March 12th, 2012

Glubina, Yuktobania

Trekking over the frozen alpine regions of the Yuktobanian mainland, retired Captain Alex Williams inhaled and exhaled constantly as he went on. Alex checked a console that he held in his hands. A GPS system. He was getting close to his destination.

Alex hiked up and down a few hills before he found it. A prisoner-of-war camp. A retired one, anyway. After the Circum-Pacific War it had been decommissioned, no need for a place to hold captured Oseans. Alex walked down the hill from where he had seen the camp and physically entered it. The harsh weather had not done the place any good. Most of the buildings were covered in snow. Some had collapsed, probably from a combination of battle damage and the weather wearing down the supports. Alex shook his head as he passed by some of the prisoner buildings.

He explored for a while. He went through the buildings that weren't caved in. In the main control room, he found uniforms and gear with skeletons in them, both Osean marines and Yuktobanian Army soldiers. They still had weapons. Alex picked up the M4 from one of them and unloaded the magazine. It still had bullets in it.

Alex dropped the M4 and left the camp, heading north. There was one more thing he wanted to see before he headed back to Cinigrad and back to Osea. It didn't take him long to find. In the side of a hill a few kilometres away from the POW camp, Alex found the broken fuselage of an Su-35. It was an Osean aircraft based on the paint scheme it had. He knew exactly who it belonged to. Alex made his way over to the cockpit. Most of it was covered in snow, but with half an hour's work and an E-tool, he unburied it. For an aircraft that had been shot down, it was surprisingly intact. On the lip of the canopy was a name.

Cpt K. Nagase

'Edge'

'Glad we got you out of here.' Alex said despite being alone.

July 24th, 2019

Zapland, Usea

Alex raised the canopy of his Su-33 and stepped out. He had just returned from an air patrol and was now swapping over to the next few people on the list.

'Anything?' From the hangar doors called Grimm. Alex shook his head.

'Clear skies all around.' He replied, walking to the crew ready room.

Oured, Osea

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Spring Sea, in another continent, Tyler Keith sat in a cheap river-side cafe seat while waiting for a contact to meet him there. He was in civilian clothes.

'Gotta say, I wasn't expecting to be called in by the spooks.' A man said from somewhere behind Tyler. He didn't turn around, waiting for said man to take a seat.

'You're giving me too much credit, Major.' Tyler waved off any suspicions. He was a pilot, not an OIA agent. The man appeared in the corner of Tyler's view and took a seat in front of him. He appeared to be in his late 30s.

'You aged well for a prisoner of war.' Tyler knew the man was older than that.

'Yeah, well, the Yukes had some good cooks.' Retired Major Jack Bartlett waved it off.

'No kidding.' Tyler chuckled. 'Commander Tyler Keith, Osean Maritime Defence Force.'

'Oh, so you work for ONI?' Jack guessed.

'Fuck no, I hate office work. I'm a pilot.' Tyler corrected him.

'An aviator? Huh, so what are you doing intelligence work for?' Jack asked him. Tyler pulled up a bag and extracted a piece of paper from it. He slid it over to the former Wardog Squadron leader.

'You've had run-ins with mercenaries before. Do you know this guy?' Tyler leaned back. Jack looked at the piece of paper. It was blank spare for the name that was written on it in pen.

'I don't know him personally, but I've heard of the name.' Jack slid the paper back. 'I don't know much, but I have a contact who might.'

'Can you call him?' Tyler asked.

'I can try.' Jack pulled out a mobile phone and dialed a number. The line dialed for a few seconds before the person on the other side picked up the phone.

'All due respect sir, why are you calling me at 5 in the morning?' The man on the other side of the line was Alex.

'I'm up early, I know. Hey, I need to call in a favour.' Jack replied. Tyler sat back and let the two speak to each other.

'Uh. Jack, do you know where I am?' Alex asked, near-sarcastically.

'You're an avionics engineer, right?' Jack answered. As far as he knew he was correct.

'I'm on the Usean continent. In the middle of a war.' Alex gave the correct answer. Jack winced visibility.

'I'm not going to ask. But, do you have Cipher's number on hand? There's a spook sitting next to me who needs information on a guy that might be hunting you down.'

'Really-' Tyler began to speak in protest. Jack held a finger up which silenced the naval aviator.

'Touche. I'll message you the number.' Alex said before hanging up. Jack held his phone up for a few seconds. A message came from Alex. It was a 9-digit number. A phone number. Jack copied that number and called it. The line dialed. The response was almost instant.

'Maxwell Williams speaking, how can I help you?'

'Hey Cipher, it's Jack. Uh, I need to ask you a question.' Jack asked the legendary mercenary.

'Oh, hey Captain. What do you need to know?' Cipher replied.

'A mercenary pilot. The Black Raven. What do you know about him?' Jack asked the big question. On Cipher's end there were shuffling noises.

'Grimnar? He's a good pilot. A really good pilot. He's running around wreaking havoc on the Eruseans at the moment.' Cipher explained. Tyler almost jumped from his seat. 'Is the OIA interested, by any chance?'

'You know the Intelligence Service can't look into a case to save their asses. No, there's an OMDF pilot looking out for someone on the field.' Jack answered honestly. Cipher laughed for a few seconds.

'Fair enough. Yeah, Grimnar got hired by an unknown to go about destroying anti-ballistic missile weapons. Last time I checked in he even ravaged Tyler Island and damaged the mass driver there.'

Tyler leaned over the phone. Jack leant back to let him speak.

'What sort of experience does he have?' Tyler asked.

'He's Emmerian, a former Chief Warrant Officer in their Air Force. He got into just about every major conflict since the Belkan War. Hell, he earned a prototype VTOL Su-57 for helping the Yukes deal with an insurrection. And like I said, he's a very good pilot. Come to think of it, why are you guys in Osea even after him anyway?'

'A Belkan assassin was after the Razgriz Squadron guys. Benjamin Bernitz. He was going to hire the Raven to kill them off.' Tyler explained.

'Did you say Bernitz?' Cipher asked. Jack looked at Tyler and the phone.

'Yep.'

'Ah, family feud. So he was after Blaze, then?'

'Also yes.'

'Go figure. Either way, don't worry about him. Grimnar will stick to that mission even if it kills him.'

'I'm relieved. Cheers.' Tyler leant back into his seat.

'Welcome. Anything else you need?'

'Nada.'

'I'll be heading off then. Best of luck.' Cipher hung up, and Jack withdrew his phone.

'He answer your questions?' He asked Tyler.

'My questions and my concerns.'