Author notes:
YATTA! This is a message to all of my Patrons and readers...
We have reached my first goal! WOOOOOHHOOOOOOO! Many thanks to Private Pheonix Rampant for donating the last 4 dollars! And with that, I have reached the minimum to pay the housing bills each month at last!
Gosh, you have no idea how touching it was to see all of you guys who are relentless in supporting me on my journey. Can't believe we have broken through the 100 chapters mark without me knowing of that lol :D
Seriously, someone could have reminded me of that kek.
Regardless, on behalf of my mother who I will soon break the news to. Thank you, sincerely, thank you. Though life dealt us a bad hand, there truly is hope in the form of you guys, the Patrons, and the Readers. I don't have much to reciprocate, only my never-ending stream of words, telling of a universe that is out there for all of us to read. Hopefully, you all will stick with me for the journey that is far, far from over.
P.S: Second Goal is set and that is 500 dollars in income per month. This is for procuring daily supplies and for me to work full-time as a writer.
P.S.S: I just realize that aside from one single question, nobody even asks or requests clarification on my part. Not sure whether I should laugh or cry at this lol.
P.S.S.S: Obligatory picture of Bryn is a must, after all, the side chapters are about Yuki and Bryn.
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Usually, Bryn would be the first to wake in the household, rarely beaten by the ever-dedicated Einstein. Yet, this morning, Bryn's surprised to see Yuki peering down at her with a small smile right when she opens her eyes.
"Ok... Now that's surprising." Bryn said dryly, earning herself a smirk from her lover.
"What? Never saw me wake up before five in the morning?"
"Kinda, unless you are on the field or something important comes up, you rarely wake up this early." Bryn answered before slowly sitting up with a gentle aid from Yuki. "Thanks." Smiling, Bryn leans in for a kiss, hugging the smaller girl closer. It's at this moment that her hands feel the strange fabric that Yuki is wearing right now.
After sharing a loving morning kiss, Bryn pulls back, wiping her eyes to get a closer look at Yuki's attire. Unimpeded by the dim lighting of the bedroom, Bryn can see that Yuki is wearing a flight suit, a next-gen one if she remembers correctly. Yuki snickers when she sees Bryn's inquisitive look, with her usual crossed arms and fingers under her chin.
"Ok," Bryn breathed out. She could just feel what comes next would be troubling. "Enlighten me, won't you? Though I doubt I would like it, much."
Yuki chuckles. "Trust me, it will be fun." Without saying anything more, Yuki pats a corner of the bed. Bryn then notices an additional flight suit laying there, clearly fitted for her size.
Bryn gives a deadpan gaze at Yuki, saying. "Yuki, no."
Smirking, the girl answers. "Yuki, yes!" Yuki then hugs Bryn's waist, looking up at her from below with her puppy eyes. "Come on, Bryn! I promised it will be fun, no? Besides, the others have secured us a few days off. They can hold the fort while we go out and have some nice, relaxing fun!"
Bryn groans, the way Yuki delivered her speech has made it very hard to refuse. Especially more so when the girl feels so damn huggable right now. Giving up, Bryn allows herself to fall back onto the comfy bed alongside Yuki, whom she pulled down with her. Patting the girl's gray hair, Bryn asks. "Fine, what's on the itinerary?"
Only to earn a shock. "I don't know!"
Leveling an 'Are you serious right now?' gaze at Yuki, Bryn briefly wonders if she was still sleeping and in a dream right now.
Acting sheepish, Yuki answers." I know for sure that we will be testing out a prototype aircraft. The rest of our vacation, well, I haven't really thought that far yet. However, I do have a few ideas. Gonna be a surprise for you though."
Hearing that, Bryn sighs. "Have it your way then. As long as it's not something over the top." Although a part of Bryn is raring to see what Yuki has in store. It has been a little while since they have had a few days, just for each other.
Smiling, Yuki pats the flight suit that is to her side. "Well then, my Valkyrie, better suit up."
"Oh, you are so gonna love this."
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Unsurprisingly, Yuki wasn't wrong. The moment she laid her eyes on the metallic beauty in front of her, Bryn has fallen in love. Turning around to see Yuki with a knowing smirk, Bryn exclaims. "Can I keep her?!" There's a sort of intensity in her voice that make it hard for people to refuse. Yuki doesn't mind it, however.
"My lovely Bryn, the reason we're here on this fine morning is for you to have a go at her. Of course, you're allowed to keep her. And besides, Yuki moves in closer, tiptoeing to lay a kiss on her lips. "Happy birthday, love."
Smiling with a bit of a blush, Bryn responds while looking down at her lover. "Thanks, dear. Never thought I will be receiving a jet fighter as a birthday gift though."
Yuki chuckles as she hugs Bryn's left arm, they then take a closer look at a pair of aircraft, parked in the hangar they're in. "There's a first for everything." Yuki chuckled. "Knowing that you would have forgotten your own birthday, as per usual, the family banded together to organize the gift for you."
Yuki suddenly works up a blush though, earning a raised eyebrow from Bryn. "The aircraft are one thing but well... They also explicitly stated that the upcoming days off will be a honeymoon for you and me. So..." Yuki turns toward Bryn, shyly saying. "Take good care of me, alright?"
Smiling in understanding, Bryn pats Yuki on the head. "If you guys haven't planned for this, I really would have forgotten. Once again, thank you, all of you, from the bottom of my heart. And..." Bryn leans into Yuki's ear. "I will make sure that you're well cared for." She then blows hot air into Yuki's ear, causing the younger girl to shoot up, red like a tomato.
"A-Anyway! Let's get familiar with the aircraft! They will be the proud jewels of our air wings in the future so you won't be disappointed in their specs!"
