Chapter Two: Into the Maelstrom

[Psychie]

Toph cuts her radio off from the rest of the squad, and in a very terse voice, she says, "Corporal, do you know what the proper term is for soldiers that go into battle when they are stoned? They are known as statistics. If you don't put that joint out right now I will abort this run to have your ass dropped off in front of Colonel Sharp and let you tell him just why I had to scrub you from the cockpit! If I ever hear that you put the lives of others on the line because of being at any less than 100% on a mission, you'll think that General Steele is a pleasant and easy going guy compared to what I'll do to you! Do you get me?"

 

[Purr]

(Instrumental mood music)

Spoiler

"Dreamland" by Stick Figure. Maximum irie, mon. =) It is a beautiful instrumental. The video is awfully nice, too. =)

Spoiler: Friendly quote from previous post

No, there was no lit joint in her cockpit; the scent told of one already having been smoked prior to entry and her nose had detected the lingering scent much like that of tobacco on a cigarette-smoker's clothes.

As Toph cut into him, Booty took note that the radio was muted. It was just the two of them. This was all right, so Booty closed his eyes and relaxed. He spoke calmly without any sign of insult. There was a deep clarity to his words and, for once, no fierceness in them. No hate. Not even insult. He was trying to be as irie as a man in his position could be. So he just spoke his mind.

"Time for Booty an' Toph to get real. Me joint been out, girl. Been out before Booty loaded your flyin' machine. Booty know him limits. Booty not takin' chances wit' no one's life. Neva has. Booty neva do nuttin' him not ready to stand an' answer for." He said it like a veteran.

"Little Toph don't know her ganja - Booty ain't stoned, but lit. Were it alcohol, you abusin' an' accusin' Booty of drinkin' de whole case when him had jus' one. Him not drunk, girl - him buzzed." He let out a deep sigh that sounded sad.

"Little Toph rememba Fat Booty makin' a scene in Big Bunker whenin' him told him flyin'?"

(GM Note: Booty is referring to this scene in post #11 here Chapter Two.)

Spoiler

It was then that something dawned on the Jamaican-become-A.T.A.C.-tanker. Something... horrible.

"WAAAAAAAAIT A MIINNIT!!" Cpl. Booty exclaimed and argued to your team. Much arm-waving followed. "Dis mean you wantin' Booty to go up into de air in de Valkyries? You wanna be flyin' to Milton, Florida? Booty is tanker, mon! A.T.A.C.! I tellin' you! Once you A.T.A.C, dere ain't no goin' back!"

He made violent steering motions as if he were in the seat of a Veritech Hover Tank. "Booty meant ta be crashin' an' trashin' bad boys onna ground! Not flyin' up in de air like some wanna-be angel! Ain't no way you gettin' Booty up in no crazy change-plane! Booty belong on da ground an' dat be final!"

Cpl. Booty folded his arms and gave a menacing look to the Traversers. Then, finished with his say, he performed an about-face and made as if to walk away from the table. He found Col. Sharp staring right at him. Looking cross.

Immediately, Booty's menacing grimace faded. Now he looked worried. Very worried. Booty immediately performed another about-face back to you and asked, in a much smaller voice, one simple question:

"Uh, you wantin' Booty in da front seat or da back?"

"Only Me Colonel can get Booty up into de air like dis. Why? Easy. Little Toph kin have either de Irie Booty you hearin' now, or you kin have Maniacal Booty. Booty Gone Crazy Mad."

"Why? So kind of your heart to care an' askin' him." For what seemed to be the millionth time, Booty's thoughts drifted back to a place he did not want to go, but go he went, this time for Toph's sake. His voice became soft. Vulnerable. Like a much younger version of himself.

"Las' time Fat Booty was in a flyin' machine, him lost his Momma an' Daddy." He gulped and stared at a scene burned into his mind. "When Booty was Little Booty, livin' on de islands, we went on him first flight. Little plane took off. Little plane fly high and soft. Plane engine stall. Plane engine fall."

"We fallin' an' fallin'. Last words o' me Momma was her prayin' to God Almighty to spare Little Booty while me Daddy an' de pilot fought wit' de controls like frantic madmen. Everybody screamin'. Cryin'. Prayin'. Yellin' on de radio fo' help. We 'bout to die..."

"When little plane struck de earth, it burst into fire. Wit' lots of fuel, the flame eat everybody inside like a demon from Hell. Except for Little Booty." The big man paused, trying to catch his breath. The ganja weed in his system was keeping him calm against all of the fear, but now it was losing the fight.

"Momma an' Poppa shielded Little Booty's body against de crash. Wif dey last breath, they trow Little Booty from the cockpit. Den dey burned alive in front of him. Booty can still smell dem. Hear dem."

