by REM
The shadow fighter accelerated to max speed. It banked right, then left, trying vigorously to shake Josh from its tail.
Josh found it hard to keep sight of the ship in the dark of space. “Oh, no you don’t!” he uttered, shifting his control stick to a side, and then another. You wanted Space League’s best, you go it! he thought. He mashed the throttle.
Seconds later, Josh was in position for a shot. He switched his striker quickly into safe mode and fired away. Two rays of blue light flashed out and struck the Mercen craft. “Got him!” said Josh, pleased grin and all, then immediately hooking right off of pursuit.
At that same moment, Nate had forced the second shadow fighter to make a hard left. Instead of following it, he cut right and whizzed over to Josh’s flank. “What the hell was that all about? You could have gotten us killed—could still get us killed!”
“It’s fine. They were just yanking our chain, so I showed them a thing or two. They’re not even that good; I’m sure we could’ve taken them. Their craft are amazing; that pilot’s skill, not so much.”
“You cocky fool,” said Nate, half-heartedly. He glanced over and could see a haughty smirk on Josh’s lips. He then peered at his radar and saw that the two Mercen fighters were looping back in their direction. “For heaven’s sake, they’re coming at us again, Josh.” He could have sworn they were moving even faster than before. Then he saw a third dot appear next to the other two. “Shit, there’s a third one, and they’re coming in hot.”
“We can take ’em,” said Josh. “Just guard my wing.”
“No! This has gone too far. Cut your thrusters.”
He can’t be serious, thought Josh. “You’re joking, right?”
“No, I’m dead serious. Cut your thrusters—that’s an order!”
Great, we’re going to die, thought Josh. Nate doesn’t have any guts. No wonder these Mercen act so boldly. That’s all going to change if I ever get some power—or manage to survive this first.
Josh did as told and hovered his craft side by side with Nate’s, same as before. Both faced in the direction of the incoming ships. He noticed a sole yellow light was blinking on Nate’s striker, and knew it was meant to signal peace. Here we go again. Bowing down to our Mercen masters, thought Josh. Then he remembered to switch his ship back into attack mode.
“Our shields are generally good for absorbing a single blast, sometimes two. Any sign of fire and we break off to fend for our lives,” said Nate. “Be ready.”
Josh gripped his control stick tight and locked eyes on the approaching craft. He thought they looked like shadows moving through space. The enemy fighters closed in at a slow speed just as before, and stopped a short ways off, head-on with the strikers. This time a third craft was at their middle. Josh noticed right away that it had two red stripes across the tip of its wing. “What do those stripes mean on that middle fighter?” he asked.
“It means he’s a high-ranking pilot,” Nate replied. “A lot better than the one you were just tangoing with.”
Really, thought Josh, feeling crossed between fear and curiosity.
“We call them marked wings. Nobody knows for sure how Mercen ranking goes, but we’ve realized they have one active ship per color in their entire fleet. I’ve seen green, orange, brown… No clue which is superior.”
Both went silent as the lead shadow fighter inched forward before halting again.
“Do they understand what the yellow light means, Nate?” asked Josh.
“Yes… but if they’ll honor it is a whole other story.”
A faint glimmer of light raced around the opening of the marked wing’s laser cannon.
Josh felt the light twinkle in his eye. He then saw a brief, red flickering from the weapon systems on the two other Mercen crafts.
“They’re locked and loaded,” Nate uttered, staring straight ahead.
Josh felt adrenaline surging through his veins. “Do we break?”
“Not yet,” Nate whispered.
It was then Josh noticed something easing in between his and Nate’s strikers from the rear. He saw a similar movement out the corner of his eye on his opposite side too.
“Things are looking kind of testy. Yep, I’d say you were definitely in need of some C.C.,” said Smokey, who had stopped his ship between Josh and Nate.
Josh’s eyes brightened upon glancing over to the old pilot at right and hearing him spit one of his seed shells. He then peered over at Maya, who had pulled up on his left, and had put on her best tough girl face while eyeing the Mercen ships as if ready to fire. “C.C.?” he blurted, rather subconsciously.
