Waking up in the earliest hours of the morning, the pilots of Skull Squadron were getting ready to return to active patrol and escort, following their day off. With the exception of the newest pilots, who had stayed up late, the rest of the squadron felt completely rested. The veteran pilots eagerly entered their usual morning activities before taking part in their assigned schedules. Unfortunately, several unexpected surprises lie in wait for most of them.
Having her own private bathroom was one of the many perks that Klan enjoyed as the squadron's XO. To not have to fight over shower stalls and to be able to use your own hygiene care items comes with it's advantages... and also has a certain disadvantage. That disadvantage was capitalized upon overnight.
Fresh out of the shower, Klan removed the towel from on top of her head to use the hair dryer. To her surprise, the side of her head is met not only with a gust of air, but a hefty helping of talcum powder. The room is instantly saturated with a haze of powder as she turns the dryer off and looks at it as if something malfunctioned with it. Realizing her face and hair is now covered in white, she turned on the faucet to wash it off.
The top of the sink was carefully shrink-wrapped with plastic, causing the water to run off all over the counter and onto Klan's frontside. Also, the screw on the handle was removed, and Klan inadvertently pulled it off the valve after having turned it halfway open. "What the--??" Already annoyed by the talcum powder inside her hair dryer, Klan angrily placed the handle back on the valve, turned off the water, and stomped to the door of the bathroom to grab an extra towel that was hanging on the hook. Turning before she pulled it off the hook, Klan was yanked back by the towel. Somehow, it was fastened to the door and wouldn't let go.
"Oh, come on!" Klan struggled with the towel for a few seconds, giving it a few good tugs before giving up. Now enraged by this turn of events, she rushed into her quarters to raid the linen pantry for a fresh towel. Upon opening the cabinet, she discovered it to be completely empty. At this point, Klan had to stop and take a deep breath or she was going to burst a few blood vessels in her head. She'd been pranked good and now the question was about who was to blame for it. She already had a good idea before she went back into the bathroom and noticed the faint outline of a poorly-drawn chickling traced out on the foggy mirror. It was the calling card of Cal.
The mess hall was relatively quiet. It was still early in the morning and most of the crew assigned to the coming shifts were just now waking up. A few crew members who were winding down from their shifts were filling into the mess hall to grab a bite to eat to start their off-duty status. Only a couple of the new pilots patiently sat in the mess, watching TV while eating a few munchies. Cal was among them; coffee in hand.
A few minutes passed before a couple of the individuals they were waiting on entered the mess line for their food. The new pilots could slightly overhear the conversation going on between Ozma and Alto. "My mouth feels very numb, all of a sudden," Alto casually remarks to Ozma. The words strike Ozma in the head like a soccer ball. "You too??" he asks. Upon discovering their common symptoms, the two veterans began to realize that there was foul play afoot. They both whipped around to see the new pilots behind them enjoying their breakfasts and wearing smarmy grins.
Ozma grabbed his food and sat down so he could be facing his chicklings and stare them down. Alto took a seat right next to him. The new pilots were doing their best to focus their attention on the television, but knew that they were being watched. As each moment passed, it became harder and harder for the new pilots to contain their reactions. The piercing gazes of Ozma and Alto served to tickle their skin, rather than burn it.
Seeing their team leaders begin to eat their food, Cal inconspicuously nodded to one of the pilots sitting next to him. The pilot got up from his chair, casually pushed it back under the table, and left the mess. As he left the room, he passed by a very upset individual on their way in to find someone. Seeing their target, the tense silence was torn asunder by their voice.
"Wagner!" Klan yelled. Cal got up from his chair and stood at attention. Curling her index finger towards her like a cold witch beckoning the object of her gaze to come nearer, she ordered him to follow her out of the mess. Cal turned to look at his fellow pilots with a very mischievous grin, holding in his laughter. The other pilots responded with apprehensive smiles, as if it was going to be the last time they saw Cal while he was still breathing. Cal gave a sneaky thumbs-up to the cook who was standing behind the counter.
Suddenly, Cal's conscience began to heed him warning of the folly of his most recent activities. It seemed like maybe this was a bad idea, after all. Cal continued behind Klan as he shook his head to rattle the negative thoughts out of his head. She led him to the maintenance closet, opened the door, and grabbed random cleaning supplies. "You're going to start by cleaning up the mess you made in my bathroom," she said as she shoved the supplies into Cal's arms and pushed him forward towards her quarters. Cal's face began to beam from the way she was reacting to his little "stimulus".
