After the reinforcements arrived, the so-called Mask Squadron left, and the hodgepodge squadron flew back to base, Natasha jogged her memory of any Mask Squadron she had run into before with the two squadrons she had served with. She thought she had seen the type of aircraft before, but couldn't remember anything more than vague recognition. Still, she had something to be excited about: finally achieving ace status. It was long overdue, but when the wars stopped it was like a game of musical chairs that stopped her at four kills. She had scored two in the engagement that had just transpired and was elated, though in her typical subdued fashion. She circled around the airstrip as much of the rest of the squadron landed - Border Boy, Angel Witch, Meteor, and Romeo landed their planes in various conditions before she began her approach. She noted Angel Witch's landing in her damaged Corsair - no small feat. Natasha's plane wasn't in the best condition but wasn't as damaged as Checkerboard Three. Nursing her rattled MiG-23 down after Romeo with a clean landing, she parked next to the rest of the squadron and dismounted her aircraft. She made her way to the briefing room as instructed and quietly sat down, so far unnoticed by the Colonel in the room. She glanced around and took stock of the situation. There were four other pilots in the room, two of them being Charles and his co-pilot (if she remembered correctly from before the sortie anyway) and two she didn't recognize. The Colonel up front spoke with an accent that clearly labeled him as an Estovakian. Having spent much of her life under constant warfare, she was always amazed when she could walk into a room wearing her flight suit that featured the Erusian Yellow Squadron insignia as well as the Yuktobanian Kvant Squadron insignia and she wasn't immediately jumped/shot/etc. She sat back a little and waited for the rest of the pilots to file in and the briefing to begin.

By the time the twenty minutes given had elapsed, all of the pilots had found their way to the briefing room, some more shaken than others. The Colonel stood up from his chair and went up to the front, in complete silence, before dimming the lights in the back of the room and turning on the projector. He idly cracked his knuckles and looked over those seated in the room as the projector warmed up before speaking. "Good to see you all made it. B-Team wasn't as lucky." He sighed to push the point away. Once the projector had turned on, he began his introduction in proper. "Let's begin. First, I shall introduce myself and the situation before moving onto the briefing. I shall have to keep this brief, however, as we are very short on time and we need you all sortied in the next half-hour." Popov spoke with a somewhat monotonous, dark tone and combined with the now dimly lit briefing room, the pilots of Anemi could feel an oppressive atmosphere and they leaned forward to more easily listen to the man.

"I am Colonel Anton Popov and I am here representing the Neo United Nations. As of this moment, you are all under NUN control, as per the contract that you or the nation you are with signed upon your entry into the International Peace Games. For those of you not with a national entity, such as Anemi team, both General Resource and Neucom have transferred you to our control. You are now all a part of the newly created First Tactical Fighter Wing 'Peace Sparrow'." This surprised the pilots and Popov could easily see the change in mood. "Hopefully, it will only be temporary, but that depends on the situation. Speak of which..." He hit a key on his remote to advance the briefing. The screen now showed a map of the entire world, before splitting into two halves and showing Forster Bay and November City.

"At 1300 hours today, at November City, an unmarked fighter squadron flying R-45 Cariburn fighters attacked and annihilated B-Team before pulling out and heading south towards Forster Bay. At the same time, A-Team was, as you know, attacked by also unmarked, carrier-based MiG-29K's thought to be deployed by a carrier southeast of the bay in the Pacific Ocean. Then, you were attacked by the same R-45 Cariburn fighters which had destroyed B-Team, before reinforcements came from McNealy. Apparently, around the same time, cities in Yuktobania, Estovakia, Emmeria, Osea and Usea came under air attack." He took a moment to return to his laptop and take a drink from a thermos. "First Lieutenant Ansel, if you'd be so kind as to continue with the next part of this briefing, as we discussed." He gestured to the screen and Erika nodded before standing up.

"Ah... right, so..." She stammered slightly before continuing as a view of the same fighters that Mask Squadron used appeared on screen. "The XR-45 Cariburn is a Neucom design that began development in late 2019 as a standard fighter for the Neucom Emergency Unit and for export to other nations. In late 2020, a single aircraft was sent to Aurelia during the Leasath-Aurelia War in order to collect data on its characteristics. From what I heard, the results were good but I didn't hear more for a few months after." Popov took the center once again to continue.