“That’s right,” said Smokey. “A good old-fashioned chin checking.”
Josh smirked and heard Hoss say, “Mercen scum,” from where he was poised at Nate’s opposite flank.
“Hold formation,” barked Nate.
An intense five or so seconds passed by where fingers twitched over triggers. Then, a sole flash of yellow light came from the marked shadow fighter ahead of its reversing slowly. The other two Mercen crafts backed away too. They did so for a short stretch before turning a 180 and zipping off.
“Well… that settles that,” said Smokey.
Chapter 3
Josh’s five-man group had spent hours patrolling the northern region of the Void Zone, when Nate transmitted, “All right, 2nd squadron will be taking over on patrols. Let’s form up.”
Everyone who was idled fired up their thrusters. Those who were already in motion altered their course. It didn’t take long for the five-man squad to come together. Nate called for a V formation with his ship at the head.
Josh soon realized they were heading south, instead of east toward the M.N. Rampage. “We’re flying off course,” he transmitted. “Where we going?”
“You’ll see, rookie,” said Hoss.
“It’s a surprise,” Nate added.
A surprise? thought Josh. I hope it’s a good one.
They flew for a while, though it wasn’t long before bright and colorful gassy lights were apparent. Moments later they were flying into the aurora’s mists.
Josh peered around at what felt like never-ending clouds of rainbow. “This is beyond cool,” he transmitted, eyeing a vibrant pink planet off to his far, lower right.
“So beautiful,” said Maya over the group channel.
“That pink multi-colored planet you see over there is called Nomo,” said Nate.
They eventually flew past it. Not long after doing so, a few other small planets and tiny moons began popping up.
“It’s like a whole ’nother universe in here,” said Hoss.
“But dangerous,” said Smokey. “Highly contested by Mercen. Conflicts here are usually not ‘officially’ reported.”
“I told Josh about it earlier,” said Nate.
“Yeah, well, Maya needed to hear it too,” Smokey responded. “We only come here in large groups, normally four times a week. We have to show our willingness to contest this neutral region. If we don’t, the Mercen will try and push their claim.”
“Shadow fighters generally won’t attack a squad of five or more strikers. That would count as a dire offense,” said Hoss.
“Which would still most likely get overlooked, since it took place in the Cosmolis,” said Nate. “Now, if they were to shoot down ten-plus strikers, that would go on record as an official large scale conflict, and would almost certainly lead to an all-out war. At this point in time, it’s doubtful either side would want to risk that.”
“You new pilots need to know that the protocol when encountering shadow fighters in the Cosmolis region is to form a battle spread formation and idle your strikers. Your patrol lights should be on. If the Mercen crafts don’t alter their course and make it to within fifty miles of your squadron, reactivate your thrusters and assume combat readiness,” said Smokey.
“Don’t ask how these procedures were negotiated between Creston and Mercen,” said Nate. “Whatever you do—keep a cool head… Josh.”
&
nbsp; Josh caught Maya looking over at his cockpit from where she was flying to his right and smirked.
Maya shook her head, but then glanced down suddenly at her dash.
Josh heard a beeping from his computer system and eyed his radar too. There were five unidentified flying objects coming toward them from their front. “You fellas seeing this?” he transmitted.
“Yeah, we see it,” said Hoss.
There was a moment of silence, during which time Josh caught Maya looking over at him again. He could tell she was concerned about the incoming craft, and felt a bit of an adrenaline rush himself. Here we go again, he thought. The fun never stops around here!
“Hold formation,” said Nate.
Everyone did as told.
After a few jumpy seconds of getting readied to fight, Josh asked, “Shouldn’t we be shifting to battle spread formation and idling out?”
He heard a, “Humph,” over the transmission. “Nah, we got this,” said Hoss.
Wow, we’re really going to engage! thought Josh, feeling as if he needed to show Hoss he wasn’t scared either. “All righty then—let’s zoom and boom!”
The comment received a chuckle from old Smokey, followed by the sound of a seed shell being spat.
