Five days later, the morning saw Cipher wake up on time for the first time since he arrived at the cold base. He showered and got dressed into his recently-washed flight suit, admiring the red and orange squadron patch on his upper right arm and his two silver bars above his left chest pocket.

"I feel good." He smiled to himself and headed to the mess for breakfast. It was a clear day, but the snow from the other day hadn't melted. As he entered through the double glass doors, Foulke and Crow Team jumped out from behind pillars and from the cloakroom and toilets with party poppers, setting them off in his direction.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" they cried out, laughing at Cipher's face as he was bombarded with confetti. The entire mess peered over at the mercenary teams with interest over the commotion.

Cipher pulled Crow Three into a headlock, the smaller man unable to break free. "You guys…!" he chortled. "How did you know?"

The captain in charge of Crow Team grinned. "When you join an Air Force Unit, they will find out these things…"

The Air Traffic Controller entered. She saw Crow Three subdueled by Cipher and looked amused before heading to get breakfast. Crow Three blushed and struggled to get free.

"Hey PJ," Crow Two smiled evilly. "Was that your girlfriend?"

The mercenary team laughed and teased PJ, who grinned and tried to change the subject. After breakfast, Foulke called him to the accommodation block before the morning brief.

"Here Buddy, I got you something." He handed over a crudely wrapped present. "I apologise about my wrapping skills but y'know, it's just gonna be torn off…"

Cipher smiled at his wingman. "Thanks Larry." He tore off the wrapping paper.

It was a book. It wasn't very thick, and was a hardback. Cipher read the front cover, which had a picture of an EF2000 Typhoon painted dark grey/blue with a red nose and white wingtips.

Ace pilots and Squadrons of the Belkan Air Force

"I thought you might find it interesting to read." Foulke said.

"I will." Cipher thanked him, genuinely grateful with his gift. He had six hours to kill, so he lay on his bed and opened the new book, scanning the contents and choosing to look at the 2nd Air Division, 52nd Tactical Fighter Squadron 'Rot'.

The Belkan Air Force 2nd Air Division, 52nd Tactical Fighter Squadron Rot is an elite Belkan squadron consisting of four EF2000 Typhoons. It read. The Squadron is led by the ace Detlef Fleisher, who is known as the Belkan Air Force's 'poster boy'.

Below, was a photo of a man in military uniform with the rank slides of a Lieutenant Colonel on his shoulders. He had serious black eyes and short brunette hair.

He became an ace pilot after shooting down three Ustio Su-27 Flankers over B7R in 1993 and on his second sortie into the Round Table one year later, he eliminated a flight of F-16 Fighting Falcons in the same area.

Cipher flicked to another page, ignoring the rest of the page on the squadron.

The Belkan Air Force 5th Air Division, 23rd Tactical Fighter Squadron 'Gelb' is a Belkan ace squadron, made up of two Su-37 Terminators. Despite lacking in numbers, this pair of Ace pilots and their Su-37 'Terminator' are a great threat to any pilot, due to their cooperative flying style. Orbert Jager is the flight leader of the Belkan 23rd Tactical Fighter Squadron Gelb. Not much is known about this man, other that he has a close relationship with his only wingman, Rainer Altman; the two executed complicated combat manoeuvres with perfection, thus earning them the nickname of "The Couple Cormorants".

Cipher became engrossed in the Belkan Air Force's aces, reading about the Grun Squadron and their unique squadron rule of combat to survive, to the infamous Schwarze Squadron, their black and red Foxhounds and the only squadron cleared to engage at will, even shooting down Belkan pilots attempting to defect. He admired the flying style of Schnee Squadron and their tactics of jamming radar whilst using long-range phoenix missiles from their Super Tomcats to shoot down enemy forces from afar.

The book even had records of individual pilots. He had an idea, and flicked to the glossary, looking for the Mirage 2000D and any ace squadrons or pilots.

He found a pilot and turned to the page. It showed a white Mirage 2000D with red and black markings and outlines. The insignia was the same as the one on the pilot's forearm he'd seen when he was brought to Valais Airbase.

Manfred Ketzer, also known as Wuerfel One, is a lesser known ace pilot and the flight lead of Wuerfel Squadron. They are usually deployed as Air Support units when the Belkan army advances, engaging air and ground units which threaten the success of the operations on the ground.

'Until I shot him down.' Cipher thought, smiling.

"Hey buddy!" Foulke called from outside the room. "It's almost time, you coming?"

