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444th Air Base, Zapland, Usea.

July 22th, 2019.

0800hrs.

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It's been two days since the recon pilots had left yet Mere's work doesn't seem to have let up. More prisoners were transferred over including some new pilots, Hickup and Magnet, who will be filling the void that Champ and Sinker left. She only thanked her lucky stars that high command had also transferred over some older models of their respective planes, an F-16C and an F-18E respectively to the base. This has saved the mechanics weeks of work as they no longer needed to fish out and freshen up any new plane from the pit. This, however, didn't stop McKinsey from throwing his weight around and ordering a full inspection on both the new planes as well as all of their own planes. It's not like Mere was already busy trying to fix both the Tomcat and Lamp's shot-up F-18 either. Still, she was starting to miss their guests a bit. She got to know Jaeger a bit better in the days they stayed at the base, usually telling stories as the mechanics worked on their planes to pass the time. These included some stories with the squadron earlier in the war even back when he and Wiseman fought in the Circum Pacific war. She also thought back to what Wiseman had told her right after they all landed from their little test flight.

After they had landed she was woken up from her nap and told to head to Hangar 4 to work on an issue one of the pilots had. Since she couldn't exactly say no and go back to sleep, she made her way over to the fourth hangar. Entering, she was greeted by both Jaeger and Wiseman standing near some boxes while Húxiān and Fencer were near the back discussing something out of earshot.

"Someone called for me with an electrical problem?" Mere glanced between the two senior officers as she approached the two who seemed to have been waiting for her.

"Ah well, nothing all too important. Just checked it out of habit but my night lights aren't working," Jaeger raised his hand a bit. "Now I wouldn't want to bother you all too much with this problem but it will seem like we'll be flying into the night."

"Night? Leaving already?" Mere asked as she made her way over to Jaeger's plane.

"I made a call back to base and our commander wants us back ASAP," Wiseman answered. "Weather's clearing up in an hour so you'll have plenty of time to fix Jaeger up."

"And if it does come to it, I could duct tape a torch to my helmet," Jaeger let out a light laugh and Mere couldn't help but let out a light chuckle as she searched her toolbox for the F-15's manual.

"Well, you won't need to resort to that. Something as simple as a light won't take me too long," Mere said, finding what she was looking for before she climbed into the cockpit. Taking a seat, she paused to take in the feeling of it all before she went to work.

"Not exactly what you're used to working with?" Wiseman asked as he watched her work.

"Might have been my workspace as well if I didn't change direction," Mere mused a bit as she flicked on battery power and tested the lights finding none of them were powering on. "Well, maybe not an Eagle but I do wish we had planes in as good condition as yours. Seems like they just rolled off the assembly line."

"Well we've got a good maintenance crew that keeps these birds in tip-top shape mission after mission back at New Arrow," Jaeger explained. "After all, a good crew makes for a good plane."

"And a good crew can make the plane dance. So how long have you and Trigger flown together?" Wiseman suddenly asked

"Me and Trigger? Ah, not too long. What's today... the 20th? So... About a month and a half of 'flying' together," Mere emphasized flying with air quotes. "Really just been on three missions together since the base commander doesn't give us any time to do any flight training or practice."

"Just... Three missions?" Jaeger asked, rubbing his chin, his eyes widening a bit. "Honestly, it's hard to believe that you two have only been together for three missions. Well, since you've got a front-row seat, what's your thoughts on how he flies?"

"How he flies… Aggressively. Very aggressive yet all his movements are deliberate. He can throw the aircraft around like a paper airplane yet it was all with deliberate with very little correction needed. He also feels like he doesn't have any blood in his veins with how he can just beast his way through the G-forces." Mere chuckled a bit as she rubbed the back of her head. "He's hard to read where he'd go next but I'm managing somehow. Once he sinks his teeth into an enemy, either we need to defend against a second threat or the target's going down in a ball of flames. Still quite the workout at the end of the day."

"I could imagine. You must be quite the monster as well to withstand his flying though," Wiseman commented next while Mere just waved her hand.

"Ah, it's not too impressive. It's taking all I've got to really keep up when he's on kill. I'm sure most other WSO's could keep up with him..." Mere dismissed as she thought back to the Mr. X fight. She was already on the brink of passing out when that lightning strike caused her whole body to tense sending the blood back into her brain. She wasn't up to Trigger's level and she knew it. "Gotta thank Uncle Snow and Auntie Arianne though with their help teaching me some bracing techniques."

"Quite the adaptable pilot as well. I haven't seen someone throw a Tomcat around like that since the Circum-Pacific," Jaeger commented as Mere started to trace the wire back to the switch. "Even up there in an Eagle, he was trying out splitting the throttle. Not exactly a beginner or intermediate-friendly skill to learn."

"Ah... Well, I gave him those ideas... Kinda surprised how well he incorporated them into his flying style."

"Are you sure you aren't a pilot?" Wiseman raised an eyebrow with a light chuckle. "You got the knowledge base of one and the intuition to back it up."

"Could of, would of, but... Helping from the back is in my blood," Mere stated as she tightened down a few wires before flipping a switch seeing the red lights come on. "And there we go. Anything else I could help with?"

"That'll be all. Appreciate the talk and I wish I could have seen what the two of you could have done in the sky today." Wiseman said. "Now if you would excuse me, I've got a quick briefing to give."

Mere later learned from Tabloid that the initial engagement was quite even yet little by little the recon pilots exploited the gaps in their team work to first eliminate Roofer followed by Tabloid, Count, and Trigger. It only made sense since the team work Spare had as a whole really just consisted of teams of two. She could only think having her in the sky would have a minimal impact on the end result either way. Now, she's sitting in the briefing room with the other pilots waiting for the base commander to show up.

