059. Airborne Interception
——Medium.
Gina felt her heart stop, a chill ran straight up her spine, cold sweat pouring down her back. Without saying a word, she turned and walked away.
No wonder no one wanted to talk to her. Nobody wanted to be around someone who spent their childhood talking to the souls of the dead.
Snap.
Yavanna closed her operations manual and rechecked her weapon. She sat upright in the cabin seat, quietly waiting. As turbulence shook the transport plane slightly, a small bottle filled with ashes hanging from her chest swayed. The next moment, the shadow of a four- or five-year-old girl slowly appeared beside her.
'You don't want to be here, so why did you come?'
"Daisia?"
Yavanna turned her head in surprise. In her eyes, the girl had black hair hanging down to the floor, and her thin frame leaned lazily against the wall. Her gold-green eyes glanced sideways at Yavanna:
'What? Surprised?'
"This is dangerous. It's a battlefield. If the enemy's medium discovers you, you'll be—"
'You know it's dangerous, so why did you step into this?'
Daisia propped her chin on her hand, her childish voice speaking like an old sage:
'If you're scared of dying, don't go to war! You, me—we've both died once. Do you want to die again?'
"I don't want to fight, Jiajia." Yavanna explained. She turned her head forward, choosing her words carefully as she said, "This isn't a just war. It will only bring harm to both the Frost-Plated people and the Grant people."
'Then why are you here?' Daisia asked in frustration, 'If you know it's wrong, why come?'
"Because I am a Frost-Plated citizen," Yavanna replied.
'Living people are so troublesome, always bound by so many things.' Daisia played with her hair as a woman walked straight through her legs, completely unaware that a little girl was sitting there.
The two fell into a brief silence, eventually broken by Daisia.
'Yavanna, you're such an idiot.'
Daisia said:
'Even without you, this battlefield wouldn't be missing much. You're just cannon fodder. If you hate this unjust war so much but still choose to be here, aren't you contradicting yourself?'
"I have no choice." Yavanna gripped the hem of her sleeve, lowered her head, and said in a low voice, "I have to save my father. The only way I can quickly rise through the ranks is by taking on high-risk missions. Only my father can save Frost-Plated, save the 670 million people here."
'And what about the Grant people?'
"…As a citizen of Frost-Plated, I can't judge the affairs of former colonies." Yavanna's eyes wandered. "No matter what, if we don't send troops, Frost-Plated will suffer in the future. Prices will soar, and more importantly, our status as one of the Four Nations will be heavily damaged. If we don't fight and allow independence, other colonies will also see us as weak and vulnerable…"
'I'm not asking about the Frost-Plated people's views,' Daisia interrupted. 'I'm asking about you, Yavanna. What do you think?'
"I can't betray my country. That's what Father taught us."
Yavanna placed her hand on her chest. As she said these words, she felt uncomfortable:
"If the higher-ups could show a little more mercy, and if the Grant people could stop resisting, reducing the bloodshed and granting them more autonomy, fair trade agreements…that would be better than anything."
Daisia only responded with a cold question:
'Do you believe that?'
Yavanna remained silent.
'As they say, it's easy to go from frugality to luxury, but going from luxury to frugality is difficult.'
Daisia swung her legs back and forth:
'The people of the Four Nations, used to good times, panic when the price of grain rises by just one derbi. Meanwhile, people in the colonies and outlands are starving to death all the time.'
"There's no solution," Yavanna said. "As long as there are people on Earth, war will inevitably break out—whether at home or abroad. If we don't prevent it, we'll have serious issues back home."
'Yavanna, is this truly the result you want?'
Daisia jumped down from her seat, hands in her pockets, and approached Yavanna. She lifted her hand and cupped Yavanna's face:
'Look at you. You've grown so beautiful, and you're not dumb, so why are you still so naive?'
Even though she was the younger sister, being in a spiritual state for so long had made her more mature than Yavanna.
Yavanna blushed and softly said:
"Daisia—"
'But no matter what, I'll protect you.' Daisia smiled. 'You're an adult woman now, with your own independent thoughts. Whatever you decide to do, as long as you have no regrets and the courage to bear the consequences, I'll support you all the way.'
'After all, you're living on my behalf, big sister.'
Daisia's form slowly faded away, leaving Yavanna sitting alone in the corner.
"I…"
Yavanna grasped her collar, muttering in confusion:
"I'm committing heinous acts, invading other people's homes, serving a government I don't even want to pledge allegiance to, all just to maintain my nation's dominance. But I am also a beneficiary of that dominance... What should I do?"
"If I stay loyal to my country, then I betray my conscience and morality."
"But if I remain true to my sense of righteousness, then I betray my homeland and the colleagues and friends around me."
Maybe Daisia was right—she should never have come here in the first place. The moment she joined this war, there was no going back.
Just as Yavanna was lost in thought, the pilot suddenly shouted:
"What is that?!"
He hadn't finished speaking before a loud explosion echoed in their ears.
Boom!
"What happened? Why is there an explosion?"
The previously carefree agents were instantly alarmed. They rushed to the windows and looked outside: a large transport plane had been cleanly severed in half, spinning toward the ground.
"The transport next to us was shot down! Are we under attack?!"
The agents were in an uproar:
"Are you kidding me? How could Grant have air forces?!"
The pilot struggled to control the aircraft, but the heavy transport couldn't perform tactical maneuvers. He grabbed the comms unit and called for help: "Osprey to Ice Palace, Osprey to Ice Palace! We are under attack by unknown air forces. Requesting fighter support!"
"Ice Palace has received your transmission. Two Z-11s will be dispatched to your airspace. Hold on until we arrive."
"We're already under attack—"
The pilot's words were cut off as they saw a red and black shadow rushing straight at them from the front.
"Aaaaahhhh—boom!"
"Osprey? Osprey!"
No matter how many times Ice Palace called out, there was no response.
"Something has gone wrong. Immediately scramble the jets—Grant has air defenses we weren't aware of."