The stars have yet to hide themselves, and the edge of the sky was only just beginning to be lit up by the dimmest of glows from the approaching sun.

Crickets purred and owls sang, a somewhat melancholic yet charming symphony. For Lenn and the New Asians, who have lived in a forest of metal and concrete their whole lives, it was very different from the usual noises they would hear.

Instead of dogs barking it was the hooting of owls. Instead of cars rolling up and down the streets, it was the sound of chatter, audible above the relative silence of the wild night.

Lenn and his team sat inside a makeshift tent, underneath the arching rock overhang, facing the doctor who had treated Ying’s injuries. The old paramedic has white hair and a faint mustache attached to a kind and serene face.

“…A collapsed lung, two broken ribs, and a perforated gut.” The doctor spoke softly, listing off Ying’s injuries to the three anxious men before him. “Due to the fact that it took a long time for first aid to be applied, the lack of oxygen may have done irreversible damage to her nervous system, though that is hard to determine right now.”

Lenn nodded gravely, his hand on his chain to hide his lips which were twisted from pain. His teammates were equally saddened too, Kang especially seemed to be far more depressed than Lenn had ever seen him.

“So what now?” Rei asked.

The old doctor looked at him. “Not much really. We have given her whatever stuff we could salvage from the destroyed clinic. She’s in stable condition right now but there’s no telling how long her coma would last. But, even if she wakes up this very moment, it is unlikely she can take part in the upcoming mission that you guys have planned.”

“Is there anything we can do?”

“Not much really…”

They left the little tent and walked out into the open, towards where their VX-200 was parked.

Suddenly Lenn felt tired, unbelievably tired. It was then that he realized it had been a full day since the last time he has slept, and the fighting had really taken a toll on him. His knees felt weak and his arms felt heavy.

After the fight was over, they had stood beside Ying throughout her treatment process, though it was often at the protest of the doctors. After she had been stabilized, they sat with her for a long time before the doctors told them to leave.

“I really could use a comfy bed right about now.” Lenn muttered as they stumbled through the low grass, the dew wetting the edges of their boots.

“Same.” Kang sighed.

“Should we go to where all the survivors are staying?” Rei asked, pointing towards the deepest recesses of the overhang, where everyone was resting on makeshift beds and sleeping bags.

“Honestly I’d rather be away from all the people for a little while.” Lenn replied, climbing up the side of his plane and onto the top of the wing. “I just want some time to be with my team, you know.”

“Yeah we get it.” Kang reassured Lenn, climbing up the wing behind him. They, together with Rei, laid down on top of the broad wing of their aircraft, facing up at the sky full of stars.

Here and there the sky would be blotted out by the columns of smoke, which still continued to pour out towards the sky. If they tilted their heads, they could still see the orange glow of dying embers in the town below.

It was kind of chilly, but the rags which they borrowed from the survivors proved to be quite effective at keeping them warm. They hadn’t had a change of clothes yet, so all of them were covered in dirt, mud, and quite a bit of dried blood.

They quickly fell into the embracing arms of sleep, and did not wake until almost midday.

*****

“Finally found you three!” Takeshi spoke out cheerfully as he waddled over. “The Europeans and I have been looking all over the place for you guys.”

“It was only you.” One-five said in protest, walking alongside Takeshi with his teammates.

“Come on, come on, nothing wrong with a little show of affection.” Takeshi joked.

Lenn and his teammates slid down the curved fuselage of their plane and walked forward to meet Takeshi and the Europeans.

“I heard Ying was badly injured during the battle.” Takeshi said as they came face to face.

“Yeah.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Rei stated, “She received those injuries protecting us. She made a sacrifice for our wellbeing. It was none of your fault, and you have no place to feel sympathy for her. And plus, why are you making it sound like she died.”

