Chapter Text
Chapter 16 – Thieves in the Night, pt.2
This was nothing like the Battle of Avalon, Asuna had quickly realised.
No, back in that battle, she could actually see what she was shooting at, and not just small glints in the night sky that could've been aircraft… or alternatively, they could have been stars. Or they could have been tracer rounds.
That was a distinct possibility, given she watched a pair of MIG-17s shoot each other down in the mistaken belief that each other were hostile…
"Flash Three, splash one!"
"This is worse than over Cor!" LLENN almost shouted. "At least we weren't blind then!"
"They keep coming!" Eydis shouted in frustration.
"The only saving grace is that they can't see us either." Fanatio reminded them, and for the first time, the older woman actually sounded stressed too...
"Asuna, this is Sinon. I'm Winchester now."
"Understood Sinon, return to base." Asuna told her. "We can hold the fort here."
"Eydis, splash one!" An explosion filled up the night sky below her, no doubt the hostile that Eydis had just splashed.
"Alice to Asuna, all bombs away!"
A set of explosions from the ground below told her that the low-level bombing of the base had clearly had some impact, even if it wasn't much in the tactical sense. Hopefully though, it would be enough to allow them to come up and reinforce them.
Honestly, right about now, they could absolutely do with Alice's brand of aggressive flying… and a miracle, but she wasn't about to pin her hopes on her for the latter.
"Liena to Asuna, out of Skyflashes. Coming to assist."
The battle had now been raging for five minutes at this point, and Asuna had come to a stark realisation – let alone fuel, they were all going to run out of weapons before too long!
She was already down to her guns, both Sidewinders having been let off at passing MIGs minutes ago, and given she only had 120 rounds combined, it was an exercise in trigger discipline to ensure she used those wisely too!
Given both Sinon and Liena were out of BVR weapons, it was a fair assumption that the Ronye and Tiese were on their last rounds, and in an extremely unusual event, even Pito hadn't said she'd fired for almost a minute…
"All aircraft, check in!" She called during a brief lull in the battle.
"LLENN, still here… barely."
"Pito, I'm out of weapons, but I'm not out yet!"
"Eydis, down to my guns."
"Fanatio, one Aphid left."
"Liena, I'm down to my last Sidewinder."
"Tiese, I'm… out, my guns are out too!"
A brief pause came through where Asuna would have expected Ronye to answer; the girl being quite strict at maintaining her radio discipline… "Ronye, come in?" She called, somewhat concerned by her lack of answer.
"I see her! She's hit, but she's in full afterburner!" Tiese called out. "Looks like a Phantom's chasing her!"
"All aircraft, move to-"
"Asuna, this is Eugeo. We're closest and we still have our Magics and guns, we'll move to cover her!" In the distance below, she watched as two bright lights climbed out into the night sky – probably the two Mirages.
"Understood, Eugeo. We'll do what we can up here. Tiese, break away and return to base."
"Okay." Despite her acknowledgement, Asuna could tell that she wasn't at all happy at that order – understandably so, in her opinion. She wouldn't have followed it if she were in the girl's position, but at best, all Tiese could do now was evade enemy fire and put herself at greater risk than she already was.
Asuna could only hope they could actually get there in time to help Ronye though. It had only been a day for them since they'd lost Koharu, and they'd all silently sworn "never again" after that…
/-/
Over St. Calippo, the group had already begun evasive maneuvers to evade the volley of AIM-7s being fired at them, and with the help of the countermeasures and electronic warfare, those evasive tactics had been surprisingly effective – not a single missile had so much as scratched them!
"Boss, those Phantoms are coming head-to-head with us."
"Got it Harry-" Without warning, Klein's radio burst into a screech of static and garbled voices. "What the hell?" He asked, trying to work out what just happened.
"Anyone, I need help!"
"Cap, that's Ronye, the hell's she doing over here?" The American said.
"I'd hazard a guess those Phantoms Asuna warned us about might have something to do with it, Sierra." Jet sighed, as if he knew exactly what was about to happen. "Solitaire Lead, we're staying to handle the SAMs. Idol, Solitaire Flight, fall back. Samurai, any help you can give us is appreciated."