Klan had not noticed yet another "gift" that Cal had left for her on the outside of the door to her quarters. A couple of pieces of paper were neatly taped against the door to keep them from getting scrubbed off when it opens. Written in large letters with poor penmanship, one paper read "Warning: The Nephilim lives here!" Below that paper was another paper with another crude drawing on it. It featured a poorly-drawn face of Klan with sharp, pointy teeth that seemed to be eating a small stick figure of a person. Other stick figures were running away to save themselves, probably from being eaten. Klan saw the drawings and shoved Cal inside her quarters before she removed them from the door.
The silence returned to the mess hall after Klan and Cal left. Ozma and Alto continued to eat while staring down their chicklings. They seemed to struggle to chew their food and keep it in their mouths, due to the adverse effects of the numbness they were getting all over their faces. Ozma was debating within himself on what should be done about the brazen behavior of his pilots. Alto's thoughts were not far from that, either.
After having finished their food, the two veterans were about to come to a decision on what to do about their chicklings' insolent, but gutsy behavior. Before they could get up to say something, they began to feel like their intestinal tract was about to completely dissolve from the inside. Both pilots got up and rushed out of the mess hall; walking with a noticeable uprightness, as if they were doing their best to hold something in.
After Alto's and Ozma's exits, each new pilot, who had been doing their best to hold in their laughter, completely lost control and fell about the table with a guffaw. The pilot, who had left earlier upon Cal's gesture, returned to the mess with a hand-truck full of boxes. They all got up and began to unpack the contents of the boxes for Ozma and Alto's return. Once they were done, each pilot left the mess hall to get ready for their shift assignments.
It took what felt like forever to get to the restrooms. To Ozma's and Alto's dismay, they found each toilet to be missing the seats. All that was left of them was the bowl, which is probably as difficult to sit on as it looks. They really had no choice to go to their own quarters to do their business, seeing as how time was not being very friendly... nor was the extent of their bowel control. Forced to use the less-than-standard commodes, relief came quickly. A reach into the toilet paper dispenser brought a feeling of horror to Ozma and Alto. The dispensers were cleaned out of their contents.
Yelling and cursing could be heard in the mess hall not too far away. Several crew members, who had just arrived to eat, sat and stared at the table where Ozma and Alto were sitting. A pair of toilet seats and rolls of toilet paper sat on the table next to the food they left behind. They had to assume that the odd placement of such items had something to do with the cursing coming from down the hall outside of the mess.
Cal happily cleaned up the mess he had caused in Klan's bathroom. An almost-sick sense of satisfaction coursed through his body as he served out his punishment. "It was totally worth it," he muttered to himself. He didn't want to be too loud, lest Klan hear him and find something else to punish him with. Something within him told him to make sure he didn't do a half-assed job of cleaning, though. He was probably already in some trouble with her and he wanted to make sure he at least made some of it up. She still hadn't seen the alterations he made to the new paint job she put on his bird the day before.
After some time, Cal emerged from the bathroom to let Klan know he was finished. "Alright, I'm all done in there. You want to inspect it?" Klan had been sitting in a chair looking over Cal's drawing and thinking to herself about the recent series of events. "I just have one question. Is this how you see me? As some kind of dangerous creature?" she said as she waved the drawings in her hand. Cal began to feel like he had inadvertently offended Klan again. "Aw, no. I was just kidding when I drew that. I didn't mean anything negative by it."
Cal put down the cleaning supplies and shifted into the chair across from Klan. "I'll admit it. I appreciate that you're tough on me. It pushes me to improve myself and it keeps me from overstepping my bounds. If I go too far, I know you'll be there to bonk me on the head." Klan put her tough demeanor back on. "I don't need your words of encouragement. I am who I am and it shouldn't matter whether or not you appreciate that or not." Despite her tough facade, Cal knew why she puts on such an act. He noticed the brief vulnerability she exhibited when she asked him about the source of inspiration for the pictures he had drawn. She seems to be self-conscious about her presentation around him. To his knowledge, she doesn't behave the same way when she's around others.
