Chapter 14 – Storm Warning
The past two months had been rather boring.
Or at least, that was how Alice had viewed them – since the Battle of Avalon, there had been a massive rush to get the pilots of the Osean Air Force certified for everything, to ensure they wouldn't lose pilots and planes for truly ridiculous reasons… namely the same reasons that had led to the Battle of Avalon: navigation errors and running out of fuel.
The problem with that was that constant training flights over the past months were far from interesting, and for herself, Eugeo and Eydis, not even possible whilst Lisbeth attempted to fit their Mirages with in-flight refuelling capabilities, to avoid a situation where they would be forced to either fly five-minute missions - even with drop tanks equipped - or restricted to rear guard actions, where the Belkans rarely reached.
Eventually though, and after about a month of rebuilding the front end of Eydis's Mirage V multiple times over, she had worked out a way to integrate IFR capability into their Mirages too, and so, their craft went to be refitted to what Lisbeth had labelled "Mirage IIING" and "Mirage VNG" standards – "minor upgrades" to better enhance their performance, she'd told them.
In reality, they weren't so much minor upgrades, as complete overhauls of the aerodynamic properties that had made her fall in love with the Mirage series.
All three aircraft had been lengthened by a small amount, with a completely new set of avionics installed, and the rocket motor provision removed - not a major loss, she thought, as she'd never once considered using the SEPR boosters anyway. Not only had the airframe being lengthened, but all three craft now found themselves sporting a small set of canards above the intakes and a set of leading-edge root extensions, bringing the delta wing directly underneath the canards, to the lips of the intakes. The engine itself had also been changed; the ATAR 09B used on their IIICs and the ATAR 9C used on Eydis's Mirage 5 being swapped out for a more powerful ATAR 9K-50, equivalent to that used on the Mirage F1.
The only improvement Lisbeth hadn't been able to make was to integrate a fly-by-wire system onto the Mirage NGs they now flew, and for that, she was very grateful. The fly-by-wire system may have enhanced the Mirage's manoeuvrability statistics, but it also introduced a potential limiter into the aircraft – a computer that could decide when a maneuver was too much and override it.
She had once heard the fly-by-wire system of an airplane described as "A system that could make an average pilot into a superior one, but an excellent pilot into an inferior one." and as egotistical as it sounded, she believed she was an excellent pilot.
They all were, else they would not still be here.
Regardless of the modifications, it had been only three days ago when the three completed Mirages were handed back to them, and so, they could commence the IFR training, whilst everyone else underwent low level attack training.
Or that had been the plan, anyway.
Sadly for her, reality tended to ignore the most meticulous of plans, and operate under a logic of "whatever happens, happens.". It was a bit like Eydis in that way, now she thought of it…
Shortly after their Mirages had been handed back, Kirito had ordered everyone into a briefing to inform them of the situation, and what a situation it was, she thought! The Belkan Navy had been co-ordinating an exercise from the port of St. Calippo, in neutral Sapin, when one of their Quecksilber-class nuclear submarines, the Rot, had gone radio silent and disappeared from their sonar facilities, leading to a rush to find the submarine and its crew.
Luckily for the crew, but unluckily for everyone else, the sub had not sunk, but rather it had gone rogue. Belkan police had raided the captain's home and found a manifesto detailing his plan to end the war by launching a wave of nuclear missiles on the Osean capital. Needless to say, Osean command had been quite alarmed when they had learned about this development and ordered Task Force 8 to set sail into the Bay of Oured immediately.
Unfortunately, they had done exactly as asked… and sailed headfirst into a typhoon. At least according to Eydis's boyfriend's reports, they had, for some inexplicable reason, attempted to undertake flight operations in a typhoon too, with rather predictable results.
A lot of lost aircraft and pilots, rendering the Harrier very short staffed, and what few pilots had not been sent flying without the safety of an aircraft were, understandably, less than thrilled to be taking orders from the same people who had ordered everyone to their deaths…
It was for that reason that the 23rd was to be split into two groups:
Mercury Team, formed of Black Blade and Knight Flights were to assist in the hunt for the Rot, whilst Guardian Team, formed of the remaining flights would move to Oured to protect against any incoming cruise missiles that the Rot could launch.
As the flight was not a short one – around 2 hours each way – it had been decided that the aircraft would refuel mid-air en route to the operational area, something that none of them really had that much practice on (especially given the upgrades made to their Mirages, which had eaten into said training time…), but that was sadly a non-negotiable for this mission…
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In-flight refuelling was one of those extremely precise tasks that required your full attention to avoid a catastrophe. It was also mind-numbingly tedious, as anything happening was very bad news, Kirito had decided.
"Black Blade Lead, approach the tanker at current speed and current heading."
In front of the Phantom, the ghost grey underside of the refuelling tanker came into view. The KC-135 was a large aircraft that greatly resembled the Boeing 707s they occasionally spotted during their missions, only with a slightly fatter fuselage and a refuelling boom extending from the underside.
"Opening the hatch, keep 'er steady."
"200 feet." The boom operator announced, watching his distance to the Stratotanker. "100 feet". Just a little further… "Stabilise." He pulled the throttles back slightly and felt the reduction in acceleration as the Phantom stabilised. "Boom extending."
A dull thump shook the aircraft as the boom took its position inside the receptacle on the Phantom's spine, and fuel transfer commenced. "Fuel gauge is goin' up nicely."
Refuelling didn't take long – only around a minute or so to top up their tanks for the rest of the mission – but that minute felt like one of the longest yet, as he ensured the Phantom, now only metres from the KC-135 didn't do anything erratic whilst caught in the bigger jet's wake, whilst Argo made sure the fuel pressure didn't drop from the backseat.
"Black Blade Lead, fuel transfer complete. Retracting boom." The boom came away from the aircraft with only a small vapour trail behind it, the residual fuel falling off as the boom retracted, much like a hose dripped when it was turned off.
"Black Blade Lead, we're fuelled up. Heading to rendezvous point."
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It had taken another thirty minutes before their group had regrouped after refuelling, but approaching the carrier, it became clear just how short-handed the Harrier was now. The supercarrier, once a floating fortress home to at least ten squadrons of various aircraft, from their friends' fighters to airborne early warning E-2 Hawkeyes, and most importantly for today, submarine hunting S-3 Vikings, was almost empty on the flight deck, despite having only a single airplane in the sky – an E-2 Hawkeye, callsign Overwatch, and it was clear to even an untrained observer that the ship was nowhere near combat capable anymore.
Exactly what the Command was thinking with this, Kirito couldn't say. Whatever it was though, he was sure it wasn't what reality had in mind.
"Seeker, we're on the deck." The S-3 pilot called, though sounding suspiciously like the flight leader of VF-24… a British accent was really hard to hide, even amongst people of many nationalities.
"Seeker, we're hooking you up now. Prepare for launch."
"Overwatch, this is Black Blade Lead. We're approaching your combat area from the west. Heading 090."
