File 12.11 - Cost of Survival

“Ensign Mille, you’re clear for landing.”

“Confirmed.” The signal from the CSS Dauntless locked the Bishamon Custom onto course with the carrier as it hovered over the far edge of the Antarctica continent. In the background the rest of the fleet surrounded it, taking on Jiaos still. A little rocky on the landing with the Skin barely feeling like it was holding together. She walked it over into a dock alongside the row of the rest of her team.

The hatch in the chest opened giving her the first taste of the bitter arctic air and the wind. She struggled to keep her hair from blowing around violently with more Skins still landing from the other Hunter teams. Schir stared out from the hatch to the vast endless white void of the frozen continent that already had the blood soaking into the ice. She clenched her hands tightly, unable to avenge her team.

Riding the cable down to the ground, she directed the mechanics to the areas that she knew already needed work. Salvage crews already were being put together to try to get anything left from the far edge outside of the city’s range. The Bishamon’s were going to be trouble to repair without good parts. They might have to send requests back to headquarters.

Though more than that troubled her, Schir looked at the hangar that filled out much of the lower half of the carrier. While even with the full team it would never have been full, it was unsettlingly empty. She lost five from her team and it looked comparable to the others. It was a hard lesson for them to learn, but those that survived, she had more hope for continuing to live.

“They got Juni, Ryea, Thallack…” muttered one of her teammates.

It wasn’t easy, but this was going to be the reality for everyone now. The reality that she already faced. Schir stopped next to the four gathered at the foot of one of their machines. “Death isn’t fair or nice about any of it. It’ll hurt and keep on hurting. Take your time now to deal with and leave it behind you on the battlefield or you’ll join them next. It’s not easy, but you’re alive. Live for them and remember them well. You did well out there today. Get some rest.”

“Yes, sir!”

Schir stepped into the elevator taking it up to the command deck. Through the hall, it felt a little strange walking rather than jumping or floating through. She stepped into the bridge taking up the left flank of the Commander. “Commander.”

“We took heavy losses today.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I think Command should understand the reality now. It went about as well as you said.”

“I take no pride in being right. We lost a lot of good soldiers today.”

“Yes. It’s going to be some time before repairs are finished. This isn’t the end, but the beginning. We’ll make them fold.”

“It’s only a matter of time.”

“Get some rest, Ensign. You earned it.” She hadn’t seen all of the combat data yet and none of the battle reports were in, but monitoring the battle closely she saw the battle with the Ghost. More than any of the others, she managed to do something no one else so far had, fight to a relative draw with one of the Devil Skins with only a single Skin.

“Thank you, sir!” Schir saluted the woman and then marched off the bridge. It felt hard for her to accept that she did well when she lost half of her own team and about forty percent of the entire Hunters team in the first battle. She only hoped that the first battle taught the new pilots enough to live through the next.

Back in her quarters, she unbuttoned the jacket of her uniform, throwing the off white and black trim jacket to the side. She started to undo the buttons on her vest-like over shirt with a high collar and v-cut, but stopped when her hands started to shake again. Then her legs grew weak forcing her to brace against her bed. Pain and nausea hit her body hard. “I’ve got to keep it together…I can’t let that Skin beat me…”

Schir dropped onto her bed breathing heavily. She already felt the adrenaline fall off while she changed out of her pilot suit. She couldn’t show her team any weakness though. “This Skin is my way to revenge. I will master it! I won’t be beaten!”