by REM
“Good, very good,” Josh said. “Glad to be here, sir.”
“Meh, eh,” Smokey grunted, his head wobbling. “You ready to take out some Mercen, huh?”
Josh smirked, then twitched from the neck up. “If that’s what’s needed to keep Creston safe.”
Smokey’s head moved up and down repeatedly before he grabbed a hand full of sunflower seeds off the low table and popped them into his mouth. He shifted them all to one side till his cheek puffed out, then grinded a few between his front teeth. “How many you going to kill, eh?”
Josh thought the question strange. He shook his head and shrugged a bit, but maintained a faint smile. “I don’t know. As many as it takes.”
Smokey slapped the back of his hand against Josh’s thigh. “How many though? Tell me how many.”
Josh shrugged exaggeratedly this time. “Hundreds.”
“That’s not enough, son. You hear me? That’s not enough. Thousands, okay? Thousands.”
Josh could see that Smokey was dead serious. He snickered with his lips pursed and head bobbing. “I’m here to defend Creston at any cost, whatever it takes.”
Smokey spit out a few shells into a small bag. “That’s good, because the enemy’s willing to take out millions. They’d blow the whole planet up at this point if they could. And that’s why we’re here—you are here. When you get out there in space and in a situation to take your first real shot, don’t hesitate, you hear? Don’t choke up. Because I can assure you the enemy won’t. Understand what I’m saying?”
Josh now understood what Smokey was getting at. Any thoughts of the old fellow being crazy no longer existed. “Yes, sir,” he replied, wondering if maybe one of the four 3rd squadron members who were shot down had choked in battle.
He listened to Smokey ramble on for a good fifteen minutes about battles the old pilot had been in throughout the years. In one of the stories, Smokey claimed to have shot down fourteen enemies fighters. In another, he told Josh of a time he had fired the victorious shot that had downed a Mercen battlecruiser.
Josh glanced over to where Maya and Reena were leaning back against a counter. They were still chatting with Nate and Hoss, who were doing the same against an opposite counter of a small kitchen. The group were all smiles and seemed to be having a nice discussion, when Josh saw Hoss lean in close to Maya, to where his head was only a few inches away, and say something with a cocky grin.
He thought Maya seemed to be okay with it, since she was still grinning at the big jock. But then he felt unsure after seeing Reena slap Hoss playfully on the shoulder and push him away. What the heck was that all about? “Excuse me for a sec, eh?” he said to Smokey.
Smokey grunted prior to picking up a handful of sunflower seeds and popping them into his mouth.
Josh walked over to Maya and company.
Hoss glanced at him upon arrival, then looked at the others and held up a small cup. Everyone was holding one. “And that, my friends, is the secret to finding happiness on planet Jozen.”
The group chuckled and sipped from their cups.
Josh wasn’t amused. “Hey, man, do you always find happiness by hitting on all the new females that come around here?”
Hoss made a “say what?” expression and then smirked at the others as if trying to maintain his approval.
“Everything’s fine, Josh. We’re all having fun,” said Maya.
“Yeah, right,” Josh replied. He was still eyeing Hoss when he said, “You shouldn’t be putting your face that close to women you just met, period. Seems kind of rude to me.”
Hoss pushed Josh away halfheartedly. He was still smiling at the others.
Guy’s an asshole, thought Josh. He frowned—then clenched his fist and socked Hoss to the face with a straight left.
“What the fuck!?” Hoss spat, stepping into a right cross that caught Josh clean across the chin. He growled while flexing almost every muscle in his upper body.
Josh could’ve sworn the big man was changing into the Incredible Hulk. Hoss rushed forward and gripped Josh’s shirt at the chest with both hands, then threw him against the nearest wall.
Just as soon as Josh had hit the floor, he felt Hoss’s powerful foot kick into his stomach. “Uuh!” he let out, hurt from the blow, followed by rolling away and making it up to his feet.
That was when Maya, Nate, and Reena rushed over to restrain big Hoss, who was panting heavily like a raging bull.