"The Cariburn that you encountered was apparently not built by Neucom. Shortly after the attack, we spoke with a Neucom representative and from what they said, the Cariburn has not yet even been confirmed for production, leading us to think that these are stolen prototypes..." Erika decided to interrupt at this point.

"I hate to argue sir, but these Cariburn actually showed visible characteristics closer to the planned production model, such as the engines. The original prototypes actually didn't have thrust vectoring, but these ones did." The Erusian girl made slight gestures at her points and Popov nodded at each one.

"I'll let you continue then." The Colonel returned to his computer as Erika continued.

"The Cariburn we faced, codenamed XR-45M, the 'M' standing for Mask, shows many characteristics closer to the planned production model, as I have said. Unlike the prototype, the XR-45M uses brand new, thrust vectoring engines based on a hybrid of what Neucom designers call the Caudal Engine and the C-Cycle Engine, giving the plane high mobility and very high speed, respectively, at the cost of armor. Also of note, these Cariburn had improved ailerons and canards, part of the Sylph Wing system that was developed to add even higher mobility, speed, stability and make the plane much lighter weight, at, once again, the cost of more armor." As she said these things, the image on screen automatically zoomed in on parts she discussed. "To make up for the hugely low defense of the aircraft, mostly due to the fact that the armor is made from a somewhat weak radar absorbent material that increases stealth properties but makes it very, very weak, a type of armor called NERA is used. With NERA, the body's inner liner reacts to impacts, effectively reducing damage, but it's still pretty weak compared to even fighters like the MiG-29." She paused for a moment to catch her breath and Charles decided to ask a question.

"You said earlier that it uses an electro-optical targeting system for its missiles. Could you tell us a bit more about the thing's weapons systems?" The Captain took a drink as he finished.

"Of course." Erika cleared her throat as the screen changed to a view of the missiles. "The missiles used by the Cariburn, as mentioned before, use an electro-optical targeting system that can easily target enemies thanks to an optical connection with the COFFIN cockpit. They give off no warning to those locked on by it, but it can be messed up by clouds. Each missile also uses a sixty-four bit processor to aid with tracking, but it seems they still haven't fixed the cloud problem.." The screen then moved onto the guns of the plane. "Cariburn uses a thirty-millimeter cannon that is equipped with specially made high-velocity ammunition which have a velocity that is only about a quarter slower than a railgun. Frankly, I'm surprised that none of us got hit by the cannons!... ah, no offense." Erika paused somewhat awkwardly after realizing her joke might have been taken badly by some. "Ah, well... what else... oh, of course. Ahem, I shall finish by talking about the cockpit systems. I'm not going to go into detailing all of them, but aside from the visible COFFIN armored, digital cockpit, it has loads of systems that improve everything from stability to locking on to targets and doing things like magnification of the cameras and ECM."

As she finished, Popov gave her a gesture, telling her to hurry up and she hurriedly finished. "T-that's about everything." Nodding, Popov took the center once again and she sat down.

"I shall now let my friend in the OADF give you the briefing regarding the next mission. Go ahead, Major."

A man in an OADF uniform now took the center and began to speak.

Listen up all of you, we have a major situation on our hands! At 1320 hours today, ten minutes before you arrived at McNealy, the capital, Oured, came under attack by hostile aerial forces, primarily made up of aircraft that managed to get through our defense line following the earlier attacks. All of our other air-units are busy with defending their own bases and neighboring cities, so it falls upon you to defend the city. In ten minutes you will all sortie and fly to Oured to aid Capital Air Command squadrons which are trying to defend the city but have almost been wiped out. Apparently, bombers have also been sighted heading towards the city, but our air defense network has been damaged by the enemy attack.

