444th Airforce Base.
July 25th, 2019 08.40
"It shone for the friends and the clinking of glasses. I'll tend to the flame; you can…worship the ashes…worship…the…ashes?" Prez pursed her lips, picking at guitar strings, pausing as she shifted on her seat, an ammo crate. "No, no, no…that's not how it goes. I'm off a few notes." She plucked a few more times, glaring at the missing string. "Damn it…" She groaned. "Hey Avril?"
"What?" Avril slipped out from a spot in the X-02, almost smacking Tabloid in the face as he held a light for her.
He jumped a little, smacking his head onto the wing above him. "Ow…"
"Did anyone find an extra string for this thing?"
She raised an eyebrow. "A guitar string?"
"Yeah!"
"Here?"
"Yeah?"
"On a military base slash prison that is run by the most controlling man I've ever seen in my life?"
Prez went to answer, then paused for a moment in thought.
Trigger snickered.
Her mouth snapped shut, glaring slightly at him. "Well…" She looked back to Avril. "I see your point."
"Yeah right…we still only have black fucking paint! If I even had the chance to order a guitar string I would have done it eons ago." She slipped back into her spot in the X-02. "Only black! I mean it's not to bad…but I'd like to have something other than black for the Tomcat you know?" Her voice echoed slightly as she started bolting something in place.
"Maybe you could do a Razgriz styled paint job?" Trigger thought out loud.
Avril paused in her work. "Huh…any particular reason for that choice?"
"It's mostly black. I might even be able to do the emblem if you want me to, I'd just need some white paint."
She nodded slowly. "Yeah…yeah that would be nice actually, if you don't mind of course."
"I offered." He grinned, "I'll do this one for free, I promise."
Prez scoffed at that. "When do you not help us out for free?" She went back to playing, switching to a more upbeat tune.
Avril laughed, her voice echoing slightly.
Trigger pouted, trying to hide the smile on his face.
Time passed slowly, after that, nothing happening, nothing changing, just the gentle playing of a guitar and the clicking of Avril's wrench at work.
Prez groaned, putting the guitar down next to her. "Hey Avril you need any help?"
"Noooope." She popped the p with a hint of enthusiasm.
"You sure?"
"Yeeeeep." She popped the p again.
Trigger raised an eyebrow. He could almost hear the amusement in Avril's voice, he'd bet that she was grinning ear to ear right now. He didn't exactly know why though…Oh lord, High Roller was rubbing off on him. He was never someone who would bet on much, if anything, before coming here.
"Really? Nothing? No repairs needed?"
"I've got them covered or my crew does."
"Any flight tests?"
"Nope, handled them all myself, yes even Jacker's new F-16."
"Really? Damn…"
"Yeah, we got plenty of F-16's, I'm pretty sure we had about thirty to thirty five out there when I first got here. Jacker even did a good amount of the work on this one."
"Ugh…god damn it this blows! There's nothing to do!" Prez flopped onto him, groaning in boredom as she did.
He gave her a 'Comforting' pat on the head, more of a light tap on the top of her head.
She went quiet for a moment, her breath held.
Trigger felt a sudden need to pat her head again…It was almost like sh-
"Ah…right."
He looked over to Avril.
"Speaking of shit that blows." She stepped out from her spot, handing Tabloid the wrench. "Here, tighten that."
"Wait what?!"
"Hands on experience is the best experience, have fun." She smiled, then turned and walked over towards Trigger and Prez, her limp barely showing. "Have a look at this." She tossed something at them as she walked, it glinted in the light.
Prez went to catch it, it hit her hand, then bounced out. "Shit!" She fumbled with it for a bit before finally catching it with both hands. She let out a breath as she slowly opened her hands, then smiled in relief as she opened her hands, confirming she had caught it. "Eh?"
Trigger looked over her shoulder, to see…what looked like a flechette round. "What..what is that?"
"That…" Avril pointed at the flechette, "Is what went through your leg my dude."
He glanced up at Avril. "What…What do you mean?"
"I pulled that out from under the front instrument panel. Made sure to clean it too, just it case, but that's what went through your leg."
He stared down at the thing in shock. "Wait…but…I got hit from this when we blew up a…"
Prez looked at him. "A tanker truck…"
"Yeah…I thought it could have been some sorta weird shrapnel at first…except." She reached into her pocket, then held out her hand, dropping four more flechettes into Prez's hand. "That wasn't the only one."
Trigger's eyes widened as he looked down at the five flechettes, then back up to Avril, then back down again. "It wasn't fuel…it wasn't even oil…"
"It was a weapon…" Prez shivered next to him. "What the fuck kinda weapon was that?"
Avril shook her head. "No idea…I talked with Bandog about it, he said he's trying to get an answer from headquarters, of course we have very little to go on, blue light, big explosion, throws little flechettes around fast enough to go through an aircraft fuselage."
"Hmmm." Prez picked up one of the flechettes, squinting slightly. "Damn it…no serial number either." She carefully looked over it.
"The first time I saw this was back at the opening of the war…we took out a transport, and it just detonated, same flash of blue, same explosion." He frowned. "I would say ask if the IUN has any info…"
Avril scoffed, holding out a hand.
Prez growled, handing over the flechettes.
"Yeah they're not going to tell us shit." He sighed. "You supposedly shoot down a former world leader and everyone looses their minds to the point that they see sharing intel as a crime."
"Well who knows, maybe someone will be willing to break the law to actually do something that will help Usea." Prez winked at him.
He raised an eyebrow back. "Aren't we already breaking the law?"
She shrugged, watching as Avril started to walk back to the Wyvern.
A door opened with a gentle kick. "Alright, I'm back." Count came through, carrying an armful of canteens, taking careful steps over to a nearby table.
"Hi back, I'm dad." Tabloid jabbed with a grin.
Count frowned deeply, gently put the canteens down, then turned to leave.
"Oh come on Count! You walked right into that one!"
"Nope! I'm not ready to deal with dad jokes today."
Avril chuckled lightly. "Count, get your ass over here, I'm working with electronics and you gotta figure this shit out." She waved him over as she kept walking, only a slight limp in her step now.
