In the elevator Henry stared at the console silently. While Carter seemed to shake with trepidation. Henry turned to look at the ensign with wonderment. “What seems to be the matter ensign?” Carter froze a bit. “Sir, I am afraid I had made an error...” Before Henry could even ask the door of the elevator opened and Henry stared awe struck at the vastness of the hangar. The bustling activity of a large town seemed to run back and forth between the myriads of gunships, void crafts, and even two full corvettes. The hangar is probably three kilometers long alone. Henry thought before shutting his open jaw shut. Then he saw the horde of pilots formed into several ranks standing at attention. On a podium was commander Foley who looked at the elevator doors and seemed to mentally push the two towards the group.

  Joining the formation Foley began to speak, his voice booming across the hangar, almost causing other technicians and engineers to stop in their tracks. “Pilots, we have received reports from the probes. A minor traitor fleet has entered the system. Per the prince’s order. We are to sortie and intercept the enemy.” He turned towards a wall that had exited from the floor and a display of the sector appeared. Pointing at the star Foley continued “a total of six wings, numbering three squadrons, five craft each per squadron, shall use the star as cover coming towards the traitor’s right. While the intercepting force of a cruiser, the Hammer of Alistra, two destroyers, the Shield of Glory and Everlasting Vengeance, along with several corvettes as screens, shall attack from the left drawing the traitor’s attention.” He stopped looking at the group of pilots for questions. Seeing that none raised concerns or inquiry continued “the remaining shall remain as a reserve defending the Prince’s Fervor. If more enemies appear we shall deploy as we go.”

  Henry stared a head taking in the information like a sponge. However, a thought occurred what am I to do? Am I to pilot my barge and ferry munitions between the ship prior to sorties or...? The thought was put to rest as the pilots dissolved into their wings and left leaving Carter and Henry alone with Foley, who was walking towards them. Both men saluted their superior and watched as Foley coughed into his hand before speaking. “Lieutenant” Foley said with a tone leaking authority. Henry kept the salute before Foley continued “I am to put you within the reserve part; however, you are to take command of Zeta squadron.” He pointed towards a line of fighters near the end of the hangar. Foley continued “standard load out” then looked towards Carter “guide and inform the lieutenant as you go. Dismissed.” The duo saluted and almost jogged towards the end of the hangar, which took a while to do.

  Reaching the end of the hangar he saw three pilots sitting near a crate waiting for their fighters to be prepped and tuned. Upon seeing their new leader stood at attention. Henry walked forward and saluted in kind. He introduced himself and Carter to the pilots and waited for their response. An olive-skinned man with pitch black hair spoke first “Warrant Officer third class Caleb Abdul, Zeta-4.” He gave a smile before reaching for a handshake. Henry responded in kind which caused both Carter and the other two pilots to gasp. A tall blonde man whispered to his partner, but Henry heard him clearly “commoner scum” which caused Henry to glare. The other pilot almost slapped the blonde man’s hand. A soft voice spoke up denoting that the other pilot was a woman, however, he could not see her features hidden beneath the void suit. “Ensign Amelia Suldatte of the house of the same name. Zeta-3" The blonde man scoffed but to his effort removed his helm. He was sort of handsome Henry thought. “sub-lieutenant Isacc Ishola of house Grieves, Zeta-2, at your service lieutenant.” Henry nodded before noticing their fighters.

  Henry stared at the fighters with a bit of excitement. The FM-V “Star Hawk” was lifted from the lower maintenance deck. Which launched the five pilots to board their respective craft. Upon sitting in his cockpit, Henry began craft checks. An engineer stood looming over going through a checklist. “Air intake?” Henry breathed as a fresh set of oxygen entered his system. “Check yaw thrusters?” Henry used the foot petals which he pressed lightly. The engineer looked back to see the two thrusters emit a bit of energy “good” the engineer said. “Check engine?” Henry slowly pushed the throttles, first the left, then the right, before stopping the thrusters after a thumbs up from the engineer. “Check helmet systems?” Henry this time pressed a button on his wrist forcing the craft to merge with Henry’s mind. An AI spoke in his mind “welcome Lieutenant Henry Lane.” Henry gave a thumbs up. The engineer continued the check before he sealed the cockpit with a satisfying hiss. To finalize the check, he spoke into the headset, which intuitively linked him to the rest of Zeta squad. “This is Zeta-1 check in all elements.” A confirmation from the pilots put Henry’s mind to ease for a bit.

  Then a voice spoke over his comms system. “All fighter elements, prepare for launch” Henry waited as the catapults that the Star Hawks were on led the plane towards the hangar bay. He watched as the bay opened, and Henry cracked his knuckled before resting his hand on the flight controls. The voice continued “all craft begin launch preparations.” Henry slowly pushed the throttle causing the craft to shutter slightly as it sat attached to the catapult. Then the voice spoke “glory to the crown prince, loyalty to the empire. Begin launch.” The catapult without a pause launched the leading crafts towards the bay. Reaching the end Henry pulled ever so gently causing the craft to nose outwards into the vacuum of space. His craft shuddered as he left the hangar. Then the AI in his helm highlighted a flight vector to begin circling the battleship.