Switching into leader mode, Klein took over. "Leave the fighters to us, Solitaire! Samurai Flight, no one goes down today, got it?" He ordered. They'd lost one friend this week, no chance was there going to be a second whilst they were on duty…
"We're on it, boss!"
"Looking forward to watching you lads work, Samurai. We'll give the buggers on the ground something to aim at! Ammo count?"
"Two ALARMs, 300 rounds in our cannons, two Lima Sidewinders. Really wishing we'd bought bombs, cap."
"Agreed… oh well, let's get to work then. Solitaire Two, tell us when you guys are clear."
"Try not to die, boys…" Kureha told them, and Klein didn't need to have been around the former naval pilots to know that she wasn't too happy at leaving her flight leader to fight alone.
As Solitaire fell quiet, Klein caught a glimpse of the silhouette of Ronye's Draken against the dark night sky, contrasted by the flames of the burning docks and command centre, with a pair of Phantoms a distance back, their silhouettes contrasted by their afterburners being on, and the intermittent firing of their guns.
Ronye was giving them a run for their money (and ammunition), but when you were able to pour out so many rounds of 20mm ammunition, it was inevitable a burst would score home eventually, and so it fell to them to get them off her before that happened.
Thankfully, they had a couple of tricks up their sleeves – Liz had modified both his Crusader and the Phantoms to use more advanced weaponry: the AIM-9L Sidewinder.
A development of the earlier Sidewinders they'd been using since the game began, the "Lima" as it was sometimes known, was an exceptionally capable missile with all-aspect capabilities that their earlier missiles lacked. Rather than being forced into a limited attack envelope from behind, the AIM-9L was able to lock onto a target from a much greater variety of angles, including head-on, or from the sides, giving them a far greater chance to actually hit something with a shot!
"I've got the leader. Harry, take the wingman."
"Got it boss!"
Working to get a lock, the Sidewinder growled into his headset as it picked up the signature of the Phantom, an indicator of a solid lock on the target and that he was in range for the shot. A press of the weapons release, and the Sidewinder shot away into the blackened abyss around them, the motor lighting up the sky as it tore towards the Phantom… and missed completely.
"All-aspect my ass! It just flew straight by him!" He swore angrily into his radio, not aiming at anyone in particular.
"You sure it was growling, and not just firing up the seeker, Klein?" Sierra asked. "Solitaire One, Magnum."
"Gimme a break! They sound similar?!"
"Yeah, kind of."
"Good to know…" Klein worked again to get a Sidewinder lock on the lead Phantom, but by this point, the pilot – evidently not so stupid as to miss the smoke trail behind him – had thrown the F-4 into evasive measures.
Technically, they'd achieved what they were aiming to, which was to break the Phantoms off of Ronye's tail, but he'd be damned if he was going to let Silber Team go! These guys were the aces of aces in the Belkan Air Force, and right now, he had one of them in his sights!
"Thanks! They're breaking off, but my engine's running slow, sirs."
"Flash Four, this is Solitaire Lead. Turn to heading 310, I'll get the rest of our flight to cover you." Jet told her, and in the distance, Klein saw a missile battery explode into oblivion, no doubt hit by an ALARM.
"Missile battery down. Kureha, can you hear us?"
"Loud and Clear, Sierra. What's up?"
"Ronye's heading back your way with engine difficulties. Can you wait for her to catch up over the Bay and escort her back?"
"Gotcha."
"Solitaire Lead, Flash Lead. Your stray lamb is safe, my flight is escorting her back to Canaveral."
"Oh thank you lord. Flash Lead to all aircraft, she's safe."
"Call him God, and he will get an ego…" Sierra grumbled. "Cap, we've got a problem – more fighters, plenty more of them!"
"Yeah, sorry about that Lover-boy, we might be fighting an entire squadron over here, and-" The call fell short mid-sentence, never a good sign, Klein knew that much, and the fact it was replaced by frantic garbles was an even poorer sign…
"Liena, Eydis is hit, but she's still flying. Asuna, we need to leave… now! Pito, LLENN, Ronye and Tiese are are already out of the fight, and we're all nearly out of ammunition."
"Alice here, we're over the docks still, we can head back towards-"
"We need to secure a way out, or we all die trying." Fanatio told her bluntly.
