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444th Air Base, Zapland, Usea.
July 27th, 2019.
1422hrs.
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The flight back to base was quiet. Other than the quick battle damage assessment to check if any of their planes were leaking any fluids or trailing smoke, the remaining Spare pilots flew back in silence. Touching down back at the base, Mere couldn't help but notice how quiet even the base felt. The ground crew, guards, and prisoners were chatting nervously as they watched each plane hit the tarmac and taxi off to their hangars. Some sat in shock staring at Roofer's Flanker while other walked back into the hangar to try and find some personal space as it set in that Roofer and Weasel were the only planes that made it back to that hangar. It was already hard with the Hangar Three crew losing Champ and Zipline but now the absence of Waldo, Hickup and Full Band only worsened their mentality. Pulling her helmet off, she sat it above her console before she ran her hand over her hair pulling it out of the loose bun and back into a ponytail, before resting them on the back of her neck. Her thumbs gently started to massage and squeeze the sides of her neck as the afternoon events flash through her head. Each situation played out as she tried to figure if there was anything different they could have done. She was only broken out of her thoughts hearing the clunk of the ladder being pushed up to the Tomcat for the crew to climb down. Glancing over, Mouse gave her a concerned look but kept quiet as he made room for her to come down. Hoisting herself out of her seat, she grabbed her helmet and began her descent. Feeling her feet hit the tarmac, she glanced around at the other planes seeing that Tabloid was already out of his plane and was chatting with Avril at the hangar entrance while Count was walking in to put his gear away. From her perspective it seemed like Avril tried to talk with Count while he just stormed past her and into the hangar. Glancing over at Trigger who was standing next to the nose of the Tomcat, she walked on over and tapped his arm.
"You good?"
"I'm good," he tiredly replied. "As good as the situation allows me to be..."
"Well, keep it together a bit longer. Who knows what bullshit the base commander will spew at us." Mere gently shook her head as she nodded her head to the hangar. "Come on, we've got maybe 10 till he punts us off to solitary."
"Right behind you. And hey," Mere paused and looked back at him. "Thanks for keeping my back up there."
"Well... You've got mine covered. Least what I could do," she replied before spinning around back towards the hangar. Walking on in, Count had already left storming his way towards the admin building while Tabloid had finished up packing his gear away. Queen was seated on a small crate seemingly lost in thought with whatever Tabloid had told her when she glanced back over at Tabloid continuing the conversation they were having.
"So you're sure that they won't come back?"
"I... I didn't see any chutes," Tabloid said as he closed up his locker. "Not from what I saw while I was trying to save myself and... That other incident was my fault."
"Tabloid, what are you talking about?" Trigger asked. Tabloid spun around to look at the pilot before his gaze dropped back to the ground.
"About Full Band. If anyone's to blame then it should be me."
"Tabloid, what you suggested was brilliant. It saved our lives. If it wasn't for you I don't think as many people would have made it out," Mere scowled a bit as she walked up to her locker and opened it up, dropping her gear off.
"But what came about that? Six people are now gone including Full Band," Tabloid argued.
"And eight of us made it back alive to remember them," Trigger stepped in. "If it wasn't for you then there'd be no one here to remember the sacrifices the others have performed in this war. We would have just fallen into obscurity as faceless soldiers."
"But… Ngh… Yeah... You're probably right..." Tabloid glumly nodded his head before he tried to lighten up with a forced smile. "What happened has happened… McKinsey's gonna grill our ass if we're late though."
Tabloid began to walk out of the hangar while Trigger gently patted his back as the two walked on. Mere watched the two walk off as she finished putting her gear away when Queen tapped her arm.
"Not my place to butt in, but I want the whole story when you're done," she said her eyes studying Mere when her brow scrunched up a bit. "Now get going. I'd rather not have your ass in solitary dumping all your work onto me. Go on, git!"
