...I wonder whose coworkers are worse

~Emilia

[Wednesday, May 11, 2163 - 01:01]

[Burundi > Somewhere above a forest]

In the stillness of the morning, an aircraft matching the color of the night sky sped through the air. Its profile was nearly invisible to the naked eye, and its engines hummed almost silently. It was the type of thing that you would only notice if you were looking for it.

Inside, Jesse and Emilia sat lazily in the cockpit, clearly not bothered with the operations of the aircraft, even as it began to slow and descend. Emilia looked out the window and saw a single headlight moving in the distance.

A voice sounded, belonging to neither of them, <<Arriving at destination in 90 seconds. Please prepare to disembark.>>

"Thanks, Rinoa" Emilia cheerfully replied.

Jesse responded, distinctly less cheerful, "What are you thanking it for? AIs aren't known to express gratitude."

"...and neither are you. You do realize I'm here to reduce the chances of you getting captured or killed, right? Some gratitude wouldn't kill you."

Jesse's hazel eyes, matching his unkempt hair, showed annoyance, "I didn't ask for you to come, ya know."

<<It's fine, and thank you, Emilia. Some people display low emotional development or have problems expressing their feelings. Jesse seems to have particularly high difficulty with such matters.>>

Jesse's jaw dropped. "Did she just thank you?!"

<<Affirmative. Now I advise you to cease speaking before I am forced to reevaluate your intelligence and command of the English language.>>

Emilia burst into laughter, tears forming in the corner of her eyes. "Damn, you're getting teased by Rinoa now. You might want to quit while you're only this far behind!"

Jesse groaned as the aircraft landed vertically, got up, and exited the cockpit, heading through the cargo area. It was a small-ish multifunction craft. There were a few seats built into the wall, and enough space to accommodate a mid-sized passenger vehicle. He spoke to Emilia, who was behind him. "You shouldn't have stuck your nose in this Emi."

"I'm doing this to keep you from dying, asshole, but if you want to keep talking out of your ass, I'll end you myself." she opened and closed her left fist as if to pop the joints into place.

Jesse reached to his waist at the pistols on either side, "I promise I'll make it more trouble than it's worth" as a fiendish grin crossed his lips.

From behind them, near the front of the cargo hold, the subtle sounds of clicking and whirring reached their ears. Rinoa's voice followed <<I advise neither of you to take action against each other. I would rather not have to fill out any reports of death.>>

Jesse removed his hands from above his pistols and turned towards the small turret emplacements that had revealed themselves. "What do you mean 'rather'? Like you have a choice. You're not even..."

This time it was Emilia who interrupted, placing her left hand on his shoulder and squeezing. It was an extremely intentional and calculated action. "She's not what, Jesse?" 

It was also apparently painful. "Oww! Fuck! OK, OK, I get it." Jesse complained while in Emilia's grasp.

Emilia smirked, "Good. Just because she can fill out the report quickly doesn't mean she wants to."

"...but..."

The gun barrels rotated without firing, and Emilia raised her other hand, making sure that Jesse could see it. Both Emilia and Rinoa replied, <<"But what?">> Emilia finished her statement with a sickeningly sweet smile that didn't reach her eyes.

"You two... What's with the tag team anyway?"

Emilia shrugged, "Rinoa, much like myself, has chosen not to kill you. Rinoa?"

<<The report is already filled, in triplicate, indicating that Jesse died protecting you from an enemy's ambush. I'm already generating the video feed for it. It can be sent within nine seconds. The only one who would know better most likely wouldn't say anything, and given the history, would never be suspected.>>

Jesse grit his teeth and sighed. "We're late. Try not to get ambushed" He glanced at a button near the rear of the aircraft and, as if understanding the meaning of his stare, the rear door lowered itself to the ground.

Emilia sighed as a wry smile momentarily flashed. The pair looked at each other with the same sort of understanding that siblings have when their parents give them little choice but to come to an understanding. Jesse stepped out into the plains while Emilia turned away, sighing once more, before following behind him.

