*Double Update! Might as well finish off this story with a bang, right?

Skies over Farbanti City, Erusea
September 19, 2019

The screaming sound of jet engines sounded across Farbanti as Erusea's best aces in Sol Squadron clashed in the skies with our elite pilots of the LRSSG. As we engaged the enemy, we could hear Long Caster speaking to us with a hard edge in his voice, "LRSSG, we have an emergency order from mission command: bring down Mister X! I know it's a tall order, but HQ wouldn't be asking if they didn't have faith in you."

The fighter jets of both sides roared past each other and tangled in midair trying to achieve radar locks. As I accelerated and tumbled amid the aerial scrum, I could hear open radio channels between both sides. No doubt this was Col. Shilage's idea to try and intimidate us. One of his wingmen, Sol 2 streaked by and I heard him comment to his allies, "Watch yourselves. Their two leaders are elite pilots but don't drop your guard against the others either."

"That's okay, a little challenge is always fun," Mihaly's deep voice said with what almost sounded like a smile, "Especially against experienced fighters. Isn't that right Three Strikes?"

I gritted my teeth and tried to find Mihaly in the chaos, "I'm coming for you Shilage!"

From his own plane, Mihaly smirked and changed direction quickly. He wasn't interested in dueling right now. He had another strategy in mind. He radioed Sol 2, "Wit, keep Three Strikes busy for me."

"Yes sir!"

Sol 2 engaged again and blew by me flying at a strategic angle goading me to give chase to him. If I took the bait, I'd lose sight of Mihaly right now, but if I didn't, I'd be leaving myself open to a counterattack from Sol 2. For now, I chose the safer option. I tailed Sol 2.

Meanwhile, several of the Erusean fighters split our formation and forced Skald to veer off in a climb. The coordinated enemy plan worked as it left him open to attack. Skald cried out in alarm as he was hit by a missile from Sol 4 and began to spiral toward the ground. Before anyone else could help him, Mihaly dove in and finished him off causing the Eagle to disintegrate in midair. Long Caster added his own alarmed shout, "No! Strider 2 is down!"

"No! No! No! Who are these guys?" Count moaned in dread as he tried to evade one of the Sol Squadron Flankers.

"Skald, damn it! Eject!" I called still preoccupied with my own bandit but our controller relayed the bad news.

"I'm sorry Trigger. Skald didn't make it."

I felt my blood began to boil at the loss of a wingman and I called out in fury to the others to spur them on and avenge our fallen comrade, "Striders! Don't let up! Show no mercy! We can't let Mister X run wild!"

"Wilco." / "Roger that." Jaeger and Lanza replied as they engaged another enemy.

Having been spurred to action, Huxian made an aggressive cut and accelerated into a descending spiral to go after an enemy. She fired a pair of missiles and they found their mark before Sol 5 could change direction. The Flanker was hit in a fiery blast and began to fall apart in midair but not before its pilot ejected to safety. She gave a proud cheer at having downed an enemy ace, "All right! There's something!'

No sooner had she taken down her foe, Huxian was thrown forward in her seat as her Eagle took some gunfire from behind. She was jostled violently and she heard a warning siren as she saw one of her engines had been damaged. Fear gripped her as she took evasive action and swerved aside, all while shutting down the engine. She could still fly on one thruster but she knew she was now at a severe disadvantage now. Sol 3 rolled in the skies and relentlessly pursued her, trying to finish off his wounded prey. Huxian kept turning to look over her shoulder while she fought with her joystick to maneuver, "This is Cyclops 4! I'm hit! I need help here!"

"Don't worry Lin. I'm here," she heard Count say over the radio as saw his fighter race in and buzz Sol 3 forcing the enemy to break pursuit. The Erusean fighter veered away to avoid the midair collision and he struggled to try and reorient himself but those precious seconds cost him. Count braked abruptly and pulled a tight turn to line up a shot and lock down his enemy. He let fly two missiles which curved through the air and tagged Sol 3, blowing the rear of the Flanker to pieces. Count smiled triumphantly as he saw the Erusean pilot eject before speaking again, "I'm not going to let you harm a lady."

Huxian blinked in surprise, touched by Count's chivalry and she breathed a grateful sigh of relief, "Thanks Count. I owe you one."