Your mission is to fly to Oured, which will take about forty-five minutes at full-afterburners and destroy the enemy fighters and approaching bombers and end the attack on Oured. We have been unable to contact Capital Air Command for confirmation on the origin of the fighters, so be ready for anything. All of you will be using the fighters that you used in the mission before, save for Angel Witch, who will fly a F-16C due to her A-7 being heavily damaged in the last fight. It is on loan to you from the OADF, so bring it back in one piece, alright? Don't worry about your fighters being too outdated, we have been at least able to confirm that none of the enemy fighters are on the same level as the XR-45M's you faced before. We have intel that the best they have are Flankers, so you should be fine.

Good luck, the fate of our capital rests in your hands. Dismissed!

ENEMY NUMBERS:
AIR: 38 CONFIRMED
GROUND: 0 CONFIRMED AS OF YET
SEA: 0 CONFIRMED AS OF YET

The Osean officer nodded to Popov, letting him speak. "Get going, all of you! You better not come back here until the skies over Oured are clear!" The lights came back on and Anemi Team stood before heading straight out to get to their aircraft. They both wore expressions of determination on their faces, despite still being somewhat confused regarding the whole situation...

Scott listened quietly, a look of concentration on his face throughout the briefing. The news about the advanced aircraft was pretty bad; their current aircraft were no real match for such beasts, and he had doubts that even something more modern would've been a contest. Once again, he was surprised and shaken by how rapidly technology advanced in the face of war, and how said it was that it seemed to be the only place innovation really sprang up.
The immediate mission was the next piece of information, and he took copious notes as the commander advised them of their objectives: a straightforward (yeah, right!) sweep of the skies above Oured. While his plane wasn't made for air-to-air, it wasn't a slouch either, and would certainly be capable of taking on the bombers, if not their escorts. The comment about afterburners made his grimace though - the A-7 was likely the slowest plane in the unit, being sub-sonic and not possessed of an afterburning engine, and he'd drag the group down at this rate. All the same, the mission had been briefed and the old saying went: Plan the mission, fly the plan. It was there to take into account unexpected events, and it was a tactical pilots' job to react to changing situations.
The lights went back up, and he followed the others out of the room, lost in thoughts both of the mission, and the rapid changes in the world.
The scale of attacks was frightening, from what they'd been told: Numerous cities and installations attacked by a group in possession of advanced aircraft, and nobody claiming responsibility for them. Shaking his head, he followed the others back in the direction of the operations centre with the aim of swapping his flying gear for a new set, and loading up on water and energy bars before heading back out to the flight line - time was at a premium, and while he'd love to have had the luxury of a shower and a break, this was a rolling situation. No doubt a state of emergency had been declared, and they were either under war conditions or a hairs-breadth away from the same, and that meant a changing of the rules - and a lot of days and nights with little sleep or rest. All the same, if global peace was at stake, it was his job to do what was needed.

Kate picked up her helmet and left behind Scott, heading straight for her aircraft. She gave the aircraft a walk around although it would be assumed that the ground crew would have already checked it over for damage

"I want long range missiles on the two outer pylons and on the wing top pylons. ECM pods go on the centerline and on the two inner pylons."

She left for a table in the corner of the hangar, looking over maps and memorizing the area. Only enemy fighters to worry about, but a lot of them. Not much chance of terrain masking around the city but there were some nice hills to the south and east.

"The jamming will help even if the geography won't."

As the briefing progressed, a thought clicked in the back of Elizabeth's head. But she quietly shook it off before the thought could boil in her head. But that didn't mean the thought had left her head, her right fist was clenched tightly into a ball.

After the briefing, she left for the hanger to help the mechanics with the checks of her craft. When she arrived, a technician noted her outfit. She gave him a nod of thanks, grabbed the book from the seat in the cockpit, and ran for the barracks. Once there, Elizabeth changed into her flight suit, leaving the book on the bed, then left the barracks and ran back to the hanger.

Once Elizabeth was back in the hanger, she approached a mechanic, and told him to double check everything. She then climbed the ladder up to the cockpit and climbed in, and began pre-flight checks. She'd be keeping her current load-out as most, if not, all of the targets would be air. Little she could do against a platoon of tanks with the current set up.

