Blue Star Enterprises-Chapter 260 - 5-11

Vitor hadn't forgotten about Kaela during the week-long deployment before returning to Eden's End, but he had pushed the woman to the back of his mind. With Xin opening up a new front against the STO, it was imperative that the Union take advantage of that to push the Grand Admiral's forces out of Union space. With a possible Shican war on the horizon, it was even more important to bring an end to that conflict as soon as possible.

To ensure that happened, he had been working diligently with the Jarls, Lagertha Char, and the other Asgardian captains deployed to the front lines, to coordinate BSE reinforcements and intelligence gathering, even before the Shican attack.

None of the Jarls or Asgardian captains were aware of the stealth nature of their surveillance efforts, but they had been briefed on the comm nodes, so it wasn't hard for them to guess how BSE and the Lokis were compiling the information.

Vitor made his way to the Lund Academy. He didn't have classes today, but it was the only place with the new holo theaters that Alexander had built. Normally, the holo theaters were designed to simulate multi-crew vessels, to allow cadets to experience working alongside others and taking orders without the risk of going into space.

When Vitor had read Alex's report about his experiences remote piloting the Stingray, he had requested that Alex build a holo theater specifically for solo training. Alex had agreed but didn't have time to kick off the project before he left for Earth, so he gave Lucas the go-ahead to modify one of the existing rooms.

Lucas, being Lucas, wasn't happy with a simple holo theater. The man had gone above and beyond to turn the room into a remote-pilot interface for the comm node-equipped Stingray on the Asgardian border.

That was what Vitor was here to test today. When he turned the corner of the hallway, he spotted Lucas having a jovial conversation with their resident test pilot, Branston. The two nodded in his direction as he approached.

"Admiral," Branston gave a sloppy salute.

"Glad you could make it, Admiral," Lucas said with a smile.

"You don't need to call me Admiral. Neither one of you is part of the Navy."

Lucas shrugged. "It pays to be deferential. Are you two ready to experience the next leap in space combat?"

Vitor very much doubted that. While combining the remote interface with a comm node was an ingenious combination of the two technologies, it had its limitations. Alex's Shican report had highlighted a significant decrease in the effectiveness of the automated ships during the attack. The reduction in processing capacity was likely due to the Shican's powerful ECM and intrusion attempts, which forced the ships to prioritize more of their processing power to stopping the attacks.

Alex might be able to overcome such a limitation in time, but that could be years down the road. Still, the technology would be a major advantage against human ships, especially the Xin ones, which had outdated ECM capabilities.

"I can't wait to see what you cooked up," Vitor said earnestly.

If the technology worked at all, Vitor planned on requesting more of the comm node-equipped Stingrays. In a war against the Xin forces, they would make perfect training simulators for the cadets, while keeping the inexperienced pilots out of harm's way.

The trio entered the holo theater, the room had bare grey concrete walls that wrapped around in a dome, leaving no corners. The only item inside the room was the simulator, which housed two seats and the same consoles found aboard a Stingray gunship.

"I've programmed the simulation to be as accurate as I can to the controls aboard the Stingray. Hopefully, you won't run into too many issues, but make sure to note any oddities down so I can take a look at them during the tests."

"This feels like taking all the fun out of flying," Branston said with a shake of his head.

Vitor had to agree with the sentiment, which is why he had worked with Archie Matthews, the former captain of the Talon, to ensure the cadets got both simulated and practical experience before graduating.

"I'll leave you both to it then," Lucas waved as he exited the room to begin the connection process.

"What do you think of all this?" Branston asked as he took the pilot's seat and began strapping himself in.

Vitor sighed as he did the same. "It's a bit too early to tell. I don't think it will remove the need for piloted ships in our lifetime, but I fear what the future might hold if humanity divorces itself completely from combat and starts to treat it like a game."

The former First Lieutenant looked over at him and blinked in surprise. "Um… I was referring to the accuracy of the simulation equipment."

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"Oh," Vitor said, a slight flush of embarrassment creeping up his face. He threw his simulation helmet on, and the pair pretended the previous conversation hadn't occurred. ThiscopycomesfromcontentonM|V|L0EMPYR.

A moment later, the holo emitters started flickering to life, causing the space around them to vanish and be replaced by darkness studded with stars. Vitor looked off to the side and noticed they were floating in orbit around some gas giant.

The room speaker crackled to life with Lucas's voice. "After the last rearming session, I recalled the Stingray to an empty system to allow for this testing without having to worry about real combat. For the first test, I just want to make sure everything is working correctly while I monitor the data load on the node."

Vitor would have preferred a real combat scenario, but he could understand the reasoning behind the slow approach. As the co-pilot, his job was to monitor for targets, fire weapons, and provide coordinates for jumps as necessary.

He had trained in the Stingrays for a few hours while they were docked, but he hadn't actually flown one of the gunships. As he was familiarizing himself with the controls once again, the starfield began to move as Branston pushed the ship forward.

Vitor could hear the man grunt in disappointment at the lack of acceleration as he did so.

Branston v