"Pilot dead. Momma dead. Poppa dead. Bodies blacker dan a Wicked Man's soul. Dis be big reason Booty become Mecha Engineer - so dat nobody, nowhere go through dat. Nobody lose dere family to mechanical failure. Dat's why Booty best! Nobody eva die in Booty's machines due to Booty negligence. No graves dug from Booty's hands."

He looked up at Toph. There was something cold and dead in his stare but not frightening. He did not want to frighten Toph. He wanted her to understand. "You want Booty in de air again? You got him. You got Irie Booty. But dis de only way Booty flyin'. Booty get high so he can be high."

He kept his eyes fixed on Toph's seat. "Booty canna stand to look out de window lest him lose him mind. Smell his parents burnin'. Hearing dem screamin'. Wittout the ganja, Toph have Maniacal Booty in her cockpit, freakin' an' shriekin', whammin' an' slammin' on de ejection seat, cryin' until him feet back on de Good Lord's earth, kissin' an' huggin' de green grass."

"So now you knowin'. Booty's big secret. You can tell everybody, try ruin Booty if you like. Him too buzzed to care." He seemed too buzzed to have any strong emotion. "But girl like you ain't comin' down on Booty when him got a Reggie almost as old as Little Toph. Booty father. Toph girl. We ain't gotta like each other, but we should respect."

"Booty respect your flyin' machine. Up here, you de Queen of de Sky. Jus' you try an' undastand dat Toph's Heaven be Booty's Hell."

"Booty only here for Me Colonel. Booty ain't no Wild Card. Him got no magic inside." He stretched as best as he could in the speeding cockpit and tried to relax again. His big body shuddered.

"While we clearin' de air here, Little Toph should keep her threaten an' frettin' lest she be regrettin'. Booty undastand. Dis be Little Toph's first sortie. Big responsibility, first time. Kind of like gettin' first kiss. Little Toph want everytin' to be goin' perfect." He tried to look out the window but failed.

"But mission like dis? Ain't no perfect, girl. Booty got him suspicions. Him know General Steel. Fat Booty gotta bad feelin' dere be sometin' him not tellin' us."

"So Queen of de Sky kin fly where she like. Either fly Booty to de battlefield so him can do him duty or turn her flyin' machine around to Eglin so Booty can see him beloved Reggie again... jus' do it before ganja weed wearin' off. Please. Booty don' want go crazy uppin' here. Even Little Toph an' her young mouth not deservin' of such a scene. Wild Cards deserve betta den Maniacal Booty."

He yawned and closed his eyes. He seemed to be drifting off into a peaceful nap. It seemed a wise thing to do lest the joint lose its effect mid-flight. If Toph had a reply, he would listen just as long as it was real and respectful. That is how people came to know each other. Still, times like these between strangers were precious - it was important to speak one's mind when your lives depended upon one another. To get everything out in the open.

"Oh. One more ting. Let's be real - you ain't nuttin' compared to General Steel."

 

[Psychie]

Toph is silent for a long moment, then bows her head. "Yes, you are right that this is my first combat mission, and the pressure is on to make this a perfect run. Yes, you are probably old enough to be my father. But I also know that I am partly responsible for the lives of all six of us out here, and you are going into a fight zone impaired. You can call it any fancy name you want, but you should have said you couldn't fly without being sedated in some way. I'm sorry if this ruins any chance of a friendship between us, but I cannot let you go into a fight like this." With an angry flick of a switch, Toph turns the squad link back on. "This is Cygnus Two, and I need to return to base and drop off Corporal Booty back on the ground. I say again, I am aborting to go RTB. He is in no condition to be in a fight and I'm grounding him. Fly slow, and I'll catch up to you guys before you hit the target area."

Unless she is directly ordered not to, she then turns to head back to Eglin at top speed for the Ajax.

 

[Captain Hesperus]

Herc settles back as well as he can into the rear seat of the Valkyrie. His wide shoulders, accentuated by the armor, made it look like he'd been wedged firmly into the seat by some humongous hand. With an effort of maneuvering, he managed to clip the five-point harness together and tried to make the best of his situation.
My first sortie in a hover tank, he mused, I wasn't expecting it to start like this.

