Sabrina
Copyright© 2026 by The Outsider
Chapter 16: Walking it Off
27 November 2016 – The United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado
Storm clouds of rage flickered across Devin Fairhaven’s face as he took a step forward.
“You little, f•©king bitch!” he roared.
“Fairhaven!” a new voice barked from the hallway.
Sabrina immediately went to attention. Whoever it was deserved the military courtesy more than Fairhaven ever would. When Fairhaven spun around, he, too, went to attention.
The ice-blue eyes of Cadet First-Class Alejandra de la Cruz burned through both of them as she stepped into the room. Her glacial stare had been honed while glaring at batters from the mound during years of softball. The cadet squadron commander let them stew in the growing silence as she stalked toward the pair.
“Fairhaven, the squadron lounge in ten minutes,” de la Cruz said in a barely audible voice while glaring at Sabrina.
“But this little...” was as far as he got before her steely gaze pierced him again.
“Ten minutes!” she barked. “Dismissed!”
Fairhaven glared at Sabrina one more time before marching out of the room. De la Cruz turned back to Sabrina. She paused for a few moments.
“What do you have to say for yourself, Cadet?”
“Ma’am, may I make a statement?” Sabrina asked while staring straight ahead.
“Speak freely, Cadet.”
Sabrina broke protocol again and looked her squadron commander in the eye.
“Ma’am, I will swallow the doolie-hazing bullshit here to a point, but I draw the line at blatant disrespect, especially disrespect because of my gender.”
“Knox, you’ll have to deal with that for years if you stay in the Air Force or wherever you work in the future.”
“With all due respect, Ma’am, again: bullshit! Meek and mild doesn’t describe cadets who fight and claw and scratch their way into this place, nor should it describe those of us who want to stay here. ‘Go along to get along’ has never been in my phrasebook.”
“You’re painting a big target on your own back with that attitude, and what you said to Fairhaven isn’t going to help. You should already know how word gets around this place.”
“They get away with it because no one stands up to them, Ma’am. They learn they can do what they want because their friends protect them, they close ranks, and administration tells us to handle cadet matters ourselves unless it involves active-duty personnel or civilian employees. I bet they don’t know a tenth of what goes on at our level.”
“Knox, you’re going to talk your way right out of this place if you’re not careful.”
“I gave up a lot of things to come here, Ma’am. One thing I refuse to give up is my self-respect.”
The firstie stared at the four-deg once again. Knox was right, but she’d find out the hard way how wrong she was, too.
“Okay, Knox, play it your way. You can consider your strategy during your five punishment tours for insubordination to a senior cadet.”
Sabrina’s eyes snapped back to the vague, indeterminate point one looks at in front of themselves when at attention. Sabrina would spend five hours marching on the Terrazzo in full uniform, carrying her rifle.
“Yes, Ma’am!”
Alejandra de la Cruz leaned in and whispered one more piece of advice: “Watch your back...”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
The squadron commander turned and left the room.
Five minutes later, a knock on the door caused Sabrina to look up from her desk.
“Hi, I’m Linda Stockley,” the blonde at the door said. “They’re transferring me to this flight and room.”
“Hi, Linda. I’m Sabrina Knox,” she answered as she rose to shake hands. “Where are they moving you from?”
“Upstairs. Charlie Flight.” Her new roommate had already been in their squadron but was new to Alpha Flight.
“Need a hand moving anything else?”
“Most everything’s in my duffle or this box here,” Linda replied, indicating the bag over her shoulder and the medium-sized box in her hands. “I could use some help moving my trunk later, though. Where are you from?”
“Lancaster, Mass. The north-central part of the state. You?”
“Neeley, Idaho. A little place on the Snake River south of American Falls, near Pocatello, in southeastern Idaho.”
