Chapter Two: Blonde-Haired Girl

-----------------------------------------------------------

The mission had been a success. Another garrison captured, more humiliation brought upon the U.N. government. Not a bad day's work at all.

"That was some good flying today, Zixia!"

"Heh, thank you, thank you. No applause, please!" The young female pilot named Zixia laughed heartily as she climbed out of her powered armor. "Hey, maintenance guy! I think she's a quart low; you'd better get the dipstick out!" she said with a smile.

"Yes, Lieutenant, your performance was amazing in this battle. You've definitely earned yourself some R&R time."

Zixia saluted enthusiastically. "Yes, sir! I'll be in my quarters…and if anybody comes in without knocking, I'll-"

The flight leader interrupted her. "Whoa, at ease there, Lieutenant!"

"Oops! Sorry, sir!" Zixia saluted one more time, and left the hangar bay. As she did so, she pulled off her flight helmet, revealing a head of brilliant blonde hair.

"At this rate, I'm gonna make flight leader in no time flat! There ain't a damn thing anyone can do to stop-"

"Lieutenant…you're heading into the engine room," said the leader, interrupting her train of thought. Zixia froze in place, and sweatdropped.

"Eh…" She spun around, her face bright red. "My bad, sir!" Quickly, she got out of there before anyone made a comment that she would have to belt someone for.

"Damn it…why can't my sense of direction stay good when I'm out of my armor!?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zixia sighed as she lounged back on her cot. She was the kind of person who needed a lot of action and excitement to enjoy themselves completely. Eventually, she sat up, and swung her legs over the side of the bed. Standing up from there, she reached for a picture on a small desk. There were two people in the photograph, both young girls. One had long blonde hair and blue eyes, and the other, who looked a bit older, had long emerald hair, and the same shade of blue eyes.

"Whatever happened to you, sis…? Where did you go-AAH!" She was startled by a harsh knock at the door. "Grr…who the hell is it?!"

"That's not a very good way to address your Captain, Lieutenant."

Zixia went pale. She immediately put the picture back and rushed to the door.

"Sorry, Captain!" she said as she opened the door, immediately saluting afterwards.

"Never mind, never mind. At ease, Lieutenant. Anyway, it would seem that I have a piece of information for you."

Zixia raised an eyebrow. "Information, sir?"

"Yes. You remember the battle that ended with the obliteration of the Hammerheads?"

"I do, sir. Their base was turned into a pool of magma, and Var Bekran himself bought it."

The captain nodded. "Very good. I don't have time to go into all the details myself, but…" The captain handed her a group of papers. "…This should explain everything. Good day, Lieutenant." With that, he left.

Zixia just stood there, confused. "…The hell am I supposed to do with a bunch of…" She started thumbing through them. "…damage reports…personnel files…and-" Suddenly, she stopped, and gasped. "No…n-no way…it was HER?!"

She stumbled back onto her cot, a look of pure astonishment on her face. It remained there for several seconds. Then, a smile slowly crept onto her face.

"I…know where she is…!" Her smile grew into a huge grin. She stood up again, and grabbed the picture off the desk. "Ha ha! I found you at last, big sister!!!! I won't be alone anymore…!"

-----------------------------------------------------

Author's Note: Yeah, it's a shorty. I'm also not really in the mood for making mysteries right now, so I hope it's fairly obvious who Zixia's elder sister is. ^_^ Enjoy.