Finding some renewed energy, she jogged out of the hangar after Tabloid and Trigger. As they arrived at the admin building and entered the briefing room, Mere paused at the door taking in the room. It felt strange how empty it felt and it only made sense since they've lost nearly half of their fighting force. Taking a second, she started to glance between the different pilots trying to gauge how the other pilots were doing. She knew that everyone must be hurting as at least one of the pilots they've lost was a part of their social circle. Lamp and Roofer were seated next to each other while Magnet hung his head staring aimlessly at the floor. His hand moved once in a while up to his face where he used to rub his eyes before discretely lowering it. High Roller sat alone slowly shuffling his deck of cards, his shoulders slumped a bit. He had his back to Mere so she couldn't see what his face was like but she was sure he was hurting. Utah sat with his arms crossed as if nothing's changed while Count sat arms crossed smoldering. He tried to keep his face neutral but every now and then his brow would scrunch up or the corners of his mouth would twitch down into a frown. Taking her seat between Tabloid and Trigger she leaned forward and pressed the palm of her hand into her forehead, her fingers running through her hair as she started to reflect on what happened a few hours earlier to try and avoid the rather crushing silence of the room. Could Bandog's actions have been just a mere accident? Looking at it from an outside perspective Full Band has had multiple warnings when it comes to running his mouth on classified documents. Roca Roja, Yinshi Valley, and then the Waipolo Mountains. With the discovery that Erussea could crack their encryption and spoof their IFF, it could mean that they could hack into their communication devices. Full Band still continued yapping even when it seemed like high command was watching the operation.
Mere snapped herself out of her thoughts as she heard the back door open with a click. Straightening herself a bit she felt a strange sense of relief come over her knowing they'll get the briefing over with soon. The room felt a bit livelier as the other pilots began to shift around as McKinsey strutted into the room, a somewhat satisfied smirk on his face while Bandog followed slowly behind him with a blank expression. The commander looked at all the pilots before he simply said, "This mission was a success. Surprisingly. There's nothing else I need to say. Dismissed."
Out of everything the Commander could have said, that was it? Mere's hands began to shake as she clenched them into fists. Her jaw tensed as his words echoed in her head. Dismissed? There's nothing else he needs to say? What about the six pilots that didn't make it? Six human lives have been lost and there's nothing for you to say? Mere tried to get up but Trigger put a hand on her arm holding her down. Shooting a scowl over to him he met her glare and just shook his head saying in a hushed voice, "Not worth it. Cool it." She held her glare at him before she relented, softening her face and her hands. Trigger let her go and she got up with the rest of the pilots and went to leave when the commander suddenly spoke up again.
"Hold on, Utah!" All the pilots stopped and turned to face the Commander. Utah paused before he turned around to face the Commander. "I wanted to congratulate you on your consistently high results! If you continue as is, you might fully atone for your crimes. Let this operation be a lesson to all of you cons. Now get lost and be productive." Mere watched as both McKinsey and Bandog exited through the back and she couldn't help but clench her hands again as she left the room.
"Let this be a lesson for us?" Count scoffed as the group walked down the hall. "What a fucked up lesson he's trying to teach. Step out of line and it's the firing squad?"
"If you ask me, he had it coming," Utah grumbled, causing Count to stop in his tracks.
"What did you just say?" Count turned around to face Utah, his hands twitching a bit. The whole group fell silent as their attention was drawn to Count and Utah.
"Do I need to spell it out for you? Full Band got what he deserved," Utah plainly stated again as he uncrossed his arms staring down Count. The two were of equal build and height but the atmosphere became increasingly tense. The two were already in the middle of group so a circle naturally formed around the two pilots as they continued to stare each other down.
"Say that again to my face," Count hissed through clenched teeth.
"Seems I do. He broke OPSEC, he was leaking intel like a broken dam, all in enemy territory, a God damn information hub, all the while the enemy has cracked out IFF." He didn't break eye contact as he paused to read Count's reaction. Seeing he wasn't going to respond he let out a light huff as he leaned forward a bit. "I did everyone a favor."
"Why I ought'a-" Count tried to lunge at Utah when both Mere and Roofer grabbed his shoulders and arms to hold him back. Trigger stepped in between the two as a safety while Count yanked and pulled against Mere's and Roofer's grasp.
"Count!"
"Let me go! He needs some sense knocked into him!"
"Count, knock it off!" Roofer grunted as he leaned back a bit pulling him further from Utah.
"Come on, knock it off!" Mere growled a bit as her grip tightened on his arm as he bucked against her grip but wasn't going anywhere.
