Lord Admiral Estradamus looked out at the city that stood beneath his feet. Up high, he watched over as transport ships would move between buildings for deliveries and transportation.

This was the holy city that stood aboard the Unity Class Carrier, the Guiding Hand.

The ship housed over one-hundred thousand living beings of Interspace aboard it, and with it, Estradamus saw to their safety. He led Unity's Hand, and was known as a brutal warrior, capable of laying siege against opposition. He was clad in large, blue armor, with a mask that covered his face at all times. So much so that not even the most high ranking of his commune had ever seen his face.

His arms were crossed as he was left in solace, gazing over the city he took responsibility over. To him, this city was a testament to his ideals: that if there is to be unity amongst all, there must also be a strong leader who can unify everyone under one banner. The banner of Unity's Hand was what he led them all under.

The flag for the Hands of Unity sat above his observation post, stretching for miles, so that any in the city would see it if they looked up. The flag was of a hand reaching down and grabbing another hand, as if to be pulled up. Estradamus saw this as a means of reassurance for his people, that if they had any doubt or fears, the flag would always be a symbol of their ability to help each other up. He saw strength in his people, but for his people to find their strength, he needed to also be the one to strengthen them when they needed it.

He looked over in the city's center, where the main source of the ship's energy passed through. It was a dark purple color, and shaped like an hourglass. Without it, this city would not survive the cold reaches that Interspace offered. It was a symbol of hope for many in that regard.

His contemplation was interrupted, however, when a holographic figure appeared before him in his chambers.

"Sir, Major Arrand," the pink holographic figure announced.

Estradamus turned over to look at the figure before him. Arrand was kneeling, as was the usual custom when presenting to the Lord Admiral himself. Estradamus stepped forward and signed for Arrand to stand. Arrand raised himself up, and stood, with his hexagonal shaped helmet looking up at the admiral.

"Our scouts have reported in, sir," Arrand announced.

"And what did they return with?" Estradamus inquired.

"It would seem that the Rangers have in fact managed to take over the Atraxis Dome a number of days ago. We had scouts eying it, but it appears they beat us to the punch."

Estradamus pondered what that meant.

"We believe it was the same group who attacked amidst one of our facility raids," Arrand continued. "Possibly the same that killed Vire and his men during their special operation."

"Are we sure of this?" Estradamus crossed his arms, and kept his voice low. He was a calm admiral, and didn't act on emotion and rage like many others would. Instead, he made sure to analyze a situation before taking action.

"The scouts from our Gamma Team watched as the Rangers landed at both locations. They also noted two specific targets that went in during both events. When those two left the Atraxis Dome, it appeared that they also retrieved something from it."

"What 'something' is that?"

"Sir," Arrand said, "there's a possibility that humans are within Interspace. The foreigner's base has information closely related to the other world, but it was all but confirmed once we saw who it was the Rangers had retrieved."

An image appeared in place of Arrand, and instead showed a cliff's edge with a dropship belonging to the Rangers. In it, Estradamus noticed one figure in particular; a human girl with aqua colored hair. She was being led by one of the others into the dropship.

"So it seems they know now," Estradamus said to himself.

"Sir, what's our next course of action? If we do nothing, the Rangers may find a way to secure help from the outside world."

"I will call for a meeting," Estradamus said, "we may have another conflict on our hands very soon. In the meantime, I would advise you to standby and remain vigilant."

Arrand nodded, and saluted Estradamus with his fist over his chest.

"That is all," Estradamus said, and the hologram clicked off.

Estradamus looked back out over the observation tower's window.

Now it wasn't just the foreign entities that were showing up, but humans, too. Estradamus would need to find out just what it was his force would be up against, and if he would be able to quell it before it spread.

----------------------------------------

I walked into the recreation room where David had left the food. David's team was off handling something in another part of the facility, but David still wanted us to relax before we took off again. He had left a note that had "Enjoy!" written on it.

Though, I guess it didn't matter too much right now. The food that was prepared tonight smelled amazing, even for takeout. David must have known which restaurant Meiko had taken me to, because the smell of steamed vegetables and salmon was very familiar. I couldn't help myself, and I grabbed a little bit of everything.

