Chapter Six
Island One's Shibuya district was among the most popular business and entertainment areas in the Frontier fleet. Even late at night its streets were alive with large numbers of vehicles and pedestrians, above whose heads huge televisions and holographic screens displayed an almost bewildering array of television programs and advertisements. There was no such thing as "peace and quiet" in the Shibuya District. It was a place that never slept, not even in the wee hours of the morning.
Richard and Talsha did not speak to each other as they weaved their way through the throngs of pedestrians on the district's busy sidewalks. Neither one felt like trying to compete with the background noise produced by passing cars, groups of pedestrians, and the advertisements that were playing high above their heads. Richard noticed that the number of advertisements featuring Sheryl Nome seemed to have decreased somewhat since the last time he had taken a walk through one of Island One's commercial centres. He found that something of a relief.
As if summoned by his thoughts, the opening to Ranka Lee's Cat's Diary began to play on the audio system of a nearby display screen. Richard smiled a little as he listened to it. It was a silly little song with lyrics that didn't make very much sense, but he liked it anyway. As did many of the couples that were strolling down the street if their reactions to it were any sort of indication. Richard noticed that a lot of them seemed to smile and move closer to each other as they passed the display that was playing the song. It was quite cute to watch.
It was also around that time that Richard noticed that he and Talsha were getting a fair bit of attention from the people they were passing by, and it dawned on him that perhaps those people thought the two of them were a couple as well. The idea almost made him burst out laughing. Surely people weren't naïve enough to think a man and a woman were a couple just because they were out walking together! Especially not when they were both wearing service uniforms. Then again the two of them were alone together and obviously weren't on official business so he supposed he could see why people might jump to the wrong conclusions. Especially since the massive height difference between him and Talsha probably made the two of them look rather cute together.
Eventually the two of them crossed over into the San Francisco district and boarded one of the trolleys that particular district was famous for. Since it was late at night the trolley was relatively empty and became even more empty as it climbed higher and higher into the hills. Richard noticed that Talsha seemed lost in thought as she gazed at the passing scenery.
"Do you come up here very often?" he asked. Talsha nodded.
"I used to ride this trolley every day on my way to school," she informed him.
"Ah."
That probably meant she'd gone to Mihoshi Academy. It was located near Griffith Park and was well known for its excellent pilot training program. It wouldn't surprise Richard to learn that the Angel had found her wings there.
The trolley Richard and Talsha were riding reached the end of its route and clanked to a stop atop a wooden turntable. Rising from their seats, the pair of pilots made their way to the rear of the car and disembarked along with the other remaining passengers. They then began to make their way towards Griffith Park.
Griffith Park was very dark at night. Aside from some lamps in the area surrounding its landmark observatory there were almost no lights to be found on its grounds. The various footpaths that ran through it were illuminated only by light pollution from the nearby city and by the starlight that filtered in through the roof of Island One's dome. Fortunately that was enough light for a person with good eyesight to be able to see where they were going.
Talsha did not speak for several minutes following her arrival at the park. Instead she led the way along a dark footpath that seemed to be heading towards the observatory. Richard wondered if he should try to say something. He didn't feel entirely comfortable trying to start a conversation but he also wasn't very comfortable with the idea of remaining silent for much longer. He was just about to open his mouth when his companion finally spoke.
"Do you mind if I ask you a question, Ensign?" she asked. Richard glanced over at her in surprise, but couldn't see her face because it was dark and she wasn't looking in his direction. The only part of her he could see clearly was her hair.
"Go ahead," he told her.
"What made you decide to become a fighter pilot?"
Richard shrugged. That wasn't a difficult question for him.
"I thought it would be cool," he told her. "I've been a fan of valkyries since I was a kid. I think I watched too many movies growing up."
Talsha nodded her head.
"I see."
"Why, what about you?"
Talsha sighed.
"In my case it was largely a matter of family tradition. Both of my parents were fighter pilots. So were all of my grandparents. They were members of the Zentraedi and Meltrandi fighter groups that fought alongside the SDF-1 during the Battle of Earth."
