《Fox Squadron》 Prologue Admiral Harket sat at his desk going through various datapads filled with requison requests and deployment orders when the intercom on his desk sprung to life. "Admiral the Foxkin ambassador is here to see you." Harket gave a heavy sigh and made a mental note to have a word with his secretary about using such derogatory terms when referring to the Frayin Ambassador, before asking her to show the Ambassador in. A few moments later a short, young, and rather beautiful looking woman, who looked to be in her mid twenties entered the room. She had long golden blond hair and blue eyes and would be easily mistaken as a human if not for a set fox ears atop her head and her matching tail, both the same golden blond as her hair. He had been rather shocked when he first met her and was told she was over two hundred and fifty years old. A number that is shocking enough before you converted it from the four hundred and ten day years that the Frayins used to the Terrains three hundred and sixty five day a year. Standing up from his desk to greet her. He gave her a wiry smile and asked "Ambassador Siva, what can I do for you?" Trying his best to convey that he was incredibly busy and didn''t have time for a long conversation while trying to not actually say so. The last time he had actually said he was too busy to talk long she had given him an incredibly sad look that had given him the impression that he had just beat a dog and they ended up idly chatting about various little things for the next six hours. It had taken him the better part of a month to catch up on all his work, and that was with the help of the Ambassador''s assistant who had been sent to help after she had realized just how much trouble she had caused. Admiral Harket returned to his seat as Siva sat down across from him. Her sharp eyes looked over the various items strolled across the desk before she let out a slight giggle. "It seems they have you as busy as ever. As such I shall try to keep my meeting here brief if that''s not too much trouble." "Thank you and if there is anything I can do to repay you just let me know." As soon as he had spoken he knew he had just screwed up. As Siva''s mouth curved into a sly smile as if she knew she had caught him. "Well then perhaps we can have dinner the next day you are free." The request if you could call it that left the Admiral feeling a little uneasy. Not because he found the idea of having dinner with a beautiful young woman objectionable but to put it plainly; for a human it just felt a little off to have a women who looked young enough to be his daughter, yet was actually older than him, to be so brazen in her attempt to form a relationship. Just as he was recovering from the mild shock Siva''s expression changed from that of a young school girl who had just tricked her crush into going on a date, to that of an experienced and well trained diplomat who had something gravely important to discuss. "Right. As you are aware, a large number of Frayins have moved onto Terra''s orbital ring, Torus Station" "Ah yes, I believe it was some six hundred and twenty three at the moment currently housed in section one twenty-six B." As he spoke he picked up one of the nearby datapads to confirm the most recent count. "Yes those would be the ones. Colson has done a splendid job so far but between his personal duties and the sheer number of confrontations and incidents he can''t keep up with everything. So the Imperial Navy would like to place a training squadron on Torus station. The squadron would also act as a liaison squadron and help deal with all the incidents involving Frayins in the system." If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. At this point she delicately picked out three of the datapads and held them up. "Which should significantly reduce the amount of work you would have to do." Admiral Harket looked at the three datapads filled with reports and complaints regarding Frayins and sighed. "So why are you coming to me shouldn''t you bring this to Ambassador Rothchester?" Personally it sounded like a good idea but this was definitely something that should be approved by the Terran Federation Senate and not some Admiral. Just by looking at her he couldn''t figure out what she was up to. It was a common problem when dealing with Frayin. In the end it normally turned out to be direct with one¡¯s questions rather than try and beat around the Bush looking for something to explain as to why they were doing something. Even still he was a little surprised at the answer he got. "Oh I already asked." The look of shock and confusion on his face must have been fairly evident as Siva broke into another sly smile almost like a cat that had just caught a mouse and continued her explanation. "After some debate it was decided that the final decision would be left up to you. As the squadron would be under your command. So I just simply asked if I could be the one to ask for your decision on the matter." At this she batted her eyes and gave the Admiral a look as if saying look how smart I am. After taking a moment to recover. He reached over and pressed the button on the intercom. "Sadie, cancel the rest of my meetings for the day." For the next five hours he and Siva went over all the details. Any meeting that he could miss being there in person he sent an aid, any that he couldn''t he had Ambassador Rothchester attend for him. He would get some flak for doing this but this was important and he was actually the only person who could make the decision that had to be made. In the end it was decided that Lieutenant Colson would be promoted to a 1st Lieutenant in the Frayin Imperial Navy, having a single Frayin officer of their choosing placed directly under him. The officer in question had apparently already been chosen. Then the cadets would be a mixture of Federation and Imperial academy cadets all chosen by Lieutenant Colson. With approval of each cadet following standard procedures. Do to safety concerns the squadron would have a personalized uniform designed that both Admiral Harket and Ambassador Siva had agreed would be acceptable for both the Federation and the Empire. The uniforms were ordered immediately and without review from either Navy. The decision was made that the squadron would be given a full set of Terrain TR 36 multi-roll fighters and a single dual use Frayin Precarin assault shuttle with optional torpedo bomber conversation capabilities. Each pilot would also receive a modified phase pistol that used the much better Frayin power packs. Finally, after all the details had been put in order, there was only one last thing to decide, the squadron''s name and call sign. Both Harket and Siva leaned back in their chairs. Hours had passed since they