Running the Border

LT Justin "Tin" Ortega and Jenna "Lady" Daivs orbited a CAP station or a Carrier Air Patrol near the Selorian Border. They have been on station for an hour and Jenna bored and restless spoke into the internal comms.

"You awake up there?"

"Yeah, what do you need?

"When are you going to make me an honest woman?"

"Ay Dios, here we go again" Justin exclaimed.

"Don't Aye Deeios me; you said we were going to discuss it today."

"But right now, the day isn't over yet. And by the way why aren't you so tenacious when it comes to cleaning our state room." Justin said trying to avoid the subject

"This is the only time when we talk without any distractions and don't try to change the subject."

"Babe, I know-hold on." Ortega was being called on the radio.

"2-1, 2-0, go trail"

"2-1" he answered, then switched back to the internal comms. "Hey, Lady something's up. Well have to talk about it later."

Pouting she agreed and got her mind back into the game.

LT Ortega steered the ship 30 feet behind and 30 feet below his flight leader as they changed course into Selorain territory.

"Go-Go 2, take picture with blind man and distort over the phone lines." "Go-Go" was the Navigation/Electromagnetic/Communication/Gunnery Officer or NECGO call sign, he instructed LT Davis to collect ELINT or Electronic Intelligence, then transmit the information over an encrypted gamma frequency and send it via wormhole.

"2" LT Davis responded.

The two SFA-219 Thresher crossed the boarder cruising at one and half times the speed of light, it would not take long before the Selorians came out and see what was going on.

LT Ortega switched his weapons from 'SAFE' to 'ARM' and instructed LT Davis to do the same.

"Lady, just to let you know, I love you." It was Justin's good luck charm to tell Jenna that before a mission got too hairy, just in case. Jenna responded "Your still not off the hook, we're talking about it when we get back to home plate." Justin chuckled, she was mad.

A soothing electronic female voice spoke into the internal comms. "EM bearing 1-5-0, Spin Tray Radar, correlating to Selorian "Biscuit" fighter, EM bearing 1-4-9, Snoop Tray Radar, correlating to Selorian "Iceberg" fighter"

"Are we getting all of that, Lady?" LT Ortega asked

"Roger, recording all of it" Davis answered.

The RWR or Radar Warning Receiver light on LT Ortega console lit up as LT Davis's Electromagnetic Detecting Console (EDC) showed two upper half squares emitting static representing the Selorian radar. A buzzard sounded and a female interjected again. "Warning, Warning, Fire Control; Warning, Warning, Fire Control" LT Ortega pushed the "Acknowledge" button silencing both warnings.

"2-0, my unit painted by bandits."

"Roger 2-1, hold on...alright, we got what we came for, let's head back to our CAP"

The SFA-219 Thresher Elites changed course and made back for their own territory.

"Lady, secure the recorder" Ortega was increasing throttle when the female voice returned. "Proximity Alert, Proximity Alert" Two Selorian cruisers de-cloaked and blocked the United System fighter's path. The Selorian Frigates fired their defense guns at the fighters. The SFA-219's weaved the particle beams and lasers blasts.

"Danger, Danger, Radar Lock; Danger, Danger Radar Lock"

"No shit Bitch, as I couldn't tell" LT Davis spoke out loud as she engaged the fighter's jamming device to nullify the frigates' fire control radar. "Firing null fields-"A particle beam hit the fighters shield, giving the ship a jolt. Null field were miniature black holes that engulfed all radiation, allowing the fighter to evade detection.

LT Ortega called the flight leader "2-0, request red and free, over"

"Roger 2-1, you are re-." Ortega looked out the canopy and saw his flight leader's cockpit exploded as an ion disruptor nullified his shields and particle beam disintegrated the crew inside.

"They got "Tiny" and "Mac"" Ortega said over the internal comms, then switched to the control net monitored by Oracle the early warning spacecraft.

"Oracle, Knickers 2-1, 2-0 destroyed. My unit red and free, over"

"Forget it Tin they are jamming us, did they eject?"

"Negative Lady, we are red and free."

LT Ortega banked the fighter trying open up his distance from the frigates. "They got us trapped, so we will open the distance from frigates, and engage the fighters."

