Dusk was beginning to fall over the land as six F/A-18s, all leaving a trail of smoke behind them, slowly approached the airfield they had cleared out only the day before. Although by now, it felt like an eternity ago. One by one, each pilot landed, all with some form of difficulty, and it wasn't made any easier by the Su-37 wreck still blocking the other end of the runway. Out of all them, though, Eva had it the worst. In addition to the fact that she could barely breathe, she had to make two passes over the runway before she finally landed. The first time she was coming in too fast, and the second time, she wasn't able to line up her landing properly. Quite frankly, it was a miracle she was able to land without damaging the plane any more.
After everyone was on the ground, they all taxied their planes off the runway. Not into the hangars, just onto the pavement to keep them from blocking the runway any further than it already was. Eva felt an immense wave of relief wash over her as she finally came to a complete stop. As soon as her engines were off, she threw her canopy open and staggered out of the cockpit. She basically collapsed onto the ground on her hands and knees, tearing her oxygen mask off and throwing her helmet aside. Eva gasped for breath over and over, yet it still didn't seem to help.
"Diamond, Diamond!" Lucky rushed over to her side. "Are you ok? Come on stay with us," he had a concerned expression on his face.
She nodded; her head still low to the ground. "Yeah- yeah I'm fine," she managed to say between as her breathing finally settled. "Just need to catch my breath." Her voice shook as she spoke.
"Cut that out," Vortex ordered as he approached them. "That kind of talk is just as dangerous on the ground as it is in the air. I don't want you pushing yourself." His gaze shifted from Eva to Lucky. "Go find the barracks and get her to a bed. Diamond, I want you to get some sleep."
Lucky helped Eva to her feet and put her arm around his shoulder. "Come on, let's go," he said gently, leading her toward the largest building.
Next to the door, there was a small plaque that read, "Gardos Air Base Barracks". Lucky pushed the door open and helped Eva inside.
Eva let out a heavy sigh as they walked through the empty hallways. "This is all my fault," she muttered, looking down at the floor.
Lucky gave her a confused look. "How could this be your fault?" he asked. "You worked your ass off to save us. You were amazing out there."
"Maybe if I was just a bit faster, and a bit better, I could've saved Domino and the rest of Meteor Squadron," she said. "I probably could've saved everyone on the Kestrel II if I was better."
Lucky glanced at her worriedly. He looked as if he was trying to formulate what words he was about to say next. "Listen…" he began. "That was scary. I was scared," he admitted. "Everything went so wrong so quickly, and then you rushed off to fight that pilot without even hesitating. If that Arsenal Bird didn't show up, you would've given us all the time we needed to escape, but me…" His voice trailed off. "I barely did anything compared to you."
"You took a missile for the carrier," Eva reminded him. "That was pretty damn brave," she said, briefly cracking a smile before it faded just as fast as it appeared. "I could've done more; I should've done more, but I didn't."
Lucky opened the door to the first room they could find and helped Eva onto the bed inside it. As he sat down next to her, he looked straight ahead at the wall.
"You know, someone once gave me some very good advice." He looked over at Eva. "They said 'No matter what happens, you should know that I'll be here for you, and so will the others. Because you're our friend, and nothing is going to change that. So, don't think you have to do this alone, because you're not alone.' I don't know about you, but I think that's some helpful advice," he said with a smirk.
Eva rested her head on Lucky's shoulder, and for the first time since she left the carrier for Farbanti, she felt at ease. Her breathing steadied and she tried to let herself forget about everything that had gone wrong that day.
"Thank you, Lucky," she said, looking up at him with a smile.
Lucky stood up and made his way over to the door. "I'm gonna go find the others. You get some sleep." He gently shut the door behind him and left Eva alone with her thoughts.
Several hours had passed since they landed at Gardos Air Base. The pink and orange of sunset had been replaced by a blanket of stars across the night sky. Moonlight poured in through the windows of the air base's mess hall, although it didn't do much to light up the room, as the bright lights hanging from the ceiling were doing that already. Inside, Lucas stood hunched over a paper map of Usea laid out on a table. The other four pilots were all seated around him as well.
Finally, he threw his hands up in defeat. "I don't know," he said with an exasperated sigh. "We don't know where the enemy is, or where any other Oseans are, except for Fort Grays Island, but that's across the continent. There's no way we'd be able to make it there."
"What about Megalith?" Charger asked, pointing to a small island relatively near their position. "It could be a nice place to whole up."
Poet shook his head. "Nah, the place is nothing more than ruins after ISAF wrecked it during the Continental War. There isn't much there to offer."
Charger sunk back into his char. "Damn it. This really is hopeless," he growled.
