The Torn Blue Skies

The Torn Blue Skies

Sometimes, heroes will be betrayed by the ones they protect. In my mind, nothing feels worse than having the people you’re risking your lives to protect turn around and stab you in the back.

“Hurry up! Get those planes in the sky!” The loudspeaker rang through the halls of the military encampment.

Another war. This was the second one in fifteen years. Back in the last war, I was just a child. I looked up to the heroes of that war. The 811^th Squadron. I vowed to one day be like them. This war could have been my chance. It came a few years too early. At that time, I didn’t have a plane to go up in. I was still in training, and I didn’t have the ability to go into battle. Of course, there was really no need for me to go. The Marwyn Island squadron was up in the blue skies above me. They would take care of things. They’ve never failed our country. They were Asaia’s one hope to win this war. And nobody ever doubted that.

Maybe I was influenced by my childhood, but I couldn’t help but look up to the Marwyn Island Squadron too. I wanted to be like them, too. Heroes of the war. That’s what I could be. A hero.

Not long after they left the runway, the threat was gone. All enemy bandits shot down. There were no survivors. Once again, for what seemed to be the hundredth time, the Marwyn Island Squadron landed as the heroes of the day.

Of course, no war was ended with a single battle. The battles continued, and the wars lengthened. Casualties rose, cities fell. The landscape of the worlds at war changed continually. The earth was scarred by bomb droppings, gunfire, and ruined cites. As the tides of war kept changing, one thing did not.

All four members of the Marwyn Island Squadron continued to stay together. None of the members ever took a hit in battle. As the years passed, the only thing that seemed to grow was their reputation for winning battles.

Of course, throughout those years, my skill as a pilot also grew. I became a fairly respectable pilot. Perhaps I could have a taste of battle. As my training regimen was nearing its end, so was the war. Battle after battle was won by the Marwyn Island Squadron, and a joint force of land, sea, and air were piercing the heart of our enemy.

After every operation, the air forces would return to a carrier on the seas. However, as celebration for the nearing finish of the war, each squadron was sent home. The Marwyn Island Squadron would return home before their final battle.

I’ve essentially lost all recollection of that day. Just about every member of the Marwyn Naval Base was at the capitol for a meeting. I was left here along with a few trainees and higher-ups. After a long flight from the heart of enemy territory, the Marwyn Island Squadron was low on fuel and ammo. It was then that I was told by my Commander to shoot them down.

“Traitors,” he called them. In the Commander’s office, a television was showing the news. It wasn’t a lie. The Marwyn Island Squadron were traitors. I had no time to plead my case for them. I knew less about them than the higher-ups knew. I simply had to do my job. And that day, it was to shoot down the heroes of the war.

It was my first taste of battle. It didn’t last long. Four missiles, four flaming balls of molten metal, glass, and fuel. They never knew what hit them. And, for dispatching the traitors, guess who was labeled a hero. Me. That day, I went down in history books as the hero of the war.

The final attack on the enemy’s capitol failed. It took four more tries to finally capture the city. Four more tries to win the war. One year of war that could have been avoided. The shooting of the Marwyn Island Squadron was my only battle. I resigned soon after that day.

Sometimes, heroes will be betrayed by the ones they protect.