U.N.E.

Chapter Five

Chapter Five

The day the entire team had been waiting for had finally dawned, and there was only an hour left until their early morning flight would take them to Trinidad and Tobago. It would be the first time the team had taken their Mechs out of Nevada and they were also supposed to participate in some kind of joint training exercise for people who would be deployed soon. Angela and her team had been waiting for this day for quite a while, even if they had only heard about it a few weeks before. They knew that eventually they would get this kind of opportunity though, it was just a matter of when.

The NATO portion of the base had been as busy as a bee hive for the last few days, trying to get everything ready for the trip and make sure nothing was left behind. While everyone else had been working hard it turned out that the pilots of the X-04 project had been left with nothing to do. The biggest reason for this was because their Mech's had been dismantled to make it easier to transport them. The legs, arms, and chest had already been sent off to await their arrival and the only thing left was the cockpit section which would be transported with the pilots on the massive C-81 Trinity cargo plane.

Even though they had known about this trip for a few weeks they still had no idea what was actually going to happen. Captain Richards had mentioned something about it being a joint training exercise but it didn't seem like any of the other countries on base were participating, or even knew about it to begin with. The more Angela thought about it the stranger it seemed to her. Was it a NATO only exercise? No that couldn't be. The C-81 Trinity planes they were using to transport everything were from the United States and even had their original crews on board.

She tried not to worry about it too much. The day had finally dawned and she was packed and ready to go; all that was left was to head down to the runway and board the plane for a long flight that would take her to the small island nation. So she grabbed her duffel, did one last sweep of her small room to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything and then quickly left, locking the door behind her knowing it would be a week before she returned.

Turning down the hall she found that Sarah had just left her room as well, her large green duffle bag slung over her shoulder and her uniform perfectly pressed and worn. She flicked her long black hair over her shoulder when she spotted Angela and walked towards her, the two women heading down the long hall towards the stairs with barely concealed grins on their faces. Lisa and Michelle quickly joined them as they descended down the stairs and stepped out into the bright sunlight that never seemed to go away in this part of the United States. What Angela wouldn't give for a single day of rain to lessen the heat.

"Can you believe this is really happening?" Michelle asked with excitement as they crossed the parking lot and made their way to the car that would take them to the runway.

"What are you talking about?" Sarah sighed, but Angela knew she was just as excited as the bubbly girl. "We're pilots working for NATO, of course we'd get this kind of opportunity. It's not really that big of a deal anyways. Not like we're being deployed yet."

"We will be soon though, especially if Alex has his way."

"I still have a hard time believing he is who they say he is," Sarah groaned lightly and ducked down into the car with Angela right behind her.

They quickly buckled in and the driver turned the car towards the tarmac, making the turn onto the road and speeding up as buildings sped past in a blur.

"He did take you out in a single shot," Angela reminded her friend and was rewarded with an evil looking glare.

"An amazing shot at that," Michelle smiled as she spoke with a cheeky voice, "and don't forget about that footage we saw. It was definitely his voice we heard."