The Andalite Chronicles

<Okay, who takes the helm, and who takes weapons?> Arbron asked.

<I have four days of seniority over you,> I said coolly. <I take the helm.>

I could see that he wanted to argue. He wanted to fly the fighter, of course. But there was no chance I was going to miss out on flying my first combat mission. No chance. And I did have seniority.

<Okay,> Arbron said coldly. <You fly it. I’ll shoot. Not that we’ll be doing any shooting.>

The inside of a fighter is not exactly roomy. This was an older model, built for two, but it was still not exactly big.

<Figures they’d give us an old piece of junk Model Fourteen to fly,> I said, staring at the controls as if I’d never seen them before.

For a second I forgot that this was my first official combat command. I shot a glance at Arbron, and the two of us almost burst out laughing.

<This is great,> I said.

<I just wish it was Yeerks, not some old Skrit Na,> Arbron said.

I closed my main eyes, leaving only my stalk eyes open. I wanted to focus. I had been trained on fighters, of course. I was pretty good as a pilot. But still, I was going to be flying alongside Prince Breeyar in his personal squadron. Everyone in the squadron was a great fighter pilot. And Breeyar could just about fly a fighter through a black hole and back out again.

I deeply did not want anything to go wrong. The thought of how humiliated I’d be if I missed a turn or something was too awful to think about.

<Power up,> I told the ship’s systems. <Prepare for launch.>

You could feel the old fighter come alive. The monitors glowed. The floor hummed and vibrated up through my legs. I touched a screen with my fingers and the viewport became transparent. We could see directly out now, through an actual window, not just a screen. Of course we were still in the fighter bay inside the Dome ship, so there wasn’t anything to see.

<Automatic launch sequence begins in ten seconds,> the prince called. <Simultaneous drop. Go to burn on my mark. Acceleration standard.>

<Weapons powered,> Arbron told me.

<Five seconds to launch,> the computer said.

<Please don’t let me screw this up,> I prayed. I thought I’d said it silently till I noticed Arbron nodding in agreement.

<Two seconds,> the computer prompted.

<Hold on,> I said.

FWOOOOOSH!

We were blown out the hatch, out into black space. Ahead of us, four other fighters, all Model 22s, dropped from the bottom of the Dome ship’s fighter bay.

<Intercept team, go to burn,> the prince said with total calm.

Two of the fighters lit up their engines. With a brilliant blue glow, the two fighters flashed out of sight into the black of space.

I waited with my fingers just millimeters above the engine control pad. I was not going to miss my cue.

<Chase team, go to burn,> the prince said.

I punched the control pad and it was like we’d been kicked in the back.

SHWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOF!

We were out of there! Out! Of! There!

Unfortunately, we had taken off so fast we’d shot right past the prince’s own fighter.

<Ahhhh! Oh, no! No!> I ordered the computer to match velocity with the other fighters. Something I should have done to start with.

<Hello, Elfangor! Hello-o. You forgot: These old Model Fourteens accelerate faster from a cold start,> Arbron pointed out.

The next thing I heard in my mind was the prince. <You may want to ease back just a little, Aristh Elfangor,> he said.

I was relieved he didn’t reprimand me. But I was burning with embarrassment. There it was: my big chance to look like a veteran. And I’d looked like an amateur.

I maneuvered my fighter back into formation behind the other two chase fighters.

Arbron brought the Skrit Na raider up on the holographic imager. It was very different than any Andalite ship. Our fighters were elongated ovals with two long, cylindrical engines attached by stubby “wings” on either side. Our main weapon, or shredder, arced overhead much like an Andalite tail.

The Skrit Na ship was round, with tapered sides. It looked like a fat disc. You could hardly even see where the engines were, and the Skrit Na had blinking colored lights all around it. I guess they find that attractive or something.

<Intercept in place,> came the report from the two intercept ships. They had gone into a dangerous Maximum Burn to get well out in front of the Skrit Na and cut off escape. Now we just had to sneak up calmly behind them.

Then …

Prince Breeyar rapped his orders. <Okay, you two on intercept go after the new target. Everyone else, with me.>

I looked at Arbron. We both nodded. It was getting more complicated now. We could actually have a fight!

Suddenly a bright blue engine flame shot from the bottom of the nearer Skrit Na.

<He’s running,> the prince said. He sounded calm, but you could still tell he was excited. There isn’t a fighter pilot alive who doesn’t enjoy a good chase.

The Skrit Na ship hauled. And we hauled after him.

Then, to my total shock, the Skrit Na fired his weapons!

<Hey, look out!> Arbron yelled.

A thin beam of greenish light lanced toward the prince’s fighter. It missed!

<Whoa,> the prince laughed. <That woke me up. Return fire, but only if you can hit the engine pod underneath. Repeat, aim only for the engines. There may be innocent creatures on that ship.>

A split second later, the prince fired and missed. His wingman fired and also missed.

It hadn’t even occurred to me that Arbron would actually want to take the risk of shooting. But then he said, <So, Elfangor, how about if we just see how fast this old tub will accelerate?>

I didn’t need to be asked twice. I punched up Maximum Burn, and we went to one-tenth light speed in about three seconds!

<Yaaaahhh!> WHAM!

The acceleration was outrageous! The compensators were slow and we were thrown back against the bulkhead.

I fought to get back on my feet and to the controls. I renewed my thought-speak link to the computer. <Boost the compensators!>

The computer adjusted and we climbed painfully to our feet. Arbron reached his weapons station and took aim. I heard the hum of the shredder powering up, followed quickly by the sound of firing.

Hmmmm. TSEEEEWWW!

<Yes! Yes! Yes!> Arbron yelled.

The shredder beam sliced through space and burned away a section of the Skrit Na’s engines. The blue engine flame died instantly.

It was the most beautiful thing I’d seen up to that point in my life. But at the same time I felt a wave of jealously that Arbron had taken the shot and not me.

<Good job,> Prince Breeyar said. <Nice flying, nice shooting.>

Of course he only complimented us because we were arisths. I mean, for the regular pilots it would have been no big deal. But who cared? Prince Breeyar had said we did a good job.

<He said “good job,”> Arbron said to me. <He did actually say it, right? I wasn’t imagining things?>

<The prince said “good job,”> I confirmed, relishing the words.

At that moment I just loved being alive. I even loved Arbron, as annoying as he was sometimes. This was why I’d joined the military. This was why I’d become an aristh. This was what it was all about.

<All right, my little arisths,> the prince said affectionately. <Now that you’ve given us all a lesson in good shooting, show us how you board an enemy ship. Don’t forget to download their on-board computer. Is either one of you qualified for exo-datology?>

<Aristh Arbron is a very qualified exo-datologist,> I said truthfuly.

Arbron gave me a dirty look.

<Well, you are, Arbron,> I said defensively.

See, it’s kind of a slight insult to say an aristh is good with computers. That’s like a technician thing, not a warrior thing. Even though warriors are supposed to be good at all kinds of science and art as well as fighting.

<Good,> the prince said. <And, hey, don’t bang your stalks on the low ceilings over there.>

<Yes, sir,> I replied. <No problem.>

I was on top of the universe. I was a hero-in-waiting. Practically a prince already. The war with the Yeerks would be over just as soon as I could get in the game.

I was a fool.