Our Finest Hour

A few hours later, most of the squad was sitting in the bar located inside the FOB just outside of Hoofington. After the Imperial forces had finally retreated, it wasn’t long before reinforcements had shown up and despite the squad’s annoyance, Spitfire managed to keep her cool as she gave her report. But now, there was only laughter and a huge sense of pride.

“I gotta admit that was one hell of a shot Misty,” Dust said with a grin on her face as she took a sip of her beer. If the entire EDF had snipers of your caliber this war would’ve ended weeks ago.”

“As nice as that would be, I’d hate not being able to boast,” Misty smirked. “Besides, Omega Squad wouldn’t be as significant to the war effort without me.”

“Yeah yeah, whatever you say,” Soarin said as he took a sip of his drink. “Let’s all be honest here: we wouldn’t function as a team without our great Captain and leader.”

“Don’t even start getting sappy and kissing my ass,” Spitfire said, though the small smile showed a bit of flattery. “The only reason we work so well together is because the majority of us worked together for so many years. We’re family, regardless of whether we’re the Wonderbolts or Omega Squad. And that goes the same for the newbies.”

Dash was sitting in her chair, mostly staying quiet as she sipped her drink. She was usually more outspoken but when she was with the group she tended to be a little more hesitant to start conversation. Not really a surprise since she practically idolized these people. She then felt a nudge to her side and as she looked over she saw Fleetfoot smiling in her direction. “Hey guys, let’s not forget how quick Dash is rising through the ranks. Only a few months and she’s already a sergeant. By winter she’ll probably be a lieutenant.”

“Oh come on Fleetfoot, I’m not that impressive,” Dash said, chuckling slightly as she tried to add some humor to all the praise.

“Yeah really, you can’t forget about me,” Dust said. “I mean, sometimes I think Dash wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for me backing her up.” Dash merely rolled her eyes in response.

“Eh…I guess you’re okay,” Spitfire said. “I only gave you the rank of sergeant so you wouldn’t try outdoing Dash and accidentally blow yourself up.”

“To be fair,” Dust said. “That ammunition store blowing up only occurred due to the slight change in wind direction that caused my bullet to go off course and ricochet off the wall and hit said store.”

“Oh man, that was pretty awesome,” Soarin said. “Well…until Spits got an earful from General Hailstorm.”

“I rather get shot in the leg than have to go through that again…” Spitfire said as she downed her glass. “If he didn’t outrank me I’d be so tempted to kick him square in the nuts…”

“Insubordination, I love it,” Misty giggled. “Hey where’s the rookie? Vapor Trails?”

“She’s back at the barracks,” Dust said. “She’s not much of a drinker unfortunately.”

“That doesn’t mean she can’t hang out with us,” Fleetfoot said. “Just get a ginger ale or something.”

“Nah, knowing her she’s probably writing a letter to her parents,” Dash said. From what Vapor had told her, her parents were very much against her joining the war, not that they didn’t support the war, but merely out of fear of the possibility of losing their own daughter. However, they didn’t put up much resistance but Vapor had promised to send them a letter after every battle she was in, to show she was still alive and doing everything she could to help serve her country. Now that Dash thought about it, she was thinking she should write a letter to her parents as well. As long as they don’t try to send another embarrassing care package…

"I hope I don’t have to remind all of you not to go overboard tonight,” Spitfire said as she finished her drink and stood up. “Meeting’s at oh-nine hundred tomorrow and if you can’t walk two feet in a straight line don’t even bother showing up. As for me, I got a nice comfy bunk calling my name…” With a small wave she left the bar.

“Funny, for a leader I would’ve thought she’d wait til we all leave,” Soarin said.

“That’s because I’m obviously the one in charge now,” Fleetfoot teased. “And I say, another round!”

