“They’re ascending.” One-five reported as the fleet ahead of them pointed their noses up at the sky and shot upwards. “We’re a little late.”

One-six bit his lip in frustration. They had flown a wide U shape to catch the carrier as it is preparing to fire its weapon. But because the attack happened ahead of schedule, they ended up closer to New Asia than they would have liked.

The attack fleet was already ascending to peek over the horizon and fire upon New Asia. In another minute or so, the massive city would be a smoldering pile of ash.

The original plan was for them to circle behind the fleet, then attack from behind. But there wasn’t time for that now.

“We’ll have to go from the front.”

“That’s not going to work.”

“There’s no time to circle around the back.”

One-six pulled gently on the stick, pulling his own aircraft into a climb, matching that of the attack fleet.

“We’re still not being engaged…” Two-six mumbled. “Even if we get identified as a friendly, I thought there’d be a little more reaction than this.”

“That’s true…”

In the back of his mind, One-six thought he may have a slight idea of why that is.

“I think Captain Steiner is helping us.”

His teammates turned to look at him. They quickly understood what must be happening, but were still a little surprised.

“He’s working behind the scenes?”

“Like he’s always been.”

“Still… when we breach the inner cordon, we’ll be fired upon.”

“By then we’re close enough that the defense matrix can take care of most of the incoming threats.”

One-five sighed. “I hope you’re right.”

“Sixty seconds from intercept!” Two-six shouted. “We’ll be crossing the inner cordon soon.”

“Hey, the guidance system I wrote can’t reliably hit unless from a rear aspect.” Two-five reminded One-six.

“I know.”

“What are you going to do about it?”

One-six didn’t speak.

“Hey, One-six?”

Then the radar warning receiver and missile launch warning began to blare.

“Launch. Launch. Launch.”

“We’ve crossed the inner cordon.”

A large explosion shook their aircraft as the defense matrix zapped a missile out of the air in front of them. Then another. And another.

“Fire at will.”

“Copy.”

The many missiles mounted on their wings shot forwards one after another, towards the carrier aircraft ahead of them. They twisted and turned through the night, and rapidly closed in upon the lumbering aircraft. But before any of them got close, they were all destroyed by thelaser defense turrets on the many European aircrafts.

In return, many missiles came towards them too, but the retrofitted F-51 destroyed them all with little problem.

“That’s all,” One-five called out. “We’re down to our last resort.”

It was time for the second last part of their plan. If the missiles couldn’t destroy the carrier, then they’ll just use their own plane as an oversized and overweight missile. Two-five had worked tirelessly to write a guidance program into their plane’s computer, so that they could eject to safety.

“Defense matrix is running low on energy. We won’t be able to hold on for much longer.” Two-five reported, frantically pressing a myriad of warning lights to reset them. “Even with the extra batteries these turrets use a lot of energy.”

“Switch off everything, I only want flight computers, comms and the radar online.” One-six told her.

“Everything?”

“Yes everything.”

Two-five swiped her finger across one of her displays, selecting every option available, then pressed the ‘off’ button.

Suddenly it was dark. The only sources of light coming from the glowing exhaust plumes of the dense formation ahead of them and the red emergency lights.

“Forty seconds.”

Another missile exploded just off their nose, sending fragmentation screaming towards them. A few of the larger pieces sunk themselves into the thick canopy, creating spiderwebs of cracks which slowly grew larger and larger.

“Time to eject…” One-six announced. “I’ll see you all in the next world.”

He yanked hard on the ejection handle.

“One-six?” One-five asked. “What do-”

There was a loud bang, then the deafening noise of the rushing air as the canopy flipped up and away from them.

Then there was a flash of light behind him, then his right, as his team members’ ejection seats activated and pulled them clear of their aircraft.

One-six was glad that the F-51 had a two piece canopy, which protected him from the supersonic airstream. He grabbed the control stick, and manually steered his plane towards the carrier.

“I knew it.” A voice spoke through his headset.

One-six widened his eyes and twisted around. He locked eyes with Two-six, who was ducking down behind the seat in front of her to hide from the wind blast.

“Why are you still here?”

“…”

“Unstrap yourself and jump clear of the intakes."

“I can’t, airstream will kill me.”