Klan got up from her chair and led Cal out of her quarters. "Now, comes the question of punitive action over this set of incidents." Cal realized that cleaning her bathroom may not be the end of the retaliation. "Punishment for what?" he asked. "Don't play dumb, Wagner. Where should I start? How about misappropriation of medical supplies?" Cal raised his eyebrow as if he had no idea what she was talking about. "I spoke with Commander Lee while you were in there cleaning and he told me about the local anesthetics you and your cronies injected into their toothpaste. He also mentioned to me that you guys put super laxatives in their food." Cal dipped his head in guilt.
Continuing with her list, Klan moved forward with the conversation, "Let's see... theft of NUNS property. Let's not forget about breaking and entering into an officer's quarters. You've got yourself a nice rap sheet going here. Shall I continue?" Cal knew that she was talking about removing the toilet seats and toilet paper from the restrooms near the mess and the towels from Klan's room. There was also the other pilots who broke into Alto's, Ozma's, and Nene's quarters to inject the anesthetic into their toothpaste and Cal's intrusion into Klan's bathroom for the huge setup. Klan waited for Cal to put away the cleaning supplies. "Okay, the squadron is meeting in the hangar to discuss punishment right now. Move it!"
Skull Squadron met in the hangar, split up into two groups. The veteran pilots stood at one side, with Ozma front and center. The remaining pilots in the squadron stood at attention while in formation. Ozma wasn't terribly happy about the pranking that he and his pilots had just received a short while ago. Fortunately, the anesthetics had worn off, so his speech was no longer being impaired by the numbness. "I want to know whose bright idea this was. Whichever one of you it was, I want you to step forward."
Klan glared intently at Cal because she suspected he was the ringleader. However, it was not just Cal who stepped forward. All of the pilots simultaneously took one step in Ozma's direction. Ozma had to maintain his angry facade, but deep inside, he was a little proud that his new pilots are working together as a team and will take their punishment as a team as well. "Very well, then... You will all hop into your EX-gears. It's time to do some laps. Kanaria, make sure they learn their lesson well." Ozma turned around towards his office and gestured for Klan to follow him.
Kanaria took over the administration of punishment. "Alright, maggots! You heard the man. Everyone get your asses into your EX-gears and get back into formation. Move it!" All of the pilots scattered to get their EX-gears and carried with them a sense of pride and belonging, knowing that they all had each others' backs. They were doing laps in no time, with Kanaria watching over them closely. Alto, Luca, and Nene seemed like innocent bystanders as they patiently watched.
Ozma sat down behind his desk to briefly talk with Klan before sending her out on her escort shift. "So, who do you think it was?" "Wagner." Ozma nodded in agreement. "He seems to have gained the respect of the other new pilots quickly. He certainly demonstrated his ability to form a good plan ahead of time. I have to admit that this whole debacle really caught me off-guard." Klan looked at Ozma with confusion on her face. "You think that it was okay for them to do that to us?"
Ozma laughed in response to Klan's question. "No, it's not that. Despite the negative result, you have to recognize his ability to rally people to his cause... then to calmly assign jobs to those people and have them carry out their orders successfully to accomplish the overall goal. You should know how important that is in a soldier who has the potential to have his own squad someday." "You're not thinking of doing what I think you are, are you?!" Klan sternly asked. Ozma shook his head. "No... no, not yet, anyway. I just wanted to point out that there is some good that came out of this. Even though we're punishing them for their insolence, we saw how they have all become more of a team. This little 'exercise' has done well to bring the squadron closer together."
Klan hesitantly nodded in agreement. Deep down inside, she wishes she had Ozma's panache. If she's going to get her own squadron someday, she'll need to be able to lead charismatically like he does. His ability to see the good from bad is something that she wants to be able to do some time. She was lucky to be able to draw from the qualities of Humans to compliment her natural ferocity as a pilot and warrior. This is something that she wouldn't be able to do if she had chosen to join an all-Zentraedi unit.
Recognizing an opportunity to learn how to draw out the leader in someone, Klan volunteered herself for a little project. "Ozma, I'd like to request that you leave his further development with me. I'll make sure to round off those rough edges so he'll be better prepared for his eventual promotion... whenever that happens." "Why do you want to do it?" "He's my chickling, Sir. I should be the one responsible for the outcome of his career while he serves under me. I think I'm beginning to see in him what you have been trying to show me all along."