"Hmph, maybe you should just go to solitary to cool off," Utah grumbled as he walked through the group and out through the door. Only when the door closed cutting their line of sight did Count stop pulling against Roofer and Mere. Letting out a sigh his head drooped a bit.
"Fine... Fine! You two can let go." Releasing him, Count started to rub the arm Mere had held onto and seemed to be trying to glare a hole through the front door. "Fucking prick... How and why are you this strong...?" he asked, glancing at Mere a bit bewildered.
"For tea time and dress up," Mere responded. "It's not like you to lose your cool like that."
"Yeah well... Chalk it up to the messed up day," Count grumbled as he walked through the door next. Roofer quietly went and followed while Lamp let out a sigh.
"Messed up day indeed," Lamp ran his hand over his head and just shook it. "I'll follow Roofer and keep an eye on Count. Rather not have him make things more interesting, am I right?" he explained before excusing himself. Magnet silently followed him out, his face pale with his eyes sunken in and Mere figured he must be going through quite a bit. Trigger ushered Tabloid out as well as he was stuck seemingly in his own thoughts saying that Avril might need some of their help with their aircrafts. This just left Mere standing at the front door alone. She wondered for a second how and why she was still there but figured a guard might get snappy about being in HQ when someone called out her name.
"Hotwire." Turning towards the voice, Mere was a bit surprised seeing Bandog approaching her down the hall. Scowling a bit, Mere went for the door. Given what he did she really didn't want to be around him at all. "Hey, wait! I need your help with some electrical issues in the E-3."
"You have your own crew. Ask them to fix it," Mere flatly said as she pressed her hand against the push bar.
"They've already looked into it and couldn't fix it. You're the next best option we have."
"You know I don't exactly work on Sentries..." Mere looked back at their AWACS who seemed to be struggling picking his words, she looked him over before letting out a light sigh as she also went through some possibilities in her head. "Look, fine. I'll take a look at the issue as this could affect our performance in the sky."
"Thank you. I'll let the guards know to ease up on the solitary conditions if you get thrown in there in the future," Bandog thanked her while Mere brushed off with a light shrug.
"Just let me get some of my tools and I'll see what I can do.
"Ah, then let me get a golf cart for us," he quickly said as he pushed open the door and walked out. Following him out, Mere was curious why Bandog was acting like that all so suddenly. Following him out, he's already flagged one of the guards down in a cart and was getting into the passenger seat. Looking back at the door his brows frowned into a scowl. "What are you waiting for, an invitation? Get in the back, Hotwire."
Getting into the back, Bandog instructed the driver to head for Hangar Four. Taking off, Mere lazily looked off to the side watching the ground crew push the planes back into the hangars. It was still an unsettling sight seeing only Roofer's and Weasel's planes stored in the large hangars. If anything it was strange how out of all the hangars, Hangar Four was the only one that hadn't taken any casualties in the past few operations. It was just Sinker taken out by that Mr. X fellow all the way back over the Yinshi Valley. Ever since, High Roller, Tabloid, Count, and Magnet have made it back. Coming to a stop just at the corner, the ground crew was busy pushing the Tomcat into the back leaving just High Roller's Heavy Falcon and Magnet's Hornet waiting outside. Jumping off, she quickly jogged inside grabbing her toolkit giving a nod to Queen who was busy inspecting Count's Eagle before she dipped back outside getting back into the golf cart. Puttering off, Mere began to wonder what would be the problem with the plane. If anything, this is a good way to take her mind off today's events since she'll actually be let into an area of the base she hasn't been to before.
Driving in silence, they swung around to a massive hangar which she assumed was holding their AWACS plane. Mere gave herself a mental slap as she felt like she had never really noticed this huge building on the property. She was surprised this base even had a hangar big enough to house the massive AWACS plane. A few of the men gave a quick nod to Bandog as he walked towards the partially open hangar doors and Mere followed behind quickly giving them no mind. Stepping out of the sunlight, it wasn't all the different from their own. It was a bit cleaner and it was better light while the large E-3 stood at the center dominating the view. Looking around the hangar, Mere saw some of the ground crew busy performing maintenance on the large aircraft, only stopping briefly to give a curious look to the new person. Some of the faces she recognizes from the brief encounters in the mess hall or in passing in the administrative building. It struck Mere that of all the people she's been working with, it's the AWACS crew that she barely knew. No names other than their sky warden Bandog.
