Chapter Text
If nothing else, Bronya could say K-9 held up Cobb’s words.
When Cobb landed, she had three missiles left and no ammunition in her gun. Bookie landed with no missiles left and 180 rounds left. Brick had three missiles and a measly 10 rounds left. When Bronya’s wheel kissed the ground, she had no bombs, no missiles, and 30 rounds left.
She slowly taxied her fighter back into the hanger, where she could already see the Crew Chief tapping her foot in impatience. As soon as the engines spooled down the ladders were slapped into place along the fuselage, and Seele was already vaulting out of the co*ckpit.
Bronya tried and failed to keep up with her enthusiasm, slowly pushing herself out. As she swung her legs over, she glanced up to see Seele on her ladder now, hand held out.
“Seele?”
“Don’t just stare at my hand, come on!” Seele decided to complete the action, reaching out to pull Bronya out of the co*ckpit before supporting her down the steps.
Once on the ground, Seele finally let go of Bronya. “There. Better now that you’re not falling off?”
Bronya gave her a quiet hum. “Debriefing.”
“Yeah, should let you get to that.” Seele nodded. She glanced up at the scratches and dings on the aircraft that the Crew Chief was fussing over now. “Tell me if Vita mentions anything important.”
“Seele is allowed to join the debrief.” Bronya suggested.
“Nah.” Seele shook her head, her purple hair whipping about. “Not my style to sit in on debriefs. Besides, I’ve heard enough of Vita’s voice.”
“But not Bronya’s?” Bronya raised an eyebrow.
“Don’t you have a debriefing to get to?” Seele snapped.
Bronya cracked a small smile as she turned around and walked away. She didn’t hear Seele mutter. “You could do to speak more, anyways.”
---
“K-9, thanks to you, we inflicted heavy casualties against the Cascadians as they came ashore.” Vita began. Behind him, the screen displayed the beachhead they had been fighting over not too long ago, now almost entirely overrun in red pixels.
He continued. “It would've been near-impossible to stop them from landing; however, for what you and the defenders did, it was enough for now.” An eye twitched, and Bronya knew from that that their ‘controlled defeat’ still irked him. “With the Cascadians on the ground in-country, our only hope is to dig in, lick our wounds, and wait for reinforcements from the rest of the Federation to counterattack.” He sighed.
“Be on standby, K-9.” And with that he walked out of the room.
“God, what a mess.” Cobb said as she got up. “And they expect us reservists to just hold them back the whole time?”
“Hey, maybe we can get some support from the Ulaanbaatar PeeKays now that they’re in country.” Brick suggested. “What was their squadron? Steel?”
“You think they would spare PeeKays to save our sorry asses?” Cobb scoffed. “We’re still the lowest of the low. They’re more likely to send us to our deaths as a way to roll out the red carpet for Steel.”
The four of them emerged into the canteen, where the crowd, while significantly thinned from lesser aircraft to maintain, was still swamped by techs. Bronya quietly took her spot in the line as the rest of her squadron lined up behind her. “Cobb’s kinda right, you know.” Bookie chimed in. “After that last op, you know the Feds are going to be throwing us into more batsh*t insane missions. If we win, it's all good. If we die, well, its just one reservist pilot less.”
Bronya ignored their chatter as she picked up her plate of dry macaroni. She turned around and instantly zeroed in on a table, hobbling over with her meal and setting it down next to Seele.
“Oh. Hey.” Seele shoveled her own food into her mouth. “Our AWACS spill any tea?”
“He did not. He did not bring tea.” Bronya answered simply.
“I mean-”
“Vita did not say anything of importance, no.” Bronya continued. “He merely said we would be on standby.”
Seele narrowed her eyes. “You got me the first time round.”
A smile tugged at the corner of Bronya’s lips, but she said no more.
Another plate came clacking down in front of them. “Speaking of which, Driver, I believe you owe me something.” Cobb announced.
Bronya nodded, waiting for Brick and Bookie to take their place before answering. “Signatures.”
“Signatures?” Seele raised an eyebrow. “You mean the thing Steel was yapping about?”
“Signatures are Mercenary Pilots that serve and represent a Cabal Lord of the Round Table.”
“Wait, Round Table?” Bookie butted in. “You mean the Oceania Cabal? That Round Table?”
Bronya nodded. “Signatures stand as Mercenaries above any other. They are skilled enough to erase entire enemy squadrons on their own. Whatever a Cabal Lord dictates, they carry out, and when a Signature is deployed, it will always be executed. There is no failure.” She let it sink in.
“But if they’re related to the Cabal Lords, that means they-” Brick began.
