SG Vol. 1 pt. 44

((LDQ coming up next and Woof will also be up today!))

Today started off well. I got to see Naomi cuddling with Chomper in her bed even though I bought a cage and locked him in it before going to sleep. The sight was enough for me to forgive her for finding out how to let him out.

Then, I took him out on a morning walk and it was pretty relaxing. I’ve never been one to go out for a walk in the morning given that I get enough exercise, but it gave me an opportunity to smoke my pipe and work my injured leg some more while making sure that Chomper wouldn’t have an accident indoors.

Kate never came back, either. She probably ended up staying with a friend or a hotel. Maybe if I’m lucky, she’ll have stayed at some bastard’s house and will start leeching off of him instead.

If only I could be that lucky.

As the day would prove, I’m unlucky if anything.

One of the first things I found out upon arriving at the base this morning is that all of the cadets are being gathered together to meet the Fighting Aces. It’s supposedly for the first phase of a new plan to inspire cadets and let those annoying bastards look them over to spot any potential talent. And, even though us instructors aren’t going to be required for anything, we’re still supposed to go and watch everything so that some of us “might learn a thing or two” or “feel inspired.”

Fortunately for Zane, he was very careful when explaining that to me to make it clear that he didn’t think I’d benefit from either of those. It’s everybody else who he thinks could benefit from being around the Fighting Aces pilots.

Damn it, those bastards are so annoying.

I hate that they’re going to basically have control of my cadets for the day. It’s… it’s a damn smart decision from an objective perspective since they’re the best of the best and some of them could make me look like a fresh cadet, but I still don’t like any of them.

They’re only made worse by the fact that one of them went through training with me underneath her.

It’s going to be my first time seeing him in years if he’s a part of this event.

I’m really not looking forward to that.

“Sir? Something wrong?” Shitger asks me.

I explained what’s going to happen a few minutes ago and have been sitting here, behind my desk, looking pissed off since then.

“No,” I answer. I might not like those bastards, but I’m still going to try to stay neutral about this whole thing. My cadets don’t need to know about my history with them.

“You’re a bad liar, sir,” Shitger says.

I look up at him.

“Eighty?” he asks.

“Double that,” I answer.

“Sir, yes sir,” he says, gets out from his chair, and starts his one hundred and sixty push-ups in front of the rest of the cadets.

I swear this brat is just trying to show off at this point. How the fuck am I supposed to punish somebody who doesn’t treat it like punishment? He just treats it as a reward to improve himself after being a brat, so he’s basically getting away with saying and doing whatever he wants.

The only punishment that would really feel like punishment to him would involve more sugar-free gummy bears or something more official which wouldn’t do anybody any good. I’m not going to have him formally punished over being an annoying little shit, especially not with how much potential he has.

Thinking of potential, that reminds me.

“Samurai,” I say.

“Yes, sir?” she replies.

“I forgot to say it the other day, but good job.”

“Sir?”

Everybody except for Shitger is looking at me with a surprised expression as if I never think they ever do good jobs.

“You broke my record in the simulation and have some of the highest accuracy on record. You deserve some praise for that. The rest of you, clap. That includes you, Shitger.”

The cadets all clap for Samurai as she looks around the room a bit confused herself. Shitger also makes sure to clap by bringing his hands together each time he pushes himself up.

“Did I really?” Samurai asks.

“Yeah. You’re in third place now. The only two who have scored higher than you are members of the Fighting Aces. You know what that means, Samurai?”

“No, sir.”

“It means that we’re going to be honing that aim of yours until you’re the best damn sniper that this world has ever seen. I’m not going to accept anything less than absolute perfection from you. Understand?”

“Ye-yes, sir.”

“From now on, any bullet you waste will be three laps and one hundred push-ups for everybody, and that will be after eating more sugar-free gummy bears. Nobody wants that to happen again, right?”

The rest of the cadets look at Samurai as a drop of sweat rolls down her forehead.

Punishing Shitger might be difficult, but none of them want to go through the sugar-free gummy bears again. Not even Shitger.

“Tell me, Samurai. You plan on ever missing another shot again? You plan on ever wasting a single bullet?” I ask her.

“No, sir,” Samurai answers.

“Good. Now get out to the field. Go stand… wherever they tell you to stand and wait for it to start. Except for you, Shitger. You can finish your push-ups first.”

“Already almost done, sir,” Shitger answers.

This damn brat is annoying.

Respectable, but annoying.

Anyways, I guess I should head out there myself. I trust Shitger to finish the push-ups on his own and the other cadets are already on the way out.

I’m going to have to… socialize with the other instructors.

Damn it. Today is getting more and more annoying.

Maybe it won’t be as annoying as I thought it would be.

Instead of having to go and socialize with the other instructors, I see somebody else standing around by them who just so happens to be getting avoided by the instructors.

“What are you over here for?” I ask her.

“Don’t ya know?” Tabitha asks.

“Know what?”

“How they’re goin’ to be arrivin’!”

“The Fighting Aces pilots?”

“Yeah. They’re goin’ to be makin’ a show of it.”

