Adrian was used to the base being quiet; in fact, he expected it by now. An air of peacefulness came with it that would always put his mind at ease whenever things got too overwhelming or difficult to handle. This, though, was anything but peaceful. It was still quiet, more so than usual, but it was too quiet. It was near complete silence, and it was more unnerving than anything else.

As Adrian looked out the window and up at the twilight sky, he noticed what he could only assume was explosions dotting the sky. They looked a bit like stars, only much bigger than the tiny flickering lights that were starting to become visible up above. Adrian smirked as he thought to himself. He had been informed about the plan to attack Osea's satellite network ahead of time, and he had been one of the people who expressly voiced his concerns about the operation, but Erusea carried on anyway. Now, once things came back online, he'd be able to rub it in their faces as soon as he got the chance. Typically, Adrian wasn't the gloating type, but he felt that he was almost required to make an exception for this. Pulling out his phone from a pocket in his lab coat, Adrion looked at all the information, or lack thereof, that was being displayed on the screen.

"NO CONNECTION / OFFLINE" the screen read in small text at the top right corner.

However, sitting in the center of the screen was an unopened text message- the last one he had received before the comms-blackout. It was from Dr. Stanton, and it read, "Adrion, five Skyshards are prepped for delivery. They should be there by tomorrow, but I'm gonna be here a bit longer, though. I'll call you once I'm able."

Adrian nodded to himself. It was probably for the best that Dr. Stanton was away from the action now. To call the political climate in Erusea tense in the months leading up to and during the war tense would be an understatement. Everyone was at each others' throats for so long, and now, this was likely the final straw that pushed everyone and everything into chaos. Adrian had no clue what was about to happen in the coming weeks or even months, but he did know one thing: things were about to change drastically.

Adrion started down the hallway with a heavy sigh, filled with exasperation and exhaustion, and made his way out onto the tarmac. He had other matters to attend to that required his attention. A few minutes ago, just as things went dark, four Su-37s came in for a landing at the base. They were the additional pilots he requested, and tomorrow he'd have the Skyshards for them to fly. He didn't know what the remaining forces on Osea had planned now that things went dark, but the war was about to change. In fact, as Adrian pushed the doors leading to the outside open, he suspected that they might even be able to take the capital back.

'Looks like I wasn't the only one to notice our new arrivals,' Adrian thought to himself as he spotted Zero talking with the four pilots. However, as he got closer, Adrian noticed the displeased look on the mercenary's face, and he rolled his eyes. His distrust of the man had grown significantly over the past few months, and it was beginning to reach a breaking point. Adrian didn't want to cut him loose because of how essential he'd been to the project up to that point, but at the same time, he wasn't sure if Zero felt the same way.

"And who exactly are these people?" Zero asked Adrian once he approached, gesturing to the four pilots.

"This is Vega Squadron. They're going to be flying the other four Skyshards I requested," Adrian explained. "Which, in hindsight, seems to have been the right call," he added, looking up at the sky.

One of the pilots from Vega Squadron followed his gaze upward. "What's even going on?" he asked. "Our HUDs all went on the fritz as we were landing, too."

"In addition to the counterattack in the east, Erusea was also planning an operation to take out the Osean military satellite network. It was hopefully going to cripple their communications. Although, if I had to take a guess, I'd suppose that they had the same idea. Simply put, we're on our own from here on out," Adrian said.

One of the other pilots, the one that looked to be the squadron leader, stood at attention. "Well, we're here and ready for orders," she reported. "What's our first course of action?"

"Well, right now, nothing," Adrian answered. "But we'll have a mission for all of you early tomorrow morning, so be ready for that, and while your new planes are expected to arrive tomorrow, I don't think they'll show up that early, so you'll likely have to use your current planes." He gestured to the Su-37s now parked in the hangar.

The squadron leader nodded. "Got it. So, where are we sleeping? Quite frankly, it's been one hell of a day, and I'd like to get some shut-eye."

Adrian nodded. "Of course. The barracks is over there," he nodded to the smaller building next to the control tower. "Zero here will show you to where you'll be staying," he said, glancing at the mercenary.

