669 days After Operation: Flashpoint
Republic of Seafoam Floating Military Facility
Seafoam Archipelago
Anea Air Field
After disembarking at the nearest shipyard facility and taking a service elevator up to the main 'ground' level of the military island, Ganale had driven the HMMWV to the airstrip that the two fighters had landed at and parked outside the entrance to the flight crew building. Following a few minutes' wait, a woman and a man in battle dress uniforms exited the building and stood under the overhang, likely waiting for a military shuttle back to their barracks.
Ganale flashed the HMMWV's headlights and honked the horn as he pulled the vehicle up underneath the overhang. As they were on her side of the vehicle, Mars got a good look at them. The woman was the shorter of the two, the shortness of her hair almost causing Mars to mistake her for a man at first. Her name strip read 'TANNER' and the rank tab on her collar was that of a major. The man had an angular face and black hair that defied military regulations, though that seemed to be the rule rather than the exception at Seafoam. His name strip identified him as 'AKAI,' his rank tab a lieutenant; she was unfamiliar with Seafoam insignia, so couldn't determine whether it was a first or second lieutenant.
"Need a lift, Major?" Ganale called out the window.
"Appreciate it," Tanner answered, stepping toward the vehicle. Mars moved as though to get out and give the woman her seat, but Tanner shook her head. "Don't bother, back seat's fine with us." She pulled open the rear passenger door, nodded Akai in ahead of her, then climbed in and shut the door behind her.
As the vehicle pulled out and made its way along the roadways, Tanner took note of Mars' reflection in the side rearview mirror, studying the patterns of bruises and broken skin. "What happened to the nee-chan?"
At first, Mars was silent. A second later, Ganale said, "She's your new boss. I'd answer."
Mars' eyes widened slightly, then she nodded and looked into the side mirror, where she could see Tanner's reflection. "Two Hoenn soldiers attacked me in the processing center, ma'am," she explained. "Because of my past association with Galactic."
The only word that could be used to define Tanner's expression at that moment was 'livid.' Before she could say anything, however, Ganale raised one hand and said, "Don't worry about it, Major. I already educated them."
Grinning darkly, Tanner leaned back and rested her arms on her raised knees. "Good, good."
"See, the thing about Leader," Ganale said to Mars, "she views the squad as her family, and woe betide anyone who fucks with us. That includes you now, too. If there's anybody in Seafoam who's as magnanimous as Leader when it comes to accepting defectors, I haven't met 'em yet."
It couldn't be said that these words stunned Mars into silence, as she was already speaking very little. But the implications of what had been said rocked her to her core. She had gotten a sense of camaraderie from the ride out to the ferry, but had not allowed herself to believe that she would continue to be exposed to such altruism during her tenure at Seafoam. That this squad, this woman, would so readily enact violence upon another human being in her defense, having spoken less than twenty words to her, humbled her. She had never known such loyalty, even in Galactic.
Something had to have shown in her expression, as Tanner smirked at her reflection in the side mirror and said, "You're one of us now, Mars. Or, I suppose you'd rather we use your real name, hm?"
"Yes, I would like that, thank you." She didn't say it was because she wanted to leave behind her old life, but Tanner seemed to understand.
Tanner made a sound of assent, then pulled a netbook out of her pack and opened it, accessing the datafiles on the squadron. She keyed her way through the system until she came upon Mars' file. "Since we don't have an actual open position in the squad, you'll be assigned as a combat systems officer for one of our two-seaters. You have prior combat experience, so nobody will look at us too terribly funny for giving you a second lieutenant's commission."
"So who's getting the new back-seat driver?" Akai asked.
"Thought I'd put her under Hinkson."
Instinct drew Ganale's eyes to where the rearview mirror would be on a civilian vehicle as he asked, "Jesus, you're giving her to Nine? Just throw her right to the wolves, why don't you?"
"She'll be fine," Tanner said off-hand, keying in the updates to Mars' file.
"Far better of us to inform you ahead of time that Meth is bipolar," Akai drawled lazily. "Swings from all concerned and caring to booting you out in front of a machine gun like a pendulum."
Tanner said nothing, merely neatly elbowed Akai in the side of the head. The taller man slumped, though it was in mock pain rather than any true harm, and Tanner continued to update files. Mars paled slightly, suddenly reminded of Jupiter. Her new nemesis had the same propensity to just haul off and smack anyone who got smart with her, but the difference between Tanner and Jupiter was that with Tanner, the gesture was obvious in its lack of sincere malice. Tanner just had this likeable quality to her.
