The small base hidden in the woods was always bustling with activity. Mechanics worked on planes or other parts, researchers were analyzing data and making conclusions, and Adrian and his team were improving the Skyshard. However, the one person who seemingly had nothing to do most of the time was Jacob. The research team was extensive with their data analysis, so it took them several days to entirely go through all of Jacob's information brought back with each test. As a result, he had long periods where he ended up grounded, and that was also the case with his plane still under repairs after the dogfight with the Osean pilots in Farbanti. To keep himself on his toes, Jacob spent a fair amount of time working out. Not only did he find it necessary to keep himself in top shape, but even for someone like him, flying an advanced fighter like the Skyshard was very physically demanding, so he wanted to be as physically fit as he could be.

The young mercenary was alone in his quarters. He cleared out space in the center of the room and was presently doing a set of push-ups on his knuckles. As his body rhythmically dropped and rose, Jacob kept a mental count of how many he had done up to that point.

'Twenty-three… twenty-four… twenty-five.' He lowered himself to the ground one more time and laid there for a moment, panting as he regained his breath. Suddenly, he heard a knock on his door from just outside. "Come in," he called out as he sat up.

A moment later, Doctor Francis stepped in and nodded a faint greeting to Jacob. "Are you busy with anything at the moment?" he asked.

"It wouldn't matter even if I was," Jacob told him as he got to his feet. "I'm on your payroll, so you're the one who dictates if I'm busy or not. What do you need?"

"We need you for an op; we'll explain in the briefing room. Besides, I figured we could turn this into another combat test," Doctor Francis said, gesturing toward the rough direction of the briefing room.

Jacob raised an eyebrow inquisitively. "How am I supposed to go out on any operations when the plane is busted?" he asked.

"The mechanics just finished the repairs a few hours ago," Doctor Francis explained. "Try not to break it again," he added sternly. "Although, to be honest, it's not like it'll matter that much. We're having a new model delivered in a few days. I'd still rather you not damage a highly experimental and expensive prototype, though."

Jacob's mood drastically improved at the thought of having a new model to fly, however long it might take to get it. It had been a little over two weeks since they got a new model, and considering how many drastic changes that previous model made, it was safe to say that he was excited to see what changes they'd make this time. Not to mention that it would also surely mean that he would get to spend a lot more time in the air doing flight tests.

Doctor Francis turned around and started walking through the halls, and Jacob chose to follow behind at a distance. While he sometimes thought that the two of them shared the beginnings of a friendship, Jacob still couldn't quite figure out what the doctor was thinking most of the time. It was a bit offputting at times. However, Jacob was very aware that Doctor Francis cared more for Project Skyshard than anyone or anything in the world, which was a bit infuriating for Jacob. In the end, though, the money was all that mattered to him. He wasn't here to make friends; he was here to fly a prototype fighter and get paid for it. However, it wouldn't hurt to know that he could trust his employer, considering that the last time he put blind faith in his employer, he had to shoot down half of his squadron. He pushed those thoughts aside for the moment as he and Doctor Francis entered the briefing room.

"Alright, Zero, let's hurry up and get this briefing underway," the base commander, General Shay, said as he brought up a map of Usea on his screen. "Our fight against the Osean forces on the continent has gone very well over the last month. However, that could be about to change. While we made efforts to sink as many aircraft carriers in Osea as we could, some repair yards escaped our attacks and managed to get an aircraft carrier up and running again; the OFS Falcon. With the loss of the Kestrel II, Osea has gathered a strike force to open up a second front on the western coast." The screen zoomed out to include the Osean continent, and a small red dot moved from Osea to western Usea. "The small fleet just arrived at the city of Alesburg and is trying to take the city to use it as a base of operations." Alesburg lit up on the map, lying about halfway between Anchorhead Bay and Farbanti. "The city was severely underprepared for an attack, and so far, it looks like the Oseans attack may succeed."

