Spensa sits alone for hours in the empty testing room, starting to feel empty and defeated instead of angry. An aide comes in and tells her to leave, but Spensa doesn't listen. She walks over to where Ironsides left the tests from the children of First Citizens. The tests are all empty other than the name, since they are guaranteed entrance into pilot school due to their parentage. Spensa picks up the first test, belonging to Jorgen Weight, and starts writing in it. It is full of detailed questions on piloting and related fields, though Spensa doesn't really think for the intent and preference questions, since she isn't getting in anyway. As she finishes, she hears janitors outside. She starts sketching a W-shaped ship, similar to the crash she found earlier. The janitors come in, and one asks Spensa why she is still here. She tells him she didn't feel like celebrating, since she never had an actual chance to pass, and asks if he ever felt like he was forced into his role. He asks her why she wants to be a pilot so much, since it's a dangerous job, and Spensa replies that not all of them die, citing a statistic she studied. The man tells her he knows, and she spots the glint of medals and a pilot's pin on the chest of his silhouette. Spensa then hears the two janitors joking in the hallway, which makes her realize that the man is not a janitor. He walks, limping, over to her in the emergency lighting, asking her again why she wants to be a pilot as he flips through her test. Spensa tries to say that because she wants to prove herself and clear her father's name, but instead tells him that it's because she'll get to see the sky. He comments that even though their people named themselves Defiants, Ironsides is still surprised at being defied. He puts the test down with something on top of it, then starts walking away. Spensa asks him who he is, and he turns around, revealing his face more clearly, and tells her he knew her father. Spensa suddenly recognizes him as Mongrel, her father's old wingmate. He tells her to show up the morning of the day after tomorrow at pilot class and gives her the location, telling her to use her pin to get in. Spensa realizes the object he put on her test is a cadet's pin, and grabs it while asking Mongrel about what Ironsides would do about it. He replies that he can handle it, since Ironsides is too highly ranked to manage cadets. Mongrel comments that Spensa got 17, a question on what to do in overwhelming odds, wrong, saying that she should fall back and await reinforcements, which she disagrees with. He stiffens a bit and Spensa quickly stops herself, trying to not anger the man who'll let her in. He tells her that even though he admitted her, it won't be easy on her.
High Tail Hall 17 Full 39
Spensa and Kimmalyn enter the room, first, and see ten Poco-class training cockpits forming a circle. The door opens, and two more cadets enter, Bim, a short Yeongian boy with dark blue hair, and Hudiya, a blonde, athletic-looking girl from Igneous. After those two came Morningtide, a Vician girl with a tattoo across her lower jaw. After Morningtide enters comes Freyja, a tall skinny girl with very short blonde hair. After Freyja comes Jorgen, Arturo, and Ned. Jorgen calls for the cadets to line up against the wall, to which Hudiya and Spensa object to. Spensa calls him "Jerkface", and then takes a shot at him being an entitled son of a First Citizen, because he didn't have to take his entry test to Flight School. After arguing for a little while longer, Spensa realizes that none of the cadets in the Flight School know her personally, therefore, none of them know who her father is, meaning she has a clean slate and can start anew with this group. After this realization, Mongrel enters the room, and identifies himself as Captain Cobb. Mongrel tells the cadets their chances of even making it out of Flight School are slim, and then designates Jorgen as flightleader, with Arturo and Nedd as assistant flightleaders. Spensa is outraged, so Mongrel takes her into the hallway, and tells her to knock it off because he's already stuck his neck out for her far enough, and informs her that between the three of them, Jorgen, Arturo, and Nedd have thousands of flight hours logged, as well as multiple relatives who made it out of the Flight School to become full-fledged DDF members. This shuts Spensa up, and she asks Mongrel if she needs to do any menial labor as punishment; Mongrel tells her the punishment for acting out of line is simple - she won't get to fly.
