There was a knock on my door at 5 a.m.

I was awake by then, and so was Cipher. Being Belkans, we are used to waking up early. (Is Cipher a Belkan though? Considering Nostrand was destroyed by Belka, I figured that that means he's technically a Belkan. Especially since Nostrand had been a part of Belka before it separated itself. But I'm sure he wouldn't appreciate it if I called him one.) I think amongst everyone in this base, only the Oseans woke up after 6 a.m. But being woken up at 5? Something must be wrong.

"Come in!" Cipher said. Not too loud to wake up our neighbours, but at least enough so the guy (or girl) outside would be able to hear him.

The door was wrenched open and a head poked in.

It was Viktor Malkin.

"Pixy, Cipher," he said, smiling. "Briefing in fifteen. Don't be late."

I nodded. "We'll be there, Malkin. Thanks."

"No problem."

As soon as he was out, I began swearing. "Fuck. Something's wrong."

"You tell me," Cipher said, shrugging. "Come on. Let's get to the briefing room before Commander decides it's not too early to slice someone's head off."

_X_

We were, apparently, right on time, seeing as briefing started almost as soon as we were through the door.

"Listen up, people! Our intelligence just recently discovered enemy movement near Hoffnung. They suspect that something's going to go down there."

Something's about to go down? In Hoffnung? It didn't seem right. Hoffnung was an industrial city. The worst thing they could do was...

...manufacture weaponry.

Shit.

"They said that Belka is preparing a superweapon," Ovechkin continued. He pulled up a few pictures of Hoffnung and a map of the general area. I noticed that it was probably recently updated. The city seemed larger than it was when I last visited it. Of course, it was a good few years ago. Anything could happen. "Something deadly enough that can probably turn the tide of war against us."

He clasped his hands together, grinning at the room. "Now, who wants to volunteer for a recon mission?"

You've got to be kidding me.

"Whoever is going there will need to stay under radar if they hope to reach Hoffnung in one piece," Ovechkin continued. As if what he'd just said wasn't enough to probably make some of us shit our pants. Literally, he just asked if anyone wanted to volunteer to go to a city where a superweapon was probably being created in secrecy. Anyone approaching it would be shot dead. Belka would do anything to protect their secret. To get close enough to get pictures? Insanity. "From there, you'll take pictures of the place to see if we can get an idea on what this weapon might be. At the same time, there will be a team on the ground who will try to hack into the systems. The pilot, while flying and taking photos, will be the distraction necessary for the hacker to do their job and retrieve the data. You will go tonight, at 1900 sharp."

Well, at least they used a hacker. Whoever the pilot would be, they wouldn't have to stay still so the picture wouldn't be blurry. Staying still in the middle of an area jam-packed with AAs would be suicide.

"Now. Any takers?"

I looked around. No one from Halo Squadron raised their hands. I saw Cipher shoot a questioning look at me. I nodded. I would want to take the mission. It seemed challenging. That's what us mercenaries were supposed to do, right? Do crazy, daredevil things? Even if we didn't make it in the end, it would still be awesome. Not a shabby way to die.

"We'll take it."

It wasn't Cipher. I looked to the two people at the very front of the room and recognized them instantly. It was the Green Freaks.

"Thank you," Ovechkin grinned at them. He flicked a switch, and the lights turned back on. "And that about sums it up. Get moving, people."

Well, if the Green Freaks wanted to take the suicide mission, who were we to challenge them?

_X_

"Man, those assholes are dead," Rowdy laughed. He took a few cards from the pile on the table, courtesy of Scarlet's +2 attack cards. "I mean, Hoffnung? Just one look at the map, I know the place's loaded with flaks and SAMs. They're crazy if they think they can take it with just the two of them."

"Don't forget the air strip just outside the city." Lance changed the TV's channel for the fifth time in the last minute. The running cartoon mouse was instantly replaced with a hockey game. I tried to watch it, but the grainy quality of the shitty TV made it impossible for me to see what's happening. The puck was as good as invisible. "There are gonna be Belkan fighters. I guarantee that."

Beside me, Robin took another bite out of his doughnut. I could see some of the chocolate cream rubbed off against the cards. "Well, they're big boys. They can make their own decisions and deal with it."

He had a point. But still... assholes or not, we should help them. Somehow, some way. "Shouldn't we at least stand-by somewhere near them?" I asked the group. I saw Rowdy look at me, clearly unhappy, but I didn't care. "It's not right. You said it yourselves. It's a suicide mission. And they're crazy to do it with just the two of them. If we're ready to help them at any time, at least when shit hits the fan, we probably don't have to bury two more pilots."