Zero narrowed his eyes at Adrian before leading the new pilots away. Adrian kept his eyes on him as he left, however. In the coming weeks, his doubts about Zero were going to be tested, and out of all the things he was uncertain about following the loss of the satellites, the mercenary's loyalty was the thing he was most unsure about.

Moonlight shimmered and reflected off the ocean waves, lighting up the night sky. Amidst the blanket of stars stretching across the globe, the faint remains of the explosions from earlier could still be seen. By now, though, they were nothing but echoes of their former selves- back when, only a few hours ago, those same explosions plunged the entire world into chaos.

At that point, Eva had decided to tune them all out. All she cared about watching was the formation lights of the rest of her squadron in front of her. All of them were still exhausted after their duel with Rogue Squadron, and it showed. Usually, Nexus Squadron would fly in a rigid, unbreakable formation, but now, they were just flying close enough to keep sight of one another. Nobody was saying anything either, although that was to be expected. After all, there was nothing that needed to be said.

The glitching in Eva's HUD had finally calmed down, but she still couldn't see anything on the radar, not even her squadron, who were right next to her. At first, she started thinking about what could be causing the disturbances in their systems, but no matter how hard she tried to avoid the subject, her mind found its way back to thinking about the battle with Rogue Squadron. All she could think about was the people she had known for what felt like ages, and yet, they all died in only a few moments. Gates, Tillmin, Crosswind, Trench, all of them were dead now, and she couldn't help but feel like she was at fault. If she had just kept Slipstream alive, then none of this wouldn't happen.

Suddenly a ping sounded off on her radar, and it finally recognized the others' aircraft. Only, it didn't display them as friendlies. Rather than a blue box marking them down as an ally, they all had yellow boxes, marking them down as 'UNKNOWN.' At first, her plane tried to lock onto them automatically, but she quickly shut it off, just to be safe.

Despite this sudden change, however, everyone continued to stay silent. They'd already been flying for hours now, and nobody said a word before, so they weren't going to say anything now. There was only one thing on everyone's mind, at that was going home, back to Fort Grays. They'd spent the whole war since the Kestrel II sank, trying to get back, but now that they were nearly there, a few of them silently wondered if it was all worth it.

The tense silence continued for at least another half an hour until finally, someone broke the silence. However, it wasn't anyone from Nexus Squadron that spoke. "Attention incoming bogies on heading 040. You're approaching the Fort Grays Island Air Base." Whoever it was sounded vaguely familiar to Eva, but she couldn't quite figure out who it was. "Identify yourselves at once, or we will shoot you down." Suddenly, three air contacts appeared on Eva's radar- yellow, like all the others.

Vortex was the one to send a reply. "Hold your fire, Sky Keeper," he insisted. "This is Nexus Squadron of the IUPF. We're friendlies."

"Holy shit, Nexus Squadron!?" came a surprised voice that Eva did recognize- the voice of Boggard. "We thought you guys were dead when the Kestrel II sank. Where have you been?"

"It's a long story," Charger answered before anyone else said anything. "Like, a really long story. We'll explain it all later, but right now, we're starting to run low on fuel, so if you guys could guide us back to base, that'd be great."

"I take it Meteor Squadron is gone, then?" A third voice, Footpad, asked.

"They sacrificed themselves back in Farbanti so we could get away," Vortex explained. "Like Charger said: it's a long story."

A fourth voice chuckled. "It's good to have you all back," he said. "Especially because of how shorthanded we've been as of late."

"Good to be back, Clown," Vortex replied. "It feels like it's been an eternity since we've been back here."

"Well, Mage Squadron will guide you back," Sky Keeper instructed them. "After that, we can all catch up on what's happened."

A few moments later, the three aircraft, F/A-18Es, passed by Nexus Squadron and circled around, pulling just ahead of the formation and leading them back to Fort Grays Island. After so many months, Eva and the others were finally back. Once they were on the ground, they taxied into the hangars, which, aside from the three Super Hornets that helped them get back and a single F-16C, were completely empty.

Once the six pilots were finally settled, Clown, Boggard, and Footpad came up to them, looking at their planes. "Quite a mishmash you've got going on here," Clown remarked, referring to the fact that each of them was now flying a different plane.

"Yeah, our old planes got damaged during the attack on Farbanti. So we just had to grab whatever planes were available at the base," Vortex explained, looking back at his Su-37.

