Our Finest Hour

It was close to 00:00 hours as the plane traveled close to the border of Imperial territory. There was no small talk or time for jokes, it was all serious now, as the members of Omega Squad sat on the large benches along the back of the plane and waited. It wasn’t long before a light started flashing, prompting everyone to get up and make their way to the side door.

Spitfire opened it and they were all met with a sudden gust of wind. Dash was thankful the military had uniforms that were compatible of withstanding the cold as she shivered slightly. “Remember, meet at the rendezvous point!” Spitfire yelled over the loud roar of the wind. “And watch out for any trees!” She then nodded to Soarin, who repeated the gesture before being the first to jump out of the plane. Fleetfoot followed suit, jumping after him and the team jumped out one after the other.

Dash was among the few left and once she got the nod from Spitfire, she steeled herself, remembering her training as she jumped out of the plane, feeling the rush of wind hit her straight in the face as she pointed herself towards the ground. It was her first air drop at nighttime, which meant it was much more difficult to see her squad mates but she knew to stay in one direction in order to not be blown off too far. Once she hit a certain altitude, her parachute automatically deployed and the sudden jolt was enough to knock the breath out of her.

Luckily, she landed in a clearing and as soon as she hit ground, she detached the parachute from her back before grabbing her rifle that was slung on her shoulder and made her way to the rendezvous point, which was about a kilometer away. It took about five minutes to make her way over to the squad, though judging by the tension in the air something was wrong.

“Spitfire wasn’t with you?” Soarin asked.

Dash shook her head. “There was only Blaze and Spitfire after me. She must’ve landed further out than I did.”

“I only just got here,” Blaze said, looking worried. “Shit, you don’t think she got stuck in a tree or something do you?”

“That would be hilariously ironic,” Dust said, earning her severe glares. “Um…if this was a training exercise I mean.”

“Soarin, you’re second-in-command, what do we do?” Fleetfoot asked.

Soarin, himself a lieutenant, looked hesitant but only for a moment. “We wait…we’re still ahead of schedule so we can afford to wait for her. After all, no one gets left behind.”

“You’re damn right about that…” Everyone suddenly turned around and saw Spitfire coming towards them. Dash suddenly noticed there was blood covering a part of her uniform. Others must’ve had the same look since Spitfire suddenly said, “It’s not my blood, don’t worry. I ended up running into a sentry, believe it or not. They probably won’t find him til the sun comes up.”

“I swear, either you have the worst luck or you just love getting into a fight,” Misty commented.

Spitfire grinned. “It’s luck so far that’s keeping me alive.” The grin quickly faded. “But enough chitchat, we got a mission to complete. On me, and make sure your night goggles are working right.”

The mood turned serious again as the squad spread out in a loose formation as they made their way towards the dam. The night vision googles were a godsend, considering there was no moonlight and it was pitch black. However, the closer they got to the dam, the lighter it became. As expected, there were searchlights along the perimeter, but they were spaced out far enough to cause blind spots, which gave Omega Squad enough room to make it towards the perimeter. The hard part now was how to get inside. Fortunately, they managed to come prepared.

“Aim for any gaps,” Spitfire said as she pulled out a grappling gun. The rest of the squad followed suit and aimed for the grating right below the balcony. Once the hooks connected, they were lurched forward towards the grating and quickly grabbed onto the railing before pulling themselves up.

“So far so good,” Spitfire said. “Now’s where we split into two groups. Misty, think this is a good vantage point for you?”
Misty glanced around. “It’ll do I suppose.”

“Good. Remember, weapons silent, that goes for radio too unless we’re dealing with a major emergency. Soarin; you, Fleets, Blaze and Vapes will take the generator on the first floor while me, Dash, and Dust will take the one on the third floor. As soon as the power goes out, chaos will ensue so be ready for anything. Any questions? Good, let’s get to work.”
The two groups split off, Spitfire’s group taking the stairs up to the third floor. “Security seems lighter than expected,” Dash commented. “Doesn’t that ring any alarms?”

“Yeah, a little bit…but we gotta complete our mission,” Spitfire said. “Dust, you watch our sixes.”

“Got it ma’am.”

According to the blueprints that were provided, the generator was located in one of the rooms on the third floor. The issue was getting there without detection. They found that out as soon as they went through the door.

“Shit, cameras…” Spitfire swore. “As if sentries weren’t enough… Alright, it looks like they swindle on a hundred-eighty degree axis so as long as we stick to the walls we should be okay.” Fortunately, there were corners that offered as blind spots.

“Would just be easier to shoot them,” Dust offered.

“If half of their cameras go offline, they’ll find it more than suspicious,” Spitfire replied. “And I doubt the security room is up here.”

The good news was that the cameras only appeared to be located in the entrances and exits to the third floor. However, there were at least two sentries walking along the perimeter and both were heavily armed. As the closest sentry passed by them unknowingly, Spitfire glanced at Dash before nodding towards the sentry. Dash knew what was being asked as she slowly went down the hall.

Keeping her footsteps as quiet as she could, she approached the guard quickly, pulling out her knife and steeled herself for the coming attack. As soon as she was a mere foot from him, she lunged forward, putting her one arm around his neck while the other that carried the knife aimed for the slight gap in his armor at his neck and plunged the blade deep into him. The attack was instant and the guard had no time to react before he quickly crumpled to the ground. Acting quick, Dash pulled out the knife and dragged the body behind a large group of crates. Now they had to move quick or else security would probably notice one of their guards was missing.

After she gave the all clear, Spitfire and Dust followed behind her as they made their way towards the generator room, which was given away by both the sign on the door and the large warning sign above it. breaching through the door, they were surprised to find the room unattended. “Wow no kidding, the security here is pretty lax…” Dust said.

