Blue Skies

by Ali Vali

  “Don’t believe everything you see on television, Commander. What I’m sharing with you now is the latest satellite photos we have, so we know the intelligence is sound.”

  Berkley could feel Aidan’s eyes on her, but she refused to give her the satisfaction of acknowledging her. “That’s comforting, but I hope you realize the ramifications from any action in this region. You try and fail, and they will retaliate with something like a dirty bomb in the middle of Manhattan. This isn’t your average nutcase you’re dealing with here, it’s more like a heightened case of crazy.”

  “Thank you for your concern, and I, as well as the U.S. government, understand all the reactions that could come from any actions on our part.”

  “Good. What’s your plan of action, then?” Berkley asked.

  “The Jefferson will sail in under the pretense of an invitation from China and South Korea to participate in some naval exercises since both countries don’t want to see this program any further along than our government. Once we’re in place if it’s still a go we’ll launch from the Sea of Japan. It’ll be up to the team leader to fly across South Korean airspace undetected to the two locations in the Yellow Sea since we believe North Korea monitors any movement in the sky, even to the south.” Sullivan got to the point in short order and waited for questions.

  “Ambitious, but doable,” Berkley said.

  “Thank you for the information, ma’am,” Will said. “My crew has a ten o’clock training hop this morning. So if there’s anything else they need to know we’ll meet after lunch to go over it.” Will’s comment was a clear dismissal to the instructors in the room. “After what happened yesterday, I’d like the gloves to come off today, gentlemen. If this is the Jefferson’s first mission it’ll be hell to pull off, so let’s get them sharp.” His eyes never left Berkley as he spoke. “Are you up for it, Cletus?”

  “I’m always up for it, sir.” The men sitting with Berkley laughed since they knew how lethal she was in the sky. “How about you, boss?”

  “With the arrival of our guests, I wasn’t planning on it. But then again, how better for Captain Sullivan to observe everyone’s skill level up close and personal?”

  “Ma’am,” Berkley said as she headed for the door.

  “What do you say, Captain Sullivan, how about a short flight today?” Will asked.

  “I suppose you’re right. There’s no better way to see what your people are capable of than from the air.” When she heard both Berkley and Will chuckle, Aidan turned her head from one to the other. “Is there something humorous that I’m missing, Commander?”

  In her time in the Navy Aidan had developed a tolerance for pilots, but people who laughed at her expense shortened her fuse. More than one seaman had learned the meaning of swabbing the decks after a run-in with her. The men in her command attributed her bitchiness to keeping control in a male-dominated world.

  “No, ma’am.” Berkley gave Aidan her best smile. “If you’re going up with Rattler, going up on BE day is a good day to do it.”

  “Should I even ask?” Aidan turned to Will.

  “The students who make it here are the best of the best. These young people are the top one percent when it comes to talent, and with that comes a certain amount of ego.”

  “I know what the E stands for, then, so what’s the B?”

  “Breaking their egos only helps them elevate their game. Something like when you were a kid and told someone, ‘you’re good but I’m better.’ Knowing that there’s someone better than you motivates you to try harder,” Berkley said.

  “And is there anyone better than you, Commander?” Aidan’s mouth turned up ever so slightly in a smile, but just as quickly it disappeared as her eyes stayed locked to Berkley’s.

  “No, ma’am, there isn’t. There can be only one king of the mountain, and in Fallon, Nevada, her name is Cletus.” Her parting salute was sharp, but the smile never left Berkley’s face.

  “Are all of you egotistical maniacs?” Aidan asked Will.

  “My definition of an egotist is someone who can’t back up their claims except in words. That definition, ma’am, would in no way apply to the pilot who just walked out of here.”

  “We’ll see.”

  *

  “What’d you come up with, Harvey?” Berkley asked. They had all geared up and were walking to their planes carrying their helmets.

  “What do you think of Raven?”

  “I think it sounds like a Poe piece.” She slapped him on the back before heading up the ladder and getting situated in the cockpit. Not wanting to be obvious, she barely glanced at Aidan who looked incredibly attractive in her flight suit climbing into Rattler’s backseat. Berkley could tell that Captain Sullivan had taken them all by surprise since everyone from Will on down was expecting an older man with the swagger that came from getting his own carrier commission. “I’ll give you one more chance, then I’ll come up with something. Stay away from the bird family. It’s been overdone.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Harvey gave the ground crewman a thumbs-up to close the hatch.

  “You ready to go hunting, Whittle?”

  “Yes, ma’am, happy to be here.”

  “Keep your eye on our ass. Rattler is joining us again today, and when we land we’d better have more kills than him. I’d hate to take it out on you by tying you to the back of my Jeep for a jog tonight.”

  “Not going to happen. I’ve got you covered, Cletus.”

  “Cletus, this is the tower. You’re cleared for takeoff whenever you’re ready.”

  “Roger that. Heading out on runway two.” She lined them up and punched the throttle, slamming Harvey and her into the seats as the plane picked up speed. Behind her, ten planes followed, holding students and their navigators.

