An Imperfect Flight

Chapter 1

5 years ago, at the Naval Academy...

"You know Ryan, you are a loser, and you'll always be one. No matter what"
Viola yelled walking to Ryan with eyes full of tears, who was sitting with his bunch of his Navy bros.
"Ooooooo," the boys said in a chorus, mocking her;
"Just because you have balls, that doesn't give you any authority to disrespect a girl" she continued
"And why are you telling me this?!" Ryan questioned her
"You know, I'm sick of talking to you. Screw you!!" She yelled before turning away
"Oh, I would love to!" Ryan replied playfully and took a step towards her, as the boys whistled;
Just before walking away she turned to him one more time and added, "You know what Ryan, it's a shame you think that girls don't deserve anything, as if you don't have a mother or a sister... someday you'll be dammed, to find out that a girl will save your damn ass; and you know what... Forget it!" she thought to say something further to shut off his mouth, and to have the last word; but it was not worth it, especially with someone like Ryan, and that made her even angrier;
She sighed and walked away, leaving Ryan with his gang.

Her words were so straight that they shot right onto his chest and he felt guilt in a way he couldn't understand at that time, "Yeah, I'll rather die than let a girl save my ass," he yelled in a harsh tone and signed shaking his head before walking back to his boys.

At present...

Viola walked into her new office, on her first day at her new job, waiting for her new team to arrive. Yes, she was promoted as the head in charge of a small Navy team, who were good but had a history of Disobedience. basically, a team of losers.

Sipping the paper coffee cup, she opened the file and went through the four members she was put in charge of. She read profiles one by one until she came across a page with the name "Ryan Miller" "age: 33" "height 185 cm"
And at the left, a small passport-size photo is attached in the corner.
She took a deep breath and sighed as she recollected a small flashback of Ryan and her back at the navy academy. Somewhere deep down she had seen it coming.

"I just knew this day would come one day" she added to herself closing the file, "and God only knows how I'll even look into your eyes, without boiling my blood"
She took another deep breath and walked to the window, glaring outside; just not too long before David William; the chief of the naval division walked to her cabin

"You seem nervous" a harsh deep voice spoke from behind her, which made her turn around; that was her father's partner, back in the days, when he was a Navy pilot, and now is the chief of the Naval division
"William uncle, good morning..."
She smiled greeting him with a small smile, which made Chief Williams ask her,
"Is everything okay?" He questioned her, "I get it, it's your first day in this organization, but I'm sure you'll be just fine"
"I know, but..." She sighed nervously
"Is there anything you want to share with me?"
"Maybe, not as a chief, but maybe as a friend, perhaps..."

She took a deep breath and added, "It's this one... Ryan... I... We kind of had bad days back at the Naval Academy..."
"Your ex?" He questioned her
"Oh, no, not like that..." She corrected him with an explanation, "...more like he was the worst troublemaker, especially with female pilots..."

"Oh, an anti-feminist..." He spoke
"Kinda..." She nodded her head nervously agreeing with him
"Come on, that's just one person, you have three more others, I'm sure they'll be better than him"
"Yeah, I believe that too" she spoke in a soft nervous voice
"You know, your father and I were partners before I took the retirement and just like you, I was nervous on my first day as the boss, thinking with obvious what ifs, and your father, Henry, came to the office, just like this on the first day and I asked him 'what if I screw up? What if because of me someone loses their life and he  said to me in a very calm voice, 'David, it's just like having a foster family here in the office; it won't be easy to agree with them at the start, but it's not going to take that long to bond, after all, they are going to be dependent on you, you will be the backbone of this team,' and at that moment, hearing those words, calmed me, not entirely, but at some point I saw what he meant, and it happened even better than what I thought it will be"

"... and I promise you the same thing as Henry said to me, it's going to be okay and one day, you'll come to me and say this, that you are proud of your team; I know it won't be easy, but it's not impossible with someone so sweet, kind and also... Attractive lie you..."
"Attractive? Seriously Uncle David?!" She scoffed,
He nodded with a smile;
"I wish if dad was here... things would have been different" she sighed
"Viola, your father, wherever he is, will be very proud of the woman you became, he always told me, my daughter, will fly in the sky one day; and you did it, proudly, even after everything! So please don't let the past or whatever this... Ryan said to you years ago, destroy your peace and dignity; I'm sure someday he will realize what he did towards you"
"Thanks, David uncle, guess I needed this to hear, from you" She smiled before they exchanged a small hug

"Alright then, it's almost 9:00 am, I'll let you be now, your team should be reporting to you any sooner" Chief David added checking his watch;
"Yeah, I should get ready with my speech too..." Viola replied taking a deep breath
"Just trust yourself, and remember not to be too hard on yourself"
"Note taken!" She smiled before Chief David left the room 

she took a sip of the coffee in the cup, which was almost cold now,
"Guess I'll be needing more caffeine after all," she added to herself deciding to walk to the coffee machine in the hallway, just before she heard the long distant chatter of people, approaching her cabin;
"...or maybe later" she added before she threw the paper cup into the bin next to her desk before she pulled the chair and sat, waiting for what was next

"Hello..." a soft voice spoke that made her look up,
"...we are looking for Viola, Ms. Viola Hudson..."
"That would be me..." Viola replied, 
"Ma'am, I'm extremely sorry... I... I just, I mean you are so young that I thought you are..." Being embarrassed the boy tried to explain 

"That's fine, Mr. Daniel... Dcruz, right?" Viola added recognizing him from the photo in the file,
"Yes ma'am..." he replied
"...and here are the rest of us" he further added as he gestured at the side
"Come in, and you can call me Viola, your boss and the head of this organization"

"Wait, you are the boss?!" a strong heavy voice spoke, walking right at her; that was Ryan Miller and at that point, Viola had a feeling that this is going to be harder than she imagined;
"Yes, Mr. Miller, do we have a problem with that?"

TBC...