Free Citation Series 1: Naero's War: The Annexation War by Mason Elliott Page A

everything outright and up front. Death was unforgiving and offered no second chances.
    She thought she understood that once, but war thundered and hammered that reality home every day .

 
     
     
     
    10
     
     
    Naero’s first disguise that she used to walk and work among her crews was that of a starfighter pilot replacement.
    With her youth, that was more than plausible. And she was already an excellent fighter pilot.
    She wore a blond nanowig that fused itself to her own hair and could not readily be pulled off, even in a fight. The style was a sharp cut bob with long, tapered sides that angled up to the back. Shorter in back, and much shorter than her own long hair, tucked up under the wig.
    She found it rather fun and surprising to have a new look.
    Nice to be a blond for a change, and it also felt liberating to also be someone else for a while–a clean break from the pressures of her responsibilities.
    She called herself Amina , Amina Kurtz, from Clan Kurtz.
    Amina-Naero was assigned for further training under one of Commander Chaela Maeris’ starfighter squadrons. This allowed Amina-Naero to come and go according to orders that she herself controlled, as the strike fleet captain.
    Such transfer orders were not uncommon, especially among reserve personnel. They bopped around in many roles and situations on several vessels here and there.
    Reserve personnel got shunted around as needed, and often came and went at a moment’s notice .
    Naero also decided to change her appearance by wearing a lot of programmable nanomakeup that was easy to apply and manipulate.
    She normally didn’t wear that much in the way of cosmetics, so she took a page from Saemar’s playbook.
    The results were startling .
    Even she hardly recognized herself .
    Amina-Naero joined The Fire Hornets, 147th Alliance Star Fighter Wave, Fifth Squadron, 2nd Fighter Wing. Assignment: replacement reserve fighter pilot.
    They flew a modified, souped-up version of the Joshua Tech F-100C S uper Cobra, with its signature 50 mm heavy pulse cannons, mounted both fore and aft. Along with the added punch of three particle beam guns in each short wing.
    All of that firepower made The Super Cobra a force to be reckoned with as a heavy tactical, space superiority fighter .
    And since it had been updated and refitted with the latest avionics, power core, armor, and shields–The F-100 Charlie had one of the highest survivability ratings in the Alliance Fleets .
    Pilots loved it because it kept them alive and brought them back. They made it their workhorse .
    There was even an F-100T. The t ango version was a two-seater training version, with the instructor sitting above and slightly behind the the trainee, dual controls standard.
    Naero checked out with Fifth Squadron’s training officer, Leftenant Command er Ortega, in one of the tangos. She officially got her wings and was cleared to be attached to the unit as a backup pilot.
    Ortega was impressed with her performance on her training runs .
    This, d espite the fact that Amina-Naero was actually holding back, making several small mistakes that she wouldn’t normally make–in order to further her cover.
    She succeeded in making herself look promising, but still inexperienced .
    “You still have a lot to learn, Ensign Kurtz. But whoever trained you did a superb job. I wish all of our reserve replacements came to us with as much talent and potential skill as you demonstrate. Good luck, ensign. Welcome to The Fire Hornets.”
    “Thank you, sir .”
    They exchanged salutes .
    She learned that Fifth Squadron usually formed up into two wings of ten starfighters each. When they fought, they took on the enemy in pairs, with a lead ship and a wingman. Wing commanders directed the two wings as needed .
    When they did not have direct orders or targets, standard doctrine directed that they attack and defeat the nearest enemy available –until the foe was either destroyed, rendered ineffective, or chased off.
    In war,