"Okay, that is perfect. I will gain altitude to make it look like we are complying with their demands." Rico explained as he raised the nose of the plane and began gaining altitude. "Coin, are you good to use that?"
"Please?" Coin asked in excitement.
Rico laughed again while nodding his head. "Go for it."
She squealed in excitement as she began moving it towards the plane door. "I will help her secure that and secure the other straps. Are you okay with answering them?"
"Maybe. We will see. I will speak Russian in response to throw them off our origin." Rico told her as he listened to the question.
"Foreign… land… shot down… last chance to respond." He was picking out a few words but the rest was gibberish to him. His linguist skill was working overtime to help him learn the language.
Rico decided to respond in Russian. "Hello this belly flop international. How many pickles did you say you had?" Rico asked, he was sure they had no one who could translate so he just said whatever he wanted.
He was happy when a moment later the same person began responding. "Say again? What… type of… words?"
"This is the Russian Aviators association of a little town. Are you blind or just a badger?" Rico asked, hearing an amused chuckle from the back as the women could hear him speaking nonsense. Seems like both of them know at least a bit of Russian.
Rico could see as the pair of jets began flying alongside them. Keeping a low speed so they would not outspeed the slower plane that Rico was flying.
"You can stop with the nonsense." A voice spoke in Russian over the radio. Making Rico frown because even the voice sounded alluring and seductive. "My subordinates may not have been smart enough to learn more than a few languages. But I can speak Russian just fine."
Rico cursed before he decided to answer in Russian. He may as well keep up the ruse. "Who might I have the pleasure of speaking with? Your voice alone is quite… interesting."
"I have been told sweeter words by men more handsome than you." The woman responded, "I am the Prime Minister of Bialya, my name is Zazzala. But most people prefer to use the nickname that I was given. Queen Bee."
"Shit." Rico cursed again. This time in english but not over the radio. After a few seconds he looked back to see they were almost ready. He then responded in Russian. "Well what did we do to get the Queen of Bialya's attention?"
"Nothing. I was just checking why my people were in a panic. They are telling me there was a different pilot for that aircraft. Where is he?" Queen Bee told him.
"Dead, actually. Can I know what he sold us out for?" Rico asked as he tapped the plane controls.
"Slavery, according to my subordinates he said all three of you were quite the lookers. They planned to give him a pass on his smuggling and a bonus depending on how good you look. Tell me are you actually handsome?" Queen Bee asked with genuine curiosity. She was buying time.
Rico looked back just in time for Artemis to return to the copilot seat. "We are all set up."
"Good, because Queen Bee is on the radio. I have a feeling they sent more planes. We need to get rid of these two and then drop off the radar." Rico declared, "go ahead and throw open the door. I will maneuver so you can get the second one." He called back and then Coin pushed open the door.
The minigun then pushed out the door. Then there was the numbing ring of gunfire and they watched as the jet to their right was nearly torn in half and then exploded. Rico slowed immediately and twisted the plane. While the radio signal lit up with the other jet pilot screaming in a panic.
But he barely had a chance to curve his plane when the minigun hummed again and tore through that one as well. It exploded in a fiery ball and crashed into a field of corn. Rico immediately lowered the nose of the plane.
"Well that was rather rude." Queen Bee remarked after a few seconds.
"Yeah, well, we are just tourists. We do not plan on staying in this country nearly that long. I hope you do not mind." Rico answered.
"Ha… very well. But I will find you my mystery man." Queen Bee responded. She sounded a bit excited.
"Doubt it." Rico answered with a chuckle. "But do not worry, we will try to cause as few problems as possible." He then switched the radio to listening only.
"Did you have to provoke her?" Artemis asked as Coin was closing the plane back up.
Rico thought about it for a moment before shaking his head. "Nope. But I figured it would help keep us hidden. Especially since I was speaking Russian." He answered as he kept them low and started flying in a direction.
"Okay… it might." Artemis answered with a sigh before they were joined by Coin.
"What did I miss?" Coin asked with a smile. She got to fire a minigun, one that was brand new and fully loaded. A lot of the stuff this guy was smuggling was brand new weapons and equipment. They had already gained a lot if they were able to keep this plane. But with those weapons they would make a lot out of this trip as well.
"Rico provoked Queen Bee in Russian. Hey do you think we can reach out to your contact or someone else we need a place to land?" Artemis explained and then asked her a question.
"Why don't we just find an open spot, land, and then hide the plane. In fact there should be a few illegal landing strips around. We just need to look for a bit. We could even make some additional profit. Not to mention a hundred US dollars can go a long way for the civilians." Coin explained.
Rico looked at Artemis with a smirk and she just rolled her eyes. "Fine."