The Valkyrie taxied then roared down the runway, afterburners at full blast. Hercules was pressed back into his seat and the world turned grey for a moment before his armor's internal systems compensated for the thrust. Then Shirley rotated and the bright red Veritech clawed upward into the sky. Hercules felt his stomach decide to make a spirited effort to remain at ground level, trying to exit him and the Valkyrie through the armoured floor. He concentrated on his breathing, trying to not let the queasiness in his stomach get the better of him. He listened to the radio chatter between the three pilots, letting the peace of the skies around him calm his stomach. It wasn't that he was afraid of flying, only he had not flown in a fast fixed-wing aircraft before. The closest he'd come was the military jet-assisted logistics plane he'd flown from the Mediterranean base on Cyprus to Florida.

He watched MechaKitten with a sense of pleasure. The tiny mech was gazing out of the canopy with obvious enjoyment, its tiny body not affected by the G-forces that tugged and pulled at Hercules' innards every time Lt. Mack shifted her bird through the air. He maintained a gentle, but close, hand on the feline. Should they be engaged from the ground and Shirley needed to perform evasive maneuvers, having a small mechanoid with claws that could shear through Mega-Damage materials flying around the inside of the cockpit might be bad for everyone.

Then the radio crackled and the sound of Lt. Kirin's voice, annoyed and frustrated, cut in, "This is Cygnus Two, and I need to return to base and drop off Corporal Booty back on the ground. I say again, I am aborting to go RTB. He is in no condition to be in a fight and I'm grounding him. Fly slow, and I'll catch up to you guys before you hit the target area."

"What?", Hercules responded, confused, "Is he airsick? I get that sometimes. Just get him to watch the horizon and take deep breaths."

 

[Sherwood]

Mario frowns. What's going on? He says, "I don't know what's going on, but Cygnus Two seems to be flying fine as far as I can see from here. I don't see any signs of external damage." Would Lt. Kirin ground Booty for being airsick?

Edited

 

[Kaerri]

Hearing the tapping coming from her backseat -- not to mention Mario's speaking up over the radio -- Elinor's hands paused just a moment on her own controls. What is he doing to my mecha? The transmission from Cygnus Two was a distraction, but only a momentary one, that being properly Mack's call and not Elinor's. Turning her attention back to her own cockpit, she switched her radio to Receive Only. "Corporal, you want to tell me what you think you're doin'? I don't know if you weren't payin' attention when Lieutenant Kirin told you not to touch anythin', or if you thought that meant just with her, or even if they just do things different in tankers, but you'd better learn somethin' right now -- Veritech pilots don't like people meddlin' with their craft, particularly in-flight, without their permission."

Her voice stayed calm and cool, but her emphasis should leave him in no doubt of her sincerity. "If you can't at least tell me when you're gonna mess with somethin' -- somethin' I coulda been lookin' at and needin' to see -- you're gonna have to keep your hands to yourself. Especially on a combat mission. Stuff happens an' you're wantin' to help, I get that. But you better ask, or at least tell me if there ain't time for askin', so I don't think my displays changed 'cause of combat damage or a glitch in the system, you hear? Don't just be takin' over. Up in the skies, that's just common politeness."

She added, "Besides, we need to be on the same page here, workin' together, not wanderin' off at cross purposes. Don't get me wrong. You wanna keep an eye on things, that's one less thing I need to do. But I gotta know you're doin' it before you do it, OK?"

 

[Sherwood]

Mario nods before he remembers that he's behind the pilot's seat. "Eh, yes, ma'am. I'm not used to working in tandem since the first weeks of VHT training. That's no excuse, though. You are right, and I need to remember to keep you informed on what I'm doing. Right now, I'm trying to keep an electronic eye open for any signs of Zentraedi tracking us, or any signals on radar that doesn't have a IFF code that we recognize."

 

[Purr]

"This is Cygnus Two, and I need to return to base and drop off Corporal Booty back on the ground. I say again, I am aborting to go RTB. He is in no condition to be in a fight and I'm grounding him. Fly slow, and I'll catch up to you guys before you hit the target area."

Upon hearing this, Shirley "Mack" went from being completely focused on the mission at hand to staring at the radio as if it were an alien thing.

"What?", Hercules responded, confused, "Is he airsick? I get that sometimes. Just get him to watch the horizon and take deep breaths."

"Airsick? We are losing light with only 10 minutes to target area, flying at just under speed, and Muppet wants to RTB?! Booty had better be in cardiac arrest!"

"Cygnus Two, hold your position. What do you mean 'he is in no condition to fight?' Corporal, can you hear me?"

Booty answered. He sounded tired. "Booty hearin' you, ma'am."

"What's the problem? Why do you have to return to base?"

"Simple. Booty hadda toke before we left base. Toph girl somehow smell it an'--"

Shirley just about lost it. "An RTB mid-mission over a toke?! You have got to be kidding me! Cygnus Two, Cygnus Three, put your birds down in Guardian right now!"

