Wild Blue Yonder Ch.7
The Ace Combat franchise does NOT belong to me. It respectfully belongs to Namco Bandai and Project Aces. The plot in this Fanfiction is obviously non-canon and was written by me.
In this story, I'll be making it like what I think will happen when the story of Ace Combat Infinity continues. Except I added ReaperxCamilla in it. Also, I'm not sure about the real names of most of the characters (Omega, Viper, Reaper, etc.) So I'll keep using their callsigns instead. Hope you don't mind.
Note: There might be some possible errors due to autocorrect or it was missed during proofreading.
Chapter 7: The Eastern Front.
Preparing for the Eastern Invasion.
-(Fukuoka, Japan)-
(Reaper's POV)
It was nice to be back in Japan. Coming back to the far eastern nation made me remember the times when I was just a rookie. My first mission may have been at Tokyo, but arriving in Fukuoka just made me feel like I was nothing but a rookie again instead of the Ace title I was given.
We recently landed in Fukuoka Airport as we made sure to stay out of the civilian flights ways for take off or landing. I heard from my granddad that this airport was once known as Itazuke Air Base, but it's now an international airport instead of a USAF base back during the Cold War era. After looking around, I walked out of the hangar with my team as we headed to one of the buildings next to furthest terminal with military vehicles belonging to the JSDF and our good man in charge of making sure our leashes are close, Goodfellow. My team and I reached him as we saw Edge and her team walked up as well.
Goodfellow looked at us with his usual stern expression and sipped his mug. "Welcome to Fukuoka. Hope you all weren't expecting to go on vacation here for a few days before the mission. To get the invasion force ready, the bosses have suggested that we need to run some drills to prepare the boys for the worst. I'm talking about that Adriatic Sea landing or the D-Day landings, except in a much more urban or metropolitan area."
Edge nodded. "All you needed to do was tell us what's the plan and we'll get right to it."
"I appreciate your straightforwardness, Edge. For now, just relax for a bit until all of you are combat ready."
"Didn't you just say we didn't come here for a vacation?" Omega chuckled.
"You either relax to get yourselves refreshed for battle, or you work immediately and get reported for crashing another Typhoon you flew."
"I'll pick the first option…"
"Where's SkyEye?" Edge asked.
"In the briefing room at this moment." He answered her question. "By the way, if you all remember the two brave soldiers that led the ground units during the Adriatic Sea invasion, they'll be working with you guys again."
"Is that so?" Omega looked around and saw a man and woman approaching us as they wore combat apparel with their rank insignias clearly visible for us to see. The woman was a Warrant Officer while the man was a Sergeant. "Wait, are they…?"
"Bertz, Collins. You both arrived here rather early." Goodfellow shook their hands.
"What can I say? I like being early." Bertz chuckled. "It's best to get the boys ready for battle early instead of waiting until tomorrow."
"I can already tell everyone is a bit disappointed that we gotta run them today. So go easy on them." Collins shrugged his shoulders and turned his head at me. "Well I'll be damned! The Grim Reaper himself!"
"In the flesh. Kind of…" I joked. "Warrant Officer Bertz and Sergeant Collins." I gave a small smile and shook each of their hands. "I had no idea the two of you would be sent here as well."
"Command probably wanted the toughest soldiers to be sent here in order to make sure our forces will stay stable enough to take South Korea." Bertz shrugged and folded her arms with a smile. "I heard that Kuwait was liberated by the UN, thanks to you guys. Nice work out there." She winked.
"I know. Just doing my job." Omega boasted playfully.
"Most credit goes to the Reaper, King Bailout." She laughed.
"So does that mean I get the second most credit?"
"No. That's Edge."
"Oh sure. Ignore the wingman of the deadliest ace in the UN…"
"Anyway…" I cleared my throat, "about the invasion, are you going to give us a briefing today or another time?"
"Another time. The UN is still determining how should we execute the invasion and what will be our solutions when things will go wrong. When I come out with the briefing before the operation, that will be the plan we will go with on liberating Busan, which will be our first foothold USEA occupied Korea."
"Anything else we should know regarding Busan?"
"Just watch your ammo on civilians. Any stray round has a possibility to kill one innocent and the UN doesn't tolerate our forces taking the lives of even one single civilian."
"Noted." I nodded.
"Any other questions?" Goodfellow asked as none of us said anything. "Alright. Report to me when you have any. Dismissed."
