Terachi Kaishaku: Thanks so much for all your reviews. You've been my best reviewer yet. Zelda will be more involved soon, there won't be romance yet, in fact there might be some conflict, but fear not there shall be L/Z by the end.
JO9: I'm glad you think so.
Disclaimer: in this chapter there will be several quotations based on ones from Behind Enemy Lines
Hyrule Central News Service Broadcast
"We're here at the Hylian Navy's base on the moon of Farore. As we have already reported to you rebels from the ranks of the Independent Federation of Colonies has attacked the concentration of Hylian naval ships at their asteroid base at IP 457. The IFC has issued a statement that it in no way is linked with the attack and has in fact offered to the use of its forces to help Hyrule to destroy the insurgents. As you can see behind me, several Hylian ships are leaving. Their destination is the worlds and colonies along the border where they will rendezvous with IFC forces to hunt down the rebels. Thank you, this is Joseph Cristoph here for the Hyrule Central News Service."
Mess Hall Freedom's Cry
Link and Navi sat at a table eating their lunch and relaxing, having just completed the daily photo reconnaissance mission. The ship had been above the colony world of Raytheon 2 for several days and each day the ship would send out a fighter with photo equipment along the routes that IFC Intelligence reported that there might be rebel activity. Unfortunately there hadn't been a single whisper at all.
"Damn it, I can't wait for this shit to be over." Link groused.
"Well, that's what we're here to do."
"But we're not even in the fight. We might look like we are but all we do is fly the routes and come back day after day."
Their conversation was interrupted when a female Gerudo with dark brown hair joined them.
"Hey, Kitana haven't seen you for a while," exclaimed Navi.
"Yeah, me and my unit just got transferred here."
"How's it been going since you left the Academy?" Link inquired.
"Pretty tough, joined the Marines, got command of my own unit."
Link was about to say something when he saw all of the male crewmembers sitting at tables around the mess hall turn to face the doorway. He then saw the ship's new sensors officer Zelda walk into the mess hall. Ever since she had been aboard the ship she was the object of affection for much of the male crew. Link wasn't actually all that impressed, sure she was good looking but she was a bit on the spoiled and arrogant side. He watched as she got in line to get her food. However, disaster struck when one of the mess attendants accidentally spilled some meat and sauce on her uniform. Even across the room Link could see Zelda's face turning red with rage. Then, her voice echoed across the hall as she bawled out the cringing attendant for being so clumsy.
"Nav, I get the feeling we should have left that escape pod where it was." Link said, turning back to Navi as the yelling continued at the far side of the room.
"Link that's a terrible thing to say."
"Yeah, well that mess attendant over there is facing one terrible temper."
"Link, giver her a chance, she's just kind of lonely that's all."
"Nav, you believe in the goodness of people too much." Link sighed.
Bridge Freedom's Cry
Admiral Twinrova strode through the hallways of the Hylian battleship, playing her part in the deception that Ganondorf was weaving. Of all things she had never expected to see a Hylian battleship from the inside out. The marine who stood guard at the bulkhead to the bridge saluted as the Admiral passed by. As the Admiral stepped onto the bridge she was greeted by the ship's captain and executive officer.
"Hello Admiral, so nice to see you." Nabooru said in greeting. Whenever Nabooru saw the Admiral during briefing sessions such as these she always felt a nagging feeling in the back of her head that she could never place.
The Admiral pulled out a small data disc from her tunic pocket which she presented to the captain.
"Captain, these are the routes your pilots will fly over the next few weeks, remind them that it is imperative that they stay on mission."
"I will make sure that they do that, thank you for your time Admiral."
The admiral left the bridge, the door silently swishing shut behind her. As soon as they were both sure that she was out of hearing distance the two officers began to converse.
"I get the feeling that she's hiding something from us Impa. I mean why the strict adherence to these flight routes for the photo reconnaissance missions?"
"Captain, you cannot go around accusing high ranking officers of crimes such as that."
"I know Lieutenant, I know. Well then Ruto, get me the flight schedule for the reconnaissance missions for the next two weeks."
The fighter coordinator printed out the list which she then gave to the captain who then looked over it. She then looked who would be flying the mission on Goddesses Day which would be tomorrow, and conceived a plan. During her academy days she had been an upperclassman when Link came as an underclassman. During Commissioning Week he had pulled a prank which resulted in her nearly missing her graduation ceremony. While they had become friends after, she still harbored the thirst for revenge.
"Ensign, switch up the flight assignments for Goddesses Day. Put Link and Navi down for that mission."
