The skies over the Crucible erupted in contrails, slashes of white against the cloudless blue as rebel and mercenary aircraft clashed. Handong dived after a pair of rebel MiGs, shredding both planes in a single five-second burst from the Mirage's dual autocannons before turning to chase after another MiG that entered her field of vision. The Mirage, she had found to be much more responsive when turning. Though it didn't have the blistering acceleration and climb rate of the Phantom, the Mirage F1 was a much better turn-fighter, which Handong greatly appreciated as her flying style heavily favored aggressive dogfighting instead of the boom-and-zoom style she was forced to use when flying the Phantom. Taehyun stayed at her side, keeping an eye out for anyone that would attempt to get the drop on them.

Damn it, Mino. You're supposed to be covering me. Hanbin turned to look for his wingman- then found him 300 feet below him, chasing after a pair of rebel fighters, with another closing in on his tail. Rolling his eyes, he turned, diving after the fighter on Mino's tail.

Chanwoo watched from above before refocusing on the rebel fighter in front of him while scanning for any sign of Junhoe. If Junhoe would run again, he'd be the one to shoot down the deserter this time. 

The growl of the heat-seeker missile's lock-on tone turned into a whine. He pulled the trigger as a Sidewinder missile flew off his left wing tip, flying right up the tailpipe of his target. Glancing to his right, he caught sight of Junhoe chasing another fighter, literally guns blazing. He was suprised, that Junhoe this time had decided to stay and fight instead of running away. 

"Alpha Two to Alpha Four. You got a good hit there. Glad you decided to party some more." Chanwoo laughed, rolling his F-5E over to let a rebel fighter that was chasing him overshoot. Quickly switching to guns, he shredded the enemy fighter with a 2-second burst of 20mm cannon fire before taking position off of Junhoe's wing.

"Well, I'm getting a bit tired of being shot at so.." Junhoe hit the airbrakes, another fighter streaking past him as he quickly downed it with a missile. 

"Good kill. Let's go find the others now."

-

Captain Meng Meiqi tapped her fingers on the handle of the throttle control, attempting to control her growing irritation. A last-minute electronic hiccup with her team's fighters had delayed their launch by 10 minutes. And to add insult to injury, not only had several flights of mercenary pilots stormed the Crucible, throwing the stationed squadrons there into chaos, a massive sandstorm would arrive in their operation area within the hour.

She exhaled, her breath coming out as a muffled growl as she closed her eyes, then opened them as Xuanyi's voice crackled through the static of the radio.

"Looks like the fun's already begun." 

Her grip on the stick tightened. Shooting down some mercenary vultures today would be a good way to blow off some steam. She thought to herself as she pressed on at full throttle. And before she could reply back, Minghao had hailed the squadron on their radios as well.

"Looks like you ladies managed to get up. The support team sends their apologies. Your objectives have changed slightly. Proceed to the Crucible at once and hold it against the Asranian vultures. We are aware of the incoming sandstorm. If it hits before you can complete the mission, abort. Your callsign for this mission will be 'Crossbow'. I'll be monitoring you here from the ground. Proceed with mission. Out."

"Crossbow Lead copies your last. Out." Switching frequencies to the one her flight shared, she glanced over, mentally doing a head count, turning back to her instruments after seeing all her wingmen present.  

"Alright. Wu, you're Crossbow Two. Zhou and Cheng will be Crossbow Three and Four respectively." To which acknowledgements were mumbled by the other three in reply. 

"I'm so ready for action." Jieqiong chuckled, already itching for a fight as the four fighters flew on at full throttle. 

"Alright ladies. Let's hunt some wild dogs. Down as many as you can."

-

Back at the base, Commander Vashtal and a pair of officers eyed the various screens in front of them. The two biggest ones showed a feed from an orbiting spy satellite and a digital map, tracking the movements of both friendly and hostile planes within the Crucible. Nodding in satisfaction as he watched the planes under his command quickly gain the upper hand, he then tapped on his headset, activating the microphone.

"40 percent of all rebel air forces within Airspace X-1 have been downed. Looks like you all are going to be raking in big bucks when you get back while our friends in the penal unit have earned some major redemption points. Carry on, just like you always do. Sparta out." 

-

"Picking up four bogies coming in from across the border. No, make that 12." Hanbin was the first to notice, a cluster of four new blips appearing on his radar screen. The four newcomers were closing in at high speed. They would arrive within 40 seconds.

Mino had retaken his position on Hanbin's wing, with three kills under his belt. And Hanbin merely scoffed at his wingman's recklessness.

"You know, you keep flying like that and you'll die real soon."

"So does that pretty lady from Wuhan."

"Handong's different. She's a legitimate wildcard." 

