Premier-General Abakwa on a podium at the port of Igos. Camera crews were all around him, with a cheering crowd of people. Behind them was the floodwall that protected Igos from storms, further than that, the two lighthouses that marked the start and end of Igos’ Firewall stood tall, fireworks were being unched from them, their explosions dulling the sounds of waves crashing onto the bead into the walls. Pnes flew above them, the fg of Ausa trailing from their rears.

  A huge ship’s horn silehe crowd and Abakwa leaned into the micropho was hard to tain the excitement. He knew he shouldn’t be smiling so much when he was in the official uniform of the newly created Ausan Military Forces, but frankly, he didn’t care. Kirinyaa had proven to be a disaster for the White Pantheon, their progress had beeirely stalled in the North and the nation utting up a fight. If that was all the White Pantheon had, then there was nothing fear!

  The ship’s horn blew again and Abakwa started to talk. “Ladies alemen, friends and family, my rades… but most importantly, people of Ausa. It has been three turies since Ausa lit in half. It has been two turies sihe Firewalls have been built! Two hundred years we’ve spent, living in the shadows of uardians until they’ve bee our prison! No more!”

  Abakwa turo gaze at the steel colossus behind him. A civilian ship that was being built in Igos when Olephia had first desded oy. Then verted to a bombardment vessel when Arascus had given pns for the Binturong. Now it floated there, its crew at full attention making a line of the side of the ship, each man giving Kassandora’s salute, each man with a green armband over his arm. The tre of the ship bore a steel mountain, a co of steel beams with arms for radar and ptforms to navigate from, and oher side were two turrets, eae double-barrelled, eight guns in total. A floating battery of Arascus’ napalm artillery. Underh it, on the bow, ainting of a woman with burning hair and a sword of fme: Ausan Navy Ship Recimer was written in huge letters o it.

  Abakwa turned back to the microphone and leaned in. “Today! Ausa joins the Recmation War! We will reect our cities! We will recim the nds of our aors! The Jungle will be razed! We will not stop until you walk from Igos to Nanbasa!” The crowd turhe final four words into a t: ‘From Igos to Nanbasa!’

  The ANS Recimer blew its hain, its turbiarted to spin, ropes were cut. A bottle of champagne was smashed on the ship’s bow, and it began to leave port.

  And Ausa ehe war.

  “This is Ground and speaking, this is Ground and speaking. I repeat, this is Ground and speaking, Raptor One, Raptor Two, do you copy? Over.” Captain Dougs sat in his pne as the jungles of Kirinyaa became a blur underh him. The pne was slower than before, heavier too, its turns weren’t as quick, its acceleration wasn’t as powerful, the air brake was just slightly sharper too. The engineers hadn’t noticed it, or maybe they did and simply decided it was a worthy sacrifi the name of mounting a on onto the pne.

  “Raptor One copies. Over.” Doug replied into his microphohis had ged too, before, the helmet was mere goggles with a button for the microphoached on the side. Now, it roperly armour for the pilot of a fighter-jet. A heads-up-dispy fshed with signals, the gun had a titached to it, which checked the range and firing ard a pair of crosshairs appeared on the s.

  “Raptor Two copies as well, over.” Erik’s voice came through the speakers in the helmet.

  “Good, this is Ground and, both of you have the green light to open fire, do not bother asking for permission. Over.” Dougs wasn’t going to ask in the first pce, they were in a war, he would rather not die just because permission for fire wasn’t given.

  “Copy that GC. Over.” Erik said and Dougs gave his own reply of affirmation. The two pnes soared over a river, a crocodile bathing in the ss of Kirinyaa looked up at the curious sight. Then it dived deep into the water to run away from the soni as Raptor One and Two broke the sound barrier.

  “From General Sokolowski’s report, it says to tur. The transports should be below you in two minutes.” Dougs turned his tral stick to the right and the pne made a swerve as it rolled over Kirinyaa’s jungle. A sea of green, interrupted every now and then by a seemingly random spiderweb of rivers bending and curving as they trailed their way through the jungle.

  Erik’s voice came over the s. “Doug, gave you tested it yet?” He asked.

  “I saw it fire on the ground.” Dougs responded.

  “But not in the air?” Dougs shook his head, then realised Erik was in the po his and couldn’t see the a.

  “Not in the air. You?”

  “Same, I was just asking…” Erik trailed. “Well, I don’t want my bird to blow up.”

  “It won’t.” Dougs replied. It wouldn’t, the engineer corps knew what they were doing. They should at least. Shouldn’t day? Dougs pushed the thoughts away, frankly, those were questions he didn’t need ao. If the pne exploded, at least it was a quick death.

  They flew in silence as a flock of birds moved out of way for the two phey squawked in fear, then rushed to the safety that the jungle’s opy brought. Ohings like that had infatuated Dougs. Now though, he had been flying almost everyday and scouting out the progress Fortia was making. Even the rarest sights became on and muer a while. And his favourite sight was in the , in the cupholder for his thermos sat the picture that had been taken at the end of Operation Misfortuhe inal, still with Fer’s scrawl of a signature on the back. He smiled at the memory, that had been a good trip, even if he had only been a high-css taxi driver back then.

  “This is Ground trol, do you see the targets? Over.” Dougs turned his trol stick to rock the po either side and look below himself. It was a sea of green and brown, he saw nothing. He turhe po the other side. Nothing.

