A/N: Here's part 3 of my chapter. Yep, it's pretty big, but there was a lot to cover. I considered breaking this up, too, but I need to keep things moving forward at a reasonable rate. In all honesty, I want to write side-stories featuring many of the other established characters, but I just don't have the time. If I did that, then the story would move at an even slower rate. For now, I need to focus on the more prevalent characters.
I'm just putting the finishing touches on Chapter 49 today, which follows this one. I just need to send it through my test-reader before it's pretty much finalized. That means that I'm back to being one chapter ahead of whatever I post. I've grown more confident in my writing abilities, where I don't have to create material so far ahead of the postings to make sure I don't write myself into a dead-end.
So, this posting contains our little climax, here. I know it's doesn't involve any mecha, but I hope that it turned out to be rather entertaining. It's definitely a nice change of pace, but I was never sure how fans of the show would take it. Don't worry, though. We'll start to see some more super-sexy mecha action very soon. I'll hint at the fact that I have two good combat scenes planned to appear within the next ten chapters or so. I honestly can't wait to get to writing them, but we'll see how much free time life affords me. I just need to quit letting Left 4 Dead 2 distract me so much. ) -(09/18/11)
Now that he was out of his paintball gear, Ozma stood with his arms crossed in front of one of the monitors in the pavilion. He wore a peculiar smile as he spectated the rest of the match on the sidelines.
Cathy approached him from the side and handed him an opened bottle of beer, "Well, despite being out now, you look rather cheerful."
Happily accepting the drink, Ozma took a quick swig before answering. "Just damn proud of my pilots, that's all. It's such a gratifying feeling when you realize that they've evolved from mere chicklings into full-fledged pilots. They're always so inexperienced and green when they first join the squadron, but they eventually learn that it's not about the individual or personal glory; it's about working together as a team."
"Mhm..." Cathy replied as she took a sip of her drink. "We all saw it, Ozma. By the way, I need to talk to Lieutenant Wagner when we're done here."
Ozma looked at Cathy, expecting an explanation, but her facial expression told him that she'd eventually let him in on the down-low. With a smile, he quickly turned away to get Captain Wilder's attention. "How about those pilots, eh Cap? I can almost taste victory... and it tastes like top-shelf scotch!"
Captain Wilder didn't even bother to look at him to give a response. He kept his attention on the monitors nearby and replied, "It's far from over, Ozma. You know that anything can happen at any moment."
Right on queue, several people near him reacted to the video feed displaying on the monitors, cheering what they had just seen. Something significant had just taken place on the course. A wry grin crept across his face as he turned to look at Ozma. "See?"
Ozma suddenly began to feel his chances of winning the bet slipping away, as he had just seen what everyone else was reacting to.
…
Cal cautiously trod through the thick grassy areas leading towards his teammates' position. The numerous trees and boulders spread around the area made good hiding places for anyone willing to tag him out of the match. There was no way of telling how many Blue Team players were left on the course, but he knew that because he was now carrying the flag, his position could be easily compromised. Each successive movement across the course would have to be made in short sprints, reducing the amount of time he was exposed to any attacks. It wouldn't be long before he could meet back up with his teammates so they could escort him to the enemy base.
The time came for the next dash through the woods and Cal peered around the side of the boulder against which he was leaning. A narrow, beaten path wound its way through the woodsy area near his position. Sure enough, the sound of some nearby voices reached his ears and he quickly, but stealthily identified the source with his own two eyes. Almost as if he was dreading the encounter, Cal leaned against the boulder and took a deep breath to wear down the anticipation a bit. He then looked to his left as he saw the first person walk into his line of sight from behind the boulder. Fortunately for Cal, they stopped right in the middle of the path to mend an untied shoe.
"Will!" Cal loudly whispered.
He was initially startled, but quickly acknowledged Cal's presence with nonchalance and then looked off into a random direction.
"What the hell happened? I was on my way to meet you guys." Through Cal's goggles, Will's body was highlighted with the neutral yellow color, indicating that he was out of the match.
Will continued to tie his shoes and intentionally dragged the process, pretending to talk to nobody in particular, "She got us, dude. Right after our last communication with each other, she got the jump on us from behind and got all three of us in a matter of seconds."
Nene and Todd approached Will from behind, taking notice of the fact that he seemed to be talking to the forest. "Who are you talking to, Babe?" Nene asked. She didn't take long to answer her own question with a quick glance to the right side of the path. Cal was crouched down in the grass to reduce his chances of being seen. "Oh, I see..."
Cal quickly motioned for Nene to look the other way, lest she give away his position if someone happened to be watching them. "Was it Klan?" he asked. He was pretty sure he knew the answer, but something inside of him demanded specific confirmation from a reliable source.
With a short laugh, Nene took it upon herself to answer the question, "She wasn't all too happy that you weren't with us. After thoroughly kicking our butts, the first thing she did was inquire as to why you weren't there."
"Hate to say it, but I think you're all that's left of our team," Will declared, still fumbling around with his shoelaces, "The good news is that I think the Blue Team is pretty much down to nothing as well. We haven't seen nor heard any other action since we got tagged out. You just have to get past her, she who will not be named... hah."
Cal bit his lip and grunted. Will and Nene were making Klan out to be some unstoppable force and it wasn't helping his confidence level at all. He quickly tried to shrug it off and reaffirmed his confidence within himself. "Whatever. All I have to do is make it to their base and it's all over. I'm sure I can avoid contact if I really try. After all, it's what I do best while flying out there," he said, looking up at the partially-obscured sky. The forest canopy was fairly dense, but the sky could be seen in splotches here and there.
Despite having been looking in other directions, Nene turned her gaze towards Cal and began to back away down the path towards the pavilion area. "Good luck, Cal. You're going to need it."
Will got up from his crouched position and joined Nene and Todd on their way off of the course. All he could muster was an amused smile as he casually glanced in Cal's direction. With a slight hop in his step, he quickly rejoined his other two fallen comrades.
Another grunt slipped out of Cal's mouth before he turned his focus back onto his surroundings. It was helpful to know who he was up against, but their goading did not help all. Following a quick check on his equipment, Cal boldly dashed across the path and into the woods ahead.
Keeping his head low, Cal managed to cover a lot of ground in his sprint. He found a good place to stop and rest for a moment, also giving him time to gauge his surroundings. Off in the distance, a rickety wooden suspension bridge hung over a small ravine, beckoning him to cross there. The faint sound of running water indicated that there was probably a small creek bubbling away at the bottom of the shallow chasm. Just on the other side of the creek was a small meadow, revealing the enemy goal structure a couple hundred meters away. The blue flag on top gently floated in the wind.
However, there were several man-made obstacles strewn about the forest area between Cal and the bridge. There were plenty of places from which to mount an ambush. Perhaps the best approach here was to take this area one step at a time; advice which Cal was eager to follow. He caught his breath and began to quietly pass through the area, checking each possible hiding place with both his eyes and his marker, his trigger finger ready to unleash a salvo of paintballs onto any poor soul within his sight.
"So far, so good," he thought to himself. However, the fact that he was holding the flag was nagging at his mind during this entire time. Since anyone on the course would be directed towards his position, it would take an enormous amount of luck to avoid being caught before he reached the goal structure a couple of football-field lengths away. Those couple hundred meters were going to be laborious, if not, agonizing.
With each step, he was closer to his goal, but like most things in life, nothing ever comes easily. Cal's reflexes did him a major favor, reacting to the sudden sound of a nearby paintball marker firing at him.
*POPOPOPOPOP...!*
Unable to initially locate the source, Cal had to focus on getting to a safe place without being tagged. Paintballs were flying all around him as he charged towards the wide trunk of an elder tree nearby. With a desperate dive, Cal disappeared behind the trunk and into safety, tumbling forwards and landing upright to lean against the tree. Several paintball rounds impacted on the tree's mighty trunk before the marker fire finally subsided. His brain finally had a moment to catch up to what he had seen and he realized that he had witnessed some telling clues to identify his assailant. "Klan? Is that you?"
