The sky was calm on the return flight. Brooklyn's HUD glowed steady, the target gone, the mission supposedly complete.
"Captain." Diaz's voice came through, hesitant, "you think maybe those other birds were… I don't know… recon only? Maybe they weren't supposed to engage."
Brooklyn exhaled slowly. "Maybe. But it doesn't matter now."
Her radar pinged.
Five contacts, closing in fast.
"Captain?" James's voice was sharp now. "They're back."
Brooklyn narrowed her eyes. The allied squadron was sliding in behind them, just outside weapons range.
"Ally flight, this is Captain Grant, Valkyrie lead." she hailed again, forcing authority into her voice. "Identify. Do you copy?"
Static.
Then the sky lit up.
Missiles streaked past, the first detonating just behind Diaz's jet. The blast rocked him sideways, alarms blaring in Brooklyn's headset.
"WHAT THE HELL?!" Diaz screamed.
"Break, break, break!" Brooklyn barked, yanking her stick hard left. Her jet rolled, the horizon spinning as contrails carved across the sky.
"Those bastards are firing on us!"
Brooklyn's blood ran cold. "Evasive! Defensive posture! Do not engage without my order!"
The squadron scattered, flares bursting like fireflies as missiles tracked and fell away. But the foreign jets pursued with precision, moving like predators on a hunt.
"Two's hit! I'm losing hydraulics..."
The voice cut off in static. A flare of orange bloomed where Valkyrie Two had been.
"NO!" Diaz cried.
"Stay focused!" Brooklyn shouted, heart pounding. "Keep moving!"
Her radar screamed again. She twisted through the clouds, countermeasures firing but another explosion tore across the sky.
"Five's gone!" James reported grimly.
A second later, a strangled scream crackled through the comms, then silence.
"Goddammit!" Brooklyn's chest ached. "Whoever they are, they're not allies. James, form on me... we're punching through!"
"Copy, on your wing." James replied, steady as always.
The remaining jets surged together, weaving and breaking, but the enemy squadron pressed in mercilessly. Brooklyn caught glimpses of them... sleek, unmarked, flying with terrifying precision.
Diaz's voice was ragged. "They're all over me... I can't..."
Static. His signal vanished.
Brooklyn's breath caught. Her squad was down to two.
"James, it's just us." she said, voice tight.
"Then let's give them hell."
They banked hard, engines screaming as they dove and twisted, unleashing bursts of cannon fire but the enemy was too fast, too coordinated. For every move, they had a counter.
Brooklyn's radar flashed again... multiple locks. Her chest seized.
"James, break now!"
Too late. The missile struck his jet dead center. The explosion blinded her, shards of burning metal tumbling through the sky.
"JAMES!"
Her throat tore with the scream. His voice never came back. Only silence.
Her vision blurred, heart hammering so hard she thought her chest might burst. She forced the jet into a climb, desperate, flares spitting behind her like dying stars.
Another impact slammed her side. The cockpit screamed with alarms, fire warning flashing red across her HUD.
"Come on, come on, not yet..." she hissed, fighting the controls. The stick jerked uselessly in her hands, hydraulics gone.
Smoke filled the cockpit. The world spun. Brooklyn's survival instincts kicked in. She yanked the ejection handle.
The canopy blew. A roar of wind swallowed everything as her seat blasted free. The jet spiraled downward, a flaming comet crashing into the earth below.
Brooklyn's parachute snapped open, jerking her hard. She floated helplessly, the burning wreckage of her squadron smoldering beneath her.
She landed hard in the sand, rolling, choking on smoke and grit. Her body screamed with pain but her mind screamed louder... her team was gone. James was gone.
The sky above was empty now. The enemy squadron had vanished like ghosts.
Brooklyn lay in the dirt, gasping, the weight of loss crushing her chest more than the crash ever could.
She then screamed, a raw sound that tore through the empty desert, a sound that carried the fury, grief and helplessness of losing everyone she loved.
The energy spent in that scream drained her completely and the world tilted violently. The sand rushed up to meet her as her vision blurred, her knees buckled and darkness swallowed her whole.