Rob watched the man come in and greeted him with a smile. As he looked out of the lounge viewport he could see the large ship moving through space. He had never seen a ship like that before and studied it carefully. Turning back Rob called the droid over and requested another water before sitting back down and watching both Corise and now the new Vice-Commodore.

As he watched, Rob wondered who this new man was. He would have to inquire about him later on.

The Kashan Commodore beamed in turn at his friend. His hand swept around to encompass the Seraph.

“On the behalf of the Kashan people, many thanks indeed.”

He paced over to the viewport to face Genon. “With help of your Colonies and Mr. Stellar’s, I believe we can have Genon’s defences set up relatively quickly.”

Corise clasped his hands, snapping a quick glance at his chrono. “Still, there is much work to be done, and little time to do it.”

He managed a forced smile. “Mr. Stellar, with the advent of criminal syndicate groups, it is the Coalition’s policy of having a trade commission that regularly inspects factories and launches investigations into any commercial work that goes on within its planets. To this end, Coalition forces, mostly Kashan and Gestalt Colonial units, will regularly inspect your factories to ensure that everything is in order. I hope that is agreeable with you.”

Rob nodded and watched the droid return with his water. "Of course Commodore. We will comply wiht all neccessary inspections and regulations."

He sat back and watch both of the men talk. This would be a great boost for his company. He was happy to have been chosen for just a job.

And so it began. For a planet that months early had been home to a pack of criminals, the planet’s population had risen to heights never reach before, with the thousands of Kashan and Stellar Enterprises workers. Industry had finally taken it’s place on the planet.

Labor Improbus Omnia Vincit. So it is true.

The Kashan Commodore pulled his right hand from the viewport.

“You didn’t think this would happen, did you?”

The Kashan man turned to a brown-haired lady.

“Madam Pro-Consul, I didn’t hear you come in.”

Thorn’s face became a wry grin.

“Corise,” gently chided Christina, “how many times must I ask you to dispense with the formalities?”

“At least a few more times.”

He moved closer to her ear. “We both know that I can’t call you Christina in public.”

She smiled. “True. Let’s go to your cabin.”
--------------------------
“Are you pleased with the progress?”

Corise nodded, pulling up a chair for his consort.

“Yes, for the most part. Stellar Enterprises has been fairly efficient; the generators are up and they’re laying automated defence platforms now. KDI already has Shipwright base up and running; it’s a pity we couldn’t use the cloning equipment Black Sun left there.”

Christina raised her eyebrow. “We both know it would be political suicide for us to use them.”

“Very true, but I’m not a politician, just a warrior.”

“War is an extension of diplomacy.”

The Commodore raised an eyebrow; the Pro-consul blushed.

“It’s an ancient saying; I don’t completely agree with it, but there’s a little truth to it. After all, you do represent Kashan within the galaxy, but you’re just a little more forceful than most diplomats.”

“Just a little.”

It was now some time after the Rob Stellar meeting with Commodore Lucerne and construction planet side was reaching optimal levels. After the shield generators and powersystems had been hidden and properly installed worked had begun on mining and factory operations. Droids backed up by surveyers scanned the planets surface for any traces of mineral deposits. To their joy, as well as Rob Stellar's, deep resources veins were located all around the planets.

These veins had not need tapped yet, probably do the fact that this planet had been inhabited by a crime organization and they didn't really deal in resource gathering. Stellar Enterprises, however, quickly dispatched droids and personnel into the areas to establish mining bases and refinary complexs. Mining droids were immediatly put to work digging deep tunnels through the planets crust to get towards these mineral rich zones.

While they did there jobs, prefabricated shelters and factories were being built inside an area designated for Stellar Enterprises. These factories would help to complete the contract faster and would then be used for Stellar Enterprises. To work them thousands of droids had been brought in and had quickly started producing parts from the ground defenses, which were being installed in the most strategic locations in order to have overlaping fields of fire.

Weapons, however, were not the only things being produced in the newly errected factories. Modules and sections for a Gladiator Class Defense Station were also being constructed. These whole sections, once completed, would be lifted up into space and assembled on the station itself. This would allow the station to become operational even during its construction phase, allowing it to defense the planet from an incoming attack.

In addition to this large defense station there many automated defense platforms that were being constructed in other Stellar Enterprises factories and quickly rushed to the area. It was a group of these 35 meter long Protector platforms that was getting positioned in orbit. Each of these were almost hourglass in shape, but with flat tops and straight sloped sides. At the middle of all these sloped sides, platforms extended out. These held weapon turrets which had free rotation and overlaping fire fields.

