Free Chronicles of Athena Lee by T S Paul

Try and pay close attention to your surroundings. Security will be increased on this ship while you are here, but watch yourself. Commander Wang will show you to your quarters and get you set up with locations and orders.”
     
     
    The next morning, a 'bouncy' midshipman gave me a tour of the ship ending in the flight bay.
     
    Time to start my new job.
     
    I never dreamed that I would be flying the ships that I wanted to build.
     
    Flight instructor Macdonald greeted me as I entered the room. “Welcome, lieutenant, to your first day of flight training. We fly two different fighters here along with shuttles and assault craft. You, get to learn all of them.”
     
    At my grimace, he chuckled. “Don't worry, we are not making you into an expert fighter pilot. But we do want you to be able to at least solo in all of the spacecraft. Think of the performance details that you will learn. You can't say that knowing first hand, how a ship operates won't help when you repair it?”
     
    “Yes, sir. You are right. Being able the see a problem or malfunction will make repairing it easier.”
     
    It is time to hit the books. I had ahead of me several weeks of class tutorial to catch up on and then on to basic flight.
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 7
     
     
     
     
    It took about a month of class tutorials and cram sessions, but I was ready for my first solo.
     
    The instructors chose the Mark 30 shuttle craft for my first ship. Hard to damage, it was an easy to fly model.
     
    Each Mark 30 was unarmed but equipped with emergency escape pods.
     
    This was just a solo flight, not a combat mission. A small navigation course was laid into go up and around the 'school' and then back again. Easy. I did my pre-flight, walking around the ship checking off the list as I went.
     
    Powering up the shuttle was super easy as the flight controls were very simple.
     
    In my head, I heard Wilson say “Atomic batteries to power, Turbines to speed...Ready to move out!.” Such a weirdo for an AI.
     
    Soloing was easy. Why had I not done this before?
     
    As I finished up my course and headed back to the ship, the proximity beacon started to sound.
     
    Trouble.
     
    Switching on the communicator I heard “...not a Drill, This is not a drill!. Battle stations! ….Battl....” then a loud buzzing.
     
    Something was jamming the communication system. It is like deja vu all over again. The school was in some kind of battle and I'm trapped in an unarmed shuttle.
     
    Unable to get to the docking bay I hid my shuttle.
     
    What looked to me like a couple of pirate fighters flew past my position. They had not spotted me yet. I was parked in the shadow of the ship real close to the hull. I was hoping that these were regular pirates, not the bounty hunter kind.
     
    The school training squadron launched fighters to assist the CAP (constant air patrol), that was always out there.
     
    Lots of dog-fighting, I was worried about my fellow students some of them were very young to be in combat.
     
    A pair of Stuka IV fighters came into view, alarms filled the air, I had been spotted! I quickly turned on the ships power. My hand came down of the controls and the shuttle lurched into full speed. My ship careened from side to side barely in control. I zigzagged, trying to confuse them and gain some time. My ship was one big unarmed target!
     
    Or was it? I have a tractor beam and two escape pods on board. Time to use some engineering skill.
     
    I engaged the autopilot, telling Wilson to take over flying and keep the ship moving. If we survived this, I may have to admit to his presence at the school.
     
    Making my way to the rear of the shuttle, I adjusted the tractor controls. Changing the beam to a wide spread, I maxed out the power.
     
    This had better work or we were dead!
     
    Returning to the controls I ejected an empty escape pod. Grabbing the pod with the tractor beam. I yelled at Wilson, “draw one of those fighters in closer”.
     
    The Stuka IV