Training Exercise

[Alekshander]

In the cockpit of his Miy'til Mark IV Interceptor, the cosmic brilliance of the Transitory Mists bathed Alekshander Kurov in soft light. The gaseous remains of the star birthing event that spawned the Hapes Cluster continued to gird and protect it from outside influences intent on destroying the glorious Hapan Consortium. For centuries Hapes had remained isolated from the rest of galaxy, but that isolation had come to a dramatic end a century and a half ago, thrusting Hapes into the view of the galactic community. Despite machinations both inside and outside of the Cluster, the Consortium remained strong and vibrant and the pinnacle of that strength was the Royal Hapan Navy. As a member of the RHN, it was Alekshander’s sworn duty to defend the cluster from anything the Transitory Mists could not repel.

With a practiced flick of his wrist, Alek brought his fighter from dead stop to three-quarters speed and, confident that his flight of three other Miy’til fighters had matched his movements and that of the rest of the squadron, preceded to fly past the RHN Nova Battle cruiser Azure Wind to the designated live fire range. As he cruised past the larger ship he took in the predatory low-slung shape, the aesthetically pleasing swept-back wings, and the massed turbolaser batteries and smiled; this cruiser represented everything the Hapes Consortium stood for.

As his squadron approached the live fire range, his com pinged.

“Azure Two-Niner, this is Azure command. Azure CAG would like to have a word with you.” Alek frowned, it wasn’t unheard of for Captain Thane to contact a Flight Leader before a simple training mission, but it wasn’t something commonly done.

“Acknowledge CAG, this is Azure Two-Niner. Receiving you loud and clear.”

“ Kurov, we are deviating from mission parameters." The face of his CO appeared on the screen in front Alek. Her face was unreadable, but the steely gaze she shot at Alek spoke volumes. “Upon reaching the live-fire zone, third flight will break off from the squadron and attempt to defend a mock space station set up in the firing zone. Despite this being a live-fire exercise, all fighter weapons systems have been deactivated, so feel free to fire at will. The other flight leaders will be briefed once the zone is reached. Victory will be achieved if you can eliminate all attacking forces, defeat will ensue if the station is destroyed. Are these orders clear?”

“Yes Ma’am, orders received loud and in the clear.”

“Good, then execute them. CAG out.” Her face disappeared from his screen and he let out a sigh. Captain Thane had been out for Alek’s blood since he first transferred to the Azure Wind. She was a Centrist and noblely born to boot, so she automatically looked on someone like Alek with disdain. She always was putting Alek in difficult situations, harshly berating him when he failed and barely acknowledging his successes and this was just one more example of her unfair treatment.

“One-to-two odds while defending a station?” Alek muttered to himself. He checked his range to target monitor and shook his head in disgust at what he saw. “Let’s see if we can pull off another miracle.” He flipped a toggle that commed his flight. “Ladies and gentlemen, it would seem as if we have a change in plans. Get ready for things to be interesting. ”

[Alekshander]

“Two minutes until attacking forces engage, let’s look lively third flight.” The “station” Alek was to defend was a hastily welded together collection of plas-steel plates in the shape of a cylinder. Small mars on the station’s surface indicated mock laser batteries and a slaved IFF transponder designated the conglomeration as station H-Z62 to anyone interested. A RHN comsat in tight orbit about the station tied in the Second Squadron’s computers to those aboard the Azure Wind, feeding data to Alek’s readouts that erroneously stated that the hunk of space junk was actually a half-kilometer long powered and shielded structure. The weapons on all the fighters may have been powered down, but that computer system would simulate lasers and missiles as if they were actually being used. To the combatants it would seem as if their squadron mates were dying all around them, but in reality their ships would only freeze up and remain immobile until the engagement was ended.

“Blaze, Wince, is the package ready?” Alek asked of Two-Eleven and Two-Twelve, respectively.

“Yes sir, we’re all ready on our end. Let’s give ‘em hell.” Blaze responded.

“Good, they’ll be coming shortly. No matter what happens, stick to your wingman and watch your six. The Commander will most likely task six of his fighters for dogfighting while the other two will hit the station, probably with torps. Make sure that you give the package to those two once they are identified.”

“And if the Commander chooses another approach? That seems like a fairly straightforward attack plan and he would surely choose something more devious. What will the target priority be if things don’t go according to your plan?” Wince inquired with a note of hostility in his voice. Alek frowned at the question. Wince, Lieutenant Galney, was yet another example of a noble in the armed forces with plenty of family influence and a high ranked admiral as a sponsor. As such, he was most aptly described as haughty towards his friends and downright hostile towards those he viewed as below himself. Thankfully for Alek, he was bound by military protocol to obey an officer of higher rank, so he kept most of his barbed comments regarding Alek’s muddied heritage to himself. Alek took a breath to push down the anger his subordinate caused and then answered.

“There are an infinite number of attack routes the Commander could use, but this one makes the most sense and is the one we have planned for. We’ll stick with it for the time being. And if he throws us something different than be wise in your target allocation and go for whatever target is carrying torps.” The crux of Alek’s plan was that not all of the squadron’s fighters were carrying the station killing proton torpedos. Half of the Miy’til’s of the squadron were armed with an extended rack of anti-fighter concussion missiles which lacked the punch necessary to destroy the station, so if Alek’s flight could disable the four enemies armed with torpedos he could draw the rest of the squadron into a battle of attrition against the station that would surely end with his success. If things went as planned.

