Disclaimer: I own the plot Melissa, Nira Lt Saunders and Refuge Island everything else belongs to bandai.

Chapter 5

"Come on, come on, come on!" muttered Nira

"Just a little farther!" Thought Melissa.

The doors closed with a loud metallic bang. Melissa and Nira collapsed on the ground gasping for breathe just inside the hangar.

"You girls are going to die in a battleship if they are closing the bulkheads and you can't get out of the area fast enough." Said Lt. Saunders.

"We" Nira couldn't finish for lack of breathe.

"We're" Melissa tried with a little more success.

"Sorry." They both managed through gasps of air.

"Commander Zala had wished to introduce us to the Mayor of East Island, Siegal Clyne." Explained Melissa when she finally caught her breathe. "We understand that in a real situation we be dead by now but the Commander wished for us to stay. The book says a soldier must always follow their superior officers orders. We did nothing wrong because we were following orders."

Lt. Saunders was put out by Melissas' boldness. In back of the someone started to chuckle darkly. A young man with shoulder length wavy blonde hair that half covered his face, only allowing one to see one of his bright blue eyes.

"It must be great to be the favourite of the Commander, you get to come to class late and not get reprimanded. You can even talk back to the instructors without worry." Sneered Rau le Creuset, an up and coming fighter pilot.

At sixteen Rau le Creuset was the youngest coordinator to graduate the Academy since it opened seven years ago. He was to graduate with a red coat. But that was only because of his skills as a pilot. His personality needed a little work done on it. He always acted as if he was superior to everyone. As if he knew something no one else did but that something would effect everyone.

There were rumours that he was a drug addict. Many people said they had seen him pop little blue and white pills but no instructor yet to catch him in the act. So far he had passed every drug test they pulled on him, routine or surprise.

Melissa glared at him. Nira opened her mouth to retaliate but Melissa held up her arm stopping her. The man was not worth the breath.

Turning back towards the instructor Melissa bowed and apologized for herself and Nira for being late. Accepting the apology Lt. Saunders turned back to the class that was standing attention in rows the pilot in front with the engineers in the back.

"All right, everyone get to your assigned aircraft and start doing your routine diagnostic test." He ordered. "Remember, pilots that the engineers know just as much if not more about your machines as you do. And engineers, what may be standard in the manual may not be right for the pilot. Work together to make it as easy as possible for the pilot to fly."

Nira turned to Melissa. "So, what unit were you assigned?" she asked.

Melissa checked her stub, which she had stuck into her coat pocket the night before and groaned.

"What is it?" Asked Nira. She took in Melissas' face that was filled with dread and dislike. "Don't tell me you got his machine."

"If by his you mean Rau le Creuset then your guess would be correct." Was Melissa reply.

Besides rumours of him being on drugs and the fact that he was an arrogant know-it-all. He also had a reputation for making the lives of the engineers assigned to his machine a living hell. Because of his 'My way or the highway' attitude.

Nira patted Melissas' back in support. "Good luck my friend. To help you out I'll make dinner tonight."

"No, I'll make it, it's my turn." Melissa sighed. "Well the faster I start working on his machine the faster I'll get done and be able to leave his presence."

"That's the spirit!" Nira cheered before waving good bye as she went off to her assigned machine on the other side of the hangar.

Wow been a while since I posted I know. But soon after I returned from my vacation to Alberta (As in the afternoon of my return) My uncle died. So it took a couple months to get over that. Then I started going around to Post Secondaries with Fashion Designing programs to check them out. I only applied to one school. But before I actually handed in that application my computer crashed and I had to reformat it and I lost everything. As I have stated on my profile. so yeah it's been a busy half year.

I NEED A BETA: I would like a better for all my stories but for this fic I specifically need one that has knowledge of mechanics and engineering. I want to make CE as accurate as possible.