We'd be enjoying a proper meal with everyone before another big operation would commence. Gumi said she was still working out the final stages of her plan, but she'd let us know when we should be briefed.

"Tonight, however," Gumi told us, "David wants us to just enjoy the food, so he had something ordered for us. All of you should relax and just enjoy your time."

Gumi had gotten David's team up to speed on everything about Interspace, and now, according to Gumi, we would be moving on to our next mission shortly.

All of this had me a little anxious to say the least, and at the speed we were going, I felt like I wouldn't be able to relax for a while, so I figured I should enjoy tonight the best I can.

The recreation room was bigger than any of our dorm rooms, which was pretty big considering how roomy each of our dorms were. It had a soft light that could be changed between different light colors. Booth seating with dark red cushions and black tables. It also had a nice television set with a universal media player underneath it, in case anyone had movies to watch, it was there for that. It was definitely a place to relax outside of your room.

It was just us in here, but it felt a little empty eating in here with it being just us five. I looked around, noticing we were missing someone.

"Did Gumi come out for dinner?" I asked. "I thought she was following us."

"Gumi had work she felt obligated to finish," Luka explained. "She left to get started early after she grabbed her food. Apparently it's going to be a big thing in a couple of days."

"Did she say anything about what's coming up?" Meiko asked.

"In her words, 'it's a secret!'" Luka said.

"Typical," Meiko rolled her eyes.

"Point is, Gumi said she didn't want us worrying about it until it's ready."

"Alright," I said, cutting a piece of salmon off with my fork, "might as well enjoy it."

I ate the meal that was given to us, and tried to enjoy it the best I could, trying not to fixate on the days ahead.

As we sat around and ate our meals, the door to the recreation room opened.

"Oh, hello," a voice of an older woman spoke, "is this seat taken?"

I looked over at who was talking to us, and noticed a blonde woman in glasses, about David's age, wearing a nice white sweater and a black suit skirt.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Meiko asked.

"Of course, I didn't introduce myself," she said. "Doctor Lisa Clarke. I'm the medical team's psychoanalyst and physician, part of the group David's brought in"

I didn't want to be rude, so I offered the empty seat to my left.

Lisa didn't hesitate and sat down next to me.

"I'm rather happy to finally get acquainted with all of you."

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well, doctor," Luka said.

"No, no, I'm simply glad we can have a chance to chat. I'm sure David already told you that I'll need to give you a psychiatric evaluation before you go back into the field, but I wanted to get to know all of you first before that happened."

"Or you're trying to cozy up to us," Meiko said, her arms crossed.

"You must be Meiko," Lisa said. "I apologize if it comes off that way to you, but I really do want to sit down and have a conversation with you."

"Well, I appreciate you coming by to greet us," Miku said. "I wouldn't mind getting to know you better, Doctor Clarke."

Lisa nodded, and smiled. "Well, I'll be glad to answer any questions you all might have."

"Well, in that case," Meiko said, "who exactly are you working for? Better yet, who is it we've been pulled into working for?"

Lisa looked a little shocked at the question, but still composed.

"Unfortunately, I can't give away the name of who I or anyone works for, I apologise. But what I can tell you is that we are on your side, and we'll do whatever it takes to help your mission succeed."

"Was that your orders?" Meiko asked. This felt more like an interrogation than a regular chat.

"It was mine, and David's, and everyone else's. Originally we were instructed to keep you safe in an undisclosed place, far enough away from Duodecim to find you, but you all seem to have shot that down. Instead, we're going with keeping you safe another way, but still allowing you freedom to work towards your goal."

"Is there anything else you'd want to talk about?"

"No," Meiko said, standing up. "I'm leaving."

Meiko walked away without saying anything else.

"I apologize about Meiko," Luka said. "She's kind of blunt and not very trusting."

"It's no issue," Lisa said, "I understand it must be hard to trust. I wouldn't blame any of you if you think I can't be trusted, even. But believe me when I say we are here to help, and we're going to help you in any way we can."

I had finished my meal before excusing myself as well.

