A Liberty Story

[Sunset Glow]

Ensign Rivers

"Oi! It's one of them death traps, ain't it?" A hangar worker greeted recru Ensign Rivers as she exited the craft.

"Ah, hah hah" She laughed nervously. "Yes, it is." She added with some relief. Her eight flight hours were over and she was neither shot down, nor fell victim to any other accidents.

"Ye look like yer glad to leave tha craft." The hangar worker chuckled. "Got promoted, weren't ya?"

"Uhm... in fact, I was! Yes!" Sandra nodded, holding her helmet. "How did you know?"

"Lass..." The hangar worker continued. "I have been working in this hanger since a good eleven years now. If you are in the business for that long you learn to see things. An' that look o'yer face? Tha' was very clear." The man laughed heartily.

"Oh.." Sandra rubbed her neck. "I see...." And nodded. "Well, yes I did get promoted and I just landed this craft as I completed my eight hours recruit time on it." She smiled.

"We'll prepare the craft for th' next recruit. Speaking o' which you took good care of it. Nice t' see you brought it back safe." The hangar worker responded, then nodded.

"Thank you, I try." Sandra nodded. "Now, if you excuse me..."

"O'course, o'course lass." The hangar worker nodded. "Off ye go!"

Sandra walked to the hangar door, on the way, one glance to a nearby upholder bomber. Soon, Sandra would be in her element again...

Later at the Mississippi, at Ensign Rivers quarters...

It had been eight flight hours in this thing, this heavy fighter, this "death trap" as many nickname it. Still, for Sandra it didn't appear to be that long, these recruit hours went by as any others. She just got used to the controls and then it was already over. The Executioner was a nice ship, but the sheer firepower and armor combined with a decent agility made the Guardian Sandra's preferred choice. And she had to pick, according to Navy regulations every pilot needed to have at least one Avenger or Guardian ready.

Wait a moment, Sandra was a dedicated bomber pilot, wasn't she? She had heard that there was a lack of bomber pilots in the Navy which prompted her to take the path of a bomber pilot back at the academy. However, as she was promoted to a recruit in the primary fleet, she was informed that there were actually enough bomber pilots and they needed fighter pilots!

So just as Sandra was promoted to the rank of Ensign, and allowed to fly the upholder bomber craft again, she learned fighter pilots were needed. At this time, Sandra asked herself why she chose the bomber pilot path anyways, in favor of a more flexible education.

"Perhaps, I did not want to fail, or disappoint.. perhaps I wanted to be sure I excel..." She thought while reading over her mail at the computer console

In this moment, she noticed something. Among the other mail and usual notifications there was a notice about a special training class that was offered at the Manhatten Academy for accellerated officer training. The class was offered for pilots who required training with light, heavy and very heavy fighter craft in attempt to increase the number of available pilots for those.

For Sandra this was a welcme opportunity. In attending this class, she could could regain the flexibility she had lost with her choice of the bomber piloting program back at the Academy. But it would lead her back to Manhatten and back into another three months of studying.

Initially, Sandra had looked forward to being on active duty for the primary fleet so the thought of studying yet again in favor of flying was not entirely appealing to her. However, the advantages of it were obvious, and so, Sandra wrote and sent the application...