Ashfield cursed over and over again as the three remaining Sabres were getting closer and closer to his Guardian. He kept flying in circles around Cahoone's ship, trying to get a neat visual of the cockpit. [color=#6666CC][font=Palatino Linotype]'Cahoone, respond! Damn it, Cahoone!' The situation wasn't the best to draw any conclusion about his wingman's status, so the only chance left for Ashfield was praying for the Echo squad arriving before the Kraken beams shot the wings off his Guardian. Perhaps it would be the end for both pilots, but not before Ashfield would kill the ship's engines, turn around and ram the three Sabres with the few nuclear mines left.
'Three bandits confirmed, two blues spotted. Firestalkers away!' Everything went faster than Ashfield expected, maybe even faster than his heartbeats. Missile trails all over the place, particle beams vanishing beyond the ice asteroids and the tachyons shots spitted by Mini Razors, followed by a chain of explosions. 'That was the last one...' He reached to hear. 'We had to scramble fast against a Hellfire Legion group raiding San Diego. They eventually fled back to Cortez. Sorry Captain, the priorities were already set up.' Ashfield gasped, trying to calm down.
[color=#6666CC][font=Palatino Linotype]'F-fine, it's fine...' He replied with a sarcastic tone [color=#6666CC][font=Palatino Linotype]"My wingmate is wounded, we need to tow the damn ship FAST, understood?"
The nearest base was Planet Los Angeles and the way to it was difficult as they had to make sure to avoid collisions with asteroids or any other obstacles while towing the Guardian with its injured pilot. It was risky, because a collision might be enough to destroy the badly damaged ship or cause more injuries for Cahoone. Ashfield made sure people would be notified about their arrival so that they could make preparations, he knew the clock was ticking.
Medics were already standing by when the Guardians began to land, they were prepared for the worst. They opened the cockpit and were shocked. Everything was covered in blood, Cahoone's flight suit, the remnants of the flight console, just everything. A medic removed her flight helmet to check if she was still alive, thankfully she was. Natalie was whispering something, however nobody was able to understand her. He tried to talk to her. 'Everything will be fine, we'll get you out of this.' Cahoone had her eyes closed and tried to suppress tears, however she was able to answer with a weak tone. 'Please...make it stop.'
It was impossible to remove the metal pieces now, Cahoone had already lost a lot of her blood and removing them would cause her to lose even more which would mean her death. They moved her out of the Guardian and placed her on a stretcher and quickly moved to the medical station to begin with the emergency operation. Ashfield was standing outside of his Guardian and watched them carrying Cahoone away.
"Now that's just another quick, impulsive and stupid accusation, Ashfield. Really, this is becoming a silly game so just believe whatever you want to believe, and if you want to make yourself look like an idiot to the High Command, go ahead. I did my job, my guys did their job. You know what? Next time beat that ego of yours and bring three wingmen with you like the procedure dictates, pretty sure you wouldn't need to rely on Echo even when the Legion ambushes us." He turned around and walked away from the captain. "Face it Ashfield. You aren't good enough, and I still wonder how many ensigns will have to pay a visit to the hospital because of that crap." With a grin, the Echo commander left the hangar. Ashfield stood still, lost on his thoughts until he finally departed from the place. He was upset. Upset because in the end he knew the situation could have been avoided, upset because that commander was right.
Hours had passed, and he didn't go home yet. Instead, he moved to the other corner of Navy Base where the clinic was located. If there was something decent he could do today, it would be knowing the current status of Cahoone.
Natalie's mind drifted away from the reality, she was dreaming and she knew that, but she had no idea if she was still alive or already dead. She heard a noise, somebody was talking to her but at the beginning she was not able to understand it. It became clear after some minutes, it was calling her.
'Natalie...wake up...'
The voice became louder and louder up to the point when it was unbearable, almost painful, it was also the moment when Natalie woke up. She was back at her old home on Planet Houston, it felt strange, unreal and she started to ask herself why she was there...and she was not alone. There was a woman sitting in one of the chairs, holding a baby in her hands. Even though Natalie was standing in front of her it seemed the woman was not seeing her, it was the moment when Natalie realized she was part of another dream, a dream which would have a huge influence in her future.
After some time she found out who that woman was, as she looked familiar with a person she knew. It was her mother, and the child in her arms was Natalie herself. There was another person in the room, an unknown man who seemed to be of hispanic origin. Both him and her mother looked quite worried. After some time they spoke with each other.
'Do you really have to leave us? I mean, have you ever thought about what will happen to her?' 'I have to leave, if I stay you and our daughter will have problems, without me you two will be able to have a safer future, that's all I want...'
Natalie had no idea what to believe in and in what not, she had never met her father nor had her mother told her about him. Now if this dream was real it was the first time for her to see him, hispanic origin, not really possible to make any further conclusions about him.
