posted 07-20-2002 07:40 PM            

“Wolf Leader, break Right!!!!” a strained voice called out and Dayton snapped his ‘Mustang I’ defensive starfighter on its right wing and pulled the side back hard, sending the nimble and absurdly fast little fighter into a tail skid around, he kept the throttle pigged forward and felt the g-forces begin to mount as the enertial compensators lagged at the sharp and violent maneuver the beagle was putting the fighter through. The short, wiry cano had an advantage over most. The smaller you were in stature, the easier it was to handle high g-loads. Plus, you fit into the cockpit a little better too. Probably one reason Yuhon never volunteered, even though he knew the ‘Stangs inside and out. Commander McLoude would have most likely blown a head gasket too, she was a little leery at putting him in harms way anymore, especially after the whole deal that lead to the development of the Mustangs to begin with the whole Warrior Council carrier/dreadnaught.

Thank goodness there had been only one of those suckers around, and it had really proven impractical in the long run, packing all that firepower into one ship had really strained the Warrior Council’s resources. No, there probably wouldn’t be a super ship like that for a long time. However, the Space Rovers did find the fighter technology the Warrior Council had developed distressing. While they had been no more than a sting to the Galatea’s shields, stings could be deadly in sufficient numbers, and they had been too fast for the Galatea’s targeting software, which was designed for pinpoint targeting of starship systems, vessels, that while moved at immense space velocities still were nothing to fighter craft, which had absurd maneuverability.

The Mustangs were developed as a defensive measure, from a captured wreck of a Warrior Council fighter. However, Hubert had done some modifications to the basic concept, bringing it more in line with more Earther-like philosophies. Where the Kilrathi ‘cats in a coffin’ as someone in Hubert’s earth-based ‘wiz-kids’ team had termed the Kilrathi fighter, was un-aerodynamic and had almost no protection for the pilot other than a light emergency garment, the Mustangs were streamlined vessels that conformed more towards the thoughts of what a fighter should look like on earth. Its wings were of a sweeping delta that was very much inspired by the original Rockwell International Space Shuttle developed for the United States, however instead of being thick gliding surfaces, they were almost razor sharp thinness and each canted downwards at a ten degree angles relative to the fuselage. The fighter possessed twin vertical stabilizers, all really useless in the deep of space, but VERY useful when one entered the atmosphere, which the original Kilrathi types could not. Also, the Mustangs possessed basic shuttlecraft-type shield arrays. While they would not block much more than one or two shots, if that from a starship-class main phaser array, or pulse battery, they nevertheless upped the survival rate substantially for the pilot, and that was more important than anything for the Space Rovers. The Space Rover Mustangs were also equipped with a ‘space-rated’ version of the ejection seat found aboard most USAF fighter jets, and each pilot wore a specially modified version of the Space Rover EVA Level Three full environmental suit, with ‘g-suit leg bladders to help with g-forces. However, if a pilot DID have to punch out, which was something no one whooped would ever happen, they could survive for seven hours in relative comfort of their suits, as if they were performing a space walk to work on the hull of one of the ships.

However, the Mustang’s whole purpose for being was the twin miniaturized pulse batter system mounted under the nose, firing like olden day machineguns on the WW2 Warbirds, through a Heads Up Display that used a version of the United States/NATO-standard ‘bouncing pipper’ gunsight. Which, at this moment, Dayton used to line up on the Kilrathi fighter he had a little hesitation about blasting the fighter after all, he might be killing the pilot, but, when push came to shove, he refused to stand by and let that pilot harm anyone by blasting someone else. He pulled the trigger and sent a stream of pulse blasts that shredded the fighter. He sighed, that was a little too easy, and he felt bad, but, a warning siren blared and brought him out of his thoughts as the Kilrathi stile beam gun flased passed, a few shots splashing against his shields. He frowned and slammed the throttle all the way back, his body straining against his straps as the fighter shot passed him, not expecting him to loose speed, he brought his fighter back up to speed, and within seconds a second fighter was gone.

Dayton pulled up and away from the explosion and looked over his shoulder, two Mustangs and two Kilrathi fighters… Wait, he sighed and winced, make that two Kilrathi and One Space Rover as the fighter exploded, but, he saw the flash of the Mustang’s ejection seat, the extra time given by the shields allowing the pilot to escape. Well Dayton thought, time to end this…

He rolled in and kicked the speed up more. He saw that one of the Kilrathi fighters was angleing to katch the last Mustang, and Dayton would have nothing of it. He however, had not been like the pilot of the Kilrathi fighter that had just blasted away at him, giving him time to evade. He took the split second extra time he needed and made sure his shot was clean, and fired. The pulse batteries lanced through the fighters reactor, and it was gone in moments.

“Thanks Wolf Lead…” a rather shaky feminine voice called out.

Dayton nodded and looked around for the other fighter, it was running, and Dayton decided that he didn’t want to go chasing after it, he was disengaging, and that meant the pilot lost, and Dayton and his wingman won. Which, Dayton knew, would signal a…

“Computer, end Program and compile pilots scores..” it was Commander McLoude’s voice. And with her command, the space-scape and fighter cockpit around him disappeared, leaving Dayton and eight other crew members sitting on the floor of Holodeck Two, with Commander McLoude, a PDA in Hand, standing at the doorway.

And believe it or not, she was waiting for him, as an equal in this debrief, because, he was now ‘respectable’ the commander of the Galatea’s fighter contingent. Who would have known?

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(Krystie) Shawn, I think I am pregnant....

posted 08-22-2002 02:38 AM            

But like I said before; very good sense of action in the beginning and end. Personally I'd like to see *more* battling for the amount of description you have in there. And speaking of description, maybe include a little description of the pilots themselves - rather than just the machines. It might give the piece a lot more depth if you can work it right. ;)

Lastly, just out of curiosity... Were the Kilrathi in like a TV show or an old computer game or something? I seem to recall the name, but I can't for the life of me figure out where I remember it from...

posted 08-23-2002 09:51 AM            

Thank's for all the imput Derv, I'm glad you atleast enjoyed and and glad you didn't nitpick, I have had waaay to many people doing that to my stuff recently, instead of honest critques, I'm glad there are still those who don't nitpick.

As for the spell and grammer checker *nods* yes, its my fatal flaw when it comes to writing. It has always been my weekness, and I am trying to improve (helps to have and english teacher as your wife)

As for the kilrathi, yup, Cats already said, I am a HUGE wing commander fan, and I took the Kilrathi, and admitedly modified them quite a bit, I make sure everyone knows when they read a finished story that the Kilrathi are (C) Origin Systems Inc.

Agaub thanbks for your critique.

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(Krystie) Shawn, I think I am pregnant....