"So what had you two up in the rain?" Ganale asked after several moments of silence.
"Scouting sealanes," Akai answered, holding his left hand aloft, seemingly inspecting his fingers. "We don't want the enemy to know we're coming, after all."
Mars, who had been more interested in looking out the window, turned her attention back to the interior conversation. Still feeling like an outsider, however, she said nothing and asked no questions, merely listening.
"The Cinnabar assault is coming up soon, then," Ganale said.
"Very soon," Tanner confirmed.
"'Bout time, eh?" Akai asked, leaning forward and slapping Ganale's shoulder. "I know I've been ready to wreck the Rocket war machine."
"Got that right."
Glancing up from her netbook screen, Tanner peered at Mars' reflection in the side mirror. "Think of it as on-the-job training," she said, correctly deducing the nervousness Mars felt at being put into a new unit that would soon be participating in a major operation. She was new to Seafoam, yes, but she knew her geography, knew that holding the Cinnabar Island would be key to allowing Seafoam full freedom to move its forces around the world.
"Awful quiet one, she is," Akai said.
"That's because your ego's taking up so much room that there isn't enough oxygen for her to get a breath to speak with," Ganale quipped.
Silence met that remark as Akai exchanged glances with Tanner, who shrugged. Akai then responded, "That was pretty shitty, even for you."
"I'm tired," he answered. "I only got three hours sleep. Fuck off."
"She'll get used to the way we do things in time," Tanner said, to the earlier statement concerning Mars' silence. "Leave her be for now."
Akai shrugged and glanced out the window into the rain. "Looks like the rain's starting to let up," he commented.
Mars looked out her window, but it didn't seem to her like the rain was going to slack up anytime soon. The Seafoam personnel seemed to be of that mindset, however, and they were more familiar with the environment than she was, so she decided to take their word for it.
"Yep," Ganale responded boredly as he pulled the vehicle into an overhang attached to an aircraft hangar. After turning the Humvee off, he turned in his seat to face Akai and Tanner. "Okay, you two bastards owe me some cab fare. I'm thinking twenty-seven thirty-two should about cover it."
Tanner laughed and stepped out of the Humvee, grabbing her bag of field gear as she answered, "Yeah, yeah, Five, just put it on my tab."
Shrugging, Ganale climbed out as well. "Hey, keep it up, go right ahead. You keep saying that, and I'm keeping track of that tab. One day I'm going to cash it in and make bank."
The quartet approached a side entrance to the hangar, which was clearly labeled as an entry control point with one hundred percent identification check in progress. Tanner kicked the door as she dug in her pocket for some item. A small window panel in the center of the door at eye level slid open, revealing a uniformed guard behind it, who asked, "Ma'am, may I help you?"
"Entry."
"May I see your authority to ent-" Before he could even finish his question, Tanner slapped a green card onto the glass. The guard made an exaggerated display of looking between Tanner and the card, then remarked, "One, green common access card. Tanner, Rebekah, Major. Verifying." He looked down at an open binder he carried in his hand for a moment, then continued, "Verified. Do you vouch for the individuals with you?"
"Yes," Rebekah answered, pocketing her ID card as she automatically took enough steps back to allow the door to swing open.
"Please stand clear," the guard said anyway, then pushed the door open for them to enter. As he held it open, he called out, "Hangar, tench-hut!"
As the three Seafoam soldiers and Mars entered the hangar, silence prevailed as all the crew and personnel inside the hangar stood at attention, save for the far corner of the room where a number of other pilots were continuing to carouse in complete disregard of the area being called to attention.
Rebekah called out to the hangar crew as she headed toward those pilots, "As you were."
The personnel immediately resumed the work they were doing, and with the noise level of the hangar resuming normal, Ganale turned to Mars and said, "Welcome to the Nest." His sweeping gesture took in the central part of the hangar, where twelve varied and multicolored aircraft were parked, ranging from a state-of-the-art F-22A Raptor to an almost-antique F-14D Tomcat. The makeup of the squadron was unlike anything that her brief military training had led her to believe was appropriate. Not only were there not any two matching aircraft in the hangar, the paintjobs were decidedly not military utilitarian in nature.
