Ayvee sighed softly and pushed off the service truck, rolling her shoulders as if to shake the dust and adrenaline from the last sortie out of her muscles. She soon arrived with the rest to see Scott already briefing them.

“Damn,” she muttered, not loud enough to really be a complaint, more a statement of cosmic fact. “Straight from one mess into another. I was hoping for at least enough downtime to pour a drink that didn’t come in a cockpit-compatible container. Then again, this after hitting that barracks, I doubt we won't be able to scrounge up much...”

Still, the edge of disappointment never quite made it to her eyes. The calm settled back in almost immediately, that familiar switch flipping as the mission details finished slotting into place. Airports, radar sites, and capital airspace. Dangerous, sure, but clean, decisive. Her kind of work.

She gave Scott a casual two-finger salute. “Gotcha. Flight lead. Ground targets. Loud entrance, messier exit. I’m tracking.” A faint smirk. “Try not to steal all the fun before I get there.”

Ayvee glanced over at Ximena as she finished her thought, one brow lifting behind the dark lenses of her aviators. The faintest smirk tugged at her mouth.

“As for full-scale war?” Ayvee shrugged one shoulder. “Feels more like the prelude. The kind where everybody pretends it’s still a limited engagement right up until the carrier shows up and starts rearranging coastlines. If it goes loud after tonight, it won’t be because of us. We’re just opening the door for them,” she finished. At Yuna's comment, Ayvee shot her a finger gun. "Bingo, that's about what matters to us in the end."

She then raised her hand to get Scott's attention. 

"One question. To confirm, we're heading right back to Malta after this, yeah? As I said earlier, we don't exactly have any bunks left here after I uh... renovated the place." 

[@Finetales][@Smike][@Rhona W]