As the Krell starship approaches, Spensa attempts to pull into a turn she's drawn thousands of times, only to realize it is much more difficult to pull off in real life, almost crashing into Hurl. Whilst performing a series of dogfighting maneuvers with Nedd and the Krell ship, Jorgen pulls off a near-perfect twin-S dodge. Cobb warns Jorgen to avoid performing complex maneuvers, as it will allow the Krell to identify him as a flightleader, and therefore target him. After performing a perfect Ahlstrom loop, Jorgen attempts another spin, this time less successful, leading the Krell back towards the other six members of the flight. The members of the flight scatter, but Morningtide clips Bim in the scuffle. Krell destructor blasts hit Rig head on, but his shield holds, and Kimmalyn dropped five hundred feet below her flightmates to try and line up a destructor shot. Jorgen decides to lure the Krell ship higher so Alta's AA guns can reach it, only to realize his shield is down. Spensa nearly blacks out from g-forces in a rush to save him, only for Kimmalyn to snipe the unshielded Krell ship from far below. Rig reveals he threw up in his ship, so Cobb tells him to return to the launchpad, with Hurl as an escort. Cobb reveals Kimmalyn's recommendation to the Flight School because of her accuracy record as a gunner from Bountiful Cavern, and the flight retreats to the launchpad as Nightmare Flight come to relieve them. The flight is shown their bunks, but Spensa is not given one, and is told by Cobb that Ironsides has forbidden her access to a bunk or the mess hall, and that she must take the elevator to get between Igneous Cavern and Flight School every day. Two MPs escort her off the premises, and she overhears Jorgen and Cobb talking about the insubordination of the flight. Jorgen leaves in an extremely expensive private car, and Spensa walks off toward the waiting area for the elevators. As she's waiting in line, she realizes that her secret cavern is probably a quicker commute than going all the way back to Igneous, so she goes there and falls asleep in the cockpit of the old ship.
Early in the morning, Spensa heads to the lavatory, to which she is allowed access, to wash her clothes. Afterwards, she heads to class, and realizes that Rig is late again. Cobb comes in and notices the empty seat, then understandingly nods at Rig when he finally arrives. Rig turns to leave, and Cobb notes that there is always a cadet who decides that they aren't pilot material after their first fight. Spensa chases after him, asking on why he is leaving and giving up. Rig tells her that he realizes that he wasn't fit for battle, and that he should probably find another more suitable job. Cobb calls her back into the classroom, then starts having the cadets practice flying in unison. They spend the morning practicing turning, with Bim constantly asking about weapons. Hurl flies into FM's ship, causing both to crash. Cobb tells the cadets to eject if they get into uncontrolled spins like what happened earlier. As they practice landing their ships, Cobb emphasizes ejecting in the case of an emergency, though Spensa doesn't take it to heart because she feels that she will get kicked out of Flight School if she ejects as a cadet, and can worry about it after becoming a full pilot. As everyone else goes to the mess hall for lunch, Cobb talks with Spensa and learns that she didn't take the elevator home to Igneous last night because she lives in the cave nearby and that she forgot to bring lunch for the day. Spensa takes a walk in the orchard outside the DDF base, looking up at the debris field above and wondering about the people that came before. As she heads back to class, Spensa notices some small vehicle hangars, one of which has Jorgen's blue hovercar in it. Heading in, Spensa sees Morningtide eating lunch alone and tries to talk, but the other girl doesn't respond much. The other cadets come in, and Kimmalyn gives Spensa a roll to make up for her missing lunch. Cobb asks the cadets about their feelings before practicing more turns. Among other things, Morningtide's response reveals that she can't speak English very well, and FM is uncomfortable with the DDF's military culture.
Spensa runs for Alta Base, thinking Ironsides made it Skyward Flight's turn this time to participate in the battle. She returns to a single ship on a launchpad, meaning that she is late and everyone else in her flight has already taken off. In a hurry, Spensa skips putting on her pressure suit, and contacts Jorgen before taking off. Eventually, she reaches the site of the battle, and Jorgen tells her to help Morningtide, who has picked up a tail. Morningtide tries to dodge and throw them off, but the three Krell ships trailing her manage to shoot her down. Spensa tries to help by hitting one of the Krell ships with her light-lance for another pilot to shoot down, but Morningtide is already gone. Spensa flies back to Jorgen, containing her grief. The two use their light-lines to send a Krell ship into debris before Cobb tells them to remain in defensive positions. They then notices Kimmalyn, who has frozen up with Morningtide's death and doesn't have a wingmate. Jorgen goes to cover her, telling Spensa to go help Bim. Spensa gets a tail, which she gets rid of by making a good maneuver, feeling as though she is part of the ship. Cobb congratulates her, then tells her to get to Bim, who he says is too overeager. Just then, a Krell bomber with a lifebuster bomb is spotted. Cobb tells the cadets to stay back and let the full pilots handle the situation. Bim insists he can hit the bomber, and Cobb tries to check for orders instead of immediately rejecting the idea, which makes Bim think that he has permission to engage, and asks Spensa to follow him. Cobb warns them that the bomb looks bigger than usual, but Bim is already flying over. Four escort ships peel away from the bomber, and their destructor blasts overwhelm Bim's ship's shields, shooting him down. A chunk of the wreckage hits Spensa's ship and it starts blaring warnings, but she manages to stabilize herself. The Krell ships disengage, and Ironsides decides not to pursue, since there are too many of them. Jorgen orders everyone to confirm their status, and everyone other than Morningtide and Bim responds, before they fall into formation. Skyward Flight returns to base, short two members. 2ff7e9595c
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