Assault 3: Dark Trial and Revelation
After the coronation of the Twilight squadron, Alicia was saying goodbye to Frederick and Francine Lavitze, her father and mother. Just as they were about to depart the base, a voice behind her made the 2nd Lieutenant jump. An apologetic Günter stood behind her with a smile on his face.
"Sorry to startle you Lavitze. Are these your parents?" he waved to her mother and father as they came back after hearing his voice.
Frederick and Francine looked like they were more at ease around the battle grizzled commander than stiff and formal. She took note of that in her mind.
"Yes sir, they are. Haven't you met them yet?"
A negative sound escaped his throat before he stepped forward and shook hands with her father and nodded politely to her mother. He smiled broadly, his teeth shined in the dim light. Most of the families had left an hour before and the Lavitze family had stayed longer than anyone.
She was shocked to see the commander step back and salute her father, who returned it with a crisp formality only a military officer could perform. Her parents laughed lightly with her superior when they noticed her gaping stare. She blushed and mentally scolded herself for being caught.
"I'm sorry Alice," her father said, taking her in a brief fatherly hug. "I never told you, but Günter here was a good friend of ours during the last war."
Alicia was taken back. Her parents had never said anything about their involvement in the war. They had greatly disliked it, but they had never said that they had participated in it actively. To think that they knew the ace of the previous war was nearly impossible. Günter's voice broke the silence.
"I was very surprised to see the daughter of my former superiors to appear here at Fafnir under my supervision. It feels quite strange Major General Lavitze."
Alice could feel her mother behind her as she stumbled backwards. It was all too much for her mind. Her father had been a man of that high standing in the military ground forces?
"Yes, I suspected you would guess who she was once I discovered who her superior commander at Fafnir was. I too admit my shock in finding that you were assigned to Fafnir as a squadron commander. May I ask what made you come here to this snow cone of a base?" a smirk formed on their faces.
"You know as well as I do."
"I guess you're right. I never congratulated you on your promotions after the Bloody Ruby massacre though." Günter had a pained expression, not wanting to remember.
"Thank you, but I don't wish to recall that battle. We lost too many men and women in that pointless skirmish. That was the battle that convinced you to retire early and leave things to the younger soldiers like me and Vincent. I know your wife probably doesn't want to remember that either Lavitze."
Francine smiled and nodded her head. Frederick sighed heavily.
"Yes, that was tragic. But it was the turning point of the war. Please Reis, as a friend and fellow officer, teach Alicia what I couldn't."
The Asian pilot nodded solemnly as they shook hands again. Once Reis had turned and left the family, Alicia's parents said their final farewells and drove away, the red car leading them back to the airport for their flight back to United Isles of Northern America. She thought about what her father and Reis had said just before they parted ways.
'Teach her what I couldn't?'
Shaking her head to clear her mind, the pilot went back inside. The intercom crackled to life.
"Ghost Eagle squadron report to the briefing rooms immediately. Ghost Eagle squadron report to the briefing rooms."
The monotone female announcer recording ended with a click. Shrugging her shoulders, she continued to her room and opened the door. The room was slightly small, but comfortable. A plush couch sat against the side wall opposite a bunk bed with an oak desk set next to the window directly across from the door. A laptop computer was on the desk along with a lamp with shade and a small fire safe. The shower was running in their private side bathroom.
Her roommate had died during the firefight and Kim had been moved to share the room so she wouldn't get lonely. Tsuki had been transferred to one of the Ghost Eagle's female pilots to share a room. She had to admit that she was kind of jealous. Major Rachel's private room was large enough to fit five, and filled with all sorts of trinkets from around the world.
Alicia plopped onto the couch and turned the radio on. It only played FM stations, but she preferred the music broadcasts to information scandals any day. They were in the middle of her favorite song by a group called "The Revolutionaries" when the bath door slid open. Kim stepped out, an oversized towel was wrapped around her and the long chestnut hair was up in a ponytail, still wet. She smiled and walked behind a small privacy curtain as she changed. Alicia turned the radio down when the wall vibrated from a neighbors banging. Kim laughed.
"Looks like Luc is studying again, otherwise he wouldn't mind the music that loud."
The other CO pouted. Luc had been a book worm in his spare time. He could recall information he read nearly verbatim and at a glance could memorize lists of information. He was one of few people who had a photographic memory anymore.