On the surface Talsha's words seemed like a simple statement of fact, but to Richard they hinted at something else. Something that might allow him to understand the mystery that was the Angel of Number Sixty-Four Squadron.
"Did you not want to become a fighter pilot?" he asked. Talsha seemed to hesitate for a moment before answering.
"No. Not really."
"Then why did you become one? Did your parents force you to?"
A wave of movement ran through Talsha's hair as she shook her head.
"No. Not directly anyway. It's… complicated. I guess the best way to put it would be to say that it was my own decision, but that I did it for my mother's sake."
"What do you mean by that?" Richard asked. Normally he wouldn't have pressed the issue, but Talsha had asked him why he became a pilot first, and the manner in which she had done so combined with the answers she was giving to his questions told him that she had done so because something was bothering her.
Talsha let out a sigh.
"To understand that you're going to need to understand some things about my mother," she told him. Raising her head, she gazed up at the stars as she continued. "My mother comes from a family with a strong military tradition. Both her parents were exceptional fighter pilots, particularly her mother. Her mother was one of the aces Millia Fallyna selected to be part of the Queadluun group she commanded."
Richard whistled softly. The Queadluun-Rau pilots that flew under Millia Fallyna's commanded had been chosen from among the best in the Laplamiz Fleet. Space War I's most famous Meltran ace had expected nothing less than perfection from those who flew with her.
"I guess I can see where you got your flying skills from," he commented. Talsha didn't reply to his statement, choosing instead to continue with her narration.
"My grandparents were very quick to adopt human ways after the war, and were among the first Zentraedi to get married and have children. But they still thought of themselves as warriors. My mother was raised believing it was her destiny to be a fighter pilot and that she should strive to be just as good as her parents."
"Those are pretty high expectations."
"They were, but my mother was capable of meeting them, and perhaps more importantly she also wanted to meet them. So she enrolled in the UN Spacy's Flight Academy and learned to pilot valkyries. She graduated at the top of her class and was assigned to the 521st Reapers, an elite squadron that had just received the new VF-11 Thunderbolt. Everything seemed set for her to have an extremely successful career."
"So what went wrong?" Richard asked. Talsha let out another sigh.
"She was injured in a training accident. It wasn't anything life threatening -just some damage to her retinas- but it was enough to render her unfit for duty. She had to go through extensive reconstructive treatments to repair the damage, and of course the doctors weren't about to certify her as being fit to fly again until after they were sure everything had healed completely. You don't take chances with a pilot's eyesight."
"No you don't," Richard agreed. For all the sophisticated sensors that modern aerospace craft possessed the ancient Mark One Eyeball was still one of a pilot's most critical resources.
"Anyhow, my mother's injury acted as a catalyst for her relationship with my father. The two of them were already good friends even before her accident, but they became much more than that afterwards. My father made a point of going to see my mother at every available opportunity while she was in hospital, and shortly after she was released he took things a step further and proposed to her."
"Given that you're here, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that she accepted," Richard joked. Talsha nodded.
"She did, and it was after that when things started to go off track. My mother didn't intend for her marriage to change her plans very much at that point. She was planning to return to active duty as soon as the doctors certified her as being fit to fly. But she and my dad got a bit careless, and that's where I entered the picture." Talsha ceased looking at the stars and lowered her head. "You can't be an active duty fighter pilot and take care of a child at the same time. My parents knew that keeping me meant that one of them would have to give up their flying career. My mother decided it would be her." She exhaled slowly. "My mother has always portrayed what happened back then as a stroke of good fortune. There was a time in my teens just after I figured all of this out where I went to talk to her about what happened. She told me that I meant more to her than being a fighter pilot ever did and that she didn't regret what had happened for even a moment. But I could tell she was lying. Not about how much she cared about me, but about not having any regrets. She regretted that she'd never been able to live up to her full potential or her parent's expectations."
"And that's why you became a fighter pilot," Richard finished. "You wanted to make your mother happy by being what she couldn't be."
Talsha nodded. The path the two of them were following was starting to get close to the observatory, and Richard was beginning to be able to make out her face in the light that its lamps provided.
