Ariella raised an eyebrow at Everett and Zola's banter. "You two won't have to be low and slow - I think you missed the briefing. [i]You're[/i] doing all the ground attacks, since that's what your Fencer is built for, and it can carry so much. I'd say count yourselves lucky, but..." she left the sentence hanging, and grinned. "It's up to Swift and Musket to take all the pretty pictures so the Navy knows where to point all of its' guns. Halo and I have the glorious duty of covering all of your butts while you do your bit." 
As Zola excused herself, the Israeli pilot returned the salute. The rest of the pilots began to get to the business of mission prep, leaving her to do the same. Like them, she looked up her charts and marked off the vital reference points for their run in, sharing her data with the others, before heading to the quartermaster to draw her survival vest, G-suit and other paraphernalia of fast-jet piloting. 
Strapping into all the kit took a reasonable amount of time, and she made sure she'd hit the head before zipping into her 'speed jeans' and the heavy vest. As with all experienced pilots, she had a few of her own additions to the kit; a few minor personal survival items that could potentially come in handy. Given that they were flying over hostile territory as well, she was also provided with a sidearm and ammunition - although, should she get shot down, the thought of using it would be least in her mind. Escape and evasion was far more likely to be useful. 
Most of the ninety minutes had gone by after she'd taken care of all of her business, and she was ready to walk out to the hangar by this point. Another siren announced the deceleration from Supercavitation speed, which was - thankfully - much smoother than the initial head-splitting acceleration, and was marked only be a series of moderate tremors and vibrations as the submarine slowed. 
Making her way into the hangar, the pilot was surprised to see that the flight crews had managed to rearrange all of their aircraft as they'd armed and fuelled them. Every plane was ready for takeoff, and had been cleaned and whatever minor maintenance needed had been performed. All ground equipment was stowed, or in the process of being stowed, with only tow-carts and APU's around, whining their ear-splitting song as the engines of the planes were given initial power. The crew chief aimed a thumbs-up to her, and she returned one.
"Go do us proud!" he yelled and she nodded and gave a flashing smile back. "Sure thing, chief! We've got a lot of payback to chalk up before the books are balanced!"
Mounting the retractable ladder built into the Kfir, she settled into the cockpit and strapped in with some assistance, before accepting her helmet, handed to her by a crewman. A check of her watch showed time was up, and the mission was due to go. 
A rumble sounded through the [i]Nimue,[/i] and was promptly accompanied by a call over the PA by the captain for all crew to assume stations for surfaced ops, and for launch of aircraft. 
The mission was about ready to go, and she felt excitement build, as the groundcrew shut panels and hatches on the planes, removed warning covers and tags, and the tow-tractor hooked up to her jet, and pulled it to the elevator. The canopy came down as the hydraulic platform lifted her to the launch deck. As the Kfir reached the end of the launching deck, the ceiling above her head split into two clamshell halves, and retracted down to either side, exposing the blue skies of a late Mediterranean afternoon. 
Kalaxons sounded, and the tow tractor heaved the Kfir forward, hooking the nose gear up to the catapult bar. She went through the procedure taught a dozen, dozen times over in the training base for carrier launch, and practiced an even dozen more on an actual carrier in the atlantic. Throttles, instruments, checking outside the cockpit, engines, instruments-
She was as ready she was ever going to be. Then the light flash green, and someone yanked her hard from behind, as the Kfir with her aboard was slammed off the bow of the [i]Nimue[/i] by the electromagnetic catapult. Back pressure on the stick, and the ocean fell away.
"Lioness, Excalibur One - Launch is good, and I'm taking up the hold pattern. Excalibur Squadron, let's get this party started".