Lotus Squadron were back in the air doing a final sweep of the area before the naval operation could begin. They were tired after the major air battle they had fought just days prior, some of the debris still present on the ocean below. They knew they would probably be involved in the naval operation as well, but they still had to finish this sweep.

Everyone's Su-30MK2s had held up well over the last few days, with only minor glitches in the OPL code that could be corrected or bypassed mid-flight and the same was expected for the rest of the operation, but they were prepared in case bigger problems with the code popped up.

A small flight popped up on Tuân's IRST display, a pair of WZ-7 reconnaissance drones. Tuân expected that reinforcements would arrive once they shoot down the drones, but they couldn't leave the drones in the air. If Lotus left them up, they could locate the fleet and provide target coordinates for Chinese anti ship missiles. They had to shoot them down.

"Alright Lotus. We need to take out these drones. We leave them up and they can cause big problems for the fleet. Be ready for J-15s once they're shot down." Tuân said as his WSO attempted to obtain a weapons grade radar lock, but the radar couldn't obtain it. "Well, can't get a radar lock. Lotus 2, 3 and 4 switch to IRST. Everyone else, you're on CAP duty. Keep your radars on. This might get spicy." Tuân said as he switched his weapons to his R-27ETs.

Based on intelligence reports, if weapons grade radar locks couldn't be obtained on the WZ-7, they would have to use one of two available Fox 2s, the R-27ET and the R-73. But because of the seeker onboard the R-27ET, the missile would have to get much closer to the WZ-7 to be able to track the drone compared to the R-73, but it's still better for stealth attacks considering the R-73s much shorter flight distance.

Tuân and Lotus 2 moved towards the WZ-7 to the north, attempting to get behind it without being detected, while 3 and 4 moved south to engage the second. The rest of Lotus Squadron knew the drill and assigned themselves to different sectors as needed. Lotus Squadron had such a large search range on their radars and IRST that they operate even without an AWACS, although AWACS was still superior, especially when they finally get around to enhancing an AWACS with OPL.

It took Tuân getting within 90km for to get a weapons grade IR lock on the WZ-7 because of the measures the Chinese took in reducing the IR signature, but OPL had an answer for that. "Lotus 1, Fox 2!" Tuân called over the radio as he launched the R-27ET. The missile would still need to get close to begin tracking the drone, but it would get there.

Shortly after, the same call for a Fox 2 being fired came from Lotus 3. Now it was just a waiting game for the missiles to hit. Luckily, the R-27ET's seeker was passive, so the drone and by extension wouldn't get an alert warning until impact. Eventually, Tuân's missile impacted the WZ-7 and dropped off the IRST display. "Lotus 1, target down." Tuân called over the radio.

Then a call came over the radio from Lotus 6. Four J-15s inbound from the north-east. Lotus 1 and 2 switched their radars on and started tracking the J-15s. Most of Lotus Squadron readied their RVV-AEs, enhanced with OPL to have a more comparable range to the SD variant. As the J-15s grew closer, they unwittingly moved within range of a weapons grade lock from a beam aspect. "Lotus 1, Fox 3!" Tuân said shortly after launching an RVV-AE. Lotus 2, 5 and 6 followed suit with their own Fox 3s.

A call shortly came over the radio that Lotus 3's Fox 2 had hit the remaining WZ-7. Now all that was left was to handle the support. Luckily, OPL allowed the active radar on board the RVV-AE to activate sooner, meaning Lotus didn't need to maintain the lock for very long. After half a minute, the missiles began guiding themselves, but there was a problem. The OPL stealth shielding provided by the OPL had failed on two of the RVV-AEs, alerting the J-15s to the incoming missiles. The two began attempting to evade and popping chaff everywhere in an attempt to shake off the missiles. The other two also begun to evade, but didn't pop as much chaff. The missiles were more resistant to chaff, but not completely immune. One of the missiles hit and took down its intended target, but the other one didn't.

Lotus 1's missile hit the J-15 and the resulting explosion ripped off one of the wings, causing it to fall out of the sky, hurtling towards the ocean below. "Lotus 1, target down." Tuân confirmed over the radio. Lotus 2's missile however didn't hit, as the J-15 had managed to do enough to evade the missile. There were still two J-15s left and that's if they didn't call for reinforcements.

Tuân and Lotus 2 had already begun to close in on the remaining J-15s, with Lotus 3 and 4 coming in to support from the south. Tuân got within range of his R-73s, obtained a lock and called "Lotus 1, Fox 2!" over the radio as he launched an R-73. Lotus 2 followed up with his own R-73.

Despite both J-15s best efforts with both evasive maneuvers and flares, both missiles scored hits and destroyed both aircraft.

As Tuân flew over where the J-15s previously were, he saw the parachutes of the Chinese pilots who had managed to eject. He knew they would be fine. After continuing to loiter over the area for about ten more minutes, no additional contacts popped up on radar.

"Alright, good work Lotus Squadron. RTB." Tuân said over the radio and Lotus left the AO.