"I'd like to stay and chat here myself," I said, "but I'm going to check on Meiko, make sure she's okay."

Lisa nodded, and continued her chat with Luka and Miku.

I'll catch up with you later," Miku said, "I'm still eating after all."

I nodded, and headed for the door out of the mess hall.

I eventually caught up with Meiko down at the dormitories. She was already in her room, and had a beer cupped in her hand.

"Oh," she said, "came to check on me?"

"You seemed bugged by Doctor Clarke," I said. "Figured I'd come and find out why."

"Nosy, aren't you," Meiko said. "I don't blame you, though. I'm not exactly good at concealing how I feel."

"Wanna talk about it?"

"You know what? Sure," Meiko said, and waved me inside.

Meiko's room was a mess, kind of like her car. Beer bottles and torn up papers scattered about. Her bed was messy, and the sheets bunched up. She wasn't good about cleaning anything, but I don't think she really minded how it was.

"I'd offer to clean your room," I said.

"Why? Just gonna get messy again," Meiko said, sitting on her bed.

I grabbed a seat.

"So," I said, "what's got you bugged?"

"Well, you tell me. First we get a bunch of random people in our base, and I don't know if I'm okay with it."

"Yeah, but you didn't act like that with David's crew. So why was your reaction different to Lisa?"

"Well, that's the thing," Meiko said, "I just don't know if I trust doctors."

"You don't trust doctors?" I asked.

Meiko looked away from me towards the wall. Her face was pensive.

"Was it because they abused you?" I asked.

"Yeah," Meiko said. "They abused the both of us."

"Both as in you and your friend?"

"If I didn't cooperate, they'd hurt him until I understood," Meiko said. "They knew I felt safe around him, so they used that fact against me."

"What would they do?" I asked. "Did they follow through with it?"

"Shock him, beat him, threaten to dismantle him if I stepped out of line. I hated them, I hated what they did to him."

"I'm sorry," I said. "I didn't know."

"No way you could know," she said, a sad and regretful look on her face.

"Then, can I ask something?"

Meiko looked at me. "What is it?"

"What was his name?"

Meiko hesitated before she'd answer. Almost as if she was scared to say it.

"Kaito," she finally said, her voice trailing. "His name was Kaito."

"Meiko, did you love Kaito?"

She looked back at me, her gaze finding my eyes, and I felt like she didn't need to answer.

"You have no idea," she said. "I didn't have anyone else to talk to. I was all alone, for days upon days, and those days became months, and I did whatever I could to break free, but they always kept me restrained. I scared them, and they knew that I knew that."

She knocked back another swig of beer until the bottle was empty.

"And then one night," she continued, "they brought him into my cell. Told me if I behaved, he'd get to stay. We didn't trust each other at first, and we didn't even say anything for a few days, but then, after a few days, he started talking to me. I still remember the first thing he said to me."

I kept my eyes on Meiko, whose eyes were starting to water somewhat, but she didn't try to hide it.

"'Are you okay?'"

Meiko looked up, and didn't speak for a while.

"I know I was built for a specific purpose," she said. "I know I was built to fight, and I know I'm good at it. I didn't complain, but then they gave me something. Something that changed how I see how the world, and when I lost it, I-."

Meiko clenched the empty beer bottle. The glass started cracking.

"Damn, Meiko, I'm sorry."

"You don't get it, Griff," Meiko said. "You don't know what it's like to be locked up while everyone watches you. You're left in the dark about everything, and when you finally have something, they use it against you every way they can."

"I may not know what it was like, but I know you're here now, and that means we can still make a difference."

Meiko looked back up at me.

"That's why you brought me here, wasn't it? The reason all of this started was because you wanted an ally. Someone who wasn't Gumi or Luka. Someone on the outside. Eventually you came across me as a possibility."

I stood up, and kept my gaze locked to hers.

"And you needed someone who was in your shoes. Someone who also lost something, though maybe not as extreme as your situation. You still helped me out, and I owe you."

Meiko, who managed to stave away from crying, looked back at me.

"Maybe," she said. "Maybe that's why I thought you could help me."

