Hey, at least it didn't take me a year to update again! Enjoy :)

Chapter Quote:
"The first lesson is that you can't lose a war if you have command of the air, and you can't win a war if you haven't."
~Jimmy Doolittle
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Chapter 9: Merlon

The next morning, I woke up to a nasty thunderstorm. The power cut out for a few a seconds before flickering back on. Well so much for going out to breakfast this morning...

"How does Elizabeth sleep through this?" Genette grumbled, shuffling into the kitchen.

"That is one thing she definitely got from your mother. Everly could sleep through anything and everything."

"I mean... how does she sleep through thunder that literally shakes the house yet wakes up to a spider crawling on her neck?"

"Wait, when did a spider crawl on her neck?"

"A few years ago. Refused to sleep with her lamp off for a year. She was petrified. That was before college."

"Honestly, I think I'd be terrified too. Why don't you go wake her up for breakfast?"

"Oh no," my nephew protested. "Last time I did that, she chased me with her curling iron."

"Well you did dump her out of her bed."

"She wasn't waking up to anything else!"

I laughed, shaking my head. I told Genette to get breakfast started while I went to wake up his niece. Elizabeth was curled up in a ball under the sheets. I gently shook her awake, saying her name. She groaned in resistance, turning away from me. She was definitely her mother...

"Elizabeth, it's time to get up. Breakfast is being made," I said.

"But I'm cold," she mumbled.

"How are you- ah, your sunburn. Let's get some aloe on it again and then I'll make you some tea, how about that?"

My niece finally caved in, grumpily sitting up. She gave a big yawn before getting out of bed and following me to the kitchen where Genette had the eggs and bacon going.

"Why didn't you chase him with a curling iron when he woke you up?" Genette demanded of his sister, looking offended.

My niece glared at him. "I will end you."

"Why don't I tell you three another story while we cook and eat?" I suggested before my niece did actually end my nephew.

"Please," Genette begged. "Get her mind off something else besides killing me."

"If you shut your mouth, we wouldn't be having this problem," Elizabeth retorted. "But yes, please tell us a story."
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May 19, 1995...

Janie had tried talking to me again after our argument but I was still too miffed to pay her any attention. Pixy was the unfortunate middle man, having to deal with Janie asking him how to get me to listen to her and having to deal with me telling him to shut up about the whole situation.

"Cipher, you're going to have to talk to her at some point," Pixy said, bringing the entire conversation up for the umpteenth time.

"You're going to have to get it through your thick skull that I don't want to talk about this," I snapped as we walked to the briefing room.

"Okay, so she made a mistake. It was more her dad's fault than anything else. And what better way to say 'screw you' to her dad than to continue dating her even after everything he caused between you two?"

"So you're saying I should continue dating her to piss off her dad?"

"I'm not saying you should date her to spite her dad if you're really not in love with her anymore but I know you Buddy. You're still in love with her."

"I'll talk to her when I'm ready to and not when people tell me to."

"Cipher, Pixy, what are you two bickering about now?" Hammerhead asked when we entered the briefing room.

"Trying to get him to talk to Janie again," Pixy replied.

"Oh, I heard about that. The power couple has broken up. What happened there?"

"Her dad," I muttered. "Let's get on with the briefing."

"Blonde's in a serious mood today so I suggest you listen," Pixy remarked, earning a punch in the arm from me. Hammerhead snickered but smartly said nothing back about the whole situation. Instead, he began the briefing.

"Belka's second line of defense stretches across the Schayne Plains in the central region of southern Belka. Centered on two antiaircraft camps, this line blocks our refueling unit's air route, and is already delaying our military plans. This operation will consist of attacks on enemy ground troops, and engagements with enemy fighters. There will be three squadrons in total. You can decide which one to accompany. Alpha team will be responsible for destroying enemy ground ordinance. Beta team's job will be to eliminate air resistance, and destroying enemy ground ordinance. Theta team will eliminate air resistance. Escort allied transport craft after each mission is completed. That is all."

