his fighter's wings through ninety degrees before yanking its nose up to break smartly away from his formation leader. Both Republican fighter split apart from each other as a salvo of blue green energy beams, long and thin like ragged bolts of lightning, swept through space in the spot they had occupied only a second before. The tone in Griffiths' ears phased in and out as his Fireflash's defensive aid suite struggled to break the lock on the fighter. He reversed the turn and powered up, following the green arrow on his canopy which guided him back to his formation leader. "Black Flight, this is Echo Three Alpha, sliders are confirmed as hostile, you are clear engage," the fighter controller announced excitedly. "Yeah, cheers, pal," Griffiths muttered to himself, closing the gap with Cavouri to return to his position in formation. "Black Two, get back on my tail," Cavouri ordered, obviously not happy to let his protective wingman off his leash. "With you," Griffiths replied, his breathing returning to normal as he locked up the closer of the two red squares on his canopy. The enemy craft was locked without so much as a struggle from any defensive aids it had installed. A steady tone announced that his missiles were ready to fire. "Blacks, engage," Cavouri said calmly Griffiths thumbed his fire button. His missile pods slid smoothly down from their wing housings and fired off one from each side. The four missiles from the two Fireflashes streaked out ahead,