An Unforgiving Desert – Chapter 1

My instructor’s eyes brighten as he looks out over our class. Oh boy, he has the results of our last exam. I hold my breath and wait as a chorus of shushing brings everyone’s attention to the front.

“I have excellent news for you this morning.” Damian smiles as he folds his arms over his chest. “All of you passed last week’s exam, and this means you have one more flight test before we’re able to award you with a Class Three license.”

Yesssssss, baby. I exhale out and bring my head down to the desk in front of me. Thank you, thank you, thank you. This is just what I needed. I’m only a few weeks from getting everything in my life back.

I glance around the room. Only eight people, including me, are left. I guess that means Raffi is out. I didn’t notice his absence until right this moment. That’s fine with me. Raffi did not have what it takes to be an independent pilot. He spent far too much of his time asking questions about everything. The man could not find his asshole, even if it was pointed out to him.

“Hey, Skylar.” My new bestie, Amira, reaches over and presents a fist. “We did it.”

I bump mine against hers. “Shit yeah,” I whisper at her. “Heaven knows we deserve to be here.”

I wink at her and look up at the room in time for Damian to chuckle and shake his head. “No, no. Please.” He lifts his hands. “Take a minute to celebrate. Few people make it this far.”

“Sorry.” I smile and raise my hand in surrender. “You have no idea how hard I’ve been studying.”

I have literally been studying every fucking minute of every fucking day for the last six fucking months to get here. My brain is tired, and my entire body is exhausted. Before I started flight school again, I had been winging my way around the Duo Systems with my cousin, doing whatever I pleased after years of being sequestered on my home ship. A far cry from this studious world I live in now. I have done nothing but study, which is not something I like to brag about or call attention to.

“Same,” says Amira. “Skylar and I drilled that last test until our eyes bled.”

Her black curly hair bounces up and down as she nods. Usually, she pulls it up in a ponytail, but she woke up with a headache. Not surprising since we drank wine until the wee hours.

Besides being exhausted, I’m just a tad hungover. A tad.

Several of the guys in the room shift in their chairs. With six men and two women left in this year’s class, they must be feeling the pressure.

Kalvin, the resident rabble-rouser and pretty boy, throws an annoyed look over his shoulder at me and coughs, “Bullshit,” into his hand.

I ignore him because he can say or do whatever he wants. It will not stop me from coming out on the other side of this with a Class Three license.

But Damian’s face falls. “Excuse me,” he says, coming straight up to Kalvin and hovering over him.

Kalvin pulls on a mask of indifference over his arrogant face. I lean forward to witness what will happen. From behind him and to the side, I can see the slim line of his nose, the pull on his dark eyebrows, and the sweat beading along the back of his neck.

“Do you think Skylar’s abilities are bullshit? Do you think she cheated on the test?” Damian’s voice lowers to a growl. “Come on. Enlighten me.”

I swallow hard, wondering how far this lesson will go.

Kalvin has been difficult to win over these last few months. I’ve made some progress with all of my fellow students, but he has resisted me the most. Amira and I hit it off right away, of course. She became my best friend almost immediately, but the others needed convincing. I could have let it go, but I’m never sure who I’ll be working with in the future. Any of these people could be potential business partners or even pilots for my family’s business. I’m not here just to get the license. I’m here to keep an eye out for the up-and-coming elite.

Kalvin rolls his eyes and blusters under the glare of Damian.

“Well, you know, she’s a princess. She’s only here because her family paid her way.”

What… the… fuck?

My scalp heats as my skin cools. I blink a few times. “I’m sorry. What did you just say?”

“Are you saying I passed her because she bribed me?” Damian is not having any of this either, and my respect for him raises two notches.

Kalvin blows a frustrated breath out his nose. “Please, sir. She has the backing of two of the wealthiest families in the Duo Systems. I think everyone can draw their conclusions from that.”

Amira’s mouth drops open as a few of the other guys’ heads bounce in unison. I narrow my eyes at the back of Kalvin’s head and imagine it exploding. I picture taking his pretty head and slamming it into the desk. My blood pressure rises.

“Look here, asshole.” I get to my feet as everyone turns to watch with wide eyes. Kalvin swivels in his seat. “I earned every damned point on every test I’ve taken. Do not even think of diminishing everything I have worked for.”

He stands up to face me. “What else are we supposed to think when you’re whisked away every weekend to Lee Shipyards or Ossun to hobnob with the elite?”

“Hobnob with the elite?” My voice rises. “Are you high?”

Amira snickers.

“Ladies and gentlemen, please.” Damian’s voice rises as he steps in between us. “Both of you sit down.”

I stare at Kalvin hard, and his sea-green eyes glare back. I don’t know enough about him to sling insults his way, so following Damian’s orders is the best I can do.

I’m not moving first, though.

No way. No how.

Kalvin inhales and blinks first, tipping his chin up. “I’m not high. I’m honest,” he says, backing down to take his seat. “Which is more than I can say about you,” he mutters.

