On the Ground Again - Cira

[Jetta Windstar]

A10 Warthogs: Amazing, bad ass aircraft. I call 'em War Piggies. I feel damn lucky bein’ able to fly such things. It bein’ 2020 now, it seems odd that such aircraft are still flyin’, but the military sure knows how to keep the top baddies intact for battle. The Air Force has not just taught me how to fly and be an aerial combatant, but it has taught repeatedly life-long lessons geared to survival, mental stability, righteousness, and happiness as well. Well, at least it has for me. No, my career in the military was not near as long as some, but a good 11 years in the military after college when you’re getting used to the whole ‘adult thing’ is a good portion of yer life. It’s fast paced too, appearance-wise, I daresay I feel like I haven’t changed much. And let me tell ya, I feel more in shape than I did when I was a kid runnin' around with my friends. Since my time in high school, I was dedicated to the military and fine tunin' my fighting skills and agility.

My friends and I all practiced somethin’ known as Parkour, an amazing practice of discipline and agility derived by the French. Parkour is probably my greatest passion. A passion bigger than flyin’ itself, perhaps? Likely, I practice it religiously. It is basically what I am now. I practiced it when I was a high school student, and I practice it just as avidly now. Pals back in high school called me the Trunk Monkey when I popped out of a vehicle’s trunk one day-that bein’ my own, and my call sign in the Air Force is Flyin’ Monkey for similar reasons. Life has been damn good, and it just seems to keep gettin’ better.

For a while, I debated about leavin’. I mean, I get excellent pay bein’ a fighter pilot, but I want a little more peace. Yeah, I can take the stress, and some say I thrive on it, but I dunno, I could use a change of pace, somethin’ new to appreciate. I want to tone it down a couple notches, enjoy the civilian life style for a change. It’s only been a bit more than a decade, but damn, it feels like it’s been so long since I got to just be a GIRL. All my folks see me as a happy go lucky tomboy, a pretty one at that (as some have said). I want to have some fun, see about gettin’ my second new vehicle some drivin' time.

Since I was little, I always loved vehicles. Now I’m like a walkin’ encyclopedia, I recognize most models, often down to the year, and when I really pay attention, I can identify different types of vehicles by the sound of their engine. How a vehicle looks, interior and exterior, and its condition can say a lot about a person. Why do I bring that up? I currently only have one vehicle, a Tacoma I got with my military bonus. But, I wanted another, so I was lucky to find a used Veilside Romeo-X-ray Seven. In my free time while I was in Texas for a while, I had enough money to get her painted a dark purple toned with black down the middle. I haven’t raced in it much, but now that I’ve got a lot of money to live off of now, so I decided to say good bye to the Air Force as of December 2011 with an appreciative mindset for what they’ve done for me.

It ain’t just the vehicle I wanna spend time with either. I need to get in touch with my adopted bro Mike before I forget again. I want to get my social life back-I have a few close buddies from the military, but most of them are moving on to continue with their careers. During a break in college, I was lucky to visit FLAG one last time. I was glad to visit dad Michael and his amazing vehicle called the Knight Industries Two Thousand, it seems I timed it right too, for in 2005, KI2T apparently passed on naturally, which was just as disappointing as KARR's termination. I enjoyed the times I had with both, though. We took a two and a half week trip to Alaska, though KI2T was bein’ a stick in the mud and didn’t want to go because he didn’t want to fly. That got a chuckle out of me, and I told him he would not wanna see how I flew at times. Dad’s getting’ a bit old, and gainin’ the gray hairs considerably, but he’s doin’ all right since my step mom Jennifer died – he was always a healthy man despite his well…ways with women and his job, unlike me who stopped dating about barely halfway through my military career. No, I wasn’t around when the death happened, I was in Afghanistan at the time, but I had communicated with KI2T and Michael briefly enough to find out. I still have the watch communicator, which is (in fact) identical to Michael’s. Alaska was hella fun, but a lot colder than I was prepared for, I’m used to the heat of the South and the humidity of the East Coast. It still saddens me that KARR is gone, and as far as I can tell, no one has attempted to revive him and inform me of the accomplishment.

KARR was the first vehicle made by Wilton Knight, who chose Michael to be KI2T’s driver. KARR was an equally amazing vehicle in my eyes, but they said his programming was faulty from the beginning, based on directives that were unsafe for the driver and other human beings. They attempted to reprogram him after they found me. Why was I adopted in the first place, I’m sure you’re wondering? This very vehicle, KARR, was actually responsible for killing the last of my family that was able to take care of me, my Aunt Stephanie. It’s hard to remember exactly what she was like now, shit, I was so young back then, only 8 years old. KARR had been rebuilt somehow, and as he was running away from whatever it was he was running from, he scraped by my aunt’s SUV and sent us reeling into the side of a high way wall, smushin’ my aunt into it and causing me to break a right leg. I feared that vehicle at first, and I even feared KI2T for a while ‘cause they looked so similar, but something in the end caused me to forgive him when he was reprogrammed once I was a teen and was soon ready to drive.

However, the programming didn’t hold, and he had to be destroyed.
God, that day was awful. I remember protesting against those that approached. We tried to drive and run off, I kicked, I screamed for them to back the fuck off even, but they didn’t stop, and eventually Dad came to hold me back. By then my tears were blurred and I had trouble seeing much of anything other than the forms of the vehicles dueling each other and the soldiers attempting to fire sabot rounds at KARR’s scanner. That day is just a faded memory now, but it is among my few unpleasant ones that I have had. It is like I feel alone all over again, but somehow have made it through the various struggles. At least Dad has always tried to be there. He is like the Dad I never had, for my real parents were alcoholics who died in a car crash when I was barely five, so memories of them are quite literally void. I miss that TransAm with the yellow scanner, but the chances of me seein' him (or it if you prefer), are near zero.

Am I gonna be like my Dad, a lone crusader in a dangerous world? I’m not the only Knight alive to carry on his legacy, but I feel quite…alone. On top of that, I'm not a Knight by blood! So far I have not mimicked Dad's reputation since KARR’s unwanted destruction. I need guidance, and so I’m lookin’ for signs, lookin’ for the right inspiration and determination to figure out where the hell I wanna go next and what the hell I wanna do with my life. I can’t help but wonder what the future has in store for me next-I know I am to determine a large majority of it. For now, I know this: that I will continue to keep up with Parkour, as well as Kenpo Karate, and additionally, sharpen my racin’ skills.

I do not fear my future, at least. Rather, I embrace it with open arms.

Date: August 10, 2020
Time: 8:30 PM
Location: In a tree outside Wilton Knight's FLAG mansion
(bio link)