Alexander left the briefing room knowing they had flankers and a few advanced stealth fighters. The only concern was that he had to reach clouds if he wanted to flee their missiles. Alexander rushed over to his bunk to jump into his flight suit and quickly ran over to the hangers to see that his plane was ready to go. He climbed up the ladder and into his cockpit to familiarize the controls. After all, he thought, this is going to be a long ride.
He started up his engines once the mechanics had left the hanger. The tow vehicle hooked up to his plane and drew him out onto the taxiway where he started his engines and prepped for launch.

"Delta-One ready for runway two-zero."

Miku mostly kept quiet during the briefing. She was still a little rattled after the dogfight. Hopefully the Viper she was being given for the time being would at least stop her being such an obvious target by not lagging behind everyone so much.

---

However, the unfamiliar cockpit of the F-16 was enough to get her reaching for the flight manual for the first time since she'd finished training. Obviously, everything worked in more or less the same way, but she still needed to work out where everything was in front of her.

Eventually though, once one of the ground technicians walked her through the startup checklist she had the engine running, and taxied it out to take her place in the lineup. The side-mounted stick would take a bit of getting used to though.

Husein landed his F-5 and walked to the briefing room on his own feet, technically succeeding the mission. knowing very well that it was sheer luck that saved him from any damage during this sortie, which was the first real engagement he was in. He knew he will need a lot of work to be capable in combat and not be one of those mooks who would only serve to add the kill tally of a war's aces should war ever happened, which may well be likely after that engagement.

At first, Husein found himself struggling hard to convince himself that he was to take a briefing from colonel Popov. The Estovakian nationality of the colonel, at least that was what he judged from the colonel's accent, was the cause of it; how could a fighter pilot be briefed by an officer from a country that had invaded his country in a time fresh within everyone's memory? The fact that all the A-Team members, who were originally competing against each other for a gold medal at the IPG, were transferred to a newly formed fighter wing by the same colonel added his dislike to the colonel. Orders were orders, however, and he understood the need for them to fight together after he was informed of a coordinated attack against the world's major nations.

As soon as the briefer changed, he finally managed to fully focus himself on the briefing instead of the briefer. It turned out that what they had just faced was a fighter a half century ahead of most of the aircrafts they were flying, and not the Berkuts as what he initially thought. While he knew that this was now escalating into actual warfare, he was still worried over whether he would survive this sortie. He was about to ask about which Flanker did the Osean officer refer to, since there were many planes referred to as Flanker, but before he could do so, the briefing finished and the new fighter wing was ordered to get to sortie as soon as possible.

Husein walked out of the briefing room and started doing standard pre-flight checks. Knowing that his aircraft had no problems and had been refueled and re-armed, he stepped back into the cockpit and said his prayers before starting the engines of his F-5. The fact that the F-5 was a rather slow fighter made him asking to himself whether he would made it to Oured in time and in formation. The fact that there were subsonic aircrafts around the squadron, namely the Skyhawk, made him to believe that he would arrive in formation, but adds to the doubt that the formation would arrive to Oured in time. He taxied the aircraft out and queued for taking off.

Scott made his way out to the tarmac on schedule, and was surprised to see three new aircraft in the formation alongside the familiar shapes of the planes he'd flown with previously. Two J35 Drakens in striking digital camouflage schemes were parked up alongside the other aircraft, pilots aboard and going through their checks. The other craft he didn't recognise was an F-16 - until on closer inspection, he realized that the pilot was Miku. Evidently her damaged Corsair had been removed to repairs, and the F-16 was an urgent replacement to allow the mission to be flown.
Making his way to his own aircraft, he scaled the cockpit ladder and allowed the ground crew to help him strap in and pass his helmet, before he ran through the pre-flight checks. Everything was green, and he gave a thumbs up to the crew chief as the engine started with its' familiar vacuum cleaner whine. Another crewman removed all the safety tags and pins from the fighters' ordnance and other systems, before holding them up for him to see. He nodded and gave a thumbs-up of understanding, before powering the canopy closed and retracting the ladder. Exchanging the right codes and checks with the tower, he fed power to the engine and the sound changed, becoming less of a scream, and more of a roar as the Corsair began to roll for the runway.