"More or less. I actually did consider pursuing other career options. Part of the reason I agreed with my parent's decision to enrol me in Mihoshi Academy was because it offered classes that were relevant to many of the areas I was interested in, not just piloting. But I always did better in the piloting classes than I did in any of the others, and my parents were always prouder of my performance in those classes than they were about my performance in any of the others ones I took. So in the end I just decided to go with the flow and become a pilot."
"I see." Richard hesitated for a moment before asking his next question. "Are you unhappy being a pilot?" he asked. Talsha shook her head.
"I wasn't until recently. If anything I kind of enjoyed it. And truth be told even now it's not so much the piloting that bothers me. It's more the whole "Angel" business. I really don't like it when people call me that."
"Really? I think it's a pretty awesome nickname. If my squadron gave me a nickname it would probably be something awful like Rich Man."
"Rich Man?"
This time it was Richard's turn to sigh.
"You know Richard Bilrer, the big transport tycoon?"
"Yes, he's one of the most successful Zen… oh."
"Yeah… I have the same first name he does. The other pilots in my squadron think it's hilarious to ask me if they can borrow money."
"Ah. I guess I can see why that could get annoying after a while."
The two pilots were now approaching the steps of the observatory, and Richard was finally able to get a good look at his companion's face thanks to the light from the nearby lamps.
"Do you know how I got my nickname, Ensign?" Talsha asked. Richard nodded.
"I know the general story. Three years ago during the run in with that hostile Meltrandi fleet your flight was on a recon mission when they were ambushed by a large group of Queadluun-Raus. They took out your flight leader, but you managed to protect everyone and scored enough kills to become an ace in the process."
Talsha nodded.
"That's essentially correct. My Flight Lieutenant's Queadluun-Rhea was disabled by enemy fire during the initial ambush and then we got swarmed by a much larger group of enemy Queadluun-Raus. Apparently I played a key role in fending them off."
"What do you mean you "apparently" played a key role in fending them off?" Richard asked. Talsha laughed as she began to climb the observatory steps.
"I say I "apparently" played a key role because I barely remember anything about that particular incident. I have a vague recollection of seeing my Flight Lieutenant's Queadluun get hit, but after that I can't remember anything. The footage from my unit's flight recorder is the only proof I have that I ever actually did any of the things the other members of my squadron credit me for."
"Are you serious?"
Talsha nodded, her expression turning sombre as she did so.
"I think I went berserk," she informed Richard. "That's the only explanation I can think of that can explain everything that happened. The things my flight recorder showed, the fact that I couldn't remember any of it afterwards… my going berserk is the only thing I can think of that can explain all that. Thankfully I haven't had anything like that happen to me since that time. I've had a few occasions where I've flown very aggressively in order to defend my comrades, but that's the only time I've ever completely lost it."
The white haired Meltran reached the top of the steps and turned to look out over the city.
"Anyhow, my nickname came about because my Flight Lieutenant felt I'd saved her life and started saying that I was "like a guardian angel" when talking about what happened during that mission. At first it was just her who talked about me like that, but after I flew a few more high risk missions and rescued a few other squadron members from dangerous situations the description began to catch on. From there it was just a matter of shortening "Guardian Angel" to "Angel" and I had my nickname."
"All right, but why do you dislike that nickname so much? That's the part I don't get."
Talsha took a deep breath then slowly let it out, briefly closing her eyes as she did so.
"I dislike that nickname because I dislike having to live up to a myth," she explained. "And that's what the Angel of Number Sixty-Four Squadron is. She's not a real person. She's a myth." The so-called Angel made her way over to one of the observatory's railings and leaned against it before continuing. "Then again maybe I'm just using that as an excuse. No one in my squadron honestly expects me to be able to protect them from everything that could possibly happen out there. The real problem is more that I can't deal with the reality of the situation we're facing. I'm not capable of accepting the possibility that I could lose a comrade. That wasn't a big problem during the conflict with that Meltrandi fleet because that conflict only lasted a little over a week. But this conflict with the Vajra has been dragging on for months and shows no sign of letting up any time soon. I'm really starting to worry that there may come a time when I can't protect everyone, especially now that I have a rookie as my wingman." The fingers of Talsha's right hand began to curl around the railing she was leaning on. "Don't get me wrong. Jarnika is a great pilot. I think she'll probably be better than I am someday. But right now she's still a rookie, and on top of that she's also a kid. I know that she's technically an adult and that I'm only a few years older than she is, but when I look at her she reminds me more of my classmates from high school than she does of any of the other pilots in my squadron."