"This way," Bandog ordered as he walked around to the stairs that were pushed up to the side of the aircraft walking on up, Mere tried her best to ignore the looks she was getting as she entered. Moving through the door she was somewhat impressed at what Bandog was working with. There were multiple rows of consoles for who knows what lining the walkway yet Mere couldn't help but feel a bit envious at the arrangement Bandog has.
"Man you sure got quite the leg room in here. I'm used to the E-2 Hawkeye's and that's a cramped ass plane. You can have quite the party in here," Mere commented as she looked down at a few of the consoles. Reaching out, she had the sudden urge to touch a few buttons when Bandog's hand slapped her fingers away. "You've got all the room in the world in this castle."
"Heated seats and air conditioning too," Bandog dryly commented as he nodded his head for her to follow. "All this work just to keep you dumbasses aware of everything and we don't even get a thank you."
"Well we only got one guy with a stick up his ass to talk to on mission," Mere smirked while Bandog just stopped to look back at her before shaking his head.
"I liked you better when it was just your voice over the radio."
"Now you have a pretty voice and a pretty lady here. So where's the problem?" Mere put a hand on her hip as he continued closer to the front of the plane before he stopped at one of the stations.
"This monitor's been having issues. It turns off randomly and our techs couldn't figure out how or why so work your electrical bullshittery." He gestured to a manual that was laying on the console before he took a seat on the other side. "Manual for this device so get to work, Hotwire."
Setting her toolbox down, she took a seat picking up the manual. Shifting a bit, she was only getting more jealous of him for how comfy he had it whenever they went out on missions. The only thing she's happy about is that they couldn't just make their own meals up here. "So this is your station?"
"Where I can see you dumbasses flying around and anyone that decides to try and shoot you down," Bandog said behind the other console.
"Where you decide to kill Full Band?"
"It was an accident," he growled at her. Glancing at the giant powered-down radar screen, she could only imagine what it's like in his position. Just blue dots and red dots to connect a voice to a position. The sole person who connects this large flying information barge to us fighter pilots. To think she once thought that he had no power over them... Oh, how the power dynamic shifted. Opening up the little booklet, she was surprised when a folded-up piece of paper slid out and landed in her lap. Looking down at it, she waited to see if Bandog would react before she set the manual down. Folding open the paper she could see it was a print addressed to the plane. On top was the base's code and what she presumed to be this plane's ID. Reading a bit down, it was sent from someone called Addler. Undoubtedly a code name but the contents of the message were a bit disturbing. Silence C6-621. Nothing else was on it. Flipping it over Mere was about to ask something when Bandog spoke again much softer. "It... Was an accident. He was talking too loudly and wasn't following my orders. Good soldiers follow orders... You're a good soldier, Hotwire."
"Well, this seems like a simple fix," she responded, folding the piece of paper back up before flipping the manual open. Opening her tool box she started to rummage for a few tools to start pulling panels off. Chewing on her lip she hated to admit it but Utah was right. Full Band really was just asking for it today and she hated that it had to be this way.
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July 29th, 2019.
1122hrs.
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Fiddling with a small metal punch, Mere gently tapped a small indent into one of the little helios arrows that was embedded in her arm. She had hidden herself in Hangar Four under the guise of work, but she was really in the furthest corner busying herself with a project she's been putting off for a while. Reaching for the drill, she gently bored a hole through the shaft and inspected it, cleaning any remaining burrs off of it, before she repeated the process with the other dart. The previous day's mission still weighed on her and she was doing what she could to distract herself. She initially tried to get back into the swing of her normal schedule with maintenance but the lack of planes and personnel bothered her and only served as a reminder of the nightmares she started to have.
