People's Liberation Army Support Base, 

Djibouti, Horn of Africa. 

[Date redacted]

[Time redacted]

A figure which happened to be a pilot with blonde, shoulder length hair skulked between the hangars, keeping to the shadows as spotlight beams arced overhead. Sneaking around to the side of a hangar, which happened to be the last one near the end of the runway, she managed to open a side door, then sneaked in, slowly closing it behind her. 

Just less than 5 minutes earlier, she had managed to slip on a flight suit, then stepped outside the barracks before commencing her sneaking mission. Lieutenant Handong was confident she wouldn't get caught. She had indeed managed to befriend a large portion of the base's staff, especially the guards, whose patrol patterns she had memorized repeatedly in her mind over and over. 

Handong had three minutes before any guards approached the hangar but due to her training, she was confident she could start up whichever fighter was in the hangar in less than that, then blast off down the runway. She had broken into the base's computer room though, prior to slipping her flight suit on. Patting the various pockets on her suit, she panicked, then heaved a relieved sigh as she felt the oblong form of a data drive she had stolen from the computer room in her left pocket.

Slipping on a helmet, she climbed into the cockpit of the fighter in front of her, a J-10 with the markings removed for black operations. Sealing the canopy, she plugged in her oxygen mask, quickly flipping switches and pressing appropriate buttons before the displays in front of her blinked back in a sea of green. 

As the jet's single engine whirred to life, she pushed the jet out of the hangar, then slowly pushed the throttle to full as she prepared to take off. 

-

Someone in the control tower must have spotted her as she caught sight of guards swarming in from all directions. No time to panic or turn back now. Her fighter streaked down the runway as the guards opened fire, tracers flying back and forth. But it was all for naught as the sleek fighter's nose arced up and disappeared into the night sky, turning towards the sea. 

They would send up interceptors soon, Handong knew. She had remembered to keep her radar, radio and all signal transmitters turned off as she fled towards the sea on full afterburner.

By the time the base had managed to get a pair of fighters up to pursue, Handong was already far across the sea flying straight into the brightening sky as the sea below her faded back into desert. 

-

Somewhere over the Kingdom of Asran.

30 kilometers from forward air base Area 88.

[Date redacted]

[time redacted]

In the skies over the Kingdom of Asran, there are only 4 ways to actually leave Area 88. Survive three years, pay off a 1.5-million dollar contract in bounties, desertion, which is a capital offense or death.

The Kingdom's foreign legion was in charge of recruiting mercenaries to fight for the government, usually by force under threat of death.

But today, the Asranian Foreign Legion would not have to look for a pilot, as one would be coming to them.

Handong's J-10 was a grey streak against the cloudless sky as a pair of Asranian Royal Air Force aircraft, both of them being A-4 Skyhawks flew alongside her aircraft. 

"Attention unidentified aircraft. You have violated Asranian air space and have been intercepted by the Asranian Royal Air Force. Follow us to the nearest air field." The nearest air field happened to be Area 88, an air base she had heard so much about. On the run from the People's Liberation Army for desertion and with it being the closest base, it was in her best interest to comply. Unable to respond, she had rocked her wings as a sign of compliance. The Skyhawks kept their distance, both pilots satisfied that she wasn't a hostile.

"Surrender your aircraft once you la-" The transmission was cut off by a burst of static. From the corners of her eyes, she watched as both Skyhawks disintegrated in bright orange fireballs.

"Party time hm? let's dance" She muttered to herself, a pair of MiG-21s flying past. A quick glance at her gauges told her she would have enough fuel for less than 30 minutes flight left. It wouldn't matter as she was confident she could take down the MiGs before pressing on to Area 88. 

Her lips parted in a smirk, knowing full well what she was getting into. The lead MiG flew ahead in front of her, intending to bait her into  a chase while its wing man would attempt to ambush her. She chuckled to herself as she rolled over into a high speed dive, intending to turn the tables and bait both into chasing her.