We shot forward banking and dodging as fighting erupted all around us. I saw a small air pocket in the middle of the battle field.
“This is gonna be a tight fit you guys,” I muttered heading for it.
I banked around two battling ships and shot through the opening.
“Theta, you have guys have some company. I tried to cut them off but they got lose. I intercepted some chatter. I don’t think they know what we’re up to, I think they’re just guarding this airspace but I’m just giving you guys a heads up. Stay on your toes, these guys are good,” Jadon explained in afrustrated tone.
A battalion dropped into our zone just as he was speaking.
“You guys we’re going to have to break formation,” I warned. “We’re just going to have to meet back up on the otherside.”
Eve typed a couple of buttons in on our navigation hologram before turning to me with a deceptive smirk.
“There’s a spot north by northwest—7 miles. No through traffic, it’s wide open, let’s meet there,” She instructed.
“Okay,” Sai and Pete replied each at different times.
“Sam, get on my left and Pete, on my right,” I ordered diagraming the battlefield. “Spread out, we’re going to need room; it’s a lot of them.”
They moved into position as the battalion approached. They hesitated as if to be planning there next moved. Sam shot off to the left as a large number of the ships tailed. Pete immediately followed suit as a group of ships shot after him as well. The bulk of the ships remained
“Time for some fun,” I replied locking in on one of the ships. “You ready Eve?”
She smiled and gave me a sarcastic salute.
“Take him down, captain!” she fired with a smile.
BOOM! BOOM! I fired missiles destroying ships. I stood down wind, as they exploded I ascended with the remaining ships hot on my tails. I had to give myself some room or there was no way I was going to survive this.
“Eve,” I replied dodging an incoming shot. “I need a route, there on me hot.”
I dodge turning an aerial nose dive. They were on me like glue.
“There,” Eve warned pointing toward a group of mountain hedges. “That mountain opening, it should bottle neck them, it’ll give you a chance to trim them down. Hurry, let’s move.”
“Okey-doughkey,” I replied having the time of my life. “Let’s trim these boys down.”
BDRRRRR! BDRRRRRR! I dipped with them still trailing firing shots at my tail. I did an aerial 360 spin than banked hard to my left. I was trying to buy time so that I would be able to turn and fight once I made it through the opening. I sold my left turn then flipped with a 180 spin back to my right toward the opening. A couple went for it but some were still hot on my tail.
BDRRRRR! BDRRRRR! They continue to fire. It was exhilarating. It had all the fun of being in a live action movie with none of the fear of death. I was a little worried about what the pain would be like if we crashed and burned but the adrenaline was like a drug. Besides, I felt invincible in that ship. I was brimming with confidence as I made move after move. Pete was right, our counter-reactive fighting styles made us perfect pilots. It was so much easier than fighting.
“We can’t keep taking fire like this, Tim. Our shields are weakening,” Eve ordered worried. “You’re kicking butt but one direct hit and we’re done for.”
The skies were so congested that I couldn’t go where I wanted to go and the more moves I made, the less space I had.
“Pete, Sam where are you guys, I need some help,” I fired still dodging for my life.
BDRRRRR! BDRRRRR! I dodged feeling like I only had a couple moves left before I was completely boxed in.
“Hold on, Tim, I’m coming,” Sam let out. “Ahhhhhh!”
BOOM! BDRRRRR! BDRRRRR! BOOM! BOOM! Sam came from the rear obliterating the opposition. He moved like an eagle in and out of their ranks before shooting off again with a few of them on his trail.
“Sam, hold on, I’m coming back for you,” I replied.
“Yeah, hurry,” he replied jetting out of sight.
“Let’s move,” Eve ordered mashing buttons frantically. “Sam gave us a shot to get to the spot let’s move, get back and get those guys off of his tail.”
“Yeah, let’s go,” I replied turning on the jets.
Playtime was over. It was an insignificant gesture after my performance at the Battle of New Angeles but I had to do something even if it was just a game. I shot toward the mountain opening with a battalion on my tail. I saw the opening and just as I was about to enter I had an epiphany.
“Tim, what are you doing?” Eve replied as I pulled up suddenly. “We’re going too fast. You can’t make that move; we’re going to hit the mountain.”
The pull of the gravity was so strong that I almost pulled the navigating stick out of the socket.
“Ahhhhhh!” Eve and I grunted as the ship forced its way upward.
It pulled against staggering g-force. The ship rattled as I fought to straighten it up.
