11: Hard choices
"I asked lady Une about it a while ago," the braided preventer was saying, "but she said there wasn't an opening. But last night, just as I was packing up to go home, she comes to me and drops a file onto my desk and guess what? The new planes are about finished and she wants me to pilot one of them!"
Wufei looked up at his very excited friend. "The new ones?" He asked surprised. "The two-oh-fives?"
"You bet!" Duo was positively beaming. "They can penetrate the sound barrier and keep top speed for several hours even with a full cargo load and they are supposed to be as relaxed as a shuttle in space. They'll be used for missions all over earth. I could be sent to Greece one week and then all the way to China the next."
The two-oh-five were cargo planes, not fighters. Wufei knew about Duo's dream to become a pilot and get himself out of the thick of it all, but he would not consider himself a good friend if he did not point out a serious downside. "It'll mean you'll be going down in salary significantly." He said. As a cargo pilot he would not get paid nearly as well as he was now, not to mention there would be no bonuses upon completion of the project. "Are you certain this is what you want?"
Duo snorted. "And what am I doing with my money now?" He asked. "It's not like I'm supporting a family and my bank account is full enough to keep me alive for years if I loose my job."
Looked like he'd already made his decision.
princess