《Chronicles of a Wing Commander》


 Chapter 1

    WAN! WAN! WAN!


    The proximity alarms blared in my helmet as I hurtled into the intersecting vector of my target.


    ¡°Alpha three, take Alpha six and seven and pass below. Aim for their hangers, TA tells me they have a main conduit passing through there¡± I shouted into the comm as flak charges detonated 200 meters off my port side. ¡°Alpha two, four, and five, you¡¯re with me topside. Keep close and follow my lead. I¡¯ll flag our targets as I see them¡±


    ¡°Roger, Alpha One,¡± came the unified response from my wing.


    The target, an [Enemy] torchship, appeared on my sensors as a tiny dot at this distance. It was already lobbing kinetic death our way, as our bright rocket flares were clearly visible to it even at three hundred thousand kilometers. That sphere of death and destruction needed to be impaired before it reached the fleet line, else it would wreak havoc on our carriers.


    Our fusion engines propelled us towards the enemy ship like streaking flares across the deep dark of space, occasional flashes indicating where a kinetic frag exploded nearby. The flowering flak flooded space as we sped in on the target going hundreds of kilometers a second. The attack was going to take the briefest of moments, our paths intersecting and weapons deploying in the barest of instants.


    Suddenly a whine hit my ears as Alpha four perished in an unlucky direct hit. At the speeds we were moving hitting a solid mass was the equivalent of several times our mass in TNT if what we hit is standing still. At the relative velocity of the projectile, Alpha four atomized instantly.


    ¡°Shit, tighten up your reflexes boys. You might have a split instant to adjust course from the moment sensors tell you about incoming.¡± I told my pilots. ¡°Trust your Piloting, it¡¯ll let you know.¡±


    The System enhanced us by giving us momentary peaks into the future, letting us know where various bodies would be ahead of our mental estimation. It wasn''t much more than a solid impression of trajectory, but with the speeds our battles were fought at it gave us a fighting chance.


    Closing in to under a hundred thousand kilometers, I began to mark the critical points for the spinal particle cannon their torchship had. ¡°Alpha two, five, take these points. We¡¯re saving the fleet boys!¡±


    I pressed the pitch thrusters, turning me so the front of my fighter would pass directly over the torchship and launched my shaped nuclear charge. It hurtled away, accelerating down towards where the ship would be in the briefest of moments, reaching a gross velocity more than thirty thousand kilometers a second in that time. I finished my turn pointing back the way I had come and punching the throttle to max, quickly decelerating me to zero and crushing my chest as I picked up speed back towards home. The 10gs of acceleration was painful, but with my practice in the chair it was tolerable. Many other fresh pilots couldn''t take that much and had limits set to reduce the strain on their body and mind.


    ¡°Pilots check in,¡± I ordered, unable to clearly consult my HUD after the acceleration, blood still rushing to my eyes.


    ¡°Alpha two, tailing.¡± A long moment passed. ¡°Alpha seven, here.¡±


    Only two? I kept quiet, but that was a disappointing number. I couldn¡¯t berate the fallen till they respawned and the successful deserved congratulations. We weren''t really in space, but in a sophisticated virtual reality that emulated space, called by those within it the System.


    I glanced at my sensors to check the damage report. Several holes were quickly venting atmosphere and other materials from the torchship. Our Lances had struck violently with focused beams of nuclear energy searing holes through the ship''s tough carapace.


    Only thirty seconds had passed but our slightly orthogonal paths put us light seconds apart. All the information I received was already seconds old before I even looked at it because it had to creep along at the lethargic speed of light.


    ¡°At 600 kilometers a second, cut throttle.¡± I told them, following my own instructions after another thirty seconds.


    That was the mission, to hit that ship with a crippling lancer strike, then rendezvous with the backup carrier following a different path to the main fleet. Thankfully once we were more than a few light seconds away from the torchship it lacked any method of projecting fire at us from those ranges.


    Relaxing back into my seat, I brought up my status checking my skills


    Name: Dwayne Starflight


    Current Role: Pilot


    Rank: 2


    Agility 7


    Coordination 11


    Small Ship Gunnery 2


    Talents: Firing Stability, Targeting Reticle


    Pilot 4


    Talents: Flight Stability, Precognition


    Reasoning 9


    Science 4


    Talents: Maneuvers (Strafing Runs, Vectored Thrusting, Multiple Axis of Throttle)


    Tactics 2


    Talents: Weak point identification, Intel analysis (4.2 minutes)


    Emotional Intelligence 7


    Command 1


    Strength 8


    XP: 100


    I closed the sheet after checking my core stats, not desiring to spend time on the universal skills. Those wouldn¡¯t have changed from this engagement. I was hoping to have earned my squad this battle, but with only two returning I doubted I would get it.


    Sipping water from inside my helmet, I drifted along at almost twenty times the speed of sound, I put on a new playlist let the craft take me home.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    The bar was loud but not intolerable. I found the low table my friends were at and joined them taking a hose from one and taking a long draw from the hookah as I waved a greeting. A long day of unsatisfying work it was time to unwind.


    ¡°How¡¯s it going, Dwayne?¡± My friend Howard asked, taking a sip of his drink.


    Letting out my deep drag in a cone like a dragon, I sighed and shrugged. ¡°Work is boring, pointless and fruitless.¡±


    ¡°I hear that. Have you heard about the new VR Simulation company that¡¯s working on that space program thing?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, ¡®The System¡¯ they¡¯re calling it, right? I heard they¡¯re accepting candidates for testing. Something about long term dives into simulated environments and sustaining a person in a dream state.¡±


    Lee chimed in, ¡°yeah I heard that it¡¯s part of some defense contract. Big military budget going into it.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s cool. I wonder what the qualifications for candidacy are¡­¡± I took another pull, listening to the hookah bubble as I filled my lungs with the sweet fruity flavor. ¡°What flavor is this?¡±


    ¡°Space Destiny. It¡¯s a blend of watermelon, strawberry, and kiwi.¡± Howard motioned for the hose and I passed it over.


    Lee looked up from his phone. ¡°So I just pulled it up. They¡¯re looking for adults, ages 25-40, good health, no heart or lung issues, preferably educated. It looks like they¡¯ll even pay you some amount to be a part of the test.¡±


    ¡°No kidding. I should look into it. It¡¯s got to be more rewarding than my current job.¡± I smiled wryly and gestured for the hose again, musing about my job¡¯s reaction to me telling them I was going to be unavailable for the ¡®foreseeable future¡¯ as I took a drag.


    Waking from a nap I hadn¡¯t realized I was taking, I noted the time and sent a wake up to my fellow pilots.


    ¡°Wake up boys, it¡¯s time to bring us home.¡± I called out, pitching my bird over and hitting the thrust to cut velocity as we approached the carrier. Decelerating, I guided my craft into the docking intercept. Computer guidance took over and I let go of the controls as the fighter joined and docked.


    A hatch opened below, and my pod lowered down and out. I undid my restraints and got out of the grav couch and stepped into the airlock. Pressure flooded the room and I removed my helmet, setting it in my locker along the wall. Getting into my uniform, I watched the fight recording with one eye to prepare for my debriefing. Command is not going to be happy about the casualty level for the mission, but I couldn¡¯t see what I could have done better. That enemy was a battle cruiser type torch ship and had some crazy point defenses.


    I left the airlock/locker room and walked down a short hall to the ready room. Taking a seat at one of the stations, I waited for the other members of the wing and began making annotations to the recording about the mistakes made by every member, including myself. I wasn¡¯t perfect and wasn¡¯t about to fail in the most basic part of being in command: know yourself.


    The other two came in and pulled up their recordings as well, but I paid them little mind. Space combat was prolonged periods of waiting and short periods of very intense action. Fighter combat was that, but even worse. Our lancer fighters had less than a second of engagement time for deploying our nuclear lances, surrounded by seconds of dodging flak and point defenses.


    The Squadron Commander, Lukas Viola, walked into the room and the three of us snapped to our feet and saluted. ¡°Only of three of you made it back, that¡¯s disappointing-¡±


    ¡°I take full responsibility,¡± I spoke quickly standing rigidly.


    ¡°-however, five of your lances successfully made impact. Their cannon should be out of commission for the coming engagement in an hour.¡± He smiled at the three of us. ¡°Good work pilots, at ease. Let¡¯s go through the events and find the ways we can improve.¡±


    Hours later, I stepped out of the shower, drying my hair. The debriefing had been long and intense, but I hadn¡¯t done that poorly in leading my men. I dressed in my uniform, Kevlar laminated fabric utilities, and headed to the barracks bay. ¡°Gentlemen. Time to hit the simulators.¡±


    Two groans answered me as Alpha Two, Gwayne, and Alpha Seven, Daren, rolled out of their bunks. I had seniority and they both knew it, but that didn¡¯t make them happy about getting back in the seat.


    ¡°We lost four of seven. We¡¯re going to do better next time, and all come home. That means drilling until we don¡¯t make any mistakes.¡± I led the way to the simulator bay.


    ¡°But we just got back to the barracks. We¡¯ve been running for the last twelve hours.¡± Gwayne complained.


    ¡°Do you think the enemy cares? We¡¯re at war Pilot. Time to get busy!¡± I slid into my training pod and began strapping in as it closed around me. I flipped through scenarios until I got to one of the ones I struggled with: Destroyer Flotilla in an asteroid cloud. I slipped the practice helmet on, ¡°Ready up.¡±


    ¡°Alpha two, ready.¡± ¡°Alpha seven, ready.¡± Their exhaustion was evident, but I couldn¡¯t afford to go easy on them.


    We dropped into the cloud already moving quickly. I burst right, sliding along the surface of a slow spinning rock. ¡°We¡¯re after a destroyer flotilla, ships specialized as anti-fighter defenses.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re kidding me.¡±


    ¡°Not at all, Alpha two. Button up the chatter, I¡¯m going to lay out the plan.¡±


    Minutes later, we were skimming along a massive rock, closing on one of the straggling destroyers. They knew we were in the area, our emissions lit up our trail like a campfire in the night, but they hadn¡¯t gotten line of sight on us and we were already within engagement range.


    Cresting the edge, the juicy target came into view and each of us let a bird fly. Immediately hitting the throttle, we sped away at an orthogonal trajectory at a full burn. The destroyer launcher a full spread of chaff and flak, but it was too late. Our lances hit dead on and white lines of fire projected straight into the hull of the lightly armored ship, burning clean through. One of the lances ignited a fuel tank and the entire vessel exploded a moment later, filling the area with hot atomized matter.


    We cut thrust and coasted between another two asteroids, our trajectory would put us near the path of the second destroyer in about a minute. A new lance rolled into the accelerator barrel for each fighter. ¡°Just like before team. Shouldn¡¯t be any different. The plasma cloud will cover our approach.¡±


    Vectoring so that we¡¯d have the destroyer in our sights as we crossed the plane she was travelling on, we waited the tense few seconds as our velocity took us towards her. We closed in, but she was ready for us. Chemical rockets began to ignite all around us, homing in on our hot bodies.


    ¡°Launch, launch, launch!¡± I yelled, sending my lance in the direction of the destroyer before changing the vector of primary thrust and punching it, spiking up to 20gs for the moment it would take to kill my previous vectors and then easing back down vectoring at an orthogonal course at 10gs. My HUD displayed the missiles hearing towards me and my wing mates as I tore off like a bat out of hell.


    A flash on my HUD told me that the destroyer had been annihilated, but we were still in hot water. The third destroyer would be vectoring in on us and we had several tenacious tails. I began to adjust to put myself on an intercept with the destroyer.


    ¡°I¡¯ve got a plan, keep cool and follow my lead.¡± I punched the accelerator again as their acknowledgements came over the comms.


    The three of us were pushing our human limits for acceleration as we hurtled between asteroids. The missiles, not suffering the vulnerabilities of flesh, kept gaining on us.


    ¡°We¡¯re going to pass within spitting distance of the destroyer. Be ready to drop your lances just as we close.¡± I instructed, watching the anticipated course of the destroyer. It kept adjusting to intercepted sooner and sooner.


    Cruising across the surface of a massive planetoid, the vessel came into view. I throttled up even more, relying on delays in their systems to clear the point defenses as we closed at near relativistic speeds passing within a kilometer of the destroyer.


    Flipping about, we began to decelerate rapidly, blood trickling out my nose and eyes as I pressed the launch on the lancers, holding it down to empty all my tubes. The lances streaked out of our tubes, attempting to gain on the destroyer, just as return fire from the destroyer riddled our fighters, shredding us.


    The screen went black, then a green mission result came up. Mission success, survivors 0/3, casualties, 3/3. I reached up to mop my face of the blood on my face as my seat rolled back, letting me out of the pod. I unstrapped slowly, feeling the blood coming back to my limbs. Sure, it was only a simulation, but localized gravity fields we used in the pods to maximize the realism in the training. The system designers were committed to realism as much as possible.


    A minute later, my wingmen came out of their pods, one of them covered in his meal. ¡°Get cleaned up and meet me in the classroom.¡±


    I hit the showers too, washing the blood and sweat from my body. It was a really impressive job, this experience. The realism was intense. I knew the direct neural link was a recent technology and that the team making this experience was small, but their dedication to every detail was amazing. Everything was so real, the shower, the physics, the interfaces. Impressed, I dressed and headed to the classroom to teach these greens about why we fight the way we do.

 Chapter 2

    I loaded up a display of our lances, displaying the entire missile, from sensors to stern, on the front board. Minutes later, the other two came in and took seats, loading up their own displays of the missile and opening their preferred notetaking interfaces.


    ¡°Why do we use lances?¡±


    I waited for a minute, letting them mull it over before calling on one.


    ¡°Daren? Got any ideas?¡±


    ¡°Well, we use them to damage or destroy the enemy from outside the range of our other weapons.¡±


    ¡°Obviously, but why lances? Why not kinetics, particles beams, or lasers?¡± I leaned back against the wall, letting him think for a moment.


    ¡°Because those require more space?¡± He guessed, shrugging.


    ¡°True, but that¡¯s more of a question about the lancers themselves, not the lances. Lances, also known as directs nuclear explosions, are used because they vaporize all matter in the armor. The directed energy makes a smaller, but much deeper hole, allowing our weapons to penetrate to critical systems.¡±


    ¡°Can¡¯t particle beams and kinetics do that too?¡±


    ¡°Sure, if their armor doesn¡¯t have Whipple shielding or dense metal lining. Atomics with proper standoff distances can completely ignore Whipple shields and cut through dense metal like butter.¡±


    Daren nodded thinking. ¡°Also, the lances can adjust their course, at least a little, allowing them to be dropped at appropriate times during orthogonal intercepts.¡±


    ¡°Most certainly. Under ideal circumstances, we get deployed by a separate carrier along an orthogonal path to the main fleet and have minimal exposure to enemy point defenses as we strike with our fast and deadly lances.¡± I stood and tapped the display, directing the screen to explode out the lance, zooming in on the warhead. ¡°Study our weapon. One day you may need to use it in an unconventional manner, and you¡¯ll need to know everything about it so that you can maximize your effectiveness in combat.¡±


    We went over the details and specifications of the missiles, double and triple covering everything about it until I was certain they¡¯d be mumbling weapon statistics in their sleep. I dismissed them for the day and went to catch some rack time.


