trouble when he got back. Best he racked up a couple of confirmed kills to make it all worthwhile and reduce the severity of the reprimand. Three red squares followed his targets around on his canopy. He banked to the left and followed the pair, allowing the third fighter to slip off to his right. They were just about visual now. "Gold Two, engaging," Griffiths called, firing off a spread of four missiles against the lead enemy fighter. The two alien fighters did not even bother to deviate course as their counter measures blasted Griffiths' missiles out of the skies. Pushing his fighter's nose forwards, Griffiths dived down on the approaching fighters to attack head on. "Break it off!" Lacroix ordered, "come in from the side!" Griffiths gritted his teeth, selected his gun and centred his sights on the approaching fighters. The range counter reduced rapidly. Griffiths opened fire. Simultaneously, bursts of blue green laser fire darted from the wings of the two enemy fighters. A laser bolt lanced through Griffiths' right wing. The curved horizon suddenly flipped up to the left as his fighter deviated violently from its flight path, his central warning panel lighting up with a dozen cautions and the whole cockpit vibrating and rattling. Swearing aloud, Griffiths dragged his controls back central and throttled back, struggling to force his Fireflash back under control to give him a chance to diagnose the damage. A quick glance to his right showed a gaping, ragged hole through the centre