Farther north, the two Airfield Bases outside Silverpeak were already active.
Both occupied wide stretches of cleared ground beyond the denser parts of the city.
A long runway cut through the center of each facility. Taxi lanes branched away from it toward the hangars on one side and the reinforced aircraft pads on the other.
Inside one of the Flight Operations Towers, the request from Southern Command appeared.
"Air support request received."
The Flight Controllers already had the coordinates.
Several Apaches were waiting on the reinforced pads.
Their rotors began turning almost together.
Farther away, Raptors moved out from the hangar section and onto the taxi lanes as Flight Operations assigned their launch order.
The Falcons remained where they were.
So did the two Phantoms.
This wasn't a transport mission, and nobody needed a strategic bomber over a firefight already surrounded by industrial buildings.
