After they had swept the entire area and captured a few prisoners, they boarded their fighters and flew back towards home. Through the entire journey there was little talking, as if everyone had been affected by the heaviness One-six felt.

They went to debriefing, ate lunch, then returned to their rooms with not much of note happening.

Then in the afternoon they had to sit through a retirement ceremony, where the oldest members of their squadrons were sent away to make space for younger, more capable pilots.

“May your work for the city be remembered forever, even though your physical form may no longer be present here.” Captain Steiner had said with a stoney expression.

Some of the pilots One-six knew quite well. One of them had actually been his partner for much of basic training.

*****

“Step forwards and greet your tutor pilot,” the instructor said in a clear voice, which resounded throughout the spacious hall.

One-six stepped forwards and came face to face with a tall young man with a fair face and short blonde hair. He sucked a quick breath in, the presence of the man creating a sense of awe within him.

“Code One-two,” The man said, “Good to meet you.”

“Code One… One-six,” he stuttered.

“Commander of the F-51, second Heavy Fighter Corps, fifth squadron,” the man continued, giving a textbook salute.

“Tr…trainee commander… One… One-six!” He stuttered, trying his best to remember the words his instructor had told him to say.

His tutor pilot eyed him for a second, then relaxed his formal posture and dropped his piercing glare. “You should straighten your back more,” he said. “But other than that, that was a textbook salute.”

“Th… Thank you for your compliment!” One-six said excitedly.

And so marked the proper beginning of his pilot training days. No longer did he only fly using simulators and learn from classrooms, now he learnt while soaring in the blue skies.

Over time he got to know his tutor pilot pretty well, and as it turns out he is a pretty likable person.

He was good at flying, good at commanding, and more over, good at teaching.

“Why are the girls always given the role of engineer and mission specialist, while the boys are always commanders and gunners?” One-six asked one day while they were doing a patrol training mission in a little two-seat training craft.

“Because men are better and more interested in tasks which grant immediate and tangible feedback, such as piloting the plane or shooting down targets. Whereas women tend to be better and more patient at tasks which do not grant tangible rewards,” One-two answered. “As you probably already know, men are given a ‘One’ prefix with an even suffix for commanders and an odd suffix for gunners. Women are given a ‘two’ prefix with an even suffix for engineer and an odd suffix for mission specialists.”

“That makes it feel like serial numbers for planes or something.”

“Yes, that’s the point. It makes it easier from a logistics point of view. But you probably shouldn’t think about that too much.”

“Why?”

“Well, because…” his tutor pilot hesitated, something which he didn’t often do. “It will take away your focus from the missions at hand…”

There was a while of silence between them before One-six spoke up again. “Who will I be put in a team with?” One-six asked.

“Every codename has been passed down from the previous team to the next. So naturally, suffix ‘five’ and ‘six’. If you haven’t already, you should probably start getting to know them.”

One-six knew most people from his cadet class quite well. He knew Two-six was quite a trouble maker since he often saw her getting told off by their instructor. One-five he did not talk to much, but he talked to him enough to know that he is a person who loves abiding by the rules. Two-five is someone he almost forgot existed. She is very unsocial and was by herself most of the time.

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“What happened to the code six and fives before me?” He asked.

“MIA,” One-two stated without a single ounce of emotion in his voice. “Went out on a routine mission and never returned. Crash site was too deep in hostile territory for us to rescue them. But it’s not like we would have anyways. If they ejected they were probably taken as prisoners and already tortured to death long ago. If they couldn’t eject. Then, well, good for them.”

One-two turned to look at One-six. Upon noticing One-six's fearful expression, he tried his best to lighten up the mood.

“All of us will die at some point. Nothing is immortal. Dying while fighting for your country is the most honorable way a pilot like us can give our lives,” One-two said. But his words didn’t do much good, and the mood in the cockpit remained cloudy until they returned to base.

Soon his real-world training was finished, and One-six officially became a pilot of the F-51 fighter. While he talked to One-two much less now, he still ran into him now and then, and often conducted missions together.

