Personal Effects
Personal Effects:
Two didn't make it back from the mission. Two letters of condolences that had to be handwritten to their families, two sets of Imperial Army benefits that had to be sent out from the quartermaster along with their personal belongings. Two trips that Ffam had to make by quick courier because it was his duty to his men.
There were few duties that could be passed on to another soldier of lesser rank. Ffam's sense of honor, duty, and dedication kept him from passing it to a lieutenant to deliver. His men were a tight-knit group, and he had led them since he was a raw cadet fresh from officer's training.
He listened to the report as it was given, feeling his gut tighten even as he remembered it. The locals had given more fight this time, defending the aerodrome. There had been a great deal of damage caused to the Emberstrand commercial port, and they would be forced to route traffic through their docks instead. Two dead, another suit disabled, and one person driven to berserk status that jeopardized the mission.
Dorsen had been eager to try his hand at the suit, having suggested the drop parameters for Operation Gysahl. The young mage assured even General Corlan of the success of a high altitude, low open drop using float spells to slow their descent into their target--his spell missed and failed to deploy, leaving him a dead man on impact.
Getzrik had a level head on her shoulders. The keyword was 'had'. The debrief from the others was something terrible. She'd been corrupted by the Mist after too much damage to the suit. He'd have to bring her belongings back to her elder brother and sister. But not her diary. He couldn't let that go back to them.
Something had been ticking behind her eyes since the last training exercise, something Ffam couldn't figure out. Getzrik faced General Corlan's niece and it came to a draw, leaving Getzrik to start trashing the barracks room in a post-Mist rage. He should have substituted her out, his guilty self whispered. He should have gone in her place.
Going through her diary had been a necessity--he had to ensure operational security on their part. Scribblings within of hearing whispers while in the suit, the whispers demanding her to take vengeance, to kill everything that breathed. It had her shaken at times, he read, but she wanted to be strong for her family ... and for him.
It was an extremely quiet relationship they held, only partaking on it when they were on leave and out of prying eyes. It was something they kept quiet and kept professional when it came to duty. It was definately not something to let back to her family.
Their effects were crated and were currently being loaded onto the fast courier. He snickered, trying to find a point of amusement in sending Getzrik's body home in a ship called the 'Galbana Lilly'. She hated the flowers, said they stunk when he first got them for her early in their relationship.
The trip to Archades would be short, but it gave him time to drop off his extra gear, things he didn't need and didn't want to be gone through. General Corlan had made unannounced visits more than a few times to check security, and to check that no one had grown too close to his niece.
Ffam checked his uniform for the last time. Nothing but the best would do for this task. His duffel had been tossed in with the rest of the things to be delivered back to Archades, including operational reports. As he approached the landing strip, his eyes widened in surprise. General Corlan and Lady Corana waited.
General Daschel Corlan gave Ffam such an unnerving smile, bordering on half-crazed. "Ah, Major Bunansa. So sharply pressed, I see. Seeing to officer duties, I take it?" His hand rested absently near his sidearm, gracing the trigger.
"Aye, sir," Ffam responded, coming to attention. "I've a duty to send their personal effects home to their families, and to see Getzrik's body home to her family, sir."
Corana snorted. "A failure, letting herself become corrupted by the Mist." She watched a muscle jump in Ffam's jaw, her irritating laughter ringing out once again. "Oh, Major, what's wrong? Surely you agree that she failed in her mission."
Ffam cleared his throat, keeping his face as neutral as possible. "I don't like to speak ill of the dead, my Lady."
"Such a dutiful man you are, Major. I have another duty I need you to perform," the General grinned. His eyes lit with insanity. "I need you to check your sidearm, Major. Go on."
Ffam's eyebrows drew down as he removed the long barreled gun from its holster. "I'm not certain I understand, sir?"
Daschel smiled, drawing his casually, thumb spinning the chambers. "It's an old game, Major. One they say was played before Archadia was but a city-state and part of the Galtean Alliance. A game of empires." He pointed, pulling the trigger.
Pain erupted in Ffam's stomach, blood staining the perfectly pressed uniform as he staggered back, his firearm raising in turn. "Sir...?"
Corana's laughter was cut short as another sharp bark erupted from the General's firearm, the side of the Galbana Lily splattered in crimson and gray. Her body dropped to the landing pad as he grinned to Ffam. "A pity, Major, but I need a scapegoat and a rallying point for the Archadian people. It isn't the first time a member of the Bunansa's was seen as a traitor, Ffamran."
Ffam struggled, staggering to the door of the airship. He raised his firearm, tremors in his hand, and fired.
The bullet slammed home in Corlan's shoulder, forcing him to drop the sidearm. "You only serve my ends, Bunansa. Congratulations, Major, on getting your Emperor completely sold on destruction of our enemies. I look forward to an encore."
Ffam's bloodied fingers grasped the door frame of the Galbana Lily, letting him stagger further in, his vision blurring at the bloodloss. No pilot, the ship was free of a pilot, of anyone. His word against General Corlan's. And the General would make it appear that he fled in disgrace after the operation, attempting to take sensitive information to the enemy, steal an airship, and assault both the General and Lady Corana, killing her in the process.
He fell three separate times, slipping on his own blood as he fell into the pilot's seat. The controls shimmered to life under his hands, the Galbana Lily bucking and shaking about him. His body trembled in time with the rest of the world, his head falling back against the seat.
Ffam's gaze looked to the seat that he thought was empty, catching the ethereal form of Getzrik. She smiled, reaching a hand out to touch his cheek. She whispered to him, his mind playing tricks on him. "We've been set up, Ffam." She shimmered and faded, her words echoing in his fading consciousness.
He had been set up. And how.
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