"Black Blade, Knight, good to have you onboard for this one. The sub hunter is taking off now, callsign is Seeker." The Hawkeye informed them, before moving into briefing mode. "Here's the situation so far: We've narrowed down the location of the Rot to within 50 square miles off the mouth of the Futuro Canal and will conduct the search in that area. Black Blade, Knight, conduct aerial sweeps, and shoot down any hostile aircraft you encounter. Seeker, stay on mission at all costs. Once the sub is located, attack it with whatever's left onboard. Mines, depth charges, the works. Viper and Idol Flight, you guys can follow Solitaire once they're in the search pattern."
"Solitaire?" Koharu asked, trying to work out where in the briefing they came into it. Maybe he was right, maybe they were in charge of the Viking… for some reason.
"Yeah, we wanted to just use Solitaire, but nope, we're Seeker whilst flying this."
"Seeker, you're cleared to launch. Good hunting." The flight deck informed them, and they watched the stubby S-3 get catapulted from the flight deck. Despite the larger craft's less… aerodynamic properties, it showed just how powerful the steam catapults really were on the carrier that the 20-ton, twin engined sub hunter could be fired off a carrier like it weighed next to nothing…
"Seeker's airborne, we're changing course to start the search."
"Understood Seeker. Black Blades, Knights, bandits are approaching at heading 050, range forty miles. Turn to intercept."
"Roger."
"Those bandits are-" The radio went dead at that moment, as if the line had been forcibly disconnected. From his 3 o'clock, he saw an explosion in the distance, and suddenly, their radios burst back into life, with a flurry of chatter, very little of it making sense as everyone spoke over each other…
"Black Blade Lead, this is Six. I have several targets moving fast through the area, MIG-23s by the speed of them." Sinon called, and he grimaced. This was bad, the Belkans had been able to anticipate that they would be moving the task force into a position that rendered it vulnerable to strike, and no doubt those MIGs had been tasked with blinding the fleet by destroying its early warning capability…
"Crap, they'll be after us now. Itsuki, get that Crusader off the deck, and give us a hand, will ya?!"
"This is the Harrier, we're hit! We have cruise missiles in the air, and-agh!" The radio operator was shut off, before being replaced by someone else. "Seeker, abort the search! Head for Canaveral! Idol Flight, scramble!"
"Kirito, what do we do?"
"Kid, we'll follow your orders. Just tell us what to do." Bercouli told him, and he formed a plan in his head. It wasn't a great plan, but it was the best he could do with absolutely no advanced notice.
"Alice, Eugeo. Take Ronye and Tiese and deal with those Floggers before they shoot down Seeker. Sinon, Liena, you're our eyes now, so watch for any bandits, and tell us if you see what launched those cruise missiles. Koharu, Eydis, cover them if any more fighters show up, otherwise set up a barrier CAP. Anything that isn't us is hostile. Asuna, Bercouli, Fanatio, you're with us – we're gonna hunt down those cruise missile carriers."
"Black Blade Leader, this is Idol One, sir. My flight is just getting airborne, and we're ready for a fight!"
"Understood Idol. Focus on getting yourselves airborne and join up with Koharu and Eydis. They'll give you guys instructions once you're in the fight."
"Yes sir! Seeker, are you guys alright?"
"Just… rragh! Dandy!" Jet groaned, no doubt turning the Viking hard to avoid an R-23 missile from one of the Floggers.
"Try a bit harder, Belkans, that one almost hit us!" Sierra taunted, before an audible slap shut him up.
"Don't encourage the bad guys! Going radio silent, see you all on the other side!" Kureha closed off radio transmissions for the moment, as the Viking threw itself around to evade the Floggers.
"Kirito, we have more aircraft incoming. Subsonic, large returns at one hundred and eighty miles – I'd say bombers. Vector 040 for a head on interception."
"Understood Sinon, we're moving to intercept."
As the battle began to heat up, Kirito noticed it split into almost three separate engagements:
The first was at low level, almost at wave height where Alice, Eugeo, Ronye and Tiese were running down the MIG-23s attempting to shoot down Seeker (who themselves gave the MIG-23s headaches by doing something the Flogger couldn't do… they turned.).
The second was approaching medium altitude, where they rushed to hunt down the incoming bombers, and no doubt the bombers escorts, whilst Idol flight, Koharu and Eydis joined together to form a defensive barrier against any escorts that got through.
The final fight was at higher altitude, above 40,000ft, where Sinon and Liena had formed their own defensive perimeter, using the superior radars of their more advanced aircraft to provide a detailed picture of the battlefield, before throwing medium range Skyflash missiles at anything unlucky enough to be nearby…
"Hah! One Flogger is down." Alice called amidst their fight, interrupted by…
"Tiese, he's… nope! Eight, I have a kill!"
"Koharu, he's heading back to you!" Eydis called out, as an unlucky Flogger was bounced by the barrier CAP.
"Not for long! Blade Three, Fox Two!"
"Blade Three, Knight Two, Idol – you have more bandits moving to attack. Signatures consistent with naval strike aircraft at 050. Range is forty miles from your position, altitude at ten thousand."
"We're on them!" Eydis called back.
"Eugeo to all aircraft, Floggers are down. We're available to assist now."
"Ronye, Tiese, follow Seeker, and make sure they get to safety. Eugeo, Alice, assist Koharu, Eydis and Idol in defending the fleet."
"Jet to all Osean aircraft, negative. We're going after the sub." Kirito groaned into his mask at that one.
"Kirito, targets at 040 are Tu-16 Badgers. I'd expect them to be loaded with cruise missiles. Be on alert for launches."
"Ronye, Tiese, continue to cover Seeker whilst they attack the sub." He was glad Argo couldn't see his face back there, because it was not a happy one. Of course the slow, lumbering sub hunter would choose to stay in the fight… "Sinon, understood. Reckon you can give us a hand?"
"As if you have to ask…" She responded. "Radar lock. Sinon, Fox Three." Sinon's new aircraft was nothing short of staggering in terms of statistics alone; Mach 2.5 cruise, a radar that could detect targets up to 300 miles away and AIM-47 Falcon missiles that could hit a reasonably sized target at 100 miles away – exactly what the Tu-16 was.
It almost made the Phantom look a bit rubbish in comparison… almost.
He'd almost immediately realised the YF-108's Achilles' Heel though – it was utterly miserable in a turning fight, and not much use should the fight close to within around 10 miles, even with the four additional Sidewinders that Liz had managed to hastily integrate onto the YF-108.
Not that it mattered when you could turn an enemy into confetti at 100 miles with an AIM-47, before it even knew you existed.
In the extreme distance, he saw a very small puff of smoke appear and almost immediately disappear, no doubt a Badger that had learned that particular lesson.
"Sinon, target downed. Continue on vector 040, you'll be in pursuit of them."
"Could've done with a flight of those back at Cor…" Bercouli mused as the four-ship formation approached a point where their radars could reliably pick up the targets.
