Tailspin, page 30
As the time for the tests came to a close, I ended up zipping through the last section of the test. Too much daydreaming. But I put my hands to my side just as my timer ticked down to zero, and the desk switched off.
“Thank you, class,” Senior First Lieutenant Marx said. “There will be a break while we go over the results. You’ll be called to the training pod room for practical exams. Once again, please follow the instructions you receive carefully.”
We filed out of the classroom, and Declan made a beeline straight for me at the line for coffee.
“How’d you do?” he asked.
“Something was wrong with that. You?”
“Same,” he replied. “Did you get the question about kinetic fusion?”
I shook my head. “No. Really?”
“Yeah,” he said. “There were several that didn’t belong there at all.” He nodded his head to one of the other young men and asked him the same question. He answered, and when Declan came back, he said, “Nothing wrong with his test. Just seemed normal.”
We stood and talked to a couple of the others. I listened as they talked about their tests. The more they talked, the more I knew what I did was not the same as theirs.
Shit, shit, shit.
It wasn’t long before the first of the students started to move off, I presumed to their relative testing site. Or, if they’d failed, to pack up and go home.
Nothing came for Declan, me, and one other young man.
“Do you know him?” I quizzed Declan.
“Not very well,” he said. “His name’s Walter. That’s about all I know.”
We seemed to be left there, with no direction. I moved with my coffee toward Walter, and Declan followed me. Walter looked up from his own drink and glanced from the both of us to the door. “Seems we’ve been left behind,” he said.
“I don’t think we have,” I replied. “Your test? What did you think?”
“That the questions were far beyond what most of the students here would have been able to answer.”
Declan nodded and put his cup down, holding his hand out. “Declan Harbor,” he introduced himself.
Walter shook it. “Walter Kestrel.” He looked at me. “Ruslan Korolyov, we all know of you, but it is nice to meet you.”
I shook his hand. “Likewise. You believe our test was rigged?”
“Yes,” he said. “I am not bragging when I say I have more than the average IQ and tech knowledge.”
“To what end?”
That’s when the door opened, and we all turned to see Senior First Lieutenant Marx. She didn’t smile. “Gentlemen,” she said. “You obviously know something is wrong?”
We all nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Speculations?”
“Not really,” Declan answered.
Instead, Walter shocked the both of us. “You’ve been watching the class from inception; you always do. I believe you’ve picked us for a different line of testing.”
She dipped her head. “Especially because Airman Korolyov is with you, correct?”
“Yes. There are rumors that he’s already moving on from here to Ocean Oil Fields, which is further evidenced because you are here.”
“You know who I am, then?”
“First Training Officer for Ocean Oil Fields,” he said, before I got chance. “Senior First Lieutenant Marx.”
“Few have seen my pictures,” she said. “I’d be curious to know where you did. Please come with me.” When Senior First Lieutenant Marx moved, so did we, and our coffee stayed sitting on the table to go cold.
***
We walked for some time before I even thought about where we were going. This was the same direction that Malaki had taken us out in the day before. This was to the helo bays at the back of the facility. A little different from a training pod.
There was nothing on the helo pad.
Whump, whump.
There it was, in the background.
I’d seen skilled maneuvering off Niko, but I’d not seen many helicopters, and nothing like this.
Walter turned to me. “You might seem to be out of your depth, but you are not. That would be our next-stage helo, the Bumble 44.”
I wanted to laugh at its name. “Next stage?”
“It is no secret that Chief Kuri took you out for special reasons,” Declan said. “You were in a tour helo.”
“First Airman took you out in a Bumble 23,” Senior First Lieutenant Marx said. “This is a fully working one.”
The other two glared at me. All I could do was watch the helo as it came in. I noted the guns on both sides. “That Bumble has a stinger.”
Senior First Lieutenant Marx did her best to hide it, but she laughed. “Walter and Declan will be bypassing most of year one, joining their new class immediately and moving directly to Ocean Oil Fields for integration to Sector Four to start in year two after the summer.”
“Summer training just got a thousand times harder,” Walter said.
“Senior First Lieutenant Marx,” I said, already knowing what was coming.
“Yes, airman.”
“What about me?”
“You will be joining them, but you have extra training alongside your other, already-pre-assigned, extra duties. This will include basic military protocol and officer training, which they’re also bypassing because they were military schooled first. This means your next few months into summer will be three times harder than theirs will be. You will have no time to play, no time to sleep, just training—physical, mental, and emotional. You have the most to learn—”
“—and the most to lose.”
“Yes, airman, you do,” she conceded.
“I can’t keep up with the things changing around me,” I admitted. “One minute I’m doing one thing, the next I’m doing something else. Is this a course of action that will be settled for me?”
She eyed me up and down. “I’m not privy to your past, only to what I’ve seen since you joined Ground School, which I might add has only been a few days. You adapt fast, and you learn faster than anyone I’ve ever seen without the additional tech that they have to help them do so.”
“I—” I was about to talk about my tech, but she held her hand out.
