Well yes it was Apex, but we've decided this wasn't gonna work...so just here it is

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Part 10: An Ally to Be

The neutron fire was almost upon me when I felt a jerk knocking me to the side. I opened my eyes in time to see everything return to normal speed. I glanced left and saw the pilot who had insulted me ramming my ship out of the way. The neutron fire splashed virtually harmlessly against his wing.
"Why…?" I asked after finding my voice.

"Beolach…was my mentor, and my friend," he replied weakly. "I wouldn’t let his killer’s killer die."

"Thank you."

I docked, and got out of my ship, waiting to thank him in person. He docked a moment later, getting out of a beautiful dark blue Centurion.

"Thanks…again. So what’s your name?"

"Apex Azimuth…at least to most people. And you?"

"Smittens, or Smitt for short."

"I assume that’s a nickname?"

"Technically, yes, but no one calls me by my real name."

Apex paused, likely waiting for me to say my real name, but I kept silent.

"You were pretty good for that to be your first real kill," he said finally.

"Thanks. I attended a pilot class in Divinia when I was young, I guess the lessons stuck with me more than I thought."

"Really?" he asked. "Me too! Who was your teacher?"

"Ariosan Obattan"

"That’s weird, its who I had too."

Apex laughed, "I remember this one time, I asked this arrogant kid to race and he ratted on me. Ariosan had me cleaning busses for a week!"

"Its funny you say that. One time this jerk asked me to race and I busted him!"

We starred at the ground, reminiscing. Then all of a sudden the painfully obvious hit us, and we both burst out laughing.

"Arrogant, am I?" I said with a smile.

"Any one who calls me a jerk and rats on me for a little thing like racing is arrogant in my book!"

"So do you still race?" I asked.

"Any chance I get. But I’m in the Itani Defense Force, and I just got a huge promotion, so I don’t think I’ll have a lot of free time anymore. But I’m going to be getting some Itani training sessions together, you want to come to one?"

"Sure!" I replied enthusiastically. "So you’re in the IDF? Last I checked you guys were running a guild of MIAs."

"Yeah, we’ve definitely lost a lot of pilots recently, and recruiting isn’t going that good this year because of it. But hopefully if we get our current pilots talented enough…" He started walking back to his Centurion, but just as he was climbing in turned. "You want to go Serco hunting?"

"I don’t know how helpful I could be," I replied, hoping this wouldn’t close the offer.

"No worries," he said smiling. "We’ll have a bunch of Itani with us, I doubt anyone’s gonna die."

Grinning, I climbed back into my Vulture and followed him out of the station.

Part 11: Ten Could Succeed Where a Hundred Fail

I followed Apex to the Sedina system, where we met with many other Itani. They were mostly IDF, and to my surprise I saw their commander in the ranks. However, a few others were there who were guildless.

IDF’s Commander started talking to the sector, "Me and IDF’s council will check stations for Serco, while Lieutenant Macguyitani will lead the rest of you around the wormholes. I will be relaying to him if I see any Serco at the station, and he will to you." With that, he and seven other Itani jumped out. I followed Macguyitani to Sedina B8, and was excited to see a Serco, flying a Vulture, nearby.

A few other Itani and I started rushing towards them, but Macguyitani called us back. "Hold!" he cried. "This Serco has not been hostile towards us, leave him alone."

Incredulous, I contacted Apex, "This guy’s flying a vult! Why’re we letting him slide?"

"IDF is the Itani DEFENSE Force. We don’t attack unless the Serco are known to be hostile, despite their ships. Supposedly the IDF used to be called the Itani Nation Military, but their advances brought heavy retaliation from the Serco, and they switched their ideals."

I shook my head as the Serco started flying away. Suddenly he spun his ship around and unloaded streams of purple Gauss Cannon onto the nearest Itani. He exploded before anyone could react.

"Itani, get him!" cried Macguyitani unnecessarily. We had all started advancing the moment the Serco opened fire, and within seconds we had swarmed him. As the Serco disappeared in flame, I contacted IDF’s Lieutenant.

"Nice rules you have here," I said scathingly.

"We’re here to defend. That Serco knew what he was doing and he got what was coming," he replied, his voice carrying a quality that implied these rules had been drilled into him since birth.

"Well you sure did a nice job defending our guy that died."

Macguyitani didn’t respond.

"Don’t pick fights," came Apex’ voice through my computer.

"How’d you know?" I asked surprised.

"Guilds have their own unhackable channel. MGI told us to ‘beware that Smittens character, he is reckless.’ Don’t worry, MGI plays by the rules, but I’m sure the rest of us know you’re right."

"So what exactly happened that warped the INM’s view?"

"Everything started off nicely enough. They intruded through the Deneb hole to Serco space and wiped out any Serco there were. But the Serco mustered their forces by the time the INM reached Sol II and held them off. The battle lasted a while, and eventually the INM retreated, but they had a hard time escaping Serco territory. Over the next few months the Serco staged similar attacks on us, and we were hard pressed to stop them. But the Serco still lost many ships, which is why I think their general listened when we contacted them offering the truce that created the IDF."

