It was the day after the finals. Standing with Arden and Kyle, I listened intently for my name to be called, and a position to be assigned.
Ulern, Kyle, the voice read. Ace 1 Fighter.
“All right!” Kyle whooped, clapping hands with us. “Good luck, Aire.” I nodded.
Arden had already gotten his position- Sector 3 Fighter. It wasn’t as good as what he had hoped for, but there was always room to move up.
I swallowed. My name was after Kyle’s.
Xeno, Aire. The feed suddenly fuzzed, and then it was back. A new voice, that wasn’t robotic, said, “Classified.”
Classified... Wait, what?!
“Classified?” I looked at Arden and Kyle, but they looked as confused as I was. Arneldie, Shaunta, the voice continued, as if nothing had just happened. I glanced at the commander. He locked eyes with me and gave me a gesture that meant, Later. It took me a moment to remember to nod. The rest of the assignments took over half an hour, and that left me plenty of time to speculate what “classified” could mean. Finally, the voice faded out, and I headed over to the commander.
“Xeno, you’re requested in Sector V room 214Z as soon as the assignments are over.” His gaze lingered on me for a moment, and then I realized: HE had no clue what was going on, either. Great, I grumbled to myself. My assignment is so secret that even my COMMANDER doesn’t know about it. I hurried to the elevator, and stopped. There is no Sector V. The brightly lit buttons shone letters from A to P. On a whim, and with no other ideas, I pressed the P button. The doors whooshed closed, and I grabbed the railing as my stomach jumped. I glanced down the hallway as the doors opened. It looked completely normal- white, pristine walls with metal siding, high-security doors and scanners for entering. As far as I could tell, there was nothing amiss. I stepped out and started walking the length of the hall. Even if I didn’t find something, if I ran into somebody I could ask them how the heck to get to Sector V. After tracing the hall several times and finding nothing, I groaned and threw myself into a leaning position on one of the walls. The thud echoed. I jumped up at the sound. What is it…? I knocked on the wall again, and again it echoed. Following the sudden feeling I had in my gut, I brought my wristcom up to the wall. With a small sigh, a door whooshed to the side, revealing another elevator, dimly lit and just big enough for only one person. After a moment of astonishment, I walked in. Immediately, the door slid back. I blinked. On the control panel was a single button: Sector V. Trying to keep my hand from shaking, I pressed it. The normal elevators were nice, but this one worked like a DREAM. I hung on to the railing for dear life as it sped down, and then across. I didn't even know elevators COULD go across, I thought nauseously. It suddenly stopped, and I was thrown into the side just as the door opened again. I lurched out before it could start moving again. The Sector V hallway was darker than the other sectors I had been in, and the walls were made of a different metal. Now to find room 214Z. I figured that since there was a Z at the end, it would be near the end of the hall. As I passed, a number suddenly lit up on the wall. 001A.
Great, I thought. That means I have to go WAY down. I began jogging down the corridor, glancing at the numbers as I went along. By K, I was pretty convinced that it would make more sense to just run to the end of the hall and THEN turn back. I was out of breath by the time I reached the end, but my eyes widened when I realized the very last room was lit with 214Z. There was no door, but as soon as I put my wristcom up to the wall a panel slid open. I walked through, and was greeted by seven men whom I had never seen before. The biggest of them, a man in his mid-forties with a short crew cut, stood and extended his hand.
“Aire Xeno,” he rumbled. “Took you long enough.” I gritted my teeth and swallowed my complaint. Instead, I took his hand and shook it, trying not to wince at his crushing grip. I was guided to a chair and sat. I felt eyes on me and turned. Staring at me was a young man my age, with dark grey hair and pale blue eyes. He noticed me looking at him and blinked, and his eyes flooded with hope. His look made me uncomfortable, so I turned back toward the big man. With my attention, he nodded and sat.
“So, Aire.” He paused and eyed me up and down dubiously. “My name is Commander Zendar. You’ve been chosen to take on a very important mission.” He stressed the word, and I nodded impatiently. The grey haired man leaned forward. “Many years ago, we lost a pilot. Now, before you interrupt, this case was different. This pilot...ran away. She had an incredible gift with machines, and after stealing one of our best ships she escaped into the galaxy. We’ve been trying to locate her ever since, but it's been a long time since someone had the potential to navigate the galaxy Eve half as good as she can. That’s where you come in.” He paused, letting it sink in. I blinked. They wanted me to find some lost pilot prodigy?! Who could be anywhere in the GALAXY!?!?
