Byron continued to coordinate with his squadron leaders. Athee drew strength from his calm state of mind. Her mate possessed many years of experience and understood their enemy better than any other pilot. As she watched the fighters on her screen, Athee wondered if any of the other teams were veterans of the Vindicarn War. She doubted many outside of Byron had experienced the event, now forty years past.
Six ships on the edge of the foray vanished. Athee’s muscles tightened and she shot a warning to her pilot. Before she’d completed her thought, Byron began relaying the information to his squadron leaders. She held her breath, resisting the urge to look out the canopy.
There!
Athee caught the images in Byron’s mind. Six narrow fighters now crossed far below them. The closest squadron d