A big smile crept across Ozma's face as he processed what Klan was trying to tell him. "You sure you don't have a thing for him?" Klan reeled back in disgust. "Oh God, no." Ozma continued to smile... his instinct wasn't quite satisfied with her answer and reaction. "Okay, I just had to ask. Have at him, then. Just make sure you keep him in one piece." A satisfied and mischievous grin worked its way onto Klan's face as she left the room to hop into the tank to macronize herself.
After several minutes, Klan and Nene entered the hangar to get into their Queadluuns. "Pixie Team, let's go!" Klan barked towards Will and Cal. The momma bird had called out to her chicklings. They were still doing laps in their EX-gears, but received the nod to leave from Kanaria. They quickly got to their VFs and fired them up to taxi to the deck elevators.
As the birds maneuvered around the hangar and onto the elevators, Nene noticed the alterations that Cal and Will had made to their new paint jobs. "Klan, look..." she said, pointing to the VFs. The chicklings that were painted on the fuselages were each laying an egg. The egg on Will's bird resembled Nene's face with a cheery disposition. The egg on Cal's bird was painted to resemble Klan with an angry look on her face. Remembering Cal's answer to her question earlier about how he sees her, Klan understood how he appreciates her overbearing style. The two sisters snickered with each other on how crudely-drawn the caricatures were, but most importantly, that they were the ones on the minds of their two chicklings.
The fleet was going to be on the move again, since the prospecting teams had finished their work in the currently-occupied space. That means that it's time to clear out or tag more Vajra nests, depending on their disposition. Several losses have been suffered by the fleet during the last couple of days of operations. The density of Vajra nests seems to have increased slightly; raising the chances of finding hostile nests in the next designated occupation sphere.
Team Pixie was joined by a few other teams of VFs while they moved towards their assigned coordinates. Cal recognized the IFFs of some of the fighters nearby. "Commander, would you excuse me for just a sec? I see someone I'd like to say 'hello' to." "Whatever. Don't get lost." He broke formation and headed over to buzz Team Pyrios. Performing a spiraled barrel roll around their formation, he opened the comm lines to his former wingmates. "Look who's coming to the party!" Cal said. "Is that you, Wagner?" Lieutenant Prince crackled over the line. Ensigns Bae and Carter each said their "hello"s after Prince's initial response.
"How're things going in Skull Squadron?" Ensign Bae asked. "Oh, going just great! You guys should try these VF-25s. They're amazing machines." A bit of jealousy floated over them before they answered. "Don't be greedy, Wagner. You guys need to hurry up and finish testing those beautiful babies so we can get our own soon," Prince replied. "I hope you're staying out of trouble," Ensign Carter chimed in. Cal took a moment to answer, trying to hold back the embarrassed laughter. "Oh, you know me. I've been stirring things up a bit and getting myself into some hot water. They've got some damn good pilots and it's tough to earn respect from them. I'll win them over some day, I'm sure."
Cal could see Team Pixie beginning to pull away from the rest of the fighters in the formation. "Okay, I gotta get back to my team. It's good to see you guys again. Stay frosty out there!" Cal said. Team Pyrios all said their "goodbye"s in unison. Cal took a moment to admire the transition he took moving from Helios Squadron to Skull Squadron many days ago. His increasing distance from them at that very moment was analogous of the separation he's had to make from the people with whom he previously flew alongside. The good thing about that was that they'd always be within reach somehow, whether by physical interaction or some sort of digital communication.
Cal rejoined his spot in Team Pixie's formation. "I hope you played nice with them," Klan remarked over the radio, "Just remember that you belong to Team Pixie now. The responsibility of your career and development belongs to me." "Do I detect a hint of jealousy, Commander? Afraid I'll go running off to someone else's squadron?" Cal said. Klan didn't answer. "Don't worry, I wouldn't miss this for the world," Cal continued. "That's good to hear, Lieutenant."