The previous night she was tossing and turning in her bunk. Mere had wondered how long she had slept that time before waking up again. Rolling onto her back, she stared at the dark ceiling of her cell as she tried to remember what she was just dreaming about; about that nightmare she was having. This would have been the third time she's woken up from her dream and without a clock, she had no reference to how much time had passed. All she could tell was that it was still sometime at night with how dark the interior of the cell block was. Resting an arm over her eyes, she tried to calm her racing heart as she recalled what she saw. First, it was her and Trigger in the Tomcat fighting for their lives, while each member of Spare was being shot down one by one. Their frantic cries of filled her ears before it was just her and Trigger. She woke up as the remaining drones forewent their weapons and just hurled themselves into their plane. As she tried to sleep again, she was jolted awake as Tabloid had shot them down. She was in an F-18 with Trigger when Bandog called for Tabloid to pursue the final bandit. She had woken up that time, with Tabloid's cheer ringing in her ear, her injured arm throbbing a bit. This third time, she could hear Champ's voice calling to them asking why they didn't do anything as he mercilessly shot her and Trigger down. Rubbing her eyes a bit, she began to wonder how much sleep she actually got and if she dared to try and fall asleep again. She didn't know how long she had been lying there staring aimlessly at the cell's ceiling when the doors were unlocked with a loud clunk followed by the rhythmic march of the guards' boots echoed in the block. She guessed she only got about four hours of poor rest before the prisoners were all ushered into the mess for breakfast.
In the middle of drilling the second dart, Mere heard some footsteps echo in the hangar. Pausing for a second, she glanced over towards the source she could make out a pair of dark green pant legs of the prisoner's flight suits out from under the Tomcat. As soon as she knew it wasn't a guard, she went back to drilling out the dart just as Trigger's familiar voice called out to her.
"So this is where you've been hiding out?"
"Where else would I be?" she asked as she set the drill down and used a file to take off the burs the drill left behind. Inspecting her handy work, she gently ran a thumb over the hole feeling if there was any noticeable burs before holding it closer to her eye to get a view through. A nice relatively clean hole large enough for the chain she got for the two darts to fit through.
"Well figured you might be here. You weren't in the other three hangars so naturally I'd think you'd be here," Trigger explained as he walked on up to her. "So what are you doing?"
"Hogs tooth. Felt like they might become a good luck charm since they couldn't kill me." Fishing the chain through, she reached up and behind her neck clasping it on and let out a small proud smile as she looked down at the necklace she's made.
"Didn't really take you as the jewelry kind of gal," Trigger chuckled again while Mere just rolled her eyes.
"A lady is still a lady at heart, Trigger. I like my jewelry all the same. This isn't exactly the line of work that allows for much, if any. Especially here at this penal base," Mere shook her head slightly as she leaned against the workbench she was at. It felt nice to converse with Trigger. She could relax more around him than any other inmate at the base. But she also knew that he wasn't much of the conversation type either. Gripping the edge of the table, she tapped the underside of it as she looked back to Trigger. "Now then, what brings you here? Got some work for me to do?"
"Work? Oh no... No, just wanted to see how my WSO is doing," he took a few steps back to lean against the Tomcat. She tried to keep her face neutral as her previous ideas about Trigger were turned onto their heads and thrown out the window. Composing herself, she just shrugged as a reply.
"Just... Trying to move on as there's no sense in wallowing in what we could have done... What's done is done and... Well this is war..." Her shoulder dropped a bit as she looked to the floor. Chewing on her lip a bit she let out her breath through pursed lips trying to decompress a bit. "Losses will happen and you need to move on... If you can't then you'll just find yourself in a shrinking circle of self destruction."
"But are you really okay?" Mere tensed up a bit. Had he actually already seen through her? She was sure she hid her issues well enough unless Queen had said something to him. "You've been pushing yourself onto your normal schedule but you know I'm here if you need anything." Looking up, she could see that Trigger has genuine concern on his face. Relaxing a bit more she leaned back a bit further against the bench before hopping up onto it.
"Don't… Don't worry too much about me. I'm a strong girl and I know I can lean on you if I need help," Mere smirked a bit trying to brush the issues under the carpet. "Plus, two-and-a-half carrier strike fighter groups can desensitize you to a lot of things. Can make a person grow up real quickly if they don't want to get eaten alive..." She gently kicked a leg a bit as she let out a light chuckle before looking up at Trigger in a bit of a panic. "N-Not that I don't feel sorry or bad about the pilots we lost last mission! I do! Just that it's not the time to mourn and and uh there's a time and place we can... just..." She slowed down as she looked at Trigger who was just staring at her like a deer in headlights before he let out a laugh. "What's so funny?!"
