The Honour of the Knights (First Edition) (9 page)

“
Would have made your day if Commodore
Hawke hadn
’
t returned either, wouldn
’
t it?” Estelle
commented.

“
You can
’
t say you
’
re very fond of the man yourself,”
Dodds replied. Estelle had had her own brushes with Hawke, either
as a result of her own actions or because of those under her
command. Owing to her nature she was much more adept at handling
such meetings, although those methods quite often came under many
variations of “Yes, sir!”, “No, sir!”, “Sorry, sir!”, and “It
won
’
t happen
again, sir!”.

“
I find it
’
s best to try and stay on the right
side of him,” Estelle said.

“
Which side would that be?” Dodds enquired.

“
Just follow the chain of command, Dodds.”
Estelle’s voice was close to taking on a tired and irritable tone.
“And please; don
’
t either you or Enrique start
leading each other astray. This is a fantastic opportunity
we
’
ve been
granted and we should all act like true professionals.”

Dodds decided it was time to let the topic lie. “So,
what
’
s the new
guy like?”

“
Chaz?”

“
Yeah. I spoke to him before you arrived. He seems a little…
distant?”

“
He
’
s very quiet,” Estelle mused. Dodds
got the impression she was still trying to figure the man out for
herself. “He
’
s a
good pilot, not as good as you or Kelly, but he still gels well
with the team. He used to fly with a group called the
Copper Beetles
. His team
have been shuffled around. They assigned him to the
Knights
and the others
were transferred to Earth.”

“
Guess I
’
ll get to know him better during
the training then,” Dodds remarked.

Estelle shook her head. “Wouldn
’
t bet on it. He
’
s been with us for three weeks and
that
’
s all
I
’
ve managed to
get out of him. He
’
s nice though, if a bit grumpy. Likes to read,
too.”

The pair
had walked a fair way and Estelle suggested they head back. Dodds
asked Estelle what she knew about the ATAF project, but it seemed
that her knowledge on the subject was as good as his.

* * *

Returning to the dormitory, they found that Enrique, Kelly
and Chaz were back in their original places. The accommodation of
the campus was better than Dodds was used to: the dormitory was
bright and spacious and, from the looks of things, sported much
cleaner and improved washing facilities. He grabbed his bag from
the bed and began to sort through his belonging, pulling things out
and dumping them onto the mattress.

Estelle
cleared her throat in an authoritative manner. She shuffled through
the papers in her hands and then addressed the group as a
whole,

“
Okay everyone, listen up.
We
’
ve
still got a lot to do before tomorrow morning. The simulator
results are extremely positive and we
’
re all doing much better than we
were yesterday on the advanced courses, but there’s still room for
improvement. We can get times down, minimise ally and ammunition
losses… Kelly, could you stop writing for just one second until I
have finished speaking, please?”

Kelly
put down her digital journal, pushing it down the bed and out of
reach for good measure, before giving the first lieutenant her
undivided attention. Dodds feigned an irritation around his eye,
looking away from his team mates as he saw Estelle’s domineering
side starting to creep in. Although Estelle liked to treat those in
her command as friends, she was never afraid to pull rank to get
the point across. Things had not changed much with her over the
past five months either then.

“
After lunch and the presentation, I want us to go back over
simulation courses A4, A9, A15 and A19…” Estelle
continued.

Enrique
groaned and looked to the windows, at the warm afternoon sun that
was streaming on through.

“
We
’
re not here on vacation, Enrique,”
Estelle snapped at the man. “
In fact,
Dodds, you need to get on those sims ASAP to work out the rust.
Enrique will go with you and give you a hand setting
up
.”

Enrique
stifled another groan and pulled himself to his feet. “Come on,
man, let’s go,” he indicated to Dodds as he walked over to join
him. Estelle flourished a red pen.

“
I’ve not been over everything,” she said, tapping the papers.
“But I’m sure after I’m done with these we’ll be able
to…”

“
I
’
ll go, too,” Chaz announced,
swinging his legs off his bunk and jumping down.
“I
’
ve never flown
with Dodds before, so the sooner I see what he can do, the better
we can exploit our strengths and cover our weaknesses.”

Estelle
held a bemused look as the big man hurried towards
Dodds.

“
Yeah, good point,” Kelly said. “I think
that having more familiar wingmates will help Dodds to get back up
to speed much sooner than… uh… unfamiliar ones.” She hopped off
her bed, and squeezed herself between Enrique and Chaz to get to
Dodds, taking one of the man
’
s arms and herding him out the
quarters. “No time to waste now!”

Behind
them, Enrique and Chaz hurried along and the four bustled out the
dormitory, past Estelle who watched them go with a flabbergasted
expression on her face.

“
I
’
ll meet you in the simulation suite
just before lunch,” Estelle called after them as they disappeared
down the corridor, towards the exit of the housing
block.

“
No, don
’
t worry, we
’
ll meet you in the refectory,”
Kelly called back without turning around. “That was a close one,”
she said in a low voice.

“
Yeah, tell me about,” Enrique said, then turned to Dodds.
“Seriously, mate, I can’t believe she used to be your
girlfriend.”

