Starbound Ascension: The Next Generation

Chapter Twenty C: Infinity

“Pilots, we are to rendezvous with the tanker, top off on magic charge, and fly right into Neighponese airspace to conduct a large scale air offensive to retake their capital. We are to support ground forces with close air support,” Avia radioed out to her friends as they flew towards Neighpon airspace from their insertion point above Equestria. Their magic charge was low and they needed a mid-air top off from a reverse engineered KC-135.

“Pilots check your planes and prepare for mid-air refueling,” Strato Gust, the boom operator of the tanker aircraft, contacted the NGJTF pilots as they made visual contact with the refueling craft, “Two miles to refueling craft.”

“Valkyrie, contact ready,” Avia lined up her plane to approach the refueling craft.

“Valkyrie you are cleared for contact,” Strato directed her to move in.

“Roger, moving in,” Avia deployed her refueling probe from the side of her cockpit. A small drogue from the tanker was already deployed as she carefully lined up her Cyclone.

“Contact,” Strato radioed out as Avia coupled with the drogue. Magic was being pumped into her aircraft as a source of fuel.

“Stable,” Avia radioed back out to the tanker as she waved to Strato. This wasn't the first time they met up in an air to air refueling. The whole process took about five minutes to fully refuel her craft. She decoupled from the tanker and let her squadron mates have a turn.

“Valkyrie disconnected and clear. Dawn Light cleared for contact,” Strato directed Morning to go up next.

“Solid copy,” Morning opened his fueling port and the drogue was replaced with a large boom to service his XFA-27. As he approached Strato Gust used his joystick to move the boom into place to start Morning's refueling.

“Contact.”

“Dawn Light stable,” Morning Shine kept his aircraft in place as the boom refueled his fighter. All of them had their turns and punched supersonic west into combat airspace.

“We're coming in hot. Neighponese Air Self Defense Forces are doing their best to hold back the Pulsar space fighters but they are heavily outclassed. Let's crash this party,” Avia maintained formation with her squadron, “NGJTF, cleared to engage.”

“I will be acting as your AWACs since I am connected to all of your sensor fused systems. Let me handle all the data work,” Zoey appeared as her holographic self in the HUD of the NGJTF pilots.

“Solid copy Zoey. Into the fire!” Avia and the others came within range of the city under seige.

“This is the NASDF309 squadron! We need immediate support!”

“SDF pilot this is Panavia Tornado of the United Equus Space Force NGJTF squadron. We're here on operational support!”

“NGJTF?! Good news! Thank the Emperor you guys showed up.”

“Bandits on your twelve. Two ground attack UAVs.”

“Roger, engaging UAVs!” Avia threw her plane to low altitude and got behind two of the enemy drones. With a ripple fire of two sidewinders each trained on different targets the drones were shot down, “Splash two bandits!”

“Good show flight leader!” Zenji flew right past her as he started his attack run on a few Pulsar fighters about to take off from the Edo International Spaceport runway, “They've captured our spaceport! Damn Pulsar!”

“This is the EUF Steel Gunners battalion! We were in a training exercise with the NSDF when the attack hit. We're gonna take back your runway for you! NGJTF, requesting support!”

“Roger, engaging the enemy,” Avia flipped her weapons bays open to drop her cluster bomblets right on top of a row of enemy tanks. The self guiding warheads carpet bombed a whole tank platoon with molten copper and an EMP pulse that disabled their shields. The whole row was knocked out by Avia's attack.

“Valkyrie break! Missile on your six!” Feather radioed out to Avia.

“Copy! Breaking!” Avia threw her plane into a steep dive and forced the missile into the ground, “Evaded! Someone clear out that SAM battery!”

“Petal here, they won't see me coming,” with her cloaking active Petal dove to the ground and strafed the SAM battery with her guns. The salvo of 20mm shells hit home as the SAM could not gain a lock to Petal's cloaked F-32, “Woohoo! Shadow confirmed SAM destroyed!”

“Arigatō Petal-san! Banzai!” Zenji lined his Shinden up for a rocket run on another tank convoy coming down the road. His rockets slammed into the armored column and silenced the reinforcements coming into the spaceport, “Tanks destroyed! Tanks destroyed on main MSR!”

“Solid copy!” Morning flew over the runway and saw a few enemy planes taxi for takeoff, “A swarm of angry hornets are gonna come flying out of there! Someone take out the runway! I'll splash those fighters on takeoff.”

