"Hmm, you're back already?" Kayda said while she was busy sorting out her gear.
"You timed that," I said, raising an eyebrow at her.
"I waited," she said. "Close the door."
Closing the door behind me, I looked back as Kayda walked up to me with a sad smile on her face. Or more of a regretful smile.
"Orders?" she asked, taking the case out of my hands and putting it on the table at the side.
"I would like to ask the same of you. Getting ready to go already, rawr?" I asked, grabbing her belt strap.
"Yes, sadly I need to go to the south again. What's your mission?" Kayda said.
"Hmm, Dead Forest," I said. "My mission is to observe while Brenda and the squad carry out a mission on the north side of the forest."
"Good, you need to find out what to do with them," she said, and meant it.
"I know you told me this morning already how they are. If I remember correctly, we kind of went deep into their personal relationships as well, rawr," I said, smirking at her.
"Yes, but watching them in this casual way is very different from watching them in a high-stakes mission," Kayda said, taking my hand away from her belt strap.
"Hmm, I know," I said, looking into her eyes while I grabbed her belt again with my other hand.
"How long?" Kayda said, with a small glare now, taking my hand away again.
"Hmm, will probably be back by tomorrow morning," I explained while I grabbed her belt again and pulled her even closer.
"Hey!"
"So how long will your mission be, rawr?" I said, not letting her get away.
"Forty-eight hours," she said. "Maybe less if people behave."
"We both know they won't behave like we want them to," I said, quite disappointed.
"Don't be like that. You know what's coming."
"Yeah, I know, but it's been weeks."
"Yeah, weeks that you still need to make up for," Kayda said, grabbing both my hands on her belt, but this time I didn't let her take them off.
"I know, but these missions are quite annoying."
"Yeah, sadly. Now let go of me, Kitsu."
"Two-minute snuggle, rawr," I muttered, pulling her closer again.
"No, my ride is already waiting for me, and you need to give your briefing to your squad," Kayda said, glaring at me, finally able to pull my hands away from her.
"Tch, don't be like that."
"Kitsu, go to your squad. They are waiting for you," Kayda said, walking past me and opening the door behind her.
"Be careful, rawr," I said.
"I'm always careful," Kayda said, nodding back at me.
Standing at the door for a second, she looked back at me.
"Walk me out," she said.
"Okay~," I said, shimmying after her.
[10 min later]
"I'll find you when I'm back," she said as she stood on top of the ramp leading into her cargo plane, full of other soldiers and equipment.
"That's if I am still here at the time. You know the missions won't wait for you," I said, shrugging.
"Point taken, but I will come find you anyway. You still owe me quite a bit."
"And I will not shy away from repaying you, rawr," I said, winking at her, something that was met with a glare.
"Haha, go. They are glaring more fiercely at me than you are," I said, laughing at her shy glare.
"Be careful in the forest, Kitsu," she said, walking into the plane while I closed it behind her.
"I am always careful enough," I said, stepping back.
"Ma'am, please step back more. The thrusters are quite strong," one of the soldiers quite a bit behind me said, indicating the lines on the ground.
"Hmm."
Looking at him, I decided I wasn't really needed. I knew how strong those thrusters were, but being able to push me back? No chance.
Seeing them go up, I felt the air shift, and the plane just disappeared.
"Oh, woah, they got way stronger," I noted, nodding happily and walking away with my tail flicking around, showing my mood with no restraint while the soldiers looked at me like I was crazy or a monster.
[Yard 5 minutes later]
Walking into the yard where my squad was waiting for me, Brenda stood up first after seeing me.
"You're finally back."
"Yeah, you guys all ready to go?"
"Yes, we got some documents already for the mission."
"So you know we're leaving in sixty minutes?"
"... Forty-five."
"Oh, right, it was sixty when I left Stacy's office," I said, shrugging.
"Well, we are all ready to go. If you are ready, we can go on with the briefing."
"Brenda, it's your call. I am only an observer in this mission."
