The Galm Team carried a dark aura around with them for the next five days after the operation to protect Allied bombers in an attack on Hoffnung. Attempts to make conversation with the two mercenaries were unsuccessful, and they were rarely seen outside their hanger. Eventually, the call came through for the next operation, and the Air Force pilots hoped that the operation would help ease tension on the base. Routine patrols, nights in the bar and the odd game of football had done little to lighten the tense atmosphere.

Cipher and Foulke arrived a few minutes late, and the Crow Team was already sitting in their seats waiting for the Lieutenant General to begin the briefing. Once the two famous mercenaries took their places, the lights dimmed and the Axe and Hammer logo appeared on the screen followed quickly by a map of the operation airspace in south Belka,

"There are still pockets of resistance holed up in the industrial city of Sudentor." The officer said. "Although fleeing, the Belkan army continues to fight back and are using the Waldreich Mountains as a final line of defence in the attempt to prevent our army from reaching northern Belka. For this mission, we would like you to assist the Allied ground troops by clearing the skies of enemy fighters."

A small smile formed on Cipher's face. He was looking forward to unleashing his built up anger and frustration. An aerial engagement with fleeing Belkan planes seemed like a good way to do that. Foulke noticed his look and nudged him, giving a questioning glance. Cipher shook his head briefly to show it didn't matter before concentrating back on the briefing.

"The South Belka Munitions Factory is located in Sudentor, which means the remaining troops, although few in number, are well outfitted." The officer warned. A box appeared on the map, labelled '203' over the city. "Head to the designated operations rendezvous location at Point 203." He ordered. "That is all."

With the briefing over, the pilots stood and left. PJ jogged over to Cipher and walked alongside, struggling to keep up with the taller pilot's fast pace. "Hey, not seen you guys in a while. Is everything alright?" He tried to make quick conversation.

Cipher didn't even look down at the younger man. "Fine." Was all he uttered before turning off to head in a different direction over to his F-15C and leaving P.J standing alone until the rest of his team caught up.

Once Cipher arrived at his blue-winged Eagle fighter, he conducted the pre-flight checks and scaled the ladder into his cockpit. Once he was strapped in with his helmet on and the canopy closed to seal him from the outside world, calm washed over him as he prepared himself for the upcoming mission. With a glance over to his wingman to confirm he was ready, he activated the twin engines of his aircraft and rolled forwards, following Foulke to the runway.

"Tower this is Galm One, requesting permission to take off runway one eight over." The words came from his mouth, smooth with years of practice.

"Roger that Galm One. Cleared to take off runway one eight after Galm Two has vacated the runway." The tower replied.

Cipher acknowledged and turned onto the runway, stopping to wait while Foulke's fighter roared down the long strip of tarmac. A light snow had begun, and the flakes that had begun to settle on the runway were quickly vaporised by the heat exerted from his wingman's afterburners. The result was a small, almost unnoticeable trail of steam following him down the runway before taking off.

Once the red-winged Eagle had taken off, the Demon Lord followed into the sky.

"Hey P.J," Crow One said as the formation of two F-16 Fighting Falcons and two F-15C Eagles passed over a small castle upon a hill overlooking a large lake. The area was peaceful and beautiful, and Cipher found it hard to believe that there were deadly battles being fought not far from the area. "I don't want to hear you talking to your girl over the radio."

"I wouldn't do that during a job!" P.J retorted to the flight lead's joke. He sounded surprised that Ryan would even suggest he'd do such a thing.

"So how many girlfriends have you had? Is she your first?" Hicks took the opportunity to join in with his own joke.

"I had a girlfriend in High School." P.J replied.

"Crow Team, do you read me?" AWACS Eagle Eye reported in. "Head for Waldreich to take out any remnant forces the Belkans could've positioned out there."

While Crow Team acknowledged the order and increased speed, the Galm Team hung back and remained silent; the pilots watching the other mercenaries pull away. Cipher sighed. He had expected to feel better when in the air but inside, he still felt that something wasn't quite right. It wasn't to do with the mission but with his affiliation. The events of the last mission combined with Foulke's ideas about the war had caused sleepless nights thinking about what to do, and what might happen in the future.

"Galm Team, what's the problem?" The AWACS had noticed the gap between Galm and the other two teams. The AWACS's voice snapped Cipher out of his thoughts. "You're behind."

