“Thirty clicks.”
“Hinomaru Sun, you’re almost lined up, except that your tail section is over a bit to your left. Got that? You have to try to make that one stabilizer you got move your tail towards the right. You have to slow more too. Go ahead and use your thrusters. I will fly over you if you look like you’re going to spear me.”
“Twenty clicks.”
“Hinomaru Sun, slower…slower. Good. You swung your butt a bit too much. You overcompensated. Move your ass left!”
The radio from The Hinomaru Sun barked, “Excuse me, Captain? I should move my what?”
“Sorry, try to move your tail section back to your left.”
“Ten clicks.”
“Looking good, Hinomaru Sun. Now slow it up more.”
“Five clicks.”
“You are on line, Hinomaru Sun. Try your best to hold that line now. But you are still too fast. Give your thrusters a good kick. Don’t worry about me. I’m good at ducking.”
“Three clicks.”
“You need more thrusters, Hinomaru Sun. Slow it up.”
“Two clicks.”
“Doing fine, slower, slower.”
“One click.”
“Hinomaru Sun, can you see the ground out your side windows? You’re starting to hover. Slower. Slower. Hover, Hinomaru Sun. Hover.”
“Two hundred meters. One hundred meters.”
“Hinomaru Sun, I gotta get out of here. I’m too close to the ground. I have to get back up into the air. Just keep holding straight and slow. You can do it. Remember, I’m buying the sake.” With that, BatWing 4718 raised its nose, pointed to the right, and kicked its engines. It was going airborne like a normal takeoff. Griffin added, “One more thing, Hinomaru Sun. You got a lot of guts, lady. You’re okay.”
*****
“Zeus Spaceport, this is Rescue Unit 673. We are beside the landing pad watching The Hinomaru Sun. She has stopped forward motion, backward motion, whatever she is doing. She is hovering at about twenty meters. She is slowing her engines and putting her tail section down first. Now she cut her engines completely. She dropped, call it fell, about ten meters. I think her shock absorbers should be able to handle that drop. She is at a full stop on the ground. We’re moving in to give aid.”
Chapter 7
The Pilot’s Lounge
Peter Griffin was in the main pilot’s lounge with Doug. They were standing at the bar with a few other pilots around them. Griffin hadn’t bought a drink since he arrived, but there was a line of full glasses on the bar in front of him. These were congratulation offerings from appreciative patrons. BatWing and The Hinomaru Sun were the talk of the bar with everyone repeating how Griffin guided The Hinomaru Sun to a safe landing while flying backward. Men and women at several of the tables leaned over their drinks, sharing the same conversation. One man standing at the end of the bar had his arms raised in front of him. He was trying to show what the two ships must have looked like during the approach, as his left arm was out in front of his chest with his forearm and fingers pointing upward to the right at about forty-five degrees. His right arm was at shoulder level with his right forearm pointing downward to the left. The fingers on his two hands were touching. Everyone understood that the hand pointing upward was The Hinomaru Sun and the other hand pointing down was BatWing and the two ships were nose to nose during the landing approach.
The regular fliers and bar patrons knew the pilot of The Hinomaru Sun and were telling the newcomers about her. While they were saying how she was probably one of the better fighter pilots, they were also exaggerating stories to emphasize her skill and nerve. Most of the men though didn’t know her real name. They only knew her as the Samurai or just Sam. Her full name is Akiko Hoshi, which translates from the Japanese to be “star child.” Her parents must have had a poetic side.
They also knew that she was part of the spaceport security team, and a very formidable part. Technically, the security team was the ZTSF, Zeus Terrestrial Security Force, but informally, they are “the peacekeepers” because that was precisely what happened when they were around. While they were responsible to protect the base, they had no real jurisdiction anywhere on the planet, but when a pair of peacekeepers walked down a street in a town elsewhere on the planet, things quiet down. Outside of Zeus, most villagers and locals, and even military police, knew the effect that the peacekeepers had on their local areas. Everyone knew they could sleep more comfortably when the peacekeepers were around.
The peacekeepers normally worked in pairs, except for the Samurai. She worked alone, but this was not a vulnerability for Akiko because she was very much an army of one.
Just then, the front door of the bar opened, and a woman stepped in. She looked around. Everyone knew the Samurai had arrived. She had a small frame, stood about five foot three, and was twenty-eight years old. Her clothing was Japanese, wearing knee-high boots with loose pants tucked into them. She had a long white tunic that had an artful embroidered red dragon on the upper left.
But what was most noticeable about her were her weapons. She had a long knife strapped to the outside of her left boot. She belted her tunic with a holster that carried a laser pistol. Another handle could be seen on her left side, but it was slightly toward her back, so it was not immediately obvious if it was the handle for another gun or a knife. Her most prominent weapon was strapped to her back; her katana or Japanese samurai sword rose above her left shoulder for easy access with her right hand.
The room fell silent as all eyes watched Akiko. They had given her Griffin’s description while she was in the sick bay, and she started toward him. As she approached, men’s voices were loud, “Way to go, Sam! Nice flying, Samurai! Here’s to you, Sam!” With this, some clapping started; people were rising to their feet. By the time Akiko got to Peter Griffin, the room was in a full standing ovation. She stopped a few feet in front of Griffin and gave a very sincere, respectful, and traditional Japanese bow. Bending at her waist, her torso was parallel to the ground and her hands placed on her legs above her knees. She held her bow for almost six seconds, then rose, and extended her hand to Griffin. He took her hand in both of his, smiled, and shook it warmly.
Just then, the bartender had come around to where the guests of honor were standing. He reached between them and grabbed both of their wrists and pulled their hands apart. “Excuse me”—he smiled—“but you have some cheering fans here.” With that, he raised both their arms above their heads in a victory salute, like a referee holding up the hands of two champion Olympians. It was a little awkward for Akiko to stand with them because both the bartender and Griffin stood about a foot taller than her. But she enjoyed it. The patrons in the bar clapped and chanted, “Sam, Sam, Sam…”
The applause settled, and Akiko took a step forward to the people in the room. She bowed to all the bar patrons; then standing straight, she raised her hands to quiet them. She started to speak but could not be heard over the chatter in the bar.
The bartender stepped beside her and yelled in a loud voice, “Quiet down, guys. The Samurai wants to talk.”
Akiko started when they gradually quieted, “I am honored that you give me your praise. Your