“You adapt and work with what you have under intense pressure. I won’t lie to you, any of you. We need good men and women faster than we can get them out of training. Anyone who has shown incredible determination to learn with the tenacity that you have is an asset, and an asset we’ll use.”
“This is circumstantial, then?” Walter asked.
“A little of both. That does not take away from your earlier exam results or what we’ve seen from all three of you.”
Walter nodded. “Thank you.”
“Thank me when you’re through the next phase and into year two,” she said.
“Thank or curse?” I asked.
Declan’s eyes widened.
“You are going to be in trouble,” Senior First Lieutenant Marx said. “I would suggest over summer you practice holding your tongue, alongside learning military protocol.”
“Sorry, ma’am.”
Her curt nod told me she wasn’t overly worried, but she wanted me to know it wasn’t accepted.
The Bumble 44 landed deftly in front of us, and its pilot hopped out of the cab, and with her head dipped, ran towards us.
“I’m aware you know First Class Airman Canlas. She is to take each of you up and run you through a short flight test, before we finally agree to move you up.”
On the inside, I grinned. Senior First Lieutenant Marx really was also Malaki’s CO and this, all of this, had been planned, very well planned.
“Airman Kestrel, if you would.”
Malaki moved away with him, her co-pilot then exiting and moving toward us. “You may use the building behind us for rest. Each flight will be approximately an hour.”
Declan and I took our leave then, retreating to the building behind us.
“I wasn’t expecting that,” Declan said. “I really wasn’t expecting that.”
“You don’t want to move up so fast?”
“No. I mean yes, I do. But the workload, even for me, that’s insane. For you…”
“Well, no point hanging about, is there,” I said and tapped my head. “Get hit in the face, take it, adapt, and overcome it.”
That hour with Declan went fast. I quizzed him about the Bumble 44. I wanted to know everything he knew, and he knew a lot.
Walter came in an hour and five minutes later, and Declan left. I wished him luck but knew he didn’t really need it.
“I have to go to a briefing,” Walter said, and held his wrist out. “We might be heading in slightly different directions, Airman Korolyov, but I would like to keep in touch.”
“I’d like that too.” We swapped comm IDs, and he left.
I was alone.
I checked my HUD for access to the net. I had access, I had time, and I had credits. I could have easily used it for more research. I did not. Instead, I laid my head down on the desk and rested. I lowered my heart rate and my breathing, while I waited for the familiar whump-whump and the vibration of the helo coming in.
When it did, I straightened myself out and then waited by the door.
Declan ran to me. “I gotta go,” he said. “Good luck, man.”
We shook hands. “See you very soon.”
“You bet your ass you will. Go. She’s not going easy on us.”
When he ran off, I made my way out to the helo, tapping straight into the general comms as I approached.
“Airman Korolyov,” Malaki said after I’d buckled in. “Please engage your helo.”
“Engaging Bumble 44,” I said, and glancing over the controls, I ran through them in my mind. Not unlike the twenty-three, it felt and vibrated just slightly different. I listened to the engine for a moment. Then, opening my eyes, I keyed for flight control.
The process for getting into the air and onto my flight path was normal, except I noted winds coming in across the school. I needed to compensate slightly for that, which I did. Malaki never said anything. She sat and watched, marking everything in her HUD.
It was literally by the book. Everything. I might not have known military protocol, but I felt at ease with her and even with the Bumble.
“Flight control to—”
“Ice71,” I replied, to Malaki’s raised eyebrow. “Yes, I picked a callsign, my father’s tag was Ice17.”
Malaki smiled. “I like that. I like it a lot.”
“Ice71, you are to target a Lanton Level 4 at grid location 791-A-479 with both guns. Recall, over.”
I didn’t need to know where grid 791-A-479 was. It was already burned into my mind, forever. The watch base number twenty-six…
Even Malaki flinched as I repeated. “Ice71 to flight control, target is a Level-4 Lanton at grid location 791-A-479, copy.”
I plugged in the location and eased the helo around toward our destination and target. The wind speed around us was increasing by the minute. I wasn’t happy with it.
I heard a click, then Malaki spoke into her comms. “Dizzy101 copy. All green. Accepting conditions as part of the test.”
The surrounding skies darkened. “Storm incoming,” I said. “Level known?”
“No level given, no storm warning,” she replied. “Hold your course.”
I swallowed. This was going to turn bad, just my luck. I had to be last, didn’t I?
I checked the incoming wind speed—ten knots. She was correct, no warning needed for now.
Malaki knew I’d never fired the helo’s guns in training. How hard could it be? I’d used the X1 with the Black Bears. That she couldn’t know, but she knew everything else.
Feeling the trigger button on the cyclic, I flicked it and armed both guns. Malaki never flinched. How could she be so stoic? This was…ugh.
I breathed in and approached the grid location.
“Ice71 to flight control, I have visual on grid location. Lanton is in sight. Confirm hot.”
“Flight control, you have confirmation, hot.”
