Natasha sat through the briefing, sizing up the situation in her head before. It was nothing unexpected in Strangereal, and she was certainly prepared to face it, but she wished it would be with pilots she had had a little more experience flying with. Then again, all the others had fought tenaciously in the last engagement and not a single one was shot down, so that had to be worth something. After coming home from a battle against far superior fighters, she knew that she could at least count on the group to survive. Winning - well, that was another story. Hopefully she'd be able to do her part.

Soon she was jogging towards her MiG-23 Flogger on the tarmac, parked next to the other planes. She noted two new aircraft in the group - a pair of very sharp looking Drakens. Giving a nod of thanks to the ground crews who had just replenished her (entirely air-to-air oriented) missiles, she glanced back at the Yellow Squadron insignia on the tail of her aircraft and then climbed into the cockpit. A hint of a grin of appreciation appeared on her otherwise unnerved face as she noted, inside and out, that the ground crews had also repaired the light damage the aircraft had taken in the skirmish before. Canopy sealed, pre-flight checks complete and tower confirmation given, the MiG began to roll. Slotting in behind the Jaguar, Natasha began the taxi to taxioff - the calm before the storm.