7 Too Easy

Nothing in Humanity's possession matched the XR-91 Space Superiority Battledroid. A single-manned-craft, the XR-91 measured 80 feet nose to tail and a fifty-foot wingspan. Sweep-wings capable of variable configuration and a segmented body allowed the agile Battledroid a number of modes fighters used during battle. Powerful Reecevark-designed ion engines provided propulsion for the attack crafts. With internal compensators damping acceleration, pilots barely felt the grav forces that allowed the fighters reach .3c during fight. Laser gun turrets were the XR's main weapon of combat though Congress allowed the fighters forty miniature-sized hyper-missiles on the off chance a pilot got close enough to a Vord Hive ship. They almost never did. Fighting off swarms of suicidal Vord fighters was hard enough for the Rhizon pilots in the cockpit without the additional element of avoiding the batteries of point-defense laser auto cannons on Hive battleships. They were beautiful: unmatched gods of space-warfare. They were Nan`Shardar's greatest weapon against the Vord Empire. It was also why Paul sat behind the near-obsolete Rhizon ARk09.

Space patrol is a bore. Paul thought to himself. Spread out to his side and rear were the rest of his fighter wing. In the judgment of High Command, clumping the untested human fighters together offered them the best chance of survival. Paul and his companions only disagreed with the order because it made them harder to kill. Flicking his com, he signaled to Usama, Chen Li and Mfecane.

"Accelerate to a million km ahead. Chen Li take point." The dead space around them could hide anything. They did not mind an ambush: he just wanted to be close enough to pursue enemy scouts back to their carrier ships.

Unfortunately, it didn't take long before they were discovered.

"HF-07 Flight leader. Why are members of your team breaking off from the rest?" The Reecevark's mechanical voice came through his com. With his neural chip linked to his fighter's systems, ignoring Convoy Command was not an option.

"Fliers are flying ahead. Better view of scenery." It was grating having to respond. It was why he didn't bother giving his flight designation. They might force them to respond, but they would have to spend a great deal of time reprogramming conditioned responses into the Soulless.

"HF-07 Flight leader. This is a military frequency. Respond using flight designation."

It must have been one of the ostriches. They were an officious bunch in matters of flight. Though the voice was mechanical, Paul sensed a degree of petulance coming through the subspace link. His com board suddenly flashed with clicks from the rest of his fighter wing. They were amused.

"Okay." Paul responded. Each minute the advance team gained was precious.

Usama laughed aloud in his accelerating cockpit. Tweaking the overlords was child's play! Plus, they couldn't discipline the fighters until after the mission.

"Human flight commander. This is knight-Lord Rh`eisar. Why are your companions breaking formation and leaving gaps in the screen?" The new voice was unmodulated by any mechanical communication devices. Genetically similar to humans, the Rhizon had no need for translation devices to communicate with humans.

Silence greeted his query.

If they could not follow military protocol and address Paul by his code designation, he shouldn't respond. Paul thought to himself. Military protocol insisted on maintaining the proprieties. Otherwise, there'd be chaos!

"Respond to query human flight leader."

Again, nothing came back along the subspace link.

Knight-Lord Rh`eisar begun to wonder whether there was a problem with the coms. The Junari were legendary for fudging the numbers when it came to requisitions. He wondered whether someone did some 'judicious' cost cutting and forgot to include com between interspecies flight teams. Sending a quick query to Central, Rh`eisar suddenly exploded with a harsh curse. The hairless monkey was ignoring him!

"I am addressing the hairless Finik scum designated flight leader for HF-07." Just to make sure he got an answer back, he added. "Why in R`halloir's great bifurcated balls are members of your team breaking formation? You will answer me or I will disintegrate your flier!"

Suddenly, Paul was battling his geas. Conditioned commands implanted into his cortex via the neural chip forced him to respond. He was forced to respond.

"Current flight screen cover adequate for convoy. Holes in sensor coverage in the seventh quadrant. Flight members designated scouts." Thinking to give the trio enough time to perform a rudimentary sweep of the region of dead space, Paul added a request.

"Com pings sending ghost images. Check with Convoy Central. Neighborhood asteroid belt blocking sensors."

Again, Rh`eisar cursed out aloud. If the human was right there would be H`elle to pay. Already, reports of attacks on the few remaining isolated colonies were coming in. That was fine. Their insistence on remaining to defend their homes would give High Command an informal advanced warning system. It already paid off with warning of the Hive's presence. On the other hand, if the ball-less freak was fooling around he would send R`halloir's fire up his arse.

"Scout Command, does what the human say bear truth?"

"Please identify yourse…"

"Answer me you glorified chicken!" Rh`eisar was furious. It was bad enough the human disrespected him. To have the offshoot descendant of Earth's poultry species mess around with military intelligence was almost unbearable.

"The human is right. We are receiving ghost images from the asteroid belt. Working to refine data. We also do not have enough fighters to provide scouting missions."

The new voice was also mechanical. It was the Davii`d officer in charge of the artificially intelligent quantum computer known as Convoy Central. The paranoid race were not about to put their fate in any machine's 'hands'. Unfortunately, this introduced an element of human – or in this case moldy – error.

"What of the damned Reecevark scouts we've been sending out?"

"They were retained back in Junari space."

The legendary Rhizon fury was building. If Rh`eisar didn't receive a straight answer, and fast, he would definitely blow something up.

"Why. Did. They. Not. Accompany. Us. On. The. Convoy."

By now, even the aloof Davii`d commander could sense the Rhizon's fury. Unfortunately, the only answer he could provide was the truth.

"The Junari sent a request to Union Command. They cited a lack of homeworld defense. It was granted."

Rather than get hang up on details, Rh`eisar gave up on additional queries. He would deal with the pretentious fungal growth later. Flicking his com over to general transmission, he rasped out commands. "Rhizon fighters six through twelve for squadrons one and four, extend screen cover distance to 200, 000 meters from station. Fighters flights one through four for the same assume stagger formation and station fighters 10, 000 meters to galactic north. Fighter flight five to assume oblique position to convoy and await further instruction. Rest maintain position."

Three times faster than the ARk09, the twelve Rhizon fighter flights quickly outstripped their slower brethren. Soon, Chen Li and his reduced flight were only seeing the diminishing light of fifty attack crafts quickly accelerating from their own fighters. Those lights were soon joined by larger flares as the Vord fighters waiting in ambush opened up a new chapter in galactic conflict.

The sudden chatter that filled the com system grated on Paul. For a vaunted race renowned for their military skill, the Rhizon were disappointing. Not only did they run right into an ambush they eschewed all military protocol and flooded the coms with irrelevant messages. As if anyone but a neutrally blind-man couldn't see the enemy. Seeing his erstwhile companions break formation to rush forward, Paul quickly sent out his own command.

"All HF flight units merge under respective HF-07 counterparts. HF-07 extend fighter wing to ten clicks from station. Vanessa, Colbert and Marko jettison your loads. Pop up to galactic south and provide support. Chen Li, Usama and Mfecane take station on my wing. Everyone else watch for ripples from initial bandit run." HF-07, but for the three already headed back from the Vord ambush, would maintain their station. For now, they would seat back and watch. They wouldn't have to wait for long.