He groaned deeply, but turned back around, heading over to the Wyvern, grumbling as he walked.
Tabloid scooted over a bit, making room for his fellow pilot.
Count glared at him a bit. "So what are we looking at?"
Avril glanced back at Prez and Trigger, then started to speak softly, showing how to install…whatever it was she was putting in their plane.
Trigger squinted slightly. Avril was up to something…usually that would not be a problem at all as that was when she worked her best magic. If it wasn't for the perfect positioning and set up of the entire base, she would have broken out long ago.
"I mean…she's friends with all the dogs. Pretty sure if they sicked em on her, she'd just end up getting licked to death."
He grinned at that. "True…true…Any idea what she's got?"
Prez shook her head, she had stopped playing. He could see it in her eyes, this…suspicion. An understanding that it was something specifically for them. But there was never a situation like this where the details were hidden from them, not since the beginning of this bullshit.
He chuckled and nodded, pointing up with his index finger, then moved it down, curling it as he pointed in Avril's direction.
"Eh…" She frowned slightly, looking at her mechanic friend. "Wouldn't hurt…" She sat up slightly. "Avril!"
"Hmm?" She looked up from the two pilot's work.
Count gasped in slight pain as he was shocked. "Fuck!"
"Hey, Hey, watch it! I told you to be careful." She gently bapped his head. "Whats up Prez?"
"You gunna let us in on the secret of what you're working on?" She smiled slightly, putting on the charm.
Avril looked her dead in the eye.
"Maybe a little hint?"
She raised an eyebrow.
"Just the tiniest bit of a hint?"
Avril pursed her lips, her eyes drifting slightly up in thought, then focused back on Prez. "No." She turned around, back to keeping an eye on Count as he tried properly install whatever it was they were working on.
"Damn…" Prez pouted slightly, standing up and opening the ammo crate she was sitting on. Gently placing the guitar inside, alongside a bottle of moonshine, playing cards, and a few other pieces of contraband that the guards really didn't care about anymore.
Trigger gently closed the crate as soon as she was done, "I don't think we're going to find out anytime soon."
She sighed at that. "I know…I know…I'm just fidgety right now."
He nodded slowly. "Avril!"
She groaned, her dropping her head in annoyance. "What?!"
"You need us for anything?"
"No! Shoo!" She waved a hand. "I'm trying to make sure these two know how to handle electronic repairs in the field. Never know when you might need to do repairs yourself."
He looked to Prez, shrugged, then slowly stood up. "Cool, we're going for a walk then."
"Alright, have fun, don't get lost."
Count and Tabloid snickered.
"Oh for crying out loud pay attention to your work!"
Tabloid yelped in pain as something shocked him.
"See?"
"Yeah…yeah…"
Trigger rolled his eyes, turning to leave out the hanger doors.
Prez chuckled as she followed along. "I'm glad to see Count has been getting along with us more and more lately."
"Same…We've all come a long way here. Though…"
"Though?"
Silence took over them for a few moments as they walked down the tarmac. It was just the light breeze, and the sound of distant waves washing against the shore.
Prez spun around taking a deep breath of the ocean air. She let out a happy sigh as she started to walk backwards, looking at him curiously as she waited.
After a few moments, he finally answered. "I guess I'm a little lost, on what happens next…"
She raised an eyebrow at that. "Well…we don't really have control over that do we?" She shrugged. "And I know, I'm not really the best one to say that, but really, I think we'll just have to take things step by step. We look out for everyone, work off our 'crimes', then we get out and see what happens."
"What do you think will happen then?" He smiled slightly.
"Well…" She pursed her lips. "Someone has to finish this war…don't they?"
He stopped, looking at her strangely. What did she mean by that? Finish the war? The war had been in a deadlock it seems, though to be fair the only source of news they got was from the Princess of Eruesa…So that was definitely biased news. But…finishing the war would require a lot. Taking back the lighthouse would be the main goal. To do that, someone would have to break through the lines and take out one or both of the arsenal birds. Or there would have to be a massive assault on Farbanti…again.
"It really is weird fighting the second war huh?" She smiled, showing that, yes she had understood all of that, and yes she was with him, no matter what. "But someone's got to do it."
"You think it will be us?"
"Ohhhhh." She smirked. "Who else could it be?"
He raised an eyebrow at that. Anyone else could do it really…it could be…
Oh…
No, she was right, he could feel it, that itch at the back of his mind. They were the ones who could do it. Everything they were learning, everything they were fighting. "We've been thrown into some of the most dangerous battles of the war…and I've been fighting this from the beginning."
Prez nodded. "Yeah…and we both know the IUN isn't doing much now a days, or if they are? Well…some of their most experienced squadrons have either gone AWOL, or have been downed completely." She chuckled. "Honestly…Erusea fucked up the moment they started letting us get away. This place is an absolute shit hole." She waved a hand out at the base. "But the combat and flight experience everyone here has gotten is beyond precious."
"So…what do you think will happen then?"
She took a breath, frowning. "I don't know…I just…hope…that at the end of it all. We can all sit down, together, and be at peace…" She turned slightly, looking towards the mountains. "You know…you and Tabloid are right."
"Hmm? About what?"
"A world without borders. What a sight that would be." A slight smile covered her face once more. "I may not know what will happen next, but I do know that I'm not going to be fighting for Osea, and there's no way I'd fight for the IUN. It's going to just be for the people down on the ground, the people who never wanted this war in the first place." She waved him along. "Come on, I hear High Roller is up to something fun today." She started making her way to the prison yard.
Trigger smiled back, slowly following after her, towards the sounds of the slight commotion that was happening ahead.
Laughter and jeers filled the air.
"Now, now, now! We've covered wether it will be a ground mission, or an air mission next, those bets." High Roller held up a hand. "Are now closed."
A few "aww's" came through the yard.
"Now I have another…saddening announcement to make. We're getting rid of the most kills bets going forward."
"Why the fuck is that?" Someone called out.
High Roller squinted slightly, then just pointed across the yard.
Trigger pouted slightly as he realized he was the one being pointed at. "Sorry?"
Everyone laughed.
"Hey, Hey don't worry about it. Just means the rest of us need to step up our game." Jacker came over and gave Prez a highfive.
