Standing before us was the TSF-20-B training plane. To say we were surprised was and understatement. The plane was the latest and greatest training aircraft to come out of the Navy. The plane was a delta wing design with the cockpit in the nose like traditional planes. The pilot’s seat was in the front and the navigator in the back seat. There were two engines one the either side of the fuselage that lead to the thrust nozzles in the back. Small round lumps littered the side of the aircraft. Maneuvering thruster pods. There was a matte gray coating over the ship that extended all the way from the nose to the tail. Each on had a number on it.
“Now these ships are capable of atmospheric flight but considering the only atmosphere you need to worry about is Jupiter’s you won’t be doing much of that,” Mr. Tate said.
Everyone grinned.
“Now you can all thank the Navy for this. Admiral Halsey was kind enough to donate a few of these to our school for the year so no more shenanigans like last year.”
A few people laughed but I didn’t. I remembered what bowl cut boy had done last year. The guy nearly pushed me into the atmosphere. His real name was Butch but to me he was the guy who nearly killed me last year.
“Now we’ll begin lessons on how to fly them in half an hour so go select your ship and get to know her cause you and your partner will be married to that thing. Also get to choosing a name and what you want to put on the tail because after today the schools colors go on followed by whatever emblem you pick.”
A student raised her hand.
“No you cannot paint a giant Eight Equals D on the tail Miss Carolina.”
Everyone laughed at her expense.
“Alright. Go find a ship everyone. And don’t get too close to the hanger edge. We don’t want a repeat of last year.”
We all took off towards the ship we wanted. I grabbed Spitfire’s hand and headed for the number 7 ship. I liked it the most out of all the others, even if they were identical. It was the fighter sitting in the corner.
“Aw sick,” Spitfire said, “So this is our plane?”
“Yup,” I smiled tapping the surface of the spacecraft, “So what do you wanna name her?”
“Hmm. I don’t know you pick.”
“How about… Raptor?”
She smiled through her helmet, “I like it. It sounds fierce and powerful.”
“Just like we’re gonna be,” I smiled. A familiar phrase from a certain book ran through my head, “We’re gonna make a great team.”
With that we fist bumped.
***
School had gone well for the first week. We’d done pretty well in all of our classes. I’d helped Spits understand Stellar Phenomena. We also had gym class, which was pretty boring to say the least. Since we’d only had the class once so far all we did was play a few games of CTF and other small games.
Turns out that Spitfire was quite the acrobat and had pulled off a few moves during the CTF game that had a lot of guys drooling over her. That one front flip she did over one of the football players had him dumbfounded.
“Careful Spitfire,” I said as our team regrouped on one side of the gym while we waited for the next round to start. The other team was doing the same.
“Don’t attract too much attention to yourself.”
Spitfire tossed the flag back across to the other side, “Oh calm down Jett. At least let me have some fun here before I have to go back.”
“Alright!” Mrs. Tracy yelled, “Last round. Then you’re all out of here for the day.”
“Alright!” Spitfire yelled, “Let’s do this!”
Mrs. Tracy blew the whistle and the game began again. The rules were simple enough. The gym was divided up into two sides. Each side had a flag and once you crossed over to the other team’s side you were fair game. But Spitfire was especially good at this game as she jumped and danced around all the enemy players like it was nothing.
A few of the football players were eyeing Spitfire, some with angry looks, others with sly grins and something else in their eyes.
Various small skirmishes broke out along the line but nothing too serious.
One of the football players made a run for it. I made a run for him but he dove out of the way… only to be tagged by Spitfire.
“Nice.”
We high fived. I took to studying their formation of players. There was a general order; mainly a mass at the line and a few surrounding the flag. There was one weakness though. Along the wall someone fast and agile could get through. Spitfire.
“Hey Spits,” I said nudging her, “See that hole over there?” I pointed at the open spot without any people guarding it.
“Yeah. Why you got a job for me?” She grinned and flexed her leg muscles.
“Something like that,” I said grinning, “I have an idea. You sprint hard through that hole in their line and grab the flag but stay in the safe zone.”
“Ok, but how am I gonna get past those three guarding it? Or get out?”
“You’ll figure something out. As for the second thing I’ve got you covered. After you cross and draw their attention I’ll follow. You toss the flag over to me. I’ll grab it and make a mad dash for our side. That’ll distract them enough for you to escape. I’ll carry it as far as I can before trading it off to you.”