  Berkley had given them all assignments that if followed would make it difficult for her or Rattler to start picking them off one at a time. The problem was if they would stay together. The previous day’s performance didn’t give her a lot of confidence her orders would be followed. When everyone was a star, no one was willing to bring up the rear.

  “To our left, Cletus,” Whittle reported. At his warning she banked hard and was able to take both planes out in the middle of a roll. Just as quickly as she came out of it, they were facing Blazer and she pulled the trigger again before gaining altitude. She’d taken out the semester’s biggest hotshot in what amounted to a game of chicken and quicker reflexes.

  The next three were flying in the formation she’d ordered them to fly in. Slowly, she drew them south and toward the mountains. “Cletus, the deck today is ten thousand feet. Go below that and Rattler will take you out of the game.” The tower’s warning came as she leveled out at fifteen thousand feet. No one hugged the ground better than her, but today she would have to contend with the expanse of blue skies with not a cloud in sight, again giving every team still up there essentially nowhere to hide.

  “Roger that.” She turned a little to the west looking for Rattler. “Tell me what you see, Harvey.”

  “Three at five o’clock and Rattler directly behind us, just not in range.”

  She went into another set of rolls and was able to take out one of the wingmen in the formation before Rattler took out the other despite the other pilots’ attempts to outmaneuver them and engage. Dropping too close to the deck minimum, she picked up altitude just as quickly and surprised the last man in the now dead formation. “That makes six.”

  “The computer shows Rattler took out one other one,” Harvey said, sounding like he was getting more into his role.

  “Three to go, then, let’s go find them.”

  *

  “Holy shit,” Aidan said, obviously amazed at Berkley’s display of acrobatics. “She still flies that thing like it’s an extension of her body.”

  Less than an hour later the only two planes left in the air were Berkley’s and Will’s. When he flew past her, Berkley was more than happy to take his wing, ready to follow him wherever he wante
d to lead.

  “Captain Jepson?” Aidan said.

  “Yes, ma’am?” He waved as Cletus took the lead and headed south. “You doing okay back there?”

  “Just fine, but I was wondering if you were going to land this thing anytime soon?”

  “One more thing, then I promise I’ll put you on the ground safe and sound.”

  “I just thought…” The words died on Aidan’s lips as Will banked hard to the left and Berkley’s plane came close to theirs as she flew in from the other direction. Aidan was able to strangle the scream before it came out at the sudden unexpected move, and had only relaxed her hands when Will reversed their direction and rolled until their plane was flying with its belly facing the sky. Below them Berkley and Whittle gave them a salute before dropping their elevation enough for Will to even out.

  “Was that necessary?” Aidan asked.

  “To the victor go the spoils, Captain, so yes, it was totally necessary,” Will said before radioing the tower they were headed back in.

  Aidan and Will spent the rest of the afternoon in his office going over personnel files, including his instructors’ information. The posts at the Top Gun facility were some of the most coveted because everyone who aspired to fly knew what the title of Top Gun meant, and the positions were given up only when an instructor was ready for something new. With the changing times, though, the government was willing to cull from wherever to win the war on terrorism.

  The engine of the Jeep starting outside made Aidan’s head pop up and she watched as Berkley drove away. “I’m sorry, what?”

  Will turned to see what she was staring at and laughed. “I asked if there was anything else you needed before your briefings tomorrow?”

  “Just one more thing,” she said, her eyes never leaving the fading vehicle.

  Chapter Four

  On impulse, Berkley turned in the opposite direction from her house and headed toward the café in town for dinner. The day had been not a complete surprise since Will had mentioned Aidan’s name the night before, but seeing her again had brought back the flood of memories from the time they’d shared.

  In the booth facing the back of the restaurant, Berkley couldn’t help but dredge up the time she’d spent stationed in Hawaii—a time in her life that she spent an inordinate amount of energy trying to forget.

  Pearl Harbor Naval Station, Eight Years Before

  The transport plane came to a stop in front of one of the big hangars near the fence line at the southern end of the base, and Berkley’s new commanding officer was waiting for her and the other four pilots who had made the trip from Pensacola with her. This was going to be her first assignment after all the training she’d had to undergo.

  “Welcome to Pearl Harbor, people,” the captain said and shook hands with all of them.

  “Glad to be here, sir,” Berkley said.

  “We have a little exercise set up this afternoon if you all are up to it.” He looked at his watch and nodded. “It’ll give you enough time to drop your stuff off and grab some lunch.”

  “Just name the time, sir.” Berkley spoke for her group. She was sure the option was there to turn him down, but her father had warned her from the day she’d applied to the Naval Academy that the way to make the time easier was to start off on the right note. “We’ll be there.”

  By 1400 they were in the air and going through patrols and exercises with evasive maneuvers with some of the senior pilots, and the captain had assigned Berkley to fly point. She glanced at the outline of the islands and the blue water of the Pacific, and then to the radar to try to find any sign of the beta team.

  “Anything behind us, Killer?” Berkley asked the pilot bringing up the rear.

  “Not yet.”

  She was in the process of swinging away from land when the instruments lit up momentarily, meaning that she’d been shot down by the computer and it hadn’t come from the sky but from the water. “What the fuck was that?”