At that point, it was game over for the unescorted bombers, as long-range Sparrow shots scored home, before the others took their chance to tear up the formation of retreating missile carriers.
In the end, Kirito tallied up their scores for the day at three for himself & Argo, two each for Asuna, Fanatio and Bercouli, and one for Sinon; whilst the Belkans had scored a big, fat zero!
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Back above the carrier group, the current situation was far from as cut and dry.
At low level, a flight of Buccaneer bombers and Sea Harrier FRS.1 fighters had begun their attacks, only to be pounced by the barrier CAP group, and Koharu had understood something… she really hated Sea Harriers!
They had almost every advantage possible – they were small, making them exceptionally difficult targets to hit, and when combined with that, their agility made them even more difficult opponents!
The stupid thrust vectoring trick they did was equally irritating too! She'd thought she'd lined up two clear shots, only for the stupid thing to zoom upwards like a spaceship, and force her back onto the defensive…
Luckily, it was them engaging the Harriers, and not Idol flight, who were apparently still relatively new, hence why they were being kept as backup. That wasn't to say they were unskilled – in fact, even she knew how skilled two of them were, working together almost as a perfect team to corral the bombers, whilst the other pair of aircraft were able to work around each other in such a way that she knew came from an implicit trust in their wingman.
"Idol Two, splash one bomber!" Wingwoman even.
Eugeo called out, interrupting her thoughts momentarily. "Koharu, you have a Harrier coming back towards you." Not for long she didn't! Throwing the Hunter into a tight turn to the left, she spotted the small grey fighter below her, and dove on it.
She'd already expended her missiles and didn't have much ammunition left in her quad cannons either – only around 60 rounds left across all four guns - but even if they ran out, they'd decided to keep the fight going until it was over!
The Sea Harrier pilot was evidently no novice either, having seen her, and yanked the smaller fighter into a diving spiral, where it could easily pull a tighter turn than her Hunter, and it was then that biology began to rear its ugly head, as she fought off a blackout from the high-G descent… only for her RWR to now decide to go off too!
By nothing short of pure luck, her recovery from the high-G dive had thrown off the Sidewinder launched by the Harrier, and she'd found herself at 6000 feet, in a slight descent coming out of the dive… with a Sea Harrier still following her!
Her Hunter was the better turn fighter, and she reckoned it had better energy retention than the smaller fighter, and though the Pegasus engine could put out more power than her Avon, it was mostly lost through the thrust vectoring used on the Harrier; something she didn't have to worry about on the Hunter.
Though she'd pulled out of the dive and had now thrown the Hunter back into a climb, the Harrier behind kept up with her. They really were glued to her tail, weren't they?
That thought was soon disrupted by the volley of 30mm cannon fire that pummelled her Hunter across the wings and tail, forcing the abrupt halt of the climb when every warning light in the cockpit came on, resembling the worst Christmas tree imaginable.
"Koharu, I'm hit." She announced, cranking her head round to check the damage to her plane – the wings were trailing all kinds of fluids, whilst the engine had already started to create a nasty vibration throughout the aircraft, its internal parts tearing themselves up as they struggled to keep going.
"Hah, Zephyr Two, I have one, they're-ack!" Behind her, the pursuing Harrier disappeared amidst a cloud of smoke, fire and shrapnel.
"Good riddance." Alice spoke coldly. "Alice, kill confirmed. Koharu, can you still fly?"
She quickly checked the instruments – the ones that hadn't simply failed alongside the engine, anyway – to an unpleasant realisation: she was going to have to bail out. "Nope, my engine's dead, and I'm fighting to keep the wings level as is."
"Understood. Head to the west and bail-out. All aircraft, I will stay with her. Ensure any prowling Harriers meet the same fate as their friend, should they try something…"
"Understood Alice. Best of luck, both of you."
She looked about the place, watching as jets zipped past them both, and Alice pulled alongside her, her golden Mirage providing at least a slightly more hopeful sight than her beaten and battered Hunter. The next call immediately took that sense of hopefulness… and threw it in the wastepaper basket. "Mein gott…"
"That didn't sound so good. How bad is it?"
"I will not lie, I am confused as to how you are still going, Koharu. There are more holes in your plane than a colander. I would suggest bailing out as soon as is possible."
She took one last look at her Hunter's cockpit, as sparks flew out of the gunsight, whilst the warning lights that had illuminated the cockpit all extinguished at once – a sign that the electrics were completely failed now. "O-okay, I'm bailing out."
"Godspeed."
She pulled the black and yellow handle above her head, and braced herself for what came next – being subjected to high winds, acceleration on par with a rocket launch, and a freefall into the cold waters of Oured Bay…
Only for nothing to happen.
Seconds passed by, and still nothing.
By ten seconds, she was convinced the seat had been powered by the electrics and had failed when the electrics had gone bang moments earlier. "Alice, my seat won't fire!" She called out, remembering one of very few things about flying her father had taught her – nothing good came from panicking.
His motto was as British as the plane she now flew – keep calm and carry on.
She did wonder if he'd ever considered how terrifying the idea of sitting on a possibly functioning rocket sled, whilst sitting in a definitely not functioning aircraft, as it fell towards the water with barely any controls left, and only 4500 feet left till a sudden impact with the water below, rather than anything that resembled a controlled ditching, was…
"Koharu, can you get out?" Alice asked, a rare moment of stress in her voice as she pulled the Mirage away to allow her some more space to get out.
It was by the far the least safe option, but at 3300 feet, she could probably escape safely with her parachute, and she did have a life vest on, which meant it was a better option than crashing into the frigid waters below. She pulled on the handle to open the canopy, and the canopy came open…
Before stopping at only about 30cm open, not even close enough to get out of with a life vest and parachute on!
It was in that moment – a moment she had dreaded since day one – that she realised how out of her depth she was. A silly child, desperately trying to please her father, making one mistake too far, a mistake that was now going to cost her the life she'd never got chance to live…
"Koharu?"
"My canopy won't open, it's jammed!"
"Hold steady, I have an idea." She wasn't sure on what Alice was doing, but the Mirage began to trail back, and… "I will try to take the canopy off with my cannons."
That… wouldn't work… would it?
She desperately thought of a reason it wouldn't, not wanting to be pulverised by a stray 30mm shell but realised that she really was out of options now. Even if she managed to ditch safely (unlikely given the waves forming below her), she would still be trapped in a sinking aircraft, unable to escape as it dragged her down below the waves with it.
She really did have nothing left to lose now - she was dead either way, and at least a stray cannon shell would be quicker than drowning in freezing cold waters.
"Firing." Alice called as a dull thud hit the port side intake, though no other shots came. "Schisse!"
"Alice?"