“i-” I started, but commander Zendar cut me off as if he hadn't heard me.
“Her name is Raine Celeste. And this here, is Grant Wayn, her…” He coughed. “Her boyfriend.” My eyes snapped to Grant’s. No wonder he looked so haggard- he had been waiting all this time for someone to rescue his girlfriend. Zendar grabbed my wrist and pressed his wrist com to mine. Something beeped, and he pulled away.
“All the information on the case should be downloaded on your wrist com now. You may leave as soon as you like, nut preferably within the next six months. And you may not tell anybody about this-UNDERSTAND?” he gave me a severe look, and I hurriedly nodded my head. He stepped back and dismissed Grant and I. Outside of the room, Grant took my hands and gazed at me desperately.
“Please...please save Raine...I can't bear it...not knowing where she is...of if…” His raspy voice trailed off, and I gently pulled my hands away.
“I’ll do my best,” I promised, nodding before turning and striding away. Gee, I thought. If that’s her boyfriend, I hate to imagine what SHE looks like. I shuddered.
It turns out that I had no way of knowing what Raine Celeste looked like. Before leaving, she had wiped all her files clean. Most of the new files in my wrostcom were incident reports from various generals. There was one generic file that listed things like weight, height, and other general specs, but there was absolutely no pictures. From the files, all I learned was that Raine was especially skilled and had a hard time focusing on lessons. Her hair color was blonde and her eyes were a blue-green. Not very helpful. Discouraged, I flopped on my bed and stuffed my face in the pillow as night fell.
At first, six months had seemed like a long time. But now, between pillting lessons, research, assignments, check-ins, and dealing with Raine’s boyfriend, I was grateful for the long days. I needed to learn how to pilot one of Raine’s prototypes, a ship that had many extra features but no decent place to put them. The buttons were in the strangest and hard to reach places without an ounce of organization. Bhen I could actually get it to work (which was rarely) it was absolutely amazing. If this was just a prototype, I would have hated to have
Ulern, Kyle, the voice read. Ace 1 Fighter.
“All right!” Kyle whooped, clapping hands with us. “Good luck, Aire.” I nodded.
Arden had already gotten his position- Sector 3 Fighter. It wasn’t as good as what he had hoped for, but there was always room to move up.
I swallowed. My name was after Kyle’s.
Xeno, Aire. The feed suddenly fuzzed, and then it was back. A new voice, that wasn’t robotic, said, “Classified.”
Classified... Wait, what?!
“Classified?” I looked at Arden and Kyle, but they looked as confused as I was. Arneldie, Shaunta, the voice continued, as if nothing had just happened. I glanced at the commander. He locked eyes with me and gave me a gesture that meant, Later. It took me a moment to remember to nod. The rest of the assignments took over half an hour, and that left me plenty of time to speculate what “classified” could mean. Finally, the voice faded out, and I headed over to the commander.
“Xeno, you’re requested in Sector V room 214Z as soon as the assignments are over.” His gaze lingered on me for a moment, and then I realized: HE had no clue what was going on, either. Great, I grumbled to myself. My assignment is so secret that even my COMMANDER doesn’t know about it. I hurried to the elevator, and stopped. There is no Sector V. The brightly lit buttons shone letters from A to P. On a whim, and with no other ideas, I pressed the P button. The doors whooshed closed, and I grabbed the railing as my stomach jumped. I glanced down the hallway as the doors opened. It looked completely normal- white, pristine walls with metal siding, high-security doors and scanners for entering. As far as I could tell, there was nothing amiss. I stepped out and started walking the length of the hall. Even if I didn’t find something, if I ran into somebody I could ask them how the heck to get to Sector V. After tracing the hall several times and finding nothing, I groaned and threw myself into a leaning position on one of the walls. The thud echoed. I jumped up at the sound. What is it…? I knocked on the wall again, and again it echoed. Following the sudden feeling I had in my gut, I brought my wristcom up to the wall. With a small sigh, a door whooshed to the side, revealing another elevator, dimly lit and just big enough for only one person. After a moment of astonishment, I walked in. Immediately, the door slid back. I blinked. On the control panel was a single button: Sector V. Trying to keep my hand from shaking, I pressed it. The normal elevators were nice, but this one worked like a DREAM. I hung on to the railing for dear life as it sped down, and then across. I didn't even know elevators COULD go across, I thought nauseously. It suddenly stopped, and I was thrown into the side just as the door opened again. I lurched out before it could start moving again. The Sector V hallway was darker than the other sectors I had been in, and the walls were made of a different metal. Now to find room 214Z. I figured that since there was a Z at the end, it would be near the end of the hall. As I passed, a number suddenly lit up on the wall. 001A.