It was several long moments before she finally found an almost-appropriate response. "I don't believe I've ever seen a squadron as…diverse…as this," she finally said.
"Benefits of being the elite of the elite," Akai said as he breezed past Mars and moved to talk to one of the mechanics working on a pink-with-white-trim Rafale.
Ganale nodded in agreement. "Being the best of the operational Seafoam Air Force, and the entire Allied Force, for that matter, we get particular liberties that other squadrons do not. Also, the individualized fighters help to identify us and intimidate the enemy."
Mars looked from the fighters to the rear wall of the hangar, where the squadron symbol was emblazoned: a stylized red raven enfolding the 'Flaming S' insignia of Seafoam. Above the squadron symbol was a banner that read 'WELCOME TO THE NEST. HOME OF RAVEN SQUADRON.'
She raised an eyebrow. From her time in Galactic, she knew that Cyrus regarded Raven Squadron as a minor nuisance, which meant that she, when once upon a time she called herself Mars, would have thought of them as a major annoyance. Now that she was no longer influenced by Cyrus' charisma and the near-brainwashing involved with Galactic employment, she could more readily recognize the threat that Raven Squadron, and Seafoam itself, presented if Cyrus thought of them as a 'minor nuisance.'
The League will have to deal with Galactic, possibly sooner than later, depending on how far along Operation: Red Chains has come, she thought. She turned to look toward where Rebekah had gone; the Kanto debriefers hadn't taken her report of the Red Chains plan seriously, and she hoped the leadership of Seafoam would respond differently.
"Hey, Nine!" Ganale shouted across the hangar. "Get the hell over here!"
One of the pilots in the far corner looked up, then slowly stood up and sauntered equally-slowly across the bay. As he approached, Mars took note of his short, dirty blond hair and general unassuming appearance. "What do you want, Five?" the man asked.
Ganale jerked a thumb at the former Galactic commander. "You've got a new RIO, insofar as Leader has declared," he answered. "I, personally, think it's a terrible idea."
The other pilot smirked. "Well, I think it's about time my empty seat was filled." He approached Mars and extended his hand. "Hinkson. Paul Hinkson. My job is pain."
Mars blinked, but did not falter her handshake. "Alessa Zelle," she introduced herself. "EOD."
Paul nodded slowly. "Then I guess you'd prefer to go by that name rather than Mars, Galactic Commander?"
She narrowed her eyes, her grip tightening to match. "Yes, I would," she responded icily.
He only smiled, not bothering to match her grip. "Think nothing of it, former Commander Mars. You're welcomed among us, and one of us, so long as it remains 'former Commander.'"
Her eyes further narrowed, and she bit her lip to prevent herself from verbally lashing out at him. But her temper was apparently well-known this far south, as Ganale said, "If you want to bitch him, feel free. We do it all the time."
She almost gave in to the temptation with permission, but shook her head and stepped back, symbolically avoiding the argument. "No, my old life is behind me now, and my temper was part of it." She drew herself up and looked Paul in the eye. "I would prefer it if you addressed me using my real name, please."
Paul chuckled, then turned and walked away. Many of the other pilots and crew had been watching the potential confrontation, and those that did gained new respect for Mars due to her defusing of the situation. Rebekah nodded her approval of the situation, then called out, "All pilots, RIOs, and other aircrew, briefing room!"
The pilots near Rebekah filed into the nearby door clearly labeled as the briefing room as Paul and Ganale started heading in that direction. Mars wasn't certain if she should follow, as she anticipated there would've been some formal introduction into the squadron prior to her taking part in any squadron briefings or events, but she knew that she had been assigned to a squadron of doers, and so followed in their wake. Inside the briefing room, roughly fifteen individuals sat scattered amongst the fifty seats in the room. Mars took a seat in the back, right by the door.
Rebekah moved to stand in front of a podium at the front of the room. "Okay, kids, time for the end of week war effort update." A projector mounted in the ceiling came on, displaying a map of the world on the wall to her left. "As of thirteen hundred hours, Seafoam Standard Time, yesterday, this is the situation: Here on the home front, we have absolute control over the sea, land, and air." As she spoke, the section of the map encompassing Seafoam and its territory, including a fair distance out into open ocean, flashed a turquoise color. "Our naval forces continue to ensure control of international waters out to two hundred and twenty-six miles from our shores in every direction."
