It took a day and a half to get through the first round of the tournament. Of the hundred squadrons that took part in the first round, only fifty remained. Our next fight wasn't until late Wednesday morning. Since we were the some of the first to go in the first round, we were one of the last to go in round two. We didn't mind. It allowed us to study and refine various plans. I also used this time to memorize names and faces of everyone in my squadron, as well as assigned positions for the tournament. The rest of the squadron started looking to me as their leader. There was no voting or ceremony, it was more of an unspoken agreement. We drew closer together as a squadron in that day and a half than we had the rest of the time at the academy. It saddened me that this was going to be our last week together after growing so close.
We walked into the classroom confident that today was going to go much smoother. I took my seat between Jen and Thad as Lieutenant Briggs walked to the front of the room and activated the screen on the wall. "This is the field of battle for your mission," he said, pointing to a black screen.
"But it's empty," Tina said.
"Exactly," Lieutenant Briggs replied. "Your mission is to eradicate an enemy fleet in open space. Each fleet will have the same composition, however, there is one caveat to this mission. Our Cruisers are undergoing maintenance, so you will be without cruiser support. Your fleet will consist of four battleships and thirty-seven fighters. You have forty-five minutes to plan your attack." We had an additional battleship and nine fighters to fill with the crews previously assigned to the cruisers. It only took a few minutes to make the assignments.
"How do you want to approach this?" I asked the others.
One of the battleship commanders, named Andrew spoke up, "There is no cover, so the only option I see is to fight them head on. I don't see any tactical way we could easily get the upper hand, especially without support from the cruisers."
"We also need to think defensively," Jen chimed in. "A single lost battleship would be hard to recover from. The fighters aren't going to do much damage, so I think they should be used as a screen to defend the battleships."
"I agree with what Jen proposed," I said. "I also think she was on the right track about losing a battleship. I think for this situation, first strike will be critical in deciding who wins. Missiles will be few and hitting anything at a distance with the rail guns will be extremely difficult. We should move in at an odd angle and hit them fast and hard. If the fighters do their job in keeping incoming ordinance at bay, we should have a decent chance at winning this fight." So far nobody objected to the plan. We started reviewing formations and defensive strategies when out of nowhere, inspiration hit me. "Jen, do you remember the trick we pulled in the cruiser sims?"
"You mean the missile smoke screen?" She asked.
"Yes. What if we were to try a variant of that?"
"You may want to fill us all in on your crazy plan," Rachel interrupted.
"We launch a bunch of missiles towards the enemy and detonate them early. If we use the cluster nukes, it will create a radioactive smokescreen that screws with the sensors. The EMP won't get past the hull on the battleships, but it might mess with the fighters."
"Okay, we momentarily blind them, but how do we use that to our advantage?" Andy asked.
"Let me show you," I answered with a smile.
All too soon Lieutenant Briggs cleared his throat and announced, "Time is up ladies and gentlemen. I'll escort you to the Sim deck. Good luck." We stood and followed him. We knew the way by heart, but for some reason he continued to insist on escorting us. We entered the familiar room that housed the simulators, and everyone made their way to their assigned groups. We started performing pre-flight checks. They tried to make everything as real as possible.
"It's too bad we can't have cruisers," said Jen as she powered up her displays. "They were made for situations like this."
"True," I replied. "But this way everything is up close and personal. It's really going to test everyone's ability to work together."
After everyone had declared their ready status, the countdown started, signaling the beginning of the mission. In less than ten seconds we would discover if our efforts paid off. Tensions built exponentially as the timer drew closer to zero. Once the mission started everyone went into a flurry of activity and within seconds, we had the data for the missiles. After giving the other commanders a three second countdown we all launched our missiles. The countdown started, giving us enough of a lead to not interfere with part 2 of my crazy plan.
"All rail guns launch three projectiles in a scattered pattern," I commanded. "After munitions launch full speed towards the target. Navigate twenty degrees down on the Z axis after the missiles blow. Fighters to the front and prepare to intercept enemy fire."
