Thursday 3 March 2016

Earth Hope Pilot:Max Part 2

Part 2

Not a moment too soon the final AioSenti cruiser disintegrated under the concentrated fire of the remaining EarthHope fighters.

Max looked around.  In space there is no horizon, only endless void - but you can still pick up the shape of other vessels carefully if you know what to look for and where to look - and also what not to look for and what to avoid. The glare of the twin suns in this system is blinding and gazing at them could distract you from less easily visible dangers in the void.

He'd learned a lot since his time in the cadets.  Basic training prepared him but it wasn't until his first real engagement that he realised which parts were useful and which were not.  His flight instructor sergeant had drilled him well. She'd known precisely what to say, and what to do to get the most out of him.  She'd been a tough officer to serve under but she knew her stuff and had given him the skills to face real combat.  He was very thankful for such officers. Some of the officers weren't as good and most people learned quickly to avoid those ones - the old adage about those who teach can sometimes be true but thankfully in this case it wasn't.

With the most recent skirmish over Max lay back in his cockpit and dreamed of what he'd do when he got back to the carrier.  Most likely he'd get a call from one of his juniors to help with something.  And the flight commander may not be entirely happy with how he performed today - he'd made a couple of wrong turns and ended up almost having a collision.  But what he looked forward to was the carrier library.  They had some actual books there. Real books.  Books hadn't existed for centuries but this carrier had some. The flight commander was a bit eccentric like that.  He also kept meticulous hand written notes - a habit that had gone out of fashion long ago.  Something about better way of committing it to memory or something.

Yes. Max would go through some of the art books when he returned to base. There were some pictures of meadows and fields that he liked to see - such a long way from home out here.

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