Operation: Dynamo

Location: Schayne Plains

Date: 19/05/1995

Time: 1530 hrs...

"All right Buddy, which mission are we doing?" Pixy queried.

"We'll join Theta team. It'll be the most difficult because the Belkans will be sending their best up since we'll be so close to one of their bases. The Allies will need all the help they can get," I responded. "Let's go."

Pixy and I left the briefing room to go to the hangar when Janie shouted my name. I turned around out of courtesy. I'd rather not get cuffed on the head by Pixy before a mission. The guy had no understanding of his strength sometimes and I didn't need a concussion before I flew.

"Yes?" I asked.

"I've been assigned as your RIO for this mission."

"What?" I blurted out before I could stop myself.

"Cipher, be nice," Pixy hissed.

"Is there a problem Cipher?" The Base Commander inquired, walking smugly up to us.

"No, sir," I replied, trying to keep the contempt out of my voice. He was trying to get under my skin and he knew exactly how to do it unfortunately, but like hell I was going to let him see that.

"Good. I wouldn't want any personal problems getting in the way of your flying."

"Of course not sir. The job comes first." I turned on my heel to continue my way to the hangar. Pixy and Janie were struggling to keep up with my stride which for seem reason became much bigger when I was ticked off.

"Hey, it wasn't my idea," Janie protested. "I tried to talk him out of it."

"Didn't say it was."

"I'm sorry. I tried to talk him out of it."

"It's fine. I'm not blaming you."

"Then why are you mad about it?"

"Because I know why he's doing it."

"Can we focus on the mission and deal with your love bird issues when we get back?" Pixy inquired. I sent my wingman a death glare. He actually took a small step away from me. The three of us continued on to the hangar where we got in our assigned planes. I chose a XMAAs for both my plane and for Pixy's since the majority of our targets would be in the air. There may be a few ground ones but those could be easily taken care of by missiles.

Janie got into my plane, silently strapping herself in. Neither of us said a word to each other until we got up in the air, and the only time she'd speak to me was to give me vital information to the flight. However, the lack of conversation between the two of us was made up for by Pixy who was in an unusually chipper mood. He only stopped talking when I finally told him to shut up in a rather angry tone. My wingman must've sensed that I actually meant it this time.

Upon arriving to the destination, we were immediately greeted by enemy planes. I leveled myself with two oncoming enemies while Pixy banked to the left to attack from behind.

"Hey Cipher, can you hear me? Just look at the view," Pixy said. "There's not much difference between those countries from up here.

I sighed. "Unfortunately, I can still hear you. And no, there's not much difference. There's just languages, cultures, traditions, governments... you know, minor things like that."

"Belkan fighters approaching. Shoot them down and secure air superiority," Hammerhead announced. None of us responded because it was already obvious enemy planes were approaching since most of us had engaged them already.

Pixy stated, "Even in a bad mood, you still manage to be sarcastic."

"I learned from you old man," I replied, setting my special weapon's lock onto two incoming enemy planes. Meanwhile, I saw my wingman on my radar flying low to take care of some anti-aircraft ships.

"You know, when I was your age, I was-"

"Getting shot down?" I quipped. My wingman swore at me which prompted me to say, "Language. There are innocent people here."

"Who's innocent in our group?" He demanded as I fired my missiles at my enemies. Both hit dead center and the blips disappeared off the radar. I turned my plane around, on the hunt for my next target. I figured it wouldn't take me long because despite there being a few of us around here, there were still more targets than us.

"The new guy. What's his name? PB and J or something."

"His name is not based off of a sandwich." I don't know how it's possible but I could hear the eye roll Pixy was giving me.

"It's PJ!" a young voice responded cheerfully. "My call sign is PJ!

"Sorry man, I must've been thinking about food when I heard your name being talked about," I responded sheepishly.