"Boss, when we did the briefing, there's a GCI centre near the town, that would leave them blinded for a bit, shouldn't it?"
"Worth a shot." Klein agreed. "That radar signature should be massive, shouldn't it?"
"I see it on my ECM gear. Cap, reckon you can get us close enough to give it a really bad time?"
"Samurai, we're handling the GCI. Can you keep the fighters off us?" Jet asked.
"We're on it." Klein responded.
Klein looked around outside for the incoming fighters – a flight of four MIG-17s hugging the deck, whilst another pair had a pair of Sabres in close pursuit of them. "Looks like Ran and Yuuki are over here too, watch your fire!"
"Understood Boss, we'll make sure we only blow up the bad guys."
"I'll deal with those MIGs on the deck." In a turning fight, the F-8 was somewhat inferior to the MIG-17, but Klein wasn't planning to let it get to a turning fight, rather being more of a run-and-gun attack pattern that he was planning.
"Klein, Fox Two."
The first MIG must have caught a brief glance of the ocean blue Crusader in the night sky, but not quite enough to evade the Sidewinder he had fired head on at the aging fighter. The direct hit from the continuous-rod warhead reduced the Fresco to a fireball in the night sky, and burning shrapnel as it fell into the waters below…
"Klein to Ran, Yuuki. I'm coming in head on with the MIGs… Yuuki, you have a Phantom behind you!"
"These guys don't give up, do they!?"
"Nor do we though, sis!" In the night sky, he barely caught a glimmer of the Sabre's NMF airframe breaking against the moonlight, as the Phantom attempted to turn with it.
Big mistake, he knew – the Sabre was agile in its day, and could easily outmaneuver the newer Crusader and Phantom, even though it was much slower than either. What Yuuki had done with that advantage was to give him a big target to shoot at.
Frantically readying a Sidewinder, the missile growled in his headset – this time having actually locked onto something, rather than warming up – and he fired the heat seeker. "Fox Two!"
The missile dropped away from the cheek pylon and raced into the night sky at around Mach 3, before it found its prey. The proximity seeking continuous-rod warhead soon found its mark, blasting itself and the Phantom apart when it reached a set distance from the target. The Phantom it hit didn't stand a chance – the left wing being blown apart, whilst its tail looked as if it had been partially ripped off the airframe as it entered a very short spiral into the ground…
"Samurai Lead, one Silver down!" Klein shouted, almost in jubilation at the victory – he had downed a Silver! One of the enemy aces, and he'd managed to shoot the guy down without a scratch!
"Silber Two, respond!" One of the Belkans shouted in distress. "The blue F-8, he downed Ulrich…"
"Ugh, damn it, these guys are better than I thought…"
"Sorry boys, you'll have to try a bit harder than that!"
"Silber Lead, leave the Crusader to me. Three, Four… kill that bloody Sabre."
"Ran, Yuuki, looks like you're about to have company…"
"Let's show them what we think of them, shall we, Yuuki?" As the sisters finished their conversation, Klein got a glimpse of something – the first Phantom launching a Sparrow, no doubt at the girls. Unlike his Crusader – or most of their aircraft, come to think of it – the older Sabre lacked any kind of Radar Warning Receiver, and in its base model, it lacked any form of missile warning whatsoever, meaning the pilot had to be very switched on, and able to spot the missile trail, a difficult task in broad daylight, let alone in the dead of night!
"Ran, Yuuki, you've got Sparrows incoming!" He called, and the two Sabres broke off into the night sky.
"So, you must be one of the Osean hot-shots…" The voice of their flight leader came through on their frequency.
"Get off our frequency, asshole!" Klein shouted into his radio set, receiving only tutting in response initially, which morphed into an amused laughter, as if to taunt them.
Eventually though, the Silver Leader's actual response came through. "So uncouth. I will have to close that mouth of yours, there are ladies present after all…"
"Hey, you aren't the only one with a new toy!" Klein heard Sierra shout, as a screech came through his radio set. "You're gonna close our mouths? Well guess what, we've just closed your eyes!"
What the hell even was that? Some kind of radio jamming, no, it couldn't be that, the radios still worked… wait, there weren't that many blips before, were there?
