Next, a long bass sound wobbles through the room, hard enough that I feel it in my bones. The other instruments come in on the dance track and I find myself getting more and more into it. Hitomi eggs me on, shaking and twirling to the beat.
You know what? Screw it. I let myself get taken over by the music, dancing with my entire body. The music almost seems to move my limbs for me. Any semblance of discomfort with the volume of people in the room is long gone. It’s just me and the music.
At some point, Saika happens upon us on the floor. She, too, looks like she’s had quite a lot to drink tonight. Her hair, at one point curly, has straightened out and sweat glistens on her face from the heat and exertion. I watch her and Hitomi dance with each other in front of me, showing off their skills for a while.
The music changes up again and deep, sensual bass beats out of the club’s massive speakers. The two girls stop for a moment and look at one another. Next thing I know, one of them is on each side of me. They dance their way closer and closer until I’m literally sandwiched between them. Posteriors gyrate everywhere as the two make me the center of a three-way dance.
Saika grinds up on my back and Hitomi throws her arms around my neck, hips swaying and dipping to the rhythm. I put my hands on Hitomi’s hips and just rock with the music, enjoying the moment. I thank my lucky stars for being fortunate enough to enjoy an intimate dance with not one, but two beautiful women. I’ll have to mark today off as ‘awesome’ when I’m sober enough to write in a straight line.
I would like to say that I remember the rest of my night with the utmost clarity, but I’d be lying. Most of it passes in a blur of sound and motion, with a few more drinks thrown in to sweeten the deal. At some point, Smith joins the party and Saika reluctantly detaches herself from the three-headed blob that’s formed between her, Hitomi, and me to give him some love.
The next thing I know, it’s who-knows-when in the morning and the club starts closing for the night. Our group of drunken partyers stumbles out the front door of the establishment and manages to find the SUV we arrived in at the edge of the parking lot.
“Alright, executive decision time,” I tell the others, talking slowly as I concentrate through my inebriation. “None of us is in any condition to drive right now, so looks like we’re gonna sleep in the car.”
“That’s… probably for the best,” Kat says, her sentence interrupted by some odd hiccup-yawn hybrid.
“Glad we’re all on board. I call back seat, though,” I tell them. “I don’t feel like sleeping with the steering wheel on my knees.”
“Dibs!” Hitomi and Saika exclaim simultaneously.
They look at each other and laugh. I’ve already opened the rear door of the vehicle and started climbing inside. It seems as if they came to some sort of compromise, though. The door on the other side opens and Saika climbs in as Hitomi climbs in behind me. All four doors of the SUV close nearly at the same time and both girls lean over, resting their heads on my shoulders. I move my arms to make things more comfortable for everyone involved and rest my hands on their hips. Within minutes, I’ve fallen fast asleep, cradling two gorgeous drunk girls in my own drunken arms.
Chapter 11
Captain Hitomi Saruyama
December 3, 2112, 18:13
Waves splash up against the rocks on the shoreline as I walk along the top of a section of rock overhanging the water. A spray of water occasionally washes over my feet, but I don’t mind it. I’m actually kind of welcoming of the occurrence. It calms me a little bit, and that’s definitely something I feel like I need right now.
We landed from a mission maybe half an hour ago and I decided to take a walk for a bit to decompress. The operation itself wasn’t particularly difficult, but it wound up being a lot more than it was supposed to be. There was bad intel everywhere and we wound up fighting easily four times as many hostiles as we’d originally planned for. Several times I almost got blown out of the sky by the ‘next new surprise.’
You know, I think I may have to retire after this war. I haven’t had time to do anything with my hair lately and the highlights have started to get dimmer as the long months go on. I’ve even found a few gray hairs on occasion. Granted, some of those were a little on the short side so they may have been Rion’s.
“Captain Hitomi!”
That can only be one person addressing me that way. I told her to call me by my first name and she’s been doing so, but usually following ‘captain.’
“Yes, Akane?”
“Can I talk to you for a moment? I’ve been meaning to do so, but I haven’t been able to find an opportunity to catch you when you’re by yourself and not busy.”
“Sure, what’s going on?” I ask as she jogs up to walk beside me.
“I wasn’t sure if I should even bring it up and I may be overstepping my boundaries in doing so. Even still, it’s kept bothering me, so I think I should talk to you about it.”
Now she’s got me worried. Is there some tension going on within the squad that I haven’t noticed? I doubt it. Rion likely would have noticed if there was and probably would have told me.
“Is everything alright?” I ask.
“Well, ma’am, I’m a little bit concerned about the relationship between you and Colonel Takashi. I know you two have been friends for a long time and you used to live close to each other back home. Lately, however, it seems like the two of you are being more than just friendly with one another. I’m worried that it may begin to jeopardize the cohesion of the squad and that one of you may choose the other’s safety over the success of the mission one day.”
I wait for a few moments to be sure she’s finished. If I’m being completely honest, I’m a little bit insulted that she thinks we would do something like that. With as much as we’ve been through, I think Rion and I know better. I think we’ve made that choice a number of times already, actually.