With sophisticated fire control systems linked to fast track turrets these were powerful platforms and were capable of engaging different targets at they presented themselves. Along with powerful shields and somewhat strong armor these platforms could work in groups to give most ships a hard time. Being fully automated these systems would fight to the death and had better aim than any person could ever hope to achieve.

These four weapons platforms were being dropped from a large fabricated hanger bay aboard a modified bulk freighter.

The four Protectors were lowered from the freighter's bay and taken hold by two tractor beam projectors that had been installed on its underside. These tractors that pushed each one of the platforms into position above the planet. Three of these were heavy weapons platforms, equipt with heavy turbolasers and regular turbolasers. They act as defense against larger ships while the fourth was an antifighter one. It was designed with ten repeater heavy laser cannons which would fill space with a massive number of laser blasters. Three per second per cannons to be exact.

As the freighter was positioning the last of these protectors into orbit, hyperspace opened up at the edge of the planetary space. From out of this hyperlane emerged a massive object. It almost all framework in an octagonal formation 1800 meters in length and width. The massive bulk started to move slowly towards Genon as a group of small space tugs pulled it forward. Slowly and over the course of a few hours the framed Gladiator Class Defense Station was moved into geosynchronous orbit aorund the planet.

With the planet's defense progressing smoothly more and more freighters from Stellar Enterprises began to arrive in system. Most carried supplies and resources to the planets factories, but a few actually moved towards the the systems large asteroid field. Just outside his large field they started to build a large space complex that would be capable of processing and refining the materials mined in the field.

The Genon construction was proceeded smoother than was expected. There were now numberous Stellar Enterprises factories around the planet and each one was producing defensive systems that would support the planet. Hundreds of defenses were now installed all over the planet and were able to cover all sectors with ground fire. Both the space around the planet and its surface were being placed under the highest defensive web. These systems in such numbers would give any invading army or fleet something to think about before landing troops. That is if they even got through the heavy planetary shielding surrounding the planet.

High above the planet a large octagonal structure loomed and slowly spun. What used to be framework was now armored covered offensive adn defensive stations. The Gaudian Defense Station was now under full military operation and had been almost completely transfered into Kashan hands. The module sections that were build planetside were now all installed and linked to a centeral command station onboard the state. These would be able to respond to any threat that would enter the system.

Below this massive station loomed a wide stretch of framers and girders. These stretched out in all directions, but were linked to a centeral drydock facility. This facility was massive and was constructed for the Kashan military force to house ships upto 850 meters long completely. It would provited them with a save, private placed in which to work and conduct repairs or maintanance operations.

This large centeral sections was in turn attached to the Defense Station's underside and slowly rotated along with it. This underside section contained a large storage area for anything the construction crews would need to do their work as well as rest facilities and mess halls. It would be a full time repair facility and would hopefully serve them well for many years.

Another success story was the Genon Asteroid Mining Facility. The large processing base was getting upto full operation and was already taking in thousands of tons of ore each day to process and refine into usuable durasteel and other metals. Frieghters were now constantly arriving and departing from the large station. They were being in rare minerals and leaving fully loaded with processed metals ready for use. Miners were at the same time moving around the asteroids like bees around a garden, always on the search for the nectar that was usuable raw minerals.

While this was all happening, at the far end of the slowly spining asteroid field an asteroid measuring eight kilometes in diameters moved slowly with its brothers. Out of what seemed like nowhere somethign slamed into it hard. Along with the resulting crated a massive crack appeared to move in all directions at once from the point of impact. Not a second later another something slamed into almost the exact same spot, burrowing deep into the large asteroid and breaking chucked off while making the creater even deeper.

Right after that second impact, .7 seconds latter to be exect, a third object smashed into the crator. This fresh crator was now almost half way deep into the asteroid when the third impact ocured. Unlike with the others, this one was different. This one was followed by a tremandous explosion and literally ripped the asteroid apart. Huge pieces flew in all directions from the point of impact and smashed into other asteroids nearby. Some were vapored and other asteroids were left cratored, but the originally targeted once has completely ceased to exist within the asteroid field.

What had happened was the first test firing of the Guardian Defense Station's Hypervelocity Cannon. This huge weapon emplacement was situated thousands of kilometers away, yet was still able to hit an asteroid was perspectively tiny. Not only had the cannon worked flawlessly, so did the EagleEye drone was had been hovering in space outside the asteroid field and providing precise targeting information to the station's controlers. Both had worked in harmony to achieve shot that was at one time thought to be impossible.