Oh…
Evidently annoyed by the radar spoofing, the Silber Leader came back on the frequency. "Hmm, you are more resourceful than I was led to believe… never fear, Silber comes out on top!"
"Funny, I always thought silver came second… " Sierra quipped. "And I only see two sides here… so live up to your names already!"
"Silber Three, gah, what are these Sabres!" One of the Silvers called out, his Phantom hit by tracer fire from Ran's Sabre.
"Do you know what outranks Silver? Gold! Now die like dogs!" Alice shouted out, almost as if she was thinking she was in some kind of mecha anime… "Alice, Fox Two!"
"Solitaire, their GCI's offline, ALARMs struck home."
"Four, destroy that Tornado."
"Err Cap…"
"Yeah, I heard." Jet sighed. "All aircraft. We're falling back to the west. Give him a run for his money, I think…"
With the Tornado running out to the west, one of the Phantoms had taken off after him, with Alice in initially close pursuit, leaving just two of the Silber aircraft in the fight – their leader, and their number three.
Whilst Ran and Yuuki taught the number three a valuable lesson about underestimating a foe – his Phantom becoming more a high-speed colander, as the girls raked the Phantom with tracer fire – that just left their flight leader, who wasn't so foolish… even if he was extremely arrogant.
"Boss, we've gotta go soon!" Dale told him, in no uncertain terms, and it was something he recognised himself. The Crusader was no long-range fighter, and unlike the others, it had no way to carry payload and drop tanks, meaning he was reliant on internal fuel only; a fuel supply that was getting steadily closer to the red with every twist and turn he made to evade the attacking Phantom.
"Yeah, I figured. Just need two more minutes to smoke this guy!"
It was an optimistic assessment of the situation, Klein thought. The Silber leader was good – really good, in fact – but he was better, and he would prove why he was leader of Fuurinkazen! Throwing the Crusader into a spiralling dive, he kept his head on a swivel, watching out for any sudden moves the Phantom could make, before yanking the Crusader back to level flight over the burning docks… and a wall of anti-aircraft fire that could see them both lit up like candles in the night sky…
"Shit!" He shouted into his mask, as a shell burst in the air not far from the Crusader. "Too close…"
"Let this be your grave-" The Silber leader was interrupted as his Phantom burst into flames, a direct hit from an AA shell, no doubt. Now lit up further, Klein threw the Crusader's throttle wide open, and the afterburner on his J57 roared to life, both burning through the precious little fuel left, and making him an even more obvious target…
"It ain't gonna be mine, buddy. But it might be yours…" He answered, leaving what felt like a net of fire behind, and throttling back to a more manageable power setting for the flight home. "Samurai Lead, Silber Leader is down."
"Brilliant timing, the third Silver is down too."
"What about the one chasing you guys?" He asked Jet and Sierra.
"Oh, he is sleeping with the fish now." Alice answered, before clarifying what had happened. "He crashed."
"Does that mean we get a manuevering kill?" Sierra asked, and he could imagine the grin on the American's face.
"Don't you dare- I put as much effort into getting him to that position as you did!"
"Whatever you say, princess." He could just imagine the American rolling his eyes at that comment.
"What did you just call me!?" Unsurprisingly, Alice took it about as well as could be expected – if by "expected", he meant "was livid" at the statement anyway.
"Alice, calm down, he didn't-" Eugeo tried to calm her down, but wasn't having much luck on that front…
"Aa-and I think the mute button is handy there." Klein joked, before radioing through to his flight. "Everyone still here?"
"We're all still here boss." Issin answered. "Barely though. Those MIGs put up a hell of a fight."
"Kunimittz says they hit the fleet and are heading back now. We'll be about twenty minutes behind them, I reckon."
"I'll be glad to get some rest. I'm exhausted."
"Join the club, Harry. I've been up the past 24 hours now…" Sierra, now unmuted, answered.
"Element Bravo to Element Charlie. How are you guys doing?"
"Completely out of weapons, but we're mostly fine. Eydis reckons she'll have to crash land, her gear's broken, and Wind Fleuret is handling strangely, but we'll make it back. How about you?"
