Chapter 3

Twelve days later…

"Husky six, move it!"

"I'm trying sir….!"

Bill glanced at his sensor board. Husky Six was lagging behind again. He had slipped to the outside on the last turn and was labouring to catch up. Matt Keeler, a Golden Labrador, was the youngest pilot in the squadron at 18 years of age, fresh out of the academy.

"Approaching waypoint 5, Squad let's hustle! GO!"

The six tough new fighters angled upwards, going from a horizontal vector to a vertical one within half a kilometer. Husky Six was catching up now, but Bill decided to keep the rookie on his toes. "Squad, accelerate to full power on my mark…"

"Wait sir I'm still catching up…"

"MARK!"

Bill watched as his fellow Huskies followed suit, doubling their speed inside of three seconds despite a 20-tonne payload, and jetting away from a bewildered Husky Six. "Now Squad, approaching waypoint 6… GO!"

The five fighters pulled up again until they were flying inverted to the ground. Husky Six was cutting the square corners they just pulled, coming into formation behind Husky Three. Bill let a tone of amusement slide into his voice. "Husky Six, caught your breath yet?"

"No sir, I never lost it."

"Good. Squad break into prescribed flights NOW! Squad one to the obstacle course, squad two, stand by for your run! Let's GO!"

Husky Six swore as the more experienced pilots quickly cut away and headed to their new destinations, once again trying to catch up with his teammates.

Bill led his flight through a series of holographic rings, loops and tunnels, most moving, some firing false laser bolts at him. The course would be gentler for most squadrons, but Husky Squadron was anything but gentle. Besides, how's gentle going to win a hard battle? Bill had always said.

A combination of thrust vectoring, airflow vectoring and maneuvering jets brought the three fighters around an impossibly tight corner in a tunnel, twisting upwards…

And straight into a simulated obstacle.

Bill braked hard and turned away, almost flying into the walls of the hologram in the process, but he leveled out, just in time to notice that the tunnel was actually closing in on him! The exit was around two kilometers ahead. Bill put all power into engines, his fighter regaining all the speed it had lost in the sharp turn and then accelerating past that speed, putting him well out of the tunnel before the hologram could even touch his fighter.

"This is Husky Leader, I made it out. Training ground, that was a LOT trickier than last time. I mean, Shrinking tunnels?! Get a grip man!"

The training ground evaluator seemed disappointed. "I was hoping I'd snag you there Bill, but you went through without a scratch, again."

"Naturally." Bill smirked.

"Still, Husky Two ran into three holograms and Husky Three ran into two. Total time is 1 minute 49 seconds, plus penalties is 2 minutes 14, on the hardest course we've had ever, has anyone told you guys you don't get out of the cockpit enough?"

Everyone in Bill's flight laughed. "Hey, we get out more than YOU, Phil."

"You Freaks. Training ground, out."

Bill sniggered. "OK flight, back to the hangar. That was good flying back there."

Congregated in one of the Katina City KDF base's briefing halls were the twelve members of Husky Squadron, the flight controllers who witnessed their performance and a technician from Cornerian Aerospace. The highest-ranking creature there, Commander Bill Grey, was giving his views on the merits of the new Kodiak fighters.

"… so I think perhaps it needs a shield generator. Twice as tough as the LF-220's, but still not as tough as Arwings. If we get a shield generator in, she's definite competition even for the latest incarnations of the Arwing."

A Silk Terrier, Perry Jackson, Husky Two, nodded. "And she may be a lot heavier than our old light fighters, but she's every single bit as agile. I think if we master manipulating the controls for maximum maneuverability we can get her to turn circles tighter than Invader III's. Firepower is almost excessive, I found that on the target range, there was little power left for much else once I engaged more than 5 energy weapons. But engine power… Whoo!"

Many of the Huskies voiced their agreement. The greatest merit of the Kodiak was it's unbelievable engine power, giving a fantastic top speed and a terrifying rate of acceleration. The two big engines allowed the craft to pull through even the toughest of natural weather conditions, as well as the ability to get straight into a fight, or tear away so fast no ship could give chase. Still, as good as the new fighters were, Bill had found it a little hard saying goodbye to the old Greendawg. He did manage to buy the ship from the Defence Force, but her weapons had to be stripped down. It was now in storage in the main hangar facility.

"So, your thoughts Mr. Halbert?"

The Cornerian technician looked up from his notes. "Well, your opinions are duly noted. I don't know how well we'll be able to do a shield generator, as Captain Jackson pointed out the power generator is under enough stress as it is. Still, we'll try. I must commend you on your flying today. You all pulled moves even we didn't think the Kodiak was capable of before today."

Every member of Husky Squadron beamed with pride. Bill savoured the moment, then stood.

"Well if that's all you're all dismissed. Thankyou for your time. Oh, Except Captain Jackson, Lieutenant Bastion and Lieutenant Leahy. That is all."

The other members of Husky squadron stood and filed out of the briefing room, babbling excitedly about their new fighters and the stunts they had managed to perform the day. Even their newest pilot, Husky Six, was using his paws to illustrate a miraculous four-stage evasion maneuver he had managed to pull, fooling Lieutenant Francine Bastion for a moment during the dogfights.

Once the Cornerian technician and the flight controllers had also departed, Lieutenant Leahy spoke up.

"What's up, Commander?"

"We're at peace now Wally, just call me Bill when the kids aren't hanging around." Bill replied, gesturing out the open doorway.

"Sure, well, why the meeting? What's up?"

Bill hadn't really thought about what he wanted to say, but it came out all right anyway. "Well… do you notice that the sudden change in heart within the government, about defence spending, was… I dunno, a little too sudden, with too little reason?"

Perry nodded, as if the same thing had been bothering him. "Yeah, they're really clammed up about it too. It's almost… Almost like they're afraid of something."

Bill nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Fran? Wally? Your thoughts?"

"I got a bad feeling about this. I think Perry's right, something's lurking around the corner, and the government is trying to keep it quiet. I got no idea what to be afraid of though." Francine replied.

"Hey, you guys have never respected my opinion, but I'll give it anyway." Wally said. "I think we're gonna see war."

The briefing room was deadly silent for a moment.

"That's pretty extreme, Wal." Muttered Perry. "Still it's a possibility. Against who, though, I wouldn't have a clue. Bill, have you asked General Rathcoat yet?"

"Yeah…" Bill said reluctantly. "But he said he didn't know what I was talking about, and that I should be happy that we got the Kodiaks at all. I'm gonna call General Pepper tonight. He's a tad friendlier."

"Well I hope he proves me wrong." Wally shook his head. "War might have made small heroes of us, but last time it made posthumous heroes of too many of my friends. Never again."