Three Strikes

by bluebellwren

Naomi Foulke - TAC 'Trigger' - the latest in a line of air force prodigies, becomes the OADF's scapegoat when she's wrongfully accused of murdering former President Harling. In the midst of war against Erusea, she's sent to a penal unit to atone. Determined to redeem herself and swiftly end the war, she finds herself facing threats from all sides as she grows from prisoner to hero.

28. Sighthounds

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Sighthounds

|…|…|…|

Artiglio Port, Usea.
September 4th, 2019.
1455hrs.

|…|…|…|

Strider Squadron soared over the fleet, the familiar roaring of their four engines felt in their own chests as they neared the port. It was a cloudy day, and the port didn't look at all like how Naomi remembered. When they'd been there with Spare Squadron it had been a bright, sunny day for the most part. Well, except for that sandstorm that got in the way. But the past was in the past, now, and they had a new battle to deal with today. At least now they were free. Naomi quickly radioed the captain of the fleet's flagship — the Puffin — and announced that Strider Squadron was entering the AO before she addressed her own squadron. Count and Tabloid flanked her in the formation, with Húxiān covering Tabloid's wing, and they were close enough together that Naomi could see all of them if she craned her neck. "Alright, we're gonna be outnumbered even with the allied squadron that they're sending in. We're gonna hit 'em hard and fast. Got it?"

"Righto!" Count confirmed, and the others sounded off after him. After a pause, he asked his wingmates, "Before we get started, anyone up for some friendly competition? I'll even throw in a prize." He paused to see if anyone would object. No one did, and they all waited for him to tell them what the prize was. He quickly continued, "I've got about two hundred zollars in cash. One with the highest score, gets the money. Plus fifty bucks from everyone. So, that means that the overall prize amounts to about three-fifty. Y'all in?"

Tabloid chuckled as he replied with, "Eh, why not? I could use the money."

Naomi paused for a moment, considering the offer. It had been a while since she'd taken part in a kill competition. She remembered taking part in them with Boggard and Footpad, but in Spare Squadron there wasn't ever much of a reward. But it would make an otherwise stressful situation a little more positive, and there wasn't any harm in it the more she thought about it. Although Wiseman didn't agree with the idea of competing for the highest number of 'kills', Wiseman wasn't here. She was going for it. "It'll certainly spice things up for a change. You're on, Count, although I think that it's a little unfair at this point, since we all know who's gonna be getting the top score."

"Huh, someone's awfully cocky today. Starting to sound too much like me," Count replied with a chuckle. "You're lucky I'm letting you compete, Trigger. Just don't cheat and we'll be cool."

"Ha! Righto!" Naomi teased, stealing his own, favorite catchphrase, glancing towards her wing and at his plane. Húxiān didn't answer, but something close to a low, irritated growl could be heard over the radio. Somebody doesn't approve. For the first time ever, she found herself somewhat annoyed with the only other woman in the squadron. They weren't particularly close, but she could still trust Húxiān to follow orders regardless. Maybe she should make an effort to get to know the others better. But now wasn't the time to do it. They were closing in fast. Several enemy squadrons appeared on radar and on their HUDs. Naomi took a deep breath and called out, "Alright everyone, looks like we've got a furball on our hands. Get ready."

"Here we go!" Count said through what sounded like a grin. This was supposed to be an easy, straightforward mission after all. Much better than the ones they'd had recently. He called out to the other former Spare member as they all raised their noses and hit the afterburners, gaining altitude. "Yo! Tabloid! How ya feelin' buddy?"

"Glad to be back in the air!" Tabloid replied, sounding just as pumped up as Count did. Naomi's adrenaline was starting to kick in too as her 'battle instincts' started to kick in. Their friend suddenly let out a laugh and added, "Let's see how this thing handles in a fight. Do it with a bang, right?"

Unfortunately, they had to hold off on their attack for a minute. The enemy was right in front of them, and it wouldn't be long before they were within range to attack, but the order to engage had to come from HQ and then likely through Long Caster. Naomi was pretty sure that Wiseman and that shifty brigadier general were actually aboard the AWACS plane, but Long Caster had taken off long before Strider Squadron had so she didn't see who got aboard. She was pretty sure that it was the case, though. Within just a second, Wiseman's voice came over the radio, "Understood. Shit!"

Confused by Wiseman's apparent anger and ready for a fight, Naomi furrowed her brow and considered easing up on the engines until they found out what was wrong (and something obviously was). Instead, as they continued on their way, she quickly asked, "What's up? Is something wrong?"

It was Long Caster that answered the question. "Afraid so, Strider 1. Friendly aircraft and EW aircraft will arrive five minutes late."

"What?!" Húxiān demanded, and her aircraft slowed a little, trailing behind the squadron as if she wasn't sure about engaging any longer. Tabloid followed, slowing enough to separate the squadron from its formation and leaving Naomi and Count the only ones heading right for the enemy.

"Retreat and wait for backup!" Wiseman ordered quickly. Naomi bit her lip. Not how she imagined the operation going. They hadn't even started the fight yet and now they were being told to just abandon the fleet? And their backup was late? Something wasn't right about this.

She was about to pull out with Strider Squadron, maybe fly down to the fleet and fend off anybody that tried to attack them, but that wouldn't do any good. She and Count slowed enough to form back up with Tabloid and Húxiān, but she didn't have an opportunity to echo the retreat order before Clemens snapped into their ears, "Retreat not authorized! Do your jobs and gain air superiority at once! Disobey and you can kiss your jobs goodbye. Attack!"

Naomi clenched her jaw, not sure what she would do. She didn't want to follow Clemens' orders, but they were right there. Retreating now, when they had plenty of ammunition and no damage, would make them nothing more than cowards. But something wasn't right. The support should have been there. Why was it going to be late? She hesitated for a second and the others picked up on this, which wasn't a good thing. "Trigger!" Count got her attention and kept her from getting too lost in debating what to do. They needed her to make a decision now, otherwise they'd be easy targets. "What now? We doing this or not?"

Not wanting to waste another second, Naomi quickly picked up speed again and readied herself to fire at the lead plane in a squadron of Hornets. As soon as she got a lock, the three aircraft pulled up and over her. Naomi rolled before pulling her fighter into a vertical climb and then twisting around to level out behind the enemy. "Strider Squadron, engage! We're diving into the fireworks!" she ordered, firing a pair of missiles at the lead plane as soon as she got a lock. They hit the engine, and the pilot and his WSO was forced to eject as the fighter spiral out of control and then burst into flames. "Strider 1, splash one hostile!"

"Trigger's already kicked off the game!" Count said with a laugh as he and the remaining members of Strider fanned out to jump on their own targets.

"Guess we're going in then," Húxiān said, but there wasn't any hesitation or annoyance that Naomi could pick up on. "After Trigger!"

Missile warnings began to go off in Naomi's ear as she began to pursue aircraft after aircraft, downing the Hornets and moving on to the F-22s that were trying to take shots at her from the side, attempting to hit and run. She was fully intending to run up the score, and she kept track of each aircraft that went down. For the first time, being at close range with the enemy aircraft, she realized just how many actually had a chance to eject. Some she didn't see a chute from, but she tried to avoid concerning herself with that in the heat of the moment. The sky was streaked with white and black from missile trails and smoke from fallen aircraft, and Naomi quickly checked to make sure that everyone was doing alright. Count and Tabloid remained close by Naomi, sticking with one another and helping each other corral the enemy planes. Húxiān eventually started working with them, and it seemed that after about a minute, everyone was finally starting to get the hang of things.

With all the rolling, climbing, diving, evading, firing, and so on and so forth, Naomi was barely able to keep track of her surroundings. She was, however, aware of Long Caster informing them that weapons were free and that they needed to shoot everything that posed a threat to their fleet. It was Wiseman's voice that followed the comment, sounding uncertain of Clemens but hiding this from him without any trouble as he said, "Sir, you didn't tell us that there was a change in the H-hour. We weren't prepared to send them in by themselves. It puts them at too high a risk."

Clemens let out a scoff as he sneered, "What, you mean that even our hotshots won't even last five minutes? If they're as good as everyone says then they shouldn't have any trouble." He'd said something along those lines before. Naomi felt herself tense up with anger, and she bit back a frustrating groan as she let another missile loose and pulled clear of the wreckage of the enemy fighter as she shot past it. He didn't tell them about the change until the last minute on purpose. What was this guy's problem? They'd never met him before, so why was he so keen to mock them and see them fail? If anyone else was wondering the same thing as her, they didn't care to voice it. She'd ask them when they got home. Right now, she wanted to get this over and done with as soon as possible. She had a feeling that the time wasn't the only thing that Clemens hadn't been truthful about.

Húxiān let out a surprised gasp and grunted as she narrowly avoided being hit by a missile from an enemy fighter, but it remained stubbornly glued to her tail in pursuit. Tabloid came to her aid, diving at it and firing the machine gun the whole way until the wing from the enemy was too damaged to allow it to keep fighting. "Shit! Thanks, Hartmann…I owe you one," she said to him with a relieved sigh. She looked around for a new target as Tabloid broke away from her to do the same. As she did, she observed, "Damn, we've got tons of company above and below. Sticky situation. Not as hard as I thought it would be without Wiseman, though..."

"Seriously? You're still on about the fact that he didn't come?" Count said, sounding genuinely surprised and also amused by it for some reason. "Jeez. I don't need no Wiseman to fly!"

"Then prove it, Count!" Wiseman barked at him with a sigh.

"Righto!" Count chirped. In the midst of the battle, Naomi caught sight of him as he took on one of the remaining F-22s and get on its tail with ease. The Raptor and the Eagle pursued one another for a while, with Count actually managing to keep up with the faster, more advanced aircraft. The F-22 rolled to evade and start a dive, and Count matched the move, firing while they were both halfway through the barrel roll, then firing another missile when they leveled out again. The F-22 couldn't evade in time, and its pilot was forced to eject as the fighter's tail crumbled away and the engine began to ignite from the impact. Count let out a sigh, "Hope you're all keeping track of your kills. That's three for me."