To the far west side of the map, the region of Hoenn flashed red. "Hoenn remains unmolested by Rocket aggression, their naval and air powers ensuring control of no more than their territorial waters and airspace, as they continue to pursue peace negotiations with the Rocket forces."
This news, though old, produced the obvious negative response from the aircrews. However, it was not as emphatic as Mars expected, limited mostly to dismissive hand-waving and the idle disparaging remarks. She figured it likely that the pilots had grown accustomed to hearing of Hoenn's negotiation attempts and no longer cared, and were merely throwing in their banter for decorum's sake. Pilots were strange like that.
Up to the north of the map, Mars' old home of Sinnoh flashed a beige color, except certain locations such as Eterna City and Veilstone City, which were gray. Rebekah explained, "Sinnoh remains a neutral party, partially due to their isolation far to the north, partially due to Rocket interest in securing the Kanto/Johto mainland, and partially due to the increasing activity of Galactic in the region." At this, Mars raised her hand. Rebekah gestured to her and said, "Go ahead."
The former Galactic commander stood up and said, "I reported this in my initial debriefing, but I don't think the Kanto officials took it seriously. Cyrus has a series of operations in place to awaken and take control of the legendary Pokémon Palkia and Dialga in order to reshape reality to his whim."
The silence and stillness that blanketed the briefing room indicated that, at minimum, her new squadron was taking her words deadly seriously. Rebekah's expression was deadly serious as she asked, "Do you have details on these operations?"
Mars nodded. "Yes, ma'am. Most of them. Cyrus plays his endgame to his vest."
"Get me the details sometime after the briefing and I'll pass them up the chain of command," Rebekah said, then returned to the briefing at hand.
An inky blackness spread across the interconnected regions of Johto and Kanto, representing Rocket control, leaving almost nothing uncovered. Scattered amongst the black were pockets of indigo for the Kanto nationals, and light blue for Johto.
"Rocket forces remain in control of over seventy percent of the continental Johto/Kanto region," Rebekah continued. "All major cities and most known communities are still held by Rocket. Key locations still in allied control are Cianwood in western Johto, the mountainous northern regions of Kanto, and scattered forces in the south. The League forces in the south are strained to the breaking point by continual attacks from Rocket forces, and are capable of little more than scattered resistance."
The projection changed to a map of the south-central region of Kanto, the unsettled region between Vermillion and Fuschia City. "As you know, our ability to globally project our air power is severely limited by the Rocket control of all formerly-allied air bases within operational range of our aircraft. With the use of the naval carriers, we can project globally, but the Navy can't do that and maintain the blockade."
The image zoomed in further, displaying an area of one hundred miles square where two rivers merged into a larger one. Approximately sixty miles southeast of the merging point, a small field base was located. Two miles west of that, a hilltop was highlighted.
"In order to rectify this situation, the Navy is deploying Seabees to construct an emergency airstrip, codename 'CHINDIT,' in this region of Kanto, now codenamed 'THOR,'" Rebekah detailed, circling the hilltop with a red laser pointer. "Raven Squadron is deploying in support of CHINDIT's construction by providing security for the construction battalion at their temporary field camp, codename 'SENTINEL.'"
She next aimed the pointer at the joining of the two rivers. "Rocket counter-insurgent forces have been known to operate in this area, hunting the remaining Kanto guerrilla forces. We must not allow the enemy to discover, or capture, CHINDIT under any circumstances."
Akai raised his hand, tapping his forefinger against his chin. "If we know the enemy's location, let's just smash them and make our job easier," he said, which drew sounds of agreement from his fellows.
Rebekah shrugged. "We know they're operating in the region, but not the exact location of their base, if they even have one within our area of responsibility. And we're not authorized to go hunting." She shared her pilots' opinion, however, and made it known by helplessly adding, "Shitty."
"Shitty," Akai echoed, nodding.
"Rules of engagement?" a pilot Mars didn't know asked.
"Equally shitty," Rebekah answered. "We're not at home out there, so we can't play by our rules. No firing unless a challenger displays intent, opportunity, and capability."
Mars literally facepalmed. Paul rolled his eyes and said, "So we can't shoot every some-shit that finds our camp?"
Rebekah shrugged helplessly. "Kanto's home, Kanto's rules," she said.
"Shitty," Paul intoned.
"Shitty," she nodded.
