“You’re working late again, Mom,” he said softly, his voice carrying an echo of Ronald that pierced straight through my armor.
I sat down beside him, pulling my flight jacket tight against the cooling night air. “I’m sorry, Chris. Just planning tomorrow’s simulation routes.”
He turned his head, looking directly at me with eyes so fiercely familiar it hurt. “Are you ever going to fly again? Or are you just here to watch other people take the risks?”
His words weren’t laced with anger—they were laced with fear. He didn’t care about my medals, the Apex Syndicate files I helped dismantle, or the title on my desk. He just saw a mother who had stepped back into the machine that chewed up his father, terrified that the sky would eventually demand its full toll.
That night, alone in my quarters, the reality of my choice crashed down on me. The dramatic heroics of Flight 402 were over; the adrenaline had faded, leaving behind the grinding, quiet machinery of sacrifice. I realized that my toughest battle wasn’t out-maneuvering hijackers in zero gravity—it was proving to my son, and to myself, that wearing the uniform didn’t mean abandoning the family we fought so hard to protect.
The next morning, instead of heading straight to the command center, I walked down to the active hangar. The smell of JP-8 jet fuel and hot metal hit my senses, sharp and alive. Commander Vance, the base operations chief, was standing by the ladder of a dual-seat trainer, reviewing pre-flight diagnostics.
He looked up, offering a knowing nod. “You look like a pilot who forgot how to keep her feet on the ground, Phoenix.”
I didn’t answer right away. I looked across the base housing toward the perimeter where I knew Christopher was catching the school bus. Then, I looked back up at the sleek, lethal grace of the fighter jet.
I walked over, ran my gloved hand along the cold aluminum fuselage, and made my decision. I wasn’t just going to direct tactics from a desk anymore. I was going to teach the next generation—including my son, when his time came—that you don’t have to run from your past to protect your future. You just have to learn how to master it.
“Vance,” I said, stepping up to the ladder with a steady breath and a renewed sense of purpose. “Sign me up for the afternoon checkout flight. It’s time Valkyrie went back up.”
