[quote=@Letter Bee]

So Mykhailo's first order of business was to see Gunther 'Wolf' Wolfman, bringing a bag of small pastries with him to signal he wanted to talk, and saying, "You free for a few seconds?"

Then he'd tell Wolf how he suspected sabotage on both Scott and the now-dead Sokolov's planes, and maybe others', too.
[/quote]

Wolf had been checking the details for the planes that had been delivered, making a note of their maintenance records and carefully checking everything - and carefully keeping a track of the suspected persons he had in mind, investigating their backgrounds and the details he could shake down. He was no intelligence specialist, nor a hacker or information analyst, but he'd been around long enough and in his game long enough to know a few tricks about military records and bookkeeping, and they'd shaken loose a couple of details that were enough to bring to Scott and reinforce his suspicions. 
When the young pilot arrived at his office, Gunther was surprised to see him. He nodded as Mykhailo asked him, and invited him in with a wave. 
"[i]Ja,[/i] please, step in".
He accepted one of the pastries gladly... and then as Myk launched into his remarkably accurate suspicions, Gunther held a hand up to stop him a moment, crossing the room quickly to close the door, before he nodded to the young man, sitting on his desk and speaking in a low voice. 
"I have had the same thoughts as you. And I looked into it; there are saboteurs in our ranks". 
The older man's rugged, weathered face was a picture of anguish and frustration as he shook his head, picking his cap off his head and screwing it up in one hand, the other smoothing through his short, salt-and-pepper hair as he spoke.
"I have looked into all the background information of the maintenance personnel; and the ones who are all linked with the planes that had the issues. They are recent to joining Shattered Steel. Even though their backgrounds checked out, I found a few things, some little things of suspicion, you know..." he looked back to the young man with a tight-lipped grimace. "I feel like a fool now, for not noticing. That I have failed the squadron and especially for Sokolov... but also I am angry at these people, that they have come among us with this as their reason, put this on us..."
He shook his head again, standing up from the desk and nodding to Mykhailo. "Go to the armoury, sign out your weapons, find the rest of your fellow pilots, and then meet me at Heartbreak's office. I think it is time we tell him of what we've learned"

[b]Meanwhile, at Matar Dei Hospital, Msida[/b]

[quote=@Smike]

[color=00a651]"I heard you beat a hole in the instrument panel with your head. Glad you did more damage to it than it did you."[/color] 

[/quote]

Kat had a small room in the hospital all to herself. She sat atop the covers on the hospital bed, boots off and her flightsuit down around her waist and tied off, her top half clad in a black sports bra. She'd been tapping her feet together idly as she flipped through channels on the TV, trying to find something tolerable to watch, before Fuka entered the room. She grinned at the other woman's words, setting the remote aside as her visitor stepped in. She laughed - a rough, coarse sound - at her comment. 
"Well, when that ungodly slab of a plane decided to crap out on us and die, I thought if it was going to try and take me down, I'd do my best to kill it first", she joked back, smiling gamely.
"Thank you for coming to visit though. The doctors prodded and poked me a bit, blasted me with some X-Rays, and said I should be fine. They just want to keep me in for observation." She lowered her voice conspiratorially, a gleam of amusement in her single, pale blue eye as she leaned slightly in Fuka's direction, putting one hand up to her face in a stage whisper.
"Between you and me, I think they're confused. Lost track of the injuries, and they're just trying to work out if any of the scars are new ones. Don't want to admit their mistakes...!" 

[quote=@Smike]
[center][b]Hours Later[/b][/center]
[b][color=00a651]Fuka Nakano[/color][/b]

[color=00a651]"Boss, this whole thing reeks. If they got to our ground crew they could be paying off anyone. I think we should assume our security is compromised until we can prove otherwise."[/color]

[/quote]

Scott grimaced and nodded. 
"Wolf has looked into the information; it seems like the sabotage was orchestrated by recent additions to the maintenance team, but they only took action once we arrived here. Their background checks were obviously all right when they first joined Shattered Steel; they wouldn't have ended up here otherwise. So this is obviously some kind of long-term plan or action. What, I currently have no idea. 
You're right though, there could be others involved, but if we start suspecting everyone, we won't be able to do anything. As it is, we have a definite link between what happened and the identified maintenance personnel, so they might be able to give us a link to anyone else - and it might prod them into action as well. I've already sent an encrypted message back to HQ as well, notifying them of the situation. But you're right; keep alert and aware. 
"Considering they took action when we got here, I'm betting this is linked to a bigger picture involving [i]something[/i] we don't yet know about going on in this region, involving whoever is supplying and financing the attacks".

[quote=@Letter Bee]"What's the policy for overkill? Do we [i]have[/i] to capture the enemy for interrogation? Or should we kill them all?"

[/quote]

Much to his credit, Scott didn't explode at Myk, and managed to maintain his composure at the bloodthirsty request. Though, the rest of the people in the room might have wondered if he might have dislocated an eyebrow as well as his ribs, given how high he managed to raise it.

[quote=@Smike]

[color=00a651]"Put it this way:"[/color] she said cooly, hoisting her M110 over her shoulder. [color=00a651]"Handle anyone who's a threat. You go farther than that, I'll handle you."[/color]

[color=6ecff6]"Oh don't fault the boy for wanting to play with his food a little."[/color] she snickered. [color=6ecff6]"A killer like him, we should be grateful he's taking it out on the enemy.[/color]

[/quote]

Scott was thankful for Fuka's interjection, and he pointed to her and nodded at Mykhailo, choosing to diplomatically ignore Ximena's comment for the meantime - though, he resolved to keep an eye on her catty sense of humour when it came to comments about other.

"What Peacenik said; we're not looking to go on a murder rampage of revenge. Just to secure things, and hopefully gather some information. But survival is the priority. Shoot anyone who's shooting at you".

[@Smike], [@Letter Bee]