“C’mon!” I said trying to will it straight.
“Tim you idioooooooooooooot!” Eve fired scared out of her wits.
“Woo-hoo!” I exclaimed as we finally evened out. “Yes! I knew I could do it.”
I looked at our rear camera.
“Try to follow that act,” I exclaimed waiting for the show.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! A couple tried to make the turn exploding into the mountain. The debris and smoke from the explosion clogged and blinded the following ships causing them to collide with the mountain and each other.
“Now, to finish the job,” I replied making a 90 degree turn and heading back to finish off the stragglers.
BOOM! BRRRRR! BOOM! BRRRRR! I mowed down the remaining ships like road kill. I couldn’t believe my eyes. They were all gone.
“Sam,” I replied turning back. “Where are you and Sai?”
I waited for a brief second before they replied.
“Yeah, Tim, were northwest, we have a lot on our tail and our shields are failing fast,” Sai replied. “Get over here.”
“No, we’re fine,” Sam broke in. “I can take’em.”
“Ignore him,” Sai replied. “Get over here.”
I turned the jets to full blast and shot off in their direction. It was just a game but I wasn’t going to let him down again. We were moving so fast, all I saw was blurs. I had to be there for him.
“Tim, slow down,” Eve barked breaking my concentration.
“I can’t, I have to be there for him,” I replied dodging and maneuvering through the fighting all around us.
I could feel Eve stare as my eyes stayed glue to the battlefield.
“What are you talking about? Tim, it’s just a game, and if you keep moving like this we’re going to crash,” she warned. “Besides, how can you maneuver so fast and how did you know you could make that turn?”
I slowed down as Sam finally came into view. He had several of them on his tail and he was running out of time and fast.
“I saw it…it was in a movie I saw last summer. It just came to me,” I replied darting after Sam. “I used my mimicry to perform it. It was no sweat, and the dodging is easy after you’ve fought using the flash-step technique.”
She nodded typing a couple buttons on her screen.
“Are the weapons online?” I replied pulling up behind them.
“Yeah, their working at about 70 percent,” she replied. “I can transfer the power from the thrusters into the main gun. It’ll beef up the missiles and the turret guns.”
“Today, Tim!” Sai replied over the radio. “Hurry, they have us locked.”
“I’m coming just hold on,” I replied speeding up.
I powered up and locked in on the head of the opposition’s pursuit.
“Let’s see what these super powered guns can do, shall we,” I replied zeroing in on our target.
He moved and dodged firing at Sam. I couldn’t get a clean shot.
“Sam, you have got to stop maneuvering,” I demanded frustrated. “They’re following your lead. I can’t get a clean shot.”
He continued to dodge as he replied.
“Are you serious?! It’s the only thing keeping us from getting murked,” he replied still banking left and right.
“If you keep moving, I can’t get a clean shot. I could miss or worse, I could hit you,” I pleaded. “You can’t keep this up anyways. You’re getting hit. Your shields are going to fail and then you’re going to be vulnerable. Just stay straight for a second, and I can take them out.”
A pause ensued as I turned to Eve. Sam’s ship continued to dodge ignoring my plea. It was like a punch in the stomach. He didn’t trust me. Eve returned my look with an empathetic stare. I couldn’t blame him but it was still hard to take.
“I’m sorry, Tim, if he doesn’t stop we can’t help him,” Eve whispered sympathetically apologetic. “It’s a game anyways. It’s really not that big of a deal. Let’s go see if Pete and Beth need any help.”
I sat stewing for a second before I shot off after Sam again.
“No,” I replied almost like it was on impulse alone. “I got to do this…for me.”
Eve wildly typed trying to keep up with my mile-a-minute mind.
“Tim, you can’t hit a target moving that fast,” she objected still following along. “Without our anointed powers, it’s impossible.”
I continued to tail Sam and Sai’s ship in a trance. Shot after shot landed. He was running out of space. It would only be a matter of time before their ship would be vulnerable. Sam was an idiot but this time I couldn’t blame him. No matter how insignificant this game was, he wasn’t about to trust me again. I had to change that.
“C’moooon!” I grunted trying to get a bead.
I concentrated as the ship swayed back and forth. I had to use my ability. I had to dissect Sam’s pattern. Maybe there was something I could pick up on that could give me an edge. Left, right, bank, left, right, nose dive—I had it down to a science and it was just in time. Their shield was gone and one more shot and they were done. I watched and waited—left. Everything seemed to slow—right. C’mon stay on track—bank. It was now or never.