“Yes. All Signatures died fighting over Oceania.” Bronya said quietly.
“That’s what Steel meant.” Cobb mused. “Guess he must’ve fought against one during the Oceania War. But that means we won’t have to worry about them…”
She looked around the table. “...Right?”
“Did you hear what Vita said during our first mission?” Seele asked. “When we were escorting back the stragglers? One plane was apparently responsible for tearing up the entire Bering Strait op.”
“I heard stuff about that too.” Bookie pointed his fork at her. “From some of those who landed here. Apparently it was one merc. Sliced through Crimson like they were made of paper.”
“Could he be a Signature then?” Brick asked. “Driver?”
Bronya was silent for a moment, before shaking her head. “All the Signatures died in Oceania. They all died defending their Cabal Lords. It is impossible for a Signature to have abandoned theirs.”
“You seem to know an awful lot about Signatures.” Bookie narrowed his eyes. “How about this: from what I heard, that Merc had a Crown emblem on his tail. Ring any bells?”
Bronya shook her head again. “No. No Signature would have dared to symbolize themselves in a place of power. It would mean defying their place in the Hierarchy.”
“So we’re back to where we started, with no idea who this ‘Crown’ is.” Bookie chewed on his macaroni. “So much for that. Still wonder how Cascadia got their hands on someone of that caliber.”
“They’ve been getting their hands on an awful lot of stuff.” Cobb shot back. “A whole damn battleship, for one.”
“Right, the Jerusalem. Or ‘Eminent Domain’, or whatever the Cascadians are calling it now.” Seele said with air quotes. “An inside job, if you ask me. No way can a few patrol boats worth of pirates hijack a whole goddamn battleship, even if it was on its own.”
“Ah, well didn’t realize we drafted the local conspiracy theorist.” Brick joked. “All seriousness though? A lot of the Federation Navy were Cascadians. Lots of ‘em have sea legs owing to the sea biz. Not surprised if half of them mutinied when they saw the patrol boats coming for them.”
Bronya stood up abruptly. “Bronya is done. She will see you all tomorrow.” She then turned and left with her now empty tray.
The rest of K-9 watched her go. “You know, she knew a hell of a lot about those Mercs.” Bookie whispered. “How did she know?”
“You don’t think she was involved, right?” Brick asked. “How old is she again? Was she even old enough to have flown then?”
“As long as she pulls my ass through the next fight, I don’t care what she might or might not have done.” Cobb shoved her food into her mouth. “I’ll just be glad of the damn gift horse that is Driver.”
Seele’s gaze never left where Bronya had disappeared to. What is up with her? She’s totally different in the air and on the ground sometimes.
…and just how does she know half the things she does?
---
Wolfpack 3, that bastard’s on my tail!
Silver Wolf’s down!
I need support! He’s got me spiked!
Shadow Wolf! Shadow Wolf, break off!
Damn it, where the hell did he come from?!
Bronya sat back up in the tub, gasping for breath. She took a moment to stare at the opposite wall, trying to reorient herself, before she settled down. Glancing down, she remembered where she was.
She grabbed a cloth, gently scrubbing her stumps once more. It was slightly sore from a full day of jamming pedals, and she let the limb fall back into the water.
There was a click behind her. “Driver?” Seele called out.
“In here.” Bronya said simply. With a grunt of exertion she lifted herself out of the tub, putting it to drain, and drying herself on the cloth on the floor. “Bronya is done.”
Affixing her prosthetics, she clacked out of the bathroom to see Seele strip down to her undergarments. “Good timing. I could use a wash myself.” She sniffed her underarms.
Brony walked over and flopped onto her bed. She heard as Seele switched on the shower, humming quietly, before she finished up and returned to the bunk, flopping on her own mattress.
For a moment, both were silent, simply basking in the chilled air. Finally, Seele spoke up again. “Bronya, how long till the Cascadians get here?”
“Sorry, Seele?”
“Like get here.” Seele pointed to the ground. “How long before the Cascadians overrun this airbase?”
Bronya hummed. “They will not. Not with K-9 around.”
“Do you really believe that?” Seele guffawed. “We went out with a full loadout today, Driver, and we returned Winchester on nearly everything. There's just not f*cking enough bombs and bullets between the four of us to kill them all.”
Bronya was silent. “One month.” She finally replied.
“One month.” Seele echoed.
“One month if the Reservists fail every attempt to hold off the Cascadians. One month if K-9 is all shot down. One month if Bronya dies.”
Seele sighed. “We’ll have to make the goddamn most of this month then.” She rolled over. “Good night, Bronya.”
“Good night, Seele.”
