Thunder Island Air Base
Asean Republic, Pacific Ocean
March 21st, 437 AC
3:15 AM Local Time
"It's too fucking early for this," Jay mumbled to himself as he trudged through the halls. He came up to a door leading into one of the barracks' rooms and gently tapped his knuckles against it. "Hey, Nyx. You up?" he asked in a hushed voice. It was a stupid question, really, but he figured it wouldn't hurt to ask.
Jay waited a moment, and once he didn't receive any answer, he opened the door slowly to make as little noise as possible. He slipped in and closed the door behind him just as quietly. Since Tux's bed was already empty and made, it didn't take long for Jay to find Nyx, still wrapped up under her sheets.
He walked up and gently put his hand on her shoulder, giving her a light shake. "Hey, Nyx," he said again, only slightly louder than before. "C'mon, gotta get up."
Nyx stirred and sat up, rubbing her eyes. "Samurai?" she asked drowsily. "What are you doing here? What time is it even?" She stretched her arms out with a yawn.
"Too early," Jay answered. "But we've gotta head to the briefing room. Alston said he wanted everyone on the base present. Something important, I guess."
Nyx scoffed. "Damn well better be if it means I've gotta wake up at this hour," she muttered as she got to her feet. "Gimme a minute." She grabbed her flight suit, which was crumpled haphazardly on the floor near her bed, and slid it on before walking over to the sink and taking the two pill bottles resting there. "Shit," she cursed, emptying the first bottle and tossing it aside.
Jay briefly glanced down as it rolled across the floor and ended up at his feet. The label read "SPIRONOLACTONE 150 MG TABLETS," and black tape covered what was presumably Nyx's name. "You out of hormones?" he asked, looking back up at Nyx.
"Out of T-blockers, yeah," she replied with a nod. "I've still got enough estrogen left to last me a few more days." She took a handful of pills from the second bottle. "That was the last of it on the whole base too. Not that there was much here, to begin with," she added.
"Damn, that sucks," Jay said, frowning. Having been present for the duration of his sister's transition, he knew how disheartened Nyx must've felt running out of hormones. "And since we're cut off, I suppose there's no chance of a resupply any time soon."
Nyx nodded as she briefly ran a brush through her hair to untangle it. "Yeah. Not really much I can do about it, though. Now let's go see what Alston thought couldn't wait for another couple hours." She managed to sneak a bit of humor into her voice as she and Jay left her room and made their way over to the briefing room.
"Alright, everyone. I know it's early, so I'll try to keep this brief, so those of you that aren't needed can go back to sleep," Alston began.
"Those of us that aren't needed?" Mustang whispered. "I sense a night op coming up," he mumbled.
"As I said before, this base is crucial in the war," Alston continued. "Due to its location, whatever side has control of it gets easy access to all of the Asean Republic, and I know it's been hell trying to get to this point. We've lost a lot getting here, and we're not even at the capital yet. Despite our efforts, though, the Loyalists seem intent on pushing us right back where we started." He leaned on the table, and his eyes went up and down the room, making contact with everyone. "I will not let that happen. Not after everything we've sacrificed to get here. With that said, we can't stay here. Regrouping with allied forces is our only chance of survival. As you can see, this creates quite the predicament: we can't stay here, but we can't let this base fall into enemy hands either. Our solution? We destroy the base."
"Is he nuts?" Nyx whispered.
A wave of murmurs spread the room, but Alston silenced them with a wave of his hand. "I know what you're thinking, but there aren't really any good options here. If there were, I would've chosen them as the course of action. Now listen up, here's the plan." He turned around and switched on the projector before putting down a slide with a map of the Asean Republic on it. "First thing's first, we'll need to get the necessary explosives to blow up this base. Cordium is absolutely off the table. After what happened in Cascadia, I don't want to even think about making the same mistakes. Luckily, we won't need it. Through our recon efforts, we've discovered that the Loyalists are turning this small base-" He took a marker and put a red X on the coast of the mainland southeast of Thunder Island. "Into a supply depot. We'll raid the depot to get the explosives we need, and after that, we'll need to do some more recon to figure out how we're going to get past enemy lines." Alston took a step back and nodded to Cyborg, signaling for him to take the floor.
"Alright, this mission is going to be carried out by Paladin, so everyone else, go ahead and get some sleep," Cyborg began.
"Ugh, of course, we're the ones stuck with the night-op," Mustang groaned as he leaned back into his seat. "Can't believe this."
Cyborg ignored him and put another slide under the projector, displaying a map of the area around their target. "Templar Team, you'll be taking point on this operation. Knight Team is going to remain here in case the enemy attacks the base again," he explained.
Jay looked over at Mustang, expecting some sarcastic remark, but Eagle covered his mouth to prevent that very thing. "So, what's the plan, then?" Jay asked as he turned his attention back over to Cyborg.
"Varonis Squadron will carry our operator group, Ritari, and drop them north of the supply base, and you'll be covering them," Cyborg explained, taking a blue dry-erase marker and drawing an arrow from the sea right to the coast. "Once they land, Ritari will move south and take the outpost by surprise. Templar, once they make contact, your job will be to provide air support for Ritari and clear a spot for Varonis to land. Ritari will storm the base and grab the explosives we need and any other supplies they can find along the way."