"You're always either thinking about food or sleep," Pixy noted.

"Because other than flying, that's the only thing that goes on in my life."

"Well you did have a girlfriend but you two botched that."

"Say one more thing about that and you're name isn't going to be Solo Wing Pixy anymore. It's going to be No Wing Pixy."

"Clever, how long did it take you to come up with that?" he teased, coming to fly beside me as we both went for a group of four planes. I looked over at him and flipped him off. He simply waved back.

"Hey guys, imagine if we didn't have to compete with Cipher and Pixy because they turned on each other?" an ally joked.

"I know what I'll do if they're not. I'll earn a sweet load of cash and be 'ace' of the day," another ally responded.

"No, the real question is: if they turned on each other now, who would win that battle?" a third one piped up.

"If they do, this is gonna be one hell of a fight."

"Are you all done talking about this?" I queried, locking onto an enemy plane with my guns. If I used my missiles, I'd definitely hit the plane, but the debris from it would hit me and I was not going to be taken out by some debris.

"Scared of an actual battle, Buddy?" Pixy countered, swerving his plane to the right to go after an enemy MIG.

"No. I just don't want to shoot down my Buddy. You already have a rep you know. I don't want to add to it," I said just as my gunfire destroyed my target.

He snorted. "Yeah. Right. Like you could shoot me down."

"Focus on the enemies and we can battle this out later. We have two coming from the northeast."

"Whatever you say Buddy." Finally my wingman shut up, allowing me to focus on the mission at hand. I headed down close to the ground, luring a few enemy planes behind me. Pixy snuck up behind them and fired, shooting two out of the sky. The last plane that had been trailing me caught on to the ploy though and broke away. However, I already knew they were going to try and outrun me so as they were turning, so was I. I got a missile lock on the MIG and fired, turning and burning immediately so that I avoided the massive fireball.

"It's the mighty Ustio mercenaries," an ally said. "Let's watch how they fight."

"Hate to break it to you guys, but we've been here a while. Where are you anyway?" I questioned, glancing on my radar. I only saw two other allied planes and I knew those guys so it couldn't have been one of them who spoke.

"I'm watching you on radar from one of the transport planes. We just arrived within distance for us to see you guys. I've heard a lot about you!"

"Thanks man. Hey Pixy, two MIGs are coming at you pretty hot from the north. Break to your left and I'll get behind them," I ordered. My wingman did as he was told without any argument. I managed to get behind the first plane, firing a missile at it and knocking it out of the sky. When I was attempting to shoot down its friend, my missile alert started going off. I jerked my plane to the right and down, whirling back to see where the missile was coming from.

"Two enemy planes on your six. They both have missile lock on you!" Janie warned.

"Damn it, I can't shake them!" I grunted, swerving to the left.

"On my way Cipher!" Pixy announced.

"Janie, what kind of planes are those?" I asked, pulling my plane up so that it shot straight into the sky.

"They look like Drakens."

"Then my plane has the mobility advantage. Hang on." I flipped the plane upside down before nosediving to the ground. My heart was pounding at my own stunt because if I didn't time this just right, it could get not just me killed, but Janie too. If this worked out, I'd have the two planes off my tail. I didn't want the other pilots to die though, but if I had to choose between me and them, I was choosing myself. I was a mercenary after all. While they might be willing to die for their country, I wasn't. I didn't have a country I was fighting for, just a cause. A cause that needed to be won and I figured I still had a bit of influence on the outcome of the battles at the moment.

"Cipher, what in god's name are you doing? You're going to crash!" Pixy shouted.

"No I'm not!" I exclaimed, slamming on the brakes and pulling my plane backup. I shot back into the air, hightailing it away from the ground. Glancing at my radar, I noticed the enemy planes were no longer behind me. When I asked what happened to them, Janie replied, "They crashed, but the pilots ejected beforehand."