Josh tensed up as the dots got closer and closer on his radar. He was waiting for Nate’s call to break off and fight, but was surprised that it never came, even when the unknown craft had made it to within fifty miles. He then heard a familiar voice say: “Howdy, boys and girl.”
It was Ace, along with the rest of the 3rd squadron. Josh smiled in relief.
There was a short laugh over the channel. “Hope we didn’t scare you too bad, Maya,” Reena transmitted.
“Oh, you did,” Maya responded. She was grinning all the while. “Couldn’t be worse than the C.C. we had to perform earlier for Josh and Nate.”
“Ha, you had to C.C. some Mercs in the north region?” said Kyle, who was clearly amused.
“Yep, we let ’em know who’s boss,” said Hoss. “Humph. You know how we do it, Kyle.”
There was chuckling over the transmission, before Kyle said, “You’re safe now, Maya; me and Ace are here.”
She was safe anyway, thought Josh, not taking any serious offense to the comment. He knew better than anyone that most pilots were confident in general. We need to be! “Shawn, Stew, you turkeys over there?” he said, grinning wildly.
“Roger that,” said Stewart.
“Wait until you see Ace fly,” said Shawn. “Best damn pilot I’ve ever seen.”
“That’s right!” said Hoss, rolling his tongue into a loud party-sounding shriek.
“I’m as good as him!” said Kyle.
Ace sniggered faintly. “Okay, let’s head for home. Fall in behind me, route formation.”
Nate’s group hooked into position.
Once the squadron had landed back on the Rampage, everyone stopped briefly at the unit, and then traveled down a few halls to the mother ship’s north wing cafeteria. After filing down a long buffet to get their food, they all marched over to the same table.
The recruits sat at one end, the vets on the other.
Josh took in a spoonful of stew and smiled. He looked toward Shawn and Stewart and asked, “How’d the patrols go? You guys run into any Mercen?”
Shawn was the first to answer. “We saw a couple of fighters, but they kept their distance. Nothing too eventful.”
“There’s some beautiful planets over there though,” said Stewart. “And a handful of space stations. One of them was huge.”
“That sounds just like the northern region,” said Maya.
Shawn nodded. “Yeah, Ace told us they were similar.”
Stewart’s brows rose. “So, you guys had a situation, huh?” he said, taking a bite out of a roll.
Josh’s face brightened. “You should have seen it. Nate and I were idled out—and these two shadow fighters closed in on us. One of them started circling our ships and rolling his fighter, so I tangoed with him and landed a shot in safe mode. I can only imagine how pissed he must’ve been, getting taken down after showboating like a circus clown.”
“No way!” said Shawn.
“Tell me you’re joking!” Stewart said.
Josh had the same old cocky smirk on his face, and nodded. “No, I took him. He got a signature taste of Space League’s number one turnout.”
Stewart and Shawn looked at each other and snickered.
“That explains why we had to come bail you out!” said Maya.
“A third shadow fighter joined in, so Nate had us sit still,” said Josh. He glanced over at the vets to see if any were listening, but none seemed to be paying the recruits any mind. They were all wrapped up in a conversation about the planet Jozen.
“That’s frickin’ nuts, Josh,” said Stewart. “I can’t believe Nate allowed you to do that.”
Nate glanced at the recruits after hearing his name, but then tuned back into the veterans’ conversation.
Josh lowered his forehead in guilt and looked away from the vets. “Did you guys do any practice duels?”
Shawn nodded after sitting his glass down. “Yeah, Kyle murdered me. 3-0 sweep. The kid’s fantastic.”
“And he only trained at Space League for half the time that we did,” said Stewart. “But oh man…” His cheeks puffed before letting out the air. “Ace is something else; brilliant maneuvers, absolutely no shaking him if he gets behind you. Shawn, am I lying?”
Shawn’s head shook. “Nope. He’s a mean piece of work.”
“Trounced me, three times over,” Stewart continued.
