5. Fifteen, part three
'You're down.'
"I AM NOT!" Gantu protested at the flight simulator computer that was saying an enemy finally shot him down.
He would have proceeded to beat the computer that was telling him messages like to please open canopy and exit, but it opened by itself. Someone from the outside had. It was an alien that looked pretty amazed at how frustrated Gantu was.
"Are you okay over there?" He asked.
Gantu weakly grinned. "Yeah."
Gantu stepped out of the simulator and out unto the room where there were seats filled with people ready to try their first battle craft simulator. He was at "Battle Craft Squadron Academy,' or for short 'BCSA.' It was almost like a floating school out in space. It even had one or two crafts on it, but at the time they were just learning how to fly the things and discover what was on the inside. Sitting in one of the seats was the only girl in the room, Juska. She was asleep, and snoring. A lot of the guys around her stared, before Gantu roughly awaken her.
"What?" she groaned.
"I'm down," Gantu mumbled.
Though at the time he didn't seem too happy, on the inside Gantu felt like he was in complete paradise. Mostly because his father wasn't here, and he didn't have to go to your everyday school although half of the classes were on what you would learn there. There was one problem, and it was the worst part. His only friend was Juska here that he knew forever, and missed them, unlike Venes. Except here, he had a few friends and Juska had her own, too. No one ever questioned him about anything going on at home, either.
"So? You're not the first," she answered slowly and was about to fall asleep, but he shook her again.
"You're next! Pay attention!" Gantu was just about uncontrollably shaking her again. A lot of people stared.
She was about to hit him or something, when someone called Gantu. He looked over to see the person in charge of the simulation center at the time and bounded over to see his results. Just about everyone at BCSA couldn't wait to get out and actually get in the craft. The first time Gantu saw one up close, he was instantly in love. There were three types of the craft, but multiple kinds for each type. The first one was the primary combat craft. It looked similar to an Earth fighter plane (to be exact, a SU-30, for those who know their planes) with much more curves and they were larger so a wider range of races could pilot them. The primary crafts also had a much more small wingspan, and the tips curved backwards. The colors usually depended on what academy you went to, and BCSA was dark gray and yellow.
A second type was a stealth. They were the most valuable, and were almost a V-shape. They curved backwards also, and gave it a more C-looking appearance from above. They were very sleek, smooth and only half the size of primary crafts, because of their very small wingspan. Another feather was the nose wasn't sharp, but more curved. Lastly, there were the crafts meant for back-up. They were almost like primary crafts with one exception. They carried much more weaponry and were larger, and slower.
Now, receiving his results, Gantu was trying to look at the paper the lieutenant was looking at. The lieutenant was a big, brown guy with six arms, three on each side and looked very intimidating with the BCSA uniform on.
"You're score was above average," the lieutenant read, "And along with flight. Your average kill was two to every minute."
"Is that good?" Gantu questioned.
"Good?" The alien asked, seeming surprised. "This is considered exceptional flight! Most pilots have an average kill of two to every five minutes. And you lasted much longer, also."
Gantu looked over to Juska with a look on his face like 'beat-that' and she stuck her tongue out at him in response. He was beginning to leave when the brown alien coughed.
"Oh. Thank you, SIR," He said, never used to referring to people as sir or ma'am.
Already, in that little of time, the alien that had went inside the similar opened the canopy and came out, looking very sad. Juska stood up and walked towards it.
"Wish me luck," she said to Gantu.
He shook his head, and in response she tripped him. The result was Gantu landing flat on his face and just about everyone laughed. But that didn't matter. Being stupid was fun!
-
After being in the BCSA for nearly a year, it was nearing Gantu's birthday again. In only one week he would have to go through the traditional torture of Juska and her wraith. And both of them were just about every Sergeant and Captain's favorites. They were the best flyers in the Academy for their year, and had the abilities of a third year pilot. And the war wasn't getting any better. Instead, it had heated up. More and more battles were taking place, both in the militia and squadron, in space.
Gantu was lying in his dormitory, trying to decide on a CD to listen to. His roommate was reading a magazine and looking very happy. Probably porn. Gantu finally decided from the selection and was putting it in the player when the door opened without a knock. Standing in the doorway was Juska and a captain he had never seen before. His roommate immediately shoved the magazine elsewhere. Yeah. Definitely porn.
