Yumiko yelped and reflexively jerked back on her stick, pulling up as the tattered, burning plane ahead dropped from the sky, trailing black smoke. It hit the river hard, sending up a gout of white water like some massive underground geyser as the bomb it still carried detonated on impact.

"Talon eighteen! " an adolescent female voice wailed out in horror. "Miyuki!"

Miyuiki?! Yumiko's eyes did not waver from the river as they suddenly bled tears. Paralysis seized her body as her fingers went numb. Miyuki. But. She was. Just about. To celebrate her birthday. Yumiko had bought her that knitted scarf she-

"All wings abort! Abort! Climb! Climb!"

Inky clouds of anti-aircraft fire instantly erupted in clusters around Yumiko, shaking her violently to her senses. Pings of shrapnel struck against her plane like hail on a tin roof. The sound of a glass bottle breaking abruptly followed as a starburst crack arced across her canopy on her left.

"Talon nineteen! Get out of there!"

Another deadly cloud burst directly in front of Yumiko. Without thinking she pushed forward, throttling up into the maelstrom.

"Pull up! Abort!"

Yumiko pitched her patchwork aircraft towards the earth as flak clouds exploded all around her. She still had a bomb and she was going to use it. Her plane bounded and jostled against the enormity of all that was throw into the sky, intending to bring her down. Her whole body quaked with fear, trembling in unison with her recycled machine.

Tsubasa's words from the last day of school echoed in her mind. She had to give this one hundred percent, fear of death or not. After all, she promised her class she would bring them honor. And then there was Miyuki. She had to complete what her friend could not.

The ground rushed in as Yumiko shrieked towards the opposing river bank. Two camouflaged assault guns suddenly appeared within the battlefield smoke, painted dark green against a slightly lighter green landscape, their massive barrels positioned towards Shuangyashan. The units' accompanying infantry scattered for cover.

Yumiko's gloved fingertips tickled at the bomb release. Clouds continued to explode, some obscuring her path as she dove directly through them. Her recycled Hayabusa protested and shook, as Yumiko narrowed her gaze upon those guns. More hail clattered against her aircraft. The targets flashed closer. Closer . . . closer!