"Forget it. We're even now from Cape Rainy," he said angling over in close formation to guard her in battle.

Across the skies, Jaeger, Lanza, and Fencer worked together to corral Sol 4 and keep the enemy boxed in. The three Oseans flew in close formation finally got an angle to attack before Jaeger took a kill-shot and brought down the Erusean. Their victory was short lived as Mihaly pounced on them and split their group. Jaeger and Lanza rolled clear but Cyclops 3 was caught flat-footed. Mihaly's missile hit Fencer's aircraft head-on reducing it to a cloud of flames and mangled shrapnel.

"Shit! We just lost Fencer!" Lanza cried out in alarm as he tried to put some distance between him and Mihaly. I wanted to go help my friends but it looked like Mihaly's new strategy was to divide and conquer. He was picking off my allies one by one, probably to isolate me and demoralize me too. I still had to deal with Sol 2 and I heard Wit chuckle as he began to tail me, "You're not going to shoot me down this time Three Strikes. You can't fool me twice."

"I haven't shown you all my moves," I retorted as I led him in a steep climb before putting my Eagle in a flat spin. I careened toward the ground in a controlled stall before recovering and catching him from behind. My sights went red on the surprised Sol 2 and I let loose with a pair of missiles in reply, "Lights out!"

Wit gave a frustrated shout as his Flanker was hit and he sailed off trailing flames and smoke, ejecting before his aircraft exploded.

"Splash the last escort!" I called.

Long Caster punctuated it with a forceful invocation, "Strider! Cyclops! Stop Mister X!"

"Give it up Shilage! You're all alone!" I called out to Mihaly as the rest of us chased him, "It doesn't have to end like this!"

The old Erusean ace didn't seem interested in negotiating peace as he flew like a demon and maneuvered swiftly around all of us. I had never seen him fly like this and it frightened me. He chuckled, "You're brave and noble Captain Richter... traits I admire. But I swore an oath that I wouldn't stop until we settled our fight for good."

Wiseman cut in over the radio to me, "Listen Trigger, real talk. If this keeps up, more people are going to die. I'll act as a lure. You shoot Mister X down!"

"What?" I exclaimed, "Are you nuts?"

"He's right Wiseman! Don't do it!" Count added in agreement. There was concern in his voice over this reckless plan but Wiseman ignored both of us and goaded Mihaly to chase him.

"All right! He grabbed the bait! Time to take him for a ride! Yeehaw!"

I immediately gave chase and roared after them in a steep dive toward the city, "Damn it... Strider 1, target acquired!"

We wove around in our descent, juking and rolling in wide evasive arcs and I could barely keep with the skill displayed by Mihaly and Wiseman. Despite my own talent and concentration I struggled to try and get a radar lock on Sol 1.

"You're one stubborn bastard," Wiseman taunted Mihaly, "Waiting for a chance to fire, eh? Sorry stranger, but my boys ain't gonna let you have it!

We spiraled toward the Sunken District and roared around several of the sinking derelict buildings that remained, continuing our lethal game of chase. I could feel beads of sweat running from my brow as I continued to chase and line up a shot on Mihaly, "Come on... come on..."

"Your friend is quite the entertainer Three Strikes," Mihaly told me, "But the show's over with this next shot. Pity... he wasn't a bad pilot either. "

"No!" I shouted, "Wiseman, break now!"

"Negative Trigger. I'll hold him just a little longer. I..."

Sol 1 finally took his shot and tagged Cyclops Leader dead-on with a missile causing Wiseman's Eagle to explode into a million fiery pieces over the city. The rest of the LRSSG felt their hearts collectively stop when they heard Long Caster give a pained cry for the death of his friend, "Shit! Cyclops 1 is down!"

I gave a shout of fury while Count echoed my anger calling out to the skies, "No! Wiseman!"

I let the anger carry me as I pursued Mihaly in the skies with a murderous laser focused goal, "Focus everyone! We're not done here!"

"Cyclops 2, you've got the lead," Huxian called out noting she and Count were the only pilots left from Cyclops Squadron.

"Wiseman! Shit!" Count exclaimed feeling his mind go blank and his will to fight drained. Mihaly picked up on it and buzzed by him.