"You guys must pretty hungry." Bertz smiled. "The mess hall has a lot of grub waiting to be eaten. Let's go."
"Well, the service in my flight didn't provide any food to me. So might as well." Omega joked and followed along with the rest of the team and Edge.
"You're still here, Reaper?" Goodfellow raised an eyebrow as I didn't move at all nor followed them.
"I'll eat something later on. Just gotta warm up my legs after the long flight." I said while beginning to stretch.
"Just remember you're a vital asset that will determine our victory. So try not to get shot down and make the UN proud. Hell, you'll probably get your payment tripled when this ends up to be a very well executed invasion."
I chuckled. "Guess drinks will be on me from now on if that happens."
"Look on the bright side, at least Viper isn't here to make you pay twice as much on the drinks."
"True. But he had to drink, since he was the squad leader. For me, well, I drink. But not as much."
Goodfellow chuckled. "By the way, what do you plan on doing after the war is over?"
"Not sure, to be honest. Hopefully have a decent life and…spend some time with a girl I chose…" I sighed.
"Try to get one before Omega does." He laughed. "I bet he would love to boast about it when he finally beat his squad leader on something."
"He already beat me on one thing: Getting shot down many times as me." I laughed as well and looked around as my plane was being fixed up by the mechanics. "When does the invasion start?" I asked.
"Two days from now." Goodfellow answered. "For now, get some rest or get something to drink. It's going to be a long day when Operation Shield Breaker is initiated." He reminded me while he was looking down at his phone, receiving some sort of message from someone. "SkyEye wants to have a word with me. Head inside when you're done jogging, Reaper."
"Got it." I nodded as I watched him walk down the hall.
Instead of going inside the building where he others were, I decided to take a quick jog around the building just because my legs were still weak due to flying for a few hours. I'm not exactly sure when the first drill will be initiated, but I was prepared for it at anytime since it's a cakewalk for me. But Operation Shield Breaker, what Goodfellow calls the invasion of South Korea, is another important operation that cannot fail. The Adriatic Sea, Moscow, and Kuwait, was one of the hardest yet important missions to complete in order to pressure USEA from dealing with more than one fronts. It made me wonder if we were going to do another invasion in India, but that's probably saved for a other time.
My eyes looked up at the sky as Camilla immediately came into my head. It was nice to hear her voice again when I was flying in my F-22. Since she was able to have access into my radio on my aircraft, it made me wonder if she could do the same on my phone. I took it out to see no notifications at all. I sighed in disappointment and put it back in my pocket.
Am I really that demanding to get a response from her? I didn't have a clue why…
I suddenly got a text and immediately took it out, seeing it was only from my trusted wingman, Omega.
'Oi! You gonna chow down too?' He texted.
'I'll meet you guys there after I finished jogging. Just enjoy your food, bud.' I texted back, letting out a small chuckle.
-(The Butterfly Master's Satellite, Earth's Orbit)-
(Camilla's POV)
My eyes shot open quickly as I gasped for air upon waking up from a deep slumber. I placed my hands on my head, realizing that I was sweating a bit and my heart was pounding so hard that it almost felt like it was about to burst out of my chest. I began to breath slowly in order to calm myself down as I watched the Earth out my window as another way of clearing the stress from my head. After a few minutes have passed, I managed to ease down and just laid on the huge cushion I sleep on. All I could hear was the sound of my breathing and the feeling of my heartbeat.
"Another nightmare…" I sighed to myself and rubbed my head vigorously from the headache.
"Nightmare, master?" Kvasir asked.
"Yeah. I'll be fine." I hugged my legs as I felt like crying at this point.
"Are you comfortable to talk about it?"
"Let's just say…it involves Reaper and remorse…" I said.
"I see. You seem to really like him as much as I thought."
I blushed and shook my head, denying it. "I'm sure it's just nothing but admiration and nothing else."
"Explain to me what was that kiss you had with him then."
My face turned redder and hot as I looked up at the screen in complete shock. "W-What kiss?! I never kissed anybody in my life!" I tried to hide the fact what Reaper and I did when we were stargazing together.
"Master, you are free to refuse to talk about your negative experiences in your dreams. But you can't lie to me about something I am fully aware about." Kvasir said.
"How did you know…?" I covered my face from utter embarrassment.
"I looked back at the recording footage when you and Reaper were spending time together for the first time. I was quite honestly concerned about you and was hoping he didn't hurt you in any way. And…well, I came across this."