She was in her usual seat flanked by Trigger and Tabloid. Full Band was present and this was honestly the first time she's really seen him since the last mission. He seemed grumpier than usual as he sat on the edge with Pick quietly at his side. High Roller was a few seats over playing with the deck of cards he always has on him. The whole room honestly felt weird with only a few idle conversations being held which all were quickly hushed when the door in the back opened with a whine. Stepping around the tactical screen Commander McKinsey entered, taking his usual position by the podium. HIs eyes glanced around at the convicts when he straightened himself a bit.

"Attention! If you disobeyed orders in the previous mission, line up over there," he pointed to his right. At first no one moved before one by one each of the pilots started to get up and shuffle over. "You won't disobey a second time. Do not test my patience," McKinsey glared at the line before he cleared his throat to begin the briefing.

"Now then. The biggest threat currently to our focus is the enemy's enormous swarm of drones," the tac map zoomed in on the Usean continent highlighting the allied and enemy territories. "So, in order for our forces to penetrate deep into Erusean territory, we'll need to clear a path. In order to do that, you will be destroying the enemy's fuel plant."

A spot on the map was pinged near the Arsenal Birds ring before it quickly zoomed into their operation area and murmurs of surprise and shock spread through the group seeing the number of high-value targets they'd be going after. Red targets were all grouped rather tightly yet the scale of the refinery was still massive. Mere started to wonder if they'd even have enough ordinances to even destroy it all.

"HQ has found evidence that fuel is being moved intermittently inland from a refinery at the harbor in Artiglio. It's likely they're supplying fuel for the various drone bases." McKinsey looked around as four large red circles appeared on the map highlighting the major areas they would be attacking. "Those of you whose food privileges were taken away already know how this goes: We silence the drones by taking their fuel."

Everyone seemed to have some form of frown or scowl at that comment since they all could relate. Everyone at one point had food privileges taken away and it sucked starving the whole day. Picking up a stick McKinsey got closer to the tac screen and tapped the mouth of the harbor. "Enter via the estuary, take out their AA, destroy the fuel points on both sides of the river as well as their oil tanks. Remember, you're not a bona fide military; you're all expendable. You are to be in the air in 15 minutes. Dismissed." he stated before walking out and slamming the door closed. The tac screen zoomed out showing the area of operations again slowly rotating around the site. Mere frowned a bit as it rotated around catching the edge of the orange ring making her stomach turn a bit.

"Oi... Hey, are my eyes reading the map right?" Weasel spoke up, catching the group's attention.

"Trying to shrink from your responsibilities again Weasel?" Dookie scoffed as he got up to head out.

"No, I'm serious this time. Are we actually fighting in the Arsenal Birds range?" The whole room went quiet as everyone froze.

"McGraw," Utah called out to the man operating the laptop. "Zoom out a bit." Doing so, murmurs began to spread as it became clear how dangerous this mission would be.

"Fuck man, we gotta deal with the arsenal bird?" Pick rubbed the stubble on his chin. "How fast can they even react?"

"Well... Depends on how close they are," Trigger spoke up a bit glancing over to Mere trying to get a read on her. "Could take 30 minutes after initial detection, can be an hour and a half tops."

"Anyone wanna take some bets on if the big bad bird would come?" High Roller tried to ease the tension of the room while Full Band had just got up and left slamming the door on the way out. Everyone seemed to jump a bit as they looked towards the door. "Jeez, release the tension by making it snap huh? Well, my bet's that we won't even see her. As Trigger said, she can only be so close for a short period of time with how they rotate."

"I'd bet that whoever planned this mission timed it so both birds are the furthest away," Waldo added.

"Also, the hell type of briefing was that? 'Here's the enemy, go blow them up. BTW, you're expendable.'" Magnet asked, quite shocked.

"Welcome to the Spare Squadron," Dookie sighed as he got up to head to the hangar. passing by Magnet he patted his shoulder with a tiered expression on his face. "You'll get used to it..."

"Go in, hit 'em hard and fast and we can go home. Sounds easy enough," Roofer said, getting a few nods from the other pilots before he got up and headed out.

One by one they shuffled out when Lampshade approached Mere. Looking up at him she gave him an inquisitive look as he looked down at her.

"Hey, Wire, since the Cat's all shot up and Trigger here got a new plane to play with, would you mind being my WSO?"

"The Super Hornet can be flown without a WSO. You sure?"

"I know, I know. Call me curious, but I wanna see what having a WSO is all about," Lamp rubbed the back of his head. "So how 'bout it? This was your old workstation too."

Mere took a second to think it over. She could just turn him down and there's nothing he could do to really stop her. She only went up before since the pilot couldn't actually utilize the radar without a WSO in the Tomcat. The Hornet's solved that problem yet her sense of duty will overrule any thoughts of safety. Nodding her head she gave him a light smirk.

"I'm holding you to the same standard that I'm holding Trigger to. Don't disappoint me," Mere got up out of her seat and patted Lamp's shoulder. "I've flown with Aces you know."

"Ace? Sure he's shot his fair share but you want me to fly like that lunatic? Fat chance," Lamp let out a huff as he left the room to head to the hangars while Tabloid just gave her a suspicious look.

"What's with that look, Tabs," Mere looked over at him as he and Trigger walked out with her to the hangars.

"Ah, nothin'. Just a bit excited that we get to blow up something. Thought I was going a bit stir-crazy being stuck on the ground the past week. C'mon. Let's go see what Gramp's got for munitions."

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Artiglio Port, Erusea

1000hrs.

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"So, how's she flying High Roller?" Mere asked, looking off to her left back at the F-16XL pulling up the trailing position of Full Band.

"Ah, she's flying great! Honestly, I wasn't sure she'd even take off with the amount of bombs we strapped to her. Bear just kept rolling more and more mules loading her up." High Roller laughed a bit as he did a little aileron roll. "Still handles like a loaded F-16 too."