[Wednesday, May 11, 2163 - 01:04]

[Burundi > Somewhere in a forest]

Jesse and Emilia stepped away from the plane, and its interior began to vanish as the door raised behind them, leaving the appearance of trees and local vegetation. It wasn't foolproof camouflage, but it would more than suffice in the darkness of night against the naked eye.

Rinoa sent a final message as they walked away, sounding directly in their heads, <<Remember to keep radio silent. Contact me only if you need support with extraction. You're on your own from here. I believe this is when Michell would say: "Don't fuck it up." Over and out.>> That message of 'encouragement' was with Michelle's voice. Generated by Rinoa, or previously recorded, they could not tell, and it was irrelevant as the fact of the matter was that those words were something Michelle would say. She had already on several occasions.

Emilia stifled a laugh and Jesse groaned. The timing on the addition of Michelle's message couldn't have been better. Emilia put on her field glasses, which included augmented reality functions. Her darkened view was illuminated with the outlines of trees and objects in her line of sight, as well as Jesse, who was clearly highlighted. She focused on him and thought about speaking to him. A beep sounded in her head and she waited for a second one. It came a moment later.

Emilia then thought, not spoke, "You know, for someone who isn't human, Rinoa's awfully human-like."

An audible groan could be heard, but Jesse's voice returned his annoyance, directly into her thoughts, not through her ears. "Yeah, yeah. Can we drop it already?"

Emilia made it a point to laugh directly into Jesse's head and then got serious. "You're OK with this mission, right? It's not too late to turn back."

"We'll be fine, I'm just gonna take a bit of a detour and..." With those words echoed into her skull, Emilia watched as Jesse ventured off of the AR-displayed path. Their mission was simple. It was to sneak in, or hack their systems and pull information on a certain project. The initial reconnaissance had already been completed, and their path took them to the easiest section to infiltrate. One where the guards were lax, or could be bribed if needed. It would've been a perfect spot to set up for data extraction.

Emilia's jaw dropped as she called for the map in her consciousness. A map of the area appeared in her view and she looked at the base they were heading to. The map zoomed-in appropriately, showing their highlighted route and the route which Jesse was now taking. He was heading directly toward the main entrance. She planted her hand firmly against her forehead, above the glasses, and mentally shouted "Hey dumbass!" 

There was no response. She thought about the connection. He'd somehow already managed to leave Bluetooth range while she was figuring out what he was up to. Based on the map, he wasn't moving quietly or carefully, and it took Emilia some moments to catch up. She finally caught up and heard the internal beeps of a reestablished connection. She wasted no time as she closed the distance between them, "What the actual fuck are you doing?!" Fortunately, she didn't have to breathe between words, so every bit of her message, intonation and all, got through. 

Jesse audibly winced as Emilia's voice slammed into his consciousness and he reflexively covered his ears, not that it would help.

"I thought I'd get an in-person look at the main gate of this outpost. It'll take like three seconds."

Emilia was too busy trying to keep up with him and doing the mental gymnastics of figuring out where his flippant attitude came from when she suddenly ran into him. "Oof. What the fuck Jesse?!" This was a hushed whisper, actually audible.

Jesse sighed, also audibly, and the next words to pop into her head made her blood run cold. "Now it's too late. Just speak and they won't suspect anything."

Emilia responded both mentally and audibly, "...Fuck."

Jesse had already raised his hands and spotlights from the main gate were upon them. An unknown number of footsteps approached and Jesse muttered, "I'm sorry, Emilia." Emilia froze, not because she was at gunpoint, or had spotlights on her, but because Jesse sounded truly remorseful. He even used her whole first name, not the short 'Emi' that she'd come to expect.

She stood in a stupor as she was relieved of her weapons and glasses. She still had the frame of mind to abort the connection to the glasses, reverting them to in-field fashion statements as opposed to actual tactical equipment. They left her jewelry and hair accessories, which surprised her. She was glad since she was rather fond of her duckie earrings.

The gruff voice of a portly man could be heard from beside Jesse. "You can save your heartfelt confessions. No killing on a founders' day." The large man then handcuffed Jesse and led him inside, through rows of vehicles, and to an old and rusted heavy door. Emilia was escorted shortly behind him.