Josh grimaced, trying his best to ignore the pain at his midsection. “You’re crazy if you think I’m going to sit here and allow you to take advantage of my friends. I’m not scared of you!” he shouted, despite feeling the opposite.
Maya jogged over to his side. “Josh, what in the hell are you doing?”
By this time Stewart and Shawn had run out from one of the other rooms. Both rushed to their fellow grads. “What’s happening?” Stewart asked. He and Shawn peeked over at an angry Hoss.
“Just help me take Josh to one of the back rooms,” said Maya. Stewart and Shawn did as told. Once all four were inside Josh’s quarters, she eyeballed Josh. “That was way out of line, Josh. What has gotten into you?”
“I’m not going to sit idle when he’s blatantly disrespecting you. No man you just met should be putting his face that close to yours.”
Maya rolled her eyes and shook her head. “It was a joke, Josh. Just a joke! He had to move his head close to mine to deliver the punchline, otherwise it wouldn’t make sense. Jesus! You ever heard that saying ‘look before you leap’? Heavens.”
Josh pondered her words. He then felt his heart sink to the bottom of his stomach with guilt. He just couldn’t believe how foolish he had acted if she was actually telling the truth. Josh shook his head slowly. “I… I’m…” he muttered. “I’m sorry. I made a mistake. I was only trying to look out for you.”
Air seemed to collapse from Maya’s body as she sighed. “Punching someone’s a little extreme, Josh, especially someone who can almost certainly mop the floor with you. I don’t know what the rest of this squadron is going to think of you now, or how you’re ever going to manage to smooth this over.”
“Whoa, who’d he punch?” Stewart asked.
“Hoss,” she replied.
“Damn, that’s bold, even for your cocky ass, Josh,” Shawn said, with a faint smile.
Josh looked up at his friends from the edge of his bed. “I’ll go out and apologize,” he said.
“Yeah… and if Hoss starts kicking your ass again?” Maya replied.
“Let’s just go out there together. There’s four us and three of them. Nate doesn’t seem like much of fighter anyway,” said Josh.
“True, but Hoss easily counts for two to three people, so that sort of evens things up,” said Stewart.
Josh got up. “Let’s just go.”
They all walked back out to the lounge. Josh saw that Hoss seemed to have calmed down. The big man was standing by Nate and Reena in the same small space between two counters. Maya made sure to lead the way, but Hoss still stood straight and flexed when they neared.
“He just wants to apologize—if that’s okay,” said Maya. All eyes turned to Josh.
“I’m really sorry, man. I had no idea you guys were just joking. I was only watching out for my friend, if you can understand that,” Josh said.
Everyone’s gazes shifted to Hoss. The big man had somewhat of a scowl on his face. He stared at Josh for a good five seconds—then grinned widely. “I’ll let it go this time. But you pull some shit like that again and I’ll bury you on this ship. Got that?”
Josh began nodding with a smirk. He felt excited by the wildness of the current events. The look came across as awkward to everyone who didn’t already know him. “I got it,” he said.
Hoss extended a hand. Josh grasped it and they shook firmly. Then Reena made a silly face at Maya, who puffed her cheeks into a goofy expression. At that moment, both ladies felt as if they had known each other their entire lives.
Josh manage
d a glance to where Smokey was still sitting on the couch. He found it a bit disturbing that the old fellow didn’t pay the scuffle any mind, and didn’t seem to care what was going on with the bunch currently. He just chewed his seeds and stared at the movie screen.
Hoss handed Josh a small cup of what everyone had drank earlier. He took a sip and thought the fluid to taste like gummy bear juice. There was nothing else he could associate it with. His face shifted into a quizzed expression.
“Forgotten fruit juice,” said Nate, “from the planet Jozen. Extremely hard to come by.”
Upon finishing the cup, Josh felt a light buzz, and was shocked to see everything around him change into vibrant colors—first a violet, then a red, blue, and brown shade. “Amazing…” he said. “Absolutely amazing. Things are supposed to change colors, right?”
Everyone around him smiled and laughed.
The effects lasted for a short time before fading away.
