Meltdown Ophilion - Book One

05_RACE

The ten second light flashed. Orion steadied his breathing, idled the engines, and waited. In the simulation the twenty ships were lined up in a docking bay at a space station. The first quantrex was a race to the moon Eddle. This part of the course was about speed, laser fire, and avoiding laser fire. The sim-crafts were equipped with vibration sensors and gravity plating for thrust sensation. It would feel almost like the real thing. Almost.

A smile crossed the pilot's face as the countdown concluded. "Three, two, one." A loud buzzer sounded. He smashed the throttle to full power. They were instantly pushed into their seats as they rocketed forward. The audience cheered and chanted the names of their favorite teams.

Orion gave his customary war cry as they blasted into space, infusing him with a boost of reckless energy. Celli and Fel both smiled at the sensation of velocity and adrenalin.

When they had cleared the station Fel began firing the laser cannon, furiously attempting to disintegrate their opponent's energy shields while they were still in close range.

"Three early starts," Celli reported, "teams five, eleven and eighteen – fifteen mec penalty."

"Where are the Gammalaar?" Orion said as he turned a sharp left to avoid a ship which had just struck a laser mine.

"They're right on out tail," Celli responded, "and their torpedo bay is powering up!"

"Not if I can help it," Fel said. He aimed carefully and deployed a close-range stealth mine which exploded underneath the Gammalaar's ship throwing them back behind team number fifteen. "Yes!" shouted Fel. "That was close," he said to himself.

"Gammalaar shields down by seventeen percent," Celli reported. "Good shot Fel!"

***

After eight minutes of fierce open space gaming, they neared the moon Eddle where they were required to navigate a maze of tunnels and drop markers in six designated locations before leaving the moon for the Stealth quantrex. The game simulation was programmed with naturally changing conditions. The course was never the same, like the real games.

"Cynor tunnel coming up on to the right at 44-C-3," Celli said as her fingers flew over the keyboard.

Orion nodded. "Anybody on our tail?"

Their laser cannon fired three times. "Not anymore," Fel said.

"Then we're good to go. Lock in stabilizers."

Celli pressed a button and four short wings ejected from the sides of the ship. "Atmosphere in... three, two, one..." The ship rocked and shuddered as it entered the moon's thin atmosphere. "Should be right behind that dust cloud," Celli said. "There!"

"Got it... Hold on!" Orion applied the retro boosters to slow the ship down. "Almost there."

"We got company!" Fel called. A ship had followed them through the dust cloud and was attempting to beat them to the tunnel entrance. Orion moved right to cut them off and Fel fired the cannon, but their competition made a brilliant spiral loop and slipped past them into the tunnel.

"Doomstar!" Orion cursed, "who was that?"

"Trimaal," Celli said scanning a map on her screen. "But I think I found a way to cut them off. It'll be tricky..."

"We like tricky." Orion said as he dogged a huge stalactite.

"Make a hard left at 55-P-3. I'll try to give you a count when we get closer. This will take us back to Cynor just before we have to drop the first marker. Ready?... five, four, three, two, one, and left!"