"Don't worry, we'll catch up." Foulke answered before Cipher could speak.

"This is P.J from Crow Team, Galm Team, is there something wrong with your craft?"

"Nah," Foulke replied to P.J. "I'm just sad." That comment seemed to kill the conversation. The Crow Team knew better than to push them for explanations. The gap had widened to the extent that Cipher had to strain his eyes to see the formation of three planes on the horizon.

"Emergency transmission from Allied HQ." AWACS Eagle Eye broke the heavy silence, his voice filled with worry. "A Belkan bomber squadron equipped with nuclear weapons has taken off for Ustio!"

"What?!" Someone exclaimed, Cipher couldn't be sure who it was. His heart had begun to hammer at the mention of nuclear weaponry, and he felt his hands begin to sweat beneath his leather flying gloves. His anger for the Belkans renewed, as he cursed aloud for their cowardly use of the weapons of mass destruction.

"Enemy bombers are approaching this airspace." AWACS Eagle Eye did well to remain calm. "Galm Team, Crow Team, head to intercept."

"Crow One, roger!"

"Crow Two, moving to engage enemy!"

"I'll stop them!" P.J growled. "There's someone down there I need to protect."

Cipher increased his airspeed and checked his radar to find the position of the squadron, turning onto an intercept course. He noted his wingman also speed up to remain on Cipher's wing. "This war would end if they blew everything up." The Belkan mercenary muttered.

"We can't let them use those nukes!" P.J retorted, and Cipher agreed.

"Prepare to engage enemy." Cipher ordered his wingman. "Five miles remaining. Cleared to engage at will and use AMRAAMS."

"Roger that."

Cipher reached down and flicked a switch, arming his payload of six sidewinders and four AMRAAMS and then checked his radar. "Four miles remaining."

"I see them!" P.J exclaimed from his position further ahead. "Enemy fighters with nukes!"

Thirty seconds later, the first of the bombers appeared on Cipher's HUD. Another ten seconds passed before his AMRAAM locked onto the Belkan aircraft. With a call of "Fox three!" He fired the missile which carved a smooth parabolic curve through the air to strike the area where the wing joined the fuselage with a large explosion. "Splash one."

"Galm Two, fox three!" Another AMRAAM lanced out towards a bomber and swatted it from the skies in defence of Ustio before the mercenaries passed the first aircraft, cutting into the heart of the Belkan formation.

Cipher barely had time to confirm that Crow Team had engaged before an escorting pair of F-15E Strike Eagles from the front of the formation were harassing them with missile and gun shots, all of which failed to follow Cipher's evasive manoeuvres. He pulled a sharp loop, feeling the g-forces push him back into his seat and darken his vision before he was pulling out of the loop and snapping away in a quick turn to lose the F-15E which had tried to follow. Cipher had the advantage of greater agility, and used this to his benefit. He was pulling round onto the Strike Eagle's tail as it attempted to follow out of the loop and slammed an AIM-9 into its twin engines. Both pilots ejected before flames engulfed their aircraft.

"Eagle Eye to Galm Team. Only take out the bombers! Don't let any slip through!" The orbiting AWACS ordered to which Cipher ignored and subsequently shredded the pursuing F-15E chasing Foulke with a burst of 20mm cannon fire.

"Two...no three planes are down!" A Belkan commander reported. "But this has no bearing on our plans."

"Crow Three to AWACS, there are too many enemy crafts. Please identify the craft with the nuclear weapons." P.J asked as he came out of an engagement with a fighter.

"You'll have to shoot them all down." He answered. "To all units in this airspace. Stop the nuclear attack. Shoot down all Belkan bombers."

As Cipher and Foulke levelled off and aimed their fighters towards the remaining bombers at the front of the formation, they heard a familiar voice over the radio. "This is Ghost One, roger that Eagle Eye, preparing to engage the bombers."

"Ghost Four, beginning jamming sequence." The backseater of the EA-18G Growler said. "Their radar should be dead in three...two...one..." A chorus of curses could be heard on the intercepted comms as Ghost Four did his work. Effectively blind and with a loss of spacial awareness, the formation of fighters began to break apart allowing the two F-22 Raptors from Ghost Team to start wrecking havoc among the Strike Eagle escorts, sending two more plummeting to the landscape below in flaming fragments.

"We must carry out our duties!" An F-15E pilot reminded his teammates.