Normally during an ejection sequence, a protective screen will fall in front of the seat, protecting the occupant from the air blast. Wind normally doesn’t kill, but at twice the speed of sound, it’s akin to getting hit by a train.

“And plus, I won’t.”

“What are you…”

“I saw you disabling your ejection seat yesterday, so I disabled mine too.” Two-six smiled smugly. “Why do you think I was at our plane when you guys came running along”

One-six thought back to a few hours ago, and remembered that Two-six had been missing for a while before the attack happened.

So that’s what she had been up to, he thought to himself.

“You’re out of your mind.”

“And so are you.”

More missiles came towards them, but they were destroyed by the defense matrix before they could get close.

In the distance, the center of the carrier aircraft had begun to emit a pale white glow, as it started to charge up its plasma cannon.

“I’ve been thinking about it for a long time, you know. And I realized the only reason I’ve been fighting all this time was to protect my teammates, and more importantly, to protect you.”

“That’s a stupid reason.”

“So what? All this time, I’ve only fought because was told to. And at some point, I began fighting because I wanted to. But I’ve only realized that after that fateful day.”

“The day we saw the outside world?”

“Yes. So don’t call me stupid for wanting to stick to that reason until the very very end. In fact, if you hadn’t agreed to come with me that day, this wouldn’t have happened. If you hadn’t let me see you disabling your ejection seat, none of this would have happened either! It’s all your fault… it’s all…”

“…”

“I hate you…”

“I don’t…”

“…”

“You’re not going to survive.”

“I’m fully aware.”

“I’m not going to survive.”

“I’m also aware.”

“So why are you doing this?”

“Because I didn’t want to live in a world without the one person who means the most to me. I didn’t want to wake up everyday knowing that I could have done something, but decided not to.”

“That’s a stupid reason.”

“That’s quite a mean thing to say someone who truly loves you from the depths of their heart; to someone who has mustered up all their courage just to say it to you, don’t you think?”

“…”

Though One-six couldn’t see, behind her helmet, Two-six’s cheeks were bright red.

“Not giving it a moment’s thought to give your life for someone. Not hesitating for even a moment to be with that someone until the very end. Feeling pain every time that someone is hurt, and feeling happy every time that someone is happy. Wanting to be with that someone every second of every day, wanting to talk with that someone even if you don’t have anything to talk about. Wanting to feel that someone’s warmth when you’re feeling cold and lonely. Feeling safe just from the presence of that someone. Isn’t that what love is?”

“…Where did you learn all that?”

“I figured it out myself.”

One-six sighed and fell silent. But behind the oxygen mask of his helmet, tears were rolling down his cheeks.

Cannon tracers streaked past their fighter. Some rounds hit, tearing off chunks from their wing. A fire started in the aft section of their port side wing. But they kept going, closer and closer to the carrier aircraft.

A round struck their cockpit, blowing the engineer’s station to bits. But they kept going. They were now close enough that One-six was able to see the turrets on the carrier aircraft turning towards them.

A missile got through the defense matrix and shattered the tail section of his fighter, destroying the fighter’s control systems and setting it ablaze. The turret on the carrier opened fire, sending a stream of cannon tracers tearing through their plane.

Fragmentation ripped through his flying suit, blowing open big ugly holes in his body. He felt his right arm get blown off and his left femur shattered by a flying piece of metal. Blood surged from his mouth, pooling inside his oxygen mask and spraying out through the air valve in a cloud of red. But it was already too late.

Their momentum carried them forwards, straight towards center mass of the carrier aircraft.

One-six closed his eyes.

“You really are an idiot.”

“And so are you.”

*****

Takeshi watched from on top of the mountain as the massive attack fleet passed by overhead. Built on the border between New Asia and Europa, Valkyria stood right in the path of the attack fleet.

He gasped in awe as the countless dots streaked across the sky. The many sonic booms coalesced into a single, prolonged rumble, rolling across the plains and hills.

Most of the survivors did not know about the attack, and so were startled by the sudden noise. Takeshi decide not to tell them anything, and just say that it was a distant town getting raided.

After that, he decided to help around. Lenn and One-six’s mission was in no way under his control, and he had no way of interfering either. He would know soon enough if it was a success, and he would also know if it failed.

“Sir, the New Asian pilot is awake.” One of the doctor’s helpers had told him.

“Is she?”