"We're fine for now. Doubt Sierra will be when he gets out the cockpit, but that's a future problem." Jet remarked, and he could just here Sierra moaning about loyalty and being thrown into the jaws of a dragon…
"Can't say I'm too surprised he annoyed someone else." Asuna admitted, and he could just hear Alice snort in agreement over the frequency…
Still, the radio chatter was better than fighting off insurmountable odds…
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The flight back to Canaveral had been a lot shorter on the way back – not having to avoid being detected allowed them to take a slightly more direct way back, cutting the flight time down significantly.
That hadn't meant they were out of the woods yet though, Eydis knew that much. For the rest of them, there was still a chance that they would have to deal with any remnants of the Belkan Naval fighters that had escorted their carrier; for her, though, it meant she would have to land a crippled Mirage in the dark.
"Alice, you there?"
"Receiving you Eydis. Is something the matter?"
"Any ideas on how to land this thing? No gear, and my throttle's shot through. Stuck at half power since I left the combat zone, and the power's steadily decreasing. I really don't wanna find out how well this thing glides…"
"Will you make it back to Canaveral?" Alice asked.
"Not sure, but I'll make it back to land." She was sure on that much – land was only five minutes away for her, but Canaveral was anywhere between 10 and 15 minutes away at full speed. Her engine might hold for ten minutes, but no way would it make fifteen…
"If your engine fails, eject, please…"
"Yeah, will do." She tuned the radio to Jet's frequency. "Hey."
"You took a hit back there, you okay?" He asked.
"Been better. I've got no throttle, no landing gear, and an engine that's steadily breaking up."
"Eydis…" Jet sighed. "How far from land are you?"
"About five minutes."
"Reckon you'll make it?" He asked nervously.
"Yeah. I already told Alice I'll eject when I'm certain I'm over land."
"Sierra, what's our fuel state?" Jet asked, and although she couldn't hear the conversation clearly, she could roughly imagine what was being said. "Okay, we've got about 45 minutes left in the tank, so we'll stay on station to keep you safe till rescue gets here."
"Jet, I'm over friendly territory."
"That's what I've been trying to tell him!" Sierra shouted; his voice picked up through his pilot's mic… "This isn't like last time, we'll just get in the way if stay around."
There was a brief pause, before Jet came back over the frequency. "Alright." Despite his agreement, she could tell he wasn't happy about the idea. There was an almost quiet seething to his voice, and despite understanding why he was being protective – he had seen what had happened to Koharu only a day earlier, after all – he wanted to reach him through the radio and give him a shake, to tell him his job was to be Captain of his squad, not to keep a close tab on her…
That was fine on the ground, and honestly quite nice, but in the air? It just felt a little smothering…
"Umm, Cap, we have a problem?" Sierra broke the silence, by now broadcasting on an open channel to all aircraft in the formation.
"Well, looks like we may be joining you in chutes sooner rather than later, Eydis…"
"Err, not that kind. We've got fighters closing in from the north-west." Sierra explained.
"Osean?"
"Almost certainly." Sierra answered. "They're moving like bats outta hell though…"
"Osean aircraft, this is Captain Diavel. Change course to land at Canaveral, or you will be fired upon."
There was a degree of shock from everyone at that message – why would they be considered hostile anyway, unless…
"Oh shit…" Jet sighed into his mic, already on the same page as her. "Did we actually tell anyone we were going to do this?"
"I thought the commander had done that." Asuna answered awkwardly. "I'm guessing he didn't."
"I will be having words with him when we land, Captain Yuuki, and I imagine they shall be rather stern…" Fanatio seemed more fed up by this unscheduled interception, rather than actually taking it seriously...
The question of what would happen to them when they landed soon became a distant thought for her though, as the ATAR behind her began to splutter more violently than before. "Eydis to escorting aircraft, my engine's failed and I'm ejecting."
"Understood – we'll keep a safe distance, and deal with the aircraft before it hits anything." She sighed, knowing that meant her Mirage was going to be reduced to nothing more than metal confetti once she was out of the way of it.