“Here we go,” I replied. “Either I hit him or they do. I might as well take my shot.”
“Well, whatever you’re going to do, do it now,” Eve ordered punching frantically.
“Left, right…c’mon follow, follow you wing-bat,” I replied studying every move.
I waited for the final move and it seemed to take a lifetime for Sam to make it. He finally moved. I locked in like a shark when blood is in the water. Eve was right. It was now or never.
“Too slow,” I boasted brimming with confidence as I mashed the trigger button.
BOOM! It was like a mini nuclear explosion. I obliterated a third of the battalion on their trail with one shot.
“Yeah!” Eve exclaimed. “How do you like that?!”
The impact of the blow sent Sam off track. It gave us just enough time to finish off the remaining pursuit unit.
BDDDRRRRRR! BDDDRRRRRR! I peppered them with shots like a season fighter pilot. I landed hit after hit. I was like a marksman. I couldn’t miss. I maneuvered alongside Sam and Sai as the final ship fell.
“Woo! Yeah!” Eve exclaimed. “Tim, you are amazing! That was awesome.”
Sam and Sai looked just as relieved as we were. They were both slumped against their seats as we pulled alongside them.
“Thanks, Tim,” Sai uttered with a salute.
“Yeah, thanks,” Sam seconded with an exhausted look.
“I tried to get war eagle over here to slow down, but he was so confident he could shake them without your help,” Sai groaned. “Remind me to kill him when we get off this thing.”
I knew it was a subtle cover on Sai’s behalf but at that time I didn’t care, I had done what I had set out to do. It felt amazing. Sam smiled in my direction which was a good sign. I returned it with a nod.
“Let’s go meet back up with Pete and Beth,” I said signaling for them to follow us. “See if we can get them on the line.”
“Gotcha,” Eve agreed turning to the intercom. “Pete, Beth, are you guys there?”
“Yeah, we’re here, Eve,” Pete replied. “We’ve been waiting on you guys. Beth is uploading our coordinates now.”
“Waiting, what do you mean, waiting? You had a battalion on your tale,” I asked impatiently waiting for the coordinates to upload. “How did you lose them?”
It took a second before the coordinates finally uploaded with a ring.
“I got the coordinates,” Eve explained signaling for me to follow. “We’re headed your way now.”
“Pete, did you hear me?” I asked cutting Eve off.
“Yeah, my metaphysical ability allows me to control mass and density,” he explained. “It’s not just my body, though, I can control the mass and density of anything I touch, and the same goes for Beth and her form control. If we put those both together we can turn into anything we want.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing as they were long range fighters, I had a hard time believing they would be much of a threat in a fire fight. I had faith Pete had a plan, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t worried.
“So you guys shook them by transforming your plane,” Sam questioned.
“Yeah, we transformed into a fly to be exact,” Pete replied. “We shook them and have been waiting on you guys ever since.”
We navigated our way back into enemy space. It took us a couple minutes before we made it to their exact coordinates. They were no were in site.
“Okay, we’re here,” Sai reacted looking around. “Where are you guys?”
Slowly a plane started to grow from what seemed to be nothingness until a fully formed plane sat in front of us.
“Over here,” Pete responded waving his arm from inside the cockpit.
“Okay, then, let’s get back in formation,” I ordered. “We don’t have much time. That detour cost us ships.”
They resumed their position behind me. After I was sure everybody was back in formation, I shot off.
“Stay close,” I replied maneuvering through the fighting and debri. “We can’t afford to break formation again. We don’t have the man power. If they get to us again, this game is as good as over.”
We sliced and dodged as fighting seemed to be at every turn. Sam and Sai were glued to our tail but Pete and Beth lagged on hard bank turns and it was costing us time. I tried my best to slow down but with the lost time, I had to book it if we had any chance of getting to that base. Our ranks were thinning out. Soon there wouldn’t be much of an opposition left.
“Tim, you have got to speed up,” Pete ordered catching me off-guard.
“Are you serious? I’m trying not to leave you,” I fired back.
“Well, you can’t afford to do that,” he replied. “What good will it do for all three of us to make it there, if we’re shot down by the opposition. We’ve wasted enough time. I’ll try to keep up, but if I can’t, you’re going to have to leave me.”
