The bright neon pink Valkyrie Vengeance twisted and boosted upwards at full power with the bottom thrusters, aligning the pursuing Warthog neatly at the best targeting distance for the three Mk. III neutron guns. Pressing the fire button momentarily resulted in a triple stitching pattern on the warthog that immediately tried to dodge sideways to avoid the lethal barrage. The Valkyrie pilot turned the flight assist computer off and twisted the ship slightly neatly tracking the by now doomed Warthog. Another triplet of neutron beams finished the job and the warthog exploded in a larger than normal fireball betraying the flares that the pilot had never had a chance to fire. The Valkyrie pilot re-engaged flight assist and turned to the last ships, both Vulture Mk. IV's. The vultures tried to out-turn the heavier ship, but once more the flight assist toggle was tapped and the crossfire hammered across empty space. The Valkyrie pilot twisted the ship slightly and engaged the rear bottom thruster making the ship go ass over head and pointing the triplet of guns towards the lesser armoured belly of one Vulture. A stream on nothingness only marked by where the neutrons interfered with the leftover debris from the Warthog producing green lights of hard radiation, tore through the Vulture smashing the internal framing and disintegrating the small fighter. The Valkyrie pilot touched the turbo button for a half second, enough to dodge out of the deadly hail of neutrons that would have smashed armour and scratched the paint. The Valkyrie pilot again pushed the flight assist switch and turned the heavy fighter around to face the last foe. A series of quick random dodges to the sides made sure that the Valkyrie wasn't hit, and a stream of green streaks tore space apart all around the Vulture, eventually hitting and destroying it.
The technician that was watching the pilot destroy the last test fighters noted something on his board and flicked a switch.
"Excellent work Ms. Fluffy, truly excellent. Now you only need to dock the fighter to graduate for the Itani test pilot programme."
"In a docking bay?"
The technician chuckled, damn this pretty young thing was thick headed.
"Yeah, in the docking bay."
Azumi thundered inbound for the docking bay and hammered the Valkyrie through the cradle and buried it a full metre under the deck armour plates before the ship exploded violently.
"Oops, I never have been god at parking Mister."
The technician facepalmed and looked down at Azumi who was strapped in the remote piloting unit.
"I cannot graduate you if you cannot dock Ms. Fluffy. You'll have to do the whole thing over again."
Azumi smiled, this was the best way ever to pass time.
###
Clean steel walls and white lights dominated the department that Retractile woke up to. One second he had been tearing through dime sized pieces of fragments each of them going at a good velocity screaming YEAH at the top of his lungs, the next the only thing heard was the slow wheezing of a breathing apparatus. And an odd clicking noise, like metal sliding against metal in first a smooth and then a violent motion. He tried to turn his head to the sound but couldn't move. Something was holding his head steady. He looked up at the chrome finish of the lamps overhead instead and saw Look open and close his shotgun, apparently bored to death. He tried to smile, to speak but again couldn't. Something was close to his right ear and he could feel air moving on his cheek. He tried real hard to listen and by focusing on that and nothing else, he could actually make out words. Yoda!
"..if you can hear me but it is good to have you back buddy. Just relax, the good doc over here tells me that your new body needs to make all the nerve connections to your senses before they start working. He could only bond your eyes so I know you can see."
A green face appeared before Retractile's eyes and he went all roundeyed from surprise.
"Ah, you can see. Good. Just lean back and relax buddy, we'll have you up and chasing traders in no time."
Retractile focused everything he could muster into a single word that was only spoken with his throat.
"Azumi"
"She is safe and sound thanks to you buddy. Mater of fact she'll be driving the bus home. You close them eyes and get some sleep yarr?"
Retractile closed his eyes and did what he was ordered. Yoda turned to the surgeon.
"For what it is worth, I thank you."
He pointed at the cred stick that was still on the floor.
"And if I were you, I would use the money that is on that one. You can always buy something nice to your staff or your wife. Or donate it away for all I care. But now I am afraid we are going to have to leave you. Later doc."
Yoda winked at the surgeon as he pushed the anti-grav sled with Retractile on top down towards the launch bay. Look got up almost as an afterthought, grabbed a two litre bottle of pure ethanol that the nurses had used for cleaning and moved after yoda.
###
Hortan used at least half an hour to ensure that the uniform was completely up to specifications, that the cap was correctly placed and the boots were regulation shiny. He didn't need to fix any of the things, he was always this tidy but he used a lot of time to make sure. When he had finished he took the extra uniform from the rack and slung it as casually as he could, which is not very much, over his shoulder and started moving towards the communal area where Plissken was supposed to wait for him. He was a bit early and so was Plissken. And Urim. And PickAxePete. Hortan grinned at their collective awkwardness and decided to break the ice. After all, he was a full member in good standing. He took his hip flask out and took a long drink from it before passing it to PickAxePete. Pete looked at the flask and then took a long drink as well before handing it on to Urim.
"That is some good shit you have there Pilot. Whisky?"
"Helio Mists, the very best. So, are you all ready?"
The trio nodded but stayed silent. Hortan felt he should say something but nothing came up. They pushed the bottle around until it was empty and then stood and looked in four different directions. The silence stretched into infinity, almost as embarrassing as holding the opening speech at the Nobel Prize awards only wearing a pink tutu. Fortunately Vardonx arrived to break the ice. He nodded to Hortan and turned to Pete. His voice was still raw and rasping after the damages wrought by the high pressure device KAOS had used.
"So Pete, ready mate?"
"Sure is Pilot."
Vardonx grinned fiercely at Pete who grinned back. He then turned to Hortan.
"And what is that I smell, mists? You better have some for my damaged throat Hort."
Hortan found his other hipflask and opened it so Vardonx could smell the whisky. He took a long swallow and one more.
"Better get some good use of this medicine before Fluffy comes along and wants some for his wounds. Oh hi Fluffster."
Fluffy was walking up behind Vardonx, his left buttock a mess of bandages and tape making it necessary to use the cane that ensured that he moved with a shuflle click sound. His uniform consisted of a pair of very loose shorts, an armless shirt and flip-flops. A very bad looking corn-yellow wig adorned his long narrow head.
"Well, now Vardonx has amused himself with my butt, perhaps we can get going?"
The group snickered and moved slowly towards the TGFT-only bar, Fluffy setting the tempo.