Lisbeth was going to kill her, considering how much work she had put into it…
Still, she'd rather be killed by the vengeful mechanic than she would her ejection seat as Koharu had. "Well, here goes…" She told herself, as she pulled the handles above her head. The briefest of moments passed, before she felt herself launched upwards with a scream that she was thankful that no one would ever hear, and found herself tumbling through the air…
Thankfully, that tumbling soon ceased, replaced by dangling under a white canopy, with a view of the night sky that many would've killed to see. Honestly, she would have found it amazing too, had it not been for the circumstances she had encountered to get her to this position…
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Had any of them been expecting a hero's welcome upon their return to Canaveral, they were sorely mistaken.
In fact, a number of them – the Rectans, Kirito had noticed – had been escorted away at gunpoint, whilst the others were marched, though without the M16s pointed at their backs, to Diavel's office, and the man did not seem pleased.
Not one bit.
"Okay, so does anyone want to explain why I get a phone call at 2am saying that a group of my fighters are currently bombing a neutral country?! Anyone?"
Most of them looked at one another as if to see who was going to go first, despite knowing that none of them wanted to go first. In the end though, and after a large number of looks exchanged, Alice had decided she would volunteer as spokeswoman for this whole fiasco…
"We decided to take the initiative and stop the Belkan fleet before it could be repaired."
"Bullshit, and you know it, Alice." Kirito hadn't really seen Diavel act in any way that ran counter to the slightly stuck up, but well-meaning commander role he'd always felt natural in, before now… and if he was honest, he'd rather not see it again. "You went after the Belkans because they killed Koharu…" The way that he said that gave him a slight feeling that Diavel was now wondering whether he'd have done something similar had one of his flight died… "and truthfully, I don't blame you for that. I would have been furious in that mess too. But that doesn't give you the right to go off and commit a terror bombing on a civilian dockyard… let alone one in a neutral country!"
He winced at that one. Whilst his flight had engaged the Belkan fleet out at sea with anti-shipping weapons, and Asuna's flight had harassed the fighters that came up to challenge them… the third flight had destroyed the docks, and although they'd said they had faced fierce resistance… they had also managed to destroy a vast majority of the civilian infrastructure too.
"With all due respect, sir, we had intel that they planned to repair the fleet there, and so, we disabled it." The sarcasm in the Brit's voice was almost thick enough to cut with a butter knife…
"Something that we also knew and that we were working on a plan to handle the risk posed by the docks… or we were, until some rogue pilots went and caused a diplomatic incident! About the only redeeming thing from that mess is that you did such a thorough job on the docks that it is unlikely that they will be repaired for the remainder of the year, and by attacking at night, the civilian casualties have been in the low single digits." Diavel sighed and rubbed his hand against the bridge of his nose. "Look, privately, I'm glad those docks are out of commission. Any attack that the others wanted would've been in broad daylight, and lord knows how many people would've died on both sides if we'd done that. Not least that we now know they had long-range SAMs positioned nearby, and an ace squadron alongside those… but you all know that I can't just let you go with a slap on the wrist for this, as much as I want to."
He hated that Diavel had a point there, and if he was honest, he felt like a bit of hypocrite for their actions – back when Flight 668 had been shot down, he had quite forcefully told Koharu that they were fighter pilots, not vigilantes, and they couldn't just go and bomb somewhere out of a sense of morality, no matter how much they deserved it…
Something he had very much ignored since she had died. He had been so infuriated by what had happened over the Bay that he had completely ignored his own words, and chose to go and do exactly what he had told her they were not to do…
"With some luck, the effects of your airstrike will have persuaded the commanders that we cannot just keep on the defensive, and that Belka do pose significant offensive capabilities too. If that is the case, I should be able to adjust the paperwork to say I authorised it… retroactively, of course."
Despite the positive sound of what Diavel was saying, no one seemed too enthused by the idea. It was corruption, and it was fraud, two things none of them were particularly sold on the idea of, but if it kept them flying… they would go along with it, even if it was only begrudgingly.
"Until then though, I'm taking you all off active flight duty, and assigning you to base duty. The only flying you will be doing is training exercises as and when approved by me personally. Is that understood?"
A smattering of agreement came from the group, and they found themselves dismissed into the cold air outside Diavel's hut.