I groaned at the thought. I had known it was a possible outcome, but the Battle in New Angeles had me on edge. I didn’t want to be responsible for letting someone else down. I grunted exasperated and pushed down on the throttle.
“Well, stay close. Eve push all the power to our boosters. We got to hit warp speed,” I ordered powering up.
We were all picking up speed and all of a sudden, like being shot from a cannon, we bolted forward. I was going fast even for my reflexes. I moved from opening to opening navigating through the blurs all around me. I had no time to check my tail. I had no idea if the rest of the guys were keeping up. I could only hope. I bounced around until we hit a clearing. The base was finally in sight.
“There it is,” Eve gushed as I pulled up slowing us down.
I immediately turned around to check and see if the guys were on our tails. Sam and Sai appeared immediately, but Pete was nowhere to be found.
“Pete, Pete!” I demanded impatiently. “Pete, Beth, do you hear me?”
There was nothing, and we didn’t have time to wait. A battalion slowly formed in front of the base as I continued to wait, but they weren’t showing. I was going crazy. I didn’t know what to do. Pete was the brains, even if we made it through, we had no idea what we were doing. We had no hope of success. All he told us was the heart of the base was probably at the center. How could we form a plan based on that?
“We have to go without them,” Eve ordered. “It’s not like their dead. We’ll see them when we finish.”
I shook my head disagreeing.
“That isn’t the point,” I shot back. “Without Pete, we have no plan. What are we doing?”
She nodded as if to be signaling she grasped our dilemma before shrugging her shoulders regretfully.
“Yeah, but what can we do?” she replied. “They are gearing up to stop us. We have to move or we’re not getting through.”
From the look of the battlefield, Eve was right. Our numbers we’re painfully thin. We were outnumbered and the more time we wasted, the slimmer our chances got. Their whole team was retreating to prevent us from entering their base. It was like pulling teeth. I had to make a decision.
“Theta-Deltas,” said a voice interrupting us.
It was Jadon’s unit. It wasn’t a lot but it seemed to be all we had left.
“Yeah, we’re here,” Sai replied frantically.
“We got you covered,” he replied. “Just follow us.”
As he spoke they soared over our heads then nosedived toward the opposition.
“This is our only chance,” Eve replied punching buttons to power up. “They’re going to shield us.”
“Thanks, Jadon,” I said revving up as fast as I could. “Okay, let’s go.”
“No problem,” he replied soaring forward. “Besides, this is farther than any recruit battalion has ever gotten.”
I jetted off shadowing him and the rest of the front line. The opposition flooded out the base like bees coming from a hive.
“What do you mean by that?” Sam questioned.
I turned to see him still tight on my tail.
“Oh, sorry, I forgot you guys were new,” he replied. “In all the years they’ve had this simulation at the Light Guard Trials, no recruit battalion has ever won. Most our wiped out, we’ve beaten the longest survival time by a half hour, no battalion has ever gotten this close to the base, none have gotten this far. We have a chance to do something no recruit battalion has ever done. We’re just here to do our part.”
“Yeah, we thought you guys were all hype,” said a voice over the intercom. “But you guys…I hate to admit it, but you’re as good as advertised, at least in regards to your raw nerve and ability to adapt.”
I cringed at the thought. I was going crazy with anxiety when I thought it was just a game, but now, the pressure was on. But this time, I wasn’t the kid I was a month earlier, I was used to impossible odds. I was beginning to get a grasp on what we were for the first time. The things we could do weren’t normal and how easily we could do them was even less normal. For the first time, I was starting to get what the buzz was all about. I was starting to see what people saw in us. That being said, I wish I could see it too. I had the liberty of being present for it all, and one thing I knew for sure was it wasn’t as impressive as it looked. We usually ran around like chickens with our heads cutoff, with Gods will helping us get out of things by the skin of our teeth.
“You done soaking it up, superstar,” Eve poked sarcastically.
“What?!” I said surprised.
“Tim, if your chest was any higher it’d be touching the roof of this thing,” she replied. “Get your head in the game.”
She was right. The battalion was ridiculous. If I was nervous about our chance before, I was basically waiting to be blown to pieces now. There ships were massive. There smaller ships were twice as fast as the last ones, and we were looking at a hundreds of them against, maybe, forty of us.
“Yeah, yeah,” I replied under-enthusiastically. “Eve, these guys are faster so I can’t maneuver and fire at the same time. Since I have better reflexes, I’ll pilot, you can take the gun manually this time. Sai, the same goes for you and Sam. You’re a better shot so you take the gun in your ship as well.”