Aside from the sound of the bubbling brook nearby, a silence hung over the air. A few moments passed before a faint answer was heard. "Maybe..."
"Heh..." Cal found this situation to be somewhat amusing, "I don't suppose you'd be willing to just step aside and let me get across that bridge...?"
"I'm not even going to dignify that question with an answer."
"That's too bad. You know, I could just outrun you to the goal, if I wanted to. It might save you some embarrassment later."
Once again, Klan took her time to answer. "Tch... I'm disappointed, Cal. You'd actually consider avoiding a fight with me to cap the flag? Don't be a coward."
Cal was still laughing a bit and it overlapped into his voice as he replied, "I considered it... for about a microsecond." He finally leaned over to peer around the tree trunk to get a visual on Klan's position, to the best of his abilities.
"Still too much time to consider such a thing," Klan responded. She immediately stood back up and began to fire over the wall behind which she had been hiding.
*POPOPOP...!*
Cal withdrew himself behind the cover of the tree once more, while Klan's paintballs impacted against the tree or harmlessly passed by his head. Once the marker fire subsided, Cal climbed to his feet and bent over to scoop up an armful of fallen leaves from the ground.
With her marker intently trained on the tree trunk, Klan waited for Cal to expose himself once more. At the first sight of movement, she adjusted her aim to the right of the tree and opened fire again. She quickly realized that Cal had tossed leaves out to distract her momentarily and succeeded in drawing her attention just long enough to allow him to appear from the other side of the tree's trunk. He was able to accurately fire upon her position while charging towards her, keeping his head low to minimize his profile. Klan had no choice but to retreat behind the wall to avoid being marked, but she knew that Cal wasn't going to relent on his attack. Too close to the edge of the wall to cover herself with her marker, she let it fall to her side, now only hanging by its strap from her shoulder. She kept herself pinned against the wall in anticipation for Cal's appearance into her line of sight.
Cal continued his charge towards Klan's position, continuing to unload a steady stream of paintballs, hoping she'd make the mistake of trying to counterattack him with her own marker. Victory was only a few moments away. All he had to do was to round the corner and put a few rounds into the protective armor she was wearing over her upper torso.
Unfortunately for him, Klan was ready for his arrival. As soon as she saw the muzzle of his marker appear next to her, she grabbed it and used her leverage with the wall to thrust it forward, causing Cal to stumble off-balance. Still holding onto the muzzle, she used her left leg to sweep his planted foot out from below him and jerked downwards on the marker's muzzle. The resulting redirection of force caused Cal to do a complete frontwards flip, sending him down to the ground to land on his backside with a loud "THUMP". This was her chance to tag him out. After that fall, he had to be completely helpless and probably too dazed to fight back. She reached to her side and grabbed her marker to finish him off once and for all.
Cal's inertia, combined with reduced friction from the layer of fallen leaves underneath him, caused him to continue sliding forward until he met the edge of the ravine. "Shit...!" he exclaimed as he realized that he was about to go on an extracurricular trip down the banks of the creek. He lifted his head up so he could see where he was sliding and let his arms lay out to his sides, bringing any dirt and leaves down the incline with him.
By the time Klan had aimed her marker at Cal, he had already disappeared over the edge of the creek's bank. "Goddammit..." she mumbled as she sprinted towards the edge of the ravine.
Cal happened to look upwards to see Klan appear and kneel down to take aim at her with her marker. She had a most determined look on her face as she opened fire upon him. Instead of allowing himself to slide into the creek, Cal jumped off of the base of the incline and cleared most of the small creek with one single bound. Klan's paintballs impacted on the ground right after he made the leap. Sailing through the air following his jump, Cal landed in a shallow area, causing water to splash away from his feet. Several more paintball rounds began to hit the surface of the water nearby, but none of them were able to hit their intended target. With another leap, he landed on the opposite bank and scurried up the incline in a diagonal direction. A low-hanging tree limb gave Cal a great point from which to hoist himself back up over the edge of the bank and into safety. Grabbing the sturdy branch above his head, he used his inertia to swing his legs upwards and let go with a slight shift to the side. He cleared the top of the bank completely airborne, like a small child leaping onto a soft bed. Paintballs marked his exact path of escape along the opposite side of the creek's bank. He was now completely out of Klan's sight.
She grunted in frustration and casually scooted over to take cover behind the tree that was next to her at the top of the bank.
"Ow! Aw, dammit...! Ugh!" cries of pain came sailing over the creek bed towards her ears.
"What's the matter?" She inquired.
"I landed straight on my paintball marker! Argh...!" The straps on the markers did well to help players not drop their weapons if they got into a bit of a physical scrape. However, it didn't stop them from swinging into the most undesirable locations, should the player decide to execute advanced acrobatic moves.
Klan couldn't help but laugh at his misfortune. It was a small consolation for her, since she missed her chance to take him out once and for all.
"Yeah yeah yeah... I'm sure you find it very funny." Cal could be heard grunting and groaning as he righted himself again. "You've got some nifty moves there, woman. What was that? Jujitsu?"
"I took some classes a long time ago when I was younger. I'm glad I remembered after all these years."
"Yeah, good for you... Ungh!" It seemed that he was still feeling some discomfort from that ordeal. Cal sighed and decided to continue baiting Klan into making a bad move, "So, I'm on the other side of the river now. The base is just a short sprint away and there's nothing you can do to stop me."
She tried her hardest to not react to his goading, "Cal, if you go and cap that flag right now, I'll lose all respect for you. Be a man and fight me." Still leaning with her back against the tree, she noticed the yellow flag skip across the ground next to her. Cal had thrown it all of the way across the creek bed; it was tied into a bag-like shape with sand inside to weigh it down. Its appearance was similar to that of a penalty flag from football games.
"You know I was just kidding."
"That's more like it..." Klan walked over to pick it up, momentarily forgetting that she was exposing herself to an attack. She was startled by the sound of Cal's marker firing and was immediately reminded of the situation. She quickly took shelter behind the tree again.
"Hup! That's not for you. Just leave it there and we'll finish this up head-to-head with no flag to worry about, okay?"
A smile crept across Klan's face as she realized that he was going to give her exactly what she wanted: the chance to embarrass him in a head-to-head confrontation.
…
Ozma was almost in tears at the pavilion. "What the hell is he doing? All he had to do was cap the flag and it was over!" He shook his fist at the monitor above his head, "You'd better not screw this up, Wagner!"
"Calm down, Ozma..." Cathy said in an attempt to soothe his agitated mood.
Will quietly sat at one of the tables nearby sipping on a drink, when he was hit by a surprise attack from the side. "Will, look over here!" Nene had her camera pointed straight at him and snapped a photo just as he looked in her direction. After waiting for the picture to show up on the camera's display screen, she frowned at the result. "Come on, Hon. You really need to get over this 'thing' you have with getting your picture taken." She sat down next to him to show him the picture. In it, Will had managed to put his hand up to block part of his face; pilot reflexes were pretty tough to overcome.
"I'm sorry. You know I try, but it's just... weird to me."
An idea popped up in her mind and she smiled in reaction. "I tell you what. Every time you're getting your picture taken, just think about how much it is that I love you. You know the smile I'm thinking of..." She tilted to the side and put her arm around him before placing a kiss onto his cheek.
Will simply reached up to grab her forearm, which was just under his chin. He paused for a moment to let the feeling sink in and finally began to crack a smile.
"That's the one..." Nene declared as she raised the camera above her head and pointed at the two of them. She snapped another picture of the two of them and became satisfied with the result. "See? Works pretty well, doesn't it?" Will agreed with a nod just as another voice sounded from behind them.
"Lieutenant..."
