Chapter 14

"Two pins, normal-normal," Kayla called to her instructor as she inspected her ejection seat. It was only two weeks after the first T-6 had arrived from Davis-Monthan and they were already ready to fly.

"And what does that mean, cadet?" Captain Decker's voice was laced with contempt.

"Sir, it means that both ejection seats are in a safe configuration and set for normal ejection sequence," Kayla said, flustered as she jumped down from the T-6's wing to complete the walk around.

"Correct, continue." Decker's voice was now neutral but he gave her a hard stare.

Her eyes lingered on his for only a moment before she consulted her checklist again. Still flustered, she pressed on. They finished the preflight and engine start with no problems.

"All systems green, sir," she told him.

"Fine," he keyed the radio. "Offutt Tower, Kat 0-2, request taxi runway 3-0."

"Kat 02, approved taxi Charlie, Papa, hold short runway 3-0."

"Answer him," Captain Decker's voice crackled across the comm system.

"Uhh, Kat 02 taxi Charlie, Papa, hold short 3-0."

"Good, now do it," he tugged on his comm cord trying to work the kinks out of it and clear up the crackle.

"Brake – off, taxi light – on," she released the brakes and they lurched forward.

"Ease off the brakes, don't just let go!" Decker yelled.

"Copy, sir!" She applied light pressure and pushed forward on the throttle, or PCL as it was called. They moved forward smoothly until the first turn. Kayla, afraid she wouldn't push hard enough on equipment made for men Decker's size, mashed on the right rudder, turning them sharply.

"My aircraft!" Decker screamed and seized the controls. The plane's sharp turn eased around the corner and they stopped. "Don't mash the freaking peddles. She's just been put back together, you can't go honking on her so soon!"

Kayla's eyes darted to the small mirror pointed at the instructor's seat behind her, her instructor had his mask up now, obscuring most of his face. Even with the mask up, she could see his light blue eyes staring at the controls and his heavy brows tight with concentration. She narrowed her eyes, mind chasing a wisp of memory before focusing on her checklist.

"Two niner, niner, two set."

"two niner, niner, two set," he echoed as they rolled around the next corner.

"Offutt tower, Kat 0-2, number one ready for immediate," Kayla's voice sounded steady to her ear. After driving Alana and Cody both crazy with her insistence at practicing radio calls, it should.

"Kat 0-2, first for takeoff, line up and hold."

Kayla eased the plane forward, looking down both ends of the runway.

"Checklist!" Decker's crackling voice hollered.

"Sir! Taxi light – on!" She said as she wiggled the plane onto the runway line.

"Kat 0-2, wind 3-1-4 for 1-2, clear take off 3-0."

"Kat 0-2, uhm, cleared 3-0," she eased the power forward to the firewall. Power surged through the plane. Kayla darted her eyes across the control panel, looking for problems, hoping Captain Decker was too. It was one thing to read through a checklist a few hundred times but quite another to live and breathe it. She took one deep breath, checked her air speed, and pulled the yoke to her chest. "Passing 80 knots!" The plane parted company with old Terra Firma and Kayla knew she was in control of hundreds, thousands of pounds of pure airpower. Beneath her mask a slow smile spread.

"Passing 1-40 – gear. Passing 1-70 and 7-5-0 feet, flaps!"

"Hell girl, you have two hours of gas an only one control tower for 3 thousand miles, let's go chase a few clouds," his previously grumpy exterior gone, Captain Decker's voice was threaded with joy. She held the yoke into her chest until they'd reached 1,000 feet then released. They both search the skies, looking for clear space.

"Puffies, 2:30. Put the canopy of this plane on top of that cloud," Decker ordered.

Kayla spotted the clouded he was referring to and did the mental math. To put the canopy on top of the cloud either meant shooting just through it or rolling over top of it. Feeling daring, she aimed for the cloud and at the last moment rolled inverted over it.

As the now inverted canopy skimmed over the top of the cloud she asked, "Like this, sir?"