"Wait, wait, wait," Boggard cut in, looking at Eva's Su-35. "So you mean that all this time, Diamond was the Blue Kestrel we've heard so much about?"

Lucky smirked. "You really oughta see her in action," he said, looking over at her and giving her a friendly nudge. "She's incredible."

"Well, I get the feeling we'll have the chance to see soon enough," Sky Keeper said, announcing his presence as he joined the group. "But for now, we should probably get you guys to see Commander Knight. He'll want to know where you guy's have been all this time, and quite frankly, I'm pretty interested too."

Vortex shrugged. "No point in waiting, I guess. Let's go."

Together, the ten of them all left the hangar and headed toward the control tower. Most of them navigated the base effortlessly. Even with how long it had been since they were there, the pilots of Nexus Squadron still remembered the place like the back of their hand.s The only exceptions were Eva and Lucky, who had barely been there a month before they left on the Kestrel II.

Upon reaching Commander Knight's office, he quickly looked over to them as he finished his discussion with someone else who was just leaving, and it didn't take long for him to notice the six additional pilots. "Is that who I think it is?" he asked, his voice containing a mixture of surprise and confusion.

Vortex nodded as he and the others saluted. "It is indeed, sir- Nexus Squadron, reporting for duty."

With the formalities out of the way, Eva and the others then began explaining where they've been since the failed attack on Farbanti. They did their best not to omit a single detail, and as they explained more and more, it made Eva realize how far they had come. By now, it felt like they were in an entirely different war than the one they were fighting back in May. If anything, it was a bit overwhelming. Regardless, they did their best to explain the situation that, at times, felt unexplainable.

"Then, our radars went on the fritz, and we couldn't hit anything. We had no choice but to break off and come back here," Vortex finished. "And that's everything," he said with a shrug. "We still don't know what happened with our radars, though."

Knight nodded and turned his attention toward the computer on his desk. "I have an answer to that. Along with the attack on the capital and the mass driver that took place today, Osea was also planning an attack to eliminate all of the satellites Erusea hacked at the start of the war. It seems Erusea had the same idea, and both countries knocked out each others' satellites at the same time."

"Yeah, that would do it," Poet muttered.

"What about you guys?" Charger asked, looking to change the topic. "How have things back here been?"

"And where are the others?" Vortex asked. "They out on a sortie or something?"

Clown's expression darkened as he looked down at the floor. "Things've been… rough for us," he finally answered. "We've been taking losses throughout the war. We've lost Brownie, Faun, Skeleton Squadron, Gargoyle Squadron, the carrier Vulture… Knocker, and of course, I guess you've heard about Trigger by now. Boggard, Footpad, and I are all that's left."

Hearing Trigger's name hit Eva with a realization like a tidal wave. She couldn't believe she'd forgotten to ask about him until now. "Trigger. W- where is he? What happened to him?" she asked desperately.

"The court-martial found him guilty pretty much on the spot," Clown began with a sigh. "I, uh, I tried to do more, but he ended up getting transferred to some penal unit- the 444th Air Base Squadron, I think it was."

Eva froze. "The 444th…" she murmured as her voice trailed off. "We- we saw them." She was only barely able to get the words out. "They only had one aircraft. The rest all got- got shot down." She didn't even want to say the words because that meant admitting what she feared: she was too late, and now Trigger was dead. One of the main reasons she'd been fighting since she found out about what happened to him was to get back to Fort Grays and help him, but now, all she could feel was hopelessness.

"I guess it's a good thing we got here then," Magic finally said, breaking the silence that filled the room. "Although, I don't suppose you guys have any more planes, do you?"

Knight shook his head. "Sorry, but no. We're running low on pretty much everything, truth be told. We were expecting to be resupplied pretty much any day now, but I doubt we'll be getting anything now. Either way, it's good to have you all back," he said with a tired smile. "Although, we did clear out your old rooms since we thought you were dead, so you'll have to go grab your things from storage. Sky Keeper can show you the way," he said, nodding to the AWACS operator. "Just be aware we'll need you to be ready for an operation early tomorrow. It's important."

Sky Keeper returned the nod and started leading the others out of Knight's office. "Right, come on, then. I'll show you where everything is."

