"Rogue 10, this is the Control Tower. The runway is free. You have permission to land."

Eva lowered her landing gear and started reducing her speed. "Roger that, Tower. I'm beginning my approach." She lined up the runway with the center of her vision and started dropping her altitude. As she got closer and closer to the runway, she felt an immense wave of relief wash over her. The mission to rescue Major Tillmin had admittedly taken quite a bit out of her, specifically the fight with Draugr Squadron.

"Bank left," control instructed her.

Eva followed the instructions given to her and adjusted slightly before her wheels touched down onto the ground. Slowly but surely, her Su-35 slowed down until it came to a complete stop. Eva took a deep breath in and out before removing her oxygen mask.

"A little shaking on the landing," control noted. "But at least your down. Taxi into the hangar and stand by for your next sortie."

After making her way into the hangar, Diamond switched off the engines and climbed out of her plane. Her eyes wandered over to Castor Squadron's Su-33s as she jumped down to the ground off the last few rungs of the ladder. They had a gray camo and purple wingtips. It looked similar to her own livery.

"I'll be honest, when Draugr Squadron showed up, I was worried we wouldn't make it out of there, but you guys really gave 'em hell." Eva recognized the voice of Neutron and turned to face him. He had short black hair and green eyes, and he had a friendly expression. It reminded Eva a bit of Domino.

"Well, it definitely wasn't easy. Your old pals put up quite a fight," Eva responded, smiling as she took off her helmet.

Neutron waved his hand dismissively. "Eh, even before we decided to help the Major, we were never really friends with them. Nobody was, quite frankly. It always just felt like they thought they were better than you." He shrugged. "Either way, I figured if anyone could take them down, it'd be the Blue Kestrel. It seems I was right," he added with a smile.

Eva tilted her head to the side, raising an eyebrow inquisitively. "The Blue Kestrel?" she echoed.

"There have been rumors spreading around the Erusean Military about an Osean pilot with blue wingtips and a kestrel on their tail," Neutron explained. "Folks have started to call them, well, you, I guess, the Blue Kestrel." He nodded to her Su-35 and the kestrel on the verticalstabilizers. "Some people even claim to have seen the Blue Kestrel in action- said they moved like no plane they had ever seen before. Of course, some people doubted that you even existed, although, after today, I doubt they'll be saying that anymore."

Eva glanced at her plane for a moment. "That's weird to think about," she admitted. She remembered listening to stories from her mother about the Razgriz, but to hear herself talked about similarly just felt strange.

"You think that's weird to think about? You haven't even heard the strangest explanations of where you came from," Neutron said, smirking.

"Really?" Eva asked. "Like what?" In her mind, she wasn't sure if anything could top that, but at the same time, she wouldn't be surprised if it did.

"Some say that the Blue Kestrel is a spirit, one that's hellbent on vengeance for the Kestrel II. It'll fight tooth and nail, so long as it accomplishes that one goal," Neutron explained.

Eva didn't respond right away. She couldn't help but think that it was reasonably accurate. After all the people on the Kestrel II she had lost, Eva would be lying if she said she didn't want to get some payback for them. "Not exactly wrong," she finally said. "The only real difference between that and the truth is I'm not a spirit." She looked down at her hands. "At least, last time I checked, I'm not," she added with a smirk.

Neutron shrugged. "Either way, after seeing you in action, I think you've earned the title. Plus, it kind of suits you, to be honest."

"I can agree with you there," Vortex chimed in as he walked up to join the two of them, patting Eva on the shoulder. "You've come a long way since all this started, and if my word isn't enough to convince you, then the way the Eruseans react to seeing you should be."

Eva smiled, nudging Vortex. "Well, I can't take all the credit. Not when I have such an awesome squadron with me."

"Fair enough," Vortex admitted with a chuckle. "Now, let's go. Gates is waiting for us to debrief."

"Aaron, it's good to see you again after so long," Gates said, extending a hand to Major Tillmin.

Tillmin smiled and shook his hand. "Good to see you too, Clinton. I just wish that we could've been meeting under better circumstances."

Gates nodded and brought Tillmin up to the front of the room. "Yeah, I'm with you there, but the important part is that you're here now. Not to mention you've brought more pilots with you." He nodded to Castor Squadron. "We haven't been introduced yet. I'm Commander Gates. I run this base. You're Castor Squadron, then?"

Neutron stood up. "Yes, sir. I'm Castor 1, Neutron." He gestured to his squadmates sitting next to him. "This is Castor 2, Bouncer, Castor 3, Threes, and Castor 4, Mesa."