Before she could continue to listen to them she started to feel pain in her chest, pain that was unbearable for her and which caused her to collapse. The dream stopped and it became black around her, after some time she heard voices.
'Doctor, it seems she's waking up.' 'Good, call Captain Ashfield...'
The doctor began talking to Ashfield with a rather impassive tone while reviewing the pile of paperwork resting on his arm. "Emergency surgery, two wounds of four-five centimers depth each caused by... shrapnel? Metal pieces, whatever, one in the left shoulder, the other one in the abdomen. Left arm will be incapacited for maybe two weeks, I'll confirm tomorrow. Those were really serious injuries, still can't believe that ensign survived, so guess it's been a lucky day for you. I know how it feels when you have to do the whole debriefing after your wingman dies. Now if you don't mind..." He pointed at the room next to them, leaving Josh alone in a hurry. The captain sighed with relief and stepped into the patient's room.
Natalie was obviously bedridden and surrounded by the ordinary medical devices monitoring all the vital signs. She was awake, or at least she was staring at the ceiling, even after Ashfield walked into the place. He sat down in the only chair there, facing Cahoone and taking a somehow deep breath. "Ehm, sorry for not bringing flowers or any kind of dandy stuff, didn't move from the base for the entire day and... yeah well, glad to see you made it, really that was a very gross situation. Heh, I figure that doctor did a good job even if he's a total jerk when being asked about the surgery but anyway, I figure you will have a couple of scars in the shoulder and belly... Well, they can look badass I guess, thought cosmetic surgery nowadays can do magic, pretty sure of that... Yeah, that is. He looked a bit disorientated, certainly the first time he had to go through this kind of situation.
Natalie kept staring at the ceiling for the next minutes, she did not realize at the first moment where she was, but she recognized the voice which was talking to her. She closed her eyes for a moment before she turned her head towards Ashfield and she started to think about what he had said some moments ago. She smiled a bit, even though she did not feel like smiling. For her it looked like Ashfield was thinking he was at fault for this incident, it made her sad, because it was her fault not his. Natalie sighed before she replied to him.
'A visit counts more than flowers...thank you. And don't be worried about some scars, I'm alive and that's what really matters.'
She was not able to keep a cool head, she thought about the incident in California again and she realized that not many would have survived this, however she was not able to see it as something good. Then there was this strange dream about her father, Natalie had to find out if the dream was true, or just an illusion.
'You were right about that adrenaline dose...'
"Heh, however those adrenaline doses actually worked for good so... you would overcome the situation. Seems something... failed, indeed. May I ask what happened there exactly?"He moved his chair a bit closer to Natalie in an attempt to sound less distant in his speech.
"I know it was a messy situation but before you were assigned to my patrol wing, I... err, nevermind. Guess I didn't take caution and my wingman almost died. Sorry."He tilted his head and stared at the floor for a long minute. Then, he quietly asked."Did... something happen to you out there?"
Getting reminded of all the events was only painful for Natalie, normally she would just try to forget all of it. In that situation however, it would be better to talk about everything, she knew that in a better condition all of this could have been avoided. She took a deep breath.
'I...don't exactly know why things happened the way they did, all I know is that it was my fault, not yours. I was trying to get distance to the Sabres, but it all went wrong. Normally it would've been easy, but somehow I wasn't cautious enough and hit a mine. As result I lost control of my ship, when I got it back I saw this Sabre flying directly towards my ship and then I saw the torpedo it fired at me. I have no idea why I didn't dodge it, maybe it was already too late or I was just too weak...'
She did not like this situation, talking about an accident, and she knew Ashfield wanted to know more. He would surely ask himself why she was not paying attention, as she was known to be one who always managed to keep a clean head in difficult situations. She lowered her voice.
'Maybe...I should've talked to somebody about my problems...my nightmares. All these sleepless nights. And I was so stupid and went to my shifts, while I was both physically and mentally exhausted.'
For Natalie it was a fight against tears, for her it is almost impossible to admit her own weakness, but in the current situation she no longer had the strength to hide it. It was the first time that she openly talked with somebody else about her problems. She sighed and it sounded like she had given herself up.
Josh stared at Natalie as he was remembering the fight in the ice cloud, now trying to make more sense after listening to her side of the story. Maybe three or fourth wingmen in the patrol wing would have avoided any kind of serious damage on the squad members, but now a new issue was brought up and Josh hesitated whether he should continue digging up what seemed to be a nasty episode -or episodes- of Natalie's life, or just leave the room and seek for another wingman for the next patrol shift. He sighed and looked at the her wounded arm, silently. The Outcasts Sabres, the tachyon beams chasing his ship, the Echo wing arriving at the scene... Images that quickly popped up in his mind, but then, Aleesha. What would she do in this situation...?
"If you couldn't find anybody to talk about your problems, then I guess you're with the right person now. You know, wingmates getting along, better coordination in these tricky shifts, sorting one's life out... Yeah, that. I'll be listening."