The battle for Gateway
Chapter 11: Don't cry
Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma ½.
Nabiki and Ranma, still asleep in the same bed Nabiki had Ranma's arms wrapped around her like she was going to die as the others of Rogue squadron walk in and find the two still asleep "it's great to see him like this." Whistler said before they leave and go the reccy room to relax until they get a call to launch. In the hanger where the fighters are the techs of Rogue squadron were busy at work on the fighters "hey Deunan, check the system now." Shigo said and said person sat at a laptop hooked up to one of the fighters systems and runs a diagnostics check before looking at Shigo.
"So far… so good" one of the techs said.
Shigo sees smoke coming from the engines "SHIT, UNHOOK IT!" Shigo shouted making Deunan unhook the laptop as Shigo runs to the engines to check the damage done and finds minor damage "where are we going wrong?" he muttered before going over and standing behind Deunan as she goes over the diagnostics of the fighter "we're going wrong in the same place, the fuel lines are being pushed to their limits." Deunan replied pointing at the spot where the line is being put to the limits "looks like we're going to have to refit that entire stretch of fuel line on all the fighters." Shigo replied before he gave the order to change all fuel lines.
"Ranko, your shifts over."
"Is it?" Ranko asked before she stood up and leaves the bridge as someone takes her place at the helm. The red haired young woman walks down the corridors of the Sulaco with her hands in her blue flight jacket and heads to the reccy room and finds Rogue squadron minus Ranma sat at a table and goes over to them "anyone seen Ranma?" she asked.
"Check his quarters."
"Thanks." Ranko replied as she left and Rogue squadron look at each other "she's going to hurt him." Whistler said and Jonesy nods back as Ranko walks down the corridor to Ranma's quarters and walks in finding Ranma and Nabiki still asleep in his bed "it's good to see him like this." She said to herself before she leaves and bumps into Ritchie.
"Oh hey Ranko, Ranma awake?"
"I wouldn't disturb him." Ranko replied before she walked away and Ritchie realised what she meant and he followed Ranko to the reccy room.
Meanwhile the techs of Rogue squadron were replacing the fuel lines in the fighters with new ones while Deunan was going over the fighter specs "that should do it." She said before sunning a simulation "simulations are one thing, but it's trying it for real is the one that counts." Shigo replied as Deunan hooked her laptop back up to the fighters system and starts to run a diagnostics check "running smoothly."
"It's done."
"Great, install the new fuel lines into all the fighters." Shigo said and the others go to spread the word to all the other techs to install the new fuel lines in the fighters as Shigo closes the system down before unhooking the wires to Deunan's laptop before she closes down the laptop as Shigo walks away and goes to tell the pilots what they had done and not to push the fighters too hard while Deunan walked to her quarters with her laptop under her arm before walking into her quarters and putting the laptop down on her desk before pulling up a chair and sitting at the desk and starting up her laptop and goes through the diagnostics.
"Hey, Jonesy." Ritchie said making said person look at him "what?" came the reply "and no, I'm not going to wake Ranma up." Jonesy finished making Ritchie put his hands up in defence, "no, even I wouldn't do that... what are we all going to do when this is all over?" Ritchie said and Jonesy wondered about the future "well, I don't know to tell the truth. The Sulaco will be decommissioned and we'll all go our separate ways I suppose." Jonesy replied putting his hands behind his head.
"Me, I'm leaving the military after this."
"I think we all are." Jonesy replied before heading to the pool table and plays some pool with someone from another squadron and Ritchie left and goes top the mess hall while Whistler just wonders around the corridors, meanwhile Deunan finished with the diagnostics and sighed as she shut down her laptop and leaves the desk where she had been working on the diagnostics of the fighters before bedding down for a few hours.
O'Hara and his marines were going over their weapons, stripping them and cleaning them before putting them back together again "what are we going to do when we get back to Gateway?" one of them asked "I don't know." O'Hara replied as he put his handgun back together before he puts it back in it's holster before moving onto the next gun "bet you cant do that blindfolded."
"How much you betting?" O'Hara asked.
"A months rations."
"You're on." O'Hara replied as he put the rifle down and puts a blindfold on and someone checks to make sure that he can't see and O'Hara picks up the rifle and begins to take it apart and lays the parts down on the floor in front of him before he removes the blindfold "not bad for an ex pilot." O'Hara said before picking up one of the pieces and starts to clean it.
"Ex pilot?"
"Yeah, three years at the academy before getting kicked out." O'Hara replied before he started to put the rifle back together before putting it away and taking out another rifle and begins to do the same again.
Authors note: Ranko will come to play a major part in the next chapter… R&R