The Birth of a Pod Pilot.

In the final installment of Birth of a Pod Pilot, we see the path a Gallente takes to become a pod pilot. Even in the Federation, the path to becoming a pod pilot is fraught with potential loss and hardship. In Cierra, we find a young woman who has to rediscover a dream and face her own self-doubt to make it.—Cierra lay on her stomach, kicking her feet in the air behind her. She watched the holovid with rapt attention. It was one of the newest sensations that was sweeping the ranks of the Federation’s pre-teens. It was Pod Heroes, the cartoon featuring three scrappy young pod pilots - a Gallente, an Intaki, and a Minmatar - teaming up to fight the evil Amarr Empire and their pirate allies.The show wasn’t factually accurate (the oldest Pod Hero was fifteen, the “Minmatar” was a generic mix of a Brutor, Sebiestor, and Krusual, the Rabbit was an actual rabbit, and all the pod pilots actually transformed into ships), but Cierra didn’t know any of that. She sang happily along with the theme song during the transformation scenes and didn’t even breathe when the Amarr Emperor unleashed his Deadly Doomsday Laser on the heroes.When the show was over, she ran into the kitchen and grabbed her mother’s leg. “Mommy, I’m gonna be a pod pilot when I grow up!” she squealed.“That’s nice, honey,” her mother said, not sparing a glance away from her own holovid shows. “Mommy’s busy. Go back and watch your show.”“Ok.”***By the time CONCORD passed legislation opening pod technology to the general public, Cierra had outgrown Pod Heroes. She was fourteen now and had friends and classes to deal with. She sat around a lunch table with twelve of her closest friends, exchanging gossip.“Did you guys see Laren Hoff on Vice last night? Oh my goodness!”“I got the new Midna album! It’s the best thing ever! I want to be just like her.”“So did Femi Baneui call you yet?”“Yeah, I know, it’s just the best thing ever! I wonder when she’s coming this way?”“No, not yet.”“I did! When he got out of the pool, I screamed so loud my parents came to yell at me!”“What’s wrong with him? He’s such a loser!”The back and forth was a bit overwhelming for Cierra. Though the girls were all her friends - all their time was spent with at least someone else from the group - she had never quite gotten into the gossip sessions. She usually kept quiet during them, only nodding or offering a simple answer whenever someone addressed her directly.“Hey, Cierra,” Nora asked. Of all the girls, Nora was the one closest to Cierra. The two spent most of their waking hours together. “You wanna go to the Easy Times tonight?”The Easy Times was a popular club for teens that played popular music and sold fake alcoholic drinks - though if you knew who to talk to you could get real ones. And Cierra did know. “Yeah, sure!”“Your parents gonna be ok with it?”She shrugged. “They won’t care.”***Cierra and Nora hitched a ride to the Easy Times that night with one of the older boys at school. Neither of them knew him, but he had a car and didn’t seem to care. The two girls huddled in the back seat, leaving the passenger seat empty. “So, you two been to the Easy Times before?” he asked them.“Uh, yeah, all the time,” Nora answered.“Cool, cool. I’ve never been, really,” he said.The two looked at each other and rolled there eyes. “Yeah, you should totally go some time,” Cierra said.“Uh, yeah. I’m doing that now,” he said.“Oh, right,” Nora said. The two girls giggled to each other and whispered back and forth.Cierra noticed something dangling from the boy’s rear view mirror. “Hey, is that a Pod Heroes ornament?” she asked.The boy’s eyes lit up as he looked back at them. “Yeah, it is!” he said with too much excitement. “Do you like it?”“I used to,” she said. “When I was, like, eight or something.”