by Viola Grace
Rhoe smiled. “That would be fine.”
Her mother sighed. “We have had all the time I can reasonably explain. I look forward to seeing your success, daughter.”
Rhoe got to her feet with her mother. They hugged again, and when they parted, Rhoe had to find the captain who would take her on a tour of the facility.
She put on her pack and opened the door to find a broad back staring her in the face. “Captain?”
He turned, and she looked up to see a male dark swan that was not from her settlement. “You are Cadet Rhoe?”
She nodded.
“I am Captain Hiiron. Come with me, I will show you your quarters and then help you find your way around the training centre.” He inclined his head slightly.
“Thank you, Captain. Am I taking you away from anything important?”
He blinked and shook his head. “No. I am on medical leave, light duties. This qualifies.”
Rhoe tried to control her reaction, but she had never been this close to another dark swan that she wasn’t related to in some way. Her heart pounded, and she blinked furiously. “Well, thank you for being on duty today.”
“It is no trouble. Come with me.” He nodded over her shoulder. “Colonel.”
“Captain. Take care of her. I don’t want her lost.”
“Yes, Colonel Whisk.” He nodded again and jerked his head at Rhoe. “Let’s go.”
She followed him, her head high and her back straight. She gave the colonel a small wave and got down to business. It was time to learn the ins and outs of her new home.
Two hours of touring, a visit to the quartermaster and registration later, Rhoe was sitting alone in the commissary and eating her first meal not prepared by hands that were related to her own.
It wasn’t bad, but it was going down as just another thing she would have to endure to get to her dream of flight.
“May I join you?” A male in a cadet uniform stood next to her table.
“Please. I am Rhoe.”
“Yillik. Are you here for flight school?”
“I am.”
“Me, too.” He grinned and settled across from her.
She looked at his markers and was stunned to find that he was not indigenous to Athuuna or at least not the surface.
“Is my blue showing?”
His skin was chalk white and the marks on his features were deep blue. They formed a peak on his forehead that ran to either temple, curved down and pointed across his cheekbones before slicing downward to his jaw.
“I have never been this far away from my home before. I am seeing all kinds of new races here.”
“You are…dark swan, right? I am merkind. See? Gills.” He extended his neck and moved his jaw from side to side. The long lines were obvious to see.
“If you are merkind, why would you want to fly?”
“You are a dark swan, why would you want to fly? You should be able to already.”
She sighed and pushed her tray to one side. “I am not a pure breed. I can’t shift.”
Yillik bit his lips and fell all over himself apologizing for his gaffe.
She waved it off but distracted herself by returning her tray to the drop point.
By the time she was seated across from him, she was under control. They went to the neutral topic of training and their appointments with the simulator. Tomorrow, they would get a jumpstart on training.
Left, right, left, left again, Rhoe leaned back and forth using every instinct she had to control the flight simulator. She watched the screens and worked the controls to keep herself stable. She heard the stats being reported outside and kept flying.
When she whirled her ship around to face the incursion forces, she had to take on firing as well as flying. It was awkward, and the shock of weapons impact on her virtual hull spun her around. She fired whenever she had a solid lock, but eventually, her ship went nose first into the ground.
Rhoe sat and caught her breath. She had failed. Miserable, she left the simulator and walked out onto the gantry. Instructors held clipboards and were making frantic notes as the last round of cadets waited to take their turn.
“Cadet Rhoe, may I speak with you for a moment?”
She blinked and nodded, following Captain Hiiron into a conference room where three other instructors were waiting. He rounded on her, “All right, where have you flown before?”
Wide-eyed, she stared at them. “Nowhere. This simulator is as close as I have come. What did I do wrong?”
The instructors looked at each other, and one shrugged, “Nothing. You have a better flight simulation than our battle veterans. There has only been one other with your level of competence, and he has not been with us for decades.”
The answer struck her. “My father.”
Hiiron stared at her. “Captain Rhand is your father?”
She nodded. “He is headman of our settlement, but from what rumours I have heard since coming here, he was a fairly skilled pilot.”
One of the instructors twisted his lips. “That was one word for it. During the incursion, he managed to hold off thirty ships while waiting for reinforcements.”
Rhoe smiled, “He has always had a knack for the sky.”
The single female instructor smiled. “That is one way of putting it. We would like to put you behind the controls of a live ship to see what you can do. Are you amenable?”
Rhoe blinked. “Um, sure. I mean, I would love to try.”
Captain Hiiron nodded, “Good, we are short on pilots. I can ride as co-pilot for her first flight.”
The others nodded. The female instructor said, “Let’s see how she does in reality. She might be the first to do practical first and theory last.”
Captain Hiiron asked, “Are you ready?”
Rhoe looked up at him, and her heart told her that she would follow wherever he chose to lead her. “I am as ready as I will ever be.”
There was a trace of a smile around his mouth as he led her away from the simulator floor and through the maze of corridors that lead to the hangars.
“You can grab a helmet and meet me at ship nine.” He casually snagged his own helmet as was evidenced by the customization of the black swan on the side.
