Free No Way to Start a War (TCOTU, Book 2) (This Corner of the Universe) by Britt Ringel Page B

each fighter’s
fuel cells were exhausted.  With the black eye already suffered in the transfer
operation, both carriers’ CAGs were frantic to avoid the nightmare scenario in
which their fighters failed to land, ran out of power and were forced to ditch
next to their carriers.
    Privately,
Gables was happy the mission did not include closing on and strafing the fleet
with virtual laser fire.  The three instances of her flight training class conducting
strafing runs had resulted in grievous simulated losses to the fighters.
    Once
fully formed up, VF-25 and -26 powered to .3 c and headed for the deep,
dark of space.  One hour and six minutes later, they were safely outside the
sensor range of Task Group 3.1.  Gables received directional comm traffic from
C-flight lead and she turned with the squadron, parallel to the task group’s
vector.  The fleet must already have the Avocets up and searching for us ,
Gables thought.  How close will we get before we’re spotted?   The two-man
SEW-5 Avocet extended a fleet’s sensor range an extra 10 lm to provide
the fleet commanders an intelligence advantage that made it a deadly implement
of war.
    Gables’
own sensors were easily picking up the fleet, which had been required to
broadcast its presence to the Red Force.  The assumption was that the
worst-case scenario would be the enemy knowing the exact location of the task
group while remaining hidden itself.
    Thirty minutes after
her last course change, Gables pressed her Pup’s control stick to port.  The
agile fighter’s nose yawed quickly to its new bearing, calculated to place her
fighter squadron onto its attack vector.  Gables noticed that Eagle’s other fighter squadron, VF-26, had not changed course.  I guess we’re the
bait, Gables thought as her stomach began to knot.
    *  *  *
    On
the bridge of Kite , Heskan was equally tense.  The exercise had
commenced fifty-two minutes ago and contact had yet to be established with the
Red Force.  The bridge lighting had the slight red tint of battle stations as
he looked at the crew in the room.  This is close to Anelace’s bridge ,
he thought.  Lieutenant Selvaggio sat at the navigation station.  Her presumed
future section commander, Lieutenant Scott, had perished in the same ship as Kite’s slated future first officer.  Sitting next to her, Lieutenant Truesworth stared
at his sensor console while talking to his section’s sensormen.
    To
Heskan’s left, Ensign Rory Hamilton sat at the engineering station on the
bridge.  With Lieutenant Brandon Jackamore leading Kite’s engineering
section in the stern of the ship, he had begrudgingly sent his most expendable
officer to the bridge in compliance with what he had not so quietly called “a
waste of manpower.”  Heskan understood that engineers wanted to be near their
engines in combat but he was insistent that a representative of the vital
section be present during hostilities.  The compromise of using the most junior
officer, whose subsection would already have a lieutenant, junior grade in
command, was reached.
    Senior
Chief Petty Officer Brown sat behind and to the left of Heskan.  The
unfortunate death of Heskan’s promised chief navigator had forced Heskan to
place the Operations commander, Lieutenant Jacob Spring, in command of Auxiliary
Control.  He had been impressed with the young lieutenant’s performance to date
and had looked forward to having him on the bridge in battle situations, but as Kite’s second officer, Spring was needed in the ship’s second brain in
case the bridge was knocked out.  Even with his absence, Heskan was supremely
confident that Chief Brown would represent Operations well.  Brown was an
anchor for Heskan during the worst times on Anelace , and the ship
captain was glad to have him on the bridge.
    To
Heskan’s right was the weapons station manned by Lieutenant Anthony Spencer.  That’s
different.  It’s odd not to see Stacy hunched over that console .