Chapter 10.
Matt felt alive with the controls firmly in hand, the viper handled smoothly. Colonel Horlach made several observations on Matt's technique. Then, Matt heard it - the click of the mic button from the back seat. Very professionally, and with no emotion, Horlach spoke: "Picon Center, Timezone, can you give us a ground speed check?" There was no hesitation, and the replay came as if was an everyday request. "Timezone, Picon Center, I show you at six hundred and forty-two knots, across the ground."
"Roger that Picon center, thank you." replied Horlach. "You're moving at a fairly quick clip, Hephaestus, let's see you execute a drop and roll...now!" Without hesitation the viper dropped back, and down going into a roll. It was executed flawlessly. "Very good. With a few exceptions, you're the only one out of this lot that I'd put my life in their hands doing a drop and roll at over six hundred."
"Thank you, sir." replied Matt trying not to sound cocky. Senior flight instructor and Colonel, Raol "Timezone" Horlach was long a legend in the viper community, and it was a pleasure and nerve-wracking altogether to have him riding shotgun in his training viper. The skies of Picon were clear that morning, and Hephaestus was flying at 16,000 feet above the surface. At thirty two feet in length, and a wingspan of eighteen feet, it was a little larger than a standard Mk. IV viper. This was due to the presence of a rear seat for training purposes only, no front line viper held more than one pilot. The latest viper class, the Mk. V viper was slowly integrating into service. It would be awhile before Matt figured he'd be sitting in one of those. Aside from an increase in top speed by at least twenty knots, the Mk. V had other improvements. Namely it's new computerized weapons system. Using the power of the on-board computers, coupled with the extensive maintenance diagnostics built into the Mk. V by the manufacturers on Caprica, the workload had been significantly reduced. The idea was to relieve pilots of the bulk of system manipulations associated with flying and allow them to do what a pilot does best - be a tactician and splash bandits.
The Paramount Multi-Function Display (PMFD) is a 7"x7" color display that is located in the middle of the instrument panel, under the Integrated Command Panel, or ICP. It is the viper pilot's primary display for navigation, route of flight, situation assessment (SA) or a "mark one eyeball view" of the entire environment around (above, below, both sides, front and back) the viper. Matt continually checked his instrument panel for signs of anything wrong. The DRADIS screen revealed two vipers approaching his six, the green asterisk identified friendly aircraft, while red triangles indicated enemy aircraft. The two vipers started to fly formation with Matt's viper. Hotdog was positioned off his port wing, with Slowpoke off the starboard wing. What came next happened with blinding speed, there was no warning. Lt. jg. Brendan "Hotdog" Costanza's viper plowed straight into a flock of Tellans, very large waterfowl with razor sharp beaks. Fifty to fifty four inches in length, these large birds are capable of inflicting serious damage to any aircraft unlucky enough to meet up with them. The first impact struck the canopy with such force that it cracked, leaving blood and guts smeared across the canopy. The second impact was on the starboard air intake. With atmospheric flight, the protective coverings over the air intake usually in place while flying through the vacuum of space were retracted, and the turbines were in motion. The engine blew apart, and the rookie pilot panicked, even though he had been trained how to deal with bird strikes during atmospheric flight.
"Frak, frak, frak...I'm hit, something just exploded over my cockpit's canopy...starboard engine malfunction...uhh....krypter, krypter, krypter...I'm hit!" cried Hotdog over the comline. In the background you could hear the calm voice of Hotdog's instructor riding shotgun issuing directives that were being ignored in what was obviously a case of a panicked nugget pilot. "I can't see...I can't see!"
"Use your instruments, forget about visual!" shouted Horlach into the cockpit. He knew his fellow instructor was giving those exact same directions less than thirty feet away. Hotdog's heart was racing, he couldn't see through his canopy, and all he could think of was getting out of there, he looked down at the ejection handle, and as if the instructor behind him was reading his mind he shouted out.
"Don't even think about that ejection handle nugget!" Costanza felt as if his heart was in his throat, and sweat dripped down into his eyes, he instinctively reached up to wipe the sweat away, but with his helmet on it was impossible. That momentary release of the control stick, coupled with the damaged engine caused the viper to pull to the right, towards Hephaestus and Timezone. Proximity warnings blared loudly in both cockpits as Hotdog clumsily retrieved the controls. The jerking of the stick caused the top part of the starboard wing to sweep up, making contact with the bottom side of Hephaestus' port wing. Matt acted fast in order not to swerve into Slowpoke who was flying in close formation. He executed a tight drop and roll, putting distance between him and Hotdog. When they recovered they were now below and to the rear of both vipers. Slowpoke peeled off away from Hotdog's viper that was continuing on an erratic track.
"Picon Center, Timezone...I am declaring an emergency for Hotdog, all training vipers are to clear the airspace and land immediately!" ordered Horlach. "Frak it all, I've had it with this kid. Good evasive maneuvers Hephaestus, you kept your cool and kept control of your aircraft. Back off and stay on Hotdog's five o'clock high until he lands."
"Yes sir!" replied Matt. Hotdog finally recovered his aircraft after repeated commands from his training instructor, he felt ill. He knew he had fraked up again, this time he almost caused another pilot to lose control due to bumping wings. After descending on instrumentation, he brought his damaged viper down hard, twisting the nose landing gear into a grotesque angle. That was the final nail in his burial box.