Nene turned around to see Jen taking a seat at the next table, wearing a pensive look on her face. "Hey. How are you doing?"
"Um, I'm okay..." Jen replied with a courteous smile, "Listen, I want to ask you guys something."
Will and Todd also turned around to hear the question.
Jen took a short breath to make sure she was sure of what to ask. She pointed up at the monitor still showing the live feed of the paintball match, "What's the deal with those two? It's like they are constantly seeking each other out. For what reasons, I can't possibly imagine. I was hoping you guys could shed some light on the issue."
Will and Nene looked at each other, trying not to laugh. Todd chimed in from the side, "Yeah, I've been wondering since I saw them talking to each other at the table earlier."
Suddenly, Bobby showed up out of nowhere to add his two cents in, "Isn't it obvious?" Will and Nene widened their eyes, knowing that he might spill the beans... "She's in love with him!" he continued.
Once again, Will and Nene shared a quiet laugh with each other and turned forward again. Their silence was all the confirmation that Jen needed. "What? That's incredible! I had no idea..." she replied with a laugh, "Wait. Does he know?"
Nene turned around to answer the question, "Well, kinda... let's just say that he knows, but she won't tell him. He finally got the nerve to confront her about it last night and it didn't really work out the way he had wanted it to. She can be so hard-headed sometimes..."
"Oh, so that's why he was asking us those questions yesterday, Jen," Bobby remarked, putting his hand on her shoulder.
Suddenly, Jen was able to put two and two together. "Wait, if that's what he was doing last night... that means that... Oh, God...!" she exclaimed as she leaned forward to put her face into both of her open hands.
"What is it?" Bobby asked.
She peered up at him with a look of desperation, "I inadvertently called her a 'bitch' right to her face awhile ago! She's probably going to hate my guts for all eternity now!"
"That wasn't very smart. Why'd you do that?"
"I didn't know...! I mean, I didn't know that she was..." Jen stuttered through her sentence, trying to figure out how to explain it to everyone.
To complicate matters further, Commander Ortiz walked over to find out why Jen was acting so distraught. "What's going on?" he asked with a slightly protective overtone in his voice.
"Oh, you won't believe this, Stephen!" Jen responded. She now had a gossipy look on her face, as if she was about to spill the beans to yet another individual. "You remember Commander Klang?..."
Will leaned in towards Nene to ask a bit of a private question, "Is this a good idea to let this little secret spread around now? I am sure that Cal and Klan would appreciate it if everyone didn't know."
Nene looked around before she answered. She could see that a few other people were well within earshot of the conversation occurring at their table. Even Ozma and Cathy were looking in their direction, curious to know what the commotion was all about. She looked back at Jen and Stephen as she answered Will with a low tone, "I think it's too late to be able to do any more damage control. Looks like the cat's been let out of the bag now..." She picked up a couple of chips from the nearby tray and put them into her mouth. She smiled ear-to-ear as she chewed on her food.
…
Even though she was unable to see what was on the other side of the creek, Klan attentively guarded the area near the suspension bridge. Remaining prone at the top of the creek's bank, she knew that Cal's best chance at getting across without making any sound was to use the bridge. Somewhere on the other side, Cal was lurking about, probably formulating some kind of plan to use against her. She couldn't let him operate unabated for too long. "Cal?" she called out to try and get his attention. No response came. She crawled forward to look over the edge of the bank to make sure there were no surprises.
Just as soon as she looked downwards, she heard the sound of a nearby splash and aimed her marker directly at the rippling water just to her left. Something had disturbed the water, but it was difficult to tell what it was. Just as she began to wind her tension down a bit, she heard a couple of splashes to her right this time. Looking in that direction, she could see the remains of two sets of concentric circles radiating outwards on the creek's surface. The current quickly dissipated the rings into the rest of the contours of the water. On closer inspection, she could see what looked like a fresh footprint imprinted in a spongy sandbar near the location of the two splashes. There was now a good chance that Cal had managed to sneak across without being seen and the first splash was probably a stone that he had thrown to distract her.
Looking around her, she realized that she was not in a very good position to defend herself if Cal had, in fact, gotten across the creek. She slowly turned her body and crawled backwards, keeping her marker pointed in the direction of anticipated attack. The sound of a rustling bush from that direction caused her to perk up a bit. She looked like a little bit cat in her reaction; her ears and hair almost seemed to twitch.
"Get up, Klan," she thought to herself, "Just get up!" She counted to three under her own breath and hopped up to her feet. The very moment she took a step backwards to turn around, the sound of Cal's paintball marker firing at her caused her to duck by instinct before she made a move towards a safer place. Her eyes caught sight of the first volley of paintball rounds sailing over her head. If she hadn't ducked, she might have been tagged.
All she could do was sprint as fast as her legs could carry her. "Aaaaaah!" Yelling in an effort to get her adrenaline pumping through her body, she was able to avoid being hit by the countless rounds sailing close by. Some impacted on nearby trees and bushes that she passed during her escape, while the rest sailed harmlessly past.
Cal followed behind her as closely as possible, refusing to let up his attack. Even after seeing Klan leap over a large fallen tree, he still continued firing while taking a crouched stance. Unfortunately, his marker stopped firing. The ammunition indicator on his goggles flashed a distinguishable red "0". "Dammit!" he exclaimed as he reached towards the small of his back to grab another reload canister.
Klan used this opportunity to reappear above the fallen tree's trunk and return fire with her marker. Cal quickly reacted, letting himself fall to his left so he could roll out of harms way. An artificial wall covered with native vegetation served as his new cover.
It took a few short exchanges of paintball volleys before they both stopped firing upon each other. Both the wall and the tree trunk had gained new paint jobs from the firefight that had just ended. Cal took the opportunity to use his pipe-cleaner to wipe the paint residue out from inside of his marker's gun barrel. He casually sat on the ground, with his back against the wall. "Will was right; you are a hard target to hit. This is actually getting really interesting...!"
The reply came from a distance, so her voice was a little quieter than usual, "I'm actually glad that we're the last players left on our teams."
"Yeah? Why's that?"
"Because that means that I get to be the one that beats you!"
"Oh? Is that why you decided to play after all?"
"That, among other things."
Cal rolled his eyes, "Oh, brother... What did I do wrong this time?" He waited a few moments for a reply, but got none. "Well? You must be upset about something I did..."
"You know, it's bad enough that you have a seemingly irrepressible ego, but it's really bad when you shamelessly flirt with every female in sight at the picnic. You just think you're God's gift to women, don't you?"
Shocked at what he heard, Cal leaned over to look around the corner from the wall and deliver his rebuttal. "What the-? I'm just being friendly!"
"Uh huh... Friendly enough to kiss Luca's girlfriend on the hand? Friendly enough to get a kiss on the cheek from Lieutenant Whats-her-name? Wentz?"
"Oh yeah..." Cal replied with a laugh, "What's wrong with that?"
"See, that's what I'm talking about." Klan seemed to be clenching her teeth as she spoke to him. Suddenly, she appeared above the fallen tree to unload a few rounds into Cal's direction. "You just don't really seem to care about what other people might think when they see that."
Cal had to retreat back behind the wall once again to avoid her marker fire. She quickly stopped firing at him, allowing them to clearly hear each other again. "'Other people'? You mean... you?"
"No, it just makes you look like a playboy; the kind of guy who just keeps putting his hands into everyone else's cookie jars."
"And why do you care what I do? It's none of your business who I can and can't talk to. You don't own me..." His voice had a slightly taunting tone to it.
She grunted before responding, "I know that, but still..."
"Heh... That's the best response you can come up with? Don't get mad at me. You had your chance, Klan... and you decided to pass it up."
Silence followed, indicating to Cal that he had firmly established and defended his point of view with her. However, he had to consider the fact that she doesn't like to lose arguments. She's probably seething with rage just a dozen or so meters away from his position.