Cipher sat up, and put the book to one side. "I'm coming." He pulled his boots on and grabbed his leather jacket and the two mercenaries made their way to the briefing room for the brief. They sat in the front row as they were the only pilots there.

The Intelligence Officer entered and set up the brief.

"Head Operations has issued an emergency order for a reconnaissance mission to be conducted near the border. You will be monitoring the airspace B7R, currently under Belkan control." The Officer said as the map outlined Airspace B7R. "Strong opposition is expected by enemy squadrons, and the presence of a magnetic field has been detected, which may interfere with communications. In short, this will not be a walk in the park." He warned. "The B7R airspace is located above an area rich in subterranean resources, where many conflicts have been fought in the past." He explained. "You are authorised to engage enemy planes upon contact. The time has come for your skills to be tested."

The mercenaries left and jogged out to their planes.

"Drop tanks?" Foulke looked surprised as he did his checks, looking at the streamlined tank on the central under-fuselage hardpoint.

"Guess we'll be flying for a while." Cipher leapt into the cockpit and started up his fighter. "Let's go to the Round Table."

"Belkan Priority One Strategic Airspace, B7R." 'Solo Wing' said slowly with awe as the camera showed a birds-eye view of the acrid plain taken from a helicopter. "AKA the 'Round Table.' It was the grand stage where we pilots performed. We were all on an equal footing, fighting under the same conditions. No affiliations or ranks to hinder us. Aces from every nation crisscrossed through those skies in pursuit of air-superiority. The only rule of engagement was to survive."

Cipher hated himself for being right. He badly wanted to stretch and his legs had gone numb from sitting on the hard seat for too long. The HUD was turned off and Cipher, sensing that the Round Table was close, turned it back on again. He stared out at the acrid landscape, sandy rocks and little signs of life apart from the small tree-like shrubs in little groups scattered all over the place.

"What's it like down there?" Foulke was flying at a higher altitude. Cipher looked up.

"Wouldn't like to bail out here."

"Me neither." Foulke agreed.

"Enemy aircraft on radar." AWACS Eagle Eye reported. "Exercise caution."

Cipher and Foulke clicked their mike. Cipher opened a channel which would allow him to hear intercepted transmissions.

"Is something wrong with the IFF?" A young Belkan asked his flight lead. "Only two aircraft are showing up on radar."

"They knew we were coming…" Cipher realised. "Galm Two, they're on to us." He warned his wingman.

"Don't they know about the Round Table…?" Another confused Belkan said.

"Galm Team cleared to engage." Eagle Eye said. Just the words the two mercenaries were hoping to hear.

"Roger that." Foulke answered as Cipher cleared his wingman for air to air engagement. "Arming AMRAAMs."

Cipher broke away from the two-man formation as a flight of two enemy fighters came up at his two o'clock high. The two fighters turned to face him, and the mercenary ace locked onto them and shot them down using two medium range missiles. "Splash two enemy fighters." Cipher reported. "Moving onto a second flight." His radar showed another pair of patrolling fighters and moved to intercept.

"Galm Two roger." Foulke's voice sounded strained, as if he were bracing against high g's from a tight turn. "We WILL survive Galm One!"

"Fly hard and shoot, straight!" A Belkan commander ordered.

'Eight missiles left…' Cipher thought and checked his radar. 'Five aircraft remaining.' One disappeared off the radar as Foulke dispatched it with a missile. 'Four aircraft remaining.'

The HUD picked up two enemy fighters and a glance at the radar showed Cipher that the two planes were headed straight for him.

"You wanna joust?" Cipher muttered. "Bring it on!" He locked on and fired his last two medium-range missiles at the challengers

"Break hard and evade!" A Belkan cried, but the two fighters exploded.

"Splash two more." Cipher reported. "Galm Two, how you doing?"

"Three kills." His wingman reported. "The last one is bugging out."

Cipher shook his head slightly, grinning behind his mask. He knew he would've shot down that fighter. "Ammo check." He asked his wingman.

"Three Sidewinder, four AMRAAMs and about nine-hundred rounds of gun ammunition." Foulke reported. "Yourself?"

"Six sidewinders, no AMRAAMs and nine-hundred and forty rounds." Cipher counted. "Let's enter the Round Table."

Foulke's grey and red Eagle formed up on Cipher's wing. The two fighters passed over the mountain range, marking the boundary of the legendary Airspace B7R.

"So these mountains make up the Round Table…" Foulke said. "I've heard my share of stories about it."

"Galm two, keep an eye on your radar for enemy fighters," the mercenary ace ordered.

"Enemy aircraft heading in at high speed." Eagle Eye warned.