On the other hand, I do understand how things may look to anyone else. We kind of casually flirt with each other around almost anyone these days. I get how people in that kind of relationship may drop the ball in some situations. Most of the squad probably trusts us not to because they’ve been with us since the beginning and have seen everything that’s happened. Plus, if she’s gotten up the courage to confront me about it, it’s obvious that she feels strongly about it. I take a deep breath and stop walking, turning to face her.
“Alright, I understand your concerns. But, Rion and I have been through a whole lot in our time on duty and, honestly, even before we came here. On more than one occasion, one of us was in immediate danger and the other didn’t let that affect whatever objective we were pursuing at the time.
“Remember that train accident last year? I almost died in it. Rion was with me and, after I collapsed on the ground half dead, he managed to keep going to help the other trapped passengers. No matter how much he didn’t want to leave my side, he knew those people needed him more. That said, I know you’re probably still worried about things. I’ll make sure we’re both being extra careful not to make any mistakes.”
“Thank you, Captain Hitomi.”
As I watch her walk away, I sigh a little to myself. I didn’t really expect something like this to come up. Really, I do doubt that Rion and I would make such a mistake, but we are human, so I guess it is possible. Guess I’ll give that one some thought later.
I stretch a little bit and resume my seaside stroll, admittedly a little more stressed than a few minutes ago. Gotta love unexpected surprises, right? The water splashing me occasionally doesn’t quite give me the same calming effect, but the crashing of the waves still has a sort of gentle lull to it.
The ocean breeze picks up a little, bringing a fresh burst of sea salt-scented air with it. A crescent moon peeks from behind a light cloud cover. I turn my face skyward and let my senses take in the scene around me.
“Hey, Hitomi!”
Well, aren’t I popular tonight? I reluctantly return my attention back to the ground and see Saika
walking up to meet me. She reaches me, and it becomes apparent that she’s just gotten out of the shower. Her hair is still wet and smells of shampoo.
“Yo, what’s up?”
“Nothing much, just another day in the air force.” She laughs. “Mind if we chat for a bit?”
“Sure, why not,” I reply, trying not to let my sour mood insult her.
“How was the mission today?”
“Ugh. Stressful. Nothing went as planned, as per the usual. I guess there’s no room to complain since we all made it home safe, though.”
“And just think, today was supposed to be a ‘straightforward’ operation. If this is their idea of that, I would hate to find out what their ‘difficult’ is.”
“I think that would be, you know, every other mission for us,” I reply, laughing. “I’m pretty sure they intentionally give us all the hard work.”
“For sure. How are you feeling?”
“Stressed out. I need a vacation. Or two. Retirement would be nice. Maybe a beach house and a few million dollars for flavor.”
She laughs. “Yeah, that would be nice, wouldn’t it? Maybe write a bestselling book about the chronicles of a crazy band of pilots.”
“You know, that might actually sell millions. What’s been up with you lately? We haven’t been able to hang out much since we’ve been running different missions.”
“Oh, just trying to keep my head in the game. Been doing a lot of thinking, though. That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about, to be honest. Feel like hearing me out for a bit?”
“There’s no way I’d turn down listening to one of my best friends. Go for it.”
“Okay, okay. Totally not prepared for this, but here goes. I’ve been thinking really hard to myself the last few months trying to figure out exactly what’s going on in my head. At one point, I was even fighting against myself to avoid the realization, but it stuck around. Slowly, but surely, I’ve started to develop feelings for Rion. I tried so hard to ignore it because I know how close you two are, but I just couldn’t. There’s just something about him that draws me in.”
“He has that effect on women,” I agree.
“I wanted to tell you first, so you didn’t find out later and think I was trying to get close to him behind your back. I don’t know what to do because I don’t want things to become awkward between us.”
“It’s okay. It’s not like Rion and I are dating or anything.”
“But aren’t you…”
I step forward and wrap her in an embrace. “Saika, it’s okay. I think… I think I’ve moved past that kind of jealousy.” I release my hold on her and take a step back. “But that doesn’t mean I’m giving Rion to you. I recognize your feelings for him as another woman and I’m not going to use my relationship with him to run you away. Rion’s a big boy and he can decide for himself. I won’t lose to you on this one, though.”
“Hitomi, you… You’re amazing. Have I told you that?”
“You know, I don’t think you have. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside,” I say, throwing an arm around her and strolling off. “Plus, now I have someone to talk to about how cute Rion is. I don’t see much of a downside here.”
“That might actually be pretty interesting.”
“Right? If anything, I can see the two of us getting even closer from now on. We have a lot we can talk about.”
She smiles and puts an arm around my waist as the two of us walk along the beach, the picture of friendship. It seems like everything tonight has been about Rion. Honestly, though, the conversation with Saika seems to somehow have calmed me. I know it’s weird but… eh. I guess I’m a little proud that I handled it better than the last time I found out someone had feelings for him.
As the waves continue to crash on the rocks, we continue to stroll off. We decide that we’ve gotten hungry and head off toward the cafeteria to grab a bite to eat.