"Who's next, Three Strikes? Your wingman from Sierraplata?"

"Count! Get your head in the game! You have the lead of Cyclops!" Jaeger shouted at his comrade.

Count sputtered and struggled to focus, "I... I can't... Trigger should take command."

"The duty is yours!" Lanza argued forcefully, "Do it!"

I continued to chase Mihaly and spray bursts of gunfire at him, "Count! Listen to me! Focus! Your squadron needs you right now. I need you right now. You can do this... I know you can."

He sucked in several breaths before giving a nod, "Right... right... Uh, Cyclops 4. Form an element. We need our top gun if we're going to slay that monster."

"Wilco Count," Huxian answered as she flew close to his wing, "I'm with you."

The LRSSG formed up into a holding pattern to protect me as I led the charge and raced after Mihaly across the city and over the waters of the coast. Long Caster spoke solemnly, "Our hopes are all on you Trigger. Finish the job!"

I could hear my wingmates all imploring me and voicing their support.

"Get Mister X, Trigger!" Jaeger added in encouragement.

"Shoot him down boss!" Lanza called.

"You can do it Trigger! You're the only one who can!" Count called.

I breathed heavily and went into a sharp roll before finally getting a perfect angle on Mihaly. I waited for several heartbeats as my targeting bracket tried to lock him up for the kill and he seemed to know it too. Until...

The electronic sensors of my plane suddenly began to fizzle as my targeting systems and digital instruments went haywire. I gave an angry cry, "No! What the..."

My comrades seemed to have the same problem as I heard a chorus of their confused voices. Did an EMP just go off? How was that possible? We would have known. "Long Caster? What's going on? My systems have gone haywire. I looked around and saw that in the moment of chaos, Mihaly had escaped and retreated from the battlefield, "Damn!"

"I... I don't know. Stand by Strider 1," Long Caster responded.

That was when I heard Huxian's voice, "Hey! Look at the sky... towards the sun!"

I glanced toward the heavens and saw what looked like a bright star hanging in the early evening skies. I wasn't sure, but it almost looked like there were other smaller falling stars in its wake that were streaming down tails of light from the upper atmosphere. I mused aloud, "What is that?"

"A star? An explosion, maybe?" Jaeger guessed.

Our speculation was cut short as Long Caster cut in again, "Listen up! We just lost our real-time connection with mission command. It's not just them. We're not getting any responses outside our LOS. Farbanti is under Osean control and the mission was a success, but we didn't get the follow up orders that should have come next. For now, I'm ordering you to leave Farbanti airspace and return to Cape Rainy immediately."

"After what they did to our friends here?" Count snarled vengefully, "We can't leave!"

There was a long pause as Long Caster kept his own emotions in check before answering in a level tone, "Count... we all feel the same way. He was my friend too."

The LRSSG fell silent again before I turned my aircraft northward, "Strider. Cyclops. Form up on me. Let's go home everyone."

There was no protest, or any other response for that matter. In light of what had just happened, I think we were all glad for it too.

Cape Rainy Air Base, Erusea

The short flight back to Cape Rainy had been one that consisted mostly of silence. Despite Osean forces prevailing in the battle and capturing Farbanti, it felt like a hollow victory today. We had lost several pilots in our unit and now everything was thrown into chaos with the loss of our long range communications and sensors. No one knew what was going on and nothing was making sense any more. I was thankful that none of the survivors of Strider and Cyclops Squadron asked me anything else on the way home because I didn't know what to say anyway. The sun had dipped under the horizon and evening was fast setting in when we straggled back onto the runways, exhausted and battle weary from the ferocious ordeal we had just been through.

Once we had all landed and parked our aircraft in the hangars, I clambered out of the cockpit of my plane and left my helmet behind. I sucked in an anguished breath before I turned to see Count heading over to meet me. He wore a stone cold expression on his face but as he neared I saw his lip quivering and he began to break down a little when we closed. We both threw our arms around each other in a hug, letting out some of the raw emotion we had been forced to bottle up from the battle earlier. Count spoke quietly through clenched teeth, "Damn it. This isn't right Trigger. We can't take this sitting down. We have to make those bastards pay for killing Wiseman."