Two more AMRAAMS from Cipher and Foulke claimed another pair of bombers, reducing the number of the large grey aircraft to five. They turned sharply, creating thin lines from their wingtips as they turned in unison towards the surviving BM-335 bombers which trundled onto their target, reliant on the F-15E Strike Eagle escorts to deal with the eight mercenaries attacking. As Cipher came out of his turn, he saw the yellow wintips of one of Ghost Team's Raptors flash by below his starboard wing and destroy an unsuspecting Belkan plane with gunfire, escaping with a split-s when another Belkan gave chase.

Cipher's radar displayed another six F-15E Strike Eagle fighters acting as escorts and the flight lead wondered how they could deal with the five bombers while somehow escaping the attacks. Crow and Ghost Teams were held up with the remains of the first formation. He had half his payload of AMRAAMs left and all but one sidewinder while Foulke had also had two AMRAAM missiles left and his full payload of sidewinders. Ammunition wasn't an issue.

However, before he could give orders four more aircraft appeared on his radar at the edge of the combat airspace, travelling at high speed towards the formation. MiG-31 Foxhound interceptors, bearing IFF signals from Belka.

"Heads up, incoming Belkan reinforcements." He advised.

The flight lead of the incoming squadron was soon heard. "Warning, change course immediately. Return to base or you'll be shot down!"

Who is he talking to? Cipher thought to himself as he came into AMRAAM range of two F-15E fighters, launching two missiles which claimed another two kills. This caused the squadron to disperse and swarm like angry wasps towards the mercenaries who instantly broke away from the volleys of gun and missile fire.

"They're no longer our allies." The flight lead was heard again, speaking to his squadron. "Don't hesitate to shoot them all down!"

Cipher had pulled up to a height where he could oversee the battle. He watched with interest and surprise as the Foxhound squadron came close enough to fire at least two missiles each, all of which tore two bombers to pieces with explosions. The F-15E escorts were slow to respond to the threat, allowing them to overshoot and bank away, coming around for another pass. Two of the escorts eventually pursued the new threat to their mission.

"Do they intent to wipe our homeland off the map? That's crazy!"

"They'll end up destroying our entire country!"

Three bombers remained. The Demon Lord put his Eagle into a slow dive towards the formation, firing two sidewinders into another bomber which had no way of evading the deadly projectiles. Foulke did the same, following his flight lead's path and claimed the next bomber in line.

Someone else beat Cipher to the final kill. The EA-18G Growler fired both it's wingtip AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles and sent the bomber tumbling down to the merciless ground below in flames. "This is Ghost Three, bandit down." The pilot reported in her calm Estovakian accented voice.

"All planes confirmed down!" P.J sounded overjoyed as he announced the destruction of all the bombers. "We did it!"

"There's no impossible job for us mercenaries!" Ryan sounded equally happy about the success of the interception.

"Read 'em and weep, Belkans!" Hicks taunted.

Realising that all their bombers were shot down, the F-15E Strike Eagle escorts turned tail and ran, forming up in small groups and proceeding to exit the combat airspace. They were, however, pursued by the much faster MiG-31 Foxhound rebel Belkan fighters and engaged, and many were shot down as Cipher watched.

"What the...?!" A flash of blinding white light caught the Demon Lord off guard. The light filled his cockpit and he squeezed his eyes shut to block it out but it dissipated as quickly as it had appeared. The next few seconds after his vision returned felt like hours, time seemed to drag and Cipher saw everything occur in slow motion: Foulke quickly tightening up the formation, Crow Team and Ghost Team reforming their respective squadrons, and the shockwave coming at them through the air with no room to manoeuvre...

It hit with a booming roar, almost deafening Cipher as he wrestled his Eagle for control, violently thrown by the heavy rush of air. His HUD and gauges flickered, and the once overcast sky suddenly decided to begin drizzling. A yellow/orange light glowed on the horizon, dancing like faraway flames or a dying sunset among a huge cloud that rose above all others. Cipher's gut tightened as he realised what had happened, what had caused the mysterious and sudden shockwave.

A nuclear explosion.

"This is Eagle Eye!" The voice sounded distant and faraway, barely audible over the heavy radio interference. "All teams, damage report!"

"This is Crow Three...Negative! Unable to confirm the situation"

"What the hell is going on here!?" Hicks demanded answers, fear beginning to show in the usually calm and lighthearted pilot. "Dammit...my gauges are malfunctioning!"

