Termaceal

Act 3: The End?

Morning... Nothing out of the ordinary... Your normal morning. I start my daily routine as usual, while being quite relaxed from the fact that my patrol sortie is in the afternoon. I've made friends with everyone here, and they're all quite nice people. I admire two people in particular, namely Ronald and Kayla.

Ronald is my cousin, we've been along since forever. We did not know that either of us are planning to become pilots, so being assigned to the same squadron as him is surely a godsend. Even though we're only cousins, he treats me as good as her own little sister.

Kayla is a friend I just met here when I was assigned. We quickly got along and became good friends, from the usual talks about everyday life. As a castaway child since age 1, she stayed in an orphanage until she's fit enough for the military. We had a lot to talk about, and she's a very nice girl.

Morning routine ends with aircraft maintenance and training, the purpose is to prepare them for anything possible after they're done with flight school. Pilots go to their respective aircraft and familiarize themselves with every combat simulation from their onboard AI. But something's very wrong today...

"Sir, excuse me, but where's my aircraft?"

"The EF 4000?"

"Yeah, that one"

"Being towed outside the airbase. The replacement will arrive soon"

"What? Another plane already?"

"The EF is too problematic, and we need a new standard issue plane. Now look outside the hangar 6."

"Yes sir"

Huh... Peculiar... So that's why we're all are to familiarize with the flight simulator, and no wonder why the cockpit layout is different. We're getting new planes!

This definitely brought joy to all of us, including me. As I walk towards the Hangar 6, just beyond it I see a dozen planes lined up under tarp. The shape is different from the usual EF 4000, if anything, it looks roughly like an F/A-18.

"So I'll be flying this in this evening's sortie, would be a very interesting experience."

I thought of my friend Helivia from Trislandia (Callsign Sapphire)... All the way across the strait... Probably doing something important right now, might send a messa-...

...

𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘮 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮?

I sighed and continue towards the plane. It felt brand new when I patted it, this is my plane from this noon forward.

[14.00]

Lunch was great. I'm full of energy and I'm pumped for the first flight in my new DFX. The time for sortie has arrived and I hopped in the new aircraft. The scent, the special scent of a fresh item right out from the store... Mhmmm... Myes...

God dammit Jasmine stop sniffing your own plane!

Ok, now onward with the patrol

I prepared myself on the runway, and after getting the ATC's permission, I took off. People would say flying is complex and stressful, and they're right. But when you're used to it, it's relaxing.

I arrived at my mission altitude, and I'm not alone. The Trislandian squadron from TFB-07 is already airborne, and patrols are also being done.

[𝘌𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘚𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘗𝘖𝘝 • • • •]

Slasher: "allright, you know what to do boys, Sapphire and i will stay here and observe anything that is interesting to our matter, you guys can break off now"