Dogfight Part One: Preparation

Posted on Thu Jul 21st, 2011 @ 7:46am by Lieutenant James Holbridge
Edited on on Thu Jul 21st, 2011 @ 7:46am

Mission: In Our Time of Need
Location: Vampire Squadron Wardroom.

The time for the squadron-on-squadron skirmish had been set. The Vampires had been chosen to square off against the Bounty Hunters, an interceptor squadron that could trace its lineage back to the 20th century's first aircraft carrier, Langley. Jim didn't give a rat's ass about squadron lineage; all he cared about was wiping the floor with the asses of the Bounty Hunters.

At the moment, Holbridge was giving his fliers some hand pointers in engaging aircraft that had speed advantages, which had been close dup considerably thanks to the new MK III Redemption-class fighter/bombers Jim commanded. "We are the fastest of our type, so we have to tear the heart out of the Bounty Hunters quickly. Most folks will tell you that a head-to-head face-off is suicide, but I like to think it unnerves the other guy and lets him wonder about your sanity."

"Begging your pardon, captain, but head-to-head engagements are against regs..." a nugget pilot began, only to be silenced by Holbridge's withering stare.

"It's a good thing I'm DCAG then, huh, Sporty? That way, regulation infractions don't go past me, right?" Jim asked the younger man, referring to him by his callsign. "Now, as I was saying, not every flier is gonna want to go nose-to-nose with some lunatic attack jockey packing quantum torps on the rails. More than likely he will break off and look for easier game, so you, being bloodthirsty Vampires, pursue him and shoot him down. A common mistake aggressors make is trying to match an evading plane move for move. This will get you very dizzy and may give an enemy time to sneak up on your six and bugger you, which will ruin your day and piss me off!"

"Longshot, how do we overcome their maneuverability?" another pilot asked seriously.

"Glad you asked!" Jim smiled. "The secret is to maintain distance and average out the enemy's moves. Get a workable baseline feel for his maneuvers then sock it to him when he does a looping roll or some other clever bullshit."

"What about our new ships?"

"These new Redemptionss are the latest in the family, complete with new engines, better maneuverability, and heavier payload. But always remember, when this thing isn't packing torpedoes, she is just as nimble as a Valkyrie. We won't be packing mission loads of torps so we will be pretty closely matched."

"I sure do pity the interceptor pukes!" another pilot remarked, eliciting chuckles from the assembled group of aviators.

"Okay, get with your WSOs and start your preflight inspections. Wheels up in fifteen!" Holbridge announced.

The group of fliers broke up and Holbridge's new WSO, 1LT Mark "Politician" Leeds, came up to him. "Bird's ready, Longshot. Combat data loaded, fully fueled, and the weapons are safe."

"Do you ever see your wife, Pol?" Jim asked as they made their way over to the fighter/bomber.

"Once a month, she doesn't like me hangin round the house!" Leeds smiled as he slid into the rear seat. "Besides, her cooking sucks!"

Jim nodded. "My wife is on base and if I ever said her cooking was bad I'd be a hungry sonofabitch!"

"God bless replicators!"

"Amen," Jim smiled as he strapped himself in. "Begin startup sequence, call up the checklist."

Jim and Mark expertly ran through the preflight checklist, making sure very knob and switch was in its right place. When all systems were green, Jim activated his radio, "Tower, Longshot, one in the green, request takeoff clearance and bearing to SHOOTEX range."

Longshot, Tower, copy your green status, take off is at plus-ten, relative bearing to SHOOTEX range is zero-four-niner, mark two-one-six, range 300,000 km. the Tower controller answered.

"Hurry up and wait!" Jim smiled, caressing the stick and throttle. "Nothing ever changes!"

Bounty Hunter One to Vampire One, how copy?

"I can barely read you, Horta breath! Boost yer gain!" Jim replied, insulting the commander of the Bounty Hunters good-naturedly.

Ah, such wit from a poor soul in a flying junkyard. Did you get the intakes flushed before you came here?

"This new ship has a few new surprises! I'll let you see em up close and personal." Jim said.

Let's make it interesting the losers, you guys, buy my guys dinner when we win.

"I'll do ya one better, you flying fuckups can treat us to a night of drunkenness at the Nexus Club." Jim replied.

Yer on, asshole Bounty Hunter One out!

The launch light lit on Jim's cockpit display. Jim smoothly brought the engines out of standby and lifted off gently, then he nudged the big fighter forward. IN no time, the big craft was out in space racing toward the live fire exercise. Nobody had notice an extra piece of equipment attached to the starboard wing of Holbridge's ship.

TBC