-

"Hm. Looks like our resident wildcard is the first to make Ace today." Taehyun chuckled, watching the way Handong flew as she downed her fourth, then fifth kills within a span of 20 seconds. He had overheard Hanbin's nickname for her over his conversation with Mino and decided to grant her the wildcard moniker. 

"These guys are easy enough. I need a real fight." Handong pulled away after her fifth kill, flying alongside Taehyun after as her eyes turned towards the four newcomers on her radar screen. "And it looks like I might just get my wish. Alpha Five to Alpha One. Spotted your bogies. Looks like enemy reinforcements, probably the main force." 

-

The four J-7s, along with two flights of MiG-23s entered the fray, pairing off into groups of six, each pair splitting off after and engaging at their own discretion. The mercenaries were taken by surprise as the Asranian Mirage III squadron went down within seconds, followed by four more mercenary planes. Quickly regrouping as those aircraft that were damaged or out of fuel and ammunition bugged out, the battle for the Crucible now entering its second phase as enemy and friendly reinforcements arrived, explosions now starting to dot the sky as remains of destroyed aircraft rained down, littering the desert floor below with smouldering wrecks. 

Handong and Taehyun took advantage of the chaos to dive into the enemy formation, shooting down two, then three MiGs as they then split off, Taehyun chasing a new target upwards while Handong dived after her new quarry. 

This Mirage is a lot of fun to fly. She grinned, the Mirage F1's turning radius allowing it to out-maneuver her two pursuers as she looped, then downed both with gunfire. Looking up, she caught sight of Taehyun chasing a MiG, then promptly climbed up after him to cover his rear. 

-

"Captain. Do you see that Mirage? See the way it flies" Meiqi turned her head after shooting down a pair of F-8 Crusaders, looking downwards in the direction of the French-built fighter that Chengxiao had spotted, watching it pull several high-G turns, quickly downing a pair of MiG-21s within seconds. 

"That flying style.." She observed, noting the pilot's sheer aggressiveness and how familiar it seemed. Very reminescent of a certain blonde-haired pilot she flew alongside back in China over the northern deserts during her days in training, who was just a little bit too close to Major Xu for her liking. 

It can't be. But it is. Oh how small the world is after all. A smirk that reeked of satisfaction crossed her lips as she turned hard, throwing off the F-20A behind ther, then dived down, luring her pursuer straight into the path of Jieqiong and Xuanyi who promptly blew it out of the sky in a shower of metal and fire. 

"It's her alright. The traitor of Wuhan." 

"No way." Jieqiong's response was filled with surprise. Of course they had expected to encounter the deserter from Wuhan in Asran, but not this soon.  

"So what now, duizhang?" 

"Slight change of plans. Since we have standing kill/capture orders on her, we bring her down. Form up. We're going to need all four of us. Once we engage, make one pass at a time. Fly hard. Shoot straight."

-

Hanbin, Mino, Junhoe and Chanwoo stacked up, intending to engage the four silver fighters in the lead of the enemy formation- who then decided to breeze past them, disappearing into the furball as the four Koreans then switched targets after, tearing into the trailing formation of rebel fighters lagging behind. 

Seems like everyone wants to dance with me today. Handong flicked the stick left, then right, her other hand not leaving the throttle as she kept her head on a swivel, one of the silver aircraft latched on to her tail, then quickly breaking off as another attempted to swoop at her from head on. The other two silver aircraft also making passes, one from above and the other from below. There was no way she could lose them in the chaos around them and so she rolled over, diving to gain speed before climbing back up, intending to lure her four assailants towards where she thought her team mates would be.

The four assailants kept up their attacks, still harrying her with each pass. She kept moving the joystick, using every manuver in the book as she kept her eyes skywards, warning alarms blaring non stop. 

Taehyun kept up pursuit, attempting to draw one of the four away to ease the pressure on Handong but each time her tried to get on the tail of one, the pilot would promptly shake him off with a roll, forcing him to loop around for subsequent passes.

"Alpha Four to Lead, get your asses back here. Four of our guests are going after Alpha Five at once. I can't get a shot at them."

". Hang on. we're 10 seconds out."

-

"Can't get a clear shot. She's maneuvering too erratically." 

"Break off and make another pass." 

To which Jieqiong complied, climbing to the side then sharply banking around, attempting to catch Handong's Mirage with bursts of cannon fire- which then missed, nearly catching Meiqi's J-7 instead, prompting an angry outburst from her.

"Watch it!" 

Four versus one? This just got interesting. Handong inhaled before turning back towards her pursuers, firing her Mirage's guns each time a plane filled her field of vision.

"She's good. Just like Major Xu said." She jinked left, then turned right as the Mirage shot past, immediately taking up pursuit of her former squadron mate.

