******
Julius watched patiently as the two squadrons stared each other down, floating motionlessly above the bright duratanium steel of the Sea Wolf below them. Julius regarded his foes closely, waiting to see if they would make the first move. He realized, however, that to counter their move would be too easy for him. He needed to test their ability to counter his own before putting them through a harder test.
“Scorpion formation on my command,” he said. “Murdock, you take the lead. I will take the rear and pick off any that try to outflank you. If your numbers dwindle, I will jump in to aid.”
“Affirmative,” Murdock replied.
“Wolf Squadron, execute!” Julius commanded.
The six fighters assumed the scorpion formation, a pair of fighters taking up both flanks of the formation, with a single fighter in the middle. As Wolf Squadron closed in, they fired the first salvo against them.
Julius studied their reaction, only to see them sit idle as the initial volley narrowly missed them.
“Stinger to the left,” Murdock commanded.
This caused the squadron’s left flank to lead the attack, while the other fighters loosened their formation and slowed down to counter any move.
Just as the scorpion formation’s stinger complement fired their second volley, a bright explosion bloomed suddenly in the center of the enemy squadron. The lead fighters of Julius’ group, committed to their move, flew through it, blinding their instruments. The rear complement slowed down, trying to regain acquisition of their targets.
Julius recovered quickly; he adjusted his scanners and could see the enemy squadron diving into Wolf Squadron’s lead fighters for a strafe run against them.
“Evasive maneuvers! Break!” Julius said.
It was too late, though. Enemy fire picked off two of the fighters in the stinger complement. The simulation program shut off their engines, taking them out of the game.
The rear complement, Murdock among them, tightened their formation and rushed to the aid of the remaining fighter. Julius kicked in power to his engines and flew into the dogfight. He trailed himself behind Murdock’s wingman, waiting to engage any fighter that got behind him.
“Reestablish the initiative. I’ve got your tail covered,” Julius said.
Murdock and his wingman managed to position themselves behind two of the enemy fighters. They jinked in multiple axial directions, each trying to shake off the pursuers and get themselves into a position to take the offensive.
Julius saw a pair of fighters diving in from his nine o’clock position, trying to strafe his lead fighters. He broke away from Murdock’s tail and rose up to meet the enemy fighters. He fired his engines at full burn, aiming the nose of his ship toward the projected course of his two foes and then cut his engines off. His fighter skidded across their path, then he pitched the nose of his fighter toward them, firing at them as he strafed across their view.
The blue energy sprayed across the path of both fighters. It scored multiple hits on one of the fighters, knocking it out of the game and narrowly missing the other.
The remaining fighter, realizing his vulnerability, disengaged from Murdock and tried to turn toward Julius. By that time, however, Julius fired his engines again and skidded himself into position behind him.
The fighters danced on their axis, using thrusters to maneuver while firing their weapons at each other. Julius fired his cannons precisely to box the enemy into a more predictable pattern. Eventually, he got him where he wanted and fired an anticipatory volley that scored against his foe. Another one knocked out of the game; it was three versus three now.
Julius turned his attention to his other two fighters. Murdock and his wingman managed to take down another enemy. He rushed to join them, but as he closed in, they picked off Murdock’s wingman. That left only him and against the other two. Julius moved in to Murdock’s wing.
“Two left,” Murdock said.
“It will be easier now,” Julius said. “Let’s break apart and lure them into an Evil Twin Maneuver.”
The two fighters broke away in separate directions, for a maneuver designed to get a single fighter on each of their tails. The enemy fighters did not initially fall for it, trying instead to keep their advantage and pairing up against Murdock.
“I got two on me,” Murdock said. “Vectoring toward you,” Murdock said.
Julius rose his fighter back toward Murdock, both of them heading toward each other at high speed.
“Break high as I engage,” Julius said. “I’ll fire at the trailing fighter.”
The three fighters headed toward Julius in an unwitting collision course. As the fighters met, Murdock pitched himself high and Julius fired just under Murdock’s belly, catching the lead pursuer—but the trailing fighter fired his own volley, catching Murdock as he rose up. Julius countered with his own shots, but the trailing fighter skidded down to evade it.
Julius tried to pursue, but his inertia caused him to overshoot his foe. His opponent rotated and began to fire at Julius’ course.
Realizing his vulnerability, Julius cut his main engines and rotated his nose toward the enemy, pointing his weapons at him. He sprayed the dark space ahead of his target with accelerated protons, causing his opponent to go on the defensive.
Julius rotated his nose 180 degrees and ignited his engines briefly, then spun around again to fire cannons at his foe. He repeated the maneuver several more times until he had enough velocity and distance to get out of the enemy’s weapons cone.
The debris wall came dangerously close. Julius fought the inertia he built up to alter his trajectory. Using this to his advantage, he moved his fighter toward the wall and accelerated, leading his opponent through a radical series of maneuvers within the debris. He then rotated and shot in the opposite direction of the wall, forcing his opponent to break away or face the debris wall.
Julius reversed his course, intercepting his retreating opponent and putting himself into range for a good shot. He was about to fire when his foe executed an impressive and unpredictable series of jinks, causing Julius to lose his shot.
The two jerked their ships with their thrusters and engines, while simultaneously shooting at each other. The lances of energy launched into empty pockets of space, all missing their intended targets.
After nearly a minute of dancing, Julius hit full throttle and shot off into another direction, putting some distance between them. The other fighter darted off as well. They both rotated their ships and stabilized into a stop, facing each other at a distance. Too far to make any effective shots.
“That was some good flying, pilot,” Julius said into a broadcast channel. “Want to call it a draw?”
“Why? Afraid of losing in front of the men?” came the reply. It was Reece.
“So it was you,” Julius said. “I’m glad. I didn’t want to have to replace you with the surviving pilot.”
“Why do you keep stalling? Let’s finish this.”
“All right, pilot,” Julius said. “Your move.”
Without any apparent hesitation, Reece’s fighter accelerated straight toward him. The aggressor sprayed cannon fire wildly at him, all missing.
Julius put his engines to full acceleration, while activating his hummingbird boom at the same time. Using the device, he could perform aggressive breaking. It allowed him to counter his own inertia without thrusters.
Reece matched Julius’ course, trying to land his shots as he closed in.
Julius applied break with the hummingbird. His fighter stopped and shot off in a different direction, powered by his main engines. He then reoriented his fighter straight toward Reece, and the two headed toward each other on a collision course.
Just as the two fighters looked as if they were going to collide, a flash of light emerged from the cone of Julius’ fighter—the hummingbird boom. His inertia broke, and then his engines kicked in full, throwing Julius’ ship over Reece. He then rotated his nose t
o face Reece and fired, catching him with multiple bursts across his dorsal hull. Reece’s engines went out and his fighter automatically stabilized to a standstill.
“Good fight,” Julius said.
“That wasn’t fair,” Reece responded, obviously angered. “We didn’t have any time to learn the hummingbird.”
“You fought well enough. You need to master the basic techniques before you start playing with something as advanced as the boom.”
“Still wasn’t a fair test,” Reece said.
“It wasn’t supposed to be a fair test. Your opponent is not going to care if the odds are even. Plan on the odds always being against you, and you will succeed. Murdock, reactivate all their engines. All fighters, return to the Sea Wolf.”
“Captain—permission for me and the pilots to keep flying for a bit?” Reece’s voice came back.
Julius grinned at his new pilots’ determination.
“Very well, Reece. You and your boys can keep flying for a bit. I’d caution you against using the boom—I don’t want to be down any fighters at the end of the day. Understood?”
“Yes, Captain,” Reece said, then muttered something.
“Everyone else, back to the ship,” Julius said.