"I've got five," Tabloid answered.

"Eight," Naomi replied with a grunt as she matched the moves of the last enemy Raptor. Thankfully, Avril's upgrades actually made it possible to keep up with a faster plane and she had no trouble finishing it off with her pulse lasers. She was glad she could use her own special weapons again, especially after the last operation they had with the targeting pods. "Whoo!" she said, taking a moment to catch her breath. "Let me correct that number real quick — it's nine."

"I've got six," Húxiān piped up after a moment, much to everyone else's shock. Naomi didn't even know that she was keeping track of it. Sounding as though she was fighting off a smile, she added, "Not that it'll do us much good, I don't think. Trigger's got the advantage. And the drive, it would seem."

"And here we were thinking that you hated the idea of a little competition," Tabloid teased Húxiān with a short laugh. "Finally loosening up, eh Hirose?"

"Oh, just shut your trap and keep shooting, rookie!" Húxiān retorted as they all lowered their altitude to intercept a large squadron of Erusean fighters, the comment earning an indignant huff from Tabloid although he didn't argue with it.

As they closed in on the enemy squadron, the HUD identified the targets as F-4s, which was a bit of a surprise to everyone. Erusea really was going all out, but to be fair, the F-4 wasn't a bad plane. Really old, but there weren't many countries that were anywhere close to retiring those things. Naomi wouldn't want to fly it though. She heard from her brother — who'd flown one temporarily — that the thing handled like a brick. But to each his own. They could fly whatever they wanted, she didn't think it'd make a difference. Then again, what mattered was how well the pilot new their plane. If they truly were skilled, then they'd have no problem handling the Phantom. "This is Strider 1. I've got eyes on the target. I'd watch your backs, guys. They're flying F-4s, so I'd bet that they've got some experience under their belts."

"Doesn't matter," Count pointed out to her. "We can take 'em. Let's go!" The formation broke as they all split off in different directions, Count and Húxiān targeting the planes on the edges and picking off the stragglers while Naomi and Tabloid jumped right into the middle and met the enemy fighters head on. One by one, they managed to down a few of the lesser skilled of the enemy squadron, it would seem. Three on Count's side had already fallen, and three on Húxiān's end. Tabloid secured two easy kills, and Naomi had gotten four already. But there didn't seem to be an end in their numbers, and at least seven enemy F-4s still remained. Count grunted as he scanned the skies for the next, easiest target. "Damn. I've downed quite a few but it hasn't even made a dent! They just keep coming!"

Tabloid scoffed. "Count? Complaining? That's a first…" Everyone chuckled at the sarcasm in Tabloid's voice, but it died down when Count joined in with his own, dry and exaggerated 'haha'-ing. As Tabloid caught his breath, he added, "Oh, c'mon. Just shut up and shoot back. You'll take 'em out eventually. Seriously, you don't see Trigger complaining, do you?"

"She complains on a daily basis," Count replied with an edge of amusement in his voice. Naomi would have said something, but she recalled complaining before the briefing so she kept her mouth shut. However, after a moment Count finally added, "But alright, fine. Here we go." He picked up speed and jumped on one of the remaining F-4s, wasting no time. However, the two chased each others tails most of the way, occasionally letting a spray of machine gun fire when they were finally in position. Count grunted as he pulled a high-G turn to avoid from crashing nose first into the ocean as the F-4 attempted to run him into the ground. At last, Count managed to get a secure lock on the enemy aircraft and fired, letting out a victorious shout as the missile struck its target and the pilot ejected. The enemy wingman then made a move on him, but he wasn't at all put off by it. "Yeah, come at me, bro! Catch me if you can! You don't stand a chance!"

Naomi stifled a laugh, turning it into a snort of amusement. "Did you seriously just say 'come at me, bro'? Because that may be the weirdest thing I've ever heard you say."

"Oh, shut up and help already!" Count snapped at her as he finished off the wingman, but he sounded more embarrassed than upset.

"I'm just trying to give y'all a chance to catch up, but I guess if you don't want me to do you any favors then I'll jump back in," Naomi said with a shrug, checking her radar for the nearest enemy target. After that last F-4, the remainders of the enemy ace squadron — or at least, she assumed that they were an ace squadron, given how they put up a decent fight — pulled out of the fight and were retreating back to Erusean air space, obviously not overestimating their capabilities. That meant that they were at least smart and knew to leave when they were outnumbered. If only Strider Squadron had that luxury. It wouldn't be long before the enemy exhausted them, and Naomi was already starting to feel the effects of the fight. "Damn…how much longer do we have to keep this up? Has it been five minutes yet?"

There was a sigh that came over the radio from Clemens, followed shortly by him exclaiming to someone, "Are they always this whiny? Not to mention the unprofessional banter! I thought they were supposed to be real pilots. Then again, what did I expect from a bunch of overly confident twenty-something-year-olds that have had their egos stroked like crazy?" Naomi rolled her eyes and was pretty sure that her wingmen were all collectively doing the same. This guy was a real hard ass and he seemed to have it out for them. There was a pause before he spoke again, another sigh preceding it. "Continue to try and gain air superiority. You've got another three minutes to go. And quit hanging around the fleet. There are other enemies to take care of. Quit wasting oxygen and engage before I—"

The radio abruptly cut out, but not in static, and Naomi wondered if Wiseman had cut Clemens off before he could continue to insult and threaten them. She resisted the urge to start grinning, settling instead for a smirk. Well, that's what you get you asshole. She took a look around, realizing that they were all outnumbered. If they stayed together and taking on the same squadron, then they had a higher chance of getting them all, but right now they just needed to weaken them enough to the point that the others would withdraw. They also needed to go easy on their ammunition. Naomi had been saving her pulse lasers, but she hadn't kept track of how many times the others had used their own special weapons. She was honestly trying to juggle more things than she could handle at the moment. I probably shouldn't have accepted Count's challenge. Ugh.

Long Caster's voice came over the radio, warning them of a new enemy making an approach. "We've got more uninvited guests. Typhoons and Su-57s. They're both highly capable planes, so stay on your toes if you engage them!"

Indeed, two enemy squadrons were approaching them fast, likely there to attack the fleet. Su-57s on one side and Typhoons on the other. They hadn't been detected until the last minute, apparently. Strider Squadron regrouped around one another, but Naomi knew that they had to handle the enemies differently then they had been before they ran out of ammunition. While she was trying to think of how to work this, the captain of the Puffin came over the radio and brought her out of her thoughts, "AWACS Long Caster, Strider Squadron! This is Captain Robin Airey of the Puffin. We're unharmed for the moment, but you need to eliminate those enemy planes. They're gonna be gunning for us and we can't afford anything slowing us down. Being late isn't an option today."

Naomi sighed with frustration. Not only did she have some random brigadier general that hated her barking at her and threatening her, but she also had some ship captain telling her how to do the job. To be fair, she was taking a bit longer to make a decision than usual, but only by a few seconds. Reluctantly, being sure to keep any hostility out of her voice, she said, "Puffin, this is Strider 1. Copy that. There's only four of us. We're doing the best we can." She ended the transmission, and received no argument from anyone else as she finished up her planning. She took a deep breath, hoping this could work. "Count, you and I pair up and take out the Su-57s. Stay closer to the fleet. I'll chase them higher up and you catch the ones that slip through. And trust me, with the way we're doing this, some are bound to do so. Tabloid, I want you to intercept those Typhoons. Húxiān, you cover him. Watch each others backs. Tabloid, you call the shots once you get there."

"Roger that, Trigger," Tabloid said seriously, sounding a little out of breath. In spite of this, he seemed genuinely excited to be back in the air, but Naomi was still a little worried about him. Not that he wasn't a capable fighter pilot, but she couldn't help but feel like it was a bad decision switching Skald and Tabloid up for the mission. This was stressful and a lot even for her and Count. Maybe all that rest had actually done him and Húxiān some good. Yet she still worried that he was going to get carried away and she didn't want to risk losing him. Was this how Wiseman had felt about it? Never mind that. Focus! she reminded herself as Tabloid hesitated from breaking off and finally spoke up again. "But, umm…any way you want us to go about it?"

"I was getting to that, Tabloid," she said quickly, starting to feel more than a little overwhelmed as the realization that the numbers were growing started to set in. "Just hit whatever you can. Disable it, actually shoot it down, I don't care. We need to worry less about picking every single one off and focus on weakening them enough so that they can't fight back. That's why someone needs to handle the perimeter. Erusea has some pretty ballsy pilots in their ranks as we've all seen and there's no telling how desperate they are to protect this sub. Any other questions?" They all murmured some variation of 'no' and she gave a firm nod to herself. "Good. Everyone, get to work. Don't let 'em get our fleet!"

The four split off into two separate groups, following the plan like they were told. Tabloid and Húxiān met the Typhoons head on, promptly taking out the two planes that were leading their formation. They shot down one more together before Tabloid simply got a lock on one of the remaining planes without firing, eventually firing a warning shot that scared the last three enough so that they retreated from the airspace, no longer having the guts to continue the fight. Tabloid then ordered Húxiān to regroup and cover the fleet while Naomi and Count took on the Su-57s. Their planes shot past Count and they tried their best to move in unison with one another, but Húxiān seemed to be having a hard time 'clicking' with the three of them and their maneuvering wasn't the smoothest.

