Beacon 2

This had the potential to revolutionize combat doctrine.

The biggest limiting factor for missiles at the moment was not point defense weapons, but range.

Missiles had an extremely limited amount of fuel, meaning that they could not make much in the way of course correction. Course correction was the biggest reason to use a missile.

Adjusting the path of a weapon in order to make it hit the weakest part of a ship's armor was invaluable, as was the ability to track moving targets and strike from angles your ship was incapable of.

The current practice of keeping significant range meant that there was ample time to turn a ship to hide that weak armor and enact tracking countermeasures. Even the angles of attack were limited due to the lack of fuel.

Most missile corvettes required them to be within a range of 5 thousand kilometers and have a clear line of site on their targets, with larger frigates and destroyers being able to get away with being further. This was well within the range of railguns of the range of their natural predators - the light cruiser.

If they could launch missiles in the general direction of their targets and turn their thrusters off when they reach a certain speed, the missiles could cruise to save fuel. Once within control range of a hidden ship that is much closer they could reactivate with fuel to spare and be more accurate in their strikes.

If the corvettes could stay hidden, ambushes at shorter ranges could be performed that allow for more freedom in strike angle.

Missiles being Don's favored form of punishment, he was naturally eager to get started.

"Let's get started! How do I guide them? Manual piloting? Area saturation?"

"Waypoints are the suggested method of guidance. See projection."

The internal lighting darkened as Don took his place in the pilot seat, a projection of the space around the ship took the place where he was introduced to the ship's systems. He was somewhat used to this being his map while flying. There was a 3 dimensional grid with a blue dot at the center representing his position. The surfaces of objects he had data on also had the same light-almost white-blue grid on them to give them volume. Projected behind them was a 'shadow' consisting of straight white line around their profile that signified there was no data in those areas.

A sleeker and more compact rock was located close to the lower right forward corner. That was the Ranger, and it's volumetric grid was colored green to signify confirmed friendly. He couldn't see the corvette, but he guessed it would be on the other side of the large cruiser, in the shadow it cast.

"Instruction: Flip switch 17 on the right dashboard to engage the waypoint cursor."

The lights on the dashboard changed color from orange to green around the switch in question. The switches on the right were presets for some of the neat features of the craft.

The first was just to turn lights from on, off, and combat. It was the only one with three modes.

The switches labeled 2-10 changed the sensor data being shown on the screen. Visual spectrum, infrared, radio, positional data and magnification were all controlled by this series.

Switches 11 and 12 displayed and overlay of the ship's dimensions and a suggested landing path.

Switch 13 enabled an overlay for positional data in relation to the sun.

14 showed the estimated flight path of the 30 mm cannons while 15 enabled a predictive marker that show where to shoot in order to hit something with said cannons. There is a bar connected to switch 15 that automatically turns on 14 when engaged, a neat feature should Don ever find himself in a sudden fight.

Switch 16 enabled the predicted shot path for the railguns, though he had yet to use this feature.

He had been introduced to switch 20 as a sort of rear view camera. 17, 18, and 19 he had yet to use.

It would appear that 17 was related to guidance, interesting.

Activating the glowing switch, he noticed that there was now a pulsing red sphere over his position dot.

"Motion control handover confirmed. Instruction: The cursor is moved radially. Thrust control determines distance from ship, while the joystick will control angle. Trigger will place a marker, order ascends. Munition selection can be handled by the frequency knob or physical selection."

"Physical selection?"

"Place your hand on the Ranger's profile."

Don obliged, palm up underneath the green hulk.

"Click is the verbal command to select an entity."

"Click!"

The Ranger began to emit a pulse much like the waypoint in the center.

"There is not much that can be assigned to a friendly ship other than incoming fire alerts."

"I can issue IFA's?"

"Correct, however this is not the time to go over that. You still need to get used to controlling waypoints and target designation. Received affirmation of launch status. Requesting one interceptor missile for calibration."

From the top of the hull of the Ranger, one flashing yellow dot appeared. Don put it above his palm and said "Click." In response, the flashing stopped and instead a translucent yellow sphere appeared around it.

"Selection of missile confirmed. The command to make a missile halt relative to your position is 'Neutral'."

"Neutral!"

It took a second for the missile to turn and thrust enough to neutralize its momentum. On projection, it was still. With this reference point it was possible to see that the Ranger was actually drifting downward slowly.

"Missile confirmed stationary. This command has little use outside of holding launched missiles for later use. Practical applications include impromptu mines and remote detonations."

"And how do I assign them travel routes?"

"First designate a series of waypoints. We will continue from there."