Claim the Stars: A Jensa story

Chapter 5

Jorgen POV:

I handed Spensa the torch and nodded to the bundles of wood we'd placed in what was left of Hurl's cockpit. She looked at me, then, placed the torch on top of the wood. We stepped back, and the wood went up in an impressively high column of fire.

"Return to the stars," I said. "Sail them well, warrior."

We saluted the burning hunk of metal and backed up, climbing a boulder not far away from Hurl. We sat together for a while, watching the flames until I realized she was holding back tears. By impulse, I put my arm around her shoulders and she leaned into me. I rubbed her back while we sat there in silence.

"I'm not defiant," I said.

"What?" She looked up at me. "I thought you grew up in the Deep Caverns."

"I mean...I'm Defiant, I'm from the Defiant caverns. But I don't feel defiant. I don't know how to be like you. And Hurl. Since I was little, everything has been scheduled for me. How am I supposed to follow the grand speeches, defying the Krell, defying our doom, when everything I do has seven rules attached to it?"

"At least it got you flight lessons and free entry into the DDF. At least you can fly."

I shrugged. "Six months."

"Excuse me?"

"That's how long I get after graduation, Spin. They put me in Cobb's class because it's supposed to be the safest for cadets. And once I graduate, I'm to fly for six months. At that point, I'll have enough of a record as a pilot to be respected by my peers, so my family will pull me out."

"They can do that?"

"Yeah. They'll probably make it look like a family emergency. A need for me to step into my government position sooner than anticipated. The rest of my life will be spent in meetings, interfacing on behalf of my father with the DDF."

"Will you...ever get to fly?"

"I suppose I could go up for fun. But how could it compare to flying a real starfighter in battle? How could I go out for joyrides, a few calculated and protected moments when I've had something so much greater? My father always worried that I liked flying too much. To be honest, during my practices, before I started official training, I thought a pair of wings might let me escape his legacy. But I'm not defiant. I'll do what's expected of me."

"Huh."

"What?"

"Nobody calls your father a coward. And yet, you do still live in his shadow."

We sat together until the embers died down and the sky grew dark. We shared a few thoughts of Hurl, though we had both missed out on her dinnertime antics. 

"She was like me," Spensa said. "More me than I am these days."

I didn't press her. We stoop and saluted the dying embers of the fire. 

I went to the car to radio my family and when I finished Spensa was standing by the car looking up at me.

"Jorgen? How much can this car lift?" 

"A  fair amount, why?"

"Are you willing to do something that sounds a little crazy?"

"Like flying out and giving our own funeral to one of our friends?"

"More crazy," She said. "But I need you to do it, and not ask too many questions. Pretend I'm insane with grief or something."

HI looked at her carefully. "What is it exactly that you want to do?"