Kvasir then showed a picture on my screen that made my face even more hotter when I stared at it even longer. It was me and Reaper, lips connected while our arms were wrapped around each other.
"Kvasir! You didn't have to show me!" I shouted.
"I thought you would be satisfied to see it again, since you were pretty happy during that experience." He chuckled, clearly teasing me.
I pouted and looked away.
"I apologize." He chuckled.
"You better be." I smirked and huffed a few seconds later. "Why did I do that…?"
"Taking my joke teasing seriously, master?"
"Not that." I told him. "Why did I just started kissing him after we only met for the first time in around thirty minutes? If my parents were here, they would probably kill me or come up with some B.S fact that I'll get pregnant or something."
"You can get pregnant, if you do something more than just kissing…"
"Muuu-…!" I pouted and glared at the screen with my face red.
"Jokes aside, maybe you were suffering a little a bit from…loneliness. I know I am programmed to provide company for you up here, and I'm grateful for it. But maybe you just wanted another actual human being up here and you started to grow close to Reaper easily because of it." Kvasir said.
"It's still a weird thing I could possibly do." I blushed. "The fact I kissed him so fast after we met is just…" I sighed and covered my face full of shame and embarrassment.
"Did you like it?"
"Good question…" I looked down at my legs and touched my lips. "I actually did for some reason. But it still should've not happened too early. I guess you were right. Maybe I was desperate to have another human being here with me and I just easily felt attached to him. I guess total isolation can cause you to go insane."
"Attached? Forgive me for asking, but…are you perhaps interested in him?"
"…" I didn't answer that question as I just sat there silently for a few seconds. "I-…"
"Hold that thought." Kvasir interrupted me. "I apologize for interrupting you, master. But I'm getting a transmission from Command that is very urgent to respond to. May I?"
"Of course. I'll be waiting." I nodded.
After Kvasir was connected to a private call, I was left alone as there was nothing else to do. I looked at my controller and clenched my fists, having the urge to just destroy it because it was a tool for me killing real pilots that I thought were just enemy avatars in this so called 'video game' they made me play. If Reaper didn't open my eyes about what was really happening, I would be gladly playing the game where I would unknowingly kill countless pilots and soldiers. Something I never wanted to take part in.
"Press start to continue…?" I sighed and set it aside. "No. I just don't want too…" I said to myself and continued to patiently wait until Kvasir returned from the call I was unable to hear. It took around ten minutes of complete silence until he came back.
"Master?" He called.
"I'm right here, as always…" I looked around my chamber and shrugged my shoulders. "What was the call about?" I asked, expecting an answer after. Instead, Kvasir stayed silent. "Kvasir?"
"I really shouldn't tell you. It'll only just get you even more concerned about Reaper."
"It's about him? What's going on?"
"There is no need to hear about it nor worry about it. I doubt it'll even effect Reaper whatsoever."
"If you really think that, then you would tell me."
"Master, please."
"I already know I'm responsible for killing many people blindly by this game that manipulated me. The least you can do is tell me the full detail on what's going on after I'm against USEA." I frowned.
Kvasir sighed, "…very well."
"Now, what was that call about?"
"Command has declared a plan to be commenced at once after the fall of Kuwait, which was lost due to Reaper easily taking down USEA stationary forces. After recognizing your failure for taking him down yet again, Cohen himself has established an order to an elite squadron as being a substitute to take down Reaper while your QFA-44 is being repaired or another one is being built. It's USEA's best squadron that was reported to not have one single squad member shot down during this conflict. And…I'm sure you will recognize the emblem from your previous sorties before you found out it was all a game…"
Kvasir displayed an image of a formation of a squadron in the air after take off as the runway of an airbase was seen below them.
The squadron was a flight of SU-37 Terminators with an emblem of a golden eagle holding an arrow and sword with its talons with a background of the USEA Coat of Arms with five stars under it, representing how successful the flight was and is considered a former Russian Ace Squadron. There was no doubt this was the same elite squadron in my 'game' that I flew with that helped me seize many cities during USEA's expansion.
"No…" I whispered.
"Their objective: Shoot down and kill Reaper, no matter the cost." Kvasir said.
(I'll be flying to the Philippines at the end of this month. Anyway, I hope all of you had a good Christmas, and I'll see you guys in 2016! And yes, I kind of referenced the Yellow Squadron in the end, but they will most likely have a different squadron name.)
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