He  frowns  at the screen behind him, but puts the game on Pause,..anyone  else  wanna  use this go  ahead, I can start  over   again later....

  walking over, Kray eyes the simulators , ..always  up fer a  dance   Mon Ami?..what era ? WW1...WWII... Cold  war.... or hellcats?

 ..one rule before we  start eh?.. no  cannonballs over 8 pounds....

¨Ah zut alors! No cannonballs? C´est terrible!¨ Quatorze grins. ¨Non, I was thinking Hellcats. Or rather, WE were thinking that,¨ he points at three more simulators where pilots were taking their seats. It seemed Kray was not taking on just the Frenchman. El-Fakiri, Medvedev and Hagen looked just as eager as he was.

¨Would you like some wingmen too, Ozzyman?¨

   He  smiles  his  halfsmile,..If any one wants ta  Jump in and avago? That's  right by me.... If They just wanna  watch, That's fine tooo.. wanna make  sure  folks have a chance at a barney if they wish..eh?

  Kray didn't want to ask, nor did he look around to see if any would join in, Until he was seated, to see if  any one stepped up.

By the time Kray has taken his seat both Piirinen and Wallace have already taken place in a simulator. The Swede shoots Kray a grin.
"Might as well start training our little wing immediately," he states as he straps in.
Just past them, Shadow notices another pilot is getting into a simulator, presumably to even the odds. Judging by the twinkle in his eyes Mpinkulu plans on enjoying himself.

  Kray's Grin widens, as he checks the   SIM helmet... didn't look much different from earthside  SIMs.

  Well.. I'm No FIGJAM... but i ain't bloody shy... He give  The Swede a smile and a Thumbs Up to Wallace, and One more  wave to the 4th Pilot.

  ..So... Mon Ami... the word sounded  a bit awkward  as his Aussie accent  slips  in more and More,..what are the Bleedin'  parameters?... space...  Atmo... Bloody Jungle bounce?

 Though he was talking his  fingers were going over the controls.. muscle memory telling him  that things were , where, they belonged...

"Space. Asteroid field. Guns only."
Timochev laughed as he sat down behind the control panel. Judging by the look on the Frenchman's face he didn't like that too much.
"Team that loses cleans opps this week..."

The others all gathered, ready for a spectacle as the simulator cockpits closed.
"HQ, you have Viper team. Shadow, Dragon team. 25K radius asteroid field, line formation starts. Both teams get five minutes to plan."

The cockpit displays and canopy suddenly switched to black, showing the great expanse of space. Sure enough, Dragon team was at the galactic south side of the field, their HUDs still empty. With a maximum radar range of 2 miles for just the guns, they would need to get up close and personal.

"Dragon Two ready," the Swede reported.

"Dragon Three ready," the soft voice of kelly Wallace added in.

"Dragon Four prepped, lets go hunt us some gazelles," the Zulu suggested.

   Kray looked at the Field,..Smart money say's  we break into pairs  and  sweep the outsides, force them inta the Middle?


 .. If  we  go through the Middle, we can turn as one.. 4 on two.. if they go by the regs.

 ..now? he   looked at the Map a for a second,....we go in as  a Diamond.. me in the elad... Piirivan on my Left... Wallace on my  Right  Mpinkulu behind me... we  see them, we break all 4 to the closest pair..., if they are together,  Piiriven and I  break to Port, Wallace leads Mpinkkulu to the starboard... Keep the Boxed in... force them into asteroids  By   hearding them with your weapons  fire... if you lose  sight,, link up  and  hunt....oh?.. and  ya know... don't go bouncin' off  them space rocks!


 He waits to hear  feed back as his  eyes shift to the countdown clock...

All three pilots check in, affirming their flight leader's orders. The zulu then switches to a secure line, talking to Kray only.
"Dragon One, this is Dragon Four. Permission to speak freely sir?"

  Aye Dragon 4?, if there is  anyone on this  boat you can do that with...its me...What's on your  mind?

 he  rechckes the   switches and Buttons  and his helmet once more..all muscle memory from his own ship.