A few moments later, Shirley provided a navpoint; a shopping mall parking lot devoid of life and filled with post-holocaust wreckage and smashed cars and trucks all over. If the Wild Cards did as ordered, then minutes later, they found themselves down on the ground, Veritechs parked and facing outward, guns at the ready. The canopy rose on the Red Baroness and out came Shirley with a word to Elinor. "Watch our backs. This'll only take a minute." In the silence, Herc, Elinor, and Mario could hear everything. Including MechaKitten taking a "bath."

"Muppet! Booty! Front and center!"

If Toph did as ordered, then Toph, Shirley, and Booty soon stood in a triangle facing each other in the musty wind as the Floridian sun began its slow trek into dusk. As in Toph's cockpit, Booty's faceplate was up revealing his bearded face. He stood at attention and wore no expression in particular. Shirley stomped up to him and lifted her own visor. Then she sniffed Booty's face and neck. In awe, she turned to Toph.

"You have the nose of a K-9! I can barely smell it!"

Then she turned back to Booty. Hands on her hips, she summoned all of the coolness she could. Then she asked, "Why?"

His voice shook. "Booty terrible 'fraid of flyin'. Him Momma an' Poppa die in Booty's first flight."

Shirley thought for a moment. "So... you have some kind of PTSD regarding flying?"

"You could say dat."

"And you smoked a blunt prior to take-off?"

"Lit a blunt," he corrected. "One toke."

"One puff? One hit only?"

Booty nodded. Shirley sniffed him again. "California Red or Maui Wowie?"

Booty's eyes became large with shock. "Wat? How Shirley-woman knowin' de ganja weed?"

Mack made a face. "Duh! I'm a surfer girl remember? What do you think we do between getting spit outta barrels and waiting for the tides? We party! You don't have to smoke pot it to know what it is." Then she added, "You know Toph's a doctor, right?"

Booty deflated. "Whoops."

"Yeah, right. Smooth move, Ex-lax. How is Toph supposed to respect you if you don't play straight with her? You need something to fly, ask."

"Booty know betta. Is just very hard to tell your most Hellish secret to strangers like you all."

"I bet. At least now we know."

She put her hands on her hips and lifted her voice. Even now, it was pleasing to listen to even if the words were far from song. "Listen up, Wild Cards, and listen good! You don't have to like each other, but you are darned sure going to respect each other! Otherwise, we're dead meat when the heat is on! We've got to be stronger than these new Red Zens!"

"A.T.A.C.! When you're in our aircraft, you abide by our rules! Whenever we're in your tanks, we go by your rules! T.A.S.C. rules work like this! 'Sit down, belt in, shut up, and hang on!' Ask your pilot before you touch a thing! Just like Hercules up there!" Hearing this, MechaKitten peeked his head up in curiosity, but that was as far as Herc's hand seemed to allow.

"T.A.S.C. pilots! Now hear this! Give your tankers benefit of the doubt if they follow the rules! Booty being lit in Toph's cockpit is just as messed up as, I dunno, Hercules working my radar or comm without asking me or something equally dumb... But in his tank, Booty being lit is maybe no big deal. Just as long as you can do the job, right? Tankers are a hell of a lot closer to the blood and guts action than we jet drivers are. They see the gore and the bodies up close, friend and foe alike. So they cope differently than we do." She stared at Booty, the breeze made her long black curls seem to dance. "So what are you gonna do the next time you need to light up?"

"Ask, ma'am."

"Damned right you are."

She turned to Toph. "Muppet, next time you want to surprise us with a call out that you're going to pull out on us, you let me decide. You may be the doctor, but I am the commanding officer here. You don't have the right to drop our airpower down 33% over a toke. You risk our lives by doing so, don'tcha think? What if we fly into something we can't get out of with reduced firepower while you're back at base? Were they right about you not being able to follow orders when you washed out at the Assembly? An RTB, short of a clear and undeniable life-threatening emergency, is my call to make, not yours." Her body language seemed to say, "I want to believe in you but don't make it on hard on me!"

She returned her attention to everyone. "We are losing daylight against a target we are likely not going to find at night. There isn't going to be some big red billboard with neon lights waiting for us saying 'Enemy Base Here!!' You really want to fly back to Col. Sharp and Prof. Stein with a plane-load of excuses instead of the results we promised? Especially on our very first mission? Get it together, people! Now mount up!"

"Herc! You and the cat move into Toph's bird. Booty, you're with me. And Mario and Elinor?" She seemed to point them out only because she hadn't. "Just... behave, darnit." Shirley checked her watch and moved to climb back into her cockpit.

