It was so much worse than Ayvee had first thought. Saboteurs, of all things, had nearly gotten her by messing with her plane? She felt a shiver go up her spine despite the Mediterranean heat. This was already way more than she'd had to deal with before. Merc pilots were still pilots after all. Getting shot at by small arms was never a strong suit, and it terrified her. Her eyes widened further as the young pilot continued to recount the firefight. The loss of a fellow flightmate and the decision to go in were almost baffling. She was no stranger to lost comrades; nobody was in this line of work, but she always took solace that, generally, it was quick, it was over with. Getting cut down on the ground almost felt wrong to her. 

"But damn, we only just got here and we're getting picked off by fucking terrorists?? Gonna need to talk to Scott about my contract, I did not sign up to kick doors god dammit." she thought with rising frustration. Though it quickly cooled when the pilot mentioned his own bloodlust. She felt bad for the guy; it seemed like it was really getting to him. 

He paused for breath, then continued, "And now we're mustering for a pre-emptive strike because a Libyan force has been mustering to try and take Malta by surprise; I can speculate about who's supporting them, but I shouldn't as it annoys Fuka and other people and I don't want my barely-legal... rear to be burnt by setting my connections on fire. You get what I mean, right? Oh, and I got grazed during the skirmish; there was a lot of blood, and it was mistaken for a worse injury."

Ayvee nodded to this. Well, at least they weren't sitting idle. She'd have to triple-check her plane from now on, though. It was assumed a bird strike had caused her emergency landing, but now she wasn't sure at all. She couldn't trust any of the base personnel now, that was certain. Hell, she'd probably have to cancel her little tour of the town, lest she gets picked off in some back alley. 

The more she thought about it, the more this contract got worse and worse. 

Fianlly, the young pilot finished by asking her intentions and inviting her to a sim flight. She gave a smile and shrugged. "Right on the first one and sure, why not? Gotta say though, glad y'all got away with as little harm as you did. Anyway, glad your safe too buddy. Let's go check in with Scott and see if we got time for a little sim combat. Though who knows what kind of sim we'll be working with. Wouldn't be surprised if they plop us in front of some desktop computers and some crappy store brand stick. Lead the way, I still don't know where anything is on this base." she finished with a laugh. 

With that, she gestured for Mykhailo to take lead, and as they walked, her hand stayed close to her sidearm. 

[@Letter Bee][@Rhona W]