It occurred to One-six that this was probably the last time he would see One-two. It occurred to him that One-two was going to leave for good this time. Maybe after he himself retires, he would be able to meet One-two again. And maybe they would remain on good terms with each other.

Looking at the row of senior pilots now, there seemed to be a lot less of them than One-six had remembered when he first met One-two several years ago. How lucky One-two and his team are to have survived until their retirement age.

Then the senior pilots left, escorted by several security personnel. One-six watched as One-two and his team marched away from them, eventually disappearing into the crowd of people outside.

After that they ate dinner and went back to their rooms.

One-six took a long cold shower. He wanted to clear his mind of the thoughts he was having and the heaviness within him. He tried his best to figure out what he was feeling, but could find no answer. After the shower his mind felt clearer, but the heaviness remained.

What were they fighting for?

Of course, it was for their city. They had always been told that. But now it seemed so pointless.

One-six lay in his bed sleeplessly again, One-five snoring soundly above him as usual. Suddenly a thought occurred to him.

Could this be emotions?

No, no. They can’t be. If he was feeling emotions, that would put him on the same level as the filthy soldiers of New Asia. He shook his head violently, forcing himself to not thing about it. Carefully he went outside his room, and once again found Two-six.

“So do you want to go outside now?” Two-six asked as if she knew what One-six was thinking about.

“Yeah, I do.” One-six answered. “But we have to make it back before breakfast, or we might be in trouble.”

They left their rooms and made their way towards the mess hall. They followed the cavernous hallways towards the entrance to the base. Security checked their credentials, and let them out without much of a problem.

Past security they found themselves in a much less military area. Many of the people weren’t wearing uniforms. And there were signs hanging from the ceiling which showed them the way.

One-six had been here a few times. Once when he was taking a mandatory visit to other branches of the military, and another time when he was too young to remember clearly.

They followed the signs which hung down from the ceiling, and eventually found themselves at a busy maglev station.

There was a complex map of interconnecting lines, but it only took them a while to figure it out which train they had to hop on to get out of the military establishment.

It was okay if the others woke up and found them missing, since it wasn’t uncommon for them to wake up early and go for jogs around the base. But the thought of getting caught had been weighing down on One-six’s mind ever since he decided to escape outside.

“How will we be punished if they find out?” One-six asked.

“Cleaning stuff? Do paperwork maybe? Probably not much worse.” Two-six answered.

One-six wasn’t convinced, but he nodded his head anyways. Just then the train they were waiting for arrived, and with an electrical whine, slowed to a stop in front of them.

“Hop on?” Two-six asked.

One-six hesitated. There was a war going on inside him, and he wasn’t sure what to do. One side of his brain told him to stay, and that it was stupid to do such a thing. But the other side urged him on, it urged him to find out more, to discover.

“Come on, it’ll leave soon,” Two-six shouted above the noise of the crowd.

With that she tugged roughly on One-six’s arm, and he did not resist as he was pulled into the carriage of the maglev. Then the doors shut, and they accelerated forwards into the pitch black tunnel.

At that moment, neither had a single idea how much effect their split second decision would have on their futures, and the future of the entire world.

“We’re breaking rules,” One-six murmured.

“Rules are meant to be broken,” Two-Six replied.

“Where did you learn that from?”

“I thought of it myself.”

One-six looked at Two-six, she looked back, and he felt the heaviness within him ease off a little, even if what she had just said sounded like a pretty lame excuse.

*****

One-five watched on from the entrance of the station, as his commander and flight engineer got into the maglev carriage and the door closed behind them.

He shook his head and turned away to walk back to his room. It was regrettable that he would need to report these two. One-six was a good commander, he flew well and he commanded well. Two-six was also a decent engineer, her multitasking ability was admirable.

He hoped whatever new commander or engineer he would be assigned will be as good as One-six and Two-six.

But orders are orders, and he had been told to report any acts of unlawfulness to Captain Steiner. And that’s exactly what he was going to do.