The terror of death stretched painfully long. Eyes closed, still pulling back hard, Yumiko's only comfort was the sound of the aircraft's pitch of decent ebbing away. Suddenly a heavy force pulled down on Yumiko's stomach as the Hayabusa jerked up out of its dive just above treetop level.

Gasping for breath, Yumiko quickly eased up on the stick to avoid a stall and leveled out. Opening her eyes, she panted repeatedly, licking her sticky dry tongue against the back of her teeth to chase off the lingering vile taste of bile. Slowly she reached up to wipe the tears away on the back of her left glove. Already twice today she threaded the needle of death. Could she manage a third time? Only after her jilted gasping returned to normal, deep breaths did she survey her situation.

On her instrument panel, the compass pointed due north, while the altimeter rested calmly at four hundred feet. Oil pressure was good, fuel at three quarters. Ammunition was full, more or less. Glancing left, then right, both wings seemed fine. Despite everything hurled at her, miraculously her Hayabusa came through. Was it beginner's luck? Easing the throttle back, Yumiko looked high, checking for aggressors. Moments ago, she was in the thick of battle, now suddenly she was alone.

To the southwest, the outskirts of Shuangyashan burned. It seemed that nothing could stop the Bear of the Romanov Empire. What the Bear could not claw apart, it simply crushed under the weight of its endless mechanized army. Once China fell, which increasingly appeared a foregone conclusion, only Japan would remain. Then after Japan, the Bear would rule the East. The Third Reich would get the West. That was the deal. The world was their cherry pie, being bloodily carved up, for two madmen to consume at their pleasure. The American Union and Britannia had their hands full in the West. Japan stood alone.

Yumiko put her left glove on her thumping chest and tried to savor a moment of peace after minutes of endless terror at ten thousand feet. Soaring just above the trees, looking due north towards the pristine snow glazed mountains, there was a moment of tranquility.

Such was fleeting.

"T-Talon seven! Talon seven!" an adolescent female voice wailed out in tearful horror. "Honoka!"

"Tori, cover me, I'm gonna put that Bear in the ground!"

"Y-y-yes!" the first voice shakily answered, clearly distraught.

Yumiko craned her head up, looking high, but saw only clouds. Up there her friends were dying! She had to get back up and fast!