Lucas frowned as he looked around at his pilots. It hurt seeing them all like this, he understood why of course, but he still needed to do something. "Listen, I know things look grim," he began. "But we've got to find a way. We owe it to Meteor Squadron and everyone on the Kestrel II."
"Vortex is right," Magic finally spoke up. "It sucks to lose people you care about… I would know," she said. "But the best thing we can do is carry on in their name, and make them proud of what we do." She sighed as her eyes went from one pilot to the other. "My parents died in a car crash when I was little. After that, I went to live with my aunt and uncle. It was with them that I realized I wanted to be a fighter pilot. I wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for them, and I know my parents would be proud of me if they could see where I am today. It's up to us to make sure that we can say the same thing about everyone we've lost."
Lucas had to admit that Magic had a way with words. Of course, she was right, and everyone in the room knew it. The only problem was that nobody knew what they were going to do, or where they were going to go. They had no plan. It was as simple as that. However, they needed to do something, and they needed to do it soon. Lucas knew it was only a matter of time until Erusea sent forces to retake the airbase, and when they came, they wouldn't be able to fight them all off. But he could tell that everyone was tired, stressed, and out of energy.
"How about this. Let's all hit the hay, and we'll continue this in the morning when we've all got clear heads. But first, I'm gonna swing by the hangars and see what kind of planes we have at our disposal because I think it's pretty safe to say that ours aren't going anywhere," Lucas said.
Everyone smiled and nodded a bit, clearly thankful that he made the suggestion, which made Lucas happy in a way. After everything they had gone through, it was nice to see them smiling, and it made him smile as well.
"Well, goodnight everyone," Lucky said, standing up. "I'll see you guys in the morning."
Everyone mumbled their farewells and Lucas broke off from the others, making his way outside and toward the hangars.
The new summer air was still and warm, and Lucas couldn't help but feel relaxed as he looked up at the star-covered sky. The chirping of crickets filled his ears, giving him a feeling of tranquility as he strode down the concrete path toward the hangars. His attention shifted from the sky to the six wrecked F/A-18s just off to the side of the runway. Suddenly, he saw a shape underneath the wing of Diamond's plane, leaning against the fuselage. He squinted through the darkness as he got closer, trying to make out the shape. Finally, he figured out that it was Diamond. He barely recognized her with her hair down. With his curiosity piqued, he quietly approached behind her. As he came up behind her, Lucas realized she was crying.
He took a deep breath in and out. "This isn't gonna be easy," he whispered to himself.
He knelt down and crawled underneath the wing of the plane, sitting down next to Diamond on the hard concrete. She briefly looked over at him before lowering her head and resting it on her knees.
"Can't sleep?" Lucas asked gently.
Diamond shook her head, not even looking up. "Every time I close my eyes, I see the carrier exploding and sinking to the bottom of the ocean," she trembled. She raised her head up and looked over at Lucas. "If we didn't stand a chance with a whole aircraft carrier and two squadrons, what chance do we have with just one?"
Lucas' expression softened as he saw the dismay in Diamond's eyes. He couldn't help but feel that he was responsible for this somehow. Perhaps there was something he could've done to avoid all this, or at the very least make it better.
He sighed. "Look, I wish I could say that I knew all the answers. I wish I knew what happened in Farbanti, and what's going to happen from here on out, but I don't. I do know one thing though. Torch and Waller sacrificed themselves so that we could live. They had faith in us that we would do good in their name, so it's up to us to keep their memories alive." He felt a sharp pang of sadness as he thought back to Vortex and her death, and how he later changed his TAC name to hers. "It's up to us," he repeated. "We're gonna get through this, Diamond. All of us." He looked over at her and she smiled at him, which filled Lucas with relief. It was good to see her feeling better. He crawled out from under the wing of the plane and offered a hand to Diamond. "Come on, I'm gonna go check out what kind of planes are in the hangars and get some sleep. Why don't you come with me?" he offered.
Diamond grabbed his hand and he pulled her up. "Sure, let's go."
When they first attacked the airbase only a day before, Lucas had no idea that they were this underequipped. It was so bad, that there wasn't enough of any one type of plane for all of them. Aside from their F/A-18s, which were now essentially scrap piles, all that they had was an Su-37, an Su-35, two Rafales, a MiG-29, two Gripens, and an F-2.
"Guess we'll have to just choose a plane," Lucas said, looking at all the fighters in front of them. "What do you think?" he asked Diamond.
She scoffed. "At least we have planes to fly. It could be worse," she responded.
Lucas nodded. "Yeah, I suppose you're right. Well, we've seen what kind of planes there are. Let's go get some shut-eye."
Diamond smiled a bit. "Yeah, that sounds nice right about now."