His intuition appeared to be correct. Klan sat nearly motionless with her eyes shut, angrily frowning at her thoughts. She had her fist clenched as tightly as possible in front of her face until she slammed it onto the ground. "Alright, that's it..." she finally exclaimed, "Are we going to finish this soon? Because I have to report for duty at the base later this evening and I'd like to finish kicking your butt as soon as possible."
Cal smirked at her answer, not sure of what exactly was going through her mind as she said that. She has had a track record of having an ulterior motive in mind when saying certain things. "Somehow, all this seems strangely familiar to me. This feels kinda like that time I beat you in that dogfight simulation so many months ago. You were overconfident then, and look where it got you."
"I got careless and you got lucky. Still doesn't change the fact that you're still a chickling to me. I'll make sure you understand that by the time we get done here."
"Wow, it's been a long time since you've called me that. I was beginning to think that I'd finally been promoted to the next rank in your little system, there." He grunted as he got up from his seated position, "Welp, I guess that will teach me to get my hopes up." He then placed his marker on top of the barrier and aimed it at Klan's last-known position. "Any day, my dear..."
There was no verbal nor physical response coming from her side of the tree trunk, but Cal had no choice but to patiently wait. He carefully aimed his marker and squeezed off a round, aiming for the very top of the trunk. It hit its target dead-on, but there was still no response from Klan. Brazenly, Cal left his cover to find out the cause for her silence. "She must have snuck off while we were talking," he thought to himself.
As soon as he got to the rotting tree, he aimed his marker downwards over the other side and fired off a couple of rounds, just in case she really was still there. Since there was no response, he climbed on top of the log and leaned over to see exactly what was on the other side. Sure enough, Klan wasn't there. However, something caused him to do a double-take below him.
With his body draped over the log, he caught sight of a giant knothole in the trunk. It was too small for him to climb inside, but not small enough for her. "That must have been her escape route..." He used his hands to push his upper torso upwards so he could look to each side for a possible exit. A timely glance to his left allowed him to catch sight of Klan poking her body out of another large knothole towards the base of the tree. She was already aiming her marker at him by the time he realized that he had little time to react.
*POPOPOP...!*
Cal found himself in a bit of a compromising position. He tried to push off of his hands so he could right himself back onto his feet, but the brittle log instead collapsed under his weight. The hollow, wooden structure completely disintegrated underneath him, causing him to fall forward and tumble to the ground on the other side of the log.
Sensing the impending victory, Klan didn't take notice that the log was propped up by an earthen fulcrum point several feet down from her location. Because of Cal's fall, the log was severed in half, changing its center of balance. Klan quickly found herself on the far end of a giant see-saw and nothing was weighing down the other side. "Oh, shit!" she exclaimed as the log began to tilt backwards. She looked behind her to see that she was heading towards a sizable incline; she was about to go for a ride.
Catching his breath, Cal noticed the groaning sound of the log tipping over the edge of the hill upon which they had been fighting. He caught sight of Klan's face as she disappeared from his line of sight and quickly hopped up to his feet to try and catch her before it was too late. "Klan!" He made it to the top of the incline and could only watch helplessly as the log she was in was now tumbling down the hill.
Fortunately, she had managed to duck back inside of the hollowed-out log, but she still yelled out in fear, "Aaaahh- Aaaahh- Aaaahh-..." Each bounce of the log caused her to hit the side, interrupting her screams.
At the bottom of the hill, the log came to an abrupt stop by impacting against a boulder. Large shards of wood scattered in all directions while Klan's body bounced away from the rock and landed back down onto the ground. She took a moment to snap out of her daze, getting off of the ground and onto her hands and knees. She started to cough both from the dust everywhere and the fact that she had just gotten slammed against a rock. It was obvious that she was dizzy because she was having difficulty staying balanced, even on all fours. Initially, all she could hear was a ringing sound in her ears, but it began to clear up a bit. "Klan! Are you alright?" She could hear Cal's muffled voice begin to pierce through the confusion.
Cal was doing his best to descend the hill, but he didn't want to take a tumble himself. "Can you hear me?" He could see her crawling around on the ground, trying to get her senses back into order.
"Yeah," she managed to reply with a cough, "I'm fine. I'll be fine."
He stopped descending the hill when he heard her response. "Are you sure?"
"Yes, dammit! Did I stutter?" She turned her head to look at him as she responded.
"Okay, good!" Cal responded as he raised his paintball marker to his head and opened fire.
*POPOPOP...!*
Klan noticed his motions, even though she was still quite dazed. A momentary feeling of anger overcame her, giving her the adrenaline rush she needed to spring into action. "Aw, you asshole!" she yelled as she dashed into the brush nearby.
Cal stopped firing as soon as he couldn't see her anymore. "What? You said you were okay. I just figured the game was back on then!"
Beyond the brush, she spotted a large boulder behind which she could take shelter and regain her senses. Still experiencing vertigo from the tumble down the hill, she lost her footing and fell to the ground, sliding behind the huge rock. *Cough! Cough!* "Dammit!" she exclaimed to herself, slamming both of her fists on the ground in frustration. "I had him! I had him! How does he get so lucky?"
"You'd better be ready by the time I find you, because I'm not letting up!" Cal hollered as he cautiously inspected the brush. There were many trees in the area, each with its own complement of thick bushes surrounding their bases.
Klan sat up against the rock and checked her equipment. Everything seemed to be undamaged, but her ammunition indicator on her goggles showed that she only had 11 rounds in her marker. She reached towards her back to grab another refill canister, but the holders were empty.
"Oh, look!" Cal yelled from his position, "You dropped your refills! Thanks for the ammo!" He quickly proceeded to pick them up and place them into the holders around his waist.
Klan sat on the ground, grimacing in frustration. No doubt, she was cursing her misfortune. Not only did she lose her ammunition refills, but they were now in Cal's hands. There was no way he was running out of ammo anytime soon. "Only 11 rounds left; not enough to make me feel safe. Okay. It's okay. I can still do this," she assured herself in her mind, "I just need to make sure I succeed on the first try. No room for mistakes now." She looked around for a source of inspiration to help her formulate a plan and quickly focused her gaze on a possible solution nearby. "That's perfect," she thought to herself. With a wry grin on her face, she climbed to her feet and unfastened the clip holding her optional body armor together over her torso.
Somewhere nearby, Cal searched the area hoping to find Klan quickly before she made her getaway. With each step, he swept his view with his paintball marker, making sure to check every nook and cranny in sight. After a couple of minutes of complete silence, the radio in his headset came to life.
"Come on, chickling, I don't have all day, you know..."
He smiled in response before replying to her over his headset, "You're the one who's hiding from me. Just come on out and let's end this."
"You did the same thing several months ago in the rings of Coral-5. Being hypocritical much?"
"That's true. Kind of weird how our roles are reversed now, huh?"
"Except you're still a chickling."
Cal sighed at her constant taunting. "I'm really getting tired of that moniker. I'll get you to stop calling me that soon enough."
"Aww... am I finally getting to you? Well, show me what you've got!"
With a renewed fervor, Cal set out to find her and shut her up once and for all. Although he had the upper hand due to the fact that he knew she was running low on ammunition, the longer he took to find her, the more nervous he became. Each successive time he whipped to one side, aiming his marker, he noticed his trigger finger beginning to tremble more and more.
Noticing a rather large boulder in the midst of the abundant flora, Cal determined that this might be a good place for her to be hiding. He sprinted to one side of the rock and leaned his back against the hard surface. He cautiously stepped towards a prominent edge of the rock, preparing to leap around the corner and fire, should his instincts be right about her location. As he rounded the corner, he aimed his marker to where his eyes were pointing and quickly identified his target.