While the Typhoons had been easy to intimidate, the Su-57s were more relentless than Naomi had been expecting. She took down one of them, spotting the pilot bailing out. Pulling clear of the enemy soldier, she circled back around to pick her next target. She expected them to turn tail and run when they figured out who she was based on her plane's livery, but they didn't relent and started a dive for the fleet. Naomi grunted with frustration, targeting one on the edge when its pilot was stupid enough to break formation and try and take her on with no cover. She aimed carefully with the machine gun, pulling the trigger and targeting the wing of the aircraft. It sheared off and began to spin out of control. This time, she didn't see a chute, but she had no time to worry about that. It seemed that after taking out two of them, she'd pissed off the rest of them. Two broke away to intercept her, and the other two kept going for the fleet.

"Count, heads up! You've got two bandits coming your way!" Naomi called out to him, rolling to evade the missiles that the two aircraft fired at her. Below, Count engaged the other two, taking one out without much difficulty as he announced the kill over the radio. Naomi, on the other hand, was preferring to evade rather than fight until she could get into a good position. Or rather, get them into a good position. She could tell what they were trying to do as one of them attempted to match her speed, although he wasn't having much luck. She hadn't let up on the throttle the entire fight. She feigned a left turn, starting to bank in that direction, tricking the other Su-57 into speeding up and going in the wrong direction as he and his wingman tried to box her in. She braked hard and without any warning nearly bringing the plane into a stall but getting herself into the right position to fire on one while the one that had been matching her speed tried to figure out what was going on. The Su-57 was struck by the missile, but wasn't taken out.

The two had no choice but to retreat and limp home, recognizing that the fight wasn't going to be won. Naomi let them go. They weren't her problem any longer. As the enemy aircraft withdrew, a squadron of F-15Es and F-35s took their place, earning a groan from Naomi. However, and just in the nick of time, a new voice broke through the chatter on the radio as an allied squadron announced their arrival. "This is Enchanter! We've entered the AO and are ready to provide support."

"Yes!" Long Caster let out a relieved breath "EW aircraft and Drake Squadron are here!"

Count chuckled. "I didn't think you'd get here so quickly."

"Sorry about the wait," Drake Squadron's leader radioed them, sounding more than a little embarrassed by the holdup. "But we're here now, team."

"Alright everyone. The EW aircraft have strong ESM onboard," Long Caster explained to them as Drake Squadron got into position behind Strider Squadron. He went on. "It can improve your dogfighting capabilities by enhancing missile range, homing, and more. If you're within their range, then its a sure win. Just make sure that no enemy aircraft can hit them. Everyone, show the Eruseans how to put up a real fight!"

"Righto! Drake Squadron, follow me!" Count called out. "I'll show ya how the pros do it!" Naomi rolled her eyes as he broke away from her wing and headed to intercept the enemy F-35s that were making a move on one of Enchanter Squadron's aircraft. She trusted him to provide cover for their allies, as he hadn't failed thus far, but she couldn't trust him to not be a little cocky at times. It was just how he was and she doubted that he'd ever change. He hadn't changed yet. Eh. There was room for improvement in all of them. At least as far as Wiseman was concerned.

A member of Drake Squadron seemed to be smiling at Count's comment as two of their planes broke off to follow him.

"Copy that. Show us what you've got, Strider 2." As they closed in on the enemy aircraft, members of Drake Squadron began to announce that they were engaging the enemy. One by one, all five members of Drake Squadron had engaged the enemies, quick to provide the support that Strider had been waiting for all that time. Two of their squadron members teamed up with Count, two with Húxiān, and then one with Tabloid, leaving Naomi to work by herself. She didn't mind, though. They were still around, still helping. She didn't need someone covering her the entire time.

The two squadrons worked together, splitting across the battlefield to hunt down their next target. Naomi eyed the port in the area around the Alicorn, noticing the ground targets that everyone had been ignoring the entire time. If the fleet got within range of them, they might have a problem on their hands. She looked around, seeing that the rest of her allies were all finishing off the first wave of enemies, letting injured stragglers retreat without interference. Naomi was satisfied with that, since a defenseless target wasn't any threat to them. If they were that determined, then they wouldn't have a choice, but they were withdrawing and there was no need for further pursuit.

Regardless of this, the enemy air support was occupied with Drake Squadron and the rest of Strider Squadron, and someone had to take care of them. "Strider 1 to Long Caster and all allied units," she said, getting everyone's attention for a moment. "I've detected surface-to-ship and AA weaponry around the sub. I'm moving to eliminate them, so if you could keep the enemy air support busy just a little while longer then that'd be great." Everyone sounded off, several of them making a smug comment about how it would be easy enough. Naomi didn't want to agree out of fear that they'd jinx the operation. Erusea probably had more incoming, so they had to stay sharp.

Positive that no enemies would get in her way and stop her, Naomi banked to the right and circled around before diving towards the port and targeting the weapons around the sub. Now that she was back at a low altitude over the remains of the oil depot, she was able to actually see the amount of damage that Spare Squadron had inflicted upon the place. The burned tankers were now stuck to bake in the sun on the shore, some half submerged and others completely beached. The tanks that had been burning during a sandstorm now just sat there, crumbling and colored black. Naomi's mind replayed the events of that operation and she lost focus for a moment until fire from an AA gun shook her from her thoughts.

Startled, she heard the tone that announced that she had a solid lock on the target and she realized that she'd had it for some time. It was like all the sound she'd blocked out suddenly came rushing back and assaulted her ear drums. As quick as she could, she fired a missile at one AA gun, then a truck that was sitting next to it before pulling up and readying herself for another run. The targets were practically lining themselves up for her, and she was able to take out two the next run, and then get one with carefully executed machine gun fire. One by one, the Alicorn's ground defense had been completely wiped out and it had to rely on air support now. She examined her handiwork as well as getting a last look at the destroyed oil depot before taking a deep, shaky breath and checking her HUD and radar for anything new.

Sure enough, even more enemy aircraft were entering the AO. Naomi inwardly groaned as Long Caster's voice came over the radio. "All ground targets have been destroyed, but they're sending in another wave of enemy fighters," he said to them. "F-15Es are going after the EW aircraft, and we've got enemy strike fighters approaching the fleet…they're Fullbacks, definitely faster than the ones before. Stay on your toes. They probably have a bit of an advantage."

"They pose a serious threat, too," Wiseman added. "Take them out, now!"

"Already on it!" Naomi brought her plane about, calculating the best position for a shot on the Su-34s. They were approaching from both sides, three on each one. The F-15Es were — thankfully — thrown off of Enchanter Squadron by a couple members of Drake Squadron. This freed up half of Drake Squadron and all of Strider Squadron, as well as giving Enchanter a chance to show everyone just how well the ESM worked. Taking as little time as she could, she figured out what their next plan would be. With how fast everything seemed to be moving, they didn't seem to have much time to plan ahead. It was all there and now, and it hadn't even seemed like they'd been out there that long, although she was pretty sure it had at least been an hour. There was no way that Drake Squadron had only been five minutes late. She ignored the thought about the time, and called out, "Alright, Strider Squadron, let's get this done quick. Tabloid, Húxiān, take the second group, off to the left. Count and I will handle these guys over here. Enchanter, think you could help us out a bit?"

"Roger that, Strider 1," came the voice of Enchanter's leader. "Let's give them a hand. Drake Squadron, you've got our backs, right?"

"Sure do. Go ahead and give the LRSSG a little taste of our own brand of magic, huh?" Drake 1 said, a hint of amusement in his voice. Some smugness, too, if Naomi had heard correctly. Apparently Drake Squadron got this sort of support all the time. She made a mental note to bring it up with Wiseman. Maybe they could manage to steal Enchanter away from Drake Squadron, or just get a squadron of their own to handle that. Then again, that put them at a bit of a disadvantage, considering that they'd have to keep an eye on them all the time and overall it just meant that Strider Squadron and Cyclops Squadron would get overwhelmed as well as a little lazy if they relied on ESM all the time. Drake Squadron could keep Enchanter, but just for today, Naomi wanted to see what all this hype was about, not having had a chance to try it out on her own.

Enchanter's pair of Growlers were spread out over the operation area, but they came close enough to Strider Squadron to provide them with the ESM. One covered Tabloid and Húxiān, managing to keep up with them as they both made for the other group of enemies. Without waiting on Tabloid or the others, Húxiān flew ahead of Tabloid and immediately fired a missile when she'd gotten a lock, but at the angle and range that she was at, Naomi was expecting the shot to be trashed. To her surprise, though, the missile veered sharply towards the enemy Fullback and struck it from the side. It shook and wavered in the air, and Húxiān finished it off with her machine gun after taking careful aim.

Tabloid let out an impressed whistle as he caught up to her. "Wow…nice work, Húxiān. I thought for sure you were gonna miss that one. Guess the ESM really works, huh? Lemme give it a try, then." In just a few moments, Tabloid had picked off his own target with a single missile, clipping its wings for good. After a few minutes of seeming to fight with Húxiān over the last Fullback, Tabloid finally won their little game of tug of war and was the first to fire, although it was a shot in the dark that it would hit under normal circumstances. Seemingly thanks to Enchanter's support, the missile found its mark and the kill went to Tabloid. Húxiān huffed in annoyance, but Tabloid chuckled. "This is amazing! How come we don't get treats like this more often?"

"Because we're cooler?" a member of Drake Squadron suggested, the rest of his squadron all agreeing with him and laughing as well.

"Aaahahaha!" Húxiān mocked their laughter, clearly not impressed. "Or maybe it's because we're cooler and don't need rely on Enchanter for all of our kills. Or that we can, y'know, actually get kills." The retort earned stifled laughter and several 'oooooh's from everyone involved. Their ally didn't dignify them with a response, and everyone went back to their work, although Naomi could imagine that Húxiān had a rather smug look on her face at the reaction.