"Well, you've got Queen's touch in that aircraft. She'll serve you perfectly," Mere smirked a bit as she keyed the internal radio to the pilot up front. "And how are you dealing with your new bird?"

"Well, she feels fine. I can just sit back and relax as you handle all the radio work and navigation," Lamp smugly responded as he stretched his arms above his head. "With you quietly working away back there, I kinda forgot I even had another soul onboard."

"Just how I like it. Just keep us in the air, that's all I ask of you. Oh and leave the Mavs to me."

"I can do that," Lamp gave a light two-fingered salute looking up in the mirror before leaning back and finding anything to busy himself with.

"Spare squadron, you're five minutes from the AO. Time to get your heads out of your asses and get in the game," Bandog's gruff voice came over the radio. Mere just rolled her eyes as she started to power up the targeting pod and go through her checklist. She occasionally glanced at her radar seeing the targets begin to pop up. One by one they popped up making for a target-rich environment.

"Man, take a look at your radar," Weasel whistled over the radio. "I knew there'd be a lot of them but damn. That's a lot of targets."

"The Big Guy would have been all over this mission. Would be right up his alley," Pick mentioned as well as they drew closer.

"I'm sure Champ's blood would be boilin' the sea away with how worked up he'd get in there." Trigger added while Full Band just snorted.

"Second there's a sign of trouble and he'd bail though. Champ went down crying like a baby, I knew he was all bark and no bite," he let off a dark chuckle, "what a coward."

Mere's jaw clenched up and her hands bawled up into fists. Her foot went to key the radio to give Full Band a piece of her mind but Tabloid beat her to it.

"You're one to talk about being a coward after running off with your tail between your legs like you did!" Tabloid snapped, catching Mere and the others off guard. The old saying of be wary when the quiet kid, or the kind guy, gets angry.

"I wasn't running away, I was retreating!" Full Band responded quickly trying to cover his ass but it just pissed Mere off more.

"Oh sure, retreating to your little cell searching for your balls you misplaced in your purse."

"Oh fuck off Hotwire. Getting jumped by everyone today," Full Band sighed as he dropped away from the formation. "I'm not in the mood for any of this bull shit today. I'm gonna blow stuff up to let off some steam. Eat a SAM while you're at it Hotwire." Mere sucked in a breath and let it out trying to calm herself but he did have a good point. Maybe blowing something up could ease her tension.

The group of fighters broke off into their own smaller squads and Spare began to swarm the harbor. Fuel tanks, towers, and anti-air speckled the ground, really leaving it a playground for the convicts. If anything, this mission was right up their alley since it encouraged them to spread out and pick their own targets.

"Well, target in sight," Count announced over the radio with a whistle. "A lot of oil tanks around here, but the boats aren't warships. Lots of buildings too..." He seemed apprehensive about the whole thing and Mere felt a small knot in her stomach as well. No matter how you look at it, this is still mostly a civilian target. Lamp kept the F-18 near the edge of the area of operation trying to see his best way to approach it while the others began their own attacks. Mere on the other hand was watching what the other squadron was doing, spotting Trigger rolling right in dropping a few bombs on a row of oil tanks while High Roller was off doing the same in a different part of the refinery. Black smoke began to billow as large fireballs erupted. Others were going after SAM sites and AA guns trying desperately to defend against the sudden swarm of fighters.

"Destroy everything in sight," Bandog ordered a bit late as everyone was already rolling in. "Surely that's an easy concept for you lot to grasp?"

"You know, I appreciate the simplicity of the operation Bandog. Really, I do," Tabloid chimed in as he swung his Mirage around to sling a LASM at a refinery causing a large explosion and destroying the surrounding facilities. "But... they don't look like military."

"And you think you look anything like military," Bandog asked again but he seemed a bit distracted. "Well you don't, but that's not going to stop the enemy from attacking you. Continue with the operation and blow it all to pieces."

"I don't know Bandog, you think a group of civilian-military fighters just happened to wander into this AO?" Weasle laughed a bit as he flew in taking out a helicopter that had taken off.

"Knock it off Spare-9," Bandog snarled a bit when it seemed he leaned away from the microphone. "And you, double-check that report and get back to me on that!"

As the others were picking their way through the refinery, Mere was becoming a bit frustrated at Lamp's hesitation. He turns in as if to engage but pulls back as either the smoke obscures the target or he decides it isn't the right angle. Slewing the pod around, Mere locked a cluster of oil tanks.

"Come on Lamp, stop pussy footing around and get in there!" Mere barked over the internal comms. "Hesitate all you want but just point the nose at a target!"

"Hey, it's hard to line up a target in that soup! You see how thick the smoke is?"

"The pod sees just fine. Just point the plane at what I'm locked onto!"

"Fine jeez," Lamp brought the nose around while Mere slung a Maverick at a group of oil tanks near a moored tanker as well as the tanker itself.

"Spare-3, rifle," Mere called while Lamp continued on his descent going in to strafe more targets with his guns. One by one the tanks ruptured into a ball of flames when the whole airframe buffeted as the Mavericks found their targets. First, it was one little bump followed up by a second wave of secondaries.

"Bingpot!" Waldo whooped watching the tanker and the facilities go up in smoke. "Tanker ships full of oil!"

"Bingpot?" Lamp asked as he pulled up and away into clear air.

"Ah, shit... Couldn't decide on Bing-o or JackPot," Waldo sheepishly responded, getting a light laugh from the other convicts.

"Woohoo! Eyes on the prize people!" High Roller's voice came over the coms next. Looking over, she saw him at low altitude angling towards a line of refineries. "Bets open if I can wreck these four refineries! You have about 10 seconds till the pot is closed!"

"Just don't miss, idiot!" Full Band lashed out at High Roller.