The sensor readouts in Cal's bird began to alert him of incoming hostiles. "We got company, 11 o'clock low." "I see 'em. Let's try to get around them to find the nest," Klan ordered as she blasted ahead of her team, expecting them to follow closely behind. The rest of the pilots matched speed and followed her path. Cal continued to patch his sensor data into Klan's Queadluun so she could make the best decisions on what route to take. Avoiding contact with the Vajra was priority number one, but they were ready to use deadly force if they were required to defend themselves.
Cal was unable to triangulate the position of the nest using the Vajra's incoming trajectories. "Wagner, I need the position on that nest several seconds ago," Klan barked. "I'm trying, Commander. I don't have enough information to make the predictions. We may need to find a second group to get a more localized position." "Tch..." Klan clicked her tongue at this development, "We have no choice but to determine how far these guys will follow us. At least that way, we can determine if there's a hostile nest nearby, or if it's just a docile one."
The team turned back to the direction from which they came. The Vajra moved in even closer, looking to destroy the intruders who have come into their territory. Cal considered using his fold-magnetic chaff to blind the bugs, but part of the point of escaping was to see how aggressive they were. They were just going to have to evade the incoming fire the old-fashioned way.
After being chased for some 300 kilometers, Klan made the decision to eradicate the pursuing Vajra, or risk having someone get shot down. "Alright, it's been far enough. Take 'em." Team Pixie reacted to their orders and broke up into two groups of two fighters. Will and Nene teamed up to peel away some of the Vajra in the group. Two bugs followed them in one direction, while three followed Klan and Cal.
Nene's Queadluun became locked up in a physical struggle with a mecha-drone while Will drew the fire of the other Vajra to cover her. The fight wasn't terribly hard for her since she could hold the drone in place with her arms while she fired upon it with the chest-mounted cannons on the power armor. Sensing this was a bad position, the drone attempted to disengage and chase Will. Nene tried to hold on, but it was strong enough to break the Queadluun's grip and charge off.
Will was having a bit of difficulty in wiping out his target. It seemed to dodge everything he threw at it. The mecha-drone that Nene was fighting entered in on Will's six and opened fire. "Rora, where are you? I'm in deep shit," Will announced. Nene was not far behind the drone, though. "Don't worry, Garrett, I've got you covered. You should be more trusting of me," she said as she intercepted the drone. She planted her beam cannon's muzzle right onto the husk of the drone and fired. The shot penetrated all the way through the tough armor of the drone and finished it off. "There you go. That one's all yours," Nene said as she watched him move in for the shot. Will scored a gun kill on his target mere seconds later.
Klan and Cal were not having any problems dealing with their set of drones. Cal sat back and let Klan do most of the work while he continued to monitor his sensors for any additional groups of Vajra. He'd need one more incoming trajectory to give an accurate prediction of the nest's location. It only took a few seconds for his prayers to be answered. Another group of 3 Vajra began to enter his sensor range. "Commander, there's another 3 coming in. I can now give you a good idea of where that nest is." Klan gave her order as she finished off the last Vajra from the first group. "Nene, Garrett, you take the 3 incomings. We'll go find that nest. Come see us as soon as you are done with them." They acknowledged and moved in to intercept.
Cal and Klan took off towards his prediction zone, hoping to find the nest so they could eradicate it. However, Klan had an ulterior motive to finding a hostile nest. "Wagner, try to hide our EM and fold signatures. I want to get as close to that nest as we can before being detected." Cal moved in as close as he could to Klan's Queadluun to increase his radome's effectiveness. It was very difficult for him to stay right on her, because she was moving so fast and his RVF was having trouble keeping up with the movements. "C'mon, Wagner. Stay with me, here." "I'm trying my best, Commander. I don't know if anyone's told you this, but you move really fast," Cal said with a little bit of laughter. Klan smiled at the back-handed compliment.
It didn't take long for Klan's sharp eyes to visually identify the nest. "There it is, straight in front of us." Cal checked his calculations on the distance the drones had traveled in pursuit of his team earlier. At over 650 kilometers, this was definitely an agitated nest. Fortunately for them, they had evaded detection, thanks to the radome enhancements Cal was using. Flying around to the backside of the planetoid with the nest in it, Cal began to wonder why Klan had not yet ordered him to fire his incendiaries inside.
