Calm Before the Knights

The next day was judo with captain Ernest. I had thought that after last weeks relatively successful session, today would seem easier.

"Hugch!"

"Nice try, Hayate!" Ernest shouted out excitedly, clearly enjoying himself more than I was at the moment. "But you'll need to work on not telegraphing your moves so much if you want to get a hold on me!" the man continued to shout as he held me to the floor in less than comfortable hold.

"Right," I muttered into the mat, finally getting some slack to work with as the man released my appendages and stood up to get ready for another round. I grudgingly brought myself back to the ready position and prepared myself yet again. I was having the most luck when I played a reactionary roll to Ernest's movements. There was no way my own strength or momentum would work against him, so I had to rely on my ability to redirect his own moment. However, that ability was still quite dismal. Without any formal start, the next match began and I focused intently on every movement the giant Zentradi made, trying to tell when he was about to charge at me. His eyes never left my own as we slowly began to circle each other like tigers getting ready to face off. Then, I noticed an off step and a split second later, the man was charging me like a bull.

Every time before I had tried to escape the mans bear-like reach, and each time I had failed miserably. So this time, I jumped straight towards the incoming Zentradi, crouching even lower to get under the mans center of gravity. Once I judged him to be above me, I reached up and grabbed, finding a grip on the mans leg robes and using my new hold to continue his momentum past me and hopefully out of bounds. Just when I thought he would pass right over me and continue on out of the ring, a rough grope to the collar of my robes took me along with the flying man, causing both of us to tumble out of bounds. Once Ernest had recovered from his surprise, he nearly whooped in excitement.

"I think you're starting to get the hang of this!" the man shouted excitedly, giving me a whack on the back that he probably figured to be congratulatory, but in fact made me even more breathless than I already was.

"… Thanks…" I managed to heave out between coughs for air.

"I think you've earned a break for today. You've got a big night after all," the man said with a smile that on anyone else, might have been seen as friendly, but from the giant Zentradi, was more frightening.

"Right, that…" I murmured, thinking back to this morning's briefing when I had learned there'd be a kind of 'welcome to the club' party for Freyja and I.

"What's with that reaction?" the man asked, a confused scowl crossing his face. "You seem like one of those guys who would be into a party like that."

"It's not that I'm not down for a party," I quickly clarified, looking back up the large man as we both began to get back up and head towards our canned teas. "It's just… I don't know. I guess it still sort of feels like I didn't earn my victory the 'honorable way'."

Yesterday, after the test, I had discovered just how concerned everyone had been when I had stalled out my aircraft. There had been a lot of people who thought I'd be coming back to Elysion in a body bag. I felt real guilty about having freaked them out like that. Even Mirage was strangely skittish of me. Messer went as far as to officially ask for the test results to be voided under conditions of instructor duress. However, before he could go further than to voice his intentions, Mirage spoke up in my defense. She had said that all tactics are valid when you're fighting for you life, and that if I was able to understand that, I was fit to be part of Delta Platoon. As soon as she said her piece, she retreated off somewhere I couldn't find her.

"Don't dwell on it," Ernest said, trying to pull me away from my thoughts. "You've earned your spot, don't let anyone say otherwise. Now, go get ready to enjoy yourself tonight. That's and order!" the man said in a fake serious voice. I gave a sly grin and a lazy salute before dodging out and into the changing room.

When I arrived at Ragnyannyan, I could already see Chuck's sister, Marianne, getting ready for the night in more ways than one. In addition to all the décor she had set up around the restaurant, she had gotten dressed in an outfit that showed more skin than some complete sets of normal underwear. Of course, as soon as Chuck got home he convinced her to wear something a bit more 'conservative', but was still lewd enough that many men would be shifting around uncomfortably tonight. It didn't take long for more people to arrive and by the time the sun went down, the festivities were ready to officially begin.

"Looking back at when I was asked to take part in the genesis of Walkure-" captain Ernest began before he got interrupted by Nina and Makina.

"Thank you!" the two said simultaneously with wide smiles as if the man had finished his speech already. I wouldn't say anything to the man directly, but he did have a habit of being long winded when given the chance. It seemed the two young women wouldn't let him have it tonight.

