by Linn Schwab
Virginia stopped beside Major Richards as the others continued on toward the hangar. “Thank you, Major,” she said. “You did the right thing. I really appreciate it.”
“Did I?” Major Richards responded. “I guess we’ll find out. Anyway, what will you do now, Virginia?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re now the captain of your squadron. With the others gone, you’re going to have to find replacements for them. Have you given any thought as to how you’re going to go about it?”
Virginia reflected in silence for a moment. “Can you find out where the Mistral is for me? I think I might be able to find some pilots there.”
“Alright,” the major agreed. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thank you. Where do you want me to land the shuttle? Is there some place on Valhalla you want me to take them?”
“I’ll have coordinates sent to you once you get under way. Oh, uh … one more thing, Virginia. How long has it been since you had a breath of fresh air?”
Virginia looked at her in silence, wondering what she was hinting at.
“I want you to stay with them,” the major explained. “For at least a day or two, before you bring the shuttle back up. Take a break. Relax a little. Breathe the air for a while. If anyone has earned it, certainly you have.”
Virginia nodded reluctantly. “Okay,” she said. “I will.”
“Good. Have a safe flight, Virginia. I’ll have someone contact you with those landing coordinates.”
“Is this really happening?” Nancy asked, taking a seat in the back of the shuttle.
Jenny shook her head as she sat down beside her. “I don’t know. It doesn’t really seem possible, does it?”
“I don’t believe this,” Suzanne said. “Are we really going back to Valhalla?”
A few seconds later, Virginia entered the cabin and made her way toward the shuttle’s cockpit. “Virginia!” Jenny called out to her. “Is this for real?”
Virginia nodded. “It sure looks that way to me.”
Major Richards stepped into the control room and immediately walked to Lieutenant Marlowe’s station. “Has the shuttle left yet?” she asked Veronica.
“They just got under way,” she said. She looked up at the major in uncertainty. “Are you really letting them go?”
The major remained silent.
Veronica received a call in her earpiece. “Virginia’s asking me where she should land. What do you want me to tell her?”
Major Richards appeared to be deep in thought. “Give her the coordinates for ECHO complex. Tell her to land the shuttle there.”
“Okay. Do you want me to update their personnel files?”
“No. Not just yet.” She turned around and headed back out of the room, leaving Lieutenant Marlowe to wonder at her intentions. Veronica switched the transmitter on and relayed the landing coordinates to Virginia.
As the shuttle entered Valhalla’s atmosphere, the girls all crowded into the cockpit.
“I still can’t believe it,” Kelli said. “I never thought I’d live to see this.”
The shuttle started to rock a little, then soon began shaking and shuddering violently. Suzanne felt a smile come over her face. “It’s just like when they brought us up here,” she said, listening to the shuttle’s rattles and creaks. “I remember that sound just like it was yesterday.”
A layer of clouds passed by the windows, then a breathtaking view opened up before them. Blue oceans covered most of the planet’s surface, surrounding vast continents covered in lush green forests. There were mountain chains in various places on the continents — several of them high enough to be capped with snow. It was only after a few minutes of descent that any traces of civilization became visible to them. The first object to appear was an academy building, glistening on a bluff near one of the oceans. A short distance from the structure was a large paved surface which appeared to be their intended destination.
“There’s the runway,” Virginia announced. “You should probably all go strap yourselves in now. I’ve never done this before.”
“Yeah, none of us have,” Jenny said. “Suzanne, why don’t you take the copilot’s seat. The rest of us will be in the back.”
Suzanne sat down beside Virginia and pulled the safety restraints around herself. “I’m glad that you’re the one doing this,” she said. “You’re the best pilot I’ve ever known. I wish I could’ve been a better partner for you.”
Virginia pulled a switch to lower the landing gear. “You’re a better pilot than you give yourself credit for,” she said. “And I was happy when Jenny paired you with me. It freed me up to wreak a little extra havoc on the enemy. I’m really going to miss having you as a partner.”
She pulled back on the controls a little and edged the nose of the shuttle upward. “Here we go,” she said, concentrating on the runway. “Let’s hope we all end up in one piece.”
The shuttle bounced almost imperceptibly as its landing gear touched down on the pavement. The instant all the tires were in contact with the runway, Virginia reversed thrust and applied the brakes. When the shuttle had slowed to a safe maneuvering speed, she steered it into a parking area and brought it to a complete stop. She allowed the engines to cool for a moment, then finally reached over and shut them off. “I guess you’re home,” she said to Suzanne. “Let’s go have a look around, shall we?”
After the shuttle’s engines shut down, a ground crew pulled a boarding ramp up beside it. When Jenny popped open the shuttle’s side door, the first thing she noticed was the sun’s warmth on her face. “Wow,” she said, stepping onto the ramp. “I’d forgotten what it feels like to be in the sun.” The next things she noticed were the smell of the ocean and the sound of waves not too far off in the distance. Drawing a deep breath of Valhalla’s air made her realize just how different it was from what she’d grown accustomed to up in space. There was a satisfying fullness to the air here that made what she’d been breathing more recently seem incomplete — like there was something missing in artificial atmosphere that couldn’t be replaced by filters and reprocessors. How could I have gone for so long, she wondered, without noticing how empty the fleet’s air felt to breathe?