“Seriously? They’re going to be even more annoying than they already are?”

“You’re soundin’ pretty jealous.”

“I’m not jealous. They’re damn good pilots, but they don’t need to be showboating all the time.”

“Come on, it’s good for morale. Everybody else loves it!”

“That doesn’t make it any less annoying. All that means is that their annoying behaviors get encouraged.”

“Yeah, yeah. Keep on poutin’.”

“I regret coming over to you.”

“If ya did then ya wouldn’t still be here.”

“No, I do regret it. I’d just rather stand with you than stand with people who I don’t even know the names of.”

“Mhm. Keep tellin’ yourself that.”

“Stop being annoying. And shouldn’t you be at the hangars anyways?”

“I used my break so that I wouldn’t miss this. It’s not every day I get to see Hellcats up close!” Tabitha explains as drool practically runs out of her mouth.

“My Warthog is better.”

“Pffttt, no way. The latest Hellcats are better in every single way.”

“Do they have giant guns built into their arms?”

“No, but—”

“Then my Warthog is better.”

“Ya know, lil bro, it’s not the size that matters, it’s how ya use it.”

“The bigger it is, the less you need to know.”

“I’m startin’ to understand why ya have marriage problems.”

Before I could come up with anything good to respond with, the annoying bastards in their annoying Hellcats come within sight.

The Enterprise herself sailed out so that the Fighting Aces could make a flashy introduction in their Hellcats coming in over the water.

I can already hear some of the others standing by cheering as they point up at the approaching VSUs.

Damn showboats.

Five Hellcats fly over us fast enough to make the ground shake. They then loop around the airfield, fly upward in formation, and pull off a few other overly-dramatic maneuvers as if they’re performing in a damn airshow for a bunch of civilians.

As condescending as it is… it proves that they’re the best of the best. The maneuvers they’re pulling off—as close together as they are—are far beyond what the majority of pilots could do. I’m not even sure if I could do some of those while flying so close to another unit. It requires the highest level of confidence in yourself and whoever you’re flying with to do that.

Finally, the showoffs land in front of us on the airfield in their customized F6F VSUs. I never have been a fan of how short and compact they look, but other than that, they’re some damn beautiful machines.

Most VSU pilots would love to fly one of these. They’re the most reliable, well-equipped machines in our entire military. It’s a damn shame that the tech that goes into them is so expensive, and the cheaper variants just can’t hold up to the originals.

Humanity’s survival would probably be going a lot better if we could put every single VSU pilot into an F6F VSU.

“Now you’re really lookin’ jealous,” Tabitha says, nudging me with her shoulder.

“Shut up. The least they could do if they’re not going to produce enough Hellcats for everybody is not discontinue one of the most cost-effective units we have.”

“Oh, yeah. By the way, ya lucked out. We were able to find the parts to fix your gal up, so you’ll be able to keep flyin’ around in her as long as ya don’t get her all screwed up again.”

“How long until she’s in one piece again?”

“If by ‘one piece’ ya mean a few thousand pieces held together by some screws, welding, and some tape, then a couple of months. Gotta wait for all the parts to get here first, then you’re not exactly supposed to be flyin’ anymore anyways, and they want us to prioritize repairs on everythin’ else first. Fixin’ your gal up is basically goin’ to be a pet project of ours since we all love her too much to scrap her. And make sure to thank the colonel later.”

“What for?”

“For convincin’ the higher-ups to let us repair her instead of tellin’ ya to get over it and choose a new unit.”

“I knew it’s been too long since I’ve owed him another favor. And thanks.”

“Anytime, lil bro.”

“Stop calling me that.”

“Nope.”

“You’re so damn annoying.”

“As annoyin’ as them?” she asks, looking up at the Hellcats.

Each one of them has extended their arms down to the ground in a sloped position so that the pilots, after opening up their cockpits, can walk down their units’ arms.

As if they weren’t already showing off enough.

And, of course, he is with them.

Commander James Brownfield. One of the top aces in service and one of the only pilots alive to actually engage in VSU versus VSU combat against the Luftwaffe. He looks as much like some sort of comic book superhero as ever.

And, of course, he notices me, waves, and smiles at me.

Naturally, I respond by showing him my middle finger which only gets a laugh out of him.

Standing next to him is their leader – the ace of all aces. Captain Daniel Gyles. He’s the poster boy of all VSU pilots. Despite being possibly the shortest and friendliest looking out of all of the Fighting Aces, he’s the most brutal, dedicated pilot that I have ever known. There really isn’t anybody who is a better pilot than him. I got to go against him once in the simulators years ago, and I never landed a single shot on him whereas he took his time fucking around with me. He managed to disable every single part of my unit that he could without outright shooting me down. Then he decided to finish our mock battle by getting close and personal with the knife instead of the sword.

Fuck, seeing him pisses me off.

Short bastard.

“Now ya just look angry,” Tabitha says.

“Is it that fucking obvious?” I ask her.

“Try scowlin’ some more if ya want it to be really obvious.”

