Chapter 26

It was finally time for Anna to get into the cockpit. She could feel her heart begin to pump slightly faster. It had been a while since she had piloted an aircraft, so after seeing her brother's amazing demonstration, her excitement started overflowing.

"Private Hastings, please step forward with your chosen co-pilot. Sergeant Hastings and Airman Stratford will assist with your boarding," Commander Drummond said.

Anna turned to Chris, who gave her a nod, which she returned. Then, the two walked through the formation into the area in front of the three "instructors".

A crew member handed Anna and Chris a helmet each, which they put on.

They walked up to Owen and Liam, who were standing on either side of the boarding ladder.

"Good luck," Owen said while gently knocking on the top of Anna's helmet with his knuckle.

Anna nodded and looked over to Liam.

"Be careful. If you see anything strange, come back immediately," Liam said.

Through the helmet visor, Anna saw Liam's serious face, which she had never seen before. Whatever he saw earlier in the air must have been quite troubling to cause him to be concerned for such a long time.

"Got it."

Anna stepped onto the ladder with Chris following just behind her. He had been quiet the whole time. Anna had a sliver of thought that Chris might have been a little intimidated by her brother, but she soon threw that thought aside, since, in her mind, Chris and Owen were getting along just fine.

Owen helped Anna into the pilot's seat and strapped her down. Of course, Anna could have done it by herself no problem, but she said nothing. The mess of buttons and dials in front of her could definitely make an untrained person lose their mind, but to Anna, they feel just like extensions to her own limbs. The second she gripped her hands around the center stick, the muscle memory, followed by intense nostalgia and excitement, rushed to Anna's head.

Anna turned her head around to see Chris already seated in the co-pilot's seat directly behind her. She gave Owen and Liam a nod and they started walking away with the boarding ladder. Then Anna reached out for a button on her left, and the canopy slowly closed over her. The world around her was now slightly tinted green from the glass.

After they became separated from the outside world, Chris gave a relieved sigh.

"What's wrong?" Anna asked through the comms device in their helmets.

"It's nothing. Just a little nervous," Chris said from behind her.

"Don't worry. Jets aren't that dangerous." Anna said.

"That's not what I'm worried about…" Chris muttered quietly so Anna couldn't pick up on what he said.

A crew personnel gave a wave from their side. Seeing that, Anna flipped a switch on the control panel and the engine came alive with powerful noise and vibration.

Following the deckhand with glowing batons, Anna lightly pushed onto the thrust lever, and they began moving forward. For the G-22, the main pilot controls the plane itself and the co-pilot controls the weapons and accessories, so Chris currently had nothing to do but to watch.

Soon, Anna stopped at the base of the catapult. Some crew members rushed to the jet to prepare it for launch, while waiting, Anna asked.

"So, Chris, are you buddies with Owen now?"

There was a moment of silence. Since Anna was now strapped down into her seat, she couldn't turn around to look at his face.

"Do you want us to be?" Chris answered with a question.

"Well, yeah."

"Why?"

"Wha-?"

Anna was caught off guard by that question as she herself didn't know the answer. She realized that there was no reason for Chris and Owen to get along, since they probably won't be seeing each other again after the carrier training, unless…

Anna became flustered at her own thought. She wondered what the true reason was. Without delving any deeper into that idea, she shook it off because she didn't feel that comfortable thinking about that with Chris right behind her.

"We aren't really friends, yet, but I do wish to become friends with your brother. He seems like a great guy," Chris said, unnoticing Anna's current state of unease.

"T-That's good."

Chris's words seemed to have calmed her down a bit. Before they could continue their conversation, Anna saw someone beside the jet giving her the signal of ready for take off. Anna returned the signal.

"Ready?" Anna said.

"Yeah."

There was finally a tone of excitement in Chris's voice.

The personnel gave a lunging motion, reacting to which Anna engaged the afterburner and gradually pushed the thrust lever to max. Accompanied by a thunderous roar, a wrecking ball-like force pressed Anna with immense strength into the back of her seat and the scenery outside the cockpit came to a blur.