"Don't get carried away and get in trouble. The last thing we need right now is more work saving you," an ally groaned.

"We're Galm Team. Everything is always under control with us whether it looks like it or not. Janie, you okay?" I queried.

"Questioning whether or not I ever want to get in a plane again, but yeah, I'm good," she answered, sounding shaky,

"Don't let your dad get his wish," Pixy remarked. "Wait, is your dad listening in on this?"

"If he is, he's being unusually quiet. If you're worried about being sacked, don't. You and Cipher are changing the tide of this war and are too valuable to the Ustian military. He couldn't even ground you unless one of you did something seriously, seriously messed up."

"Good to know."

"Don't go bad mouthing him though. He can still make your life a living hell here if he wants."

"We could just switch to another military. We're mercenaries after all," I pointed out. Before my friend and ex could move that conversation forward, I tactfully changed the subject while searching for my next target. "What's the situation on the ground?"

"They've pretty much lost control of the ground," an Ustian answered happily.

As if on cue, a Belkan transmission came over our mic, saying, "Our air squadron is all that's left now. We have to destroy the Allied Forces."

"Meteor 5, hurry up and bail out!" another Belkan barked.

"Pixy, you shoot someone down?" I asked.

"While you were yammering away with our allies, I decided to my job and shoot some down."

"All right, I get the message. I'll take care of the ones in the eastern part of our territory. You handle the ones that slip by me. Janie, what's it looking like?"

"Four planes coming head on. Looks like two of them are Hornets." I couldn't help but think that as I locked on with my special weapons that the Hornets were appropriately named. Not only were they fast little buggers, but with the right pilot, if you made a mistake, they could sting you in a place that could really, really hurt. In our case as fighter pilots, it could get you killed. The XMAAs hit my targets though with little effort on my part so I was able to easily get behind the remaining two planes which happened to be Hornets as well.

"I won't let them touch any more of our land. All units, we can't leave until all enemy planes are shot down," a Belkan announced.

"It's going to be hard to shoot us down when they're all going to be on the ground," I joked lightly, locking onto one of the enemy planes with my guns. It took a moment before it looked good to fire though.

"We're swatting them down like flies," Pixy added. "They're not exactly in a place to be making calls like that."

"I don't think they're here just to keep us at bay. This is kill or be killed," an ally commented.

"Makes you wonder if they're up to something," I mused. Ignoring that path of thought though since the Belkans always seemed to be up to something, I set my sights on the next target, or the plane that had been all buddy-buddy with the one I'd just shot down.

"Pride and determination are what keeps the Belkans going," Pixy said.

"I think a little bit of anger at the rest of us is mixed in there," I told him. "I think they're starting to take our attacks personally now."

"Cipher! Pixy!" an allied member shouted frantically. "I got one on my tail! Shoot him down!"

"Bank right and head towards us so I'll have a clear shot," I said calmly, flipping my switch to special weapons. Whether or not the XMAA hit didn't really matter. All that mattered was that it shook the plane off our allies tail long enough for me to get close enough to them and shoot them down. Of course, sometimes these plans worked better in my head...

"This is gonna get crazy. Break formation," another ally said. They must not have been near me because I couldn't see anything that looked like it was about to get 'crazy' on my radar.

"No use! I can't get away!" The former ally yelled.

"Calm down man, I have you in my sights. Roll the plane as you go down. It makes it harder for the missile to track you, not to mention the pilot himself!" I consoled. Right then, I locked onto the enemy planes. I fired my special weapons. Below me, Pixy flew low to the ground to avoid detection by the enemies. He pulled up behind the one that hadn't been hit by my missile and hit it with one of his own.

"Nice shooting, Buddy," I complimented.

"Nice shooting yourself," he countered.

"Thanks guys! I owe you one!" the allied member said graciously.

"Thank us by not getting shot down," Pixy replied.

"We've gotta keep pressing forward. I know we can win this," an Ustian encouraged, although to be honest it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself than the rest of us.

