One Good Soldier

FM-12s in fighter mode,' Stavros replied. From the sound of his voice, DeathRay was pretty certain that the kid was about to squeeze the HOTAS into oblivion. Fish would calm him down.

'Good eyeballs, Navy2. Hold our present vector until I say otherwise. Colonel Fink, when I say 'break,' I want you to go solo and try to make a nuisance of yourself. Navy2, you stay on my wing like stink on a skunk's ass.'

'Roger that, DeathRay,' Fink confirmed.

'Uh, roger that,' Stavros replied a little hesitantly. Fish must've had to remind the kid to key the tac-net.

Jack went to full battlescape view in his DTM. The interior of the little snub-nosed mecha became transparent, allowing him to see space in every direction. He looked below to keep a bearing on where the Madira was and had his AIC plot the trajectories of the three inbound in red. They were coming fast. Damned fast.

Plot me some strategies, Candis.

Roger that, his AIC replied. Multiple traces of reds for the Marine team and blue for the Navy team spiraled around each other in his mindview. DeathRay studied them briefly until he found one he liked and then thought the others away.

That one looks good. Pass it on.

Roger that.

'All right, folks, the party is starting. Wait for my signal,' DeathRay announced. 'Now!'

DeathRay pulled his stick back and pushed the throttle full forward into a full g-loaded climb. He could tell through his DTM that Navy2 followed him and was right on his wing. Colonel Fink and Poser in Navy3 had banked left and down and away from them. The three Marine fighters stayed with DeathRay and Navy2.

'They're on our six, DeathRay, and closing fast as shit!' Stavros grunted against the g-suit.

'Hold it with me, Navy2. When I say 'now,' you hold your vector for a count of three and then toggle to bot!' DeathRay ordered.

'Roger that.'

'Three, two, one, now!' DeathRay immediately toggled the mecha from fighter to bot. He could see his wingman streak by him in a red blur. 'Fox three!' he shouted as the Ares-T fighter tossed a mecha-to-mecha missile simulator at the oncoming Marine FM-12s. His fighter rolled over and reconfigured itself to an upside-down bot. The maneuver flung DeathRay through multiple direction changes pulling anywhere from minus six to plus eight gravities. He grunted, squeezed his abs, and stomped the left pedal, spinning the bot around to face the incoming planes and went to his forearm cannons.

'Guns, guns, guns!' He fired. There had been no time for targeting, but the computer scored several hits against the onrushing planes. None of them were kill shots. DeathRay kicked the thrusters in the feet of the giant armored bot downward and out of the path of the rushing Marine fighters. Two of them zipped past to Stavros while one of them pulled out and rolled over into bot mode.

'Shit, I've got two of them on me!' Stavros shouted. 'I need some help here.'

'Fox Three!' came a third voice from the net. It was Fink. The colonel might be a retired instructor, but he could still fly, and he was doing just what DeathRay had told him to do. Fink broke right across the three-nine line of the Marine fighters pursuing Stavros and put a kill shot right on Skinny. The icon for her plane turned orange, showing eliminated status.

'Thanks, Colonel!' Stavros shouted. 'I've still got one on my six!'

'Go to guns, Navy2!' DeathRay shouted at the cadet. Then he kicked his bot-mode mecha into a roll and back to fighter going full throttle just in time to get out of the way of the Marine trainer in bot mode on his ass. It was Dee. Shit. She is either good, or that's Jawbone doing the flying.

I've confirmed with Jawbone that it is her, Candis assured him.

Well, how about that. Let's take her out. DeathRay grunted as he grinned to himself, actually grinning would have taken too much effort, as he was currently pulling about nine gravities.

'Watch it, Marine2, that Navy Gomer is gunning for you!' Deuce warned Dee over the Marine channel.

'Roger that, Deuce. I see him.' Dee rolled over from bot back to fighter, stomped the right pedal and gave full left on the HOTAS. The FM-12 went into a near-flat spin and went around full circle twice before she hit the throttle to hold her in a reverse-pointing trajectory. The nose of her fighter was pointing toward the Navy fighter that was on her tail