"Yee of little faith. Just watch this!" High Roller whooped as he threw a bomb at each refinery. The first missed its mark going long while the other three nailed their targets. In retaliation, an AA gun defending the first refinery spun around and started to light up the sky trying to shoot High Roller down. The gun was silenced quickly as Dookie flew through slinging a missile at the AA emplacement and the refinery finishing it off.

"Gotta learn to clean up after yourself, High Roller," Dookie chuckled as he followed after him to get on his wing.

"Tch, three out of four still ain't too bad," High Roller grumbled a bit as she looked back seeing a large secondary explosion erupt.

"Damn! Now that's what I call fireworks! Haha!" Full Band cheered as he dove back in to take out a few more facilities.

"You ain't seen nothing yet Full Band! I got two more juicy targets I've got my eyes set on!" High Roller laughed as he angled towards the tankers trying to leave the bay.

"Are you guys all nuts? And here I thought at least one of you was sane!" Hickup sneered a bit. Mere grunted a bit as Lamp pulled up hard from a dive at another refinery when she noticed a new contact on the radar.

"Ah, you haven't seen anything yet. Eyes up, we've got some fighters inbound!" Mere announced seeing a squad of fighters moving to intercept them. Squinting a bit, she could make out the shape of four F-15s flying high. Judging from their angle they were moving to intercept High Roller and Dookie. "They're going after High Roller!"

"I'm on it," Trigger called out while Mere smirked.

"Come on Lamp! Let's get in there too!"

"Huh? But Trigger's got it-"

"Come on, we got 'em in the bag! Punch it!"

"Ugh, fine!" he groaned as he pulled the Hornet around moving to intercept the enemy craft. Trigger was already ahead of them afterburner lit climbing to intercept. This was the first time Mere's got to see him fly from the outside and she couldn't help but feel a bit uneasy. A plume of white smoke erupted under the F-15 as Trigger slung a missile at the group of fighters. The target broke formation dumping countermeasures but it was too late as a puff of smoke and flame erupted followed by the glints of a disintegrating plane. Without any hesitation, he threw the plane around and sunk his teeth into the next target pursuing him leaving Lamp and Mere the last two. With the sudden attack from the rear, the last two fighters split leaving Lamp to pursue one of them. Going through the motions of positioning himself behind one, Lamp was about to slew the radar around when a lock tone buzzed in his ear. Surprised, he tapped the trigger letting a sidewinder off the rail towards the target. The target jinked dumping flares and defeating the missile but it placed him right in Lamp's sights. Switching to guns, Lamp lined the piper up and squeezed the trigger sending a stream of tracer fire through the left engine and up through the wing root shearing it off. He smirked a bit as he watched the F-15 plummet out of the sky when the missile warning started to beep at the crew.

"Shit, jink left! Dropping flares!" Mere called as she craned her neck around seeing the last bandit had latched onto their tail. She felt the plane rotate and pull hard as the missile kept a beeline towards them before diverting, exploding on the flares they dumped. "Keep it going Lamp, he's coming in high and to our left!"

"I see him!" Lamp grunted as he looked back seeing the fighter dropping in. Pulling hard he was trying to pull under him to keep out of his nose but no matter what he did he was glued to their tail. "Damn it, he's glued to my tail!"

"Just keep jinking!" Mere called as yellow tracers flew over their canopy. "Shit! Come on Lamp!"

"I'm trying! I'm-" The airframe rattled a bit making Lamp snap his head back thinking they were hit just to see the F-15 falling away in a ball of fire.

"I got your six, Lamp!" Trigger called out while in the distance, the two oil tankers were burning.

"Heh... Thanks, Trig!" Mere radioed over as he pulled up to their wing. Giving him a thumbs up, he returned it. Glancing over Mere began to look over at the radar seeing the number of targets they had left when something caught her eye. "The fuck is that," she mumbled as she peered more inland. "Hey, Bandog, the hell is that up to our North?"

"Hmph, aren't you guys unlucky..." Bandog darkly chuckled as the sound of paper being folded came over the comms. "I've got more bad news. The Megastorm Inessa Two that formed a few days ago is approaching our AO." Bandog let out a sigh, "You have... About four... Mnn no, three minutes before it hits. When it does, visibility will be zero."

"No time to smell the roses then," Tabloid sighed, "and I was saying that this whole thing was simple."

"Still is simple Tabloid," Utah grumbled. "Just complete the mission as soon as we can so we can go home."

"Any fighter pilot can easily clean up a mission like this in minutes. A true fighter pilot needs to fight," Count chuckled. "Honestly could use the challenge."

"Hey, asking for trouble is never a good thing," Waldo chimed in.

"Think what you will but really, what do you get out of this?" Count grunted. "Just a big ol' fireworks display with nothing to show for it."

"I don't know, having your own personal fireworks show is quite relaxing. Gotta take your slow missions when you can before being thrown into the fire again," Mere added as she and Lamp rejoined the fight taking out the facilities more to the west.

"Take the slow missions huh," Tabloid scoffed a bit, "you know, just look at us. Bandog was right. We're not a proper military."

Full Band let out an irritated sigh while Lamp pulled away from another burning refinery. "Enough with the holier-than-thou act, Tabloid. It's not like you're the only one who's realized this."

"You kidding me, Full Band? I belong in the penal unit," Tabloid chuckled.

"We all belong in the Penal Unit. Trigger you belong here even more than the rest of us. You know that, I know that, Hotwire knows it, murderer," Full Band snapped.

"Hey, what the fuck does Trigger have to do with any of this?" Mere suddenly snapped back at Full Band.

"Everything! Why are you trying to defend that murder anyway? He's here with the worst crime out of all of us," Full Band spat back.

"I'm just trying to figure out where that stick-up your ass came from? I'll visit your cell later to yank it out and beat some sense back into you!"