    I checked my notifications and noticed a small gain. ¡®Completed training mission with team successfully: +25XP¡¯


    Life outside the experience had been dull and boring. The tedium of daily life driving me into deeper and deeper depression. When this was announced, I had felt a deep stirring, finally something worth doing. Even if it was only a fictional experience, it was still more meaningful than everything I had done up until that day. I smiled at the job well done from the day, drifting off to sleep.


    --


    ¡°Wake up pilot!¡±


    I groaned and opened my eyes. ¡°Yes?¡±


    ¡°New mission. Briefing in ten.¡± A pad dropped on my chest. ¡°Get ready and read this.¡±


    I rolled out bed and started to get into my flight suit, letting the pad scroll through the mission briefing. During the past few days, we had continued training readying our skills for the next fight.


    Operation Pillowfight


    Situation


    Enemy taskforce of three battlecruisers, five destroyers, and two dreadnoughts are on intercept with the main fleet. Placement of the main fleet of ours and enemy make this approaching taskforce a significant problem.


    Mission


    To hamper the enemy and reduce their fighting force such that they no longer are a significant threat to the main fleet. This will be accomplished using lancer wings launched in stealth on an orthogonal trajectory. The lancers allow the force projection to cause large scale damage to the larger vessels in the taskforce making them effective tools at threat reduction.


    Communication


    After the briefing lancer wings will be set to launch in coordinated wings with designated targets and will communicate with each other using tight beam laser communications to prevent interception.


    Support


    A barrage of kinetic projectiles will support lancers to disrupt point defenses and allow them to close with the taskforce sustaining minimal casualties on approach.


    Risks


    Active sensors might detect our lancers prematurely causing this operation to be terminated prematurely. Additionally, kinetic barrage might be insufficient to cover our lancers on approach.


    I finished dressing and headed to the ready room to get briefed. This mission seemed like a shit show, but what else was new? It¡¯s not like any plan survives contact with the enemy.


    Several wings were all gathered for this briefing, and from the front display, each wing had its own target. My blood went cold as I realized my wing was tasked with disabling one of the dreadnoughts. We¡¯re only three pilots, why do we get one of the behemoth ships?


    We all rose quickly as Commander Vikas came into the room. ¡°At ease.¡± He ordered, walking to the front of the room. ¡°I hope you¡¯re all versed in the mission now, we don¡¯t have a lot of time. This taskforce was running cold until an hour ago. With light delays and sensor fields, it took us half an hour to confirm their existence and the numbers and tonnage were confirmed just a few minutes ago.¡±


    We all hissed in collective frustration as we looked at their course, realizing that this group must have been getting into position for the past two weeks to pull this off. That just make us even less eager to get into this fight, but our comrades in the main fleet needed us.


    ¡°I know this is a terrible situation, but you¡¯re needed. That¡¯s why we¡¯re here on the fringes, to support the fleet and make the enemy pay for any surprises they want to send their way. Alpha, you¡¯re taking the lead Dreadnought. I know you¡¯re small after the last engagement, but we cooked up something special for your lancers. Unfortunately, due to limited supplies, we couldn¡¯t give them to every wing, so you are getting the prototype. According to theories-¡±Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    ¡°You mean you haven¡¯t tested them yet!?¡± I was shocked. ¡°What if they don¡¯t even work?¡±


    ¡°As I was saying, according to theories, the new warheads should deal much more damage to the enemy ships. No, they haven¡¯t been tested yet, but they¡¯re a refinement of existing designs, not an entirely new design.¡± He looked at me with a hard gaze. ¡°Your wing is one of the best at evading point defense. I need you to make that dreadnought suffer and you¡¯re the only ones we can count on for this. Do you understand?¡±


    ¡°Oorah!¡± My wing shouted, accepting the praise and knowing the danger.


    We moved down the hall to our Lancers, getting into our cockpits as they charged the outer panels of the craft with super chilled liquid hydrogen. The cold fluid would keep our craft nigh invisible until we almost upon them. I sat down and strapped in as the cockpit rose into the craft and plates moved to enclose me within.


    ¡°Alright team, this is going to be rough. We¡¯re doing a Stealth launch in order to maximize the time before they open fire upon us. It¡¯s going to be dicey and almost everything I told you about our weapons no longer applies. It¡¯s going to be a long quiet flight, so you boys better get studying. It¡¯s on us to ensure that they do not reach our fleet unscathed and we¡¯re going to make it happen!¡±


    Pulling open the weapon plans and performance data, I began to highlight the most notable parts of the weapon for my wing mates so that they could have an easier time getting acquainted with the weapons. I noted that, most importantly, the acceleration and mass were very different than the typical lances. These were somewhat slower on the acceleration but had a much larger mass.


    The other substantial difference is how the payload operated. The three stage firing mechanism would first propel a metal plate out into the target, followed by an explosion propelling a small nuke, finishing with the nuke detonating inside the target. This would, ideally, overpressure the target, turning it into an exploded can of meat. If it worked as intended, the destruction should be positively delightful.


    Slowly but surely, status indicators lit up green as various systems were fully loaded up: Weapons, Engines, Black out shielding, Coolant, Navigation, Comms, and Various subsystems that were less essential. I smiled, clicking through my side of the boot sequence, ensuring the computers were operating at peak efficiency. Preflight checks out of the way I opened the comm channel to my wing.


    ¡°Liven up boys and start the chatter. We¡¯re going radio silent in a few minutes when we launch so let¡¯s get all the questions and talk out now while we¡¯re in the bays.¡±


    Alpha two¡¯s channel went green. ¡°Roger that, Alpha one. So these new weapons¡­ What are we doing with them?¡±


    ¡°Great question. We¡¯re going to aim for tanks, air, large rooms, anything big enough to respond poorly to massive amounts of sudden pressure. I know, I know, you¡¯ve been taught space is a vacuum and that nothing works like it does in atmo. Well throw that out the window for these puppies. They¡¯re going to be detonating in atmo, albeit a well contained one, so let¡¯s make the most of it shall we?¡±


    ¡°Most certainly. I look forward to taking those slimy bastards out with these new toys.¡±


    ¡°Cool your jets, Alpha three. I know you recently moved up in the wing, but let¡¯s not get hasty here. It¡¯s a long flight and a lot could happen in the meantime. I¡¯d like nothing better than to sink their battleship, but nothing is assured.¡±


    With the removal of most of my wing, Daren had taken the Alpha three spot and was anxious to prove himself in the first mission since his promotion. I didn¡¯t blame him, but did not want him to get sloppy and prematurely spill his load. Timing was everything in this domain, and most of decisions had to be made with millisecond precision.


    ¡°Any other burning questions? We don¡¯t have long before the launch tubes are ready for us and it¡¯ll be a long ride out to the intercept.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, how are we preventing the enemy from picking us out of the sky before we get close? You¡¯ve told us repeatedly that there ¡®Ain¡¯t no stealth in space¡¯¡± It seemed Daren paid better attention than I had been giving him credit with. My mistake, won¡¯t do that again.


    ¡°There still isn¡¯t. We¡¯re pulling a bit of a fast one here. Our craft have been outfitted with special panels that absorb light extremely effectively. These panels are in turn cooled with very cold liquid hydrogen, keeping our infrared signature below detection thresholds until we¡¯re quite close. As it heats up, we¡¯ll be using the slightly warmed hydrogen as propellant, accelerating us gradually as we close.¡±


    ¡°I see. So we¡¯re just trying to appear like the background for long enough that it¡¯s ¡®too late¡¯ to do much about us when we finally are detectable?¡± Gwayne had been apparently working on his military strategy over the past few weeks. Good to see my lessons inspiring him to go above and beyond.


    ¡°That¡¯s exactly the plan. To be perfectly honest, I think this plan is complete madness. That said, the admiral is brilliant, and if he designed this plan, I have full confidence in it being accomplishable.¡± Alright, that was overstating my confidence level, but Admiral Terrorfloof was the first admiral of the fleet and had risen to that rank through force of will and brilliant victories time and again.


    ¡°Good enough for me. Seems like we¡¯re up. See you on the other side, wing leader.¡±


    ¡°See you on the other side, wing¡± I shut down the comms, resting back in my seat as the fighter was sent to the back of the carrier and slid into an acceleration sled. A dull metal clang could be heard as it latched onto my fighter and prepared to accelerate me to the enemy vessels.


    A sudden pressure shoved me into my seat, my stomach creeping up my chest as a mammoth sat on me. The sudden, potent acceleration hurtled me out of the carrier like a kinetic warhead, making me a little sick as it let go, the pressure suddenly gone. I checked my velocity, sighed at the terribly long travel time, and relaxed, pressing play on my playlist.


    I sat in a conference room for Deep Space, llc, the newest company in immersion VR systems. Their project The System had generated quite a stir and I wanted in. I hated my job and was unsatisfied with my life. The room was spartan, a plant in the corner, a cupboard with multimedia hardware opposite. Large flat screens were the main feature of one wall, and a frosted glass window made up the adjacent wall. The large table dominating the middle of the room was cheap particle board, covered with an enamel with the appearance of granite. The entire room gave off a sterile corporate feel, just like my job.


    I leaned back in the uncomfortable office chair and sighed, completed paperwork before me. I ruffled through the papers again, but all the forms were complete. It¡¯s not like there was anything there to spin in any direction. They wanted medical history, psych history, job history, emergency contacts, all the things a job with strict requirements would want. Next should be an interview if I read the situation correctly.


    A pair of men came into the room. One wore business casual, blue shirt, black slacks, with neatly trimmed hair and a shaven face. The other appeared to be an eccentric with yellow tinted glasses, a hawaiian shirt, and cargo pants, with wild hair and a five day shadow. I stood to shake their hands, putting on my best smile as I did.


    ¡°Dwayne?¡± The formal man asked, putting his hand out.


    ¡°Yes that¡¯s me.¡± I shook his hand firmly.


    ¡°Glad to meet you. I¡¯m Dustin, and this is Scott.¡±


    I shook Scott¡¯s hand and we all took seats. I took a second look at them both, noticing smaller details this time around. Dustin had a pin on his collar from an eccentric space fairing game from a decade ago. Scott had crocheted glasses straps attached to his glasses.


    ¡°Big fan of the Space Reconnitors?¡± I asked, gesturing at the pin on Dustin¡¯s shirt.


    ¡°Oh is he!¡± Scott said enthusiastically. ¡°He¡¯s huge into the modding community and the OSR dev boards. They¡¯re pushing the limits of what it was intended to be and adding new modules all the time.¡±


    ¡°Very cool. I sunk a few hundred hours into it back when it was new, but didn¡¯t know about the Open dev community picking it up.¡±


    ¡°Yes, well, we¡¯re small, but we¡¯re dedicated. To be honest, I¡¯m surprised you recognized it. Most players don¡¯t even know this emblem. It was a rather difficult to locate faction.¡±


    ¡°Are you kidding? The Blazers were the most interesting group in that game.¡±


    Dustin beamed at me and Scott jotted down some notes on his clipboard, which had escaped my notice until now. From there the interview proceeded to cover all kinds of topics, from upbringing to troubleshooting. I left feeling a new sense of hope and looked forward to hearing from them soon.


    I woke up from my dream and wiped my face clean. Apparently I had fallen asleep again, which seemed to be an effective way of passing the time before and after missions. Whatever works, I suppose. I checked my displays as I sipped on some water, noting that we were getting close to within a light second of our targets. It was almost showtime.

 Chapter 3: Operation Pillowfight

    Closing the engagement distance, I pressed the sequence of commands to shed my black out shielding and expose the deadly craft beneath. The shielding peeled away like shingles, flaking off from stem to stern like dust in the wind. As soon as the shielding was gone, my fusion engine ignited, accelerating me into battle. My wing mates comms went live moments later and I opened the channel.


    ¡°Look alive people, we¡¯re coming in hot and heavy. The kinetics launched before us should detonate any second making it difficult to spot our craft for a few more seconds but that won¡¯t last long.¡± As I finished my sentence, bright flashes filled my sensors as the kinetics did just as I said, flowers of kinetic energy pushing out in cones before us.


    ¡°Hey, boss, I got hydrogen left. What should I do with it?¡±


    Not even glancing at my display, I knew the same was true for myself. ¡°Burn it Alpha three. We can¡¯t afford the extra mass and it did its job of concealing us on the way over.¡±


    ¡°Roger that.¡± All three of us clicked to add the hydrogen to our fusion engines and put on a little extra thrust as we closed with the enemy dreadnought.


    Relying on our piloting, we gained a momentary glimpse into the paths of objects in space, giving us a tiny amount of precognition as we flew. This gave us the ability to see a moment into the future, to see where we would be, to see where enemy projectiles would be, to predict what we could do to avoid enemy fire. Obviously it wasn¡¯t perfect nor was it very long. But when you¡¯re moving at kilometers per second, a quarter second adjustment is a different of hundreds of meters and can allow you to slid past what would otherwise be certain doom.


    I engaged my active sensors, letting everyone know where we were as I got a clear view of where and what the enemy was. It took a second or two for the details to resolve, signals travelling at the painfully slow speed of light, but shortly I knew where our target was and sent the course deltas to Alpha two and three.


    My lancer began to scream at me, flak was inbound. I monitored the paths the flak would take, keeping an eye on the potential kill zones depending on what distance they were set to detonate at. I instructed my wingmates to adjust their position relative to the plane the flak was on so as to pass through the least hazardous zones.


    My wing wove, passing though dangerous areas with mere meters to spare. Hold up, wait a minute, ¡°meters are huge¡± one might say. Consider that the lancer¡¯s hull is almost eight meters wide and the bits of metal we¡¯re dodging are measured in tens of centimeters, multiply that by velocities measured in kilometers per second, where collision energies are measured in hundreds of kilograms of TNT per kilogram of mass, and it becomes ¡®mere meters.¡¯ Add to that the fact that we discarded all armor except for normal debris shielding, and we¡¯re basically piloting aluminum frame drag racers with rocket engines strapped to the back right now. With a payload of nukes for good measure. I love my job.