"And we're friends after all of this. I'll never know what it was like to be in your situation, and I won't pretend I do, but that doesn't mean we can't stop trying to find him."

Meiko smiled slightly.

"I promised you," I said. "We'll get Kaito back. Can you hold me to that?"

Meiko closed her eyes and nodded.

"Of course," she said. "I feel a lot better now. Thanks for checking up on me."

"It's what I'm here for, I think," I said. "I'm going to head back up, I still wanted to talk to Miku about something, but are you going to be okay?"

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"I'm tougher than I look, Griff," Meiko said. "I'll be fine."

I smiled, and opened her door.

"I'll talk to you later. Take care, Meiko."

Meiko nodded, and I stepped out.

In the hall, I saw Miku resting by the wall with her arms crossed. She looked at me, somewhat concerned, but also relieved.

"Figured you'd come looking for me," I said, "but everything's okay. Why are you here?"

"I figured I'd come down, make sure Meiko was doing okay, but you seem to know her better than I do."

"Kinda comes with her territory," I said. "She's been through a lot, more than I realize, but I want to help her the best I can."

"Good to see she's got a friend," Miku said. "Lisa wasn't offended, but I still felt bad for her."

"I'm sure Lisa gets it," I said, "Meiko just doesn't trust her, but I'm sure she'll come around."

"She doesn't have to come around. It would be too much to ask."

"For whatever the reason," I said, "I owe Meiko a lot, so I'm on her side."

"Heheh," Miku giggled, "she's lucky to have a friend like you. Kinda jealous she got to hang out with you so long."

"Believe me," I said, "I'd have loved it if you were with us in the beginning."

"You found me eventually," she said, and looked up at me. "And I'm pretty happy about that."

"I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you, Miku," I said. "So, thanks, again. I mean it."

Miku gave me a peck on the cheek, and giggled.

"Thing is," I added, "Meiko asked what her purpose was, and I wondered the same thing the other night. Problem is I have a hard time seeing you guys as anything but human."

"I lie awake at night with the same question," Miku said. "I mean, you've heard about my nightmares."

"Yeah," I nodded, "but you aren't alone, and you know that. I think Meiko's a different case, and she feels isolated even among friends."

"Well, I think Meiko would prefer it if we didn't worry about her," Miku suggested. "I actually had an idea I wanted to share with you, if you'd like to hear about it."

"Sure thing," I said.

"Well, I was thinking about checking out the simulator before our next operation started, maybe get some training in. But I wondered if you could maybe be there to help keep track of my progress?"

"Trying to get some extra combat training in?" I asked.

"Well, not combat training in particular. See, there's a specific thing in the V.R. training that I wanted to check out."

"Well, I'm all ears," I said. "Shoot."

"I wanted to see if I could learn how to fly."

I nodded. "That doesn't sound like a bad idea. I've seen the books in your room. Is that where it came from?"

"Yes, but it's also from reading the report about my rescue. Apparently Meiko tried to fly and that went horribly wrong."

"I'll say," I said, "I still remember the crash. Almost got both of us killed."

"Yeah," Miku said, "I was scared just reading it, but that's why I think it might be a good idea to have a pilot on the team."

"And so you volunteered yourself?"

"It's both of those reasons," Miku nodded. "The sky might be fake in Interspace, but it still looks close enough to the real thing. I want to see it all for myself."

"Hey, it's a good idea regardless of your reasoning," I said. "And if it makes you happy, I'm all for helping you reach your goals."

"You're sweet," she said. "If you're interested, would you want to check it out tonight?"

"Just going right into it already?" I asked in disbelief. "No time to prepare or anything?"

"We might not have time with whatever is coming up," Miku said. "I'd like to at least test it out."

That was true, and I didn't want to outright say no. I guess it wouldn't hurt to try, even if it did cost me a little bit of sleep.

"Okay, fine, we'll meet at the V.R. training room in a couple of hours, then," I said.

"Yay!" Miku exclaimed. "I'm so glad you're on board."

She put her arms around me and kissed my cheek before she dashed off back to her room.

How a guy like me ended up with such a person is beyond me, but she managed to convince me without almost any effort at all. It was impressive, and I kind of liked that about her.

