Chp. 3: Into the Deep Blue
October 6, 2049
OFS Icarus (CVN-62)
Jed rolled the Jolly Rancher from one side of his mouth to the other as he sat in the compartment he shared with Rick, letting his (personal) laptop boot up while he decompressed from the day. Navy staterooms aboard the ship were far from luxurious, but they still had the comforting sense. On a ship where privacy was a premium, being able to call one little piece of it your sanctuary was a wonderful thing. Anything that could reach you was either because you allowed it in, or because it was the ship making noise. The rush of water through the pipes up above caught his attention for a second. It just reminded him to make sure the music was plenty loud so he could sink even further away from the real world. Just long enough to make sure he'd be ready to take on tomorrow, he bargained. The blocky, dark-gray machine finally displayed the welcome screen. The machine's AI, represented by a cartoonish sled dog, appeared from a corner and climbed up, sitting and happily wagging his tail. Jed smiled softly and guided the mouse over to him, stroking it over the dog's head. The virtual creature reacted as if being petted.
"Good boy, Zero." He said.
The computer picked up the words and the AI dog reacted accordingly to the praise. He let out a simple "arf arf" and a word bubble appeared above him.
What can I help you with, Jed? Do you want to open the web browser? Media player? Messenger?
"Media player...ah, shuffle the overall list of music in the rock folder."
Gotcha!
Jed opened the internet himself, bringing up the Osean Armed Forces Network homepage. He opened a new tab for his email and set the first to the news page, all while WASP's "The Heretic" surged in intensity. The last real ties he had to his life in Smithfield, a small city about 40 minutes outside of Oured, appeared in his inbox. Jed drew in a breath and went down the names who'd sent him messages. Nothing from his best friend, Hideki Bradford, today. Jed frowned a little, but couldn't be too mad at his friend; the guy was busy in college trying to firmly plant a flag in the psychiatry department. He simply typed up a quick one wishing his friend well. He saw an email from his Dad, Mark Walker, and opened it.
Congrats on your latest foray into the seas with one of the best squadrons in the Navy, Son. I'm proud of you beyond words, and if you'll allow an old aviator to reminisce about his time as a Daredevil, I've taken to wearing my old VF-34 cap a lot more. Eric still gives me a mountain of crap over it, though, since his strongest connection will always be to the Red Ronin. Mom sends all her love and her usual worries, including the almost obligatory "Please make sure our baby boy is eating enough!". I also did what I could to make sure Irina doesn't flood your inbox TOO much, but no promises…
Jed glanced at the eight messages from his god-Aunt, then back at the email from his old man which went on to apologize for the additional six that were from his mom. Jed didn't like to be too open about it, lest he invite more, but seeing that mountain of emails from Ekaterina Walker made him happy. His doting mother and her ways; one of the few comforts. He read the rest of his dad's email and started on a reply before backing out to see who else had reached out to him. Just above his dad's was the newest email he'd gotten today. It was from Felicia Lorenzo, his old Sapinish teacher from highschool...and his on and off girlfriend a few years after he graduated. He blushed as the message began with "Mi Querido" (my darling). He closed his eyes after a few lines and went back to the night he'd been with her. The final night before he jumped in his Camaro and reported in for this cruise. Her long, raven hair and tanned skin or, more importantly, the way she laughed and spoke. How his name and every word rolled off her tongue so gracefully. He imagined her tall, slender figure moving gracefully as she tried to see how much Fandango he remembered from culture week in Sapinish II. It staved off what he was afraid of in the body just long enough to make him brave. He requested that Zero skip to "Stand up and Shout" by Dio to help keep him motivated and swallowed what remained of the hard candy.
I cherish our time together. Feeling like a young woman again, being overwhelmed by all these emotions. Feeling dizzy and excited, sometimes even lost in the heated passion and romance we share, but...
Jed drew in a deep breath and braced himself, then read on after he swallowed the candy.
...I cannot give you the happiness I see you so desperate to find, but I will never leave your side, Jed. Please know that you will always have me when you need to hide from the world, but know that there's a woman out there who is all you need, all you dream of. I know it; fate demands it. The heavens demand it be so, Querido...