"I have no ammunition left. Koharu, I'm so sorry…"
"At least you tried, Alice. Don't be sorry for that!" She tried her best to comfort the girl in the last seconds, as she began to descend into view of the waters below. Far from the crystal blue waters she'd seen as a child, and comfortable, warm weather she'd been accustomed to, the Bay of Oured was a dark blue – almost black in certain areas – broken up by the white wash of the largest waves, the crests rising well above the smaller waves. She made one final call, her voice brave as she dropped below 500 feet… "Here goes nothing! Black Blade Three, I'm ditching."
She wasn't sure if there even was a checklist for ditching a Hawker Hunter, but if there was, she was sure it simply contained the word "don't" instead of any useful information, so she was making things up as she went along. She thought about lowering the flaps, but knowing the wing was already damaged, she didn't want to add asymmetric lift into her list of problems when the flaps came out on one wing, but not the other.
Landing gear was kept up, and she thought about trying close the canopy again, but came to the decision that, at least 30cm was better than nothing. If she could her life vest off, she could probably squeeze herself through that 30cm gap. If it was closed, and jammed in that position, she was as good as dead.
200 feet to go, and the tops of waves were now very clear to her, as she closed her eyes briefly, and took a deep breath.
When she reopened them, that had dropped to 100 feet, and she felt the waves start to push her up momentarily, before her wing dipped and she realised she was now a passenger as the laws of physics broke her plane up around her…
In the space of a second, she'd felt the impact with a wave which tore the wings off, before her head was slammed forward into the damaged gun sight and a torrent of water flooded into the cockpit through the open gap…
That was the last thing she knew before she lost consciousness; the water flooding in relentlessly as her plane sank below the waves…
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One word had often been used to describe Alice, both in a complimentary and a derogatory way – that word was stoic. She was firmly in control of her emotions, as was befitting of an ace pilot. She acted upon them, but rarely displayed them if she could help it…
This was not one of those moments.
"Koharu!" She screamed, watching as the Hunter broke apart in the rough seas of the Bay of Oured. Within moments, the jet had been consumed by the waves and disappeared from any eyes above them. She hoped to see a yellow life preserver floating in the waves in the coming seconds…
She never did – just bits of light debris and clutter that had come off the jet when it broke apart.
"Alice to all aircraft. Koharu is down… she did not get out." She tried to keep her voice as calm as possible, but she had never really prepared for the possibility that she would lose a friend in this game. Perhaps, rather arrogantly, she had assumed they were all too good to be shot down, or that they would find their way back to them.
After all, Koharu had already done that once, and so had Eydis.
"All aircraft, we've lost Koharu. No one else dies today! That is an order!" She'd never really heard Kirito angry – annoyed, perhaps, but no, that was not annoyance; that was fury.
"You heard the man. Knights, give them hell!"
"Idols, all bombers are down!" Idol Lead confirmed. "Sirs, we're running low on ammo now."
"Alice, head back to Oured. Eugeo, stay with her. Anyone else, head back if your fuel or weapons state is low." Kirito ordered.
In any other circumstance, she would have been livid at being sent back to base – she would have viewed it almost as punishment for failure – but today, she saw it for what it really was: sensible.
She no longer had any ammunition, and her fuel state was getting low too, so she was rapidly becoming a liability to the flight, rather than an asset, and in her current mental state, even she could understand her flight lead's reasoning that there was a non-zero chance she would overstretch herself, trying to fight a fight she would have no reason to be in.
"This is the captain of the OFS Harrier. All hands, abandon ship! I repeat, all hands, abandon ship!"
"Fucking Belkans!" She heard the womaniser call out angrily, as their ship began to list to port. "Kill our mothers whilst ya at it, why don't ya!"
"Sierra, shut up a moment." Jet, in a rare display of command for once, instructed his subordinate to be quiet. "We've dropped depth charges and mines in the area of the ship. At least one's hit home, we think. Alice, where did Koharu go down?"
"Why ask that!?"
"Because we still have search and rescue gear onboard!" He snapped back.
"Seeker, head towards Alice. Alice, belay that order to head back till Seeker has arrived."
"Understood Kirito. Seeker, what is your ETA?"
"Around two minutes."
Circling the area, Alice looked to the waves still, a vain hope that she'd surface, having somehow escaped the sinking Hunter. Even small debris that had appeared from the crash of the jet – tiny pieces of metal, barely the size of her hands, or pieces of paper from the cockpit – had been swept out of sight and under the waves in amidst the crashing waves.
"Err, cap? That water's awful down there. If she didn't get out when the plane crashed…" What went unsaid amongst all of them was just how awful a fate Koharu had likely suffered. No doubt all of them had been swimming at some point and felt as if they were struggling… the water she looked at was an impossible measurement worse.
Waves crashed down with such force that even the remaining ships were raised and lowered; such force that there was little hope of a person surviving for long in those conditions, let alone if they'd been dragged under with their sinking aircraft, as Koharu may well have been…
"Yeah, I can see that." Jet pointed out sombrely. "Doesn't mean it's completely hopeless though, and I will be damned if I don't do everything in my power to help! Zel, can you ready the air-sea rescue gear?"
"On it."
"Seeker, Alice, this is the OFS Umbra. How copy?"
"We read you, Umbra."
"We're beginning SAR operations, if your missing friend is nearby, we'll find them." The radioman in the Umbra sounded remarkably confident in something that was almost hopeless, she had to give him that much.
"Alice to OFS Umbra, you have my sincerest thanks."
"All part of the service, ma'am."
"Shit, we've got surface contacts – missile boats! Bastards must've used the chaos to get closer…" The American shouted into the air group's frequency.
"They just don't quit, do they?" She heard Kureha mutter, before the mild panic inside the S-3 really set in, to her. Not only had they lost their home with the newly created reef formerly known as the OFS Harrier, but they had lost friends too, and should these missile boats get close enough, there was a significant chance that they would not be the only ones lost on this day…
From her three o'clock, she spotted the F-9 Crusader approaching, before joining up in formation with her momentarily. "Viper to Alice, return to base. I shall continue the escort of my flight." Itsuki told her, and with a brief waggle of the wings, she turned Osmanthius for a return course to Oured.
"Understood. Solitaire… good luck and thank you."
"You can thank us on the ground. If we make it back, anyway." Sierra commented, and for once, she didn't detect the American's usual standard of flirting… they really were nervous, weren't they?
"This is Alice, I'm bingo fuel. Returning to Oured." She announced to the rest of the task force.
As she left the combat area, this time for real, she looked back out over the battlefield. A frenetic flurry of action tore through the skies above the remains of the fleet, the wounded ships billowing plumes of smoke above the fleet, well into their paths, whilst the few fully combat effective vessels moved to defensive stations.
Other ships moved to positions to assist the search and rescue operations for their fellow sailors, and below, she could faintly see the outline of the OFS Umbra, moving towards her previous position to attempt to look for Koharu.
Around the fleet, to her resigned horror, were hundreds, if not thousands of specks amongst the waves, the number of specks reducing every second, and even between the milliseconds she spent blinking.
