"Interesting choice, Mr. Joker," Hale commented as he made another note on his PADD.

The transport accelerated toward its landing zone just above the cloud layer. "Contacts India-1 and India3... they're having trouble keeping up, they're breaking off!" Tactical reported.

Joker grinned. "Can we jam their transmissions? We don't need them talking to anyone else."

"Already done, Joker, if they wanna blab they're gonna have to do it in person, " The voice was different from Tactical.

Then he howled like a wolf. "WHOOOOOOO! I love this ship!" Hale maintained his composure.

"New contact on intercept. Designate Alpha-3. Eighteen kilometers distant. Contact in 11 seconds."

Joker banked the transport to starboard and down to shed altitude. "Landing zone in two minutes. I've got tactical." He glanced toward the tactical display. Alpha-3 had overshot them and was turning to make another run. Joker dropped beneath the canopy of clouds and the landing zone came into view. Directly below him was a craggy mountain range. He armed another torpedo.

"PROXIMITY ALERT! ENEMY CRAFT CLOSING AFT!"

Joker spotted a rocky outcropping below. Over the comm system he warned his them "brace for turbulence," he pushed the transport hard toward it.

Thirty meters above the ground the Cormorant skimmed over the terrain, kicking up a long trail of dust behind it. The pursuing craft closed to within 5 kilometers and fired.

Jaxom committed and launched his torpedo instead of heading backward it stayed just below the transport and began to descend as it tracked a large outcropping ahead of them. Vighross zipped past the outcropping and the torpedo found its mark. The resulting explosion filled the pursuit craft's engines with enough debris to force her down. "Splash Alpha-3" Again the mission bay cheered!

Then the Vighross's impulse output began to fluctuate. Alarms sounded in the cockpit, alerting Joker to the power falloff in the port engine. "Ninety-eight percent. Eighty-four percent. Seventy-one percent."

For the first time, Hale's voice changed slightly. "Not done yet, Let's see how you handle a problem when nobody is shooting at you."

Jaxom immediately ran a diagnostic. The computer traced the problem to a power-transfer regulator cycling between normal operation and emergency compensation. The atmospheric maneuvers and repeated high-load corrections had pushed it beyond its operating range.

Jaxom continued to read the computer's recommended solution: isolate the regulator and redistribute the load.

The landing zone was twenty-four kilometers away. "Forty-five seconds," Joker called out to the team.

The autopilot warned trajectory now intersected elevated terrain Jaxom took manual control. "Mission Bay, I need assistance with the power-transfer regulator."

The response came immediately, "On it! give us thirty seconds." The ridge ahead grew rapidly in the forward display. Engine output fell again. "Warning: Port engine output Sixty-four percent," The computer reported.

Over the comm the team engineer reported "This regulator is turning to slag. Trying to keep the temperature down."

Hale gave him the choice, "Keep the engines reduced and make the landing zone, or push them and get there faster."

"Your call, Joker."

Jaxom looked at the engine readings.

Then made his decision. He isolated the port engine completely, "Port impulse went offline.

power rerouted to the starboard engine," Joker resisted the temptation to push it beyond safe limits.

"Regulator temperature is falling," The engineer reported.

"Good, landing zone was seven kilometers away landing gear is down. Eighteen seconds. The transport entered its final approach, "Retro-thrusters fired." Jaxom called out. just as the Vighross landed.

Hale looked at the final readings. "Atmospheric portion complete. But the test isn't over." The simulator transitioned into the next scenario.

Jaxom took a breath and began checking passive sensors while the navigation computer calculated the escape course. The route appeared clear as Jaxom began the startup sequence for the warp drive. Suddenly sensors detected a gravitational anomaly approximately .4 lightyears along the projected corridor. The computer was unable to classify the anomaly.

"Don't engage warp." Hale advised

Jaxom studied the sensor data. "A cloaked vessel could be sitting just beyond their current sensor range. If we go to warp, we could potentially lead whatever was out there directly back to the Rubicon." He aborted the warp sequence and reduced Impulse power to five percent to minimize emissions.

The faintest sensor return appeared, then disappeared.

Hale nodded.

"Good call." Jaxom smiled as the computer presented an alternate warp solution, It would take nine minutes longer. Consisting of a series of warp jumps, this plan would allow the transport to swiftly bypass this rogue gravitational distortion, while allowing Jaxom to keep an eye over his shoulder

Hale looked toward him. "Get the transport home without bringing anything else with it."

The Vighross began a series of staggered warp jumps, by not exceeding warp 2 while in enemy held space the Vighross's signature was barely detectable. Following the second leg of the flight plan, Jaxom checked his sensors, the distortion appeared along the original corridor appeared to be moving.