Just above the deck level, Ingrid looked out through the windows of the stairwell. She scanned over the airplanes. White, blue, and green. There were fighter jets, and smaller, high-wing planes with propellers, but only a few. It was a longshot, but maybe there would be one of those red and white airplanes that she saw at dawn, the one with the giant propellers. Maybe the Imperials would know where Vaska had gone.

"Are you looking for something, soldier?" a deep voice asked. A tall man with a trimmed beard approached her from the stairwell.

These are horrible people, she thought.

"I'm looking for any Imperial Aircraft," she said, honestly.

"I was just going to see the Captain. Excuse me."

Horrible people under a horrible Captain?

"Captain's orders," she lied. "It involves the first confirmed kill in the Plane of Wind, or something. He said to keep quiet about it."

Remarkably, the man nodded. "Follow me."

He led her through the narrow passages again down to the deck. Then, he led her down to the back of the ship, to the blind spot that she could not see from the window. The aircraft that awaited them was silvery, pure metal, no paint at all. It was like the airplane that she trained on, with high wings supported by struts. However, instead of a single propeller in the front, it had two propellers mounted on pylons built into the high wings. It was also larger, and had a giant open door. Half a dozen men, in civilian clothes, waited inside.

"Soldier," the man said. "Excuse me."

One of the civilians approached her. He was wearing tan trousers and a black leather jacket, with a brown leather helmet and pilot's goggles.

"The Captain sent me," Ingrid said. "You are with the Empire?"

"Technically we are civilians right now," the man said. "If the enemy finds out we were here, then there is a paper trail that explains things. Spies exist, after all."

Ingrid was deeply confused. These people were Imperials, pretending to be civilians. The man leaned forward and began to whisper.

"Technically if anything happens, we would be criminals, you see. It wouldn't be military aggression by the Empire. Just some civilians breaking the law."

That made sense. She reached into her paper bag filled with gems, and looked for gems that she could not recognize. Those ones most likely belonged to the Captain. She handed them to the civilian.

His eyes went wide.

"There are quite a lot of crystals," the man said. "More than the regular fighter pilots carry around. My name is Vladimir. You must have important business to be carrying these around casually. What did the captain want?"

"He needs you to take me to Princess Vaska," Ingrid said.

"What the hell? That doesn't sound right at all. Nobody in the Taisian Air Navy knows about Vaska except..."

He went silent.

"Except who?" Ingrid asked.

"Except, you need to piss off," the man said. "I don't like talking to liars."

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"Wait! Wait!" Ingrid insisted. "I saw an airplane this morning, it had two huge propellers and it was painted white and red. Do you know where that plane was going? Was Vaska on that airplane?"

"You have no idea what you are talking about. An airplane like that was not flying in Taisian airspace today. I can prove it."

"What is taking you so long?" A familiar feminine voice asked. Glenice, wearing civilian's clothes, and with her long blond hair in braids, stepped out of the little airplane onto the deck. "Ingrid!?"

"Glenice? Wait, why did you not fly out with Lieutenant Cole?"

"I had the Marines come and extract me," Glenice said, "in a tilt-rotor. However they didn't want to be seen over the ocean in daylight with that livery, so they abandoned me here, then I swear to the goddesses, they parked the thing in a barn. I had to call in these civilians."

"Is that something you want to be telling this woman?" Vladimir asked.

"This woman is of special interest to Vaska I am afraid," Glenice said. What did that mean?

"Vaska! Please take me to Vaska!" Ingrid said.

"Fine, hop in. No, stand down Vladimir. Let her fly with us."

Do not listen to this one. She is lying. Vaska is very dangerous. All of the Great Houses are very dangerous. Turn back now.

Ingrid hesitated for a second.

She regarded Glenice. Everyone today has betrayed you so far, she thought. Her mind raced. Vladimir watched her carefully.

"Glenice," she muttered, "I'm afraid."

"I assure you Ingrid," Glenice said. Her voice was soft and sincere. "Once we get to Vaska, she will take very, very good care of you. I promise."

Ingrid reluctantly climbed into the aircraft and strapped herself into one of the seats. The seats were made from white leather and the straps appeared to be made of a very dense black cloth, almost like the harness inside a fighter jet. Men shuffled inside with their rifles. It was cramped, but at least Ingrid smelled nice.

The men with the colorful vests and batons on the deck led the airplane as it moved along and lined up for takeoff. It was loud at first, but the civilians quickly summoned air elementals to reduce the sound.

"Who are you really?" Ingrid asked.

"I told you I'm from the Empire," Glenice said.

She glared at the woman. "These men are also Marines? Maybe?"

"We are all Imperial Marines," Glenice said.

"Well, we were Marines," Vladimir said. "Now we are civilians. Technically."

Ingrid had no idea what Marines were. Apparently they were burly men who took on false identities in foreign lands and made very good actors. She suspected there were probably some boats involved, and maybe some fighter jets. And maybe some local lawyers.

"And now technically I am an Airman in the Taisian Air Navy," Glenice added.

The airplane lined up and the engines roared. A pair of jet engines with propellers attached made a lot of noise, and even through the sound barriers Ingrid needed to plug her ears. The craft lurched forward and almost immediately began to leave the deck. A very short takeoff indeed.

First they flew over farmland, then the coast, and then the open ocean for a very long time. With a very discrete request, she was introduced to a truly modern marvel. The aircraft had a latrine, complete with a mechanism that used pressurized water to flush the waste away. Brilliant!

She had been awake since before dawn, and it was after midday. Ingrid was tired, though she didn't want to wake up to these Marines trying to murder her and end up getting themselves dissolved into a flash of light. She might actually have to go learn how to land this airplane, and she didn't know where Vaska was.

Why do you delay? the Elemental asked.

"I would rather go into the Plane of Wind with a bunch of fighter jets, rather than just one for myself," she whispered. This seemed to satisfy the Elemental.

Far over the ocean they flew, until they began to descend. Ingrid felt the descent immediately, even before the engines began to lose power. After a long time the flaps on those long, wide wings began to tilt down and the drag increased. The engines became even louder at slow speeds.

Ingrid perfectly predicted the moment of impact from her experience landing. She did not predict the intense noise of the propellers just after, not the extraordinarily rapid halt that caused her to lurch forward in her seat.

When she stepped outside the ground was swaying. She was at sea, on a ship, with a landing strip on the deck. It was probably too short to land a fighter jet, however the high-wing aircraft seemed to manage the landing just fine. At one end she saw what she was looking for. It was a red and white airplane, except the engines and massive propellers were at the end of the wing. Strangely, those massive propellers were facing up, not forward. Ingrid realized that the entire pylons must rotate, allowing the craft to take off vertically, then use the same huge propellers to generate thrust and therefore lift under the wings.

She had seen that craft at dawn. Or at least she had seen one exactly like it, but Glenice said it ended up in a barn.

"Vaska is here now," Glenice said. "I'll lead you to her."