For the first time in almost a week, the pilots of Nexus Squadron had finally found the time to meet up at the mess hall again. They were all looking forward to it, but it just didn't feel the same as before. After being split up, however temporary it may be, everyone felt the same feeling.

"So, how are the missions going?" Vortex asked the three pilots still in the air.

Eva took one final sip from her coffee, emptying the cup. "We've gone up once so far, and that was almost a week ago now," she answered.

"Why are they waiting?" Charger asked. "I thought that time was of the essence."

"I'm sure they have their reasons," Vortex said reasonably. "And I'm sure you'll be going up soon, so be ready."

"Well, on the bright side, we've got two more steps, and then Farbanti should be a piece of cake," Poet said optimistically.

"Tch, yeah 'should be' is the key phrase there," Magic chimed in. "It should've been easy the last time too, but we all saw how that turned out."

"Yeah, but this time, we'll have the advantage," Eva reminded her. "I just hope that you guys will be able to join us by then." She looked over at Lucky, who had barely said anything. "How's everything going for you, guys?" she hesitantly asked.

Vortex sighed. "We're going to be starting the court-martial tomorrow." He paused for a moment, looking away from the group as he spoke. "I imagine it's going to be quick," he added in a lower voice.

Eva resisted the urge to slam her fist on the table. "It's such bullshit!" she huffed. "They're just looking for someone to take the blame."

"Yeah. At this point, I don't think they're even trying to deny it," Charger said with a nod.

Eva sighed. "I guess that means you guys are going to be shipping out today to go to the court-martial?" she asked.

Vortex shook his head. "Actually, no. We're doing it right here on the carrier through some internet call or something. Waller managed to convince the top brass not to ship us back since we're needed here."

Magic scoffed. "It's the least he could do after basically accusing Lucky of killing civilians intentionally," she said dryly.

Vortex looked as if he was about to respond, but the PA system cut him off. "Meteor Squadron, report to the briefing room ASAP." Waller's voice rang through the mess hall.

"Is he crazy? A thunderstorm is moving in, and he picks today of all days to do this mission?" Poet asked.

"At least we get to do something. Let's go," Eva said, standing up. She briefly waved to the other three pilots as she left with Magic and Poet right behind her.

When they arrived, Domino and Torch were already seated, and Waller was just booting up the system. The familiar three beeps sounded off, and the map of Usea displayed on the screen as everyone sat down.

"Alright, let's get the briefing started," Waller said. The map synced with the satellite data and displayed friendly and enemy territory. "Your target is the radar facility on Mount Lambert. Destroying this site will allow us to strike the airfield near Farbanti with surprise on our side, and we'll have the same element of surprise when we hit Farbanti itself," Waller explained.

"How are we going in?" Domino asked.

"There's a reason we're going in today when there's a storm moving in. You're going to be flying in at low altitudes using the storm clouds as cover," Waller told them. "But it's not as simple as blowing up the radar site and running away." The map zoomed in on Mount Lambert and the surrounding region. "There are other smaller radar sites located around the main one. Also, they're all connected to an extensive system of precision AA guns and XSAMs."

Groups of red dots appeared all around the mountain, and pictures of the radars and XSAMs appeared on the screen.

Waller took a deep breath. "Simply put, a five plane formation wouldn't make it through undetected even if we weren't doing this in a thunderstorm. We'll be sending one aircraft in to maneuver through the storm and the radar network to take out the leading site. After the radar is down, the anti-air system will be crippled, allowing the rest of the squadron to move in and neutralize the rest."

Eva looked around at the others to see if they were as unsure about this plan as she was. Only one aircraft going is crazy, not to mention dangerous. Domino and Torch nodded slowly while looking at the screen, while Magic and Poet both had a concerned look on their faces.

"So, who's the one that's going to do it?" Eva finally asked.

Waller looked her in the eyes. "You are," he told her.

Eva froze on the spot. "M- me?" she asked stammering. "With all due respect, sir, I don't know if I can do this," she admitted. What made him think she was the best pick for this mission?

"You can do this. I know you can. Otherwise, I wouldn't have requested you to do it," Domino said as he turned to face her.

Eva's mind desperately tried to come up with something to say, anything. Why did he have so much faith in her? She tried to speak, but no words came out. Instead, she looked over to Magic and Poet in the hope that they would back her up.

Poet shrugged. "I think you can do it, Diamond. You're a better pilot than you give yourself credit for."

Magic gave her an assuring smile. "If anyone here can do this, it's you. We'll be right behind you."

Eva sighed. In her opinion, it was a terrible plan, no matter who went, but she didn't seem to have much choice. "Fine, let's do this."

Eva could feel sweat sliding down her forehead under her helmet, and she could feel her hands clamming up. Ahead of her were a black cloud and an extensive anti-air system. Behind her, though, was her friends, however far behind they might be, and that filled her with a feeling of determination.

"Meteor 3, you're about to pass through Waypoint One, keep your altitude below 700 meters, and do not fire your weapons until you reach the target. Imposing radio silence now," Waller told her.

Eva took a deep breath as she lowered her altitude. She had to resist the urge to say anything back. She could feel her hands start to shake against the control stick as she approached the thunderclouds. The frame of her plane began to shudder as she went into the clouds. Eva tried to steady her breathing to calm her nerves. She thought back to Vortex's advice: always go into the sky with a clear mind. Casting her doubts aside, Eva looked down at her radar. Red circles started coming into view, marking the enemy radar's detection radius. It was difficult to maneuver inside the clouds, but Eva managed to get past the first radar unnoticed.