"I guess so, but please! He needs to mellow out a little."
The two girls started talking about happier topics, their friends back home, childhood memories, and secret crushes. In the briefing room three floors above them, the conversations were anything but joyful.
"Flight Commander Reis Günter, you are charged with failing to responsibly deal with the protection of the Twilight squadron as of 53 hours ago at 01:30 hours. 2nd Lieutenant Joseph Avery was reported KIA during the raid of Fafnir Air Base during an air battle against unidentified intruders within Osea's airspace. Where were you during this time?" a military general sat behind a pulpit with a gavel.
The Ghost Eagle squad was struggling to keep its composure as their leading officer was on the stand. A civilian lawyer who Mr. Avery had brought back shortly after being kicked out of the base; had gone right up to Günter as he was entering the base and demanded a trial. The top brass didn't like the idea but had gone ahead with it anyway to appease Mr. Avery. They knew that his reputation would save him from any serious fines, but this still went down on the official records as a breach of conduct.
Most were infuriated and some hadn't shown up on purpose. Günter knew why and held his men in even higher regard because of it. They knew themselves too well and those who hadn't shown up would have beaten the lawyer and Mr. Avery up before the trial even got under way. In many ways, they were lessening the troubles he already had to go through; he thanked the heavens for them. Clearing his throat, his voice echoed off of the silent room's walls.
"As of 01:30 hours 53 hours ago, I was leading my men of the Ghost Eagles and the recruits making up the E-F-801st Twilight squadron through advanced combat maneuvering at location Delta-Tango 3 at altitude Angel 3 when Captain Marris of communications informed our squadrons of the air raid by the unknowns."
"After discussing our course of action with my second and third in command Lieutenant Colonels Eleanor and Vincent, we detached from the main force and proceeded back to base to confront the enemy forces. I left leaving fifteen pilots of the G.E. squadron to protect the Twilights with explicit instructions to increase altitude and protect the CO's if any bandits made their way to their area of operations."
The lawyer took his opportunity.
"So you left the squadrons, effectively abandoning them to . . ."
"Objection General! The Ghost Eagles are an elite fighting force. They were not abandoned and would not have been left if they were not thought capable of standing on their own!"
The general, an older gentleman in his late fifties, held up a hand to quiet the defense. He looked sternly at the lawyer.
"Sustained Corporal. Rephrase your statement or don't say it at all Mr. Landers."
He frowned at the situation he was in. Here was a hero of one of the bloodiest conflicts in history under trial because one dumb ass civilian can't understand the simplest aspect of war . . . death no matter who or what you were. He had known the oriental fighter pilot since his training days and had kept in light contact with him over the years and knew just how much the man cared for his fellow soldiers.
He was suffering enough with his own squadron's losses without the new recruits deaths.
"Yes sir. To skip ahead, this voice recording was found and has proof of your lack of leadership . . ."
Every last one of the military members perked up, and Reis wasn't happy.
"Hold on a damn minute!" his fists slamming into the podium, scaring the lawyer and all of the civilians in attendance as his eyes seemed to light with a demonic fire.
"A voice recording?! That tears it! General McCallister; arrest these men for trying to fraud me!"
Three guards had restrained Günter, but made no attempt to stop his words, for they rang true. Mrs. Avery had paled as she realized just what her husband had tried to do. She jerked away from him like the plague. McCallister was at a loss for words. It was inconceivable that a civilian had the gall to try and fraud a soldier of such high standing.
What made it even more sickening though; was the sheer stupidity of both men to say that they had military hardware to prove their accusations when civilians were not allowed under any circumstances to handle such items, much less identify what they were from wreckage. Such items were military secrets known only by the industries that made them and the crews that worked on them. He understood every bit of Günter's fury and felt the same.
Yet he was passive in his approaches to Günter's proactive one. The same anger and fury mixed with shame and pity shined in every military personnel in the room. Knowing he had to alleviate some of the emotions and calm an infuriated commander down, he stood up and slammed the gavel down hard several times to quiet the room.
"Guards, remove these two men from my presence. Flight Commander Günter, I want you to leave as well." He paused a moment. "In separate room from those two for the obvious reasons."