"What are we doing?" Klan didn't answer at first. She seemed to want to get a look inside of the cavern before setting it ablaze. "Just a bit of a hunch," she finally replied. Cal was still confused, but chose to just wait for his orders. Cutting her engines to reduce the chances of being seen, Klan grappled her way across the surface of the asteroid. Her gambit seemed to pay off, as the drones guarding the entrance were looking outward from their positions just in front of the cavern's opening.
Gaining a good vantage point inside, Klan patched her visuals in to Cal's monitors. "Look at this. One of our friends from Galaxy is here." The picture showed a VF-27 engaged in some sort of implantation procedure with a newly-hatched larvae. The details of the work being done were tough to make out, due to the low visibility inside. Switching to infrared would only serve to reduce the detail of the picture. Klan remained undetected for several moments while she witnessed this bizarre behavior.
Cal suddenly broke the silence, "Watch out!" One of the fighter-drones had seen Klan's Queadluun and lunged at her to pierce the power armor with its flagella. Cal reacted by drawing his Ka-bar and severing the tail before it reached its target. He grabbed the thicker end of the tail above the cut and held the drone in place while Klan flipped around and perforated it with her guns.
By now, the nest had been alerted to their presence and flurried all around to defend their home. Klan blasted away to draw the majority of the drones away from Cal so he could do his job. "Nene! Garrett! We need you here now!" "We're almost there," Nene responded. Most of the swarm left to pursue Klan, leaving a few for Cal to deal with. For now, the VF-27 inside continued his work, probably hoping that he remained unseen to the Frontier forces now assaulting the nest he was in.
Nene and Will arrived to help peel some Vajra off of Klan so she could go back into her offensive mode to reduce their numbers. The drones that remained to fend off Cal from the opening had chased him away from his objective. It looks like he's going to have to go through them to complete his job. Three Vajra drones moved in behind Cal so they could begin to open fire. Since he was in a hurry, he had no time to waste destroying these bugs. A quickly-released salvo of fold-magnetic chaff dispersed in a cloud behind him. Once again, the drones became confused at the additional fold signals they were seeing and lost track of Cal. He fired several missiles and opened fire with his gunpod, saturating the area with munitions. The three drones became engulfed in the explosions, assuring their destruction.
Klan had to free herself from her pursuers in order to whet her curiosity about the VF-27 still inside of the nest. "Garrett! Nene! Focus your attention on the drones on me. I need you to peel them off so I can get to that nest." Will and Nene shrugged at the strangeness of the orders, but complied. Allowing their targets to get away, they worked well together to eliminate the few drones that were following Klan. Seeing that she was free to move away, she vectored her thrust to burst back towards the nest.
Cal was just getting into firing position as Klan met him outside of the nest. The incendiaries detached from under his wings and cleared the cavern entrance. He pulled into a climb to avoid any splash damage, but Klan stopped several hundred meters in front of the cavern to wait. After a few moments, the 27 zoomed out of the cavern to run on home, but Klan had a reason she was waiting. She cut off its escape route in order to challenge it to a fight. She hoped to finally best the elusive 27.
Her past experiences in combat against Brera Sterne in his VF-27 ended up in her getting shot down. She was prepared to do what it takes to get that monkey off of her back, so she could finally say that she's shot down one of every kind of fighter available. This is the kind of pride and excessive zeal that gets her into trouble, though.
In the background of a flaming inferno burning all around, Klan hoped her fighting ferocity would match the intensity of the maelstrom of fire raging inside of the cavern. The 27 didn't really seem to be interested in taking part in this little duel of hers, as its movements only served to irritate Klan even more. She was able to keep the fighter from exiting the area, but didn't have a lot of time to take shots at it. She would provoke it with every opportunity she had. The only return fire she got was directed towards scaring her off the pursuit and nothing more.
Cal began to open fire on the 27, but was met with a hostile demand. "Don't try to help, Wagner. You'll only get in the way! Just stay back and make sure no more drones attack me." Hesitant to obey, Cal staggered his RVF away from the area of conflict and kept an eye out for any incoming drones that might still be hiding amongst the asteroids.
While Will and Nene finished off the last of their attackers, Klan continued to struggle with the 27. Her every shot dodged, her every missile shot down, her every attempt to corner it failed. It wasn't too long before the 27 found an opening in her blockade attempt and escaped the area. Cal tried to follow, but was cut off by Klan in her angered pursuit. "Why won't you fight me?! Come back here and show me what you can do!" she yelled over the open comm lines. She hoped that her demands would be heard and provoke the 27 to turn around and re-engage, but her words did not sway the pilot.