"I wasn't expecting the usual cool-headed Hotwire to ramble on like that," Trigger smirked a bit before putting a hand up to catch an oil-soaked rag that was thrown at his head.
"Jeez, forget you heard any of that," Mere shook her head as she tapped her thumb against the table. "Well, I've been keeping my head low in these hangars. How have the others been?"
"Some are taking the losses better than others. Lamp's with High Roller and Weasel in the yard. Tabloid's just hanging out in his cell with Count and I think I saw him tinkering with something in there. Didn't get a good look though," Trigger explained his findings. Mere figured he was probably fiddling around with that radio he got a while back. She wondered how much progress he's made since the oil refinery mission.
"And how about you?"
"Hm?"
"How are you holding up?" Mere slowly asked as she continued to observe Trigger. With the amount of time she's spent with him, she thinks she has gotten pretty good at judging him. For the most part, he was a pretty quiet guy. Only spoke when it mattered and usually was just a listener in a conversation but she could tell that something was bothering him. He seemed comfortable around her so she wanted to repay him a bit by being a good friend and giving him also a shoulder he could lean on.
"Me? I... think I'm doing pretty well. I've had my own share of losses. I watched Skeleton Squadron get picked apart by the Arsenal Bird and there wasn't anything I could do and... I listened to one of my wingmates call for my help and... I couldn't do anything. Too far to intercept and too slow to fend against an Arsenal Bird..."
"Hey, give yourself some slack there. That's a Goddamn Arsenal Bird you were dealing with, with only one squadron being lost. As sucky as it is to lose a squadron... it's still low compared to what they could do." Mere trailed off a bit as she recalled her encounter with the big bird. "Besides, I don't think you have the armaments to solo an Arsenal Bird."
"Just guns by the end of it all. I think I had about a quarter of my 20 mill left. What about you?" Mere paused a bit as she thought back to that nightmarish day. Her face grew dark and grim as she remembered the fight over Farbanti. "Ah, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," Trigger quickly followed up but Mere shook her head as she fiddled with one of the darts on the necklace.
"No, no... It's fine. I think Hawkins said we had about half our guns and no missiles when we had to retreat to the carrier. The planes we sent back earlier that were empty were already flying air patrols while the carrier group started to sail away from the combat zone moving South. When we touched down, those blasted drones pursued us along with some regular fighters with anti-ship missiles. We rearmed and got back up pushing them back while shooting down who knows how many drones but it wasn't enough in the end..."
"That's how the Kestrel sank?" Trigger guessed but Mere shook her head.
"No, surprisingly. Half of our escorts were sunk and the Kestrel II was hit but we could still make it out of the combat zone under half power. The Golden Warriors were already all shot down over Farbanti along with half of the Ragin' Bulls and some of the Blacklions. With the damage we've taken, the Admiral made the decision to stay around the Usean continent and we tried to sail either to or around Tyler Island trying to get back to friendly lines instead of heading West back to Osea for repairs. We managed to get halfway there when we got spotted again. No Arsenal Bird this time but those Eruseans were out for blood. We scrambled all the planes we could and we did push them back but not before they put the final nail in the Kestrel's coffin... For the most part the escorts were left alone and they could take on the survivors from the carrier but the planes lost their home." Shifting a bit Mere could still vividly remember that day. The carrier had listed heavily and was sinking into the waves. Orange life rafts were bobbing the water and making their way towards the other ships while the remaining aircraft had all formed up and plotted a course trying to get to Seal Point. She knew that Hawkins was hit with shrapnel but he was still talking and could still control the plane. Little did she know that this would be the last flight she would have with him. Clenching her hand she let out a light laugh. "Ah, shit... Sorry for the sudden lecture. Asked a simple question and here I am rambling about things you didn't want to know..."
"I don't mind. Not one bit," Trigger eased her worries a bit with a smile. "Still, it does make me slightly curious. So the survivors were aiming for Seal Point right?"
"Landed with about 50... 70 pounds of fuel left. Couldn't believe we actually made it."
"How did that lead you to getting here to this penal unit?"