"And a hip, hip hurrah for Fre-Fre and Haya-Haya's big debuts!" Makina said excitedly. I wasn't all too crazy about the nick-name, but the slight eye-roll I saw from Mirage told me that this was just a Makina thing. Hopefully the name wouldn't gain any following besides the girl who had just used it.

"Cheers!" the two girls on stage shouted, eliciting a chant from the crowd in the room.

"Welcome to Chaos!" the gathered company yelled out, their voices severely lacking any cohesiveness but still unified enough to understand. Freyja took this as her cue to begin a speech which had never been requested of her.

"I, Freyja Wion," began the girl in severely embarrassed and trembling voice, "will devote my life to Walkure!" she finished passionately. Her mini pledge to the singing group she was now part of earned her some chuckles from those close enough to hear her over the din of the side conversations taking place though the restaurant.

"She always overdoes it," I murmured to myself before taking a sip of my beverage. Suddenly, a large arm came and wrapped itself across my back, causing me to choke a little and angrily look back at my surprise assailant. It was none other than a smirking Chuck Mustang.

"And now, a few words from our rookie!" he shouted proudly.

"Like, right now?" I aksed back, slightly annoyed and slightly embarrassed. Public speaking had never been one of my fortes.

"Don't be shy," Chuck teased a little, clearly not having a problem looking a fool in front of a crowd of people. "Just say hi!"

"… Hi," I said to the small crowd of people around us, finding most of them sporting amused smirks at Chuck and I's banter. A while later, Chuck had ducked into the back to work on some dishes we would be eating later. I stood around the edge of the party as I usually did at gatherings like this, watching as people enjoyed themselves. Beth was having a drinking competition with some men from maintenance and wining by a significant margin. I stopped my surveillance of the event once it felt like I was getting drunk just from watching. Captain Ernest had started an arm wrestling match that began innocently enough, but ended with him easily beating two of the most burly men even when they were working together. Just as my stomach began to rumble with hunger, Chuck came out from the back holding some covered platters along with his brother Zack.

"Next course!" the man shouted proudly.

"A Ragnyannyan specialty!" Zack continued. "Fried fermented spiders!" I was momentarily held up by the name. The only thing that had sounded appetizing about it was 'fried'. Nearly everything else about the title didn't seem to belong to food.

"What's that face for?" Mirage asked from beside me, seemingly showing up from out of nowhere.

"Er, well," I began, "I'm not to sure my stomach is ready to eat anything with the word 'fermented' in it."

"You're probably right," Mirage said after a moment. "It can hardly handle some barrel rolls, after all." For a moment, I was shocked silent. I hadn't ever heard Mirage crack one joke before, and the dead serious way she had just spoken, I wasn't sure if she had just tried to be funny or was trying to insult me again.

"What?" Mirage asked, her face dropping into a slightly worried face while her cheeks began to flush slightly. "Did I do it wrong? Was that not funny?" Finally realizing she had indeed tried to crack a joke with her incredibly dry wit, I began to snicker only causing her embarrassed blush to intensify slightly.

"Sorry," I began, holding up a hand to Mirage who was beginning to shift from embarrassed to angry as I tried to subdue my laughing. "It's just I've never heard you try to be funny before so I wasn't sure if you were being serious or not."

"Do I seem that boring…" I heard her mutter quietly before she recomposed herself. "Well, if it must be stated, then yes, I was attempting a bit of humor. However, if it is too sophisticated for you to understand then I suppose I can try and-" I interrupted her in the middle of her rant with another held up hand.

"No, no," I quickly began trying to get her to stop. "It's just like I said, I've never heard you try to be funny before. I liked it." Mirage quirked an eyebrow at my vague statement. "The joke," I clarified. "Even if it was at my expense."

"I see." Mirage said, a small tinge of pick coming back to her cheeks before she cleared her throat again and nodded towards the platters of the strange fried fermented spiders. "They are actually quite good," the female pilot began, changing the subject. "Would you like to try one?"

"You're not pulling my leg, are you?" I asked, skeptical of if Mirage had even had one herself before.

"Why would I do that?" she asked seriously. "You have enough trouble with balance as it is." This time I managed to laugh without having to have her explain to me she was trying to make another joke.

