Dear Dad...

It's been a while since I last wrote. After that Worm attack, we put into Yokosuka for some major repairs and upgrades, and I was too busy scraping barnacles to write. I did find some old photos though, and I thought you'd be interested in hearing about how the Sonic Diver unit got to where they are. Bet you didn't know that only one of the "Sky Girls" (that's what I call the pilots when nobody's around) is actually in the military! The other two are civvies with 'talent'. Oh, yes, they've got talents...

The one in the middle, Ichijo, is the military one. She's a great pilot, but she's got problems controlling her Sonic Diver. Something about not 'meshing' with the thing... which I don't understand.

The one on the right is Otoha; she's kinda the odd duck of the group. Other than being raised in a kendo dojo, she doesn't seem to have any abilities useful to being a pilot... but she's probably the best of them.

She only talks to me in monosyllables. Then she hits me with a stick. I don't understand it.

(The Doc says she's got a "high synch rate," and nobody really understands why. Don't tell anybody, but I think Doc wants to open her head and take her brain apart to find out. I'm not smart, Dad, but I'm pretty sure that'd be a bad thing.)

Karen, the one on the left, is my favorite, despite the restraining order. She's super-brainy (she can add, subtract, AND divide in her head!), and knows just about anything there is to know... but she's never really been around guys, and is kinda nervous about 'em.

All I did was say 'hello', and she hid in the corner for a week...

This is where we were based back then.

It's amazing how this base just became perfect for us after the rising of the oceans swallowed most of Japan... but why they thought that putting trees right at the very end of the runway was a good idea is beyond me.

If it was just Sonic Divers, there wouldn't be any problem with that. However, we've got fighter jets here, too... odd ones. Like this:

It's like an F-4 Phantom II slept with a Berkut...

Oh, the Sonic Divers themselves? They're all really spindly and fragile-looking, not to mention kinda stupidly designed... all three of 'em.

They're launched off those wheeled trucks, because it seems their 'legs' don't really work. They're just... there. Why they even bothered is beyond me, but I'm just a barnacle scraper. The guys with the big foreheads seem to think it's better that way.

Yeah, this is them, launching a Sonic Diver. Upside-down, I think, but they don't ask me those sort of questions. "Why are you in the girls dorm?" "Where's your bucket?" "Why did they ever let you in the military?" That's what they ask me.

The guy on the left is my Boss here in Maintainance. He's grumpy. Supposedly he knows his way around a wrench, but it seems more like he lives to chew me out.

He's good at that.

The two girls are The Twins. They're his "assistants." Wink wink, nudge nudge. When I grow up, I want to be an offiser, dad, so I can have assistants like them. The blue-haired one is really quiet, the redhead's loud. I know, what a shock, huh? They're supposed to be the crew chiefs for two of the Sonic Divers... all I know is I wouldn't fly in anything they touched.

THIS is what happened the first time two Sonic Divers flew. I'm not sure of all the details, but I think I like it.

Still, you gotta remember that the pilots are just 16 years old. And hot. Can't forget that, Dad. Morale is high, though, particularly at the naval base nearby...

Anyway, give my love to mom, and tell the brat to get out of my room. I'll keep you updated on what's going on when I can. Now that the ship is repaired and the Worms are back, I 'spect it'll be back to cleaning the bilges for me.
Love,
Your son.

PS- Found a picture of me!

(I'm the one in the cockpit. I got a week of bread and water for this, but it was worth it... she smells like heaven.)

Posted by: Wonderduck at 04:17 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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