Those specks were sailors, she'd realised, many having abandoned ship… but many had simply been blown overboard with the high force impact of the anti-ship missiles that had crippled their ships, or the residual winds they were all facing.
Moving further away, she turned her head in shame as the next volley of anti-ship missiles ploughed into a pair of destroyers towards the eastern side of the formation.
"All aircraft, this is the OFS Calliope. We're beginning surface action against those missile boats, so we'd advise you get out of the way, unless you want to dodge a missile volley!"
"Black Blade Lead to all aircraft, return to Oured at this time." Kirito called, to very little response from anyone. Most of their flights had already begun to return to Oured, and as such, only himself, Argo, Sinon and Liena had remained on station by now, their aircraft having significantly improved ranges over the essentially short ranged interceptors used by everyone else…
"Calliope, this is Seeker, we're marking targets for you now. All vessels, missiles are Styx type. Distance is around 20 miles to impact. Beginning ECM now." A loud thud came across the radio, no doubt a shell impacting the Viking. "Shit, we took a round, we're-" The chatter from the Viking ceased mid-sentence, and Alice closed her eyes and sighed, almost certain of what had happened. She hadn't really liked two of them, or got to know the others, but she knew that they were well liked otherwise. The only vague hope was that Eydis hadn't heard that call, or…
"Alice, they're gone, aren't they?" Of course she had. Had she done something to offend the universe or was it just one of those days were no matter what you did, it was never the right thing? Even if you saved a toddler or a puppy from certain death, the universe found a way to punish you…
She thought long and hard about her response but found that nothing useable came to mind; just sadness, and Eydis had seen enough of that, so her best friend espousing such philosophy was not likely to be helpful in the slightest. In the end, silence lingered across the airwaves.
As she left the area, the radio chatter became more pronounced again: ships telling each other of incoming missile threats, that countermeasures had been released… that they had been hit and were attempting to undertake damage control. She seriously thought about turning her radio off, a vain attempt to not be forced to listen helplessly to any more people die today – she had heard enough of that already.
/-/
The return flight to Oured had been a sobering affair.
With little radio chatter from everyone, it had been a long 45 minutes back to Oured. Long enough that Kirito had spent that time thinking about every single mistake he'd made during that mission, and it was a long list…
Had he changed the way he'd assigned everyone, would Koharu have survived?
Had he spent more time focussing on the battle, and less time bomber hunting, would the fleet still be afloat? Would a significant number of people still be alive, because they could potentially have taken out the missile boats whilst they were at range, if they were a bit closer to the fleet?
"Kii-bou, Oured at one o'clock."
Looking over the capital, he supposed that was one thing that hadn't gone disastrously wrong today at least – the submarine had no chance to get off its nuclear payload and turn the capital city to glass, and the people down there could sleep soundly in their beds not knowing how close to nuclear armageddon they had potentially come…
Except one thing stuck out to him amongst all of this, and it was one thing he'd struggled to rationalise about this whole thing – the submarine itself. It had been hit, yes, but if the captain was that desperate to end the war with a nuclear bang, then why hadn't he made any effort to attack them back… and why had the Belkan Navy known exactly where… oh.
Those bastards!
The whole thing had been a set up!
The entire task force had played straight into their hands. They'd come neatly into exactly the position the Belkans had wanted them, and been sunk almost exactly where the Belkans had wanted them. There never was a rogue submarine, he reckoned now – it was probably ordered to act as if it had gone rogue, in order to allow the Belkans some plausible deniability, and whilst they panicked over the "rogue submarine", the Belkan Navy went unwatched and able to set sail unopposed.
All they'd had to do was get into a position to launch air strikes on the already pre-occupied task force, and that they had done perfectly.
"Black Blade Lead to all aircraft, Oured's in sight." Argo called. "Oured Centre, this is Black Blade Flight. We're entering your airspace at 090 from the north, flight level 100. Requesting vectors towards the airbase."
"Oured Centre, Black Blade Flight, we have you at 090 from the north, flight level 100. Descend to 5000, continue on current vectors to the LANER VOR and watch for traffic outbound."
"Roger that, descending to 5000 and continuing on current heading to the LANER VOR, Black Blades."
After the long silence, Kirito was almost glad to be doing something again – civilian airspace was chaotic, even when compared to training exercises; everything coming and going, and with such frequency that anyone would struggle to keep up if they weren't completely on the ball, 100% of the time…
It was for that reason he knew he wasn't cut out to be an air traffic controller. "Argo, I need you watching out for traffic."
"Ya got it, Kii-bou."
"All aircraft, Black Blade Lead. Keep a watch for civilian aircraft at all times as we approach Oured." The last thing they needed was to lose another member of the squadron to a mid-air collision with an airliner…
"Understood kid." Bercouli responded. "DC-9 straight ahead at angels 1."
"Black Blade Lead to Oured Centre. Visual on traffic at twelve o'clock high, an Air Oured DC-9."
"Understood, Black Blade. Air Oured 163, traffic is behind and below you. They have visual on you."
This was going to be an even longer approach than usual, he realised as the DC-9 banked away above them…
/-/
Other than a few moments where they'd came slightly closer to civilian traffic than any of them would've liked – that Piper that had crossed into the airspace without warning had been an experience, as had the frantic response from the air traffic controller that had led to a DC-8 doing a break turn that was tight for their Phantom, let alone a 250 seat airliner – the approach had been relatively straightforward, and everyone had made it back to the tarmac at Hendon Airbase.
Once they'd gotten to the ground though, the sombre mood had really set in. Usually, after a mission, they'd have done one of two things – gone to the mess hall to eat or gone back to their bunks to sleep off the exhaustion.
Actually, the last one was usually what he did. Everyone else went to get food usually, but today, it seemed as if everyone had just disappeared once their aircraft were shut down. Even Argo, who'd usually stopped pretty close to himself or Asuna, had disappeared off somewhere, leaving just him stood on the flightline to finish his post-flight checks.
In fact, he'd finished them nearly an hour ago, but he was neither tired nor hungry, and so he'd taken the chance to just sit and ruminate on the day passed. Knowing what he knew now, he'd have completely changed the strategy he used – with scraps of paper, he'd mapped out what had happened again, and workshopped a better strategy. Sinon and Liena would've been free to focus on the bombers, whilst his element had assisted Idol, Eydis and Koharu in gaining and keeping air superiority above the fleet. With any luck, that would've given the attacking aircraft pause for thought.
It was at that point he caught a glance of an orange glow in the air, and a dull rumble approaching the airbase. What was that, he wondered, before getting a slightly better view… a burning S-3 Viking.
He offered a small fist pump of celebration at the fact they'd survived!
On second thoughts, maybe that jubilation was a little too early – the Viking looked to be more of a Viking funeral at this point, as flames poured from its number 2 engine and behind the aircraft, whilst oil and fluids added to the blowtorch effect it was currently giving off…
With what can only be described as a turn that was tight for a fighter, the sub hunter swung round towards the runway in a shallow dive. As he watched, it was worrying to him that he couldn't tell whether that was a rapid, but controlled descent… or it was just crashing instead.