"What was that light..." Cipher vaguely recognised the voice of Ghost Two, the pilot of the Raptor with yellow wingtips. "Am I all right...?"

"Larry, can you read me?" The last transmission caught Cipher's attention, the calm voice alien among all the cries and requests coming from the other teams for information or confirmation of the situation. "Your fairy godmother's here. Cinderella."

"How can you say that after what just happened?!" Foulke's cool attitude had clearly broken as he snapped the retort at the unknown voice. He must know who the speaker was, from the way he replied so quick and without requesting identification. Cipher decided to remain quiet and just listen.

The man chuckled, heard over the radio. "Today is your lucky day, Larry. Like your birthday."

"And you're here to pull me off in a magical carriage...to hell I suppose..."

The man didn't reply, and the radio fell silent. Foulke was clearly considering what had just been said. Cipher was so focussed on looking out for Crow and Ghost Team that he failed to see Foulke drop back a little and slide in at his six.

"Buddy..." The transmission was weak and barely understandable. "...I've just found a reason to fight."

Cipher's missile alert squawked and upon instinct, he snapped his fighter into a sharp turn to evade the missile. Where the hell did that come from?!

The next words from AWACS Eagle Eye sent a chill down his spine. "Galm Two! What are you doing?! That's not the enemy, cease fire!"

He had no time to think, for another missile was fired towards him from his wingman, followed by a spray of gunfire that narrowly missed his cockpit but punched through the armour of his wing root. He pulled a rapid split-S followed by a fast loop to shake his pursuer. But when he looked over his shoulder to see if Foulke had somehow managed to remain planted at his six, he found the red-winged fighter nowhere to be seen. Instead, it was headed north west, away from Cipher and fleeing the combat airspace.

"Warning! Enemy reinforcements detected." AWACS Eagle Eye reported. "Galm Two is leaving the combat airspace. Pixy, what's going on?!" The mercenary didn't reply.

"Reinforcements?! From which squadron?!" P.J cried.

Cipher was in a dilemma. He could chase down his old wingman and run him into the ground, or he could aid the Ghost Team and Crow Team by engaging the incoming eight Su-27 Flanker fighters incoming from the north, no doubt here to mop up any aircraft that survived the nuclear attack. He couldn't leave Crow Team and Ghost Team. No matter how much he wanted to send the traitor he had called a wingman down to the flames of hell, he knew he couldn't abandon them to the enemy fighters which would easily cause massive damage in their confusion.

"Galm One, engaging!" He growled. He swung his fighter round and pointed the nose towards the incoming enemy fighters. They were coming in in four groups of two, arranged in a diamond formation. Cipher raced recklessly towards the front group, ignoring the warnings from his missile alert systems and fired his last two sidewinder short ranged missiles at the enemy Flankers, destroying them both as he passed them at supersonic speed.

The two Raptors and their escorting Growler tore through the second formation with ease, the Belkan pilots obviously not ready for the attack from the two stealthed planes and were expecting confused pilots from the explosions. That left just four more planes, and Cipher was out of missiles.

"Galm Two has disappeared from radar." Eagle Eye reported.

Looks like I'm doing this the old fashioned way. Cipher switched to his 20mm cannon and the pipper appeared on his distorted HUD, still flickering from the interference from the nuclear blast. He was able to see the next group of fighters ahead of him and opted for a less risky approach, climbing above the Su-27 fighters as they fired their missiles at him, all of which missed. He pulled a quick split S and came about onto the tails of the Belkans and loosened a volley of gunfire which succeeded in shredding one of the fighters and forcing the pilot to bail out. The second Flanker turned sharply, sharper than Cipher could manage in his Eagle. But he didn't have to worry about it for long, as Crow Team engaged and shot down the remaining fighters.

"All planes, return to base." AWACS Eagle Eye ordered. "They've all gone insane!"

As Ghost Team and Crow Team complied and turned south west, a single fighter headed east. A single F-15C Eagle with blue wings. As the radio traffic died down to nothing, a single cool voice could be heard. Foulke's words were directed at the Demon Lord as he headed away from the battle, away from the war and out of the combat airspace.

"This is where we go our separate ways."

And Part Two is finally finished! Sorry for the long wait. The Ace Combat Zero story will continue in Ace Combat Zero: The Dark Days