A voice called me out of my sleep, loud and shrill. My eyes snapped open and another new girl almost pulled me off the bed. I wrung my wrist out of her hold, while getting out of the bed. Blonde bob haircut, pale skin and olive eyes. She resembled a doll, but her expression gave her an attitude, with her very cat-like face.
“Who are you?” She bellowed, then she pointed at my clothes. “You are not a pilot.”
I didn’t wear a uniform, just my regular clothes. “I’m a pilot like you. I just became one.”
“So you are the one everyone keeps talking about.” Her tone pricked my skin. She waved her hand at me, then turned away and mumbled something I couldn’t hear.
Tabita clapped her hands together in a prayer and cheered. “We should be friends and not foes. We have enough of them, Dianeire.”
Dianeire crossed her arms and growled at Tabita. “I won’t get into a cockpit with – “ She ticked her head at me. “Someone who can’t distinguish friend from enemy.” Then after that she ran out, leaving only Tabita and me in here.
“So, you are the one our teacher talked about in class before.” Tabita mused, sitting down on the ground with her legs crossed. “He said you probably won’t pilot ever again.”
“I’m the only available pilot in my family.” I hesitated. “Once my brother can pilot again, I’ll start my tactician training.” That was a lie. I knew full well that my mother wouldn’t ever let me become a tactician when I’d show results as a proper pilot. And if Marlon stayed as my heart pilot, then it would be harder to resign my position as a pilot. I hoped to pilot once or twice and my brother would wake up then. But if Ironblood made us search and retrieve a flag, then I’d assume she had different plans with us than the usual pawns.
“A noble task.” She mused. “I became a pilot, because I had no other choice.”
The sun started to set as more and more young pilots, in my age, joined us. One of them came in with the delivery of ores from the northern part of former italy. She was tall and curvy, voluminous, black wavy hair in a long ponytail and high cheekbones.
“Piacere.” She sang, then gave Tabita a hug and kiss on the cheek first and gave me the same warm greeting. “I am Valentina and this is Sarah.” She put her arm around the equally tall person, but in blonde and feathered sleeve tattoo. Sarah waved her hand at us.
And lastly Valentina pushed the girl, who was behind her, to the foreground. “Don’t be shy, Rebecca.”
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She whispered something as she scuttled back behind the others. Where she seemed to be more relaxed.
After everyone properly introduced each other, they all sorted out their preferred beds and as Dianeira returned, Valentina decided to start a whole conversation about piloting experience.
“So, I trapped my classmates between cliffs and freighters in the simulation, and won the mock battle without my squadmates.” Valentina laughed and poked at Sarah. “You should’ve seen their faces, dumb and surprised. Right, Sarah?”
“Four of six of us had no real experience in piloting a Terran.” Dianeira counted with her fingers. “Why would they allow you to be here?”
Valentina’s face bittered down. “Oh sorry, we mainland people can’t afford to have a Terran to practice with when the chances of getting attacked are higher with one of them around. And we are here, because you, islanders, apparently have priority.”
They should have Terrans, just they were not allowed to use them as the attacks concentrated around them then. And it posed much more of a danger to the civilians nearby. While not many were left, the people of the alps dug bunkers into mountains to hide the Terrans they could keep in case the Monoceros decided to attack our metal deposits.
“This is pointless.” Dianeira stood up and went to bed. “None of you had any proper experience.”
They kept quiet, silently admitting their one flaw. Our quality of soldiers dropped immensely with more pilots being sent to us from the mainland. She was not wrong. Talking with them was probably pointless as we’d become a dispensable pawn to keep defending another wave of attacks.
“Our first hours of training will be in a simulation anyway.” I said. “You should know that, Dianeira.”
“You are outdated, our simulations are up to date, while theirs are at least five years old. They don’t have the correct display and commands. And you should keep quiet. No one wants to pilot with you anyway. Once practice starts tomorrow, everyone will know.” She rolled over.
Heat rose into my face and I blurted, “I have a pilot.” hoping for Marlon to keep his promise that I could stay as his mind pilot. “Marlon Schmidt said he would pilot with me.”
She giggled. “He used to be a US pilot, a full fledged one. He got deranked for disobeying orders several times. So two risks in one machine.”
No tactician wanted a duo like us. No one could even start a plan with us in mind. I couldn’t think of something suitable. A disobeying heart pilot and an uncontrollable mind pilot. Would we even survive an encounter with a Monoceros? I doubted it. I tried so hard to believe we would. But boasting about having another one accept me, gave me enough confidence to try.
The evening went by quickly, after Dianeira’s discussion with me, we went to have dinner in the cantina and returned early to bed after showering. Uneasiness crept up to me as I tried to get rest before the upcoming training. Yet the moonlight shone through the window which kept me awake. It lit up the room in a different way than my own, or even the forest. I wondered what a different sky and moon looked like through the window. Hopefully not as painful as this one, it reminded me of the moments I spend time with beloved people.