Miko felt a sudden jolt as the Kestrel and the rest of the Jakru fleet came out of light drive before an asteroid field some 200 million miles from the star Gerix. The viewport showed swarms of irregular chunks of rock floating in space, stretching as far as the eye could see, some the size of battleships.
“This should make an effective training ground,” remarked Zaul. Deral strode in lock step beside him.
A section of the field was denser than most asteroid belts, making it an ideal obstacle course in which to run a vigorous mock-combat training.
Dangerous too. Collisions could render a ship a raging inferno, if its shields were not operating at 100%.
Zaul spoke to the gathered crew in solemn tones. “Mock lasers shall run the gamut, at 1% of their force. Normal shields will catch incoming rays, render them harmless. Under no circumstances are you to drop shields. I repeat. Do not drop shields! That should be self evident—Fenli, glad that you could drop in. Over to you—”
Miko marvelled at these mechanical instruments, machines of translight capability. Ships that had conquered time and could compress ten light years into a few hours, thus bypassing a staggering journey across the endless gulfs of space from world to world. Time distortion fields, disrupters... it was a technology beyond Miko, one that had flung him into the future.
“Well, gentlemen, your move,” said Zaul, interrupting Miko’s reverie. He swept an arm out somewhat sardonically. “My men will keep you busy, if not sufficiently entertained.” All the pilots and crew piled into their respective ships: Miko, Usk, Star and Laren in Eagle 1; Sket, Berlast, Bruus and Nayon in Eagle 2. Fenli and two of Zaul’s men, Vembrod and Varon, took up the third, Eagle 3, while Zaul’s men commanded the latter two Doraxu craft, having refused Usk’s helpful attempts to instruct them after the introductory briefing. Ten Jakru lightfighters went out to harry the Doraxu and batter them royally.
One by one, the fifteen ships burst into space, while Zaul stayed back on the command bridge to monitor and assess their performances. Lexia prowled at his shoulder. She scrutinized the manoeuvres with a hawkeye, noting every nuance of what went on.
The asteroids lay strewn like a vast graveyard: of grey, misshapen chunks. Dark shadows draped their mottled faces, revealing them in all their grotesque deformities.
Usk swooped like an eagle up and over a line of rotating boulders with practiced ease, dodging the Jakru lightfighters that gave fire. Miko clutched his gun controls, watching the giant, rolling stones of death and the lightfighters, friend or foe, through his weapons’ attack viewscreen.
Usk had shown him the basic movements: up, down, long fire, short burst, cannon yaw and tilt, much of which he had assimilated in the last dog fight against the locust bots. He kept his eyes glued on the virtual screen which highlighted targets and showed blinking lights to warn of approaching enemies.
Though his movements were initially jerky and the controls overly sensitive, Miko’s military ops training kicked in, and he opened fire and pegged one of the Doraxus piloted by Zaul’s men.
Around the asteroids Usk flew and climbed, using the chunks as cover to hide behind, successively avoiding Zaul’s men’s fire. Fenli whooped through the com and his pilot Vembrod followed their stern wake with delight.
Lightfighters and Doraxus screamed past rocks, in and out, harrying each other like raiding wasps.
Usk rounded in figure eights, giving Miko scope to target Zauls’s elusive lightfighters, clearly a master of his craft. Miko cried out in triumph, opening practice fire on any targets he could lock onto. The ship rolled and spun dizzily.
Sket took the starboard guns, acting as auxiliary gunner and raked fire at the incoming bogies as Bruus moved in precision to intercept one of Zaul’s aggressive harriers.
In the same way, on Bruus’s and Berlast’s team, Sket would act as principal gunner, should the Jakru gunner be killed or wounded.
A ship came out of nowhere behind a dough-shaped mass of ice and rock, taking Miko by surprise. It peppered his ship across the stern.
“You’re dead, Lieutenant,” jeered Janel from Eagle 5, the locust gunner who had watched and treacherously assisted Zaul’s Falcon fighters.
Miko grinned. “Maybe, Corporal, but we’re in training, aren’t we?”
Miko saw him give his head a shake on the command screen.
Fenli came out of his dive, pumping hard at the controls. He drew the cannons about in a sharp sweep to rake the side of Zaul’s ship that had taken down Miko. “Ha ha!” he cried. His lasers pummelled both stern and underbelly of Miko’s aggressor.
Miko laughed alongside Fenli while Usk did a loop and reeled back to fly side by side with Fenli. In parallel formation, the two ships raged in to assault the fleeing lightfighters.
On the Kestrel’s bridge came Zaul’s rabid cry. “Fools! This is not a kindergarten tit-for-tat.”
Lexia’s voice suppressed a giggle.
“You can do better than that, Eagle 1. Even that Sket’s ham-handed spatter-fire is scoring points off you. Look lively, laggards! Falcons, included.”
“Copy that, sir,” grunted Falcon 5.
“But we can’t take them on at once,” protested Miko. “I thought we were to strike hard and warp out?”
“Those chittering locusts will make mincemeat of you if they swarm wide with their aphids. Falcon 5 and 6, give them hell!”
Zaul’s innovation included forcing the trainees to dogfight till the death until one ship remained standing. He monitored their kills and rankings, and had actual numbers from which to draw conclusions. The drilling went on for hours, both sides scoring wins and suffering losses. Fenli’s