The spiders were actually a decent snack. I certainly wouldn't be idly munching on them any time soon though, they were a more of a 'that's interesting' kind of food. Later, after Mirage and I had eaten some other side dishes around the restaurant, Chuck and Zack brought out the main courses and we returned to our seats with Freyja, Makina, Reina, and Elizabeth, Chuck's youngest sister. I had begun eating when suddenly an oddly colored mercat jumped up onto the table.

"Wha- how'd that get in here?!" I shouted pointing at the pink and black colored mercat.

"Querule?" Mirage asked confused at my reaction. "He's mine, I brought him here."

"Great," I murmured as I sat back down, giving the creature loathsome glares just waiting for my allergies to kick in.

But they didn't.

"That's strange," I mused aloud after a few minutes.

"What, did you expect him to attack you or something?" Mirage asked hostility, her anger stemming from my apparent disdain for her pet.

"No, I'm just allergic to them usually…" I replied, as I stared at the creature. I realized the black and pink stripes it sported were actually from some kind of hand-crafted clothes the mercat was wearing. Did Mirage make those? She didn't seem the craftsty sort…

"You too?" Mirage asked, the edge in her voice suddenly gone.

"Querule's hypo-alergenic," Freyja said helpfully, "Oh yeah! Hayate you're allergic to mercat's too, aren't you!" the young girl said excitedly. "See Mirage! I knew there was something similar between you two!"

"Whatever," Mirage replied with a huff as she returned to eating. The table grew quiet again until Makina began talking.

"So, Fre-Fre, are you ready for tomorrow's Waccine show?"

"A Waccine show?" Freyja repeated, she eating paused for the moment.

"The government of Randor requested it," Makina continued. "They say the risk of a Var breakout has been on the rise."

"Dose it have to be live?" I asked. "Why not use pre-recorded songs?" After all, that was what they usually played over the speakers back when I had been working on Al-Shahal.

"When we sing, we generate bilogical fold waves which calm down the Var," Makina explained, actually sounding intelligent for a moment. "If it's recorded or digitized, the effects are practically erased."

"Live is the best," Reina added in as she looking longingly at the writhing jellyfish in her chopsticks before she swallowed the thing whole in one gulp.

"Are you gonna sing too, Hayate?" Elizabeth asked, apparently anxious to hear my non-existent singing talent.

"Nope," I replied firmly as I reached over and dabbed a corner of her mouth that had some sauce on it. "We'll be ding an air show," I told the young girl before I tasted the sauce, finding it pretty good and reaching over to grab some more of it before Mirage spoke up.

"There is a chance that those unknowns will show up again," she warned, meeting my eyes with a cold look that told me she wasn't joking around. "Don't let your guard down and follow my orders." If she had spoken to me like that a week ago, I probably would've gotten upset, and the eyes I felt drifting towards me proved that some people still expected that. But I had come to learn and accept that Mirage just showed her concern in a different way. If nothing else, she would keep me alive just so she could say she had a hand in creating a successful pilot.

And then kill me in a non-flying 'accident'.

"Indeed, indeed," I replied, imitating Freyja's accent just a little to help ease the tension that had come over the table as I reached for the sauce.

"Are you making fun of me?" Freyja asked immediately, not missing a beat at all.

"I'd never!" I replied back nonchalantly as I stole a quick glance over at Mirage who seemed… well, not exactly happy, but not angry either. Maybe frustrated? The night moved along quickly once the main course had been finished. People began to leave as they neared their limits for alcohol and the amount of sleep they were willing to sacrifice. Freyja, Makina and Reina all went to the back of the resturant to watch the water for the bit, but I hung back to speak with Mirage before she left.

"You guy's go on ahead, I'm gonna get something to drink."

"Can you grab me an apple juice?" Freyja asked as she headed out to the patio holding her tummy. "I don't feel to great."

"Indeed, indeed," I replied with a small grin to which she scowled to but headed out anyways. I saw Mirage pick up her pet mercat and before she could leave, I caught up to her.

"Mirage?" I asked quickly, catching her just as she reached out for the handle. She stopped her motion but didn't turn around. "I just wanted to let you know I was serious about what you said. About following your orders." Mirage remained silent and still didn't turn around, but gave one nod of her head before she reached out and opened the door, leaving the restaurant.

