Coloratura decided she had had quite enough of Falca’s nonsense when Pilot-Lieutenant Modal was discovered sound asleep in his War Bird shortly after landing on the carrier.

Two eight-days of double and triple drills was too much!

Sooner or later, someone was going to get killed.

She had protested to Falca every day after the first eight-day.

She had been insulted, ignored.

Any protests she sent to the Captain or the Admiral would take too long to be processed, would have to pass through the bureaucracy, which would easily take days or perhaps even eight-days.

None of the legitimate methods of complaint would work in time.

Coloratura would just have to do something else.

She used her AI, C# to send a message to Doctor Bucacis detailing the issue. She asked for help to alleviate a risk to the lives and health of herself and the pilots in her Flight.

She paused for a second, re-read the message, then sent it.

If this worked, Falca would be furious, even more furious than usual.

If this worked, Falca could go piss on a live wire.

Coloratura smiled. Allspeak had the most remarkably satisfying idioms.

Three hours later the Wrath of the Master, in the form of the Captain, his XO and Doctor Bucacis, descended upon Falca. They stormed into Falca’s office without knocking and sealed the door behind them.

Shortly afterwards, all the pilots received notice of a surprise holiday. Coloratura and her flight were notified that after the holiday was over, they would return to normal drill schedules.

Coloratura knew she should be happy, but she was too busy trying to figure out what Falca would do to get her revenge.