The sun had entirely emerged from behind the horizon by the time Eva and Lucky got back to the carrier. The few clouds that dotted the sky an hour ago had vanished, leaving an endless stretch of blue above and below. The flight back from Farbanti felt like an eternity- longer than the fight itself - but finally, the last two pilots from the OFS Kestrel II began their approach.
Eva reached for the switch to lower her tailhook, but nothing happened. She frowned, glancing over to her wingman's plane. "Lucky, I think my tailhook's stuck. Can you see if it's deploying?"
Lucky's Super Hornet made a slight drop in altitude as he checked the underside of her plane. "Uh, Diamond, you don't have a tailhook anymore- looks like it got knocked clean off."
She sighed. "Dammit. Alright, you go in first. I'll have to go around and wait for them to raise the barricade."
"Copy that," Lucky replied, continuing his descent toward the carrier's flight deck. "Tower, Nexus 6's tailhook is gone. You're gonna have to raise the barricade for her."
Eva sighed as she went wide around the carrier. As she watched Lucky make a clean landing, she tried telling herself that things were going to be alright. After all, the hundreds of men and women working on the carrier were saved, and Lucky was still right there with her, so she wasn't alone, at least. No matter how hard she tried, though, she couldn't get herself to believe it. She could barely even talk herself into her landing approach.
Eva felt her landing gear shudder as the flight deck got closer and closer. She thought nothing of it at first, but almost immediately after her wheels touched the ground, the back left landing gear snapped. The front gear followed a second later. Sparks trailed behind her plane as it dragged across the deck and gradually came to a stop at the other end, thanks to the barricade. Thankfully, the fire crew was already on standby and began snuffing the smoke coming out of the plane's every orifice. Eva's heart felt like it was trying to break free from her ribcage. Once she realized that she was fine, though, she let out a deep breath she didn't even realize she was holding in.
She threw up the canopy to see Lucky already waiting for her. "You good?" he asked as he helped her down.
Eva barely managed a nod. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm good." By that point, she couldn't tell if she was lying or not.
Lucky did his best to give her a reassuring smile, but it was clear that even he wasn't taking the situation well. "Good, good…" he said, trailing off as he looked up for a moment. "After all, we gotta look out for each other, don't we?"
She didn't reply. Instead, she got to her feet and brushed herself off. "C'mon. Let's go see what Waller has to say."
Lucky nodded, and together, the two of them started toward the briefing room. It was a quiet walk. Neither of them had anything to say, and the same went for those that they passed along the way. It almost felt like there was an unspoken tension in the air. Every stairwell felt one flight taller. Every corridor felt one passage longer. Eva almost felt relieved when they finally made it to the briefing room, if not for the fact that it meant recounting their failures.
Waller stood at the other end of the room, running a hand through his hair. "I- I don't know what to say," he finally muttered after a long pause. "I'm sure nothing I can say will make this easier, but I'm glad you two are safe. Thanks to you and the others, the Kestrel II and everyone onboard is safe, so thank you."
"What good does it do?" Eva asked with a huff. "How is a carrier with only two pilots gonna be any help at all in this war? We had our one chance to do something right and we blew it. Now there's only two of us and we're the least experienced pilots this carrier has ever seen! All we did was delay our own deaths!" she snapped.
"Diamond, that's not-" Lucky began before getting cut off by Waller.
"It's okay, Lucky. She's got a right to be upset. I understand." Waller sat down in his chair, leaning all the way back. "With that being said, though, we're not out of this fight just yet." He reached up to his desk and started typing on the computer in front of him. The briefing screen came to life behind him. "We suffered a lot of losses today- Torch, Poet, Charger, Magic, I could go on and on. But we didn't lose everyone. Onyx and Domino bailed out, and we lost contact with Vortex. Our next course of action needs to be recovering our downed pilots. We don't stand a chance of even getting close with the Arsenal Bird still in the area, so we'll wait until nightfall."
"But won't that give the enemy time to reinforce themselves, sir?" Lucky asked.
Waller nodded. "Unfortunately, yes, but you stand a better chance against their fighters than the Arsenal Bird. It'll be tough for you to handle solo, but I know you've got what it takes."
