Three Strikes [✓]

Hush

Chapter Sixty-Five: Hush

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Selatapura, Usea.
November 1st, 2019.
0700hrs.

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The sun was starting to rise above the horizon, painting the sky soft shades of blue and pink. It was peaceful and quiet. Almost perfect. The scattered cloud cover here and there kept the morning from being too perfect, but it was still a beautiful sight to Naomi. She'd had a nice view of it from inside the hangars, but she was eager to get up in the sky and see it up close and personal. Even if they had a hard battle waiting for them, at least there'd be something beautiful out there waiting at the end of it all.

Naomi settled into the seat of her F-22 as the cockpit closed, taking a deep breath and trying to settle down her nerves. She was shaking as she fastened herself in and started going over all of her pre-flight checks, but she made sure she focused on the task at hand so she didn't screw anything up. While she went through all the standard procedures, the ground crew backed her Raptor onto the elevator situated on the side of the carrier. When said elevator began to lift her aircraft to the flight deck with a heavy metal clunk and a loud whirring sound, she was reaching the end of her checks.

She took a deep breath, watching as the aircraft in the hangar below disappeared from view as her plane was slowly lifted to the deck. Overhead, if she looked past the island in the dead center of the carrier she was greeted by a clear view of the sky. That was a much better sight. The deck itself was livelier than it had been the previous day, with their throw-together operating crew sprinting back and forth across the deck, directing their fighters through the takeoff procedures as best they could. They were shouting orders back and forth if they weren't too far from one another but she could only hear what was coming in through the radio.

As the elevator came to a halt, now perfectly level with the deck, a familiar voice came over the radio as they radioed her to clear her for taxi. "Can I use this? It should only take a minute. Thanks." Avril, who had likely only just woken up and gotten moving, took over the radio and caught Naomi by surprise. Her voice was clearer when she spoke up again. "Hey, can you hear me?"

"I can hear you loud and clear," Naomi replied, admittedly relieved to have a chance to talk to her before they left. No doubt Tabloid already got his goodbyes out of the way with her, but Naomi hadn't had the chance. "You're just in time for the show."

"Yeah, yeah, you're funny. I would have been able to see you off at the briefing, but I was busy working my ass off on your plane last night," Avril retorted. She wasn't snapping, but she didn't waste the limited time they had. "That craft is in peak condition. Stabilization and maneuverability should be a bit better, the engine oughta hold up, and it's armed to the teeth with your usual so I don't think those drones'll stand a chance." She paused once she was done going down the list, and her tone softened a bit. Like she was smiling a little. "I even buffed up the canopy for a nice shine, so you can really see the sky."

Naomi began to taxi out onto the deck as they guided her forward, smiling a little as she answered Avril. "You never disappoint, huh? Thanks for this, Avril. I mean it." She chuckled a little. "Dunno what I would have done without you all this time."

"Let's not get too sappy over the radio, alright?" Avril said, sounding a bit embarrassed. She took another second, then added, "Bring everyone back, alright? And keep 'em from doing anything stupid...especially Tabloid." Of course she'd be fussing over him...there wasn't any surprise there. She went on. "Take care, Trigger. And when you get back you can tell me all about it."