The two new roommates worked to bring Linda’s side of the room up to SAMI standards. Talking as they worked, they found they had as little in common as Sabrina and Mandy had initially: Linda came from another farming family, and Sabrina didn’t. Linda was one of eight children but had little in the way of extended family, whereas Sabrina’s family stretched for miles.
Sabrina liked ‘80s and ‘90s rock music and music from her own generation’s pop performers, while Linda preferred country music – which Sabrina could not stand. Sabrina would pursue a high-tech degree, while Linda aimed for one she hadn’t heard of being offered before coming to USAFA: the Bachelor of Science in English.
In English, she and Linda found some common ground to build from. They talked about their favorite writers and how Sabrina’s mom had once been an English teacher.
“I want to be a technical writer, and how technical is the Air Force?” Linda asked. “Think of all the experience I’ll rack up! I’ll likely wind up as a personnel officer or something while I’m in. Technical writing will still be there when I get out.”
“You’re not planning on going career?” Sabrina asked.
“Right now? No. Who knows what I’ll decide to do in seven or eight years when the end of my active-duty commitment is coming up, though.”
At irregular intervals, Linda noticed male cadets glaring at Sabrina as they walked by their door. Not all of them, but enough to arouse her curiosity.
“What the hell’s their problem?” she asked.
“Who?”
“All these guys walking by giving you the death stare.”
“Probably friends of a two-deg I just locked horns with.”
“Oh? Do tell...”
“Just a prick who’s been riding me since the beginning of the academic year. I’m beginning to wonder if he’s the reason my old roommate bailed.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Now that I look back on the semester, I realize Mandy started withdrawing from our group of friends back in October or so. Remembering some of the comments this guy made, I wonder if he was abusing her more than verbally.”
“Sounds like he needs to sit on a long, sharpened stake.”
“Okay, Vlad the Impaler, maybe we can make that happen? Then again, I doubt JAG would find the humor in that...”
“Probably not.”
The two finished putting the room together just in time for ACQ, which meant Linda saw Sabrina meditate for the first time.
“Are you Muslim or something?”
“Meditation, not prayer. Mom’s Buddhist background rubbed off on my brother and me as kids. That and the karate...”
“Is she Japanese?”
“American of Japanese descent. Her parents were born in Japan, but she was born in Washington State. Honestly, if I had to claim any religion, Greek Orthodox might win out, but I don’t really practice any of them.”
“So you’re not a Christian?”
’Oh, do we have to do this?’ Sabrina sighed to herself.
“And what exactly is ‘being a Christian?’ Basically, being kind to others, right? Fairhaven isn’t being very Christian, and I bet he goes to church every Sunday. You could cite how they treat us from BCT to Recognition as an example of un-Christian behavior by everyone here. I prefer not to act like an asshole without worrying about what I call myself.”
“Well...”
“How about we agree we have differing views? That’s what America is supposed to be all about, right? Especially that whole ‘Freedom of Religion’ thing...”
The conversation broke down at that point. Both cadets sat silently at their desks, trying to get back into a routine after the holiday by burying themselves in their coursework. Sabrina resigned herself to the fact that she might not develop the same easy relationship with Linda that she once had with Mandy.
Sabrina fought not to roll her eyes in Fairhaven’s face the next morning. The upperclassman stopped her on the T-zo as she tried to get to Fairchild Hall. He berated her for five minutes. He also cut her off whenever she tried to answer the questions he threw at her. Only a passing cadet first-class ordering him to let Sabrina get to her class saved her. She sprinted to Fairchild and made it to her classroom just in time. Sabrina made it a point to track down the other cadet later to thank him. He was Bravo Flight’s commander.
“Don’t thank me yet, Knox,” he told her before Sabrina could utter a word. “Fairhaven’s gonna start getting his posse together, and you’ll be in the shit for sure. They’re gonna dog you from now until Kingdom Come, and my intervention won’t do you any favors.”
“Sir, may I...”
“Drop the seven-basic-responses bullshit and speak freely, Cadet.”