    We saw the other wings on sensors, lighting up like the noonday sun off our flanks. I grinned and pressed the throttle up, careful not to pass our shielding flak that had been launched ahead of us. As we crossed the quarter-light second line, the flak from our ships detonated, turning multiton projectiles into a hailstorm of semi-molten metal and hate. I watched the paths, planning our final approach and sending over planned vectors to Alpha two and three.


    ¡°Alrighty boys, it¡¯s showtime!¡±


    ¡°Yeehaw!¡±


    We took the plunge, adding ten gs of acceleration to our craft as we sped into new volleys of enemy flak. Our flak caused many of their new rounds to detonate prematurely, further filling the area with chaotic particles of death, but we pressed on, pulsing and yipping as dodged hazards before they reached us.


    Suddenly the attack window was upon us, the critical point at which we could unleash our violent payloads. I armed my warheads, placing critical zones of pressure vessels as ideal targets for the lances to target.


    ¡°Birds away!¡± I alerted my team as I let loose, three tandem nukes dropping from my lancer.


    Quickly I flipped stem over stern and applied thrust to kill my velocity. I felt a kick in my gut as the engine roared through my craft. The blood briefly left my retina and my vision went grey then black as my eyes were starved of blood. I heard a proximity alarm from my right and just twisted my vessel¡¯s thrust to push me away. I felt a shudder through my craft and entered an uncontrolled spin. I eased off the thrust, letting the blood rush back through my body.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    My skin tingled and pulsed as I took a deep breath, my vision clearing. I glanced over all my readouts as I began to slowly counter the spin with the Rotation Correction System. My hydrogen tanks had taken hits and were probably obliterated, but the rest of my ship seemed intact. That was close, it could have been just a meter closer and hit my engine. My heart continued to race as my velocity flipped directions as began to point back in the direction of the carrier.


    ¡°Status check?¡± I looked at my team readouts but the data feeds had been interrupted by the hit.


    ¡°All good, Alpha one.¡± Alpha two¡¯s voice came through crisp and calm.


    ¡°I¡¯m intact.¡± Alpha three chimed in, a little shaky.


    ¡°Glad to hear it. I took a little hit, but all systems appear green. Won¡¯t be able to pull a hydrogen steamer again for some time though, hydrogen tanks seem gone.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re glad you¡¯re in one piece, Alpha one. Let¡¯s get back home?¡±


    ¡°That is a wilco from me, Alpha two. See you in the bay.¡±


    The three of us slowly accelerated back to the carrier, and I surveyed the damage we had wrought from my logs. Only one of each of our missiles made good hits, but the damage inflicted made up for the low accuracy. The deck my nuke had landed in was apparently a water tank of some kind and the explosion overpressured the incompressible fluid into the rest of the vessel along every weakness it could find. It was like a high pressure saw, spraying through solid metal left and right. Before our attack, the dreadnought had out tonned our carrier by at least an order of magnitude. Such was no longer the case, the three missiles having shredded and torn at the hull, making entire sections explode and slough off like some leprous flesh. The trailing craft had to not only contend with their own attack, but now their lead dreadnought¡¯s debris, filling space with deadly razors of metal.


    It goes without saying that not only was the attack a stunning success, but that my wing had performed admirably and above all expectations I could have held. We were all coming home, an anomaly among wing missions. Frequently thirty to forty percent losses were anticipated, and it wasn¡¯t unusual to see entire wings wiped in the completion of a mission. I was happy and proud of my men as I put in the autopilot and proximity alarms and then closed my eyes.


    I was back for a second interview, which left me both uncertain and very happy. I didn¡¯t know how many stages to this process there were, but I was glad to have cleared the first hurdle.


    Scott greeted me at the receptionist¡¯s desk and, after I signed a non disclosure agreement, led me back into a lab.


    ¡°This is where the magic happens.¡± He said, showing me the window into a clean room. Within several techs wearing full bunny suits with not an inch of skin exposed, helped a man wearing just a pair of loose shorts into a chair. Yellow disinfectant covered the man¡¯s skin and he looked like he was a bit out of it. The techs placed electrodes all over his body before placing a helmet upon him, concealing his half lidded eyes from view. The bed reclined and then slowly closed around him, reminding me vaguely of an iron maiden, sans metal spikes. ¡°They¡¯re getting him ready to enter the System.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the game? Or ¡®experience¡¯ is probably more accurate, no?¡±


    He chuckled and smiled. ¡°Yes, Dwayne, that might be more accurate. That didn¡¯t make you uncomfortable to watch did it?¡±


    ¡°Not at all. It¡¯s a bit strange, but then I¡¯ve never seen a long term hibernation capsule outside a movie before.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good, very good.¡± He snickered a bit at my quip. ¡°I¡¯m glad you don¡¯t feel weirded out by it. A number of candidates got squicked out by the idea of being closed in like that. I promise that it¡¯s very necessary to allow us to keep very close monitoring on your health.¡±


    ¡°Makes sense to me. I¡¯d be eager to climb in and see what the fuss is all about.¡±


    ¡°You enthusiasm fills me with joy.¡± His eyes twinkled behind his yellow glasses. ¡°Let¡¯s introduce you to Doctor Alexis, who will be conducting your physical. I know, I know, we got your medical records, but this is all us doing due diligence. Our lawyers insisted.¡±


    ¡°Lead the way, Scott. I¡¯m ready to make this happen.¡±


    My ship chimed at me. It was time to align for docking. I shook myself to full awareness and began throttling to match speed and position with the docking slide. I smiled to myself as I briefly checked a notification.


    ¡°Achievement unlocked: David versus Goliath. Talent ¡®Exploit Weakness¡¯ unlocked. Provides extra damage to larger vessels when you have proficiency with the weapons in use and intel unlocked for the target in question.


    ¡°XP gained for successful completion of Operation Pillowfight: 150XP. Bonus for full wing survival: 50XP.¡±


    Nice. With this I¡¯d finally be able to buy a new Talent or two and push my skills to the next level, maybe even show that I¡¯m ready to be the Wing Commander officially and fully. This was a great day.

 Chapter 4: Promotion to Wing Commander

    I pulled in to the carrier dock, letting my craft get snatched and parked within. Moments later my cockpit lowered down and I got out to see Commander Lukas Viola standing with another, waiting for me. I stood up and saluted him.


    ¡°Greetings commander. You needed me before the debriefing?¡±


    ¡°Yes wing commander, I did. This is Amy Lorelai, your new wingmate. I expect you¡¯ll treat her exactly as you would anyone else in your team.¡± Lukas stated firmly.


    ¡°Well of course. Welcome to the team, Amy. Alpha wing is glad to have another pilot.¡± I gave her a smile. ¡°If you¡¯ll excuse me I¡¯ll see both of you in the briefing room in a minute.¡±


    ¡°Sure thing¡­ commander.¡± Amy said with a smile as I turned and headed to the showers.


    I got cleaned up, changed into my uniform instead of my flight suit and entered the briefing room, walking to the front to go through the flight recording and annotate notes to the recording at every moment of incidence. I was editing some footage with suggestions and comments when someone breathed in my ear.


    ¡°Hello commander¡±


    I straight jumped. My heart raced. Who, what, oh¡­ it¡¯s just Amy.


    ¡°Hello Amy. I didn¡¯t hear you come in.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve been waiting in here since you left.¡±


    ¡°Oh, well I guess I didn¡¯t see you. I usually let my pilots have about an hour to relax after a mission while I go through engagement footage and point out what went well and where improvements could be made.¡±


    ¡°That is so smart! No wonder you¡¯re the wing commander.¡± She smiled and winked at me.


    ¡°Ah, yes, well¡­ I¡¯m going to get back to my work. You can come back in a bit and we can go over the mission together.¡± I slowly turned back to my work.


    I got back into my groove, pointing out where Alpha three took a less than ideal course to avoid the flak, putting him at risk from two more projectiles as he wove towards the enemy. It was easy after the fact to see where he had gone wrong, but I could understand not seeing the volume of enemy fire and properly reading the appropriate path in the moment. My pilots were good. My pilots. It felt good to say that after working so hard to gain this position.


    I kept at it for the next half hour, when Gwayne, Daren, and the commander joined us, and then turned to get down to business.


    ¡°First, I want to congratulate you two on an excellent mission. Well done. Next, Amy Lorelai will be our new wingmate from today on.¡± I gestured at Amy who stood and waved at the other two.


    ¡°Finally, let¡¯s get down to dissecting the mission.¡±


    We spent the next few hours dissecting every moment of the engagement, covering everything from when we broke stealth some two hundred thousand kilometers away until we turned around and headed back to the carrier. The approach and launch of the missiles were the most important parts of the mission and the lion¡¯s share of the time were spent on them, but everything was covered. Nobody was free from criticism as we all needed to be the best we could.


    When we finally closed the briefing, I left to go get food. It had been nearly sixteen hours since I had last eaten anything approaching real food, and the System did not let my body forget it. I got a plate of what appeared to be salisbury steak and mashed potatoes and sat down at a table to eat. I took a few bites, then considering the new team member, pulled out my pad and began to create a training plan for my team to practice together. Just to be thorough, I also pencilled in some time in the gym and meeting room for group training and team building throughout the next few days. I looked up to see Carlos and Xerxes sitting across from me.


    ¡°Congratulations on the promotion man!¡± Carlos, leader of Bravo wing, smacks me on the arm firmly.


    ¡°Yeah, well deserved. We¡¯ve seen you flying and you¡¯re one of the best among us,¡± the leader of Charlie wing agreed.


    ¡°Thanks guys. I¡¯m just happy to have it be official. It feels¡­ good to not just be lead pilot but actually the wing commander finally.¡± I smiled at both of them before pocketing my pad.


    ¡°Well it¡¯s been a long time coming. Ever since Lukas moved up you¡¯ve been holding that wing together with an iron hand. It¡¯s been really impressive watching you fill those shoes.¡± I tried to laugh it off but the complements were embarrassing me a bit.


    ¡°You two are too much. I was barely making it work and only managed to keep it together by keeping my team too busy to consider anything else.¡±


    ¡°Well whatever you did, it impressed the commander. You deserve mad kudos. The ceremony is scheduled for 1900, so make sure you¡¯re all cleaned up, wing commander Dwayne.¡± Xerxes patted me on the back and they left me to my meal.


    I finished up my meal, jotting down a few more notes about training as I went back to my room. I walked straight inside, looking in my closet as I tossed my pad on the bed. I pulled out a uniform I had set side for special occasions and ceremonies and started stripping out of my daily wear. I went to the small sink and ensured I was perfectly groomed before getting into the uniform.


    I checked over the entire piece, melting and clipping Irish Pennants, ensuring the belt was just the right length, ensuring the rank insignia are properly placed, everything. I looked myself over one last time, smiled and turned. I was ready for this ceremony; had been looking forward to it for months. I was ready to assume command and all the responsibilities that entails.


    I left my room, heading to the flight deck, which also served as our parade ground for ceremonies. They weren¡¯t a common occurrence, since pilots washed out more often than got promoted, but that made them special. I was a half hour early, so I walked over to my fighter, naked and stripped down. After every mission the entire craft needed to be checked over and validated. Microfractures and mechanical strains could turn a course correction to avoid an attack into a desperate struggle to remain in a single piece. The forces and energies our lancers went through during a mission were mind boggling and frequently hit what I liked to call stupid numbers, figures with numbers of zeros I couldn¡¯t make tangible if I wanted to. I rubbed one of the spars and smiled, my lancer had served me well time and again and I respected her for it.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    ¡°Hey, commander, got something on your shoe.¡± Daren said, pointing at my feet, and I glanced down to see a piece of paper stuck to my shoe.


    I bent down and picked it up, scowling at it. It was a pink post it and written on it was ¡°< 3, AL¡±. I shrugged and tossed it down a garbage chute before turning to Daren. ¡°Ready to hit to gym after the ceremony?¡±


    ¡°Whatever you say commander. You¡¯ve gotten us through the missions up to this point. I¡¯ll trust your judgement on what we need to do for the next one.¡±


    ¡°Thanks. I¡¯ll try to not go too hard on all of you.¡± I smiled and turned as the other wings were pouring in and slowly arranging themselves into formation.


    I went to greet Commander Lukas, saluting him as I approached. ¡°Thank you, sir.¡± I said, bowing my head just a tad.


    ¡°You earned it, lancer. I¡¯m just administering the honors you gained through your exemplary service.¡± He said, patting me on the arm. ¡°Now get back there and march out. The Captain is coming down to pin you personally.¡±


    ¡°...He is? I¡¯ll do my best. No slip ups.¡± I stuttered, moving to get ready. I walked four paces behind the formation and counted my paces so that I¡¯d know exactly how many steps to take to make my movements as clean as possible. I stopped in the middle of the formation and turned to face front, standing at ease.


    The captain entered the deck and Lukas called us to attention before about facing. ¡°Squadron Alcide all present or accounted for¡±


    ¡°Thank you Commander.¡± The captain returned the commander¡¯s salute. ¡°Bring forth the pilot to be promoted.¡±


    My heart pounded. I right faced, then proceeded to march making sharp clean turns before coming to a stop before Captain Richards. I right faced before him and saluted, dropping it as he returned it.


    ¡°To all who shall see these presents, greeting: know ye, that reposing special trust and confidence in the fidelity and abilities of Dwayne Starflight, I do appoint this pilot a Wing commander in the Space Naval Forces, to rank as such from this day forward. This appointee with therefore carefully and diligently discharge the duties of the role to which appointed by doing and performing all manner of things thereunto pertaining. And I do strictly charge and require all personnel of lesser grade to render obedience to appropriate orders. And this appointee is to observe and follow such order and directs as may be given from time to time by superiors acting according to the rules and articles governing the discipline of the Space Naval Forces. Given under my hand at Fleet vessel Ozymandius, this day.¡± Lukas delivered the warrant in clear crisp words, while the captain stood there, passively measuring me. I swallowed, my hands gripped firmly at my sides while I stood at attention, feeling the weight of responsibility laid upon my shoulders.


    Upon finishing reading, Lukas snapped the warrant closed and handed it to the captain. ¡°Congratulations son.¡± He said softly handing it over and shaking my hand. I nodded and swallowed, as they took the old rank insignia of a pilot off my shoulders and replaced them with the insignia for Wing commander. I held my warrant tightly at my side and waited as Lukas shook my hand. The captain walked around front with Lukas at his side and saluted, which I returned. I then turned and marched off to the side, stopping some ten paces beyond the formation.


    ¡°Commander. Take these pilots of carry out to duties of the day.¡± The captain spoke firmly, before turning and strutting off.


    Lukas turned to face the formation and spoke firmly. ¡°Formation, fall out and congratulate the new wing commander.¡±


    Everyone broke free from the formation and lined up to congratulate me. It was an endless string of good jobs and attaboys. I smiled and shook their hands as they passed me by. When it was finally done, I took a deep sigh and turned to head back to my quarters.