"Solo?" Eva echoed. "What about me?"
"Diamond, your plane is too badly damaged. I'm not risking you going up there again," Waller replied bluntly. "I know you want to help, and I admire that, but you have to sit this one out." He turned his attention back to the screen. "Eclipse 3 will sweep through Farbanti looking for survivors while Lucky covers them from air and ground threats. Mark my words, though, we're not leaving until every single pilot is accounted for. Any questions, Lucky?"
Lucky was never one to ask too many questions. Once he knew what his job was, he did it. "No, sir," he replied, shaking his head briefly. "I'm ready to go as soon as possible."
"Well, take some time to rest first. That goes for both of you," he added, glancing at Eva. "It's been a long and stressful day. If you don't take some time for yourselves, you'll burn out before you even get in the plane. Dismissed."
Despite her best efforts, Eva didn't sleep for even a moment. All she could do was lie there, looking up at the ceiling of her bunk that now sat empty with Magic gone. Her mind was swept away by thoughts about what she could've done differently- how she could've save more of them, or maybe even all of them. After all, the others had practically spent the last few weeks doing little else but make remark after remark about how promising of a pilot she was becoming. If anyone could save them, it should've been her, but she didn't, and now they were all gone- all of them except Lucky. Although, even he might not be there for long.
Once she realized it would soon be time for them to leave, Eva got to her feet and started making her way to the flight deck, throwing on her flight suit just in case. She'd commited the route to memory by now. Once she stepped out onto the deck, she saw Eclipse 3's chopper spooling up, and Lucky standing next to his Hornet, talking with Nexus Squadron's chief mechanic, Martin Breck. A few seconds later, Martin turned around and started talking to one of the other mechanics, and Lucky began climbing up the ladder. That's when Eva saw her chance.
"Came to see me off?" he asked as soon as he noticed her approach. "I sure wouldn't mind the good luck."
"Hey," she said, suddenly feeling as if any familiarity she felt with him had evaporated. "You sure you're gonna be okay up there?"
Lucky gave her that smile of his that made Eva feel that little bit more confident. "Don't worry. The Arsenal Bird is long gone by now. I've got this." Suddenly, his smile vanished as he looked over at the SH-60 preparing for takeoff. "Although, I'm sure they're not too thrilled about the person who killed most of their friends being the only person covering them."
"You know that it was an accident," she reminded him. "Besides, this is your chance to make it up to them in their eyes." Eva looked up at a sudden announcement over the loudspeaker, warning that it was time for takeoff. She returned her gaze to the one person she had left. "Just…" With no words coming to mind, she wrapped her arms around him. "Be safe out there, alright?"
Lucky looked down at her, the smile returned to his face once more. "I promise." Without another word, he climbed into the cockpit and taxied onto the catapult. Moments later, he and Eclipse 3 were gone.
Taking a deep breath, Eva turned around, walking up to Martin. "Hey," she said, waving awkwardly.
Martin nodded her way. "Diamond," he replied. "Sorry you can't be out there."
She nodded. "Yeah. Although, hopefully you'll be able to have me back up there soon?"
"Err about that," Martin said, scratching the back of his head. "I'm not sure if we can get you back up. That Hornet of yours took a real beating, and it might just be a write-off."
Eva felt her world shatter. "B- but… we don't have any spare planes. Are you telling me I'm basically grounded?"
Martin took a deep breath, looking around before meeting the pilot's eyes again. "Not necessarily. We have a few birds down in the hangars we use for parts. It'd take a lot of work on my end, but I'll see what I can do to get one of them running."
"Thanks, Breck," she said, breathing a heavy sigh of relief. "You're the best."
Martin chuckled. "I'm not sure I'd go that far, but don't sweat it. I'm just doing my job."
"Right," Eva mumbled to herself as she walked away. "That's all taken care of. Now… now all I've gotta do is wait."
