Star Runners (26 page)

As he stepped into the locker room, he saw the other pilots putting on flight helmets and strapping sidearms into their holsters. Other than the clicking and snapping of equipment, the room was quiet. No one spoke. There wasn't even the sound of breathing.

Skylar walked up to him, flexing her gloved hands and snapping her helmet into place with the visor still up. The color drained from her face. Even her lips looked white as ice cubes as she nodded. He had seen her do it before their private training sims; each nod represented a mark on her mental checklist.

He reached down and strapped her sidearm into its holster. "Don't forget that.”

She glanced down at her hip. "Oh, thanks."

They stared at each other. "We've come a long way, huh?" Austin asked.

"Yep," she said, her voice barely audible.

Austin thought of running with Skylar back in the swamps of south Georgia, swatting away gnats and mosquitoes as they trained for the Gauntlet after class every day. She had been his only friend at the academy, his only companion.

He smiled. "Let's do this."

*****

The freighters stretched in a straight line. Just as they had in Scorpion's hologram, the fighters were peppered around the freighters in their designated positions in a tight formation. Cheetah, Skylar's call sign, drifted a few hundred micro units in front of him, and Bear flew just in front of her to the left. Austin stared off to his right and marveled at the details on the freighter. The graphics were better in these flight sims than on his computer back home. He could make out the movement of the passengers inside the portholes on the sides of each freighter.

He turned back to the darkness of space. No nebulae or other anomalies decorated the scene, just blackness.

A droplet of sweat slithered down the center of his spine. He cracked his knuckles and checked the sensors. Twenty more minutes on this heading before the convoy would open another curve and head to its next way point. One major difference between this and the games online; the much longer mission time.

His HUD flashed a dull red at the corners of his visor. He sucked in a deep breath of stale, metallic air.

"Enemy contact bearing one-two-zero," Scorpion said in his headset, her voice crackling in the simulated gamma wave. "Coming your way Thrasher, Sketch, PowPow. Be on alert. Looks like three enemy fighters lining up at the edge of firing distance. Standby."

Austin squinted, straining to see if anything was bearing down on his side. Nothing.

"This is it everybody," he said.

Austin watched his sensors as the three bogeys mingling just outside of firing range. What were they waiting for?

The HUD flashed again. Austin's eyes widened. "Scorpion, four bogeys on my six."

"Roger, Rock."

The Lobera Squadron had ten fighters, same as Tizona. Seven were on the board. Three were unaccounted for.

"Everyone stay cool," Scorpion said. "Let them show their hand."

There was a pause. "The freighters are tightening up formation. Everyone stay close. Don't lose your positions."

Two more bogeys appeared in front of the convoy, screaming hard for the lead freighter. They were already in firing range.

"Two enemy fighters inbound!" Stinger yelled.

"Roger, Stinger," Scorpion snapped. "Stinger, Toad and Bear, engage the two newcomers."

The three pilots acknowledged. Austin rested his fingers on the stick as he watched his comrades shoot toward battle.

"Incoming torps," Stinger announced.

"I got them," Bear said. "Stay on the fighters!"

Austin rocked in his seat. Come on, he thought. In the past, he would shoot off toward the enemy in hopes of increasing his online ranking, but not today. Today he had to wait on Scorpion's orders.

He watched the battle unfold. Three Tizona students rushed off to engage the two bogeys to their front while the other seven enemies lingered at the edge of battle; three to their right and four in the rear. Where was the final fighter? As the three Tizona lead fighters locked into a fire ball with the two closest bogeys, Austin looked ahead to Cheetah’s fighter. He wondered if Skylar sat at the edge of her seat like he did.

Come on, make your move.

It wasn't a long wait.

The seven enemy fighters lingering out of range moved with purpose, all coordinated, toward the freighters. Incoming torpedoes lit up his HUD.

"Here they come. All fighters engage the incoming torps," Scorpion said. "Do not exceed ten thousand MUs from the convoy. Stay close."

Austin yanked back on the stick, bringing the Trident around. He transferred all power to his engines and forward shields. Seven torpedoes shot toward his position, zeroing in on the last freighter in the convoy. He targeted the first one, secured laser range, squeezed the trigger and watched the first torpedo disintegrate. One down. He banked hard, watching the stars spin. He glanced at the sensors to maintain his bearing. He locked on two other torpedoes and scratched them both.

His sensors flickered, and three of the remaining four torpedoes disappeared.

"Nice job, Cheetah," Austin said, searching for the final incoming torpedo. It disappeared from his scope. He looked to his left. The rear of the freighter sparkled as a torpedo smashed into the shields. "We missed one."

"Rock, bring it in closer," Scorpion said. "You’re reaching the edge of your zone."

Austin spun the fighter around back toward the convoy. His HUD flashed red again. "More incoming torps!"

He piloted the fighter across the designated zone surrounding the freighters, destroying one torpedo after another. His eyes flashed across the sensors, his hands controlling the Trident like it was a part of him, an extension of his being. He flew without thought and drifted to another place in his mind, a calm place of perfection. The incoming torpedoes exploded one after another. He lost count of how many. He just knew they kept coming from the black of space.

And then the bogeys were in range.

"You see this, Cheetah?"

"Right behind you, Rock," she said, her voice laced with tension.

Austin squared off with the four fighters in front of him, wondering if Josh was one of them. Even better, maybe one would be Nicholas and he would have a chance to see how good the guy really was at flying. The bogeys flew in tight, wing-to-wing, passing inside Austin's zone limit imposed by Scorpion.
Gotcha.

The moment Austin reached firing range, the enemy group scrambled. Laser bolts filled the black, illuminating the area in a collage of greens, blues and reds. The bogeys flashed around him.  