She happily returned it with a full grin. "Hell yeah!"
Jacker's eyes widened as a resounding slap sounded out, he shook his hand slightly. "Owwww…"
"Oh…sorry…was just…excited…sorry." Prez hissed.
More chuckles and laughs carried over, it was mostly Avril's ground crew here.
"You guys got the day off?" Trigger raised an eyebrow.
"Mhmm, boss said she has a special project, but she wanted to see how Tabloid and Count do. It's their first major test, so to speak."
"Ohhhh yeah…any idea what it might be what they're working on?" Prez quickly approached the ground crew member.
"Nah, no clue, boss has kept it all super hush-hush."
"Really?"
"Really, the only clue we have is that she went out into the boneyard with Count and Tabloid, then came back super excited."
"Avril? Super excited?"
"I know right? It was weird, she was grinning ear to ear, grinning!" The convict laughed. "I've never even seen her smile!"
Prez squinted slightly, smiling. She was happy, happy that they had become such close friends with Avril, with Count, with Tabloid. She wouldn't have it any other way, she finally had found what she had always wanted, good friends.
Trigger reached over to her, and pulled her into a side hug. "Me too…me too."
She blushed slightly, gently elbowing him in the side. "Shush you."
Everyone present laughed more. A few "Oooo's" were called out.
"Someone's sleeping on the couch tonight!" Jacker cackled loudly.
High Roller laughed slightly. "Alright, Alright! Bring it in, we've got a few more things to handle."
Everyone quickly calmed down, slowly gathering around the gambler once more.
"Now, now, now, there's something I'm sure everyone has been noticing has sadly become a bit of a normality for us, because of that, to replace the old 'most kills' bet, we're adding this in." He held up a board. "Peacekeepers? Yes or no?"
Nothing…
Not a single person said anything.
They all simply stared at the words one the board.
"Peacekeepers"
It stood there like a curse.
Slowly but surely, a few people started to look around, slight murmurs carried through the prison yard.
Jacker hissed slightly, looking back at Trigger. "Well…what do you think?" His fists were tightly closed, pressed to his sides, his eyes glinted with panic. "Yes? Or no?"
He frowned…Oh he hated this so much. The IUN, the idiots, had made their presence known way to much. Having to fight Peacekeepers never sat right with him. Both times he had to take a few moments to just process the fact that they were on an intercept course. He was a peacekeeper not so long ago…wasn't he? He looked back to Jacker, putting a hand on his shoulder. He knew the answer, something had happened to the peacekeepers, they weren't what he once was. With that, there was that itch at the back of his mind, with this change, and whatever Crimson was up to. He knew what the answer was. "We'll…Probably see them again. Yeah."
Jacker froze up for a moment, his mouth moving, but no words came out.
Prez leaned over with a grin. "I mean, yeah, probably, but if we expect them…then we can be prepared, can't we?" She tapped her nose. "If they do show up, we'll be prepared for them. We're all pretty good fighters too. They've got to be on top of things too, if they suffer to many losses they'll be screwed."
Jacker paused, looking at her in wonder. "Oh…Oh!" He smiled, "So…we'll be okay?"
She nodded quickly. "We'll be okay. I promise." She nudged Trigger. "We're going to do our best, and we're going to come out on top. No matter what gets thrown at us this time."
Jacker nodded slowly. "Yeah…we are." He smiled. "Hey! High Roller!" He waved his hand, gaining everyone's attention. "Put thirty bucks on yes!"
Everyone in the yard turned to them.
Trigger felt a slight panic take over, as everyone focused on them once more. But it quickly disappeared into a smile. "Pilot's intuition."
Prez snickered.
High Roller grinned a bit. "Right then…Jacker is putting thirty on yes." He wrote something down. "Anyone else?"
"Twenty on no!"
"Forty on yes!"
"No way dude! IUN wouldn't try it again already, they're going to wait!"
"Nah that's exactly how they'd expect us to think, to get our guards down. Twenty on yes!"
"Thirty on no!"
"Psychological warfare? Being used by Peacekeepers?"
"I wouldn't doubt it…"
"Ten on yes!"
"Boooo! Bet higher!"
"Fine! Thirty on yes."
"There we go! Hell yeah!"
Cheers and laughter carried through once more. A few drinks were passed around, everyone happily discussed the probability of what would happen next.
Trigger took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as Prez and Jacker chatted about weapon loadouts for upcoming missions. Then, he noticed something, a parting in the crowd on the other side. He squinted, leaning over slightly to get a better look as one of Avril's crew was shoved to the side.
"Whats up?"
He looked over at Prez, "I dunno…something i-"
"Trigger!"
He quickly turned around to see, Full Band of all people, angrily stomping his way over to them. "What the fuck?"
"Well…we did want to talk to him, right?" Prez crossed her arms as she raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah…yeah. But…not like this."
"Hey Murderer!" Full Band spat onto the ground.
Prez's eye twitched.
"I didn't kill Har-…" Trigger sighed deeply, frowning. "Nevermind, what you want?"
"How did it feel? Killing all those workers last mission? Listening to their panic?" Full Band grinned. "Bet you enjoyed it you fucking mur-"
Crack
Prez's fist lashed out into Full Band's face.
A burst of blood came forth from his nose as he stumbled. "Bitch! What the fuck?!"
"If you know what's good for you, you'll shut your face and apologize. We've all been through a lot here, you should be over this." She took up a steady stance, waiting.
"No! Fuck you Prez!" He quickly ran up, fist raised. "You're just guarding him because you're sucking hi-"
She lashed out, grabbing Full Band's fist in one hand, the other coming up and slamming into his gut.
Trigger realized in that moment, he had never seen Prez fight in hand to hand combat. Sure he knew about her fights with Champ, they all did. He had seen her come back to her cell some nights, bruised and battered, a satisfied grin on her face. But they always took place in an undisclosed location.
This was different.
Prez was tensed like a cord, glaring at Full Band, ready to strike at any moment. She let go of his fist and shoved him slightly.
A ring slowly formed in the crowd, pushing each other back to make space to let the fight happen.