“Okay,” Sai replied.
Eve unbuckled her safety harness and leaped out of her seat. She booked it to the back and mounted the manual turret at the rear. She fastened her harness as the platform elevated her to the top of the ship. I turned and prepared for a dog fight.
“Can you still hear me, Eve?” I asked doing a radio check.
“Yeah, loud and clear,” She replied immediately. “The view is beautiful from out here.”
I looked over to check for Sai. She was mounted like Eve, in a capsule like turret station on top of the ship. I gave her a salute. She returned it with a nod.
“You guys strapped in,” I asked one last time. “Sam, you ready?”
“Yeah, I’m good,” Eve replied. “Let’s go make history.”
“I’m strapped in too,” Sai added.
“All systems online and ready,” Sam said with a smile. “Let’s do it.”
My stomach was doing flip flops. I would have felt more confident if Pete was still with us. Where was he? I wished I could have heard something from him. Why didn’t he tell us he was in trouble? I would have…then it hit me, he knew I would have turned around. He knew I would have risked the mission to save him. I was starting to believe he sacrificed himself from the beginning. The thought made me uneasy. He didn’t trust me to make the right decision and what hurt more was he was right. I swallowed hard as I came to grips with the revelation. My dad, Jacob, now Sam and Pete, was I really that untrustworthy. Was I really that big of a screw up? I looked around the battlefield as doubt slowly began to creep in. What if they were right? What if I am just a humongous screw up?
“Get ready, Theta’s hear they come,” said Jadon knocking me out of my funk.
I was nervous and unconfident. I was in no condition to meet an opposition like we were about to face. I couldn’t have been less prepared. I swallowed hard, and shook my head regretfully.
“Tim, get ready,” Sam shot waving his hand annoyed. “You look like your daydreaming again.”
Anger shot through me at the sound of his words. None of them believed in me. They were no different than my dad and Jacob. After all I had done for them. Who were they to judge me? What gave them the right?
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I shot back angrily.
Sam’s eyes cut surprised by my reaction.
“Nothing, you just looked like you weren’t paying attention?” he fired back.
His words only angered me.
“You know, I’m getting real tired of you guys acting like your my parents,” I fired.
“Whoa, calm down, Tim,” Eve replied. “Sam was just trying to make sure you were alert.”
Her words were the straw that broke the camel’s back.
“Eve, for once in your life will you just shut up!” I replied angrily.
Both Sam and Sai’s head jerked around surprised as they stared in our direction.
“What did you say to me?” she replied.
“I said shut up!” I replied. “I am so sick and tired of you feeling the need to step in between me and Sam. Stay out of it. It has nothing to do with you.”
An awkward silence ensued. I couldn’t see her expression but if the silence was any indication, I was back on Eve’s jerk list, but at the time I didn’t care. I was lashing out from a place of hurt. I realized for the first time since I had arrived in the heaven realm that things hadn’t changed, except now instead of having two people constantly telling me I was lazy and untrustworthy, I now had five. It was making me angrier with every thought.
“What’s your problem?” she replied. “We’re just trying to help?”
“Why is everybody always acting like I need help,” I fired back brimming. “None of you are as good as me, none of you. I don’t need your help, if anything, you need mine. Pete’s slow, Sam’s dumb, and your sloppy, all of you have flaws that I could be pointing out. There all reasons not to trust you guys, but do you see me saying anything? No…Yeah, I make mistakes, but so do you guys, get over it. Or don’t get over it, but don’t act like I’m Judas because of it. Besides, I don’t need any of you guys anyways.”
Every word was like a direct missile aimed at anyone who doubted me.
“Tim, where is all this coming from?” Sai added. “Nobody said anything about not trusting you.”
“Sai, please,” I replied trying my best not to lash out at her. “I’m not talking about you. Just stay out of it. You know exactly what I’m talking about. Sam ignoring my orders to stop, Pete ducking out without telling me, I’m not an idiot, they don’t trust me and you know it.”
Silence followed destroying any confidence I may have had that it was all in my head. They all knew what I was saying was the truth and from the silence that ensued, I was sure they finally understood the reason for my sudden change. I was tired of trying to prove myself to them. My anger was boiling over as I realized they were confirming my assumptions.
“But you know what,” I replied angrily. “I don’t need any of you.”