"Gantu? Come here. We have a situation," the captain roughly said.
"Okay. I mean, yes sir," he got up and walked out.
Once there, the three started walking down the aisles. The captain was explaining what it was they needed to do for both of them as they walked.
"You probably heard the small groups of enemy stealth crafts that have been going near us for just about a year, correct?" The captain asked.
They both nodded, and he continued, "The number of times they have been drawing near has increased. Usually we send out only four or five of our own to go and scare them. We don't want to engage for no necessary reason. Every time, it works. But now, with three pilots out and under health not suitable for flight, we don't have a number of pilots to go out there."
Gantu and Juska exchanged looks. The captain still went on, "You've both been in practice in the actual crafts and scored the best, and sometimes beating the fourth year pilots. We want both of you to go out and there and make our numbers appear larger. It should scare them off. We don't want to take chances with only two crafts out there. They might engage us."
"So," Juska said, "You basically want us to fly with the others and help scare them off?"
"Yes," the Captain responded. "We've picked up the group on radar, and we need to take off immediately and before they draw to close."
Once again, Gantu and Juska looked at each other.
"Go to your crafts and prepare for take-off," The Captain said.
With no 'yes, sir' or anything, Gantu and Juska were already racing down the hall and to the docking area, where the crafts waited.
-
Gantu was in the cockpit of the primary craft, and all of the suit he had to wear was heavy. It was important though. Something about being in space and having pressure in the cockpit could make your lungs just explode. This outfit somehow helped. Gantu was nervous, but bored also. He wanted to leave, but everyone else was taking forever and all the time they needed.
"Juska?" He asked into the radio.
"What?" She responded, her voice very crackly over the radio.
"Will you hurry up?!" He growled.
"Good gosh, don't get so emotional!" She answered.
Gantu was silent. Finally all maintenance people cleared from the small room where the crafts were. The huge, mechanical door slowly opened. Everything would have been sucked out if they weren't strapped down. First, someone he didn't know slowly rolled out and into the darkness of space. The engines emitted a pink-orange trail, and soon everyone was going out. Gantu was the last, right behind someone he didn't know. Gantu moved the joystick further, and the craft zoomed forward much faster than he had expected. Gantu didn't realize he was really nervous until now, and looked around at the other crafts. By the way they were flying, they all looked calm compared to him. The four crafts soon joined in formation.
-
"I have a visual on six back-up crafts," a voice crackled.
Gantu didn't seem to notice anything weird, but slowly processed it. Why would they use back-ups when there were no other crafts in the area? Anyway, they pressed on forward. Gantu could soon see the light outline of the enemy. Their crafts seemed huge to his primary and were painted a metallic white and had dark ride stripes on each wingtip. They were also flying in formation.
"Are you two new guys there?" The same voice asked.
"Yeah," both he and Juska responded at the same time.
"Just keep going forward. They'll turn," The voice said.
Gantu didn't know why, but somehow knew whoever was talking was near his right. Gantu looked at the craft, and for a moment spaced out, getting mesmerized by the trail of orange-pink it left when it flew. Then, Gantu looked forward once there was a loud rumble. It was the sound of the back- up crafts. Their engines were huge, and they changed direction.
"What did I tell you?" The voice asked to Gantu and Juska. "They always turn and-"
Suddenly, Gantu's craft was just about flipped over when there was a huge force to his right. After spending some time, getting in position he heard the second voice over the radio shouting, "He's been hit!"
Gantu looked over at who was once on his right. It was now more than discarded metal from the impact of the cannons coming from those back-up crafts. Seeing that just about but Gantu into panic mode. "Juska?"
"What?" She hurriedly asked, also sounding very desperate.
"Are you okay?" Gantu asked.
"Yeah, I only took a little bit of shrapnel. The worst was it chipping the paint," she answered.
Gantu was too afraid to go and fight six back-ups. They were basically designed to make powder of what was left of battles. And anyway, they were twice their amount of numbers now. Gantu looked over and saw only one primary craft fighting. Bright green lasers were flying in every direction, and he saw one of the crafts hit right in the nose and explode simultaneously. Finally, Gantu groaned and pulled into the fight.
TBC
A/N - Good. I liked that part. Major setting change, huh? I thought that was kind of the worst part in the story, how it went from on a planet out into a GIANT spaceship academy and a dogfight with jets. Meep!