“Sir, you didn’t have to do anything today, but you did. You could have let him keep going until I was guaranteed to be late for class, but you spoke up. As I told the cadet squadron commander, I understand the harass-the-four-deg crap, and I’ll deal with it for as long as I have to – to a point.
“You stepping in as you did, Sir, could be the first step in addressing the elephant that continues to be in the room here: the culture of sexual harassment, which seems to be tacitly approved at all levels.”
Damarius Briscoe scoffed at that.
“I think you’re deluding yourself if you think my actions will carry that much weight.”
“Maybe I am, Sir. But, if you stepped in when Fairhaven was pulling that, what’s to say you won’t step in when another fellow cadet starts with ‘you don’t belong here’ or sexual innuendo?”
The other cadet looked thoughtful. He glanced over Sabrina’s shoulder at the clock on his desk.
“It’s almost time for ACQ, Knox. You’re welcome for the intervention, but stand by for the BS from him and his buddies to get pretty deep. Dismissed.”
“Told you she was good,” Maneet Anand mumbled to her fellow cadet instructors as they watched Sabrina soar high above the Academy airfield on the first Friday in December.
“Yeah, that loop was a thing of beauty,” Tad Domenico replied.
“You think that was good? Watch what she does next.”
“What?” Tamara Nemecek gasped. “You can’t do that in a glider!”
“She just did,” Anand said with a hint of pride in her voice. Sabrina was her student, after all.
’Never mind that I didn’t teach that girl a damn thing... ‘ Anand thought. ’By rights, she should have been the instructor.’
High above their heads, Sabrina was having the time of her life. It was in the air where she felt the most alive, the most unrestrained. Flying was the reason she came to the Academy and was what helped her to ignore the ongoing chatter. Sadly, her solo was at an end, and she prepared to land. Domenico and Nemecek both whistled as Sabrina smoothly Chandelled her craft from the downwind leg of the traffic pattern and banked right into her final approach.
“Maneet, please tell me she’s gonna become an instructor!” Tad whispered.
“I’ve pushed that idea every time we went up,” Anand replied. “Ever since I flew with her for the first time.”
Sabrina touched down on the Academy’s Astroturf runway built for gliders. The turf kept the glider’s delicate structures away from the more abrasive tarmac of regular runways. The three firsties and a host of Sabrina’s classmates approached as she opened the cockpit canopy and secured her aircraft.
“If you don’t become an instructor, Knox, it’ll be a crime against aviation,” Tad Domenico said as he walked up. He shook her hand after Maneet Anand.
“It’s definitely on my radar, Sir.”
“All right, Cadet, take that name tag off your flight suit,” Anand said with a grin.
Sabrina returned the grin as the rasp of releasing Velcro filled her ears. Anand stepped up to her and placed a new blue and gray name tag on her chest, one with cadet flight wings above Sabrina’s name.
“Well done!” Anand gushed, shaking Sabrina’s hand again.
“Thank you, Ma’am!”
“You’re so far ahead of your class it’s not even funny – not that they’re bad, mind you – you’re just such a natural.”
“Thank you for the opportunity to solo, Ma’am.”
“You earned it. Remember that oral board and written exam you suffered through last week, instead of our session when the weather was crap? You aced that test – again, no surprise. Now, you’ll need to keep your proficiency up so you can crush the instructor upgrade in Airmanship 461 during your third-class year. Applications for fall 461 classes are usually due by mid-April.”
Sabrina eyed the World War II-era glider pilot wings on her instructor’s name tag. The Academy had awarded them to student glider instructors for over a decade. The National World War II Glider Pilots Association granted permission for the Academy to award them to cadets, keeping that heritage alive.
“Do you think they’ll take my application now, Ma’am?”
’I’m not sure this was a good tactical decision... ‘
The ten-knot wind blowing snow across the T-zo that Sunday made Sabrina rethink her decision to try to walk off her punishment tours before Winter Break.