"Come on now, it's all about where you're from," Count cut in with a sigh and that seemed to end the conversation. The squadron moved on continuing their attack on the refinery from low altitude. They'd dive down, and smack a target before zooming away. A simple maneuver, for a simple squad, on a simple mission. Even if they were getting slightly better at covering their fellow pilots, Spare was leagues away from becoming anything that resembles a proper military. Mere still didn't know why this thought hung in her head either as they continued the mission. With a low inventory of Mavericks remaining, she began to pick targets of opportunity for Lamp to exploit. Things were going smoothly but the growing dust cloud served as a reminder they were on the clock.

"Inessa 2 will be arriving in three minutes. That's all the time I can give you," Bandog announced.

"Shit, we're out of time!" Full Band spat over the radio while Mere sighed.

"You know we can get a lot done in three minutes," Mere mused a bit trying to lighten the mood.

"About 75 percent of the base is gone. Should be a piece of cake," Weasel chimed in.

"Just hope this will get us closer to ending this stupid war," Hickup commented when some of the other pilots groaned.

"And here he goes again," Lamp let out a sigh.

"Say, Hickup, I've got a question for you," Tabloid suddenly spoke up. "Why do you think that this stupid war keeps dragging on, huh?"

"Huh? Uh... Well-"

"It's because countries exist. Shouting that and throwing a rock is what got me in here," Tabloid chuckled a bit.

"Countries? Sure even if you get rid of countries and the borders that make them, they'll still be in conflict," Hickup tried to reason. "After all, it's just human nature. Someone will want something someone else has and if they can't get it with words, they might be able to get it with force."

"Quite the philosopher aren't you, Hickup," Bandog sneered through the comms. "You two have a free meal and a warm bed. Truly this is the appropriate use of our citizens' taxes."

"Just open your eyes Bandog and see what amazing things your tax dollars are being used for," Mere joked a bit as she let off another Maverick destroying a row of oil tanks. The three minutes they were given soon flew by and there was barely anything left for the pilots to do. Looking at the destruction below, the refinery is completely destroyed, and all the stored fuel. Not a single target was left standing with mainly the large civilian building being untouched. Looking around with the pod, she could still see people trying to combat the fire but for the most part, it seemed most of the workers were leaving the area. She even saw a few cars driving away from the area. Probably the civilians fleeing. Even if it seemed all justified, the operation was now starting to leave a bad taste in her mouth.

"Huh. Looking good, Spare Squadron. You made it just in time." Mere could almost hear Bandog smirking behind his mic. They did more than just a good job nearly leveling the refinery.

"Expect anything less?" Fall Band asked with a chuckle. "I'll take jobs like this any day."

"Doesn't give a challenge though," Count huffed, "Ugh, jeez, the hell is that burning smell?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe a whole oil refinery?" High Roller let out a laugh.

"It's different... Can't smell it anymore anyway," Count scoffed. "Must have been the refinery..."

Forming up in the shabby formation they always fly with, Mere looked over seeing the massive sandstorm heading their way. Honestly, Bandog could have given them a bit more time but still, it was cutting the mission close.

"Megastorm Inessa 2 is about to arrive. Time for you-" Bandog paused, letting out an annoyed grunt. "Are you sure? This... Ugh. Hang on, Spare Squadron HQ just sent a message."

"Could have done so sooner," Skunk sighed. "All right, send traffic."

"It looks like some oil tankers loaded with oil got away. HQ saw them on satellite. Orders are to burn down everything that turns up."

"Seriously? Man, I would not have made a bet like that," High Roller groaned a bit. "So what, where are they?"

"Sending new targeting data now," Bandog announced. New targets appeared just outside of the refinery which were quickly jumped on by Trigger and Tabloid. Checking her radar in the back, Mere saw that the rest of the targets were scattered around in the desert. "That's three trucks down already people, keep it up. The enemy's scattered through the storm. It's gonna be hard to find them all."

"More than just that," Mere sighed as suddenly a bunch of the targets disappeared from her radar just for a few to return briefly.

"Hey, why are they popping on and off the radar?" Count suddenly asked, voicing the thoughts of some of the pilots.

"Sand clouds. The sand breaks up here and there and that's when the satellites pick them up. If you detect something then you need to strike fast," Bandog quickly explained and it did make sense. It will be annoying to find them, but at least they aren't hunting completely blind.

"So I'll just be staring at my radar and trolling around?" Count asked with a sigh. "Put this on record, this is not my style..."

"Just remember that you can still lock the targets in the sand if you get close enough," Bandog advised when Full Band snorted a bit.

"Really? You sure you can trust that intel?"

"Better than nothing," Roofer added. "Hmph... Tanker spotted moving to investigate."

Taking the plane above the sand storm, Mere stared at the radar, seeing Spare squadron disperse moving towards points where some tankers were last spotted. Trigger was already heading to the East with Tabloid while the rest of Spare seemed to disperse around the center of the AO. Spotting a target near the west edge of the map, she slewed the pod's camera over the general area and marked it.

"Lamp, let's head West. Faintly remember a few popping up over there."

"Well, let's see how much better having a second set of eyes is." Lamp banked the plane over and began the slow flight over to the marked area.

"You guys do what you want. I'm going off by myself," Count sighed as he headed up North alone.

"And there he goes again, all lone wolf," Dookie pointed out. "High Roller, want to make a bet on who will get most of the tankers?"

"Ain't much of a bet with Trigger involved," he laughed a bit. "He's already up by two."

"Make that four," Tabloid corrected and the objective counter suddenly went up by two.

"Trigger found two tankers in the sand."

"Seriously? Trigger got one already?" Skunk asked.

"Eyes like a jackal, Trigger," Tabloid cheerfully said.

"Now, a bet I will make is how violent these crosswinds will be in that sand blaster," High Roller grunted. "This is a mega storm afterall."