Kate climbed into the cockpit of her Jaguar, pulling the straps tight. With a last wave out to the ground crew, she closed the canopy and started the engines. Finishing the last of the preparation for the flight, she taxied out to the runway behind the Scotts Corsair. It reminded her of the aircraft she had trained in, the A-6 intruder. She smiled for a second before shuddering at the thought that it had very nearly been what she had taken to the ironically names 'Peace Games'.

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.

Angelika sat in the back of the group, her eyes and ears keeping note of the briefing. She had a feeling that this conflict that happened today would escalate to war, which seemed to be happening to all the nations lately. Her trust was placed mostly in her Lead, but came to feel a bit of it among the other pilots that were now in the same Wing after what happened earlier. It was a miracle, to her, that she and Miku actually made it out of there.

as the briefing ended, Angelika stood up and ran from the room to the tarmac, knowing that if they weren't ready soon, lots of lives could die. As she reached her tin can, she touched her Angel insignia before climbing into her MiG 23, which had been repaired as much as possible in the few minutes they had. as she closed her canopy and finished her pre-flight checks, she waited for confirmation to move onto the runway. after a few minutes, confirmation was given and she formed up on Natasha's left wing

"Hey Yellow, you're an ace now?" She asked Natasha, looking back at her wings, repositioning them "Congratulations, I find that the greatest feat ever accomplished!"

Charles and Erika came out onto the tarmac practically in a sprint. They had spent little time in preparing for the sortie, only taking a moment to use the bathroom and get a drink before immediately moving to their plane. In the same way as the first mission of that day, Erika took the WSO seat and Charles took the pilot's seat. The technicians had already started the engines so the pilots only closed their canopy and gestured graciously before immediately taxiing out onto the runway. Charles put on his helmet and put his mask in a serviceable position and called the tower. "Tower, Anemi requesting clearance for takeoff."

Osean Base Controller
<<Roger that, Anemi, you are cleared for takeoff.>>

With a nod, Charles made final checks that everything was ready and after smiling at the handiwork of the technicians in the little time they had, he engaged afterburners and the Phantom II began to speed down the runway with a deafening roar. With a slight pull of the stick, the plane began to lift into the air and Charles immediately retracted the gear as he gained altitude. Within only a few minutes, all of Peace Sparrow had gotten into a working formation at a high altitude and were flying as fast as their individual planes could take them as the sped towards the capital. Throughout the trip, the radio remained almost completely silent and even the normally talkative Erusian wizzo had fallen silent, perhaps due to either the announcements of before or due to the normal stress coming from the beginning of a new mission. This eerie silence was only broken when the AWACS spoke on the radio, though it only lasted a moment, and the speaker was different from the attack in the bay.

AWACS
<< Peace Sparrow, this is AWACS Rim Light. I'll be replacing Oracle on this mission after they suffered heavy damage in the preceding mission. I'll try to keep you all up to date on what happens down there. Godspeed to all of you and for all of you who aren't Oseans, may you all protect this capital as if it were your own.>>

Unfortunately, this did little to improve the tense mood, but Erika responded nonetheless in a tone that sounded at least slightly encouraged, "Got it AWACS. Don't get hit by a missile, alright?" Peace Sparrow descended to under the clouds and the sight they saw was a brilliant as a celebratory fireworks show. Tracers lit up the sky above the city, from anti-air and fighters alike, missiles exploded as planes were hit and streams of smoke came from those that fell. At this sight, even the normally stalwart Belkan gulped in worry.

Capital Air Command Fighter
<<Oh my God, is this Peace Sparrow?>>

Charles quickly took the responsibility of responding to the pilot, who had flown in alongside them in a heavily damaged Mirage. He spoke with a fatigued, exhausted voice, as if he had seen hell itself. "Yes. This is Anemi-One. Can you give me a sitrep?"

