The Sabot, or Rocket-Fighter, was an imposing craft to one on foot. It was massive in scale, and the approaching people were dwarfed by it. Kerry led Governor Tanaki to a minuscule boarding port, where a folding stairway had already been extended. “Mind the headroom, Ma’am. These fighters were built for speed and firepower, not pilot comfort.”
The Governor picked her way up the narrow entrance, and into the bowels of the ship. Her path was lighted with glowing footsteps of stepping points and handholds along the way.
“Please take the station on the right, Governor Tanaki. The controls have been deactivated, but don’t get your feet tangled in them, please.” Kerry lent her a hand in nestling down into the co-pilot’s seat, and helped her to secure her seat belt. Then he slid dexterously into the pilot’s seat next to her and smiled over at her. “Ready to go, Ma’am?”
“Let’s go, Kerry!” Governor Tanaki seemed intent on enjoying her experience. Kerry checked for the proper indicators, and moved his controller gently forward. With a soft roaring sound, the vessel rolled smoothly forward. Lining up on the takeoff runway, Kerry pushed the control forward about halfway. A firm hand pushed them back in the cushioned seats as the plane leaped forward. In seconds they were airborne.
Governor Tanaki was looking around at the control screens with evident interest as Kerry, adjusting for a comfortable negative roll setting, vectored into his flight path.
They continued to accelerate, blue streamers of ionized air molecules whipped past the viewscreens like a gauze curtain. “Top speed, Governor Tanaki, at least for this flight.” Her eyes opened wide at the numbers displayed. The viewscreen had navigational and flight path overlays showing that they were moving over the ground at an incredible pace.
“We’re not very high up, are we?” The governor inquired.
“No Ma’am, no need to. If we wanted to go really fast, though, that’s where we would be. I could take you up there where the sky gets black if you want me to.” Kerry looked over at her.
“That’s okay. I’m having fun as it is. You seem to be an excellent pilot, do you fly often?”
“No Ma’am. This is only about my tenth time actually up in the air.” Suddenly, the Governor looked a little nervous. “Oh, not to worry, Ma’am. What I meant was that most of the time, I’ve flown from the bunker stations. These planes can be operated by remote control, you know. That’s where I was when I got my nickname.” He pointed to the engraved word ‘Ace’ on his jacket.
“What did you do to earn it?” the governor asked.
“Well, Ma’am. I think that little action was why I was picked to be your escort today. I was the pilot who blew a nice, neat hole in the office of the Global Defense Director on Announcement Day. That was one of the few aggressive things we did that day.”
Governor Tanaki looked at him, “You must have been awfully young then.”
He smiled, “We were all young then. Just kids, really. I didn’t even know that the action was real. I thought I was playing an arcade game.” He looked at her eyes, “We were fighting for our lives, though.”
She looked away. “I wasn’t part of the decision to attack your settlements.” She paused, “I would have had to support it afterwards though.”
Kerry shrugged, “Wouldn’t have made any difference to me -- I would have been dead.”
She looked at him, her eyes narrowing slightly, “You may be right about the reason you were chosen as my pilot.”
Kerry glanced at her again, but said nothing.
Very good!