Miku's cheerful attitude certainly helped alleviate my worries about Meiko, too. Though I still didn't tell Miku about Kaito or his relation to Meiko, I figured she would find out at some point.

Kaito, though. I wondered about him, too. Never met him, but if Meiko liked him, those two must have been close. Her sole reason for being here is to get him back, and that stuck with me.

I headed back to my room thinking about where he was even being kept, and how we would even be capable of saving him, but I also hoped it would be the last time we would need to rescue someone. It was going to be difficult to find Kaito, but how would we find someone else?

I didn't feel like it was worth fretting over. Meiko believed Kaito was still out there, and getting him back was the important thing. Right now, at least, we'd need to prepare for the next operation that was coming up, and that meant keeping our head in the game.

I opened my door to my room, and lay in my bed. My message terminal blinked that a message was sent. It came from Miku.

"I'll come knocking when I'm ready," it said.

Well, I signed up for this. Maybe if she qualified as an actual pilot after this, I'd be able to ask her for a ride myself. That sounded kind of nice the more I thought about it. Maybe a flight over a sandy beach or something with a large body of water. I liked the sound of that.

I laid down, and nodded off for a bit, waiting for Miku to come knocking.

I woke up a short time later, still wearing my normal attire. A knock rapped against my door, and I got up almost immediately to check. On the other side was Miku, wearing her grey jumpsuit with teal accented stripes on her torso. She looked ready for whatever it was we were going to do.

"Everyone asleep?" I asked, poking my head out into the hallway.

"Far as I can tell," Miku said. "Not that we should worry about sneaking around. It's just a training session, right?"

I nodded, it wasn't any different when Meiko would take me for training in V.R.

"Lemme get changed and I'll head down to the pods with you, 'kay?"

Miku nodded, and I closed my door to get changed. Once my jumpsuit was on and my clothes were put away, I cleaned my face up a little bit with some soap and water in a lavatory stationed in my quarters. I took a look at my face and said to myself, "alright, let's get this show on the road."

I stepped out and saw Miku waiting for me.

"Come on," she said, "I've been waiting to see what it all looks like."

We headed into the elevator and moved down to the training hub. I noticed Miku seemed a little fidgety, but she seemed more excited than anxious.

Miku looked over at me as the elevator had arrived.

"Thanks for doing this with me," Miku said.

I shrugged. "I really don't mind. Besides, I want to see this for myself."

Miku smiled, and we walked into the training hub. The two pods sat there, letting out a low audible hum. I walked over and pressed the button to let it open, and signed for Miku to sit down.

"You know how to set this up?"

I nodded. "I've watched Meiko do it enough. Just take a seat and let the system read off your Watcher. I'll set it up from here."

Miku sat and watched me as I set everything up on the system terminal.

"Lemme see…" I said as I scrolled through the list, "there's a bunch of training exercises in this thing. Guess whoever worked here must have wanted to make sure every scenario was covered for when they traveled to Interspace."

"Makes you wonder what it was they were doing here," Miku said.

"Probably research," I said. "But I'll quote Meiko and say that it doesn't matter. We're here now, they aren't."

"True," Miku said.

"Anyways," I said, "found the flight training simulation. Are you ready to do this? Because I'm about to start the sequence."

"Hit it," Miku said, enthusiastically.

"Alright, I'll see you on the other side, then."

Miku's pod closed, and the sim pod started humming much louder now. I activated my pod to be set on a delay before I jumped into it. I looked over at Miku's pod, and nodded.

"I'll be right behind you, Miku," I said to myself, "show me what you can do."

I sat down and let the pod initiate as the red breathing mask latched itself to my face. I took a deep breath as my consciousness faded and re-entered into another world.

I was standing in the middle of a hangar on what felt like a boat. A large vessel, even. Outside I heard pouring rain, and cracking thunder. It felt like I was on board an aircraft carrier.

Soon, I was moved to the hangar, and found Miku inspecting the undercarriage of a jet. She was wearing a pilot's uniform now instead of her jumpsuit. I looked down and saw I was wearing the same.