    In the hall outside the flight deck, my wing stood in a small circle. ¡°Congratulations commander.¡± Gwayne said, shaking my hand again.


    ¡°Thanks. So, I¡¯m going to change and then we¡¯ll hit the gym.¡± The three nodded and we dispersed back to our rooms.


    I entered into my room and stripped out of my uniform, fingering the new rank insignias carefully. It was good to have finally earned that. I changed into my track suit and grabbed a drink of water.


    Turning to leave, I saw Amy standing at my door. ¡°Looking good commander.¡± She smiled, looking me up and down.


    ¡°Yeah, thanks. Let¡¯s get to the gym, yeah?¡±


    ¡°Whatever you say commander.¡±


    We went to the gym and waited a couple of minutes for Gwayne and Daren to join us. I started us off with a light jog, before moving to weights and core training. It was truly important to work out because strong hearts and lungs were necessary to withstand the forces you experienced in a Lancer. Not many wanted to put in the effort required to be a successful Lancer, but there was nothing like it. I wouldn¡¯t trade the g forces and acrobatic maneuvers for sitting in the bridge calling out targets for anything. I loved what I did and never wanted to lose it.


    When we finished we hit the showers and I instructed them to catch a meal and some sleep. We¡¯d be hitting the classroom and the simulators the next morning and I wanted them fresh and ready. I went to my room and looked over my character sheet as I laid on my bed. Notifications filled my sheet, covering my view.


    Notification: Congratulations on your promotion to Wing Commander. You have now been granted the responsibilities and privileges of a new Role. Rewards: 275 XP, 1 rank of Command, New Talent for Command ¡®Coordinate¡¯, Custom skin for your Lancer ¡®Divine Shite¡¯


    Please note that loss of this Role will not result in loss of your rewards, but will affect your standing in the Space Naval Forces.


    Name: Dwayne Starflight


    Current Role: Wing Commander


    Rank: 2


    Agility 7


    Coordination 11


    Small Ship Gunnery 2


    Talents: Firing Stability, Targeting Reticle, Exploit Weakness


    Pilot 4


    Talents: Flight Stability, Precognition


    Reasoning 9


    Science 4


    Talents: Maneuvers (Strafing Runs, Vectored Thrusting, Multiple Axis of Throttle)


    Tactics 2


    Talents: Weak point identification, Intel analysis (4.2 minutes)


    Emotional Intelligence 7


    Command 2


    Talents: Coordinate


    Strength 8


    XP: 600


    I smiled to myself as I dismissed the notification and looked over the sheet. Where to put my new XP? It was a good question, one that I hadn¡¯t thought about much because I wasn¡¯t expecting to break into this much XP so soon. I suppose now that I have the official Wing Commander Role, I should probably put some points into tactics, so that I could coordinate my wingmates and better keep them alive during a mission. I pressed the buttons to spend XP and levelled Tactics from 2 to 3, which also improved the talent ¡®Intel Analysis¡¯ from 4.2 minutes to 3.8 minutes.


    Intel Analysis didn¡¯t come into play during a lot of missions because most ships were more or less variations on a theme and the weapons we used were usually the same mission to mission, but with my new ¡®Exploit Weakness¡¯ talent, I imagined that I might be able to better target my strikes in coming missions with the combination of the two talents working in tandem.


    I chuckled softly as I laid back, setting my character sheet down and looking up at the roof of my bed cubby. ¡°It¡¯s going to get interesting in the coming days, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep, dreaming of battles and tactics to come.

 Chapter 5: Breaking in the Rookie

    Entering the classroom, I went to the board and began mapping out notes on orbital mechanics. The truth about space is that you were never truly still. You were always in orbit of something, the planet, the star, the galaxy. It was important to recognize this because this was the underlying principle behind all our navigation and travel equations. I started with a map of this system and began to add important figures on all the bodies in the system. The gravities of the planets and star, the velocities as well, anything and everything I could think that might come into play during a mission. I had already given parts of this lesson to Gwayne and Daren a couple of weeks prior, but I had no idea what Amy¡¯s background in astrophysics was and this lesson was one of the most essential.


    I pulled up a gas giant and began proposing simulation paths to do gravity slings, trying to demonstrate how one could use a gravity well to conserve a craft¡¯s deltaV. It was an important trick and while Lancers didn¡¯t use it very often, we still needed to know how. To be perfectly honest, we needed to know how better than the capital ships, because we didn¡¯t have onboard supercomputers to do the bulk of the calculations for us: we needed to perform those calculations in our head.


    A few minutes laters, Gwayne and Daren entered, just a few minutes early. ¡°Good morning gents.¡±


    ¡°Morning commander,¡± they chorused taking seats at terminals and looking over the gas giant model I had been working on.


    A few minutes passed and Amy hadn¡¯t arrived yet. ¡°I guess we¡¯ll get started then. This is, as you¡¯re aware, the model for X37-b, one of the gas giants in the system. I¡¯ve modelled out a few different gravity sling maneuvers to demonstrate how different incoming velocities and approach angles affect the outbound angle and velocity.¡±


    ¡°These paths are alright, commander, but wouldn¡¯t something like this be potentially more useful?¡± Daren asked, drawing an approach vector and letting the software extrapolate the outbound vector.


    ¡°What makes you say that, Daren?¡± I asked taking a closer look.


    ¡°So you see, with this angle and velocity, at the perigee you will be able to apply minimal thrust to adjust your course wildly, giving you a maximum flexibility to adjust course.¡± He showed this by adding a small burn at the point he described, showing how you could have a substantial number of output courses from rather small adjustments at that point.


    ¡°That is very useful if you need flexibility. It¡¯s not very good if your enemy can predict your trajectory early on.¡±


    ¡°Always true, but you can¡¯t dismiss a tool just because you don¡¯t see the use right now. You¡¯ve said so yourself.¡±


    I smiled and just before I replied, Amy walked in. ¡°Good morning commander!¡±


    ¡°Amy! Where were you? You¡¯re over fifteen minutes late for training.¡±


    ¡°I was just running behind. There were a lot of people in line for the showers.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t be late again. This is unacceptable behavior for a pilot.¡±


    ¡°I promise I won¡¯t!¡± She had a slightly watery eye, like she was about to cry.


    ¡°Look over this model and tell me what it tells you.¡± I stood over her terminal as she explored my model, taking a look at all the lines.


    She turned it about, reading the numbers and figures, pulling up notes on them. I began to work on my pad, pulling out a scenario that was on the list for beginners, and making some adjustments. I never ran scenarios as they were initially made, it was too predictable and pilots would get used to playing the scenario instead of the practicing their abilities. After a few minutes of glancing at her working through the model, I returned to her.


    ¡°So what does it tell you?¡±


    ¡°Well this planet has a gravity of 4gs and based upon these incoming velocities and vectors, you can get these outbound vectors.¡±


    ¡°And?¡±


    ¡°And that¡¯s what it says.¡± She looked at me as if I was playing a joke on her.


    ¡°That¡¯s useless.¡± I looked at her flatly. ¡°Unless you can extrapolate from these figures, you aren¡¯t doing anyone any good out there.¡± I pointed towards the outside of the ship.


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± She looked like she was about to cry. ¡°I read the model and understand what it says.¡±


    ¡°No, you read numbers I created and repeated them back to me. Pilots can¡¯t just look at a model and reiterate it back. That¡¯s how we lose pilots when we¡¯re facing the enemy. A pilot must be able to read the plots and find the path that provides maximum efficacy to accomplishing the mission. Unless you put steel on target, you¡¯re just dead weight.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s so unfair. I wanted to be a pilot and have fun with the rest of you.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll admit, being a pilot is fun. But unless you¡¯re an effective pilot, you aren¡¯t doing any good by being here. Read ¡®Fundamentals of Orbital Mechanics¡¯ and show me the solved problem sets for chapters one through seven by the end of the week. Now get dressed in your flight suit, we¡¯re doing simulators in thirty.¡±


    She sniffled and nodded. ¡°Yes commander.¡±


    I turned and left, walking to my locker to get into my flight suit myself. It was always hard breaking in a new pilot. They had many misconceptions about how piloting worked, and if you didn¡¯t break them from those, you lost pilots. I gritted my teeth as I zipped up my suit, hoping against all odds she¡¯d at least be able to handle the lancer.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    It wasn¡¯t my first time breaking in a new pilot, but it was the first time I had one making me feel guilty for shattering their image of how easy it was to be a pilot. I¡¯m sure it felt like hazing, having her wingmates sitting there just watching how I laid into her, but they had been there not long ago. We all had been there, except maybe the first few. They had to find out the hard way the nuances of the Lancer and how they must be deployed against the enemy. I didn¡¯t envy them, but I thanked them daily for developing all that I used to train my pilots.


    I left my locker, heading to the simulator room. Daren and Gwayne were there waiting for me and I gave them a casual wave as I closed the distance. ¡°This should be a breezy simulation today, but I want to give Amy a chance to demonstrate her skills and learn the nuances of the lancer before we start working up for real operation simulations.¡±


    ¡°Sounds good to me, Commander.¡± Daren gave me a slight wink. ¡°Let¡¯s do this and see how our rookie demonstrates her abilities.¡±


    We waited a few minutes, updating our simulators with the latest adjustments from our real lancers, letting it load up all our latest parameters, including g force tolerance. It was an important process as you grew as a pilot because the simulators had built in limiters to prevent rookies from hurting themselves.


    Amy showed up more or less right on time, her flight suit on but not properly fitted. It was loose all over and looked like it had been thrown on in a rush.


    ¡°Amy, what is with your suit?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry commander, it isn¡¯t fitted properly at all!¡±


    ¡°I can see that, but why isn¡¯t it fitted?¡±


    ¡°I have no idea. I got sized and everything¡­ but it¡¯s so loose.¡±


    ¡°Did you tighten it down?¡±


    ¡°Tighten¡­ it¡­ down?¡± She said each word slowly like I was speaking some foreign language.


    ¡°Nevermind, I¡¯ll show you.¡± I stepped close and began to adjust each portion of the suit to properly hold against her body. This would protect her from blood pooling in the wrong parts of her body and maintain proper blood flow at speed. When I had finished I took a step back and smiled. ¡°There you go, ready to fly.¡±


    ¡°Thank you commander!¡± She cried happily, trying to throw her arms around me.


    I sidestepped the assault quickly. ¡°Let¡¯s get going, we need to use are simulators before we run out of time.¡±


    ¡°but¡­¡± She began but nodded and went to a fourth simulator and sat down, strapping in.


    We each got into our own pods and got settled, strapping in and loading up the simulation. The mock cockpit went dark and then illuminated with the current status of the sim. The four craft were tailing a natural asteroid, which was conveniently passing close to a pair of enemy destroyers.


    ¡°Alpha two, three, head for the far destroyer on my signal. Hard burn then cut back. Their missiles should get caught in your exhaust and either lose you or be destroyed. Alpha four, stick close and follow my lead. Don¡¯t engage until I greenlight it.¡±


    ¡°Roger Alpha one¡± Alpha two and three chorused.


    ¡°Yes commander.¡± Alpha four said cheerily.


    ¡°This is a combat situation Alpha four, you will address me as Alpha one.¡±


    ¡°Yes com-Alpha one.¡± She seemed slightly deflated by that rebuke.


    ¡°Let¡¯s kick this puppy.¡±


    The four of us split off, our craft splitting in two directions with everyone following the plan. Alpha four seemed to be reasonably proficient in handling the craft, presumably having spent some significant stick time during her prior assignment. Hopefully she didn¡¯t assume this mission was one of the defaults just because of the opening being very similar to one of the others.


    I pushed down on the throttle, coasting quickly along the surface of the rock as I rounded on the destroyer. Flipping a cover on my control stick, I pressed a button unleashing a volley of white hot chaff that would burn hotter and brighter than my own vessel hopefully delaying identification of Alpha four and I for a few moments longer. I pressed in some keys, looking over the structure of the destroyer and identifying targets of opportunity.


    ¡°Alpha four, take the underside of the craft and strike at the targets I highlight for you.¡±


    ¡°Yeehaw¡± is all I hear before I see her pushing her throttle way too hard, closing with the enemy vessel. I can tell from her thrust vector that she¡¯s closing through the craft¡¯s active fields of fire instead of the path I gave her.


    ¡°Gosh dang it¡± I mutter as I punch my thrust as well, diving into the fray as well. I took the course I had planned for her, angling my ship so that I can open fire earlier than normal and attempt to disable it before Alpha four gets herself killed. We were going to have words after this session, because disobeying me in the black would not be accepted.


    I watched my sensors as the enemy began to open fire, kinetic barrages pouring into space filling the void before us with hot bits of metal that could turn us into clouds of plasma with a glancing blow. I hit my engines into a turn that would keep me out of the thick of it as I kept pouring on the speed.


    I heard Alpha four begin to panic and scream and cut my comms with her to focus on closing the gap. Finally I had entered the outer limits of my range and activated my lances as I scanned for my best target options. Deciding quickly, I picked two regions that I knew hid the reactors for the guns. Not going to put the enemy out of commission, but it would at least spare Alpha four and allow us to survive the engagement.


    I pressed down on the trigger and let fly, my lances pushing away from my craft at many magnitudes of acceleration more than what my feeble body could handle. I cut thrust at the exact same moment and spun end over end and began to accelerate away from the enemy, attempting to kill my momentum towards my foe. My sensors flashed moments later with two direct hits confirmed, damage reports following. The guns were down on that side and while the enemy was slowly rotating on its axis, Alpha four was letting fly as well.


    I counted the seconds as I pressed the acceleration to my limits, my vision going dark for a bit as I killed my momentum and began to pull away at an odd angle. I eased off it and checked my sensors, the enemy was gone, but Alpha four was making a slow looping turn back towards the rendezvous. I reactivated my comm channel with her.


    ¡°Alpha four, kill your momentum and plot a direct path back to the rendezvous.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll do my best Alpha one.¡±


    I rolled my eyes and slowed my acceleration as I watched Alpha two and three closing on the rendezvous. ¡°Good job Alpha two, three. Glad to see you executed that flawlessly. We¡¯re going to be held up by Alpha four treating her fighter like a plane.¡±


    ¡°Roger that Alpha one. We¡¯ll slow acceleration to wait for her to catch up.¡±


    I sighed quietly and rolled my neck as I entered a formation with Alpha two and three. We kept our acceleration low as Alpha four caught up and then we pulled away, exiting the scenario through a specified point.


    A screen came up displaying the score for the mission. ¡®Congratulations, you successfully accomplished the scenario and disabled the enemy vessels! Piloting and marksmanship has been assessed for the pilots: Alpha one 4532, Alpha two 6043, Alpha three 5642, Alpha four 232. Exit the simulators? Yes/No¡¯


    I sighed, shaking my head and pressed yes. Now I needed to confront Amy and discuss her performance and what I would require before she could join us on a real mission.

