soundless exile

Chapter 14: infiltration, and details

the next day, location out in the Pacific

Rousha was seen standing and being handed clothing it was blue and black and seemed to be oversized for her, she looked up at Hornet, who simply smiled, "It's a kimono, I don't think jeans, a shirt, and a jacket would fit in", Rousha calmly nodded, taking it and entering into a room, which she assumed was for higher ranking officers if there was still a human crew.

Throwing it on she felt a touch of familiarity come to her.

It was night, the wind cold, the sky was light with fireworks, and the woman next to her was watching them with a smile, the starburst patterns, in green, blue, and red, making shapes in the sky, I looked at the woman again, the fighting blue and orange eyes, the woman looks over and pats my head, "enjoying the fireworks?", I nodded, my hand running across the smooth fabric of my clothes, a kimono, like the woman's, simple in design but it suited me well.

she shakes her head as she folds the kimono around her waist to not drag it on the floor, she takes the shoes, a set of sandals simple in design, and puts them on, stepping out of the door she looks at Hornet and tilts her head doing a spread of her arms, saying in a way How do I look?

Hornet smiles, and pats my head, which gets an exhale and roll of the eyes from me, making her chuckle, or at least what I assume was a chuckle, Hornet starts to walk off, which I follow, onto the flight deck, there a grouping of b-25s sitting on the deck, firing up the engines start to thrum, shaking the deck as they idle, I follow hornet to one which hornet calmly helps me into, she handed me a bag and a folder, she points at it as she holds her hat down and backs away from the plane.

I ran to the co-pilot seat and sat down opening the folder and flicking through the papers, detailing what I needed to do, it was simple, get in gather data get out, of course, they would be sending backup in case of issues, I look up and suddenly feel the plane shake more the engines vibrating the airframe, the throttles in the center console pushing forwards with no hands touching them, the dials on the instrument panel shifting as the plane starts to roll increasing speed heading towards the end of the deck, I feel the sudden feeling of falling before I feel the plane gaining altitude.

As I watched the ocean below, I grabbed my side bag and noted to myself I wouldn't be able to carry it while there, pulling the bag I pulled from the dorms out of it I started to put my stuff in it, knives, a lockpicking set, an old trench whistle my father gave to me, I look at it a frown forming on my face, running my thumb along the cold dull surface of it, I set it in my bag shaking my head.

Looking at the controls I noticed different levers moving back and forth little by little, adjusting fuel, revolutions, and air, I watched the different gauges change suddenly one of them dropped, violently, suddenly the aircraft pitched to the side,  she looked out the window to see a smoking engine free wheeling in the wind, hearless climbed into the crawl space of the plane, sitting on top the bomb bay, she finds a latch and opens it the door ripping away from her, slowly she pushes her head out into the wind, it battering her face relentlessly.

She grabs hold of anything she can find on the top of the plane and starts her way over to the engine, minute by minute, inch by inch, she moves toward the free-spinning engine soon she reaches it, she opens the cowling it shaking in the wind threatening to tear away, she locks her legs into the engine bay, she sees the issue, a disconnected fuel hose she grabs hold of it and attaches it back to the carburetor, she feels the engine come to life, the smoke starting to clear away, she pulls her legs out the engine bay and shuts the cowling locking it into place.

Making her way back she sees a dot in the distance, in her hurry to make it back to the cockpit, she loses grip and hangs off the wing with one hand, she grabs hold of another spot, and pulls her way back onto the wing, before making it back in the plane, the cockpit battered with wayward winds, but the gauges now reading green for the engines.