigh. "Fine, I trust you. Just please be careful."

Eva nodded, even though he couldn't see it. "Don't worry. I will."

Without another word, Eva started flying circles around Magnum, hoping to grab her attention. After a few seconds, she heard the radar lock warning go off in her cockpit and knew Magnum had taken the bait. Once she did, she pitched up and looped around to evade the missile and went straight. It didn't take long for Magnum to fire another missile, but Eva had to resist the urge to avoid it. She decided to deploy countermeasures just before it hit to keep herself and Magnum moving straight for as long as possible. Eva expected her to fly another missile, but instead, she saw tracers going by her wing. She broke right out of habit but kept going in a straight line after that.

"Vortex, any time would be nice!" Eva called out. "Not getting any younger here."

"I've almost got her," Vortex said. "Time to finish her off!" he announced.

As if on cue, Eva's HUD started going on the fritz, glitching and spasming like she had never seen before. She looked down at her radar and saw the same thing. Although, that also meant that Magnum wasn't able to hit her either.

"What the hell's going on?" Magic asked as she and the others seemed to experience the same thing.

"Hey, look at the sky, over by the sun!" Lucky said as he broke off from Dodger.

Eva turned toward the sun as Lucky said and saw bright lights all across the twilight sky. It looked like dozens of small explosions all over, and they still kept appearing. One by one, the sky continued to light up after each explosion. It wasn't until Magnum spoke up again that I noticed her, Axe, and Dodger flying away to the north.

"Seems fate has intervened in this little spout," Magnum said. "You'll get away this time, but just know that this isn't over," she promised. "Sooner or later, I will kill you, and don't forget that."

Nobody else said anything after that. Once the pilots of Nexus Squadron had all regrouped with each other, they started flying in the direction of Fort Grays again. Not long ago, she and the others were thrilled to finally be going home. Now, though, none of them said anything as they started flying to the place they considered their home while Rogue Squadron went north, going deeper into Central Usea.

Author's Note: And on that note, Act 3 of Clouded Skies is now done, leaving just one more until it's done. For now, though, I'm gonna take a bit of a break from it to work on Roaring Thunder (which you should totally read if you haven't already). Thank you guys so much for reading this far, though. It truly means a lot to me and I appreciate it.