Operation: Saber Strikes

Preparations

Your POV
     I woke up to my alarm, groaning in annoyance I sat up and slipped out of my bunk feeling my feet hit the cold hard floor I sighed. I put my flight suit on and walked to Eliza's bunk and tapped her a couple times as she groaned "5 more minutes" I tapped her forehead this time "Come on, get up I wanna get some food" she whined lightly before rolling off her bunch and into my arms as I set her down and waited for her to put on her gear, after 5 minutes we moved to the cafeteria "hey Liz, what do you think the missions gonna be like?" She looked at me "let's not jinx it, alright?" I smiled "always the cautious" she nodded "one of us has to be and you seem to be busy messing with danger, hotshot" I chuckled "only sometimes" she looked down "I hope we make it back" I stopped walking and grabbed her wrist pulling her into me and giving her a hug "We're the best of the best, we have 5 different SF units plus our team on this mission. We'll make it back" we broke the hug and she smiled softly "thank you, I needed that" I nodded "Let's get some food" we arrived to the mess hall and I sighed in content at the familiarity the food was probably barely edible but it was familiar. I sat down and saw one of the marines checking out Eliza I whistled getting his attention and shook my head no, I must've looked terrifying since his eyes snapped to the table. Eliza gave me a weird look I spoke "It's nothing, just making sure the marines know where they stand" she seemed to understand as she turned towards the table of marines and glared. I looked at the door as Elias, Zach and Marius walked in and went to the line, the crew and marines looking at us like we were gods. I chuckled causing Eliza to look at me funny "Look at how the Navy and Marines look at the Army, they're looking at us like we're gods" she chuckled "that rivalry never dies" I shook my head "No, no it doesn't" the new 3 sat down as I looked at Zach "did you see how the Marines look at us?" He nodded "Army wins the war, crayola will never go out of business." I laughed as I called over a marine lieutenant "hey, Lt. Come here" he walked over slowly clearly nervous "Sit down, you're fine. I've gotta question" he nodded excited and clearly relieved we weren't being asses "What's your favorite crayon flavor?" He paused for a second before relaxing "Ah an army man" I nodded "How'd you know?" He chuckled "because every marine knows favorite crayon flavors are tied to rank" I chuckled "So what is it?" He looked at everyone at the table with seriousness painted in his eyes "Sunset orange" we all started laughing as the Lt. smiled, "Sir? Can I ask you a question?" I stopped laughing and nodded "Go ahead" he replied "What's it like, being in Rainbow I mean" I nodded "The good old question. Well my best friends are Israeli and German, I do missions around the world stopping terrorists and saving people, I get to work with some of the best people I've ever met but I don't get much down time and the down time I do get is spending it with my friends and girlfriend, working on my viper or training" he nodded slowly as Zach started speaking "I made friends with people all around the world. I've gotten to experience different cultures and learn some of their languages, we get to learn new training techniques all in all I think it's probably the best opportunity we got offered" the Lt smiled "One last question: what would you change about rainbow?" I looked at him "the need for it." Eliza looked at me hurt "Why'd you say that? Do you regret meeting us?" I laughed heartily "god no, I'd change the need of it because Rainbow represents a need for guardians. If you need guardians you have an enemy, if you don't need guardians you don't have an enemy" she nodded as my words sunk in Zach nodded "I'd have to agree with the Captain" the Lt. stood and gave a salute "thank you for your time sirs and ma'am" we nodded before he walked back to his table. Elias and Marius looked at me "Who's the Israeli best friend, the Germans are obviously us but who's the Israeli" I laughed "We've all been friends for a year and you guys can't remember Eliza was born in Jerusalem?" They looked down as Eliza chuckled "To be fair, we barely remember where they were born" I spoke "Yeah because it sounds like someone having a stroke" they chuckled as we started eating. After 5 minutes, Erik, Monika, Doc and Jordan walked in and sat down after getting food. Zach looked at me "Do you know if the team is going to be on the mission with us?" I shook my head no "they've got a mission in Afghanistan, enemy stronghold in the mountains again" he sighed as Monika sat down and leaned against him and started eating "What do we have for support?" I looked at the mission brief "We've got another NightStalkers team, Valor, that'll be attached to us so we can put one helicopter to each unit team, we've got Rainbow. They've got the two Raider teams, Delta, the Pjs and the MEU teams" he smiled "So we get to work with Valor again? It's been awhile" I nodded "They should be landing in an hour" I heard Elias "Who are they? How do you know them?" I smiled softly "Their leader, Jess, she's an amazing pilot she's saved us plenty