I sighed heavily and shrugged as I went to grab an apple juice for Freyja. I found her out on the patio clutching her stomach as if she was having serious indigestion, but as soon as she had a sip from her beverage, she seemed to perk right up. It wasn't long before she left with Makina and Reina who refused to have me escort them back saying that they'd be fine and that I should catch some sleep before it got too late. I was glad to take the opportunity to head to bed and feel asleep almost as soon as I hit my mattress, not having to worry about the brooding Messer as he had gone to Elysion to sleep in preparation for tomorrow.

The next day started off pretty routinely. Until I showed up for work. Everyone was bustling around getting ready for Aether, the ship we would be leaving for Randor on. Once I was on board the ship, commander Arad found me and showed me to the room I'd be staying in. It wasn't huge, but then again we were on a paramilitary space vessel. Space was going to be something of a luxury and I had traveled on ships often enough to know that the room I had been given was fairly large. I immediately began to unpack my small bag full of clothes and hygiene supplies.

Halfway through a shower, there was a minor gravity flux as the ship separated from Elysion, causing the water droplets around me to momentary float in place. In that brief moment of weightlessness, it felt like the time I had let myself fall off the edge of Elysion before the wind picked me back up, and as I was recalling that feeling of euphoria, I suddenly felt the same strange sensation coming from the necklace around my neck. I quickly looked down at the crystal that hung near my heart, just catching the last of a strange glow before the crystal returned to it's normal purple color. I continued stairing at it, shaking my head a couple times to make sure it wasn't the water that was making me see things. But after a full minute of staring and nothing happening, I decided to stop wasting water and make myself useful.

Once I completed my shower, I changed into my flight uniform. We would only be in transit for thirty minutes, and I had already spent some of that time in the shower. Theodore and Perry had told me that there was a surprise for me in the hanger bay and I didn't want to keep them waiting. Once I arrived on the hanger deck, the two men greeted me with large smiles that I found very infectious.

"Follow me," Theodore said with a smirk that had my heart rate climbing. "I think you're going to like her."

"Her?" I asked, slightly unsure what the man was talking about. Then I began to think as I followed the mechanic past some of Delta Platoon's aircraft. We're on the hanger bay. Hanger bay's store planes. Mechanics work on planes. Mechanics sometimes call their planes their girls… My eyes widened as I had my epiphany just before I caught my first glance of the plane.

"Is this her?" I asked excitedly as Theodore held out a hand and smiled slyly. "She's a looker!" I exclaimed as I resisted the urge to walk around the plane and ogle it from every angle. I had always held an appreciation for large machines, especially ones that had a sense of elegance while still being able to perform a practical function. The VF-31 in front of me was practically the epitome of my fascination.

"It's a bleeding edge fighter, stock equipped with an inertial control system," Theodore began looking at both my reaction and the plane. "Wasted on you, if you ask me," the man added with a jab to my ribs. I couldn't help but let loose a small chuckle of anticipation. This Waccine show just got a whole lot more awesome in my book. "Also," the man beside me said before presenting me with a data-pad. "We have a lil' onboarding gift for you." I took the data pad and pressed the only button I could find on the device, causing a movie clip to begin.

"Hey-o, Haya-Haya!" I gave a small eye roll at the nick-name Makina seemed insistent upon making stick. "We know you hate the support AI," the on screen Makina continued, causing Mirage who had come to see what all the fuss was about to snort in subdued amusement. "So, we tuned Siegy just for you!" the girl finished in her bubbly enthusiasm, joining up with Reina and the rest of the engineering crew so they could cheer enthusiastically in front of the plane that appeared on the data-pad. I guess giving me a nick-name wasn't enough.

"This way you don't have to wear a helmet," Reina added, her voice a perfect juxtaposition to Makina.

"But," Makina said, as the data-pad switched to a chibi version of her and Reina, "if things go south, be sure to use the X-gear system, all right?" With the fast paced infomercial like video complete, I let out an amused grunt at the video.

It felt weird for people I normally didn't interact with to care enough about me to make special modifications to an already sophisticated plane. Every job before was just a bunch of people trying to collect a paycheck. It wasn't feeling like that would be the case here at Chaos.