The freighters hatch easied open and locked into place. As it sat there in the open field one could see the rear landing struts bend slightly as something extremly heavy moved towards the cargo bay exit. Slowly a massive durasteel leg stepped out and slammed down into the ground below the freighter, destroying the plantlife underneath. It was not long after this that the whole object emerged and stood to its full heighty, which towered over the nearby freighter.

This massive construction droid stood still for a few moments as diagnostics were checked and new orders relayed from a nearby command center. The command center was just a building that housed numerous architects and engineers that made sure the construction going on around them was done right. As of this moment the construction project was a massive spaceport facility that stretched out for over five square kilometers.

It was to this construction site that the large droid slowly advanced to in order to join two of its brethren which had already been working on the framework of the spaceport. Those droids had torn down the numberous old abandoned building that existed in the area and used those materials to build up this new framework for the future port. Since this spaceport would be intended for both corporate and civilian use it was decided to build beautiful looking structure that was also very practicle to use.

The Port would be seperated into two sections with one used to handle freighter carried cargo and the other used to receive civilian travel from all over the galaxy. This massive facility would contain everything necessary for quick loading and unloading of cargos, but also strict security systems and measures to ensure the safety of everyone inside. Some of the measures would be simple scans of all cargo and individuals while others were more expansive, such as containment fields that could be errected in order to contain hazardous materials or explosive blasts.

The Genon Starport would be a structure created from high strength blast resistant glass, that gave it both beauty and functionality, as well as reinforced duracrete made with strengthened durasteel. In order to be able to serve its two purposes the Starport was being constructed in the land between the capital city and the new factory district that had been established by Stellar Enterprises. Instead of ships landing near the factories, all goods would now be able to be moved into the Starports storage center or loaded directed onto freighters upon arrival. This would make sending and receiving cargo much simpler and easier to manage.

This Genon Starport was not the only construction project undertaken by Stellar Enterprises either. Other smaller sites had been started up closer to the city. New apartment building were slowly being constructed to accomidate the growing population and new larger power systems were being installed underground to provide more secure power to the city and surrounding areas. Hopefully soon Genon would would be a flurishing planet and in turn be able to purchase goods sold by Stellar Enterprises. The factories and mines alone, however, were already more and than making up for the money being spent on these projects.

Without much sound the thick and heavy blastdoor slid open. It parted along the middle to reveil a group of men and women dressed in uniforms of mechanics and engineers. These people quickly rushed forward to conduct their work and in the process exposed a somewhat tall man who looked forward in though, allowing the others to move past him.

It could be seen this man was military by not only his confident stance, but also his extra short hair cut. If that was not a giveaway, however, he was also dressed in a red and blue flightsuit of a Stellar Enterprises test pilot. On the collar of this special flightsuit were the markings of a rank insignia; Colonel.

Colonel William Rufkin looked out ahead into the space beyond. He could see the countless stars and wondered how many of them he had visited before. It was his first love to be out among the stars. To him, the darkness and emptyness of space was welcomeing. He lived for the chance to get up everyday and do what he loved so much in life. What he did was pilot some of the newest and best fighters under developement.

It had been his job since long before Stellar Enterprises had hired him and brought him back out of retirement. With many combat hours and even more test hours under his belt, he was one of the most experianced pilots that Stellar Enterprises had. Today would be another day worth remembering because he would be the first to ever pilot the fighter sitting on the hanger deck in front of him.

With his helmet against his side the Colonel stepped into the massive hanger and gazed over from the space beyond towards the fighter. The long deadly looking craft sat there motionless on three struts as people moved around it, checking all the systems. He could see the hammerhead looking nose and knew why it had been given that name in the premission reports. As he stood a short distance away from the fighter, his mind went over the design and to him it looked too big and heavy for its intended mission.

As he stood before the craft, Colonel Rufkin moved his hand up and run it over the smooth surface of the underwing. He smiled to himself as his fingers made contact with the thin outlines of internal wing storage areas. He knew each side contained two of these internal bays with each capable of holding two fighter class proton torpedoes. The Colonel moved over towards the fuselage and noticed the curved surfaces both on top and bottom that would decrease the fighters sensor signiture significantly. The fighter as a whole was built with curves and angles in order to reduce detection ranges when going up against enemy forces.

While it was not as stealthy as other dedicated stealth fighters, the reduction in signiture ment it could get closer without being detected than other fighters. The stealthy features also helped to prevent the enemy from gaining perfect intelligence on it from long ranges. Even though the fighter was the size of a bomber, its sensor signiture was that of a very small fighter.