“Ah, my bad.” Takeshi held up his hand in apology. He knew that a joke or a smile in such a situation would be far too tasteless. “Well, we’ve still got things to do. Earlier today, a full scale search and rescue operation was mounted. We found several dozen more survivors, recovered and salvaged lots of resources and materials, enough to sustain us for at least a week or two. More importantly, we found that many of the wrecked F-51s were in good enough condition that we can salvage quite a lot of parts from them.”

Lenn raised his eyebrow in surprise. "Do we need to salvage parts from them?”

“Yes.” One-six spoke up. “Those planes contain lots of parts which we can salvage to repair our aircraft, or to retrofit them for the upcoming mission.”

“Right… the mission.” Lenn looked down at the ground and sighed.

“Did you somehow forget about it?”

“No, it’s just…” He slowly looked back up, at the sky, then down at the ruins of the town below him. He only just realized that the planned attack is just three days away. “After this battle, it felt like things would be over, you know? Like the climax of a story.”

“I’ve never read any stories.”

“And after that everything is peaceful and happy. But no, this is just the calm after a storm. The calm before an even bigger storm.”

“I think I might understand what you mean.”

“Yeah?” Lenn looked at One-six with a questioning, yet playful gaze. He found it a little amusing seeing the Europeans trying to figure out seemingly mundane things.

One-six tilted his head and looked at Lenn from the corner of his eye, but decided to avoid the question. “Alright, we need to talk about something which we had missed during our previous briefing.” He gestured for everyone to sit down. “Just us alone does not insure a high enough chance that the attack will be stopped, so we need something to act as a backup.”

“And that is?”

“Mr. Takeshi.” One-six replied.

The New Asians collectively raised their eyebrows.

Takeshi saw their surprise, and began to explain. “You see, because I am a powerful member within The Merchant’s Cabinet, I have almost free reign over the distribution of information. With this document here, I can spread the information to the leaders of New Asia, who will hopefully take action.”

“Why don’t you just deliver it straight to them?”

“They won’t listen to a mad old man like me, they’ll probably have me executed for misinformation. But they will listen to the many traveling merchants and the rumors they spread. Of course, they won’t make any official statements, but hopefully they’ll be paranoid enough that they’d have some planes on standby for the attack. Without the element of surprise, it is very unlikely that the Europeans will be able to completed destroy New Asia.”

“Can’t New Asia just launch a preemptive strike?”

“New Asia is smart enough not to bet everything on a single, unconfirmed document from a random person. And plus, it is unlikely a strike of any type will wipe out a city. They’ll delay the attack maybe, but in the end it’ll still happen.”

Lenn nodded slowly.

“I’ll give some of my men rough copies of these documents, and tell them to spread it around.”

“Won’t that also mean the Europeans know that their top-secret information got leaked?” Rei asked.

“Yes, but so what? If anything, they’ll probably decide to launch the attack early, to retain as much of that element of surprise as possible.”

“I see…” Rei whispered. “Anything else?”

“Nope.” One-six stated. “Everything is the same as before, except for this new addition.” He looked around at everyone, and got to his knees. “No time to waste, let’s start retrofitting our planes. Since there is no indoor space, we have to do it when the weather is good. All the tools we’ve managed to find is in the storage tent over there, though you may find the selection to be a little lacking.

“Got it.” Lenn said, getting to his feet as well. “Come on guys, let’s get to work.”

*****

The torque wrench clicked as the final bolt was tightened down all the way. Lenn breathed out deeply, before clambering to his feet.

Everyone had worked through the entire day, only stopping to eat when Takeshi brought them a simple lunch of bread and smoked meat. They had to retrofit One-six’s F-51 with the defense matrix turrets from their plane, a task not so easy when almost none of the screws fit properly. They also had to attach extra power cells to the F-51, which were all placed in the cramped cargo chamber.

Their crazy plan required the F-51 to be able to withstand dozens of missiles in quick succession, which is why they had to add all the extra laser turrets and energy storage.