Capital Air Command Fighter
<<Finally, so glad to see you. Our guys have been getting massacred. We're... about five guys now, less than the fifteen we sortied with. The enemies, they... uh.. came here after breaking through our defenses. There's a lot of MiGs, a few Flankers, a bunch of Phantoms and...>>

The man's voice trailed off and the radio crackled. "CAC fighter, are you alright? Could you tell me more about the fighters? Markings?" Charles urgently asked a few questions as they approached the city, the blaze of AAA fire and maneuvering aircraft growing ever closer.

Capital Air Command Fighter
<<...Sorry, radio's... on the fritz... got hit.... messed up the electronics...The enemies... they're...>>

Charles' tone increased as he tried to get the information off the obviously wounded pilot, as his voice sounded weak too.

<<...it's a bunch of Stovies and Yukes sir...>>

The radio cut off as the Mirage began to roll worryingly. Charles' mouth gaped open. "Yukes... and Stovies? Here?" Erika asked rhetorically. The moment of confusion was cut short however as the AWACS operator suddenly spoke over the radio.

AWACS
<<Peace Sparrow, engage the bandits as soon as you are in range! You can't waste any time, it looks like the enemy is gaining the advantage. I can't work out their comms at the moment, so you'll have to make do for now!>>

Charles sighed worriedly as he muttered reluctantly over the radio, not wanting to engage the enemies without knowing their true origins. "Border Boy, engaging..." Erika did the same and they began to maneuver to follow the closest target, a MiG-21...

Kate pushed the throttle to the stops and headed towards the battle at full speed. Once she judged the range about right, she engaged the ECM pod on the belly of her aircraft, cutting off the enemy radar and communications.

"Meteor is jamming, music is live. Engaging bandit, Fox Three."

She fired one of her four long range missiles at a Flanker. With the jamming they might not even notice the launch right away, if at all. Closer in to the combat now, she found a new target and dove down from above, firing a pair of SDMs at the MiG before breaking off and gaining altitude again.

"Meteor to Rim Light, do we have an ETA and a bearing on the bombers?"

"Thank you Angelika, I've been chasing it for a long time."

Natasha's soft words of gratitude to her Number Two were the only thing positive in the air as Peace Sparrow took to the skies. Although Natasha took off close to last, she quickly overtook the rest of the squadron as her aircraft had the highest top speed of the group and they had been instructed on the ground to head to Oured as fast as their individual planes could go. As she and her wingman screamed towards Oured at Mach 2.32, the Corsairs were quickly left behind and the Phantom and 2 Drakens slowly fell behind her view. Soon the silence was broken by the AWACS.

<< Peace Sparrow, this is AWACS Rim Light. I'll be replacing Oracle on this mission after they suffered heavy damage in the preceding mission. I'll try to keep you all up to date on what happens down there. Godspeed to all of you and for all of you who aren't Oseans, may you all protect this capital as if it were your own.>>

"AWACS, this is Kvant One. As an Erusean and current Yuke, you have my word that I will defend Osea with everything I have. Thanks for watching over us, and stay safe up there." Throwing in that last cautionary word only because of what had happened to Oracle, Natasha now turned her attention to the wounded aircraft that had just formed up with Scott's Phantom behind her. When the Mirage's pilot announced that the bogeys were "Stovies and Yukes", her heart sank. Stovies she could deal with, but Yukes? Her own countrymen? Could the rest of her squadron even be in the fray? The most unsure "Yellow, engaging" ever uttered drifted over the airwaves. She spotted a straggling Phantom not dressed in Yuke markings and gave chase. "Angel, try to go for Stovies if you can help it. I'd prefer not to have to shoot down our own planes," she radioed to her wingman as she banked hard right to get behind the Phantom.

Husein took off with his F-5, and soon after that he was disappointed that the so-called fighter wing flew blatantly out of formation, not resembling a fighter wing at all. However, he understood that everyone needed to arrive to Oured as soon as possible, and he too was on full afterburner toward Oured. He carefully watched his fuel gauge, worrying that aerial refueling might be needed on the return trip.