His question soon got an answer as the S-3 contacted the runway – he refused to say that it touched down, rather saying that it slammed down instead, when asked later by Argo – the landing gear absorbing the brunt of the impact before collapsing and sending the sub hunter veering into a grass verge off the runway. Without thinking, he rushed over to the wreck…
By the time he'd sprinted over, the fire tenders had already begun to spray the Viking funeral that had once been an S-3 with foam, as its crew extricated themselves from the wrecked jet.
"Not one of your finer landings, cap." Sierra (possibly, it was hard to tell when everyone was covered in fire retardant foam) commented, as if they hadn't just trimmed the grass, and cremated the weeds… and their plane in the process.
Jet simply shrugged, a bit of foam coming off as he did so. "Any landing you can walk away from and all that…" The fact he looked as if he could barely put any weight on his left foot, suggested that saying was pretty apt… in proving his RIO's point.
Kureha, now resembling her aircraft's colour scheme (i.e. mostly white, with some pink where her hair was still visible from under the foam…) staggered out, followed quickly by Zeliska, before the Viking had disappeared under the combined mass of foam…
"I'm sticking to flying my own aircraft next time…" She grumbled, trying to wipe foam away from her face. Eventually, she'd managed to get enough away for a look of realisation to be visible on her face. "Wait… weren't our planes on the Harri-oh for…"
/-/
Even with the surprise safe (mostly – as Kureha had told Eydis, the only bit of them that hadn't returned was their dignity, as they'd had to be sprayed down with fire hoses to remove the foam…) return of Solitaire, and the small celebrations that had been had at that news, the mood that evening was still quite sober, and even the music being played in the mess reflected that, Kirito thought as he walked back out into the cold March air.
With Oured being coastal, there was a small sea breeze blowing, he'd noticed, but the storm had mostly died down by now, having battered the city for the past few days.
"Looks like the weather's dyin' down, huh. Typical." Bercouli shrugged. He'd always struggled with people, but Bercouli was… unusual, to say the least. The older man always seemed to have some pearls of wisdom to offer any of them, and he'd told them how he'd essentially been fighting battles for as long as he could remember, and given he remembered battles that occurred twenty years ago in Strangereal, he was almost certain that the man was an NPC.
Yet, looking at him, Kirito struggled to imagine the man wasn't another player like them – he was simply too human to not be.
"I'm guessin' you're still wonderin' if you could've done better, right, kid?" That was another reason he struggled to believe he was an NPC – he was far too perceptive for that. The man could read them all like books, but there was rarely any judgement from what he said.
In this case, he didn't answer, but the silence was telling.
"We walked into an ambush sir."
"I told you, stop calling me sir." He pointed out. That was yet another thing… the older man hated, no, despised formalities like that. "But yeah, we did. Not sure how I never clicked on that – especially given the name of that sub."
The name of the sub? What, "Rot"? He knew it meant "Red" in German (or Belkan here, he supposed), thanks to Eugeo giving him some lessons in German, but why was that relevant?
"Quecksilber-class, Rot. Means Mercury-class, Red." Bercouli explained. "Red Mercury. It was a hoax the Belkans came up with at the end of the last war to scare us into surrender – supposedly this super material that was undetectable by radar, sonar, eyes, you name it."
"It didn't exist then?" He asked, already pretty sure of the answer. If such a material did exist, there was no way it wouldn't be in use for almost everything!
"Nope, it was just a load of chemicals with a bit of broken glass and brush hair for good measures, thrown together in a lab somewhere in Sudentor." Bercouli took a sip of his drink. "Belkans must be laughin' their asses off that we fell for it twice. Still though, that ain't what's troublin' ya, is it?"
"How do you cope with all of this, sir?"
"Drink." Bercouli offered.
"Err, no thank you sir." He rejected as politely as he could.
"No, I mean drink. That's how I cope. I've lost far more friends than most people, and not all of them to the enemy. Honestly, you either live long enough to become a jaded and pickled old alcoholic leading a bunch of kids such as yerselves – no offence – or ya die young enough to be counted as a tragedy."
He thought about what was being said – Bercouli was a veteran of at least two wars, they knew that much, and despite his self-deprecation, he truly did seem to care for the people under his command, something that had no doubt bought him into contention with his superior officers at some point, but he wasn't wrong in what he said.
You either died young, or lived long enough to watch everyone else die young… Well, if he wasn't depressed before, he sure as hell was now!
"Thing is Kirito, I used to pride myself on getting the highest kill count when I was a wingman. Then when I became a leader, I routinely went off on my own. Then when I became a commander, I took every mission I could… and I made it out of all of them in one piece. Granted, not all my planes did, but I did. A lot of other people didn't though. I must've had twenty wingmen during the last war, and I can only remember a few of 'em now."
"So… what you're saying is that I should take a hands-off approach to all this?"
"Oh, dear god no, not unless ya want to become me!" Bercouli snorted. "And trust me, you don't want that – your liver and wallet will thank you immensely if you don't! No, I mean that… it's good that you're thinking about it. I never did, I was too pre-occupied with trying to make that number go higher, that I let people take bullets meant for me. I just assumed that I was meant to survive… then I actually started leading people, and I saw the people we were sending to die, whilst I just sat there. Kids like yourself, their whole lives before them… just gone, thrown into a steamroller practically. You want to be a good leader, Kirito?"
"Yes sir?"
"Stick up for your own guys. Put your foot down when someone throws you the dumbest mission they've got that'll get someone killed. Don't be me, in other words." The older man finished his drink and turned around. "Now, if I were you, I'd go and check on the rest of your lot. Nothing much'll be achieved by mopin' about, that much I can tell ya."
Most of them had kept to themselves, but he had realised that he hadn't seen Alice since they'd landed. No surprise there, he supposed – Koharu was her roommate, and other than Eugeo, the person in the squadron that she was closest to. He just hoped she was okay, but it wasn't as if him going and looking for her would do any good – he was arguably the worst person to talk to in times like these…
/-/
The base at Hendon was somewhat different when compared to Canaveral, or even Rechlin.
Both bases were a hive of activity usually, with aircraft coming and going at most hours of the day, people running around in a frenetic and choreographed dance that kept the base running smoothly, but Hendon wasn't like that.
If she was completely honest, she wondered if the base had been deactivated until recently, given how little activity seemed to be occurring around her. All of this would be an explanation for why she had found a dry patch on the grass bank at the end of Runway 05 and was sitting there watching the world pass by – it was calm, peaceful, and above all else, she was the only person around.
For that, she was thankful. After today, she wasn't too sure that she had it in her to deal with anyone tonight.
Much less that she had overheard some of the more senior officers discussing holding a wake in the mess for everyone that had been lost. She was certain that none of her flight would be attending, especially given the last one they had been present for following Operatic Society – all they had realised was how unpleasant such dos were on a good day…
Today was not a good day for any of them.