I frantically hit buttons cutting the power to the manual turrets. I was going to try to maneuver and shoot all on my own. I didn’t need any of their help and I was bent on proving it.
“Tim, what are you doing?” Eve replied as the turret ascended.
I ignored her question and continued to set up my solo attack as she came running down the ships corridor.
“Yeah, you said yourself, these ships are different. There is no way you can do both,” Sai pressed.
“Don’t tell me what I can and can’t do, Sai,” I replied angrily shooting off. “Jadon, focus all your manpower on the middle of their defense. I’ll playoff you.”
“Tim, I know you’re mad,” Eve replied in a pleading tone. “And I’m sorry if you feel like we don’t trust you but we do…I do. I trust you with my life.”
I was too angry to speak but her words did effect me. I turned to her with a nod acknowledging that I appreciated her gesture.
“I think you’re an idiot but if this is what I have to do to prove that I trust you,” she replied with a serious yet vulnerable smile. “Then, I’ll do it. I trust you.”
I acknowledged her word with an empathetic nod as Jadon cut in on us.
“I read you, Thetas” he replied. “You guys heard him, let’s converge on the middle. Let’s move.”
They all converged as we got close to the opposition. I was going to prove to each and every one of my teammates that I could be trusted. I was determined to bring the entire base down all by myself.
Sam was still glued to my tail. I maneuvered right as we finally hit a thick of the opposition. I was pissed and it was advantageous. I was more focused, more determined.
“Tim, you have one on your…” Sam responded.
BOOM! Before he could speak I obliterated the ship. I was moving three or four moves ahead of everyone else. I threw caution to the wind. I was like a machine. They could have had a billion machines and they wouldn’t have been a match for me that day.
“You can’t be serious?” Eve responded in awe.
BOOM! BDDDDRRRRR! I peppered, dodged, and smashed anything that came near me. Our ships dropped like flies. I was the only one putting up a fight. Sam’s job was easy. He only had to stay on my tail as I marked and peppered anything in that came into our vicinity.
“Tim, how are you doing that?” Sai replied as shocked as everyone.
BOOM! BDDDDRRRRR! BOOM! BDDDDRRRR! BOOM! BOOM! Before I knew the opposition was retreating and everyone on our squad was cheering me on.
“Awesome,” said a voice over the intercom.
“That kid is unreal,” said another voice.
“How can anybody have reflexes like that,” said another voice. “He doesn’t even have a manual gunner. It’s all him.”
BOOM! BDDDDRRRRR! BDDDDRRRRRR! I ignored everything around me. I had one objective and that was getting to the center of the base, and anybody in between me and it, didn’t stand a chance.
I nosedived as one of the larger armored ships pursued me. Sam moved to follow me.
“Sam, stay,” I ordered baiting my pursuer. “I got this.”
“Tiiiiiiiiiiiimmm!” Eve let out bracing herself as we shot down.
Stay on my tail, I thought playing possum. As he closed in, I pulled up on the throttle slowing my ship until I was sitting right over his head preventing him from moving. He was a sitting duck. I veered to my left until my wing sat just over his.
“Are you guys watching this?” Jadon echoed over the radio. “What is he doing? He can’t maneuver.”
I pulled up slightly to give myself a little room to move as Eve freaked out next to me.
“Tim, I hope you know what you’re doing because this is by far the stupidest thing you have ever done!” She screamed still in panic mode. “Why are we nose-diving?”
I turned to her with a determined stare.
“Easy, it’s an armored ship which means it’s heavy,” I explained. “Nose-diving minimizes the damage it can do to our shields because if he destroys us, it’ll get caught in the explosion. Secondly…”
I was so focused. Everything around me was at a standstill. I had one focus and it was to show anybody who ever doubted me that I was able to take care of myself. I didn’t need anybody’s help, not Sam’s, not Pete’s, not Jacob’s, and especially not my dad’s.
“Tim we are running out of altitude!” Eve continued.
“Exactly,” I replied confidently.
As I spoke I steered hard left causing my plane to spin out. In the process, my wing caught the enemy ship’s wing as well, causing it to spin uncontrollably. It was too heavy; he didn’t have the altitude to correct his trajectory. I forced my plain vertical as the armored ship nose-dived spinning out of control.
BOOM! A large explosion ensued signaling it had exploded. I powered up my thrusters and headed for the base.
“Woo-Hoooo!” screamed Jadon. “If I hadn’t of seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it.”
“Me either,” said another voice. “This kid is massive.”