 

[Kaerri]

"T.A.S.C. pilots! Now hear this! Give your tankers benefit of the doubt if they follow the rules! Booty being lit in Toph's cockpit is just as messed up as, I dunno, Hercules working my radar or comm without asking me or something equally dumb...

Elinor glanced over her shoulder and gave Mario a wink and a smile. I won't tell if you won't, said both wink and smile. After all, they'd already cleared the air about that.

"Herc! You and the cat move into Toph's bird. Booty, you're with me. And Mario and Elinor?" She seemed to point them out only because she hadn't. "Just... behave, darnit." Shirley checked her watch and moved to climb back into her cockpit.

"Yes, ma'am," Elinor replied, and prepared to follow Mack back into the air.

 

[Captain Hesperus]

Hercules listened intently to his CO's words, carefully raising a hand as she said,

"A.T.A.C.! When you're in our aircraft, you abide by our rules! Whenever we're in your tanks, we go by your rules! T.A.S.C. rules work like this! 'Sit down, belt in, shut up, and hang on!' Ask your pilot before you touch a thing! Just like Hercules up there!"

"In all honesty, I can barely move to touch anything, so...."
With the summary eviction from the lead officer's bird, Hercules unhooked his belts and wiggled himself out of the RIO seat and clambered down from the cockpit, MechaKitten balanced on a broad shoulder. With his feet on solid ground, he quickly retrieved his weapons from the forearm stowage of The Red Baroness and transferred it over to Lt. Kirin's bird. He wordlessly assisted Booty with swapping out his own gear and climbed all the way back up into the RIO seat of the Veritech. Unfortunately, the rear seat in a Logan was no bigger than that of the Valkyrie. In fact, it was slightly tighter. A fact attested to the sensation that Herc wondered if he'd actually need to buckle in, since he felt firmly wedged in.

All through this, he kept his thoughts to himself. Dark thoughts that normally had no business in his cheerful personality. We're doing this too soon. We've had no time to get used to each other, learn each others' ways of doing things. No practice, not even a chance to even learn middle names. How on earth are we going to complete this mission if we're barely a team?

 

[Psychie]

Toph knows better than to argue with Lt. Mackenzie after she has made a ruling, even if she doesn't agree with it. Now, not only did I screw up with Booty, now I look like an idiot in front of the others for 'overreacting' to a fellow soldier going into a fight in any way under a hundred percent. Great. In a crisp, businesslike tone, she acknowledges the order to get airborne and does her best to aid Hercules in getting set inside the back seat of her Ajax. Once her passenger is secure, she hits the squad comm channel once more. "Cygnus Two ready to fly."

Once this mission is done, I'll need to talk to Shirley to make sure she is ok with me trying to evict Booty. No need to have bad blood in the field with the boss.

 

[Sherwood]

Mario gives Elinor a thumbs up, and clicks his own mic to say, "Zuko here. Orders received, ma'am." Back to just him and Elinor in side her Valk, Mario asks, "Lt. Hall, with your permission, I'll get back on the coms and radar, keep looking for contacts and Zentraedi search beams."

 

[Kaerri]

Elinor switched on her own mic long enough to tell Mack, "Cygnus Three is ready to fly." Clicking back to inside-only, her tone was much more friendly as she replied, "Sounds good, Corporal, and thanks. What's your nickname, by the way? Do tankers get 'em like we flygirls do?"

 

[Sherwood]

Mario breathes a quiet sigh of relief. "Well, ma'am, normally we tankers don't get fancy call-signs like you fliers do, instead, we name our tanks. But I have a feeling that the Wild Cards will be breaking new ground left and right, so, having a call-sign for the ground pounders might just be in order." He ponders for a moment, then laughs. "That means everyone else has to pick the name, right? With my luck, it will be something totally embarrassing."

 

[Purr]

As Booty collected his gear from Toph's AJAX, a dreadful glumness seemed to come over him. He nodded to Hercules as they passed but he did not make eye contact. It was only when he met up with Toph on his way to the Red Baroness that he paused. It was clear that the effects of his sacred ganja weed had just about worn off.

He looked Toph in the eye. "Booty apologizin' to Muppet. Booty should've asked. Now Muppet an' Booty both feelin' de anger of our leader, Mack. Bad enough Booty have to live wit' him flyin' curse all dese years. Worse still Muppet got to be feelin' de blues because of it."

The brawny Jamaican moved closer and closer to the Red Baroness and with each step, his apprehensiveness grew like a looming monster. Gear in hand, he stood before the mecha knowing what it meant to sit inside of it. He shuddered, his angels and demons doing battle within him.