"Lt, I know you haven't trained with us, so I don't expect you to know our flight styles. But if I may make a suggestion, we should split up. There is no room to manouvre in teams inside the field, and they will jump us from four sides. The Frenchy may look weird, but he's no idiot. He loves dogfighting in tight spaces, and his team over there have practiced the hell out of it." There is a moment of silence. "I bet he's counting on you not knowing that."

  Kray frowned... he had counted on ganging up  on a pair, or even Singles...but?  These  Guys worked together....

  He  Flicked   the COM open to so all 4  could talk...Alright....we are  on a running clock, but..Mpinkulu has pointed  something out to me....Now? If we  were tossed out ina   real battle, I would expect you  folks to ta  act through your training.. I am told That Quart likes to fight in tight places?... well..so do I..and? I have no Problem using objects to help me win a fight...

 There is a mumble as he adds,..ask MArco about a certain drone..

 ..so?  In light of this new information,  we   will split up  High, Low..port and starbaord...BUT....

 His  voice  gets  a bit more stern,..if you see a   wingmate in trouble... you try to help, while looking for the one that's gonna bloody jump you when you do.....most plans  do  survive the first few minutes of a battle  anyway.. so we  count on our skills..if  this  don't  work out?  then we all learn somethin'... Good Huntin' good shootin..

 ..I'll Take  High... Wallace Port... Mpinkulu starbaord.  and Piiriavan  low... you see one.. call the bugger out and  everyone look around.. use the  rocks.. use your  head....

Dragon flight confirms their new orders, and with one more minute on the clock Kray has enough time to focus on the simulator itself. With the canopy closed you really cannot tell the difference between the sim and the real thing. Its an exact copy, down to the bolts and nails that keep the real Hellcat's cockpit together. So far all the simulators he'd been in were pretty generic, but this was the real thing. If they could capture the actual feeling inside a Hellcat one could believe he was really out in the vast.
The clock ran down, and the voice of mission control, Timochev, came over the comms.
"Mission started, happy hunting all."

It was unreal. The moment the simulation kicked in, Shadow felt weightless. With zero gravity and only the engines giving you gravity, Kray had already experienced the slightly off feeling you felt out there. It was no hindrance, you quickly adjusted to it, but not a simulator in the world could capture that feeling. Or so he had thought.

Dragon flight broke up, each pilot hitting the asteroid field, stalking through the rocks. The pirate hunt began.

  ..Alright.... keep yer speed  down a wee bit..., not only fer more maneuver ,  but to  shot ahead  ta get out of them way.. or snatch yerself a target.....

    he watched  his screens, sure.. but he always trusted his eyes.... eyes  could pick up a glowing afterburner.....Now.... I'm the new bloke here.... so you'll fergive me if  i say things   you already know..... Turn yer  running lights off.. we wanna be a black as the rocks...  he  mused  out  loud,

 .. remember use the Bloody rocks  ta help you... , frags  from a blasted   roid will damage a ship as good  decent shot...

  He didn't know  how much cream  was in this crop...but he had to feel they were all damn good, so   he  glided.. turning his control light  down to dim...,,looking  for any sign... as they moved, he also thought of the chance  that his  people, could  Ambush...any ambushers.. if they saw them...he was sure none  flew like him....but there was always a chance they did?... but were just more excepted


 The grin grew,  acceptance  was either there or it wasn't. Blokes like himself who worked their way up were only accepted when they did good...those  with the right connections where accepted by the  size of their wallet...but things  were  a wee bit different ... so... lets  just see which blighters  would  go down, and  which  would be standin'...and? most of all...what would the act like after...

 his hand  were light on the stick.  he  opened the  thumb press on his  guns...They could not be  above him.... they couldn't  be below the bottom cover.. and their  wings , didn't  left much out side the area of engagement .. so he had a damn good  idea where they would be... it came down to who saw who first!