"You were too big," I said after pondering this for a while.

"What do you mean?" asked Apex.

"There were too many of you…unnecessarily. Hundreds of Itani couldn’t be subtle, but say ten would likely be regarded as a daring group. If they were good enough they could go in every so often, wiping out numerous Serco without bringing down retaliation."

Apex thought about this for a moment. "But where would you find ten pilots good enough to do the job of a hundred?"

"I don’t know…I guess I’m just thinking aloud."

Part 12: The Dojo in Space

A few weeks later Apex contacted me. "We’re going to have a training session today. Sedina B7." I replied telling him I was on my way, and left at once.

I entered and was surprised to see few pilots besides Apex in the sector, however all IDF. Most of them were fighting each other, and Apex said, "You and I will fight first as everyone else is occupied."

"How will we stop from killing each other?" I asked.

"When my hull appears to be at 20% stop shooting, and I’ll do the same for you. There’s still a risk but 20% is high enough that even if you land a few extra shots I won’t be killed. We’ll just fight freely now, and I’ll give you some tips, and you can do the same if you notice anything wrong with my fighting.

"Go," he said simply a moment later.

Similar to what I did against the Serco, I let random impulses control my ship. Apex took his into a circular dodge, but held back from firing. Despite the recurring pattern in his flight, I was surprised to find I couldn’t hit him. Suddenly his ship boosted forwards right next to mine. I spun around but couldn’t keep him in my sights. I heard thuds from the back of my ship and saw my hull dropping rapidly. A moment later the noises stopped, and Apex’s voice entered my ship.

"Hold. Do you know what weapon I was using?"

"No," I replied after thinking about it.

"Exactly. Depending on the weapon of your opponent you want to adapt your dodging. If its something fast like neutrons you don’t want to get as close as if they’re using gauss, because the speed of the neutron fire will allow it to be everywhere. Gauss requires precise hits so if you get in close its much harder for your opponent.

"I started out with a light dodge to get you to come closer, and then started accelerating. I was on you before you could react. Vultures are nearly impossible to hit from straight ahead, but they’re an easy target from on above or below. From there my gauss could rip apart your hull."

"I thought you said gauss was worse up close," I said, confused.

"It depends. Since I was the one who closed in on you I was lining up my shots while you were trying to find me. If you closed in on me you would be able to unload while I would still be looking for you. It’s like…it’s like if you’re in a gunfight in the dark with someone, whoever sees the other first has the advantage."

"I’m gonna go repair…" I replied slowly, hoping to get out before Apex could overload me even more.

When I returnee Apex and I fought again. This went on for hours, and slowly I improved to the point where the fights were close, but Apex would still win.

We lined up again, ready for yet another fight. Tension mounted as we each waited for the other to start. I started edging my ship right, slowly going around him. His Centurion turned and watched me, and I slammed my joystick left, rotating and firing as I went. The change of direction caught Apex off guard and he took a few hits before getting out of the way. He began his circle strafe, and as I knew he was expecting, I starting flying my ship towards him. I heard him hit the thrust, and as his ship neared mine I did the same. We passed each other at high speeds, and I whipped around letting loose streams of neutron fire. But these weren’t accurate shots and Apex dodged most of them.

A few of his shots missed me, and then I panicked as I saw a stream of purple heading directly to a spot to the left I was maneuvering my ship towards. Without thinking I pulled my joystick to the right, but this was the wrong move.

As my ship slowed down to compensate for the sudden and opposite directional change Apex shot a string of gauss, all which hit me. "Stupid move…" I muttered to myself as I backed away to regain control. I chanced a glance down and saw myself at 34%, while my computer showed Apex at 46. One more Gauss shot would finish me off while I needed at least four direct shots of neutron. As Apex slowly advanced, I once again began circling him to the right. Again he followed me with his nose, but I was still out of the effective range of Gauss. I threw both joysticks forwards, lifting my ship up as it accelerated. As I entered his range Apex fired a few shots of Gauss, obviously holding back so as not to kill me. Our ships were close now, Apex still firing but not aiming fast enough to account for my movement. I twisted a joystick suddenly, rolling my ship and sending me in a different direction. Suddenly I found myself below Apex, and I hit the turbo button, accelerating rapidly into his underside.

Our ships collided, knocking off a good chunk of each of our hulls, and I cut the thrust from my ship, taking advantage of my point blank range and pulling the trigger that unleashed my neutron fire. Before Apex could get out of the way countess neutron fire slammed into his ship, digging a large black burn mark into the underside.

"Hold, hold!" cried Apex, and I lifted my firing finger.

I looked down at my targeting screen and saw Apex’ ship to be at 18%. I let a
"w00t!" into the sector and targeted the station to repair.

"Nice job," said Apex. "You’re really learning how to dodge and when to fire. I think that’s enough training for today, if you don’t mind I’d like to watch the other IDF for the rest of our session."

"No problem," I responded, smiling. "Thanks for all the help, I look forward to another one,"

And the seeds of IA are planted nice. :P

Pfff...not for a loooooooong time. We're talking about ISP here

Which becomes.... :P