A new love.

[aster]

Im not sure Im ready for this
Sure you are, son. And besides we need the numbers. Captain Nelson cheerily hollered from behind me.

So with some trepidation I walked across the hanger bay with the intention of taking the controls of a Challenger for the first time.

Id clocked up 100 hours of Hussar flying. The minimum required to make the step up. Id had some hairy moments, and had on more than one occasion had to be thankful to my wingmen.

I reflected on the fact that my being put in charge of this magnificent ship was more because of how badly the war was going than my own glowing service record.

Earlier I had timidly sat in the corner of the officers mess and looked at the experienced Challenger pilots. They were not like me. They had a certain calmness, an assured composure based on their skill and mastery with an ultimate fighting machine.

Now it was my turn to take the controls. Fear welled up from the pit of my stomach. I did everything I could to stop myself from shaking, or worse emptying the contents of my stomach on the hanger floor.

With a juddering. bunny-hopping, gait I managed to negotiate the hanger doors. Phew! Time to swing her around and see if I could get the hang of this ship which seemed so huge and unresponsive. I remembered the instructors advice from the simulator. You cant cover your mistakes in a Challenger like you can in a Hussar. It was certainly true. Whereas every mistake took a microsecond to respond in my Hussar, now the mistake was magnified 10 fold. I span around Derby again and again, feeling the controls stiff in my hands. This was not going to be easy.

Most of the experienced pilots were away on a sortie, and I was thankful that no one would be watching my first few faultering stes. The Derby was undergoing repairs having suffered almost continual harassment from the KNF for what felt like months. Over the comm I heard a crackle May-day Derby pilots scramble to intercept a Kusari squadron about to take the Tau-31 jump gate". Panic gripped me. Was I expected to respond. I was supposed to be on basic training. However, I knew that few others could responds in time. So I docked with the jump gate knowing that I would emerge in the middle of a firefight.

When I emerged it was worse than I thought 2 destroyers and 4 gunboats and what seemed like countless Chimaeras. For our side only 3 hard pressed Templars were still flying. Well this was going to be interesting.

I headed straight for the nearest destroyer. Within seconds my shields were down. I dodged and bucked as best I could. I was certain that we could not overcome the enemy. However the one thing I hadnt counted on was the sheer excellence of the Challenger. Pass after pass I made of the destroyers. Evading flack and the fighter escort as best I could. Slowly but surely I wore them down. My, shields occasionally dropped, but with the Templars as cover I was able to dodge away, recharge and resume the fight. Eventually I took down the first destroyer, and 2 of the gunboats for some reason lost courage and ran for home. Things still looked bleak all of my support Templars were gone. Chimaeras were everywhere, and they literally flew rings around my ship. I struggled to focus my fire on them. It became a war of attrition.

Then my salvation arrived, Sir John and another squadron of Templars came to my rescue. With their assistance we were able to mop up the rest of the Kusari forces in short order. So I returned to the Derby, no longer a total novice, and with a couple of Kusari officers in my hold.

It is obvious that there will be sterner tests ahead, and that these Kusari were far from their usual excellent standard.

However I have a new love in my life- my Challenger.

Ensign Aster

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