had started and they were both mentally and physically exhausted. "So all that''s left is the name." Siva just sat there staring at the ceiling for a moment before reaching over and punching something into the datapad they had been working on. She then handed it back while getting up. She yawned as she stretched. Then turned and walked to the door. Harket just sat there and watched as her tail swade back and forth as she walked. When she reached the door she pressed the open button and turned back and said "Now remember you promised we would have dinner together the next day you were off." Loud enough to ensure that his secretary had heard and understood her. For a moment Harket thought about arguing with her about it but having considered all the decisions he and Siva had just unilaterally made that both governments were just going to have to live with. He decided it was just as fair. Look back down at the datapad she had handed back to him. He read the name she had punched in and laughed. Of all the names she could have picked. On the line Stating the squadron''s name it read Fox Squadron. Chapter 1 Assignment Orders Revision #1,237 Issue Date 12:20 7/23/255,555 GY Name: Michael Orizeky Rank: Cadet t Age: 14. Race:Frayin. Homeworld: Fraya. Hair: short Scarlet. Fur: Scarlet. Eyes: Scarlet. Skin: Tanned. Height: 5ft,4in weight: 125lb DOB: 4/16/255,541 GY Parents Father: The Holy Emperor Tiberius Oriseky. Mother: Malika Singso. Mirin: Not applicable Cadet Michael is hereby assigned to the newly formed Training Squadron aboard Taurus Station, Section one twenty-six A,Terra, Sol System for the purpose of practical experience and training. This Squadron has been awarded the callsign of FOX and shall hereafter be referred to as Fox Squadron. Standing Orders Fox Squadron''s duties shall include, but not be limited to, the training of both Imperial and Terran Federation Cadets as well as act as the designated Liaison Squadron and shall handle all disputes and conflicts between the residents of Taurus Station, Section one twenty-six B, the local populist and Imperial citizens. Cadet Michael is ordered to report to deck 3 compartment 237 aboard the Aurora by 16:20 7/23/255,555 GY. ALL requests for transfers or reassignments shall be Denied! Michael slowly moved the long thin practice sword through the various stances of the dueling form he had been taught while growing up. While at the Academy he would normally go find one of the senior male cadets and request a sparring match. Now that he was on the Aurora this wasn''t really possible. Unfortunately, the Aurora had what would be considered a more normal crew composition as compared to the Academy. That of course being that it was predominantly female. So now he was stuck waiting for one of the thirty six or so girls that were currently in the physical training room to work up the courage to ask him for a sparring match. He could just ask one of them for a match himself but that would likely lead to far more trouble than it was really worth. So for now he was stuck going through stances until one of them finally worked up the courage and asked him for a match. In his experience this normally took about twenty minutes. So it was very surprising when one of the girls approached him after only seven. "Excuse me." Michael glanced over at the girl who was the source of the silvery voice that had just addressed him. The petite girl was about the same height as he was and was currently wearing the standard Academy PT gear that he was. That consisted of a pair of gray shorts and a white short sleeve shirt. Other than this she also had a training helmet on. The helmet itself covered the entire head, including her ears, and had a visor that was set over the eyes. The front of the ears were covered with a black mesh screen to allow the wearer to still be able to hear. Even so, he could tell that the color of her fur was a bright silver because of her tail. Curiously, when he had entered the room he hadn''t noticed any one with bright silver fur. It''s something he was positive he would have noticed as it was a color that was just as rare as his. "Would you like to have a sparring match with me?", she asked. At first Michael wasn''t sure how to respond. Her strange demeanor had a weird familiarity to it and he wasn''t quite sure why. He didn''t really have time to dwell on this though as the entire room was currently watching and waiting for his response. "Of course. I would be glad to have a sparring match with you." She maintained the same pleasant little smile as he answered. ¡°Wonderful" as she spoke she turned toward the center of the room and clasped her hands behind her back. "Then I believe the center ring is currently available." She said, looking back over her shoulder before walking to the ring. Michael followed after a few moments. Everyone in the room was currently watching them. Most were simply trying to figure out who this brazen little commoner girl was. Who had walked into the room and without any hesitation asked the Prince to spar with her. Others were trying to gage what her angle in all this was. As for Michael himself, he was simply giving her a quick once over as she took her position in the ring and positioned herself into a fighting stance. She was pretty, he had to admit. With those long shin legs, the gentle soft curves to her body, light tanned skin, and the mischievous little smile on her face. She looked like she didn''t have a care in the world. He figured it might be fun to let her in close and play with her a little bit before ending the match. He smiled at the thought of getting to see. He blushed as he turned to face her. "Ready when you are." He said as he put his helmet on and shifted into a fighting pose. This would be a quick simple match. She was using the style created by the Imperial Navy to take advantage of its user''s agility and flexibility in close, narrow quarters and favored combat against multiple opponents. On the other hand he was using a style that was created to make use of its users strength and power and favored single combat. He had all of the advantages here and he knew it. The counter in the corner of his vision quickly began counting down. Five, four, three, two, he couldn''t tell if she was more nervous or giddy as she bounced on her heels in time to the count, one. There was a quick beeping indicating the start of the match. In that exact moment the girl had launched forward in a blinding fast lunge. It had been so quick in fact that Michael had actually felt the metal of her blade touch his neck before he managed to deflect the blade and side step behind her. Despite the short moment of shock he still managed to reach out and grab her around the middle and pull her into a hold, locking