Chapter Three: The Great Rocket Sled Training Incident
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The next morning, Tommy got out of bed more sluggishly than usual. He'd had some difficulty sleeping after the events of the previous day. After washing up and getting all set for the next work day, he started for the door. Just as he reached for the handle, the phone rang. Grumbling to himself, he went over and picked it up.

"Yes?"

"Hey, man!" It was John. "Wasn't sure if you were going to be up yet or not, so I called."

"Uh-huh. Well, that's all well and nice, but I've gotta get going-"

"Hold on. There's one more thing. Does the name UNSS Valencia mean anything to you?"

"Northampton-class frigate. What about it?"

"She's in orbit around Sweetwater right now…and we're going to be on it."

Tommy blinked. "What for? They transferring us to her air wing?"

"Sort of. We won't exactly be staying long, if you know what I mean…"

"Hmm…oh, no…you don't mean…!"

"VF Rocket Sleds, buddy! We get to train with the Rocket Sleds! Cool, huh?"

"Oh, yeah, I've always wanted to be shot out of a missile tube at Mach 4.4...I'll see you later, man."

A few hours later, Tommy, John, and the other two members of their flight were in the Valencia's briefing room along with the rest of their squadron. The squadron commander, Lt. Commander Joseph Ironsides, was standing in front of a huge monitor wall.

"All right, people. Get used to your surroundings, because you won't be seeing them for much longer. As you've already known, the Valencia has brought along a few surplus sleds, and you lucky hotshots get to ride in 'em. Lt. Peterson?"

John stood up. "Sir?"

"Your flight goes first. We've set up a bunch of targets in several sectors out in this region you see here. You're attacking Sector A-3. You'll encounter targets on the ground, and air threats as well. Be ready."

"Yes, sir." John sat back down.

Meanwhile, back on Sweetwater, Kina was waiting for the heavy transport that would take her home. Zentraedi hours were murder, or they were to her, at least. Everybody else didn't really seem to mind. In fact, they had always looked at her like she was nuts every time she complained about the long hours. But that wasn't on her mind now. Instead, she was thinking about the conversation she'd had in the foreman's office a few minutes after her misadventure with the metal rods…
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"What am I going to do with you?", he had said. "You've got the worst record in terms of packages dropped and damaged of anybody here. I'm sorry, but something's got to give here!"

"But I always try my best. It's true, I'm a little clumsy, but…"

"A little?! Thank God you didn't fall on anybody, or drop those rods on someone! Look, I really, really don't want to do this but…either you get your act together, or I'm gonna have to give you your pink slip!"

Upon hearing this, Kina started to cry in waterfalls. "No, please! Please don't fire me! I need this job to get by! You've got to give me another chance! WAAAHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!"

The foreman was, naturally, quite eager to get her quiet again. "Kina…KINA! Please stop crying, for the love of…please!?" She quieted down, but was still sniffling. "Look, you're not fired yet. Just…I'll tell you what. Take tomorrow off, and…I don't know, do SOMETHING to fix those butterfingers of yours, okay?"

"Thank…you.", she sniffed.

"And, for the love of God, take a tissue…"
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Kina sighed to herself at the memory. "I'll never be able to do anything right. If he'd known about that poor guy I almost squashed, I'd be out on my butt now. I wonder who he was, anyway…" Her train of thought was broken by the sound of the transport pulling up to the stop. She boarded, and took a seat.

Up aboard the Valencia, the whole flight was loaded into their sleds and readied for launch.

"Okay, Cavalier Squadron, Blue Flight report in. This is Blue 1 standing by."

"Blue 2 all set for launch."

"Blue 3 locked and loaded."

"Blue 4, suffering from claustrophobia but otherwise ready," said Tommy.

John chuckled. "Control, Blue Flight is go for launching."

"Roger that. Ship is in position. Launching Rocket Sleds now!" The red missile-like sleds flew out of the Valencia's missile tubes in pairs, first John and Blue 2, and then Blue 3 and Tommy. All four sleds streaked towards Sweetwater at Mach 4.4.

On the bridge of the Valencia, the flight controllers were monitoring the four Valkyries all the way.

"Telemetry from all sleds is in the green."

"External temperatures are rising on expected curves."

"Stress on the nose shields within limits."

Lt. Cmdr. Ironsides was standing beside the captain of the Valencia.

"You sure your boys are ready for this, Commander? I mean, no offense, but it's not often that planetary squadrons get to undergo sled training."

"Don't worry, sir. They shouldn't have any problems."

As the sleds entered deeper into the atmosphere, the frictional heat began to subside, and the buffeting slowly ceased. At 10,000 meters, the nose shields of the sleds broke away, and the Valkyries contained inside were released to fly free.

"This is Blue 1," said John. "All aircraft have separated from their sleds and are free to navigate."

"Roger that," replied the controller. "You're fifty kilometers from the target zone."

Tommy breathed a small sigh of relief. "Well, that was fairly entertaining."

As they advanced, the radar screen of all four Valkyries suddenly showed aerial contacts approaching them.

"Control, this is Blue 1. Bandits incoming at vector zero-nine-zero. Repeat, incoming from due east. Request permission to engage."

