Eva got a strange feeling from being in the briefing room without half of her squadron. She wasn't quite sure how to describe it other than just wrong. It didn't help that the other pilots from Meteor Squadron weren't there either. Although, it's not like they had a reason to be there since their planes were out of commission for the time being. Thinking about everyone that wasn't present made Eva's mind wander over to Lucky. She sincerely hoped that he would be able to make it out of his situation, but at the same time, she wasn't too worried. After all, he had Vortex and Charger with him.

"Alright, everyone, listen up." Waller's voice, followed by the three beeps coming from the terminal, pulled Eva from her thoughts. "As I'm sure you can recall, most of our planes suffered quite a bit of damage during our attack on Farbanti. You five are the only ones still able to fly." The map of Usea on the screen synced with the satellite data, displaying most of the continent as red, and a small portion in the southeast. "So while they're under repairs, you three will be temporarily be flying under Meteor Squadron with Domino and Torch."

Meteor Squadron's emblem appeared on the screen, and a list of all their names dropped down. However, Eva was surprised to see her name directly below Torch's, with Magic and Poet below her.

"Now, it's time for your mission," Waller continued. The map zoomed in on their position. "Our objective is still to take control of Farbanti. However, we're going to make sure that we even the odds this time. After an analysis of the battle, we've determined what targets we need to hit and in what order we need to hit them in." Three red dots appeared on the map, one on Anchorhead Bay, one northeast of Farbanti, and one in what looked to be a mountainous region. "After our attack on Farbanti, Erusea had few defenses left, so they're trying to reinforce themselves. According to our intel, a decently-sized fleet left Anchorhead Bay this morning, and they're on their way to Farbanti as we speak." A red, dotted line went from the red dot on Anchorhead Bay to Farbanti. "You'll be going to intercept and sink them momentarily. Our next target is a radar site located on Mount Lambert. We've determined that this site is how the Eruseans knew we were coming to Farbanti. We'll need to destroy it before moving onto our final target, the former IUPF airfield that Erusea captured northeast of Farbanti. By capturing this target last, we reduce the chances of Erusea recapturing it before we attack Farbanti. As a result, the aircraft responding to our attack will have to come from farther away."

Eva looked over at Domino and Torch, trying to read their reactions on everything, but both had an unreadable expression. It looked as if they were studying the screen, taking in every little detail.

"Now, let's get you up into the sky. You've got a fleet to sink," Waller concluded.

The five pilots stood up and saluted the ship's captain before making their way out of the briefing room and towards the hangar.

"Meteor 3, Meteor 4, you're cleared for takeoff," Waller told them.

Eva's plane shot forward from the catapult, with Magic right behind her, and the two of them accelerated to form up behind Domino and Torch. After Poet brought up the rear, they all turned southeast toward the fleet's location on their radars. As they flew through the tranquil skies, Eva couldn't help but feel a bit anxious. She hadn't flown without Vortex before, and while she didn't doubt Domino's skills by any means, Eva still felt unsure of something. Maybe it was the mission or the war in general, or perhaps it was herself she was doubting. Although she had been doing well, as her wingmen reminded her, and she was technically an ace, she still felt a sort of creeping feeling the longer the war carried on, a feeling that Eva couldn't quite describe.

The pilots carried on in silence for the majority of the flight. Until finally, they had a visual on the enemy fleet. Two aircraft carriers stayed at the center of the fleet's formation, surrounded by nearly a dozen other ships. Among them were frigates, destroyers, aegis vessels, and cruisers.

"Waller, this is Meteor 1. We have a visual on the fleet and are engaging now," Domino reported.

"Affirmative," Waller responded. "Give them hell."

"You heard the man, let's go get 'em!" Domino said in a more lighthearted tone.

Eva switched to her special weapons, LASMs, and locked onto one of the aegis vessels that were still around 4000 meters away. She fired a single missile as soon as she had a lock.

"Meteor 3, Fox 3," Eva called out. She still thought it felt weird to be using Meteor as a callsign instead of Nexus, but she didn't dwell too much on it.