Trigger stayed put, just inches away.
"Ummm…." Someone looked to High Roller. "We gunna place bets on this?"
The gambler just shook his head. "Nah, fuck that, I know who's going to win." He winced as Prez growled. "Plus, I'd rather not have a bet like that going on."
She pulled back, waiting once more, muscles tense under her tank top, feet moving with careful precision, eyes watching for any movement. "Shut the fuck up Full Band, you don't get to judge him. You don't get to judge any of us!" She swiped a hand through the air.
"I'll do whatever I want!" He charged forward again.
"No!" Prez's fist smashed into his face again as she sidestepped Full Band's punch. "We're all murderers now! Osea has made sure of that!" She lashed out again, a slower punch.
Trigger's eyes widened slightly, a sudden understanding of her reaction time and her workout routine hitting him like one of Prez's fists. No wonder Champ always came back looking like he'd been bit by a truck.
Prez was deadly.
Full Band put up his hands to protect his face.
"So you don't get to judge!" Prez's fist opened up, grabbing his arm and pulling him forward.
He gasped as he was pulled, all of his weight was on his back foot. He wasn't expecting to have been pulled forward, and landed flat on his face. Groaning.
Prez smashed her boot into his back. Knocking the wind out of him. "We've been killing ever since they let us go weapons free. This war has made murderers a plenty, Trigger and I know that. He's been fighting this war since day one! I know you didn't sign up for this though, I sorta did, Trigger did, but you didn't." She sighed, keeping pressure with her boot. "But you need to let this go. I know you're upset about Champ. I'm upset too." She sighed deeply.
"Why…" Full Band wheezed, "Why would you be upset? You hated him."
She laughed at that. "Fuck no! He was an ass, yeah, but he had a heart of gold deep in there." She slowly took her boot off the information expert's back. "Look, we didn't always see eye to eye, but Trigger and I did our best to save him. Same goes for Ramirez, I miss the damn kid too." She ran a hand through her hair, frowning at the last faded bits of color. "Look…we're lucky we haven't lost more with the amount of crazy bullshit missions we've pulled off. We need everyone to work together here though. Trigger and I cannot carry this entire squadron on our backs. Everyone has proven that's not the case either." She took a deep breath. "Right now, we need you, you're way better with information and tech then a lot of us are, you've been predicting what will happen as long as I've been here. You haven't been on the money, but you've been close."
Trigger stepped forward, crouching down next to Full band. "We need that skillset. Along with your skills as a pilot. Look…I'm sorry for what happened to Champ…If I could go back and change it. I would. But we have to move on."
"What would you know Trigger?" Full Band glared. "Mister perfect murderer who everyone likes? How would you know what I'm going through."
He frowned. "I had to fight against an arsenal bird once. We lost an entire squadron, and my best friend."
"But Prez is…" Realization took over quickly.
"Yeah…but before this…before Harling, I had a friend who always said she would be there with me there till the end. But the end came for her first. I've been fighting in this dumb war since day one. I never lied about that. But right now, you can do what I can't, and we need your help. I'm not here to be your enemy, I'm just trying to make sure we all go home."
"But…then…I…" He sighed, rolling over onto his back, wiping more blood off his nose. "Fuck…I really fucked up didn't I?" He chuckled. "Damn it…I…" He took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. I just…I miss him."
Prez sighed, kneeling down next to him. "I know dude, you didn't go about it the best way though."
"There…was nothing…nothing I could do. I just had to watch." Full Band let out a gasping breath. "You guys always seem to pull people out of the fire. So, you had to have just let him die…right? Thats the only way!" He seemed so small, almost curled up, blood staining his face. Tears started to well up in his eyes.
"Sadly no…At the end of the day, we're just human. We just…weren't able to make it in time. I'm sorry." She put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm so, so sorry dude, I regret it so much. Just…there was nothing we could do."
Full Band sighed deeply, staring up. "I miss him…"
"We'll all see him again one day…" She looked up at the sky, smiling slightly. "Don't worry." She held out a hand. "Lets get your nose looked at though, alright?"
He stared at her hand for a minute, but slowly took it in his own.
Prez pulled him to his feet, smiling slightly. "Come on, lets go."
Trigger had people make space, leading the way to the infirmary. He hoped they weren't in too much trouble. He led them through corridors, checking back to make sure he wasn't outpacing Prez as she helped Full Band.
"So…" Full Band coughed slightly. "You said you needed my help?"
Prez pursed her lips. "Yeah…Yeah…about that…well…let me just say, you're going to love this." She chuckled as the former information broker gave her a weird look.
"Should I be worried?"
Trigger chuckled. "Probably a bit yeah, don't worry though. I'll fill you in on what's going on."
"I'm going to be honest Trigger, I think it's going to be Prez filling me in more than you. Cuz I'm pretty sure this is the most you've ever talked to me outside of a sortie, ever."
He shrugged. "Hmmm…good point."
444th Airforce Base.
July 25th, 2019 21.30
Bandog clicked his tongue, letting out a deep breath as he turned on the computer in his office. "Okay…I'm going to be at the door, to make sure no one else gets in. You sure you don't need anything else?"
Prez looked around. "Well…we got water, a few snacks, a notebook…yeah I can't think of anything else!"
Full Band sighed slightly, scratching at the bandage over his nose.
Trigger poked his hand. "Stop that, you'll agitate it."
"Well if someone hadn't punched me in the face…"
Prez growled slightly. "Well, if someone hadn't insulted my best friend and stopped being a dick for two seconds…" She glanced back at Full Band.
He glared back for a while. Then a smile crept up, and he snorted. "Pfft! Yeah, I was kind of a dick lately."
"Ummm…you two okay?" Bandog frowned.
Prez grinned. "Yeah! We're good! I was pretty worried I broke his nose for a bit there!" She rubbed the back of her head.
"You almost broke my nose…" Full Band frowned at her.
"Exactly, I didn't break your nose."
"But…"
"Full Band?" Trigger smiled slightly.
"Huh?"
"Just leave it be, trust me."
"Probably best! I just got back on your good side."
Bandog just shook his head. "Right then." He turned around and headed right out the door, gently closing it behind him.