her left arm to her side. While at the same time using his own blade to hold the tip of hers to the ground. He looked over with a wicked smile. Only to catch her looking back over her shoulder at him. "Oh, how sweet." She said as their eyes met. She had a sweet smile on her soft lips that gave an impression of a cat who had just caught a mouse. Before he could react she latched onto his arm that was holding her and pulled her feet off the ground. The sudden shift, as 95lb of weight was added to the front of his body, threw him off balance causing them both to start falling forward. The moment he passed the point where he couldn''t recover she planted her feet back on the ground and used his own weight and momentum to throw him through the air to the other side of the ring. Michael stared up at the ceiling from where he had landed on his back. His sword was about two feet to his right as he laid there on the ground contemplating exactly how stupid he was. When she called out to him. "Soooo. If you are done ogling me now. Maybe we can go ahead and have a real match." He could feel the heat rush to his face. As stupid as it was he had spent less time admiring her body he probably wouldn''t be on his back right now. Grudgingly turned over, picked up his sword and looked back to where she was patiently waiting for him to recover. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. This time he actually paid attention to more than how she looked. Her legs were positioned left foot in front of the right and slightly to the right instead and not directly in front of it. Her back was straight and she was taking smooth, evenly timed breaths. Her grip on her sword was gentle yet firm, with the blade slightly pointed forward. Her smile was one of confidence and she had a sharp look in her dark colored eyes. She was not playing around and she was not hesitant. More importantly though the style she was using was not the Imperial Navy''s style but a duling style taught to high ranking female nobles. Michael positioned his blade in a middle guard position and wondered where in the name of the Holy Flame had she learned that. As soon as he was ready she lunged forward once again on the attack. This time they were both cautious. Their two blades rang out in a series of rapid blows as they tried, and failed, to find an opening in their opponent''s defense. Twice Michael managed to get a hold of her and each time she had used the hold to pivot around and launch a counter attack. The girl continued to dance around him. Each time she darted in with a series of quick strikes. He would repel each of these by forcing her to retreat back with a powerful blow or an attempted grab. Periodically Michael would push the attack forcing her to continue to dodge and parry each strike of his sword before she would finally manage to get some distance between them and return to probing his defenses. Michael had completely lost track of how long the match had gone on when he found his opening. As she darted in to make a high horizontal slash, Michael shifted his weight to bring his own blade down toward her in a vertical strike that forced her into a high two handed block. As soon as her left hand sprung up to help hold her own blade steady, Michael reached forward and grabbed both of her wrists in a single smooth movement and immediately pulled straight up and behind him. Forcing her to drop her sword and pulling her body right up against his. With barely any hesitation at all, she once again picked her feet up off the ground in an attempt to throw him off balance again. This time though he was ready and braced for it. Once again he found himself looking right into her eyes. Then she planted her feet on the front of his legs and pushed, sending them both tumbling to the floor. Michael once again found himself looking up from his back. This time, with the girl leaning forward on top of him and spradling his waist. For a moment they didn''t move both panting and out of breath as sweat dripped down their faces. Across their visors were the words, RING OUT TIE. With each breath Michael was assaulted with the sweet smell of Snowdrops that lingered around the girl. It was a smell he was familiar with and one that he loved. His heart raced as he thought it couldn''t be. The odds were just against it. Yet he couldn''t take his eyes off her as she stood up and removed her helmet, allowing her long shimmering silver hair to fall down to just below her shoulder blades. She turned back to him with her brilliant smile and dark brown eyes before speaking. "Well that was fun. We will have to do it again sometime." He barely managed to give her a stunned nod before she turned and slowly walked out of the room. Seeming impervious to the looks she received as she left. Michael sat there in a stupor as she left. His mind was racing. It was her. He was positive of it. The odds that there would be more than one girl around his age with dark brown eyes and bright silver fur and hair were astronomical. Let alone for those two girls to have the exact same smell. So it must be the same girl from six years ago. That he was positive of as he finally shook himself out of his stupor and got up to go after her. He exited the training room only to find the corridor empty and with no signs as to where she could have gone. He cursed his own stupidity. How could he have just sat there like an idiot as she left. This was the second time he had completely forgotten to ask for her name! Michael made the trip back to his bunk room in silence. His thoughts raced as he tried to work out a way to find that girl again. As he entered he took a quick moment to note the changes between now and when he had first moved in his gear almost an hour ago. This was something he had first been taught to do when he was five. Now it was just something he did without thinking. The first thing he noted was the number and location of the occupant of the room. Most of the occupants were Cadets like himself. Four of them were sitting on the left side and the fifth was currently resting in one of the four narrow bunk bays in the back of the room. Each bunk bay had a bunk bed on the left side and a set of three lockers with a single bunk on top of them. All except the bay on the far right of the compartment. This bay had a single bunk on the left side and a desk and locker on the right. It also had the only non Cadet in the compartment in it. The second was to simply identify everyone in the room. The four Cadets talking in the lounge area were all one he either knew of before arriving or had at least met when he first arrived. The ones he had met when dropping off his gear earlier were Amara Drenal and Elvira Halana both Standard Cadets like himself. Amara had long