Mahingga

Chapter 27: A Gift

Ako again sat in Gerof's workshop, working away on his device, making frequent reference to a diagram on his Palam. He was constructing something that was an older design, but he was tweaking some of the functions. To Ako's surprise, he was doing better than he'd initially hoped. The various electronic parts had most of the same components that he used for engineering back on Mahingga.

After they'd gotten back to the FA compound late last night, Ako had slept for about six hours, then sprang back up to start working on the device. He'd need it working as soon as possible. Everybody else, including three other FA members that he didn't know, were all up on the third floor making plans for Taiyo's escape.

He'd join them in a moment, but he just wanted to make sure the device was headed in the right direction. He scrapped the model from his first attempt and started a whole new one now that he knew how to work the Pawid tools a little better. Once it was far enough along that he knew where to pick up later, he hurried back upstairs to the room with the maps.

"That may be the safest approach," Shas was saying. "People might recognize him as looking similar. We need to remain in discretion as long as possible."

"And Kita can be the one to identify the targets," Nolik said.

Kita turned her attention to Ako as soon as he arrived. She spoke to him in Mahinggan, "They're trying to cut you out of the escape plan. They don't want to bring you into the same place your brother is because you might be easy to catch based off your appearance. Also, if things don't go well, then they don't want to lose you as an asset."

Ako's expression hardened. The group had stopped talking, and Melovi was writing furiously on a large sheaf of paper. A few of them looked at Ako, but the rest seemed to be ignoring him. "I'm going," Ako said in Pawidan.

"Ako," Shas started, but Ako cut her off.

"I don't care what you think. I've come all this way to save my brother, and I'm going to see it through."

Everyone in the room turned to look at him. He hadn't realized it, but Ako had shouted the words. He could feel his blood pumping strongly through his body.

Shas looked like she was about to disagree more, but Melovi chimed in. "He's capable enough. We'll bring him along—maybe just disguise him a little more." He gave Ako a wink when nobody else could see.

After last night, Ako had an uncomfortable feeling around Melovi. He was still unsure about what happened to the pilot, and he was afraid to ask. Though he hoped against it, he didn't doubt for a minute that Melovi had killed the pilot. He wasn't sure why it bothered him, Melovi had killed plenty of Yevan's men, but that situation had just felt different. It probably had something to do with Melovi's vendetta against Paingitan for destroying his hometown. Regardless, he was grateful for Melovi's support.

"Fine," Shas conceded, her scarred face returning to its ever-present, unintended scowl.

"So, what's the idea so far?" Ako asked, scanning the documents on the table.

"Well, Paingitan is a nation at war, just like everywhere else except your homeland," Shas said. "And this is a government military facility. We're way too outnumbered for us to take this place by force, and even if we did, the lab is bound to have sections sealed off unless we're granted clearance. We'll have to acquire high ranking classified badges from somebody within the lab, and then have Gerof run some modifications on it so that we can even get in."

"I have an idea," Ako interrupted. Shas regarded him with little amusement. "You're worried about me getting identified—we can use that to our advantage."

"How so?"

Ako held back a smile. It seemed like an obvious approach. "You can do all your clearance stuff, I think that will be useful, but getting in should be easy. You can pose as soldiers and say that you found me and that you want me delivered to the others like me. We could get away with simply showing up and not reporting it for fear that others might intercept the message, as happened back in Kiem when the FA intercepted Yevan's message about me. Then they might take us straight to Taiyo and Talino."