“Sounds like a plan. So when do we go?”
“Hmm,” I looked at our team and started to notice that no one was getting anywhere, “Now. Now GO!”
Spitfire took off in a mad sprint across the gymnasium for the hole their team had left. The jock that had left the line open, I think his name was Ryan had a look of surprise on his face as Spits ran by, giving a quick salute before running towards the flag.
The three players who were guarding it formed a sloppy phalanx but it was no use. Spitfire picked up speed before falling on her back and sliding beneath them.
By that time enough chaos had been caused that forced their formation to collapse into general disorder as people from both sides crossed the line and chased each other about. I ran across, dodging random players as they attempted to tag me. Being a machine came in a bit handy here as faster reflexes made me impossible to catch.
I saw Spitfire with the flag in her hands. She balled it up and threw it as hard as she could. I jumped up and grabbed it before running back towards our side. The others, seeing me and forgetting about Spitfire all converged on me as I ran.
Soon it looked like I was going to be surrounded. I saw Spitfire on the other side of the gym and tossed the flag to her. She jumped up and caught it before taking off on a sprint for our side. She was almost there when three football players blocked her path. I recognized them. Two of them were the ones who bumped me on the first day of school while the third was Ryan, Captain of the team.
They thought they had her. Hell even I thought they had her but her next move surprised everyone. She got a running start before jumping and vaulting over the three jocks. This wasn’t a normal front flip as much as something out of an Olympic Gymnastics routine. Her whole body went rigid as she flipped. She got a good look at the stunned faces of the football players as she passed over them.
She spun in midair before landing on her feet facing them; on our side. Her incredible move had won us the game. Everyone looked at her with looks of awe. Even Mrs. Tracy was gawking. She went to scribble something on her clipboard but seemed to forget she dropped it.
She picked it up and wrote something down before speaking, “A-and, ehem, the score is 7 to 3. Blue team wins the game. You can all go change.”
Everyone came out of their stupor in silence. A lot of the girls gave Spitfire mean looks that were returned fiercely by me. A lot of the guys had bedroom eyes when they looked at Spitfire but she didn’t appear to notice.
“I… That was… Wow,” I managed to stutter when I reached Spitfire, who blushed.
“Just something I picked up in the Wonderbolts,” she laughed.
“Well that was one the most amazing move I’ve ever seen pulled anywhere!”
She playfully punched me in the shoulder, “Shut up you. You’re such an Apple Polisher.”
“Hey call me what you like but that was still amazing.”
She blushed and looked at the floor, “So I’ll see you after class?”
“Yup. Hanger 7 at 3:00. We’ve got flight practice after school my little navigator.”
“Oh shut up,” She laughed and headed off to the girls locker rooms.
I grinned. That girl was something else.
***
The two of them walked out their different locker rooms to the door, waiting for the class period to end. They talked and conversed about all sorts of things. Flight practice, what to do on the weekends, what crazy situations Dane had gotten into the past week.
What they didn’t notice was that they were being watched.
Ryan stood watching them. Specifically the girl with the flame hair.
“That girl sure can jump, huh Ryan?” One of the football players said.
“Yeah… Guys, I want her. What’s her name?”
“Spitfire apparently. She’s rooming with the cyborg freak.”
“What?! But he’s just some robot freak!”
“That’s what I’m saying.”
“Hmm, I think it’s time toaster boy learns he should and shouldn’t have. Come on.”
***
Well it was the third week back at school and everything was going peachy. Spitfire was fitting in surprisingly well. She even made some friends that weren’t me or Dane. It was good to see her socialize. Her grades were pretty great all across the board; straight B’s and A’s.
We were gearing up for our first flight match of the year. Practice was bit grueling but Spits and I had gotten through it and quickly risen to the top of the leader board. We were the best duo out there.
I walked up to our ship we had decided to name Raptor. Spitfire stood nearby admiring her handy work.
On the tail was a lightning bolt with two wings behind it. The Wonderbolts emblem. It went good with the white and blue colors of the school.
“Nice,” I said.
“You like?” She grinned.
“It fits.”
“Alright class!” Mr. Tate shouted, “No drills today! Today we’re doing an actual game. Elimination.”
Everyone cheered. Elimination was fun. Basically every ship for itself. One giant free for all. Whoever was the last ship standing won.