"It's 4 vs 1. We should be able to take care of her then down her wingman." Xuanyi had shot a glare at the reflection of the F-5E on her tail, then hit the airbrakes, Taehyun's fighter overshooting her as she dived down to swoop at Handong's Mirage.

"Don't give in to your overconfidence. She's outfought me, duizhang, Kun and Junhui before in training." And as if someone decided to prove Jieqiong's point, a puff of smoke erupted from the left wing of Chengxiao's fighter as the Mirage soared past it, circling around to make a pass at Xuanyi next.

"Damn it. The traitor hit me! Got a hole in my left wing!" Chengxiao's instruments flashed red as she then levelled out, attempting to keep her plane level as she ran through the process of checking her systems and flight controls as a trail of black and grey streaked from her stricken wing.

"We'll get her off your back. Return to base now. We cannot afford to lose you or your fighter." Meiqi, Jieqiong and Xuanyi collectively rushed at the Mirage, who then looped around at them as they broke formation in an attempt to engage her seperately while Chengxiao's fighter sped back towards the border, to the safety of Azadistani airspace. 

Handong raised an eyebrow, her radio picking up bits of voices speaking to each other in Chinese. Fiddling with the dials with one hand while the other remained on the joystick, she listened in, as the voices she picked up sounded extremely familiar. The gears in her head turned as she tried to identify the owners of the voices and then it hit her. Meng Meiqi. A former batch-mate of hers from the Air Force Academy, also happened to be in the same squadron as her before she deserted.

She waited, nearly chuckling to herself as she imagined Captain Meng's reaction if she decided to speak up. And then she did.

"Don't think you can get rid of me, that easily, Meng." Handong scoffed, hearing a gasp from the other end as she fired at Jieqiong- only for the heat-seeker missile to turn towards the sun as her quarry flew across it. 

Gun, guns, guns, it is.

"So, you have the nerve to respond, traitor? You'll pay dearly for your crime of treason against the People's Liberation Army Air Force."

To which the following reply was a short cackle. 

"You were always a bit too arrogant for your own good, Meng. That's why I got sick of flying in the same squadron as you. Also you really should change your squadron frequencies cause this is the one we used in training."

"Watch that mouth of yours, Han. We'll see who gets the last laugh when I'm done with you... Traitor."

"You fired up, Meng? Come shoot me down."

-

"No good. I can't get close enough. And now there's a bogey on my six!" Mino and Junhoe were the first to arrive as a diving MiG forced Taehyun to break away from Xuanyi's tail. Hanbin turned after it as Junhoe, followed by Mino, then Chanwoo. 

"Two on my six. Sending them your way, Crossbow Four." Xuanyi climbed up, watching as Jieqiong's aircraft dived down to meet hers.

Junhoe was smart enough to break off as the wingman of the silver fighter he and Mino were pursuing attempted to swoop at them. Mino stubbornly stayed locked on to his target, then paid for his greed as cannon shells tore holes in his tail. 

"Alpha 3. Mino. Get your back to base now. Don't be stupid by trying to stay in the fight." Hanbin kept his eye on Mino, as he then turned back in the direction of Area 88. He copped a sigh of relief, glad that Song Mino had finally decided to obey orders for once.

Chanwoo and Junhoe then attempted to intervene in the four-way battle between Handong and the other three silver planes, only for both of them to be shot down in rapid succession, both pilots quickly ejecting before their planes exploded. 

That's three down. Handong gritted her teeth, stifling a fatigue-induced yawn as she then dived at full throttle before climbing, intending to lure her pursuers back towards the fight. 

Her concentration was then broken as the base commander's voice crackled through the radio static. 

"Sparta to all allied units. A massive sandstorm is approaching your operation area. Disengage and retreat now." 

Just in time too. She thought to herself, watching a dark, sand-colored cloud forming on the desert floor, blowing in from across the border.  The furball above started dispersing within seconds as both allied and rebel planes broke away, not wanting to fight in the incoming maelstrom of sand and dust. 

Damn. I can't just leave them. Hanbin dove down, flying as low as he could before passing over Junhoe and Chanwoo's positions, catching sight of Chanwoo with a walkie talkie.

"Ok you two hang tight, find some cover from the sand storm. We'll try and get a chopper over to you."

"Roger that. Don't take too long please. 

-

"Duizhang, the sandstorm is rolling in." An irritated sigh was Meiqi's response at the thought of her chance to bring down the traitor being denied as she then broke off of the accursed Mirage, who also promptly disengaged, quickly turning in the other direction. 

"Damn the luck. Our planes won't be able to handle all that dust." A muffled growl escaped her lips shortly after.

"You may be able to prolong your life, traitor. But don't think you can escape your inevitable death." And all she got was a laugh from the other end of the line, in response.