Aces High

Chapter 3

"Even though Jerome here made quite a few errors, I wouldn't be fair in saying that Tristine here didn't make a few of her own. If Jerome had a couple hundred more feet, he could've had you Because you leveled off."

"I knew he was going in!" She snapped.

"And what if he didn't?" Chip retorted. "You would've been dead. You can not be sure the bandit is down, I mean, look at this." She rewound the footage to just before I crossed the line. "He had a nose-up attitude, was going full afterburner and he even managed a radar lock. The only thing stopping him is the fact he broke the hard deck." I looked over towards Bronco, and even in the dark, I could see that she was just as upset as I was. The rest of the briefing went much the same, both leads were picking apart the footage taken from both squads' training. Although, I had to say I was impressed with how fast Bucky got acclimated with the Eagle. His kill was on his lead, which made the most sense. She flew an F-4E, after all. The kills she had with it spoke numbers to her skill though. After the briefing, we all made our way into the changing room, and it felt like heaven getting out of those sweaty, bulky flight suits. One quick shower and some hazing by wet towel whips later, we were on our way to the mess hall.

The Mess Hall on Eagle Island was nothing like the one on Unity. It was much smaller, for one, and resembled more like a bar or Tavern than a school lunchroom. There was some soft music playing over the speakers, and the building itself had a line of three emergency lights, in case a scramble order was issued. My squadron directed me over to a table in the back corner, near one of the large windows that aligned the south and east walls. Once we were seated, and the roasting session I was put through was over, the real talking began.

"So, Lightning, tell me something. Have you ever seen a MiG or a Sukhoi before? Like in person." Shutter asked. I was caught off guard by the question.

"You mean, in combat? No. I literally just got here. But back home, I have." I stated. "Never seen one fly, though."

"You'll get sick of them, sooner than you think." Bronco started, coming to join us with a tray of food. "Grilled chicken sandwiches tonight boys. Dig in." I didn't need to be told twice. Neither did the others. We dug into that food like we hadn't eaten in days and needless to say, the sandwich itself was surprisingly good. As soon as we were done with our food, the other squadron came in, Bucky gave me a nod and I gave one right back. I assumed that was going to be the end of it until I heard footsteps rapidly approaching our table.

"Ah hell-" Shutter stood up, nearly throwing his sandwich to the ground, and caught the person who had just rushed our table in a swirling embrace, followed by a public display of affection.

"So, which one of y'all gave my Damien here a kill?" She said, looking at each of us. The girl's gaze then stuck onto me, and I could feel my face getting a bit hot. "It was you, wasn't it?" I looked around as if she was talking to someone else. "I'm talking to you, uh..." She squinted to see my name. "Frank? That's a boring name."

"And what, pray tell, do you do? Last I checked Chip's squadron has only four planes. Unless you're a backup." I shot back. "That bad of a pilot, um..." I squinted to read her name. "Williamson? And you said my name was boring, which by the way, isn't Frank. It's Franklin."

"I think even she could beat you in a one-on-one, Jerome." Candid stated. Bronco just chuckled a little and placed a hand on my shoulder. I then heard him nearly choke on his food. "The hell was that for? Shit..." He rubbed his leg, all while Bronco had a bright smile on her face.

"Well anyways, thanks for giving him a win. Good to know some in the squadron flies worse than my Damien." Shutter, or rather, Damien was kind of just nervously chuckling, while trying to signal her to stop, at least until she said that last thing.