“Today you’ll have five tickets. Once you run out your ship will be disabled and will automatically return to the hanger. That’s all. Get to your ships and good hunting.”
I pulled my helmet on. The visor polarized and the HUD activated. When inside the ship it would interface making flying the ship easier. Spitfire had the same only instead of displaying pilot information she had a navigator’s interface.
We climbed into the ship; me in the front and Spits in the back.
“You ready for this?” I asked.
“Come on dude, we’ve been doing this for three weeks now. We got this,” She laughed. Even though I couldn’t her face I could tell she was grinning from ear to ear.
I settled into the cockpit and strapped myself in. The controls were relatively simplistic. Two sticks and two foot petals. One stick was your standard aircraft stick, up, down, left, right, etc. The second one was required for the more complicated maneuvers one could perform in space. The petals controlled the speed of the aircraft. Before me was a console that displayed all the information I needed to control the plane. Speed, inertia, engine temperature, damage reports, 360 degree radar. All of this could be projected onto my helmet’s visor.
Spitfire had a larger screen that allowed her to keep track of objects and enemy contacts more precisely than me. Unlike my 2D radar that only showed weather objects were in front of me or behind me, Spitfire had a screen that showed the view of the environment with more accuracy than I could ever see. It was her job to mark objects and keep the ship from hitting anything.
“Alright then,” I said as the cockpit sealed, “Let’s do this.”
The hanger depressurized and the doors opened. The ships rose off the deck and calmly drifted off into the calm of space. Soon though everyone broke away from each other and shot off into the darkness of the obstacles.
The school had pulled a few asteroids and some debris to form a course around the school. This was gonna be a fun game.
Mr. Tate and Mr. Strong flew their ship out, “Alright. Last one left wins. Go!”
Five stars appeared on my HUD. Our tickets for the game.
“Alright,” I said, “We’re bouta win.”
***
“Get him get him get him!” Spitfire’s voice filled my helmet’s speaks, “I marked him! He’s right there!”
“Relax! I got him!” I responded.
We were currently chasing bowl cut boy around one of the larger asteroids that had been pushed into the area. So far we’d only been shot at about 8 times but only lost 1 ticket.
Our ship dodged and weaved around the small valleys and canyons the rock had in it. Butch and his partner were putting up a fight. They were sticking pretty close to the surface of the rock.
“Get em!”
“I can’t! If I line up for a direct shot they rotate 180 degrees and shoot us! We’ll have lined up for them!”
“Well we have to do something! I’m not too keen on losing!”
“Me neither. Keep track of them. I have an idea.”
I rolled the ship and got close to the surface of the asteroid, with its bruised and battered edge flying by above our canopy. I pulled the stick left and went perpendicular to their previous path. We were only a few centimeters from the surface.
“What are you doing?”
“Butch will keep going along his current course until he comes back to his old position before leaving this rock. He wants to make sure he’s lost us for good. With us this close to the surface he won’t be able to track us.” I explained.
“So how does this help us win?” Spitfire asked.
“Easily. I’m gonna meet him halfway.”
We zoomed along the edge of the rock.
“He’s still going around. At this rate, we’ll converge on him in 15 seconds.”
“How any meters away is he?”
“400 and closing fast.”
“Perfect.”
We shot along until we were coming down on Butch’s port side from beneath him. I jammed the stick forward and we pulled away from the surface. I pulled the trigger and watch the T rounds splatter across his ship. He was marked and out of the game.
“YES!” We both shouted.
I spun our plane over his disabled ship. As we passed over he gave me the finger but hey. He was out so what was he gonna do? I rotated the ship so we were facing him while still carrying our forward momentum and fired, covering his canopy in a fine blue paint.
“Ha ha, asshole.”
I turned the ship around and continued on.
“Alright so who’s left?” I asked.
“Just one other ship…. And its Dane,” Spitfire laughed.
“Dane? Oh ho ho. We’re gonna have fun now. How many tickets does he have left?”
“Two.”
“Alright, let’s do this. Where is he?”
The plane shook as a series of T rounds speckled the wings.
“There!” Spitfire said as Dane’s ship nosedived past us. He pulled up and turned to face us.
“Oh I see what he’s doing. It’s on now asshole,” I laughed and slammed my foot down on the peddle. Our two ships hurled towards each other. Neither of us shot though we probably should have.
“Come on come on come on come on!”
