Regrettably, the simulated Merathorn had no sense of humour but, given that it was just a simulation, that was to be expected. After the verbal identification, there was a short, moment of data-transfer as highly complex identification-schemes were exchanged by the computers, making sure that both sides were who they claimed to be. While the Tellurians had never employed false-flag operations, pirates wouldn’t hesitate to attempt such a ploy, so it was part of the standard protocols.

With the respective identities confirmed, the Merathorn added me to her allies, sending me a data-stream from her bridge that allowed me to get a better picture. The Carmines were in a savage dogfight, trying to keep the Tellurians from finishing the Merathorn off, how she had been damaged was a mystery at that point, maybe an ambush, and I was asked to reinforce them. It was the obvious tactical choice, frigates were good at killing Starfighters and might be the reason why Commodore Ryker had scripted the scenario as he had.

Using the data from the Merathorn, I linked into the Carmine-Squadron channel and´made direct contact. At that point, the difference between humans and scripted routines became obvious for a moment, as there was a moment of amusement when I identified myself as FSN Horned Rabbit. Such a breakdown of discipline wouldn’t happen in reality, of that I was reasonably sure, but, despite the high quality, we were flying a simulation.

Once that amusement passed, I was assigned a spot in the formation, or rather, the Carmines formed up around the slightly slower frigate, while it was my job to provide cover for them. My slightly different vantage-point allowed me a little more leeway in studying the actions of the others and, once again, I was impressed by their ability. Despite the sudden introduction of an unknown element into their formation, they managed to use the cover-fire I was providing to great effect, quickly shifting the momentum away from the Tellurians. At the same time, they managed to herd their enemies into the fire, giving me easy targets to vaporize.

“Carmine Groups 3 and 4, FSN Horned Rabbit, we have the tellurian cruiser on our sensors. Your job is to take it out.” the Merathorn’s bridge announced, once we had driven back the tellurian Starfighters. They were quickly fleeing towards their mothership and I had no doubt that they would make their stand, most likely with additional forces from the cruiser. Or maybe the cruiser itself, which would be unpleasant for me. While a frigate was small, it was a much larger target than the Raptors, so if the cruiser wanted to play, I had a very good idea who would be their main target. Still, it was an order and while, in reality, I might have been able to argue dependent on the actual missions involved, the simulation assumed that I was following orders, as I was supposed to.

As we were starting towards the distant cruiser, Commodore Ryker shifted the formation a little, integrating the Horned Rabbit into the formation of Group 3, which curiously, or maybe not so much, was missing Carmine 10, while Carmine Group 4 was following after us, forming the shaft to our tip. Or maybe the hilt, the formation was a little small to be called a spear, more like a dagger.

I had a little extra time as we were hurtling towards the distant cruiser, so I snooped around in the data the Merathorn had sent me earlier. Luckily, they had included the plot from the beginning of the fight, so I could learn a little more.

The first thing I checked was how the Tellurians had managed to damage the Merathorn and what I found was quite unpleasant. Unless I missed my guess, they had played pirates, waiting near a jump-lane and as soon as the Merathorn had emerged, they had pounced, their Cruiser making a high-speed pass while the fighters had remained and pounded the Merathorn. The result was that Carmine Group 3, who supposedly had been on standby, had been forced to fight against three times their number, which had tragically cost the life of Carmine 10, which would have been me. At least my simulated version had managed to shoot down one Tellurian and, when its Starfighter had been critically damaged, rammed another one. Not necessarily what I would do in reality but it seemed to have helped hold them off long enough for Carmien Group 4 to get their Starfighters into Space.

“Wildcat, Wolverine, Horned Rabbit, we open the way, so Group 4 can introduce that cruiser to the joy that are antimatter-torpedos. Their fighters will try to keep us away but we need to break through. Horned Rabbit, I’ll cover your back.” Commodore Ryker ordered, slotting me into the vacant position. Curiously, it felt a little strange to take up my accustomed position in the unaccustomed Spacecraft but it was the obvious solution.

What felt even worse was that the obvious angle was to use the Horned Rabbit as the first Spacecraft to get to the remaining three tellurians who, by now, had been reinforced by a squadron of Reaper-Interceptors, from their cruiser. The Tellurians preferred to use smaller squadrons but their cruisers carried two of them them, one of Interceptors keeping the ship safe and one to go reach out, either using all-purpose fighters, such as the Scythes we had fought earlier, or bombers. It was a good doctrine, especially with their superior Starfighters, that mostly allowed them to match the Federation Squadron-by-Squadron, at least that was what I had learned from the Legacy I had been given by Commodore Ryker.

Just before I got into range of the tellurians, I started to vary my course randomly, trying to make them guess where I would be the moment they were in range, hoping that the slightly better shields of the frigate in combination with the slightly weaker weapons of the Reapers allowed me to survive the first contact.

It helped but only so much. Against a full squadron of Reapers, all ready to defend their ticket home, anything beneath a Heavy Cruiser would feel the sting, to say nothing of a frigate. The shields held, at least for a moment, and I managed to dodge out of the way of some of their fire but I knew I needed to get away. So, I put the frigate into a spin, using the thrusters to dance through space like a drunken bull through a china-shop, until I flipped the frigate length-wise and pushed the main-engie to the maximum, trying to leave the path of the other Carmines, giving them a free shot into the tellurian formation. It worked just as I had hoped, even while I felt myself get pushed into my harness, when the inertial dampening was pushed into overdrive.

Sadly, in combat, even in space-combat, the other side gets their vote as well. And in this case, the Scythes that had fled earlier had hung back a little behind the Reapers and, just as I slid away and the other Carmines broke through the Reaper-formation the one Scythe that was flying solo got lucky. A single shot, made with its slightly stronger plasma-cannons, pierced through the frigates weakened shields and struck the hull, hitting just the right spot at just the right moment to break the tortured ship’s back. I had pushed its structural elements to their limits so the added force was just too much and I was greeted by the black screen signifying death in the simulator. I had managed to break the spine of another frigate.

Luckily, I didn’t have to wait for long, the other Carmines ended the simulation just a few minutes later and it was time for the simulation-critique.

“Well done, everyone. We managed to save our ship and drive off a Tellurian Cruiser, without sustaining prohibitive losses. In addition, we got to train a little with the integration of new elements into the formation, thanks to the Horned Rabbit, piloted by none other than our own Twitch, Carmine 10, who allowed us to get some training in mixed formations.” Commodore Ryker began and I had to grin when I realised that he was spinning a bit of a yarn there, making the others think it had been planned that I would get into the simulation later, in a different vessel. But, come to think about it, Commodore Ryker had known that and had planned for it, he just made it seem that it had happened that way to better train the squadron, not because I had been through orientation on the bridge.

“But, as always, there are things that went well and others that did now. Let’s start with the things that went well…” Commodore Ryker said, beginning the simulation-critique in earnest.