"Story for a story. Deal?" Mere eyed Trigger who nodded in reply. "Well, where to begin... It's honestly stupider in hindsight how we came to that moment but it all started after we landed. The whole situation was just a growing shit sandwich f no matter how you look at it but I'll try and keep it short and sweet. Three main stress points just stacked one after another onto me first with the loss of our home. Next was the flight to Seal Point and that, that is stressful. To begin with, we were still deep in Erusean territory with no AWACS and no information. We were running radars cold trying to be as stealthy as possible while also trying to fly high enough to keep our fuel efficiency up. Even after we managed to run the gauntlet, our bird was damaged and Hawkins was injured up front. He said it wasn't too much and he could bring us back to the ground safely. He was lucid and talking as if he was completely fine and he... Kept this word."
"Sounds like he is quite the pilot."
"He was..." Mere bit her lip shoving her emotions into a bottle she's been keeping around since they touched down on Seal Point. Take anything that can break her composure, bottle it up tight, and wait for the right moment to pour it out. That's what she told herself to prevent her from breaking down further. Closing her eyes she took in a slow smooth breath trying to calm her nerves before she continued. "Emergency personnel came and pulled Hawkins's body out of the cockpit and rushed him off to medical... Deep down I knew he was lying but, he kept his voice calm and assured me he'd be fine. A half hour later I learned that he had passed."
"My condolences..."
"Then a few minutes later as the world just continued to crumble around me, this miniscule voice started to punch through all the gloom and despair. Bursting through the doors, a Brigadier General came swinging into our temporary quarters. Half of us weren't even fully out of our flight gear when he started to berate us with questions. Arsenal Bird this, drones that, what happened to the Kestrel? How did the drones affect the carrier? He just kept barking on and on and something just... Snapped in me and I gave him the exact information he wanted." Pulling an arm back she threw a half-harted right hook clicking her mouth and mimicking the impact. "Gave him a piece of my mind but he didn't hear any of it in the end as he was just a crumpled suit on the ground... A one-star suit knocked out on the ground, heh."
"Reminder to myself... Don't get in a fight with you..." Trigger seemed to have scooted a bit further away from Mere who just chuckled in response.
"To think a supposed ex-president killer would be scared of a lil' girl," Mere teased a bit and Trigger just rolled his eyes.
"Quite big for a 'little girl'. And I never said I wouldn't win. Plus, I didn't-"
"Kill Harling. I know, and I believe you," Mere finished for him with a light smirk. "Offers still open if we somehow ever get out of this hell hole and there's a boxing ring. Which makes for a perfect segway, what went down to land you in this penal unit?" Trigger hasn't ever shared the full story about how he got here and Mere wasn't going to miss the opportunity to hear it either.
"Well, the short and sweet of it is that we launched a rescue operation to get former president Harling out of the Lighthouse. As you know, that didn't happen and the blame was put on me. It was a small-scale mission with only three fighter squadrons and a helicopter of ground troops. I was sent in solo to infiltrate their radar network and take out the anti-air batteries that were surrounding the base of the Lighthouse to clear the way for the ground troops."
"A single fighter going in to silence a whole array of anti-air? I knew you were reckless but... Seriously? Couldn't it have been at least a pair?"
"Well we were short-staffed as is at Fort Gray with our pilots and Mage Squadron was just me and Clown. It wasn't as if I was doing the mission alone. I was just sent in to launch a surprise attack."
"A surprise to be sure. A single fighter jet comes screaming in on the deck to destroy a third of their AA emplacements," Mere scoffed a bit as the whole situation was just insane.
"Half," Trigger quickly corrected while Mere just rolled her eyes. "Anyway, we secured the airspace and the ground troops did their thing. Problems arose however as they were quickly overwhelmed and couldn't extract Harling on the first helicopter in addition to the MQ-99s that were launched to attack us. Harling managed to secure a different transport and get airborne but the Arsenal Bird made things much, much more complicated. Drones swarmed the Osprey and we were doing all we could to keep them off of their target yet..."
"He was shot down..."
"And I was to be blamed," Trigger let out an irritated sigh as he shook his head. "I had a single missile and my guns left when a swarm of drones rushed in. I was the only one close enough to engage. I launched my missile before pushing in closer to down the others with my guns when... a missile slammed itself into the Osprey. Rest is history." Trigger threw his hands up and shook his head. "That's all the bullshit I've been through and got thrown in here."