"Ah, Lamp, right below us," Mere suddenly called as a red dot appeared right on top of them. Banking around, Lamp pulled into a shallow dive just as the blips disappeared off the radar. Using the targeting pod, she put the piper right where the trucks should be.

"Man, do we have to go into the sand?"

"Stop being a baby and get in there," Bandog barked at Lampshade who just sighed.

"This is gonna suck..."

With no further complaints Lamp soon dove into the sand. Instantly Lamp had to start fighting to keep control of the plane as the wind battered the Hornet's airframe. One moment the plane wanted to nose down next it was being pushed to the right and then the left. Rocks and sand were smacking the canopy and the airframe yet right in front of them were some tankers pushing on through the storm. Getting a lock, Mere quickly launched a Maverick at one target while Lamp shot a standard missile at the other. The Maverick struggled against the wind a bit but still managed to find its mark slamming into the tanker sending it up into a ball of fire while Lamps missile slammed into the second. Pulling up hard, the Hornet soon burst out of the dust into clean air.

"Spare-15- Mm.. Spare-3, two tankers down," Mere announced.

"Good work. There are still more tankers out there. Keep searching and find them all."

"Anyone else sees these damned things?" High Roller asked. "I thought I saw one but it turned out to be a large rock."

"I got one right here but the winds are making it hard to get close enough," Full Band grunted in annoyance. "How on Earth do they expect us to do this?"

"Easy. Get close, pull the trigger. Even a simpleton like you can do that," Utah sighed. "Spare-13, tankers destroyed."

"Agh, damn it!" Count sighed over the coms, "Got a tanker but the wind pushed the missile short. Now I gotta go find it again."

"It's a truck, can't have gone too far," Mere stated as she and Lamp came across another set of tankers. Chewing the inside of her lip, she carefully locked up a tanker and sent one of her two remaining Mavericks at the fuel truck. It was pushed wide of the target but the massive warhead on the anti-tank missile still sent shrapnel poking holes into the fuel and igniting the truck. Pushing a bit closer, Lamp finished it off with some cannon fire.

"Over half the vehicles have been taken care of. The rising smoke marks their graves."

"Heh. Quite the quote there Bandog. Honestly probably one of the worst places to die. I'd hate to be in the desert trying to flee from some planes," Pick said as he followed after Full Band.

"They picked one hell of a place to hide though," Full Band pointed out. "It's nothing but sand and rocks. Come to think of it, it's not a bad place to build a prison,"

"You might have a point there Full Band," Bandog sneered. "And we can transfer you here as soon as it's set up."

The majority of the squadron began to laugh at Bandog's joke which helped ease the tension that was building. It was stressful trying to play hide and seek with the target, but it was another thing to fight against the storm to get to them. These fuel trucks might be slow but the cover the megastorm was giving them was becoming a headache. If anything, she can also imagine the ass-whooping Queen and the other mechanics will give them finding the planes full of sand.

"You know, they pave desert highways nicely. People drive fast to avoid bandits in the desert," Tabloid suddenly pointed out.

"Did they ever anticipate bandits being in fighter jets?" Trigger asked. "Plus what can a tanker even get up to? 80?"

"Not any speed to outrun us. If it's hard for us to see, it'll be a nightmare for those drivers," Skunk pointed out.

"Wait... They'll just run outta gas right?" Full Band cut in. "So why are we chasing after them if they'll just end up trapped in the desert?"

"They've got trailers full of fuel, dumbass," Weasle scoffed. "And here I thought you were the smart one."

"Trucks don't run on jet fuel, you idiot."

"Well, I heard diesel engines can," Tabloid chimed. "But that brings up the second question: how will they refuel themselves?"

"Some of these fireballs might also point to them being gasoline in them," Roofer added.

"Quit your yapping and hunt down your targets!" Bandog yelled at the pilots. "Spare 2... Count! Where the hell do you think you're going? You're approaching Erusean territory, return immediately!" Bandog's irritation changed to be a bit more panicked. Mere gave his change of tone some thought as they were approaching the western edge of the area where she saw a blip of some tankers.

"Just following orders to find tankers. Plus, I thought we were already deep in Erusean territory. Feeling stressed up in your comfy chair? How about you go chew on your bone."

"If anything you're kinda close to some tankers I saw. Just a bit more South, Count," Mere pointed out.

"Thanks for the tip, Hotwire, but I got it covered. You should focus on yourself if you want to win this bet."

"Well speaking of the bet, isn't Trigger way ahead of you Count?" High Roller asked. "Hey, Bandog, you still keeping count up there?"

"Shut up, High Roller, give me a second," Bandog hissed at the gambler.

"Well jeez, I'll ask later then," High Roller huffed. Mere thought that Bandog's response was weird. He seemed more distracted than he usually is on this mission. Either way, he's still doing his job and even giving the squadron some much-needed updates such as with Innessa 2 as well as the fleeing oil tankers. Maybe it was-

Beep

"Huh?" Mere looked over at the RWR hearing it beep for a second. It beeped again at her. "Nails, 12 o'clock," Mere said when the RWR started to whine at her, "Wha- we've been painted!"

"Huh? Where- Ah, shit! Hold on!" Lamp yelled as the RWR started to blare as a missile was shot at them. "Spare-3 defending!" Punching the afterburner, banked to the left and dove away from the threat all the while Mere dumped chaff and flares. Through all the dust and darkness, she could spot the white trail of a SAM being shot at them.

"Ah come on, pull harder! The missile's still tracking!"

"I'm trying, I'm trying!"