  After a moment and circling the battleship twice, he saw the last of Zeta squadron leaving the hangar bay. He spoke into his helmet “all Zeta elements, form a wedge formation on me at point F345.” A unanimous affirmative responded in kind. Turing his engines off upon reaching the point he watched in nervous delight as the interception force flew off pass the light blue star. “Isn’t it pretty, sir?” Ensign carter said with trepidation. “It is” Henry said. It reminds me of the ocean at home when the sun rises over the mountains. A transmission chirped in his helm and Henry accepted swiftly. He saw the face of a tired man “lieutenant Lane, I am Captain Gregory Fulcrum of house Izbas. Just follow my orders and that of commander Foley and we will do fine. Your squadron is attached to my wing so. Hopefully we won’t have to do anything.”

  After an agonizing amount of time. Henry pulled up the tactical map that showed the IFF of the intercepting fleet. He watched as the blips of the fighters passed the sun at an increasing speed. While the small fleet designated by a series of different triangles began to interact with the traitors. Suddenly a series of alarms began to blare in his helmet. Shouting in his mouthpiece “Zeta squadron evasive maneuvers, use your after burners sparingly.” Henry watched as his squadron followed his maneuver as they evaded a sudden outburst of a wave of rockets. A voice, probably from Caleb pierced through the noise of his HUD “where the fuck did these things come from?” Amelia spoke responded first “hell if I know. Shit Zeta-3 popping flares in defense.” Henry turned his head to see Zeta-3 lurch upwards a series of burning white flares, stained with light blue erupt from the bottom of her craft. A rocket that had locked on her slammed into one of the flares belching a fiery explosion just meters away from the rest of the squadron.

  Henry spoke into his comms “Zeta-3 status report?” Amelia responded sounding a bit shaken up. “I’m fine lieutenant, where the hell did these rockets come from?” Henry furrowed his brow calling for the AI to trace the missile trajectories. His HUD began to be flooded with several red lines towards points of attack. Then he saw it. The PD cannons that covered the Prince’s Fervor erupt, almost blinding him. His HUD began to be filled, with the AI slightly altering direction for the craft to avoid friendly fire. “Captain Fulcrum” Henry said with a bit of concern. A ragged Captain Fulcrum appeared on the bottom left of his HUD. “What is it lieutenant?” A bit of strain showing on the captain’s face. “I believe that the enemy is using stealth vessels.” The captain’s brow raised with suspicion “and how do you know... shit” the feed fuzzed before cutting out. “Captain...captain Fulcrum?” Henry shouted with concern. “AI check the status of captain Fulcrum.” The AI hummed with thought as it tried to access the information. “Unable to at this time” the AI said with a dry tone. “Hail commander Foley immediately.”

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  The aging commander’s face appeared, looking strained. “Lieutenant, what the hell is happening? I cannot raise Captain Fulcrum.” Henry’s face conveyed the apparent news to Foley. “Damn the traitors. Henry what do you have to say?” His face hinting that he might know what is going on. Henry conveyed his suspicions and to his credit Foley agreed. “Do you have a plan?” Henry nodded sending the information through laser communication. Henry veered right as a missile almost struck his craft before being destroyed by the battleship’s defensive network. The commander narrowed his eye. “Alright lieutenant, take command, as my order. Lead the wing and sink those damned vessels.” Henry nodded and ended the channel.

  Opening comms over the wing he announced, “squadron leads report status?” Two voices responded in kind “Psi-1 reading loud and clear, I am down two crafts, but we are holding.” The other spoke up, more desperate, more terrified. “This is Tau-3, Tau-1 and 2 are down.” Henry took a breath before beginning to order. “Per commander Foley’s order I am to take command. We will begin assault on the enemy at once.” He passed the information to the two leads. “Screw that, I am not taking orders from a commoner” Tau-3 said with a bit of disdain. “Besides we do not even know where they are.” Henry turned to the direction of Tau-3 before a rocket slammed into the top of the craft killing leaving behind a small field of debris. Psi-1 spoke first “I am forming my squad on your right. I am taking what is left of Tau under my command. Lead the way, sir.” Henry agreed and pointed his ship from where the rockets came from.

  “All elements begin full burn. We shall attack the enemy at once.” Pushing his throttles to their maximum. Henry sank into the seat as the G-force began to assert itself on his body. Advancing at maximum speed and closing from where the rockets came from Henry saw it. The shimmering sheen against the galaxy’s backdrop. “Attention all leads link imaging to my camera and AI begin targeting sequence.” The AI hummed unable to begin lock. Cursing within his cockpit. Henry called for his squadron to launch one of their two sparrow rockets toward the sheen. Luckily catching the vessel in a spot of vulnerability watched as the rockets five out of the ten slammed into the vessel. The shielding of which flickered and shattered. Lifting the stealth field of the vessel. Revealing a black painted frigate sized vessel. “All elements begin attack run. Wingman make sure to cover each other. Glory to the empire and loyalty to the prince” Henry roared as the comms filled with the response.