'You're down.'
"I AM NOT!" Gantu protested at the flight simulator computer that was saying an enemy finally shot him down.
He would have proceeded to beat the computer that was telling him messages like to please open canopy and exit, but it opened by itself. Someone from the outside had. It was an alien that looked pretty amazed at how frustrated Gantu was.
"Are you okay over there?" He asked.
Gantu weakly grinned. "Yeah."
Gantu stepped out of the simulator and out unto the room where there were seats filled with people ready to try their first battle craft simulator. He was at "Battle Craft Squadron Academy,' or for short 'BCSA.' It was almost like a floating school out in space. It even had one or two crafts on it, but at the time they were just learning how to fly the things and discover what was on the inside. Sitting in one of the seats was the only girl in the room, Juska. She was asleep, and snoring. A lot of the guys around her stared, before Gantu roughly awaken her.
"What?" she groaned.
"I'm down," Gantu mumbled.
Though at the time he didn't seem too happy, on the inside Gantu felt like he was in complete paradise. Mostly because his father wasn't here, and he didn't have to go to your everyday school although half of the classes were on what you would learn there. There was one problem, and it was the worst part. His only friend was Juska here that he knew forever, and missed them, unlike Venes. Except here, he had a few friends and Juska had her own, too. No one ever questioned him about anything going on at home, either.
"So? You're not the first," she answered slowly and was about to fall asleep, but he shook her again.
"You're next! Pay attention!" Gantu was just about uncontrollably shaking her again. A lot of people stared.
She was about to hit him or something, when someone called Gantu. He looked over to see the person in charge of the simulation center at the time and bounded over to see his results. Just about everyone at BCSA couldn't wait to get out and actually get in the craft. The first time Gantu saw one up close, he was instantly in love. There were three types of the craft, but multiple kinds for each type. The first one was the primary combat craft. It looked similar to an Earth fighter plane (to be exact, a SU-30, for those who know their planes) with much more curves and they were larger so a wider range of races could pilot them. The primary crafts also had a much more small wingspan, and the tips curved backwards. The colors usually depended on what academy you went to, and BCSA was dark gray and yellow.
A second type was a stealth. They were the most valuable, and were almost a V-shape. They curved backwards also, and gave it a more C-looking appearance from above. They were very sleek, smooth and only half the size of primary crafts, because of their very small wingspan. Another feather was the nose wasn't sharp, but more curved. Lastly, there were the crafts meant for back-up. They were almost like primary crafts with one exception. They carried much more weaponry and were larger, and slower.
Now, receiving his results, Gantu was trying to look at the paper the lieutenant was looking at. The lieutenant was a big, brown guy with six arms, three on each side and looked very intimidating with the BCSA uniform on.
"You're score was above average," the lieutenant read, "And along with flight. Your average kill was two to every minute."
"Is that good?" Gantu questioned.
"Good?" The alien asked, seeming surprised. "This is considered exceptional flight! Most pilots have an average kill of two to every five minutes. And you lasted much longer, also."
Gantu looked over to Juska with a look on his face like 'beat-that' and she stuck her tongue out at him in response. He was beginning to leave when the brown alien coughed.
"Oh. Thank you, SIR," He said, never used to referring to people as sir or ma'am.
Already, in that little of time, the alien that had went inside the similar opened the canopy and came out, looking very sad. Juska stood up and walked towards it.
"Wish me luck," she said to Gantu.
He shook his head, and in response she tripped him. The result was Gantu landing flat on his face and just about everyone laughed. But that didn't matter. Being stupid was fun!
-
After being in the BCSA for nearly a year, it was nearing Gantu's birthday again. In only one week he would have to go through the traditional torture of Juska and her wraith. And both of them were just about every Sergeant and Captain's favorites. They were the best flyers in the Academy for their year, and had the abilities of a third year pilot. And the war wasn't getting any better. Instead, it had heated up. More and more battles were taking place, both in the militia and squadron, in space.
Gantu was lying in his dormitory, trying to decide on a CD to listen to. His roommate was reading a magazine and looking very happy. Probably porn. Gantu finally decided from the selection and was putting it in the player when the door opened without a knock. Standing in the doorway was Juska and a captain he had never seen before. His roommate immediately shoved the magazine elsewhere. Yeah. Definitely porn.