Morning shot out four missiles from his internal pylons. The Omni-Directional Multi-Missiles each locked onto a different target and destroyed the enemy fighters as they were about to take off.

“Impacts confirmed! You got them Dawnlight!” Zoey informed Morning for his weapon impacts, “Watch out! The enemy has a lock on you!”

Another self propelled SAM turned on its radar and launched a missile at Morning. The maroon pegasus ignited his afterburners and turned sharply to evade.

“Crap! Chaff out!” several pops of aluminum strips shot out of Morning's fighter as the missile took the bait and veered off harmlessly into the sky, “Evaded! I saw the location! I'll link the data to you Petal!”

“Copy! I got it,” Petal continued her attack still cloaked. Another strafing run sealed the end of the enemy missile launcher, “He's down!”

“Steel Gunners here! We're making steady progress. Just a little more to the spaceport!”

“Steel Gunners have moved in closer to the runway. This mission is going well,” Zoey gave them all a status update to the situation at hand, “Be advised, flight of enemy At-1 ground attack aircraft flying in vector 2-7-3. Intercept them!”

“Night Owl roger! I'm the closest to intercept!” Night Glider threw her Delphinus into full afterburners and her four air to air missiles gave a solid lock each on separate planes, “Night Owl! Fox Three!”

Three of her four missiles landed on target to the attacking enemy squadron. The ground attack planes were shot out of the sky in brilliant fireballs of blue and orange.

“Confirmed three shot down!” Zoey gave her a heads up as Avia was engaged in a turn fight with an enemy US-74.

“Night Owl! Guns guns guns!” Glider finished her attack with cannon fire as she ripped the wing off the last ground attack plane. She turned away to help Avia, “I've got your back flight leader!”

“Breaking! Missile on my ass!” Avia popped flares and ECM as the missile came in close. The Electro-Optical missile impacted Avia's fighter and took out one of her engines, “Dammit!”

“Fox two!” Night Glider fired one missile and sent it straight into the tailpipe of the enemy fighter. She pulled up next to Avia, “Flight lead, your engine is smoking!”

“I've cut off fuel flow to engine one. I can still fight but someone try to cover me!” Avia ordered out.

“I'll do it,” Petal formed up with her friend, “I gotcha Valkyrie. Continue with the attack Night Glider!”

“Roger, assisting Neighponese pilots now!” she pulled her fighter into a half roll and flew top cover for Zenji and Masayuki as they attacked the runway, “Heads up! Fighters are gunning for you Zenji!”

“What?!” Zenji pulled up from his rocket attack. Missile alerts blared in his ears as a non stop barrage of fire was directed to him.

“Yuki here! Fox Three!” Masayuki's missiles gave locks to six enemy aircraft tailing his friend. Four of his missiles impacted as Night Glider swooped in to score the last two kills, “Tomoyo arigatō!”

“You got it! Zenji are you okay?”

“Hit hard! Left aileron is shot out. Leaking fuel on my left wing and my fly by wire is destroyed!”

“Can you bail? I'm flying over your position with Petal off my wing,” Avia flew over to Zenji as his fighter continued to smoke.

“Yes ma'am! I will fly over our allies and bail out in the forest behind their lines. Watashi no kōun o negatte,” Zenji popped his canopy and shot out as his ejection seat deployed. He drifted to the ground as his parachute landed him safely, “I'm okay! I see a human APC nearby me. EUF colors. Good luck up there!”

“Good, Steel Gunners what is your status?”

“All enemy units destroyed! We got your spaceport back! We have recaptured Edo International Spaceport!”

“Good job Steel Gunners! You've earn this victory!” Avia cheered, “You got some runway crew down there? I need to get this engine looked at.”

“You got it! Valkyrie you are cleared for landing!” one of the EUF command Sunderers radioed out to Avia. After she touched down a repair vehicle drove right up to her and enveloped her fighter in a strange aura.

“What are you doing?” Avia opened her canopy and yelled to the human ground crew.

“Repair nanites! They'll fix your engine up good as new in only a few seconds! I spent good certs on that upgrade for my repair truck!”

“You humans are the best! Thanks!” Avia closed her cockpit and used her planes magical abilities to reload her missiles and bombs. She took off with her repaired engine and rejoined the fight, “I'm back in!”