<< Peace Sparrow, this is AWACS Rim Light. I'll be replacing Oracle on this mission after they suffered heavy damage in the preceding mission. I'll try to keep you all up to date on what happens down there. Godspeed to all of you and for all of you who aren't Oseans, may you all protect this capital as if it were your own.>>

"Mold, roger," he said over the radio. When he heard that the enemies were Estovakians and Yuktobanians, the only thing he worried about was whether his enemies did believe the ideals they were fighting for. "What a start," he radioed to the rest of the fighter wing, trying not to clearly state what he thought about the Stovies and the Yukes.

<<Peace Sparrow, engage the bandits as soon as you are in range! You can't waste any time, it looks like the enemy is gaining the advantage. I can't work out their comms at the moment, so you'll have to make do for now!>>

Husein turned the afterburners off and tried not to fly his aircraft in any particular two-dimensional plane while looking for enemy aircrafts he could potentially lock onto. Finding a MiG-21 flying beneath him, he inverted his plane and made a turn to get behind the Fishbed. While trying to get a missile lock-on, he fired his guns at the MiG-21.

Scott advanced the throttle on the A-7 as the F-16 with Miku in control thundered into the sky ahead of him.
Turning full onto the runway, he ran the engine up to speed, before toeing off the brakes. The engine roared, reverberating through the airframe as the pug-nosed jet began to roll. Gathering speed, the outside turned to a blur of brown and green, before he pulled the stick smoothly back toward his stomach, and the nose came unglued from the ground. He kept the takeoff climb smooth, as the A-7 didn't have the most powerful of engines for its' size and weight.
Taking a gentle turn into the right heading, he kept the altitude coming until he reached an optimum cruise altitude for the course to Oured at best speed. He knew that the others would leave him behind in short order, and it was more than likely that he'd arrive late to the battle; another flag pointing out clearly that the Corsair wasn't designed or adept at air-to-air combat. But all the same, he'd throw his lot in and engage as best he could.

The journey passed in near silence, with the rest of the squadron leaving him well behind in their much faster aircraft. When he finally did arrive, he could pick out the scene from miles out. The skies were crossed with tracers and contrails, and light glinted off of fighters and missiles as they drew lines and arcs through the skies above the sprawling Osean capital.
He absorbed the info from the AWACS with a 'roger', his mind awash with possibilities. Yuktobanian and Estovakian forces, here? Why? What was going on that had set them against Osea?
It was a staggering prospect: Oured was a hell of a slog from either of those countries, especially so without being intercepted or shot down. What was going on here that allowed these light aircraft to get so far?
Whatever the reasons, the intelligence agencies would sort that out. His job was clear: Shoot down the bandits, and keep Oured from being any more devastated than it had been already. Pulling a smooth wing-over, Scott dropped like a stone and rolled out, clean and clear onto the tail of a Stovie F-4 that was bearing down on a Mirage. The lock sounded as a growling tone in his ears as the crosshairs dropped over the hefty silhouette of the phantom. Making sure the weapons selector was set to 'MSL' with a glance, he thumbed the trigger at the top of the stick, and an SDM rocketed free of the leftmost pod on the wing, arcing away in a trail of white smoke.
Unwilling to make himself a target by staying in one position too long, the naval aviator rolled the Corsair onto its' left wing and into a loop around, inverting the bank to belly-check part way through. As normal, the G's threw him back in the seat, and the cockpit was a dazzle of changing light and shade as he came about, but his eyes were focused outside on the next target-
There! A MiG-21, its' shape a silver cylinder glittering in the sun as it threaded its' way through the conflagration and toward him. Standing hard on his rudder, Romeo bought the plane around. Too close and too quick for a missile shot; he selected GUNS from his fire selector and lead the pipper ahead of the Fishbed, before squeezing the trigger. The chainsaw-buzz of the Vulcan under his feet to the right throbbed through his seat, and the line of tracers lashed out in a slight arc, and intersected the MiG. Debris showered off of the hostile fighter, followed by smoke and puffs of flame, and then it was out of range and sight, and he continued his bank around, bringing the A-7 back into the melee.