"Right then…let's get to work." Trigger nodded to Full Band.
"Alright…" He sat down at the computer. "Well then Trigger, what am I looking for?"
"Three things." Trigger kneeled down next to Full Band. "First, we're looking for any information or ideas as to what our next mission will be. Second, how long until we're out of here. Third, what has the IUN been up to with everything here. Anything you can find."
"Trying to see what their next move might be?"
Trigger nodded. "That and I want to see what their previous moves have been.
Full Band nodded, then laced his fingers together and stretched, cracking his knuckles as he did. "Alright then, hit me with those log in details."
"Alright…" Prez pulled out the post it note, now carefully folded. "Username is…Capital B, Capital I, Capital G, Capital C."
He quickly typed out the letters, then stopped, fingers on the keys, waiting for her to continue.
She didn't.
He paused, looking at the screen for a moment, then looked up at her. "You…you're joking…right?"
"Eh?! No! Why would I joke about this!" She glared back at him.
"So you're telling me, that one of the high ranking officers of the OADF, the one who is responsible for picking us out to go to this hell hole, has the username of, and I quote… 'BIG C'." He points at where he had just typed in that exact username. "This is the most childish Username I have seen in years. Years! I had to help my ten year old Nephew with setting up his first computer, and he came up with a less childish username than 'BIG C'." He groaned.
Prez blinked twice, looking at the note in her hand, then back at the screen, squinting slightly. "No…That…that's the correct username." She chuckled slightly. "Oh I didn't even think about that before, that's hilarious."
"Well, just wait until you see the password Full Band." Trigger grinned slightly, a menacing glint in his eye.
The former information broker's eyes widened slightly, before looking at the note in Prez's hand. He glared at it slightly, before snatching it out of her hand and reading it slowly.
Prez and Trigger leaned forward, watching Full Band carefully.
He just stared at the note for a good minute.
"Ummm…You okay?" Trigger tapped him on the shoulder.
His eyes widened. "This is a joke right? This is just a cruel joke to stab me in the back after getting all buddy buddy with me right?" He turned and looked at them. "Right?"
Prez just shook her head, waving her hands in front of herself. "No! No, no, no…This…honestly is the actual note that was on his laptop, until I knocked it off of the laptop accidentally." She chuckled. "Then Trigger made some thrown together speech and made sure to step on the note so it stuck to the bottom of his boot."
"But…I…" He looks back at the note. "This can't be…" He shakes his head, typing in the password quickly.
It was accepted with no issue and began to log in.
"Are you fucking KIDDING ME?!" Full Band sucked in a breath, put his hands over his mouth, and let out a muffled scream.
Prez broke down into a fit of laughter, leaning against the chair Full Band was sat in, trying to keep her balance.
Trigger raised an curious eyebrow, but let a smile appear on his face. It was a pretty ridiculous situation.
"What kind of absolute idiot makes their official password for high profile national intelligence and operations 'Password1234'?" Full Band growled deeply. "Seriously! I know Tabloid told me it's actually a very common password and passcode, but I didn't think I would ever see anything this dumb! He doesn't even have two factor authentication! I mean it's the first thing any amateur hacker would try."
"Clemens apparently?" Trigger snickered. "I mean at least it's easy to remember right?"
The log in finished, and everything started loading up.
Prez smiled. "Well look at that, everything looks good right?"
Full band sighed. "Let me check…" He pulled up a few things, starting with emails. "Oh my god…he has everything set to auto log in no matter what device he's on." He rubbed his eyes slightly. "Alright, I'm getting to work. Lets see…he's got to have a way of contacting McKinsey if they set up this whole project together."
"McKinsey has got to get updates on possible missions from HQ. I'm hoping that Clemens is also working as a sort of…middle man."
"Is that how things normally work in the military?"
Trigger just shrugged in response.
"Dude, you were in the IUN weren't you?"
"I was never a high enough rank to deal with logistics like that, also completely different military."
"…Ah…right." Full Band clicked his tongue. "Well let me look around here, I'll see what I can find."
"Well they're not completely different from the OADF right?" Prez pointed at Trigger.
He shrugged once more, making an okay sign with his right hand, then placed it on his forehead.
Prez seemed to mull over this, realizing that they were going on very little in the long run. "Well let's look at this plainly, what's our best case scenario?"
Trigger raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"Just…just go with me here please."
"You might wanna do what she says Trigger, she's got a mean right hook." Full Band chuckled.
Trigger rolled his eyes. "Uh huh…I know…" He looked back to Prez. "I'm assuming we find out everything we want to?"
"Mhmmm! What's our worst case scenario?"
He frowned at that. "We…don't find out anything?"
"Yeah! Which means that what will probably happen is that we'll find some of the stuff we're looking for, but not all of it."
"Huh…that's an pretty optimistic way to look at it." He smiled.
"Nah."
"No?"
"It's a realistic way to look at it." Prez grinned ear to ear.
"Speaking of which…" Full Band cut in, looking up slightly from the screen. "I found something that might interest you guys."
Prez and Trigger quickly turned back to the screen.
"Jeez…they really want you two back." Full Band chuckled lightly.
"The IUN?" Trigger raised an eyebrow
"Oh…Oh man. You found all the stuff about us first?" Prez whistled slightly. "That is a lot of emails."
"Yeah! Look at this shit…" He smacked his lips twice. "We request that you return each member of Spare Fifteen to us as soon as possible, failure to deliver upon the requested date will result in loss of minor supplies." He switched to another email. "We request that you return each member of Spare Fifteen to us as soon as possible, failure to deliver upon the requested date will result in loss of flight privileges in certain sectors."
Trigger frowned at that. "Aren't we allies with them? Who's requesting this shit?" He looked over Full Band's shoulder as he looked through each email. There were about thirty, all with the same subject.
"It seems to be a different branch or office each time honestly. Like this one right here." He clicked on an email, opening it. "We request that you return each member of Spare Fifteen to us as soon as possible, failure to deliver upon the requested date will result in loss of ground support units in these sectors."
"They really like their threats don't they?" Trigger sighed deeply.