This would be sweet. All crewmen on the ship knew that Goddesses day was the only day when the mess served decent food, and when everything was sort of laid back.
Crew Quarters Freedom's Cry
Link awoke the next day refreshed. It was Goddesses Day which was held annually in celebration of the three Goddesses who according to legend had created Hyrule and its people. He was hoping since it was a holiday and nothing was really going on he could get permission to go down to the planet in one of the dropships and visit his family, but first he wanted to get some food, which for once would be pretty good. Link walked into the mess hall whistling a merry tune and got in line for his food when something caught his eye. It was the mission assignment board for all of the pilots. The only thing that had been listed for several days was the daily single ship reconnaissance mission, and today the names for the pilot and RIO going out was none other than his and Navi's. He saw Navi already sitting at a table eating her breakfast.
"Did you see the board already?"
"Yep."
"I can't believe Nabooru put us on holiday mission, its almost as if she doesn't like us anymore."
"I don't think its me, its you. She's getting you back for that thing you pulled on her during graduation."
"Damn it, the one good meal of the year and when I think I might get some leave with the family, she decides on her revenge."
"I told you not to prank her."
"You're starting to sound like my mother."
"It's what fairies do; take care of dolts like you."
"Whatever, let me shovel down what food I can before we leave."
"Well I'm done so I'll meet you in the hangar."
"Alright."
Link sat down and shoveled down his food at breakneck pace regretting that he couldn't sit down and enjoy the one time a decent meal was cooked aboard ship. When he was done he stood up rapidly and before he knew it, collided with something and landed on the floor. Before he saw who he had run into, he launched into a hurried apology.
"I'm so sorry, I was in a hurry and I didn't see you..." his voice trailed off at the end as he finally saw who it was he knocked over. It was Zelda. He barely had time to brace himself for the following tirade that ensued.
"Sorry! After that you should be more than sorry you clumsy oaf. What the hell do you think you're doing?! Hasn't anyone taught you to respect those who are better than you?! I can't believe they let an idiot like you on this ship. If I was the captain you'd be scrubbing the toilets in the bathrooms everyday! Now get your sorry ass out of my sight before I do it for you!"
Link left the room quickly wanting to escape Zelda's fury as quickly as possible. As he rounded the corner he heard another burst of anger coming out of the mess hall.
"What the hell do you think you all are looking at?!"
Link got back to his quarters where he changed into his flight suit and ran towards the hangar where Navi was already waiting.
"What took you so long?"
"I ran into Zelda when I was leaving the cafeteria, literally."
"How bad was it?"
"Let's just say she packs more firepower than this battleship when she's yelling at you. In fact she's probably still yelling at everyone else still, that stuck up little Ms. Priss."
Navi laughed a bit and then rolled her eyes.
"Alright, its time to go."
The two clambered into the cockpit of their fighter and then the crewmen checked their straps to make sure that they were secure. For this mission the beam cannon that was usually mounted below on the belly was replaced by a digital camera pod that recorded the pictures in a data disc mounted in the ejection seats. Once the cockpit was secure Link hit the switch to lower the canopy as the crewmen removed the chocks and ladder from the plane. On the deck one of the crewmen was using hand motions to direct him towards the catapult. Other crewmen now attached the front landing gear to the trolley. In two minutes the fighter streaked through the hangar bay and out into space. Link rolled the fighter so it was now pointing down at the sphere of the world below them.
"Set flaps for atmospheric entry Navi"
"Flaps set, all systems green."
The sleek fighter descended through the atmosphere rapidly eventually breaking through the cloud layer and proceeded along the assigned route. Below them stretched the green expanse of the colony world below them. 2
"Alright set the camera to roll Navi."
"Yeah, well there's nothing here now."
Link looked at his scope which showed nothing until suddenly at the edge a group of blips appeared where they shouldn't have.
"Nav, I got something here, sector B-14."
"We can't go there its off the flight route."
"Come one Nav, we're on a recon so let's recon something."
"Alright then I can't believe I let you talk me into these things."
The fighter flipped on its side as it adjusted its heading for the group of contacts in the distance.
"Standby camera."
"Standing by."
"Alright, roll camera."
The fighter roared over the group and Link got his first look at what it was. It was a large group of IFC troops and armor which was encamped also with a group of troops that sported rebel insignia. At the far end of the encampment stood a straight rank of soldiers who were methodically shooting civilians one by one in the backs of their heads. As Link circled the site realization dawned upon him, there was no rebel force after all, and that it had been an elaborate hoax that the Hylians had fallen for.