IV

—
May the Best Man Win —

T
he simulator suite to which Dodds
was escorted was contained within a large square glass building,
its central expansive floor home to a large number of the systems.
Each simulator itself was self contained, to guard against any
visual distractions. The interior of each was an exact replica of
the designated craft, with readouts and consoles all working as
expected.

For the
most part, the shiny white suite floor was devoid of anything
except for the modules, whilst a high gallery of observation rooms
and offices ran around the perimeter. Staff milled around inside,
performing various tasks. After explaining their requirements to a
staff member, Enrique and Dodds made their way over to a TAF
module.

Dodds sat down in the seat and buckled himself in, the
screens inside powering up to display a convincing astral scene all
around him. The HUD activated and control consoles lit up as they
prepared themselves. A sense of familiarity came back to Dodds. He
reached forward and expertly configured the
fighter
’
s HUD to
the way he preferred, before informing the simulation operator that
he was ready to begin.

To his
dismay, Dodds found that he was, just as Estelle had predicted,
somewhat rusty on the simulator. The months away from duty had led
to him forgetting some of the more intricate principles of space
flight and combat, and he found himself stalling from time to time.
But he focused and an hour later he well on the way to returning to
his original form. He embarked on a series of courses, each
designed to work on various aspects of his skills, from flight
handling to basic target practice. After sometime, Enrique, Kelly
and Chaz joined him on a simple training mission, working as a team
to fulfil various objectives.

Dodds discovered during the course of the exercise that
Chaz
’
s alleged
silence made the transition to the cockpit, and whilst the others
would engage in all kinds of genial banter and teasing, Chaz’s
voice lent itself only when it was required of him. Despite this,
Dodds found that the man was an accomplished pilot and worked well
with the rest of the team.

The
mission took the best part of an hour to complete, by which time
they were all grateful for a break and some food.

* * *

Making
their way into the refectory after Estelle joined them, Dodds felt
quite out of place, the five pilots being the only military
personnel present. The tables were packed full of casual and suit
attired staff, a smattering of white coats here and there. More
walked around carrying their meals on trays.

“
Is there anyone else here?” Dodds asked as
he sat down to eat whatever delights
Xalan
’
s
research staff were given for lunch. He had yet to see any other
servicemen and couldn’t help but feel that he was missing out on
something.

“
Two other teams,” Estelle said, confirming
what Parks had told him earlier, whilst holding up a fork full of
mashed potatoes, dripping in gravy. “But
we
’
re
being kept apart; something about the segregation enabling us to
function better as a team and provide us with fewer
distractions.”

“
Sure it will,” Dodds replied as an attractive, petite
brunette brushed past his chair, their eyes meeting for a brief
moment. She looked away, but smiled as she continued
walking.

Estelle
tutted before going on to question Dodds as to his performance on
the simulators for the rest of the meal, asking every conceivable
question about his progress. She was quite disappointed to discover
he had not brought back any analytics.

Finishing, the team stashed their trays on a rack and left
the refectory, Estelle steering them in the direction of the
central lecture theatre to attend the presentation.

* * *

The
lecture theatre, like the other areas of the facility Dodds had
visited that day, had a far larger capacity than their needs
demanded. Positioned centrally in the rows of red steepled seating,
and close to the front, were ten other people, who must have been
the other teams.

“
Ah, you must be… um… you are..
the
White
Knights
?” a voice boomed out over the
theatre speakers. A tall suited man stood behind the podium at the
front, with his back to a large screen covering the wall. To one
side of him sat two other men, one of whom was Parks. “If
you
’
re all ready
then… er.. please take your seats and I will begin the… the
presentation.”

“
Come on, come on,” Estelle
muttered,
ushering her team into
their seats.

“
Estelle, we’re early, relax,” Dodds said.

“
Yeah, about fifteen minutes early,” Kelly said.

“
Yes, but the other teams are already here,” Estelle replied,
before insisting on dictating the seating arrangement so that she
could sit herself in the middle of the team.

Dodds
was already beginning to feel sorry for the others, having had to
put up with her perfection-seeking attitude for three intense days
already. Sadly, he knew that with their formal training starting
the following day, it was going to get a lot worse before it got
any better. And should they succeed in the evaluations and have the
opportunity to pilot these new starfighters, Estelle could become
unbearable.

“
Now,” began the lecturer, “may I first welcome you to the
Obex Research Centre here on Xalan and er… tulate… all…” His
words became inaudible through his mumbling. The speaker looked
around as Parks said something to him. He cleared his throat and
went on.

“
…congratulate you all on your selection
to become the first to pilot the
Confederation
’
s newest and most advanced starfighter… um… My my my name
is James Ainsworth and… er… I am the chief engineer on the ATAF
project. This is Scott Mansun,” he indicated to the man seated just
behind him, “the project leader, and you all know Commodore
Parks.

“
Right, um… I know you’ll probably have a lot more
questions, b… but, if you could hold off from asking them…
erm… until the end of the presentation, and then Scott will…
will gladly take them.”