"They really do it seems. They attached a list of sectors as well…" He frowned, "So, this is apparently from the Fifth Semi-Mechanized Battalion."
Trigger made a face, "The Ground Pounders?!"
"You know them?" Prez tilted her head.
"Eh…kinda? Heard a lot about them. They had a string of accidents before the war that led to the two highest ranking officers, a single sergeant and a medical captain, being in charge of the battalion for a month. Everyone was talking about it for weeks. Mostly because the captain was flown in to do surgery on the lieutenant who had been in charge, but they were ex's, so more and more chaos ensued, and a sergeant ended up in charge of an entire battalion for a month while the captain made her ex's life a living hell and made sure all the other officers recovered safely."
Prez's jaw had dropped about halfway through.
Full Band just looked terrified and confused. "That just makes this even more suspicious why a ground based force is asking for your return to the IUN. About the only one that makes sense here is a message from the peacekeeper HQ. Oh…and they "Demand the immediate return of Spare 15…" He scoffs. "You can tell they're serious because they put the word demand."
"Is that the only one that says demand?" Trigger leaned closer to the screen.
"Yeah! It is!" He paused for a moment. "Wait a second…" He started quickly scrolling through each request, reading them at rapid speeds. Mumbling the words as he did.
"Uhhh, Full Band, what'd you find?" Prez leaned over as well, looking at him in curiosity.
"Hang on, Hang on." He frowned deeply. "I…I think they're using a bot of some kind to spam Clemens with requests."
"What? No way!" Prez scoffed.
"Yes way! Look, there are to many similarities with every single one of these requests. The only one that is unique is the one from Peacekeeper HQ. Everything else uses almost the same sentences word for word, the only difference being after the 'will result in loss of…' and the apparent sender. But…why?"
"Jeez it's like these idiots are fishing with shotgun…" Prez grinned. "You would think after the first time they would get the message, or at least stop trying to be so pushy about it."
"Oh! Oh! Prez! That's it!" Full band suddenly turned around.
"Eh? What?"
Trigger grinned. "I think you answered the question we had."
"They're phishing! With a P! They've probably sent these requests to more than just Clemens! They're probably doing this on purpose, they're being pushy, demanding, making threats. These requests from other departments and branches are probably all from the Peacekeepers too!" Full Band laughed. "It's a beautiful work of cyber warfare against an ally honestly. If only one person fucks up and falls for it, you two might have been sent back to the IUN, but luckily Osea's logistics are high class. I'd love to pick the brain of the guy…who…came…wait…" He quickly scrolled back up, opening the request from Peacekeeper HQ. "Trigger…"
"Hmmm?"
"When did…when did we sortie out to Artiglio Bay?"
Trigger pursed his lips. "Ummm…It was the twenty second, why?"
"This request, well…the demand, came in twenty four hours before we took off, and I'm pretty sure it's down to the exact minute."
Prez squinted slightly. "Well now that's just suspicious…"
Full Band nodded. "Yeah…It is…oh wait he forwarded this to someone." He checked the forwarded message. "Wait…oh my god!"
"Hmmm?" Trigger looked at the screen. "Wait…Wiseman? He forwarded this to Wiseman?"
"Oh! What did he say in response?" Prez leaned closer to the screen.
"Ummm let's see…" He read over it a bit. "Ah here. 'It seems there was something else going on, however we're unsure of what exactly that may be at this time. We took the opportunity that we were presented with the downed airship. My Special Forces team, Basilisk, did find this recording. Please forward this to HQ for further research, the blackbox was sadly damaged." He paused, moving the cursor over a play button. "Do you want me to play it?"
Prez looked to Trigger.
He nodded.
She nodded back. "Yeah, go ahead and play it."
"To Mage and Golem squadrons, I have a mission for you."
Prez shivered slightly and growled. "Crimson…"
"No way…" Full Band gasped slightly.
"I can think of no one better to take care of this mistake than you, both of you were present at the loss of Former President Harling. All in all it is an incredible loss that w-w-w-weeeeeeee…"
Khssst
"Eh?" Prez tilted her head. "What happened?"
"Ah…Damaged blackbox." Trigger frowned. "So whatever recording there is, there are bits missing."
"…If we are going to do this, we need to make sure it happens at the right time, otherwise Erusea will simply rise up again and continue fighting. Spare Squadron's actions will lead to an early end to the war, which is not what we need. An early end will simply lead to another war. We have spoken with the OADF, negotiated for the return of the aces, Robin Kuo and-"
Khssst
"…any and all requests were denied."
Full Band let out a slight breath. "Well that's a relief…"
"We also negotiated for the shut down of the Four, Four, Four airforce base. All requests for this action were also denied."
Trigger frowned. "That sucks…could have had an easy out."
"Yeah right?" Full Band shook his head.
Prez keep glaring at the screen.
"The OADF have left us with only one choice. We have to remove Spare Squadron from the picture. Otherwise we will never have the peace that Usea deserves. Do this…and you will have unknowable glory, honor, and whatever else you may need or want, I promise, because I will sacrifice anything for peace. Even my very being."
The three of them leaned forward in confusion, wondering what on earth Crimson 1 would say next.
"Should you accept, return with proof of kill or capture of the two aces. Should you not, there will be no proof of this conversation. Good luck peacekeepers."
The audio replayed automatically.
None of them made a move to stop it.
Prez's hands balled up into fist, gripped tightly. "What the actual fuck…How the hell does removing us from the picture result in…Peace? PEACE?! What kind of fucking peace would that be?!"
Full Band looked back at her in worry.
Trigger let out a deep breath. Honestly, there had been a part of him that wanted to believe that Clown had fought dying for some noble cause, something that his old squadron leader believed in. But this…
"God damn hypocrites!" Prez growled deeply. "Where the fuck do they get off going and doing that! Treating their own pilots like cheep mercenaries! But us actual mercenaries, are simply thrown away to the side. Sacrifice anything for peace, my ASS! What would they even hope to gain?!"
"Eruesa…" Trigger looked at her quickly. "They hope to gain Erusea…"
"Eh?" She turned toward him in a flash, confusion covering her face, and a bit of fear.
He pulled her a little ways away from the computer. "Full Band, see if you can check any IUN news articles about Artiglio."