"I mean, it could've been worse?" Sierra half-heartedly answered, to a set of glares from almost everyone gathered…
"Sierra, with all due respect… shut up." Kureha seemed just as annoyed at him for that one as everyone else but was the only one to vocalise what they were thinking. "We're all grounded, our friends might be being shot, and we're now accomplices to a crime that might put people away for ten to twenty years. About the only way it could've been worse if we were in the same position… and honestly, I'd rather we were!"
"I am with Kureha on that one. It hardly seems fair that we should punished more leniently for instigating such a mission, whilst our friends potentially take the fall for us!"
Kirito thought about it briefly, and suddenly a few things clicked into place in his mind. Briefly, he looked over at Eugeo, who seemed to have had the same realisation as him… "He's not going to do what I think he is… is he?"
"Err, that is what exactly?"
"The Rectans are a useful scapegoat. Diavel views us all as useful assets, but the Rectans as more disposable." Itsuki explained, a cold detachment in his voice. "A rather shrewd decision, if somewhat morally reprehensible."
"It's leadership politics, Itsuki. Morally reprehensible's the default." Jet answered with a shrug. "But if he thinks he's going to get away with that… he really does have another thing coming."
"Kirito, I know there's every chance that will just ground us permanently, but…" Asuna seemed to be just as fired up, though he could tell she was trying to work out a way to outmaneuver Diavel in her head. To play the same game of cards as Diavel was, but to make sure their hand was loaded in such a way as to counter any move he could make… "They put their lives on the line for us. I think this is the least we could do to repay them…"
"For once, I agree with Asuna. To hell with being played as pawns in some game of chess!" Alice was also pretty worked up; it didn't take a genius to figure that one out. "If he wishes to play games with our lives, then we shall prove we are just as capable at playing games as he is!"
Too worked up, in fact; she was kind of terrifying them all.
"Alice, I, uhh, think you might need to calm down a bit." Eugeo did his best to calm Alice's rage, and thankfully, it did seem to calm her down a little bit. Enough that she was now seething, rather than openly livid, but it was better than nothing… "But she's right though. I'm through being used as a pawn in these games."
"I think we should pay Diavel another visit then, now we are all in agreement…" Asuna stated, to everyone's agreement…
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It had only taken an hour of negotiations between Asuna, Argo and Diavel to get a deal that the whole group had found fair – well, everyone but Diavel, but they weren't counting his opinion in this anyway – and the deal had been formulated in such a way that they had wanted what they had gotten… and gotten what they had wanted. The Rectans would not be scapegoated for their… expedition, and Diavel would be allowed to ground them, and not commit further fraud – Asuna had explained that the captain seemed as if he already had done so, and that the negotiations had only further reinforced that opinion – to keep them on active duty.
The fact Asuna had been that competent at this, whilst sleep deprived at 4am after an exhausting battle in the sky above Sapin, should probably have terrified him, but instead he found himself almost in awe at his wing-woman's ability to play "the game", as Bercouli had put it when they visited the Rectans to tell them they were free…
It had almost been soon enough that Eydis had only just returned to the base and found herself incarcerated for what may have been the shortest sentence in history – about fifteen minutes, all in all!
Still though, that morning had been plenty exciting, and they had all, probably sensibly, decided to catch up on sleep lost in the past day, which is where he found himself – in bed, trying to sleep at 5am, as the sun rose above Canaveral.
Despite Sugu's jokes at home, he wasn't nocturnal, and trying to sleep as the sun beamed in through his windows was more difficult than any air battle he had ever faced. He had spent the past hour tossing and turning, as well as deciding that the first thing he was doing tomorrow – err, today even – was putting up blackout curtains so this wouldn't be a problem, and that was what he was doing when he heard a knock on the door.
Probably Eugeo, he thought to himself, before looking over at his friend's bed… and seeing him very much fast asleep in said bed. Okay, so it definitely wasn't Eugeo then…
Opening the door, he was a little shocked to see Asuna stood there, looking less than pleased at something. "Umm, hi?"