blonde hair, light brown fur and bright blue eyes. She was a well out spoken and polite girl. When she wasn''t setting up some strange or stupid game that is. Elvira was a rather shy girl and soft spoken. In fact she hadn''t said three words to, well anybody since he had met her. She had shoulder length brown hair, brown eyes and blue fur that was so dark it was almost black. Then there was newcomer Eric Rendal, the only male in the group. He had short brown hair and fur, and hazel eyes. He was the first son of the Governor of the largest sector in Frayin space. It looked like he had only recently arrived and was moving into the first bay. Though they had never officially met, Michael had been required to attend several parties in which Eric had also been attending. He was also a standard Cadet. The last one was Kelly Albeen. She and her brother, who was currently sleeping in the second bunk bay, were both rather infamous at the Academy. They had a reputation for not working well with others. Both were SR Cadets and had short brown hair, blue fur and copper colored eyes. Michael had decided when he first arrived and seen, that the first bay had two female Cadets already in it and the second had the rather infamous Twins, that he would take his chances with the third bay that currently had no one in it. When he had checked, he did find that one of the lockers and the bed above them had already been taken. This suited him fine considering the alternatives. So he claimed the middle locker and the bottom bunk as his own. Then changed into his PT gear and headed to the physical training room. Now that he was back he immediately went to his own bunk bay and opened his locker.Though he didn''t take much note of it, the third locker and the bunk above his now appeared to have been claimed while he was gone. Neither of his bunk mates were currently anywhere in sight though. So he didn''t put much thought into it and grabbed everything he needed including a clean uniform and turned to head to the showers connected to the main room. He also chose to ignore Amara as she tried to talk to him on his way there. He really didn''t feel like entertaining her with some ideal chatter at the moment. Nor did he pay any mind to the sound of water hitting tiles as he entered the shower room, still lost in thought on how to meet that girl again. His train of thought did come to a screeching halt though as he was about half way through removing his PT shirt, when a small high pitch squeak followed by a small clattering noise, quickly refocused his attention back to his surroundings. In front of him standing under the shower spray were two, very naked girls. For a single moment the three of them actually froze in place staring at each other. The brush that had been dropped now forgotten. Now it wasn''t even unusual for different sexes to use the same showers, even at the same time for that matter. So that wasn''t a problem. However the current scene was rather unusual. This mostly had to do with the people who were involved and the actions each of them were currently taking. Michael the son of the Holy Emperor and member of the Royal Family had, without a word or sound entered the showers and began undressing in In front of what appeared to be a JR Cadet t who was currently being washed by the very same brown eyed, silver girl he had just been thinking about. The source of the squeak that he had heard was the smaller girl whose face was currently beat red and wide eyed.The word awkward didn''t seem to quite cover the moment. Though fortunately after his heart had restarted, he did come to the realization that the smaller girl he had mistaken as a JR Cadet was actually a 17 year old SR Cadet named Tali Findire. Which actually somehow seemed made the situation worse if one could believe. Tali was a little commoner girl from some remote farming world. However she was also the Cadet t with the best piloting scores ever at the Academy. She was actually quite famous for it. This was the first time he had actually seen her. She was mabe an inch or two shorter than he was. Her long dark brown hair down that fell down to the middle of her back. Her eyes almost look like small green emeralds. Her fur was golden brown. Like all Frayins a thin strip fur ran all the way down to the base of her tail, wrapping around her small petite body only to cover her breasts and then again to cover her lower body similar to the way a pair of really short shorts would. Overall she gave off the impression of a small animal that you want to protect. It was oddly endearing The brown eyed silver girl currently had her hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter at the absurdity of the whole situation. Her silver fur only covered a little more than what a two piece swimsuit would cover. Her figure was actually better than what he had thought when he had first seen her. Her clothes apparently did a very good job at hiding her figure. Michael did his best to not stare at the two girls. He failed rather miserably at this task. As his eyes took in every inch of the two beautiful young girls in an attempt to commit it all to memory The brown eyed silver girl, as he had taken to referring to her in absence of a name, was the first to break the rather awkward moment. "So, you followed me all the way into the shower. Have you come to have your way with me and my poor little friend here?" Both Michael and Tali turned and stared at her. The looks on their faces seem to say ''did you really just say that?'' Michael was at a complete loss for words. He had dealt with aggressive girls before. Comes with the territory of dealing with nobles. But this was different. It was as if she had no care or concern that he was a Royal or that she was a commoner. It baffled him. All he could do was shake his head as he wordlessly finished taking the rest of his clothes off and entering the shower himself at the end and as far away from the two girls as he could of course. Even from ten feet away he could feel both pairs of eyes looking into his back. A moment later the girl spoke once again. "My name is Tiara by the way." Michael turned just enough to see the two girls. Tiara was standing there smiling back at him with that same mischievous smile from before. As soon as their eyes met she turned and grabbed ahold of Tali''s arm and pulled her close "Come on Tali I want to brush your tail." The bewildered Tali could do nothing to stop the raging storm, that was Tiara as she was dragged off to the nearby bench to dry off and be brushed. Michael for his part turned the shower to cold and did his best to ignore the small squeaks and muffled moans Tali made as Tiara brushed her tail while hoping against hope that no one in the lounge was listening through