Jacob straightened his posture a bit. "I presume that's where I come in?" he asked. The answer seemed obvious, but even so, it was better to be safe than sorry.

Shay nodded. "Yes. Your job is to defend the city and sink the fleet. You'll probably have to go up against aircraft launched from the carrier as well, so be on the lookout for that," he advised. "Now, any questions?"

Jacob stood up. "No, sir. I'll get it done, as long as the pay is good, of course." He cocked an eyebrow slyly with a grin to match.

General Shay and Doctor Francis shared the same annoyed expression before waving Jacob off so they could talk about other matters. As soon as he was out of the briefing room, Jacob broke out into a light jog toward the hangar. Considering how desperate General Shay made the situation out to be, Jacob decided not to waste any time. He stepped into the hangar and circled his plane for a moment, checking the mechanics' work before climbing into the cockpit and starting up the engine.

"We're not gonna last much longer up here!" The voice of a panicked Erusean pilot said. "We need reinforcements!"

"Well, now you've got 'em," Jacob chimed in. "This is Zero. I'm entering the AO now." He glanced down at his radar and surveyed the battlefield. The Oseans had pushed the remaining Erusean forces back to the edges of the city and were starting to pick them off. Only a handful of F-16C's and Su-30's remained.

"One plane? We're about to lose the city, and they send one plane?" The pilot from earlier asked.

Jacob hit the afterburners and sped over to the city. "You're not about to lose the city," he replied. "Because I'm here, and I'm the only reinforcements you'll need." That sounded a bit more arrogant than he intended it to, but it was still true. Even if he didn't have a highly experimental fighter, he would still probably be able to help turn the tide of the battle. After all, he had done more with slimmer odds.

Right off the bat, he started by firing two missiles at an F-35 and slipping behind an F-14 to take it out with machine guns. With the first two taken out, Jacob focused on the missiles that were quickly coming up behind him. He made a sharp turn upward and rolled onto his side to make a right turn. Upon leveling his plane out, he found himself right behind another F-35, which he took advantage of by shooting it down. Jacob's eyes locked onto the nearest plane, an Su-33, and started moving to get behind it. They did their best to keep Jacob from having a clear shot, but it wasn't enough. Once he reduced the Su-33 to nothing but a fireball falling to the ground, Jacob performed a kulbit and fired two missiles at the F-14 that had been tailing him.

"Holy shit, that's five planes down in, what? A minute?" Another Erusean pilot said, baffled by Jacob's performance. "Just what the hell kinda plane are you flying?"

"I'm afraid that's classified," Jacob told him while chasing down another F-14 with his guns. "The enemy is caught off-guard, though. Now's your chance to drive them back. I'll deal with the fleet." He broke off after taking out his target and turned to the fleet, which wasn't far from shore.

As Jacob pulled away from the furball and flew over the sea, he couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed that none of the Osean pilots put up as much of a fight as that pilot with the crystal emblem from Farbanti. However, the mission wasn't over yet, so there was still a chance. He wasn't holding out much hope, though. That pilot, whoever he was, had truly earned Jacob's respect. Even if he likely went down shortly after their duel, he went down fighting tooth and nail for his squadron- a position Jacob had been in himself on a few occasions.

Finally, the enemy fleet appeared on Jacob's HUD. The fleet contained two destroyers, three frigates, an aegis vessel, a battlecruiser, and of course, the aircraft carrier Falcon. A few AH-64s hovered around the fleet as well.
"Time to earn my pay," Jacob muttered, switching to the LASMs that he had equipped on his plane for this mission.

His first target was the aegis vessel. He unleashed a single anti-ship missile, and it glided through the air. The ship tried to intercept it, but all they hit was the water. After sustaining a critical blow, the aegis vessel began its descent to the bottom of the ocean. With one of the more high-value targets out of the way, Jacob fired a second anti-ship missile at the battlecruiser. It didn't do enough damage to sink the ship, but Jacob remedied that with a missile and a machine-gun burst. Usually, it would be quite the task to dodge and weave his way through all the anti-air fire and missiles from the ships and helicopters, but the XFA-30 made it child's play. Jacob put some distance between himself and the fleet and looped around to make another run. This time, he fired his LASMs at the two destroyers, and while they were finding their targets, he finished his second pass by taking out two helicopters with his standard missiles.

