The scattered flyers continued pushing north.
Even after the missile strikes.
Even after losing several of their own mid-air.
"They're not retreating," Falcon Two reported, his voice steady but tighter now. "Targets still inbound."
Inside the cockpit of the F-35, the pilot's helmet display tracked multiple moving signatures across the dark sky. Red targeting diamonds shifted constantly as the flyers split into smaller groups, forcing the aircraft systems to continuously recalculate trajectories.
Falcon One adjusted his angle slightly, banking left as the aircraft cut through the air at high speed. The city lights below blurred beneath him, distorted by altitude and velocity.
"Command, hostiles are adapting," he reported. "They're breaking formation and going terrain masking."