Mars narrowed her eyes. That's no way to maintain operational security, she thought. Raising her hand, she commented, "Ma'am, it sounds like we want them to find us."
"Correct," the squad leader responded. "The more enemy attention is on us, the less likely they are to find CHINDIT."
It got very quiet upon that proclamation. The silence dragged on for a few moments, then a female pilot commented, "Fucking ridiculous."
"Don't get it twisted," Rebekah said, holding up one finger. "Three other squadrons are also deploying to 'SENTINEL,' as well as several Army units. Scattered Kanto forces may come and go, but Seafoam is going into their house and building them a new shitter, essentially."
"Picking up their trash as usual, I see," Ganale commented sourly. "Let's just win the war for them while we're at it."
Rebekah waited a few moments to see what new round of disparaging remarks against their supposed Kanto allies would come from that, but when none did, the pilots doubtless too sickened by the obvious bait assignment they were being handed, she turned off the ceiling projector and continued, "Well, now that we know where and what we'll be doing in the immediate future, our newest team member arrived earlier today." She motioned for Mars to stand. "You've already heard from her a few times in this briefing. Second Lieutenant Alessa Zelle, all the way from Sinnoh, has come to join the greatest squadron in the greatest air force this world has ever known."
Mars stood up, looking from one pilot to the next as they turned to look at her, wondering which, if any, would recognize her from her former life. Each that hadn't already met her gave her words of greeting, but none said anything to indicate that they could picture her wearing a silver-and-black uniform.
Once all had spoken, she looked between them as she responded, "I've never served in a legitimate military before, and it could easily be said that I lived a life of crime up until I came here, and furthermore that it was not initially by choice that I found myself on this side of the war."
Rebekah leaned forward on the podium, closely watching this interaction between her pilots and the newest Raven. This little speech would set the tone for how the squadron would receive her into the ranks, for good or for bad.
Mars took a breath, then continued, "I know that it's difficult to trust a new individual, and revealing a criminal background doesn't help matters any." She paused, but all attention was focused on her, waiting for her to finish before passing judgment. "To facilitate that trust, even at the risk of potentially destroying it, I'll reveal what I would prefer to have kept to myself: Before joining this side of the war and being assigned here, I was formerly a commander in Galactic."
This revelation obviously caught a few of her new wingmen off-guard, but more than a few seemed to have reached that conclusion already. Akai was the first one to respond, "Which one?"
The briefing room erupted in noise as half the squadron simultaneously insulted or questioned his intelligence. Ganale facepalmed, then called above the noise, "Picture her redheaded with her hair done up in this little rounded-off pompadour."
Alex seemed to ponder this mental image for a few moments, then snapped out, "Saturn!"
More hand-to-forehead ensued. "Alex, Commander Saturn is male," Rebekah slowly explained, though everyone but Mars knew he was just acting stupid for appearance's sake. "Zelle was Mars."
"Hmm…" Akai turned to look more fully at Mars, forming a frame with his hands to view her through. After a few moments more, he asked, "So how'd you get the name Mars?"
She shrugged. "My hair was dyed red at the time, and red is associated with Mars," she answered, so used to going by that name that it felt unusual to speak of the actual planet. "Mars is also the god of war, and of the four commanders, I was the one most willing to go 'boots-on-the-ground' with my men."
"Mars is also associated with fire, and we've all heard of her temper," a male pilot a few seats away from Ganale noted.
"I find she more resembles a sea than a fire," another male pilot, Jeremiah Vance, who seemed to be regarded by the others as something of a rookie, commented. Even Mars looked at him strangely. He held up a finger and said, "No, hear me out. Look at her. She's nice and calm and sedate, a marked contrast from the volatile Mars we've heard of. Fires burn hot, but burn out fast. Seas, on the other hand, are normally calm, but when riled, a tempestuous sea is an unmatched destructive force."
Mars smiled humorlessly, despite being amused by the correlation. "I assure you, this serenity of mine is a newly-found facet of my personality, thanks entirely to being here. In the two hours I've been at Seafoam, in the twenty minutes in the presence of this squadron, I've felt more welcome than the six years I spent with Galactic, both before and after becoming commander."
"That's our MO here at Seafoam," Rebekah said. "We're the best friends you'll ever have, but cross us and we're the last, worst thing you'll see."
This time, Mars' smile was predatory. "A lesson I intend to provide a full education on to a certain remaining Galactic commander."