"I know Count," I said quietly while holding my grieving comrade and talking in his ear, "This isn't over. I promise you we'll get them back."

By now, the rest of our wing had come over to join us wearing equally long and mournful expressions. Huxian was the first to come over and I let go of Count passing him off to her. She took my place and buried her face in Count's chest as they exchanged a tearful hug of their own. I took a few steps back and was greeted by Jaeger and Lanza who stood by hesitantly, " Hey boss... you okay?"

"No... I'm not," I admitted as I gently touched both their shoulders and kept walking past them to greet the other people who had come out to meet us. Leading the way were Tabloid and Avril followed by Long Caster. Avril took my arm and steadied me while Tabloid regarded me with a look of concern, "Trigger? Are you okay? We heard you guys won at Farbanti... but, what happened out there?"

"Mister X happened. We got jumped by Sol Squadron and lost several people... including Wiseman," I said darkly, "I was this close to taking down Shilage when everything went to hell with our computer systems."

Avril nodded, "Communications and tactical information systems have all gone down across the continent. For all we know, this might be a worldwide thing."

I blinked in surprise, "I don't understand. What the hell is going on here?"

My reunion with my friends was interrupted as I heard someone clear their throat. It was Long Caster, "Captain Richter? Sorry to interrupt but I'm going to need you to come with me. It's important."

I nodded and followed along letting Tabloid and Avril come too. I grimaced slightly and addressed my controller sympathetically, "Major? I uh... I'm sorry about Wiseman."

Long Caster's features tightened a moment before giving a short nod, "Thanks."

Long Caster was normally very easy going and friendly around us but it was a bit unnerving to see him so somber and serious right now. He was clearly shaken up over the loss of his friend as well as having to deal with whatever it was that was going on at the senior command level. I asked, "Sir? Do you know what's going on here?"

"Not yet Tom, but the reason I need you is because there's someone here who wants to speak to you."

I followed behind in quiet confusion as we headed through the halls of the nearby HQ building. We came to the doors of an officer's lounge where two armed guards were posted outside and they stepped aside to let our group pass. Long Caster wordlessly unlocked the door with a key and stepped aside to let me and my friends enter and we were surprised when we were greeted first by a golden retriever dog. He came up forward excitedly sniffed us before Avril bent down to scratch his ears, "Aww. Hi doggo! Aren't you a good boy?"

My attention was drawn away as Tabloid gripped my shoulder and pointed me forward. He wore a stunned look on his face and simply muttered, "Whoah... no way."

I looked across the room and froze in shock when I saw a beautiful young woman standing there waiting for us. She wore some casual khaki slacks and a white feminine blouse which was spattered with dried blood. She had a blanket draped over her shoulders and she looked just as tired and worn as our squadron did right now. There was still some grime on her face and her blonde hair worn in a crown braid was a bit disheveled and mussed. Her blue eyes met mine and she stood in equally silent awe. I took a few steps forward and approached hesitantly, "Princess Rosa..."

She nodded and approached me as well, "The pilot with Three Strikes. Captain Thomas Richter... the one they call Trigger. You saved me earlier today in Farbanti."

"Yes... how did you know?" I stammered. In retrospect, that was probably a stupid question so I continued, "Princess... I don't understand."

"There's a lot to be confused about right now," she admitted as her expression softened into one that was forlorn and wistful, "I'm confused about a great many things too, but I do know one thing is for certain."

She reached out and gently took my hands. Her hands were soft and warm and she looked up to me with pleading eyes, "Captain Richter... our countries are both in great danger and you're the only one who can help me."

Fin

A/N:
First off, I want to give a huge thank you again to everyone who's read, reviewed, favorited, or followed up to this point. Frankly, I've been stunned by all the support this fic has gotten and I hope you've all enjoyed it too. I also want to thank everyone who's offered ideas, suggestions, and constructive criticisms and helped this story improve even more over time. I may have said this before, but I view this project as a collaborative effort so this series belongs just as much to all of you (the fans) as it does to me.

Looking ahead, I will round out this series and make it a trilogy with with one more story/arc covering Missions 16-20. I'll look forward to heading off into skies unknown with you guys after a minor break and updating a couple other projects I've been putting off in the mean time. Until then, take care, God bless, and thanks again to all of you!