As the mission timer reached zero, the eight green dots on Alek’s targeting computer representing the rest of Second Squadron turned blood red.

“Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time. Victory shall be ours, for the glory of the Queen Mother and for Hapes.” Third flight sat in space directly “above” the station in a diamond formation. The approaching fighters split into their respective flights, but as the distance between them and station decreased, two of the fighters from one flight merged into the other flight. Alek smiled. The Commander was going to rely on his numerical superiority to crush the opposition, just as Alek had predicted he would. “Blaze, Wince, you may engage when you have a favorable firing solution. Rain, you’re with me. By the numbers, people. “

“Confirmed Grail,” Blaze responded. “Package firing on…mark!” From a point directly between the attacking force and the defending one, the drives of sixteen concussion missiles, ejected by Azure Two-Eleven and Two-Twelve and maneuvered into place before the exercise began, lit up from a cold start. Eight missiles apiece cruised towards the two fighters that had separated themselves from their brethren, each guided by the targeting systems aboard their parent craft. The first Miy’til “exploded” instantly, the pilot not believing that the target lock his computer was warning him of was real. The second pilot reacted out of reflex, snapping his fighter into a roll that evaded half of the missiles, but left him open for the other half to slam into his fighter and detonating. Two down, six to go.

Time to dance, Alek thought as the remaining enemies flew towards him. As the range decreased, the attackers fired a barrage of concussion missiles of their own. The target lock klaxon wailed in Alek’s cockpit and he put his fighter into a spin on its axis. The missile blew past him and detonated behind him, his cockpit bucked as his computer told him that it had been a near miss. With a flick he switched his shields to full-forward and prepared for the initial head-to-head pass with the enemy fighters. The three laser cannons of the Miy’til spat red fire towards the selected target and after a moment the enemy fighter returned the favor. As his flight roared past, Alek’s computer recorded three minor hits on the target, with only one penetrating its shields; in exchange Alek took a pair of glancing blows of his own. The rest of his flight wasn’t so lucky.

“This is Blaze, I lost my whole starboard wing. I’m….” her com went dead as her computer locked down her fighter.

“Grail, Rain here, my astromech is fried, but I hit one fairly badly.” Alek grimaced, it wasn’t the best of passes, but he’d have to live with it. On his targeting computer he could see one enemy streaming atmosphere as it spun out of control while the other five tried to maneuver into attack positions on his flight. He pushed his fighter into a dive and snapped off a trio of shots at an attacker trying to finish off Rain. His shots went wide, but the attacker broke off its attack. From the melee of fighters, one attacker broke off and began a run on the station. Alek watched in dismay is it fired a pair of torpedoes at its target. Nuclear fire rippled along the shields, but the station’s defenses held. Then Alek’s attention was torn away by a pair of enemies bearing down on him from behind.

His shields weathered the majority of the laser hits, but one drove through and damaged his engines. At the dramatic loss of thrust, his ship skewed to the side and the enemies blew past him. He managed to take a reflexive shot and was rewarded to see the enemy careen out of control and explode. But that was little comfort, with his engine damaged he was a sitting duck for whoever wanted to end him. The target lock klaxon wailed and with a defiant growl Alek watched as a concussion missile blazed towards him. The Miy’til exploded dramatically and Alek sighed as the fighter shut down around him. As a flight leader, he was allowed to watch the rest of the engagement, not that he liked what he saw. Down to two fighters, Third flight desperately tried to defend the station, but they could not overcome the numbers against them. Before Rain and Wince were shut down they thinned the enemies down to two, but one of those two enemies had enough torpedoes to turn the station back into space junk.

As the fighter began its last run on the station, intent on destroying its target, Alek’s fighter’s systems came back to life. The face of Captain Thane appeared on his monitor and he instantly noticed her serious demeanor and no-nonsense attitude.

“This is a red alert notification, current exercises have been terminated. All fighters are to return to the Azure Wind at full speed. Systems have been unlocked and weapons restored for all fighters. Once Second Squadron has rendezvoused with Azure Wind, all RHN forces will hyper to the Dreena system immediately. Repeat, this is a red alert notification, all training exercises have been terminated.”

“What is the nature of the alert?” Commander Al’Frisk, CO Second Squadron, asked, his face appearing in the monitor beside the CAG. “My women and men need to refuel and rearm, especially if there is cause for a red alert.” The CAG frowned.

“Planet Dreena is under attack by an unknown pirate force. Enemies numbers and intentions are also not known at this time. Azure Wind is the closest RHN ship to Dreena and it is our duty to respond. Your pilots will have to refuel during hyper. Get here ASAP commander, is that clear?”

“Yes Ma’am! ETA is twenty five, repeat two-five minutes. Second Squadron out.” The CAG’s face disappeared. The Commander remained silent for a moment, and then spoke to his command. “You heard the lady, get your tails back to the Azure Wind, double time. “