The silence was killing her. The only things she could hear were the muffled cries of her engines and the shaking of her plane in the clouds. She looked down at her radar again and slowly maneuvered around another radar site. Suddenly, a flash of white filled Eva's eyes, and her plane shook much more rigid than before as it started to descend. She blinked the white from her eyes and quickly realized she was rapidly going down and corrected her altitude. Her HUD was glitching, but other than that, all of her instruments looked fine. Eva's breathing finally settled again as she adjusted her course around another radar site.

"Did I just get struck by lightning?" she asked herself.

Eva shook the thoughts out of her mind and focused on the mission, as much as she could anyway. Ahead of her, she saw two radar sites almost right next to each other. There was only a small gap between their detection radiuses, but it was her only way forward. She adjusted her course a bit to the left, although it wasn't easy for her to keep a steady angle with the wind pushing her plane around. As Eva got closer to her narrow window of opportunity, she realized that another radar was almost immediately behind the other two. She would have to make a hard right turn right away, but she was almost at the objective after that.

Eva couldn't help but hold her breath as she went between the narrowest of gaps provided by the two radar sites. At this point, she was terrified of being detected. After she had gotten this far, there was no way she'd be able to get back out. Her only path was forward. She let out a sigh of relief as she made it past the corridor and immediately went into a right turn. The strong winds from the storm cloud weren't making things easy for her, but at least she wasn't getting struck by lightning again. Finally, she saw the last hurdle before she was in the clear. Only one more left turn through a corridor that wasn't nearly as narrow as the other one.

"You can do this," Eva muttered to herself. "You can do this," she repeated.

She could feel her heart pounding in her chest as she got closer and closer to the final turn. She gripped the control stick tightly, making sure that the wind didn't blow her off-course. Finally, she made the tightest turn she could manage given the wind conditions and flew right through the gap between the two radars. After all the work she had put in, she finally made it to the base of the mountain.

With no time to lose, Eva accellerated as fast as her plane would allow her as she curved right up the side of the mountain. She could see her target appear on her HUD, although she wasn't quite in range. Eva watched in anticipation as the target's range got smaller and smaller, and she climbed higher and higher. The one long beep from her cockpit informed her that she was locked on, but she didn't have a visual on the radar. Finally, the summit of the mountain was in her sights, and so was the radar. Eva quickly fired two missiles, which elegantly soared through the air and crashed into the radar, destroying it.

"This is Meteor 3. The target is down!" Eva reported. She felt a rush of exhilaration wash over her. That was the most intense thing she had ever done.

"Good job, Diamond. We're moving in now. Feel free to deal with the other radar sites," Domino told her.

"Wilco, I'm already on it. I'll try to save some for you until you get here," Eva said with a grin.

With that, Eva made her way back down the mountain to the nearest radar site. It had an AA gun and XSAM site protecting it, but they weren't much help with the primary radar down. Eva destroyed them with a missile each before they could fire, and she finished the radar off with her machine guns.

"Meteor 3, Meteor Squadron is entering the AO now," Waller told her.

"We even took out one of the radar sites," Torch added.

"You're welcome," Poet chimed in.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I didn't see you maneuvering through a bunch of radars and a thunderstorm," Eva shot back.

"Touché," Poet replied.

As Eva and Meteor Squadron made their way towards each other, Eva managed to take out another two radar sites, and the others reported they got another one as well.

"Only five radars remain in the area," Waller reported. "Take them out."

"You heard the man," Domino said as Eva slipped into formation. "Let's split up. Torch, let's go take out those two on the far side."

"I'm right behind you," Torch told him.

"Alright, good. You three can take out the rest," Domino told the others.

"One for each of us, perfect," Magic chimed in.

Eva turned toward the three radar sites that Domino and Torch were moving away from and moved closer. Magic and Poet followed right behind her. As soon as Eva reached the first one, the other two split off to deal with their targets. Using the same strategy as before, a missile on each defense system, and finishing the site with machine guns, Eva made short work of the radar.

Just as she was about to report her success, however, Waller beat her to it. "Meteor Squadron, all radars are down. Mission accomplished."

"Oh, come on. You sound surprised, sir," Torch said in a jesting tone.

Waller couldn't help but laugh a little. "Just get your asses back to base."

Although Eva's plane was a bit shaken up by flying through the storm, there was no severe damage, for which she was relieved. After landing and getting out of their planes, everyone made their way to the debriefing room. And as usual, Waller was already there waiting for them. They all took a seat, and he turned on the screen, which displayed data about the operation.

"The operation was a success. With the radar site out of the way, we have a clear shot at the airbase and Farbanti," Waller informed them. "You did well out there today Diamond." He gave her a look that conveyed a mixture of happiness and pride.

"Thank you, sir. I was just doing my job," Eva replied.

"Well, I think you all deserve a rest for now. Dismissed."

Author's Note: Woah two chapters in one day! Guess that's my way of saying happy one month anniversary to the Clouded Skies. It's crazy to think how far this thing has come in only one month, and I'm not even a third of the way done yet. Anyways, next chapter you'll get a new perspective so there's that to look forward to. (Ooo I wonder who it'll be?) And as always, thank you guys for sticking with this. It means a lot to me that there's so many of you who enjoy this as much as I enjoy writing it.