005 Loved
Character: Luke
Luke sat on the blanket beside his father, staring up at the sky. They'd come to the field like many other families had to watch the air show. There was supposed to be a show of skilled ship fliers that day. His father had told him that there were going to be pelicans and people crafts, even some of the really old ships that couldn't fly in space like a longsword.
Luke was only seven, but he loved things that flew. He clutched the toy longsword tighter in his hand as he waited for the next of the shuttles to start up. His father had told him that the next group was supposed to be a trick flyer in a pelican. He'd never seen that before and he couldn't wait. Luke wondered what it was like to be one of the pilots, the entire sky as your domain and your own craft that did exactly as you ordered it to.
Luke perked up as he could hear the roar of engines and he looked out to the field where he knew the pelican would show up. It appeared to the side of the field and Luke's eyes went wide. The pelican had been painted a dark black and on top of that the wings and nose of it had been painted with what looked to be flames. He watched as it sped forward, moving toward a series of towers in the middle of the field that had been put up.
The pelican maneuvered between the poles, pulling loops and spins as it did. It rose up high into the sky and Luke watched with excitement as the engines suddenly kicked off. He watched the pelican plummet toward the ground and just at the last moment the engines fired back to life and it nosed up, barely managing not to hit the ground as it took off.
Luke sat with his mouth wide open, not believing what he'd just seen. He heard his father clapping but Luke could only watch the pelican as it moved off. "Are you excited for the next group?" Luke's father asked. He looked up at his father, confused. "Up next are the black hawks."
A grin spread over Luke's face and he stood up and jumped about a bit. "Now look what you've done. Now he's all worked up." His mother shook her head at her son's sudden burst of energy.
"Oh, he's a kid, let him be excited." His father smiled as Luke looked toward the sky looking for the famous pilots.
The Black Hawks were known throughout all of Earth's colonies, and they were Luke's favorite. They were a group of five longsword pilots and one pelican pilot from the UNSC that were known for their flight skills. Luke loved to watch them and he was nearly bouncing out of his skin as he waited for them to appear.
The pelican was the first thing to appear and it was amazing. It was painted completely black but as the pelican made a pass for the crowd it tilted to the side so that people could see the top where silver lines outlined feathers on the wings and made the rear look like a hawk tail. It righted itself and Luke looked up just in time to see the five longswords streak over the field.
He watched for several minutes as the longswords made group maneuvers, coming within feet of each other or the pelican before moving out of the way at the very last second. It was an amazing show and after the Hawks anything else would have been lame.
Luke held his father's hand as they walked back toward their car. "Daddy, can I be a Black Hawk when I grow up?"
Luke's father smiled down at him. "You can be whatever you want, son." He squeezed his son's hand lightly and Luke grinned happily as they walked back toward the car.
Luke sat on the crate, watching the pilots as they sat together. He stared at the insignia on their shoulders, the jet black hawk outlined in silver. They weren't at all what he had expected. They didn't look like soldiers, move like celebrities. While most soldiers at this point in the war were either green or scarred there wasn't a mark on them and he knew they weren't new to the force. He frowned, turning away from them.
"What's got you down, buttercup?" Peter sat down beside his partner, elbowing him lightly. "What, not interested in some verbal foreplay?"
"Not right now, Peter." Luke just continued to focus on the Black Hawks, trying to figure out what he ever saw in the false soldiers.
Peter followed his line of sight and frowned. "You know if you keep staring at other guys I'm going to get pissed and beat one of them up."
"Go ahead. They've officially ruined my childhood." Luke sighed and tore his gaze from the pilots. "I don't know why I ever wanted to be one of them. They aren't really soldiers. They don't do any good."
"They're good for show, to get people interested in being pilots, but the real thing is much more interesting." Peter stood up and held his hand out to Luke. "Come on, we'll be late for afternoon drills." Luke batted his hand away as he stood. Peter shrugged, brushing it off. "Besides, who wants to be a Hawk when you can be a Demon?" Luke smiled a bit as he followed his partner toward the gym to meet up with the rest of their team.