the door. Chapter 2 Chapter 2 Assignment Orders Revision #1,052 Issue Date 13:23 7/23/255,555 GY Name: Tali Fendraya Rank: SR Cadet Age: 16. Race:Frayin. Homeworld: Acorea. Hair: Long Dark Brown. Fur: Golden Brown. Eyes: Emerald Green. Skin: Tanned. Height: 5ft, 1/8in weight: 92lb DOB: 6/02/255,539 GY Parents Father: Hondor. Mother: Reshel Fendraya Mirin: Thena Velez, Senay Fila, Rele Fendraya Siblings Mali, Kali. {expand list} Sr. Cadet Tali is hereby assigned to the newly formed Training Squadron aboard Taurus Station, Section one twenty-six A,Terra, Sol System for the purpose of practical experience and training. This Squadron has been awarded the callsign of FOX and shall hereafter be referred to as Fox Squadron. SR Cadet Tali is hereby transferred from the large ship piloting program to the fighter pilot program effective immediately. Transfer is compulsory and all request for reversal shall be denied effective Revision #923 {linked revision} Standing Orders Fox Squadron''s duties shall include, but not be limited to, the training of both Imperial and Terran Federation Cadets as well as act as the designated Liaison Squadron and shall handle all disputes and conflicts between the residents of Taurus Station, Section one twenty-six B, the local populus, and Imperial citizens. SR Cadet Tali is ordered to report to deck 3 compartment 237 aboard the Aurora by 16:23 7/23/255,555 GY. ALL requests for transfers or reassignments shall be Denied! She was completely at a loss. Tali hadn¡¯t had much contact with boys throughout her life. Her homeworld was a relatively recent colony world that hadn''t quite reached population stability so her experience with males was limited to her younger brother and a single teacher at the academy. Otherwise she generally avoided them, which wasn''t exactly hard to do with the population difference being what it was. Though this wasn''t something she would be able to continue doing. Not with at least four members of the squadron being male. Though it was still quite a shock to have one said male walk in on her in the showers. The strange girl Tiara hadn¡¯t helped either. Dragging her off to brush her tail and fur with the boy still there like that had only made it worse and she had been suspiciously good at it as well. In the end she had ended up flushed almost as scarlet as the boy¡¯s hair. It was embarrassing and made worse when she left the showers as Amara and Elvira had actually been sitting at the door listening to what was going on inside. The two girls immediately looked at each other before launching into a stream of questions. That came so quickly that she couldn¡¯t even keep track of half of them let alone answer them. Taking advantage of the two finally needing to breathe she finally managed to ask. ¡°Umm what are you two talking about?¡± ¡°Wait don''t you know who that was?¡± Amara excitedly asked. Tali just gave her a sideways look to indicate that she didn''t have a clue as to what the taller girls were talking about. ¡°Tali! That was Prince Micheal Orizeky!¡± she exclaimedA case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. It took her a moment to process this. ¡°Oh¡± she said rather bewildered before doing what any commoner girl from a remote agro world would do in such a situation. She fainted. When she finally came to she was laying in her bunk Tiara was currently lay in her bunk.
Tali pulled the stick back hard as her fighter''s shields flared from the two beams of energy The Lieutenant''s fighter raked across them. The inertial dampeners In her ship whined all throughout the sharp climb. Before the dampeners could adjust to the new orientation she threw the throttle control all the way to max and burned hard to get some distance from her opponent. She couldn''t help but wish that she was back in the bunk room still unconscious on the couch, instead of in a simulator having an eight on one dogfight with the literal best pilot in the empire. She quickly recycled the shields as Eric¡¯s voice came over the comms. ¡° Redirect to point 1,7,5,3¡± hearing this she quickly adjusted her heading. Eric¡¯s fighter was heading straight towards her at full speed. With a flick of a switch she disabled the flight assist allowing the fighter to maintain speed towards Eric as she turned the long nose of hers around to face the direction she had just come from. The turn finished just in time for her to see the Lieutenant launch a couple of missiles at her. Without even thinking she pulled the trigger, two thin ornge beams of energy fired out from the wing tip mounted phaser cannons hitting the missiles before they could reach her. Even before the explosions dissipated she toggled her weapons and sent a burst of fire from her nose gun into the Lieutenant''s shields. As soon as the glow of Eric¡¯s engines entered her view Tali threw the throttle back to full power and toggled the flight assist propelling her fighter forward. The overpowered magnetic field on the two fighters pulled at each other quickly bringing her up to the same speed as Eric. Two anti fighter missiles fired out of the small ports on the main hull of Eric¡¯s ship. They both followed this up with a steady stream of phaser fire. Only for the Lieutenant to snap shot the missiles and subsequently tank and dodge the phaser beams. ¡°Eric evasive action! NOW!¡± Tali screamed into her com unit as she performed a change in direction that would have torn any Imperial ship in half. Even still the entire fighter winned in protest at the hard turn. For a moment she thought the inertial dampeners would actually fail as the G forces pushed her down into her seat. From there she could look up to watch the Lieutenant perform an equally impossible turn while putting three shots from his nose cannon into the bottom of Eric¡¯s fighter, causing it to turn into a brillant fireball. With that Tali found herself running from the Lieutenant again. All Six engines on Talis'' fighter flared as she threw all available power into them. Periodically her shields would shimmer as she took some long range fire from behind her. After the fifth shot hit her shields she reorientated the magnetic field and recharged the shields. Finishing just in time for the next volley to disrupt them again. She could only watch as the shield display showed that the shields were not quite fully recharging to full in between volleys. It was only a matter of time before he got her through simple attrition. She was just about ready to give up when the fighter''s main computer beeped to inform her it had just finished its calculations. The sudden deceleration and turn happened so quickly that the Lieutenant didn¡¯t even manage to rack her with fire before he blew past her. It would have been a great opportunity if She hadn¡¯t