  The ten-fighter assault broke into teams of two as they began to strafe the frigate. Henry and his wingman Carter dodged and weaved, with Carter pulling behind Henry. “Going for the defense.” Henry turned his head slightly to see Carter releasing his flairs and an explosion skirting his craft. “Good one Zeta-5" Henry said with growing respect. The pair went for the quartet of engines that burned a light blue as it sped through space. “Carter, prep last sparrow rocket.” Carter agreed and the two pilots launched in tandem. They watched in silence for a second as the rockets slammed into two of the engines. Causing them to flicker off and leaving a blazing smoking trail in space. “Zeta-1, this is Psi-1, hull breach on the port side. I see atmosphere venting. Break, I think we can attack the core.” Henry nodded at the words “go for the kill” he announced with wolf like glee.

  Henry pulled his craft flying past the vessel’s bridge as Psi-1 and his wingman dived towards the breach and launched their last sparrow rocket, however, to his dismay an active PD cannon fired destroying the rocket and clipping Psi-1. Henry shouted into his helm “Psi-1 pull out.” He noticed the damage that appeared on Psi-1's craft. From his view it looked cosmetic. He turned to see the three pilots of Zeta close in firing a volley of rockets which disabled the cannon. Before Henry could order the killing blow commander Foley appeared. “Cease attack, the traitor frigate has surrendered. Lieutenant, hold position as we send a boarding party.” Henry gave his affirmation and ordered the battered wing to form defensive perimeter. He leaned forward observing Psi-1 “Psi-1 come in” Henry said. The image of Psi-1 pilot appeared on the screen and much to his surprise saw a woman with a bloody gash across her forehead. The image was choppy with bits of sparks erupting from the control board of the craft. Henry grimaced “Psi-1 return immediately, it is over. Repair and rest.” Psi-1's pilot saluted and agreed, before pulling out of rotation of the frigate.

  Henry observed the vessel with wonderment as he slowly rotated along the vessel in a helical pattern. He marveled at the vast amount of rocket ports the frigate sized vessel had. However, he grimaced at the lack of PD cannons. Which were five or so less from a standard frigate of the line. A call from Carter jumped Henry for a moment. “Good job, sir” Carter said meekly. “You too, Carter. I got to say thanks for the defense.” The ensign nodded as he peeked towards the vessel. “It is intimidating sir.” Henry nodded in agreement as he noticed three boarding shuttles enter the hangar and breach within the ship. Then commander Foley appeared before them. “Lieutenant, bring your craft back to the hangar, I am dispatching replacements and the battle is over. Good job.” Henry breathed a sigh of relief as he conveyed the orders. A cheer came over his comm network as the nine remaining craft began to fly back in extended order.

  Along the way Henry stared out towards the star. Trying to look past towards the continuing battle. However, the distance was too far for the naked eye. “AI magnify image towards point A24-47-82.” The AI responded showing a blurred image of the battle. A series of explosions, engine burn, and coil gun munitions lighting the darkened space intrigued Henry for a moment. When the hangar bay operator began to transmit landing data. Henry complied and made for landing.

  Upon activating the landing sequence, Henry watched as the AI highlighted a path for entry and with another worrying shudder entered the hangar. Feeling the landing gear release and magnetically lock with the hangar bay floor. Henry sighed as he began flipping down a series of switches that turned the craft off slowly. Before turning the AI off “thank you, lieutenant Lane, good night.” He pushed the notch on his canopy and watched through his helmet the decompression of his craft and the push of compressed air. Stepping out and using the integrated ladder leapt from his craft. Feeling for his helmet’s release catch heard the hiss of the helmet. Attaching the helmet to his waist he looked at the survivors of his wing forming in front of his craft.

  Walking closer, he saw Carter speaking with the pilots of Zeta squad and noticed him. “Attention, officer on deck.” Carter said stiffening into attention and giving a salute. Henry taken aback returned the salute and gave the order “at ease” before watching their straightened back relax. Henry opened his mouth to speak before he saw commander Foley walking towards them. Leaping into the front of the formation stiffened his back and called for attention. The commander simply dismissed it and looked at the wing. “You have accomplished a very important aspect of the operation. I applaud your endeavor. You are to remain on stand-by wait by your craft.” He looked towards Henry and beckoned him forward.

  Henry stepped forward as Foley leaned over whispering to him “good job lieutenant, but I have a question.” Henry’s ear perked in wonder “what is it sir?” Foley leaned closer “are you scheduled for the officer’s implants?” Henry almost leapt in surprise. “Implants, sir. What for?” Foley stood slack jawed. “Did you not feel the strain during the attack?” Henry nodded in response. Foley continued “well, all officers receive a set of implants for occasions like this, as well as an implant to speak with their superior officers.” Henry’s face drained of its color. Looking at a data pad Foley grimaced. “They have you scheduled by next month. I am going to push it for after the battle.” Henry looked at Foley with tiredness as Foley bid the lieutenant farewell and let Henry drag himself to his squadron.