"Gantu? Come here. We have a situation," the captain roughly said.
"Okay. I mean, yes sir," he got up and walked out.
Once there, the three started walking down the aisles. The captain was explaining what it was they needed to do for both of them as they walked.
"You probably heard the small groups of enemy stealth crafts that have been going near us for just about a year, correct?" The captain asked.
They both nodded, and he continued, "The number of times they have been drawing near has increased. Usually we send out only four or five of our own to go and scare them. We don't want to engage for no necessary reason. Every time, it works. But now, with three pilots out and under health not suitable for flight, we don't have a number of pilots to go out there."
Gantu and Juska exchanged looks. The captain still went on, "You've both been in practice in the actual crafts and scored the best, and sometimes beating the fourth year pilots. We want both of you to go out and there and make our numbers appear larger. It should scare them off. We don't want to take chances with only two crafts out there. They might engage us."
"So," Juska said, "You basically want us to fly with the others and help scare them off?"
"Yes," the Captain responded. "We've picked up the group on radar, and we need to take off immediately and before they draw to close."
Once again, Gantu and Juska looked at each other.
"Go to your crafts and prepare for take-off," The Captain said.
With no 'yes, sir' or anything, Gantu and Juska were already racing down the hall and to the docking area, where the crafts waited.
-
Gantu was in the cockpit of the primary craft, and all of the suit he had to wear was heavy. It was important though. Something about being in space and having pressure in the cockpit could make your lungs just explode. This outfit somehow helped. Gantu was nervous, but bored also. He wanted to leave, but everyone else was taking forever and all the time they needed.
"Juska?" He asked into the radio.
"What?" She responded, her voice very crackly over the radio.
"Will you hurry up?!" He growled.
"Good gosh, don't get so emotional!" She answered.
Gantu was silent. Finally all maintenance people cleared from the small room where the crafts were. The huge, mechanical door slowly opened. Everything would have been sucked out if they weren't strapped down. First, someone he didn't know slowly rolled out and into the darkness of space. The engines emitted a pink-orange trail, and soon everyone was going out. Gantu was the last, right behind someone he didn't know. Gantu moved the joystick further, and the craft zoomed forward much faster than he had expected. Gantu didn't realize he was really nervous until now, and looked around at the other crafts. By the way they were flying, they all looked calm compared to him. The four crafts soon joined in formation.
-
"I have a visual on six back-up crafts," a voice crackled.
Gantu didn't seem to notice anything weird, but slowly processed it. Why would they use back-ups when there were no other crafts in the area? Anyway, they pressed on forward. Gantu could soon see the light outline of the enemy. Their crafts seemed huge to his primary and were painted a metallic white and had dark ride stripes on each wingtip. They were also flying in formation.
"Are you two new guys there?" The same voice asked.
"Yeah," both he and Juska responded at the same time.
"Just keep going forward. They'll turn," The voice said.
Gantu didn't know why, but somehow knew whoever was talking was near his right. Gantu looked at the craft, and for a moment spaced out, getting mesmerized by the trail of orange-pink it left when it flew. Then, Gantu looked forward once there was a loud rumble. It was the sound of the back- up crafts. Their engines were huge, and they changed direction.
"What did I tell you?" The voice asked to Gantu and Juska. "They always turn and-"
Suddenly, Gantu's craft was just about flipped over when there was a huge force to his right. After spending some time, getting in position he heard the second voice over the radio shouting, "He's been hit!"
Gantu looked over at who was once on his right. It was now more than discarded metal from the impact of the cannons coming from those back-up crafts. Seeing that just about but Gantu into panic mode. "Juska?"
"What?" She hurriedly asked, also sounding very desperate.
"Are you okay?" Gantu asked.
"Yeah, I only took a little bit of shrapnel. The worst was it chipping the paint," she answered.
Gantu was too afraid to go and fight six back-ups. They were basically designed to make powder of what was left of battles. And anyway, they were twice their amount of numbers now. Gantu looked over and saw only one primary craft fighting. Bright green lasers were flying in every direction, and he saw one of the crafts hit right in the nose and explode simultaneously. Finally, Gantu groaned and pulled into the fight.
TBC
A/N - Good. I liked that part. Major setting change, huh? I thought that was kind of the worst part in the story, how it went from on a planet out into a GIANT spaceship academy and a dogfight with jets. Meep!
