Ace could hear the sound of the ramp retracting as the door slid shut behind them, the rattling sound of the gatling turrets springing to life soon following afterwards.
It's over.
She turned her head towards her remaining Galbadian squad, her expression darkening as she counted the pitiful total. Five soldiers made it. Three of them were seriously injured, and at least all of them completely shell-shocked from the events at the tower.
Had she done the right thing, up there at the summit? What if she had just lay low like she was supposed to, instead of capturing that instructor? What if she had given them orders to retreat sooner, before things went so out of control?
What if...?
She bit the inside of her cheek in aggravation. No. What was done was done. She only did what she felt was in the best interests of the battle.
There was no turning back now.
Wordlessly, she left her men to recover by themselves, walking with a sense of determination in her step towards the cockpit where she intended to speak with one of her superiors. "Sir." Ace stopped short of her commanding officer; a tall, well built man with black hair and stubble shadowing his lip and jaw. He cut an intimidating figure, but Ace had seen enough behind the persona to know that he was more bark than bite. "Fiore reporting in. The Communications tower-"
"-is destroyed." The officer's reply was cold and scathing, cutting through Ace's words like a knife.
No. Ace's hand rested on her heart, her skin paling to a sickly colour as she looked through the windows desperately for confirmation. And there it was.
The light that radiated from the tower had disappeared, and the generator was glittering uncannily in the distance, almost like it was being reflected by the sunlight. It appeared as if it was...encased in ice.
Fucking SeeD. The words echoed disdainfully in her head, Ace's hands tightening into uncontrollable fists as her worst fears were confirmed.All of that...for nothing.
"Our plan was a failure." Her officer said with harsh disapproval, beady black eyes glancing back to look at Ace icily. "You had one order, Lieutenant."
"Don't." Ace's response was uncharacteristically hard and challenging, taking her superior by surprise as she met his gaze head on. "You gave me a bunch of amateurs to babysit, sir. Only a couple of them had any real combat experience. And you expected me to deal with SeeD whilst both protecting that damn tower and minimizing casualties!"
"Watch your mouth, Fiore," Her superior growled back, his eyes gleaming dangerously. "If you recall, your orders were to repair the tower, not play hero-"
"A soldier died in my arms! From the substation the damn troops were supposed to be defending!" Ace interjected angrily, throwing caution to the wind on the way she spoke to her commander now. "One lousy SeeD got through our defenses and destroyed it by himself! If you truly believe I'm at fault for that-"
"ENOUGH!" The older man bellowed, shocking Asa immediately back to her senses. "Answering back to your superior, refusing to take responsibility for your actions...", he spat. "I've heard enough. Get out of my sight, Fiore."
And with that, he ended the conversation with a swift turn of his back, his fingers reaching over to input something into the control panel. "We have a new objective now," she muttered darkly to the other soldiers in the cockpit.
"Raze Dollet to the ground. And take down those birds while you're at it."