*POPOPOPOPOP!*
He straightened up his posture as he inspected his handiwork, but realized that something was not quite what it seemed. Klan's body armor had been marked several times square in the center, but it was draped over one of the native plants that slightly resembled her appearance. A slight breeze blew by, causing the shrub's cobalt-colored plumes to wave a bit. Cal clicked his tongue and stomped over to the small tree. As soon as he grabbed the body armor to remove it, he heard a rustle coming from the bushes directly next to him. A paintball marker muzzle suddenly tapped against his goggles.
Klan emerged from the nearby bushes with her marker aimed squarely at Cal's face. As she moved closer towards him, Cal leaned backwards farther and farther off of his center of balance, staring directly down the bore of the gun. Even with her goggles still on, Cal could see her look of angered determination on her face. She only had one thing to say before she pulled the trigger, "You're still a chickling..."
*POP!*
The paintball round certainly didn't have much of a distance to travel before it impacted against its target. Cal's goggles were now covered in paint and he flinched from the sound of the gun firing. Already off-balance, his reflex reaction caused him to fall backwards and onto his backside on the ground.
Off at the pavilion, those who were still watching the match reacted to the outcome of the match with fervor. They bore witness to the exciting end of the match and while they cheered or jeered, depending on for whom they were rooting, but Klan still had not yet finished her job.
Cal started to grumble to himself as he used one of his hands to wipe the paint away from his goggles. Even though he could still barely see through them, he noticed Klan standing over him like she usually does. He tried to sit up, but felt the force of her foot placed squarely on his chest. "What are you doing?" he demanded. He noticed that she now wore a devilish smile on her face; she was definitely up to no good.
The spectators at the pavilion became a little quieter as they saw Klan point her marker directly at Cal's body. There was almost a unanimous groan as they began to realize what it was that she was about to do to him.
*POP!*
Cal felt the sudden sting of a paintball round hitting him right on his chest. For that split second, he wished that he had opted to wear the additional body armor, but it was far too late to change that now. "OW! What the hell?"
*POP!*
Another shot, but this time in a slightly different spot; the amount of pain felt was quite equal, however.
*POPOPOPOP...!*
Klan unloaded the rest of her marker's rounds onto Cal's soft and unprotected body while he rolled around writhing in pain, "OW! OWOWOWAAAAAAAH...!"
At the pavilion, several of the spectators groaned and turned away from the monitors. Even though they were simply paintballs, it was difficult to watch Cal getting shot up like that for apparently no reason.
While he continued to groan and roll around on the ground in pain, Klan sighed in relief, took off her goggles, dropped her paintball marker onto the ground next to her, and fell to her knees. She reached over to Cal and grabbed him by his shoulders to hold him still for a moment, using the opportunity to remove his goggles from his face.
Cal couldn't care less at this point, all he was feeling was the pain from the welts forming all over his body. Even though she had removed his goggles, he still grimaced in pain, keeping his eyes winced shut. Suddenly, he felt something completely different than before. The pain magically disappeared for a moment and he opened his eyes to find that Klan was now kissing him directly on the lips.
As if they could no longer handle the incredulousness of the situation, most of the spectators at the pavilion burst out in cheer after seeing those events unfold on the monitors in front of their eyes. "YEAH!" At this point, nobody really cared which team won... except maybe Ozma.
Unexpectedly, even he had forgotten that he lost his bet, instead opting to pump his fist in front of his face and turn to Cathy, "I knew it! I knew that she was just hiding it from me!"
Cathy could only smile with apprehension, since she really didn't know that he had been suspecting the result of the chemistry brewing between two of his pilots; one past, and one present.
Nene practically jumped into Will's arms in reaction to seeing her sister finally getting it out of her system. She almost knocked him over as she gave him a quick peck on the lips and raised her cup into the air at the same time.
Bobby simply stood by with his arms cross and a huge grin on his face. He could only stand there shaking his head and smiling. Somehow, he should have known all about that which Ozma had been suspecting for quite some time now.
Next to him, Jen didn't really know how to react. Initially, she didn't even flinch, but as the seconds ticked by, she managed to turn and look at Bobby. His facial expression was all she needed to finally crack a smile. Even though she knew that she was in hot water with Klan, she couldn't help but at least feel happy for both Klan and Cal at that moment. She started to shake her head as she walked back to her table, still smiling.
Back at ground zero, Klan finished what she had set out to do and lifted her head back up a bit so she could look at Cal's facial expression. The look on his face was priceless; he didn't even know what to say. Still, though, she managed to put a very satisfied smile on her face. "But you're my chickling..."
"Wha-?" Cal couldn't even manage to finish one word on his own. Instead, he started to wince as the pain returned to his body.
She leaned over once more and placed her elbows on his chest, laying her arms upwards over his shoulders and pinning him down once more. "You were right, Cal. This is something I should have done a long time ago. I'm sorry for making you wait so long for an answer from me. I just didn't know how to deal with my feelings all this time. It's all suddenly so clear to me now, though," she concluded with another smile.
Despite still feeling the stinging sensations pulsing all over his body, Cal managed a smile of his own, "Man, I haven't seen you smile like that since... well, ever." He slowly sat up, still grimacing in pain. He stopped midway to ask a question that had just popped into his head, "Wait, does that mean that you're...?"
She simply nodded in response.
"What about all that stuff you said last night about why it wouldn't work?"
"Ehh... we'll figure something out..." she replied, casually rolling her eyes. She got back onto her feet and put her hand out to help him up. "Come on, let's get you to the first aid station and put something on those welts," she said with a slight laugh.
He looked at her hand with apprehension for a moment, "Why'd you do that, anyway? That really hurt! It still hurts!"
"Heh... I've been looking for a way to get you back for trashing my Queadluun in that dogfight so many months ago. Considering the circumstances, I can't think of a more appropriate way to exact my revenge," she replied with a wink.
"What a strange way to express your feelings, but... whatever works, I guess. It's weird how this encounter really did turn out to be a repeat of the past." He grabbed her hand so she could help him up to his feet. Standing there dusting himself off and rubbing a couple of the sore spots on his body, he turned to Klan with yet another question, "What made you change your mind, anyway?"
Klan looked away and off into the distance, sighing before she answered, "I realized that I couldn't stand the thought of seeing you with another woman. Watching you flirting with all of those other girls today, I couldn't help but feel jealousy festering inside of me."
"I don't think that's a good thing, Klan."
"No, it's okay. You were right. You didn't belong to me; you had every right to do whatever you wanted... especially considering the fact that you had offered your commitment to me in the past. I was stupid to turn you down, and the very moment I realized that I had made a mistake, I immediately sought to rectify it. I couldn't let you get away from me..." She stood still as she reflected on her own words, staring out towards the meadow a couple dozen meters away. Without hearing a sound, she felt Cal grab her to pick her up off of her feet. "Agh!"
"Don't worry. I won't let you lose me, either," he said, looking straight into her eyes with a satisfied smile. After a moment, he pulled her closer to kiss her on the forehead.
…
Most of the buzz at the pavilion had died down after some time. Everyone had pretty much returned to their usual activities. The only thing left to do was to start the announcements that Ozma had spoken of before the paintball match started. The ship's command staff gathered together at one corner of the pavilion to go over the agenda.
Will was sitting at one of the tables outside with his drink in hand, looking up at the sky. One of Aimo's moons was directly overhead in the early evening sky. Since the Coral star was approaching the horizon, the details of the satellite's surface was beginning to clear up. Will imagined that he was out in space in his Valkyrie, exploring the soft, dusty terrain of the moon above his head. His daydream was quickly grounded by Nene's voice.
"There they are!" she blurted out as she hopped up from her seat to run down the hill leading to the paintball course. Halfway there, she stopped and pulled out her camera to take a picture.
Cal was still carrying Klan in in his arms, but as soon as they noticed Nene's reactions, they both became slightly mortified. He put her down and they both fidgeted in embarrassment, already showing apprehension to being seen together, now that that the word was out about them.
