A New Arrival

by The_Lord_of_Admirals

3 I'm going home...

The Gate at their backs the convoy continued beyond, further into the old city, and closer to her going home. She was not ready for this.

“Hard to believe half a million people used to live here, just twenty years ago. Fuck. Ya ever get the feeling that we’re about to do something we shouldn’t.” The gunner asked her, still standing in his hatch.

“More than I should Corporal, more than I should.” Sunset answered quietly, still staring off into the ruined city. Sighing heavily she turned to face the man, her expression unreadable through the darkened glasses she wore. Though if you asked him he’d say her eyes were dark in the shadow of her helmet, and her scars almost seemed to glow and spread, cracking her face even more.

“Captain…?”

And suddenly her face changed, shifting back to normal. Though her scars still pulsed weakly. “I’m fine Corporal.” She dismissed his concern. “Just some bad memories from this place.”

“If you say so…” The gunner said, wholly unconvinced. “Huh? Wha… ok.” And with that odd string of words he disappeared back into the turret, being replaced by the commander.

“We’re nearing the old school, a few blocks out. Our Wasp element’s breaking off now.” She said, and sure enough their Paper Wasp light engineering tanks were disappearing down a side street they were passing. Off to do… whatever it is they do, Sunset doesn’t know.

---

The IFV rounded a debris pile and Sunset got her first glance at the old school in almost fifteen years. The Wolf Spider ground to a halt, its back doors flung open allowing her team to spill forth. Sunset pulled herself out of the hatch and jumped from the gun shield, approaching a defensive line surrounding the courtyard. “Hey, who’s in charge around here?” She called.

One of the troopers gestured towards the old school saying the CO was in there. Marching through the front hole, the doors having long since been destroyed, she made her way through the old school’s halls, being turned and led about by officers, sentries, and uncleared debris until she finally made it to the CO’s office. Stepping through the door Sunset looked around briefly, before she realized something. “Mom…”

“Huh?” Came the confused grunt of the officer, snapping Sunset back to reality.

“My mother, this was her old office, she used to tell me about things from before.” She clarified. “But I didn’t come out here to talk about my past, what’s going on here?”

“Well, we sent a drone through a couple hours ago, haven’t heard back from it, presumed lost. You’ve seen the perimeter outside, nothing comes in or out without us knowing.” He explained. “We were waiting on your team to proceed. We’ve got a Hazop squad readying up in one of the tents out there, go link up with them. I’ll give word when we’re ready to go through.” He said, waving her off.

As Sunset turned to walk out, the officer called out to her again. “And call your Aunt for fuck’s sake.” Sunset paused, hand on the door as she replied.

“Will do, sir.
‘

---

With her squad busy gearing up in the tents, Sunset was leaning against an old streetlight staring at her phone. The small orange brick wasn’t the ‘cutting edge’ it used to be, the modern ones were illegal in the on-duty ranks, and had a crack splitting the screen, and on that screen was a familiar number that she was dreading to call. Her Aunt.

With a sigh she hit call, holding the phone to her ear as she waited for it to connect. The call connected on the second ring, with a breath Sunset spoke. “He-”

“Don’t you dare ‘hey’ me young lady!” Came her aunt's enraged voice, threatening to destroy her phone’s speaker. “Do you know how long it’s been since you fucking called? Do you?”

“Thre-”

“Three Weeks! And now you’re about to go to an entirely different world.” Her Aunt sighed heavily before she continued. “So, I heard you visited my Sister, how was it?”

“It was nice, we talked of the past and just enjoyed the view, Raven really does take her job as her aide seriously, I kinda got lost reminiscing. Oh, and I brought some of her favourite, I know she doesn’t really eat now, but still…”

“Yeah, Raven loved my sister, she’ll do her job for as long as she lives, and she’ll do it with pride.” Her Aunt sighed again. “But I didn’t call for that. How have you been Sunshine?”