Two-five had been working tirelessly on the F-51’s computers, reprogramming it with code which she wrote. Now and then Lenn would catch a glimpse of her laptop screen as he walked by, which was filled with text, numbers, and graphics he did not understand.

Rei and Kang had both helped him with disassembling and assembling the laser turrets, while One-six and One-five had gone to ferry parts from the crashed F-51s.

Two-six had just gone around and helped with whatever task. Sometimes she was holding bolts for Lenn, sometimes she was caring parts with One-six, sometimes she was doing calculations for Two-five.

“Done?” Kang asked, standing over a laser unit that had been taken out of its mounting on the VX-200.

“Well, as much as we can do today, it’s getting too dark.” Lenn answered. “Let’s put all the spare parts into the cargo chamber, so if it rains they won’t get wet.”

“Sure thing.”

Lenn saw Two-six jogging towards them from the direction of the cliff overhang, her amber hair fluttering in the breeze. Behind her, he could see the warm glow from campfires and emergency oil lamps.

Though they have a few generators up and running, they were switched off most of the time to conserve the little amounts of fuel they had managed to save.

“Dinner is ready!” Two-six shouted as she came over. “You can keep working a little bit longer if you want to, but I think it’s better to eat together with the other survivors. It’ll help raise some spirits and build a sense of community.”

“Got it!… Thanks!” Lenn shouted as Two-six turned to run back towards the community kitchen where she had just been helping out at. It still felt a little weird to say kind words to Europeans. Lenn turned towards Kang, who was in the process of carrying a bulky laser unit into the cargo hold of their plane, and Rei, who was cutting panels to fit them in place where the laser units used to be. “Wanna go get some good?” He asked them.

Rei wiped the sweat off of his forehead. “Ehh… I think…”

“Come on, let’s go.” Lenn interrupted, beckoning Rei and Kang to follow with a swing of his arm.

As they walked past Two-five, sitting on the grass leaning against the landing gear of her aircraft, Kang stopped and extended his hand towards her. “Let’s go get some food.” He said, not a hint of hostility in his voice, but not much kindness either.

Two-five looked up at him, then down at her computer, finally and decided to put it aside. She carefully grabbed Kang’s hand with her own, and allowed him to pull her to her feet.

“Why so scared?” Kang chuckled as he started walking again. “Do I seem like a mean person to you?”

“I cannot tell whether you look mean or not. Everyone looks the same to me.” Two-five replied. “I could tell you probably didn’t mean any harm, but it’s good to be cautious.”

Kang smiled bitterly. He wanted to make a joke, but decided against it when he realized that Two-five probably wouldn’t get it.

“Girls just don’t seem to like Kang, huh?” Rei remarked under his breath.

“Be quiet.” Kang shot back.

As they approached the many campfires, the survivors huddled around them turned to look at them. Murmurs and whispers of “Those are the guys…” and “It’s them who defended us…” and “Are they from Europa? Why are they helping us?” Arose from the crowd. Some even beckoned them to join their card games, but Lenn respectfully refused.

They walked over to the community kitchen, which was simply a few large pots sitting over some open fires. Two-six was there, stirring a large pot with a long spoon.

“Hey uhhh…” Lenn said to Two-six, still feeling a little awkward. “Can we get some food?”

Two-six paused with the stirring and looked up at the New Asian pilots before her. “Sure thing.” She said, turning around to grab a few metal dishes. She ladled a scoop of chunky beef stew into each, and placed a flat bread onto of each one. “We’re a little short on utensils so just use your hands. Oh also, grab some fruit later, we had a lot in the markets and they’ll go bad if we don’t eat them.”

“Yeah… uhh… thanks.” Lenn said gratefully, taking the plate which Two-six offered him. The stew smelled salty and meaty, making his empty stomach growl.

“Where do we sit?” Kang asked.

Lenn looked around, and saw a campfire near the far side of the overhang which seemed to not have so many people around it. He pointed to it, and they made their way over. Two-five had decided to stay with Two-six, and so it left the three of them to wander the survivor camp.