Yuki then dashes forward, running away from the chuckling Bryn. Finally, the pair then works on interfacings with the aircraft with the help of a ground team who has been on standby outside the hangar.
A/N: Experimental Aircraft, Aria
Of the two, Bryn is gifted an aircraft with a black, sapphire blue, and white color scheme. While Yuki will be controlling another with the same design but replacing the blue color with ruby red. Befitting an aircraft that will be replacing the Phantoms in the future, the planes are gigantic in design. Just a single engine of this new jet is twice as big as the two engines of the Phantoms. And the new airframe mounted two such engines.
The surprise didn't end there, however. For Bryn is impressed by the very intuitive avionic and electronic systems of the aircraft. Fiddling with the control surfaces of the aircraft, Bryn feels no delay whatsoever and the actions are smooth as silk. In addition, two large MFD displays are situated in front of her, giving her clear readings of any and all information she requires in the blink of an eye. Of course, Bryn can also customize the display as she sees fit. Another interesting feature is that the cockpit is not entirely made of glass, rather, it's a fully protected cockpit with armor plates and 360 degrees camera coverage. Should the armor plates and camera are compromised, there's a purge option that allows the pilot to eject the ruined plating, recovering the lost field of view they may have incurred. Of course, this is only possible when the cockpit integrity is at an acceptable value. If not, it would have been better to just eject straight away.
Moving on, Bryn checks the system interface and soon learns that the aircraft is fully capable of interfacing with the flight suit and helmet. With the readings they provide, the plane, fitted with bleeding-edge technologies, can calibrate the weaponry and flight interface instantly to aid the pilot in maintaining peak performance in high-intensity combat. An example will be that Bryn can even lock onto an aircraft that is beyond visual range behind her and engage it with a missile without having to turn around.
Speaking of weapons, this plane is armed with a nose-mounted 30mm Mk103 four-barrel Gatling. On its ventral side are one large internal weapon bay and two secondary bays in front of the engine blocks. The secondary bays are also mirrored on the dorsal side of the airframe. When counting the external wings' hard points, the total payload this aircraft can carry is a ridiculous number. This plane has 24 internal hard points, with each secondary bay holding four hard points. While each wing can have four hard points, bringing the number to 32 in total. That's not to mention you can carry more ordnance than what the number 24 may suggest. There exist weapon trays for a reason and Bryn can only smile wryly at the sheer devastation this metallic beauty can bring. Modularity is also a thing. This prototype jet can handle almost every single ordnance out there with proper interface adjustment.
Last but not least, Bryn is stunned to see that the aircraft has almost indefinite air time. The plane has an extremely efficient mana reactor and collector. So much so that at cruising speed, the mana collector can passively regenerate the mana consumed. While in combat mode, the collector can ensure the plane outlast pretty much anything but its own. If used correctly, the only reason why Bryn would have to land is to either rearm or that the mission is over.
Feeling dizzy with the absurdity that is the aircraft, Bryn called out to her lover who is in the red plane's cockpit. "Yuki, what's the name of this jet again? I don't believe I've ever seen or heard of the name, much less seeing the blueprints."
"Oh! That's because this is another in-house design of mine and Dreamer. The aircraft's name is Aria, a multirole supersonic stealth fighter jet. And although it's only capable of atmospheric flight right now, we intend for future derivative designs to be capable of exo-atmospheric flight. This is important considering that we already have a space station up and running." Yuki explained with a chippy tone.
"No wonder... Just this plane alone is able to win wars, Yuki. This is like cracking a nut with a sledgehammer in the current era." Bryn exclaimed, partly out of exasperation, partly out of glee for being gifted with such a magnificent lady. "I promise you, I will take good care of her."
Chuckling on the other end, Yuki responds. "You better, Bryn! The Aria is hella expensive. Like, the Raven-kind of expensive! Granted, we can easily cut down on the cost in the future, unlike the Raven program. We just need to bring the rest of our industrial capability up to snuff. Right now, ONI is building this in their in-house factory with a rate of two aircraft per year!"
Bryn flinches heavily at that. "Dear Yggdra! Are you sure that I should have one of these!?" That's an extremely high price even for the current Belka!
Laughing, Yuki replies. "It's fine, dear. We already have eight prototypes working perfectly, these two are actually the first production runs of the Aria. Technically, we will be the first to experience the beauties from a hundred years into the future! After hearing that, aren't you excited?!"
"When you put it that way... You know what, screw this, I'm too emotionally invested in the Aria now." Bryn decided to accept her new attachment. Besides, Bryn will be doing her family a disservice for not accepting their loving prepared gift.
"Good!" Yuki said with obvious glee. She then continues. "Though the Aria is capable of VTOL, we will be using the runway today. This will give you a feel of her power."
With a snicker, Yuki adds while closing her cockpit. "Careful though, she is like a dragoness. Do treat her kindly and so shall she treats you."
Giggling, Bryn responds. "I wouldn't treat Aria otherwise, Yuki."
"I know. By the way, your aircraft's name is Aria. Mine is Morgan. Together, we will be forming the 8492nd Squadron, Avalon. Though I will leave the matter of who will be 1 and 2 to you. This is your honeymoon gift, after all." Yuki said that on a private channel.
Smirking, Bryn closes her own cockpit while quipping back. "You will be Avalon One then. However, we all know who will be number One in bed."
Though Bryn can't see or hear what Yuki's doing on the other end. She can know that Yuki is coughing in embarrassment.
"Anyway, enough dallying around." With pre-flight check A-ok, Bryn is raring to put Aria to her pace. "Come on, Yuki, I wouldn't want to keep the ladies waiting."
This time, Yuki does respond. "Let's go dance with the Angels!"
8492nd Squadron, Avalon, launch!