"Cipher, we got some company coming. Six to be exact. What do you want to do?" Pixy inquired.

"How about we do to them what we just did to the other guys? One of us lures them all away and the other sneaks up behind them and fires?" I suggested.

"You want to be the nutjob who has six enemies trailing him?"

"Why not? Sounds fun."

"You need a dictionary." I snorted as I started flying next to the enemy planes, baiting them to follow me. Surprisingly they did. Either they hadn't seen our strategy earlier or they weren't aware of Pixy lurking below us.

"Don't worry about the Belkan aircraft. The Galm Team can handle them," an allied squadron member said.

"Uh, I know we can handle them and all, but what are you guys doing then if you're not worrying about the Belkan aircraft?" I said.

"We're heading out to meet the transports, make sure no enemies have slipped past us and have gotten to them before us. We'll be back soon."

"I didn't realize the transports were that close. All right, let's hurry up and finish this." I leveled out my plane, making it go just fast enough that I was slowly but surely outdistancing the enemies. What I hadn't told my wingman was that I was going to flip my plane around and attack the enemies head on while he attacked from behind. I was hoping that it would disorient them.

"Something's not right. The Belkans should be able to send out more fighters than this," Pixy observed.

"I was wondering what was off about this mission. We're near one of their bases. There should be a lot more fighters going up against us. I'm not complaining, but it's still strange. You don't think they're planning on using some superweapon to wipe us all out are you?"

"That's a cheerful thought. No, I don't think they are. Or they wouldn't send fighters out here at all. It would be suicide for them."

"Unless the fighters are just here to lure us into a false sense of security. Wouldn't you find it more suspicious if there weren't any here at all rather than some?"

"Yeah, I guess I would. Okay, I'm almost in range to fire."

"Great, turning around now. I'll attack them from the front to distract them from the back."

"That's actually pretty genius Cipher. It's times like these where I'm actually proud to have you as my captain."

"Don't get all mushy on me now. I like your grumpiness too much. It's much more entertaining." I was now heading directly towards the enemy planes, special weapons locked on. I didn't have enough to shoot down four as I'd already used up most of them earlier on in the mission, but what they didn't know wouldn't hurt them... well, actually it kind of would since they'd be distracted by me being locked onto them when Pixy was locked onto them too.

I fired once I was in range and so did Pixy. Our little trick took down four of the six enemy planes. The other two narrowly escaped being skewered not just by missiles, but by debris as well.

"I've been hit by a missile!" An ally informed hysterically. "Unable to maintain current altitude!"

"Do you have any enemy planes trailing you? I can watch your back while you eject," I offered.

"This is a battlefield. In the end, it's every man for himself," Pixy muttered.

"Don't listen to Captain Sunshine. Do you need my help?" I asked again.

"No sir. No enemy planes. I'm ejecting now!"

"Pixy, you need a dictionary to look up the word 'compassion'. Just because we're in the military doesn't mean we can't show any," I said, maneuvering my plane behind one of the two escaped planes.

"We're mercenaries Cipher. We don't fight for their country, just their cause."

"They're still our allies, and we protect our allies no matter what. That's the whole point of this mission."

"I just- whoa! Damn MIG!"

"What happened?" I questioned, snapping my head in the direction of my wingman's plane.

"The enemy just tried to crash into me to take me down!"

"These guys are desperate. Don't let your guard down," an ally warned.

"Pix, get low to the ground. Keep an eye out for any enemy planes that try to do that to me. I'll take care of the remaining two enemies."

"I'm not going to argue with you but if I see a shot, I'm taking it."

"Wouldn't expect anything less of you," I said, shooting down the plane in front of me with a missile. Pixy informed me the last enemy was coming up to me at my right. I banked the plane down to the left, letting it shoot past me. I leveled out my plane and locked onto the MIG-29. It didn't take long for me to take it out with my guns.