He nodded, closed the audio recording, and got to work. "So you want to explain your theory?"
"They want to take Erusea, forcing it to become a part of the IUN. To do that they would have to push through every inch of land, until they are on Farbanti itself. Then, and only then, they can demand a surrender of everything Erusea has, and take it for themselves."
"I…." Prez frowned slightly, pulling Trigger into a side hug. "What the fuck…Why? Why would they do this? There is no need for that much fighting. There's a lot of better ways to end the war with less deaths on both sides."
"Perhaps they are looking for a full continental treaty?" He hugged her back with one arm.
"No…no…they want Eruesa completely under their thumb." Full Band gasped slightly. "If they can do this…they could become a part of Osean Federation! Oh my god…Oh my god!" He started to chew slightly on his index finger. "That would be insane! If they could pull that off Osean global power would be through the roof! Oh my god…could Osea be in on this?!" He started to type quickly. "Hang on I gotta check something…you're actually right on the money Trigger."
"Huh?"
"News articles will give us some answers." He focused in on the computer.
Prez kept taking deep breath, rage burning underneath. "Why…Why on earth would they do this…It's crazy right?" She looked over to Trigger. "Right?"
He shrugged slightly. "I…I dunno…I grew up hearing people talk about the first war…they all said that it would be better if we were just a part of Osea in the first place. A lot…and I mean a lot. Of people thought that Osea should have gotten involved in the war to, 'show those dirty Ruesan's what's what.'" He snorted, remembering his old neighbor. Never leaving things alone, always making a ruckus over the smallest things. He paused, feeling that someone was watching him…He looked around slightly, pausing as he saw his WSO staring at him.
Prez's jaw was dropped wide open.
"Huh? What's up?"
"I'm sorry just…" She giggled. "I never expected to hear that accent from you? Like…wow." She giggled more. "I think you sent me into shock for a good second there. Actually…that helped…a lot." She shook her head. "I know it's probably stupid as hell, and you were making some good points, but it really did help."
Trigger chuckled slightly. "Well…I'm glad it worked in calming you down."
She nodded. "Yeah…yeah it did…Crimson is still a bit of a…sore spot for me…but I know we'll clip their wings one day soon." She grinned slightly.
"Yeah…we will. We will."
"Ummm…guys?" Full Band looked up from the computer.
Prez and Trigger both looked his way.
"Eh?"
"Huh?"
"You're going to want to see this…"
"Right then, whatcha got for us Bandman?" Prez moved beside the intel specialist, looking over his shoulder.
"Well…" he cleared his throat as Trigger moved over his other shoulder. "First, never call me that again. Second, glad to see you're doing better. Third…Remember how Trigger asked me to look into some IUN newspaper articles?" He takes a deep breath, switching over to a separate window. "Here. It's a new article, only posted a day ago."
Trigger's hand grips Full Band's chair, it creaked slightly.
Prez's jaw dropped.
Heroic Peacekeepers Take Artiglio Bay!
"Yeah…This is all sorts of fucked up…" Full Band sighs, clears his throat, and puts on the most sarcastic announcer voice either of them have ever heard. "IUN Peacekeeper forces led a heroic attack against an Erusean Fuel Facility. Their success has led to a major blow to Erusean logistics and supply lines, but this was not without losses. The heroic actions of Mage Squadron, Golem Squadron, and the IUN Gunship Gladius will never be forgotten, especially as Mage Squadron's Captain gave his life on that day for the bright future of Usea. With this victory, a deadly blow has been put into the infrastructure of Erusea's drone network. All thanks to our brave peacekeepers…Blah, blah, blah, it's just them kissing ass to the peacekeeper corps for a full page."
"But…we were the ones who took out the port. How the hell are they covering that up?" Prez growled deeply.
"Well…we probably just don't exist to them."
She froze up at that. "Well…shit. That…sadly makes a whole load of sense."
"Yeah…I'm checking everything I can. There is nothing about us officially…hell, the only thing I could find was from a blog post from some kid who's working as a mechanic. He mentioned you Prez." Full Band, pulled up the blog, looking up at her as he did.
"Wait what?" She squinted at the screen. "Oh my God, Trigger! It's those guys from Roca Roja!"
"Which guys?" He leaned over.
"Those kids I had to give the crash course in on loading up planes!" She grins. "They remembered us!"
"It seems so, it's the only time I've seen our squadron even mentioned honestly…"
Trigger shook his head. "So what about our other missions?"
"Ah…yeah…about that. Well…all of our sorties before Roca Roja were just here. So nothing on those. It seems the credit for our work at Roca Roja was given to Osea…which, isn't wrong. Technically speaking."
Technically speaking was right…sure they were an official OADF squadron. But no pay, no official support, and a crazy base commander definitely made it feel more like the shithole it was. Bullshit not withstanding.
Prez giggled.
He rolled his eyes.
"First fight with Crimson was swept under the rug it seems, no mention of that. And of course there was…well…you know…where we lost Champ." Full Band sighed deeply. "Nothing on that either. Just…swept under the rug once more." He took a deep breath. "I don't understand this shit…"
"It's never okay. News is all about the positives, never remembering those who were lost. That's left to us Full Band." Trigger patted his shoulder.
"Did…" He turned to look at him. "Did that happen to your friend too?"
Trigger frowned. "Yeah…it did…they treated it like she was never even there. Remembering her was left to me and my old sister squad."
Full Band nodded slowly. "You know what…Tabloid was right."
"About what?"
"I should have stuck around with you more before this." He chuckled. "Don't…don't tell him I said that. I want to tell him myself."
Trigger smiled and nodded. "Not a word."
"Same here, I won't say a thing." Prez smiled, but it still came out a little forced, there was a wobble to it, as if she was constantly fighting off a frown.
"Thank you again Full Band, see if you can find anything about what our next mission might be. I think we learned a little too much about what the IUN is up to."
"You can say that again." He scoffed. "Right, right…I want to look through the emails again. I'll let you know if I can find anything about when we might be free to go as well."
Trigger took Prez's hand in his, pulling her attention to him. "Hey…you okay?"