She tried on three helmets from the rack of blanks and found one that fit. Rhoe tucked it under her arm and went in search of ship nine.
She passed twelve glossy and gleaming ships before touching the side of ship nine. It had a black swan painted on the side. It seemed she was going to be flying Captain Hiiron’s ship. Oh boy.
He stepped around from the back of the ship and smiled at her. “Ready?”
“No, but I am going to do this anyway.”
“That’s the spirit.”
She swallowed, watched as he climbed and slid into the rear seat. That left the pilot’s seat for her.
She clambered up the side of the twenty-foot ship and settled herself in the pilot’s seat, strapping herself into the harness and trying to think of what she was supposed to do next.
“Helmet on.”
Oh, right. She pulled the helmet on, and his voice came to her through the speakers built into her earpieces.
“Now, flick the beacon for a taxi out of the hangar.”
She followed his order and asked, “Can’t we just drive out of the hangar?”
“It isn’t advisable when there is a battle situation. They will get you where you need to be.” There was amusement in his tone.
A bot appeared, hooked itself to the nose of the fighter and hauled them out into the sunlight.
“In a combat situation, you have fifteen seconds to lift off before the next ship needs your space. That clock starts now.”
She made a face at the calm words coming through her helmet, but she flicked toggles, activated the horizontal take off and the ship wobbled a little, but it rose straight into the sky.
“Good. We are going to ride the coastline on a patrol. Or
ient yourself and head out.”
Her palms were sweating, but she shifted from hover to forward movement with a smooth grip on the controllers.
Rhoe was so fixated on following the next step in the procedure that it didn’t occur to her for a hundred miles that she was actually flying. The thrill came suddenly, and a wide smile crossed her features. “Can I find out what this thing can do?”
“I am your backup, and we are over free airspace. Do what you like. That is the purpose of this flight after all.”
“Understood. What is the nature of your injury?”
“I damaged my arm during a training exercise. I will be cleared for duty in a few days.” Hiiron chuckled. “Open it up, see what it can do.”
With that authorization, she took a deep breath and followed orders, giving her mind and body the very thing it had longed for. She was flying.
She tipped the wings and swung them around in a wide spiral before using the jets to propel them along the coastline.
Her fuel gauge showed her that she was at half charge. She could fly for close to an hour before she would have to land.
The coast gleamed brilliantly as she raced over it. She was tempted to drop altitude but that wasn’t wise given her lack of practice at being in control of a ship.
Rhoe dipped and lowered the ship in a slow undulation to test the movement restrictions.
“What are you up to, Cadet?”
“Just testing the feel of the ship.”
“Enough for one day. Bring us home.”
“Yes, Captain.” She checked her altitude, dropped her flaps and brought them around in a swooping turn that pressed her back into her seat. She pulled back, and they shot forward.
“You seem to have an intuitive grasp of this ship.”
She smiled slightly and made minor adjustments. “It makes a kind of sense I could not have been prepared for. I guess genetic memory counts for something.”
“If that is an echo of what your father knew, it is truly impressive.”
Rhoe didn’t mention that her mother apparently had the same leanings. Secrets were in place for a reason.
She reached out with her mind and skimmed it along Hiiron’s. He really was impressed with her skills. She quickly had to pull her mind back as they were approaching the base very quickly.
“Slow it down, use the launch mechanisms and bring us in, straight down.”
She had to think fast, her hands knew what to do, and it was a good thing, because her brain had gone completely blank. She almost halted the ship before she had the hovering mechanism engaged, and they jerked downward for ten feet until she mastered the landing pattern.
Rhoe set the ship down on the tarmac and summoned the bots with a beacon.
“Well done, Cadet Rhoe.”
“Thank you, Captain. What did I miss?”
“Nothing. Power the ship down, and we will wait until we are settled before we disembark. Running around on the tarmac in a combat situation can be deadly. There is a reason we use bots. Each one has two backups waiting.”
His voice was even in her ears and echoed through her mind. She used that echo to poke around in his emotions once again. There was amusement, patience and curiosity foremost in his mind.
She blinked; there was also awareness! She jerked her probe back to her own mind and slammed the door shut.
Through the helmet, she heard a rich chuckle. “Was it all you expected?”
Rhoe tried to pretend she didn’t know what he was referring to. “The flying? I expected more wind.”
The bot clicked onto the tether and hauled them into the hangar. Once inside, she opened the canopy and left the ship. She pulled the helmet off and shifted from foot to foot.
She cleared her throat. “What now?”
He pulled his helmet off and tucked it under his arm. “Now, we go and I make my report to the colonel. You are a candidate for our newest fighter.”
His eyes were a brown just a shade away from red, and they gleamed in the electric light of the hangar.
He walked away from the ship and put his helmet back on the rack. She followed suit with the unmarked helmet and then followed him down the corridors until they were standing in front of Colonel Whisk’s office.
He knocked sharply and opened the door, gesturing for her to precede him.