 Chapter 6: Unfit for combat

    ¡°What the hell was that?!¡± I shouted at Amy as she leaves her pod.


    She had been climbing out of her pod with a smile and froze as I laid into her. I was pretty angry. No, scratch that, I was downright furious.


    ¡°You disobeyed orders, violated almost every rule of space flight, and could have easily gotten both of us killed. We don¡¯t need any cowboys in this wing!¡± I continued hammering her, spending my rage at her utter lack of ability and discipline.


    ¡°C-commander¡­¡± She began, her face fading from the smile slowly, eyes watering.


    ¡°No, there¡¯s no excuse for this. You¡¯re a pilot. I don¡¯t know what your last post was like and frankly I don¡¯t care. You need to pull your head out of your butt and get your mind in the game. Right now you¡¯re a danger to the entire wing and we¡¯re grounded until you are at least minimally capable at handling your lancer.¡± I turned away, shaking a bit with anger. ¡°Gwayne, Daren, you guys go ahead and shower. I need to get our newest member with the program.¡±


    ¡°Yessir.¡± They saluted and headed down the hall, heading into the showers.


    I slowly turned back to Amy, taking in her wet eyes and tear striped face. I saw how my words had crushed her and while I didn¡¯t enjoy breaking her like this, her performance wasn¡¯t even remotely acceptable. I could not afford to have that rogue flying during an operation.


    ¡°You need to get up to flying form yesterday. What I just saw in there was completely unacceptable. There are a thousand ways that could have ended with one or both of us dead. What you just saw was me pulling you out of the jaws of death by the seat of my pants. I could only pull that off because I knew exactly what was coming, which I won¡¯t know in any battle we ever engage in.¡±


    ¡°I just wanted to have a fun time¡­ to show off¡­¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s no room for showing off or fun here. This is a war. If you just want to have fun, I can ask Lukas to reassign you to some other unit that has time for such things. But if you¡¯re serious about being a pilot, you¡¯re going to need to step it up and quickly. We can¡¯t fly with you in this shape.¡±


    ¡°I...I understand commander. I will redouble my efforts.¡± She said with a teary smile, looking up at me.


    ¡°I¡¯m glad to hear that. I will send you a list of books you need to read and the exercises you need to complete. I want you logging over six hours of sim time every day. I¡¯ll be reviewing flight recordings and giving feedback.¡±


    ¡°I won¡¯t let you down.¡±


    ¡°See that you don¡¯t. This was a warning.¡±


    I turned to leave and was stopped by arms suddenly wrapping around me. Amy was¡­ hugging me? I didn¡¯t understand what was happening. I had just reamed her a new one and she was giving me a hug.


    ¡°I will see you soon and give you the list of materials for study then.¡± I pulled away slowly and walked into my cabin, closing the door behind me. I began undoing my flight suit, peeling it off me piece by piece. I felt disgusting, both from the exertion from training and the blood boiling anger I had wielded against Amy.


    It¡¯s not that she didn¡¯t deserve every minute of it. Every word was true and necessary. But making someone break down and cry like that pulled at my heart. I didn¡¯t want to be That Guy who made the girls cry with harsh words, but she needed to know, she needed to change. I turned on the shower, waterfall of hot water crashing to the ground, drowning out my thoughts. I stepped into the shower and closed my eyes, thinking back to my old job.


    ¡°Dwayne! Where is that report?¡± My boss, Harrold, barked at me, looking over my shoulder at the screen I was working at.


    ¡°I¡¯m working on it, boss.¡± I kept typing, messing with my data to try to get it cleaned and formatted. He leaned in and I cringed away. ¡°I should have it done soon. There was more data to format than I anticipated. The techs just sent me all of their data raw with no formatting or parsing.¡±


    ¡°I thought you said you¡¯d have it done yesterday.¡± He said with a bit of bite.


    ¡°That was before I was pulled to deal with Heinlix and the system deficiencies there. If I had spent all of yesterday on this, you would have it already. But Heinlix was important, so I did that first.¡±


    ¡°Well get it done. I need that report for a meeting with SinTell tomorrow morning.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Sir.¡± I muttered as I moved around some more data, deleting useless columns and changing formatting for better use.


    It was just another typical day: Why isn¡¯t this done yet? This is so very important! Our customers need this yesterday. Why is all your documentation so incomplete? What do you mean, we don¡¯t have any data on that? I just wanted to hurl.


    The strange thing was, once in a great while I got to do some work I really enjoyed and that made the entire rest of the job seem worthwhile for a bit. It was like gambling, most of the time you¡¯re losing, but once in a while you get a jackpot, and that keeps you coming back for more and more. I cringed at my own inner monologue, and made a new chart from the data, setting everything on it just so before importing it into the report and saving the spreadsheets to a folder I kept around for raw data. It was something I had adopted early on, as it never failed that after I showed someone a graph, they didn¡¯t believe that I was using real data and wanted to double check my work. I couldn¡¯t explain it, but that was how things were, so I adapted to it.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    I sighed and drummed my fingers on my pressboard desk. It was cheap furniture, purchased by even cheaper management, who would have us just working from chairs if we could manage it. Thankfully, we couldn¡¯t, so we had actual desks. It¡¯s remarkable, really, what people will regard as luxury when they¡¯re trying to save a buck. Nobody drank the office coffee anymore because we had finally gone from good coffee to stuff that looked like it came out of a sewer pipe.


    I pulled up the report and began to write notes on the data, interpreting it for any and all who might care to take a look. It wasn¡¯t interesting, but it might help keep things running for a few more months, who knows. I wrapped things up and printed a copy to do proofs on before I turned it over to Harold.


    Finishing with my proofs, I turned to stand and turn the report over to Harold. I went to the printer and stood by it, waiting for the twenty page document to finish printing, feeling my life and soul drain from my body. This job was sucking the color out of my life and I needed to escape, to get free. I¡¯d meet up with the guys tonight and see how they were doing, maybe one of them had a solution.


    Shaking my head to clear the cobwebs of memory, I shut the shower off and stepping through the wisps of steam to grab a towel and dry myself. Coming down on Amy reminded me of my old life back at the office and how bleak and terrible everything felt. Even though this vessel looked far more sterile, the community here couldn¡¯t be matched at a baptist church picnic with fried chicken and barbeque ribs.


    I dressed in my uniform and typed into my pad a message to Lukas letting him know I needed to see him. I then went through my library of astrophysics books and sent Amy copies of at least half of them, indicating what exercises she needed to complete before the end of the week. I hope she applies herself to this, because otherwise I¡¯m going to have to insist she gets transferred to some other duty.


    I left my room and went to the squadron commander¡¯s office. Stepping down the plain white halls, illuminated at regular intervals with warm LED lighting, I sighed as I appreciated the fact that I was no longer under halogen bulbs with excessive intensity. Arriving at Lukas¡¯s office, I knocked then stepped in and faced him behind the desk, coming to attention and giving him a textbook salute.


    ¡°Thank you for seeing me sir.¡± I said respectfully. ¡°I regret to inform you that Alpha wing is not currently fit for battle or operations.¡±


    ¡°This is because of Amy?¡±


    ¡°Yes, sir. She¡¯s completely incapable at the moment of grasping the most basic maneuvers required of a pilot and doesn¡¯t listen orders one bit once we¡¯re in the thick of things.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± Lukas nodded slowly. ¡°She came to see me, you know?¡±


    ¡°No sir, I didn¡¯t. I hope you listened to her fully and grasped what happened fully.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I got the picture. She was driven to tears by blunt and brutal honesty about her performance today. She went in believing herself to be truly talented, and you shattered that idea like a glass vase. It was a rough approach and one you need to be careful with. Command is very sensitive to complaints about harassment.¡±


    ¡°Of course, sir. I will be firm but fair. I won¡¯t let you down, but I certainly need time to get Amy up to speed.¡±


    ¡°And you can have some. But not too much time, we are fighting a war after all.¡±


    ¡°Most certainly. That is something I intend to press upon my wing with the most certain of words.¡±


    ¡°Glad to hear it. Dismissed.¡±


    I saluted and turned to leave, pulling out my pad to check on things as I walked the sterile halls. It seemed Amy was at least making an effort, as I already had a couple of assignments marked in progress. I hoped that she was actually applying herself and not attempting to copy off someone else. I decided to stop by the mess to grab some lunch? Dinner? Food. It had been hours and I needed the fuel to keep everything working as it should.


    The mess hall was nearly empty when I entered, leading me to believe that I had arrived between major meals. I sighed and walked through the food lines, getting a helping of salisbury steak and mashed potatoes. Sure, it wasn¡¯t the best food, but it kept well enough and filled one with the calories needed to keep functioning.


    Sitting down in a corner booth, I sipped on my tea as I cut up my food into bite sized pieces. ¡°Still being meticulous as ever?¡± a voice from my side said.


    ¡°Hmm? Oh, yeah, nice to see you Carlos.¡± I was momentarily lost in my own mind and it took a second to actually realize who was standing beside me.


    ¡°Mind if I join you?¡±


    ¡°Not at all.¡± I gestured at the seat across from me.


    Carlos nodded and took the seat as I finished cutting up my food and began to eat.


    ¡°I heard about you laying into the new recruit.¡±


    ¡°Word certainly travels fast around here. If only we could get our ships to go that fast.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, well, maybe lighten up a little.¡± He ate a spoonful of mashed potatoes, looking at me pointedly.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t say anything that wasn¡¯t accurate and necessary.¡± I defended myself, taking a few more bites.


    ¡°Maybe not, but approach can be everything. You don¡¯t shout at Daren and Gwayne like that.¡±


    ¡°Not anymore, I don¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°It could be taken as hazing to be yelling at Amy. Not a good look.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not doing anything except what needs to be done to get my wing into combat shape.¡±


    ¡°You do what needs to be done, man. I¡¯m just recommending you take a less aggressive approach. Anyways, get some rest. It¡¯s nearly midnight and I know you were up before 0600. You aren¡¯t sleeping enough and are going to make mistakes if you keep it up.¡±


    ¡°We can sleep when we¡¯re dead.¡± I spat, giving him some side eye.


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, but not getting what you need results in being dead much sooner.¡± He got up to go, ¡°think about what I said. I¡¯ll leave you to your meal.¡±


    I sighed and finished my food quickly after that. Was I too harsh? I didn¡¯t think so, but both Carlos and Lukas had suggested I had been. Had Amy spoken to them? Was this from Gwayne and Daren? I didn¡¯t know but doubts were slowly creeping in. I put the tray in the receptacle for used food trays and turned to leave, walking out of the mess hall and down a corridor, lost in thought.

 Chapter 7: Lancer cockpits

    My fist collided with densely packed sand in a leather case. I had wandered into the gym and was punching a bag for all I was worth. It was swinging to and fro as my fists jabbed again and again, making it flex under the power of my assault. I wasn¡¯t sure how I had gotten here, the last thing I remembered was leaving the mess hall, but man did it feel good to punch something. Each strike made my blood pound a little harder, until I was striking in rhythm to my pulse.


    Eventually I had to stop, out of breath, sweat dripping into my eyes, and hands pulsing from striking the bag as hard as I could. I apparently hadn¡¯t changed, hadn¡¯t put on gloves, or done anything to warm up, just walked up to the bag and beat it like it owed me money.


    Wheezing to catch my breath, I looked down at my hands and noticed a faint trickle of blood from each of my knuckles, which had coated my hands while I was punching, leaving my hands an uncomfortable shade of crimson. I padded over to the sink and washed up my hands and face, rinsing the blood and sweat. Well that was unsettling to say the least. I needed to get to bed soon, or else I wouldn¡¯t be able to do much good tomorrow. What time was it, anyways?


    I slipped out my pad and realized that I was due to ¡°wake up¡± any minute. Sighing, I went back to my room and showered instead of going to bed, cleaning the rest of the sweat and sleep from my body. It was going to be another long day of training, but such was life while in a war. If you weren¡¯t fighting, you were getting ready to fight.


    I put yesterday¡¯s uniform in the laundry and got dressed in a new uniform, looking myself over before turning to leave and get my team trained. I had taken a few steps into the hall before I noticed something off about my steps. I looked down and saw a piece of paper stuck to my shoe, which I then peeled off. It was a post it note with a heart with A + D written in the middle and an arrow through it horizontally bisecting  it. That¡¯s strange, I wonder why that was in the hallway like that; there usually isn¡¯t litter around on the ship. Oh well, I guess I¡¯ll just have to wonder about it later.


    I tossed the note in a garbage receptacle and proceeded to the classroom. This time all three of my wingmates were waiting for me looking over a orbital mechanics diagram, with Gwayne explaining some of the finer points of the diagram to Amy while Daren made occasional comments about clever maneuvers one could manage. I smiled at them working together like that and walked to the front, pulling up a diagram of the lancer and exploding it out so that I could highlight key systems for us to learn about today. I decided that the cockpit would be a rather important topic for discussion and it had been quite a while since any of us had taken an in depth look at it.


    ¡°As happy as I am to see you three studying together, I¡¯m going to have to ask you to take a look at what we¡¯ll be examining today.¡±


    ¡°Of course, sir.¡± They chirped and switched to the front view so they could inspect what I was looking at.


    ¡°We use an advanced cockpit that, at a glance, might remind you of a fighter jet cockpit, but I assure you that while it bears some casual resemblance, the devil is in the details and those are certainly quite distinct.¡± I pulled the seat out of the expanded view and began to cover the features of it. ¡°While this appears to be a leather chair, it is in fact a crash couch, capable of supporting your body under tens of gs of acceleration. This does not, in any way, suggest that attempting such acceleration is advisable. Such acceleration quickly proves lethal to the most trained of us, much less the inexperienced pilots such as ourselves. Yes, in this context even I am considered inexperienced.¡± I cut off Amy¡¯s open mouth before she could even start.


    ¡°It is imperative that you remember that it is very dangerous to accelerate too quickly, because it will kill you before enemy fire can even find you.¡± I shifted the display to the seat integrated controls. ¡°These here are the main controls you should be familiar with. They control every axis of movement and targeting and weapons. This means that it is the main point of contact for controlling literally everything you need during a firefight. The twin joysticks allows you to perform complicated maneuvers while using the throttle levers to control you acceleration of the main thrust. Controlling all of these in sync is very important because it can make the difference between being in position to make the devastating shot that will cripple your foe, and being plastered against incoming flak.¡±


    I paused to see that everyone was taking notes and smiled. It was good to have their full attention and go through the systems in detail like this. It felt normal¡­ and right. This was the satisfaction my previous occupation was completely lacking. I pulled the HUD, or Heads Up Display, into focus and began again.


