Origin of the 11th

Chapter 4: Flight for Freedom

I woke up, got ready, and checked the time. 9:00 a.m. A very good time for waking up on this particular day when, in just three hours, I would depart on a mission that would decide Julia and Tiffany's futures as well as possibly end the Mechanon and save humanity.

The first thing I noticed was that James wasn't on his bed. He had seemed to have actually gotten up earlier than I did. But knowing James, he would probably sooner be abducted rather than wake up of his own free will.

My mind flashed to what was probably going to be the most negative part of the day; my conversation with Julia about our parents that I had promised.
However, I had to figure out a way around my promise. I couldn't lie to Julia, who seemed to know when I lied at all times.

"Just be honest with her." My annoying sub-conscience said, but I ignored it. Deciding that figuring it out would have to be delayed until it actually happened, I walked out the door and was immediately confronted by James.

"Good morning." I said cheerfully, hoping that James would be able to take my thoughts off of how to successfully lie to Julia.

"I need you to come with me." James said, back to his natural state of seeming permanently bored.

"What happened this time?" I asked, having a bad feeling about whatever James was trying to do.

"The Commander has decided to have another debriefing. Don't ask me why." James said dully, fiddling with his fingers in a very James-like manner.

"He forgot something last night and decided to bring it up now?" I questioned jokingly, knowing that the Commander had his reasons. Inside, I was feeling very uncomfortable. That meant that I would see Julia earlier than I would have had to. Even though this was probably the first time I would have preferred not to see her, the first time didn't necessarily mean the best.

"I thought I told you not to ask me." James repeated, looking as annoyed as he possibly could, although still very dull.

We arrived in a few minutes. The girls and Commander Raiden were already there, but next to them I saw two large planes. I recognized them as the prototype 'Raven', the most technologically advanced stealth plane in existence.

"Now that we are all here, I'd like to explain why I called you here at this time." Commander Raiden said, his eyes gleaming. "This mission will be carried out in these two planes. You will divide yourselves according to how the girls chose and each team will take a plane."

"Imagine that. You and Tiffany flying a Raven." I said to James, clapping him on the back when his face turned the most bland shade of green imaginable. I knew that he had no idea how to pilot anything much less a Raven, and neither did Tiffany.

"One of the reasons that I chose this time is so that each team will be adequately prepared to fly their aircraft." Commander Raiden said, extinguishing my grin. "In about ten minutes, the teams will board their planes."

"Is there anything else that we need to be informed about?" I asked, hoping that there wasn't.

"There are two things actually." Commander Raiden said simply. "Firstly, the planes will be linked to each other through a communications channel. Secondly, there is a separatist group of humans who support the Mechanon."

"What?" All four of us said at the same time with various degrees of evident shock.

"Yes. We call them the Renegades. You haven't heard of them before because they generally aren't a subject that the academy mentions for the sake of purposing." Commander Raiden said before handing us two radios. "These are your communications devices. They should be fine because our weatherman predicted that there would be nothing abnormal with the weather."