Chapter
21
Flyer’s point of view
“Another drink, Flyer, buddy?” the barkeeper asked, and I refused
it politely (I was on duty so I had to be disciplined about it). I was in the
Red Lizard again, a day after the shore leave party. After I reported that
Small Gecko female who had bothered Kevin, Skyir had asked me to stay there for
the next day to find and escort her off the station. This was a fighter base,
and we had strict rules about what personnel and visitors could arrive at the
station.
I had been here a few hours now, with no sign of the Small Gecko,
but I wasn’t kept bored for long: she walked in not soon after. Frowning
hatefully, I flew over to her, making her stop sharply.
“You again?” I snarled coldly. “What did I tell you yesterday?”
She eyed my uniform, realising I was on duty, and decided to be a
lot less disrespectful than last night.
“Ya mean I can’t walk around here freely?” she asked.
“No!” I snapped at her. “This is a military base; I’m sure you
know about the strict rules we have! Hookers aren’t allowed on or in any
military outposts!”
“Who said that I’m a-”
“Nobody needed telling! The way you treated Captain Richardson
last night was proof enough!” I claimed. “I’m here to take you off the station!
Follow me!”
She obeyed, but didn’t go completely quietly. I heard her angry,
rude tone as she trailed behind me:
“Oh, so a creature ain’t allowed to fancy anyone else here, is
that it?”
“That’s different!”
“No it isn’t, are ya gonna chuck everyone else who has a crush off
the station?”
I spun on her angrily, my patience wearing down.
“Don’t you take that tone with me!” I retorted in rage. “Thanks to
you, our wing’s leader is gonna be depressed and short tempered for at least a
cycle! Now get off this station before I call some security to drag you off!”
She protested but left, unwilling to face security, who were a lot
harsher with her kind.
Kevin’s point of view
“Captain Richardson: report to Admiral Skyir,
repeat, Captain Richardson, report to Admiral Skyir.”
The tannoy echoed eerily in the aircraft hanger. I sighed as I put
down my tools that I was testing my Interceptor engines with.
“Flyer!” I yelled over the din of metal bangs and clashes as
pilots checked their ships and dragged materials from the store to fix them
with. “Do your rookies need some repair practice?”
Flyer turned away from the group of eager-looking junior pilots to
nod his head, knowing it was hard to throw his voice amid the noise in the
hanger.
“Then you can get some of ‘em to fix my ship up!” I yelled at him.
“And watch the paintwork!!!”
Flyer gave out some quick instructions and the rookies quickly
obliged.
I grinned, and left to find Skyir’s office.
“Ah, Kevin, come in!” Skyir greeted.
“Admiral,” I greeted respectfully, with a bow of my head.
“We both worked as slaves in the mines. There’s no need for
formalities, Kevin.” He explained to me in a calm, well-mannered and learned
way. His tone was always gentle and understanding, which was a major change
since we had argued as slaves 12 years ago.
“Sit down, old friend.”
I obeyed.
“How was the party last night?” he asked.
“Fine; I missed the start, but they seemed to enjoy it.” I
explained.
“But you didn’t?” I had provoked an obvious question.
“I may still be quite young to your culture – maybe even in mine
to a degree – but my soul feels old,
Skyir. I can’t enjoy it like I once did.”
“We always felt old, Kevin. We couldn’t be anything else…. Not
with what we survived…. Back then” He lowered his head sadly at the memory, as
did I. He meant we as in the
ex-slaves, of course.
“Anyway, that aside. I want to ask you about these.” He reached
forward with a footclaw, and spread his wings for balance, as he picked up the
sheets of paper set neatly on his desk.
I recognised them instantly.
“My resignation papers.” I nodded, answering his silent question: are these what I think?
“But why, Kevin?” Skyir quizzed. “I thought you said being a pilot
was one of your childhood dreams?”
“It was, and still is. The whole thing is complicated. Do you have
time for me to explain?” I questioned awkwardly.
He nodded slowly and gently. I sighed and began:
“About 13 years ago, I was murdered. I gave up my place in the
afterlife – heaven – to try and get back home, and so became a Soul Creature.
After a year in the mines, understandably, I was eager to start heading home
when we escaped. But-”
I rose and walked to the window that gave a view of the
planetscape below: amid the stars and the glare of the twin Nosteran suns, the
rounded planet looked blue and green, with hints of yellow and brown, shrouded
in places by swirling white clouds in the upper atmosphere. It looked so much
like Earth, but in the same instant, so different. Instead of the semi-arid,
semi-savana of Africa or the greenish brown mass of America, I could see the
forest covered continent of Greendom and the snow capped mountains of the
Cloudwhite region.
I rested my head against the glass-like material sorrowfully.
“But what, old friend?”
I snapped out of my sad trance: “Sorry, my mind wandered.”
I turned away from the window again. “I promised Flyer.”
“That you’d stay?”
“No, it’s different. I said to him that if we ever escaped that he
could come home with me, since he had nowhere to go. We never knew that you
planned to found a new empire.”
“Why didn’t you head home then?” Skyir asked, greatly interested.
“Flyer did have somewhere to go.”
“I couldn’t leave not knowing if you guys were gonna be OK. I had
to make sure Flyer, and all of you, had somewhere safe to live. I was torn
between the choice of heading home then and abandoning you all, or staying and
helping you out. I chose the latter, but it meant leaving my family behind for
over a decade.”
I paused, and Skyir remained patiently silent.
“I became a Soul Creature for the sole purpose of finding my
family again: 12 years ago, I forgot that.” I added forlornly.
I looked back to the window, and gazed beyond the stars. Somewhere
out there, they still thought I was dead. I reached out and placed my hand on
the window glass, feeling that I was somehow reaching out to Kristin vainly.