"Anything interesting there?" I asked as I walked up to her. She jumped a little realizing that I had just shown up.

"Just wondering how much detail went into this," Miku said. "It looks like they got this down to the letter in terms of design."

I looked at the aircraft, and ran my finger along the steel gray chassis.

"You know what kind of jet this is?" I asked.

"It's an F-39," Miku said. "It was a military aircraft developed around 2028, I think?"

"When did you become an expert?" I asked, teasingly.

"Since I read up on it. I have a few books on aeronautics I like to read."

"I remember that," I said. "I guess I'm not surprised you know your stuff, then."

I looked at the aircraft's wings, and then at the back where its thrusters were. They were large, and square, and looked powerful. And the wings stretched out from the craft at a forty-five degree angle that were flush with the back fin. It looked as if it came from the Viper Team series, but maybe that's because that was the only reference I could draw from.

"You thinking of taking this one?" I asked.

"Actually, yeah," Miku said. "I picked this one before you got here. The sim pod had me choose before you even got here."

I nodded, "so, are we set to get started, then?"

"I'd say so," Miku said, climbing on the side of the aircraft and headed towards the cockpit. She reached into it and grabbed out a flight helmet and attached it, and then placed a breathing mask over her face.

I climbed up to the seat behind hers, and saw a similar mask on my seat. I grabbed it and put it on, followed by the breathing mask.

"Can you hear me okay, Griff?" Miku said over the radio. I gave her the thumbs up.

"Better climb inside, then. I think we're about to see some real fun."

I sat myself down and watched as the cockpit lowered over us. I looked down and saw a screen in front of me with an introduction.

"Hello, welcome to the flight operations simulation test," it read. "The simulation is running your pilot through pre-flight checks. Take a moment to inspect your system as well and ensure everything is ready before moving on."

I looked around at the cockpit, and realized I didn't exactly know what I was doing. This felt all foreign to me.

"Don't worry if you're confused," Miku said, almost reading my mind, "it'll run you through it."

I looked back at my screen, and the on-screen prompts started giving me instructions on getting my equipment set up. I followed as it led me through what I was supposed to press.

"Good," it said, "we'll now activate your helmet on-screen systems."

The heads-up display on the helmet I was wearing started up, and a green set of lines flashed.

"Targeting systems enabled. Eye-tracking online. Setup is proceeding."

Miku looked over to the right and checked if the F-39's wings were working properly. They shifted as she jiggled the control stick forward, and then returned to their proper position.

"Pre-flight checks are complete," the screen said. "Simulated flight operation will commence in ten seconds. Be advised that your flight record will be recorded at the end of this simulation, so do the best you can."

"You hear that, Miku?" I said. "Do the best you can!"

"Wasn't planning any less," she said.

Suddenly, our craft, along with us, was thrust to the loading bay underneath an aircraft carrier. The sound of rain had stopped, and the sun was peering against the canopy. It was bright out, and watching the water crash against the boats next to us, it felt like I was back home watching the beach from the shoreline.

Miku steered the jet next to another aircraft. It sat to our right, its engines were ready, and heat was fuming out of its exhaust.

"Panther-4, this is the control tower," a voice radioed. "Flight checks are clear. Read back and await instructions."

"Loud and clear," another voice replied, "this is Panther-4. Looks like I have a newbie flying with me today."

"Panther-4, you'll be flying with Striker-1."

Miku looked at her screen, and so did I. Looks like we were assigned that as our name. I dunno if I could see Miku as a "Striker," but it sounded cool.

"Panther-4, you're good to go. Takeoff prep complete."

About four crew members moved away from Panther-4's craft as he started his engine. Once it was clear, he took off without a hitch, and arched upwards into the sky.

"Striker-1," the control tower announced, "Panther-4 has taken off. You'll be following behind him. Takeoff prep is complete."

Miku nodded in my direction, almost to ask me if I was ready. I gave her a thumbs up, and she faced forward.

"Takeoff initiated," Miku announced, "let's do this!"

Miku activated the engines, and the aircraft shot forward, like a roller coaster with a launchpad, we took off without a hitch.

"This is amazing!" I screamed, unable to contain my excitement.