Having filled her quota of pictures of Cal and her sister, Nene rushed up to hug Klan and then Cal. She whispered into his ear after giving him a congratulatory kiss on the cheek, "Good for you, Hon. I'm glad you got what you've been hoping for all this time."
Will put his fist in front of Cal, "Gimme some knux!" They bumped their fists together and Will decided to reward his wingman with a fresh, cold beer he had been holding in his other hand. "You did it, man! Nice job!" he exclaimed as he put his arm around Cal's shoulder to lead him back up the hill.
Ozma had just started to gather everyone's attention at the front of the pavilion, speaking into a microphone in his hand. "Alright, are we ready to start? What?" he asked of the other officers standing nearby. He nodded at Commander Choi, who was saying something to him that wasn't being broadcast on the speakers. "Oh yeah... where are those two?" he said into the microphone, "Oh, there they are!" Ozma pointed out Cal and Klan, who had just taken a seat at Pixie Team's table. "Hey, Wagner! You cost me that bottle of scotch!" Ozma smiled as he read Cal's nonverbal reaction from afar, "Look at him. He doesn't even care. I'm sure it was worth it, wasn't it? Oh, and Klan... I hate to say it, but 'I told you so'." There was scattered laughter at Ozma's remarks.
Neither of them really let Ozma's chiding bother them at all. Klan was too busy tending to Cal's welts with some cream and a handful of bandages.
"Alright, now we can start," Ozma continued, "As promised, we have a long list of announcements and recognition to cover so let's cut to the chase. Be warned, there's a lot of good news and a lot of, well... other news." He wanted to be careful not to refer to the less-than-positive news as "bad" news. "Okay, I'm going to start out with some announcements regarding personnel changes. We have some new pilots who will be joining the squadron. Can you guys stand up?" He waited for the new pilots to stand, including Todd. "Everyone make sure you do your best to haze- I mean welcome our new pilots. Good to have you with us, guys."
They all looked a bit nervous after hearing Ozma's little Freudian slip, but quickly sat back down after Ozma moved on.
"Most of you have already met Commander Thompson, our new squadron XO. Stand up, Les."
Commander Thompson stood up and took a bow.
"He'll be leading Rabbit Team from now on. Lieutenant Berstein will still be a part of the squadron, but she'll only be deployed as deemed necessary. In the meantime, she'll continue to faithfully perform her duties in the ship's sick bay." He then turned towards the command staff's table, "Next, Commander Choi has an announcement of her own to make." Ozma stepped down from the pedestal he had been standing on and handed the mic to her. "Here you go, Sam."
She nervously got up in front of the crew and fumbled with the microphone a bit before starting her announcement. "Well..." she nervously laughed, "I feel like I have barely spent much time with you all, and yet, I'm still finding this hard to say." She stopped for a moment to organize her thoughts. "After 23 years in the NUNS, I've decided to retire." Many of the people in the crowd groaned at her announcement. "I know, I know... but I've been planning for this retirement for over a year now and the NUNS has been gracious enough to grant me my exit, even though we're still technically in a state of open war. I just want to say that it's been such an honor to serve with a crew as exemplary as you all are. I'm actually happy that I got to finish my career serving on your ship. I want to thank Captain Wilder for his warm hospitality in accommodating my needs while I served under his command." She turned to the rest of the command staff and quickly named them off, "Stephen, Ozma, good luck to you both. I know you'll both go far in your careers."
Commander Choi paused for a moment to swallow the lump forming in her throat. She finally let out a soft laugh, "I'll never forget those late night shifts on the Quarter's bridge. I thought it would be boring, but there was someone there who always made things more fun during those ungodly hours. Bobby, I'm glad I got to meet you and work with you. Thanks for all your kind words. Thank you, everybody!" After she gave the microphone back to Ozma, she walked over and gave Bobby a hug.
"Wow," Will remarked at Pixie Team's table, "I had no idea they had a thing together. I thought he only liked guys."
"I'm sure it's not what you think, Babe," Nene replied, "They probably just had a sort of 'kindred spirits' thing going between each other. Besides, she's, like, at least 15 years older than he is."
"You're probably right. But just because she's older, doesn't mean-" he stopped mid-sentence when he realized that everyone at the table was looking at him kinda strangely. "What? I'm just saying, that's all..."
"Wow, 23 years..." Ozma remarked, looking at Commander Choi with a bit of awe, "Everyone, give her a hand. She's devoted most of her adult life to the service." He waited for everyone to give her some laudatory applause before moving on. "Okay, that means that we now have an opening in the command staff. Which brings me to our next announcement." He looked at Captain Wilder with a grin. "I think I'll let our Captain handle this one."
Still in his beach bum gear sans the straw hat, the good Captain took center stage. "Thankfully, I didn't have to look too far to find a replacement- Er, um..." he laughed nervously, "Sorry, I'm not saying that you're easy to replace, Sam..." He looked over to where she was sitting for a response.
A few laughs came from the crowd while Commander Choi nodded with a smile, forgiving Captain Wilder for his little misstatement.
"What I meant to say is that we were able to cultivate and grow one of our own to take on the new position. I'm sure many of you have already guessed it by now, so it's my pleasure to officially announce that Monica Lang will serve as the ship's newest member of the command staff. Come on up here, Hon," he declared. He held out his hands to tell everyone to hold their applause for a moment, "I want to also mention that Lieutenant Wentz was also training for her promotion, but alas, it seems that we started on your training a little too late. We couldn't get you squeezed in for that session of round-table interviews, so we'll have to get you into the next one."
He looked in Jen's direction for a response, to which, she replied with a silent nod of approval and mouthed the words, "I know."
Monica strolled to the front of the pavilion to accept her promotion. Since she had confidence in her step, it was safe to assume that she already knew about it beforehand. While the crew applauded in congratulations, she accepted the small box containing her new rank insignia from Captain Wilder and then gave him a seemingly more-than-friendly hug.
"See?" Will remarked as he watched the Captain and Monica interacting with each other, "Nobody says anything about those two, and he's way older than she is." Apparently, he wasn't going to let the subject just slide.
"Ugh," Nene sighed, "You assume too much, Hon. They also have a very close friendship with each other. I'm sure it's nothing more than that." She reached over with her hand and playfully mussed up his hair, "At least you've got good looks on your side; your intuition about these kinds of things is certainly misguided, sweetheart."
Before Will could produce a retort to Nene's playful banter, Cal interjected with his own opinion, "I don't know, Nene. I'm going to have to take Will's side on this... you see how they are when they're together..." He was sitting sideways in his chair, hunched forward with his shirt off while Klan applied cream and bandages onto his bruised back. "I haven't known them for as long as you guys have, but you have to wonder... It's rare that you see them apart from each other when they're off duty. You can't deny the rumors that have been endlessly floating around the ship about them. Someone had to see something that tipped them off, and if it was, it'd have to be one of the Gossip Crew on the bridge. That's not something they'd just make up for kicks." He paused for a moment, briefly wincing his face at the sensations on his back. "I wouldn't completely dismiss Will's intuitions there, Nene... you have to admit, there's a lot of evidence to support his supposition."
Will gestured his open hand towards Cal to emphasize his agreement, "Thank you! Exactly...!"
Nene simply scoffed and turned her attention back towards the front of the pavilion. They hadn't been paying much attention during the last couple of minutes and it seemed that Ozma was about to take back his emcee duties from the Captain.
"Okay, you can put your shirt on," Klan said as she gave Cal a firm pat on the back. She then smiled with a wry grin, "Do you want me to get the ones on your butt too?"
Cal turned around and snatched the packet of cream from her hand. "No, I'll take care of that myself, thanks." After putting his shirt back on, he playfully leaned backwards and turned his head to look at her from the sides of his eyes, "I bet you didn't think you'd be getting my shirt off already, huh?"
"I wasn't planning on stopping there, though!" she softly replied, still wearing the same grin. They both laughed to each other while she put her arms around his neck, inviting him to continue laying against her while they paid attention to Ozma at the front of the room.