    ¡°This is your HUD. On it will display all the information you can imagine being able to handle, and then some. It will take you a while to get used to, hell, I¡¯m not even used to how much data it can show me. It is your eyes and ears out there, telling you incoming projectiles, enemy positions, weapon ranges, who is talking on the comms, friendly positions, enemy weak points and general structure, and so much more. Take care of it as you would your own eyes, for without it you will be literally blind. This cockpit has no windows, no direct view to the outside at all. Without your HUD, you might as well go for respawn right there and then, because you¡¯ll be unable to do anything else. Thankfully, both sides have agreed that jamming each other with overwhelming energy is both pointless and needlessly disruptive, so you don¡¯t have to worry about the enemy blinding you with an abundance of energy, but that won¡¯t save you from razor sharp hot metal riddling it with holes and taking you out that way.


    ¡°I know this is a lot of information, but Amy needs all of this, and we¡¯re all due for a refresher on this stuff. Are there any questions so far?¡±Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    Amy looked up from her notes and nodded. ¡°How do you maneuver when you are targeting? Doesn¡¯t targeting take one joystick up completely to let you lock on?¡±


    ¡°So it does, but that doesn¡¯t make you unable to maneuver. Before entering targeting, you can set which controls from that joystick you want to replace controls on the other one, and you still have two axis of freedom that can be dedicated to motion while in targeting. Our vessels have six degrees of freedom, and each joystick has four degrees of freedom, which means that while you lose the most intuitive axis of freedom while in targeting, you can still fully control your craft while in targeting.


    ¡°To clarify about axis of freedom, the ship has forwards/backwards, left/right, up/down, roll, pitch, and yaw. Your joysticks have pitch, roll, yaw, and up/down. The joysticks are typically set up so that up/down is disabled, because it can really mess up new pilots, but with practice, you can use up/down and yaw on your targeting joystick to help control the craft while in targeting. We can load up a training regime later today to give you all time to practice more advanced control schemes.


    ¡°Does this answer your question?¡±


    ¡°Yes, Commander, it does. I never realized our joysticks were so¡­ sophisticated.¡±


    ¡°They are indeed, and we¡¯re the best because we can control the craft under those conditions with such complicated tools. It¡¯s one of the most essential parts of the craft, and you need to get your mind wrapped around how to manipulated them so you can handle fighting against real opponents.


    ¡°If there are no questions at this time, I will move on to auxiliary controls. These are the controls you probably won¡¯t be messing with during a fight, but are essential before and after. All the controls for things like stealth plating, comm systems, navigation, diagnostics and any other small features of the ship, such as the music player, are located here. While these are not nearly as important to be intimately familiar with, it is good to be passingly familiar and competent at controlling these. It is important, but not completely necessary, to be able to manage your comm channels in a timeless manner.


    ¡°Another auxiliary control, not located with the others, is the ejection button. ¡®Button¡¯ is actually a misnomer, because it¡¯s a lever, located on the left side of the seat. Pulling it will cause the craft to shred itself except for the main thruster and cockpit and will make the main thruster fire at 30g of acceleration away from the initial direction of travel for thirty seconds before lowering to 10 g and continuing as long as possible. This is, ideally, to point you in the direction of the carrier and push you back towards it as quickly as possible. It probably fails half the time, but that¡¯s the best you could hope to get given the circumstances on finds themselves in out there. It is a hostile and violent environment, and any chance of successfully getting out of a firefight is better than no chance.


    ¡°Finally we come to the frame of the cockpit. This reinforced cage of metal is a sphere for modularity and survivability. About a meter in diameter, it holds the pilot and everything we¡¯ve spoken about so far today. The outside is designed to be inserted into special cradles used in every lancer in the fleet. Rumor has it that our enemy uses a similar system for all gunners in their fleet, lancer or no, but I¡¯m not aboard one of their ships so who cares? Not this pilot, that¡¯s for sure. I just want to put steel on target and keep the enemy out of our space for as long as I can assist with that. Who is with me?¡±


    ¡°HOOYAH¡± they shouted back to me, raising their fists into the air.


    ¡°Glad to hear it. Let¡¯s get some chow and then we¡¯ll hit the gym and simulators, how does that sound?¡±


    ¡°Sounds great boss.¡± Daren said, grabbing his things.


    ¡°See you in a few.¡± I replied, grabbing my own things and heading to my room to put away the materials I had brought to class.


    I dropped my things off at my room and turned to head down the corridor towards the mess hall. I smiled at some of the others walking the hall before I turned to enter the mess and grabbed a platter to load up with food. I grabbed an extra helping of chicken alfredo and went to join my wing at a table.


    ¡°We¡¯re going to be doing a light workout followed by back to basics training today.¡± I explained to them as I shovelled food into my mouth.


    ¡°Whatever you say commander.¡± Amy simpered, smiling at me over a cesar salad.


    ¡°Yeah, sounds good. I¡¯m going to try out some of those complicated move you manage all the time¡± Gwayne said, looking at a flight report from a couple of missions ago as it demonstrated me turning about my center of gravity while launching a half dozen lances into an enemy¡¯s side. ¡°Now that you¡¯ve explained how the controls can be changed, I understand, in principle at least, how you¡¯ve managed some of the flying I¡¯ve seen you manage. Until now it just looked like pure magic.¡±


    ¡°Well it took me some doing to figure it out myself. I watched Lukas¡¯ flying and poured over the flight designs until something clicked and I figured out how he did it. Then I spent hundreds of hours in the simulator, practicing such moves until I could manage them at intense g-forces. Now it¡¯s all muscle memory.¡± I took a few more bites, giving the others time to process and respond.


    ¡°Yeah, we all need to step up our research game. Sure, yesterday Gwayne and I handled that cruiser alright, but it was just the two ships and Amy was being a target.¡± Daren shrugged. ¡°Besides, I don¡¯t want to be left in the dust as you demonstrate how easy it can be to take out a cruiser with pinpoint accuracy.¡±


    I chuckled, forming another bite on my fork. ¡°It¡¯s not that easy, I¡¯ve just trained and trained and trained. Things look a lot easier when you¡¯ve done them a thousand times. What is that quote, ¡®I don¡¯t fear the man who has performed ten thousand technique, I fear the man who has performed one technique ten thousand times.¡¯¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s easy for you to say, commander, but some of us just got here.¡± Amy pouted.


    ¡°And I¡¯m going to lend you the wisdom from my experience. You are all capable of doing everything I have, or you wouldn¡¯t be here. Someone up there,¡± I gesture at the ceiling, ¡°believes you are capable of piloting lancers into enemy fire and putting steel on target. I¡¯m just here to facilitate your education and formulate plans that will hopefully meet mission goals.¡±


    ¡°Well I¡¯m glad to be flying under you.¡± Gwayne smiles, ¡°Let¡¯s hear it for Alpha Wing.¡±


    ¡°HOOYAH¡± we yell together, before getting up from our cleared plates and placing them in the proper receptacle.


    ¡°Meetup in twenty at the gym for a workout,¡± I remind everyone, waving them off as I head to my own room to get dressed.

 Chapter 8: Workout and Lunch

    Entering the gym, now dressed appropriately for it, I wave my wing over. They were stretching and otherwise going through pre-workout measures to get ready for me to put them through their paces, and it made me proud to see them working together like that.


    ¡°Alright people, simple workout today. Just a short run, some core and upper body, then a long run.¡± I listed out the workout regimine for them.


    I led them to the track, a nice hundred meter stretch with two lanes, doubling back and forth. ¡°We¡¯re going to do four laps as a group, then another two as individuals.¡±


    I formed them up and we took off, cruising along the ship with each stride. One might wonder why so much space was dedicated to  a track on a ship. The answer was that while running on a treadmill let you do certain kinds of running very well, you couldn¡¯t get the same kinds of flat out sprinting and long stride running. This was an important part of having a complete workout and when you get so cooped up in a lancer, you really needed to get that full range of motion running done.


    After our four laps, each of us split off to run at the pace we felt comfortable. It was good practice for each of us to get a feel for what the others would do when given their own pace as an option. Daren sped ahead in a sprint, while Gwayne fell behind slightly, working on his breathing and tempo. Amy just stuck by my side, matching pace with me every step of the way, not letting her shorter stature get in the way of a solid showing.


    Wrapping up the run, we did a short walk to cool off before I instructed the wing to get down and do planks. I walked around correcting each of their form slightly before getting down myself.


    ¡°We¡¯re going to hold this for several minutes, to strengthen our backs and abdominal muscles. These help keep us safe and able to move around in our lancers. You¡¯re not much good if a lateral burn knocks your head against the wall.¡±


    Despite no one enjoying planks, absolutely no one complained about the straining exercise we put ourselves through. I smiled to myself and panted as after four minutes, we all collapsed to the floor, our torsos spasming. It was time to do push ups after that, and I was beginning to regret putting myself through this, but could tell  the suffering was shared by all.


    ¡°Alright, now for a hundred pushups.¡± I spoke to collective groans, but ignored them. ¡°It¡¯s necessary to have all of this done before the simulators today.¡±


    We all got back into position and began doing pushups. No one held back, giving their all to have the best form and economy of motion they knew how to give. I guess that class really motivated everyone because this was some of the best working out I¡¯ve seen from the wing ever.


    As we completed the pushups, I motioned for everyone to get some water before we moved to our next stage. ¡°Hydrate. You¡¯ll all need it.¡± I panted out.


    ¡°Yes commander.¡± Came the panted acknowledgement.


    I stood up and got some water myself before doing some brief stretches. This was going to be treadmill run, but it was going to be substantially longer than the track run. Cardio was one of the most important parts of a lancer¡¯s workout, because you needed your heart to continue to operate even under the strains of multi-g acceleration.


    ¡°Alright, everyone ready? Well even if you aren¡¯t, we¡¯re going to run a 10k on the treadmill. I expect you to maintain a 4:30 minutes a kilometer pace at least, but  feel free to go as fast as you want.¡± I mounted up on my treadmill and the others joined me.


    We set off and I set mine to a 4:15 pace to start. I put some headphones in and loaded up some new EDM to run to. I could see on the treadmill what the status of the others were and they were all impressing me with their dedication. Daren was, once again, sprinting ahead with a 4:00 pace, with Gwayne at 4:20, and Amy starting at the 4:30 but quickly dropping it down again and again every minute by a second or two.


    A little under an hour later, we were all panting and sipping water as we paced back and forth cooling off from the work out. I waved them over having them circle up around me.


    ¡°Go hit the showers and grab some food. We¡¯ll meet in the simulators in about ninety minutes.¡± I then waved them off and headed back to my room.


    Peeling my workout gear off, I tossed it into the laundry receptacle before stepping into the shower, pressure washing the sweat and oil out of my skin. My muscles were a tad sore, but it had been a good workout. It was great to see everyone working together as a team and competing with each other.


    I cracked my neck and stretched against the shower wall, feeling my back crunch and pop in satisfying ways. I¡¯m gonna need to get checked out one of these days, but that¡¯s not important today. We still had more training to accomplish and those virtual ships weren¡¯t going to blow themselves up.


    I scrubbed myself down, cleaning every part of myself in a ritualistic way. Hair, face, arms, torso, legs, moving from top to bottom, changing soaps as needed. The System was highly realistic and it felt as good, or maybe even better, than any other shower I¡¯ve ever had. Once I was done, I shut the water off and stepped out, grabbing a towel to dry my hair, then another for the rest of me.


    I dried off and got dressed in my flight suit, fitting it properly and strapping it down so that it properly regulated blood flow throughout my body. It was an important process that would keep a pilot from losing consciousness at much higher g forces, something we were constantly experiencing. I shut the lights off and left my room, heading down to the mess hall.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    I whistled a tune as I stepped to, hustling down the halls and prancing into the mess hall. I got into line and grabbed a light meal of chicken in what probably was supposed to be a marsala sauce and some mashed potatoes. I joined my wing at a table, noticing they had all beaten me through the showers. Guess I might need to step up my time in the shower, they shouldn¡¯t all have beaten me here.


    ¡°Hey guys, mind if I join?¡± I set my platter down on the table at an open seat.


    ¡°Not at all commander.¡± Amy gestured with a wink and slight kissy face. It felt like the heart emoji after some people¡¯s sentences and made me slightly uncomfortable, but I joined them anyway.


    ¡°Great workout today everyone.¡± I began cutting up my chicken as I read their faces. Amy was looking over at me and fluttering her eyes in a suggestive manner that sent me all the wrong ideas. Daren was staring at his pad, pressing buttons and seemingly deep in study. Gwayne had nearly finished his food and seemed like he was about to go, but was sticking around because I joined them.


    ¡°I¡¯m studying near gravity well maneuvers. There are a number of interesting application I can see and I¡¯m seeing if I can¡¯t figure out a plan to test my ideas.¡± Daren explained absentmindedly. ¡°I¡¯m trying to find a way to do a rapid slingshot one eighty. It would be really handy for return trips.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a fascinating problem. You probably can control your entry and exit enough to make a 180, but you may not save much delta V doing so, because you¡¯ll have to adjust you velocity mid turn to avoid getting slung out on the wrong vector.¡±


    ¡°You might not save much, but you¡¯ll save enough to make it time and cost effective. Also, you¡¯re saving a lot of strain on pilots, which is always a major plus.¡± Gwayne chimed in. ¡°Not everyone is ok with riding the razor edge of consciousness in order to pull a fight off.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, but it lets me be flexible and manage a lot of battles that would result in others being atomic dust.¡± I retorted, giving Gwayne some side eye.


    ¡°Oh sure, it¡¯s effective. But if you falter for just a moment too long, you end up passing out and end up waking up a day later, delta V spent, and needing to self destruct to get back to a ship. A proper slingshot will grant the same effect with far fewer gs being put upon the pilot.¡±


    ¡°That all fair. But it would be best if people trained so they had every tactic available to them. Limiting your tactics makes you predictable. A predictable pilot is a dead pilot. Our System given enhancements can¡¯t save us from a situation that has no exit.¡± I swallowed a bite of mashed potatoes, ¡°only by avoiding such a situation can our enhancements give us a true edge.¡±


    ¡°I think the commander is right. We need to all do our best to learn how to fly in any situation and practice enduring the maximum strain so that we can successfully navigate any battle.¡± Amy chimed in surprising me. I guess she really had taken my words to heart.


    ¡°All of this is almost besides the point. Good initiative, Daren, on looking into that and what it takes to manage such an orbital maneuver. Maybe we¡¯ll practice near gravity well combat today and get a handle on what it actually is like, instead of just staring at it on paper.¡±


    ¡°Sounds like a great idea!¡± the wing chorused, everyone finished with their platters.


