Vignettes
Learning to Fly
“Are you sure about this?”
“Of course I’m sure, Matt. Why wouldn’t I be?” Jonathan said.
“Dread Youth training for one. It’s not beyond them to set all this up to give an infiltrator a convincing backstory. And a fast, easy way into your heart. You’re a good man, Jon, but sometimes your idealism gets in the way of your judgment.” He held up his hand, closing Jon’s open mouth. “I saw it in your father, and you’re a lot like him.”
Jonathan chuckled. “But I’m not him. I’ve learned his lesson.”
“Uh huh.” Matt smirked. “Well, the XT-7 is fueled up and ready. Remember, fuel is a commodity now. No joyriding, no unnecessary chatter. If you need to talk, do it here. If you need to have fun, use the simulator.”
“Got it.”
“I’ll monitor you from the control room.”
Jonathan stood up and turned.
“One more thing,” Matt said.
He looked over his shoulder.
“I added a safety mechanism while I was installing the second seat. All you have to do is reach underneath and you’ll feel a little switch. It’s almost impossible to see, so don’t look for it. Just feel for it if you need it. It’ll give you full control of the XT-7. But.”
“But what?” Jonathan turned to face him fully.
“It’ll also send about 600 volts across the chair in front of you.”
“A bit much, isn’t it?” His expression darkened. “Listen, Matt, I definitely won’t use the thing if it risks killing—”
“It had to be enough to ensure whomever is sitting there is knocked out. We have one XT-7, Jon. We can’t afford to lose it. And we can’t afford to lose you.” He sighed. “I know what your father taught you, and I know how important it is—to me too. But sometimes you have to put a life at risk to save others. I chose the voltage to make sure it does its job, but I tried to minimize the hazard, too. The amperage will be low. Hopefully low enough not to do any permanent harm. It’s the only way, if you’re gonna do this. Besides, I think I took about 800 volts when I first activated my Power Suit.”
Jonathan nodded slowly. “All right. But you realize I’m gonna be less inclined to use this, what’d you call it? Safety mechanism?”
Matt laughed. “That’s what I called it. Just stick to your principles and you’ll do what’s right.”
A door slid open and footsteps echoed through the hangar.
“Ahem,” Matt said.
“So, we gonna do this or what?” It was a feminine voice.
Jonathan looked down at the short young woman who was now standing beside him. “If you think you’re able to handle her.” He nodded to the XT-7.
“Of course. Why not?”
“Because, Corporal,” Matt said, “It’s not like a simulation. And it’s costly.”
“I know, Major.”
Matt snickered and walked away. “Happy contrails, you two.”
Corporal Jennifer Chase watched Major Matt “Hawk” Masterson as he headed to the control room.
Jonathan turned to her. “All right, listen up. If at any point you’re uncomfortable with it, tell me and I’ll take the stick. This is a serious training flight, so none of the antics from the simulator. Stop behaving like you’re 17.”
“The simulator’s boring. Those antics help me stay awake. And besides, I am 17.”
“You won’t be falling asleep in front of the XT-7’s thrusters. Now go suit up, Corporal, on the double.”
She grinned and turned away.
“Corporal!”
She turned back and saluted.
“Look, forget the salutes. Just show some decorum. You’re not a little girl.”
The smile fell from her face and she stood at attention.
He shook his head. “Dismissed.” Then his eyes turned to the tablet in his hand.
She waited a moment, then stuck her tongue out at him.
His eyes snapped up, but her teenage face had already turned stony. He turned his back to her and strode to the XT-7.
Her gaze followed him, lingering a moment, and her brow furrowed. Then she grinned and dashed to an equipment room attached to the hangar.
“I still think this is a bad idea,” Matt said through comms.
Jonathan was seated in the XT-7’s rear seat. The cockpit would be uncomfortably tight with two in it, but it was the only way Hawk would let Jennifer fly their sole attack jet. “It’ll be fine.”
“She’s unstable.”
“Of course she is. She’s feeling emotions after growing up in the Dread Youth. It’s probably intoxicating.”
“And confusing. Remember what I told you.”
Jonathan nodded as though Hawk could see him from the control room.
The XT-7 shook, just barely, and Jennifer leapt over the ladder into the cockpit.
Good thing you’re so damn small, Jon thought.
“Let’s go!” She laughed.
“Corporal!”
“Sorry, sir. Corporal Chase reporting for training flight.”
“Better. Now, you know all the controls from the simulator. Almost everything’s the same, except it’ll feel new anyway.”
When his hand rested on her shoulder to point out some differences between the XT-7 and the simulation equipment, she stiffened. Her eyes strained to see his fingers as they waved here and there. Her breath caught.
“You listening, Corporal Chase?”