"All enemy fighters have been eliminated. Threat level reduced to two," Hammerhead announced. "Galm Team, cover our transport planes until they're able to land."

Pixy and I flew side by side heading southeast to meet the transports. The two of us remained silent, both of our minds probably wondering why the amount of Belkan fighters hadn't been as severe as it should've been.

"There they are. It's the allied transport planes," Pixy said. I zeroed in on the five black dots on the horizon, quickly approaching us. Soon enough, they flew slowly past us. We turned around and zipped over them, hunting for any straggling enemy planes that could pose a threat to them. One of the transport captain came on the mic, saying, "Thank you for securing air superiority."

Suddenly, a blinding flash appeared over mine and Pixy's plane. The two of us dove down towards the ground, hoping to escape whatever it was.

"What was that?" my wingman demanded as another blinding light appeared. "Something flashed again!"

"The transport planes!" Janie exclaimed. I turned the plane around to find three of the five planes plummeting to the ground in flames with columns of black smoke rising from them.

Mission Update

"What was that? Where did that attack just come from?!" an ally asked in mortification.

"What the hell happened?! AWACS, what's going on?!" Pixy chimed in angrily.

"Hold on! Incoming emergency message from Operations HQ!" Hammerhead responded, sounding just as confused as we were. "Enemy launching long-range attacks. Current airspace is within range."

"Now you tell us?!" My wingman snapped. "Where should we fly?!"

"Transmitting projected enemy targeting coordinates. All units, evade attacks and withdraw from airspace!"

"Fly to the south!" I commanded. "Get back to base!"

Thankfully, I'd already been heading that direction when Hammerhead had told us to evacuate so I was halfway down the range before the first attack came at me. I had to swerve to the left, barely managing to avoid the area of impact which appeared to be hit by some massive laser. But just as quickly as it had come, it disappeared, leaving me wondering where it was going to attack next.

"Plane Four just vanished! Allied planes are disappearing from radar!" an ally informed. "Plane Six is gone too!"

Just as that transmission ended, Janie practically screamed at me to move. The laser grazed the air immediately next to my plane. Never in my life had I felt fear like I had then. That had been too close of a call.

"Cipher, you okay?!" Pixy questioned instantly.

"Yeah, close call. Very close call. Where are you?"

"Right behind you. I saw it happen."

"Halo Ten is not responding!" an ally announced.

"God, we're losing everyone!" I groaned. "What the hell did the Belkans create?"

A monstrosity is what they'd created. For the next four minutes, I flew in harrowing conditions. I realized that the slower I flew, the more time I had to react to the laser. The idea of going slower went against every rational thought in my head but my gut told me to fly slow, and my gut was usually right when it came to flying. Pixy flew closely below me. He would've flown beside me but figured that if one of us had to make a sudden move, it would be best that neither of us were in the way. Admittedly, when I was almost out of operation airspace, I began to speed up which I immediately regretted when I had another brush with the laser-of instant-death. Thankfully I escaped unscathed, but I was most definitely shaken up from the whole experience.

Mission Accomplished

"You're out of the danger zone. Galm Team, return to base," Hammerhead ordered. In other situations, I would've started singing 'Danger Zone', but considering how many people we'd lost and the severity of the whole ordeal, I kept my mouth shut. I wasn't even up to singing it anyway.

"Looks like we live to see another day, Cipher," Pixy said, sounding tired.

"I'm glad we have," I replied. My mind was on my family. My sister, my niece, my nephew, they were my motivation. They were the thoughts that kept me going through this war. They were the reason I kept fighting and why I would continue to fight until this war was over or until the war killed me, whichever came first.

Hammerhead greeted us solemnly when we arrived. He, Pixy, Janie, and I walked quietly to the briefing room where we were debriefed.

"The mission objectives were achieved, but our forces were dealt a heavy blow by enemy laser ordinance. Our country must put an end to this war. If not, I fear the war will put an end to us."