Talsha's fingers were now wrapped tightly around the railing she was leaning on, her knuckles showing pale even through her dark skin. Without thinking Richard reached out and gently placed his hand on top of hers. Talsha glanced at him in surprise, and he winced as he realised what he had just done.
"Sorry," he apologised as he quickly withdrew his hand. Talsha shook her head.
"It's all right," she told him, then smiled. "Thank you for listening."
Richard shook his head.
"It's the least I can do for you after you risked your life to save mine. I just wish I was able to offer you some advice."
Talsha gave him another smile.
"Don't worry about that too much. Even just being able to talk about this with someone makes me feel a lot better. I don't feel comfortable talking about these kinds of thing with other members of my squadron."
"And you feel comfortable talking about them with some guy you'd never even met until two days ago?" Richard asked. Talsha laughed.
"Let's just say you seem like a very sincere person. When you said you felt a need to pay me back for saving your life I could tell that you meant it."
Richard laughed nervously.
"Ah, I see." He paused for a moment. "Well, I'm just glad I was able to do something to help you out. Feel free to contact me the next time you need someone to talk to about your problems."
Talsha nodded.
"I will. Thank you ensign. You don't know how much this means to me."
Richard shrugged.
"Don't worry about it. I've still got a long way to go before I can consider the debt I owe you to be paid."
Talsha frowned a little at that.
"Just out of curiosity ensign, what exactly do you feel you need to do before you can consider the debt you owe me to be paid?"
Richard shrugged again.
"I don't know exactly. Probably save your life the same way you did mine. Although given the difference in our skill levels there's probably not much chance of that happening any time soon." He laughed. "You saw what happened when I tried to be a hero during the battle in that asteroid field. Great job I did there, huh?"
"Hmmm…" Talsha studied Richard for a moment, a considering look on her face. "Do you want to improve your skills, ensign?" she asked. Richard nodded.
"Of course I do."
"Would you like my help with that?"
Richard stared at her in surprise.
"Of course I would, but I can't make you do something like that. I already owe you too much."
"You're not making me do this ensign. I'm offering to do it on my own free will. It wouldn't be that hard for me to drop by during some of your flight's simulator training sessions." The Angel placed a hand on her hip. "You've got potential, ensign. You need to polish your skills and learn to exercise better judgement, but you've got potential. That was obvious even when you were running for your life from that Vajra swarm." The white haired Meltran grinned. "Besides, there's a benefit in it for me too. You said you wanted to pay back the debt you owe me. I'm giving you the means to do that."
Richard laughed sheepishly.
"All right, although it's kind of embarrassing to get help paying back a debt from the person you owe the debt to."
Talsha shrugged.
"Yeah, well, keep in mind that you've also taken me out for dinner and listened to me talk about my problems. So why don't we make a deal? I'll train you to become a better pilot, and you meet with me every once in a while so that we can chat." A smirk spread across her face. "Heck, I'll even let you treat me to lunch."
Richard laughed at the Meltran's comment.
"All right. Just as long as you don't choose anything that's too out there price wise. I need to watch my budget."
"Don't worry, I'm not like a certain red-haired pilot that I fly with. I'll be sure to choose some place that's reasonable." Talsha's expression turned more serious. "Is that fine with you, ensign?"
Richard nodded.
"It's more than fine lieutenant. Though I'd prefer it if you'd call me Richard when we're off duty."
"That's fine. I'd prefer it if you'd call me Talsha as well." Talsha held out her hand. "Do we have a deal, Richard?"
Richard nodded as he grasped the Meltran's long and slender hand with his own small one.
"We have a deal," he agreed.
Talsha's fingers might have been slender, but she still had a powerful grip.