“Oh uhh… she demanded to see her teammates.”

“But they aren’t here right now.”

“I told her, and she requested to see the Europeans.”

“But they aren’t here either.”

“I told her that too, and she requested to see you.”

Takeshi grimaced. Ying had definitely figured out that something was going on. “Got it… I’ll go see her now.”

He gently lifted open the flap covering the entrance to the medical tent, and quietly stepped inside. Ying was sitting up in her bed, all sorts of IV lines still attached to her arm.

“Where are they?” She asked as soon as Takeshi entered.

“They uhh…”

“They’ve gone on the mission haven’t they? The attack’s started hasn’t it?”

“Well…”

“That rumble I heard, that was the fleet flying overhead wasn’t it?”

“Yeah…”

Ying stared at him blankly for a moment. “I need to go.” She whispered as she began tearing the IV lines out of her arm.

“Stop stop! You’re in no shape to move around yet!” Takeshi shouted, running over to stop Ying. But before he could get to her, she had already removed all of the needles and was pushing herself off of the bed.

She placed her feet on the ground, and tried to stand up. But her legs gave out from beneath her, and she collapsed to the floor.

“You alright?” Takeshi asked, getting to his knees to help her. But Ying held out her open palm, telling him to stay away.

“Why can’t I feel my left leg?” She asked.

There was a fierce light in her eyes that Takeshi had never seen before. It was a mix of anger, frustration, and sadness.

“Tell me!”

“There was…. severe nerve damage to that leg as a result of your injuries, it is unlikely you will ever be able to use it again.”

Ying looked down at her leg and bit her lip. Then she raised her fist, and pounded it against her leg again and again. There were tears rolling down her face, and Takeshi knew that she wasn’t crying over her leg, instead she was crying for her teammates.

“When did they leave?” She asked quietly, wiping away the tears on her face with her hand.

“Almost two hours ago.”

She looked down at the ground, holding her forehead with her hand. “I need to go help them…”

“How? You can’t walk, you’re still weak from your injuries. And plus, there’s no aircraft here for you to fly in.”

“I… I don’t know…” She pushed herself up with one leg and held onto her bed for balance. “Just… take me outside.”

Takeshi sighed, and went over to hold one of Ying’s arms. She hobbled out of the tent with Takeshi’s help, and sat down below the stars.

“It’s going to happen about now, right?”

“I think so…”

“If I don’t see a bright flash, then what does it mean?”

“The mission failed.”

“And if I do?”

But before Takeshi could answer, the sky was illuminated by a blinding white light.

*****

The crackling voice came through the radio again.

“All available aircraft have been scrambled, standby for further instructions. Over.”

Lenn breathed a sigh of relief and switched off the radio.

“Let’s turn back and get ready to pick them up.” He muttered, turning his aircraft back in the direction of Europa. “Let’s wait for the flash…”

Not even a second after his words fell, the horizon exploded into a brilliant white, brighter than the sun.

The light originated from a single point, then quickly expanded out to cover the entire western sky. It looked like a lightning bolt had caught fire, as if a million electrical arcs crisscrossed the edge of the sky.

His instruments began to glitch and flash from the powerful electromagnetic waves sent out by the detonation of the weapon. He could hear a loud electrical cackle in his headset, probably from the electrical coils interacting with the pulses.

To an unknowing person, it may seem like the sun had just risen. But to Lenn and his team, it meant something entirely different.

Without anyone having to say a single word, they all knew perfectly well what had just happened.

Their plan had worked.

Then just as quickly as it had came, the light blinked out, and the sky was once again plunged into darkness.

Far ahead of them, Lenn could see spiraling trails of black smoke and fire descending from the clouds and crashing into the forest below.

“It actually worked…”

“That’s the entire European air force…” Kang mumbled. “Gone, just like that.”

“…”

Only Lenn knew, that someone else had also been lost to that white light.

“How many people have we killed?”

“That doesn’t matter.” Lenn spoke softly. “Because… we’re about to kill many many more.”

“…” Kang sighed. “Saving one city by destroying another…”

They turned to look behind them, towards New Asia, where fighters and bombers were streaming out from their hangars. Soon, they formed a massive armada, no smaller than that of Europa.

It was time for the final part of their plan.

Total destruction of Europa, and the end of the war.

“But first, let’s go pick them up.”