Eva didn't think that time was capable of passing so excruciatingly slowly. She was running out of things to do to try to pass the time. She tried sleeping again, going back to her book, and eating, and it felt like Lucky, and the others had just left a few minutes ago. Eventually, she decided if she was stuck on the carrier, she might as well try being productive, so she made her way to the briefing room and logged into the software.
"Let's see…" Eva murmured to herself. "Operational data, 2019, here we go." She clicked the folder labeled 'DUAL WIELDER' and scrolled through it.
Finally, she found what she was looking for: the nose cam footage. Considering the state her plane came back in, she was surprised it was even salvageable. Regardless, she began scrubbing through the recording. Watching everything happen again just a few hours after it had happened was infuriating. Everything made so much sense in hindsight, but they still got caught completely off guard, and now she and Lucky were the only ones left because of it.
"There you are," she said, locking eyes with the mysterious fighter from before. "Now, what the hell are you?" She inched the recording forward frame by frame. "Some… experimental fighter, maybe? And what's with this zero emblem?"
Suddenly, the door opened behind her, and Eva turned around to see Captain Waller walking up to her. "What's this? Homework?" he asked in jest.
Eva leaned in so her face was a few inches away from the screen. "It just doesn't make any sense. I've never seen anything like this fighter- never seen anything move like it, either."
"Listen, Kidd, you want my advice?" the Captain asked as he pulled up a chair to sit beside her. "Don't obsess over this. You'll only drive yourself mad with guilt. I've seen it happen too many times before."
"I can't just let this happen and not look into it. My whole squadron- save one- is dead, and my plane is a scrap heap. What else is there for me to do besides this?"
"Look, you've got a good heart, and you're a natural pilot. I don't want you to waste that chasing down a vendetta. You'll get your chance to avenge them," Waller assured her. "You'll be back up there before you know it, and you'll make Vortex proud by carrying on the squadron's legacy."
Eva blinked at him. "Sir, are you… are you saying what I think you're saying? Why not have Lucky do it?"
"It was actually his idea. He said there was nobody he trusted more than you to lead this squadron now that Vortex is gone. Speaking of which," he got to his feet. "He should be on his way back with Eclipse in the next few minutes. Why don't we go up to meet them when they land?"
"Yeah," Eva replied, nodding as she stared past him into the distance. "Good idea. Thank you, sir."
Waller shrugged. "Don't mention it. I've gotta look out for my people, after all." A moment later, he started toward the flight deck, with Eva following close behind him.
The two of them arrived with impeccable timing. As soon as they stepped out onto the flight deck, the ground crew began making preparations for the incoming aircraft. Eva put her hand up to her forehead, shielding her eyes from the light of the setting sun while she scanned the horizon. Then, she saw them: Lucky's F/A-18E and Eclipse's SH-60 trailing close behind. Lucky made a flawless 3-wire landing and climbed out as soon as the engines were off.
"Told ya I've got this," he said with a grin, raising his voice above the helicopter blades chopping the air as it landed.
"It's good to see everyone back in one piece," Waller said. "How did things go?"
"Eruseans were still moving in reinforcements to Farbanti, but they were minimal by the time we got there, and since the Arsenal Bird was long gone, we didn't face anything we couldn't handle," Lucky reported.
"And survivors? Did you find any?" the Captain asked.
Lucky stepped to the side and gestured toward the now-landed helicopter. The rear ramp slowly opened, and out came Eclipse Squad, plus one woman in a flight suit. All of her flight gear had been discarded, and her short blonde hair was knotted and disheveled. Eva barely recognized her as Lieutenant Cassidy Vance, Onyx's backseater.
"She was only one," Lucky said mournfully. "The rest didn't make it."
"I see," Waller replied with a somber expression before walking up to the WSO. "Lieutenant Vance, it's good to see you're okay. I'm sorry about Onyx and the others. They were good people."
Cassidy didn't say anything. She just looked up at the captain and shook her head with an expression Eva couldn't quite describe. It seemed to be a mix of grief and sadness mixed with some third expression, anger, maybe.
"Come on, why don't we all go finish this debriefing, and we can talk about a plan going forward," Captain Waller offered, and soon after, the four of them made their way back to the briefing room, hoping to come with a plan to salvage this mess.
