Elena gazed at the planes as she intoned the oath, her mind whirling with the information the Major had imparted to them. The aircraft were old and in need of repair, even Elena could tell that. She could be standing at an aviation museum looking at Great War relics instead of on an active flight line looking at the aircraft she and her fellow pilots would be in. These machines would likely carry them to their deaths.<br/><br/>Yet, at the same time, this was the path to raining death down on the fascists. When she heard Yelena speak of her dead brothers and her father at home, Elena's heart had given a tug; their stories were very similar.<br/><br/><em>Fine</em>, she thought, her eyes tracing over the rickety aircraft before her as the air filled with their voices.<em>I will do what it takes to kill the fascists. I would pilot a bicycle made of sticks if it meant spilling their blood.</em><br/><br/>As they neared the end of the oath, Elena's voice rose in pitch, speaking louder, more fiercely, "...sparing neither my blood nor my life itself for the achievement of total victory over our enemies."