needed to divert all her weapon power into the thrusters to perform the maneuver. The race was on though. All she had to do was get into comms range with the four cripled fighter she and Eric had been protecting. Looking forward she could see them. Five thousand kilometers out. She could tell that The Lieutenant had figured out what she was doing as he was running parallel with her heading for the other. The power core whirling behind her as she pushed it to it¡¯s absolute limit. The Lieutenant reached missile range just before she reached comms range. The missiles streaked towards the four fighters as she sent the calculations and instructions on what to do. At the same time she grabbed the red knob behind the throttle and pushed it all the way forward. Somehow the power core seemed to hum and whirl even louder. She had just enough time to watch the four fighters blink out of existence just before the missiles reached them as she drew the throttle back and slammed to max. Causing the view outside the cockpit to immediately go black. ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­ The simulator''s cockpit slid open revealing Tali¡¯s lithe form laying back with her eyes closed in the flight chair. As other Cadets began bombarding her with questions, Michale took a moment to look back at the twords where the tech for the simulator room was currently yelling at the Lieutenant. Apparently they were arguing about whatever it was that had crashed the simulator system. If what little he could overhear was true it had caused cascading failures throughout the ship''s main computer, forcing it to drop out of Trans-space. So it didn''t seem like he was going to get an answer from them so he decided to join the group around Tali hoping that she might have some idea as to what had happened. When he slipped into the group crowding around her, he could see she was holding out a datapad. It was the same pad that every member of Fox Squadron had been given to study during the ten minutes they were waiting to use the sims. On the pad was the flight manual for the fighters they had used in the simulators; it was currently open to the standard equipment page. At first he wasn''t sure why she was showing them they had all at the very least skimmed this section looking for the ships defense and drives, but there wasn''t anything really crazy on the list, they would have noticed if it did. So it was amazing just how stupid the highlighted words made him feel.There clear as day was the words Spatial Field Emitters. ¡°HOW BY THE GREAT SPIRITS DOES A FIGHTER HAVE A TRANS-SPACE DRIVE!¡± Michale shouted. Everyone in the room stood in shocked silence, even the tech and The Lieutenant had fallen silent. Somehow now that it was spoken out loud it didn''t seem real. In fact this had even been the reason the computers had crashed. Nothing in their programming could allow them to accept such a small ship to be capable of jumping to Trans-space on their own. It should be impossible. ¡°Not impossible, just highly improbable¡± the smooth female voice that had just responded to what they had all just been thinking suddenly spoke out causing them all to jump. Michale quickly turned around to see that the source of the voice was a strange Frayinoid figure being projected from the small hollow emitter up in the sim¡¯s control center. ¡°Now let me introduce myself. I am Nayomi and I will be Fox Squadrons tactical support AI.¡± We all stood in silence at this declaration. At this point one thing was certain this would not be a standard assignment. Chapter 3 Chapter 3 Assignment Orders Original issue Issue Date 7:23 7/10/255,555 GY Name: Tiara Fairsteen Rank: Cedet Age: 15. Race:Frayin. Homeworld: Tanbera. Hair: Long Silver. Fur: silver. Eyes: Brown. Skin: Tanned. Height: 5ft, 2in weight: 98lb DOB: 6/02/255,540 GY Parents Father:Redacted Mother: Gena Fairsteen Mirin: Redacted. Siblings Trina. Cadet Tiara is hereby assigned to the newly formed Training Squadron aboard Taurus Station, Section one twenty-six A,Terra, Sol System for the purpose of practical experience and training. This Squadron has been awarded the callsign of FOX and shall hereafter be referred to as Fox Squadron. Standing Orders Fox Squadron''s duties shall include, but not be limited to, the training of both Imperial and Terran Federation Cadets as well as act as the designated Liaison Squadron and shall handle all disputes and conflicts between the residents of Taurus Station, Section one twenty-six B, the local populus, and Imperial citizens. Cadet Tiara is ordered to report to deck 3 compartment 237 aboard the Aurora by 8:22 7/18/255,555 GY. For the remaining two weeks, the trip was an exhausting schedule of classes and training. In the morning there would be lectures given by Nayomi about various topics involving the Terrans. From basic culture to the complex political climate. Then three hours of physical training and ending with two hours in the simulators each day. Naturally when The Lieutenant informed them they would be getting the next day off, they had all cheered. By mid day they had found themselves in one of the forward common rooms on the Aurora. They had tried to simply stay in bed and sleep the day away but The Lieutenant had very quickly thrown them out of the bunk room after letting them sleep in for a few extra hours. Tiara had found herself looking out the viewport at the blue white glow of trans-space. Across the table Michael was half watching her with Tali asleep, her head on his shoulder. She was fairly sure that under normal conditions he wouldn''t have allowed such a thing, but was simply too tired to really care at the moment. For a moment she thought it might be fun to tease him over it but the slight twist of reality called her attention. ¡°We are about to drop out of Trans-space,¡± Tiara suddenly said. Micheal seemed to feel the shift coming just a moment later before the space outside the viewport returned to normal. The shift caused Tali to let out a little squeak before looking around confused for a moment before sinking back into her seat. Beyond the viewport a corvette sized ship, whose design looked like it was based off a bird of prey, was moving into an escort position next to the Aurora. It was an odd ship, in that it had a large fixed cannon under each of its wings. If Tiara remembered correctly, one of the lectures had shown this to be a Terran Hawk class frigate. The two cannons were actually rail guns. It was also equipped with short range missile batteries and hidden phaser cannons. If one didn''t know better they would assume that this was some kind of civilian light freighter. Which was probably the point. "So how is that even classified as a frigate?" Kell commented as he and Kira sat down at