“Jett! What are you doing?!”
“Playing chicken with another android.”
“Well don’t make us crash!”
“Relax. I got this,” I laughed, “Come on, almost there almost there almost there!”
Our ships were getting closer rather quickly.
“Almost there! Almost there! Almost there!”
We were getting dangerously close. Neither of us was backing down. Soon it would be too late.
“Damn IT!” I yelled and pulled the sticks left just as Dane did the same. We flew past each other, I went up and Dane went down. I pulled the sticks again and turned the ship around before slamming down on the petal. We rocketed forward after his ship.
We were on his tail. If I could just line up long enough I could- YES!
I lined up for the shot and fired. A stream of rounds hit his ship. He was down to his last ticket.
“Come on Jett! You almost got him!”
Just when I lined up again Dane’s ship decelerated. We flew past and were now in front of him. He reengaged his engines and chased after us.
“Aw shit,” I said as a stream of rounds hit our ship, knocking out two of our tickets.
“Jett we only have one left!”
“I know! Hold on and let me think of something!”
“He’s lining up again!”
“Shit. Come on think!”
Well if he lined up we would be screwed. Come on think!
“Can’t you rotate her around so we can fire back? Like you said?” Spitfire asked.
I smiled, “Wow I feel like an idiot! Spitfire you are a genius! Hold on!”
I jammed the sticks forward and spun the ship around so we were facing Dane and opened fire. The rounds splattered across his nose just as he let out a burst. His rounds slammed into our wing but it was pointless. The computers recorded our win.
“YES!” We both yelled again.
Our ship’s engines fired automatically, bringing us to a stop. I reached back over behind my seat and gave Spits a high five.
Mr. Tate’s voice echoed through the cabin, “Congratulations Raptor team. You’ve won.”
“Hell yeah we did!” Spitfire cheered.
“Yes well anyway. General announcement. Control is being restored to all aircraft. Return to the barn everyone. Our first meet is Friday so get plenty of rest between now and then. Tate out.”
“How do you think we’ll do at the meet?” Spitfire asked.
“Well after what we just did there? Just fine.”
We laughed as I guided the ship back into the hanger.
***
“Can you stop playing that?” Dane asked. We all sat in the lounge area of our dorms. I sat playing Worlds Apart on the piano.
“Shut up. You’re just mad you can’t play like this,” I said.
Spitfire leaned over the piano, “Well I like it Jett. It’s a pretty beautiful tune.”
Dane leaned back on the couch he was sitting on and turned on the news, “Of course your girlfriend would like your playing.”
“You’re just mad we kicked your ass at practice today,” I laughed and continued to play.
Dane scoffed and returned to the news.
“In other news today, seismic activity in and around Yellowstone National Park has increased,” The TV blared, “Water levels in Yellowstone Lake have also continued to drop at an alarming rate. Scientists are still struggling to understand the causes of the activity but have begun Deep Geographic Scans of the area…”
***
Spitfire leaned against the piano and closed her eyes, listening to her friend play. The melody was calming and she was perfectly content with falling asleep to it.
Suddenly Jett stopped playing. Spitfire looked up.
“Ah I got a message from Cat,” he said.
“Hey Jett!” Dane called, “Come look at this!”
“Alright alright. What is it?”
“They’re saying some ‘incident’ just occurred at Earth. They’re not saying what happened yet but they believe the IPA is responsible.”
“Really?” He got up and walked over to the TV. Spitfire stood up and followed.
“CBS News has just received footage. Please stand by,” The TV said, “Breaking News. Tensions between Earth and the Inner Planets Alliance increased today with the bombing of a Terran reconnaissance station. Station R-23 as it was known was destroyed earlier today by in a brazen attack by a still unidentified group. While no one has taken responsibility for the attack it is believed the IPA is responsible.”
By now a crowd had gathered around. This wasn’t good. If things got worse it could mean open war between Mar/Earth and Venus/Mercury. Everyone was focused on the story before them. Jett watched with intensity.
“Fortunately there was a minimal loss of life in the attack. 148 out of the 150 personnel on the station escaped unharmed. Two people however are still missing and presumed dead. Computer Technician Stacy Jackson and Station Commander Caitlyn ‘Cat’ Halsey stayed behind to destroy the station’s database and are still missing but ,as we said earlier, presumed dead.