  “I don’t know,” her backseat said, “but just look for the shithead bragging about it and you’ll know who did it.”

  The person going on about it at dinner that night was the newly promoted Commander Aidan Sullivan. Any bad feelings about getting sidelined so easily evaporated, not because Berkley found herself instantly in love, but because she took a good look at the braggart.

  “Were you able to reach the trigger or did you need a step stool?” she asked Aidan. That immediately sent the teasing remarks in another direction until Berkley told everyone to stop.

  By morning she knew Aidan’s history and just who her father was. Asking the daughter of Admiral Preston “Triton” Sullivan out for coffee the day after she met her wasn’t the smart choice, as her father would’ve warned, but Berkley was curious. Triton was the man in charge of the Pacific fleet, and if her curiosity was misinterpreted then she was sure Aidan would have permission from the self-proclaimed son of Poseidon to shoot her down using live rounds.

  “Why?” Aidan asked the next morning.

  “Why not?” Berkley said after the short response to a coffee date. The little blond dynamo had her hands on her hips and was staring at her like the ulterior motive she obviously had for asking was being scrolled across her hairline.

  “I get off duty at six,” Aidan said and then wrote her address on Berkley’s hand and dismissed her.

  Coffee was changed to dinner that they ordered in that night at Aidan’s apartment off base, and if asking a superior officer wasn’t the smart choice—sleeping with her on that first date certainly was grounds for pleading insanity at your court-martial.

  That was what had happened, though, and it didn’t take much longer for Berkley to give away her heart to the woman who not only could be trusted with it, considering their positions, but who understood her. When you knew why someone served and what the consequences could be, it was a good foundation to a lasting relationship.

  It’s what Berkley had wanted even if she had to hide it from the world. It had been worth the risk because Aidan was the one her mother had promised would come along. She loved Aidan with no reservations until Aidan asked her to dinner that last night and said they had to break it off.

  Berkley had listened to the reasons, then requested the reassignment. After a few years she landed in Fallon. It was the one place she didn’t have to worry about seeing Aidan again until she was ready. Only now Aidan hadn’t even given her the gift of what she felt was an adequate time to heal.

  *

  Fallon, Nevada

  Junior didn’t come running right away, but it was dark and Berkley figured he was asleep on the sofa. She headed inside even after hearing the car door slam behind her. The only invitation she provided was to leave the front door open as she headed for the deck outside for some stargazing before bed.

  “Is this why you threw your career away?” Aidan said. Berkley took the beer that she offered before looking up at her. “You never mentioned the house and the dog in any of your letters.”

  “Not all of us are so career-minded, Captain Sullivan, but if you think it’s easy becoming the lead pilot here, then I suggest you try and see how it works out for you.” She held her bottle up in salute before she took a long swallow. “The dog and the house I didn’t mention because I realized you wouldn’t be interested in something so…mundane.”

  “I saw you up there today, Cletus. You still love the chase—up there with your hair on fire and your ass in that seat. That kind of passion is hard to hide. You may be a teacher now, but you’re still the best the Navy has in the sky and you should be using that talent to make a difference, especially in the times we live in.”

  “I don’t mean to sound rude, but what the hell do you know about me? You think just because you got one brief glimpse today that you know all about me? When you sail off to find that glory you’re so interested in, the pilots who are going to get it done for you will do so and hopefully get back safe, and it will be because of something they learned here from someone lik
e me, so save the sermons.”

  “Something traumatic must have happened then, because once upon a time you craved the chase that wasn’t simulated and you were more career-minded than I was. And that’s saying something.”

  “No one actively serving is as career-minded as you, Captain. If you need it explained to you, all I can say is shit happens, and it changes your perspective on what’s important. For me it was simple.”

  “All right, I’ll play along. What happened to make you change?”

  “Easy, I wanted to be somewhere that I made a difference and there was no way I’d have to see you again. Is that a good enough answer for you, Captain?”

  Aidan felt as if someone had pushed her into a cold pool. “That’s not fair, Berkley.”

  “Now that’s something we can both agree on. What happened was fucked up and definitely not fair, but I didn’t get a vote. If your memory’s faulty, let me remind you that all of it was your idea.”

  Aidan drummed her fingers on the bottle and leaned back on the deck railing. “I thought our decision was mutual.”

  “Mutual? Are you kidding? When someone tells you to fuck off because they have better things to do, it’s not a joint decision. That’s your superior officer putting you back in your place once the fun was over.”

  “If you felt that way you should’ve called me and I would’ve come and set things right so that we were both okay with it.” Aidan took a breath and Berkley remembered that it was her way of reining in her emotions. “It wasn’t forever.”

  Berkley laughed and slammed her drink on the deck floor hard enough that it echoed across the emptiness of the yard. “I must be pretty dense, then, first for falling for the bullshit you fed me for months about what a great future we’d have, then for not catching the fact that your dumping me was only temporary. Aidan, I’m not interested in scratching your itch whenever you find the time to see me, then go back to you pretending you don’t know me. It’s been four years. I figured you found another scratching post.”