No, it wasn't as bad as it probably could've been, but it still hurt to read. She was still happy to be with him and her home was still open to him as a lover, but a long future together was out of the question. He stared at the message for a long time and sat back, sighing and taking what comfort he could in the situation. After a while he was able to do what many a pilot did: compartmentalize. Give something its own little box inside his head and keep it locked up in there.
"Hey Zero, can y'all open the photo viewer, too? The folder for the vacation to Crystal Beach." He said.
The AI brought up the folder as the song switched to something from the band Girls Und Metal, namely their cover of the song "Breadfan". The lead singer, Hiromi Nakamora, could really belt it out and this was probably some of her best cover work. She'd even gone to record a version in her native tongue. That made him a bit happier, especially when he could keep the email he'd just read tucked away and instead reminisce about what was probably the high point of his romance with Felicia. He leaned back and somehow found a balance between the more serene images and the roots of heavy metal. The sound of a metallic clank brought him out of the daydreaming enough to realize his roommate was coming in. Brick opened the door, announcing his entrance as it swung into the room. Jed minimized the page and looked back at the man as he grabbed his flight jacket from his top bunk.
"Come on Bronco, we're about to cross the Straits of Santa Marina. You wanna watch 'em go by?" He said. Nathan poked his head up over Brick's shoulder and nodded.
"Couple of the guys are gathering up on Vulture's Row to watch it. Said they'll hold it as long as they can before the guys from VF-168 try to muscle em out."
"Y'all know Ah'd never pass that kinda thing up."
"Thought so."
Jed grabbed his green flight jacket off the back of the chair and tucked it under his arm. He followed the other two out and down the corridor. Their staterooms were located on the side opposite the carrier's island, which meant that the best option was to go through the hangar bay. In Jed's mind, anything below the decks he had business on was a black void. The hanger deck also let him admire the air wing's assets as they sat at rest. As they ascended a flight of stairs onto the major space, a gust of cold wind swept in from the elevator blast doors. Jed stopped and pulled the jacket up over his shoulders, revealing the few patches he'd sewn to it. He lifted the collar to better shield his ears and hurried across the hanger deck to a set of stairs up against the wall. From there they ascended to a catwalk tucked next to the island, where the flight deck crew tended to stash weapons carts.
"Man that wind feels good." Nathan commented, stopping and raising his camera to get a few shots of the scenery.
Barely visible on the horizon was a tall spire with a pulsing light atop it; Blaineley Lighthouse. A low, unearthly bellow echoed across the sea at the ships. It slowly faded, then rose again, followed by a signal light. Morse Code was all but dead and buried, except for in the maritime business. Jed raised a hand and waved in the direction of the house while it transmitted "Godspeed sailors! Safe seas be with you!" to them. Brick looked up and pointed out that one of the ship's signalmen replied.
"And safe seas with you." He translated. The lot nodded and continued on.
There were few places open to lowly Lieutenants like the three in the island, but the stairwells going up weren't one of them. Three flights up, they stopped and went through a door to the outside, Vulture's Row. There, Lieutenant Commander Paul Craig and Lieutenant David Stoache were watching the flight deck as sailors in brightly-colored float coats milled around two F-24s on the bow catapults and an SH-62 Sea Scout near the waist cats. On the horizon, past one of the escorting destroyers, the aforementioned straits passed by at a slow march. Jed leaned forward over the stomach-high wall and looked down at some of the aircraft below. A pair of E-12B Pelicans, recognizable by their cigar-shaped fuselages and top-mounted rotodome, basked in the afternoon sun next to another Sea Scout. He craned his neck and looked out into the ocean ahead of the carrier, beyond the escorts leading her into the West Eusian Ocean. Nathan leaned over next to him and took several shots.
"Hey Glue, think you could get a picture of all of us with the straits in the background?" Craig suggested.
"Okay yeah...hang on lemme get this set up, I want in too." Nathan replied.
"Alright...Bronco get your tall ass in the back."