In the meantime, Naomi and Count had made quick work of their own targets. The enemy Su-34s barely stood a chance against them. They picked off the ones on the edge of the formation, taking them by surprise in spite of the fact that they should have been expecting a fight. The lead plane carried on, paying them no mind until Count tried scaring him off by strafing the aircraft. That got his attention, but instead of recognizing that he was outnumbered, he dared to take on the two of them likely without thinking twice about it. He targeted Count first, forcing him to evade, and then went after Naomi. They shot past one another, both of them firing a missile in an attempt to hit the other, but before the Fullback could turn around and start to retaliate, Naomi and Count regrouped. Although they were able to play off of one another, with only a few slip ups here and there, the last enemy was an especially stubborn one and managed to evade all but one of their missile locks even with Enchanter's support.

At last, while the lead plane forced Naomi and Count to break and started for the fleet again, Count managed to recover quickly and fired a missile as soon as he was in range. With Enchanter's help, the shot that would have normally missed struck the target and the enemy aircraft's wing broke off, sending it spiraling down to the ocean. Count took a moment to catch his breath, having watched the targets destruction. Almost impressed, he said, "Wow…you know, that bird flew pretty well. I didn't think pilots of that caliber were still around, at least not in the Erusean military. I mean seriously, who could have held their own against us for that long? The list isn't very long, I'll tell you that."

"Someone's got an awfully high opinion of his capabilities," Naomi teased him with a tired huff, leveling out and doing a quick once-over of the fleet to make sure none of them had been damaged. Sure enough, the fleet was secure, and the Eruseans were still occupied with Drake Squadron and Tabloid and Húxiān. Glancing back towards the port and seeing the submarine glinting in the sunlight, practically mocking them, she felt a chill run down her spine for some reason. Something just didn't seem right. It was…easy. Tiring, yes, but the Alicorn had the abilities to stop them and their air support didn't stand a chance. She shook it off and radioed everyone, "Well, fighting's not over yet but it looks like their ranks are thinning."

"Yes! Finally, a light at the end of the tunnel!" Long Caster said eagerly. He paused, then let out a longing sigh. "It's been so hectic out here, I haven't even had time for a snack…at least now there's hope."

"Jeez, relax, Long Caster," Count said with a sigh as everyone checked for the next group of targets they'd have to go after. "I'll get you a break in a second."

Their AWACS chuckled at the comment. "Thanks, Count."

"Don't sweat it," Count replied, sounding as though he was smiling. "The Eruseans are refusing to let up, but I think we'll have that beast of a submarine captured in no time."

"They'll be happy to see us," Naomi said with a sigh, shaking her head as she recalled how long they'd spent underwater. "They spent two years at the bottom of the ocean. Heh. No one would want to go back to that. I mean, sure, they're gonna be stuck in a cell, being interrogated by the Osean military, but that's favorable to being stuck underwater…" She trailed off, mostly talking to herself at that point. The thought made her skin crawl. She didn't like the idea of being shot down over water by a railgun, either, so she was keeping a sharp eye out. Two blips appeared on radar, and she was brought out of her thoughts as she curiously glanced towards it, then up towards the west of the operation area where two aircraft were approaching as fast as their planes could take them. "Long Caster, have we got more incoming?"

He didn't respond at first. "This…this isn't looking good. We've got Harriers coming from the north, and two bogeys approaching fast from the west." Long Caster took a moment before he quickly added, "Wait, hang on. Aircraft type…Su-47!"

Tabloid voiced some confusion at this. "Berkuts? You sure about that, Long Caster? Erusea doesn't have a lot of those. Did they just come out of nowhere?"

But no one had any time to respond. The Harriers were closing in fast, and so were the incoming Su-47s. Everyone was taking a moment just to process, and it was becoming painfully obvious that things were now far from as straightforward as Clemens had been claiming. They had time to adjust the plan…maybe these guys were just more Erusean fighters coming in to protect the Alicorn. It'd be easy to take them out if that was the case. It was the Harriers that posed the threat to the fleet. The Berkuts would just get in the way at worst. At least, that's what Naomi's initial thought process had been. Which is why she was about to turn and face them. It was only two, so it had to be easy to take care of. Then she realized just how wrong she was.

One of the straggling, damaged enemy fighters that was making his retreat was suddenly jumped on as one of the enemy planes broke the formation. He didn't have time to properly react before a pair of missiles was fired and his plane disappeared into a ball of smoke and flames. Naomi watched in stunned silence, debating whether or not it would be wise to face them on her own. Furthermore, she wondered if they were really hostile. They didn't respond to the IFF, but they just downed an Erusean fighter. What's their deal? she thought, too confused to really go over a new strategy. The two fighters regrouped, flying alongside with each other before moving in perfect synchronization around one another. They moved in a circular, showy motion, one inverted over the other. They twisted like this before they leveled out beside one another again and picked up speed, coming straight for Naomi.

The sudden sound of a missile warning startled Naomi back into action and she broke sharply as a pair of missiles, one from each of the new aircraft, streaked past her. The new aircraft broke and shot past her. That was their warning shot. They wanted to intimidate her, and she had the feeling that it wasn't going to stop there. Warnings went off again, and all she knew to do was evade until she got permission to fire back. "Gah! What the hell?!" she grunted as she banked left and right, rolling and diving to evade the lock, repeating the same motions out of desperation. She managed to get a glimpse at the markings on their tails and caught sight of the Osean markings that they sported. Naomi furrowed her brow in confusion, gritting her teeth as she continued to evade. "Long Caster! Wiseman! These guys just took down an Erusean bird! They've got Osean markings, but they won't get off of my tail!"

"What?!" Count sounded concerned and confused all at once, and that pretty much summed up Naomi's thoughts in that moment too.

"Drake and Enchanter were the only reinforcements we had coming. I don't know who these guys are, but they've gotta be hostile," Wiseman said quickly, his voice having a nervous edge to it. "You're cleared to engage them. Don't hesitate!"

Naomi let out a huff. "Wasn't planning on it," she said. However, the Harriers were still approaching the fleet. She had to make a choice. These clowns didn't seem interested in going after anyone but her now that they'd taken out that Erusean, however the fleet would be in danger if they focused on the newcomers. She wasn't ready to engage them yet. Quickly piecing together a new strategy while she continued evasive maneuvers, she called out to her allies, "Strider Squadron, Drake Squadron! Take out the Harriers and protect the fleet. Enchanter, provide them with ESM. I'll take care of these guys and get them off my back."

At first, no one said anything, and her own squadron seemed to linger nearby as if they were debating jumping in and helping her take on the two new enemies. Thankfully, it seemed that they trusted her judgement and to her surprise, the three of them adjusted their course and headed for the Harriers. It was Húxiān that broke off first, followed by Tabloid. Count hesitated for a second longer, but Naomi heard what sounded like a frustrated sigh before he followed them. Naomi managed to let out a sigh of relief. No arguments from them. Besides, she was more than a match for these guys. The fleet took priority, but she didn't exactly want to turn down a real dogfight if she had the option. After all the drones, some regular pilots to fight with would be an interesting change of pace. And with Mr. X currently MIA, she could use a challenge.

It didn't take long before Naomi got on their tails, turning the table around. They kept moving in sync with one another to throw her off, flying planes that looked identical to the other. In some cases, it was hard for her to get a solid lock on one of them before they managed to throw it off. They finally broke off and Naomi had her chance. She throttled up and chased off after one of them. Once she was sure she had a lock, she was about to fire off a missile, but her HUD seemed to glitch for a moment and wavered in the air. By the time it cleared up, seven new targets had appeared out of nowhere, and although she could lock onto them, she couldn't see any actually on her radar. "Uhh…Long Caster, am I seeing things? Hostiles just popped out of nowhere!"

"It's an ECM," Long Caster replied. "A kind of saturation decoy…you're going to have to visually scan for the source."

"Oh, wonderful…" Naomi said. She continued to switch her targets until she locked onto the one that she was absolutely sure was a real plane and not just an empty square. She fired a pair of missiles, then tried using her pulse lasers for an extra kick. Only one missile actually connected with the target, and it barely did any damage to the aircraft. The pilot was relentless, and aside from a trail of smoke, seemed unaffected by the impact of the missile. The second aircraft continuously fired missiles Naomi's way, and she decided she'd try going after him next. It seemed as though that was what he wanted, as she was met by the same trick that his wingman had used and a missile came from both sides. Praying that it would work, she brought her plane into a stall and rolled clear as she picked up speed to avoid crashing nose first into the sea, the two missiles narrowly missing her.

"Trigger!" Count's voice came over the radio, sounding irritated and worried simultaneously. "Hey, that was pretty close. You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Naomi replied, planning out her next course of action. She glanced back over towards the fleet, not detecting the enemy aircraft on radar any longer. At least, not the ones that were attacking the fleet. "You got the Harriers, right?"

"Yup, we got 'em. Didn't even stand a chance against us," Húxiān said smugly as she and the rest of Strider Squadron regrouped, looking as though they were about to come to Naomi's aid. She didn't really want them to get involved, but the two Berkuts didn't seem interested in going after them.

"We lost the destroyer Kite, though. Sounds like everyone's managing to evacuate the ship okay, though, so I don't think we suffered too many casualties," Tabloid said, sounding more than a little tired. At least most of the crew would be okay. Whether the ship was lost didn't matter. They could always replace it. They did it with the Kestrel, so a destroyer wouldn't be too much trouble. The Osean military had a lot of money and they would blow it every chance they got anyways. But the Kite wasn't a top priority. And Tabloid knew this as well as everyone else did as he changed the subject and focused on their current problem. "We left Drake Squadron to cover the fleet. Figured you could use a hand against these guys."