Ha, that’s pretty much what everyone was saying about me at Space League, thought Josh. He peeked over at Ace. So you’re the one… Can’t wait to see what happens when titan meets titan. Josh looked away and took another bite of his stew.
“I lost to Reena too,” said Shawn. “Beat me 2-1. These vets are solid. Their experience makes up for raw talent.”
“How about you two? How’d you do?” asked Stewart.
“3-0 loss to Nate,” said Maya. “I know now why he was picked to lead the 2nd group.”
Josh grinned. “I took down Hoss 2-0,” he said rather quietly. “We were going a third, but had to rush to the Void Zone mid-fight. Mercen craft were harassing trade ships in the north region.”
His fellow grads were stunned.
“This time you’re shitting me,” said Stewart.
Josh pursed his lips merrily, while trying to keep his excitement at bay.
“Did you really beat Hoss, Josh?” Maya asked, in almost a whisper. She had tilted her head how a mother would to a child who had been acting a fool.
“I’m not buying it! You truly beat Hoss?” said Shawn, much too loudly.
Reena, who was sitting closest to Maya, overheard and turned in their direction. Her brows knitted. “What did you just say?” she asked.
Maya smiled. “Josh said he beat Hoss two to nothing in practice duels.”
Reena’s face lit up. She twisted back toward the veterans and said, “Hoss, you let this rookie best you? 2-0?”
The conversation on the veterans’ side of the table halted instantly, as if someone had scratched a record at a club in the early 1960s. Their expressions were frozen in shock.
All eyes shifted to Hoss, whose skin had begun to flush.
It took a few seconds for him to finally say, “He got lucky. Pure luck. I’ve never seen a more fortunate rookie in all my time flying. I was just about to nail him on the third go around, but Nate called us off.”
Kyle laughed. “You let a rookie beat you, Hoss? That’s not supposed happen even if you’re sick… or flying with one hand.”
“Shut it, Kyle!” said Hoss.
The teen did as told, but kept an amused grin.
Ace dipped his head and grimaced slightly, as if he could feel Hoss’ pain.
Hoss shook at Ace and said, “Luckiest bastard ever, I’m telling you.”
Ace glanced at Josh
and smirked.
Then Nate chimed in. “He really is good, but stupid. Could’ve gotten us killed up there.”
Nate didn’t take it any further.
Josh was grateful for that.
It wasn’t long before both groups went back to their original conversations.
Shawn took a huge chomp from his sandwich. “So, what about Smokey?” he asked.
Josh gave somewhat of a blank stare. “Didn’t even participate. Spent the entire time idled—chewing sunflower seeds.”
All of the rookies burst into laughter.
***
Back at the unit, Josh took a shower and was sitting with Shawn and Stewart in his room when Maya walked in. She overheard the guys chatting about Josh’s face off with the shadow fighter and said, “You need to cool it with the Space League antics, Josh. These are real fights and real lives on the line. I was just talking with Reena: the vets have already labeled you a wildcard. Most aren’t even sure they’d trust you at their side in battle, despite the fancy flying you displayed. Nate detailed the entire sortie.”
Josh eyed Maya with all seriousness. He had taken her words to heart. “Those Mercen were just horsing around, ruffling our feathers. All I did was give them a dose of their own medicine. At no time did it feel like they were truly going to attack. I would never intentionally put other lives in danger—especially not those of our crew.”
“Is that why Nate felt the need to call for a C.C.? Which I found out actually stands for crowd control, by the way,” replied Maya.
“I readied to fight and followed all of Nate’s instructions, but deep down, even then I knew they weren’t going to shoot. I can sense these things.”
“That’s awfully risky following your instincts like that, especially when it wasn’t necessary,” Maya responded. She drooped her cheeks empathetically. “We all know you’re talented, Josh—Smokey even called you a natural—but try not to be so reckless out there.”
Stewart and Shawn pulled faces that seemed to agree with what Maya had said.
Josh nodded. “Sure, Maya. I’ll try to chill out—just for you.”
She smiled and jabbed him half-heartedly in the shoulder. “Night, guys,” she said, before turning to leave.