Pilots. That's what we were. Brothers in the skies. No matter how we hated each other on the ground, we should always leave it there and get ready to help them in the skies ASAP.

Of course, that depends on the fact of whether or not you're on the same sides of the war.

"Such a good-mannered honorable Belkan," Scarlet laughed. She took a swig of her beer, wincing a bit at the taste before continuing. "But you forgot one fact, Larry. Their aircrafts are stealth. You said it yourself when you told us about that run-in on their first day. If anybody can go through that place alive, it's them."

The others seemed to agree. I was about to argue, but then I saw Cipher looking towards me. I looked back. If I hadn't, I would probably miss the small nod he gave me, smiling as he did so.

He agreed with my plan.

_X_

As per usual, I had lunch in the mess with Halo Squadron and Cipher. I kept looking at Cipher. So far, I hadn't had the time to talk to him and discuss our plan. Our plan, which included us trying to go unnoticed as we follow two guys on a recon mission as close as possible without blowing the whole mission up to high heaven.

Yup. We're definitely crazy.

"Since we practically have nothing to do," Scarlet said as soon as we were sat down on the table, "why don't we go out? We've been trapped in this place for a while, might as well we go out and have fun."

"Great idea," Robin agreed. He swatted Rowdy's hand away from where he was about to swipe his doughnut. "I heard the good café in town has reopened, thanks to some smuggled goods from Osea. Great chance to finally get some decent coffee."

I shot a look at Cipher, and he shrugged in response, smiling. He looked towards Robin. "Well, you guys go ahead. I think I'm gonna stay behind."

"But why?" Rowdy whined. I noticed his hand sneaking in to snatch a sandwich from Cipher's plate, but he didn't seem to pay any attention to it. "Such a party pooper. No one says you can't get off base and have some fun."

"Actually, I've been specifically told to stay by Commander Ovechkin," he said, taking a sip of his coffee and grimacing. "I'd love to get something other than this shitty coffee, but hey, orders are orders."

Scarlet nodded. "Understandable," she said. She then pointed to me. "But you are going with us, aren't you?"

I knew I wouldn't. Not when I had to make sure those Green Freaks wouldn't be dead by tomorrow. "You know what? I think I'm gonna stay behind and make sure Cipher gets the ground training he needs." I grinned, winking at my flight leader. "Gotta make sure the whole fiasco in Arlon never happens again."

Cipher glared at me. "No need to be rude. Sure, I'm not good, but I'm not that bad, either."

"I beg to differ," Rowdy said. "You were awful."

"This coming from the guy who couldn't take down a Belkan bomber." Cipher moved to grab the sandwich that was on his plate...

...only to realize that it was no longer there.

"Hey! Where did my sandwich go?" He looked on the floor behind him. When he couldn't find it there, he looked under the table. "I swear I grabbed one... Where did it go?"

"Rowdy ate it," I told him simply. He immediately looked up, glaring daggers at me. "What? It was your problem, not mine."

"Snitch," Rowdy whispered-shout. I just shrugged. I was more paying attention to Cipher. Who, if I wasn't mistaken, was getting ready to instigate a food fight by throwing some of Scarlet's chips at Rowdy.

Not fucking again.

As soon as Cipher's hand got anywhere close to the chips, though, Scarlet batted it away. "Hey! Choose your own ammo!" She pulled the plate closer to her, not unlike a dragon with their hoard of gold.

And was Cipher actually pouting? "But Rowdy took my sandwich! I don't have any ammo!"

Thank Force for Rowdy's bottomless pit and lack of understanding concerning personal space. "Then that means you should not throw things at people, especially food." Cipher glared at me, and I knew why. I might have sounded a bit like I was scolding a child. Which probably wasn't too far from the truth, and he really didn't appreciate it. But can you blame me? I was not looking forward to getting caught in a food fight by Commander Ovechkin. The man was scary enough when he wasn't pissed.

_X_

I looked on as Robin's car drove away with two passengers waving out the window at us. I wished I could go with them, but it wasn't like I could leave Cipher hanging. It would feel like I was abandoning Blackhawk.

Force, I missed him.

If I squinted, I knew I could see the lumps on the hill near the one Valais was stationed on. The lumps, barely visible against the bright sun and blurred by the distance between us. Still, I knew what they were.

I knew exactly what they were.

They were the gravestones of... well, everyone that used to work in Valais. People who used to work here, but didn't anymore since they were dead.

Dead.

Just like the Green Freaks would be in a few hours if we chose to not do anything.

Just like any of us could've been, at any given moment.

Sometimes, I hated this job. Sure, I loved flying, and there wouldn't be a chance for me to do that without war. Mercenary, remember?

But was this whole killing thing really necessary?