My X1 took over then, and I let it line up the shot. It flashed to say my guns were .2 out, and with the cross wind at fourteen knots, I had to align differently. I clicked the guns left of the target and heard Malaki suck in a breath just as I pulled the trigger.
The pop-pop of the twin guns echoed through the cockpit, a burst of five rounds. They hit the target dead on.
The target lights flickered from red to green.
“Flight control, Lanton is down. Requesting RTB.”
“Negative, Ice71. You are being re-tasked, wait out.”
I looked at Malaki, who was obviously having a real conversation with someone on the other end of her comms.
I held my course and hovered over the target.
Wind speed had picked up once again. Seventeen knots.
No orders were incoming.
Was this on me?
Did I have to make this decision?
What if I did and it was taken out of context as me being pushy?
What if we stayed here, something else went wrong, and we were better off back at base?
Fuck, so many choices.
No orders were incoming.
Nothing
I couldn’t wait any longer.
Wind speed was at eighteen knots. I checked the surrounding area for a safe location to land. It didn’t take me long. We could put down right over there and shelter at base twenty-six, but there was nowhere to protect the helo.
No wait, there, she needed to be protected if the winds got up even more, and it sure felt like they would.
It was another moment before I made the decision.
Fuck it. I hit the comms. “Flight control, this is Ice71, sending in secure grid location 796-C-484 for landing and helo safety. Wind speed approaching twenty knots. Will RTB when this storm has cleared, over?”
Malaki glanced at me, but never betrayed any of her thoughts. Her nose didn’t even twitch. Damn, she was good.
“Ice71, you are clear for landing in grid location 796-C-484.”
I gently turned the helo and moved her into position to land. Malaki never said a word.
She was upset with me. I’d ruined it. Blown it already. Fuck.
There was no way we were flying back, not in this.
It was bumpy and several red lights flashed as the wheels hit the ground. I quickly dealt with them and moved to shut down the main engines, using the power left to safely take her in closer to a building, and sheltering her from most of the wind.
“Flight control, we are in position, will lock down wheels and guns.”
“Ice71, stay safe, storm is set to reach level five, copy.”
“Copy, flight control.” I hung up the comms and turned to Malaki, my fists clenching. “Are you going to say anything at all?”
“I was under orders not to,” she admitted, and though she frowned, she put her hand on my arm. “You did amazing.” She smiled. “Seriously, well done. You’re already showing signs of a great leader.”
My stomach knots eased almost immediately. She wasn’t just ignoring me; it was part of the test. Like it or not. I knew she’d have stepped in if it had gotten too dangerous. “Then let’s get this bird safe and us tucked inside that building before the heavens open and we get soaked. I’m not up for a night of freezing cold wet sleeping.”
“Best get it out of the way,” she said. “We get a lot of rain on the ocean.”
I moved to set to strapping the Bumble down. Malaki pulled a rifle from the back of the cockpit and watched the skies for me.
“Anything?” I asked her, my nerves shot.
“I don’t know, I think they’re clear,” she said.
I moved to her. “I’ll watch you finish it off.”
She handed me the rifle and I trained the X1 on the skies, zooming in where I needed to, and where I thought I might have spotted something.
Nothing.
The skies were clear.
When Malaki put her hand on my arm, I only then disengaged from the skies, my head pounding.
“Are we good?”
“Clear. Nothing is flying in this storm.”
36-Shay
Shay more than enjoyed sleeping in. His night work was getting harder, and the past weeks had left him exhausted. Pim settled with him on the bed, and that was it. He was gone, every single night.
He slept long and hard.
Pim poked him in the nose with his own just before 6 a.m. “Wakey, wakey,” he grumbled. “Day out, remember. No lazing in bed!”
Shay stretched and rubbed behind the back of Pim’s ears.
“You did that most of the night,” Pim said and pushed his head into his hand more.
“Complaining?” Shay asked, pulling back.
Pim butted him. “No.”
He stroked him for a little longer than he should have, then rushed to get dressed and meet Anada. Pim stood, tail swishing from left to right. Pim was about to say goodbye again, when he growled. “I’m small enough,” Pim said. “Put me on your shoulder.”
“You want to come?” Shay asked.
“I don’t want to stay here another day on my own,” he replied, hopping up on his back legs.
Shay leaned down and scooped the walrat up, then allowed him to settle on his shoulder. “I won’t be able to do this for long.”
“You will.” He settled down, and Shay left his room.
Anada was waiting out in the daylight, where her features were much easier to see. Strong muscular frame, dark hair, and light blue eyes. She didn’t wear fitting clothes, but rather pants and a thick jacket to ward off the wind. The clothes made her look a lot thicker than she was, but they also kept out the cold. Shay shivered. There were a lot of people out and about for 6 a.m. “The market is a fair walk, or we can catch a bus?” Anada asked. “Which are you game for?”
“Bus is fine. I can pay for it now.”
“Good, my legs are tired, too.” Anada smiled and noticed the walrat. “He doesn’t look okay here.”
When Anada went to move towards him, Pim growled loudly.
“Friend,” Shay warned his pet, though pet wasn’t the right word. Familiar?