When they approached the campfire, Lenn thought he saw a familiar face. It was a young girl, her clothes looking a little dirty, sitting alone by herself in the warmth of the fire.

“Eden?”

The girl looked up, and her eyes seemed to light up for a moment.

“Are you hurt?” Lenn asked.

Eden shook her head, but did not speak.

Lenn looked at the others sitting near the campfire, but didn’t see the face he was searching for. “Where’s your mother?” He asked Eden.

“…it.” Eden mumbled, too quietly for Lenn to hear.

“What?” Lenn asked, sitting down besides her.

“She didn’t make it.”

“…”

Kang and Rei heard too, and decided to sit down next to Lenn.

“I’m sorry to hear that.” Lenn comforted her. For him, losing a comrade or two wasn’t uncommon, and so to him, death didn’t mean much. But for a young girl like Eden, losing her only guardian would likely destroy her.

“Is there anyone to take care of you?” Rei asked, stuffing some of the flat bread into his mouth.

Eden shook her head. “I was an orphan, and mother took me in. Now that she is gone, I’m an orphan again. I guess it’s fine right now, but I don’t know what’ll happen to me when the war ends.”

Rei, Kang and Lenn exchanged glances. They wanted to help her, especially since her adoptive mother had helped them so much during their stay at Valkyria. But right now, they really didn’t have the resources nor time to spare for her.

“Do you think Takeshi would agree to take her in as a servant or apprentice?” Lenn whispered.

“Probably.” Kang whispered back.

Lenn nodded, then turned to Eden. “We’ll find you a place to stay.” He reassured her, smiling. "But right now, go get some clean clothes and some food if you haven't yet." He told Eden when he noticed her glaring at his food like a hungry wolf.

Eden nodded. But before leaving, she asked them one last question. “If umm… your mission goes well… Will you umm… teach me how to fly?”

“Uhh…” Lenn was taken a little off-guard by the question, but he remembered back to the night when Eden had asked the same thing. “Of course…”

“Yay!” Eden yelped happily, the sorrow she had just a moment before seeming to disappear into nothing, and skipped off into the crowd of survivors.

“…If the mission goes well…”

*****

“Have you heard the thing?”

“What thing?”

“The new weapon that Europa has built. Apparently it can wipe out an entire city in one shot…”

“…In two days?”

“Yeah!”

“There’s no way that’s actually going to happen…”

“…Wait and see… wait and see…”

“Has the government heard about this?”

“For sure.”

“Are they gonna do anything?…”

“…Just rumors right?”

“Apparently there’s official documentation that got leaked.”

“I’ll only believe it when I see it…”

*****

“Information on the attack has been leaked!”

There was quiet cursing and whispering among the members of The Council. Finally, the old, gruff man who sat in the middle slammed his fist down upon the table. “Get the forces together, we fly at midnight.” He grumbled.

“Understood.” The messenger saluted, before rushing out of the spacious office.

Several hours later, all of the blast doors on the wall of Europa opened, and fighters began to stream out of them like hornets from its nest. From the larger airstrips, tankers and AWACS aircraft took off, circling above the city waiting to get into formation once all the fighters have made it into the air. [1]

For half an hour, aircrafts spewed out of the hangars endlessly. Their black silhouettes swarmed and darted in the skies above the city, before finally morphing into neat formations.

Then a large, black, swooping shape soared into the air. Its massive engines roaring, its massive wings hoisting the heavy plasma weapon into the sky.

The fighters formed up besides it, wrapping it front and back, left and right, top and bottom in multiple layers of fighter escort. The tankers stayed further back, refueling each fighter in succession to keep their fuel tanks topped up.

Together they circled their city once, before turning east, straight towards the city of New Asia.

[1] - AWACS (short for aerial warning and control system), basically an airborne early warning and command center. It's those military planes with a big spinning disc mounted atop the fuselage (which, if you are wondering, is the radar).