"Must be the evenin' of mopin' about, huh?" Either she was so far gone into her own little world that she had failed to spot the Commander walking up to her, or the man had simply appeared out of thin air… "First your flight lead, now yaself, lil' lady." Either way, he was now sat next to her.
"With all due respect sir, could you please leave? I would rather be alone tonight, if you do not mind."
"Will ya be saying that when you go to bed though?"
"And what, exactly, do you mean by that sir?" She asked, an edge to her voice bought to the top by the anger bubbling under the surface of her despair…
"Your friend, she bunked with you, didn't she? You reckon you'll be alright with her gone?"
"I…" She thought about the question for the briefest moment before anger overrode despair in her mind. "It is none of your business sir. Good evening." She said curtly as she picked herself up off the grass and walked off.
How dare he pry into her personal life, she thought to herself – how she felt was her own problem, not some jumped up veteran commander's problem! "Obnoxious, insolent, arrogant man…" She grumbled under her breath as she walked back up the tarmac near the flightline. On the ground next to her was a small stone, probably only about an inch across in dimensions, but a clear sign the base hadn't been used in a while before today; it was a substantial risk factor on an airbase to have stones lying about…
With little thought, she kicked the stone into the grass, where it would be less of a risk to anyone else. Unfortunately for her, she had never been much good at sports – and soccer even less so.
To quote Eugeo, she had an uncanny ability to hit everything but the goal and had the force behind her kicks to send it through most objects… the goalkeeper included.
Still though, it was only a stone, and it wasn't as if she was so poor at aiming as to miss the entire grass field next to her… "Oww…"
Of course.
Just… of course.
She sighed in frustration – the universe really was doing its level best to teach her a lesson today, wasn't it?
"Of course it would be you I run into." She grumbled under her breath. The first meeting with Eydis's boyfriend had been… a rather interesting affair.
The guy had been skittish at best, and downright willing to run away at worst; something she found strange given she hadn't said anything at that point. Needless to say, she had been rather annoyed, and had threatened him with a unique threat, should he make Eydis sad at any point…
Which he had done today, by nearly dying.
What the girl saw in him, she had no idea…
"Charming. Could you not try to score a penalty on my head in future, please?" He retorted, rubbing his temple.
"I was merely trying to remove a rock." She told him pointedly. "Do not assume I was aiming for you…"
"Good to know – if you are aiming for me, stand right in front of you then. I'll be safe there."
"What are you even doing our here anyway? I assumed that you and your flight would be the toast of the party…"
"A party full of self-aggrandizing, stuck-up knobs. Hard pass on that one, thanks." There was a serious degree of contempt in his voice at that one; a degree of which made sense after the past few days for them.
It had been the same, or equivalent, officers that had doomed the Task Force, so it made sense that one of the few surviving pilots would take a dim view on those officers, and an even dimmer view of them supposedly celebrating those they had lost.
It felt almost like an excuse to party to her, and whilst she would in no way downplay the loss they had suffered… she had lost a single friend; they had lost almost all of theirs with the loss of the Harrier. That atmosphere would no doubt infuriate anyone who still retained their humanity…
"At least we can agree on that one." She agreed. "Apologies, it has been one of those days."
The Englishman almost snorted. "Yup, no kidding there. One of those days I will be so glad to see the back of."
She supposed at least she was not the only one suffering tonight – misery loves company, after all, she had been told. "For earlier… thank you. At least you tried to do something, even though…"
"Don't mention it. We're all in this together, b'arn we?"
"I suppose so, yes." She thought about it (though what exactly a barn had to do with anything, she remained clueless…), before looking towards the items in his hands – a pencil, and a sketch pad. "I suppose that is why you are out here then?"
"Hm? Oh, yeah. Quieter out here. Plus, you know, didn't exactly want to finish this in front of everyone." She wondered briefly what he was drawing, if he wanted very few people to see it. Despite her thoughts going down a different path, he handed her the sketch pad and she could see why he hadn't wanted people to see the drawing – not because it was bad, or because it was explicit, but because it would raise questions she reckoned he would rather not answer.
Eydis had told her about Avalon, and that it was an open secret that Koharu had held more than a candle for her now boyfriend – she had even said that she felt a little bit guilty about that, especially given her intention was not to get into a relationship there, but Koharu had, at least to her knowledge, never said anything about it. Despite that, the two had had a few conversations about stuff, and even found sleeping atop one another on their first night there…
On the page in front of her was a sketch of Koharu, sitting there and smiling at them. The drawing itself was pretty good – far from photorealistic, but she was no art critic, so the specifics were not something she would comment on, and after today, just seeing her friend's likeness – even if it was in pencil format, rather than there in person – was enough to bring a smile to her face, and tears to her eyes.
"It's not great, I know, but…"
"We both know that is a lie." She told him bluntly. "This may be a strange request, but would you mind if I had that drawing once you have finished it?"
"Uhh, sure?" He answered, surprise and uncertainty in his voice. "Can't say anyone's ever wanted one of my drawings before. Kind of a strange feeling, honestly…"
"Would you mind if I looked through your other drawings?" She asked, and he paused.
He looked away slightly, as if he were thinking through a checklist of what was in there and whether it would be suitable for being shown to anyone, before turning back towards her. "Yeah, sure. Just don't think that was representative of all my work. Kind of a lightning in a bottle moment at Avalon, I think."
She flipped through the pages of sketches – many of them were relatively crude, in the sense that they were clearly done quite quickly, rather than having hours spent on them, but she would hardly say they were bad, as even the poorer ones were still far in excess of what she could produce!
That didn't seem to allay his fears though, as he watched her flipping through pages as if he were a school child who'd handed his teacher a piece of work that he was both proud of, and terrified to hand in simultaneously. "These are rather impressive, to be quite honest. I would not be so modest if I could draw like this…"
"I could give you some pointers, if you'd want?"
She thought about it – it would stop Eydis from worrying that she was going to "execute her boyfriend" (Eydis's words, not hers…), and she supposed it couldn't hurt to improve her art skills. Besides, maybe it would be a way of spending more time with Eydis and Eugeo, if he was willing to teach all three of them… "I would appreciate it, yes. Would you mind if Eydis and Eugeo joined us too… lord knows Eydis's art skills are-"
The fact he looked as if he'd just seen a ghost should've clued her in that she may have wanted to stop talking, if only to avoid incriminating herself further…
Her aforementioned friend stood there with a smile on her face. "My art skills are what, Alice?"
"Err…"
"I'm happy to see you two getting along though! No spoons being shoved in places!" Yes, she had threatened that, hadn't she? The fact that, not only was he wincing, but that she was wincing at her own threat, despite lacking the necessary equipment should've informed her that, perhaps, her threat had been a little too harsh…
Realising that the smile on Eydis's face was getting no smaller, and began to form into a smirk of kinds, she decided that now was her best opportunity to make a swift exit… "I think that I shall go and find Eugeo… he must be going mad with worry about me now." She said, her words coming out fast enough that it somewhat resembled the cannons on her Osmanthus!