’I’m surprised I can still feel my feet... ‘
Anyone walking tours would normally be in full service-dress uniform. Due to today’s weather, cadre allowed Sabrina to wear her ABUs, winter parka, fleece jacket, watch cap, and a balaclava for her tour. She slipped chemical hand warmers into her gloves and boots before coming outside, which was the only reason she hadn’t dropped her rifle or fallen on her face yet.
While her uniform kept her warm, the watch cap also let melted snow seep through and trickle down the back of her neck. She was glad to see the building and grounds crew shoveling the snow off the T-zo, or she would have drifted off the marble tiles long ago. She didn’t need to give Fairhaven or his sycophants any other reason to get in her face.
With no one else in their right mind outside voluntarily, Sabrina was able to zone out, like during her workouts, and endure two hours of marching. Her cell phone alarm let her know when the two hours were up, and she headed back to Vandenberg.
“Cadet! Hold up!” she heard one of the grounds crew call out. The man jogged over, holding the broom he used to sweep snow out of the seams between the tiles. “Hold your arms out straight and close your eyes for a second.”
When she did as he asked, she felt the broom knock most of the snow off of her.
“Hey, thanks!”
“Anyone crazy enough to be out here voluntarily deserves a little extra help!”
“Plus, it’ll keep me from tracking snow across the lobby...”
“Work smarter, not harder, Cadet!”
Sabrina laughed, waved her thanks to the man, and headed inside to clean up. She checked in with the squadron CQ and made sure the last two hours of her punishment balance were removed.
“I figured you’d get lost out there, and they wouldn’t find you until the spring thaw!” Linda commented when Sabrina stepped into their room.
“That was a distinct possibility. I think the grounds crew was keeping an eye on me.”
Sabrina wiped down her rifle – a non-firing replica her father would have called ‘a rubber duck’ – and put it back in the holder on their wall.
“How many more tours are left to go?”
“I was out there for two hours, so that was the last of them.” Sabrina gathered up her shower stuff and a clean uniform. “I’m gonna go stand under some hot water until dinner.”
It was only two in the afternoon. Linda’s laughter followed her down to the latrine. As she relaxed under the spray, Sabrina considered the unspoken truce she and Linda had forged after Thanksgiving. As long as they left any discussion of religion alone, they got along fine. Linda still hung around with her friends from Charlie Flight more than anyone in Alpha, but differing flight training schedules would likely soon change that.
“Why weren’t you in the proper uniform while you were walking your tour, Knox?” Fairhaven asked when he stepped in front of her as she tried to return to her room. Sabrina went to attention and stared through him.
“I was, Sir.”
“That is not a proper response, Cadet. ‘Yes, Sir. No, Sir. Sir, I do not understand... ‘ THOSE are proper responses!”
Fairhaven was one of the few upperclassmen still insisting she or other four-degs use the seven basic responses at this point in the semester.
“Yes, Sir.” Sabrina kept the contempt from her voice. It wouldn’t do her any good if he heard that.
“‘Yes, Sir,’ what, Cadet?”
“Sir, I was replying to your corrective statement about the seven basic responses.”
“And what about your improper uniform?”
“Sir, may I make a statement?”
“You’re trying my patience, you little shit ... What is it?”
“Sir, my wear of ABUs and other protective uniform items was approved by the cadet flight commander, who also notified the charge of quarters prior to my tour. I was in the proper uniform for the conditions, Sir.”
Devin Fairhaven ground his teeth at being bested in a battle of wits again by the annoying C4C in front of him.
“One of these days, Knox,” he hissed. “One of these days, your smart little mouth is gonna get you in a heap of trouble, and I’m gonna be there to see it ... Mark my words: your days here are numbered!”
Sabrina stood silent and immobile, her eyes focused somewhere far away. Fairhaven tried to wait her out but was outclassed again. He blinked first and then simply walked away. Sabrina counted to thirty in her head before finishing the walk to her room.
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