Jacob looked over his shoulder at the remains of the fleet behind him. "Come on, just a little bit more. The sooner I'm done with this, the sooner I can get out of here." As far as he could tell, Jacob didn't have much of a reason to want to leave, but he had some creeping feeling in his mind, and he didn't like it one bit.

By that point, the fleet had started to turn around and make their way to open waters. The aircraft still in the city looked like they were trying to come back to help them, but the remaining Erusean pilots kept them busy and had even taken out most of them. Only a few helicopters remained to defend the fleet, which Jacob quickly finished off in another pass. Not wanting to waste any more time, he made a short loop around and fired an anti-ship missile into two of the destroyers and sunk the last one with his machine guns.

"Just one left," Jacob murmured, bringing his attention to the aircraft carrier. He had a clear shot and was well outside their range, but he couldn't bring himself to pull the trigger. He felt his heart pounding in his chest and his hands clamming up. No matter how hard Jacob tried, he couldn't bring himself to fire a missile. "Dammit." He hit the carrier with a brief machine-gun burst, enough to inflict light damage, and broke off. "I've already killed enough people today-money be damned."

With a new pillar of smoke following it, the aircraft carrier Falcon went further out into the open sea, and the last two Osean fighters followed it, not even acknowledging Jacob. He watched it for a moment and couldn't help but remind himself of the Kestrel II. The crew aboard the Falcon would surely make it back to the Osean continent, but he wondered what would have happened if the Kestrel II managed to get away in the same way. Although, his thoughts were soon disturbed by the Erusean pilot from earlier.

"Holy hell, that was insane!" he exclaimed. "I guess you really were the only reinforcements we needed."

Jacob smirked, finding the young pilot's enthusiasm a nice distraction from his thoughts and worries. "Told ya so," he quipped. "Well, it's been a pleasure working with you, gents. I'm gonna be on my way now." Jacob set his course back for the research base. "Keep your heads down."

"Well, this seems to have been a very promising and informative sortie, Zero," Doctor Francis observed, skimming over the flight data. "I do have one question, though."

Jacob tilted his head, raising an eyebrow in confusion. "Name it, sir."

"The aircraft carrier Falcon. Why didn't you sink it?" Doctor Francis asked, turning from his computer to Jacob. "After all, that was the main target of the operation."

Jacob flinched. He hadn't been expecting that to be Doctor Francis' concern, but once he said it, he felt like he should've. "Well, I uh… I just didn't see a need for it, sir," he explained.

"Except for the fact that Osea will surely try to do this again, now that they still have an operational carrier, you mean?" Doctor Francis challenged with his eyes narrowed into slits.

Jacob had seen the man angry before, but that didn't feel as unnerving as the look he was giving him now. It was like suspicion combined with pure disdain. "Sir, Osea would be foolish to keep trying the same strategy over and over again. Besides…" Jacob paused. He wasn't sure if he should say what was on his mind, but he decided to do so anyway. "I've killed enough people for one day."

Doctor Francis stood up, keeping his eyes on Jacob. "A mercenary who can only kill so many?" He walked past, bumping Jacob's shoulder. "Stay on your toes, Zero. That new model will be here by the end of the week."

Author's Note: Hey everyone, Merry Christmas! My gift to you is another chapter of Clouded Skies. Sorry it's been so long, I've been working on a Cyberpunk fanfic, so I've been focusing on that for the past few weeks. Also, Clouded Skies just hit 2k total views not that long ago and I just wanna thank you guys from the bottom of my heart. Words can't express how much your support means to me. Anyway, enjoy the holidays and enjoy the chapter!