"Okay, the next item on the agenda promises to be a fun one," he said as he walked over to the officer's table. The boxes that Commander Ortiz had brought with him became the focus of Ozma's attention and he gently patted them as he continued, "It's time for some awards and recognition. We're going to handle this in two phases... I'll do the honors for my pilots first, and then Captain Wilder and Commander Ortiz will handle the crew." He paused for a moment to let everyone quietly clamor with each other. "Okay, I need the following pilots to come on up here..." With each name, he paused before reading the next, "Garrett! Patterson! Wagner!"
As the three pilots gathered up at the front of the room next to Ozma, they each wore apprehensive looks on their faces. Once he started to speak, Ozma paced back and forth in front of the three pilots who were now standing at attention. "I'm going to start out by saying that each and every one of you is trained and prepared to handle the most stressful and dangerous situations imaginable in combat," he said in reference to all of the soldiers in the pavilion, "All of you constantly endure extreme levels of stress and nobody can tell you otherwise." He then looked at the three pilots standing at attention near him, "However, some of us are able to go above and beyond that call of duty, putting the lives of our compatriots ahead of our own."
As expected, neither of the three pilots were sure of whom Ozma was referring. Maybe it was all three of them?
Ozma quickly removed all forms of doubt from their minds. "Ensign Patterson, like any other soldier, performed his duties in combat without hesitation," he said as he put his hand on the pilot's shoulder, "However, during our last battle in the Kihnes Asteroid Belt, he and his team leader, Kanaria, faced utter annihilation from a Vajra carrier's beam cannon assault. Since he was flying a Super VF-25G, he had more than enough speed and agility to escape harm on his own. Instead of saving his own life, he chose to stay behind to help his team leader move out of harm's way. Kanaria's Monster is far from agile and she surely would have perished, had he not placed his life in more danger than it already was at that point. He used his own VF to help propel the lumbering beast that is the Monster, out of the line of fire. In the process, his own bird was destroyed by the artillery blast, but he survived and continued to assist Kanaria by helping tend to her injuries."
The term "injuries" was definitely a euphemism to keep Kanaria's breakdown a secret from the rest of the crew; A favor that she would no doubt appreciate from Ozma for a long time to come.
"Ensign Patterson," he said as he opened the box now in his hand, "for demonstrating gallantry above-and-beyond the call of duty, I hereby award you with the New U.N. Spacy Silver Star." He proudly pinned the medal on Patterson's sweater. Even though it wasn't any sort of regulation NUNS uniform, it still looked damn good to every soldier there.
As everyone cheered and applauded him, Ensign Patterson received personal adulation from Ozma, Captain Wilder, and Will and Cal; each of them shaking his hand and offering a short sound bite of congratulations. Ensign Patterson turned to the crowd to find Kanaria, who was standing up next to her family and she acknowledged him by nodding and holding her drink up in the air.
Ozma let the excitement die down a little bit before continuing with his recognition, "Wow... I can't believe how proud I am to get to award one of those to one of my own pilots..." He took a deep breath and laughed a bit at himself. "Okay. I don't have any medals for either of you two, unfortunately," he said as he looked at Cal and Will, "but I have the next best thing for all three of you." He picked out two more boxes and walked back over to Ensign Patterson.
"Ensign Patterson, you're getting the full treatment today, son," he said as he opened one of the boxes in his hand. "The NUNS, Captain Wilder, and I have all seen it fit for you to be promoted to the rank of second lieutenant. Congratulations." Rather than pinning the rank insignia on his sweater, Ozma handed the opened box to Patterson so he could have a gaze at his new adornments.
Will was next in line. "Ensign Garrett, we have also seen it fit for you to be promoted to the rank of second lieutenant. Congratulations."
Will beamed with pride as he accepted his promotion from Ozma. He noticed Nene out of the corner of his eye, behind Ozma, knelt down to take pictures. There was no way she would miss this photographic opportunity. Although he knew his picture was being taken, he had absolutely no issues with smiling for the occasion. "Sir," he said as he pointed behind Ozma to get him to see Nene.
Ozma reacted by smiling and posing with Will, still shaking his hand for the picture.
Nene took several photos and after quickly looking them over on the camera, she gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up to them both and excitedly skipped back to her seat.
"Okay," Ozma said with a sigh as he walked over to Cal, "Wagner, you already got promoted right before we came back to Aimo. I just wanted to bring you up here to let everyone know in a more official setting." Ozma laughed a bit as he realized that he didn't actually have anything to give to Cal, aside from a handshake. "So, Wagner here is now a first lieutenant, everyone. Congratulations."
Cal nervously laughed as he shook hands with Ozma. "Whew!" he exclaimed into the nearby microphone in Ozma's other hand, "For a second there, I thought I was getting promoted again!" He and Ozma laughed, while more laughter came from various crew members in the crowd.
Once again, Nene had taken up position to snap some more photos of the exchange between Ozma and Cal. It wasn't quite as significant as her dear Will's promotion, but it was important nonetheless.
Ozma turned to her after letting go of Cal's hand, "Nene, that means your squad is a little heavy on the lieutenants! I may need to take one of them away from you to make things a little more fair for the rest of the squadron. Do you have any preference on which one I should take?"
"That one!" she replied, pointing directly at Will, "he's the more useless one of the two, so take him." Upon seeing Will's frustrated expression, she immediately followed up her reply with a wink and blew him a kiss.
Ozma took the brief moments during this time to relay some information to Cal, putting the microphone down to his waist. "Cal, I need you to go talk to Cathy," he said, using his free hand to point over his shoulder with his thumb, "She needs to speak with you in private about an important matter."
Cal showed some apprehension before acknowledging with a nod. Of course, he had no idea why Cathy would need to talk to him, but he'd surely find out the answer to that in a short while.
"Alright," Ozma opened back up on the microphone, "Congratulations to all of you. You deserve it!" He amicably dismissed the three pilots so that they could go back to their respective seats in the pavilion. The rest of the command staff made sure to give their congratulations to the pilots before letting them pass by. "I'm going to go ahead and hand this back to Captain Wilder and Commander Ortiz so that they can take care of the crew business."
While that exchange occurred, Cal quietly stood by as he watched Nene do her usual thing with Will. He was momentarily distracted by their interactions and suddenly felt a gentle grasp around his torso.
Klan put her arm around him and tugged at his shirt to get him to lean down towards her face, "What did Ozma say to you back there?"
"He wanted me to go talk to Cathy, for some reason. I wonder what's up?" he replied as he visually located Cathy sitting alone at a table towards the back of the room. She had her eyes intently fixed upon him, as if she was waiting for him. Her hands were neatly folded together and rested on the table in front of her.
Klan let go of him and saw Cathy as well. "Oh. I have no idea. Go on, then," she ushered him away with a gentle push with her hand. She wore one of her trademark gazes as she watched Cal walk away. It wasn't jealousy that was overcoming her, it was that intuition of hers that crops up when something seems out of place. She quickly began to pore over the possible explanations in her mind.
While Captain Wilder and Commander Ortiz handed out awards and recognition to the ship's crew, Klan spent her time watching the exchange between Cal and Cathy on the other side of the room. She had situated herself so it looked like she was watching the ceremonies in the front of the pavilion, but she was constantly looking at them from the corner of her eye.
Cal appeared to momentarily look at something being displayed on Cathy's digital tablet, following it up with a nod. They immediately engaged in a conversation, probably concerning whatever was on her tablet. Their exchange took about twenty minutes before they both stood up from their seats. They saluted each other before Cal walked away and back towards the Pixie Team table.
Coincidentally, Captain Wilder and Commander Ortiz had finished up their awards ceremony at the same time and the crowd began to applaud the recipients still proudly standing up at the front of the pavilion. Just as the applause began to die down, Cal took his seat once more next to Klan.