I shot toward the base like a man on a mission.
“Sam, I’m going for the base,” I replied more confident than I could ever remember being. “If you’re coming, keep up.”
Sam shot forward and positioned his ship right behind me.
“I’ll keep up,” he replied as Sai powered up her turret. “And just for the record, I didn’t keep maneuvering because I didn’t trust you; I didn’t stop because I didn’t believe you trusted me.”
His words caught me off guard. I stared at the radio with a bewildered look before turning to Eve.
“Sam, what do you mean?” Eve replied.
“I don’t know,” Sam continued begrudgingly. “At the last battle, I was hurting the team, Tim did what he had to do, I wasn’t mad at him about what happened to me, I was mad at myself. I just thought, maybe, I could make up for it. You know, show that I can handle myself.”
His words were like soothing water to my psyche. It all made sense.
“I was making the same mistake Tim is making now,” he said hesitantly.
“What do you mean, Sam?” Sai pressed.
“The ability to trust somebody doesn’t come from their ability or what they can do. I tried that and all it did was make you guys believe I didn’t trust you, which made you, in turn, not trust me more. Trust is not about putting faith in somebody because of your faith in their ability; it’s about putting faith in someone because of your faith in them. The ability to believe that even if a circumstance arises where there is nothing a person can do, you can still count on them to do all they can. And even though they don’t always do the right thing, its trust that makes a person believe that someone will do the right thing when it matters the most.”
His response hit like a ton of bricks. He was right. All my heroics and showing-off would do little to build trust. Eve’s words echoed in my thoughts. “Tim I trust you with my life”. That statement showed more trust than any trust I would earn from doing what I was doing. What I was doing wasn’t encouraging trust. It was proving something they already knew. I was gifted. My whole life, I had always been gifted. Nobody had ever doubted my ability to do the right thing; they all doubted my ability to do the right thing when it counted. In that regard, I lagged behind every one of my legionmates. I always had trust in their decisions to do what was right, and how could I blame them for feeling different, when I didn’t trust me to do the right thing when it counted. I was lazy, entitled, and spoiled with a talent that I underutilized, but even with all of that, they all trusted me with their lives. I could earn their ability in other areas but for now, that was good enough.
“Wow, Sam, you’re really maturing,” Sai added sarcastically. “I think you’ve been spending too much time around us softies.”
“C’mon, man,” Sam replied embarrassed. “Let’s not make it awkward.”
I nodded with a contemplating smile. Eve returned my smile with a proud one of her own before taking control of the navigation.
“Oh, he’s so cute at this age,” Sai continued to poke in her best baby voice impersonation before her and Eve burst out in laughter.
“Ha, ha, ha,” Sam mocked impatiently. “Can we just get moving?”
I avoided the situation. The last thing I needed was a soliloquy to make the situation more mushy and awkward, so I breathed deep as I slowly released the manual turrets.
“Subtle, cave man,” Eve replied unstrapping her harness.
“Just go,” I replied embarrassed.
Eve unfastened her harness and jogged back to the platform as I stood contemplating my actions. Before I was being selfish but now, I realized the importance of earning trust and to do so, I had to work with my team.
“Sam, the smaller crafts, have weaker guns,” I instructed hoping no one would make me apologize for my earlier actions, or acknowledge that Sam words had affected me.
“Looks like someone stopped pouting like a baby,” Sai poked.
“Sai,” I grunted bashfully. “Give me a break.”
“Just saying,” she continued.
I laughed it off as Eve ascended in her platform.
“Yeah, I got you,” Sam added. “So that means, I can take more damage from them.”
“Exactly, the big ones are slower so directional maneuvers will work to your advantage but be careful not to get in their direct firing line because they have high powered weapons,” I continued.
I typed in a couple of buttons to transfer my feed to our team radio frequency and repeated the same instructions to the rest of the battalion. I explained every technique and counter measure I had deducted using my ability.
“Does anybody have any questions,” I replied moving forward.
“None, we’re ready to rock and roll,” Jadon added.
“Well, let’s do it then,” I responded shooting forward.
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*To all my fans, I will now be uploading every Sunday. Please leave comments and let me know what you think of the character progression, the story progression, i always go through and do a clean grammar check so I don't need those comments. I don't get paid to do this, I am a graduate student and I work, so, the comments really energize me and inspire me to write so please make sure you leave comments for each chapter just so I know I'm doing a relatively good job.
Thanks,
Navagator29