Eva's missile glided gracefully toward its target. However, a hail of gunfire erupted from the aegis vessel, and it shot the missile out of the sky. Eva flew over the ship, staying about 1000 meters in the air, and watched as her attack failed.

"Damn. My missile didn't connect," Eva cursed, banking right to avoid one of the destroyers' AA barrages.

"Aegis vessels have powerful CIWS that'll intercept your attacks. Your best bet is to make a low approach and hit them with standard missiles," Torch told her.

"The closer to the water, the better," Domino added.

Eva took a deep breath. She wasn't a fan of low altitude flying, but she didn't have much of a choice if it was the best way to take out the target. "Wilco, going in for another run," she replied.

As Eva dove to the water, she saw Poet and Torch taking turns doing flybys on one of the destroyers. She pulled up only 50 meters above the water and headed straight for the aegis vessel. Eva quickly got a lock but held off on firing until she got closer. The ship's guns started shooting at her, but she moved too fast and close to the water for them to hit her. She held down her machine guns until finally, she fired two missiles and pulled straight up. Both of Eva's attacks slammed right into the ship's hull, and it exploded.

"Nice, aegis vessel sunk!" she reported in a somewhat cheery tone.

"And just as Torch and I sunk one of the destroyers," Poet chimed in.

Magic was the next one to speak. "Hey guys, hate to break up the moment, but we've got aircraft launching from the carriers." The tone in her voice indicated that she was already dogfighting with one of these fighters.

Eva quickly looked over in Magic's direction to see what they were up against. A squadron of Rafales had taken off from the first carrier, and some Su-33s were getting ready to be launched from the second. Without hesitation, she turned to help her squadmate.

"Don't worry, Magic. I'm on my way," Eva told her.

She got a lock on one of the Rafales and fired two missiles at it, but the enemy fighter banked right and broke her lock. Eva followed after it and quickly regained a radar lock, but just as she was about to fire, her target pitched up. With the fastest reflexes she could manage, Eva mimicked the enemy's movements and fired two missiles at the Rafale, which didn't take long to find their mark. She rolled onto her right side and turned in one fluid motion as she engaged one of the Su-33s that had just taken off.

"Diamond, heads up, enemy on your six!" Poet called out.

Eva quickly looked down at her radar and saw that one of the Rafales had snuck up behind her. She broke off from the Su-33 and made a hard bank left. Unfortunately, her pursuer had no problem following her. A radar lock warning started beeping in her cockpit, and a missile warning sounded off shortly after. Eva waited for a few brief seconds, waiting for the incoming missile to get closer until she pitched up in a high-G turn. The missile didn't react quickly enough and flew right past her, losing its lock. With the immediate threat off her tail, Eva made a sharp turn to the right before twisting back down while the enemy Rafale was still trying to follow her upward motion. She momentarily leveled her plane out before doing a 180 to face the Rafale, which was now straight ahead of her. Before the enemy pilot even had time to react, two missiles had slammed into him, causing his plane to spiral downward and explode.

Eva let out a sigh of relief after the intense maneuvering. "Thanks for the heads up, Poet. I owe you," she said.

"And here I thought you might need my help dealing with the fighter," Poet replied with a chuckle.

Eva suddenly realized that the amount of AA fire getting shot at them had significantly reduced, although there was still quite a lot. She looked around and realized that Domino and Torch had sunk two of the destroyers.

"Damn you two, you really went to town on these ships, huh?" she called out.

Torch laughed. "You guys wanna have a go at them? By all means, be my guest. I'll gladly deal with the fighters for you guys," he offered.

"I think I just might take you up on that offer, Torch," Eva replied with a grin on her face. "Magic? You want a piece?"

"Nah, I'll pass. I'm doing just fine up here," Magic said.

Poet chimed in as well. "Yeah, same here. You have fun, though, Diamond."

Eva broke off from the fighters and turned her attention to one of the cruisers outside the fleet's formation. Once again, she switched from her standard missiles to her LASMs and faced the cruiser. She climbed up a higher altitude and quickly got within range of her target, and as soon as she did, she fired a single missile. With no CIWS to protect the cruiser, the anti-ship missile cruised through the air and collided with its hull, destroying the cruiser in a single shot.

