by Linn Schwab
“Well, girls,” she said with a sigh, “you know what this means.”
Nancy shook her head and said, “Here we go again.”
“What?” Suzanne asked. “What’s going on?”
“They’re moving us,” Nancy explained. “It’s the only reason they’d ask us to stand by in here.”
Zoe groaned in exasperation. “It never fails. Just when we start to feel at home, they up and move us to another ship.”
“Here comes Charlie,” Nancy said. “Maybe she has some news for us.”
Jenny looked toward the hangar entrance and saw Charlie Sinclair and her squadron approaching. They’d known each other for several years now, and been stationed in at least twelve different locations together. Wherever one of their squadrons was deployed, the other would always be sent there as well. Command liked to keep them moving around because they helped raise the morale of the girls they were stationed with. But, as Zoe had just pointed out, being transferred so frequently was a routine the Hornets were not very fond of.
Charlie stopped a few paces from Jenny and glanced around the interior of the flight deck. “Any word yet on where they’re sending us?”
“Not yet,” Jenny answered.
“I hope they’re not sending us straight into combat,” Nancy said. “Sometimes I think they don’t realize that even the best of us still need to sleep!”
Jenny looked at Nancy and smiled. The two of them had seen a lot of action together. There was a great deal of mutual respect between them, and a friendship that only continued to grow stronger. Although there was no official second–in–command, there was no question that Nancy would be in charge of the squadron if something unfortunate happened to Jenny.
There was no policy that mandated order of succession. It was simply a matter of personality and competence. The Hornets were free to select their own captains, and each pilot in the squadron sensed her own place in the order. If Jenny and Nancy were both knocked out of action, the other girls would probably look to Virginia for leadership. Even though most of them had been Hornets longer, her combat skills earned her a great deal of respect. Zoe would be next in line behind Virginia, followed by Kelli, Trixie, and Lisa. As the newest member of the squadron, Suzanne would most likely be the last to step up.
Commander Jensen stepped onto the flight deck and headed straight for the two waiting squadrons. Jenny turned to each of her pilots and questioned them about the status of their planes.
“Alright, here she comes, girls. Are all of our planes prepped and ready to go?” She looked around to catch everyone’s answer. “Suzanne,” she said, “have they repaired your damaged engine yet?”
Suzanne cringed. “It’s all shot up, Jenny,” she said. “They’re not sure yet if they can fix it.” There was a perceptible hint of distress in her voice, as if she was embarrassed by her predicament.
Sensing Suzanne’s discomfort, Nancy stepped over and put an arm around her shoulders. “Hey, don’t let it bother you, Suzanne,” she said. “It’s just a plane. Everyone takes a few hits once in a while.”
Suzanne flashed a sheepish grin at her. “Even Virginia?” she asked with obvious interest.
Both of them looked at Virginia now, curious to see how she would respond. Virginia smiled and gazed down at the floor in embarrassment. She felt comfortable now in her role as a Hornet, but compliments still made her a little uneasy. Everyone kept telling her she was the best, but her mind was still plagued with doubts and concerns that had yet to be resolved to her satisfaction. She feared that the others had too much confidence in her, and that someday it might still come back to haunt them.
Commander Jensen stopped a few paces away and waited as both squadrons scrambled to stand at attention. “Well, ladies,” she said, “here’s the story. You’re being transferred to the Fourth Fleet.”
“Both squadrons?” Jenny asked.
“Both squadrons,” she confirmed. “You’ll be stationed aboard the carrier Typhoon. Sabrina Mackenzie will be your new flight commander.” She hesitated briefly before continuing. “That was … only part if it,” she said. The reluctance in her voice put the Hornets on notice that the worst bit of news was still to come.
“The Fourth Fleet is currently being reconstituted. The current estimation is that it won’t arrive at the rendezvous point for another seventeen days yet. So in the meantime, you’re going to have to fly to one of our bases and wait for notification of the fleet’s arrival. The nearest base to the rendezvous point is Volaris, and it’s … a fourteen hour flight from here.”
The Hornets groaned and rolled their eyes. “Fourteen hours!” Zoe complained.
“Shhh!” Jenny reprimanded her. “How long before we’re supposed to leave?”
Commander Jensen took a deep breath. “The Seventh Fleet’s just been ordered to move out along the front. We’ll be getting under way shortly. The longer you remain on board the Maelstrom, the farther you’re going to have to fly.”
Jenny sighed and turned to her pilots. “Alright, girls, you heard her. Let’s get moving,” she said, motioning her pilots toward their planes. Charlie followed Jenny’s example and ushered her pilots on their way as well.
“Captains,” the commander interrupted them. Jenny and Charlie turned back to face her. She stepped forward and shook hands with both of them. “It’s been a real pleasure to have you on board. I wish you and your pilots the best of luck.”
“Thank you, Commander, “Jenny replied. “The same to you.”
“Yeah,” Charlie added, “say goodbye to everyone for us.” The two of them then ran off to board their planes, leaving Commander Jensen alone with her thoughts.
As she watched the Hornets climb into their fighters, she began to get a sense of how things were going to change now that they were leaving the Maelstrom. There was so much life and energy within those two squadrons that the carrier was going to feel empty without them.