"Can I sleep here? Argo's snoring, and I can't find anywhere else to sleep…"
"I'll take the sofa…" He said, resigning himself to sleeping on the sofa that the two boys kept over the side of the room. At least the sunlight wouldn't be in his eyes, he supposed…
"Thank you!" Asuna smiled at him, and he wasn't sure why, but he felt that crack on the ceiling looked remarkably interesting all of a sudden…
As he plopped himself down on the sofa, he noticed Asuna turning to face him from the bed. "I'm sorry for all of this, Kirito…"
"Eh, don't be. I know how loudly Argo snores." He replied flippantly.
"Heh, no, I meant all of this. Dragging everyone into a mess I created. If I'd never spoke up, we'd not be in this mess…"
"One of us would've done something before too long, Asuna. If anything, I'm just glad you're on our side… else we'd have been really screwed when we landed!"
"I hate that I know how to play those kinds of… games." Asuna spoke with a degree of venom that he'd never really heard from her before. "It's just… I played this to get away from all of that."
"I know what you mean. I can't say I'm happy about it either. I'd rather it be as simple as shooting down bad guys, but I don't think we're going to get that luxury."
"Chance would be a fine thing, wouldn't it?" Asuna laughed with a bitter tone. "Still, we'll have plenty of time to think about it, won't we?"
"Yay…" He responded with absolute sarcasm. "Hey, Asuna, I've got a question for you?"
"Yes?" She answered.
"You know Argo's been betting on our love lives, right?" Normally, he'd have felt at least a little guilty throwing Argo under the bus like that, but in this case… the Rat deserved it.
"She's been what?!"
The shriek that Asuna let out was one that, had it been harnessed in the form of a weapon, could probably have destroyed glass at up to fifty paces, as well as waking up sleeping bunkmates…
/-/
There was a tired old cliché that spies only ever met their counterparts in busy parks, usually in the middle of whatever city they had infiltrated.
That simply wasn't true, Gabriel knew – many of them never met at all. In fact, he viewed it as a source of embarrassment if a spy had to meet their opposite number, as it was a sign that something had gone horribly wrong, and that a catastrophe was imminent…
Meeting one's subordinates, however, was a different matter. In his case, those two subordinates were two trainees of the Osean Air Force's 23rd Fighter Squadron; a boy and a girl in their mid-teens who had told someone how they were fed up of how certain elements of the squadron were glorified as heroes, whilst the others were forgotten…
Their reasons for betrayal weren't financial, nor were they motivated by power… they were purely their ego driven narcissism. A truly petty reason for selling out their supposed allied, and had he been on their side, he would've ensured that such treachery was "rewarded" with the fate they truly deserved.
Fortunately for their continued existence though, their ego trip was very useful for their cause, and so, he would let them live for as long as they continued to prove useful. After that, however, well…
They were assets, and nothing more. If they believed they were anything else, then they were sorely mistaken…
"Mr Miller?" The boy asked somewhat nervously. Had the boy been any paler, he would've suggested that the boy was a vampire, such an unhealthy shade of white was his skin…
"You must be our allies in the air force, I presume." He answered, thoroughly unimpressed by either of them on first impression. The boy came across as meek, and unwilling to stick to his guns should things go wrong, whilst the girl came across as arrogant and exactly what he would have expected from them, knowing what he knew…
The girl was first to respond, and she did so with a tone of undeserved arrogance. "Yes. We did as you asked and sabotaged their aircraft." He felt a mild twinge of frustration as she answered. He had not asked them to sabotage planes, he had asked them to disrupt flight operations, and gave a passive grunt.
"I did ask you to reduce their operational capacity, but I suppose such an order was too difficult for you two." Throughout his life, he had discovered that people did not take kindly to being called idiots or incompetent – even when they were being so – but telling them that they were so whilst wording it in such a way as to be rather unclear helped greatly.
"We'll do what we can, sir."
"No. You will keep yourselves hidden and await further instructions. Am I clear?"
"But we can-"
"Stay hidden. That is your only instruction. Anything else will be treated as disobeying a direct order, and I assure you, you do not want to find out what happens to those who disobey the Administration."
The boy, evidently using the shared brain cell at that moment, visibly gulped at the threat. The girl, on the other hand, seemed far too confident in her very, very limited abilities, and far too willing to put them to the test… "Understood, sir." She said, with a clear tone of sarcasm to her voice.
He cared not for her sarcasm, not as long as those two narcissistic idiots proved useful, anyway…