“Continue mission! Some guys still need help out there!” Zoey gave the report to all pilots as they formed back up into combat formation.

“Roger, this is the NGJTF. We're looking for action!” Avia broadcasted to the open channel.

“This is Captain Ford of the Crystal Imperial flagship Marigold. We're about to enter the bay and engage enemy ships. Requesting support.”

“Roger that! Did anyone bring air to surface missiles?”

“Apart from our standard dual role missiles we got nothing! Zenji was the only one with air to ground rocket pods and he's shot down. Morning how about you?” Petal looked to the XFA-27 of her friend.

“I've got some air to surface arms! I'll engage the enemy ships with Avia!”

“Affirmative! Should we cover your approach flight lead?” Petal asked Avia.

“You got it. Keep enemies off our tail while we bombard the enemy sea vessels!” Avia and Morning flew to the water's edge and skimmed the sea. The rest of the flight flew above them to ward off any fighters.

“Pitching up! Starting my attack run!” Avia wove in and out of the anti aircraft fire and released her guided bomblets onto the deck of the enemy destroyer in front of her. The gatling guns of the ship were useless against such small munitions and hundreds of them blanketed the deck and set it ablaze. Morning followed up with four missiles that launched from his fighter and erupted the weapons store of the enemy boat. It snapped it half and was now taking on water, “Good attack run Morning! Enemy destroyer sunk!”

“Flight lead, I got a radar blip operating high up. Wait, that isn't right. Dammit my screen's all blurry!” Feather fiddled with her radar in her ATD-X, “Anypony else having issues with their radar?”

“I have detected radar interference from high altitude. Enemy ESM aircraft detected,” Zoey gave them all the heads up, “Fighters engage!”

“Night Owl engaging! Feather, you and me hit up those jammers!” Night Glider pulled her aircraft up and punched through the clouds with Feather off her right wing.

“I see it. Watch my back while I hit it with a long range missile. Phoenix, Fox One! Fox One!” Feather fired off a semi-active missile. On her HUD she had to keep it sighted within an aiming circle to steer it towards the target. She was vulnerable in this guidance phase as Night Glider spotted three enemies coming right for her.

“Phoenix! You got bandits on your tail! I'm engaging!” Night Glider threw her plane into a sharp turn to get behind the enemies about to fire on Feather, “I've got them! Night Owl! Fox Three!”

Night Glider's missiles failed to connect as the enemy jammer fried the electronics of her weapons. They sailed harmlessly from the attacking enemies but managed to get them off of her friend's tail.

“Splash one!” Feather's missile tore into the enemy jammer aircraft and cleared the radar. She turned her plane around with a hammerhead turn and fired back at the enemies who chased her, “Thanks for the cover Night Owl! Phoenix Fox Two! Fox Two!”

She fired two missiles which impacted one of the enemies who flew in after her. In a blaze of fire and smoke the enemy plane crashed right into a battleship which knocked out the AA guns of the enemy flagship. Avia and Morning saw their chance.

“This is Valkyrie! Dawnlight, you and I hit that battleship while its guns are knocked out. Sync your attack run with me.”

“Roger Avia! I'll come in from its starboard. You attack from port!” The two planes split off for a pincer attack on the enemy fleet.

“Start the attack run!” Avia readied her bombs as the anti air fire erupted from the enemy battleship. Hundreds of shells blanketed the skies with tracer fire as the Pulsar fleet kept Avia and Morning at bay. Again Avia's plane was hit and damaged by the accurate fire coming from the battleship. Her and Morning had to break off, “Damn! They got my wing sweep mechanism! I can't punch supersonic!”

“I dodged their fire but that battleship is too accurate. We need help to take it down.”

“Those gatling guns are trashing our missiles! Fighters if you still got standard missiles left I suggest you help us out,” Avia gave her orders to her flight as they rejoined in formation, “Zoey can you do anything to that battleship to make those air defense guns stop firing?”

“I will try to hack into their systems. If you can target their radome in a simultaneous attack that should do it though.”

“Roger Zoey. Alright! You heard her, target everything you've got at their radar dish! NGJTF leader to all pony aircraft. Concentrate your attack on the enemy battleship blocking the Marigold!”

“Copy that miss Valkyrie! All Neighponese pilots defend our nation with honor! Banzai!” One of the Neighponese F-2 fighters dove into the fray and launched their missiles at the battleship.