    ¡°Give me about twenty minutes to customize our scenario for today and we¡¯ll give these techniques a shot?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll see you there commander.¡±


    I smiled and separated from them to go make a new scenario just for today. It was going to be a series of scenarios, I just knew it, getting more complicated with each passing one. First we¡¯d start with a standard terra class gravity well, with one g of gravity so we could get the feel for a slingshot. Then I¡¯d give us two bodies, a gas giant and a small moon, to practice a more complicated maneuver with. Finally I¡¯d give us a web of improbably close gravity wells of varying strength so we could truly test our skills with mapping a path through as quickly as possible. Maybe put some rings for scoring the path taken. This was going to be good.


    I went to a classroom and pulled up the simulation editor, loading up a simple gravity well engagement with a single planet. I placed our wing entering at a parallel vector with a low enough velocity to be captured by the gravity well. Moving the enemy, I placed an enemy carrier on the far side of the planet as a bonus objective. The goal for the scenario would be to scout the far side, but if we can plan a slingshot so that we can take out the carrier at the same time, it would add to our score. The exit point was along our approach vector, just offset by a planet width.


    I saved that one and loaded up a gas giant scenario. Usually one avoids fighting near a gas giant, and this scenario initially just had it as a set piece, but I made it the centerpiece. I placed a rapidly orbiting moon near it with a gravity well at about half a g and then had the system calculate what the gravity of the gas giant would have to be to support the situation I had defined. I placed a small detachment of two Destroyers at the lagrange point between the moon and the gas giant and had the approach vector placed so that we¡¯d have to sling around two thirds of the planet to engage the enemy on our path away from the planet before using the moon to temper our exit and sling us back out the way we had come. I looked forward to what slingshots each pilot came up with for that.


    Finally I cleared the field and placed a Black hole down. I then began to populate the scenario with planets, several terra sized ones, a few smaller bodies like the previous gas giant¡¯s moon, and a brown dwarf. The probability of this ever being a battlefield was literally zero, but it would be fun to see what people did with it. I then began to place gates at lagrange points in between various bodies, including one above the plane between the brown dwarf and black hole. This one would be the final gate before giving pilots their choice of paths to escape from the mess and get back to the entry point. Because of the fact that one had to pass so close to a black hole, I gave everyone immense starting velocity which would make controlling their craft difficult, but it would be worth it if they could manage it.


    To be far to everyone, I wasn¡¯t certain I could manage that last scenario, but it would be worthwhile to see if any of us could successfully navigate that mess. Maybe I¡¯d put it into the pool of scenarios as a test for people to try out their orbital mechanics on. I¡¯ll bet some exciting paths could be found if every pilot took a crack at it. Satisfied with my creations, I saved them all and sent the sequence to  the simulator pods to get loaded in as I walked over.


    I greeted my wing as I found them all standing outside the row of pods. Daren and Gwayne were discussing some point on orbital mechanics, while Amy leaned against the wall, pushing off it slightly with her foot and twirling her hair as she read off her pad. ¡°Hey guys, ready to break in some new simulations? These aren¡¯t like anything currently in the database, so we¡¯re going to see if they¡¯re even viable for testing and training.¡±


    ¡°Sounds good to me, commander.¡± Gwayne acknowledged, putting his pad away and heading to his pod.


    ¡°Agreed. Looking forward to it.¡± Daren also walked to his pod.


    ¡°Took you long enough.¡± Amy slapped me on the back as she walked to join them in strapping in.


    I shrugged and smiled as I joined the other three  in the pods, strapping in as it closed around me.

 Chapter 9: Icarus

    The HUD came to life with the first simulation. Ahead of us an earthlike planet looked and our trajectories looked dangerously close. I opened a comm channel to the wing as I gripped my controls.


    ¡°Alright Alpha wing, we¡¯re going to do a bit of recon. Intel tells us that there¡¯s a carrier in low orbit on the far side of this planet and we¡¯re to engage if we can do so with minimal risk. Regardless, we¡¯re to complete a slingshot around the planet returning the way we came.¡±


    ¡°Roger that Alpha one¡±


    ¡°Everyone take a stab at the calculations. The one which gives us the best opportunity at the carrier is the one we will go with.¡±


    I left them to the work, turning to do my own computations. I wanted everyone to give it a shot because eventually they might have to be the ones making those computations in the field. I tapped into my Science skill, taking advantage of System given intuition to produce accurate and useful options for engaging the carrier. We only had an approximate location, but it should be within one burn of engagement, regardless of location. I plotted my course options and tentatively selected one before opening the comm channel again.


    ¡°How are those navigation plots coming?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve got something together, but it¡¯s pretty clumsy¡± Alpha two checked in and sent over his plan.


    ¡°I have something. I¡¯m not sure how solid it is, but I think it gives a good chance of engaging the enemy.¡±


    ¡°Looking good Alpha three. Alpha four?¡±


    ¡°Sending it now. I couldn¡¯t figure out a way to intercept the carrier so I just optimized for efficient.¡±


    ¡°Sounds great. Give me a minute to look these over and I¡¯ll select which one we¡¯re going with.¡±


    I pulled up the three systems that were sent over, comparing them for strengths and weaknesses, using my own as a benchmark. Alpha two was right about how his managed it but was wasteful, unnecessary maneuvers filled his plan. Alpha three had something similar to my plan for engaging, although he wanted to accelerate into the enemy and then slow down as we passed, an acceptable if generally unnecessary maneuver in this context. Alpha four was entirely correct in her assessment: she had plotted an extremely efficient flyby that would not allow for engagement but would be more efficient than any of the options.


    ¡°Alright, Alpha three, we¡¯re using your flight plan. Alpha two and four, good efforts. You¡¯ll both be happy with our coming challenges.¡±


    ¡°Roger, Alpha one.¡± I pushed the packet out to the team and loaded it into my own navigation computer.


    As we neared the planet, we pressed up our throttles, accelerating around the horizon of the planet, skimming into orbits and pulling in and around the planet. It was fairly intense, although slow, to be doing this slingshot. The velocities one moves at are high enough to turn dust into pounds of TNT, but the distances more than compensate for that. As we began pulling along the planet, an exact location of the carrier was confirmed.


    ¡°This is it everyone. First orbital burn to course correct in three¡­ two¡­ one¡­¡±


    We all flipped our craft about and did a lateral burn as one, adjusting our path so as to do a flyby attack on the carrier. I could already see the carrier adjusting so as to open fire upon us, but it would be slow to do so. Minutes later, the carrier was launching flak, but it was too late. The minor course corrections needed to avoid the flak wasn¡¯t substantial and we were upon it.


    ¡°Let¡¯s riddle this bastard with holes.¡±


    We opened fire, each lancer taking about a quarter of the vessel to pelt with nuclear fire. Jets of flame plumed from the craft as we passed by, decelerating according to Alpha three¡¯s plan. I smiled as we watched the carrier descend into the gravity well, heating up more and more as it fell. We coasted around to the inverse point where we could correct back to the exit trajectory we wanted.


    ¡°Ready for the second burn? Three¡­ two¡­ one¡­¡±


    We killed our lateral velocity and turned to burn our way away from the planet when the time came. From here on out it was going to be boring and routine maneuvers until we completed the scenario. I closed my eyes for a minute, relaxing before the next burn to take us out of orbit and back towards the exit point.


    That had gone really smoothly, almost routinely. A few more ops like that and I think we¡¯d be a combat ready force again. Alpha four wasn¡¯t being a rebel, at least not yet, and we had accomplished the mission here with surgical precision.


    I closed my eyes for a minute and waited for us to be dropped into the next simulation. The screens went dark and then came back with our new heading and information. The gas giant planet loomed before us and information began loading into displays communicating the direction and velocity of travel, g forces being applied to my ship, and all information on the bodies around me. I opened the comm channel to the group and tossed over the plan of attack.


    "Some enemy destroyers are in orbit between the moon and the gas giant. We need to sling around the planet, pass between the moon and gas giant to take them out, then sling back out and around the moon to get back to the exit point. Pass along your calculations as you complete them."


    "Roger," came the collective reply. I sat back and began working out my own figures, putting in potential burn points for the system to factor in as I plotted our desired course. It might not be perfect but that''s what the computer was there to fill in. As I finished my plans, my wing''s solutions came in. I smiled as I reviewed each plan annotating my own plans with their ideas to attempt to maximize our plans. We needed to conserve Delta V on the path around the planet, so the simplistic approach of Alpha four would probably be ideal, she only had one burn and it looked to be a straightforward method of getting us right on target with the destroyers. From there Alpha two and three had various options for how to attack the destroyers and pass along the appropriate vectors to sling out to the exit. I decided that I¡¯d keep their options in reserve and determine the best path as we came around the gas giant and got a better idea where the destroyers would be during our engagement.


    Finalizing the mission plan, I pushed it out to the wing. ¡°Alright people, we¡¯re going to keep our options open until we come around the planet. Alpha four, we¡¯re going to use your single burn technique to keep our course with the planet as we sling around. Keep your eyes open and feel free to present me more tactical options as we fly around.¡±


    ¡°Sure thing, Alpha one¡± was all I heard before they all cut their mics and left me to think on things as we entered the gravity slingshot maneuver.


    Gravity slingshots are, in most cases, rather boring. You don¡¯t hit atmosphere, you don¡¯t feel massive g forces, you don¡¯t really experience much. The force of gravity is so small that it takes specialized sensors to even detect it and the only reason you are aware of it is because your vector changes. That said, they work splendidly and conserve delta V, both crucial to effective space fights. The destroyers sitting at a lagrange point is another method of conserving Delta V, although it¡¯s really only useful for defense and limited at that. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    I spun up some tunes as I leaned back in my seat, plotting courses around the lagrange point that would maximize tactical options. Turning up the volume a notch, I smiled and began to resolve a tactical image. Given the experience and skills of my pilots, I¡¯d do my best to split them into pairs of engagement. While it wasn¡¯t known to my computer yet, the fact that there are only two destroyers meant we could take each with two passes of my wing. The front lancer would open fire on defenses, crippling the vessel as the second took advantage of the hole and target critical systems: fuel, engines, power, command and control. The separate volleys would make tergetting easier and make it so that we could ensure both were destroyed at almost the same time.


    Watching the surface of the planet as we sped by, I smiled. While I knew, somewhere deep in the back of my head, that this was all a simulation, they had truly spared no expense. The planets had renderings that were lifelike and beautiful. The sights provided by the system were truly breathtaking and I was in wonder staring at it. It wouldn¡¯t be long now until we crested the horizon and I gave the attack orders.


    Checking my straps, I opened a comm channel as we crested the horizon and our targets were finally rendering on sensors. the data was seconds old, but that was good enough for what I needed.


    ¡°Alpha two and four, pair up. Alpha four, you¡¯re going to take point and hit tango one in every weapon system it brings to bear. Hold nothing back. Alpha two, you¡¯re going to target all vital systems and take that vessel down. Alpha three, you¡¯re going to follow me and do as Alpha two for tango two. I¡¯ll be taking lead and targeting weapons.¡±


    ¡°Roger, Alpha one.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re going to use Delta option on the plans I¡¯m forwarding over. Stick to the plan and this should be easy as pie.¡±


    I sent over the related documents and saw everyone moving to their relative positions as depicted by the plan. A slight deceleration by two birds is better than a drastic acceleration by two, as it would make future course corrections more straightforward. I smiled and began picking apart my target, taking stock of the weapons it had and laying out my lances with their missions.


    Minutes later, we were upon them. I wove back and forth, dodging flak from my target, painting the path for Alpha three on my flank. We whizzed, spiralled, twisted and turned as we guided our space needles towards the enemy. I could see my systems taking some heat, things slowly approaching redline levels as tiny bits of shrapnel tore into my radiators and reduced their effectiveness.


    ¡°Things are going to be close, don¡¯t melt down before you blow your load, Alpha three.¡±


    ¡°Not a problem, Alpha one,¡± came a grunted reply. I chuckled and we dove into the maw of the dragon, fire scorching the world around us.


    I flipped up the trigger, entering firing mode and began to depressed the button as I spun my craft on axis, getting into the appropriate vector as I cruised around the destroyer, getting every shot off into the blind spots of the weapons systems. I continued my turn all the way around as I passed and punched the throttle, pulling away and towards the moon. Alpha three came up behind me, twisting slower than I had, letting his lances go cruising into the critical systems. Bright flashes filled my screen as nuclear energy streamed down into the destroyer, punching dozens of holes into the ship.


    Glancing at my secondary sensor display, I saw that Alpha two and four were just finishing up and moving to join us on our path out of the situation. As we cruised through the exit ¡°portal¡± the screens went dark again.


    As the screens came back on, I scanned across the display and smiled. It was a sight to behold. Completely impossible, but amazing all the same. The black hole, star, planets and moons, were all in almost perfect equilibrium for the moment in an impossible but wondrous display of cosmic bodies.


    ¡°Alright friends. Here we have an Alpha one special hell. It¡¯s an obstacle course of gravity slingshots. You need to pilot through the objectives marked on your displays. The only way you¡¯ll complete it is if you use gravity slingshots to get through, as you don¡¯t have nearly enough Delta V to muscle your way through. I¡¯m not going to lie, I¡¯m not certain that I¡¯m good enough to manage this, but it¡¯ll be a credit to the person who does. No shame to being unable to finish, points are scored based upon number of objectives managed, then delta V remaining and finally on time. Good flying.¡±


    I cut the channel, leaving them to ponder my words as I began my approach, punching in calculations as I flew. The first gate was between two terran bodies, but I was going to leverage a nearby gas giant to pick up velocity. Pulling in, I let off the thrust as I let the gravity tug me along. I hit the tunes and began plotting my next moves, keeping a careful eye on my delta V budget. I needed to conserve that as much as possible because it was going to be difficult slinging around the blackhole.


    The next gate was on the far side of a moon, meaning I¡¯d have to use the moon as a gravity sling or, wait, I could use this nearby planet to sling me across the moon without really dealing with the moon. I grinned as I left the gas giant and slid into the trajectory through the two planets. I sped through the lagrange point of the two planets, tugging through a third planet¡¯s gravity to be on course for the planet I wanted to use as a gravity sling. This was about as intense as piloting a ship got, constantly doing calculations and adjusting slightly for new courses as you ran the calculations for the next maneuver, trying to keep just ahead of where you were going.


    I did my short burn near the planet, ejecting from the planet and hurtling towards the moon. I was already plotting how I would pass through the system around a gas giant to proceed to the next point. The number of fields in that area would make a precise calculation nearly impossible, but I settled for a cone of probably trajectories in an acceptable range towards my next target. It wasn¡¯t pretty, but I thought it would get the job done.


