The force of the turn pushed Michael into the back of his seat. As soon as he finished the turn he angled through the gate. He immediately threw the throttle forward pushing everything he could from the overcharged drives. He crossed the strait away in seconds passing through the gate at the far end. He pulled hard on the stick coaxing a whine from the engines as they tried to take the turn at full speed. The last gate drifted into sight as he tried to forcibly keep the fighter straight.

A loud ding came over the coms signaling that he had finished the course. "That was two point-six second slower than Tiara's time. Good job Fox seven." Michael pulled in next to Tiara. He could just make out the triumphant look she had from the news. "Better luck next time." Her silvery voice strong the words together almost as if she was singing. Before he could respond Colson's voice came back over the coms.

"Keep the chatter minimal. We…" Colson stopped speaking so abruptly that Michael had first thought the comms had gone down. But when he looked over at Tiara she tapped her ear before clicking her mic. The sound came over loud and clear so after indicating it was good visually, he clicked his own mic. Tiara immediately responded with an, it's good, gesture. Just then Colson's voice came back over the radio. "OK Nayomi do as they ask and keep an eye on the situation. If anything changes before we get back let me know." Both he and Tiara let out a sigh of relief, which was short lived.

"Now would you two mind telling me why you didn't check if your comms were good when I stopped talking." Colson's voice had the distinct tone saying that this wasn't a question but an order. Michael had been reaching for the frequency switch so he was the first to answer. "Protocol it to check with those you can see visually before calling over the comms."

"And did you do so?" Tiara was the first to answer this time. "Yes Sir. We had just finished when you came back over the comms."

"Good. We are going to move to weapons testing. But first I want you both to head over to the supply ship to get your strike packages loaded." With that they both turn their fighters to the on station supply ship.

The supply ship wasn't massive by any standard. In fact it didn't even have a hangar bay. Instead it had four arms evenly spaced around a collar just in front the bridge at the back of the ship. Each arm was able to extend out allowing it to resupply four frigate class vessels and up to twenty small craft. Currently all but one of these arms was locked next to the hall in the travel position. The last stuck out from the side waiting for them.

Docking with the ship was quick. A pair of magnetic clamps grabbed ahold of the two fighters as soon as they were in position. Once they were locked Michael was able to see the strike packages being moved along the conveyor from the supply ship to their fighters. On his side were four round pods, which if he remembered correctly were anti-fighter missiles. Each pod had eight missiles.

On the bottom side of the arm heading for Tiara's fighter was a large cannon. The barrel rather than being round was rectangular with a large kirenda fruit sized hole at the center. The back of the cannon was a large five segmented drum that the barrel was centered on. In its entirety it was two thirds the length of the fighter that was to carry it and had a gimbal mount one quarter of the barrels length from the back.

The comms clicked and Tiara came over. "Umm, Lieutenant Colson what is that?" She asked so meekly it caught Michael by surprise. However what came next was something he would never have been prepared for.

"That is an Electromagnetic Rail Guns." Colson said this as if he didn't understand the absolute absurdity of it. Rail Guns on their own weren't all that strange. The technology was usually a stepping stone towards plasma weapons. However Electromagnetic Rail Guns used a series of power electricity charged magnets in place of the two large rails. These magnets would be used to pull and push a magnetically charged shell out of the barrel. The only problem was the insane amount of power required to make it work.

It was common knowledge Terran's had advanced rail gun technology but it was assumed these were MAGs or Magnetic Acceleration Gun using explosive warheads. But if they could make an ERG small enough to fit on a fighter then without question the capital ships used them. And while MAGs and ERGs were both technically class seven technology, the latter was only limited by the size and amount of power you could put into it. Infact theoretically if you had near infinite amounts of power and built one large enough you could physically throw an object into Trans-space. Sometimes he was fairly sure the Terrans had done.The mire gravity of this left him stunned.

He didn't have long to stay that way though. A few short moments later a stern male voice came over the comms. "Fox Lead this is Admiral Harket." There was a short pause before Colson responded. "I read you Sir." Once again a short pause followed. During which Michael couldn't help but wonder what was going on. Fox Squadron did technically fall under the Admirals command but they were still about a week out before they could take up full active duty. They were supposed to be limited to training and station patrols. "Fox Lead I need you to take Fox Seven and Fox Twelve to the coordinates I'm currently sending you. You will escort the ship that drops out of Trans-space there and escort it to Torus Station."

"Sir, neither Fox Seven or Fox Twelve have been certified for full duty." Colson sounded concerned and rightfully so. It would have been one thing if they were in standard fighter ls but these were heavily modified and there was no guarantee they would function properly. "I understand Fox Lead, but it has to be you three." The Admiral wasn't going to bugge. That much was obvious. So there was only one thing left for them to do. Follow orders. "Understood Sir.

With that they had their first real mission. As soon as the supply ship let them go, they moved into formation. Michael took the travel time to check the coordinates that they were heading to. If his sensors were correct then they were heading to a point that was nowhere near the established drop points. This usually indicated hostile forces or ships that had gotten lost. So the question now was why only send three fighters to intercept as they dropped out? Normally a system defense force would send at least a frigate. Then again with the equipment on their fighters they could probably put up a proper fight against anything under cruiser strength.

Still, even as they reached the coordinates it didn't make sense why it had to be them. It was bugging him. Even as Nayomi gave them a thirty second warning it still nagged at him. Why? Nayomi started counting down the seconds. "Five, four, three, two, one." As she spoke the last number the ship sprung out of Trans-space as if she had summoned it. It was then he knew exactly why it had to be them.

The ship that had appeared was the size of an Imperial frigate. That hall was a dark black that absorbed all light that was cast upon it. There wasn't a single light visible and from a distance the only evidence it was there was when it would pass between the observer and a distant star. This was an Imperial Stealth ship. The unseen hand of the Imperial throne. Each ship was individually designed and upgraded so that not a single one was the same.

So secret were these ships that only those with Alpha-Omega level clearance, the highest level of security clearance possible were even allowed to see one. Which begged the question. He turned to look at the fighter next to him and the silver haired pilot within. Just who was this girl who could stare at one of the most secretive ships in the galaxy, with a broad expression and an amused little smile.