A survivor of the extinction war and one of the two last remaining supercities, New Asia is a sprawling maze of layers upon layers of factories, residences and slums.

Just within the walls lie the slums: the dirtiest and poorest, yet most populous area of New Asia. The slums resemble more of a sewage pit than a place meant for human habitation.

Houses and shacks built primitively out of corrugated iron and plastic tarps piled upon each other like foam blocks in a children’s playground. The pollution from the factories higher up blanketed the entire area in a suffocating brown mist.

Just after the slums are the factories. Located one layer above the slums, propped up on huge concrete pillars, largely as a result of the need for expansion within the city limits, the factories worked and toiled endlessly. Their tall chimneys spewing out thick black smoke day after day. It is said that within those factories, are hidden some of the most terrible conditions and criminal activities in the entire city, but the government assures the people that that is not the case.

After that, and one more layer above, are the upper class housing. The pristine and clean buildings sat in organized rows and columns. It is anyone’s wonder how those walls are kept so clean despite the ongoing war. This is where the rich businessmen and factory owners live. Everyday they wake up, mow their lawn, have a coffee, and pretend like the war isn’t happening aside from the occasional bombs.

Then at the very top is the government building, the HQ, whatever you want to call it. All the important people live there, and all they do is make decisions for the future of the city and set laws which the people are forced to follow. No one really knows who the government is, but everyone knows that whatever they say must be followed.

The perimeter wall, which looks sturdy and solid, are actually quite hollow. Their real roles are just to contain the city, deflect shockwaves, keep out radiation, and make it harder for spies to get in.

Within the hollow walls are the military bases. Hangars filled with advanced and high-tech fightercrafts closed in by huge concrete blast doors ready to open at a moment’s notice. Gun and laser turrets hidden behind hatches waiting to deploy at the first sign of advancing enemies.

Lenn lives in the hollow wall. At the tender age of sixteen he was drafted into the air force because of a shortage of pilots. At the time it came as quite a welcome surprise, as he had just about had enough of living in the slums.

After half a year of training he graduated to the 45th Heavy Fighter squadron of the air force, and is now a commander of the cutting-edge VX-200 fightercraft.

“Lenn, you got an assignment,” Captain Yuki announced, handing Lenn a yellow folder. “If I am not mistaken, this is your first solo infiltration mission?”

“Yes, sir” Lenn replied.

"where's the rest of your team?" Captain Yuki asked.

"At the mess hall I believe, sir."

Captain Yuki nodded, satisfied with the information. “If you come back safely, you’ll be able to get this,” Captain Yuki pointed to a silver eagle pinned onto the collar of his black air force uniform. “Your airman’s eagle.”

The airman’s eagle is the first medal a pilot can gain after joining the Air Force. It shows that a pilot has enough skill to conduct missions on his own without a wingman. It shows that a pilot is skilled enough to be trusted with important and dangerous missions, and that a pilot has the experience needed to pull it off. In the Air Force, a new graduate would not be truly recognized as a “pilot” before he has gained his airman’s eagle.

A feeling of excitement and fear rose up in Lenn’s chest. He was ecstatic at the chance of gaining a medal, but also scared at the thought of having to infiltrate enemy airspace alone.

Captain Yuki noticed the glow in Lenn’s eyes and smiled. “Come on, gather up your team. Briefing will be in ten minutes.” And with that he left, closing the door gently behind him.

Lenn spun his chair around to face his computer. With a few clicks and gesture inputs, he connected to his teammate’s wireless earpieces.

“We got a new assignment,” Lenn said into his mic, quickly flipping through the pages of paper within the folder. “Solo infiltration mission to crash site of friendly spy plane, recover crew, secure confidential data and destroy evidence,” he paused, scanning the pages again for any details he may have missed. “Meet me at briefing in ten minutes.”

Then he closed the mic before his teammates could reply, hurriedly threw on his flying suit, and rushed out of his room.

*****

“Alright... engines one, two and three are ready to go, four is still warming up.”

“Roger that, catapult is hooked up, waiting for clearance,” Lenn said, flipping some switches and going through the preflight checklist.

The VX-200 has a crew of four, who are seated in a diamond arrangement with the captain in the back, the flight engineer who also doubles as a systems specialist in the left seat, the mission specialist in the right seat, and the gunner in the front.

“All engines in the green, go for cat launch,” Rei, the flight engineer called out.

Less than a hundred meters or so in front of them, the massive solid concrete blast doors of the catapult chamber began to slowly lift up. As the bottom edge of the massive slab of reinforced concrete rotated upwards, it revealed the brilliant blue skies beyond.

The opening got bigger and bigger, until there was nothing in between them and the boundless sky.

That is where they belong, for they were blessed with wings of steel with which to own the skies and soar as high as they wanted.

“Green light!” Lenn called out when he saw the warning light on the side of the chamber switch from red to amber then to green, signaling that the catapult launch will happen in three seconds’ time.

Without hesitation the four leaned their head backs against their headrest; an action which has been drilled into their brains since the beginning of training.

“If you don’t want to shatter your neck, better sit up straight!” Was what their instructor had said during training.

“Whoever loses their lunch will be cleaning up!” The mission specialist, Kang, shouted jokingly.

“Shut your mouth, K…” The other three said simultaneously, but before they could finish, the powerful electromagnetic catapult activated, sending their fightercraft forwards at breakneck speed.

Lenn felt himself get crushed into his seat by the acceleration and his lungs tighten up, making his breath get stuck in his throat. His eyeballs felt like they had spun around in their sockets, as the mouth of the chamber sped towards them.

Then it was gone; the crushing, suffocating, yet addictive feeling of a catapult launch.

They were airborne.