Meanwhile, Shirley was steaming. They had not flown one hour before they had a situation, one bad enough that if Shirley had not intervened, the entire mission could have been in real jeopardy. There would have been no slowing down for a lone Toph trying to catch up behind them; there simply wasn't time. Even the existence of this base had not been known until just a few days ago. Now, there had been a firefight courtesy of Steel's Slayers and Col. Sharp had mentioned that the Wild Cards would need another way inside if they could find the base in the first place.

Now, with less than an hour of daylight remaining thanks to this episode, they had no time left. It was either find the base or risk total failure.

Shirley looked down from her cockpit. She saw Booty staring at her aircraft from below. He stood at the foot of the ladder unmoving, unblinking. When Shirley looked up at the new colors of her bird, she felt pride and humility both and a deep sense of appreciation, but that look on Booty's face showed anything but. It was as if he was staring up at the face of the Devil himself. That is when Shirley knew - Booty's magic spell for keeping him safe from the horrors of PTSD had worn off.

She paused. She had to make a decision, but what?

Shirley reached out her hand and tried to smile to him, to encourage him to come up and join her. It did not work. He hardly saw her. So instead, she appealed to his sense of family.

"Come on, big fella. The sooner we get this mission done, the sooner we both see Reggie's new wheelchair. Right?"

Booty closed his eyes at the thought and put one hand on the rung of the ladder that would carry him up. Then he put another hand. He climbed up like an automaton until his gear and automatic grenade launcher and rifle were stowed. Then he put himself in the backseat. He sat there like a wooden man. Shirley closed the canopy, sealing them both inside.

Then, long moments passed. Shirley seemed to be talking to Booty. Booty did not seem to respond a great deal; a nod here, a shaking head there. Shirley operated the controls and the Red Baroness's engines flared to life. And as they rose into the dusky sky, ten miles away from the target area, Shirley seemed to nod to Booty once. Booty looked at her as if she had gone crazy. She repeated herself and nodded. Then a tiny red glow from the backseat could once be seen. It faded and died. Shirley watched Booty in her rear-view camera. He was relaxed again, all tenseness gone. His angels had won. This time.

"Cygnus One, lifting off. Wild Cards, resume previous formation. Somewhere near the old town of Milton, there's a base with big dudes inside of it. Big evil dudes who are keeping ASC property."

"Let's go get it back."

 

[Sherwood]

Mario lets out a "Hell, yeah we are! I'm ready to rock."

 

[Psychie]

Earlier,

He looked Toph in the eye. "Booty apologizin' to Muppet. Booty should've asked. Now Muppet an' Booty both feelin' de anger of our leader, Mack. Bad enough Booty have to live wit' him flyin' curse all dese years. Worse still Muppet got to be feelin' de blues because of it."

Toph lets out a sigh. "Corporal, I want you to know that I have no ill will against you, and I hope you understand why I was trying to take you back to Eglin. I have heard stories in training of troops going into battle stoned, and stories of doctors performing surgery when drunk. Its something that has scared me enough with the thought of you or someone else getting hurt because of being under the influence. Hopefully we can get past this and still work together as friends." She offers her hand to the big Jamacian, hoping he takes it.

later

"You got it, boss lady. Lets go make some history as only the Wild Cards can!"

 

[Sherwood]

Mario checks the computer for any maps of the area that they are heading to, including any available satellite imagery. If he finds anything, he'll share it with the squad over the data link.
(Another roll, please, with green dice this time.)

 

[Kaerri]

Elinor grinned. "Yes, ma'am! Let's do this! An' Corporal Zuko says he'll keep an eye out for contacts, Zentraedi search beams, and that kinda thing, so if he sings out, it's somethin' he saw on our Valk's sensors."

 

[Purr]

Toph lets out a sigh. "Corporal, I want you to know that I have no ill will against you, and I hope you understand why I was trying to take you back to Eglin. I have heard stories in training of troops going into battle stoned, and stories of doctors performing surgery when drunk. Its something that has scared me enough with the thought of you or someone else getting hurt because of being under the influence. Hopefully we can get past this and still work together as friends." She offers her hand to the big Jamacian, hoping he takes it.

Earlier...

Guns and gear in hand, the giant Jamaican stared down at Toph - that's when Toph saw it. That look. Booty's eyes were becoming sunken and deeply stressed. He hardly blinked. When she first spoke, he stared past her, through her. Toph's medical books and professors knew these symptoms. "Shell shock" they called it in World War One. "Battle Fatigue" was its later name. Today, they called it "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder" and this was, perhaps, Toph's first-ever meeting with it face-to-face.

It was no act, no attempt at trying to get a Section Eight.* Maximus Oceanus Booty was a man barely hanging on. Though his feet were on the ground, there was the terrible foreboding that those feet were going to have to leave the ground again.

