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Being a squadron officially affiliated with the Vietnamese Air Force meant that they did not fall under the category of 'volunteer fighters' and received orders from the Vietnamese instead of the Philippine's Armed Forces, but knowing that they were in Lingayen meant that these brass often communicated between one another, so it's not like they were just acting on their own. But unlike the volunteers, they didn't get to have a break. They headed north to the new Chinese landing sites to help the barely functional air defences there to deal with any bombing attempts by the Chinese Air Force. However, it looked like the PLA went all out with their attack on Lingayen, and promptly lost their precious A-ranks there, thus their attacks on the northern provinces were much more sheepish. 

"The activities of the Chinese Air Force appeared to have diminished greatly since our sortie the previous night. It should be easily handled by the local air defences." The captain, who had been grounded the last couple of days waiting for repairs, said to a room full of pilots in their dull green flight uniform. 

"Looks like we scarred them for life." One pilot gave an amused smirk. 

"Feels like they're restructuring how they actually conduct their sorties, because otherwise they'd just be food." Thu said, crossing her arms. "I doubt they'd have issues resupplying planes from the mainland."

"Our presence is a pretty effective deterrence." Tuan signed off his projector as it powered down. "In any case, we will have some breathing room for probably a couple of days." 

Everybody's ears perked up at that. 

[color=ed1c24]"Oh? Can we chill now?"[/color] The Russian-blooded pilot said.

Tuan sighed amusingly before returning Nikolay's question, and likely what everybody had on their mind. "Yeah, good work." 

"Alright!" The room burst into celebration, for finally they had been able to enjoy the fruits of their hard labour for the last couple of days. 

"Make sure to rest up well and don't celebrate too hard. I don't want to hear this ace squadron being brought out by some cafe bar in an alleyway at 10 PM." The captain reminded, glancing at Nikolay, whom in turn smirked proudly. 

[color=7bcdc8]"Oh yeah, Thu, Van, you both got your fifth kills today right?"[/color] Cuong asked, who's been sitting calmly in his chair for the entirety of the debriefing.

"Seventh. But yeah we're all aces now." Thu replied, and her co-pilot simply nodded along. 

[color=ed1c24]"Oh awesome."[/color] Nikolay stepped up and put a hand on his co-pilot's shoulder as he looked over to the two ladies. [color=ed1c24]"Wanna head into the city for some celebratory meal?"[/color] 

"Oh, if you're going to the city, carry sidearms with you." The captain overheard the discussion. "The locals would probably welcome you with open arms, but there might be some dumb pigs who think we're Chinese. I heard they're looting and beating up Chinese-lookalikes."

The individuals in the room glanced at one another at that, but ultimately shrugged, once they were reminded of how stupid people could be in a crowd. They had first-hand experience with that as well, but hopefully they would not have to deal with that.

Down the streets of Lingayen, it was rather bustling with activities, though it was in no way festive. In fact a common sight some of the pilots who decided to venture into the city saw would be soldiers, mostly Filipinos, but they did notice some weird uniforms here and there, probably belonging to those volunteers that helped at the Lingayen initial battle. To the citizens, they'd notice a couple of dull green combat uniforms strolling down the road, looking around the local businesses and going windows shopping. Unless in closer inspections, people who were unaware would assume they were in the Philippine Armed Forces, and would likely ignore them for the better.