Craning her neck against the G-forces, Mere went to work slewing the pod's camera around, catching sight of the trucks and SAM vehicle accompanying them through the sand and rocks. Locking up the SAM for later she turned her attention back as it was still coming at them. Cursing a bit, Lampshade had dove into the storm grunting as the wind tried to rip control of the plane out of his hands. Mere watched as the missile seemed to also struggle in the wind burning its energy to get to them when Lamp pulled up sharply out of the storm. Rolling over to dive again, Mere watched as the missile sailed below them, unable to aim at them. A hole must have appeared in the storm as two tankers and a SAM vehicle appeared on their HUD. Getting a good view, Mere launched their last Maverick at the SAM vehicle while Lamp launched two missiles at the other two tankers. The Maverick slammed into the SAM sending it up in a brilliant orange explosion while both Lamp's missiles closed in on their targets. The first struck the leading truck right in the fuel tank, lighting it up in a brilliant explosion while the second missile seemed to have been taken by the wind and struck right in front of the truck. Cursing, the Lamp pulled the Super Hornet out of the sand to circle back around when Bandog radioed back in.

"Ah, damn it. Spare Squad, a new enemy is approaching the AO."

"Which direction?" Trigger quickly asked, sounding more on edge.

"Bearing three five zero from the reference point," Bandog said, getting a sigh of relief from Trigger.

"From the North? That's good, very good." Trigger said.

"Why's North good?" Weasel asked, sounding a bit more on edge.

"Means that the big bird isn't coming. That and you can finally do your job for a change," Utah explained to Weasel.

"Still, why are they only coming now? Did they pick up Count's aircraft?" Tabloid asked, sounding concerned and frustrated.

"Wait a sec, don't go blaming me!" Count snapped at Tabloid. "I'm just doing my job finding tankers up here!"

"Yeah, well you are the closest," Mere pointed out as Lampshade dove back into the desert finding that the truck they missed was disabled.

"Closest huh..." Trigger said in almost a whisper.

"Lamp, get in nice and close so you don't miss this time," Mere looked to the side

"Har har, Hotwire. I got this," he said as they flew in much closer. Seconds later he slung a missile at him and started to pull up to climb out of the storm.

"Besides Count, you should be able to handle whatever is comin-" Mere was cut off as suddenly the world around her went from a near brown out to a blinding bright blue. She raised a hand to cover her eyes as the whole airframe of the plane violently shook. The cockpit rattled as the skin of their plane was pummeled with sharper pings as something faster than the sand and rocks slammed into the airframe when a sharp crack and a hiss punctured the cockpit followed up by searing pain that was ripping through her arm.

"Ah- Agh, FUCK!" Mere yelled in the mic as the plane seemed to lurch and get pushed out of the storm. "Shit, aaggh! Spare-3's hit!"

"What!?" Count was the first to ask. "Hey, talk to me! What's going on?"

"Ah fuck the hell was that!?" Lamp asked shocked as he blinked his eyes rapidly trying to clear the bright flash from his eyes as he fought for control of the plane. First it was the hissing he heard before he checked the mirror only seeing the top of Mere's helmet as well as something red splattered on the canopy. "Oh.. Oh shit! Hotwire's dead!"

"What!?" Count suddenly shouted.

"I'm not fucking dead you ass hat!" Mere looked up, her face scrunched in pain before she hunched back over searching for the first aid kit in the rear.

"Confirmed, MQ-99 UAVs are approaching from the North. Spare-3, what's your situation?"

"Spare-3, Hotwire's been hit with something. The fuck was in that trailer?!" Lamp shouted.

"Hotwire's been hit? How badly?"

"Ah well... Engines seem fine, I need someone to check to see if we're leaking anything. And Hotwire-"

"I took some shrapnel to my arm. Fuck, this hurts!"

"Mmm. You're still airworthy so this doesn't change a thing. The mission stays the same: destroy the tankers," Bandog ordered.

"Oh fuck you Bandog!" Mere grunted in pain as the left sleeve of her flight suit started to turn red. Tugging on it, she sucked in a sharp breath as she felt something tug against her arm. Unclipping her oxygen mask, she bit the finger of her glove pulling it off before she started to gently poke and prod around the other side of her arm. Her fingers brushed against what felt like a small rod which was quickly accompanied by another wave of pain making her flinch.

"Hey, hey now! That isn't too fair for them!" Count was the first to protest.

"You're out of your mind Bandog!" Full Band joined in next. "There's no way we can chase down tankers now that we have drones coming!"

"Lampshade, Hotwire, move towards the refinery and get yourselves sorted," Trigger told them. "We will keep you covered as you check your plane over."

"Good plan! Stick with Trigger, and you'll make it Lamp."

"Stick with Trigger huh," Lamp said, glancing back and seeing Hotwire move a bit as she opened up the first aid kit. "Just keep those drones off of us for a minute!"

Hotwire groaned in pain as she ripped the foreign object out of her. It isn't exactly optimal, or suggested, to pull out any foreign object plugging a hole it just made in your body, but she had little choice as the medical kit didn't even come with any trauma shears to cut away her flight suit.

"Jesus, Hotwire, are you good?" Count asked, quite concerned.

"Ah yes, I'm doing swell Count with this fucking hole in my arm," Mere grunted as her arm was a bloody mess. Using some of the cotton, she wiped away the blood to get a better look at the damage. There was a small round hole where something blew clean through her and it didn't seem to have left any debris in there. Blood began to cover it up again as she tore open a disinfecting wipe. Her hand trembled as she knew this was going to suck. Biting on her glove she sucked in a breath as she began to rub down the wound. What was a burning pain was now a shooting pain radiating from the wound. Her jaw clenched onto her glove as she made muffled grunts and groans. Her body shook a bit as she continued to wipe down the wound before she grabbed the hemostatic gauze and started to try and stuff what she could into the small hole followed by wrapping it up. Clenching her hand into a fist, she grimaced as pain radiated out but it will have to do for now.

"God damn it, why must these drones be so fucking annoying! I'm getting out of here!" Weasle shouted.

"Have you forgotten what happens to deserters? I'll send you out to dig up landmines with your bare bands," Bandog growled. "I dare you to test me."