IFC Encampment 23
The concentration of troops looked up as they heard the roar of a fighter passing overhead. The officer in charge felt a sense of alarm flowing through him. There wasn't supposed to be any flyover by the Hylians here, Intelligence was supposed to see to that.
"Contact the Hammerhead for instructions immediately."
The subordinate raced off to the radio to try and raise the Hammerhead
I.F.C.N Hammerhead flagship Admiral Twinrova
The admiral sat in her command chair relieved that this part of the operation would soon be over and that the real fighting would break out soon.
"Admiral, urgent message from encampment 23."
"What is it?"
"The commanding officer there reports a flyover by one of the Hylian photo reconnaissance aircraft and requests instructions."
The admiral felt dread rising within her. If that craft returned to its carrier ship with the pictures that it was no doubt carrying then their entire careful plan would be put to waste and Lord Ganondorf would be most displeased. This would be a difficult situation to handle but the admiral felt confidant that she could continue the deception, at least for the time being.
"Shoot them down now."
Field near IFC encampment 23
Out of the forest rolled an IM-49 mobile Surface to Air Missile Launcher. On top of the ungainly vehicle was four armored box launchers for the 4 IH-18 SAM missiles that the IM-49 carried. The operators halted their vehicle and activated their radar to search for the offending Hylian aircraft.
Savior 5, Flight Officer Link: Pilot, Flight Officer Navi: RIO
"Are you getting all of this?" Link asked in a very tight voice as he watched the IFC rebels and soldiers shoot another group of civilians. There was nothing more he'd like to do right now than to swoop down and strafe the murdering bastards but his fighter had been stripped of most weaponry for this mission.
"Yeah, its all on the disc. Wait a minute, got something on the radar. Holy shit we're being painted! One surface to air missile guidance radar along the same bearing as the encampment." Navi notified link
"What? Where is it?"
"Crap, missile in the air!!"
Link opened the throttle of the fighter wide open Navi frantically searched for the missile. At the same time Link opened up a communications channel to the Freedom's Cry to appraise them of the situation.
"Star One, this is Savior Five we have been engaged!"
Bridge Freedom's Cry
There wasn't very much for the bridge crew to do for today thankfully. Ruto sat in her chair in front of her console not really paying attention to anything when Link's frantic radio call came in.
"What? Repeat your last!" Ruto ordered not really believing what was going on.
"We have been engaged by surface to air missiles, position 45 North, 76 West." Navi's voice crackled over the communications channel.
"Who have you been engaged by?" Ruto inquired urgently, but all she got back was empty static.
Savior 5, Flight Officer Link: Pilot, Flight Officer Navi: RIO
"Quick Navi, deploy flares!"
From the rear of the fighter plane a series of six flares ejected floating in the sky, offering the missile with six other targets. The missile didn't take the bait and kept coming slowly eating up the distance. Link banked the fighter into a turn, narrowly missing a hillside. No matter what Link did, the missile stayed on target.
"Link I've got a second missile in the air!"
Link swore to himself as he adjusted to deal with this new threat. He inverted the fighter into a dive hoping that the missiles would lose him with all of the ground clutter. However that was where Link made his mistake, he assumed that the ground would offer him safety when in fact in hid something much more sinister. From a hidden grove of trees an anti-aircraft battery opened fire sending high explosive incendiary rounds into their aircraft.
"Shit, they got us Navi."
"Pull up!" she screamed back when she saw the missiles were nearly on them. Link hauled back on the stick but the fighter was not responsive having lost much of its hydraulics and other avionics systems when the AA fire hit. The missile warheads exploded several feet from the engines and wing, peppering the aircraft with even more debris. The altitude meter spiraled downwards as the fighter sank like a rock.
"Punch out Navi!" Link ordered as he pulled the handle on his own ejection seat. A series of explosive bolts blew off the canopy and then the rocket motors in the base of the seat ignited propelling far up and away from the flaming fireball that was now his fighter. Barely being able to look down, Link saw Navi's ejection seat just a second behind his. Eventually the automated sensors in their seats triggered the opening of the parachutes which billowed above them as they slowly descended to the planet.
Author's Notes: whew that took a long time and I hope you enjoyed it. I know Zelda is conceited and arrogant but i promise that her and link will end up together. I just like the stories where they gradually fall for each other. But yes, much of the action in this chapter and the next few will be based on Behind Enemy Lines which I heavily recommend. Thanks, please read and review! If you want me to review a story of yours leave me the title of it in your review.