“This is the EUF 435th tactical fighter bomber squadron! We're here to help!”

“Follow my lead! We need to succeed in the first attack!” The NGJTF planes rolled over into their dive and began their saturation attack, “All planes fire! ALL PLANES FIRE!”

The hundreds of missiles that streaked towards the battleship and its fleet covered the sea in a smokey haze left from the contrails. Cannon rounds filled the skies as both allied aircraft and Pulsar ships exchanged fire. With so many targets coming for it the battleship was hit and its radar was taken down.

“All missile defenses have been silenced! Finish it off!” Zoey gave them the status update on their HUDs. All of the aircraft turned back and sunk the ship with another combined volley of fire.

“Battleship destroyed! Battleship destroyed! Marigold! Start moving into the bay!” Avia cheered from her cockpit as she boosted away from the harbor.

“Solid copy NGJTF! Thanks for your support!”

“This is the Federation submarine Scinfaxi! We are here on operational support! NGJTF I know you're out there! Listen, we got a shitload of thermobaric burst warheads where ever you need them! Just say the word and we'll be happy to fire!”

“Scinfaxi, this is Panavia Tornado of the NGJTF. My AWACs AI has detected a flight of enemy planes diving in from the space front. I'll link you the target coords!”

“Copy that! Crew prepare for burst missile launch! Man your battle stations!”

Feather looked to her flight lead, “Avia, that's the submarine we sunk in the wargames huh?”

“Yeah! Glad it's on our side for once!” Avia smiled as a ballistic missile shot up out of the water and pierced the atmosphere, “Funny, a sight like that would normally make me shiver. But that's being put to good use.”

The massive explosion off in the distance that resulted from the burst missile crippled the attacking planes. The Neighponese capital of Edo was finally liberated as the last bastions of Pulsar troops were mopped up by reinforcements from the EUF and United Equus militaries.

“Scinfaxi here! We did it. All hostile planes shot down. Glad to be of help NGJ-ARGH!!” the radio of the Scinfaxi cut out and was replaced with gunfire and static.

“Scinfaxi! Scinfaxi respond!” Avia tried to contact the sub.

“This sub is ours now! I hope you stupid ponies hear this, say goodbye you stinking horses! Looks like this sub had a nuclear surprise they were saving for us.”

“NO!” Avia panicked as she saw another missile fire up from the water, “UPF sub has been hijacked by the Pulsar! Zoey can you confirm the warhead of that missile?!”

“Confirmed, analysis reports a 455 kiloton yield nuclear tipped MIRV warhead consisting of six re-entry vehicles! Targets unknown! We don't have anything to intercept the missile!”

Avia flashed back to Flip's death and the horror of the balefire tipped ICBMs Starlight Glimmer launched from North Equestria. She froze on the spot before Zoey snapped her out of it.

“Avia! Avia! Flight leader respond! Don't do this to me now!”

Avia shook it off and grit her teeth as tears flowed from her face, “This isn't gonna end like this. I wanna try something really stupid! Open up my canopy!”

Avia hopped out of her plane and balanced herself on the fuselage. She took off her armor and radioed out to Night Glider, “Night Owl! I'm gonna ride on your plane!”

“What are you doing commander?”

“Just shut up and follow that missile! All planes climb! Shoot down that ICBM!”

“Faster! Higher! Dammit!” Feather's plane couldn't sustain her climb as she bleed off speed, “I can't reach it!”

“Neither can I! It's getting away!” Petal yelled as her plane stalled and dropped from the climb.

“I've got engine damage! I can't catch it either!” Fenrir tried to fire his missiles but even they couldn't match the speed of the nuke as it reached the stratosphere.

“Night Glider punch your plane into high gear! I'm still hanging on!” Avia was filled with pure zealous rage with her heart set on preventing the deaths of millions of innocent lives. As Night Glider pierced through Mach 4 Avia jumped off and flew alone on her wing power. She accelerated faster and faster just barely able to reach Mach 5.

“Just a little more!” Avia thought to herself as her wings furiously beat with magical energy. In a final grunt of pain she broke past Mach 5 and surrounded herself in an orange and blue aura that radiated out in a fiery circular prism. The magical shockwave of the sonic rainboom impacted the ICBM and cut out its rocket motor. For a moment Avia hovered at the edge of space as she saw the space battle off in the distance above her home planet. Hundreds of ships both pony and human all gathered together to fight the Pulsar invasion. The ballistic missile that she stopped with her EMP pulse fell back into the atmosphere as she let herself freefall from her apex.