"Galm One, enemy reinforcements, probably the main force." Foulke said.

The two Eagles turned towards the incoming fighters. Cipher checked his radar and identified the targets.

"Targets are four Hornets." Cipher reported.

"Galm Team, we cannot authorise a retreat. Engage the bandits."

Foulke clicked his mike. "I thought you'd say that, this is gonna cost you extra…"

"Grun Two, report." The flight lead of the enemy squadron ordered.

"This is Grun Two, there's two of 'em." The second pilot said with a sneer.

"Well then, let's have some fun!"

The four ship formation popped up on his HUD. Before Cipher could order Foulke to use his Advanced Medium Range Air to Air Missiles, the flight split, the lead passing overhead and the three others passing either side. Cipher caught a glimpse the fighters, painted in green and brown camouflage with red stripes on the wingtips.

"Ah shit." Foulke groaned as he turned to engage. "Hornets! Don't let them sting you in the ass."

"They good?" Cipher asked through gritted teeth as he turned sharp to come about on their tails.

Foulke had latched onto the tail of one. He fired a missile, but the fighter popped flares and snapped off to one direction to evade, forcing Foulke to pull an improvised split-s. "I'd say so," he replied.

"Looks like you mercenaries made the wrong choice."

Cipher realised that the Belkan ace had tapped into their communications.

"This is the Round Table, dead men's words hold no meaning." Foulke retorted.

"Galm Team, the enemy seems highly experienced; don't let them take control of the battle." AWACS Eagle Eye said.

"All Grun units, set ejection handles to green." The Grun flight lead ordered.

Cipher had engaged his own bandit. He fired off a burst of gunfire as the two aircraft rapidly climbed, tearing apart the port elevator and damaging the F-18's intake. Unstable and spewing unhealthy black smoke from the left engine outlet, it dived, Cipher hard on his tail. A second burst of gunfire caught his wing and the Hornet span out of control, disintegrating into fiery debris. Cipher pulled away and then dived again, rapidly losing altitude to evade a missile.

"Those bastards…" Grun One muttered. "All planes, time to get serious!"

"Galm One, splash one bandit but I've picked one up on my six." He reported calmly. "Galm Two, how you doing?"

"Still chasing this son of a…." His wingman reported.

Cipher decided he'd lost enough altitude and pulled up at 500ft and engaged his afterburners, shooting past the Hornet that was still diving.

"Dammit, both of them know what they're doing!" the enemy flight lead muttered as he tried to follow Cipher's manoeuvre. But the mercenary had pulled a sharp loop and was now following the Grun leader. He flicked to his sidewinders, but then switched back to guns when he realised the missiles wouldn't be able to imitate the enemy's evasive turns and climbs Cipher was following.

"Reckless attacks aren't gonna cut it with these guys." Foulke observed.

As the ace pulled into a high-g turn, Cipher forced his Eagle into a sharper turn, the nose rising above the carrier-based multirole aircraft his prey flew. A volley of cannon fire later and the Grun Team commander was forcefully ejected from his plane as it exploded.

"Splash the flight lead." Cipher whooped and looked for his wingman, who was dealing with the last. He locked onto Foulke's target and launched his first sidewinder of the combat. The Hornet popped a flare and pulled away, straight into the pipper of Foulke's HUD.

"Splash the last of the fighters." Foulke said as the last Hornet, now missing his left wing, crashed into the mountains.

"Well done Galm Team." The AWACS congratulated. "Incoming transmission from the Operations Command. Allied naval force has begun its advance. We appreciate the help."

"Looks like we were just a couple of decoys." Foulke said, his voice giving away his personal distaste.

Cipher was surprised. Had Operations Command expected them to get killed? Or had they actually thought that their skills would enable them to survive. He shrugged the feeling off.

"Yo Buddy!" Foulke said. "You still alive?"

Cipher barrel-rolled his fighter in reply, then settled into his seat and tried to get comfy. It was going to be a long ride home.

Cipher had no strength left in his legs, and the walk from his hanger across to the briefing block was harder than usual. He was grateful for the padded chairs, and collapsed into one. "I have to get better padding on my seat." He explained to the intelligence officer, who was looking at him, amused.

Foulke was in a similar state, entering just as Cipher commented about his seat. "I think I may have to do the same, my arse is dead."

"Well," The officer started. "We successfully confused the Belkans. While you engaged the fighters in the Round Table, the Osean Third Naval Fleet was able to leave port undetected. No go and rest up." The officer looked at Cipher's exhausted form. "You've earned it'.