Major General Alice understood the dangers perfectly well, but she had no choice. The military's glass ceiling for women was set in stone. No matter how hard she fought, she'd cap out at major general in this lifetime. If that was the case, she might as well take a gamble.
So when selecting a commander, under the dumbfounded stares of numerous male generals, she secured this somewhat life-threatening assignment.
Now her heart was all over the place, though to outsiders she appeared to stand alone on the bridge with remarkable composure. In reality, her mind kept racing, her palms slick with sweat.
Watching the carrier gradually ascend, her fear didn't diminish—it intensified.
Falling from half a meter might leave you alive. Falling from a hundred meters? You'd better pray to God.
The Ford's standard crew was 1,100, with an air wing of 600. This being just a test flight, carrier weapons and aircraft weren't installed. Combined with everyone's general fear of death in this new century, the carrier currently had barely over 300 people—elite volunteers the Pentagon had painstakingly selected from 500,000 Navy personnel after wearing down their hesitation.
Major General Alice now led these 300 brave souls, anxiously ascending.
In the blink of an eye, flight altitude passed 1,000 meters. Nuclear power operated normally. All four propellers matched theoretical test data. Still, the ground command personnel remained anxious.
"I'm going outside to check." After informing them, Thea flew out.
Her current situation was very similar to Iron Man next door. Almost everyone knew she had superpowers. Aside from not shouting "I am Iron Man" to reporters like Tony, her treatment was basically identical. People were initially somewhat fearful of her, but over time, finding themselves unaffected, they gradually adapted.
The senior officials breathed a sigh of relief seeing her go out. At least there was a safety measure. While they claimed there were no reporters, military satellites from various countries were actually watching Guam. If 300-plus people suddenly died, it would be difficult to explain.
"1,500 meters. Reporting to ground command, carrier ascent is stable. Beginning acceleration." Major General Alice naturally saw Thea as well and felt somewhat reassured. She issued the command at the appropriate moment.
The propellers began operating at full capacity. The carrier's altitude rapidly climbed.
"5,000 meters. Temperature dropping. Activating broadband active field thermal regulator."
"15,000 meters. Reporting to ground, we're about to exit the troposphere."
"28,000 meters. Carrier operating normally in the stratosphere. The clouds here are beautiful!" Breaking through the troposphere, suddenly discovering the clouds were now below her, Major General Alice's heart surged with emotion. She couldn't help expressing her feelings of having survived the ordeal.
The ground command center responded with enthusiastic applause. Though the cost made them wince, at least this experiment was successful.
With the biggest difficulty of ascent solved, the rest would be easier. Ground command directed the carrier to fly east back to Andrews Air Force Base. Yes, this thing launched from a naval base and returned to an air force base. Ownership of the carrier couldn't be decided: Navy or Air Force. Several generals from different branches had beaten each other's brains out over this and still hadn't reached a conclusion.
The carrier's propulsion system was pure plagiarism. Red Room scientists had directly dismantled Abin Sur's original spacecraft and, through computer scanning, forcibly installed five high-power propulsion devices on the carrier.
The original aircraft carrier only managed a few dozen knots at sea. Now it was boosted to Mach 3. The carrier activated the new protective shield that Queen Industries had developed based on LexCorp's foundation, and thundered its way back to Washington, D.C.
Thea escorted it the entire way. No accidents occurred before the carrier landed, allowing her to breathe a sigh of relief.
She waited several hours before the various dignitaries flew back to Washington on special planes, offering belated congratulations to Major General Alice for completing this magnificent feat.
The first few sentences were normal enough, but then the conversation derailed. The Navy insisted the carrier's flight units should still use knots; the Air Force insisted it must be Mach. The two groups then argued over a whole pile of issues—personnel organization, uniforms, military ranks, and more.
These seemed like small issues, but underneath lay the question of who would be boss. The flying carrier's successful test flight meant the Navy would gradually exit the historical stage and merge with the Air Force—that was the view of many insightful people.
So the question arose: would the currently numerous Navy seize leadership positions and take over the Air Force like a cuckoo in the nest, or would they be led by the Air Force? This was what the military heads cared about most.
Thea had no time to watch them bicker. She instructed the vice president to report any problems and returned to Star City alone. While she was in the air earlier, she'd received a call from Felicity. The explanation was vague, and Thea, worried the carrier might drop, didn't have time to deal with it. Now that things had wrapped up, she had time to handle it.
Thea teleported directly to Felicity's villa. After years as Queen Industries' vice president, this woman's wallet was bulging. She'd purchased a mansion in Star City without hesitation.
"What happened? Caitlin's here too. Oh, isn't this Ronnie? Didn't you die?" There were two women in the room, plus a disheveled man. When he turned around and Thea saw his face, she was slightly startled.
The man was indeed Caitlin's former fiancé, who had supposedly died in the underground pipeline explosion during Central City's particle accelerator disaster. Caitlin had since become Killer Frost, though she hadn't forgotten her old feelings. That's why she'd rushed over immediately after Felicity contacted her.
"Dr. Queen, I'm not that young man Ronnie Raymond. I'm Martin Stein. Do you remember me?" the man asked somewhat nervously.
Of course I remember. The chubby old man from the Waverider, right? Though Thea wasn't deeply familiar with many characters, she did know about this first-generation Firestorm. She happened to know both people who comprised him—Ronnie Raymond and Martin Stein.
Knowing was one thing, but she couldn't immediately act like she knew everything. After thinking briefly, she asked, "Professor Martin Stein from the University of Chicago?"
"Yes, yes! We've spoken before. This young man Ronnie also says he knows you, so we came to you." The man was incredibly excited. You could tell that being fused with two people was driving him crazy.
"Forgive my bluntness, Professor, but how did you end up like this?"
Occupying Ronnie's body was the chubby old professor, who proceeded to explain everything about the explosion that day.
"Uh, biological selection? At the moment of reconstitution, biology chose the optimal configuration—meaning Ronnie's young body and your excellent mind, Professor. So now you're controlling the body. Is that what you mean, Professor?" After hearing the whole story, Thea made her assessment.
"Yes, yes! Dr. Queen truly is an expert in biomedicine. You're absolutely right!" The man practically wanted to hug her leg and cry. Finally, someone who understood!