“BDEOW! BDEOW!”The shots slammed into my fighter jet and I struggled to stay in control. Making a split second decision, I pulled out of my bombing run and joined up with my squadron.

“Red 5, what happened?!”, asked my squadron leader, a third-year trainee called Raven.

“Those turrets were hitting me too hard!”, I replied, setting my jaw in a grim line. “We need a new strategy. We’ll distract the turret, you go in and destroy that thing!”

“Roger that”, buzzed Raven. He peeled off from the squadron and was about to attack when a code red transmission flashed on our displays. It read: “Reinforcements needed urgently”. It also showed the coordinates of one of our frontier outposts.

Immediately our squadron turned away from the training exercise and got into formation.

“They must be really desperate if they called us in”, someone commented.

“Just remember what I’ve taught you” muttered Raven.

We prepared our sub-light engines and were about to zoom away when a warning flashed on my display. My sublight engines were overheating!

I disengaged before they blew up and reported to Raven. “I can’t use my sub-light boosters!”

“Pull out, we’ll meet you there”, he replied. And with a flash, they were gone. I turned my engine up to ‘MAX’ and flew off, left in the dust.

About five minutes later, my comlink picked up a coded transmission. Using my decoding software, I managed to unscramble the message. It read:

REINFORCEMENTS COMING. SET 

THE TRAP IN DUSTY CANYON

It was signed by the enemy general! My eyes widened. All of our reinforcements were flying into a trap! I set my course for Dusty Canyon via a shortcut that I knew. I had to save my friends.

Soon after I arrived, I saw the trap. Switching on my cloaking device so I wouldn’t be spotted. I flew in for a closer look. Our reinforcements would be forced through a small gap in the canyon. Once they were all through, dozens of turrets that lined the walls would open fire and the squadron would be destroyed. I couldn't let that happen. They were due to arrive in about five minutes so I didn’t have much time to eradicate the threat.

I ascended rapidly and turned off my cloaking device. From this high up, I could see that there were about twenty turrets. I knew what I had to do.

After circling above the canyon, I swooped down, racing towards my target. As I neared the trap, I let loose. Missiles streaked from my jet and locked onto the turrets. Massive explosions rocked the canyon but I continued towards it, pummeling it with rockets and lasers.

As my jet came into range, the remaining turrets started pounding me with deadly projectiles. I twisted and ducked but still the shots came.

Then they died down as I flew out of the canyon, my fighter smoking and sparking. I circled around for my next run and checked, my vitals. My engine was in a critical condition and I still had about half the turrets to take out.

Suddenly, I had a thought. If I could shoot out the boulders that lay above the canyon, they might take out the turrets. My gun exploded in a flurry of lasers as my jet danced its way closer. With an earsplitting BOOM, the rocks came loose and tumbled onto the turrets, sending shrapnel flying. I’d done it! Then, with a shudder, my engine gave out and I plummeted towards earth.

As I neared the ground, I heard a huge rumble and the reinforcements rocketed past, safe from certain death. I closed my eyes and imagined them zooming past, flying away. Then it all went black.

By Caleb Simpson