They were one with the black. Drifting, without lights, just coasting by with their engines turned off. He spotted them though, even while Wallace had overshot them. Two of them, no way to tell which pilots. They had used the dark side of an asteroid, powered down to not be seen. It had worked. Quatorze had indeed trained his wing well.
Not good enough though, because the moment they fired up Shadow noticed them.
The one going after Wallace was out of reach, but the other one shot outward, making way towards the Zulu. Had he seriously not seen Kray?

    Shadow Hit  his COMs  as soon as he saw, but lept the stream to the 4...Wallace!.. they see You!.. one coming in,..I can't  reach... Swede! see if you can help her...watch out for the other two..seems they paired up....

 Zulu!... the other one is  ehading your  way.. I', coming  down to jump him.... that means Quart and the other one should flush out after  me... Wallace..  You know how to Fight, Just break back in towards us the best you can..Swede should be able to ambush him

  Contour flying ion space... it was a cross between the space  of  The Black... but the dangers of  hitting the rocks...


 he  didn't use the targeting ,  as he  shot down on a vector ahead of the attacker... as soon as he was in range  he  fired ahead   of his target.. to both force the attacker to fly into his  fire..and, hopefully..have his fire   walk down  the craft from Bow to  rudder..



PD-TN15...MTN12

Shadow knew his mistake the moment he made it.

From his left he saw Zulu take evasive action, ducking inbetween two large asteroids to avoid fire from the Viper. He had nowhere to go but straight through, and the opponents had perfectly calculated that. When Mpinkele exited the asteroid alley on the other side, his blip immediately vanished. An ambush kill was tallied to viper four.

Viper Three, the one that had flushed him out, banked hard to avoid Kray's fire. Tracers flew past him, slowly creeping up on, and eventually into his wing. His blip vanished as the Hellcat slammed into the asteroid in a fiery explosion.

Then tracers crept past Kray's window. The simulator registered several superficial hits. Suddenly Viper one appeared on his radar display, right behind him.

To his right Wallace managed to round an asteroid, avoiding shots by Viper two. Piirinen stuck to the tail of the opponent like glue, firing several bursts that hit nothing but rock and void.

From Kray's left Viper four came in to join the hunt now that the Zulu was out of the equation. With the Frenchman on his tail, and one of the others flanking him, Shadow was in trouble. Both his remaining wingmen were hunting one Viper, and had no way of assisting him. He'd been played like a rookie. That pirate was better than his look suggested.

   He Curses  silently to Himself. He expected  something like this, but had to take the chance.. He  Veered as  close to     the  asteroid  as he   was able.. trying to get the attackers  to  shoot each other, or  get rubbed off on a rock...

  three on three was alright, but he didn't like the fact he lost  a Pilot, slowly, it was beginning to fade, that they were in a SIm, now the Blood lust and skills came into play...  As He rounded the Asteroid  he  dropped  his  portside wing  to    dive down and use his   spedd  to try and Come up and Under the  Frenhcy..



  using his  head,and still not using his locks,, he   fired  shorter  Bursts..until he hit Viper four, then a longer   burst...
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:41, Thu 15 June 2017.

Somehow using the asteroids worked. The tracers past his cockpit stopped, the Frenchman unable to follow Shadow so close into the field of swirling rock. He came out the other side, to the left of Viper four, trailing shots as he went. It's tail got shredded, then the fuselage as the ship exploded in a quickly dissapating fireball. With the pirate gone he could start to hunt again.

The blip that was Viper Two vanished from his screens too, Piirinen letting out a cry of victory as he gunned the bogey down, making sure Wallace was alright.
Three to one now in favor of the Dragons. Much better odds. Just the frenchman left to take down.

   Kray didn't smile, though he was feeling good for   his teammates,..right..right..bloody well right!