"Ah could always crouch, Viking."
"Nope, big guys in back; don't make me pull rank."
Jed chuckled and let out a "yes sir" to the squadron Weapons Officer before he negotiated his way into the back of the camera's view. As Nathan was debating if he might try and get into the photo somehow, maybe find something to set the camera on, the door opened. Out came Annie, dressed much the same as the other pilots. Though, in comparison, her flight jacket lacked the prominent collars the Oseans' had. It was also made out of leather instead of green nomex.
"Oh, heya Tsun-Tsun. What brings y'all up here?" Jed asked.
"Was on my way up to Vulture's Row to get some fresh air…" She replied, raising an eyebrow at the scene.
"Need someone to hold the camera, Glue?" She asked with the faintest of smiles.
"...Actually why don't you get in there, Tsun-Tsun? You're part of the squadron, too." The fellow Lieutenant replied.
Annie started to hesitate out of habit, but stopped herself short of saying no. Taking Yuki's cues, she joined the group on the side and straightened up. Stoache moved back next to Jed so the shorter pilot could be seen
"There we go, there we go...perfect. Alright guys, smile for the folks back home!"
The group gave a round of smiles for their fellow Daredevil and let him snap two pictures before turning the camera to show them. Annie nodded with approval.
"Not bad, not bad at all Glue." She said.
"Good to see you're getting more involved with the unit, Tsun-Tsun." Nathan replied. She inwardly still bristled at the moniker, but kept it to herself. Though, Nathan seemed to be someone she could establish a friendship with.
"I'm learning." She replied.
"Learning is good, Tsun-Tsun...very good."
"Say Ah been meaning to ask how y'all got that callsign." Jed chimed in leaning up against the wall.
"I guess it's not the worst callsign I could've gotten. I'll tell you if you share the story behind yours, Bronco." She replied as she leaned over the wall next to him.
"Alright, fair nuff." He drawled.
"Well first, do you know what a Tsun is? Or I guess if we wanna be technical, a Tsundere is?"
"Yeah, one of those archetypes in Shimoji anime. Acts all cold at first but as time goes on they open up."
Jed kept comments on her coldness to himself.
"Yes. Got mine in flight training from one of my fellow students. This perky, hotheaded girl named Francine. One day she just up and comments "Chopra you're such a Tsun-Tsun. Smile once in a while!" to me and it sticks. I swear she was on a dozen cups of coffee a day. She was so chipper...or is; she's in my regular squadron at the moment."
"Like all good callsigns...believe me mine might sound kinda cool but it's not a proud moment."
"So what led to the christening of Jed Walker as such?"
"A poorly thought-out, drunken attempt to ride a mechanical bull when Ah was in the RAG...Replacement Air Group."
"So why not bull?"
"Because Ah referred to the thing as a Bronco by mistake as Ah stumbled out of the arena. But sometimes Ah lie and say it's cause Ah'm lean and mean like one."
She couldn't help but give him a look for the last part.
"Lean and mean...okay, sure. I'll remember that." She snorted.
"Oh it could be much, much worse. Let Curry tell you her story...or hell, Stoache why don't you tell her how you became "Bounce", eh?"
"Ack...Nother time, Bronco!"
Jed snorted in amusement and went back to gazing down upon the flightdeck and the waves beyond that. Annie leaned over the wall as well as the rest of the group slowly made their way back into the island, bound for wherever they needed to be.
"So…" She started.
"Hmm?" He replied, glancing at her.
"Well we are assigned to fly together, are we not? Curry made a point yesterday that we should establish something of a friendship to better our cooperation when flying."
"Fair point…"
Way to make it sound hollow though, they both thought. Annie was about ready to back away from it when Jed decided that being a dick about it was the wrong way to go. Besides, the lady had a point.
"Alright, so what do y'all wanna talk about? Me? The Weather? Music? Video games?"
"Not much weather to talk about...what kind of music do you like?"
"A little varied, but much of it is on the rock side of things. Over the past few years, though, my friend Hideki has gotten me interested in this genre I just call Wave. There's a whole bunch of subgenres of this stuff."