"Permission granted. You're clear to engage."

"All right, people. Let's go and knock the snot out of some drones, shall we?"

The two groups of aircraft closed in on each other rapidly.

"Targets coming within weapons range now," said John. "All aircraft open fire."

Each aircraft locked onto a target and fired a volley of medium-range missiles…except for Tommy.

"This is Blue 4. I can't get a solid lock here…something's not right."

"Talk to me, Tommy. What's up?"

"Contacts are good, but the system isn't locking on. I don't understand it…!"

"I see. Everybody, break formation and engage. Tommy, you stick with me as usual." The group of four split into two, each group going in its own direction. "Tommy, check your master arm switch. It might still be on standby."

Tommy glanced at his instrument panel. Sure enough, the master arm was still in standby mode. He sheepishly switched it to armed mode. "Problem fixed, I'm all set…sorry."

"Hey, you'll have time to be embarrassed later. Let's do this!" They pulled towards a pair of the target drones that had come out to meet them. As they closed in, the two drones split off from each other.

"They've split up, John."

"Right. You take the ugly one, I've got the pretty one."

"Very funny." They chased after their targets. John was on his in seconds.

"Okay, glitch, you think your mass of circuits and chips can match my neurons and electro-chemical discharges? Think again…!" Switching to his short-range missiles, he quickly settled his fighter in a perfect firing position.

"Locked on. Bye-bye!" He fired a volley of four missiles. They streaked in and nailed the drone dead-on, instantly turning it to scrap metal.

"That's a kill. How are you doing with yours, Tommy?"

"Bad. I can't keep him in my sights!"

"Try cutting your throttle a bit, so you're not overtaking as much."

"You got it, coach," said Tommy with a chuckle as he eased back on his throttle. The drone aircraft began to settle in his gun sight. "Okay, I'm going with the gun pod…steady, steady…firing!" Tommy fired several bursts of 55mm shells at the drone, missing with the first, but the rest of the shots were dead-on and ripped the drone to shreds.

"Got him! Tracking kill on the southern bandit!"

"See? I told you to have more confidence."

"Hey, what about 2 and 3?"

"Huh, almost forgot. 2 and 3, this is Blue 1. What's your status?"

"Blue 2 here. We're holding our own, but it's getting a bit lonely over here. Feel free to join any time."

"Roger, we're on our way."

Meanwhile, on the Valencia's bridge, one of the controllers got up suddenly and approached the captain and Ironsides.

"Pardon me, sirs, but were any more drones supposed to be launched?"

"Not yet, no," said the captain.

"Well…I've detected another launch from Sector A-3."

"What?", said Ironsides. "Where are they headed?"

"Well…", said the controller as he motioned the two officers over to the screen, "it looks like they're going clear out of the combat area."

"This isn't good…get me Blue Flight," said Ironsides.

At that point, the remaining drones from the original group had been finished off.

"That's the last of 'em!", said Blue 3.

"Good," said John. "Let's hit those ground targets now!"

"Hold it," came the voice of the Commander. "We've detected an unauthorized drone launch. Forget about the ground targets for now, and follow the drones. You should have them on long-range radar by know."

"…Confirmed. Five targets headed on course…one-eight-zero, due south. We'll check it out."

"You boys be careful. We don't know who's controlling those drones yet. If I were you, I'd assume that they were aces unlike anything you've seen before."

"…Understood."

Meanwhile, on the ground, the transport was rumbling along the roadway, chugging along noisily. Kina was sitting alone this time. She stretched her arms out and rolled her neck around, trying to relieve some of the stress of sitting for long periods. She started to hum a tune to herself. Anything to offset the boredom.

"Jeez…I hate riding alone for long stretches. This is more boring than watching those goofs at work play euchre!" She sighed. "I'd kill for some excitement. Well, no, I guess I wouldn't kill…that's going a little too far. I'd make someone really, really uncomfortable for some excitement. Yeah, that's the ticket!" She smiled to herself in that same cute but slightly ditzy way, and continued humming.

Up in the air, Blue Flight had closed to within missile range of the rogue drones.

"This is Blue 1. Targets are in range. Should we open fire?"

"…Negative, don't fire unless they attack you or otherwise show hostility. Until then, just tail 'em."

"Roger that. You guys catch that?"

"Yes, sir. Cold on all weapons."

"Right. Let's keep it going, shall we?" As they closed in, three of the five drones suddenly broke formation and doubled back.

"Uh-oh…Valencia, this is Blue 1. Three of the five drones are headed towards us. What do we do?"

"Don't engage unless attacked. That's an order, Lieutenant."

"Understood, sir." The incoming drones suddenly began to emit radar signals.

"Blue 4 here. I'm spiked-I think they're locking onto us!"

"Shouldn't be anything to worry about," said Blue 3. "They shouldn't have live weapons…right?"

"We can't be certain of anything," said John. "Hey, now I'm spiked. 2 and 3?"

"Spike."

"Spike."

Suddenly, alarms sounded in all of their cockpits. The drones launched several missiles at the four Valkyries.

"Damn! Break off, break off!" Tommy and John managed to avoid the missiles, but Blue 2 and 3 were struck by one missile each, taking damage to their engines.