"What was that all about?" she asked of him.
Cal could only shake his head as he answered, "Sorry, I can't talk about it yet." A heavy sigh followed his response, causing her to take notice of the slight hint of distress in his emotional state.
"Alright, everyone!" Ozma blared out through the microphone in his hands again. He made sure everyone was paying attention to him before he spoke again, "Once again, congratulations to all of the recipients." He then put a more serious look on his face, "Well, I hope that you guys have all had a good time today. We've certainly gotten our fill of R&R over the last few weeks, but as the saying goes, 'all good things must come to an end.'"
Almost immediately, the crew and pilots of the Macross Quarter could easily guess at the next announcement. Several groans and clicks of the tongue began to sound from the crowd.
"It's time to return to duty, folks," Ozma said with a slightly heavy heart, "We've got new deployment orders and we have a lot of work to do in preparation for our departure. I'm told that we are tentatively scheduled to leave Aimo in ten days. That means we're all to report for duty starting Tuesday to begin our preparations." He let everyone clamor with each other for a minute before taking back their attention, "I can't divulge any of the mission's objectives, but I can say that if things go well for us, we'll be coming back home very soon."
Some of the worry was successfully lifted from the minds of the crew and pilots, but it was only temporary. "I'm also obliged to report some other good-slash-bad news." Ozma hung his head for a moment, "This is going to be my last mission serving as the commander of Skull Squadron, and as a member of the crew of the Quarter." He stopped speaking for a moment as he waved Cathy to come stand next to him while he gave his somber announcement. The crew, especially the pilots began to groan in disapproval.
As soon as Cathy reached his side, he put his arm around her waist to hold her close to him. "I've accepted a new position as a flight instructor here on Aimo." Upon hearing about his new position, the crowd quieted down a bit; this wasn't as bad as they had originally thought. "The NUNS is establishing a school to teach special operations pilots everything they need to know about the VF-25 and I'm going to serve as the school's commandant. When Cathy initially mentioned it to me, I was reluctant to consider transferring. However, after some soul-searching, I realized that this was an opportunity I just couldn't pass up. After all, it would be nice to be able to stick around here a little more..."
Ozma trailed off as he looked at Cathy with a smile, holding her closer to his body. "...Which leads me to my next big announcement: Cathy and I are now engaged to be married." They both held out their hands to show their engagement rings to the crew in front of them. They couldn't have looked any happier to make their announcement.
Predictably, everyone erupted in cheer and applause at the big announcement. Several people loudly whistled to cheer the news. Ranka managed to dash out of the crowd and leap at Ozma and Cathy to give them both a big hug; this was something she had been looking forward to for a few months now.
"We haven't set any kind of date yet," Ozma continued with a laugh as he stumbled from Ranka's hug, "but I'm sure something will happen after we get back from our mission. Oh! And you're all invited to the wedding!"
Cathy grabbed his hand, the one holding the microphone, and pulled it closer to her mouth, "So, you guys need to make sure he comes back. I'd appreciate that a lot." It was a simple request to which the entire crew was happy to oblige.
Ozma took his hand back and answered the next question that was bouncing around in everyone's heads at that point, "We haven't lined up a replacement for me, yet. That's another thing that will probably have to happen after we get back. So, until then, let's all focus on the mission at hand. You will all be briefed on the details after we leave the planet, so I don't want to hear anyone asking for hints."
After a short pause, Ozma looked towards the other officers. "Okay, is that everything? Did we cover everything we needed?" He got a short answer from Captain Wilder and turned back to the rest of the crew, "Okay, that's all! You guys are free to do whatever you want, now. Thanks to everyone for coming! I hope you all had fun and we'll see you all on the Quarter on Tuesday." Ozma and the rest of the command staff eagerly waved off their crew and everyone began to intermingle to visit each other before heading home.
The now-Lieutenant Patterson made a bee-line over to Kanaria's table to personally thank her for her recommendation; a gesture that was incomparable to his act of heroism many weeks earlier. He was immediately stopped by her husband, who offered his hand for a shake.
"Thank you," he simply said as he looked directly into Lieutenant Patterson's eyes and shook his hand, "I want to ask you another favor... make sure she gets back home alive for me, okay?"
"Dad..." A young voice rang out from next to him.
"Oh, for us. Bring her back home alive for us."
Lieutenant Patterson was surprised at the personal request, but he had no problems with it. "You got it."
Kanaria's son, Eddie, also had some words to say to the pilot that was responsible for saving his mother's life. "Here," he said as he handed the Lieutenant a sheet of paper, "I made this for you." It had a rather well-drawn picture of his VF-25G posing in battroid mode with its Dragunov rifle in its manipulators. The words "Thanks for saving my mom" were written in a snazzy font above the picture.
Lieutenant Patterson bent over and looked over the picture with a bit of awe in his face. "Wow! This is really good! Did you draw it yourself?" He had to hide the fact that the words written on the page were actually invoking an emotional response within him. Suddenly, there was an almost-tangible value placed on his heroic act; he had helped reunite a young child with his mother.
Eddie bashfully nodded. "I have a bunch of models of the VF-25G. It's my favorite Valkyrie!"
"Looks like you have a big fan now," Kanaria finally interjected with a laugh.
Patterson stood back up again, still holding the drawing in his hand. "I wanted to thank you for recommending me for this medal."
Kanaria shook her head. "No, you earned it. We're all grateful for what you did. I wish there was something more we could do to show our gratitude."
Patterson looked at the picture in his hand and then down at his shirt where his medal still hung. "I don't know," he said with an amused smile, "I can't tell which one I like better!" They all laughed at his response. Even if it wasn't completely sincere, his level of humility was rarely seen in a pilot.
Somewhere nearby, Klan checked the time on her cell phone. "Perfect timing," she casually mentioned, "Listen guys, I have to get going. I have to report for duty at the base in a little bit." She got up and started to gather her belongings from the table.
Without a word, Cal got up from his seat and stood next to her, as if he was waiting.
"We sure are glad you came," Nene said with a slight chuckle, "It looks like someone is infinitely more grateful you came too!" She looked directly at Cal and saw him roll his eyes at her remark.
"Hmph..." Klan replied, wearing a smile on her face. She hurriedly put her things into her bag and turned around to see Cal standing nearby.
"C'mon," he said to her, "I'll walk you over to the shuttle's loading zone."
Just as Klan smiled in acknowledgment, Nene spoke up to her sister, "Don't you two go and disappear for a few days, now. We need to gather up as a quartet again and do something fun together before we leave on deployment."
"What about me?" Todd interjected from seemingly out of nowhere.
Nobody wanted to answer him, looking at him as if he didn't even matter.
"I'll call you guys when we come up with something," Nene continued after turning back towards Cal and Klan.
They nodded before turning away to walk out of the pavilion. After a few steps, Cal looked to his side at Klan, "Is it just me, or does it feel like a huge weight's been lifted off of my shoulders?"
Klan looked back at him to respond, "I was wondering the same thing, too. It feels so much better now..."
Will and Nene watched as Cal and Klan walked away, each with one of their arms around the other's torso. Will turned to Nene to see the look of excitement on her face. "Yes! Mission accomplished!" He put his hand up in the air to give her a high-five. "Kudos all around!"
Nene slapped her hand against his and giggled with glee. "So, what do you want to do tonight to celebrate our success?" she asked as she snuggled up to his shoulder.
Will put on a mischievous smile. "Oh, I can think of a few fun activities..."
A/N: Great! Now that that's out of the way, I do appreciate feedback. However, do me a huge favor: if you want to leave a review on the site with your thoughts on this chapter, try not to put anything that will spoil this chapter for any new readers that come along. If you have specific things you'd like to share with me, please feel free to e-mail me with your thoughts (frothymug at aol dot com). I very much enjoy hearing from all of you and would appreciate your opinions. -FM
