Free Fall

Chapter 1 Need for Speed

 
T.J. may have been young when his baby sister Scarlet Rose was rushed into the world in the early morning hours of the fourth of July in 1989, but it was a day that he and his family would remember forever as on the night of her first day the fireworks lit up the sky outside of the hospital window.  They should have known then that Scarlet would prove to be absolutely fearless, since the noise of the fireworks didn't even seem to bother her at all.  He remembered his father pushing his mother up to the window with his sister in her arms and the wide eyed look of wonder at the brilliance that was the new world around her clear on her tiny face as the fireworks burst into brilliant colors.
 
 
As his baby sister grew T.J. became very protective of her, though truthfully she never really needed his help in that regard.  He truthfully was there to protect those who made her angry, because the fact was that when she got angry she had proven to have a very short fuse  and a temper like a Raging bull.  He had lost count over the times that he had been forced to tackle his sister to the ground or to pry her jaws open once she had clamped them down onto the leg or arm of someone else.  She also had in his opinion and those of his entire family a terrifying and dangerous need to move as fast as was humanly possible..
 
 
Regretfully he had been the one to teach her to drive, and he spent more than half of the driving lessons attempting to convince her to slow down to the speed limit.  She would roll her eyes at him every time and her foot would hit the floorboard the instant that he relaxed, while she whooped with joy.  " Damned it Scarlet, you'll never get a license to drive if you drive like this during your driving test." he scolded  with his hands gripping the hand holds so tightly that his knuckles were white.
"You really need to learn to loosen up a bit T.J., you'll go bald before your time if you don't learn to relax," she smirked as she slowed the car pulling into the parking lot of the D.M.V.
 
 
"Just remember what I said, baby sister, the driving instructor won't be half as nice about it as I am, so take it easy and don't scare the shit out of him," T.J. warned as his sister rolled her eyes and entered the building.  T.J. sat out there for an hour getting worried when the test should only have taken thirty minutes at the best, and then sagged in relief as his sister came sauntering out of the building with an ear to ear smile upon her face and flashed her new driver's license before giving him a puppy dog look and begging him to let her drive his car home.
 
 
The poor Volkswagen convertible that her parents had bought for her only survived her heavy foot until the day before her high school Graduation, when it finally gave out and refused to move from the student parking lot.  One of her friends who she had known all of her life had always liked the car, so he offered her an even trade.  Her three year old Beatle Convertible, for his three month old Brand new Harley Davison Chopper.  Brenton Chance smiled as he removed his house key from the key ring and handed her over the key to the bike along with  his leather jacket, and a pair of dark Aviator sun glasses , before taking the key to the beetle and making her smile as he pushed the car getting it to start instantly as she sat astride the bike and slid the title to the bike into her backpack.
 
 
She smiled as she  rolled through town and  headed home.  Her parents were surprised but not shocked.  It was her big brother who flipped his lid over seeing his sister riding a dangerous bike down the road.  He hated the fact that she had taken to the bike so easily and he was even angrier when Scarlet announced her plans at the dinner table after her Graduation the next night.  "What, you should be going to college not to the Army to join in fighting someone else's war.  What if you get killed or worse," T.J. growled?
"I'm not joining the Army, T.J.  I'm joining the U.S. Air Force.  I thought that considering that I've been in the A.F.J.R.O.T.C., that you would have gotten the hint.  I've under gone four years of training, and have already logged over four Hundred hours  a year in flight training and time in the air.  You have your football, and this is my thing.  Besides what did you expect after I learned what my birthday really was all about," Scarlet said as she cleaned her plate and asked to get up from the table respectfully.
 
 
"Scarlet, Dear, what about college," Their father asked?
"The Air Force is paying for my continued education, and I can earn a degree in whatever field of study that I'd like, Dad.  I want to do something that People will always remember, something that will give them something to be proud of that will set me apart from Tyler.  As it is now, every time anyone sees me, it's always, Hay aren’t you T.J. Yate's sister?  Can you get me his autograph," Scarlet said harshly rolling her eyes.
 
 
"But Scarlet, I can understand your need to be your own person and to make a name for yourself, but why the air force," her mother asked with tears rolling down her face as she thought of her only daughter flying and possibly dyeing in a ball of fire that fell from the sky
"Mom, you don't understand.  Flying fighter jets is like the ultimate thrill ride.  The speed, the Raw Power, and the serenity of the sky in all of its glory.  Touching the heavens is truly my happy place.  I feel more at peace up there than I ever have down here on the ground.  It's like god is all around me, like I can feel him.  I can't help it if My need for speed and my peaceful place just happen to be soothed by the same thing," Scarlet said before retiring to her room to rest up for her final test from the recruiters in two days.
 
 
And so it was that T.J. Yates and his family watched as Scarlet Rose Yates became the newest Air force pilot recruit.  She had passed her flight test, and amazed everyone with her natural skill in the air.  Upon witnessing her flight test for themselves, the Yates family had not choice to admit that their daughter and sister was finally where they belonged.  Six months later she was released from basic training, at a height level and rank because of her training during her time at school, and she smiled and waved warmly as she left her family shortly after her birthday to go and spend her time awaiting the call to duty and training herself.  She was an athlete of a different sort, and she thrived on the high of being in the air.
 
 
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Scarlet spent her next years in the air force flying everything from recon sense missions to cargo missions until she reached exactly where she wanted to be.  Within a few years of flying and going above and far beyond any other female officer during her duties, she was currently a first Lieutenant flying  an A-10 Thunderbolt II Ground Attack aircraft.  She never stopped reaching and fighting for more, her dream was to one day fly a  F-15E Strike Eagle Strike Fighter Jet at the rank of Major.  She and everyone around her knew that she had what it took to go as far as she wanted to go.
 
 
Truthfully the only issue that she ever had during her Air Force Career was the day that they attempted to get her to wear a skirt instead of the pants that all of the male officers wore during a formal class A Uniform event.  She had thrown a fit over it and refused to change from her blue camo flight suite or to enter the event  at all for that matter.  When her Commanding Officer confronted her about this, her response both shocked him and made him think for once.  It was now a running joke around every Air force base that knew her that Scarlet Rose Yates wasn't a woman at all, but a man who chose to wear a bra who had balls of solid steal because of her attitude and the way that she handled a jet or any plane for that matter.
 
 
She was the fastest, most daring pilot in the force, afraid of nothing, and willing to do things that even men backed down from.  When votes to see who would take the most challenging missions arrived she would end the vote quickly and effectively by simply volunteering.  Her willingness to always take the initiative and fly higher than any dared rocketed her up through the ranks  and her home visits were often few and far between.  She wrote to her parents often as she was able, and even called them on skype at least once a month if she wasn't in the air, and thus had stayed on top of the comings and goings of her entire family including her big brother, who she enjoyed showing up at every opportunity.