Even before Jenny reached the bottom of the boarding ramp, she felt herself pulled in the ocean’s direction. There seemed to be some sort of subconscious attraction that was beckoning her to come to the water. She didn’t resist. There was no reason to, really — no harm in heeding the ocean’s call. She sensed the others were feeling it as well. All of them followed along right behind her.
“We’re at ECHO complex,” Nancy said, noticing a sign near the path to the beach. “Of all the places they could have landed us, why did they have to pick this one?”
Jenny remained silent as she climbed up a sand dune, anxious to get a glimpse of what lay beyond. She gazed out over the ocean’s waters and waited for the others to catch up with her.
“Robin told me how much she loved the ocean,” she said. “She must have spent a lot of time here.” She pointed to a pair of wooden structures near the water. “I bet she walked out on those very piers. It’s almost like I can feel her presence. Listen…” she said, turning her left ear toward the water. “Right when the waves build and crash on the beach, it sounds just like they’re calling out Robin’s name. Just the way she explained it to me.” She hesitated there a moment, listening to the surf and picturing Robin walking out on the piers. After a while, she led the others down the face of the dune and began to wander along the water’s edge, dragging the toes of her boots through the sand as the pain of Robin’s death continued to haunt her.
“What are we going to do now,” Trixie asked, “if we’re not going to be pilots anymore?”
“They’ll find something else for us to do,” Nancy said. “The food we all eat has to come from somewhere. And our uniforms, and fuel, and ammunition. Maybe we’ll end up building fighters or something. Someone has to be doing all those things.”
“Virginia,” Zoe said, “speaking of questions and answers. Why aren’t you staying here with us? Why didn’t Major Richards release you from service too? You are one of us, you know.”
Virginia considered her answer carefully, uncertain how much she wanted to reveal. Her reasons were deeply personal to her — something she’d never shared with the others. “I think she would have released me,” she said. “If I would’ve asked her to.”
The answer left Zoe disappointed. It seemed Virginia was never going to open up to her completely. She was still holding all of them at a slight distance, just as she had when she’d first joined the squadron. There were no cracks anywhere in her personal armor. No one could break through her self–imposed boundary.
A sandy trail led inland away from the beach and into a lightly wooded area. The girls wandered onto the path together without even consciously thinking about it. They followed along its meandering course as it led them further beneath the leafy canopy, revealing a mixture of sights and sounds that had been unknown to them for several years.
“Look at those trees,” Lisa said. “It’s amazing all the little things you don’t think about. Like just watching the leaves blowing in the wind, or listening to the sounds of the birds and insects. Would we even pay attention to any of those things if we hadn’t been away from them for so long?”
The girls fell silent for a while as they took in the sights and sounds around them. Suddenly, Trixie stopped in her tracks and appeared to focus her attention on something. “Look,” she insisted, pointing off to one side of the path. The others stopped and strained their eyes to see through the surrounding vegetation. There appeared to be a building set back amongst the trees — only a small portion of which was visible to them.
“What is that?” Nancy asked.
The girls moved forward cautiously at first, feeling themselves irresistibly drawn toward the building. None of them had ever been here before, but there was something about the structure’s appearance that seemed vaguely familiar to each of them. As they drew nearer to the outer walls of the building, they came upon a recessed set of doors with the words ECHO NURSERY painted across them. Without even saying a word to each other, they anxiously scrambled in through the entrance and made their way into the nearest play room. There, laid out right in front of their eyes, were the sights they all remembered from their own childhoods: the colorful walls and furnishings, the toys and games, the numbers and letters that seemed to adorn everything in sight. But more than anything, what they had longed to see most were the young girls who were happily playing in the room.
Nancy gasped in excitement when she first saw the children. “Aww, look at them!” she cooed. There were seven young girls in the room at the moment, along with one nurse who was sitting on the floor with them. As soon as they noticed the Hornets, most of the girls ran straight to the nurse and immediately began to cower by her side. Only one of them remained where she was seated — seemingly frozen to inaction by panic.
“It’s alright,” the nurse reassured the children. “You don’t have to be afraid.” She glanced at the Hornets’ uniforms and explained, “These are some of the pilots who help keep us all safe.”
Jenny immediately felt her heart sink. A wall of guilt seemed to pass right through her, sweeping her emotions from one extreme to the other. Her initial elation upon seeing the young girls had been thoroughly crushed by the nurse’s words. How could she stand here in front of these children, knowing it was her job to protect them? How could she look any of them in the eyes and explain to them why she’d walked away from her duties, leaving them vulnerable to enemy attacks? And how could she ever live with herself if they perished because of her own selfishness?