Going over the report he had received earlier, William hoped it was as capable as it sounded. He knew the fighter contained two wingtip heavy laser cannons as well as chin mounted dual mode laser cannon on a turret. This chin cannon had a full fire mode and rapid fire mode.

To aid in the fighter's air superiority role, a multitude of micro thruster banks had been incorporated into the airframe. These banks concisted of three micro thrusters each and provided the craft with ultrafast reaction times. The banks were linked to a control system that seemlessly integrated them into the Hammerhead's thrust vector exhaust nozzels. With these systems working together, the fighter could outturn and outfly even the most advanced fighters around.

The drawback of this increase in maneuvablity is the massive amounts of stress that are put on the framework. For this reason the Hammerhead's internal structures were heavily reinforced. Another aspect that suffered in the goal for agility was armor, which was greatly reduced except for around the cockpit and rear power systems.

Integrated into this new fighter would be a newly developed downsized version of Stellar Enterprises Spectrographic Sensor Array. This array, located in the craft's hammerhead nose, would scan the space ahead and detect any anamolies in the different light spectrums. Anamolies, such as any solid object would cause light to reflect off it or just leave a whole in space through which light rays and other spectrum waves could not pass through. All these would be abnomalities in space and would in turn set off alarms. Not even stealth ships or fighters could prevent the system from seeing them. Anything physical could be identified and warned of.

This was not the only sensor array on the ship, however. William knew there was also a newly developed 360 Sensor Suit that had been installed on the Hammerhead fighter. This system concisted of numberous sensors and receptors spread around the fighter's airframe, such as the wings and rear. These would scan 360 degrees around the craft and report any detected signitures or even comm traffic. These 360 Sensor Suit worked together with an array of small holocams to provide the pilot with as much information as possible when physically piloting the craft as well as piloting it through the cognative interphase system.

The Cognative Interphase System was first developed for controling Stellar Enterprises droid fighters and bombers, but for the purpose of exporting the Hammerhead to the Kashan design partners, the decission to include the system into the fighter was made. It could make piloting duties easier and much more effective since a person could control all systems through the use of thought after heavy training.

As Colonel Rufkin studied the fighter, a flight mechanic approached. "Sir, the fighter is preped and ready for departure. All systems check out green."

Rufkin turned and looked upon the middle aged man with a soft smiled and nodded. "Thank you Ben, that's good to know. I wouldn't want to get accidentally ejected on take off."

"Never going to happen sir. I have my reputation to think about out." The mechanic smiled and stepped foward to take William's helmet as the Colonel climbed up the attached ladder into the fighter.

Ben followed soon after and handed William the formfitted helmet, watching as the test pilot placed it on his head and secured it. Once that was done, Ben reached into the cockpit and took hold of the connection cable leading from the helmet and connected it to a nearby socket. He moved back and slapped Rufkin on the shoulder, giving the man a thumbs up.

"Your good to go sir."

Ben moved back away from the fighter along with the rest of the technical personnel as they watched the cockpit canopy close and the fighters engines fire to life. They soon became silent as the whole Hammerhead lifted off the deck and eased towards the hanger opening.

The Hammerhead air superiority fighter slowly accelerated out of the hanger bay and into the dark, cold space that surrounded Ganon. Under William's direct control the fighter craft moved slowly through the space at only a fraction of the thrust its large engines could provide. William's slowly moved the control stick in his hands and caused the fighter to roll and tilt, checking out the fighter's response before the full test run could commence. The fighter responded quickly and accurately, as if it had been surgically attached to the pilot's body.

As the Colonel leveled the fighter out he looked down to check the status of all systems, but quickly realized that the Hammerhead didn't have standard display systems. He was so used to other fighters that he had to rethink all his actions now. Remebering his brief training and pretest reports, William's looked back up at the canopy and out into the space beyond as he pictured the status displays inside his mind and though about view them at the moment. Instantly the fighter's systems read his thoughts and interpreted those thought patterns to the ones stored in its large database. The computer quickly deciphered them and responded to those mental commands. This all happened so quickly that it seemed instant to the human visual system.

When William's finished his thoughts the canopy in front of him quickly changed. The whole center portion of the inner side of the transperisteel canopy turned into a display of the fighter's status. As by the design, the capony was actually a heads up display system through which one could see through, but also get data on. All forms of data needed for the pilots to conduct their mission could be displayed on this canopy with great clearity, while at the same time allowing the pilots to still see outside. This created a better battle environment for the pilot because it allowed him or her to keep their eyes out and ahead of them instead of having to look down to read small display screens.