He zeroed in on the slower bogey and released  relentless fire, draining his laser guns of their energy. His fire was true, his target bogey caught off guard. The targeting computer showed the bogey's rear shields collapse. Austin keyed for a missile, locked on the enemy's signal, and pulled the trigger. The missile flashed, spinning toward its target. The fighter maneuvered to its right, then left, then pulled back. But it was too late.

The brilliant explosion burned orange and yellow before dissipating in the vacuum of space. Austin smiled, checked his board. Two bogeys trailed Skylar as she tried to close in on another.

"You got some company, Cheetah," Austin said, bringing his fighter to bear. "I'm on it."

His HUD flashed red. He glanced at the sensor. The final fighter he had been scanning for appeared just inside the firing zone. It unleashed a spread of torpedoes toward the convoy of four freighters.

Austin blinked. Four freighters? They had already lost three. He risked a longer glance at his readouts. Only five transponders remained of their fighters, five against the eight remaining Lobera students.

He gripped the stick tight, his teeth grinding together. How did this happen so quickly? The blood rushed to his face as he closed in on the bogeys trailing Skylar.

"Rock, return to the freighters," Scorpion said in a low voice. "Take out those new incoming torps. Our newcomer has a clean shot!"

Austin grimaced, but yanked the stick toward the freighters. He stared out his right display, watching the two enemy fighters engaging his friend. Skylar wouldn't last long. Laser bolts fizzled off her rear shields.

He turned away, locking on the incoming torpedoes and shifting all his power to the engines.

"I'm hit!" Skylar yelled, her voice full of static.

Austin winced and tensed his shoulders, forcing himself not to look back.

"Forward bogeys clear!" Bear yelled loud enough to distort Austin's headset.

Good, brings the odds to five of ours versus six.

"Well done, Bear.” Scorpion said. “You and Toad move back in line, protect our targets. Rock? Move in to intercept those torps. Twenty seconds out."

Bear closed on the incoming torpedoes. Skylar scrambled with the two more experienced fighters. He fought every instinct in his being telling him to follow the torpedoes, to do what Scorpion had ordered, but saving Skylar had to be a better move.

"Bear, I'll be right there." He reversed his maneuvering thrusters and watched the star field spin horizontally.

"Rock! Return to the targets!" Scorpion's voice cracked.

"I'll be right there."

"Now!"

Austin swallowed hard as he locked the closest bogey tangled with Skylar into his targeting computer. He keyed for a missile and watched the target blink yellow. The moment the targeting signal hit the bogey, the enemy launched into evasive maneuvers, twirling and looping, spinning and rolling. It didn't matter. Austin stayed on him and kept the enemy painted.
Two more seconds …

He launched a missile, knew he had his target and turned to the next.

"I've lost my shields!" Skylar yelled. "I think they have me!"

"Hang on, Cheetah!"

Austin fired until his lasers ran out of charge, hoping he'd manage a lucky shot. Two bolts bounced off the Lobera fighter's shields. Instead of breaking off the pursuit, the Lobera fighter fired a blind torpedo shot at Skylar without achieving lock. In an instant, the projectile smashed into Skylar's tail and blew half the fighter apart.

"Ejecting!"

The simulated pod shot away from what was left of Skylar's sparkling Trident.

"You'll pay," Austin muttered, closing on the enemy fighter spinning on its axis to face him.

The Lobera student unleashed a flurry of laser fire, filling the sky with enough bolts to turn the darkness red. Austin released his two remaining missiles and rolled under the enemy. Both missiles missed, but forced the Lobera fighter to loop back to avoid them.

Austin shifted all power into his rear shields. Thinking he had bought enough time, he veered back toward the freighters. He gasped.

One freighter remained on his sensor. He and Bear were the only Tizona fighters remaining against four Lobera fighters.

Cycling through the vessels in his targeting computer, he stopped on the remaining freighter. The shields were gone, the engines failing. The captain launched the rescue buoy and signaled to abandon ship.

His heart plummeted.

Austin leaned back in his seat, his flight suit sticking to the sweat on his skin.

"Bear, Rock, withdraw," Scorpion said, her voice low. "The pirates are taking their prize."

*****

The sim pod opened with a mechanical whine, sending a burst of light glaring into his eyes. He stood, his joints popping as he did so, the flight suit sticking to his legs and back. The time clock over the doorway indicated more than four hours had passed.

"Recruits, wash up and report to the ready room for debriefing," Nubern said from the catwalk overlooking the simulation room. Austin felt Nubern's eyes on him, but he kept his focus on the floor as he took off his helmet.

As he entered the men's locker room, the other recruits showered in silence. He moved like a robot through the motions of showering.

He reported to the ready room. Scorpion stood at the front, her arms crossed over her chest. Her eyes bore into him. He collapsed into a seat at the rear of the room. The other recruits filed in, their feet scuffling the floor as all of them avoided the eyes of their instructor.

When they had all entered, Scorpion slammed the hatch shut.

"That was the worst display I've ever seen. Never has a Tizona class been so completely destroyed by Lobera. It was a complete embarrassment." She held up her tablet. "Where were your fundamentals? What about following orders?"

Austin rubbed his thumbs together, a knot in his stomach. All he had to do was return back to protect their target, and he couldn't even do that. Skyler was in trouble, but he couldn't save her, either. Every action he took out there had been for nothing.

"We'll talk about this more tomorrow. You're all dismissed." Scorpion raised her chin. "Austin Stone, you stay a moment."

The rest of the students looked at him, their eyes raised in a "better you than me" expression. All of them except Skylar. She gazed at him, offered a crooked smile, and mouthed, "sorry."

He moved his lips. "It's okay."