Klan continued to pursue the 27 far out of the range of their patrol area. The comm lines opened up to warn them that they were exceeding their mission parameters. "Skull-5, this is Quarter Tower. You are well beyond your specified mission boundaries. Return to your designated coordinates," Jen Wentz's voice crackled. Knowing that she was not going to succeed in either catching the 27 or coercing it to re-engage, Klan stopped her Queadluun dead in space. Cal stopped his RVF next to Klan and watched as the 27 sped off into the murky black of space.
"Don't worry, Commander, we'll run into more of them down the road," Cal said, trying to comfort her frustration. "Quiet, you. I don't need you to help me feel better. I will shoot one of those damn 27s down if it takes the rest of my life," Klan snapped back. Cal tried not to take her hostility personally. He knew that she just gets that way when she's in the frenzy of the fight. He would have liked to get that kill too, but nowhere near with the intensity and zeal that Klan has for it. It seems that she has a personal vendetta against those fighters. Klan turned her Queadluun around with a scoff and blasted back towards their operational space with Cal closely behind.
Pixie Team secured their area and spent the rest of their shift keeping the peace. Klan was generally quiet for the remainder of their time out there, but that didn't stop Will and Nene from chattering away with each other. Cal tried to join in some of the time, but he thought it might be a good idea to let the two of them get to know each other better. There seems to be a bit of attraction going on between them. Only time will tell where they'll go with it. Cal tells himself that he will probably ask Will about it at some point to see what he says.
Upon his return to the Quarter, Cal stopped into Ozma's office at his request. Ozma was in his flightsuit, about to join his team on their escort shift. "I'll make this quick. We got an answer from Bell-Casse while you were out there just now. They OK'ed the proliferation of your system enhancements to Luca." Cal smiled in response to the good news while Ozma continued. "Remember, it's still classified, so the only people who you can talk to about it are Captain Wilder, me, Klan, and Luca. I want you to get with Luca after we get back from our shift and set up the earliest, most convenient time to roll out the systems to him." "Yes, sir!" Cal responded, as Ozma left the office to hop into his VF.
Cal suddenly realized that Ozma had referred to the other squadron pilots by their first names to him. Just like Luca told him before, everyone refers to each other by first name when they've been "accepted". Although Ozma did not refer to Cal by his first name, it was a start. Maybe this whole pranking issue is going to blow over from now on and things will move to a more personal basis with the other squadron pilots.
Klan approached Cal from behind while in her macronized form as he watched Ozma taxi his VF onto the deck elevator. "Just in case you were thinking that you were off the hook by now, I wanted to go ahead and tell you otherwise. I need you to report to my quarters in 30 minutes. Oh, and wear grubbies because you're probably gonna get dirty," she said as she started to make her way to the micloning tanks. "Yes'm," Cal said with a heavy sigh.
Will approached him after Klan left. "Hey, I was going to get something to eat with Lieutenant Rora. Do you want to come?" Cal laughed at the huge disparity between the relationship that Will and Nene were forming and the one that he and Klan were forming. "Sorry, dude. Looks like I will continue to serve out my punishment for the next few hours. It looks like Commander Klang has something horrible cooked up for me to do for her." "Oh... well, good luck with that, then!" Will said as he left to change out of his flightsuit.
At that point, it was obvious to Cal that Klan was still lashing out at him some. She still remained somewhat of an enigma to him. Some days, she was as amicable as one would hope she could be. Other days, she was extremely overbearing and intolerable of Cal's personality quirks. Will and Nene have started to show attachment to each other. Whether they were getting along as good friends or something more, it would only be revealed with time.
On one side of Cal, he had a woman who was obviously interested in being something more than just a friend to him. She was honest and open with him, but she was a little pushy. That pushiness irked Cal a little bit, but it's definitely not something he should be critical of her for. On the other side, he had a woman who he thought was his friend and rival, but she seems to want to crush his spirit and change him into something that he's not quite comfortable with. Each dilemma had completely different solutions to deal with them. Perhaps the next couple of hours would be an opportunity to take care of one set of his problems, at least.