As Jenny struggled to contain her emotions, the young girl who was still sitting on the floor began to move. She got up on one knee, then pulled herself to her feet and stood so she was facing the Hornets directly. She then placed her right fist over her heart and awkwardly tried to pronounce, “Val–hal–la.” At this age, no one would have yet taught her the salute. She was just mimicking something she’d seen someone else do. But her actions had a powerful effect on the Hornets, resulting in a tremendous upwelling of tears. Their emotions seemed to be swallowing them alive. Save for Virginia, there wasn’t a dry eye among them.
Jenny looked from each of her pilots to the next as if reaching out to them for some kind of consensus. The looks on their faces told her everything she needed to know. “Virginia,” she said, lowering her head in despondency, “…take us back up to Volaris.”
The Hornets slowly filed out of the room, still dazed by what had just happened to them. Escape from the war had been placed right in the palms of their hands, and they’d willingly allowed it to slip through their fingers.
Virginia remained where she was standing for a moment, still staring at the young girl who had so influenced her comrades. She waited to see if anything would bubble up inside her — if even the slightest shred of emotion would surface. But strangely, all she sensed was a feeling of gratitude, and perhaps even a hint of admiration for the girl. She raised her right fist up to heart, respectfully returning the younger girl’s salute. She then followed her companions out of the room and joined them on their trek back to the runway.
“Major Richards did this to us on purpose,” Nancy complained. “She told Virginia to land us here, knowing we’d get suckered into coming back.”
“Yeah,” Kelli said, “and it worked like a charm. The major really seems to know what she’s doing.”
“All she did,” Jenny observed, “was remind us how important it is to keep fighting. We all had a few years of happiness on Valhalla. The girls in that nursery deserve to have theirs too.”
TRAFALGAR 043
After allowing Peter some time to recover from his flight, Commander Ingman summoned him to the bridge of the Melbourne to apprise him of his current assignment. When Peter stepped into the carrier’s control room, the commander greeted him with cordial exuberance.
“Captain Straydel,” the commander said through a broad smile, “it’s been a few years now, hasn’t it?”
“Commander,” Peter acknowledged. He reached out and shook the commander’s hand. “You seem to have done well for yourself,” he said, looking around at the bridge of the Melbourne. “This still looks like a brand new ship.”
“Couple of years old now,” the commander informed him. “She just hasn’t seen any action yet. We’re more or less just using her as a base of operations right now.”
“I noticed a distinct lack of fighters on the flight deck. Didn’t this ship come fully equipped?”
The commander nodded. “They’re all on loan to other carriers right now. There’s nothing for them to do here right at the moment, so we might as well get some use out of them. Come on in,” he said, motioning for Peter to follow him. He led Captain Straydel to the port side windows and opened his arms in a sweeping gesture toward the battleships. “Well,” he said, “welcome to ‘Trafalgar.’ My personal nickname for this operation. What do you think of our little collection?”
Peter looked out at the slumbering warships. “It’s very impressive,” he said, tentatively. “How did you manage to put this together?”
“They’re mostly wrecks. We’ve been gathering them here for the last couple of years and patching them up so they’re ready for action. A few of them are only good enough for parts, but we should be able field more than sixty of them when the time comes for us to make our move.”
“Couple of years?” Peter asked in concern. “Aren’t you worried the enemy is going to find out about this?”
“That’s why we chose this location.” The commander pointed toward the front of the shipyard, at a vast expanse of floating
rocks. “That asteroid field screens us from the enemy’s view. Even if they point a scope in this direction, all they’re going to see is a bunch of rocks. And we’ve kept this a secret from almost everyone in the fleet. We don’t want anyone discussing our plans on their radios, just in case the enemy is listening in on our communications. The end of this war is in sight for us, Peter. It’s only a matter of time now.”
“So,” Peter said, “how long before this all goes down?”
The commander frowned. “Probably another few weeks or so.” He nodded in the direction of the shipyard. “The crews for those ships are still in transit from Earth. Nothing’s going to happen until they arrive.”
“So, what exactly am I doing here? I assume there’s a reason you called for my squadron.”
“I’m just returning a favor, Peter. I owe you one, don’t you remember? I asked you to keep Admiral Sands alive, and you delivered on that one for me. And now, as a result of his influence, what you see before you has become a reality. This was all his idea, Peter. I told you he was going to make a difference.”
Peter quietly looked out at the battleships, unnerved by the thought of their impending brutality.
“What’s wrong?” the commander asked him. “You don’t seem very happy about this. Don’t tell me you’re still carrying around a hatred for battleships. They’re what’s going to win this war for us.”
“It’s not that,” Peter insisted. “I want the war to end as much as anyone does. I’m just feeling a little sorry for them, that’s all. The girls who are going to be trying to stop us, I mean. Just imagine what those ships are capable of. The carnage is going to be horrific.”
“You’re still convinced all of their pilots are women, then?”
“All of the ones that I’ve seen seem to be. Are you aware of any evidence to the contrary?”
