Last Hurrah

The sun left a bright white streak across the ocean, like a line along the Earth, pointing to the mass of white cloud inching into darkness.

The sight was beautiful and terrifying, but Rook wasted no time with sightseeing.

He switched his view on and off, toggling the sensors, listening through the static of the debris to pick up a sign of something that wasn't coming. He hit the codes in his console and initiated the re-entry sequence when he caught sight of a green triangle on his grid.

"Sorry I'm late," said Tundra. "Traffic."

"I swear to god," he fumed, "if you don't take this seriously, you will never fly again."

"Sorry," she said meekly.

"Follow orders and keep your mouth shut."

"Yes sir," she said.

He sent her co-ordinates and pushed his throttle, bringing himself in line with the expected corridor of the incoming freighters. He switched his channel to private and called her directly.

"Kaso tells me you can't go home after this."

There was a pause, and then she spoke.

"I guess not," she said.

"We have a protocol for dealing with this, but you're going to have to trust me. Can you do that?"

"Yes sir," she said immediately. Smartly.

"All right. When we're done here, I'll send you landing co-ordinates where I can find you, and I will help you get set up in a different life."

A longer pause this time.

"Okay," she said.

"You hesitated."

"No sir, it's just... leaving my - "

An alarm sounded and he looked up to see two ships closing in on the horizon. He switched on his ice cannons, dimmed the cockpit and kept ready for anything.

"Behind me," he barked. "And don't shoot me in the back."

A moment later, the gun caught the wing of one of the ships, and the blinding flash told him who he was dealing with.

"Chenne?" he asked. "What are..."

"Hello Rook," said Redux. "You are here for shipment too?"

He held his breath, tried to gain the composure he needed to face this. The unexpected mission.

"I'm letting Tundra make up for her mistake," he said.

"She is here," Redux said, his voice dull. Rook understood it perfectly well, but felt the accusation aimed at him. Why did you bring her here?

"Do you have a plan?" Rook asked. "Or is four a crowd today?"

"Sir - " protested Tundra, but he cut her off.

"We'll go back home if you'd prefer a two-way split. We owe you that much."

"No," said Redux. "Four is still good. Thank you for offer. You are true gentleman."

Rook laughed at this.

"I wouldn't go that far." He punched commands into his console, sent information to all three ships. "Here's the game plan. Chenne and I will run interference on whatever fighters the SEF send our way.

Intelligence suggests it won't be much. Redux, you check trajectories, and Tundra will change the splashdown co-ordinates and enter the landing - "

"Excuse me," said Redux. "I do not want Tundra near the codes this time."

Rook nodded, wincing to himself.

"Sorry, I should have - "

"I'll stay back with the freighters," Tundra said. "Make sure they re-enter properly."

"Good," said Redux. "I do not want to hear your voice again."

He flew out to the bright blue line that was the Ten Minute Mark, leaving the rest of them behind. Rook hesitated, considered calling it off, going back home.

"You and me, Rook?" asked Chenne, and took off to the rendezvous. Rook nodded, pushed his own throttle, and sped off.

Tundra followed silently behind them.

We're aiming for an alternate dropzone because of the typhoon,"

Rook said. "You need to make sure you enter the data before they reach the five minute mark, or they won't have time to adjust their burn, and we'll have to scuttle the operation."

"I am good," Redux said.

"If anything goes wrong, you ask for help. We're a team here. No proud heroics, all right?"

Everyone voiced agreement except Tundra. It was better that way.

The connection time on the clock reached zero and started counting up, and Rook checked his horizon again, switching the grid on and off just in case.

"They're overdue," he said.