The Beginning

In the morning of their departure the base was in a disarray. Staff running around, verrifying that every bit of equipment is packed, mechanics doing final checks, and local personnel saying goodbye to the regiment. Only pilots were calm. They packed their things already and were waiting for the last equipment to be put on trucks.

Alexis spotted commander Wheeler, meddling with something in his hand. When he came closer, he saw it was a thin blue shawl.

"A memento from Mary?", he asked.

"Yeah, she said to keep it close and give it back to her once I return", Alex stuck the shawl in his coat and turned to Alexis, "We are departing in about an hour. The trip will take most of the day, but you have a reconnaissance mission in the evening, so make sure to have a rest while on the road".

"Roger that!", Gruel affirmed and walked away.

He spotted Lily soon, looking up for someone. She saw him and waved:

"Oh, Lex, I was looking for you".

"What for?"

"You are not happy? When is you birthday?"

"Oh, the opposite, just got surprised. It was back in February. Why are you asking, wanted to give me a present?"

"Who knows?..", The look on her face was pretty mysterious.

"And what about you?"

"Mine is on August 21st. So you can think of a gift beforehand".

"Will do, will do. You are alone today? Where are the other girls?"

"Oh, Inna is doing final checks on my craft, should be here soon. While Kat hangs out with the third wing guys over where", she waved in the western direction.

"Boss said we are going on a mission in the evening, so make sure to get some rest".

"I’ll try, but I am too exited now. May be hard to sleep. Will you sing me a lullaby?", Lily smirked.

"Who I am, you mom? But I don’t mind if you agree to hang out next time we are free".

"I will think about it… Oh, here is Inna. I need to talk with her for a bit, see you in the truck, we should be going together", and she approached Inna, who showed up ahead of them.

"See you!"

He went in the direction of the the truck, their wing will be using, but saw Martinson on the way. He was also looking for someone.

"May I help?", he approached Alex.

"Oh, yeah, have you seen In… comrade Waypass?"

"Yes, she is talking with Lily other there", Alexis pointed in the direction he came from.

"Thanks, see you later", and Martinson also left. A few of his wing members on the side were smirking.

As commander Wheeler predicted, they departed within an hour. The convoy was guarded by a bunch of tanks and mobile air defence, but most of the journey went pretty calmly. Lily, despite her words, soon dozed in the corner, side-by-side with Inna. Kate was also sleeping a bit further in the truck. Some other wing members were chatting on the opposite side, while Alexis was sitting on the girls’ side, thinking what lies ahead. «The battles should be pretty bloody. We may be outnumbered not as much as before, but we are advancing this time. I need to come up with some plans to keep my wing safe. We cannot always rely on Boss». Soon he also dozed out, still thinking about what to do next…

They were closing up to the new base when convoy made an abrupt halt.

"What’s the matter?", Lily has woken up.

"Apparently, a couple of enemy bombers with five escorts somehow leaked through our air defence in the area", Alexis informed her about the situation.

"Should we take off to defend the convoy?", Kate joined them.

"No, sims like 9th GMFR has fighters nearby, they should deal with it. Lets cover behind the truck for now".

And indeed, soon a group of allied fighters appeared from the west. It was hard to distinguish them from the ground, but the leading craft was somehow different. It was moving faster and more gracefully than the other ones. He launched into the enemy formation and quickly dealt with one of the two bombers by launching a barrage of magical earth boulders into its right side and wings. He pretty easily avoided the fire from escort cannons and other bombers machine guns. He kept them busy until the other four fighters joined. One of the escort fighters and second bomber also got dealt with, while the remaining planes fled. The allied crafts made a few loops to check for other enemies and went back to the base.

"You saw that plane? What was it?", Lily stuck her head from behind the truck and asked Alexis.

"Probably one of the new models supplied to the front. I heard they only managed to send twelve for now and are testing them. Apparently, they use a new reactive engine, copied from alemanian newer models. This one should be captain Khalif’s, as no-one else is allowed to pilot them yet".

"I want one too, looks cool".

"We will get one or two probably, but only once first tests are over. Let’s go back to the truck, we should arrive to the base within two hours".

"Gotcha!"

"…Damn they are persistent!", Lily dodged the barrage from three enemy «Jac-7» in a risky manoeuvre and dived down, trying to increase the distance.

"Yeah, it should have been a simple reconnaissance mission, why the heck they swarmed us?", it was Kate, dodging her three pursuers.

"Hard to say, either they are really cautious, because we are concentrating forces in the area. Or they just found out a few famous aces assigned to this part of the front and decided to hunt us", Alexis was fleeing from two «Jac-9», who led the enemy groups that attacked them.  "Ladies, should we try clashing into each other to shake their formation?"

"It may work, but pretty risky. And they just do not slow down despite all of my looping", Kate was clearly irritated.

"I can pull this off from my side if I use Acceleration. Where you are now, wing-leader?", Lily was focused but pretty eager.

"On 11 o’clock from you. Lure them here in a minute".

"Roger that!"

Lily rose up and headed in the direction of Alexis. He also dived from the clouds, dragging his two pursuers with him. Just when they were about to clash, both fighters turned to different sides in sync and launched magical barrages in the directions of the other group of pursuers.

Three crafts behind Lily managed to scatter, only sustaining minor damage, but one of the «Jac-9» models got its right wing obliterated and crushed to the ground shortly. The second fighter was able to redirect his fire to Lily’s machine, though, dealing moderate damage to her side and right wing.

When, suddenly, one of the «Jacs» behind Lily was obliterated by the fire. A familiar new model launched from the clouds above her soon, followed by four «Jac-3». The enemies scattered and turned back to the base after seeing the reinforcements.

"Are you alright?", It was the allied leader. "Any serious damage?'

"I am fine", Alexis reported.

"Only minor one", it was Kate.

"I may need to land for minor repairs", Lily was a bit concerned.

"In this case, follow me, our base is closer to this area".

After arriving to the base, they left the planes for maintenance and refuel and were greeted by the new models pilot, a black-haired man with slightly darker skin and characteristic near eastern look.

"Captain Ahmet-Pasha Khalif at your service".