  “I have something on radar.” Erik ented. “South of us.”

  “They’re fast.” Dougs answered as he made a sharp turn to the right and increased the acceleration. He felt his entire body slide deeper into the deep seat in the as the ucopia of lights in his kept up their routine bring. Below them, one of Fer’s beastmen stopped his trek back to d looked up when he heard the pnes above his head. By the time he found a clearing, they were already two bck spots in the distance.

  “Not fast enough.” Erik replied as the prey came into view. Three White Pantheon pnes, huge transport aircraft that were air-dropping supplies for Essa’s mages. Magis were powerful, but they still needed food, they still needed water, shoes o be repced whehorns of jungle roots stabbed through and clothes could only be stitched so much before they he same treatment. Essa’s swarm, as everyone referred to it now, had glomerated into oer they crossed the tral Mountain Range.

  Kassandora had to i Raptor One and Two herself before they set off. She had said, if it was groups of a hundred, maybe even two huhey could live off the nd. But an army that rge needed supplies, no matter if it was all magical. There was only so much that supp Floromancers could grow before the dreaded supply lines o start f. And there was no such thing as a supply lihat could not be raided. It didn’t matter whether it swam, walked or flew.

  An unknown voice came over the s. “Uified aircraft, identify yourself. I repeat, uified aircraft, identify yourself.” Sometimes this happehere had been a few times Doug had actually joked about with the White Pantheon pilots as he was scouting them. It was all fine and dandy when pnes weren’t armed.

  But not anymore, raptors were birds of prey. And today, they were finally go hunt.

  Dougs said nothing as he pushed the acceleration further and arced the up. The three aircraft did the usual a they usually did wheing Arascus’ forces: Nothing. “You’re KAF, right?” The voice asked.

  “Kassandora’s Air Force, damn right.” Erik’s voice came through the open el. All of the pilots had taken to calling it Kassandora’s Air Ford not Kirinyaa’s. Supposedly, the three-letter a was the official name, so was it even really a mistake?

  “White Person transport pne here. Scouting again?” The voice asked.

  “Scouting again.” Dougs came in this time. It would be harder to hit them if they started perf evasive manoeuvres. He might as well keep them calm.

  “Well you probably know what we’re doing then.” The voice responded jokingly. Raptor Two, piloted by Erik, pulled up sharply, Dougs followed with his own bird s through the air. The two pnes spun upside down so the two pilots could keep monit the three transport pnes.

  “Erik, look at me.” Dougs said, over these open s, he didn’t want to give anything away by saying it out loud. The White Pantheon pilot chuckled when he heard it, the pilots of the other two pnes joined, but Dougs did not care on bit. He looked out his cockpit, matched Raptor Two’s speed and came close until he could see Erik through the gss. The man was deep in his seat, trol stick between his legs and wearing the same things Doug wore, heavy dark overalls with straps for a parachute across his chest. On his head was a bulbous helmet, the front dark gss, a tube running from the mouth to the man’s seat.

  Dougs gave a thumbs up. Erik retur. Good, so they both saw each other. Dougs beat his chest with a closed fist and pointed left, then he poi Erik and right. The message should be obvious, and they had established the hand signs for Operation Misfortune. Erik returned a thumbs up.

  Dougs pulled Raptor One away and raised three fingers. He bouhe arm in the air.

  Two fingers. Bounce.

  One finger. Bounce.

  Fist. Go.

  Raptor One veered left, Raptor two veered right. Fmes burst out of the jets of the two pnes as they made a sharp turn towards. The two jets dived down like the mighty eagle. Although weren’t they? Eagles were kings of the sky, sed only to Divines. And Dougs was riding that steel beast, his hands oick between his legs clutched tightly until his knuckles turned white. The parted to shake from the G-Forces around him, the engines’ fmes dimmed and once again turned blue.

  A prowling lion looked up at the sky as he heard the sound’s barrier thunder. A s go of a mouse and slithered away back to its beloair of monkeys dropped the banana they were fighting over. A dozemen stopped and watched what was happening above. One of Essa’s mages turned as he heard an explosion in the distahey were kings of the sky, the birds of prey built out of steel, desigo hunt other steel abominations. Dougs flicked the pstic cap safeguarding the red button on his trol stick. He smmed both thumbs down on it. The birds hurled themselves towards their prey, and the birds started to scream. And lead poured from their beaks.

  Captain Dougs swerved his trol stick right as he saw his on rip up the wings of the transport pne underh him. One engine exploded, then ahe other wing was hit in the critical superstructure, and started to tear, crad bend. It cried a metallic scream, then flung over. And the was hit too, a fire began within the pne, and Dougs pulled stick sharply towards him.

  Raptor One swerved upwards, he travelled past the wreckage twice, on the way down, on the . Fmes and dark smoke trailed in the light blue sky about him. Dougs’ eyes went to Erik’s kills. One of the pnes had only been hit in a wing, its was leaving a dark trail of tarry smoke in the sky, but it mao maintain a clear flight path.

  And a hail of lead came upwards at it. Erik’s be shot past it like a sword slig through the air. The wing exploded, the pilted sharply to the final one White Paransport. The two pnes went up in a huge explosion e and red fmes. Dougs watched them fall to the green o underh, then burst in a burst of fire even more brilliant than before.

  “That’s two for me.”