“WAS THAT?!” Fenrir looked up at the radiant magical aura that Avia pulled off.

“No way... She really did it!” Feather looked in awe as well, “That was a sonic rainboom!”

“Be advised! The missile is still active! I repeat! The missile is still active!”

“What?! AH!” Morning grunted as his plane caught a blast of the EMP given off from the broken magical speed barrier, “Crap! My weapons and radar are down! Anyone else?”

The others were also caught in the electromagnetic field of the rainboom. No one could shoot down the missile as it continued to fall.

“...I... Failed...” Avia cried as she continued her freefall. Morning shot past her and in a split second she caught the look in his eye. In her earpiece she heard one last whisper from her friend.

“I won't...” Morning shut off his radio and boosted upward into the flight path of the missile. He was going to ram it head on. With one final look at the photo of his family he sobbed as he thought of his sister, “Forgive me Blossom... I didn't keep my promise. Into Elysium I will fly...”

He scored a direct impact that burned up the missile and caused the warheads to malfunction. With his sacrifice he saved the lives of everyone fighting below and all those ponies who called Neighpon home.

“MORRNING!” Petal screamed as she saw his plane disintegrate into the missile.

“Avia! I got you!” Zoey performed a cobra stall to catch Avia right back into her cockpit, “I... I'm so sorry...”

“There's no time flight lead! We gotta sunk that sub! That bastard will pay for what it did to Morning!”

Avia held her tears and thought back to Flip. A flash of his smile was momentarily in her thoughts before her grief turned into anger. Through gritted teeth her boiling rage was all apparent to her squadron mates as she broadcasted to their HUDs.

“To all pony aircraft! We're gonna sunk that UPF submarine! Take it down!”

“This is the Neighponese destroyer Harumi Kurosawa! We've managed to score a direct hit on the Scinfaxi! We are detecting main ballast blow! It's surfacing!”

“This is the real thing now,” Avia looked down at the massive sub as it breached the water, “We're gonna sink that sonofabitch! ALL PLANES ATTACK!”

“NGJTF! ENGAGING!” Petal's anger soared as she dove into her attack run. With her fighter cloaked again she tried to strafe the ship with cannon fire only to get hit by the sub's deployable AA guns, “ARGH!”

“Petal you're hit! You're on fire!” Feather looked at her stricken friend as she flew close to the water and was losing engine power, “Eject Petal! Eject!”

“I...” Petal froze in fear, “...I can't... Ejection seat is toast. Circuits are fried... There goes the radar...”

“PETAL! PETAL KEEP TRYING!” Avia screamed.

“Petal... Invert and stay in the invert!” Feather radioed to the desperate pilot.

“What are you gonna do Feather?”

“I'm gonna shoot out your canopy and you drop away! Hold still!” Feather followed the limping craft as it pulled away from the battle.

“I... I don't...” Petal hesitated as her whole body shook. The warning alarms in her cockpit were zoned out as she lost hope.

“DO IT!” Feather yelled, “Please! Don't give up!”

Petal held her chest and sobbed. With her right hoof she grasped the control stick and exhaled, “Alright Feather.”

“Petal! I need you to hold still!”

“Negative, I can't control it anymore,” Petal's fighter was thrown about as her avionics and fly by wire started to fail. Feather had a slick coat of sweat as she aimed her 20mm cannon to graze Petal's cockpit.

“Petal! Duck!” she pulled the trigger as she saw her friend bend over in her seat. The cockpit glass of the F-32 shattered and Petal punched herself out, “Flight lead! Do you see her?! Do you see Petal?!”

“She's okay! I've got her!” Avia flew right beside the pegasus pilot and opened her cockpit, “Yo! Second seat in the back for you!”

“Roger Avia,” Petal took her seat behind her friend, “I'm okay, just a little shaken is all... Holy crap Feather you saved my life!”

“We can save the waterworks for later. We got a submarine to sink!” Avia nodded to her friend in the back seat, “Help me out will you? Normally Zoey would manage my weapons but I've got an idea. Zoey! Provide enhanced ESM link to all aircraft! Petal will handle my weapons you buff our allies!”

“Copy Valkyrie. ESM support is active!”