“No time for chitchat, get that bomb ready Dust,” Spitfire snapped.

“Yeah yeah…” Dust took out the small device from her belt and started attaching it to the generator. “I programmed it to set off in forty-five seconds so hopefully this doesn’t blow up half the facility.”

“It’s going to be self-contained, weren’t you paying attention at all?” Dash asked, rolling her eyes.

“Ehehe…”

Suddenly, they felt the ground underneath shake slightly. “Wait…was that…?” Dash began.

“Shit, they detonated theirs too quickly,” Spitfire swore. “Dust can you reset the timer on that.”

“No, I programmed it to be not reprogrammed, as you requested,” Dust said.

Spitfire groaned. “Just get it activated. We’ll just have to settle for Plan B.”

“Plan B? You didn’t mention a plan B.” Dash said.

“I’m making it up right now.”

“Alright, activated and clock is ticking,” Dust said.

“Good, you two get the hell out immediately.”

“Wait, what the hell are you-?”

Spitfire pulled out a grenade. “I’m shortening the timer.” Dash and Dust glanced at one another before getting the hell out of there. Spitfire made her way towards the door before pulling the pin and tossing the grenade towards the generator.
She then pulled down her night vision goggles. “You two might want to put those goggles on right about…” Suddenly an explosion ripped through the room next to them, slamming the door off its hinges before everything went pitch black. “Now.”

It wasn’t long before an alarm rang out and emergency lights turned on. “Guess we got their attention now,” Dust commented.

“Alright, weapons free and make your way towards the rendezvous point,” Spitfire said.

As they made their towards the exit, it wasn’t long before reinforcements showed up and bullets suddenly riddled the hallway. Luckily, the darkness managed to affect the enemy’s aim while Omega’s aim was on point. “Soarin, give me a sit rep,” Spitfire said urgently.

“Everyone’s fine here…Vapes detonator malfunctioned.” Judging by the tone of his voice, Soarin didn’t feel good about having to report the mess up.

“Don’t worry about it, mission’s complete. Just get to the rendezvous point,” Spitfire said before she changed frequencies. “Misty, please tell me you’ve cleared an escape route for us.”

“Well, I’m not sure if they’ll notice about…twelve of their men missing but that should give you a clear shot to the exit. I’ll be down there shortly.”

“Roger.” Spitfire clicked off the radio. “This entire facility will be put on lockdown if we don’t get out now. Misty’s given us an opening so let’s hurry!”

The three of them had switched to their sidearms as they made their way towards the nearest exit. They could hear yells behind them as the enemy was trying to reorganize and it wasn’t long before bullets started firing at them from behind.
Once they finally reached the outside, the situation wasn’t any better as Misty appeared to be pinned down.

“Took you three long enough!” Misty yelled as she brandished her pistol.

“Where are the others!?” Spitfire yelled as poked out and took a shot.

“I got cut off from the rest, I think you pissed them off!”

Spitfire looked down and saw a blog stain on Misty’s left leg. “Can you still walk?”

“Yeah…but I don’t think the bullet went through all the way. Hurts like a bitch.”

“Dash, Dust give us some cover fire.”

The two of them opened fire at the soldiers who had been slowly advancing but now ducked under cover. “You’re clear, go!” Dash yelled. With Spitfire’s help, she and Misty made their way towards the large gate.

“Funny how its always us two that have to deal with the stragglers!” Dust joked as she fully unloaded a clip into a group of soldiers, most of them ended up riddled with bullets.

“Come on, we can’t stay here!” Dash yelled as she took out a grenade and pulled the pin before tossing it behind her. The sudden panic and explosion gave the two enough time to make their way out through the entrance gates as they made their way into the forest.

“I’m not seeing any enemies,” Dust panted slightly. “Think the others took care of them?”

“Just keep your eyes open and focus on the rendezvous point,” Dash replied. She looked back and saw a group of soldiers were following from behind. “We need to lose these guys though.”

“Yeah…sorry about this.” Before Dash could respond, Dust suddenly pushed her into the large bush beside her before jumping in as well. Dash had every intention of snapping at her but Dust coyly put a finger to her lips.
The two of them stood still, holding their breath as the sound of footsteps got closer and closer. Dash held her pistol in one hand and knife in the other, ready for a fight if it came to it. It wasn’t long before the footsteps sounded in front of them and the shadows of the enemy soldiers appeared in front of them. For a moment they stopped and as Dash glanced over at Dust, she was starting to see regret in the girl’s eyes, regretting the stupid idea she came up with on the fly.

Suddenly, a hand clasped over Dash’s mouth and as she was about to react, she saw the orange-yellow hair behind her and relaxed slightly as it was only Spitfire. Next to her was Fleetfoot and judging by Dust’s look on her face, she almost looked like she wet her pants.

Finally, the shadows moved on and the sound of footsteps echoed farther and farther. Spitfire breathed out in relief. “That was close. Not exactly the best place to hide but you lost them at least.”

“I’d appreciate a little more warning next time,” Dash grumbled.

“”H-Hey easy there Fleetfoot, not so hard…”

“Dust for fuck’s sake will you please cut the shit for once?” Fleetfoot said, rolling her eyes.

“Well maybe you shouldn’t put your hand so close to my chest hmm?”

“I…” Fleetfoot had no response as she started blushing. “I hate you.”

“Love you too Fleets.”

“Alright, that’s enough,” Spitfire said as the four of them got out of the bush. “The others are just ahead. Once we regroup we move on.”

“I’m guessing the army can’t give us a lift?” Dash asked.

Spitfire snorted. “We’re meeting up with the army, but don’t expect too many breaks. Operation Spearhead has just begun and we’re a long way from the Crystal Empire…”