“Well… I’m sure you’ve heard about the Two-fer, yeah, that was fun.” Sunset said, her Aunt chuckling lightly. “Yeah, yeah laugh it up. But yeah, nothing really exciting happened after that, ‘till now that is. So, when are you gonna get your star? Or do you wanna be a bird for the rest of your career?” Sunset asked.

“Hey, I quite like being a full-bird thank you very much. There’s less paperwork.” She retorted. “Besides, it was hard enough being in the field at this rank, let alone with my stars. My sister may’ve been able to lead grand armies from a map and a radio, but I can’t. I relish being in the field with my men.”

“But mom was in the field as a three star.”

“My sister was something else.” She remarked.

“Yeah, you got a point. No matching the Sun Goddess in combat.”

“Hey! The Nightmare was feared by our foes.” She shot back.

“Name one person who saw you and lived to tell.”

“...”

“That’s what I thought. You were a boogie-man, but mom was well known and, rightfully, feared.” Sunset glanced up, hearing someone approach, and saw Applejack standing a few feet away. “I gotta go, I’ll try to call again soon. Ok?”

Hearing this her Aunt sighed. “Alright, but I expect you to call me when you get back. Ok Sunshine?”

“First thing Auntie Moon.” With that, Sunset hung up, turning to face Applejack. “So…”

“Only you can call the feared ‘Nightmare’, ‘Spectre of the Front’s’ , Full-Bird Colonel of the Marine Raiders, Auntie Moon and get away with it.” Aj said, shaking her head. “Anyway, we’re ready. Just waiting on you by the statue.”

“Alright, let’s do this.”

---

Gathered at the battered horse statue her squad met with the Hazardous Ops team, who were obsessively checking over their kit. “We ready?” Sunset called. Various conformations answered her.

“Whenever you’re ready.” The officer said when she looked to him.

“Then we move through.” She declared. As Hazop’s flametroopers checked each other's tanks again, she stepped forth. “Forward!”

Stomping forward, she lead her force through the portal and into the beyond.

---

Charging out of the other side, Sunset tripped over scattered debris and flipped ass-over-teakettle, sliding to a stop on the cold stone. She barely had a second to look around before the others came rushing through, and promptly followed her lead, crashing to the ground in a twisted heap of limbs.

Pulling herself out of the impromptu dog pile, Sunset looked back to the portal to see what they hit. “Well…” She said, “I guess we know what happened to that drone.” Sure enough, there stuck in a pile of broken wood was the missing UAV, smashed to pieces from the impact. “Come on.” She ordered. “Let’s get out of here and find out where we are.”

After a few minutes of detangling themselves, her crew was standing waiting to leave the room they found themselves in. As they were about to breach the door, it unlocked and swung open, revealing two odd men in golden armour.

“Well…” Sunset started. “I think I know where we are now.

So, who wants to meet my family?”

---

United Nations Defence Force.

File: 765304-33510500-RDF-0010
Name: Spitfire. W/C
Callsign: MesserSpit
Nation of Origin: Great Britain N/A
Branch: Army Air Force, NavSpecWar

Description: An ex-RAF Commander, W/C Spitfire is a woman of average height and lean build. She’s one of our wards, someone who’s given everything to the cause: her life, her nationality, even her name; all for the sake of humanity's continued safety. She holds a special title, one of our very few Wing Commanders, and with it, the experience to pilot most small aircraft, and some large, with relatively good skill.

Statements: W/C Spitfire is a wondrous pilot, well beloved by ground teams for her extraordinary skills and near suicidal flying; just her presence in the air can change the tides. W/C Spitfires cockpit footage of her flying a ‘Duckling Train’ through a tunnel into the A/O is still making the rounds.

Medical report: W/C Spitfire is one of our most modified ‘Standard’ personnel, capable of withstanding some extreme G-forces allowing her to do most of her insane stunts. I’ve never seen someone ‘slam-dunk’ a plane that big before, let alone under fire. Her body, much like other combat pilots, is filled with shrapnel, so much so that she can’t walk through an airport without a call to the bomb squad. Honestly, it’s a miracle that she’s in as good of shape as she is.