Naomi got a lock and fired on one of them, her missile evaded once again, and then she broke off the attack to circle back around and try her luck with the next. Thus far, they hadn't even noticed Strider approaching them. They were going after her with everything they had, but it was all careful and strategic rather than just going headfirst and firing everything that they had. It was likely that they were communicating everything to one another, but they were adapting flawlessly. Naomi had gotten better, but she felt like they had a reason to fight her like this. Like they were actually out to kill her rather than have a fun little duel like Mr. X seemed interested in. She couldn't risk the others getting involved. "Negative, Strider 3. Mop up the remaining fighters. We've got some of them coming back for a beating, and it looks like they brought backup. I've got this handled."

"Dammit, Trigger, we're not leaving you to fight on your own. Now isn't the time to act like an overly confident hero," Count snapped at her, and she was taken aback by the fact that he actually seemed to want to stay behind and help her. This coming from the guy that loved a fight but hated when things got too rough. She was about to argue back, but he didn't seem interested in listening and made it clear that he was going to stubbornly remain in the fight as he announced, "I'm covering you, dumbass. Tabloid, Húxiān, go help Drake Squadron before we end up taking more casualties."

"You're both idiots. These guys aren't Osean or Erusean. They're a bunch of filthy bats and you're practically handing over your lives to them. But whatever..." Húxiān grumbled at them, although she didn't put up any more of a fight. Although it was clear that she didn't appreciate Count trying to boss her aro und. Naomi wouldn't either, and she'd had to put up with it in Spare. Only difference was that she could get away with ignoring the order, but Húxiān couldn't disobey it. Especially not in a situation like this. Their grouchy squadron mate broke off from the formation, still voicing her annoyance."Why didn't I agree to switch with Lanza? Ugh…Tabloid, c'mon. Let's go get this over and done with. It'll give us a chance to run up our score a little."

"Roger that." Tabloid let out a reluctant sigh, but unlike Húxiān, he gave no further indication that he was upset and turned to follow Húxiān, ultimately leading their next attack as they zeroed in on a pair of damaged Erusean fighters that made the choice to come back and fight, with a small amount of reinforcements on their tail. Tabloid sounded uncomfortable as he said, "Idiots…they came back to a fight damaged! That submarine must mean the world to them if they're willing to die for it. Really stupid sacrifice if you ask me. Don't they realize that Erusea's pretty much using them as pawns? Pfft…I doubt they even care. Just blindly following orders like that…"

Under normal circumstances, Naomi would have replied, but she had her hands full. Count finally reached her, and managed to get one of them off of her tail. It was even. One for each of them. He must have pissed off whichever one it was that he started chasing. Naomi soon realized that it was the more capable of the two. After studying them during their chasing and attempts at firing, she realized that one of them was more precise and waited for an opening, and he coupled that with an aggressive style, whereas his 'twin' had an aggressive and yet graceful flying style but seemed to fire whenever he could, uninterested in waiting for a proper opening. Whatever the case, both of them seemed to be solely after Naomi, and had it not been for Count managing to stay glued to one of them, they probably would have continued going after her together.

The one that Naomi was tailing seemed to hesitate without the assistance of his wingman, and it seemed as though he was toying with Naomi while he waited for his ally to return, the two of them locked in what seemed like some kind of aerial dance, matching one another's speed and failing to get behind the other as they continued to climb and roll around one another. They just barely avoided colliding with one another. Now close enough to see the markings clearly, Naomi was momentarily thrown off as she realized that something wasn't adding up. Seeing the enemy aircraft roll, she thought that there were two canopies, until she realized that one of them was simply painted onto the belly of the aircraft and its entire purpose was to throw her off. Not something she'd seen before, but something she was familiar with. How it worked was always lost on her, though. "Hey, Count, are you seeing this?"

"The false canopies they painted on? Yeah, I see 'em. They aren't amateurs, but their fake canopies aren't going to do them much good." Count said, cut off as he grunted when he matched the high-G turn of the enemy aircraft that had pulled the sharp turn in an attempt to lose him. Unfortunately, it worked, and the aircraft feigned a turn that Count impulsively moved to match. Extra enemies appeared on their HUDs once again and their locks were thrown off, the actual enemy slipping away in the confusion and heading back towards Naomi. Count let out a furious growl. "Dammit, these bastards are slippery…Trigger! Heads up!"

The vertical, fighter-jet tango that Naomi had been stuck in came to an end as both of them broke off from the other and Naomi was suddenly tailed by both of them again. "Shit, not again!" Back where she started, Naomi chose instead to try something she'd seen in a movie a while back. It was a long shot, but it just might work. They were both coming up on her wing, and Count was high enough so that they wouldn't risk crashing into one another, so she decided to go for it. She hit the brakes. Hard. As hard as she possibly could without stalling again. The Berkuts overshot and Naomi jumped on the one she'd been singling out, getting a lock and firing as soon as she could. One was evaded when the enemy dropped flares, but the other hit the wing like the first one had and there was noticeable damage. "Haha! How do you like that you son of a bitch?"

His wingman wavered, seeming to consider going to the aid of his ally, but as Count came up on Naomi's six he clearly thought the better of it. With a damaged plane, they'd be outnumbered. They couldn't keep fighting. Reluctantly, he started back the way that they'd come, seeming as though he wanted to leave as fast as he'd arrived. The lock-breaking, fake targets disappeared off of their HUDs suddenly. His wingman hesitated, and Naomi was suddenly startled when an unfamiliar voice came over the radio. It sounded like a woman, and it also sounded as though she wasn't much older than Naomi was. But she was definitely angrier. "Goddammit! Three Strikes, I will have you! You will die, you bitch!"

Count scoffed as he joined up on Naomi's wing, "What?! Who is this?"

"Hey! What are you doing?!" another new voice demanded, this one belonging to a man. It sounded as though he was around the same age, but Naomi couldn't be sure. There was a lot of interference.

"Uhh…hey, guys, please tell me I'm not hearing things?" Naomi said, nervously eyeing the enemy plane as it continued to circle around her and Count, its wingman hanging back as though waiting for it to catch up. Was this the woman that was somehow sending death threats to her over the radio.

"Nah, I hear it too," Húxiān said. It sounded like she was trying to figure out how it was possible, but she then gave up. "How…who are they?"

The strange woman chuckled darkly, and Naomi was surprised to feel a chill shoot down her spine as she heard a radar lock warning. "I'll screw you up so bad, and you're gonna burn soooo fast! You won't even have time to piss your pants…" A stray missile came from the damaged Berkut, and Naomi and Count instinctively broke off. The voice gave one final threat, "And next time we'll keep things nice and even. You get to watch your wingmen die, and then join them." In the confusion, the voice ceased and the enemy Berkut took off as fast as its engines could take it, heading off after its — or rather her — wingman.

Count started to follow, jerking his plane in that direction. "Hey, those filthy bats are on the run!" However, when he noticed that Naomi wasn't following him, he moved back to his original spot on her wing. "Trigger, come on! What are you doing? We can't let them get away!"

Overcoming her surprise at being spoken to by an enemy plane, and the confusion as to how it was possible, Naomi opened her mouth to reply but the brigadier general cut her off. "Captain, Lieutenant, you're both staying put. Let them go," Clemens ordered harshly, and a bit too quickly for Naomi's liking. He didn't seem at all perturbed by what had happened. She instinctively tensed up, wanting to demand why he didn't address this, but Clemens went on with a dismissive tone. "The operation's almost at a close. What just happened was too insignificant. And honestly, I can't believe that you wasted our resources like that. Just go back to the original operation so that we can all go home."

"Are you kidding me?!" Tabloid demanded, suddenly speaking up. "That bitch was using an Osean radio frequency. That's an encrypted military channel, and she just came on it and started threatening us! Don't tell me that something like that is too insignificant!"

"You'd do well to watch your tongue when speaking to your superiors, Hartmann," Clemens said in a dark tone. Taking a deep breath, he added, "There isn't anything you can do about it now. It's too late to chase after them and if anybody's stupid enough to try it then I'll consider it deserting." Naomi inwardly groaned, but didn't say anything as Clemens continued his big speech to them. "The operation's almost complete anyways. Continue to maintain air superiority and we can discuss it more in the debriefing. Any complaints?"

"You're being serious?" Count asked, scoffing as though he found it hard to believe.

Naomi sighed in frustration, looking out her cockpit to her right, out at the approaching enemy squadron that Tabloid and Húxiān were about to face. Drake Squadron lined up behind them, with Enchanter secure in the center of their ranks. They couldn't worry about two random pilots that weren't even posing a threat any longer. They could finish that another time if they needed to. "Count, Tabloid...he's right. We can't go after them now. There isn't any point," she said, banking right with Count following her. "We'll figure out who they were later. Right now we need to capture that sub so that we can all go home."

Húxiān groaned. "Well, I'm not too thrilled about it either, but I guess we don't have much of a choice, do we?" It surprised Naomi that Húxiān was concerned about this. She'd been pricklier than Count ever since the briefing, and although she'd loosened up a bit, Naomi didn't know if she was just upset about being excluded from an interesting fight or if she was actually worried about the fact that someone likely from within their own air force was out to get Naomi. They hadn't known one another long, but Húxiān was one of the first to trust Naomi within the squadron, even if she was uncomfortable flying under Naomi's command. She had a good feeling that Húxiān wasn't going to let this go either.

"Don't worry. I have a feeling that we can settle our score another time," Naomi said reassuringly as she and Count rejoined the formation, leading the attack on what had to be the last wave (Erusea was exhausting their forces at this point). Although they should have been able to pick off the first few enemies with no trouble at all, the second she fired a missile at the lead Erusean bird, the missile began to twist in the air awkwardly as though it was trying to find the target through clouds, and as it wavered, the enemy plane managed to evade it with ease and the missile veered off and blew up against absolutely nothing. Her HUD also began to glitch and wasn't displaying the targets properly. "What the hell? Long Caster, my missile didn't home in properly!"