As soon as all of them had passed through the airlocks, the Hornets settled into formation. Jenny’s squadron took the lead, and Charlie’s pilots fell in behind them. As the squadrons began their marathon flight, Suzanne took a quick glance back at the fleet she’d been helping to protect for the past several months.
“I hope they’ll be alright without us,” she said, echoing the other girls’ thoughts aloud.
“Try not to let it get to you,” Zoe advised her. “We can’t be everywhere at once.”
“Zoe’s right,” Nancy said. “Besides! We’ve given those clods a real thrashing over the last few months. Have you noticed how they don’t seem eager to engage us anymore? They won’t be pulling their tail out from between their legs anytime soon, because they know we’re just gonna shoot it off if they do!”
Laughter echoed over the girls’ intercoms. Jenny grinned and shook her head. Nancy always seemed to know just what to say.
ECHO 5 008
Robin flipped anxiously through the pages of her test. Time was running out for her now. The end of the period was rapidly approaching, and she didn’t feel confident about any of her solutions.
The questions on this test pertained to space flight. Not surprisingly, they were heavy on math and physics. With five years of academy classes behind her now, Robin could almost do math in her sleep. The problems on this test looked familiar to her, but they each contained a twist which made solving them perplexing.
A bell sounded, signaling the end of the testing period. Frustrated, Robin closed her test and stood up. With dozens of girls all taking the same test, it would take a while for it to run through corrections.
It was late morning before the corrected tests were available. Robin wasn’t sure if she even wanted to see hers. After retrieving it from her instructor, she carried it to a student lounge area and sat down at one of the empty tables. As she began to look through her test, the rest of her squad filed into the room and sat down at the table with her. All of them were now thirteen years old, and their friendship had grown stronger over
time, evolving to a state of unconditional devotion. Normally, when one of them was feeling distressed, the others were there to comfort her. But right now, all of them were feeling distressed. And there was no one else for them to turn to.
Caroline grimaced as she flipped through her test. “I can’t believe I did so badly on this!”
Robin looked up from her own test and observed the looks on the other girls’ faces. “Don’t worry, Caroline,” she said with a frown. “I think we all failed.” An awkward silence followed her comment.
“You failed too, Robin?” Phoebe asked in disbelief.
Robin lowered her head and nodded. It was a very painful moment for her. She felt an obligation to set an example for her squad. But more importantly, as their captain, she wanted to protect them. That was her primary motivation. It was what pushed her to glean everything she could from her lessons — to gain the knowledge she needed to keep them all safe. To Robin, failing a test was the same as failing her squad, even though she knew they’d never hold it against her. The bonds that she had formed with them could never be weakened by something so trivial.
As Robin dwelled on the results of her test, her fingers reached for two shiny stars that were pinned to the left side of her uniform collar. They were her only personal possessions — awarded to her for academic excellence. Normally, she didn’t pay them much attention. No more than she paid the buttons on her shirt. But at this particular moment in time, their presence offered her a little reassurance. She may have failed this most recent exam, but her overall record of achievement was still among the highest at the academy.
Michelle shook her head and slapped her test down on the tabletop. “I don’t understand it,” she complained in disgust. “It’s almost like they wanted us to fail.”
“Maybe they did,” Robin suggested, recalling the events of her first day at the academy. Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted as another training squad passed through the room. She recognized the girls immediately. ECHO 7. Christy Allison’s squad.
As Christy neared the table where Robin’s squad was sitting, she stopped and flashed them an exaggerated smile. “Well, that was fun, wasn’t it, girls?” The sarcasm in her voice was unmistakable. She held her test up and tossed it over her shoulder. “Are we ready to try it again tomorrow?”
Robin’s girls chuckled and grinned. All of them were well acquainted with Christy. She’d become one of Robin’s closest friends, so the two squads spent a lot of time with each other.
“How did your squad do?” Robin asked.
Christy wrapped both hands around her neck, stuck her tongue out and mimicked choking herself. The other girls responded with laughter. Robin looked around at them and smiled. Christy was quite adept at cheering people up.
“Do you think anyone passed?” Mindy asked.
Christy sighed and placed her hands on her hips. “I don’t know,” she said in a more serious tone. “But I’m gonna ask around and find out.”
“Let me know what you hear,” Robin said.
“That’s a promise,” Christy replied. “I’ll talk to you later, Robin,” she said, then ran off to catch up with the rest of her squad.
“Well,” Katrina said, “at least we weren’t the only ones who had trouble with this. Maybe nobody else passed it either.”
Robin started to say something, but fell silent when she noticed an officer approaching. She recognized the woman as Major Starks — one of the academy’s senior officers. Robin had spoken with her in the past, and she was generally a pleasant person to converse with. But she could sense from the major’s taut expression that this wasn’t going to be an informal chat.
“Captain Starling,” the major said, “have your squad line up in the assembly room.”
“Yes, Major,” Robin politely replied. She waited for the major to step out of sight, then stood up and gestured for the others to follow her.