"2 and 3, are you guys okay?"

"2 here. I'm limping but alive. I think I can make it back to the base."

"3's same. Sorry, Lead. We've got to leave this party."

"Understood. You guys head on back. Well, Tommy, I guess it's just you and me."

"Sure seems that way…"

The drones and the two remaining Valkyries passed each other head-to-head, and the fight began. Just like before, John managed to get into a firing position on his targets first. He locked onto both at once, but his subsequent missile volley only hit one target. The other drone evaded his missiles and made a hard break for the ground.

"Oh, no, you don't!!" John converted his Valkyrie to GERWALK mode and spun its nose around hard, managing to catch the drone before it got out of gun range. He fired a quick burst, and managed to score a hit.

"Got mine. How's yours, Tommy?"

"I'm on him…got a lock! Missiles away!" Tommy's volley scored a textbook hit. "That's two today. If only they were real targets…"

"Another time, my friend, another time. Now let's get the two that didn't come after us!"

"Right!" They raced off in the direction of the other two drones.

On the transport, things still hadn't changed much. Kina was tapping her feet on the floor and twiddling her thumbs. Suddenly, the roar of jet engines overhead could be heard, even over the transport's engines. Kina looked out the window, and saw a small aircraft zip overhead, one that was definitely NOT a Valkyrie.

"Huh? What in the world is that plane doing up there?" At that moment, another one flew over. They grew very distant, then suddenly began to turn back. As they did, small points of light began to emanate from them, points that streaked in and struck the ground near the transport. Laser fire!

"They're shooting at us!", Kina cried out loud as the laser shots rocked the transport. Immediately, the mostly female passenger compliment began to scream and panic.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no!"

"Is someone going to help us?!"

"We're going to die!!!"

"I'm scared!"

In the air, John and Tommy were closing in.

"Blue 1, there's a new problem," said Ironsides

"Yes?"

"It seems that the two remaining drones are strafing one of the heavy transports that take Zentraedi loading workers to and from work. You've got to take them out!"

"Right. Tommy, you get that?"

"I sure did. Let's move!" They pushed their fighters to the limit. In less than a minute, they were in missile range.

"Tommy, let's hit 'em with medium-range missiles. If nothing else, they'll be distracted."

"Right." They locked on and fired off all of their remaining medium range missiles, 6 between the two of them. One of the drones was hit and destroyed, but the other dodged and began to climb into the sky.

"One down, one to go!", said John.

"Let's get him. That transport doesn't have much in the way of protection." They blazed in with afterburners, and John immediately broke off in pursuit of the drone.

"…Think you can pick on innocent, defenseless…40-to-50-foot-tall giants…?! Think again!" John's speed carried him inside of missile range before he could get a shot off, but he slowed down in time to set up a gun attack.

"He's mine now!" John fired his gun pod, but the drone jinked at the last second. The bullets clipped the wing of the drone, sending it into a spin towards the ground.

"He's toast. Well, that's all she wrote!"

"…No, it isn't. John, take a look!"

"What are you talking about-oh, dear God…!" John's face turned pale. "It's going to crash into the transport!!"

"That thing's still got missiles…if they go off…!!"

"I can't get at it! Tommy?"

"It's falling too erratically! I can't lock on!"

"Damn…"

"Wait! I've got it!" Tommy pressed a button on his instrument panel, and all of the remaining missiles on his Valkyrie were jettisoned from their hardpoints. He then accelerated towards the falling drone.

"Tommy, what the hell are you doing?!"

"I can't hit it with weapons, so I'm going to play goaltender!"

"What?! Tommy, if you don't time it just right…!"

"I know, I know!" His fighter streaked in. "John, what's the first thing they tell all variable fighter pilots?"

"The first rule of survival!!"

"Change or Die!!!!!!!" Tommy converted his Valkyrie into Soldier mode, and put it into a flying side-kick orientation. "Eat this!!!!!!!!!!" As the two vehicles approached, Tommy closed his eyes.

"Please, let it work…just this once…!"

Aboard the transport, the din hadn't ended. Kina had a clear view of the tumbling aircraft about to crash into them.

"Oh, no…please not like this!" Suddenly, a humanoid shape surged in and kicked the falling plane away. Kina's eyes fixed on it immediately.

"…Valkyrie…"

Tommy opened his eyes in time to catch the drone crashing harmlessly to the side of the road.

"I…I did it. I did it!!!!!!!!!"

"Great move, man!", cried John. "That was one in a million!"

"Yeah, for anyone else. For me, it's more like one in a trillion…!"

"Hey, don't sell yourself short. You did good today, man. Real good. Control, this is Blue 1. All targets eliminated. Mission complete, we're coming home."

"Roger that, Lieutenant. Tell the Ensign that he's got one hell of a kick there." Upon hearing that, Tommy blushed.

On the transport, Kina immediately made up for starting the panic by shouting "We're saved! It's over!!" Everybody on board began to either cheer, sigh with relief, or cry tears of joy. Except for Kina. She stared out the window.

"That pilot…he saved us all by himself…it's almost like he owed us..."