Eva set a small box containing everything she didn't bring with her on the Kestrel II down in what used to be hers and Magic's room- not that she remembered it very well. Immediately, she started rummaging through the box, looking for one thing in particular. After a few seconds, she finally found it: a brown aviator jacket that was beginning to show its age. Even though it had a patch with her last name on it, the jacket didn't actually belong to her, not initially, at least. Her eyes shifted up and down as she inspected it, looking at all the patches that indicated it came from an OADF pilot from the Belkan War, her father. She held it close like a child holding a stuffed animal. That jacket was one of the only connections she had to her father, so she kept it near as much as possible. Then, she cracked a slight smirk as she realized the irony of the situation. In the end, it was a good thing she forgot it when she left on the Kestrel II because if she didn't, then it'd be sitting at the bottom of the ocean.

The next thing she noticed in the box was a pair of framed photographs. The first one Eva gravitated toward was a photo of her standing next to Trigger; it was a picture of their last day at the academy. It was their flight instructor who took the photo, despite both of them insisting that he get in the frame, but he wasn't a man who particularly liked getting his picture taken, so he refused. Despite the tears that were now rolling down Eva's face as she realized one of her closest friends was gone, she managed to get herself to smile a bit as she recalled all the memories the two of them had together.

After a moment, she managed to finally speak. Although, it was only a whisper as the words, "I'm sorry," faintly fell off her lips. "I'm sorry I wasn't here to help."

The second photograph at least managed to cheer her up a little. It was a group photo that she took with the rest of Nexus Squadron on her first day at Fort Grays. If there was anything that gave her the slightest bit of comfort about the situation she now found herself in, it was that despite everything that had happened to them, and all the trials they had to face, she and the others hadn't lost each other. She could lose the war as far as she cared. As long as she made it through with those five, she was happy. A moment later, she let out a yawn and set both pictures down. Only then did she realize how long of a day she and the others just had, and it was beginning to take its toll on her. She set the box aside for the night and crawled into her bed, feeling a wave of relief wash over herself as she set her head down on the pillow and drift to sleep.

"Damn them all," Cora muttered as she looked down at the instruments on her plane. "We'll make 'em all pay."

"You know what?" Dodger said. "Why stop with just Diamond and the others? I say we take it a step further and burn Osea to the ground."

"Well, to do that, we'd need somewhere to be able to actually land," Axe pointed out. "Especially because we're starting to run low on fuel."

Cora looked up at the night sky. The remnants from the explosion had long since vanished, and now, dozens of orange streaks covered the sky. Whatever it was that was exploding was now falling back into orbit. Whatever they were going to do, they needed to do it soon, before they started getting hit by debris.

"You know, as much as I hate to say it, if we wanna take the fight to Osea, our best bet is to join up with the Eruseans," Cora pointed out. "At least then we won't get locked back up once this is all over."

"I think we might have to table this discussion," Dodger chimed in. "We've got air contacts up ahead."

Cora squinted to try and get a better view of the situation unfolding before her and saw at least 15 fighters dancing through the sky. The flames from the missile trails and tracers from different planes lit up the night for brief moments before they disappeared again, leaving nothing but the formation lights and exhaust to paint the picture of a furball unfolding before them.

"Attention incoming aircraft, this is Pike Squadron of the OADF. Are you friendlies?" Cora heard someone ask over an open channel.

"Go to hell, you bastards," she spat in reply. "We're taking our freedom back."

"Hey, those incoming aircraft are fighting the Oseans," another voice said. "AWACS, patch them into our network."

Cora's radar pinged a moment later, and the unknown targets in front of her were marked as either friendly or hostile. "Who the hell-" Cora was about to ask the question but got cut off before she got the chance to finish it.

"Hey, you four wanna give us a hand?"The man from earlier asked. "We've got these Osean pricks on the ropes."

Axe smirked. "I like this guy," he remarked. "For an Erusean, he's alright."

"An Erusean?" he echoed with apparent disgust in his voice. "No, no, no. I'm done fighting for Erusea. Now, I'm fighting to free Erusea. In fact, that's what we're called- the Free Eruseans."

Cora shrugged. "Well, you're not Osean, and you're not Erusean, so what the hell. Sign us up!" she announced as she hit the afterburners and dove into the furball with Axe and Dodger right behind her.