The status display that William's looked at went through its whole diagnostics cycle and quickly reported that everything was in perfect working order, just as Ben had reported. With a slight smile Colonel Rufkin pushed the stick left and pulled up on it slightly. He was pleasantly surprised as the large fighter's frame responded quickly and tilted to the side before turning him 180 degrees almost instantly. The banks of microthrusters situated all along the wings helped to turn the fighter quickly and accurately. So quick in fact that the internal dampeners had a hard time compensating for the quick maneuver and William felt himself getting pushing back into his seat under the G forces.

When he leveled the fighter out William's view was almost completely taken up by a large ship that hung in space. This was the cruiser he had been based on and the one from which he had flown this test fighter. The organic looking vessels seemed dead to the galaxy as it floated in space silently, but it was very much far from it. She had been completely rebuilt and modernized after being transfered from the New Republic scrap yards to Stellar Enterprises. The Bulwark was now the second Mon Calamari Star Cruiser within the Stellar Enterprises Defense Fleet and probably the most advanced Mon Cal Star Cruiser of her kind.

While the Colonel looked upon the larger cruiser before him he thought about sensor readouts and against almost instantly the canopy in front changed to show a whole sensor display. IFF signitures from nearby ships were read by the Hammerhead's and projected on the display. Quickly the whole diplay filled up with information as the sensors became active and detected other ships around Genon. The sensor reading of the Mon Cal cruiser were quickly compared with digital holocam pictures taken by the cams around the Hammerhead. These pictures passed through a database onboard the fighter and matched up with records stored within it of the Bulkwark

On the sides of the canopy display green arrows started to appear at different heights to indicate other friendly ships close by. Concentrating on one of the arrows caused a window to open up in the display and show an image of the detected ship. It was a Sereph class ship that was part of the Genon defense fleet. Other ships were quickly detected as was the massive Guardian class Defense Station.

The sensors placed inside the Hammerhead's wings and tail worked marvelously. They detected ships from all around the fighter and allowed for a complete scan of space around the Hammerhead, giving the pilot total awareness. For a first test flight, William's was very impressed with the fighter. All the systems seemed very intuative and worked flawlessly to lessed the load put on the pilot. With the Cognative Interphase, the pilot didn't have to move his hands off the control stick in order to trigger the different displays of readouts. One just had to think of them and they appeared directly in front.

"Bulwark, this is Hammerhead One. All systems in the green. Requesting permission to proceed to phase two."

"Hammerhead One, this is Bulwark. We show same as you. You are cleared for Phase Two. Best of luck."

William's smiled and reached out into one of his many pockets and pulled out a small white pill. He put the pill inside his mouth and swallowed quickly. The pure glucose tablet would now slowly release a premeasured amount of glucose to keep his brain fully feed and fuctional throughout Phase Two. All pilots that would operate the Hammerhead fighter would be issued these tablets before combat operations.

As per training, Williams closed his eyes and thought the words "Full Cognative Interphase". This was Phase Two and it started with the whole seat moving forward and reclining back. The control stick moved away and William's could feel himself reclining back as his mind became more clear and he entered almost a dream state. It changed so quickly that he was a little taken aback the first time it happened. It was much more sudden than in the training.

The nothingness in his head turned into images instantly. Instead of just reading his mind as before, the Interphase system was now feeding information back into his brain through various frequencies. It allowed him to visualize everything he wanted and linked him totally with the fighter's systems. All images of the cockpit disappeared from his mind and he seemed to be floating outside in space. An untraining pilot would probably freak out as soon as this happened, but William's stayed calm and thought about looking around and turning his head. These thoughts were quickly fullfilled by the Interphase systems and the image shifted smoothly, as is he was really looking.

The clear image came in through the multitude of small holocams situated all around the fighter's frame. Almost every thought could be fullfilled by the system and as the colonel thought about increasing speed and banking to port the space around him started to move instantly as he fighter responded and turned away from the large Mon Calamari Cruiser. A small indicator appeared high up in the space in front of him and stayed with him throughout all his movements. As before, sensor readings also started to appear all around him in space and while the fighter moved in the direction William's wanted, he could move his head to spot the indicated targets. It was something very few people had a chance to experiance in their lifetimes. He was in full control of his "dreams" and could do anything he wanted.

