"" Estevan Frade yelped in the Mexico City gutter-spanish of his childhood as nineteen tons of speeding, heavily armed metal roared past barely ten feet above the cockpit bubble of his stuntplane.
The jet that had buzzed him was an obvious fighter plane, twin-engined with a broad fuselage and variable geometry wings, almost like a narrower version of the American F-14 from the last century save for its V-pattern tail. By the time Estevan had pulled his heart out of his mouth and restrained himself from jerking his plane out of the sky, the imposing warbird was well into the beginning of a picture-perfect recreation of the acrobatic routine he had finished just a few moments earlier.
He recognized the type, of course - the hybrid air-space fighter the EDTO governments had produced using the Macross's technology was quite well known, at least in its broad strokes, and from what Baron had told him, the squadrons on Tinian and its protecting fleet had been the first to receive the new machines.
His eyes narrowed. He -also- knew that showing off the plane's capabilities by setting it up to outperform an opponent designed for agility above all else would be -just- the sort of thing that would appeal to his adoptive big brother's sense of humor. Never mind that the routine his boss had talked him into was one that'd be relatively easy for any jet with a pair of seperate vectored engines to duplicate...
And okay, yeah, maybe it was funny. But damned if he'd let it be -him- that the joke was on at the end!
On the other hand, he'd been hired to put on a show, so he'd have to come up with something that was both flashier than the original plan -and- within his 'opponent's' capabilities, to stretch the performance out before he -really- cut loose.
He found himself starting to smile as he tugged his small biplane into a low orbit around the air show's cleared flight zone. Baron'd -never- live this down.
*****
The screams around her hurt Jialan's ears, but she was on her feet and yelling anyway, just like everyone else on the temporary bleachers set up along the old airstrip's runway, as two planes came in for a landing in unison just as perfect as if the brightly painted little biplane had been attached to its larger military counterpart's wingtip with a steel bar. Whether the aireal game of challenge-counterchallenge had been genuinly impromptu or not, it had still been a hell of a show, as either pilot put their machine through contortions that she, for one, would have declared flatly impossible if she hadn't just seen them with her own eyes, growing closer and closer to the ground and a dangerous crash with every iteration they did.
On the podium set up just short of the apron, she could see Colonel Korbinian snatch the microphone away from the spluttering Master of Ceremonies and step forward with a wave and a movie star's polished grin. "That went even better than I though," he said in a confidential tone. "Did you all enjoy yourselves?"
The crowd roared as individual replies were swallowed in a rush of other voices, but the tone was positive.
"Great! That might let me survive once Captain Trivedi catches up to me for staging this. In the meantime, since you already know Mister Frade, why don't I introduce you to the other star of our show?"
Roar.
Miranda - the girl who had taken over the First Chair position in the flute section from Jialan when she transferred from New Zealand - leaned over and shouted past the din. "i hope he's as cute as the first one! i love a man in a uniform!"
The shorter girl poked her friend in the arm. "i think he's talking about the plane!"
It's hard to whine at the top of your lungs, but somehow Miranda managed it. "that's no fun..."
"Great!" the famous ace enthused from the stage. "Ladies and gentlement, I give you: The Vee Eff One VALKYRIE!"
By this time, the stubby little stuntplane had taxied off out of sight, and an airport firetruck was towing its sleek 'nemesis' back to where the crowds could see it easily.
Korbinian opened his mouth to continue his speech, but was cut off by the sudden and all-too-familiar rising howl of an air raid siren.
Jialan swallowed. Not -again-!
*****
COMMERCIAL BREAK
===========
===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."
The jet that had buzzed him was an obvious fighter plane, twin-engined with a broad fuselage and variable geometry wings, almost like a narrower version of the American F-14 from the last century save for its V-pattern tail. By the time Estevan had pulled his heart out of his mouth and restrained himself from jerking his plane out of the sky, the imposing warbird was well into the beginning of a picture-perfect recreation of the acrobatic routine he had finished just a few moments earlier.
He recognized the type, of course - the hybrid air-space fighter the EDTO governments had produced using the Macross's technology was quite well known, at least in its broad strokes, and from what Baron had told him, the squadrons on Tinian and its protecting fleet had been the first to receive the new machines.
His eyes narrowed. He -also- knew that showing off the plane's capabilities by setting it up to outperform an opponent designed for agility above all else would be -just- the sort of thing that would appeal to his adoptive big brother's sense of humor. Never mind that the routine his boss had talked him into was one that'd be relatively easy for any jet with a pair of seperate vectored engines to duplicate...
And okay, yeah, maybe it was funny. But damned if he'd let it be -him- that the joke was on at the end!
On the other hand, he'd been hired to put on a show, so he'd have to come up with something that was both flashier than the original plan -and- within his 'opponent's' capabilities, to stretch the performance out before he -really- cut loose.
He found himself starting to smile as he tugged his small biplane into a low orbit around the air show's cleared flight zone. Baron'd -never- live this down.
*****
The screams around her hurt Jialan's ears, but she was on her feet and yelling anyway, just like everyone else on the temporary bleachers set up along the old airstrip's runway, as two planes came in for a landing in unison just as perfect as if the brightly painted little biplane had been attached to its larger military counterpart's wingtip with a steel bar. Whether the aireal game of challenge-counterchallenge had been genuinly impromptu or not, it had still been a hell of a show, as either pilot put their machine through contortions that she, for one, would have declared flatly impossible if she hadn't just seen them with her own eyes, growing closer and closer to the ground and a dangerous crash with every iteration they did.
On the podium set up just short of the apron, she could see Colonel Korbinian snatch the microphone away from the spluttering Master of Ceremonies and step forward with a wave and a movie star's polished grin. "That went even better than I though," he said in a confidential tone. "Did you all enjoy yourselves?"
The crowd roared as individual replies were swallowed in a rush of other voices, but the tone was positive.
"Great! That might let me survive once Captain Trivedi catches up to me for staging this. In the meantime, since you already know Mister Frade, why don't I introduce you to the other star of our show?"
Roar.
Miranda - the girl who had taken over the First Chair position in the flute section from Jialan when she transferred from New Zealand - leaned over and shouted past the din. "i hope he's as cute as the first one! i love a man in a uniform!"
The shorter girl poked her friend in the arm. "i think he's talking about the plane!"
It's hard to whine at the top of your lungs, but somehow Miranda managed it. "that's no fun..."
"Great!" the famous ace enthused from the stage. "Ladies and gentlement, I give you: The Vee Eff One VALKYRIE!"
By this time, the stubby little stuntplane had taxied off out of sight, and an airport firetruck was towing its sleek 'nemesis' back to where the crowds could see it easily.
Korbinian opened his mouth to continue his speech, but was cut off by the sudden and all-too-familiar rising howl of an air raid siren.
Jialan swallowed. Not -again-!
*****
COMMERCIAL BREAK
===========
===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."