Fortunately the next morning no one appeared to be hung over, or at least not to the point where it was noticeable as Dash made her way through the barracks towards the showers. She was a casual drinker whereas Dust tended to go a little overboard, or at least she would if Dash wasn’t present. She quickly undressed and turned on the water, wincing as always when the cold water first hits her.

She had scars all across parts of her body, mostly from slight scrapes with bullets or debris, but the most noticeable was across her left eye. A close encounter with a sniper one time caused a large chunk of concrete to strike her against the eye, though she was fortunate it wasn’t damaged and instead left her bleeding down the side of her face. At least now she could say it gave her a disposition that intimidated those who wanted to tell her and, as Dust had said a few times, it was pretty badass looking.

“Mind if I join?” Dash didn’t even turn to look, knowing fully well Dust was behind her and was, of course, naked.

“If I say no, are you still going to come in here?” Dash asked with a slight smile.

“Pretty much, though I’ll try not to do what I did last time and drop the soap and make Misty…well you know.”

Dash felt her cheeks going warm. “I thought we promised not to talk about that anymore…”

“Oh relax, it was a harmless misinterpretation, I honestly don’t care,” Dust said as she shrugged. Besides, we usually have like five to ten girls in here at one time so I’m used to seeing naked girls. Hell, even Spits isn’t too hard on the eyes…”

“Dust, just stop. Please.”

The two of them were quiet for the next few minutes. “So what do you think we’ll be doing this time?” Dust finally spoke.

“You heard HQ. They’re sending everything they have for a full-front offensive.”

“And we’re the tip of the spear I take it?”

“Pretty much…meaning we’ll be thrust right into enemy territory and soften things up for the rest of the army.”

“We’re never getting that time off are we?”

“Probably not…”

Dust sighed as she leaned against the wall. “Well I guess its what we signed up for huh? Honestly…I’m not sure if I can go back to normalize so easily…probably be too damn paranoid…”

“I don’t think any of us will,” Dash said as she finally turned off the water. “The only thing worse than the amount of people not coming back is the ones who are…and how they’re never going to be the same again…”

“…Well it’s a good thing I already have a dark sense of humor then,” Dust said with a rather large grin. “It’ll take more than a little PTSD to bring me down…”

An hour later, all members were present and sitting in the chairs provided in the meeting room as General Hailstorm stood in front of them, hovering over a large table. “By now I’m sure you’ve heard the rumors so I’m going to make it official: Operation Spearhead is about to commence and, appropriately, Omega Squad will be leading the charge, though as always you’ll be working from behind the scenes.” Dust couldn’t help but give Dash a glance.

“You’re going to be dropped about ten kilometers into enemy territory. The target is a hydroelectric dam that uses a water source from the Crystal Mountains. This dam generates a lot of power throughout the area, used mostly for their security systems and spotlights. If we can take it out, not only will it delay the enemy but it gives us an open window to attack.

“Now, our intel also reports that there’s a supply depot nearby as well and while the dam is your primary objective, if you can take out as much of their equipment as you can, it’ll make it much easier for our main army. Any questions?”

“How tight will security be?” Spitfire asked.

“Tighter than an eighteen-year old on prom night,” Hailstorm replied. Most people would’ve been turned off by the general’s crude humor, but Omega was quite used to it by now and Dust has to suppress a snort. “Thankfully we’re on a new moon cycle at the moment so you should be rather well concealed but rest assured they’ll most likely be ready for anything. Any other questions?”

It was quiet and Hailstorm straightened his posture. “There’s one other thing I need to mention: once this mission begins, you’re all going to be in it for the long-haul. As soon as you hit enemy ground, you’re going to be seeing a lot of it the next several weeks, possibly months. I can’t guarantee when you’ll be coming back in the near future, or even if leave will be possible, so if I were you, I’d let your loved ones know it’s going to be a long campaign. We’re going to hit the Empire with everything we got but reaching the capital will be our greatest struggle.

“One final thing: make sure you bundle up cause up north its damn cold almost all year round.”