The river was an amazing sight to anyone who was on its banks. Yet the real sight was not the river. It was the base built onto its left bank that really caught the eye. With buildings that were modern, yet holding some semblance of the military past, it was a well-built blend of modern and old. The real odd thing though was not just the location, but what lived on it as well.

It turned out that living ships were not the only sentient vehicles around.

One of those vehicles was a young FBI plane named Spray Krane, and he was currently staying with his wife and young daughter at the base. He was a lot different than most other crop dusting planes, and for a very good reason. He was a mix: A P-51 hybrid with AT-802 crop duster genes. His paint job was black all over, save for his rudder which bore a white Jolly Wrenches decal and on his nose were two Skyslycer props, black with blue tips. He had brown eyes and a tinted visor rested on his cockpit. Underneath him was a custom-built sprayer for his job, and he had two guns on each wing, for a total of four.

He was currently overlooking the base's docks, where a young ship named Nathan James was finishing his training. He had to admit, the kid was good. He just needed to work on his skills a bit, and he'd be fit for duty.

Said ship had finished his work for the day and was now sniffing around looking for something to do. He set his sights on his older brother, Arleigh Burke who was intently focused on his work. Feeling mischievous, Nathan James snuck up behind him and when he was as close as he could get, he blew his horn as loudly as he could.

Arleigh yelped and nearly bashed his bow into the dock as Nathan howled with laughter at his reaction.

"Aw man! You should have seen your face, bro!" he cried. "That was priceless!"

The young destroyer nearly collapsed onto his side as he lost himself to laughter once more, tears streaming down his superstructure. Arleigh rolled his eyes and turned to face him.

"What is the matter with you?" he asked. "Are you trying to give yourself a bad reputation here?!"

"Aww come on man, where's your sense of humor?!" Nathan whined.

Arleigh rolled his eyes again. "Nathan, you have got to stop acting like a shipling!" he said.

"Ah, c'mon, Arleigh," a voice said.

The older destroyer looked down and was surprised to see the black FBI plane coming up to greet them, a smile on his front. "He's just being silly. And it was kinda funny when you nearly bashed your bow in. Well, more like your face when he blew his horn," he said.

"Priceless. It was priceless Spray!" Nathan laughed.

Spray laughed a bit. "True. Anyway, the base commander just sent a message. Your next assignment is to do some obstacle training further up the river," he said. "I don't know why though." He shrugged his ailerons.

Nathan was glad they weren't twitching. That would mean bad news. "Tire piles and mast poles, fun." He said, speaking of the course with his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Spray grinned. "Hey. It's not too bad. Unlike the last one." He turned and was about to head off before he looked back. "And don't be late, or else you'll be doing miles!"

"Sir, yes sir!" Nathan saluted and raced off.

"That kid has more respect for you than he's ever shown to me." Arleigh rolled his eyes.

Spray chuckled a bit. "Well, whaddya expect? He's still young. And you..." The black plane grinned widely, a playful glint in his brown eyes. "...are just an old fart." He winked, though.

Arleigh grinned a bit, but shook his bow just the same. Spray turned and taxied off, passing by the other personnel at the base, both human and machine alike. Some waved and others just said hello when he finally arrived at the base commander's office, the man standing on the balcony overlooking the river obstacle course.

Spray turned to face it and was impressed by the layout this time.

Several large pilings were coated in tires and some even had mock guns on them, programmed to turn like the real deal, but what shot out were not real bullets, but lasers that struck the target and set off a few sensors that indicated slowing down or stopping altogether with a low tone. Dummy mines made up the first third, meaning the one taking the course had to weave through them without hitting the dummy. If they did, then the mines let out a warning and they had to slow down, simulating damage to their engines or rudder. And the last part of the course was where Nathan was having difficulty: air strikes. Spray looked at the planes parked on the runway close by, and he smirked a bit as one of them waved her rudders in a flirty manner.

He wondered if Nathan would be able to complete this course successfully, because last time the commander of the base had said if he failed, he'd be reassigned.

But Nathan was determined to pass this course, and prove himself ready for his future mission... whatever it was.

Nathan gritted his teeth as he eyed up the course from the starting line. He could do this. He was trained to.

The base commander looked at the young warship and nodded. "All right. You know this is your last chance, Nathan. You fail, and you get reassigned. So, do not mess this up," he said.

He held up his hand and looked at the stopwatch. There was a time limit for the first part: he had to make it through in ten minutes or less.

There was a pause before he nodded. "GO!"