"Roger" Davis answered. Ortega braked and increased his turn rate, opening the distance from the frigates quicker. With his tail pointed at the frigates, LT Ortega went full afterburner and pointed his fighter toward the Selorian interceptors. The two combatants were head to head and closing their distance fast. Each fighter put themselves in position to where no one could take a head on shot, at 100, 000 miles engaged the braking thruster, slowing his speed. The Selorains detected the maneuver too late as the Thresher Elite passed between the two Selorian fighters. Ortega pushed the fighter hard port and pushed the braking thruster to full to increase his turn rate, meanwhile LT Davis fired her short ranged particle beams to have the Selorians evade her shots. Ortega completed his turn increasing speed to match that of his prey, got behind him on his 4 o'clock. He looked straight at the Selorian wingman moving the gluon disruptor chin turret; he fired the chin gun, releasing gluons that would short circuit the shields and the spacecraft electronics. LT Davis saw the subatomic particles collide with the Selorian fighter, and knowing it was Ortega's kill, she fired her multi-barreled particle beams. The green shots flew and struck the enemy fighter. Getting hit in the fusion chamber, the explosive gas spun the fighter out of control and traveling close to the speed of light, the fighter spun itself apart. "God damn it Lady, that was mine." Ortega exclaimed.

"Hey, I can't wait forever, take the shot or somebody else will?" she chided.

Ortega grumbled, as he scanned looking for the flight leader; he had him last heading starboard. LT Davis swiveled the turret around, picking him up coming out of a high-speed yo-yo. "He coming on our six, he's got a lock, shot fired." Davis said. The buzzard sounded as the electronic female voice announced a radar lock. LT Davis shot at the fighter keeping out of position, as LT Ortega rolled out starboard heading port as the Selorian fighter set up the shot on the Thresher Elite's eight, however, both fighters were in a overshoot position. LT Davis shot her short ranged weapons as the Selorian pasted by, but the shots were wild and missed. The Selorian rolled port, as Ortega rolled starboard while easing on the braking thrusters. The Selorian fighter was coming into the piper, he pulled the trigger early over shooting the target. "Damn" Ortega exclaimed as the fighter passed in front of him. LT Ortega eased the brake more, he pushed the fighter to the port, while the Selorian accelerated rolling starboard. Both fighters came out the roll with Selorian in a perfect firing position. LT Ortega fired the gluon disruptor; the shots hit the mark and nullified the enemy's shields. With all power gone the Selorian fighter vented the fusion into space. The ship dead stick knew what was next. Unable to steer the ship into a kill position, Ortega handed off the Selorain to her. Her fire control computer picked up the target and came up with a solution. She moved her gun into position and took the shot firing her medium ranged high-density lasers. The shot slammed into the ship ionizing the hull, with the hull charged negative, the ship tore itself apart from the repulsion. "An early wedding present." Justin told Jenna.

"Is that a proposal?" Jenna asked excitedly.

"No, just wanted to see what you would do. How far from the border are we from the border?" Justin said

"2 Alpha-uniforms, not funny" 2 Alpha Uniform meant 2 Astronomical Units

LT Ortega looked down at his MFD (Multi-Function Display) and saw the frigates changing course to close on their position. They were 1 A.U. from the frigates; they didn't stand a chance with the frigates. "Let's use the wave maker?" LT Davis said, but.

"Takes too long to compute our exit point, good idea though. Any other ideas?"

"Go through the middle?"What the hell he thought. LT Ortega put full braking thrust, while spooling up the engines to full afterburners. "Set up auto-pilot to go 10 alpha uniforms past the border" Davis increased the graviton field so the acceleration would not crush them and set a point in United Systems space that was 10 astronomical units from the border. 500 tera-newtons shot out the end of the Thresher Elite. "Auto-pilot set" Davis said. LT Ortega was fighting for control trying not to let the fighter slip either way, and get out of control. He scanned the distance between the frigates, quarter of an A.U. He put the fighter in the direction of the autopilot piper, and engaged the autopilot. The fighter went from 0 to four times the speed of light in ten seconds, the force felt like a million tons on their chests, even with the graviton field at full force. The fighter shot by the frigates so fast, that they couldn't even get a single radar hit. The next thing that both LT Ortega and Davis knew was that they were where they were supposed to be. With the weight lifted Jenna exclaimed "Well, that was fun."

Justin checked in with the early warning craft.

"Oracle, Knickers 2-1, holding the product. 2-0 splashed no souls. My report card is all A's, RTB, over" Report card was the condition of the ship

"Roger Knickers 2-1"

Justin spoke into the internal comms, "Lady, see any holes, or getting any warnings"

"Negative, board is green"

"Same here."

"So we are RTB?" Jenna asked

"Yeah, I think we had enough excitement for one day."

"Well, since we are RTB, have a three hour flight ahead of us, and nothing to do?" Jenna paused for a moment, then asked "How long have we've been together?"

"It seems like forever," Justin said shaking his head.

"So what do you think the old man and the captain are going to say when we tell them we want to get married?"

"Otra vez, here we go again."