Great, I thought. That means I have to go WAY down. I began jogging down the corridor, glancing at the numbers as I went along. By K, I was pretty convinced that it would make more sense to just run to the end of the hall and THEN turn back. I was out of breath by the time I reached the end, but my eyes widened when I realized the very last room was lit with 214Z. There was no door, but as soon as I put my wristcom up to the wall a panel slid open. I walked through, and was greeted by seven men whom I had never seen before. The biggest of them, a man in his mid-forties with a short crew cut, stood and extended his hand.
“Aire Xeno,” he rumbled. “Took you long enough.” I gritted my teeth and swallowed my complaint. Instead, I took his hand and shook it, trying not to wince at his crushing grip. I was guided to a chair and sat. I felt eyes on me and turned. Staring at me was a young man my age, with dark grey hair and pale blue eyes. He noticed me looking at him and blinked, and his eyes flooded with hope. His look made me uncomfortable, so I turned back toward the big man. With my attention, he nodded and sat.
“So, Aire.” He paused and eyed me up and down dubiously. “My name is Commander Zendar. You’ve been chosen to take on a very important mission.” He stressed the word, and I nodded impatiently. The grey haired man leaned forward. “Many years ago, we lost a pilot. Now, before you interrupt, this case was different. This pilot...ran away. She had an incredible gift with machines, and after stealing one of our best ships she escaped into the galaxy. We’ve been trying to locate her ever since, but it's been a long time since someone had the potential to navigate the galaxy Eve half as good as she can. That’s where you come in.” He paused, letting it sink in. I blinked. They wanted me to find some lost pilot prodigy?! Who could be anywhere in the GALAXY!?!?
“i-” I started, but commander Zendar cut me off as if he hadn't heard me.
“Her name is Raine Celeste. And this here, is Grant Wayn, her…” He coughed. “Her boyfriend.” My eyes snapped to Grant’s. No wonder he looked so haggard- he had been waiting all this time for someone to rescue his girlfriend. Zendar grabbed my wrist and pressed his wrist com to mine. Something beeped, and he pulled away.
“All the information on the case should be downloaded on your wrist com now. You may leave as soon as you like, nut preferably within the next six months. And you may not tell anybody about this-UNDERSTAND?” he gave me a severe look, and I hurriedly nodded my head. He stepped back and dismissed Grant and I. Outside of the room, Grant took my hands and gazed at me desperately.
“Please...please save Raine...I can't bear it...not knowing where she is...of if…” His raspy voice trailed off, and I gently pulled my hands away.
“I’ll do my best,” I promised, nodding before turning and striding away. Gee, I thought. If that’s her boyfriend, I hate to imagine what SHE looks like. I shuddered.
It turns out that I had no way of knowing what Raine Celeste looked like. Before leaving, she had wiped all her files clean. Most of the new files in my wrostcom were incident reports from various generals. There was one generic file that listed things like weight, height, and other general specs, but there was absolutely no pictures. From the files, all I learned was that Raine was especially skilled and had a hard time focusing on lessons. Her hair color was blonde and her eyes were a blue-green. Not very helpful. Discouraged, I flopped on my bed and stuffed my face in the pillow as night fell.
At first, six months had seemed like a long time. But now, between pillting lessons, research, assignments, check-ins, and dealing with Raine’s boyfriend, I was grateful for the long days. I needed to learn how to pilot one of Raine’s prototypes, a ship that had many extra features but no decent place to put them. The buttons were in the strangest and hard to reach places without an ounce of organization. Bhen I could actually get it to work (which was rarely) it was absolutely amazing. If this was just a prototype, I would have hated to have