Chapter 12
Lt. Col. Orion Tachibana
December 24, 2112, 21:13
A missile whizzes past my head as threat warning alarms scream in my ear. My plane rolls over its own center of gravity once more as I execute another maneuver to break an enemy’s line of sight on me and get behind them. Around me, a small group of enemy planes engages my own fighters. Wouldn’t you know that fighting these enemies isn’t even our objective right now?
Another enemy bursts through a patch of cloud cover above me as I chase down his comrade. Cannon fire fills the space between us as I roll sideways to avoid the volley. He blows past me at high speed and one of the pilots on my side chases after him.
An explosion blooms a few hundred feet away as a plane is destroyed. Flaming shrapnel sprays out from the source, shredding into anything in its path—namely the enemy plane that happens to be flying past just beneath. The engine on the affected plane sputters out as the shrapnel turns its armor into cheese of the Swiss variety. I watch the holes begin to shrink as the repair system mitigates the damage. The plane itself will probably be fine, but that engine isn’t coming back.
The hostile in front of me keeps trying to escape, but I put an end to his struggle with a well-aimed volley of shots. His plane drops out of the fight, no longer a threat. Shots continue to fly around me as the fighting continues. My fellow pilots are enthralled in a ballet with the enemies. I find another target and latch onto him.
A short while later, all the enemies have been mopped up. I breathe out a sigh and wait for the next thing to go wrong. My ammo count is still well-off enough that I can finish the mission, but nowhere near where I’d prefer it to be.
“Continue on to primary objective,” I tell my squad.
My team falls back into formation and we adjust our course to get back on track. The landscape passes beneath us in a blur of colors. I make sure to keep an eye on it, though. I have an unfortunately dense history with rogue missiles coming out of nowhere and ruining my day. If possible, I would rather not repeat that scenario anytime soon.
I use my information screen to review some key points of the mission as we travel. Today’s operation—what it’s supposed to be, anyway—is a quick bombing run on a cluster of strategic facilities. Naturally, it hasn’t gone quite so smoothly thus far. We’re expecting twelve buildings and the usual myriad of air defense systems trying to swat us out of the sky.
The beeping in my ears informs me that we’re getting close to our objective. I take another look at my ammo reserves and put the necessary munitions on standby. To be honest, I fully expect to see more planes coming after us, especially now that they’re aware we’re coming. We had the unfortunate luck to run into an enemy patrol on the way in. Just another day in the life, right?
“Get ready to start some trouble,” I tell my squad.
“What are you talking about?” comes Hitomi’s response. “Don’t you know we’re trouble incarnate?”
Sometimes I hate it when she’s right. The second we get in range, SAMs and anti-air artillery barrages come flying at us from ahead. I order everyone to spread out, lest we give them one big, easy target to aim for. After an eternity of bobbing and weaving through missiles and all manner of other dangerous stuff of the pew-pew variety, we finally manage to get in close enough to begin our attack run.
I drop down low to just a few hundred feet above the ground and continue to approach the complex. As I get closer, I analyze the layout of the base, pinpointing where things are and what I should hit to maximize the damage. Once I’ve finished, the attack begins.
My first missile smashes into a fuel tank, igniting its contents and putting large holes in the nearby buildings. A volley of cannon fire shreds a group of vehicles as flames burst from buildings. I release a second missile and it flies through the open bay door of a vehicle depot, utterly obliterating everything inside with the resulting explosion.
Having flown past my attack window, I pull up and begin to bank, coming around for another pass. My radar system alerts me to new contacts and I look down to see several en
emy planes coming in from the west.
“Nine, take your squad and deal with those incoming airborne,” I order.
“Got it.”
Now pointed back toward the enemy base, I start my second attack run. Alarms blare in my headset as a missile flies straight at my nose. I release a group of flares and roll, causing the ordnance to miss me completely. An enemy plane comes up behind me and starts trying to get me in its sights. The target is quickly dispatched by someone from Smith’s squad.
Anything that survived the first attack definitely didn’t make it through the second. I rain down missiles and cannon fire like doomsday hail, blasting holes in everything in my path. Rooftops burst open as flames spew from them. Entire sides of buildings collapse in on themselves, exposing the destroyed innards of facilities. Smoke billows high into the air from the multitude of blazes scattered across the area.
“Attack run complete,” Kat announces. “We’ve got no more targets on our end,”
“Confirming the same over here. All primary targets have been destroyed. Let’s go home.”
We return to formation, my squad up front in fingertip formation and Smith’s mirroring us directly behind, and turn back toward home. Before long, we’re over the ocean and on our way to Misawa.
***
The wheels of my plane screech as they touch down on the runway. I slow down before turning and taxiing to the 35th Squadron’s hangar, coming to a stop outside. Above me, the canopy swings open as I power off the systems before getting up and climbing down to the ground below. A mechanic with data pad in hand approaches me immediately.
“Everything alright, Lt. Colonel?” he asks.
“I took some heavy hits to the stabilizers and outer engine enclosure. Nano seems to have repaired it just fine, but I want you guys to check it out to be sure.”
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