"As in things like vaporwave, synthwave, chillwave. Those subgenres?"
"Yeah!"
"I enjoy those genres. They're close enough to electro swing and big band music that I was able to find an interest in them. At first it was a little too...avant-garde for me. Or rather, too avant-garde even for a gal like me."
"Avant-garde and being a fighter pilot don't typically mix. It reminds me a lot of video game music, which is why Ah like it."
"Believe me I know; my mom wanted me to be a doctor."
"That Sotoan mindset in action?"
"So you know something about it, hmm?"
"Some friends of the family trace their roots to Sotoa. Strict, Ah imagine."
So he does have a home life She thought. Jed kept his answer quick, she also noted; she knew when not to poke at something. Questions about his dad would best be saved for a later date.
"Yes...happens when you come from an uppercrust family. But I'm never too partially about dwelling on that kind of stuff. You have a favorite artist in the "Wave" genre, as you call it?"
"That's a hard one…"
"Favorite artist overall?"
"Volbeat, this band from Nordlands. They combine metal with rockabilly and that old, old rock and roll sound. Hell the lead singer wears his hair like he's from the fifties every now and again. Ah could go on and on about all the cool songs they have or the appeal 50s pop culture has to me."
"Is that why you talk about that car show you go to almost every year?"
"Yeah. Huh, didn't know Ah told y'all about that."
Her smile had a mischievous glint to go along with it.
"I may not have talked much up until now, but I do listen and observe. You certainly do keep that Camaro of yours in good shape."
"Yeah, very important to me. Ah wanted one since Ah was little and saw it on this old, old TV show. Ah think Ah've seen yer car. That silver sports coupe."
"An Aston Martin DB9 to be specific."
"Fancy."
She chuckled.
"Keep it a secret, but I like it because it reminds me of a Bond Car."
Jed chuckled too.
"Comes with all the usual features?"
"Oh I wish; if Q added all the usual refinements commuting would be much easier."
For Jed that seemed to be the funniest thing in the world right now as he covered his face a little to keep from laughing too much. It also didn't help that her more casual way of talking had this sophisticated, jazzy tone to it.
"Doing alright, Leftenant?" She asked. He drew in a deep breath and nodded.
"Whoo...Ah needed that laugh. So, favorite James Bond film?" He replied.
"I thought you'd never ask. I'm quite partial to Goldeneye, if only because Judy Dench is the best M they had in the series."
"She didn't take anything from anyone, that's for sure. The Bond girl for that one, Natalya, was also pretty beautiful."
Surprised you didn't say Dench as M...
"Your favorite?"
"License to Kill and the Living Daylights are tied, with Goldeneye coming close behind. Timothy Dalton didn't get many turns as Bond, but he was pretty cool."
Jed stood up straight and adjusted his jacket. The sea continued to roll by, one wave little different from the next, as the coastline of Sapin turned away for a brief moment. He felt his stomach growl a bit and lifted his wrist to check his watch. Jed looked at the Royal Navy flier, then nodded towards the door.
"Y'all wanna get something to eat before the dirty-shirt closes up shop?" He suggested, seeing it as a way to continue the conversation. She considered the proposal for a second, then nodded politely.
"Just don't get any ideas, Bronco."
"What kind of ideas?"
The mildly confused look on his face nearly baffled her, but she left it at that.
"Just don't get any ideas." She repeated with a soft sigh.
Jed blinked as she turned and opened the door, trotting down the nearby stairs. She made a note to let it end at eating together. Then a nice, innocent retreat to her stateroom.
"Can Ah ask yah one final thing, Tsun-Tsun?" He spoke up as they descended the stairs.
"Yes?" She replied, returning to the present.
"Er, rather, make a comment."
"I'm listening…"
"Yer actually pretty fun to talk to when y'all open up."
Annie forced a smirk, but kept her response inside. The last thing she needed today was to reinforce her callsign's validity. Jed had to admit he was wrong about her, and he hoped this wouldn't be the last time they could chat about things.