Ultima Ratio

Chapter 18: Pier Pressure

"I'm just making sure you're not thinking about jumping into the water," Akira said. "You never mentioned if you could swim, after all."

"I'm sure I wouldn't have a problem," Danya said before finally spinning around and facing Akira again, crossing her arms as she did so. "And don't try to hide your annoyance over my wonderful wordplay. I thought we agreed we'd communicate more openly. Shouldn't you lead by example, Captain Dunn?"

Unfortunately, Danya had a point. Improved communication was one of the terms of their personal agreement, as they had discussed the week prior, and Akira was already struggling to keep up her end of the bargain. She supposed the saving grace was that she only had to be honest with Danya and not the rest of her team, but it was only a small victory.

"I didn't think that rule extended to bad jokes," Akira said, knowing she was already fighting a losing battle.

Danya smirked. "It applies to everything."

"Really? Then tell me what you were thinking when you were staring at the water just now?"

As expected, Danya replied with a blank stare with seemingly no response imminent.

Suddenly, Danya's eyes widened, and she spun around so fast, her ponytail whipped around her head to make an arc of golden brown. Her gaze returned to the sea, this time aimed directly at the horizon.

Akira followed her stare, but she couldn't see anything except calm waters stretching out into the distance, basking under the warm sun in the bright sky. Part of her tensed for a fight against whatever Danya could see that she couldn't; another part of her was annoyed at the possibility Danya was pranking her again.

"Danya—" Akira began, letting a bit of irritation slip into her tone.

"Sh!" Danya hissed, her warning sharp as she kept her focus on the serene scene before them.

Akira immediately jumped into compliance, more worried about the prospect that Danya was actually concerned about something than her lack of manners. Another glance at the horizon showed no visible threat, so Akira watched Danya instead, slowly stepping beside her for a better view of her face.

Danya was like a wild animal preparing to hunt. Her eyes were wider than Akira had ever seen them, darting rapidly in every possible direction as if she was focused on everything at once. Every few seconds, her nose would scrunch for a brief moment; a couple of times, the tip of her tongue darted out from between her pursed lips as if she was sampling the air.

"They're here," Danya whispered, then turned her wild gaze towards Akira. "They're here!"

Akira had questions. Who was here? Where were they exactly? What were they doing? How did Danya know? While the answer to the first three could be easily assumed that "Concordia's about to attack from the sky," the fourth one was still a mystery. It also wasn't urgent, and Akira pushed her curiosity aside to get to business.

"What's their plan?" Akira asked, already activating her earpiece.

"They're forming an acid storm in Mongolia. Somewhere...that way." Danya pointed directly north. "My guess is that they're aiming for India."

Akira nodded and began to run towards the base's flight deck, calling her CO as she did so. She had already grown accustomed to Danya's unusual reference to Mongolus and attributed it to a change from time travel. Akira was actually more confused about how comfortable she was getting with the concept of time travel being a legitimate possibility, but that was the least of her concerns.

"This better be good, Dunn," Major Roth answered.

"Sir, incoming enemy attack," Akira said, trying to hide her breathlessness while simultaneously conveying an urgent calm; she was only partially successful. "Acid storm incoming from Mongolus, headed to India. Request—"