Matt didn't have to wait too much for the rest of the pilots to arrive and start up their fighters. Meanwhile, he was going through his checklist to make sure everything's safe and functioning properly. He knew he could never forget that, no matter how excited he was or how urgent the situation was. Everything came up green as usual, he was ready to go. Soon enough, he heard the Colonel, who had the callsign of 'Lioness', ordering the takeoff in tactical formation, paired on the runway. After the third pair took off, he navigated his Jaguar to the runway and looked back to see if Excalibur Eight was following him. Once they were next to each other, they took off.

"Excalibur Seven at angels 10, over." he said briefly after he reached the designated 10,000 feet altitude and got into formation. The squad flew like this for a little, but soon the AWACS came on the comms to give a sitrep stating that numerous bandits are closing in on their location. Classified loaded and dangerous, most of the hostile fighters were supposedly Tu-95s and Su-27s. While the situation in itself was tense, it was only made worse when it turned out that they have already fired cruise missiles. Immediately after AWACS signed out, Excalibur One started giving out the roles to everyone. Two interceptors, four going for the escorts with One and five for the bombers. Matt was one of the latter. "Seven copies. Let's rock, over." he said in the squadron channel and proceeded with the hunt.

He quickly found his first Tu-95 to take down. He could see its missile loaded and ready for launch, reminding him to act quick. Holding a firm grip, he took aim and locked in the target. "Fox-Three, Fox-Three!" he reported as he fired a MBDA Meteor missile. He noticed that the bandit was turning towards one of his squadmates, the Aadvark, most probably attempting to fire. "Excalibur Eight, evasive manouvers, bandit on your tail, over." he warned the pilot while he was speeding towards the bomber. Fortunately, the missile made a hit on the bandit at the root of its right wing, exposing the fuselage. "Hit scored, making a gun run." he reported once again as he switched to the ADEN cannons. Once close enough, he let out a few quick bursts, hoping that it will be enough to set the hostile aircraft ablaze. Just as he flew past it with incredible speed, it made a satisfying explosion and went down burning. "Bomber down, danger passed Eight, over."