"You guys are making good progress," Waller reported. "70% of the enemy fleet is down, and it looks like you've taken out all their fighters as well. Keep at it."

"And here I thought that this mission was gonna be a challenge," Poet said with a chuckle.

"I've got no problem with easy missions," Eva replied as she dodged anti-air fire coming from one of the cruisers. "I don't know about you, but I'd rather not get shot down."

"Let's not jynx ourselves guys," Domino chimed in. "We've still got some boats to sink."

"Yeah, I'm with Domino on this," Magic added. "I don't wanna speak too soon."

Eva made a dive down to the water and approached one of the aegis vessels, using the same tactic as before. She let out a hail of machine-gun fire and fired two missiles at its hull, pulling up at the last second. As Eva ascended into the sky again, she saw Domino doing the same thing and destroying another ship.

"All aegis vessels destroyed. Only the carriers are left," Waller told them.

"Hey, look at the carriers," Torch said. "They're moving something onto the flight decks."

Eva turned toward the carriers and went in low to try and get a closer look. However, just as she got within range, new radar contacts appeared going up from the carriers, and they were moving fast. It didn't take long for Eva to identify them.

"Drones!" she reported. As quickly as she could manage, she maneuvered herself behind one of the drones that had just taken off and quickly finished it off with a single missile. As agile as the MQ-99s were, they couldn't take a hit.

"They loaded drones on the carriers?" Poet asked.

"Well, they're small and easy to launch. There's no telling how many are on that thing," Domino said. "We've gotta take 'em out. Torch, you and Magic destroy those carriers, keep them from launching any more. Diamond, Poet, we'll take on the drones," he quickly instructed everyone.

"Copy, we're on it. Let's go, Magic," Torch responded.

"Right behind you," Magic said.

Suddenly, a warning sounded off in Eva's cockpit. She had a drone on her tail, and it was locking on. She banked left and went into a high-G turn to try and get behind it, but the drone was practically glued to her tail. A missile warning quickly replaced the enemy lock warning, but Eva barely managed to outmaneuver the missile. She craned her neck behind her to try and spot the drone on her tail. It was matching her move for move. She had to do something. Eva sent her plane straight down towards the water, and her pursuer followed. She got closer and closer to the water until she finally pulled up in a high-G turn at the last moment. Eva was mere meters above the water, and as she predicted, the drone didn't respond in time and plunged into the ocean. As she returned to a more comfortable altitude, she saw Domino in hot pursuit of a drone, but she quickly spotted another one coming up behind him.

"Meteor 1, bandit behind you!" she warned him as she went to try and take out the drone.

"Copy, I see it. Can you deal with it for me? I've got my hands full with this one," he replied.

"I'm already on it," Eva replied just as she was locking onto the drone. Luckily, since it seemed preoccupied with Domino, it wasn't that hard to take down. She fired a single missile, and it hit its mark without any problem.

"Thanks, Diamond," Domino said as he destroyed the drone he was chasing.

"One carrier is down," Torch reported. "And the other is about to go with it."

"Good work, you two!" Domino praised him and Magic. "Finish it off, and we can head home."

"Wilco. I'm just giving it the final shot now," Magic said.

Eva looked over at the remaining carrier and saw Magic fire two missiles at its hull. The carrier exploded and slowly started sinking to the ocean floor below.

"All aircraft, no more hostiles on radar. The mission is complete," Waller told them. "RTB and report for debriefing."

"Roger that, we're on our way," Domino replied. "Good work, everyone. I'm proud of you guys," he told his squadron as they formed up behind him.

After landing and making their way to the briefing room, the pilots took a seat while Waller sat in front of the terminal, looking at something on the screen.

"We've successfully destroyed the enemy fleet, and as a result, Farbanti will remain without reinforcements for a while longer. However, the revelation that Erusea is carrying drones on aircraft carriers is worrying. We'll have to be careful when dealing with their navy in the future. That's all for now, dismissed."