"Thanks a lot," I said, turning to Theodore and Perry before returning my gaze to my new plane.

"Show us what you've got," Theodore replied, putting a hand on my shoulder for a brief moment. I was just about to start my long overdue close up inspection of the plane before I heard some familiar music coming from a pair of small speakers. Turning towards the noise I spotted Freyja heading towards us, seemingly in her own world and not really paying attention to where she was going.

"Hi, Freyja." I called out to the girl, trying to break her from her possibly dangerous course. It was common sense to not walk around distracted on a hanger deck. At least, common sense to anyone familiar with hanger decks. Freyja, however was seriously in the zone. "Hello!" I shouted at her, waving my data-pad a little to attract her attention.

"Hayate?" the girl asked, pulling out the speakers from her ears. The music must've been pretty loud for even me to hear it from this far in the noisy hanger deck. Was she trying to distract herself?

"What's wrong?" I asked, acting on my hunch. "Got stage fright for your first show?" The way Freyja's eyes widened immediately let me know I was spot on.

"I'm…" the girl tried before I chuckled lightly. To be honest, I was feeling a little apprehensive too. I knew that this show wasn't only Freyja's proving performance, but mine as well. I decided to distract us both by asking about her music player she seemed to carry everywhere with her.

"You had that on you at Al-Shahal too. Some sort of good luck charm?" I asked, noticing Freyja relax a little bit.

"Kinda," she replied as she stared at the green, white and red music player with a wistful smile. I got it from an earthling who visited Windermere when I was little. This is how I learned about the music from outside." Freyja closed her eyes as if remembering a pleasant memory. "Lynn Minmay, The Fire Bomber, Sheryl Nome, Ranka Lee, and finally, Walkure." As Freyja opened her eyes, I could see a burning passion that I had seen very few people ever posses. "I thought they were so cool. I wanted to be just like them. But…" and just as quickly as it had appeared her passion began to fade.

"That's not like you," I told her as I stepped forward. "Where's the girl who charged into flying bullets, telling whoever cared that she was going to show the world some 'Winderemere power'? Did you forget?" I asked, trying to spur her out of her melancholy mood.

"You're right," the girl replied after a moment. Her eyes suddenly flashed brightly and she clenched her hands into fists, giving them a small pump of enthusiasm. "If I try, I can fly!" She suddenly turned around to face the way she had come from, her fists still clenched in her 'power' mode. "Life's but thirty years! If I've got time to worry, I've got time to fly!" she shouted out with a fist pump into the air. "Thanks, Haya-Haya!" she shouted as she ran off.

"Don't call me that," I whined as she rounded a corner.

"Windermereans die young in exchange for their extreme physical abilities," Mirage, suddenly said, almost as if she were in a daze. For a moment, I was confused why she had decided to bring that up, but then I remembered something weird Freyja had just said. "Their average life span is about thirty years," she finished, completing my train of thought.

"Feels unreal when I look at her," Theodore added, seemingly thinking along the same lines. It got me to thinking as well. Originally, I had thought Freyja to be around twelve, but recently, I had learned she was actually a little older, around fourteen. If she was expecting to make it to thirty… I suddenly didn't feel all to excited about my plane any more. I excused myself under the pretense to get ready for the upcoming show, but the look Mirage sent me told me she didn't quite buy it. Soon enough, I was able to push thoughts about Freyja's unfair condition from my mind and physic myself up for the flight. Commander Arad came by to let me know to be ready to launch, and I quickly followed him back out to the hanger deck where the last minute preparations were being made to our fighters. I saw Mirage send me a look, but thankfully keep any questions she had to herself.

Climbing into the cockpit of my own fighter felt like the best thing I had ever done. Knowing that the seat I was sitting in right now would only ever be mine filled me with an inexpiable giddiness that had me struggling to keep from squealing like a little girl. This air show was going to be great.


AN: Sorry about the very long pause. Hopefully I'll be having a bit more free time to dedicate to this. I've been working on some other stuff I haven't put up yet, but with all the questions I keep getting I should probably do some re-prioritizing. Anyway, hope you're not too upset with the long pause. Hope you enjoy.