"Oh, shit!" Long Caster cursed under his breath, but it was still loud enough for them to hear. "I'm sorry, guys! I should have noticed it sooner, but I kinda zoned out…I really wish I could eat right now…" He cleared his throat, and their radar display was updated suddenly to display a large, green circle around three of the blips. "They brought their own EW aircraft. Growlers, just like Enchanter, but they jam over a wide range. Allied ESM is negated inside these areas, but I've displayed the jammed areas on your radar. Hopefully you can work around it. Easiest thing to do would be to take them out."

She paused, thinking for a moment. "Alright, well, that's just what we'll do then." Naomi tried to recall who would be the best at fighting when the odds were uncertain. The ones who'd be best under that kind of pressure. It didn't take long to figure it out, though. They'd probably been through worse before. "Count, Tabloid, you two go after the EW aircraft. Húxiān, you and I will down any fighters we can. Drake Squadron, you come with us. Everyone got it?" They all confirmed that they understood, even the pilots from Drake Squadron agreed. Naomi let out a sigh of relief. No arguments. She was starting to get the hang of this squadron leader thing. At least she thought she was. Dismissing the thought, she gave a firm nod to herself. "Alright. Everyone, let's hurry this up."

"Drake Squadron, let's go!" Drake's leader called out excitedly as they formed up beside Naomi and Húxiān, Count and Tabloid breaking off to go take down the Growlers. The other squadron leader paused, then he chuckled as he addressed his squadron again. "Oh, and keep an eye on Strider 1. You might learn a thing or two from her." Naomi stifled a laugh at that, finding it hard to believe that anyone thought such a thing, and she was pretty sure that her face was red with embarrassment at this point, but she didn't worry about that. She couldn't really worry about that at the moment.

Count and Tabloid went after the two on the sides, leaving the one in the center unharmed for the time being. The Erusean pilots were taking full advantage of this, and two Drake Squadron pilots that had teamed up with one another let their guard down for a second too long. While one attempted to cover his wingman from one fighter, his missiles not homing in, he tried everything but the enemy continued to evade. Another fighter slipped in and fired on Drake 5. The female pilot let out a surprised yelp, ejecting just in time as her plane blew up below her.

Drake 4, startled by what happened, quickly radioed for rescue, "Drake 5 has gone down! She's ejected, but I don't know if she has any injuries. Prepare for the worst! Gah—dammit!" Just as he'd finished radioing for rescue, he turned sharply to evade an incoming missile, but it hit his wing regardless of his efforts. "Argh! This is Drake 4. I've been hit. I can't make it back to base like this…I've gotta eject." He did just that, letting his plane fall to the desert floor, while he safely made it to the ground.

"Damn!" Húxiān cursed, watching it happen. She made a sharp roll to evade an enemy missile, just barely getting clear of it. "Now we start taking losses? Ugh. Worst timing ever…"

"In this mess, rescues are gonna be tricky," Naomi observed, managing to damage one of the enemy planes with her machine gun. She looked around the fight, searching for Count and Tabloid while they fought against the enemy aircraft as best they could with the remainder of Drake Squadron. However, she couldn't get a visual on them through the battle. "Hey, boys, can you give me an update? Our missiles could do more damage if they could actually hit the target…"

She heard Count sigh. "Alright, Trigger, just give us a second. We're having the same issues on our end, too." He went silent for a moment, but at last, two of the EW aircraft had gone down, and the range of the jamming diminished significantly, giving Drake Squadron and Naomi and Húxiān a sudden advantage over the enemy as Enchanter began to follow them and provide support to compensate for their lack of aid before Count and Tabloid managed to shoot down the two Growlers. Count let out a victorious whoop. "Alright! Nice going Tabloid! Enemy EW aircraft have been splashed. One to go!"

Wiseman gave an impressed chuckle, the first thing they'd heard from him in a while. "Nice going, you two," he said, and Naomi could hear the pride in his voice. "We'll go over that one in the debriefing if we can. You did good. Now finish up. We're almost done here."

"You know, I've kind of given up with counting all these enemies," Tabloid admitted, letting Drake Squadron's leader take out the last enemy EW aircraft and providing cover for him as he did so. "I lost track a long time ago, actually."

"Don't worry, I'm pretty sure that Trigger's been keeping tabs," Count said to him through a smile. Strider Squadron regrouped, and he added, "You have been…haven't you?"

Naomi chuckled. "Well, I figured that I'd stay out of the contest and give you three a chance," she said smugly, and heard some sarcastic laughter from the others. She grinned. "But, I have been keeping an eye on everyone out here. Let me tell you, it's a little weird keeping score for a change, but also kinda fun. Just hope you aren't gonna hold it against me when I pick the winner."

"I won't hold it against you..." Húxiān started. She paused, and then it sounded like she was grinning as she finished with, "…So long as it's me."

They all had a moment of laughter with that, in spite of how tired they were all starting to become from the strain of the fight. But at last, after what felt like forever, they managed to drive back the last of the enemy fighters, clearing up the airspace. They waited for a moment, but Long Caster confirmed that all hostiles were gone and no more appeared to be incoming. The fleet had changed its formation at this point, the remaining ships putting themselves around the Puffin to protect it. "This is the Flycatcher," one of the ships' captains said over the radio, radioing the Puffin from the sound of it. "Captain Airey, Three Strikes and her crew have tied down the enemy birds. We're almost ready to commence the attack."

"Roger that, Flycatcher," Captain Airey said. "Long Caster, we're awaiting confirmation from the LRSSG to commence the operation."

"Puffin, this is Long Caster," he said to her. "We've secured air superiority, and the dwindling enemy resistance has been completely neutralized. We're ready to continue with the operation and capture the Alicorn."

"Puffin copies. Commencing capture procedures now!" Captain Airey replied quickly. She gave a soft laugh. "You know, I'm amazed Strider Squadron and Drake Squadron managed to make it through all of this. I'd say it's a miracle." She paused. "Hmmm…they must be exhausted by now. Tell them that they can have a break, alright? Also, please tell Captain Foulke and Captain Reed that I appreciate the air support. They did one hell of a job. Guess all those rumors were true."

"I'll let 'em know you send your thanks, but I think they already heard you. But from here on out, it's all you Captain," Long Caster said. He let out a content sigh. "Now that we've got a break, I can finally have my sausage rolls."

"That's the kind of food that you eat up there?" Airey held back a laugh, but it was obvious from her tone that she found what he'd said entertaining. For some reason that Naomi wasn't quite sure of.

Long Caster seemed oblivious to what she was implying as well, as he simply explained, "Of course. Among a few other things. Anything other than finger food would get in the way of my duties."

The rest of Strider Squadron seemed to find the exchange hilarious, and even Count scoffed and said, "Yeah, that clearly wasn't what she meant."

While the giggling and laughing at Long Caster's expense continued, Naomi sat there, more than a little confused. She was pretty sure that Long Caster was equally as confused. Either that, or he understood and was blushing profusely. "Hey, this is probably gonna make me sound naive or something, but what did she mean by that?" Naomi asked the others, but that seemed to make the laughing worse. She furrowed her brow in confusion. After a moment, she mostly figured it out. Or she assumed that she had figured it out. Apparently she wasn't as dirty minded as the rest of them, though. "What? Wait….oooh…she was flirting with him."

"Yeah, something like that, Trig," Count replied, catching his breath as his laughter died off.

Clemens was quick to break up the fun, huffing impatiently. "Cut the chatter," he ordered, and all of the remaining laughing abruptly cut off. He continued once he had their attention. "The mission took longer than expected, but I'll leave it in your hands from here on. Now that we're this close, even your squadron can't mess it." It sounded as though he was speaking mostly to Wiseman, but the jab was directed at all of them. Naomi held back a sharp comment. Clemens sighed. "Major, you take command now. I'm gonna head out for a break. Jeez, listening to these guys talk was exhausting…"

Wiseman's voice came over the radio next. "Whew…" he said, and Naomi was wondering if his relief came from the fact that the mission was over or from Clemens finally not breathing down their necks any longer. "Well done, pilots. This oughta be the end of it. When you get back, I'll talk with Commander Hawkins about letting y'all have a night on the town. I hear that the bistro Long Caster likes to order from has more than just good pizza, and I hear they've got a nice bar, too."

"And I'm pretty sure that they do karaoke some nights!" Long Caster put in excitedly.

"I…don't think I ever want to hear you sing," Count said, holding back a snort of laughter.

"Speak for yourself," Tabloid said with a chuckle. "I'd pay to hear him sing. Wait, no!" His tone was suddenly much lighter, and Naomi could pretty much picture a grin on his face as he eagerly said to them, "We gotta get Bandog to sing!"

Count shuddered at the comment. "Oh, Jesus Christ, Tabloid!" he said, obviously put off by the idea. "It's like you reached into my mind and pulled out my worst nightmare. Gah! Now I'm never going to get that image out of my head!"