"What about the gun cam footage?"
"Shrapnel damaged the tape so no video. Just audio and black box data showing that I did shoot a missile and fire my guns. Rest is word of mouth from the other pilots saying I was the closest." Mere chewed on her lip a bit as Trigger's whole story unfolded in front of her. Started with a shitty situation and then was pinned as the scapegoat... It didn't sit well with her especially since they have such an exceptional pilot wasting away in a penal unit.
"Fuck, man. At least I did something to get here but to have you sent here based on just word of mouth? That's just fucked up."
"Well... It hasn't been all that bad," Trigger rubbed his arms a bit when the corners of his mouth turned up in a smirk. "Company has been better than I thought with Tabloid, Roofer, Count... And I got to meet you, Wire."
"Wha... Me? What did I ever do?" Mere raised an eyebrow. She crossed her arms and legs a bit as she looked at Trigger. She didn't think she'd done all that much for him other than her job as both a mechanic and a WSO. They've only really known each other for nearly three months so she didn't think all that much about their dynamic. What confused her the most was why her heart rate had increased so suddenly.
"Well... You were the first one to talk to me and believe I didn't do it. Not to mention all the help and the banter you've been providing me when we have to go in the air," he gave her an innocent smile. "Flying with you and meeting everyone you've pulled around you made this whole penal unit thing just a bit more bearable."
"Hah... You think so...?" Mere reached up and brushed some of her hair back behind her ear. Letting out a light breathy laugh she smiled at him. "Well... I haven't told anyone this yet but maybe this whole sherade will be coming to a close soon." Kicking her legs a bit, she leaned forward and lowered her voice. "Yesterday while working in Bandog's plane, I saw a printed message high command sent to our AWACS ordering him to take out the leak."
"So high command really was watching our operation... And Full Band put a big target on his back waving classified information right in their face..." Trigger rubbed his chin as he processed the new information.
"But, this also could be our ticket out of here. 444 might be recognized as a legitimate unit so our living conditions could be improved. And if it's recognized, then our status as prisoners will be voided. We could have a second chance at our lives," Mere reasoned.
"Yeah... but what happens then? I'm Air Force and you're Navy," Trigger suddenly brought up causing Mere to pause. He did bring up a valid point that if they do get recognized, there's a strong possibility that the 444th might also be dissolved. They are just a melting pot of convicts from all branches of the Osean military so it makes sense that they'd break the prisoners up and send them back to their respective branches filling voids the war has been making. Trigger would be sent off to who knows which front lines unit and she herself would be sent off to plug voids in a carrier wing.
"That I-"
"Oi, you two done fucking in here?" a voice suddenly called at the front of the hangar. looking towards it, Mere quickly hid the necklace she made in her shirt while the rhythmic steps of someone approached. Glancing under the Tomcat, she could make out the black boots of one of the guards confirming her own suspicions to the owner's voice.
"Sure you aren't self-projecting, Patterson?" Mere mused a bit as she hopped off the workbench and walked to meet him around the Cat's engines.
"Well you know me, going stir crazy having to stand in a desert sausage party with no town to relax in," Patterson chuckled a bit. "And I know you and the Scrap Queen are out of my league. Back to business, it's chow time," he frankly stated and as if on queue, the PA screeched to life announcing for all prisoners to fall into the chow hall.
"Already that time of day?" Trigger asked a bit as he pushed off the crate. "Time sure does fly nowadays..."
"Come on now, I don't got all day." Patterson spun around and started to walk out of the hangar before stopping and looking back at the two airmen. "I might be lax with you pilots but I still got a job to do and I can throw you two in solitary."
"You're too kind to do that," Trigger pushed off the Tomcat a bit while Patterson waved his arm.
"Shepards Pie today Trigger! I ain't waitin' more than I need to for that ambrosia!"
"Come on Trig," Mere patted Trigger's shoulder and followed after Patterson. "Before he snaps and just shoots us both."
"Right, right. Coming," he followed after Mere but lowered his voice. "You know, you could add a piece of pipe or something to spread those arrows apart. Make them both stand out more as two pieces."
"And when did you become a fashion designer?"
"Just my two cents," Trigger shrugged as she continued to walk with his WSO back to the cafeteria.