"That's a bet I'm not willing to take," High Roller grunted a bit.

"Fine! I'm sticking around! Not like there's much of a difference being in a minefield and here though!" Weasel complained as he joined back in the containment flight trying to keep the drones near the North.

"Good choice. You know why that political offender jackass is still alive, don't you?" Skunk asked no one in particular when Full Band responded.

"Trigger...?" he hissed.

"Correct," Skunk chuckled, "Lampshade and Roofer must have also figured that out as well."

"Anyone can see that. They don't need me to crunch the numbers," High Roller chuckled. While the conversation died down, Mere was busy doing a quick diagnostics check on the Super Hornet's health. A new light vibration had formed since that explosion and the oil temperature on the number 1 engine was starting to rise. The radar was still working and other than the panel that has a new hole in it doesn't seem like anything important was too damaged. She had the moment of peace and quiet to reach down and grab the piece of scrap that was lodged in her arm. Finding it she was surprised to see it was like a small arrow. The tip was sharpened and had three small fins there to stabilize it. This was a purpose-built piece of metal but what for? Was this an anti-infantry weapon they just found?

"Ah, Spare-3 you're leaking some oil it seems," Tabloid's voice brought her back to reality. Taking the two flechettes she found and stuffed them into her flight suit pocket she looked over and saw Tabloid's Mirage flying just off their wing. Just past him was the growing furball of fighter planes and drones. Streaks of smoke plummeted to the ground as Trigger had taken out a number of drones when there were three glints coming towards them. "Trigger's already taken out like seven of these drones. If any breakthrough, I got you covered."

"Damn it, Tabloid! Some drones broke through and are heading your way!" Roofer called out to the two which made Tabloid quickly break off to move to intercept.

"Well, duty calls."

"What are you guys actually doing?" Bandog asked, almost astonished at what he was seeing. "Trigger, don't tell me you're taking out drones for your squadron now. They're not your friends. They're convicts just like you. Take a page out of their book and just worry about saving your own skin. Target the tankers so that you can hurry up and get out of here!"

"You know what Bandog," Roofer nearly growled out, "What do you think we're trying to do here? We're buying time for the others to find the tankers unimpeded by drones. We've got an injured plane and you want us to look out for ourselves?"

"That's-"

"Ah, damn it, Spare-3, you've got another drone coming at you!" Tabloid alerted the injured plane. Seeing the incoming drone, Lampshade began going defensive.

"Ah, she's not exactly feeling the greatest at the moment. Throttle and stick response is muddy!"

"Ah don't worry your pretty little heads! I'm coming!" Count announced as he gunned towards Lampshade and Mere. Twisting in her seat, she watched as the drone began to follow them move for move almost like it was studying them. Grunting as she fought against the G's she was wondering why it wasn't launching a missile when it started to point its nose further ahead of them.

"Jink left!" Mere called as the drone started to spray some cannon fire. The Hornet sluggishly started to maneuver trying to evade the cannon fire just for it to clip the tip of their right stabilizer. "Ah shit, Spare-3's hit! Nothing too serious! Where are you Count?!"

"I'm right here! I'm... Mgh...! I'm here!"

"Don't sound too confident. Something up?" Mere asked seeing the Flanker moved to follow the MQ-99.

"It's nothing! Just keep evading!" Count shouted, "Bastard is making it hard to lock up with how it's moving!" The three planes began to weave around the sky Lamp jinking at every moment he could to avoid the drone but with each move, the plane was bleeding energy fast. Engine 1 struggled to produce the thrust Lampshade was demanding from it and it started to fail. They were slowly being pushed back towards the swarm of drones as well.

"Agh damn it, why can't I lock it!" Count roared.

"Count come on man, get this drone off my tail!" Lamp pleaded.

"God damn it, your plane really is going to be the death of me!" Mere shouted as she kept an eye on the drone.

"I... It's- … Roofer! I need support now!" Count grunted.

"I'm busy, Count! Ah, Trigger! Missile, evade!"

"Trigger, I need some support!" Lamp cried out as he jinked again avoiding some more cannon fire.

"Enough with this Trigger bullshit! All aircraft destroy the tankers!" Bandog barked at the other pilots.

"Just leave him be! They'll be fine!" Full Band scoffed. "Count boasts he's the best so he can handle it."

"Damn it! Just! Let me lock the drone!" Count smacked the side of the HUD in desperation when a missile streaked in front of him slamming into the drone followed by a MiG-25 zooming by above them.

"Haahaa! Weasel's coming to save the day!" Weasel whooped as he climbed up away. Mere tracked the MiG zoom away into the sky before she let out a breath relaxing in her seat a bit before looking at the Flanker. She could see Count in the cockpit looking at her. She couldn't see his face as his visor was down but she could tell with how his shoulders were slumped, he was disappointed.

"Look, Count, we need to get you a new plane," Mere dryly laughed a bit.

"I had it handled," Count tried to brush it off when the missile alert started to blare in the cockpit.

"Spare-3! Missile!" Trigger suddenly shouted. "They're hiding in the sand!"

"Ah, damn it! Spare-3 defending!" Lamp grunted as he rolled the plane to the right and began to pull hard while Mere went to deploy countermeasures. Thumbing the switch, her heart sank as there was no familiar thump of the chaff and flares being deployed. Looking to her right, she saw the white trail of a missile approaching them fast. Taking in a breath she could only eke out one word.

"Trigg-" Her body was thrown against the harness as the plane lurched. The painful screech of metal being ripped apart filled the cockpit as the plane violently began to twist and spin. The sudden movement caused Mere to smack her helmet hard against the cockpit glass. Stars flashed in her eyes before the whole world started to tunnel in. The voices in her headset seemed to become distant as the world was fading to black. Closing her eyes, her head went slack as she passed out.