least they think they are. We can take this fight, but we will have to be careful. Dusty, I want you to think groups of three for your targets. That is, we always want to hit one close range with the staves and have missiles on the way to two more that are further away. Flame, I want you to think jack rabbit. We do not want to stay put long enough to get shot at. Phoenix, I want you to think turtle. Get our shields up as soon as we begin our run, and keep on top of them. Spectra, the medium attack cruisers are your primary targets; make sure they cannot get a lock on us, ever. Also make sure that no communications get out. It would not be good at all for them to be able to call for help. Everyone understand?” I asked.
Once everyone had indicated they understood, I had Flame lie in a course that would slowly and quietly set us up for our first run. I knew we did not have a ton of time because they would be expecting us to make a move soon after we disappeared, thanks to Dusty’s cloaking spells. If we took too long they would be likely to suspect a trap and possibly call for back-up.
As we slid through space I could not help but think back to the numerous training missions we ran and how miserably we did at first. In the early practice runs it was not uncommon for Flame to crash into one of the enemy ships, or Spectra to jam us instead of our enemies. Once Dusty miscalculated the missile trajectories and ended up blowing up the space dock we were defending.
Eventually we got the kinks worked out, and we started flowing well as a team. Orders were acted on sometimes before fully given, and everyone knew their part. We began outsmarting all the simulations on a regular basis, and I knew it was time to launch. It would have been better to launch as part of an experienced flight team where my crew could learn under the safety of others’ experience, but we were too far from the Aleeryon Navy’s reach to get help from them, and Alpha Academy had no one else to call on.
“Shadow, we are in position,” Flame said.
“Excellent, let’s do this,” I said.
Suddenly I felt Dusty release our cloaking field and all the weapon systems of the ship powered up to full charge. Phoenix got our shields up almost instantly, and Flame revved up our engines to attack speed. Pulses of power left the ship as Spectra got our electronic countermeasures in full swing. I carefully watched the tactical display to see how the enemy would react, and by their chaotic initial response I was sure we had taken them completely off guard.
“I have positive lock on alpha group,” called out Dusty.
“Open fire,” I responded.
The power building up in the grand staves was almost intoxicating to me as I watched the Dust Dragon’s cannons roar to life, destroying the first target. At the same time, two sets of long-range antimatter torpedoes launched towards two more targets.
“Move on to beta group. Do not wait for the missiles to hit. Time is on their side, not ours,” I said as I sensed a hesitancy in moving to the next group.
“On it,” called out Dusty as his hands flew over the controls. “Beta group locked. Flame, bring us about to the attack vector.”
Soon the Dust Dragon’s grand staves had claimed another ship and two more sets of antimatter torpedoes were on their way to deal death. Spectra continued to fight hard in the electronic warfare sphere of combat and, up to this point in the fight, was able to keep the enemy from getting a lock on us; eventually, however, one got through.
“Positive lock!” called out Phoenix as Flame was turning on the third grouping of targets. “Incoming missiles, brace for impact!”
In an almost humorous twist of timing, just as those missiles hit our shields, our second wave of missiles hit their targets, eliminating two more of the enemy, leaving only half of them left to fight. I felt the waves of power from the neutronion warheads on their light missiles buffet our ship, but our shields
Once everyone had indicated they understood, I had Flame lie in a course that would slowly and quietly set us up for our first run. I knew we did not have a ton of time because they would be expecting us to make a move soon after we disappeared, thanks to Dusty’s cloaking spells. If we took too long they would be likely to suspect a trap and possibly call for back-up.
As we slid through space I could not help but think back to the numerous training missions we ran and how miserably we did at first. In the early practice runs it was not uncommon for Flame to crash into one of the enemy ships, or Spectra to jam us instead of our enemies. Once Dusty miscalculated the missile trajectories and ended up blowing up the space dock we were defending.
Eventually we got the kinks worked out, and we started flowing well as a team. Orders were acted on sometimes before fully given, and everyone knew their part. We began outsmarting all the simulations on a regular basis, and I knew it was time to launch. It would have been better to launch as part of an experienced flight team where my crew could learn under the safety of others’ experience, but we were too far from the Aleeryon Navy’s reach to get help from them, and Alpha Academy had no one else to call on.
“Shadow, we are in position,” Flame said.
“Excellent, let’s do this,” I said.
Suddenly I felt Dusty release our cloaking field and all the weapon systems of the ship powered up to full charge. Phoenix got our shields up almost instantly, and Flame revved up our engines to attack speed. Pulses of power left the ship as Spectra got our electronic countermeasures in full swing. I carefully watched the tactical display to see how the enemy would react, and by their chaotic initial response I was sure we had taken them completely off guard.
“I have positive lock on alpha group,” called out Dusty.
“Open fire,” I responded.
The power building up in the grand staves was almost intoxicating to me as I watched the Dust Dragon’s cannons roar to life, destroying the first target. At the same time, two sets of long-range antimatter torpedoes launched towards two more targets.
“Move on to beta group. Do not wait for the missiles to hit. Time is on their side, not ours,” I said as I sensed a hesitancy in moving to the next group.
“On it,” called out Dusty as his hands flew over the controls. “Beta group locked. Flame, bring us about to the attack vector.”
Soon the Dust Dragon’s grand staves had claimed another ship and two more sets of antimatter torpedoes were on their way to deal death. Spectra continued to fight hard in the electronic warfare sphere of combat and, up to this point in the fight, was able to keep the enemy from getting a lock on us; eventually, however, one got through.
“Positive lock!” called out Phoenix as Flame was turning on the third grouping of targets. “Incoming missiles, brace for impact!”
In an almost humorous twist of timing, just as those missiles hit our shields, our second wave of missiles hit their targets, eliminating two more of the enemy, leaving only half of them left to fight. I felt the waves of power from the neutronion warheads on their light missiles buffet our ship, but our shields
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