"How much longer you think we'll have to wait?"
"Depends."
"On what?"
"On the higher ups. They're not sure if they even want to do it."
"Why wouldn't they be sure?"
"Because none of the northern continents have ever bothered us. They don't know we exist. They think this entire continent is a nuclear wasteland." In the doorway of a darkened hangar staring out at the blazing sunset on the ocean horizon, a pilot inhaled a deep puff from his cigarette.
"Goes to show you how far ahead of them we are." Two other pilots sat with the first, one with a lieutenant colonel insignia identical to the first pilot's, the other with the five downward bars and star of a technical sergeant.
"Wouldn't one of the countries have at least sent someone to investigate? A drone?" asked the lesser soldier. The first pilot looked back at the tech sergeant, who was seated on an overturned oil barrel.
"It's not as simple as that. Nuclear fallout leaves radiation. Radiation kills people. Radiation blocks almost all transmission waves. Including the ones that their drones send." The tech sergeant then looked over at the second lieutenant colonel pilot, who was leaning against the doorway, arms folded across his chest.
"Pireau." The first pilot looked back at the tech sergeant.
"Hm?"
"What's with your friend?"
"What, Dalarus? He never talks much. But he does when he has too." replied Pireau, taking another puff from his cigarette.
"So how do you two communicate when you're up there?" asked the tech, nodding his head in the direction of the sky.
"It's like I said," replied Pireau. "He talks when he has too."
Taking one last puff from his cigarette, Pireau exhaled a large cloud of smoke before flicking the cigarette away from the hangar into the grass outside, turning from the sunset and strolling casually back into the hangar, hands stuffed inside of his flight suit pockets. The other two remained in the doorway for another few minutes before the young tech sergeant rose from his seat, picking up the overturned barrel and rolling it at an angle back into its position with the rest of the empty barrels next to the open doorway.
He gave Dalarus a quick pat on the shoulder in farewell before also walking back into the darkened hangar. By the time Dalarus had pushed away from the hangar doorway and strode back into the hangar, the sun had completely disappeared, replaced by the twinkling northern stars.
It was the next day. Pireau had stretched out on one of the grass sections of the airfield, gazing directly up into the skies as a 3 plane squadron of F-16 Fighting Falcons ran through training exercises. Barrel rolls, loops, and spiral drops left contrails spanning across the giant blue ceiling, the thunder of the engines fading in and out as they moved farther out over the ocean their air base bordered, then back in directly over the base.
Dalarus was there with him, sitting on top of an old ammunition crate he had dragged out from their barracks, binoculars pressed against his eyes as he followed the training exercises now taking place a mile or two out to sea. The young tech sergeant was with them as well, sitting cross-legged a few feet in front of the two pilots, staring out to sea to watch the planes while he disassembled and reassembled his Five-seveN Tactical pistol, without giving any thought to whether or not he was doing it right.
"It would have been cool to be a pilot." sighed the tech sergeant, shoving the slide of his pistol back into place as he finished reassembling it for what he thought was about the third time.
"You could have been. You must have like 20:15 vision if you can see those planes all the way out there."
"Yeah, well, college wasn't in the cards." They stopped talking for a moment as the planes moved back over the air base, the thunder rattling their ears as they practiced basic dog fighting maneuvers.
"Money?"
"Nah. Grades."
"Ah." The conversation paused again, their interest going more towards the 3 planes that were becoming more and more furious with each roll and dive. The tech had dropped his firing pin on the towel he was sitting on 3 times now, till he finally looked down to slide it into place and finish reassembling his pistol before he sat it to the side to continue watching the planes.
"I heard from that master sergeant running the ammo depot that we're supposed to be shipping out soon."
"Probably a load of bullshit. He might be right, but it's highly unlikely he heard something before we did." Pireau paused to readjust his hands behind his head.
"Do you even want to fight?" Pireau leaned his head up to look at the tech.
"It's like we don't even know each other, Tennir."
"Ladies and gentlemen of the Independent Republic of Circulari, I am President Edward Delaney. Tonight, I have an important announcement to make to the entire country, but first, I have a couple of words of explanation. Throughout the 500 years the Independent Republic of Circulari has existed, we have kept our existence a secret. We have hidden our communications signals, masked our heat and electronic signatures, and kept all military movements and tests a secret from the northern eyes. We have observed as they wage wars against each other, detonating nuclear bombs on their own lands while murdering millions with super weapons of every kind. They find brief periods of peace, only to launch into another meaningless war within years. Their so called democracies no longer have any meaning. They have only military might, and warmongers to drive the war. And I look at ourselves, as a country on the whole, and I see what only few of their people desire. True peace. We fight no wars against ourselves. We do not incase ourselves in ice tombs of nuclear radiation. We have never found a reason to fight. But I'm afraid that, now, we have found a reason to fight."
As Pireau, Dalarus, and Tennir, along with the rest of the air base crew huddled around the lone television in the recreation room, the president paused, wiping a wisp of his thin, wavy gray hair from in front of his eyes before he continued.
"One day, the countries to the north will destroy this planet with their barbaric antics. And in order to prevent the destruction of this planet, we must fight fire with fire. So, as of today, to each citizen of Circulari, I formally announce that the entire Circularian military forces will, in a joint strike, launch a full offensive against the Osean, Usean, and Verusian continents."