“Huh? Y-yes, sir!”
“No funny business. We take off, follow the route we discussed, and return. You heard the Major, fuel is precious. Got it?”
“Yes, sir!”
“Stop calling me sir, Corporal.”
“Yes, Captain.” Her voice barely hid her snort.
He groaned. “All right, it’s all yours. Just like the simulation.”
The engines emitted a slowly rising whine, and the frame shuddered as they ignited. Jennifer’s hands flew over the controls.
Jonathan’s eyes widened. No hesitation. Not even the hint of uncertainty. Was Matt right? Is she…dangerous?
“Power Base to XT-7,” Matt’s voice crackled over comms. “You’re clear for takeoff. Easy does it, Corporal.”
Jennifer nodded. “Roger, base. XT-7 firing antigrav lifters.”
The XT-7 rose straight up. In the metal canopy above, two doors slid open.
Jennifer pulled a throttle-control handle more sharply, and the XT-7 lurched through the opening in the hangar. She then released it and grasped another throttle. The shuddering grew and the whine sharpened, followed by a roar and a lurch. The XT-7 split the air and wove smoothly between the rocky landmarks surrounding the Power Base.
“Uh, maybe take it up a lit—” Jonathan’s voice was cut off when Jennifer pulled the stick and made the XT-7 jump upward, leaving sensibilities and, nearly, consciousness behind. “Corporal!”
“I got it, sir!” Her hands worked as though she were playing a musical instrument, every movement part of a single graceful flow. The XT-7 flew not like a weapon of war but like a bird of prey.
Jonathan’s hand rested again the side of his seat. “Just go easy on it. You still need to get used to the—”
“This?” She made an odd movement of the stick, making the XT-7 spin and then dive, only to pull up just as Jonathan’s hand reached under his seat.
“Okay, that’s good for this one. Let’s head back.”
“Can’t I try the weapons, sir? I think I should have some practice with them.”
“Fly first, fight later. Turn back.”
The comms crackled. “Captain!” It was Hawk. “Check your—” His voice went silent.
Jennifer cut the engines. Her hands flew over the control panels, and all went dark. They were now gliding.
“Corporal, what’re you doing?!” Jonathan’s fingers found the switch. Not sure it’ll work now that she shut everything down. I guess you were right, Matt. Damn it. But why? She trying to just kill us? She could’ve done that any time, or revealed the Base’s location. These thoughts flew through his mind in an instant. But the XT-7 was now in serious danger, and the team needed it. He had no choice. I’m sorry, Jennifer. But his finger pulled back from the switch when she hissed.
“Soaron!”
He looked up through the canopy. A white flame and glint of silver shot across the sky above them. “How did you even see that?” he whispered.
“Just knew. Those things are gonna be the death of me one day.”
He glanced at her, then back at the sky. The white flame winked out of sight, and the sky was clean once again.
Then the XT-7 roared to life, but most of the indicator lights remained off.
“Gonna keep things to a minimum so he doesn’t detect us,” Jennifer said.
The rest of the return flight was uneventful. Her flying was academic.
After a flawless landing, Jennifer opened the canopy and looked down at the hangar floor.
Matt was standing there. “What the hell did you do? Why’d you cut off communications? Soaron was out there!”
“She knows, Major,” Jonathan said. “She saw him before I did.”
Matt gaped.
With a shrug and a smile, Jennifer bounded down the ladder. “I used to hang around his type all the time.” Perhaps the sound she made was a snicker as she dashed to the equipment room to change back into her ground uniform.
“Well,” Jonathan said, “What do you think?”
“She’s gonna be one hell of a pilot,” he said. “If she can put a lid on that, er, enthusiasm.”
“Well, she proved herself out there in more than one way. I think we can trust her.”
Matt grunted. “Maybe.”
“No choice. We need her, and we need her now. We’ll have to take a little chance on her.”
“All right. Not sure what your father would’ve thought.”
Jonathan paused. “I think he’d approve. I think.”
Matt laughed and sauntered back to the control room.
Jennifer dashed out of the equipment room in her ground uniform. “What now, sir?”
“Stop calling me that. What do you think I should do with you now?”
“Well.” She grinned.
He closed his eyes and shook his head.
Her face went stony. “Well, Captain, I think you should let me try on a Power Suit.”
He snorted. “No one gets a Power Suit unless they have a code-name.”
“Pick one, then!”
“What do you think it should be?”
She shrugged.
Jonathan’s gaze drifted to the XT-7, lingered, and then returned to her. “Come on, Pilot. This may be a shocking experience, but I think you’ll like the one I have in mind for you.”
Pilot grinned and followed him to the command center, but she still sensed at her back the heat of the XT-7’s engines.