It's A Deadly Job, But Somebody's Gotta Do It

Of course, the Stellar Fleet only had a squadron or two of Badgers, and even fewer well-trained pilots to fly them. Most of the pilots fly Dogs (Dwarf-range Onslaught Gunships) or Cats (Capital ship Assault Transports). Of course, there were also the Giant-range, Interplanetary Response Landers, the most desired position in the Stellar Fleet, but only the most famous flyers, or the most politically connected, got to fly Girls.

I walked the perimeter of the ship, surveying it closely. It looked like a Badger, but had undergone several obvious modifications, and likely a few dozen I couldn't see.

I hopped onto the boarding ladder and peered through the plexisteel viewport. The cockpit was slightly larger than a normal Badger, with a little more storage room. The controls looked normal for the most part, though the weapons systems and flight controls were slightly different than I remembered.

The front of the Badger narrowed to a hollow point that housed a heavy blast cannon, capable of hurling a variety of projectiles at incredible speeds. Four turbolasers surrounded the cannon.

The fusion reactor in the rear was too large, nearly twice as big as it should be. I stared at the engine for a long time, my face scrunched in confusion, before I moved on to the wings.

The wings of the Badger are half-moons with a pair of fixed turbolasers topside and one rotating turret on the bottom. This particular Badger also sported several missile launchers, which flanked the turret.

I let out a whistle as I traced a finger down the edge of the wing and sucked it back in when the metal sliced through my skin.

"Impressive, isn't she?" Commander Fear asked, smiling knowingly. "She's the most heavily armed ship of her size. The turrets can target independent of each other, and can be controlled by the AI. In fact, the AI can control most of the ship. Only a handful of systems require manual activation."

Commander Fear walked over to join me. He handed me a white rag to staunch the flow of blood. "The wings are made from the strongest trix derivatives," he added, "sharpened by lasers to a razor's edge. You could slice through most ships with those wings, if you have guts enough to use her as a ram."

"The engines are kind of large," I said, trying not to sound too impressed. "Most Badgers have a Mk IV fusion drive standard."

"Most Badgers don't come NOVA-equipped."

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(4) Ranges - Following the Trebalic Struggle* the FEDs found itself in an uncommon period of peace. The FEDs, and the Stellar Fleet in particular, went through a renaissance, wherein it was decided that all military classifications should be replaced with more aesthetic nomenclature.