the table. "I mean it''s so small there is no way it could have enough power to qualify." Kira explained as if she had been the one to ask the question. "It''s not really hard to figure it out. The Terrans have seven Class Seven technologies." Half the common room turned to look at her. While most of them were probably trying to gauge if she was lying or not, Michael on the other hand was staring at her for a completely different reason. Only those with an Alpha-Theta 4 or higher clearance should have known that. Fourchently before he could even start to question her on this the holo board in the center of the table came to life. Naomi¡¯s now familiar figure showed up in place of the normal game board that should have been the only thing that could have appeared. "She is right. Though four of those are direct extensions of the Terran''s power generators." She said before her hologram placed her hand on her chin as if she was thinking about something. "However most of the Terran''s technology is actually high 3 to low 5 in level.¡± For most that would be a lot to unpack. Unfortunately for them they wouldn¡¯t be getting the time to process it. No sooner had Nayomi finished speaking, a call bleared out over the ship''s PA calling the members of Fox Squadron to report back to their bunk room. A short junt later they all arrived and were told they had six hours to be ready and on the shuttle to Taurus Station. Tali was then informed that she would be the pilot, which sent the poor girl scrambling to get her stuff packed so she could get to the shuttle and get preflight checks done. Though it did take long to track the few bits of clothes that hadn''t quite made it back to them. Cadets were not given a lot to start with for this reason. So six hours later they arrived in the main hangar which was humming with activity. It took them a few minutes to actually find their transport. They all stared at the Assault Shuttle in disbelief. The top of the line shuttle looked fresh out of the factory and was just barely big enough to fit them all in a tight squeeze. ¡°This is not going to be a normal assignment if they are giving us an Assault Shuttle.¡± Tiara said, voicing the thought they were all likely sharing.
Tiara was definitely glad that she had taken the initiative to enter the shuttle first, If only because it lets her take the nav-station in the cockpit instead of the now crowded troop compartment. This also gave her a great view of the system''s sixth planet as they left the hangar of the Aurora. It was a large gas giant with thousands of beautiful rings of ice and rock spread out around it on a plain from its equator. The entire thing glissend like thousands of little stars in the light of the distant sun. The three of us in the cockpit stared for a moment before we had to return to the task of guiding the shuttle to its destination.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. ¡°Tiara plots a course to the third planet from here.¡± The Lieutenant ordered from the copilot''s seat. This snapped the girl''s attention back to the task at hand. Taking a quick look over the nav-station¡¯s read outs she found the fastest route would take them past the fourth planet, using its gravity well to sing the ship towards the third planet. The entire trip would take roughly thirty minutes. Just enough time for her to get a good sensor sweep of the system, which turned up some interesting results. There was an asteroid belt between the fourth and fifth planets that showed signs of multiple simi hidden statons. Way beacons indicating where travel corridors were set up to get past the belt. The reason they had had to leave the Aurora appeared to be that all three corridors that were large enough to accommodate her currently had ships lined up waiting to get through. What didn¡¯t make sense though was why. The belt wasn''t exactly larger and really only covered the equatorial plane. So why limit ships to the corridors in the first place? Turned out she would get an answer to that question sooner than expected. A mid-seized freighter had just decided that it wasn''t worth the wait and started moving past the belt outside one of the corridors. It only made it halfway before two Pirate Cruisers slipped out of their hiding spots within the belt they were hiding. The first ship moved directly towards the freighter, while the other moved to intercept two military Destroyers that were moving to save the freighter. Suddenly the Shuttles sensors went nuts as the four combat ships began putting out power signatures and charged their weapons. With a flash of light the second cruiser fired at the two approaching Destroyers. The massive magnetically charged shell crossed the gap between the ships in fractions of a second. Tiara couldn''t have told anyone why but she was sure that it was going to be deflected past the two ships. She wasn''t even sure why she thought this herself, but sure enough there was a flash of colorful lights around the front of the first Destroyer as the shell was forcefully slowed and pushed away from the ship, turning the hit into a near miss. She could only guess how powerful the magnetic field on that ship had to be to deflect an object traveling a fraction the speed of light. Even more impressive though was when they returned fire on the cruiser. The two shells from the Destroyers crossed the distance at what must have been a speed nearly twice that of the Cruiser¡¯s shell. They even showed magnetic disturbances around them as their electromagnetic charge interacted with the solar winds. Yet still even with them smashing through the Cruiser¡¯s equally impressive magnetic field the shells only managed to do moderat damage to it. Though it did give the Cruiser enough of a shock to decide this wasn''t a fight it really wanted to have. It looked like the exchange would likely go on for a few more minutes, so Tiara reported it to The Lieutenant and thanked the Spirits that they were on the other side of the system. The remainder of the trip was fairly uneventful. When they passed near the fourth planet she noted it showed signs of having been terraformed. There was also a nearby debris field filled with half destroyed ships. Based off of the designs it was probably the remains of the Gravarin fleet that was destroyed during the first contact incident. The battle itself had made news across the galaxy. It wasn''t every day that some random race was discovered and then defeated one of the major powers. Then came the third planet Terra, their home world. The mid-sized planet had a massive station wrapped around its equator. According to the shuttle''s sensors the circumference of the station at its closest point to the planet was around 265,000 km, was 1 km deep and one hundred and fifty meters tall. Tiara herself had seen massive generational super structures but this was definitely the largest she had ever seen. It was even possible that it was the largest orbital structure in the galaxy. It was quite possible that it could hold the entire population of the planet it was set around. Tali hit the intercom back to the troop bay. ¡°You guys are not going to believe this. They have a station that is so big it goes around their entire planet¡± a moment later the door into the cockpit opened and Michael stepped through with Eric and Amara pearing in behind him. He stared out the view port for a moment before asaking The Lieutenant. ¡°I thought the Terrans had only been a space faring race for the last one hundred years?