As everyone once again started laughing at their companions, they didn't notice the Alicorn starting to move until a second too late. Several of the crewmen aboard the Puffin and the Flycatcher began to overlap one another as they alerted the rest of the fleet to the ship's movement. The Hamerkop and the Parrotbill seemed to be readying themselves for a fight shortly after, but they weren't a match against the Alicorn. Captain Airey seemed to realize what was happening before anyone else did. "Landing ship Puffin to all active units. The submarine has started moving. Bearing 180 cruising 5 knots." Just as quickly as the lighthearted mood had come, it quickly left and was replaced by dread and horror as she called out, "There's movement on the deck! Aircraft and….oh my God…their railguns! All ships, correct your course! Abort the operation, just get out of its —"

The captain was cut off with a crunch of static as an earsplitting crack sounded in the air that just about everyone heard and felt deep in their chest. Naomi felt her body instinctively jerk as a reaction and looked out of her cockpit, down at their burning fleet and the monstrous submarine moving through the water, shining in the sunlight. It was an intimidating sight. But their plan to capture it was about to go in a different direction. That didn't seem to be anyone else's concern. Drake Squadron's leader, Captain Reed, let out an almost anguished cry that startled Naomi even further. "Dammit! The Alicorn fired on her with its railguns! Shit, the whole fleet's on fire…they're not gonna make it…"

She forgot that Drake Squadron was a Navy squadron. He'd probably worked with Captain Airey before on other operations. It was a loss to everyone, even those that didn't know any of the crew personally. They'd just watched who knows how many people get obliterated in mere seconds. After joking with them just a few minutes before. This was supposed to be a straightforward mission. No complications. In and out. That's what Clemens had said. Naomi's head was reeling. If they'd noticed sooner, they could have warned the fleet. Why was she feeling guilty? She gritted her teeth and pulled her thoughts together, taking a deep breath and properly processing what was happening. They had to finish what they started somehow.

More movement came from the decks, and the aircraft that Airey had mentioned prior to the Alicorn firing. The four planes took off in pairs from the deck, two taking to the skies before being followed by its wingmen, flying together in a tight formation. Their livery was black with a crimson tail. They were Rafales, an Erusean fighter, and they flew together as if they could anticipate every move that their leader would make before he made it. For just a few fleeting moments, they were within range of regular human eyesight, but as they veered away from the Alicorn, the only thing that told Naomi they were still there were the target indicators on her HUD.

Long Caster quickly radioed them, urgency in his voice although he tried to maintain a cool-headed composure. "Confirming launch of submarine-based aircraft! Four birds!" he announced. After a pause, he added with some hesitation and confusion. "I…what the — It appears that one of them is carrying a cruise missile!"

"What?!" Naomi demanded, already pulling her plane around and readying herself for pursuit. "Long Caster, I wanna check to make sure I'm not hearing wrong. You said a cruise missile, right?"

He confirmed it, and everyone started voicing their own confusion. "What in the world…why would they?…" Húxiān said before quickly pulling herself together.

"What's happening? Gah!" Tabloid grunted in frustration, his own thoughts still moving a mile a minute after the destruction of the fleet.

"Listen up!" Wiseman called out, getting everyone's attention and snapping them out of their thoughts. They all needed to focus, and he was going to make sure that they did so. Otherwise, there wasn't any telling what would happen. "You need to take that bird down! Hurry!"

"Trigger, flying fast is your schtick, right?" Count called out. "Let's go!"

"Already on it!" Naomi was pretty sure that Avril would give her some flack for it, but Naomi had to push the engine as far as she could if they had any chance of catching up. Thankfully, her friend had done a lot of improvements to her engine ever since she figured out how aggressive Naomi flew these things. Hopefully her Eagle could catch up to these guys, even if they did have a head start. The rest of her squadron reacted slower, but they also went as fast as they dared to go in these planes. Tabloid was more experimental, Húxiān and Count the more sure of the three. But she'd left them pretty far behind. They'd catch up before long, but she wasn't sure if she needed the help or not.

A new voice, but one that was familiar, sounded in her ear now. "Patch me in. Alright, do you hear me? David North here," the voice of the OIA analyst said, quickly cutting right to the chase and not wasting any time on small talk. "There's a possibility that the cruise missile is WMD."

"Shit!" Naomi cursed, turning to follow after the squadron and enter the clouds. It seemed like they were trying to throw her off. What the hell are they going to do with that thing?

"Hey! What about the submarine?!" Count demanded quickly, seeming to realize the original goal of the mission. "It's gonna get away. That monster'll roam the ocean and we're not gonna be able to keep them from whatever goal they have!"

"It doesn't matter!" Tabloid replied sharply, his voice unusually harsh. Naomi had never heard him get that hostile before. With anybody. He followed it up with solid reasoning and reminded them all of what took priority. "The submarine can wait! That cruise missile could wipe out more lives in one go than that sub could! Which do you think takes priority, huh, Count?"

"That's enough! Get your heads in the game, both of you!" Naomi snapped at them, finally breaking through the clouds. She just had to go a little further. They were right there. But they're not within lock on range. Dammit.

Wiseman's voice rose to a shout. "Don't lose them! Shoot them down!"

"Shit!" Count spat the word that everyone else was thinking.

After what felt like forever, Naomi pushing her engines to the absolute limit (she was amazed that they were still holding up), she followed the targets into another cloud and fought the wind to the other side before she emerged and finally got a read on the target. Yes! She checked her missile reserves. She had enough to down the plane with the cruise missile and still take down a few extra bandits. But things would be nice and even once her squadron reached them. Húxiān gave a cocky chuckle, "Ha! Trigger's caught up to them!"

"Scrap 'em, Trigger!" Tabloid growled.

"20,000 meters until the aircraft exits the AO!" Long Caster warned.

Naomi took a deep breath, trying to focus on the target. She got a lock on the lead plane and the one that they needed to take out. He couldn't get away. She didn't hesitate, and fired immediately, as soon as the solid missile lock tone sounded in her ear. But just before the missiles could connect, one of the wingmen banked in front of it and allowed it to hit him. But one of them was evaded by all four and missed the target. For a moment, Naomi wasn't sure that she wasn't just seeing things, but the smoke trailing from the enemy aircraft confirmed what she'd seen. She'd never seen that before. Sure, she'd take a missile for any one of the pilots she flew with, be it from Cyclops or Strider, and she was sure that they'd do the same. But she'd never seen Erusean pilots show that much concern for their allies. Or maybe they were just hellbent on carrying out their mission.

"15,000 meters!" That was Long Caster again, but Naomi felt like she did in Yinshi Valley. All she really heard at that moment was blood pounding in her ears and the only thing she felt was her gut twisting and making her want to throw up. They were getting away. They were picking up speed again. They'd be out of range.

"Double time it, Trigger!" Wiseman shouted her out of her thoughts, bringing her focus back. "You're the faster pilot!"

She grunted, aware that she was so close to losing them. Her wingmen were behind her. But the missiles she'd fired missed. But by some miracle, one of the missiles homed in like it was supposed to and struck the lead plane, slowing it down and damaging it enough for Naomi to be able to finish it off. She glanced toward her radar. Enchanter! She managed a relieved smile and switched to her pulse lasers, swaying with the enemy aircraft before she lined up her shot and pulled the trigger. A burst of lasers fired out, and one of the wingmen was taken out. The others continued to fly in the way of her shots, until one by one, all three of the squadron members had been destroyed.

At last, she got through to the lead plane. "You're mine, you son of a bitch!" Naomi snarled through clenched teeth, centering the enemy fighter in the pulse laser sights. She fired it off repeatedly, some of the lasers hitting their target and others missing it. But right before the Rafale exited the air space, before it was pointless to chase him down, and before he escaped with a weapon of mass destruction, his wings both crumbled off, and his plane began to combust before it finally became nothing more than a fading ball of smoke. Naomi eased up on the engines, pulling back towards the port as Count, Tabloid, and Húxiān finally caught up to her. "Thanks for the help, Enchanter. Long Caster?"

"Target's destruction confirmed!" he called out.

"Whew!" Count said. "I was in a cold sweat there for a moment. Maybe don't scare us like that again, Trigger, and take the target down faster, huh?"

Naomi rolled her eyes, catching her breath before she answered him. "Hilarious. You think you were sweating, try taking on those crazy bastards…those guys were good, I'm not gonna lie." She shuddered, looking over her shoulder at the smoke that remained from the downed enemy aircraft. She felt cold all of a sudden. "I've never seen enemy pilots just take fire for one another like that. Either they really cared for one another, or they really wanted that mission to succeed…I wonder what would have happened if they had."

"Let's not think about that," Húxiān said quickly, sounding more than a little tired. "Let's just get back to base already. I'm freaking exhausted."

---

New Arrows Air Base, East Usea.
1900hrs.

After a long day and an exhausting dogfight that included some random woman sending a death threat over the radio and chasing down some psychos with a weapon of mass destruction, Naomi had been hoping to receive a warm welcome when they got back to base. From everyone else, they might have gotten a regular, nice welcome home, but when they arrived at HQ, the brigadier general seemed to be in a grouchy mood. Wiseman, Long Caster, and Naomi's father all stood at the front of the room with Clemens. Jaeger, Tailor, Fencer, Skald, and Lanza were all sitting, spread out among two different rows as they chatted about the mission. Bandog and Avril had even found a way to get in on the debriefing, sitting a row behind the pilots, and it seemed like they already had some sort of an idea of what happened.

The chatter among their friends ceased as Strider Squadron entered the room. They filed out in the row that Bandog and Avril were sitting in. Avril was sitting between Bandog and Tabloid, and Húxiān took the seat beside Spare Squadron's former AWACS, while Naomi sat in between Tabloid and Count. Fencer, Jaeger, and Tailor all turned around to face them, but Skald and Lanza had already been sitting on the chairs at that angle to talk to the others. It was Fencer who spoke up first, his previously injured arm propped up on the back of his chair. "We heard that the Alicorn got away. That smug brigadier general seemed pretty pissed when he found out. Started chewing Commander Hawkins out in his office before the Colonel sent him out for Wiseman to deal with."

"Yeah, the commander isn't too thrilled about having this guy around," Tailor said, glancing towards the front of the room. His expression was almost nervous. "I can't say I blame him. I bumped into him in the mess hall and he lit into me for not immediately acknowledging his rank or some bullcrap like that. Jaeger and Fencer had to step in and make some excuse for me." He glared at Fencer, who was stifling a laugh. "Did you have to tell him that I only spoke Sapinish? Because I don't know Sapinish. I asked how he was doing in Erusean for crying out loud!"

"Hey, you're lucky that the guy's too stupid and self-absorbed to realize that," Fencer said with a smirk, motioning towards Clemens.