of times, I'm pretty close with her we still talk every now and again when we have a chance. Their second in command is a good friend of my family's he helped me when I was a newer pilot. The third and fourth pilots are delinquents straight up dumbasses. You give them free beer and they'll do just about anything, the final pilot is a quiet one. Doesn't speak much, but he's exceedingly smart. He's helped me upgrade my armament with some pretty ingenious ideas" Eliza spoke "you speak pretty highly of their leader, what's she like?" I noticed a slight undertone in her voice "She's awesome, she mentored me when we were new to the NightStalkers, Her and her gunner are responsible for Zach and I being as good as we are. She's like a second mom." I heard Jordan "I never heard you speak about the gunners, why not?" I looked at him "It's like this natural separation, the gunners stick together and the pilots do the same. Now a lot of us are friends with gunners if we're pilots and vice versa, but we pretty much only speak about people that do our jobs since we know about what it takes to do it." He nodded as Zach spoke "Yeah, Valor's gunners are easily the 6th through 10th best gunners I've ever seen. They're great, they all helped me get better in their own ways" Marius gave him a weird look "who's the 1st through 5th?" I spoke "Our gunners in the Valkyries" he nodded as Erik asked "Who's protecting delta?" I looked over "We haven't decided yet, why?" He looked down "I was hoping to be able to thank them before the mission" I chuckled "I'll talk to Jess and Rose about protecting delta, they're the second best team in the NightStalkers, they rank just below us" he looked hopeful "Really?" I nodded "Consider it done, now we've got around 45 minutes before they land and we have to form a plan about how we're gonna attack before we start the briefing. After that it's training and our pre-mission rituals. The mission is at Sunset. I recommend, Erik, you go and talk with the Delta boys, they're at the table over there" he nodded and stood up as everyone threw their trash away and began to disperse. I tapped Eliza's shoulder "Come with me, I wanna show you something." She looked unsure as we walked to the flight deck and moved across it. I motioned to the carriers defense task force around us "Do you know what they're doing on those ships?" She shook her head no I spoke again "they're waiting for someone to be dumb enough to try to get to this carrier, do you know why I'm telling you this?" She again shook her head no, I spoke "because that's what I do with you, I know you can take care of yourself but I like being there to back you up if something happens. I heard the undertone in your voice, don't worry about Jess. I'm not interested in anyone besides you except maybe Alexsandr(Tachanka)" adding the last part got a chuckle out of her before she sighed "I'm sorry, I was just worried. I've never heard you talk about me like that so I guess I just latched onto that." I nodded "If you noticed Jess wasn't hear when I said that about her, it's the same for you. When I talk about you like that, you aren't around. I like holding you on this glowing pedestal to anyone who asks, just do me a favor...." she looked at me hopeful with tears in her eyes "Anything" I smiled "Don't think you're below anyone else in my life" she nodded smiling slightly as I opened my arms and caught her as she launched into my arms. I held her for a while before she pulled back and looked at me "Come on Captain, let's go relax for a while before Valor gets here" I gave a nod as she grabbed my hand and we moved to the lounge. When we walked in I heard Zach and Elias blasting music and singing along we walked in and sat down on the couch as Zach stood to change the song I spoke "Put on Carry Your throne" he paused "I forgot about that song" I chuckled as I heard the song start.

Zach and I sang along as Eliza and Elias listened, I went to the kitchen and poured a glass of bourbon before coming back into the room all the while singing along. We did this for the next 40 minutes or so before I heard my watch go off and looked at the time "Zach we've gotta go grab Valor, everyone we'll be back in a minute" he nodded as we walked out and to the flight deck a minute later. We stood outside until we heard the familiar sound of helicopter blades, we looked off as we saw 5 Apaches heading towards the carrier in formation. They landed carefully as the deck men directed them where to land. It took them a minute before they climbed out and walked over to us Jess took off her helmet and I saw the familiar face but older, more tired Jess was 10 years older than us and in her late 40s by now, I smiled as they arrived "Hello ma'am, how've you been?" She sighed "i told you years ago to stop calling me ma'am, makes me feel old" I chuckled "that's why I keep doing it ma'am" she smiled "I've missed you boys, why don't you ever visit?" I shrugged as Zach spoke "We've been busy, command has us doing all types of shit" she nodded as she walked past us and we talked with Rose and then the rest of the team. When we got inside I saw Jess and the rest of the team I did an overdramamatic follow me gesture "This way my honored guests"