She blushed slightly, looking at his hand, squeezing it slightly, but not pulling away. "Yes." She nodded. "I'll be okay…just, might need some time to process this."
He nodded slowly. "That's understandable…"
"You know…Crimson interrogated me…after they shot me down. They tried to figure out where the rest of Sicario was going. I was able to ask them…why they shot my transport down. Why they were doing this…you wanna know what they said?"
He lifted up one hand, making a fist and nodding twice, his fist making the same motion.
"They told me, that I was a glory seeking war monger, that we had to be put down, for the betterment of peace." She laughed slightly, grimacing as she did. "Now look at them. They've all become just that. Peacekeepers? Fuck no…they're all just fighting for glory, do they even actually care about the people down there on the ground?"
Trigger took a deep breath. "I dunno…I hope that there are still some people like Brownie in the Peacekeeper Corps still."
Prez tilted her head slightly, looking at him with a small smile. "Same…she…she always seemed like a good person, from what you've told me about her at least." She sighed. "I wish I could have met her…somehow."
He smiled, "I think she would feel the same way." He chuckled. "She'd probably fight you for best friend status though."
Prez snorted, chuckling a bit as her rage washed away. "What? You're joking right?"
"Not at all, she was very protective of her best friend status."
"Oh my god." She laughed. "That's amazing! That's the best protective older sibling vibes if I've ever heard of."
"Really?"
"Yeah! And that's coming from me, any time I went out on a date, my sister, Sybil, didn't matter if it was guy or a gal, she'd make em arm wrestle her."
"What?" He laughed slightly.
"I know right!" She waved a hand to her side. "Anyways, she did it every, single, time, when we were younger. Drove me crazy and she would never tell me why, she would only say, 'It's a test.'"
"Did she ever explain that?"
"Noooooo!" She covered her face. "She never did!" She laughed more, wiping a tear away. "To this day I have no idea what on earth she was testing."
"Well…maybe it wa-"
"Ah Ha! I found it!"
"Found what?" Prez immediately rushed over to Full Band, leaning on the chair again.
"The mission details! We were slightly wrong in our assumption that Clemens would just be included in the reports and messages."
"How so?" Trigger slowly approached, looking down at the screen.
"Because Clemens is the one providing the mission details to our base! Look!" He pointed at the screen. "It's not in his inbox, it's in his sent messages!" He laughed. "Alright lets have a look!"
Prez smiled. "Hey! Two outa three, plus a little extra intel, not bad, not bad at all!" She nudged Trigger lightly. "I'd say that's a pretty good deal for stealing a username and password."
"Yeah, yeah." He smiled, "It absolutely is. We couldn't have done it without you Full Band."
He frowned. "You sure about that? I mean it was pretty easy to do."
"I'm gunna be honest here dude…" Prez sighed. "We expected him to have more security than this."
"I mean I did too honestly. Ah here we are, future mission suggestions." He chuckled, opening up the most recent document sent to McKinsey. "This is still shocking how horrible Clemens security is…like come on man, information is a matter of life and death, you gotta protect what you got!"
"I mean, it helped us here though." Prez chuckled.
"Well…yeah," The Document loaded, and he scooted to the side, "But still. It's just embarrassing, you know? Go ahead and read through Trigger, you're the expert there."
Trigger nodded as he kneeled down in front of the computer, starting to read through the document. Skipping the boring parts, a few details on logistics, arms, weight, refueling if needed, blah, blah, blah…Okay here we go.
"Lets see…we've got a possible air base."
Prez shook her head. "Nah, the intel is too iffy, and we know McKinsey wants guarantied glory, not maybes"
"True, true…alright, we've got a naval base." He paused, frowning. "Why did Clemens even send this? It's way to far north…it's outside of our range, and behind enemy lines."
"Maybe just to fill up the document?"
It was starting to seem that way, there was a list of around ten targets. Every, single, one had some issue with it that meant that McKinsey would not take it.
"Well…hold on…what about that one?" Full Band looked over Trigger's shoulder.
"Which one?"
"This one." he pointed at the screen. "That looks like something the base commander would send us into."
Trigger read the location, paused, blinked and rubbed his eyes, then read it again.
Prez fidgeted a bit.
He stared at that location for a good minute, the words burning into his mind.
Full Band looked between him and the screen.
"Fuck…" He sighed, he already knew what the answer was, and honestly he should have expected it the moment McKinsey mentioned it. The first day he stepped into the cockpit of the Wyvern. The first day with Prez as his Co-pilot, as his WSO, as his partner.
Prez looked up at him, worry in her eyes.
Originally it had just been a simple collection of radar stations, used by the IUN for long range detection and aircraft control. But once they were lost, and Osea's satellite network hacked. Everything went to shit. He knew that place was now a nigh impenetrable fortress, just due to the landscape alone. Add in the high powered radar, orbital overwatch, and enough missiles to sink an entire fleet. The cost of even attempting to take out the radars, let alone capture the location, would be insane.
Oh, it was the perfect mission for them.
No one cared about a few criminals sacrificing their lives for something that not all of them believed in. So what better place to send them?
Full Band frowned in worry. "You okay there man?"
"No…"
"What's wrong Trigger?" Prez bit her lip slightly.
"I know where we're going next."
"You're sure?" Full Band looked back at the screen.
"There's no where else it could be. Our next target, is going to be the Waiapolo Mountains, and we have less than two days to prepare."
You know, it's strange how I've gotten into this weird rhythm of 'Small chapter, Big chapter.' I don't know how I got here, but when I finished what I thought was going to be a 5K chapter I find out it's at 9K bordering at 10K. XD
Well either way, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, it was fun to write and it helped a lot as I had to process putting down my cat at the beginning of this month. Not having her there with me as I wrote was really hard though.
Either way, a few things I want to go over real quick, here is this chapter's official ASL translations: 1. Ask her. 2. No idea. 3. Yes, Yes
Also I know I don't get back to people often on here when it comes to reviews. But, like...holy shit. Ya'll are amazing. XD This is why I love getting comments. Please keep them coming.
Oh! Oh! One last thing. Extra points to whoever can figure out the "5th Semi-Mechanized Battalion" reference