(*Discharge from the service for medical reasons.)

She spoke. He heard her. But with the weed nearly gone from his system, he was becoming forlorn, distant. When Toph offered her hand, Booty at first stared down at it dumbly. Then something in him realized what she was doing and he took her hand with a tenderness that belied his usually-passionate nature. With half his mind stuck in the past, he spoke to Toph as if the matter between them were but smoke in the air.

"Ain't no ting, girl."

Forgiving Toph to what amounted simply to youthful ignorance and well-meaning was the easiest thing he had done that day. He needed all of his self-control not to smell his burning parents, to keep the prayers and the screams and the sounds out of his mind. It was taking everything he had.

Then he with a shuddering breath and with hands on his guns, he slowly marched toward Mack's gleaming Red Baroness like a man approaching the very gates of Hell in Dante's Inferno. At Mack's call and with all hope abandoned, Booty somehow found what it took to scale the ladder up to the cockpit and board a flying machine for a second time today.

*​

Now.

As the Wild Cards rocketed through the air as they raced toward their destination, a glorious Floridian sunset greeted them.

Spoiler: Glorious Floridian Sunset

Yes, folks, Florida sunrises and sunsets are often wonderful to look upon. =)

(Image credit: Pinterest)

As your veritech fighters cut through the skies, Mario somehow, someway, was able to bring up some old maps of this area. Not because of any satellite-related assistance. Ever since the Rain of Death and the First Robotech War, satellites went from being an everyday luxury to a treasured rarity. Not many functioning satellites remained today. The same could be said for the people and the facilities that monitored and maintained them.

Still, after considerable struggle and some luck, Mario was able to find a map of Milton, Florida and its surrounding area, circa 1941.

Spoiler: Map of Milton

(Image credit: Florida Center for Instructional Technology - University of South ... )

As this was taking place, Shirley came over the squadron channel. She did not sound amused. "Anyone else kicking themselves in the butt for not grabbing maps prior to our departure?"

Mario knew that the red highway running east to southwest was Highway 90. South of that was Interstate 10, the major state-crossing highway he and Shirley had fought upon at mile marker 25. Milton was just past this at mile marker 26.

(Game Master note: Forgive me, folks!. My math is off. From Eglin ASC to Milton as the crow flies is about at 60 mile trek. That's my mistake. Still, the Wild Cards arrive on I-10 just before dusk.)

Though you had flown up from the southeast, your course began to take you over that very stretch of land. Mario and Shirley's battle had torn the highway to shreds not 24 hours ago and the civilians they were aiding had barely made it through a large stretch of Zentraedi-formed barricades made from the shattered hulls of Zentraedi starships. Nasty trails of burned rubber had marked the old highway as dozens of drivers had laid down their gas pedals in a mad attempt to escape the Zentraedi soldiers. When Shirley had driven away with Mario in her passenger seat, they left behind dozens of bloodied Zentreadi bodies, one veritech hover tank post-explosion, and a platoon-sized element of Zentraedi mecha all destroyed into burning debris from the battle.

However, as you approached, both Mario and Shirley noticed something unusual as they saw that very stretch of road. For here is how it looked now...

Spoiler

(Image credit: WallpaperSite)

No mega-damage-sized potholes. No barricade. No broken starship hulls. Interstate 10 at mile marker 25 looked like a newly-laid highway with stretches of beautiful forest on either side. Only the forest showed signs of the battle. Otherwise, it was as if the battle had never been! The highway was as smooth as if it had been repaired but hours ago, but no force in Florida or Alabama could have put right the epic mess that was here so very recently.

Shirley came over the comm. She sounded worried. "Whoa, whoa, whoa... Wild Cards, pop to Guardian and take it really slow." With practiced control, each of your veritech fighters slowed to under 50 knots and transformed into Guardian mode where one could hover indefinitely.

Shirley took a moment to survey the area. She could not contain her disbelief. "Mario, are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

 

[Sherwood]

Still, after considerable struggle and some luck, Mario was able to find a map of Milton, Florida and its surrounding area, circa 1941.

Mario lifts his head up from the terminal with a smile. "LT, I have a map of the area on my set here. I'm sharing it with everyone's mecha now. Its old; dating back to the 1940's-1950's, but it is better than nothing. Might give us an idea on where the Zentraedi base is hiding out here."

No mega-damage-sized potholes. No barricade. No broken starship hulls. Interstate 10 at mile marker 25 looked like a newly-laid highway with stretches of beautiful forest on either side. Only the forest showed signs of the battle. Otherwise, it was as if the battle had never been! The highway was as smooth as if it had been repaired but hours ago, but no force in Florida or Alabama could have put right the epic mess that was here so very recently.