Miku aimed up towards the clouds. Once we were up there, Miku returned the aircraft to look forward again.

"Alright, Striker-1," the control tower started, "you'll be following behind Panther-4 for this. Keep behind him and stay in formation."

Miku caught up to Panther-4's craft and kept her craft behind him.

"Panther-4 to Striker-1, I see you sitting behind me. I'm going to have you fly with me, try to keep up, and I'll see how you do."

Panther-4 turned his craft to the left and Miku took it as a challenge immediately. She slowed down her craft and turned to the left, keeping her eyes on Panther.

"Hey, you catch on quick," Panther commented, "good reaction. But you'll have to do more than a sharp turn to fly out there."

Panther-4 shot up and around, and zipped right by us with his aircraft.

"Keep up," he said, "or you're staying behind."

Miku took it as a challenge, and disengaged her thrust again. She aimed up and managed to make a full 180-degree turn in almost an instant.

"Right behind him," Miku said to me. "You feeling okay back there?"

I nodded. "It's a lot of speed to contend with, I'm hoping I don't pass out from how fast you're going."

"It's just a simulation," she said, making another tight turn, "if you need a break, I won't blame you."

"I'll be fine," I said, fighting to keep my eyes open, "I want to see this through with you."

Miku took this as a sign to push things harder, and rolled as Panther-4 flew underneath us. She wasn't going to give up on chasing him down.

"You're keeping up," Panther-4 said, "I think you might have what it takes to keep up on me."

Panther-4 aimed up and towards the sky. Miku jumped in after him, slingshotting herself up above the clouds. Suddenly a call rang in.

"Panther-4, this is control tower. How's your trainee?"

"Control tower this is Panther-4, I think our rookie has what it takes to fly, definitely kept up with me."

"Roger, we've added that to the flight record. Come show us your landing and we'll finish up here."

"Roger that," Panther-4 said, and flew past us. Miku turned the F-39 around and followed.

"Dang," I said, "you told me you hadn't flown before, but that was incredible."

"I didn't ever fly before this," Miku said. "Did I really do that well?"

"You're getting high praise from the simulator," I said, "that's gotta count somewhere."

"I dunno," Miku said, sheepishly, "I was just reading instructions."

"Could have fooled me," I said. "Felt almost like you were doing it all from your own memory."

Miku didn't say anything after that, instead she moved the aircraft to follow behind and prepare the craft for landing. She pressed the landing gear, and the wheels beneath deployed.

"Panther-4 is already landing," the control tower announced, "we'll guide you in. Make your landing check, you're about 3,000 meters to land."

The display changed to an indicator of where Miku would need to land her aircraft. She followed along it perfectly, and lowered slowly. Once we got close, she made sure the landing gear was prepped.

"You're close, just keep doing what you're doing," I said, encouragingly.

The craft's wheels made a brief screech as we landed on the top of the carrier, and the aircraft came to a complete stop.

"Good," the control tower said, "you've landed. Standby for the next training session."

The carrier started to phase away as the craft was taken back to the hangar bays, and shortly after, we were both disconnected from the simulation.

I took a second to let the door open and get my bearings on reality again. My vision was doubled for a second and I felt dizzy.

The door popped open, and I climbed out to see that David and Gumi were standing in front of the simulation pods.

David looked at me and then at Miku, his arms were crossed.

"You two are up late," he said. "What were you both doing?"

"Sorry," I said, "we were both kind of trying to get some training in-."

Miku cut me off, and added, "it's my fault. I told Griff I wanted to do flight training and wanted him there."

Gumi put her hands on her hips, and raised an eyebrow.

"Well while both of you were off having fun, we were trying to figure out where you went. Luckily we saw the sim pod went online and figured it out from there."

"Sorry," I said, scratching behind my head, "didn't mean to do it in secret."

"It's whatever," David said. "However, your relaxation period is going to end as of tomorrow, so I'd suggest you get ready for the next operation coming up."

I looked over at Gumi.

"That's right," Gumi said, "we've got little time to lose, and I've formulated a plan I'm very proud of. Can't wait for tomorrow's briefing for everyone to see it!"