"Pleased to make your acquaintance," Gates replied. "It's good to see that not all of Erusea is insistent on fighting this pointless war." He glanced back over to Tillmin. "Now, the last time you and I spoke to each other, you said you had intelligence that we would be able to put to good use. Is that still true?"

Tillmin smirked and pulled a USB drive from his pocket. "All the intel I couldn't remember in my head, I stored here." He set it down on the desk where the computer running the briefings sat.

"The location of that comm-jamming facility wouldn't happen to be on that drive, would it?" Crosswind chimed in. "We'd be better equipped to put all this to good use if we were able to link up with Osean forces."

Tillmin shook his head. "Sadly, no. Its location is highly confidential. Not even I know where it is."

Magnum jumped to her feet. "You're telling me all of that effort we put in was pointless?" she demanded. "We're still stranded out here?"

"I'm afraid so," Tillmin admitted. "But that's not to say you're efforts were wasted," he quickly added. "Most of my work involved the Arsenal Birds, so a lot of my intel involves ways to deal significant blows against them. Allow me to explain." He took the USB drive and plugged it into the computer as he booted up the briefing software. "As I'm sure you're aware, two Arsenal Birds are protecting the Space Elevator. One is named Liberty, and the other is called Justice." Tillmin pulled up images of two Arsenal Birds onto the screen. "Justice is the more advanced of the two. It has stronger propellors, a higher drone carrying capacity, pulse lasers, a high-powered laser cannon, Helios projectiles, and notably, a more advanced Active Protection System unit, or APS unit. This is what powers the Arsenal Bird and allows it to deploy its shield. The more advanced model enables the Arsenal Bird to use power more effectively and deploy its shield faster."

Eva nodded along slowly as Tillmin went through all of his information. Her mind slowly back to Farbanti and her other encounter with the Arsenal Bird. 'Since the Arsenal Bird had a laser each time we saw it, it must've been Justice both times,' she thought. 'Meaning I've got a bone to pick with that thing.'

"Now, as I said earlier," Tillmin carried on. "Justice is the more advanced of the two Arsenal Birds, and Liberty served as a prototype of sorts. However, that may not be the case for long. Erusea's planning to upgrade Liberty to have the same capabilities as Justice, starting with a new APS unit that's being delivered by cargo plane in a few days. They're delivering it from San Salvacion to Gunther Bay, where Liberty will dock to swap out the APS units. " He looked up from the screen and at the pilots. "However, this won't be a simple mission. In addition to the large escort, the transport carrying the APS unit will likely have several decoys surrounding it."

"We can worry about all that later," Gates chimed in. "Major Tillmin, Crosswind, and I will go over the specifics of his intel together and try to come up with a plan going forward. Based on what he's making it sound like, it seems we won't have a shortage of targets to go after. For now, though, you're all dismissed. Go eat, get some rest, whatever you feel is necessary, you've all earned it. If something urgent comes up, we'll notify you." He smiled, waving the pilots off. "Go on now."

The pilots all stood up and left the room before splitting off in various directions to move throughout the base.

Lucas took a deep breath as he finally spotted Magnum in the mess hall with Axe and Dodger. "Well," he muttered to himself. "You're gonna have to do this sooner or later. Might as well just rip off the bandage and do it now." It didn't take long for them to spot him, and when they did, they all glared at him.

"The hell do you want?" Magnum demanded as Lucas sat down next to them. "You here to chew us out for something you could've done better?"

Lucas tried his best not to look annoyed by her hostility and put on a friendly smile. "Easy, Magnum. I'm not here to pick a fight. Quite the opposite, actually."

A crooked smirk appeared on Magnum's face. "Sheesh, coming on strong, are we? Try buying me dinner first."

"What? No, not like that! Jesus, will you just listen to me?" Lucas asked, letting his annoyance show. "I want to put an end to this bickering. I've seen what happens when we all work together as a group, and we can get a lot done like that. More often than not, though, we're always at each other's throats for some reason or another, so I'm here to extend an olive branch." He extended his hand out in front of Magnum. "Can we put everything behind us and work together as a squadron?"

Magnum's extended silence made Lucas nervous. Her glare flicked down to his hand and then back up at him. "You know, reconciliation is a two-way street," she finally said. "It's not as if you and your squadmates haven't been the aggressors."

Lucas nodded understandingly. "Yes. I'm well aware," he replied, keeping his hand out for Magnum to shake. "I'm not saying it's gonna be easy, but us working together is the best option."