As she walked off at a pace most would describe closer to running, she had only one thought…
Eydis was terrifying sometimes!
/-/
After another short walk around the perimeter of Hendon, although avoiding "Lover's corner", as she had christened the spot that Eydis and her boytoy were no doubt doing unspeakable things, Alice had made her way back towards the main bunking area.
By now though, it was almost midnight, and her anger, despair and the other swirling vortex of emotions she had felt upon landing had since been replaced by one feeling especially… exhaustion (and mild intoxication, possibly).
She was acutely aware of what a bad idea a fatigued pilot was; they were only one bad decision away from resting in a million pieces, and she did not even want to consider how terrible an idea a fatigued fighter pilot was!
This wasn't being tired though, she had quickly realised when her legs began to wobble underneath her – no, this was genuinely fatigue. The type of fatigue that did lead to unpredictability, that led to- "Alice! There you are!"
Had it been possible, Eugeo's call would have caused her to jump out of her skin. However, as such an event was not possible, she settled for merely jumping into the stratosphere instead.
"You dolt! Do you not realise how surprising that was?" She scolded him, though it was extremely half-hearted. She simply did not have it in her tonight to be genuinely angry at him, especially not for something that was no doubt well-meaning…
"I've been calling you for the past minute?"
"Oh." Just how fatigued was she to not notice that! "I… err, I apologise then. My mind must be elsewhere."
"It's fine, I was just a bit worried about you. It's not like you to go AWOL…"
"Today has been… rough." She said as if he was not in the same boat as she was. Whilst he was not as close to Koharu as she was, most of the 23rd were on at least friendly terms with each other, and thus far in the war, they had not really suffered a loss of life – a loss of property, yes, but not losing a friend as they had done today.
"Yeah, everyone's… well, Agil's done well out of it, at least." It was clear that he was looking for any positive from today, and that the bar was keeping in good stead was the only thing he could think of, was telling… "Are you okay, Alice?"
"I am-" She went to approach the tired old trope of denying anyone who could help her, before thinking better of it. "Oh, who am I kidding? Of course I'm not! Should I be? After all that happened today!" She ranted on, thankful that Eugeo would not think worse of her for this. "After all the lives thrown away for no reason, the losses we suffered! All because we blindly followed orders, without thinking through what was going on!"
"Feel a bit better?"
"A little, yes." She admitted, feeling her legs wobbling beneath her. "And now, my own body is deciding that I am too tired to even walk in a straight line! How fantastic!" The self-loathing sarcasm was coming out thick and fast, even she knew that much, and so did Eugeo, given he was now almost holding her up, a scene she would otherwise have considered embarrassing.
Strangely though, she almost felt reassured by this – knowing that someone was there to keep her standing when she came close to falling, the same boy she had grown up with and who had somehow always kept up with her, and kept her from doing something too ridiculous…
The same boy she was now looking at like a lovesick schoolgirl might look at a crush.
"Umm, Alice, are you drunk?" He asked with a raised eyebrow as
"No. Merely tired and emotional." She looked away, embarrassed by her starry-eyed imagining of her best friend as her partner. He was her best friend, the person she was closest to that was not blood-related, for goodness' sake…
Yet the fondness she felt for him was not the fondness she had previously felt for him – no, she knew exactly what this meant, and as he carried her, she thought about what could happen if this was just her being a bit out of it after a tipple, rather than anything else.
On the other side of the coin, this could be her best chance for a long time…
"Isn't that a synonym for drunk though?" Eugeo thought aloud, and she let out a snort of derision.
"I had a single glass of wine. I am hardly drunk..." She shrugged off his question.
"Says the girl who needs carrying…" Eugeo responded quickly – too quickly for her liking… Kirito really was a bad influence on him, she thought with a sense of amusement.
Rather than respond with a verbal jab of her own, she did something that both the metaphorical angel and demon on her shoulders were not expecting – she placed a kiss on his cheek. To be quite honest, she was not expecting that she would actually go through with that either and so she was more surprised than he was, quite possibly!
"Uhh, Alice, you are drunk, aren't you?" He asked, this time with a sense of concern in his voice.
"Perhaps." She answered. "But if that is what I needed to work up the courage to do this, then it was worth it…"
"Do what?" He asked, only to be cut off as her lips contacted his, and his eyes briefly became the size of dinner plates. Before either of them knew it, they were both leaning into the kiss, and for the first time today, she felt genuinely at ease.
Not trying to reassure herself that she would be alright, but certain of that fact as they separated.
Eugeo, on the other hand, seemed halfway between shocked and ecstatic, an almost dopey grin on his face, whilst his eyes were still the size of dinner plates as they had been earlier.
"Do that." She responded to his earlier question with a smile on her face. "I suppose my question now is whether or not that was a mistake?"
"Do you think it was?"
"No!" She told him, certain of her own emotions. "Do you though?"
"N-no! I mean, I didn't know you felt like that, but… I guess I hoped you did."
"So… what does this mean now then?" She had seen plenty of rom-coms in her life (the joys of being friends with Eydis, she supposed…), but they generally finished at the big kiss. Very few showed what happened immediately afterwards, other than some sappy declaration of love – something she was never too keen on sober, and with alcohol in her system, she was intent on keeping that feeling down…
"Umm, I'm not too sure actually." Eugeo admitted, and she realised that neither of them knew what they were doing here. Eydis had always been the most emotionally mature of them, and well… she would find a way to tell Eydis about this, but that was not going to be tonight!
Given she had worked up the courage to… not quite confess her love, but certainly make it obvious to even the densest of souls, she decided she had enough courage left in her to ask once more thing. "I… just tonight, would you stay with me?"
If Eugeo hadn't been blindsided by her kiss, he definitely was by that question, as in the following seconds, the only response she received was that of a series of coded blinks. Either that, or he was completely speechless by her request.
She supposed it was the latter, as she knew a small amount of Morse code, and all he was blinking out was "AAAAAAAAAAAA."
Probably an apt response, now she thought about it, given her response would probably have been identical.
"Y-yeah, I will." Eugeo smiled at her, clearly still processing what had happened, but with no unease at what she had asked him to do.
Almost as if by romcom logic, the familiar beeping of their HUDs went off – it was midnight, and Alice felt a small weight off her shoulders, knowing that the awful day that had preceded this one was gone, confined to history, and that today had at least started well, in the arms of her closest friend and now her partner…
{Author's Comments}
So, uhh, yeah, I suppose someone dying was fairly inevitable, considering what this fic is about.
I've got a Discord server for this fic now, so if anyone wants to give feedback, discuss what's going on, or see snippets that I've written, but probably won't actually upload to anything else, the link is here: https: double slash discord dot gg / m24gDtbbXj