“I can’t hold back any longer: its time for me to go home.” I
stated. I blinked as tears weld up in my eyes.
Skyir silently took to the air and flew to my shoulder, and in the
bright light of the twin suns, the tears now coursing down my cheeks were all
too clear, reflecting the rays of yellow and orange. I felt his wing wrap
halfway around my head, the Valedron way of embracing an old friend. I realised
more than ever that he’d truly accepted me; once he had shunned me because of
my existence as a Soul Creature, but now we were old companions, with concerns
for each other. It was the only companionship that I shared that came close to
my deep bond with the rest of the Backstreet Boys. In grateful reply, I rested
my head gently against him.
“You’ve been a good friend to us all, Kevin. And you’ve served the
Dragon Empire well. When we escaped, we wanted nothing more than to return home
to the Old Nosteran, the original homeworld of the three races, but that was
impossible. As you know, Old Nosteran was taken over by the Valedron Empire
long ago, and the siege decimated the planet. We couldn’t go back, not even
now. But you can still get back to
Earth. Your homeworld is still out there, and you can reach it, so all we can
do is let you go. We could never deny you that, old friend.” Flyer explained
calmly and understandingly.
I sighed, but gave no reply to it. He knew I understood anyway.
“I sense you are hesitant to leave …. because of Flyer.” He added.
“Yeah, you’re right, but I’m finished what I stayed to do.” I
claimed. “He has a home.”
I turned to the door, and Skyir returned to his desk swiftly.
“Shall I tell him you’re leaving?”
“No, not yet.” I answered sadly. “Not till I’ve gone. I don’t want
to break my promise to Flyer, but I know he loves his life here, and would
secretly hate to leave. This is his
home, now. If we tell him, he’d just want to come with me.” I sighed looking
out at the distant silhouettes of two ships, too far away to be a threat, as
they flew past the glare of the suns. “If my experience of life here is any
indication, the universe can be a lot more dangerous than you think. I’m
already taking a risk travelling by myself. I wouldn’t want Flyer to be dragged
into any trouble too.”
“You care for him deeply…” Skyir pondered on my current conflict
heavily, feeling my confusion and doubt.
I grinned, on the verge of short laughter at my sudden thought and
memory by that remark, but not because that memory was humorous; merely just
amazing to realise.
“He’s taken up the attitude that most people on my planet could
never do so easily.” I claimed. I turned to Skyir, with pride for my younger
friend and fellow pilot. “He didn’t judge me.”
“About being a Soul Creature, am I right?”
“Yeah,” I replied simply. “From day one, he tried to get to know
me, instead of assuming I was like all the other Soul Creatures.”
“An honourable companion.”
I nodded in agreement as he joined me by the window again. We
stayed in silence for a few minutes.
“I’d better go.” I claimed, breaking the calm silence.
Skyir just nodded.
“Oh, Skyir, take care of Flyer for me, will you?” I asked. “He
won’t understand.”
“He’ll take it badly, but he should get over your loss.”
I smiled gratefully. Just as I approached the door, the alarm went
off. It rang like the call of an alarmed bird, shrieking and reverberating. It
was the pilot’s alarm.
“Admiral, I’d think I should…..” I began, being formal again.
“Kevin, you just resigned. You don’t have to.”
I turned to face him fully, pleading. “Just hold it off for a few
more minutes, Admiral, please. I was in the hangar before: Omega, Gamma and
Epsilon wings are all out on far patrols right now, and the only ones left are
Alpha and Beta wings.”
“The others can handle it, Kevin.”
“I know the Valedron fighters better than most pilots here. They
attack in at least three wings at a time. We only have two ready for launch. We
need as many pilots as we can!”
Skyir looked nervously thoughtful, until he inclined his head
towards the door: “Very well, Captain. Defend us well! But remember what you
are leaving for. Don’t get careless.”
I grinned: “Duty calls one last time, sir.”
I charged down the corridors towards the hangar, and I bumped full
into an off-duty commander.
“Sorry, Commander!” I yelled behind me, stumbling to balance again
as I left the bewildered creature far behind. In my ears the alarm tannoy was
repeating the emergency call:
All pilots: incoming enemy fighters, report to
hangars for launch, repeat, incoming enemy fighters, report to hangars for
launch. This is not a drill!
Almost automatically, I grabbed my flight gear and darted to my
Interceptor. I hurriedly climbed the small stepladder to my cockpit and climbed
in, listening to the ‘all-clear’ of the technicians as they prepped the
spacecraft. When my helmet was fitted after some awkward fumbling about, I
attached my oxygen mask and microphone.
“Clear the platform: ready for launch!” I snapped routinely.
Looking to the side, letting my engines warm up for a few seconds,
I saw Flyer, Dommur, Monsoon and Forkar (another young Small Gecko pilot, only
recently joined) – the whole of Alpha wing – climb, or fly, into their ships.
Without further delay, I flew at full throttle out of the hangar, the others
not far behind.
“All ships: check in.” I ordered, entering the starry expanse.
“Alpha Two: all systems green!” Flyer responded.
“Alpha Three: ready to rock’n’roll!” Dommur reported.
“Alpha Four: weapons at full!” was Monsoon’s reply.
“Alpha Five: ready to engage!” Forkar chirped.
I nodded with a firm grin. Ready as usual.
“Beta Leader: report status.”
“Beta wing ready for action, Alpha leader. Prepare to engage.” The
fellow Captain instantly replied.
I concentrated my stare ahead at the oncoming fighters.
As I predicted, there were three wings.
And that made fifteen ships………
………………….. against our ten.
I stared directly ahead as we flew at full throttle towards the
approaching fighters.
***
