Together

Chapter 31 [] Ender

I walk into Simulator 2 after lunch to get some more practice, but hear commotion.

"If you're so good, why don't your squadron show us how it's done." I hear, followed by a loud smack. I decide to investigate and move to stand just inside the entrance. A figure in middle gives quick order to the four surrounding them, who quickly disperse. The figure in the middle has waist length brown hair that's braided back. She sits in a chair and flip backwards into an upside down position and I catch a glimpse her brilliant blue eyes.

Amy.

"Ok, now comms set up. I can talk to Sandy, Sandy talks to David, David talks to Aiden, Aiden talks to Cricket, and Cricket talks to me. All one way links. Got it?" she drills off quickly, almost like she's used to it.

"Yes ma'am!" Is the unison reply from her squadron. I still haven't been noticed so I decide to watch how this plays out.

★★★

"Level Thirty simulation begins in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1..."and a buzzer sounds. My squadron takes off, flying in five-man diamond formation. A large debris field is underneath us, with what looks to be a planet just below that.

"Sandy, split off with David and report on any activity in the debris field. Park yourselves somewhere safe and use all available scanners. Do not fire unless fired on." I say.

He relays orders to David and I watch their two jets fly down and disappear from my visual. I track their progress through the scanners until they find somewhere safe to hide.

"What do we do, Amy?" Aiden asks. Then his comms cut out.

"We stay put and use proper comms lines," I say into Sandy's comm line, causing the message to be passed along, and snickering erupts in the room. Muttering follows.

"Something happened with Sand Man," Cricket says into my ear.

"What is it Sandy?" I ask.

"He says that scanners show at least a hundred enemy cruisers, which are beginning to launch fighters." Cricket repeats.

"Roger. Stay put Sandy and David. Everyone, charge photon cannons," I say. "Aiden and Cricket maneuver through the debris. Cloak, then come up behind them. Take out as many cruisers as possible. I'll distract them." The message passes through our comms line and Aiden and Cricket take off after a moment of relaying orders.

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I watch the team maneuver around a bit before the enemies approach. Since everyone can hear one person and talk to one, communication is a bit slower. Two fighters circle through a maze of debris and enemy fire before popping up behind the cruisers and opening fire. Several cruisers go down in massive explosions and I watch the enemy count in the corner drop from almost two thousand to one thousand in a matter of seconds.

However, why aren't the enemy...ah. Amy is leading the already deployed fighter jets on the chase of their life. She leads them around for a minute, then completely flips her ship around to plow through them with her photon cannon. She spirals and moves, ducking and dodging attempts to take her ship down.

She flings a group of fighters into a piece of debris after making a sharp and late turn. She leads them through the debris, where her two stationed fighter jets off large groups of the enemy with their photon cannons.

★★★

Aiden and Cricket did their jobs, and there is now a new, much smaller field of debris for us to play with. We have about five hundred more fighters to get rid of.

"Ok everyone, this is where we show off, so listen carefully."

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The five ships regroup, but so does the enemy. The ships pull together and form a little.. pod.. type thing? One ship cloaks and flies off while the other four fly toward the large grouping of enemy ships.

The four ships fly as though they have been tied together. All appear to fire forward when they get in range of the enemy ships.

★★★

I watch as Sandy flies off. The others and I fly as close as possible, so that our shields touch and merge together. Aiden and I, who are opposite sides of the four man formation, fire at the enemy jets, taking out the ones in our path.

David and Cricket charge their photon cannons, aiming at the final battle cruiser in the center of the formation.

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The ship coupling floats almost leisurely toward the enemy, taking out fighters here and there, but their strategy seems pointle.. there. In the center. The final battle cruiser.

They're clearing a path. A quick look at the stats tell me that two fighters are actively firing at the formation, and the other three are charging cannons.

★★★

"Fire!" I say, which is enthusiastically repeated by the others.

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In unison, the three jets that were  charging cannons fire directly at the center cruiser. It combusts, taking out all ships nearby with the explosion. The pod group has split and is flying for their lives through the debris field.

The blast nearly catches one of them, but they are only a little singed before the explosion and the screen freezes. Large block letters flash across the screen.

SIMULATION COMPLETE. RANK: A

Amy breathes an audible sigh of relief and flips her chair back upright. Her team walks over and high fives her as everyone else gapes in awe at her flying.

★★★

"Are you gonna flip your chair over every time you fly, or was that just to show off?" I hear from the entrance to the simulator. I look over and see dark hair and bright blue eyes. Ender. Everyone slowly turns to look, and an audible gasp echoes through the hollow space.

"I think it adds to the experience," I fire back. "You been here terribly long?"

"Got here two days ago and just escaped my tutors for today. Thought I'd get some good flying time in. Guess not. This was still fun though," he says, casually leaning against the wall despite everyone looking at him with the awe that comes with being famous.

"Maybe if you showed up more often instead of hiding in your room you'd have more fun," I quip, and everyone gasps in shock. I walk across the room to where he stands, my squadron and the other girls following me.

"Sound logic," he quips right back, before offering me an arm. A true gentleman. "Show where all the fun happens?"

"Unfortunately, this is most of it," I sigh dramatically, gesturing at the simulator room and taking his arm. "But I suppose I'll find something to show our most honored and long awaited guest." He and my friends giggle as I lead them away from the gaping mouths in the sim room.