“Captain Hiiron, how nice to see you so soon. Report on Cadet Rhoe?”
“She has the highest ever recorded score on the simulator and just took a ship out without additional prompting.”
Colonel Whisk gave her an amused look. “How was the landing?”
Captain Hiiron answered, “It was a little bumpy, but she managed to get it under control. Are you positive that she has had no previous training?”
The colonel grinned. “I am positive. She has an impressive lineage and a craving for the sky. That is all.”
Hiiron straightened his shoulders. “That is not all. There was a touch on my mind during the exercise.”
Whisk sighed and propped her chin on her fist. “Rhoe, what were you told about that?”
Rhoe blushed and looked at her feet. “That there were some who would be able to feel it and they might comment on it.”
“Be lucky that it was Hiiron. He doesn’t like anyone knowing about his talent as well. Now, what do you think of her over all?” Colonel Whisk tented her fingers and gave Captain Hiiron a piercing look.
“She is impulsive, daring, has an excellent and serious mind when it comes to flight. Her reflexes are amazing.”
Colonel Whisk smiled. “Good. Get her assigned to the skyrunner project and step up her education.”
“Who will her instructor be?”
“Why, you, Captain Hiiron. I am sure that you are up for it. She doesn’t have any bad habits to break.”
“Colonel?”
Hiiron broadcasted a frustrated sense of…Rhoe couldn’t figure out what. It was dark and light, twisted and straight, everything at once.
Her mother winced. “Suck it up, Captain. No fraternizing with subordinate officers.”
Captain Hiiron’s cheeks darkened. “I was not…”
“You were. I know lust when I sense it, Captain. Now, return Cadet Rhoe to her class. Her supplemental training starts in the morning.”
Rhoe was in shock, but she followed Captain Hiiron back to where her group was seated and learning the fundamentals of hangar protocol.
A few of the other cadets gave her curious glances, but their instructor demanded their attention, and she soon was learning right along with the rest.
Four days passed before she was removed from the simulator practice and escorted down to a hangar with only two vehicles in it. They were peculiar looking, large, clear plexi orbs encrusted with weaponry, stabilizers for balance and a standing harness for the pilot.
Captain Hiiron was waiting for her. “Welcome to the skyrunner project.”
Her escort left, and she was alone with the captain.
“Thank you. What are those?”
He laughed, “These are the ships that put me on medical leave. It takes a while to change your reflexes from a standard ship to the skyrunner. Colonel Whisk thought it would be wiser to train a cadet with the highest simulator scores in one of the new ships so that they would not form habits that had to be broken.”
She looked up at him and blushed as his gaze was quite frank. Apparently, the interest she had in him was not alone in the room.
Hiiron cleared his throat. “This is your skyrunner. It was named thus because you fly it while standing upright. The harness is gyroscopic and always keeps you aligned with the ground beneath you. It took a few days to get a harness rated for your size. Try it.”
Rhoe walked around the ship slowly; she took in the location of every gun, every jet and every turret. The front of the skyrunner opened at her touch, and she slipped inside.
“Instead of a helmet, there is a headset. It will conn
ect to your temples and read your impulses rather than you having hand-controlled steering. The guns are at your disposal, though they are currently not armed.”
She found the headset hanging on its own stand inside the cockpit. She settled it in place and the harness grabbed her, holding her tight. “Wow.”
“When you send the command through, it will lock the cockpit and pressurize it. If you choose to do that, I will put on my headset and use it as a com unit.”
Rhoe blinked, and he climbed into his own skyrunner. Her ship sealed and her fingers curled around the armrests. The moment she curled her hands, she felt the clicking of the weapons systems.
“I see you found the guns.”
She laughed and relaxed her hands. The bands around her forearms read her release of tension and the guns rotated.
“I think I know how you injured your arm. The instinct to grab a stick shift is strong.”
He chuckled, and she could see him via the plexi domes they were standing under.
“So is the reflex to flap. The next step, Cadet Rhoe, is to lift off. Think it, and it will happen.”
She followed her instincts and engaged the lift engines inside the hangar. She went up six feet and kept a steady hover.
“Good, Rhoe, now take it out and lift off above the base, keeping a steady hover at two hundred feet.”
The ship floated out, weightless as a bubble. Hiiron was next to her in an instant. Together, they rose up and away until they were hovering two hundred feet above the ground.
“The skyrunners work on gravity repulsion in both weapons and in propulsion. They don’t need large engines because we are working with magnetic forces here.”
She was hearing his words in her earpiece at the same time that her mind was getting it from his ship.
“Where to from here?”
He laughed. “Down to the hangar again. Now that we know you can fly one, there are a whole other set of simulations you need to run through. You get sent to the special class instead of standard simulations.”
She groaned but slowly lowered her skyrunner down low enough to float her into the hangar. Rhoe parked it right where she had first stepped into it, opened the hatch and powered it down. The harness released her, so she removed the headpiece and put it on its little stand. She stepped out of the ship and smiled brightly.