As the Air Wing arrived in the airspace of Oured, Angelika widened her eyes to the site laid before her- Tracer rounds lighting up the sky as they tried to hit their intended targets, contrails going left to right as Aircraft chased each other in a 'dance'; The Emmerian felt like she only seen this happen before. as she woke up from her daydreaming, she looked to her left and spotted a Flanker heading straight for the city, armed with a few KAB-500L's. What sort of lightened the mood for her was that it had Estovakian markings. She smiled under her Flight Helmet, making a bank left to intercept it while speaking into the comms with a calm voice

"It would be my Pleasure, Yellow! I have unfinished business with them. Angel, Engaging!"

As she approached her target with her itching finger on the trigger, the Flanker pilot banked left in an attempt to outrun her, which prompted a switch to her R-27's.. Pushing the throttle forward and somewhat closing distance, she chased the Su-27 through the bay.

"Angel, Fox Three!" She called, banking to her left right after her missile disconnected from it's Station and trailed it's target. As soon as this happened, she shook her head as the screeches of the lock on warning filled her head, getting worse and worse as the beeping got quicker and quicker. Angel put it into a high-G turn, seeing the missile flying past and the warning dying down. She spotted another Jet- a Yuk MiG 21- headiing straight for her. She dove down towards the water, trying to avoid hostile contact with it.

Shortly after take-off, Elizabeth had joined up on Alexander's wing as everyone sped towards the combat zone. Upon arrival, the scene seemed all too familiar. Tracers and contrails filled the skies, as well as missile trails. Before jumping into the fray, she observed from afar, looking for stragglers, or enemy aircraft the were trying to avoid the fight.

When she heard the CAC Fighter pilot say that the enemy was a mix of Estovakians and Yuktobanians. She sighed, then spoke into her headset with a soft, quiet voice "Slypheed, Engaging." Barely noticeable above engine noises, gunfire, and explosions. She pushed the Draken to its limits as it screamed down into the fray. She was going to push this Interceptor. That's when she noticed a Fishbed trailing an ally. The Emmerian pilot if she remembered correctly. Elizabeth turned to intercept the MiG-21 before it could do any more harm.

As she closed the distance, her gaze became sharp and focused on the timing of firing a single SDM at the right moment would do more than enough damage to take the Fishbed out of the fight. The constant tone of the lock ringing in her ears, and once the right moment arrive, she fired a one SDM. "Slypheed, Fox Two." The moment the missile was out and heading towards its target, Elizabeth pulled from the engagement. No time to stick around and see, AWACs would be the only who could tell her that at this point. She screamed off and top speed, kicking up water as she briefly flew near its surface before pulling up to gain an altitude advantage if she was to spot another craft. But unluckily for her, she had been spotted first. Damn, the water spray must have more noticeable than I thought. Elizabeth thought as she heard the tell-tale warning of a missile intended for her, and immediately dove.

Alexanders Draken lifted into the air with a slight rumble pushing him back into his seat. He fiddled with the camera on his dash and made sure it wasn't going to go anywhere. At the proper altitude he preformed a barrel roll to make sure his flight controls were in excellent condition. He peered over his shoulder took look at the flight formation and it was quite the mix of planes. "I doubt this is gonna be as easy as it sounds. They surprised us the first time and I bet they are gonna try it again." he mumbled under his breath.

Clouds of smoke from the city loomed into this view as he flew closer to the battlefield. Tracers and grey puffs of smoke littered the sky ahead.
Alexander looked toward some of the friendly pilots up ahead and saw a flanker chasing one of the allied planes; he quickly turned to intercept it. "Drake engaging enemy SU-27!" He threw on his afterburner and quickly caught up to it. Alexander glanced around making sure no one would get on his six as he took to engaging the flanker. "Don't worry I got him!" The lock-on beeping was music to his ears. "Drake, Fox two!" Alexander launched three SDMs towards the Flanker knowing at least one will hit, or at least he thought they should.

Alexander heard and felt the solid boom of the missiles hitting along with a slight vibration of his Draken. "Damn, I hope the shrapnel didn't scuff up my paint job." He chuckled then called over to Elizabeth over comms "I just downed a SU-27 over here it was fantastic, you should have seen the missiles hit him! So how are you holding up down there?" He turned his attention to his radar looking for any nearby enemy planes to make sure he didn't get hit by any surprise attacks as he waited for a reply.