Infinite Stratos: Uncle Sam

Chapter 3

Ichika's body lurched at the surge of turbulence. "How high do you think we are?"

"Dunno, I'd say about twenty thousand feet," Finley, who sat to his left, guessed.

The eight trainees were flying well above the clouds in a plane that the instructor was currently piloting. All eight were strapped with breathers connected to an oxygen bottle meant to flush out nitrogen, thus preventing decompression sickness.

Ichika turned to his right where Monika was squirming in her seat. "You nervous?"

Monika shook her head hesitantly before sighing. "Well, maybe a little bit. But my sister used to say that hesitation leads to disaster so when the time comes, I guess there won't be any other choice than to jump."

"I like that saying, I'll have to remember it," Ichika remarked, trying to banish the nervousness from his own system.

"Hey, if we're jumping out of planes, do you think we'll get an IS soon?" Ichika asked, switching topics.

Monika's eyes gleamed. "I sure hope so, it's gonna be so cool when we get to be pilots. Why are we even practicing this kind of stuff if we have an IS though?"

"The instructor said that on some missions we shouldn't use the IS for secrecy purposes. Even partial deployment of our IS is risky and should only be used as a last resort," Ichika recited.

"Pshh, stupid Alaska treaty. The IS are weapons used by soldiers, not some worthless sport like those IS Academy fools," Monika muttered with a glower.

Ichika gave a grunt of agreement. The IS weren't toys, they were weapons of mass destruction and should be respected as such. The instructor had said so and she was never wrong. Even if the instructor was demanding and sometimes cruel, she was just preparing them for the cruel and demanding world. The instructor was never wrong.

"Line up trainees, thirty seconds. If you puke on my plane you're cleaning it up," the instructor's voice intoned over the intercom.

The eight recruits hurriedly obeyed the instructor's command, scrambling into a loose line. They watched anxiously as the side door slowly slid open to reveal the open sky, peeking over one another at the clouds that faced them below with baited breath.

All was silent for a few seconds while a few reassuring nods were passed around the trainees.

"Jump."

York was the first to go, hurriedly walking to the edge and jumping out into the open air. Kane followed immediately after and Summers soon joined in the free fall.

Monika turned to Ichika, giving a nervous thumbs up before throwing herself out of the plane as well.

"Hesitation leads to disaster," Ichika muttered to himself. He sucked in a deep breath and banished any and all emotions welling inside himself before diving out of the doorway imagining he was diving into the training pool back at base.

Time seemed to move slower as the wind whipped around his falling form. His eyes quickly darted around, seeing his friends in the distance giving him a sense of reassurance. With the further he plummeted, the more the minor discomforts began to fade. The weightless feeling in his gut, the slashing of wind, the vast blue sky, he supposed it felt sort of liberating

This wasn't so bad. He'd never felt so free in his life.

━━━

"Focus Orimura, panic will make it worse."

Ichika nodded rapidly.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" The instructor asked.

"F- *hack* fou- *hack* four instructor," Ichika gasped, rapidly blinking the tears from his eyes. His eyes stung with an infernal anger, his skin felt like he was bathing in the most putrid acid, and breathing had become the absolute worst thing in the world. It took every synapse in his body to even remain standing, his body screaming to curl up in a ball and accept the sweet release of death over the tremendous torture.