Under his thought commands the fighter instantly accelerated towards the nearby asteroid field. As it flew through space microthrusters fired off all around as William's pushed the fighter into doing acrobatic maneuvers with a multitude of wild rolls and quick banks to both port and starboard.

“Checks are clear; Shadowcaster One, you are clear to launch.”

“Roger that control, on your mark.”

The dark-coloured interceptor drifted forward on the Seraph’s flight deck like a driftwood washing up on Genon’s shores. Lieutenant Athalon took a quick glance at the planet, which dominated the view of the dorsal hangar with vibrant shades of green and blue. The Kashan pilot gazed at the planet as the craft dropped out of the cruiser and into the vast ocean of space in a freefall towards the planet below. Athalon grasped the yoke and ignited the ion engines, sending the starfighter surging over the tropical planet’s atmosphere. The dark-suited man jerked the yoke to the left, easing the Shadowcaster to the port back into deepspace. Athalon toggled his comm.

“How’s the signature?”

“Pretty low sir. The reason we can even get a faint detection, and that’s with it pointed directly at you.”

“Excellent. Commencing with trail runs.”

The pilot pulled up the speed control to full; the starfighter surged forward at full speed towards the deepspace target range set up by the Confederation forces for practice purposes. The targeting computer, with data collected by the KDI advanced avionics, brought up detailed signatures of the upcoming targets, which were little more than small asteroids lined up via tractor beams. Aligning the fighter up with the targets for a head-to-head run, he pulled and held down the trigger. A steady stream of dark pulsed bolts erupted from the two nacelles of the ship. Since they were transparent with a dark gray tinge, tracking the bolts proved to be difficult, as they wouldn’t be seen in normal circumstances. The only way to tell was by the target itself, as the rapid pulses quickly chiseled the rock down into space dust.

“Cannon accuracy against stationary targets seems pretty good Control.”

“Affirmative. Let’s see it goes with the mines.”

The controller slightly hestitated. “There’s going to be a slight change.”

“What’s that?”

“You’re going to be laying the dummy mines on the Pandora.”

Athalons shrugged indifferently.

“And you’re going to be under fire by a squadron of cadets in Headhunter trainees.”

The Lieutenant, slightly laughed. “It’s not like they can see me.”

“Ah, we’ve been ordered to provide them with targeting data on you via your transponder. Apparently the Commodore wants to see how well the craft performs in the advent that an enemy develops a system that can accurately find and target the Shadowcaster.”

“Right,” stated Athalon, pressing his lips into a thin line. I can’t do this, even if the fighters are old and the pilots green. There’s too many of them, I can’t avoid all of them. Unless…The Lieutenant activated the OSAIA, the Confederation development that augmented a pilot’s skills with a machine’s lightning reflexes and computing power. And the artificial intelligence of the ship melded with the Athalon’s brain. He slammed his yoke to the side, sending the ship in a wild corkscrew maneuver at breakneck speed. It was an insane maneuver in most cases with such a fast and maneuverable craft, as most pilots would have little if any time to react. But with the OSAIA, it was different. Logic and computing told him up to milli-seconds where he would be, and he could react nearly as fast as well. The headhunter squadron formed up against him futively tried to track their weapons on the wildly maneuvering fighter, but to little avail. Several lucky shots hit the starfighter’s shields as the Shadowcaster surged past the slower and less maneuverable fighters. He continued with the corkscrew maneuver, using the Pandora herself as the central axis with which to center the maneuver around. He tapped a few button, releasing the magnetic mines in sequence to clatter and stick onto the Pandora’s hull. The fighter finished the maneuver and abruptly curved to starboard to engage the trainee squadron that had turned about to face him. He selected the lead fighter and it’s wingman, and launched a pair of missiles. The weapons dropped and jetted forth at the Headhunters, which futively tried to maneuver out of the way. Athalon smiled as the weapons exploded. The smiled deadened as the Headhunters still existed, albeit fleeing away towards the protection of the Seraph. He frowned.

“I don’t think the missiles are working correctly lead.”

“They’re working fine,” stated the Commodore over the comm., “You will have to forgive me, but I prematurely detonated them; didn’t want to scare the cadets to death. You’ll also notice that your OSAIA system isn’t on anymore.”

Athalon frowned.

“I deactivated it, just in case it absorbed your thinking too much.”

“Ah, yes sir. Is that a standard safety feature?”

“Yes. Just to make sure, you are hereby ordered to land on the Seraph. The technicians are interested in seeing how the craft responded to that maneuver you pulled off with the Pandora. They believe that might be pushing the craft’s abilities.”

“Yes sir.”