"Do we have any idea what to expect in terms of reinforcements?" Eagle asked. "Considering what we went up against last time, it'd be nice to know what to expect."
Cyborg shook his head. "Unfortunately, our reconnaissance was unable to acquire intel on the Loyalists' capabilities, but after last time, I'd expect some advanced fighters and maybe even an air cruiser or two."
"Faaaantastic," Mustang muttered. "Are we gonna figure out why the Loyalists have such fancy toys?"
"While Ritari is moving through the base, they'll also be looking for any intel they can get their hands on," Cyborg answered. "Even then, though, we can't be sure that they'll find anything at all," he added hesitantly.
"All right, so that's a solid maybe minus," Mustang replied. "Sounds good," he said sarcastically.
"You say that as if getting stuck in shit situations like this isn't our specialty, Mustang," Jolt chimed in, giving him a friendly nudge on the shoulder.
"All right, Paladin," Alston said, raising his voice to grab everyone's attention. "You all know your jobs, so get moving and start preparing to leave." He paused for a moment and cracked a small smile. "Besides, the sooner you're done with the mission, the sooner you can come back here and get some sleep. Dismissed."
"Eagle, how're we looking so far?" Jay asked as his eyes drifted around the hangar at the rest of his team.
"Well, I don't know about them-" He gestured to Mustang and Jolt, who were sitting in their cockpits. "But I'm ready to go." He looked up at his MG-29.
Jay nodded. "Alright, do me a favor and make sure they're ready, will ya? I've got something I need to take care of before we go," he explained.
Without another word, Eagle turned around and started walking over to Mustang and Jolt. "Quit dragging your asses, you two!" he barked. "We've gotta be ready to move out any minute now." His voice allowed Eagle to be fairly intimidating when put together with his height and scarred face, which he took full advantage of when he needed to.
Jay smirked a bit, seeing Mustang and Jolt straighten up as Eagle approached before he looked over to his own F/E-4, which already had Nyx in the backseat. "Hey, Nyx!" he called up to his WSO. "Run our pre-flight checks for me. I've gotta do something real quick."
Nyx looked up at the mention of her name before glancing at Jay and responding with a simple thumbs-up as she focused her attention back onto her cockpit.
After taking care of his team, Jay broke into a light jog and ran out through the hangar mandoor and over to the adjacent hangar, which housed Varonis' transport planes. He looked over the group of people that slowly started to climb aboard the transports before spotting the man he was looking for. He was of average height, but aside from that, he didn't have any identifying characteristics because he was wearing his usual combat uniform. "Hey, Gray!" Jay called out as he fast-walked over to the man.
Gray, better known as Ritari Actual, looked over at Jay as he approached. He smiled and gave the pilot a nod. "Hey, Samurai," Gray greeted him. "You ready for this? Remember, we're counting on you to keep us safe."
Jay gave Gray a friendly nudge. "C'mon, as if you even have to ask that. We've bailed your asses out so many times that I'm beginning to lose count of them all." His expression took a more serious tone. "Speaking of which, I'm here to cash in that favor you owe me."
Gray raised an eyebrow, expressing his curiosity. "Whaddya need?" he asked.
"When you're going through the base looking for supplies, I need you to keep an eye out for some meds: Spironolactone, 150 milligrams. It's for Nyx," Jay explained. "She ran out, and we don't have any more on the base," he added.
Gray smiled and nodded his head. "I gotcha, Samurai. I can't really make any promises but don't worry. I'll keep an eye out." The smile on his face shifted to a more playful one. "Just to be clear, though, if I do this for you, you'll call us even for that whole thing in Ulaanbaatar?" he asked.
Jay rolled his eyes. "Yes, Gray. You do this, and we're square," he replied.
Before either of them got a chance to say anything more, the tower operator's voice came over the intercom. "Paladin, prepare to take off!" he ordered.
"Well, I suppose I'd better get back to my guys. Keep your heads down out there," Jay called back as he started to leave the hangar.
"Same goes for you too," Gray responded before boarding one of the transport planes.
As soon as he stepped back into his own hangar, Jay was greeted by the sound of several engines spooling up. He quickly jogged over to his plane and climbed inside, putting his helmet on and sliding his oxygen mask over his mouth.
"We're all set and ready to go!" Nyx reported. "Here's to hoping this'll bring us one step closer to finally ending this damn contract."
"Gotta agree with ya there, Nyx," Jay agreed. "I've had just about enough of this place to tell you the truth." He looked over at the hangar doors as they slowly slid open. "But it's like you said, with any luck, this mission will bring us closer to getting out of here." He looked over his shoulder at the rest of his wingmen. "Templar Team, you all ready to go?" he asked.
"Templar 2, standing by," Eagle reported.
"Templar 3, ready to go," Mustang replied.
"Templar 4, ready for takeoff," Jolt responded.
Jay smirked a bit. "Good. Templar Team, taking off."