    I pressed on, watching my course arc and twist from the complicated gravity wells I passed. I kept an eye on my delta V budget, but I thought it was pretty good. I cruised on past the gas giant and slung around a terran world through the third point. I was already trying to run the numbers on the fourth point, but I was going really fast now and didn¡¯t want to slow down. This one was on the black hole side of a gas giant and I could see the atmosphere being slowly ripped away from the planet towards the black hole. That was going to make this a lot more bumpy than the previous maneuvers.


    I began plotting a set of slings that would have me cruising around planets to get up through that point. It was going to be even more chaotic than the last one, but I thought it might still work out. I began to work on the fifth point as my craft picked up more and more speed with each pass near a world, getting its course slightly corrected around each and every planet. I sped through the fourth point and watched the loose gas pass around me with a sense of awe and wonder.


    It was a really marvelous sight, but I had not a moment to dwell, point five was coming up quickly. A terran planet I needed to pass around and sling towards the black hole and brown dwarf. I burned around it and watched in shock and a slight amount of horror as it buckled as I neared it. The gravity from the black hole must have begun to rip it apart! I panicked a bit and hit the throttle as I watched bits of the planet whip out from it in all directions, pent up energy from the gravity of the planet shattering the world. I twisted dodging a chunk that looked like it once had a city. I blinked, a city? That was a weird thing to put on uninhabited simulated worlds in a training simulation. I didn¡¯t have time to shrug as I spun around bits and debris flying out and corrected for the rapidly changing gravity.


    Cruising through the fifth point I had to manually burn to get on track to pass the point near the brown dwarf. I took another glance at my delta V remaining and realized there was no way I¡¯d be finishing this course, that flying through the exploding planet had ruined all chances of it. I¡¯d still do my best and get as far as I could.


    The brown dwarf was coming near, wisps of flaming hydrogen passing from it to the black hole in streams of plasma. I chose a careful path that would avoid passing through the streams, but such things were unpredictable. I did a controlled burn, putting myself on a firm heading and kept my eye on the system. It was scary. Impressive and beautiful, but scary. The amount of energy contained in one of those streams could power a city for years. I smiled as I passed along and through the sixth point, preparing for my next course adjustment when my screen suddenly went white then black.


    ¡®Congratulations, you made it through six of eleven gates! Unfortunately you were destroyed by a rogue stream of plasma. Good job Icarus, you have repeated the mistake of history and flew too close to the sun!¡¯ A system message displayed across my screen. I sighed, it had been a good run. What a crazy flight. I needed a shower and a meal¡­ make that two meals.

 Chapter 10: Admiral Terrorfloofs Attention

    I unbuckled from my seat and stood from the pod after it lowered to the ground. Amy and Daren were already out, looking over their pads. I wiped the sweat from my brow and joined them.


    ¡°How¡¯d you do?¡±


    ¡°Amy made it through three, I made it to four.¡± Daren pulled up this overview and passed it over.


    ¡°You both ended up making the same mistake I did, burned too much too fast.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that scenario was killer. Lots of fun but killer.¡±


    As one, our stomachs all grumbled at us audibly. We each looked at the others and then broke out laughing.


    ¡°How is Gwayne doing?¡±


    ¡°He just made it to the fifth gate, but he¡¯s used almost no delta V. I imagine he¡¯s got some time in him yet.¡± Amy smiled at me passing over Gwayne¡¯s flight so far.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go eat. We¡¯ll greet him later when he gets out.¡±


    ¡°Absolutely, commander.¡± She giggled and headed to the locker room.


    I shrugged and left to go to my room. We had been in the simulator for hours and hadn¡¯t eaten anything since before the first scenario. It wasn¡¯t the longest I had gone without food, but it was long enough that I was feeling it. I showered and joined them in the mess hall. Glancing around, it was strikingly empty, with just someone manning the line and nobody else in there.


    ¡°Hey, what time is it?¡± I could pull my pad out, but both of them already had theirs out, reviewing their work in the simulator.


    ¡°0215.¡± Daren said deadpan.


    Fourteen hours in the simulator, not quite a record but that was an incredibly long time. Sure, missions often were over twice that, but the intensity of missions compared to the simulator was orders of magnitude different. Missions were long, long stretches of nothing, punctuated with a very brief engagement, lasting minutes on the outside. Simulators were almost entirely full action, with almost no deadtime or slack. Sure, orbiting the gas giant was a break, but it lasted maybe an hour at most; an hour of computations and preparation at that. Some missions might have an hour of computations and prep, but it was often after six to twelve hours of rest and silent running.


    ¡°You guys did great. The computer told me that it was possible to complete, but I had no delusion that it would be managed on the first try by anyone. No, before you ask, I didn¡¯t look at the solutions, just trusted the computer to be correct.¡± I put a hand up to forestall the anticipated question before anyone asked it.


    ¡°Mmm, you did great commander. Nobody could have predicted that solar projection coming at just that moment.¡±


    ¡°Maybe not, but I had already ruined my chances of succeeding before it took me. I had the delta V for one, maybe two more gates before I lost all control. I got sloppy, didn¡¯t plan my moves carefully enough.¡±


    ¡°It was still damned impressive. Nothing we ever see will be on that level of complexity. It was too dense to actually exist literally anywhere. It could only exist in a simulation like that.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s true, Daren, but I figured it would be a good way to benchmark one¡¯s skills and give practice for doing the real thing. The number of bodies and complexity of reaching the gates made it so that one had to really work to get their way through it.¡±


    We got our food, chicken carbonara as it happened, and sat at a booth. ¡°I wanted to see where everyone was at in a non-combat situation. One day you might leave being a lancer and move to the conn of a capital ship and these gravity slings become even more important. Our lancers have the delta V to avoid worrying about doing gravity slings most days, but not when we¡¯re in an obstacle course of gravity wells. Removing the distraction of combat allowed everyone to focus on the task at hand: Budgeting your Delta V and calculating courses.¡±


    ¡°Can you explain Delta V? It¡¯s used all over the place but I¡¯m having trouble conceptualizing what it actually is.¡± Amy looked slightly sheepish as she poked at her food.


    ¡°Of course. I didn¡¯t realize the reading material I assigned you left that out. Delta V is the amount you can change your velocity, Delta for change, V for velocity. In space we don¡¯t worry about miles to the gallon, as it were. Once you start moving, you¡¯ll keep moving for the most part. What we care about is the amount we can change our velocity. You can¡¯t bank in space like you can in an atmosphere, there¡¯s nothing to push against to adjust your course. So every maneuver is literally a change in velocity, pushing your course in a new direction.


    ¡°This is why gravity slings are important: They allow you to get Delta V from just passing by without using fuel. You effectively are getting ¡®free¡¯ Delta V on top of what your fuel will allow. Obviously, the scenario we just left is a surreal situation that we will never find ourselves in, but it makes for excellent practice for very complicated calculations and piloting.¡±


    ¡°That makes sense, I suppose. It¡¯s good to finally have it explained though. A lot of concepts we use are just taken for granted as understood but aren¡¯t ever explained in full.¡±


    I chuckled, swallowing the bite I had taken. ¡°That¡¯s very true. Welcome to the service!¡±


    We finished up our meal and headed back to the simulators to check on Gwayne. The friendly chatting continued between Daren and Amy but I had mostly tuned it out as I checked my pad. It had been nearly 20 hours for Gwayne in the simulator and unlike our fighters, simulators didn¡¯t have full life support systems. Sure, the air worked fine, as did the lavatory systems, but there weren¡¯t any food or water feeds. Nobody was supposed to spend a whole day in the simulator. I had initially booked our pods for twelve hours and all of us had gone over, but Gwayne was bordering on running into a fifth block of simulator time.


    I composed a message to the Squadron Commander to let him know about my snafu. I hadn¡¯t looked at any of the data on the new scenario I had made because I didn¡¯t want to give myself an edge on my performance.


    To: Commander Vikas


    From: Wing Commander Dwayne


    Subject: Simulator Time


    I sincerely apologize for not requesting the appropriate amount of simulator time, I was testing out a new gravity well simulation (see attached) and did not get an estimate for the time to completion. Also, please release Gwayne from all squadron level duties for the next 24 hours, as he will not have left the simulator for over 20 hours at  the time of this message.Stolen story; please report.


    Pressing send, I sighed and took a look at the readout on Gwayne¡¯s pod. His vitals all looked good, no signs of blood sugar crashing or anything. Syncing my pad up to his current situation, I took a look at his flight path and smiled.


    ¡°Hey guys take a look at this.¡± I called the  other two over and displayed the pad to them.


    Gwayne had made it much farther than I had was actually on his way to the last gate before he completed the simulation. He had already far exceeded all expectations and I should probably consider writing him a commendation for his technical excellence. If I made my guess right, this simulation might just make itself a cornerstone training simulation for new pilots and having an example of someone accomplishing it would set a benchmark for everyone to test themselves against.


    I sent the other two to bed telling them to get 8 hours of sleep and be ready for an after action in twelve hours. It wasn¡¯t going to give Gwayne a lot of time to rest before he had to be in the debriefing room, but he could rest more after. I took a seat on the floor and began to go through the data from Gwayne¡¯s flight plan, seeing what he did and did not do and where we deviated.


    A cursory inspection indicated that Gwayne began a lot less enthusiastically, probably taking the time to plot out a rough course before he dove in. Even though he passed through many of the same routes I did, his execution was far more precise and clean, using less of his fighter¡¯s Delta V and allowing him to escape some of the hazards I ran into. He also had a much clearer idea about the exploding planet which allowed him to circumvent the initial chaotic conditions and use far more stable ones for his pass. I stroked my chin as I pondered each and every decision he made, making notes to ask him about the decisions I was most curious about as I went.


    I wasn¡¯t paying any attention to my surroundings, pondering the paths that Gwayne had chosen when I felt a tap on my shoulder, startling me. I dove across the floor, crab walking backwards for a moment while I assessed my surroundings. Was I under attack? By whom? It¡¯s just Gwayne. I take a brief breath, calming quickly.


    ¡°Sorry commander, I tried talking to you but you were absorbed in your pad.¡± He shrugs apologetically.


    ¡°No, no. It¡¯s fine. My mistake, I was just studying your flight paths. What time is it now?¡±


    ¡°0800. I just finished a few minutes ago. That was some scenario. It really gave me pause so I wanted to work out as much as I could in advance before entering in and committing to a path. I guess doing that probably saved me because I managed to mostly avoid many of the pitfalls you and the others ran into.¡±


    ¡°You did a great job Gwayne. I¡¯m really proud of your performance. I¡¯d like you to lead the debriefing tomorrow at 1600. Don¡¯t worry, you don¡¯t have to worry about making it formal, just walk through your flight path, what you did, why, that stuff. It¡¯s not about the form of the debriefing tomorrow, but the substance.¡±


    ¡°I¡­ I guess I can do that commander. Thank you for the opportunity.¡±


    ¡°Go get some grub and then go to bed. I¡¯ll see you at 1600 in the briefing room.¡±


    ¡°Yes sir.¡±


    He turned and left, certainly cursing my name for voluntelling him into that role. It was fine. It was to be expected to be given tasks you were going to loathe when you were in the service. If he was going to rise above the role of Pilot he¡¯d need to develop the skills I was forcing him to use. Out of the three under me, Gwayne had the most promise of rising above the role of Pilot in the Lancer wings and into a leadership role. The other two definitely had promise, but I imagine that both will move laterally to a capital ship position before they rise up in the roles.


    It had been a stupid long night, over twenty four hours from waking to my return to my cabin. I sweated, panted, and drove myself to the bone finishing my training today, but it had been worth it. We had accomplished three training scenarios which were brand new and that last would probably enter regular training routines. I sat in my room and checked my status and messages.


    Notification: Achievement Unlocked: ¡°Training the Fleet¡±


    You have devised a training simulation noteworthy enough to be transmitted back to HQ and incorporated into the regular training of all future Pilots. Reward: Command talent ¡°Instructor¡±: Your experience and understanding of teaching others allows you to amplify other¡¯s experience gain by 150% in any skill you have more ranks in than your trainee.


    Notification: Your dedication to your physical fitness has paid off. You now have an additional level of strength and a rank in the skill Fitness.


    Fitness: You run faster, swim better, punch harder, lift stronger. All physical tasks are easier and you can go longer than the uninitiated.


    Notification: Your piloting in today¡¯s training has paid off in more ways than one. By coordinating complicated gravity slings you have gained the skill Navigation.


    Navigation: You have learned the methods of heading and control, the ability to follow the curves of time space and manipulate gravity to your benefit. All navigation calculations will come easier and faster to you.


    Notification: Today¡¯s training has resulted in 200XP gained.


    Name: Dwayne Starflight


    Current Role: Wing Commander


    Rank: 2


    Agility 7


    Coordination 11


    Small Ship Gunnery 2


    Talents: Firing Stability, Targeting Reticle, Exploit Weakness


    Pilot 4


    Talents: Flight Stability, Precognition


    Reasoning 9


    Science 4


    Talents: Maneuvers (Strafing Runs, Vectored Thrusting, Multiple Axis of Throttle)


    Tactics 3


    Talents: Weak point identification, Intel analysis (3.8 minutes)


    Emotional Intelligence 7


    Command 2


    Talents: Coordinate, Instructor


    Strength 9


    Fitness 1


    XP: 600


    Messages:


    To: Wing Commander Dwayne


    From: Commander Vikas


    Subject: RE: Simulator Time


    Not a problem Dwayne. Actually, Admiral Terrorfloof wants to commend you on an excellent simulation. Somehow he caught wind of it before I had even heard of it and he wants to issue a commendation to you for its design. Report to my office no later than 1400 tomorrow so we can discuss this. Good job Commander, this is exactly the performance I was hoping for with your promotion. I hope to see you back in rotation shortly.


    I chuckled and reread that message several times. Admiral Terrorfloof, the Admiral Terrorfloof wanted to commend me on my scenario. I wasn¡¯t sure if I was dreaming but I appreciated the attention if I wasn¡¯t. I also was happy with the new skills and abilities. That Instructor talent would really help with getting Amy up  to spec as a Pilot. I smiled to myself and composed a message back.


    To: Commander Vikas


    From: Wing Commander Dwayne


    Subject: RE:RE: Simulation Time


    I appreciate it very much. I¡¯d like to put in a commendation myself for Gwayne, the first pilot to successfully navigate the scenario. He performed admirably and spent an extreme amount of time in the simulator to manage the feat. We¡¯ll be debriefing tomorrow at 1600 if you wanted to be in attendance.


    Shooting the message off I laid back and laughed. That had gone far better than I could have even hoped. We¡¯d see how tomorrow¡­ well, later today, would go, but all in all, I could call this a success as I closed my eyes and passed out.