=======
She didn't waste time and started walking through the squad.
"We already know what the mission is, and we know each other's roles."
"Yes, ma'am."
"I will lead with Olivia behind me. Apricot, Sirone, and Nekro in the middle, with the rest flanking us, and Kitsuna will be behind us all, observing."
"Brenda, I am observing. If you guys get attacked from behind, I won't help," I said, simply shutting down her formation.
"... True. Chinada, you take the back then."
The formation is fine. The placement of the team is just shit, I thought, looking at everyone.
"Yes, ma'am."
Brenda moved through the squad with a steady pace, checking everyone's gear just in case they might have missed something.
"Guys, we are going to take a cargo plane to the border before we go further on foot. Time to get to the mission location will be four hours," Brenda said as she finished with Sirone's gear being last.
"Yes, ma'am."
'Why should she be checking everyone's gear?' I thought, not showing any outward indication of my disappointment.
Going back to the front of the group, she addressed all of them again.
"From deployment on the border, we will head on foot to the western ridge to the north from here. We do not know if we will come across any monsters, so as we go, we will be the first to be there. Check as you move. Make sure you always have a visual of everyone from your position. Do not line up."
"Yes, ma'am."
'Pep talk for a mission briefing, alright?'
She turned to me, her voice pitched for me and for them. "Captain, any additions?"
"No," I said. "You've got it."
For some reason, everyone visibly relaxed afterward.
"Form up," Brenda said.
[1 hour 30 min later—western entrance]
As we dropped to the ground, Brenda took a knee, looking around and waiting for everyone to get on the ground.
'Time wasting,' I thought, standing behind everyone as they looked around vigilantly.
"Let's move!" Brenda yelled as we started running toward the forest, not waiting for the special forces unit to show up and give us any update about the pathing.
'That's a major miss,' I thought, seeing one of them in the trees looking down at us with a raised eyebrow.
Stopping in my tracks, I jumped into the tree, appearing next to the guy.
"Woah! You scared me," the guy said.
"Good morning to you too. Give me the briefing real quick. I will need to catch up to them afterward, after all," I said, fist-bumping him.
"Yes, ma'am. Right now there are a few minor monsters in that direction, but no major ones. We also haven't seen any Federation units close here for months now, so I don't think they know yet about your mission location."
"Great. Anything else you need to tell me?"
"No, that is all, ma'am."
"Alright. Then we will see you guys in a few hours," I said, jumping down into the forest again before disappearing.
"That fox is fast," I heard the guy say, not being able to follow me.
Not long after, I caught up to them, still running at a low tempo toward the mission location. The formation itself was good, but if they had intelligence on the squad's strength and capabilities, they could easily exploit weaknesses by attacking from one side.
[4 hours later]
As Brenda and the squad came up to the last mountain before they descended into the ruins' location, they stopped to rest. The first rest they had had since they came into the forest.
'Four hours of running. How long will the break be?' I thought, looking at them thoughtfully, still observing them from behind.
Unsurprisingly, the monsters the guy told me about ran away the moment they heard so many people running in the forest, making it easy for them to reach this point without any hazards.
"The break will be thirty minutes. Take your pills and water."
"Yes, ma'am."
'Thirty minutes, alright. Who is on watch first?' I thought, waiting for the order, but none came. They stood fanned out, all still on alert, one looking in one direction while the other was looking in another.
'Guess they have that down,' I noted, looking at them.
Deciding to drop back in, I dropped in the middle of the group, softly making no noise.
"I am back," I said, looking down at them.
"Woah!" Rin yelped, jumping up at the sound of my voice. The others weren't better, but Nekro and Apricot both never lost sight of me. Or well, they had always known where I was.
"That wasn't needed, Captain," Rin said, glaring at me.
"You guys are way too uptight, seriously."
"Captain, we don't know if the Federation is already at the mission site."
"Hmm, if you waited for the special unit to give you the intel, you would know that they haven't even been seen."
"What?" Brenda said, looking at me, confused.