A couple hours later, Officer Rolly returned for the recruits. Josh and his fellow graduates were taken to a small room at the end of a long corridor. There were ten desks set into three rows of three, with one desk off to the side for the squad leader. The far right side of the room was almost entirely windowed, which Josh was pleased to see, since staring out to space made him feel much more relaxed.
He couldn’t resist an urge to sit in the chair that would’ve otherwise been for Ace. The rest of his friends sat in the three chairs up front.
Once everyone was seated, Rolly dimmed the lights in all parts of the room except for where he was standing, then turned on a projector before picking up a pointer from the stand beside him. A display of two spacecraft in split screen appeared on the board in front of the class.
Rolly pointed to the one on the left. “This is a Mercen shadow fighter—the premiere Mercen attack craft, and the one you’ll be up against about ninety percent of the time.” He pointed to the ship on the right. “This is a void striker. It’s what you will be flying, and was designed as a direct counter to the shadow fighter on the left. We tried making it an improvement over its counterpart, but had to settle for equality. Both craft have nearly identical capabilities: same speeds, missiles, lasers, and a light shield. Most times the shield is good for absorbing up to one blast, then you’re in what we call critical-norm. Simply put, you cannot afford to take another direct shot. Don’t bother using missiles against a shadow fighter. Ever since the invention of mini-missiles counter systems, missiles have become null versus most Mercen craft. Lasers will be your primary means of attack. They fire in dual beams, with each cannon holding up to two shots before needing a five-second recharge.”
He paused to take a sip from a canister, then changed the slide. A space map appeared on the screen showing an asteroid field, an aurora of colorful lights, plus a multitude of planets and moons. “What you are looking at now is a map of the Void Zone, a vast area of space separating Creston territory from Mercen territory. As you can see, there are many small planets in and around the zone, all of which are officially neutral to Mercen and Creston, just like the zone itself. Unofficially, however, you will find that some of the inhabited planets will tend to lean toward one species or the other.”
Officer Rolly took another sip from his canister. “Is everyone following what I’m saying?” he asked.
The group nodded.
“Yes, sir,” muttered Stewart and Shawn.
“Very good,” Rolly replied. “Let’s continue.”
The lecture lasted twenty-odd minutes before Officer Rolly wrapped things up. He ended the session by saying, “You were all chosen for a reason—show us that reason.”
“Yes, sir!” said Josh, followed by the rest of the graduates.
After that the recruits were escorted back to the third squadron unit to retire for the night.
Chapter 2
Thoom! Was the sound of Josh’s void striker shooting out from the north flight deck with the rest of the 3rd squadron. Officer Rolly had woken the unit an hour earlier than expected, and had everyone scramble to their craft in emergency fashion. The vets were already prepared for such a drill.
Ace headed the crew with the others trailing in a V formation.
Josh inspected his cockpit. He couldn’t believe how suddenly he had been thrust into a ship he’d never flown before, but was relieved in finding the controls and general layout the same as training craft. Seconds later, he was grinning at the thrill of it all.
Josh glanced at a small time display showing four seventeen a.m., then peered out to space that was dark as night.
Ace’s face appeared on a small monitor. “All right, team, we’re going to patrol the north and south sectors of the Void Zone, two groups of five. Smokey, Hoss, Maya, and Josh will be following Nate’s lead. The rest of you turkeys are flying with me. Breaking off right!”
Josh watched as Ace’s striker broke formation. The four pilots assigned to his group followed suit. Everyone else fell into a V formation behind Nate.
“Sync channels,” Nate transmitted to the four pilots trailing.
Josh and the others did as instructed. Nate’s face appeared on the small monitor in Josh’s ship. This is a surprise, I would have thought Smokey to be the leader of this group, he thought. Maybe it’s because of his age.
“Listen up, we’re going to be running a few practice rounds before heading to our void sector. Everyone switch to safe mode now,” barked Nate.
Josh looked to where the button would’ve been in his training ship and saw the same type of switch. He flipped it up. The lights on his cockpit changed from royal blue to a bright pink. After that an indicator appeared, signaling the four other craft in his group had done the same.
