An excerpt from my second book 'Twin suns of Carrola'! Don't forget to check the first one here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079K62S78 For the taz'aran Mecha flight leader, this was his first combat operation. He couldn't believe his luck when the assignment orders came – not only he but the best pilots from his academy class were in one squadron under the command of Glorious Lord Captain Omasa himself! The younger taz'aran officers basically idolized him, and he very well knew why. The guy was a brilliant leader and all who could fought, for even a small bit of his successes and future glory. Then more good news came; they were given brand new TA's! Not only that, but Omasa scrounged for them more and better weapons. After his first tour around the flight deck inspecting their equipment, the flight leader was adamant about their overall mission success. Now in outer space, and with his wing perfectly laying in ambush among the debris, he was just starting his second passive sensor sweep of the area, when something flashed in the distance. The sensors of his brand new, thirty feet long mecha model “Juno”, suddenly blipped and rang the audio alarm for incoming long-range fire. It all happened so fast that he was unable to do anything but watch helplessly how that beam melted the debris chunk next to him. Then slagged the cockpit of the mecha hiding behind it instantly killing the pilot, creating a superheated expanding ball of plasma after the target's reactor assembly exploded. He screamed, breaking the comm silence – “Engage engines now! Your cover is useless against this laser – Move!” – his pilots tried to follow his orders but...taz'aran mecha main systems required more time to spool before reaching full operational status. Another laser beam; yes, because it just had to be an armor-piercing effin' laser, sliced another of his machines in two. On holo-file and during training their ambush tactics always looked good, that is, until you meet with t...