 ..Now,, watch.. keep your power down..... if you  feel better using your trackers, don't  power them up until you are ready to  fire .... Q is  dark...watch for  his power up..he can't  hide that.....  keep each other   in sight.. as you Hunt....and watch the rocks...

 staying Dark, he  tried to track his people , while looking for  Q


14:49, Today: Secret Roll: Kray Shadow rolled 12 using 1d20+7.  Mental TN 18

For several long, agonising minutes Dragon flight skulks the asteroid field, knowing they are hunted, hunting the hunter. They find nothing, but since they aren shot at, Quatorze most likely doesn find them either.

Suddenly Shadow sees a blue exhaust pipe, a jet firing up its engine. Immediately he hears Piirinen over his comm.
"Target spotted! 0700 low. He´s behind you lieutenant, but it doesn look like he spotted you yet."

Wallace reacts immediately.
"I see him, moving in for the kill!"

She moves swiftly, dropped from behind a larger asteroid at the last moment, guns blazing.
How he does it nobody knows, but Quatorze manages to avoid her shots, dropping away and into a tight turn at the last second.
Wallace drops her nose, coming in behind him.

For several seconds they dance their tango of death, with Kelly Wallace managing to stay at the tail of the French pirate. Tracer fire lights up his wings as they fly past, Quatorze jerking his Hellcat violently to avoid the simulated slugs.

Wallace moves in ever closer, cursing loudly over the comms with each miss. Then she hits, chewing a bit of the pirate´s left wing, causing him into a level spiral, twisting him one hundred and eighty degrees. Firing again, this time nothing happens. Just after Shadow hears her curse out load that her magazines are empty, the lucky Frenchman opens fire, shredding her cockpit at point blank range. The comm ends abruptly as the simulator shows a large fiery blast where Wallace´s ship had been.

Immediately, the Frenchman drops his jet behind another large rock.

  Kray   wacthed   the relative  direction   Q took...Kelly almost had him... he's hurting..... Stay  dark..stay smark.... almost any damage   should set him up for a finiosh, by one of us....

 ..don't  Flank the rock... I'll go Under this time.. let him see me.. You go High and be ready....



 he    moves, using eyes  more then instruments ..his  fire  poised to  attack.

The Frenchman was waiting, his ambush nearly perfect. Ready to strike, he had been hugging the rock, waiting for any fighters to follow him around the asteroid. And Shadow did just that, he came round the asteroid. Had the Viper been aligned correctly, Kray would have been dead meat.

Unfortunately for the Frenchman though, the Australian came from behind, having taken the long way round. He proved to have patience when needed. By the time the pirate noticed him, Kray had a point blank shot lined up.

 There was a  slight  smile, he knew that  Q could  get only one of them..it may have been  different  had they been one on one....

 he snapped out of his reverie  in time to fire off the  shots..  aiming at the  nose  and walking the shots  back...counting on even  misses, to send  debris   into the target ship.

  shaking his head at almost missing the shot, and   using  more ammo then he should have needed. Most times  he fired like he paid for the rounds himself.

¨Excellent work there Shadow,¨ Timochev´s voice came over the comm as slowly the expanse around him faded. ¨Dragon flight won. Kills will be tallied on the board.¨
He was back in flight operations, in a simulator, with most of the other pilots standing around monitors checking out the action.
To Krayś left the Frenchman climbed from his own simulator, a wide grin on his face. Immediatley he walked over to the whiteboard next to the roster. It was marked 'Sim kills´.
There, he jotted down all kills made by the pilots, with Shadow coming out on top.

¨Not bad Ozzymandias,¨ the pirate then states casually. The other pilots nod in agreement.
¨For a moment I expected you to come and chase me."

     With a Bit of a nod.  Shadow smiles a Bit,one nof the things    I was trained  for  was not  doign what  some blokes would thing i would do, I merely added it to me Flyin' as well....

 Then he    flourished a HAnd over to  his teammates,..an'...in the  end,  i 'ad  damn good wingmates....

 then he Turned to those wingmates and said,..looks like we can play a few more  Vid Games ..since we all don't have ta  be cleanin' fer a bit..eh?