Far Horizon (Juggernaut #4)

Forty Three

At two seconds Ellie steadied her rotation and pushed forward to stop Brin getting too far from the optimal range for a visual lock.

At three seconds, the target lock broke.

Aurora cut through Ellie's line of sight allowing Brin to escape.

"What are you doing? I had him!" Ellie cried out.

"He was getting away, and you were letting him."

"I had a lock."

"Well now you don't. Work harder, Ellie. I can't keep carrying you."

Aurora cut the channel. Ellie screamed in frustration, glad that no one could hear her. The scream lasted two seconds.

When she stopped screaming she heard the tone. It took her one second to react.

Too long.

"Good shot Brin," said the Commander.

"What?" said Ellie.

"Bang, you're dead, Ellie," said Aiden.

Aurora said nothing. She pulled up and around, to line up a shot on Brin. Brin heard the tone and held still, counting in his head. At two he broke away. Aurora, having held her position for two seconds was now subject to Aiden's weapon lock. She rolled and dived, turning perpendicular to his line of attack. Brin was already there. Another weapon lock sounded. Aurora turned again, another ninety degree manoeuvre. The lock broke, but was reacquired almost immediately by Aiden.

Still dead and silent, Ellie held position near Commander Archer and watched the fight. Two on one with no cover and equally matched ships meant you had to be an extraordinary pilot to overcome those odds. Aiden and Brin worked hand in hand. One would get the lock, and the other would close off possible vectors of escape. They carved up the space between them, cutting off Aurora's avenue of escape. But as good as they were as a team, Aurora's raw talent and skill made her equal to their partnership. She couldn't out fight them, but neither could they defeat her, and by the time the match time limit was up, Ellie was the only casualty.

"I knew we would lose because of you," spat Aurora. "You're the worst person to have on a team. You only think of yourself."

"We would have won if you hadn't cut me off," Ellie shouted.

"Enough, cadets," ordered Archer. "Tempers are high, but we're all on the same side here. Excellent work all of you. Get back to the bay and cool off. We can review your performance later, with cooler heads."

"Yes sir," said Aurora. She cut her radio and zoomed away to the Paris.

"You did well, Ellie, that was really tough," said Aiden, trying to make peace.

Ellie grumbled a thank you back, but kept her eyes on Aurora. In her mind, it was Aurora's fault they had lost. Someone had to make her understand that. Ellie had no intention of being blamed for the loss. She accelerated and chased her wing mate back to the ship.

"Take it easy cadets," said Archer, "Watch your approach speed."

Ellie ignored the order. They should have won. They should have worked as a team. Aurora should have listened to her. Nothing that went wrong today was her own fault. The fury she felt at being blamed for something she didn't do overwhelmed her.

Aurora lined up for her final approach for landing and cut her speed. Ellie moved in alongside her, still complaining. Aurora ignored her, instead looking intently ahead. The ships in the landing bay were visible at this range. Underneath were the four white triangles of the launch tubes, and in the viewing room next to the tubes Ellie could make out five figures standing at the window, looking on.

Ellie swung closer, as if she could shout across the vacuum. She had never felt so angry, never felt so much injustice. She didn't deserve to be treated like this, especially not by a stuck up pair of twins who thought they were better than everybody else.

Ellie ignored the sounds in her earpiece even as Aurora ignored her. She just sat there, a little ahead, refusing to so much as acknowledge that Ellie was there. Ellie pushed closer and pulled up on Aurora's right until their wings almost touched. Still nothing.

"It wasn't my fault," Ellie said into the mic. Aurora ignored her.

Now they were both close enough to make out who was who in the observation room. They all seemed agitated, pointing and waving at something. Ellie checked her scanner. There was nothing close behind them. The closest thing was the blip of Aurora's Starling, almost overlapping her own.

The captain's voice finally broke through Ellie's wall of anger.

"Cadet! Pull up at once! You are too close for a safe approach. That's an order."

"Ellie, she's muted your channel. She can't hear you," said Aiden.

Aurora noticed the observers jumping and waving too. She looked around and was startled by and angry Ellie shouting at her only metres away.

She pulled left, to get away from Ellie at the same moment that Ellie realised what was happening and pulled right. Aurora, then realising she was off her safe line of approach pulled back, but overcompensated.

Ellie, thinking Aurora was trying to get away, also pulled back to centre. Their wings touched. Ellie's wing and thruster assembly, now slightly forward of Aurora's, crunched together. Ellie's Starling blazed white hot over Aurora's control surfaces, cracking them with the impact, and then fusing them with the heat of a plasma fire.

Ellie panicked and rolled hard right and up away from the Paris.

Aurora tried to adjust her path to the bay but only had flight control on one side. She spun the ship in a desperate attempt to level out and shut off her engine.

The Starling clipped the lower edge of the bay, shearing off landing gear and weapons shattering a wing. The remaining wing scraped along the wall, tearing through cables and electronics, ploughing through tool boxes and workstations. Sparks flared and smoke billowed from the Paris as the Starling ripped up the landing bay. It continued to spin as it slowed, taking out more equipment, slicing through the body of another Starling and finally coming to rest against the rear wall of the bay. Fire billowed from damaged systems. Coolant and lubricant flooded the deck floor.

Lieutenant Awan was already taking the stairs up three at a time, shouting orders into his communicator.

"Emergency! Seal off Bay One immediately. Close the space doors now. We need a medical team to bay one at once. We have a bad landing. I need a crane and repair crews on site now. We have leaking fluids and still have an active fusion drive on site. We need—"

There was a low, almost quiet, explosion from the bay as the damaged fusion drive ignited the chemical spill. The fireball billowed up the walls and mushroomed smoke across the ceiling of the bay, thick and black and deadly.

No one heard Aurora's scream.

Outside the landing bay, Ellie brought her Starling under control and to a full stop. She floated near the observation room. Her skin was white. Her mind played and replayed the sound of the fire igniting.

Two more Starlings came alongside her. She saw in the faces of her friends mirrors of her own horrified expression.

"Oh, Ellie," said Aiden softly. "What did you do?"

Ellie said nothing. Could say nothing. The moment laser-etched itself into her mind.

She looked through the window into the observation room. Three of the four cadets in there were watching the monitors of the room above. They had hands over open mouths or eyes wide in disbelief.

Only one cadet ignored the monitors. She stood alone, apart from the others, and stared at Ellie. Her eyes were cold and unblinking, dangerous and unyielding, like the celestial stars for which she was named.