As the squadron pulled into a third circuit, the radio came to life with another incoming message from Overwatch. 
"Excalibur, new orders have come in. It looks like this was a diversionary attack, I'm sorry to say. The real target was in Europe - the UNWO launched an attack against military facilities all across Southern Europe and the Medeterraenean. Toulon Port, Gibraltar, Istres Air Force Base, Bases of the Spanish Air Force, Navy, Army, Italian Air Force Army, Navy... they've been hit with long-range missile or air strikes and even bombing runs in some cases. You're to report to your carrier immediately, which is heading south now from Plymouth toward the Medeterraenean now. Further information will be incoming. Good luck and godspeed, Over"
Ariella gave a hissing sigh and clicked her mike in response, before buckling her mask back into place, and speaking up to the squadron.
"Roger, Overwatch. Okay, Squadron. You heard the man - come about to a south heading. We'll get a vector from AWACS to the south and pick up air traffic control en route to the carrier. Stand ready in case we get a further tasking"

The AWACS vectored them southward, handing them over to another traffic controller as they flew at medium altitude down the length of England, passing over the industrial heart of the country in the North and Midlands, and then over the rolling green of the rural south. Large sprawling grey dotted the landscape with the cities below and smaller towns, before the south coast loomed into view, and they banked farther toward the west , heading out over the English Channel. 
As the miles rolled by, they were picked up by the carriers' air traffic control at last, and directed onto a heading to land.

Whatever Ariella had been expecting to see when she saw the carrier, it wasn't what was steaming below them now. Wake streaming to both sides, the vessel was anything but a conventional aircraft carrier. 
Arrowhead-shaped and sleek, the front section of the hull was split and opened aside into two clamshell-like covers, revealing a carrier landing/launch deck. To the rear was a raked-back sharks' fin-like shape of a conning tower/command tower. Visible beneath the water were further spread-out fins and hull-shapes of what was no ship, but instead a leviathan-like submarine, easily the equal in size of a much larger ship or carrier.
"Oh my," she said quietly to herself, even as the landing officer began talking them into the pattern. 

The approach was a lot more hair-raising and unique than other carriers - for a start, one had to approach the ship from the front, rather than the rear, which lead to the thought of what would happen if you missed - and indeed, she had to wave-off the first time around, intimidated and nervous. Boosting power, the Kfir behaved well and climbed away, before she steeled her will and managed to bump down the second time around, slammed forward against her straps and rapidly towed aside and dropped down an elevator to a below-deck hangar more cramped and low-ceilinged than any on another carrier. 
PA systems blared overhead in a constant chatter as the canopy motored open and the jets' ladder extended. Ground-crew swarmed to secure the aircraft and make it safe, while others readied themselves to receive the rest of the squadrons' aircraft.
Looking around as she unbuckled her straps and lines with the help of the crew, she caught sight of a V-22, stowed at the rear of the hangar along with a helicopter, and an [url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/37922/posts/ooc?page=11#post-1147470]F-14 Tomcat in splinter camouflage[/url], already tied down and with maintenance crew at work. 
Levering herself out of the Kfirs' seat, she climbed down, taking in the smell of heavy oil, fuel and other mechanical work, and waited for her squadron to arrive. The Tomcat evidently belonged to another member of the squadron; she quietly wondered where he - or she - had been delayed, and whether they'd seen action in the major thrust of the battle, rather than the diversionary assault that the squadron had dealt with - and whether he had any information and intelligence on their next heading.
Of course, all this in part was dwarfed by the realization that they were onboard a submarine, capable of acting as an aircraft carrier. The size - despite being somewhat cramped - was nonetheless astounding. What else was waiting to surprise them? She couldn't wait to find out.