As they approached the end of the flight deck, Anna slight pulled back on the centre stick, and with a heavy thump, they rose into the air. The view of the carrier deck disappeared and now all they could see was the endless blue.

"Arden to Citadel, we have lifted off," Anna heard Chris talk over the radio as protocol taught in the academy.

A familiar voice responded to Chris from the other side of the radio.

"Understood. Maintain an altitude of 100 feet or higher."

"Charl?" Chris asked.

"Hey Chris, hey Anna."

"Hey Charl, are you going to be our air traffic controller?" Anna asked.

"Yeah, that's the training I am undertaking right now."

Anna found it quite funny that Charl was going through ATC training, since her usual timid voice does not come across very well on the radio. They could barely hear her.

"That sounds great," Chris said.

"Yeah, it's pretty fun. Oh, sorry, we shouldn't be chatting right now. Please carry on with your flight," Charl said apologetically, and with a beep noise, the radio went silent.

Anna chuckled.

"Get ready, Chris, here comes some Gs," Anna warned.

Before Chris could reply, Anna pulled up hard on the flight stick and the jet began pointing upwards.

Anna could feel the G-suit tighten around her to keep her conscious. The amount of G-force they are currently enduring would make a normal person faint immediately, but it was no big deal for Anna.

As they ascended directly into the clouds, Anna yanked the stick on the side and the jet started spinning like a drill as it headed straight up.

"Whoa, calm down there," Chris said while gritting his teeth.

The maneuver seemed to be a bit too much for him.

"Oh, my bad. I got a little carried away," Anna said half-apologetically and slowly brought the speed down and stopped the spin.

Anna looked at the altimeter, they were high enough to attempt the maneuver Owen had performed, which Anna was excited to try. She looked below her, and the formerly massive GMRS Citadel is now no bigger than a house.

"Anna, don't tell me you are going to try to stall the jet," Chris was catching on to what Anna was planning.

"Maybe," Anna said with a mischievous grin, which Chris couldn't see.

Anna realized that the sky is now cloudier than it had been, but that shouldn't affect anything.

"Anna, can we not?"

"What? Why? If anything goes wrong, we can just eject. I am sure our families can pay for a jet, right?" Anna said.

Chris was speechless. He had nothing to say back.

As Anna leveled the jet in preparation for the maneuver, she saw something in the distance. A few black figures were emerging from the clouds some height above them.

"Chris, are you seeing that?" Anna asked.

"Seeing what? Nothing is showing up on radar."

"Tha-"

BEEP, BEEP, BEEP

Anna was interrupted and startled by the sound of a sudden alarm.

"Lock on? Crap, we are being locked on to! Enemy missile incoming!" Anna yelled into the comms device.

She had taken on her serious persona. It was definitely not part of the training.

Projectiles with fire shooting out their backs began heading straight for Anna's plane at speed.

"What? Dumping flares!" Chris reacted in the heat of the moment and pressed the button to launch anti-missile countermeasures.

The area around the jet lit up as glowing balls were launched off to both the sides, leaving a trail of smoke behind each. Anna pulled up the stick to gain more altitude. The missiles paths were curbed and headed for the flares instead. The alarm has now stopped.

"What was that?" Chris asked frantically.

"I don't know. It seems to be an enemy attack," Anna answered calmly.

"Enemy? What enemy? There is no war in the west."

"The Derunce Freedom Fighters might be launching a surprise attack."

"They are declaring war? Why now?"

"They probably want to sink the Citadel."

"Oh no. We need to warn them. Hello?" Chris turned on to radio and spoke into it.

There was nothing but white noise.

"Hello? Charl, can you hear me?"

Nothing by white noise.

"What's going on?"

"They must be using some sort of radio severing technology that's unknown to us."

"Well, what do we now then?"

The dark figures had finally become clear. Some distance in front of them is a huge bomber with a jet on either side, flying toward GMRS Citadel that is behind Anna and Chris.