"Jake give me my keys, I need to go!" Abigail shouted
When she'd rushed out her office to her car, Jake intercepted her in the car park taking the keys from her hand
"Where are you going?" Jake asked
"To an important meeting, that I need to get to now" Abigail said going to grab her keys again, Jake holding them above her head
"Tell me what's going on with Cyclone" Jake insisted "Cause I'm not letting him take advantage of my sister"
"He's not but he is going to kill me if I don't get to this meeting, so give me my keys!"
"Really?" He asked
"Yes really! I'm going to a meeting about a job promotion, Admiral Kazansky and Maverick can vouch for me"
"Abigail, Hangman, what is happening?"
"Family matters" Jake snipped
"He's holding my keys hostage and not letting me get to our meeting" Abigail said crossing her arms
"Hangman, Abigail needs to be at this meeting, it's very important and both you and her could get in trouble for her not being there, it will directly affect your career, her career and the dagger squad, so hand Abigail her keys back and go back inside, you have drills in 5 minutes" Maverick said calmly
Jake dropped the keys into Abigail's hand allowing her to open her car and put the address into her phone
It was bearly a 10 minute drive to a large corporate building
She found the meeting room opening the door
"You left after me" she said confused seeing Maverick already there, Cyclone and Iceman also there with other high up Admirals
"Bike" Maverick said simply
"Gentleman, Abigail Seresin, she is our advisor, she will be speaking on behalf of the aviators" Maverick introduced "Pleasure to meet you, Admirals," she said pleasantly, sitting down at the table
"Admiral Bates, please" Iceman prompted sitting down
An older Admiral stood up "Greetings everyone, I apologise for such a short notice meeting and appreciate you all being here, but there's been a recent development into the mission" he said
"Ms Seresin, how much are you aware of?" He asked
"I know nothing but it is a top secret and is very important," she said
"Okay, the aviators won't know anything, not until they are about to leave, they will be given the simplest information we can afford to give them"
"How much information am I privy to?" Abigail asked
"As much as we know" Admiral Bates assured "Which is?" Abigail asked
"We are sending in two planes, newly developed planes, stealth planes, as quiet as we can make them, we then plan to have one of them go in at night and scout out an enemy base, they stay in the air, The others land about 5 miles away and sneak in to get some information we need them to extract"
"Is that safe?" Abigail swallowed hard "Are we sure their combat training is up to standard?"
"We will be retraining them and picking our teams based on their best abilities and who we believe is best for each part"
"And each plane will have 2 Lieutenants in I must assume" Abigail asked
"Yes they will"
"And for the ground team, will both be infiltrating or will one stay with the plane"
"Both will leave the plane"
"If the plane is compromised?"
"That is why the scouts will stay, they will be under strict instructions to blow up the plane and get the other pilots out"
"That's a high risk" Abigail muttered "We're aware but the pilots aren't obligated to do this mission"
"And will you make it clear to the pilots that there will be absolutely no fall out from rejecting this mission, their careers will not be affected and they will be treated the exact same? Will that be made deftly clear?"
"That will be part of your role Ms Seresin" Admiral Bates nodded
Iceman cleared his throat "Abigail, there's another part we need you to do" He said
"Most aviators have some form of will or requests for what happens if they die but-"
"You'll need me to go through them with each members of the team for any changes or amendments that need to be made?"
Abigail's voice was quiet "Yes, yes you will" Iceman confirmed gripping her hand
Abigail squeezed her eyes shut, keeping any sense of tears back, she looked back to Admiral Bates
"When do you suspect this mission to take place?" She asked
"Less 4 weeks" Bates said solemnly
"That's not enough time" Abigail protested
"We're acutely aware but I'm afraid with new information, we cannot wait any longer, we believe the enemy will be using this information to launch an attack that will be devastating"
Abigail's breath was shaky as she nodded
"The dagger squad will know nothing" Bates reiterated
"Meeting dismissed," Iceman said still holding onto Abigail's hand
"Let me drive you, you're in no state," Iceman said gently "I was dropped off" he told her "I can drive you"
"Admiral- Tom, honestly, how likely are the entire team to survive this?" She asked in the passenger side of her car, shaking like someone had thrown ice water on her
"They survived and succeded in the uranium mission and we all deemed that impossible, many believe they were lucky" Iceman stated
"Maybe they were, maybe that luck is up" she muttered
"Don't panic yet Abigail, we need to keep a strong face for the team" Iceman said
Abigail looked out at the roads of San Diego
"I'm taking you home" he told her "Wait what?" She asked turning her attention back to Ice in the drivers side
"No offence Abigail, but you are in no state to go back to work, I'm writing the rest of the day off for you"
"You need to rest, you've been told alot, you've been told you need to keep a death mission from your squad, that your friends, your partner and your brother may die on a mission you're helping send them into"
"Bob's not my partner" she said quietly "I never said it was Bob" Iceman smirked
"Well he currently hates me cause he thinks I'm screwing Cyclone behind everyone's back because I can't tell him any of this"
"We sacrifice alot but you'll see, it'll turn out well, I promise" he said parking at her house
"Now you go inside, rest and do not hesitate to call me of you need anything"
"I'll call a cab"
Abigail got out with Ice, handing her, her keys back "You should wait inside" she said
"I don't wish to impose" Iceman smiled
"Please, I insist" she assured letting him inside to wait
"Coffee?" She offered
"If you wouldn't mind"
"Does the secret keeping get easier?" She asked handing Ice a mug, sitting across from him
"Honestly? No it doesn't, it only gets easier when your partner is in on the secrets"
Abigail nearly spit her drink out "I fucking knew it!" She cheered
Ice chuckled slightly "Yes, I think half the squad does at this point"
"You'd be surprised"
"Secrets come with the job, no self respecting navy man would ever hold it against you to keep secrets"
"It was never this hard in Texas you know? I should have turned right around and got the next plane to Texas, the second I found out Jake was involved"
"Family, relationships make everything messy, navy or not" Ice assured
"Soon enough the mission will be out, the team will know, they'll know why you were so secretive and what you were hiding, they'll understand, they'll do the mission and they'll come home safe" Ice told her
"And then another big mission will happen and I'll lie again"
"A vicious cycle I'm afraid, you'll never get past it" he told her
"Great" she groaned
"Well look on the bright side, in a couple years, Jake and Bob and other members of the squad will take promotions that allow them to be in on the secrets that you keep"
"Years Ice, years" she repeated to him "How many missions are there going to be between that?" She asked
"Hopefully not too many"
"I hate secrets" Abigail announced
"No offence Abigail but you're in the wrong profession" Ice said causing her to laugh
"Thank you Tom, I needed this" she said
"I can tell, rest Abigail, you've earned it" Ice said standing up and leaving the apartment with a final goodbye