Far Horizon (Juggernaut #4)

Thirty

For a sealed spaceship, these carriers sure did have a lot of holes in them, she thought.

She nudged the controls, getting a feel for the ship. It moved more like her Valkyrie than her racer which shouldn't have been any great surprise, but there was a familiarity to it. Out the windows she could see the spread wings with thrusters located at the tips. There was no aerodynamic advantage to having wings like that out here, and these Starlings were not rated for atmosphere, but it meant thrusters could be located farther away from the cockpit, and that meant a more manoeuvrable ship.

Ellie heard the lieutenant instruct pod six for launch, so she took her chance and accelerated hard, cleared the five hundred metre target, then turned hard, pulling up and over and around, before righting her attitude to match the Paris, and stopping back at her line.

"Pod eight, launch, and Cadet Young, I saw that."

"Sorry, lieutenant," she said, but she wasn't. She was thrilled. This was as good as the real thing, almost. The g force on launch felt real but there was something unconvincing about those turns. She would have to ask the lieutenant when she got back.

But I don't have to go back, I can just open the canopy. She knew it was factually true, but still it looked wrong, it felt wrong, even though the light of the training room was only the other side of the canopy screen.

"Cadets, congratulations on successful launches all round. Resetting now."

And then they were back in the launch bays, with sealed doors in front of them and orange warning lights flashing above them.

"Sir, I thought we were going to land then launch again," said Rebecca."

"Launch first cadet. Get that perfect and we can talk about landing. You can do a lot more damage with a bad landing than a bad launch."

"But it's a simulation," she pointed out.

"It's my simulation, and every mistake is logged under my record, so please no more mistakes. That goes for you, pod three."

"Sir," acknowledged Ellie. Can't they move on?

"Pod one, launch when ready."

They launched again, one by one, each in their own private sim. Tariq reset and repeated the exercise, each time pushing them to do it faster, and cleaner. There were optimum points to accelerate, to ignite engines, to bank when clear. He explained them all, the physics of it, the safety aspects of each detail. It all seemed so minor to Ellie, but over the day she started to understand how each tiny change compounded to produce bigger results. Any one on its own seemed insignificant, but together they made a real difference.

"Pod three, ready for start up and launch in three. Two. One. Launch."

Ellie sprang into action from a cold start. She moved through the start up and ignition sequence smoothly and cleanly, opened the door, hit the button. The light tracks blurred together and unseen forces pressed her down. At the right time she triggered the engines and burst free from the tube again, trailing fire.

"Very good cadet, that was a sub-four second launch. Pod four, go."

Ellie grinned. Less than four seconds to get out. That was good wasn't it? She wondered what the record was, and how she could take it as she sailed around the Paris. They were no longer limited to their five hundred metre zones. They had earned the right to fly around the ship before each reset.

"Pod six, go."

Ellie dived low, flew underneath the Paris, and skimmed its lower surface. There were guns here, recessed in the cavities, and dotted all around the ship were things she knew to be weapon and defence pods, but she knew no more than that. She was here to learn how to fly, and to prove she was the best.