Dodger scoffed. "Why should we give a rat's ass?" he asked. "After this war is over, you'll probably get some medal while we get tossed into another prison, so why should we bother?"

Lucas paused and thought back to Gates' words from earlier. 'I bet if he had a reason to fight instead of being forced, that might motivate him.' Lucas looked over at Dodger. "You know, Commander Gates is a pretty understanding guy. I'm sure if you guys really gave it your all and fought with everything you've got, he might try to get you guys pardoned for your efforts." Lucas wasn't a fan of making promises that he couldn't guarantee he could keep, but from what he knew of Gates, if these pilots changed like the commander thought they would, he would likely be eager to give them a pardon. "So what do you say?"

Magnum leaned in close. "Let me make one thing clear, flyboy. I don't like you or your squadron. Had it not been for Crosswind, I probably would've shot you down when we first met. You threw off the order of things, and I can't stand that. These two-" She gestured to Axe and Dodger. "Slipstream, and to a lesser degree, Trench, are my squadron. If anything happens to them because of you or your squadron, there'll be hell to pay." She pulled a shiv out of one of the pockets in her flight suit. "That's no hollow threat, either. I won't hesitate," she murmured before putting it away again. "If anything happens to them because of you, you're dead. Got it?"

Lucas nodded. "Got it," he answered. "It's a deal then? Everything up to this point is water under the bridge?" He offered her his hand again.

Magnum glared at him before shaking his hand. "Don't make me regret this."

When Eva first arrived at Air Force Base 262, she couldn't stand looking out at the Sandbury Desert. Compared to the Spring Sea or the Eusian Ocean's glistening waters on the Kestrel II and at Fort Grays, it just looked bland. As time went on, though, she managed to find beauty in the dunes that just looked soft and peaceful, like waves rolling over each other as they got pushed around by the wind. She never thought she would end up enjoying the view as she sat outside in the twilight hours of the day.

"You're a hard woman to find sometimes. You know that?" She jumped a bit at Lucky's voice behind her.

Eva waved her hand dismissively. "Ah, you know me." She smiled as he sat down next to her.

The smile on Lucky's face lessened as he looked up at her. "Listen, are you… feeling alright?" he asked.

Eva shot him a puzzled look. "What do you mean? Is there a reason I wouldn't be?"

"No, no. It's just that, well, you've been strangely quiet since we came back from the mission today. I just wanted to make sure that nothing's wrong, y'know?" Lucky shifted awkwardly as he tried to explain himself.

Eva giggled before looking back out at the desert as a warm breeze came in, rustling her hair. "Lucky… I've been just alright for weeks, but for the first time in a while, I'm so much better than alright. I mean, look at the mission today. We got four more pilots, and we rescued the Major, and because of his intel, we have an actual plan. Sure, we're still cut off with no foreseeable way of contacting allies, but for the first time since the Kestrel II sank, we're not just fighting to survive. We're turning the tide and fighting back against the Eruseans." She thought back to what Neutron said about getting revenge for everyone on the Kestrel II. "Maybe now, I can finally make them pay for what they did to Domino, Torch, Waller, and everyone else." Although she still had yet to find Zero again, she wasn't going to give up until she did.

Lucky smiled. "I get what you mean. It feels nice not to have to worry about watching my back all the time, or not as much, at least." He laughed a bit at his joke. "More importantly, though, I'm glad you're happy." He put his arm around her shoulder. "We've had to put up with a lot of shit, so I'm glad you were able to come out of it and stay positive."

"Well, I owe that to you and the others," she said, nudging his shoulder. "I don't think I would've been able to carry on after Farbanti if not for you guys, but because of you, I've found a reason to keep fighting." Eva looked out at the desert as the sun started to slip behind the horizon, and she felt a feeling of tranquility. She didn't have to put up with any air raids or missions; it was just her, Lucky, and the desert. It felt nice, like one of those moments she wished would last forever. "We've come a long way to get here, haven't we?" Eva asked, looking up at Lucky.

Lucky nodded. "Yep," he replied. "And just think, it all started on an aircraft carrier in the middle of the ocean."

"Well, if we wanna get technical, it started at Fort Grays," she corrected him, smiling. "It's been a long, bumpy road, but I think that maybe- just maybe, we're gonna be alright."

Author's Note: And on that note, Act 2 comes to a close, finally bringing Clouded Skies to the halfway point. I have something a bit unique planned for the next posting, so stay tuned for that. Until then, I hope you've enjoyed this act, and thank you so so much for staying with me for so long. It really means more than I can put into words, so thank you.