It was a pretty terrifying landing, the nose gear and rear right gear had fully engaged and came down but the rear left gear that had taken several rounds from the encounter with the berkut only came down about a quarter of the way, on top of it being a carrier landing as the sun was setting. "Jäkel pull up!" and "Jäkel increase your throttle!" were constant noises in his ear when he came in from the stack. He had the throttle pushed as far forward as possible without engaging the afterburner, it was just hard to keep up with the aircraft carrier as it was picking up speed to get far away from the ambush site. Grueling minutes led to a successful semi-crash landing as the aircraft tipped to the right and scratched a long gouge in the deck of the aircraft carrier. "Ground" crews took custody of the aircraft after it had been powered down and had been safely secured, ushering him off the runway and down into the lower decks.
Drenched in sweat he found the aviator's berth, and the survivors of the battle. "Oh hey it's the devil" one of the male pilots scoffed at Sebastian's mere presence. "Cut it out Marc, he saved our lives out there" Said another pilot, Sebastian's eyes drifting over to her. She was about as sweaty as him, brown hair stuck to her forehead with the stuff but still her beauty glistened.
"How are you going to say that a Devil saved us Veronica?" The man named Marc very clearly resented the work that Sebastian did in the sky "He was barely in the sky!" With a sharp cough Sebastian asserted his presence "Theres no need to argue, I flew just like the rest of you. And I'm saddened by the losses… like the rest of you."
"Your nice way with words doesn't work on everybody, devil" The man spat at Sebastian landing right at the tip of his boot. "Just call me Sebastian." He felt anger swell deep within him at this pilot, but they were already short on manpower… infighting would do no good for the fate of the country. Rotating on his heel, he turned around and stormed off to the canteen to get something to eat. Combat did no favors on the stomach. The selection in the canteen was the usual preserved fish, mushy biscuits and a couple of crackers that were now being rationed extensively. The canteen felt lonely and empty, smelling like burnt gunpowder it almost made Sebastian not want to eat. Picking at the Surstromming with a fork the pilot from the quarters approached him, she had cleaned up and changed out of her G-suit. Brown hair reaching down to her bare shoulders as she wore a white A-shirt with blue fatigue pants, it was easy to tell now she was one of the naval aviators that had been the first to be sent up into battle.
An air of awkwardness arose between them as she sat down across from him and huffed looking down at the slop. "I'm sorry about Marc, his brother was one of the pilots that got shot down. My name is Veronica by the way… I'm assuming your actual name is Sebastian..?" The woman gave an awkward laugh as she asked "I only knew you as The Jäkel before, heard about you from some of the sailors going between the ships"
"I guess my reputation precedes me then, never thought that would be something I would say." Glancing down at the food again it made him sick to his stomach looking at the fish, gently he pushed it away and out of his sight. "Where are you from Veronica?"
"Helvi, a coastal town to the north. My father was a captain of an ocean fishing boat and my mother… well she wasn't always there…" The young woman trailed off and looked down at the fish, stabbing one with her fork and taking a chunk out of it. "How about you? Where'd you come from?"
"The capital actually, I grew up in the higher end of the city. My parents are.. Or probably were bureaucrats. I joined the airforce to get away from them and make something for myself." Diluted fruit punch was their only drink that night so Sebastian swallowed down a gulp of the drink. Silence settled over the two before Sebastian spoke again "I think I lost most of my squadron, and Puck. I didn't hear anything from him the whole time I was in the stack to land."
"Most of us did, they're reforming the fighter groups and establishing new squadrons. Combining what's left of the navy and airforce aircraft, I don't know much more than that." Sebastian scoffed and gained a slight sardonic smile "Naval and Ground forces working together? I'd like to see that"
His new female companion was not impressed by his mocking jab "Try and be a bit more enthusiastic hmm? We might be in the same squadron." The woman got up and left Sebastian to reconsider what he had said, which he very much was at this point. He watched her leave, disappointed in himself. Nothing left to it but to do it, he got up and scraped the contents of his plate into a garbage can and slinked off to the quarters.
Popping his head into the room, he saw the pilot that berated him earlier had already gone off to bed so he found a free shelf and unclipped the survival vest, softly dropping it to the floor. Slipping off his boots and sliding under the thin ship bunk sheets, dozing off with a sense of fear of what was coming next.