My muscles spring, ready to take him out. Amira’s hand snaps out and grabs my waistband before I can do more than take a step. Damian’s head whips around and catches my less-than-graceful fall back to my chair.

“You’ll thank me for that later,” Amira whispers.

“Now that we know how Kalvin feels about the integrity of this school” — Damian’s eyes drill holes in Kalvin’s skull — “it’s time to talk about your final exam.”

Anger buzzes in my head like a thousand angry hornets, and my vision tunnels as my body heats. What a fucking asshole. How dare he accuse me of cheating? And hobnobbing with the elite on the weekends? Ha! Far from. I’ve been going to Lee Shipyards every other weekend to study with my friend, Asteria Lee, and help put my ship back together with her brother, Jinzo.

There’s no partying. No fun. If I’m on Ossun, I’m at my cousin Vivian’s, eating, resting, and studying. Then I occasionally sneak away to fuck sexbots at a love hotel in Sakata City, so I don’t blow a gasket from not dating. I am cloistered with friends or family ninety-nine percent of the time. My matchmaker told me to lie low at school until he could get to work on building my relationship network, and I have done just that. No one is going to put me off my goal now.

I clench my hand so hard my nails bite into my palms.

Calm down, Skylar. Don’t let him get to you.

“For the final exam, we’ll be doing some tandem flying.” Damian tips his wristlet over and accesses his terminal via his ocular implant, sifting through information and throwing a simulation up on the wallscreens.

Sonoma rotates on the screen, the brown and green disc swirling with clouds. Sigh. I love that planet. With its large estates, wineries, and high society, it’s the place to be. I’ve been there a few times now, and every time I’m dying to return. Being stuck on a space station above it has been challenging. Looking out the window at Sonoma each day makes me even more eager to finish school.

“We have two brand-new cruiser class ships ready for you all.”

A murmur rises among the students.

“Brand-new cruiser class ships? What kind?” Amira is a hair quicker than I am to ask.

“Alpha Core’s Copernicus 300s.” Damian’s chest lifts with pride. “We’ve had them on special order for two years. Took delivery of them a few weeks ago, and we’re excited to get you in the cockpits.”

I rub my hands together in glee. Now we’re talking. Brand-new ships? I’ve only flown hand-me-downs for the last ten years.

“Now, tandem flying means we’ll not only be testing your ability to go from orbit to the surface and back but also in close proximity to another ship the same size. This kind of flying is done in several circumstances, though not as often as single take-offs and landings.”

As Damian runs through the warnings and concerns for flying in these formations, my fingers fly over the virtual keyboard of my datapad. This is something I will need to know to fly for my family’s shipping company. Mom flies tandem with other ships all the time. We’ve even assisted another ship in distress with a tandem flight where the other ship was slaved to us. That’s even more difficult because you have to fly two ships at once. You can use the help of an AI, but Mom never has. She says AIs are for passenger comfort, not for flying. AIs don’t have the instincts we do.

My eyes wander to the back of Kalvin’s head, and feelings of regret float up in my chest. I wish I hadn’t blown up at him. I’m sure it didn’t make me look like less of a ‘princess.’ I should have ignored him and let him think whatever he wanted. Vivian, my cousin, would have discounted him and moved on. I should really learn to be more like her.

Amira catches my eyes focused on Kalvin, and I lower them back to my datapad. Keep your eyes on your work, Skylar.

I lose myself in the class, watching the simulations and making notes until Damian ends the lecture.

“So, tomorrow is the big day for the first four of you. With two vehicles running in tandem, we will have one instructor and two students on each vehicle. We plan to do two flights apiece, up and down from the Wingo Sky Terminal. You will each fly one run and observe another. I will grade you on several skills, and all the details are in your assignments inbox.”

I draw in a steadying breath. This should be fun. Challenging even! Oh, I love a good challenge. Bring it on.

“It’s time to assign teammates.”

Everyone groans. I bring my hands under the table and cross my fingers.

Please let it be Amira. Please let it be Amira. Please let it be Amira.

“Our first pair is… Amira and Tomas.”

Inside, I throw a mini tantrum worthy of a three-year-old, except this three-year-old has the mouth of a sailor. Fuck fuck fuck shit fuck. Though we’ve been attached at the hip for six months outside of flights and the simulator, we have never once been on a team together. I’m going to call my buddy Carlos and have him hack the network here. It’s obviously been rigged against me.

Sigh. I can’t wait to return to my ship, the Amagi. Back to my life of flying ships for Flyght, running the shipping lanes with Carlos, picking up new clients, meeting new men, trying new food…

“And our second pair is… uh, it’s Skylar and Kalvin.”

Fuck fuck fuck shit fuck.

I pull a smile out of my ass and twiddle my fingers at Kalvin as he glares at me.

“Is this going to be a problem?” Damian asks.

“No, sir.” We both say in unison.

“Sorry,” Amira whispers.

“No big deal,” I reply, shrugging my shoulders.

Nope. It’s just going to really suck.

Much like most of my childhood.