The missiles detonated in devastating beauty, creating a short-lived smokescreen for us. I was hoping that our shock and awe approach had our enemies on the defensive. I was pleased to see several large explosions visible through the quickly dissipating residue of our missiles. We were quickly closing the gap between the two fleets. Our quick drop down helped us evade most of the enemy's long-range fire. The fighters quickly took down any stray missiles that ventured too close.
As we closed the distance, I observed the toll our projectiles had taken on the enemy fleet. They had lost two battleships with a third one visibly damaged. It looked like most of the fighters had avoided destruction, but that was fine with me. The hard-hitting battleships were a much greater concern that the smaller fighters. Opening a line to the fighter pilots, I announced, "You know the plan. Engage enemy fighters, but don't stray too far from us. Once the signal is given, break off and rejoin your assigned battleship. We'll take out as many fighters with our close-range weapons as we can, then you are welcome to finish mopping up. Remember, don't die. We're in this to win, but also treat it as if it is life or death, because one day it will be. Now, take them out!"
Five out of our six units of fighters took off to engage the enemy. The sixth unit was tasked with taking out incoming ordinance. "Gunners, focus on taking out those last two battleships. When the fighters break off their engagement switch to close range weapons only and engage. Russ, your gunners stay on close range and take out anything that the fighters might miss. Let's end this."
We unloaded everything we had at the opposing team, and they did likewise. We had the advantage of a full fleet on our side. Victory was no longer a concern at this point, my main concern was screwing things up and getting people "killed". Our fighters engaged the enemy while our battleships quickly closed the gap. I could tell where Tina was in the pack just by the way she flew, and I was certain that she was going to be made a fighter pilot next week.
I gave the signal and the fighters scattered. By the time the enemy fighters realized what was going on, it was too late. They had drifted too far from their support and right into range of our battleships. While we were laying waste to their fighters, their third battleship finally succumbed to its wounds and exploded. Our trap had destroyed all but a handful of the enemy fighters who managed to escape back to the remaining battleship.
"All ships back to intercept formation," I called out. The fighters positioned themselves in the front of the group to continue destroying enemy missiles. "Russ, you should still have most of your ordinance. Commence fire on the enemy battleship while we close the gap. Fighters stay on your toes. The closer we get the less warning we have for incoming missiles. On my signal everyone unload everything you got left."
The opposing team's determination was commendable. They fought with everything they had, even though they had to know it was a lost cause. Within ten minutes we had destroyed the last of the opponent's ships. As the exercise came to an end, I looked through the data to see how many ships we had lost. The feeling was bittersweet as I looked at the report. We lost two fighters with many more damaged. Every battleship was damaged in varying degrees of severity. With the circumstances as they were, we could have lost many more, so I was grateful that we only lost the two fighters. On the other hand, we shouldn't have lost any. I looked at the names and recognized that they were cruiser gunners in the last round, and I took solace in the fact that they probably weren't very good fighter pilots.
I had to continually remind myself that we had only been here a few weeks. It was remarkable what we had accomplished thus far, and I needed to make sure the others felt the same. It was all too easy let the situation consume us. We made our way back to be debriefed, I was worried that Admiral Jones would show up to further crush our spirits. Much to my relief, Admiral Jones didn't make an appearance. Lieutenant Briggs walked us through the replay of the battle and congratulated us on a job well done. As we sat down for lunch I said, "Seventy-five teams down, only twenty-four to go until we win."
"Make that twenty-three," said Jen as she sat down, and pulled out her tablet. "Apparently, one of the squadrons was caught trying to tamper with the simulators. They have been removed from the tournament and given the worst duties the Admiral could think of."
"Have you guys checked out when our next fight is?" asked Thad as he sat down.
"I'm still feeling drained from this morning," I confessed. "I haven't taken the time to look."
"Well, you had better find the energy to care," he replied. "It's scheduled after dinner." Several groans could be heard.
"That's not fair," complained Tina. "The other team is going to be well rested and we're still trying to recover from this morning."
"I think you mean other teams," I said as I pulled up the details on my tablet. "It looks like it's a three-team free for all. I need to get with the other leaders and get some plans in place. At least they gave us a little bit of information ahead of time." I quickly inhaled the rest of my food and took off in search of the other leaders. We didn't have a lot of time.