I slept for maybe an hour even though they gave me four. My body shut down, but my head didn't. The HUD never left. It hung there every time I blinked, quiet and patient, like it was waiting for an order.
I tried everything. Staring at the corners. Blinking hard. Thinking commands at it like an idiot.
Nothing. The tags just shifted when I looked at something new. The door. The bedframe. The damn ceiling.
[Structural Panel – Type 4C]
[Material Integrity: 99.7%]
No menus. No voice. Just information I never asked for.
When the clock hit my debrief time, I got up, straightened my uniform, and went.
The room was on the third floor. Cold walls. Bright lights. Standard.
The door slid open.Three people were already waiting.
Colonel Adrien Holt sat at the center. Blackbird Division's commander. Hair grey at the temples, posture like a blade. Two other officers flanked him, silent, watching.
I saluted. "Colonel."
He nodded. "Paige. Sit."
I sat. The HUD tagged him instantly.
[Name: Holt, Adrien]
[Rank: Colonel]
[Age: 54]
[Status: Unarmed]
I looked away.
"Start from launch,"he said.
So I did. The escort orders. The flight path. The storm. The static. I told them about the Breach-Class surfacing—no point hiding that. I kept it clean. The emergence. The shockwave. The formation breaking.
I didn't tell them about seeing it under the water. I didn't tell them about the light. I didn't tell them about the tags.
"My jet took damage from the shockwave," I said. My voice was steady. "Systems failed. I lost control and went down. Next thing I know, I'm on a shore."
Holt watched me closely. Too close.
"Your squadmates? Ren Calder. Mira Dov."
"MIA. Didn't see them after the fall."
"And the Kepler's Edge?"
"Gone. No wreck. No beacon."
He nodded slowly. Then he leaned forward, eyes narrowing. Not suspicious. More… assessing.
"Paige.You feeling alright? Any dizziness? Disorientation? Anything… unusual since you woke up?"
My heart hammered against my ribs. I kept my breathing even.
"I'm fine,sir."
"You're sure?"
"Yes,sir."
He held my stare for another second. Then he leaned back, letting out a soft breath.
"Alright. For now, that's all we need."
He closed the file.
"One more thing. Blackbird-9 is down a pilot. Lost one three days ago on a Rift intercept. They requested a replacement. Command agreed." His eyes locked on mine. "You're being reassigned. Report to their hangar tomorrow at 0600."
My stomach dropped. Blackbird-9. The legends. I hadn't even processed Ren and Mira being gone.
"Yes,sir."
"Dismissed, Paige. Get some rest."
I saluted, stood, and left.
The hallway was too bright. Too quiet. My own footsteps sounded distant. The HUD hovered at the edge of my sight, tagging every soldier I passed with labels they couldn't see.
[Wingman – Rodriguez, L. – Stress: Elevated]
[Technician – Spec. G. Hurst – Heart Rate: 67 BPM]
I rubbed my face, trying to pull myself together.
I was alive when I shouldn't be.
I had something in my head that shouldn't exist.
And now I was being sent to fly with the best.
If this was a second chance… I didn't know yet if I was supposed to take it or run.
★ —. —. —. ★
I got to the hangar before 0600 the next morning. Uniform sharp, boots still gritty from yesterday. The place was quiet. Too quiet. Rows of jets slept under the lights, Blackbird-9's emblem on their wings like a brand. I figured elite pilots would be early. All discipline, no slack.
I was wrong.
They walked in at 0630.
First through the door was a tall guy with messy dark hair and an easy smirk. Enzo. He stopped when he saw me standing there.
"Well, damn," he said. "The new guy's punctual. Careful, Paige. You're gonna make the rest of us look bad."
The others laughed as they followed.
A dark-haired woman—Sophia—moved with a quiet, surgical confidence. She gave me one look. I felt it like a caliper taking a measurement.
That's when the HUD slid in without asking. A small panel in the lower corner of my sight. Clean. Clinical. Wrong.
[Name: Moretti, Enzo]
[Callsign: Falcon]
[Rank: Lt. Commander]
[Age: 34]
[Name: Alvarez, Sophia
[Callsign: Nighthawk]
[Rank: Commander]
[Age: 25]
I didn't react. No one else could see it. I kept looking at Enzo and let the HUD do its work at the edge of my vision.
"You're officially the second youngest in the squad," someone said behind her. A tall Korean pilot—Jae-Seong—grinned. "But the prodigy covers youth for everyone."
The HUD tagged him too.
[Name: Min, Jae-Seong]
[Callsign: Raven]
[Rank: Flight Captain]
[Age: 31]
"I can make you run laps until you puke," Sophia said, terrifyingly calm.
Jae-Seong's grin softened."See? Talent and leadership."
A Nigerian pilot stepped forward next. Eze. He flashed a wide grin. "Relax, Ace Officer. We're not as scary as our reputations. Well… except Sophia. But that's genetic."
[Name: Marcus, Ezekiel]
[Callsign: Burner]
[Rank: Flight Captain]
[Age: 29]
Hana leaned in beside him, arms crossed. "Speak for yourself. I'm terrifying for sport."
[Name: Kobayashi, Hana]
[Callsign: Siren]
[Rank: Flight Captain]
[Age: 29]
Their energy threw me. I expected ice. Arrogance. Not this. Not jokes and rough edges and people who looked… normal. The only thing that wasn't normal was that any one of them could probably outfly the sun.
The HUD watched. It followed me, tagging voices, marking callsigns, listing stats I had no business knowing.
Enzo stepped toward me, hands behind his back. "Alright, Paige. Quick orientation. We fly harder, faster, and cleaner than anyone. We don't cut corners. We don't leave anyone behind. In formation, we're one machine. You keep up, you'll fit in."
He tilted his head, eyes narrowing a fraction. Like he was evaluating more than the file in front of him.
"Any questions?"
"No,sir."
"Good.Welcome to Blackbird-9." He clapped my shoulder once. "Training flight in ten."
The HUD chimed softly.
[Assignment Confirmed – Blackbird-9: Active.]
Eze nudged Hana. "See? Told you he'd be the early type."
I didn't smile, but something in me unclenched a little. I'd walked in expecting to be judged, measured, found wanting. Maybe I had been. But I was still standing here.
Blackbird-9. The legends.
Now my squadron.
The tags slid away as I looked past them, but I knew they were still there. Waiting.
Training in ten. I could handle the training.
The rest of it?I wasn't so sure.
★★ .—. ★★