While we have our own back-and-forth, everybody else is clapping for the Fighting Aces’ arrival.

Even my own cadets, including the sweaty Shitger, are standing together and clapping for them.

It pisses me off how that actually makes me feel kind of jealous.

Now I have another reason to hate the Fighting Aces.

“It’s a shame that so many beautiful women have been drafted,” Daniel says, looking over the group of cadets.

I can’t see the faces of my cadets, but I can see some of the other nearby cadets practically melting from his words.

He’s not even that smooth. He just looks like some pretty boy and has a good reputation, damn it.

“Knowing that such beauty needs protected will help me fly even faster,” Daniel continues, getting more swooning from the girl cadets.

At least Tabitha is on my side and looking like she’s about to vomit.

She might love VSUs but she doesn’t love their pilots.

Too bad the rest of these brats can’t feel the same way. I wonder how many of them are going to be invited to a private get-together with him once this is over. At least, the newer rumors I’ve heard about him would like me to believe that he’s going to be spending some time with any girls who fall for his act.

There is one girl in particular who seems to grab his eye.

One of my cadets.

He walks over to her, holds her hands in his own, and looks into her eyes – into Filly’s eyes.

Seriously? Not even Valkyrie? I mean, Filly is cute and all, but how the fuck is he going to choose her over Valkyrie? But, even him choosing Filly is enough to piss me off even more.

But, just as surprising as his choice is Filly’s reaction.

Before Daniel can even open his mouth to try and seduce her, Filly shouts out, “I – I ha-have a boyfriend!”

Filly has instantly gone from being one of the most useless cadets to potentially my favorite as she has shown me a face that I have never seen from Daniel before. It only lasted for a second, but I saw his eye twitch and his mouth hang open in disbelief that he was actually rejected before he could even say anything.

“Oi, you’re goin’ to make a scene,” Tabitha says, smacking me on my back.

I can’t. I’m hunched over holding my gut and my mouth as I try not to laugh so loud that everybody within a few miles can hear me.

That was fucking perfect.

Oh, fuck, that was just too good.

Alright. I’m calmed down now.

Fucking Filly. Never expected her to pull something like that off.

I’ll have to upgrade her nickname once this is over.

“Aha, no worries,” Daniel says. “I just wanted to let you know that I am looking forward to observing you and all of the other cadets.”

“O-oh, sorry,” Filly apologizes.

Yeah, right. We all know what he was trying to do. Even if Filly has bought his excuse, it doesn’t mean that the rest of us will.

“Tell me that wasn’t one of the fucking funniest things you’ve ever seen,” I tell Tabitha.

“I give it a seven out of ten,” she answers.

Ah, fuck. I’m going to be remembering that for the next week.

Daniel walks back over to his partners and asks James, “Would you like to take it from here?”

“Sure,” James answers and then steps up to take the lead. “Hello! For those of you who don’t know me, I am Commander Brownfield, but you may call me James. If Lance is anything like he used to be then I am sure that he has told you plenty of stories about me,” he says, holding a hand up toward me.

Everybody turns to look at me. Most of them look surprised that me and him could possibly know each other, and some of them look disappointed that I have never told them any stories about him.

Annoying bastard.

“Now,” he continues, “those of us from the Fighting Aces are here to scout for promising talents. While no decisions will be made for the next few months, whatever impressions we get from you today will be important in helping us decide who we will want to recruit and personally train. Maybe somebody will impress us so much today that we recruit you before the day is over. Who knows?”

His words have made several cadets whisper among themselves as they can’t resist the exciting potential. They have no idea that their whispering has likely disqualified them and made the Fighting Aces lose all interest in them.

Only one group of cadets is staying completely silent and still as they listen in on what they have to say.

Mine.

“First, if you do not mind, we would like to see how well you all perform in physical exercise. I know that it might seem unnecessary for pilots to be good at running or doing push-ups, but we are looking for cadets who excel at everything. You never know what may happen during combat,” James explains.

He was taught by the same instructor as me alright.

“Please, split into two groups: males and females. We will then come around and split you into smaller groups.”

Just as he requested, all of the cadets gather into two groups split by gender. Daniel is already with the girls, walking around them and checking them out.

The only one that he really doesn’t look interested in at all is the one most attractive girl in the group. Valkyrie.

It’s extremely subtle, but he cringes whenever he looks at her. James has the same reaction to her. In fact, all of the Fighting Aces pilots do.

They can all tell her heritage just by looking at her. While the other cadets and I might not give a fuck about who her grandparents were, that doesn’t mean nobody is going to care.

Even for me, it’s hard to look past race when it comes to the race that almost singlehandedly conquered the world and controls most of my country’s land.

But rather than pin that on all of them, I’ll just pin it on the ones who work with the fucking demons so that they don’t have to deal with us themselves anymore.

As for Valkyrie, I can tell that it’s getting to her. She wants to be a good pilot and our country’s top pilots are now looking down at her like she’s a piece of trash. Rather than confidently look forward and wait, she looks away every time they stop looking at her.

They’re seriously pissing me off.