As she stepped down the ladder of her F/E-18, she looked over her shoulder to see a crowd of pilots assembled around her in various states of scowling. So, this is Polaris Squadron. IRIS took her flight helmet off and tucked it under her shoulder.
Nicole met the eyes of the one in the middle, a stern-looking woman with a Major's insignia. "You." The Major spoke, and the pilot knew she was noting the salute that Nicole had failed to give her superior officer. Fuck that noise. The young pilot smirked. I'm not really military anymore, am I?
"So, you're the Fed, huh?" The Major crossed her arms and deepened her scowl. "I see why they hold Peacekeepers in such high regard. But I just don't get it."
"Don't get what?" Nicole raised an eyebrow.
Scott interrupted her. "Don't get what, ma'am."
She glared at the only man with the honesty to curse her out to her face with a wicked side-eye and groaned. "What don't you get, ma'am?"
The Major looked at Burn, seemingly as if to say, that was unnecessary. "I apologise for the behavior of Lieutenant Bernitz. He doesn't like you very much, and quite frankly, Ms. Fed, I'm inclined to agree. But I think we should at least treat you like a human being, if a shitty one."
"Wow. Thanks, Major."
"I think that's all the goodwill you're going to get, Peacekeeper." The word dripped with all the anger, fury, and rage that the Major wanted to unleash on the younger pilot, the living, breathing embodiment of the Federation and all the pain they had inflicted on Cascadia.
Peacekeeper. Nicole chuckled to herself. Some grim fucking joke that was.
"Ya know, Lieutenant Bernitz almost went weapons hot on you when you first came here. We were under orders not to engage unless fired upon, given how strange a single fighter without an active transponder was. I stopped him. You just made me feel a little better about that decision today," Major Hawthorne paused. "But I still don't understand why Poster Girl would walk away from it all. Y'all have it pretty good, for a bunch of Feddie zealots."
Hmph. Nicole scowled. "They had us doing some fucked up stuff. I didn't want any part of it. It wasn't what I believed in."
"That so?" The Major raised an eyebrow. "Then what doyou believe in? You believe in Cascadia? In our cause?"
Nicole hesitated.
No. I don't. I don't really care about Cascadia. This is for survival.
"Yeah. I believe in Cascadia." She lied through her teeth, brushing a rogue strand of hair behind her ear. For survival, she thought.
"What a fucking liar," Burn said, glaring at her with eyes full of fury. He turned to the Major. "You can't trust her. She's just going to stab us all in the back. She's killed our people before."
The Major stared down Scott. "Lieutenant, you're dismissed." She shook her head. "For the record, I don't know how much I believe you either. But we're getting nowhere. Airman?" She gestured over the partisan with the rifle. "Escort the Fed to her cell."
Nicole walked away, flight helmet in hand, a rifle pointed at her back.