“Okay, ladies,” said Nate. “We’re going to be flying out a ways, but on my mark—break off into immediate combat. Maya will be going head to head with me. Josh, Hoss, and Smokey, I want a three-man dog fight. Let’s see who comes out on top!”
Yeah, you would pick Maya, thought Josh, rocking energetically in his seat. Big Hoss and old Smokey… this is going to be good! He smirked uncontrollably.
Their group traveled north until Nate yelled, “Fight’s up! Break off!” His ship accelerated and shot upward with a sudden burst. “Come and get me, Maya!” he blurted, switching to a one on one channel with her.
Smokey broke off left and Hoss dove to the right.
Josh peered down, thinking, Hoss! He thrust his throttle and dove after him. Starlight blurred in his peripherals. His striker zipped through space.
Hoss had been diving in a straight line, but made a sudden cut. Josh slammed his control stick and shot after him till their flying had leveled out.
“Show me what you got!” Hoss uttered. He weaved his ship left and right.
Josh fired a mock blast which was nothing more than beams of light. Both missed. “Damnit!” he spat.
“You’re going to have to do better than that, rookie!” said Hoss. He yanked back on his stick and rose into a reverse loop. Halfway through it, he spiraled off to the side and came down at Josh’s flank.
Oh shit! thought Josh, shifting desperately to the left. He had calculated Hoss’ maneuver and veered to his nine in counter of the loop, but didn’t expect the big man’s added twist.
Josh zoomed at high speed.
Hoss trailed in pursuit. “Like that, rookie!? Let big Hoss show you how it’s done, son.”
No, I’ll show you how it’s done! thought Josh, shoving the accelerator and streaking ahead. He rolled right—two rays flashed past his striker.
“Going down, boy!” the big man shouted.
Smokey’s face appeared on Josh’s dash, his right cheek loaded with seeds. “Hang in there, young buck,” he said, spitting out a shell.
Bloody hell! Smokey! thought Josh, remembering this was actually a three-man fight. He scanned all around for Smokey’s craft, then peered at his radar before punching a button to increase its radius. His eyes widened. What the heck?
Smok
ey’s striker was in the vicinity their five-man group had initially broken off at. From what Josh could tell, the old pilot’s ship appeared to be hovering in place.
Humph, guess he doesn’t bother with practicing, thought Josh. Bet he’s sick of it. Probably has more practice hours than me and Hoss combined. Beams of blue light flashed past his cockpit. Damn, that was close!
Josh yanked his stick and swept up at angle.
Hoss stayed locked in pursuit.
Their ships rose into a wide, helical loop. When coming out of it, Josh jabbed down left into a sudden nose dive.
The maneuver caught Hoss completely by surprise. The big man banked hard left, attempting to curve back into position, but Josh used his velocity to “U” away and rise up.
Both strikers were now flying toward each other, but Josh’s craft had a more direct flight. Hoss was still coming out of his curl. Each fired a shot. Hoss’ missed left, but Josh’s struck dead center.
“Bull’s-eye!” Josh transmitted. “‘Big Hoss’ is now ‘Big Loss’! Woo hoo!”
“God damnit!” Hoss spat. “You lucky son of bitch!”
Smokey’s face popped back up in Josh’s cockpit. His lips were pulled to one side with an amused grin. “Not bad, young buck. Not bad.” Hoss was obviously on the channel too because Smokey said, “What’s wrong with you today, big fella? You let a rookie take you down on his first outing?” He chuckled.
Josh couldn’t see it, but Hoss was frowning heatedly. “We’re going at it again,” barked Hoss.
“Sure thing,” Josh replied. “Five-second break-off?”
“Yeah,” Hoss responded.
They brought their ships parallel to one another.
“All right. On my mark,” said Smokey. He waited a few seconds. “Break!”
Josh broke off hard right, Hoss left. Each flew in opposite directions until Smokey said, “Fight’s up!”
Josh hooked his striker up and around inverted before twisting upright. Hoss had done a similar jockeying. Both were now flying directly toward each other.
“Oh yeah? You want to go head to head!?” muttered Hoss, his lips tightening.