Phoebe remained close to Robin’s side as the squad stepped into the corridor together. “Think they’re gonna yell at us, Robin?” she asked, concerned about the squad’s most recent test results.
Katrina cupped her hands over her ears. “My ears are starting to sting already.”
Robin cast a doubtful look at Phoebe. “You know better than that, Phoebe,” she said. “When have they ever yelled at us before?”
Phoebe quickly referenced a memory. “There was that time they yelled at me for playing in the creek.”
“But that wasn’t disciplinary,” Robin argued. “They were just concerned for your safety. And if I would’ve known about flash floods back then, I would’ve yelled at you for playing in the creek.”
“Yeah,” Michelle said, “Robin’s right. They never yell at us for things like test scores. They must just have some kind of formal announcement.”
“Well, I already know what they’re gonna say,” Katrina boasted.
Robin could already feel a grin coming on. Whatever Katrina was about to say, it was certain to be deeply rooted in absurdity.
“What?” Mindy pleaded. “Tell us!”
Robin and the others started giggling now. Mindy always seemed to fall for the ruse.
“Obviously,” Katrina said, “they’re going to issue a formal apology to me, and they just want the rest of you there so you can see it.”
“Oh?” Robin said with a laugh. “And just what are they going to be apologizing to you for?”
“Don’t you see, Robin,” Katrina explained, “they obviously made a mistake on my test. There’s no way my score should’ve been this low. The only logical explanation is that they mistakenly used reverse backward zeroes on my test, and they just didn’t realize it until now.”
“What?” Mindy asked in confusion.
“Mindy!” Katrina scolded her. “Were you not paying attention in math class again? Everyone who wasn’t busy doodling pictures of squirrels knows that reverse backward zeroes are impossible to work with because they look just like normal backward zeroes but they’re not. And since their values are completely interchangeable with each other, there’s no way to be certain which one is which.”
Robin laughed and draped a supportive arm around Mindy, as if to shield her from Katrina’s teasing. “You’re such a clown, Katrina,” she said. “If you’ve been teaching your logic to Mindy, it’s no wonder she ends up doodling in class.”
“Hmmph!” Katrina retorted, crossing her arms in indignation. “Should you really be making fun of my logic while giving Mindy a pass on doodling? I would think that you’d want her to understand what she’s doing. Unless you want her to end up like JoEllen.”
Robin sighed and stopped in her tracks, and pulled Mindy around to face her. “Katrina’s right, Mindy,” she said. “You can’t just give up on things like that. If there’s something you don’t understand, you need to let me know, okay? Someday your life is going to depend on this training.”
Mindy nodded and looked down at the floor.
“Good,” Robin said. “And anyway, after the results of this test, it looks like we’re all going to have to work a little harder. Come on,” she said, pulling Mindy along with her. “Let’s go find out what they want with us.”
When ECHO 5 entered the assembly room, there were three squads already lined up in formation. Robin’s girls scrambled into their positions, lining up on the left end of the column as usual. When her squad had finally settled into place, Robin glanced at the girls standing to her right. They were all members of ECHO 6. If ECHO 5 and ECHO 6 are both here, she reasoned, then maybe our whole battalion is here.
For the moment, Commander Phillips and Major Starks appeared to be conversing with each other, so Robin cautiously leaned back a little and looked to her right along the rear of the front rank. It is our whole battalion, she confirmed, identifying the two remaining squads as ECHO 7 and ECHO 8. In the second squad down, from the captain’s position, Christy was leaning back and smiling at Robin. The two of them happily waved at each other, then both of them quickly snapped bac
k to attention.
Robin smiled in satisfaction. For three years now, the two of them had played this game during assemblies. When none of the officers seemed to be paying attention, Robin and Christy would lean back and wave at each other. Both of them knew it could get them in trouble, but so far neither of them had been caught. Either that or the officers were simply ignoring the infraction. Whichever the case may be, it seemed like a relatively harmless way to feel like they were getting away with something. And in the academy’s strict environment of uniforms and protocol, this was a feeling that both of them cherished.
Commander Phillips turned to face the squads now. She looked at all of them in silence for a moment, then began to speak in a sombre voice. “Alright, listen up, Sentinels. This will be your last day on Valhalla.”
The words glanced harmlessly off of Robin at first, but when they sank in, they hit her like a hammer. The announcement left her breathless and stunned. She looked anxiously at the other girls standing around her, hoping she’d simply misheard the commander. All of them seemed to be lost in a daze, so she reasoned she must have heard the statement correctly. This can’t be right, she told herself. We’re supposed to have four more years before we leave. But the look on the commander’s face was convincing. There was no question that she was being genuinely serious. The girls were going to have to leave their world behind now. Their time on Valhalla had come to an end.
The commander gave her words a moment to sink in, allowing the girls some time to recover from the shock. “Later this evening,” she finally continued, “a shuttle will be taking you up to Volaris. Assemble at the air strip at nineteen hundred hours. Liftoff will be shortly after that. Your new uniforms are in duffel bags along the wall behind you. Make sure you take them with you when you leave.” She hesitated for a moment and looked around at their faces. Some of them were already starting to cry. Even though she didn’t know each of them personally, it still pained her greatly to send them away.
