Squadron Trials

Posted on 17 Jun 2021 @ 2:18pm by Lieutenant Commander Natalia Reyes & Commander Marcus Wilcox & Ensign Kat Walker

1,518 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Home

Marcus stood in the fighter bay, which hummed with a little more activity than usual. Deck crews were busily prepping three fighters for a training run. He smiled inwardly to himself as the progress was almost complete, checking his watch to see it was still early.

"There is always a certain level of excitement in these pre-flight checks," Kat mused, her four-winged paravian flight form sitting perched on top of her fighter. "The anticipation. All systems green, Commander."

Marcus raised his eyebrows and turned slightly, having not initially realized he wasn't alone. He smiled subtly and nodded. "That there is," He replied simply.

Natalia wasn't naturally one to jump into conversations, but she knew she was to be involved in today's work. She stepped around from under the nose of a nearby fighter. "I'm looking forward to it," she said with a sparing smile.

"Hello Commander Reyes," Kat's paravian form spoke, leaping up from her fighter, circling the two officers once before landing in front of them, shifting her hologram to her human-esque avatar as she did, standing in attention. "I don't think we've met yet. I'm Ensign Kat Walker, very pleased to meet you, Commander."

"Likewise, Ensign," Nat said with a small nod.

Checking his watch again, seeing they were on the early side, made him content. "You've both read your training mission profiles? Simple formation flying to ease into the controls, and then simulated dog fighting." He said, facing the two officers.

"I have, Sir, yes," Kat agreed. "All systems green, pre-flight checks complete, ready to launch."

"I have, Commander," Natalia agreed. "On your word, I'll be in my plane and completing my pre-flight checks to be ready to go."

Looking at his watch again, Marcus set the now empty coffee mug on the workstation near the fighters. "Skids up in five then. Rendezvous at the intended coordinates."

----

Approximately 1,000 meters from Odin the three nearly identical fighters moved in unison. "Once this progression is finished, we'll move to tactical exercises," Marcus said with a calm quiet voice, carrying at just the right tone and volume to cut through background noise.

"Aye Sir," came Kat's easy reply. She followed Marcus' flight path to the absolute best of her ability, which with her being a powerful AI core with direct control over the fighter, meant 'identical down to every last subtle twitch'. Meanwhile she mused silently to herself, dedicating a few dozen threads in her core to analyzing Marcus' tone of voice and speech patterns, she'd found that experienced pilots spoke in this calm, collected, confident manner once they were behind the flight stick and she wanted to analyze every last aspect of it in order to duplicate it for herself.

Nat hadn't had a chance to fly properly since she'd been assigned to the Odin as its observer, so it was refreshing to begin the sim runs, but being in an actual craft and back out in space was something else. Something better. "Acknowledged, Commander," she replied easily. It was almost enough to make her forget how displaced she was in this universe and timeline.

The formation slowed to a idling pace. Marcus typed several notes to himself, impressed with the precision of the AI, and the quickness Natalia was picking up on a new craft. "Maneuver to these coordinates. Kat you have Natalia's wing. Once the computer confirms weapons safe with practice weapons active it'll activate the scenario." Two vs one, a game Marcus knew was a 50/50 shot, but the more important thing to him was seeing the team work, or lack there of. A moment after the statement his fighter snapped 90 degrees right and 20 degrees down followed in succession with a burst of his impulse engines to go to his assigned spot.

"Forming up, moving out," came Kat's reply as she set the course to the indicated coordinates, though she let Natalia take the lead - after all, she had been told to take the position of Natalia's wingman, and that's what she did.

Natalia enjoyed the way this craft moved as she guided it along the coordinates the commander had marked out. As they didn't plan to go too far, just far enough, it didn't take long to reach. "Weapons safe distance achieved, Commander," the pilot announced, to which the computer confirmed.

Three computers and two screens announced the start of the exercise, clearly delineating boundaries of the engagement. One of the bittersweet things to Marcus was boundaries, but protocols were protocols. His craft didn't move, patiently waiting like a predator to see what his prey does. Inside the craft his fingers moved about, inputting commands and status updates while he had a moment to breath.

Marcus was a good pilot. A very good one. Some might even say, a great one. And he'd spent years training rookies. Normally he wouldn't really break a sweat taking on two greenhorns, one of which was having her very first combat exercise, the other being an experienced combat pilot from another universe. True, used to other types of fighters, but they were not that far off these Valkyries. A good blend of firepower, speed, agility and shields.

As Reyes set her attack vector, launching forward and lining up, Marcus accelerated as well, puling a textbook maneuver, a standard evasive pattern - no need to go too hard against these two rookies, right? But right as he completed his evasive pattern his fighter was greeted by a stream of pulse fire from the AI pilot - with near perfect timing and near perfect accuracy, aimed right at where Marcus would pull up, roll port and bring his own cannons to bear on Reyes.

Reyes meanwhile pulled an Immelman, throwing off Marcus' aim, his burst of fire going wide, as he saw Kat slamming the brakes and pulling a tight turn starboard, pushing down before accelerating again to get her guns back on target - her maneuvering almost unnaturally precise. This was a bad place to be - and Marcus knew it, so he pulled an old trick - put his nose on the diagonal of the engagement zone and do a brief warp blip, banking sharply as he exited - getting his sights on Kat and letting rip a burst of pulse fire that raked her shields, sounding alarms - just a quick burst before he had to sharply pull starboard to avoid Reyes' return fire ...

And so it went on for a little while longer. A frantic dance, the rookie AI with her unerring accuracy and prediction, textbook maneuvering - and frightening precision on the stick and on her weapons - but no imagination. It didn't take Marcus long to figure out that what surplus Kat had in prediction and precision, she lacked in biological intuition.

Unlike Reyes, who proved to have great instincts, coupled with experience piloting similar craft. Her fire was less accurate, but more unpredictable - meant to corner Marcus, herd him, steer him where she wanted him, for Kat's precision to come into and slam simulated pulse cannon fire into Marcus' shields.

The thought evolved in Marcus' head. He knew the AI would never miss to any substantial amount. Kat would place fire in the anticipated path every time, but without that imagination? Again two fighters attempted to corral and chide Marcus into their crosshairs. His mind began walking around dueling flight patterns. Bursts of fire went by Marcus as he pulled hard to evade. With no warning he slammed his engines and thrusters into full reverse. A sitting duck, however one that met no textbook. Marcus groaned slightly from the seatbelts digging into body, even with compensation of the craft.

The two pilots took opposing maneuvers. One grazed his shields, a consequence of his underestimating the closing velocities of making the maneuver. He lined up the AI in his sights, which took what he predicted to be the textbook response. Burst fire clattered around and against Kat's shields as he powered up his engines to full ahead to catch with Reyes. Dangerous to be between a pair, but reward outweighed risk.

The dogfight lasted a while. Cat and mouse between the three. Marcus admired Reyes' flying becoming smoother as she settled in the new craft, obvious that she was no slouch in her previous life. Two pilots began to show their fatigue ever so slightly near the end. One showed nothing but consistency. However the fight ended as quickly and abruptly as it started, with several commands into the computer. Sim guns powered down, arena boundaries disappeared from nav computers. Without instruction two fighters vs one became a trio in formation heading back towards home. "Debrief ten minutes after skids down and post check complete," Marcus said finally via com. "However, proficiency would be my descriptor for today."

"Understood Commander, weapons and shields cold," came Kat's quick and easy reply as she fell in, matching Marcus' speed and heading precisely.

"Acknowledged, Commander," Reyes echoed. Unlike the AI's voice, of course, hers showed hints of her fatigue. She fell into formation as well, headed back to the Odin.

 

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