Some of the military personnel, who knew Günter's habits, chuckled despite the dour atmosphere. After the selected people had been removed from the makeshift courtroom, the general turned to the civilians in the room. Faces ranging from confusion to disdain met his gaze. The old soldier sighed.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I would explain to you now the reasons for Commander Günter's anger and why I have removed those men from this room."
He leaned back in the chair that had been provided for him.
"Military hardware, whether it be a piece of sheet metal or a nuclear warhead for example is not to be touched, or more appropriately; handled by non-military personnel for safety and confidentiality. Had a member of this base brought the item as evidence that would have been perfectly just. However, the tragedy which occurred two days ago happened over the Celsius Straights. I do not think I need to go over just how cold those waters get at this time of year."
Nods went around the room from everyone there. The Celsius Straights had received its name due to the location on the globe; which lied above the 45 degree axis lying within the sub-zero climate of the Artic Circle. The sea floor below the freezing waters was nearly a mile down, too far for any normal craft to handle. McCallister continued steadily.
"Know that if he really did find this before it sunk below the surface, what could he have been doing their to begin with? He surely would have heard and definitely seen the battle overhead and seen the chaos that goes with war. That in and of itself would render this case pointless and a waste of your good time."
The crowd began to murmur their agreement with the superior officer. They had been dragged away from warm homes and loving families for this? So one man could try and flaunt his 'power'? One man stood up.
"I understand and see where this is heading sir. I think I mean well to say that we all do." He spoke looking around for confirmation which was generously being given. "We wish to leave Mr. Günter a message giving him our support and apologies that he had to go through this. May we leave now? Our families are waiting in your base's main lounge."
The general nodded and watched as the crowd filed out of the room before calling Mr. Avery, Mr. Landers, and Günter back into the room. Mrs. Avery sat silently, her pale features worrying some of those left in the room. It looked like she would faint at any given moment. Eleanor walked to her and offered to help her out of the room. She gratefully accepted and leaned heavily upon the younger woman for support. As they walked past Günter, he stopped the two, whispered something to Eleanor and bowed deeply to the older woman before they left. He felt sorrow for the woman for the loss of her son and now possibly much more. The general stayed silent for a minute before he spoke; weighing every word carefully.
"Brigadier General Reis Günter of the 777th Tactical Fighter Wing." the grizzled the Major General began.
Worried looks went around the room from all the military personnel. McCallister had just used Günter's Air Force rank in Osea. The asian's eyes narrowed wickedly awaiting the sentence. He chuckled lightly, unnerving the two civilians. They had known how charismatic he was, but had never known just how powerful he was in the official military world.
The Air Force's NATO ranking placed the rank of Brigadier General four ranks away from being in charge of the whole armed air forces for a country. No one knew that he had served in the Air Force while rising as high as he had.
Already such a high ranking officer at the age of thirty-nine, most people would scoff and mock the military decisions about such a young General. No one in the non-military circles knew just how much Günter had been through in the last war and even more undercover operations. Most missions had been so filled with death and loss that he had earned a nickname which only the most privy to information would ever discover, and he wasn't about to start making it known.
He dared to venture that until now, no one in the room except McCallister himself knew just how high he had risen in the rankings.
The two frauds found themselves between hell and worse looking into the eyes of not a man, but a monster. Behind the deep brown irises of the leader of the Ghost Eagle squadron laid a dark and foreboding fire that was insatiable and untamed by any man. What they didn't see after the sentence had been passed was the disappointed sadness toward two men who couldn't accept a simple truth.
He walked up to the make shift podium as McCallister came down. Shaking hands, Günter couldn't help but voice his suspicions.
"General, I have a question that must be answered out of good interest for this base and possibly the security of Osea itself." The old man nodded, waiting for his junior to continue.
"If they really did find a voice recorder that was legitimate, it makes me wonder just how they got their hands on it. It disturbs me to think that such a prominent squadron from the Yuktobanian forces would attack unprovoked. A darker plot is stirring and I'd like permission to investigate and possibly stop it before it spreads too far and we have another Intercontinental war."
A chill ran down everyone's neck. Günter had a knack for thinking far ahead to prevent as much blood shed in a battle as possible while still coming out with all mission objectives completed. Some people said that he thought too deep while others said that he could do better and think even further. This new revelation was frightening and unfortunately a very real situation.
A grim silence covered the room as McCallister nodded and Reis Günter left the room with a firm resolve in his eyes once again. The truth had to be found before all hell broke loose.