Shirley came over the comm. She sounded worried. "Whoa, whoa, whoa... Wild Cards, pop to Guardian and take it really slow." With practiced control, each of your veritech fighters slowed to under 50 knots and transformed into Guardian mode where one could hover indefinitely.

Shirley took a moment to survey the area. She could not contain her disbelief. "Mario, are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

Craning his neck to look past Lt. Hall's shoulder, Mario is briefly struck speechless. "Didn't your buddy in the Phalanx pepper this whole area with LRMs? Even with a major effort to repair the road that should be a blasted ruin, there would still be traces left to show that the damage was done! What the hell? We're nowhere near the Bermuda Triangle, right?"

 

[Psychie]

Toph throttles back and transforms her Ajax from jet to helicopter mode, slowing down and beginning a slow orbit of the area. She has never seen a live blast from a heavy missile before in person, but has had plenty of practice firing smaller warheads and knows what they can do, so a barrage of heavy missiles should have devastated this whole area. Keeping her senses at full alert, she switches through her mecha's various sensor options. There might be something on infrared that pops up that normal sight doesn't show.

"Herc, keep your head on a swivel. We don't know from what direction an attack might come from."

 

[Purr]

"Didn't your buddy in the Phalanx pepper this whole area with LRMs? Even with a major effort to repair the road that should be a blasted ruin, there would still be traces left to show that the damage was done! What the hell? We're nowhere near the Bermuda Triangle, right?"

Shirley's voice was tense and uncertain. "Hairball gave me his entire payload. Forty-four long-range high explosive and frag missiles of the largest variety." She took a deep breath. "It destroyed everything. Everything! So where did it all go?" The Red Baroness circled about 1,000 feet above the road. "Elinor? Get good video of this. Mario? Get Eglin Tower on the horn and send them her video." Another deep breath. "They've got to see this... Then we'll be on our way."

Toph throttles back and transforms her Ajax from jet to helicopter mode, slowing down and beginning a slow orbit of the area. She has never seen a live blast from a heavy missile before in person, but has had plenty of practice firing smaller warheads and knows what they can do, so a barrage of heavy missiles should have devastated this whole area. Keeping her senses at full alert, she switches through her mecha's various sensor options. There might be something on infrared that pops up that normal sight doesn't show.

The great rushing sounds pouring forth from the jet engines and vectored thrust nozzles ceased, replaced by the heavy hum of the AJAX's powerful turboshaft and the super-rapid "whup-whup-whup" of its twin rotor blades as they sliced through the air, carrying the transformable aircraft along. Toph and Herc heard MechaKitten's child-like "Meeew!" as he tried to keep track of the whirling rotors and instead he only succeeded in making himself very dizzy, very quickly. Only once did the little fellow pay any attention to the goings-on of what lay below; he was duly entranced by the workings of the only veritech that could transform and serve in the role of a combat helicopter.

As Toph swept the area, she noticed that the grass and sides of the road were laden with great blast marks of mega-damage weapons fire and explosions, yet even her incredible perception, she could not find one fallen mecha, nor piece of debris, not even an empty e-clip or shell casing below her. There was no mega-damage material below her whatsoever, ASC or Zentraedi. Interstate 10 glowed darkly and softly with the sheen of the setting sun upon it instead of dulled by the sunbaked, rubber-marked blacks and grays of a well-driven post-holocaust highway. Switching through her AJAX's sensor array only cemented this discovery.

 

[Sherwood]

"Copy that, LT. Getting on the horn now." He works the computer, getting video records from the various Veritechs in the squadron, and puts them into a MPEG file to send back to base. "Eglin Tower, Eglin Tower, this is Corporal Zuko in the Wild Cards Squadron. We have come across a . . . . well, an abnormality. The site of the Zentraedi ambush yesterday, all signs of the damage to the road has been repaired, and all wreckage is gone. Not a single E-Clip or shell casing, or rubble from the wrecked starships that were used to form the barricade on the highway remains. Transmitting video files from multiple Veritechs to review, along with live video. Continuing on with our operation."

 

[Psychie]

Toph calls out on the squad channel, "This is Muppet in Cygnus Two. I'm not seeing any signs of mega materials in the area at all, not even shrapnel from a blasted Battle Pod. Nothing is showing up on IR scans of the area, either." She keeps moving her Ajax in a circle around the area, but her eyes keep bouncing around the cockpit, switching focus from her radar to the cameras to using her good ol' Mark One Eyeball to visually inspect the area. "Nothing! How could they police up all the metal in the area and not leave a trace?"