"However," David said, "I need to speak with you two about something. It concerns a friend of yours."

That could only mean one person.

"I'm sure you know who I mean," David said. "We hate to do this, but Akira might need to be taken into our custody, though not right away."

"Why this all of a sudden?" Miku asked.

"Akira was in contact with you and is being pressured by Duodecim to give up anything. We're going to try and keep her away from them as much as we can until we can get them away from her."

I sighed, and shaked my head. "Knowing her folks, they're going to be worried sick."

"So they will, but we'll try and let her keep a normal life as best we can until then. We're shifting our options around, but that doesn't mean I can guarantee anything."

"Geez," I said. "This is my fault, ain't it?"

"Doesn't matter," David said. "She's going to be in danger if we don't do anything about it, so I suggest you leave that to us, but I'm just letting you know so it isn't a shock if she ends up in this base one day."

I nodded.

"As for you two," Gumi said, "I suggest you get your rest. I'm sure your training went well, but I'll see about that later. We've work to do, so sleep up the best you can."

"Gotcha," I said, and Miku and I walked to the elevator.

Once we stepped inside and headed back up to our quarters, I looked at Miku.

"As much as it sucked to get yelled at about it, I had fun," I said.

"Hey, me too," Miku said. "Thanks for riding along."

"Well, honestly, I think you did pretty good out there. Was pretty exciting watching you from behind."

"Heh," Miku laughed, "maybe I'll be the team pilot after all. Might need a little more practice, though."

"Sure, but pretty good for a first timer," I said. "It'll definitely be useful!"

Miku smiled, and we both walked back to our rooms and saw each other off for the night.

I walked Miku back to her room, and we said our goodbyes. Once she closed her door, I walked back to my room, my eyes looking up at the ceiling. I thought about the sky, and how we flew through it, even if it was all digital. With the ocean beneath us and the clouds beside us, I started to really consider just how special all of this was to her.

I smiled, realizing how special it truly felt to have something like this shared with you. It was a truly lovely experience, and to see Miku fulfill a dream of hers, well, that made it even more special.

As far as first dates go, I say this one was perfect.

David had left the training room, leaving Gumi to look over the simulation data from the pods.

Gumi had gotten curious, and whenever she was curious about anything at all times, Gumi would spend hours sometimes to satisfy it.

In this case, she wanted to know what Miku and Griff were doing in the simulator. The logs had left reference of "flight training," but Gumi wanted to know why.

Instead of spending hours searching for logs, Gumi did something else; she plugged herself in again.

It wouldn't be nearly as dangerous this time for Gumi. The last time she plugged herself in, she had been overclocking herself from running too many functions at once. This was only necessary to view one particular simulation.

Gumi's eyes started to glow as she reviewed the data, and saw Miku and Griff flying throughout the clouds in the aircraft. She took note of Miku's skills; she was quite impressed for someone who had flown only once.

Watching her twist and make adjustments on the fly without any knowledge of what was coming next, Gumi saw this as useful, no doubt. She believed it would come in handy should someone be needed to fly, and she definitely knew Meiko wouldn't want to fly the next time, should the need arise.

Gumi decided to go a step further, and logged into her system access account. Gumi was the only one who had access to this account, and it was only so she could take a look at reports sent to, who she assumed, was the original overseer of this facility.

Since that wasn't necessarily a possibility, she had to make due with her own administrative access, but it wasn't a problem for her. So long as no one else messed with the system, everything would be fine.

Gumi poked around to look for a specific file, one that related to Miku's flight training.

Gumi opened a file titled, "Flight Training Results, for testing administrator's eyes only."

Gumi opened it, and found that the simulator's ranking system had ranked her as "exceptional," and "above average intelligence and reaction time."

Gumi saved the file to her personal system, deciding then and there she'd try to get the Stargazer base's hangar up and running. If there were any ships in there, she'd definitely try to see about getting one set up for Miku.

Miku had no idea how well she'd done, but Gumi would see to making everything work for her. She figured that Miku deserved that much.

By tomorrow, the next operation would start, and Gumi wanted everyone to be ready. It was only a matter of time.