The TU-95, already stricken and falling, was virtually atomised by the explosion of it's payload. The massive fireball and concussion blasted out windows for a mile around, set off car alarms and burglar alarms and smashed the few remaining leaves off of trees. Not to mention knocking over many person standing outside, and resulting in more than a few ruptured eardrums. The falling wreckage scattered over the base, setting alight to vehicles and structures, and causing large-scale minor damage - but it was far less than if the bomber had delivered its' payload on target, and much less than if the cruise missiles had hit and done their job. The runways and other major facilities remained undamaged, and the base remained operational. There was a moment of stillness as the situation sunk in, and then the radio crackled to life with a message from the AWACS. "All bandits are down, or no factor. Great job, Excalibur squadron. Orders are coming in, please take up a hold pattern over Lossiemouth in the meantime". "Roger, Overwatch," replied Ariella. "Excalibur, form up on me. We'll move twenty klicks south to take up a holding orbit". The Kfir lead the way past Lossiemouth, and over the green rolling hills of Scotland below. Given a moments' respite at last, the Israeli pilot undid her oxygen mask, allowing it to hang at one side of her face, and slid her visor up, wiping sweat from her eyes with one glove. The dry, cold oxygen of the mask had left her mouth parched and given her the tang of rubber on her tongue. A sip of water would've been welcome. Craning her neck, she looked at the aircraft slowly forming up around her. All of them had done amazingly well, given the situation. Taking off and diving straight into battle, without so much as a ground class together, let alone a training mission. All the same, they had meshed well enough, given the circumstances. Holding the mask up to her mouth, she spoke over the squadron frequency. "Okay, everyone. We did well out there. The base took some damage, but we all came back in one piece, and the base is still operational too. That counts as a victory on my side, and the UNWO are going to be smarting from it. Pretty good for a first step". Indulgently, she did a lazy aileron roll in place for celebration, and then stayed on course, banking at the far end of the '8' in the air that formed the holding pattern.