On that happy note, everyone left the briefing room. I went straight to my room where I let my thoughts roam free.
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Present day...

"Tauberg's Sword!" Genette exclaimed while his sister simultaneously exclaimed just as enthusiastically, "Excalibur!"

"Yes, that was technically my second encounter with it, although I didn't realize when I was at Glatisant that that was what Pixy saw," I said.

"So this thing was trying to fry you into oblivion?" Genette prodded. "What was its accuracy like? How big was the beam?"

"The accuracy was scary, and honestly it seemed to be aiming for me, Pixy, or both. The beam was massive for something that was shooting so far away too."

"Did you ever find out how they created such a weapon without anyone realizing?"

I smiled. "You're definitely starting to sound like a reporter. If I ever have a book done on me, I'm letting you write it. In answer to your question, no, I never found out. Maybe one day, when I come out of hiding I'll be able to find out."

"Is that why you're so careful when telling people that you fought in the Belkan War?"

"That, and the government doesn't want people knowing who I am yet. Mostly because there are still some people out there that haven't forgiven the Allied countries for beating Belka, particularly me."

"I wonder if Pixy says anything about that mission in the documentary," Elizabeth mused.

"Seeing as how he's commented on every other mission, he probably does. Let's see what he says," I replied. I turned on the TV, unpausing the documentary. Once more it showed Pixy sitting in his chair with his AK-47, still chewing a piece of gum. Brett Thompson, who was behind the camera, asked, "What was the next mission?"

"The next mission was right before what I see as one of the major turning points of the war. Everyone knows the weapon as Excalibur. Those of us in the military called it by another name: Tausberg's Sword."

"I used the better term," Genette whispered. Elizabeth hit in him the stomach, shushing him. They continued to hit each other sporadically until the end of Pixy's explanation of the mission of which I had just told them.

"That was a bad nightmare," Pixy remarked thoughtfully. "We lost several of our members. Mercenaries like us are disposable to the guys in charge. But in the end, we survived. I was taught as a mercenary that there's only one rule on the battlefield: to survive. While that rule remained for me during the entirety of the war, I think it started becoming more than just surviving for Cipher."

"What do you think it started becoming for him?" Thompson inquired.

"I'm not sure. But I believe a lot of it had to do with him getting back to his family, specifically his niece and nephew."

"The way you made it sound, Janie said that you wouldn't be fired unless you did something severe. Why was that?"

"Although mercenaries were and still are disposable to the people at the top, Cipher and I were different. We kept winning. Whether they wanted to admit it or not, we kept leading them to victory on every mission we went on and it was great morale for the other troops, and good morale can help with motivation and determination which in turn can win battles that seem hopeless. Our wins started a domino effect with the entire Allied movement. If they fired us or grounded us, the morale would go down. They couldn't risk doing that at such a critical time in the war."

"Why do you think you keep winning?"

"A lot of it had to do with Cipher. I'm very much a Belkan when I fly. I'm calculating and fast. He was calculating, fast, and most importantly, unpredictable. Belkans, Sapinians, Oseans, Ustians, they didn't know how to fight him because they don't know him. The only one who ever stood a chance against him was me and even then, I still never knew what he was going to do next."

"You said the next mission was the major turning point in the war?"

"There were a couple. In fact, the next mission we went on was the first major turning point in my opinion."

"I'd love to hear about that mission."

Pixy chuckled, as if amused by the reporter's interest. "I've been telling you about all the others. Might as well tell you the rest. The day was overcast..."
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Hope you enjoyed! I'm so, so sorry it took this long to update. I was doing an internship in another state and I got back last Sunday, had three days to recuperate from a 1300 mile, 2-day drive, unpack, and then have wisdom tooth surgery last Thursday. I was so tired the past few days that I barely felt up to writing. Then I got dry sockets on both sides on the bottom and a possible infection so it's been an adventure. Reviews would be lovely :)