Miyoshi listened carefully as Ariella briefed the squadron on their next mission. [i]A recon mission, hmm?[/i] she thought as the Colonel began. [i]Excalibur Six was mainly recon, wasn't he?[/i] Alas, as the flight lead touched on the significant loss in numbers, she realized as she took a quick glance around the room that they were down to just five aircraft. [i]We had at least a dozen back in Scotland, didn't we...?[/i] she thought. [i]Surely the reassignments couldn't have been that extensive...I mean they need us at full strength, don't they?[/i] Mentally shrugging at the decisions of their superiors, she kept listening, noticing distinctly that she was no longer Excalibur Five - she was now the primary wingman.

She continued listening as her flight lead explained the gravity of the situation - this would be no cakewalk...not that the last sortie was. Summing up the situation in her head, she made some conclusions.

1) It was time to put her MiG-25PDX's promises of increased low-altitude usefulness, stability and speed to the test.

2) Should her and Excalibur One's cover be challenged, the Foxbat's dogfighting capability would also be tested. This was a mission that would thoroughly wring out her aircraft.

3) She hoped taking off from the [i]Nimue[/i] would be easier than landing on it.

Not having any real questions to ask, she made a little motivational comment to fill the silence after the Colonel's call for response.

[b]"I look forward to the debriefing,"[/b] she said with a little smile.

Was she as confident as she made out to be? Well...yes. She was in the presence of four highly trained and highly skilled pilots, and was one herself. Would she be more confident if there were more of them and they had more up-to-date aircraft? Perhaps, but their restomods had proven their worth so far.