Count scoffed. "Heh. I have to agree with you on that, Fencer. I've only ever met one person as incompetent at his job as that guy. I know his type. People like that only care about their rank and lording it over on people." Bandog shifted at his words, but Count didn't notice. He glanced over at Tailor with a curious, almost interested look. "But, on an unrelated not, I didn't know you spoke Erusean, kid. Moi aussi. I think that's pretty cool, actually. Not really a popular language right now, though."

Tailor's eyes seemed to light up as if he'd just met his new best friend, but he didn't get a chance to answer as Jaeger brought them all back on topic. "But, whether or not we like this…Clemens guy, it doesn't really matter. What matters is that we should have had the advantage in that battle today. We should have caught them by surprise. But they were ready for us." Jaeger glanced around, eyeing the general with a surprisingly dark look that Naomi wasn't used to seeing from him. "Someone's selling us out. Unfortunately, as much as I hate to bring this up for you guys—" he looked at Tabloid, Naomi, Count, Avril, and Bandog with a sympathetic and apologetic look on his face, "—I think that we might have another spy on our hands."

Naomi sighed, crossing her arms and leaning back in her chair. "And I'll bet everything I have that it's Clemens."

Just as she said this, their conversation was cut short as Clemens cleared his throat and brought all eyes to him. "Well, regardless of the change in the mission objective, and the loss of several ships from our fleet, the operation was a success," he said to them. He seemed reluctant as he added some praise to the end of his statement, "And…Strider Squadron did well, even if we did still have to babysit you. I expect more from you next time, and Captain Foulke, I want you to start acting worthy of the command you were given. As for you squadron, I expect them to start following orders and working together with more ease. But there's time to work on that before the next operation. Stand by for further orders. Dismissed."

She saw Count tense, and Tabloid roll his eyes. Húxiān, further down, let out a quiet groan of frustration at this, but didn't say anything in her defense. What point was there? Clemens was just going to continue claiming that they were disrespectful. But as everyone started to get up, Tabloid spoke up, getting their commanders' attention. "Hey, hold up a second here. We still don't know who those bats were! You know, the one that came over the radio and started threatening Trigger? Why were they going after her like that? And not to mention, they were using Osea's radio frequency."

"Hey, we heard about that," Skald spoke up now, looking surprised, worried, and curious all at once. "You mean they were on our side?"

Clemens scoffed. "Oh, please. That's impossible. They didn't respond to our IFF." He paused, and he narrowed his eyes on Naomi. She shifted uncomfortable under his gaze for a moment, before he let out a dry laugh and looked around at the others again. "Unless, of course, maybe they were there to settle some sort of personal score." His expression and tone went serious again as he looked over Naomi, Tabloid, and Count with some suspicion. He even glanced at Bandog and Avril. "There isn't anything unusual at being shot in the back by an ally."

Naomi saw Count flinch and take a deep breath. She rubbed his arm and offered a reassuring smile, but he pulled his arm away from her and sighed. "Not unusual, you say? Heh. That's a pleasant thought." He tried to joke, even giving a forced laugh, but it was clear that he was recalling Full Band's death. Bandog seemed to realize this too, as he stood back with an awkward look on his face. Count continued though, looking thoughtful, as though he was trying to figure out who the strangers could have been. "I mean, I guess it might have been that way where we came from, but…you know what I'm sayin', Trigger?"

She nodded, and was about to say something else, but the video feed of David North popped up on the screen, making them all remember that he'd been there. "Everyone, while we're on this subject, I have a question for you all."

Clemens was quick to try and shut him down, motioning to Long Caster for him to hang up. "That's enough. Remove him from the call."

Long Caster was about to follow the order, but North frantically said, "Wait, wait, don't hang up on me yet!"

"Let's hear what he has to say." Wiseman nodded for Long Caster to step back, and Clemens let out an irritated growl. Naomi actually found it kind of fun to watch his authority undermined like that. Wiseman didn't care one way or the other. He'd met McKinsey, and dealt with him. Clemens was a lot like McKinsey, and Naomi was glad that they had Wiseman there to not let the guy give them any crap.

North glanced over at Wiseman on his own screen with a grateful look. Adjusting his glasses, he began with his questions. "How did they know that we had intelligence on their weapons of mass destruction? They never would have taken such actions if they didn't know. They had to be aware of it to some extent."

Jaeger and the other pilots all shared a tired, knowing look with Naomi and those that had flown with Strider Squadron that day, and Lanza was the only one to voice the frustration that everyone was feeling, "They have a spy…"

"Ha! Ridiculous idea if you ask me, but better to be suspicious than not, I suppose…" Clemens crossed his arms and rolled his eyes, but Naomi caught a flash of worry on his face just before a scowl replaced it. She noticed that her father and Wiseman also seemed to notice it, and they both glanced Naomi's way as if questioning her about it. She gave an indication that she did, giving them a subtle nod which she saw her father return. Count and Tabloid looked at her curiously, but she didn't tell them about it. She'd let them in on it later.

North went on. "At the very least, we have to assume that from here on out the enemy knows everything that we do. We'll have to be careful with our next operation."

"Right. We'll keep that in mind," Wiseman said, nodding. It seemed that he was eager to wrap the debriefing up. "Thanks for your help, North. Let us know if you find anything else out." North nodded, reassuring them that he would, before he hung up the call himself. Wiseman turned to Clemens. "Well, general, I'd like to give the kids a nice break tonight and I'm pretty sure that sitting around here isn't going to cut it. So as much fun as this little debriefing was, if you'd have anything else to say then could you just cut to the chase?"

"Fortunately, I think that about cuts it. I'm going to be taking a break myself. Once I handle some necessary paperwork. And I'd advise you to do the same, but I doubt you'd listen." Clemens looked Wiseman up and down distastefully, but the company commander maintained his friendly smile and didn't seem bothered by Clemens' behavior at all. At last, he gave in, and began to leave, marching away from Wiseman and grumbling under his breath as he went. Everyone spread out to give him space, but he stopped by Bandog and glared at him before sneering all of a sudden. "Well. I didn't realize a low life like you was here too, Marsh. They'll welcome any old sob story into this place, won't they?"

Everyone looked at Bandog, each one just as confused as the other. Bandog sighed, avoiding eye contact as he gave a stiff nod in greeting. "Clemens. I see you're still as crooked as you ever were. At least your nose is straight again."

Clemens scowled. "I'd watch your mouth if I were you. Remember that I've been promoted since then. And what was the job they had you doing? Babysitting a dog and a bunch of convicts?" It was Bandog's turn to scowl, clenching his fist and looking away from the brigadier general. Clemens wore a smug look in place of his scowl and chuckled. "Yeah, I thought so. At least you've learned your place since then. I had a feeling McKinsey would sort you out. I'll see you around, then." With that, Clemens continued on his way, leaving Bandog practically fuming although he didn't say anything. Everyone watched him leave, some of them too startled by the exchange to say much.

They stood in stunned silence for a moment before Húxiān finally spoke up, asking the question on everyone's mind at that moment. "So, what was up with that? You two know each other?" she asked, the last question more out of surprise than anything, looking at Bandog with a look that Naomi couldn't quite understand.

But Bandog didn't seem comfortable talking about it, and he looked around with uncertainty. The last time Naomi had seen him this nervous was when he'd been telling them about his and Full Band's stupid plan that had ended with Full Band's death. He cleared his throat, looking around at them before straightening up and putting on his usual poker face. "Yeah, I know the guy. He, uh…he used to be my CO before I was transferred to Spare." He shrugged, acting as though it didn't bother him even though it did. It was weird seeing him act like this. "We didn't really get along. The guy really is an ass."

Húxiān looked as though she wanted to press the matter, not looking convinced with what he'd given them to work with, but they didn't get a chance to ask any other questions. Wiseman, Long Caster, and Naomi's dad were all approaching them, each seeming pretty relaxed and in a good mood in spite of the stress from earlier that day. Naomi's father put his arm around her shoulder as he reached her to give her a hug, and Wiseman was grinning from ear to ear as he clapped Count on the back, while Long Caster stood off to the edge of the crowd with a smile on his face. Bandog's situation was quickly forgotten (and he seemed fine with this) as Wiseman began to talk.

"Well, that was a job well done today, Strider," he said to them with a grin, looking around at them, practically beaming with pride. It seemed like you'd have to do something incredibly stupid to earn any disappointment from Wiseman, and Naomi should have realized that sooner after having experienced it first hand. Regardless of everything that happened during that battle, in the end Wiseman seemed to think they'd done more good than harm. This was only enforced further as he continued. "I spoke with Commander Hawkins, and he agreed to give us all the night off and handle the paperwork himself. Provided that we're ready if needed, we get to stretch our legs off base some. Y'all in? I'll pay for dinner."

They all were quick to agree after he said that, perhaps a little too quick, as he looked around suspiciously. "What would you have said if I didn't agree to pay?" he asked them, but no one had a good answer. He shrugged it off, and together they set off for the door.

They had a long day and now they were getting a much deserved break. And yet Naomi had a feeling that she'd have a hard time relaxing after that mission. Everything just came out of nowhere, and Naomi had the feeling that this was only the beginning of what was shaping up to be a very stressful serious of operations. They still had to reach Farbanti, and now they had a submarine on the loose, and they lost all those ships, and now they had more spies to deal with. How are we supposed to handle all of this? Naomi took a deep breath, trying to push the thought away. She shouldn't worry about that. Tonight, she was pretty much free of any responsibility and it was time to unwind a bit and worry about less urgent topics.

She smiled to herself. I wonder what else besides pizza we can have for dinner. Or if there's more pizza variety…yeah, that one could work too. "Hey, Long Caster! Got anything else besides pizza you'd recommend from that bistro by any chance?"