Everyone turned. Jett stood fixated at the TV with a look of horror on his face. Pictures of the two were displayed on the screen.
Oh no, Spitfire thought.
Silence filled the room as everyone continued to watch, occasionally glancing back at the android.
“The attack occurred at approximately 0900 Solar Time. From what has been released it looks like Commander Halsey ordered an immediate evacuation of all personnel while she and Technician Jackson stayed behind to wipe all sensitive material from the database. They were last seen heading for the computer core approximately 7 minutes before the station’s reactor failed.”
The TV cut to footage of and escape pod blasting off of the side of a mushroom shaped station. The pod accelerated away. As it did the side of the station became exposed, showing a large section of it blown off into space. 30 seconds later the station detonated.
“That is all we have currently. We will update you with information as we get it…”
Jett took his phone out of his pocket and stared at the screen. His face was expressionless, unmoving, machine like.
A few people turned to him, “Damn dude that sucks.” “Sorry for your loss man.”
He simply turned and left the lounge, heading down the stairs towards the dorms. A few people attempted to offer their condolences as he headed to his room.
“I’m sorry.” “I know how much she me-”
They were cut off as Jett roared, “LEAVE ME ALONE!!!” He yelled so loud that everyone immediately shut up. For a moment his voiced cracked and sounded synthesized before returning to normal.
He stormed off into the dorm, slamming the door behind him.
Spitfire turned to Dane. He had a shocked expression on his face. He leaned forward and put his hands over his mouth. No one talked or even moved for the longest time. Spitfire was shocked. What was happening in this world?
Jett was just informed in the rudest way possible that his sister was dead. Spitfire turned and walked down the stairs towards the dorm.
***
“Hey little brother. If you’re getting this… well then I guess something has happened to your big sister. I’m not sure exactly what to say here. I mean- I know you’re probably never gonna see this so why bother right? Heh heh, well to be honest I don’t know why I’m recording this. They told us the risks when I signed up for this job but I always figured that if something happened it would be the next guy over right? Hell it probably will be.
But if it isn’t I’d just like to apologize for a few things. I’m sorry for being such a bitch to you when you first came home. I was jealous, angry bitch at the time and had no right to get mad at you. I’m sorry for not taking the time to get to know you sooner because you turned out to be a pretty awesome dude. I’m sorry for all the times you had to cook for the two of us because of my garbage skills in the kitchen. But most of all I’m sorry for leaving you that first year we started living together. I can still see your heartbroken face sometimes you know. But this was what I wanted and I just hope you can forgive me for that along with the rest of my shortcomings as a Big Sister to you.
Well I guess this is it Little Bro. I love you, dad and mother. Be sure to remember that. This is your big sister Cat signing off. Peace.”
Caitlyn pushed herself away from the console and hit save.
“Hey Catty you almost done over there?” Samuel asked.
“Yeah yeah Sammy. Keep your pants on,” Caitlyn laughed.
She stood up from the console and walked back into the command center for R-23.
“Alright people, Give me an update on where they stand…”
***
Spitfire walked into the dorm. The lights were off meaning the only light came from the orange glow from Jupiter. She crept over to her and Jett’s room and carefully opened the door.
“Jett?” She asked softly, “Are you alright?”
She opened the door all the way. What she saw nearly broke her heart. Jett was sitting on his bed staring at the floor with his phone clutched in his hands. A picture of Cat was displayed on the screen.
She could see his eyes were watering. He was doing his best not to cry, both for her sake and his. That was something else too. Maybe it was the light but his eyes looked different again, almost grey.
She sat down next to him on the bed, “Jett… I am so sorry.”
His breathing became jerky and labored. He sniffed, trying with extreme effort not to cry. He sat there on the brink for the longest time before calmly leaning over and falling into Spitfire’s shoulder.
Spitfire jumped slightly but when she realized what was happening she calmed down. Jett’s breathing became labored as he sobbed into her shoulder.
“Oh Jett…” Spitfire said close to tears of her own. She raised her arms and wrapped them around his shaky body, running her fingers through his hair.
“Ssshhh,” she cooed softly, “Sssshhh. It’s ok. It’s gonna be ok.”
“I… I…” he gasped between sobs.
“It’s alright,” she whispered softly, “I know. It’s gonna be fine. Just let it out.”
A thud was heard as he let the phone go and fall to the floor.
“I’m so sorry,” Spitfire said as she began to cry herself.