“And you?” he asked.

Alicia paused for a moment. She had no suspicions about Jackson when it came to his position within the military. And she knew they were on the same side. Her worry was that the information inside of her head, particularly that of her current mission, was of a private nature.

“It's classified.” Alicia responded.

“I've got level five clearance,” Jackson said, stopping for a moment to find his identification card and lightly toss it into her direction. “Try me.”

As she scanned the card, Alicia couldn't help but to raise her eyes to him a few times. Not because she questioned his identity, it wasn't for that reason at all. Instead, she found herself intrigued by the man who had swooped in to save her in the last moments of what should have capped her mortal life.

He had saved her life. And if that wasn't enough, the mere sight of his face seemed to sooth her soul a bit. His entire character was one of compassion and positive energy, or so it seemed.

“Well, in that case,” she said, still a bit hesitant as she found it increasingly tough to pull her eyes from his own. Pupils of dreamy blue swirls and purity. “Heading to Texas with the group below to try and secure...” she added, her words cut short.

“No you're not.” Jackson said.

“Excuse me?” Alicia said a bit defensively.

“Trust me, you're not going to Texas.” he replied.

The two sat there, doing their best to search the other out with a dedicated stare. Alicia wanted to tell him to stay out of her mission, but as she began to speak, he cut in sharply.

“If you're going to fetch' that power cell, you can forget it.”

“How the hell...?” Alicia began to ask in a demanding voice.

“My air unit, near seventy birds total,” he said, pausing for a moment to reflect. “Was our job to hit the Ancient fortress with tank busters.”

“Yea, and?” Alicia asked, already knowing they were supposed to have a healthy amount of air support for the mission.

“They knew we were coming.” Jackson replied.

“Huh?” Alicia asked, a silent moment of disbelief taking over her body.

“Every single one of us downed, most within the span of five minutes,” Jackson said. “It was a damn trap. I got in close enough to realize that there was no Ancient fortress, just a massive force waiting for us. There's no power cell to be had, just the guarantee of death. My RIO plotted an escape route, then we tucked tail and ran. Nearly made it to New Kinneston before they clipped us.”

“How can that be?” Alicia asked, her extremities still stunned by the development.

“What? The fact that it's a trap? Or the fact that such a damn good pilot got clipped?” he replied with a smile.

She simply responded with a glowing smile of her own.

“I've been asking myself the same question since I tucked into this town,” Jackson said. “It's pretty obvious that someone sold us out. Don't know if it was one of our own or a German, but someone created the perfect scenario for executing the best soldiers our Resistance has to offer.”

Alicia began to think it through. She wondered if Commander Snelling was capable of such treachery. Or, perhaps, one of his superiors. She wondered how high up the treason went, or if the Germans being involved had anything to do with it. Was Nadia in on it as well? A multitude of things blazed through Alicia's mind, and all of them led to the death of G, one of her longest standing friends.

“Ah, don't waste too much time wrapping your head around it. I made the same mistake at first. Then I realized it doesn't matter either way, we're just pawns in some sort of political game.” Jackson said.

“Yea,” Alicia said with disgust. “A shitty one that led to my friend's death.”

“Yea, and the deaths of a hell of a lot of good pilots. Including Russell,” Jackson said, turning his attention to Alicia for a moment. “My RIO.”

“If the past isn't that important, then the future is what matters right now,” Alicia said. “Where do we go from here?”

“Well, we sure in the hell don't go to Texas,” Jackson replied as they both laughed a bit.