¡± None of them wanted to take their eyes off the massive station. It felt like that despite the thing''s massive size it would simply vanish if they did. ¡°That is what the reports say.¡± he responded somewhat dryly. They all jumped when a sharp beeping sound suddenly came from the comms unit. Tiara quickly put her commlink back on and responded to the incoming hail. It turned out to be a command and control operator who was calling to give them landing instructions. Curiously there wasn''t any delay or overlap that was associated with someone using a translator. Was she Frayin? She wondered, at least until the operator said something that was rather alarming. ¡°Be advised that this will be a Zero G landing in an active hangar.¡± A few moments passed and the operator must have gotten a little worried when Tiara didn¡¯t respond. Instead of responding to the slowly panicking operator on the comms Tiara slowly turned to the rest of the cockpit and repeated what she had just been told. What happened next was probably a testament to the training they had reserved or at the very least Tali¡¯s skills. No sooner than she had said the words did Micheal turn and yell for everyone to lock themselves and anything near them down as he quickly moved back into the troop bay. Tali gave them all of six seconds to do so before flipping off the ship''s internal gravity and unbuckling herself from the pilot''s seat, soliciting a few curses from the troop bay. She then floated up so she could access the control panels above the view port that she was too short to reach. The Lieutenant took the controls and put his own commlink on, while Tiara asked the operator to give them their approach vector. They were now getting close to the station and they could see the hangar. They could see personnel and equipment floating around inside. Not in some uncontrolled manner but in specific purposeful patterns. There was a flash of sparks as Tali finished disabling the anti drift system on the shuttle that had never been intended to be turned off, then moved back to the pilot¡¯s seat and then cut the main thrusters. All that was left was to drift in using only the emergency thrusters to guide them. It was a little unnerving to watch. Tiara wanted nothing more at the moment to be in the control of the shuttle. Not that she thought she could do a better job than Tali or The Lieutenant, but it was comforting for a pilot to be in control of the craft they were in. She briefly wondered if it would have been better or worse to not be able to see what was going on as they passed through a blue field at the entrance of the hanger. It must have been a gravity field as she could feel it pass over her as they went through it. The pull was just enough to change the course of the shuttle so that it would drift to an empty area in the back of the hangar. To Tali¡¯s credit despite several near misses with people or equipment she held their course all the way to the empty area. Then with a loud percussive sound the magnetic locks latched onto the deck of the hangar. We had a short moment to breathe before a surly looking Terran Male in a dark blue uniform with three chevrons above three inverted arcs on his sleeve keyed open the shuttle''s main hatch and told them to get out and head to the mission briefing room. A task that was made a little hard as there was no gravity between them and the door out of the hangar. Tali, Eric and Elvira were the only ones who didn''t need one of the mechanics to redirect them back to the door. Where a young Terran female with a single chevron on her sleeve helped them into the hall, that thank the Spirits had normal gravity. They were then directed to the first door on the right just past the bulkhead. Inside the room there were twelve chairs with L shaped metal surfaces on them and two Terran males in blue gray uniforms that looked like a cross between Frayin naval uniforms and the uniforms that they had seen the Terran''s in. The one on the right was a tall dark skinned (boy?) Who took a moment to look her up and down before saying "How the hell can they all be hot?" Under his breath before begrudgingly reaching into his pocket and handing the other (boy?) A couple pieces of paper. " I told you." The shorter light skinned one said. She was about to ask them what they meant and what the strange paper was about when a holo projector came to life with Naomi appearing on it. "Djimon, Orin you should be aware that Frayins have exceptional hearing and just heard everything you just said." The two Terran boys look at each other with what she thought was a look of bemusement. It was hard to tell really, since Tarrans didn''t have ears or tails to indicate such things. Their skin did change color a little though. As if to simply confirm what Naomi had said Elvira spoke up to ask them a question "So what do you mean by we are all hot?" The entire situation was so funny that before she knew it she was laughing. After a moment of everyone staring at her she managed to get control of herself and straightened up. "Forgive me you were all just staring at each other with these confused looks that I couldn''t help myself." She managed to say. This seemed to put the two Terran boys at ease. "Right." The dark skinned man said "Let me introduce myself. My name is Cadet Djimon Tekle and this is Cadet Orin Johnson." They all took a few moments to introduce themselves. Then just as they finished a Terran male enter the room behind them He was tall with light colored skin. He was wearing the same blue gray uniform as the two boys but had one significant difference. On his collar was a gold symbol with four circles in a diamond formation connected by four lines connecting the diamond and a single gold circle in the middle. The Terran wearing a Frayin naval Lieutenant''s insignia looked over the room before speaking in a clear solid voice. "Looks like you''re all here. Allow me to introduce myself to those of you who don''t know me. I am Lieutenant Colson, the leader of Fox Squadron.