“With our electronic support that sub is gonna have a hard time hitting our missiles. Avia we're gonna help you out! Fighters keep all hostile aircraft away from the flight leader! She's the only one with air to ground arms!” Feather gave the report over the open allied channel.

“Roger!” Masayuki looked around for any fighters on the tail of his allies, “No joy! All hostile planes are destroyed.”

“Feather, you and the others go back to the airport and rearm on air to ground munitions! Night Glider say around and provide top cover for me and the Neighponese anti-ship planes!”

“Affirmative! Look out that sub is launching another missile!” Night Glider sneered as she saw the missile fly up, this time faster than the last.

“ANOTHER NUKE?!” Avia gasped.

“No, analysis confirms the Scinfaxi only carries one nuclear tipped ICBM for emergency use. Ballistic missile launched is a low yield tactical oxygen nuke with no fallout effects similar in damage to our Trinity warheads! It will decimate anything below five thousand feet within the harbor. The spaceport is outside of its blast radius.”

“You hear that! All Neighponese planes climb to above five thousand feet and stand by!” Avia pulled up from her attack run and climbed steadily above the threshold as the missile impacted, “Holy shit!”

“This is the Marigold! We suffered a direct hit! All hooves abandon ship! We're going under!”

“The Marigold is sunking! She's sunking!” Petal looked out the window to see the giant Crystal Imperial battleship list to one side and detonated in a secondary explosion. The fuel and magical radiation that leaked from the ship caught fire as the explosion happened boiling and burning the overboard sailors alive. Petal saw this through the FLIR camera of Avia's fighter, “Those ponies! They're being cooked alive!”

“Masyuki here! I've got ASM-3 anti-ship missiles. Launching now!” he fired off two missiles from his fighter as he entered the combat area. The missiles dipped to skim the surface of the water an impacted the submarine as Avia synced her attack run to disable the guns of the sub, “Good hits!”

“Roger that! Looks like we blasted all the AA guns.”

“Scinfaxi launching burst missile!” Zoey cried out to the pilots, “Ten seconds to impact!”

“Climb dammit!” Avia tried to throttle up but her wings locked in place. Without the added streamline of her wing sweep mechanism her ascent was slowed, “Pushing her as hard as I can!”

“5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Impact now!” Zoey alerted them as the NASDF fighters got caught in the blast.

“We're falling! We're all hit! Watashi wa shinitaku arimasen!” one of the Neighponese pilots screamed in horror as his plane was hit by the airburst warhead. Their whole squadron was wiped out by the blast of the ballistic missile.

“Crap! All Neighponese planes are shot down! NGJTF it's all up to us now!” Avia dove back down in her relentless attack as she carpet bombed the ship again with her fourth attack using her bomblet dispenser, “WHY! WON'T! YOU! DIE!”

“I'll hit it with a bunker buster! Petal can you lase that sub for me?” Feather radioed out to Petal.

“Copy that, let me get this FLIR ball onto it,” Petal moved the joystick in the back seat of Avia's fighter to control a camera with a mounted laser designator. She linked the data to Feather as she targeted the laser right onto the submarine, “Marked!”

“Locked! Bombs away!” Feather dropped two of her thousand pound bombs right on top of the enemy submarine. They penetrated the metal hull and delayed their explosions until they were inside, causing a massive hole to be ripped into the submarine.

In a last defiant breath the Scinfaxi tried to launch one more missile. With the missile bay doors jammed by shrapnel the missile exploded inside the submarine and caused it to snap right in half as it sunk with all hands on deck.

“Damn you ponies...”

“And fuck you too you Pulsar fuck...” Avia broadcasted to the last breath of the enemy hijackers. Avia leaned back in her seat and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Flight lead, you okay?”

“I'm not sure Fenrir...” Avia sunk further into her seat. The only thing she could hear after Fenrir's radio call was the sobbing that came from Petal in the back seat, “He... He was a model fighter pilot to the end.”

Avia formed up with her squadron for one final pass over the city.

“Everypony form up. Missing man formation...” Avia started to cry with the rest of the allied planes in her squadron, “Let's salute our ace: Captain Morning Shine!”

They flew on in a diamond shaped formation. One of the planes turned off to the right in a ceremonial salute of the fallen hero. Morning's plane now rests at the bottom of the ocean with the lost submarine marking his grave.