Ariella was pleased and more than a little relieved to see her pilots arrive in a flurry of activity shortly after the sirens sounded. Most went straight to their aircraft, and she gave them mental pats on the back - while she'd waited for any stragglers or those needing direction, she was glad to see most were aware and experienced enough to react quickly in the situation at hand.
Yang and Vermaak presented themselves and she yelled over the sound of multiple engines starting around them, pumping the decibel level up a massive amount.
"Great to meet you both! The mission's a scramble order - hostile bandits inbound is all I know right now. No time to waste, though - we'll get an update once we're in the air. C'mon, let's move!"
Buckling on her helmet, the Israeli bade them both good luck with a wave, before scrambling up the ladder into the Kfirs' cockpit. A ground crewman helped her buckle in, even as another handful removed all the arming pins from the missiles and detached lines and closed covers and ports. The APU was disconnected as the delta-wing jets' turbofan engine turned over with a whine, joining the chorus of engine noise. 
The lead crewman gave her a thumbs up, and she returned it. All checklists - abbreviated for the emergency - came up green, and she contacted the tower.
"Tower, this is Excalibur lead. Ready and in the green, requesting clearance to taxi for immediate takeoff, over".
"Roger, Excalibur. All aircraft are OK to taxi and takeoff for intercept. Expedite. E-3A, callsign 'Overwatch' will be on channel four once you takeoff, they'll guide you in. Cleared for takeoff on runway two,over"
She clicked her mike twice in confirmation, and fed power to the throttle. The jet began to roll, and she exchanged waves and nods with the others, before toggling into the squadron frequency.
"All aircraft, this is Lioness, Excalibur One. We are cleared for takeoff on Runway 2. Follow me for fast-taxi to takeoff. We will take off in tatical formation, paired on the runway. Climb to Angels 10 and match my heading until we get direction from AWACS to intercept bandits. Let's go, over"
The Kfir taxied at speed, rather than the normal low-speed roll of everyday procedures. The runway was soon within sight, and Ariella pushed the Kfir partway down and far over to the right of the wide strip, allowing the next in line to pair up with her, reducing the amount of takeoff length available, but getting as many of the squadron in the air at once as possible.
She toed the brakes lightly and gave everyone one last check, before tapping the brakes to hold, and then running the engine up to full military power. The dart-like jet strained against the stops, before she let go of the brakes, and the plane lurched forward. The cockpit was a rush of noise as the rumble of movement and power through the gear vibrated through the plane, and the speedometer climbed rapidly. 
Her only call was "rotating", as she pulled back at takeoff speed, smoothly and sharply rising into the air in a steep high-speed climb, the grey-striped Kfir climbing like a bullet as its' landing gear folded away. 

She didn't level out until ten thousand feet, waggling her wings to the plane on her wingtip, and reducing power to a high-speed conservative cruise. Somewhere out there, the AWACS waited, and beyond it the hostile bombers, inbound and looking for trouble.
"Maintain formation," she said over the radio, more for the want of something to say than of necessity. "I doubt it'll be long until-"
"Excalibur, this is Overwatch. Bandits in your area, and closing fast at angels-5. Reading ten heavy aircraft and multiple escort fighters; look to be former Soviet-types, probable Tango-Uniform-Nine-Fives, Bears. No read on their weapons, but treat as loaded and dangerous. Intercept as priority, they may be carrying cruise missiles. Escorts unknown, expect Sierra-Uniform-Two-Sevens or similar. Proceed with caution, but intercept at once. Vectors coming through- Shit! Bandits have launched long-range missiles! Intercept!"
Datalinks and the patient voice of the AWACS controllers confirmed the headings and speeds of the bandits. There were plenty of them, and they were moving fast. Mentally, she matched the numbers; the Excalibur were outnumbered, but they had plenty of missiles and cannon rounds: they just had to do better than the bad guys. The aircraft they had were a mix, but that was their strength: They could split and handle this. Her mind worked furiously, dispatching orders rapid-fire.
"Roger, Overwatch," she replied, before speaking to her squadron. "All Excaliburs: Break and engage. The bombers are the priority, hit them before they launch. Watch each others' tails. Stand by for our game plan. Over" 
Glancing out of her canopy, she surveyed the aircraft around her, and made snap decisions based on the capabilities of each, and quickly directed the squadron by their callsigns, speaking rapidly and with a firm, confident tone. 
"Five and Six, you're the interceptors. Chase down the cruise missiles, and blast them out of the sky. You've got the speed and power. Circle back once they're down. Remember, they'll go low and terrain-follow, so be careful as well as quick.
"Four and Eight, prosecute attacks on the bombers with Three, Seven, Twelve and Thirteen. They'll be slower than you, but they have multiple cannon, and they'll be dodging like hell. Don't underestimate them."
"Two, Ten, Nine, Eleven - You're with me, we'll tackle the escorts and keep them off of the others. Watch each others' backs - we need to keep the fast-movers off of our guys and gals targeting the bombers. All aircraft, Engage!"
She snap-rolled to her left and poured on throttle, streaming the Kfir toward the radar contacts, which were powering out into a spread formation to guard their charges as the squadron closed in. Already, her IFF and AESA radar were marking up the enemy. As the AWACS had expected, it was a mixed bag: SU-27's, with a few F-16's and MiG-29's thrown in for good measure. The UNWO wasn't picky about whose planes it used, apparently. And somewhere, they'd taken on fuel as well, to get this far. No tanker would've accompanied them in this far of course, and it was long gone, leaving only the bombers and their escorts as fair game.
"Tally ho on a bandit," she remarked as the first MiG came in range. "Engaging!"