"Speech/Intercom"
"Thoughts"
"Radio"
After all the excitement in the air, landing felt like the most mundane thing I'd ever done, but I put my bird on the ground and made my way back to the hangar I originally took off from. As the ground crews made their way over I popped the canopy and took my helmet off and slumped in my seat and said "Fuck what the hell just happend?" to myself as they put the ladder up and I finished my post-flight checklist.
"Hey kid, you're good to go to the debrief. We will take it from here." One of the ground crew said as I made my way down the ladder.
"Thanks' ' I said as I turned toward the main base and made my way inside and followed the route I had taken not too long ago and found a seat near the back again since it looked like I was the first one there. I pulled out my notepad and started doodling as I waited until someone slapped me on the shoulder and said "Well if it isn't Trigger in the flesh."
Looking up I saw a man in his early thirties with brownish skin and hair, he also had noticeable smile lines and his voice was familiar. "Clown right?" I asked putting my hand out for a hand shake.
"Got it in one names Brad Jester but I prefer Clown." he said grabbing my hand and giving it a shake, "and I'll be upfront with you now it's just me and you in Mage so i'm not too worried about regs just fly like you did today and well be just fine."
"Thank you I did have a question though why did you select me, I knew my old squadron was being scouted by the IUN but why me out of the others?"
With a quick chuckle and look around he said "We both know your callsign is the reason there's black lines on your files this wasn't your first rodeo, and besides I saw something in how you flew." After that he started to move to the front of the room when the door was suddenly thrown open and a somewhat angry, mostly frustrated shout came "Wood what the hell are you doing here."
Turning around slowly I saw another person had entered they where a woman my age with brown hair and green eyes was marching toward me. "Hey Iona fancy meeting you hear." I said as I tried to make myself invisible,
"Ah Brownie, I see you already know our new member." Clown said with a smirk.
"Yes I know this dumbass he's supposed to be in Cranston flying training sorties till he retires not hear where his luck will get him into trouble." she said, looking pointedly at me. "But I guess with what just went down it's better to keep him in sight."
"Oh come on, I'm not that bad."
"Your first day of flight school your trainer craft got hit by an unsecured drop tank, yes I keeped in touch with the instructors." she deadpanned.
"Thats- fair I suppose but hey I'm still kicking aint I?"
"I'd say he's doing pretty good for his first sortie, but let's save it for after the debrief shall we." Came the voice of Knocker followed by who I assumed was Footpad and Boggard. "Ah yes sir." she said and sat down with her flight just as the Major came in.
"Ah good your all here let me start off by addressing the fact that all the cargo pilots will not be returning, they were diverted from heading to Hq and are now making course for the front line." Some whispers came from the few non-pilots in the room. "And to clarify we are at war now with The Kingdom of Erusea; these were not a faction of rebels attacking today." that brought about even more whispers and a few mumbled curses. "Now thanks to the efforts of Mage and Golem squadrons the only loss was the Albatross, which sounds bad but compared to other bases we got off practically scott free."
"What other bases did they hit?" came from one of the ground crew present.
"All of them or almost all, they deployed hidden drones from ports all over Osea and devastated our ports and bases." He said as he pulled up a map of Usea up on the screen. "As of now we are the main air base in this war till the other bases can replenish their craft and pilots, and repair," changing the screen again to bring up the IUN logo, he continued. "You lot did good today. now go rest up i'm sure we'll have new orders in the morning if not before then, dismissed."
Once the major had left the room Footpad and Boggard took off saying something about cards while Knocker and Brownie came back my way. "So Trigger you did good today, but remember it's just been one sortie and be careful I want everyone back in one piece." he said patting me on the shoulder and walking out the room.
"So how have you been Iona? It's been what two years?" I asked as Iona came up to me.
"It's been awhile yeah but im fine that wasn't my first combat sortie, just normally it's against rebels but how are you doing, you got in a tight spot there at the end." she said looking worried.
"Ah, contrary to popular belief I'm tougher than I look, but I am fine." I said with a smile and an eye roll while standing up. "Now why don't you show me where the barracks are so I can relax and get cleaned up, I've been in this flight suit since before the sun came out."
"I thought I smelt something, come on I'll show you the way you got lucky and got a room to yourself." she said with a laugh.
After Iona showed me to my room I took a moment to unpack what little I had and look in the mirror and saw my brown hair and blue eyes staring back at me.``Alright we're going to make it through this." I said to myself as I moved back toward my bed to call it a night.