((Anvil, cockpit))

Paccelli had just finished up his shift at the helm runabout. His relief, a young Benzite named Murdock, had just arrived from the rear cabin. They were almost at the apex of their patrol, nearly 12 light years out in front of the Victory.

“Heyo Murdock, how are you doing this morning?”

“I am well sir. Though there is no sun near us that would indicate that it is morning, how do you know that it is early in the day.” The blue skinned man replied.

“Galactic Mean Time Ensign. It’s almost 0800, historically 0400-1200h is colloquially known as morning time.”

“Ah yes, I have noticed these mostly Terran colloquialisms smuggled into much of shipboard life in Starfleet. I can see how the standardization of terms could be helpful and increase efficiency in many cases.” Murdock nodded and took over the flight controls precisely at 0800h as he had for the past 2 days. He certainly was as meticulous as the rest of his fellow Benzites.

“Alright then, well, I’ll leave you to it then.” Patch moved to stand up.

“Uh, sir, if I may. I have some questions in furtherance of our conversation yesterday.” Murdock said as Patch lowered himself back into his seat.

“Sure thing Ensign.” Patch leaned back in his chair, anticipating another long, in depth conversation with a barrage of questions from his cocky, and inquisitive co-pilot.

“I mentioned my interest in becoming a fighter pilot yesterday, and the certifications I have gained in my attempts to achieve that goal. You then told me about your…interesting career in that branch of Starfleet. I am curious though, why would Starfleet trust a man who has been demoted from a leadership position twice with command of a mission like this?” The Benzite, as usual, didn’t mean to be off puting, though it was a common result when speaking with a person from Benzar.

“Hmm, that’s a good question. I don’t actually know the answer, you’d have to speak to my superior officers about that. But I suspect it’s because the offenses I had committed didn’t have anything to do with my actions or abilities as a leader, they were more related to my personal conduct and personality conflicts I had with my superiors.”

“I made a similar assumption. In light of that, I would like to ask for your assistance in achieving my goal sir. Can you teach me about the culture and the slew of idiosyncrasies of Starfleet Starfighter Corps?” The Benzar assessed his console and slightly adjusted the course of the runabout.

“Hehe, sure thing kiddo. First, step, have you seen the Top Gun holovideo trilogy?” Patch said with a smile.

“I have not.”

“Watch it, if you want to know about the culture of the Corps, those vids will give you a good glimpse of it.”

“I will access and review them after my shift.”

“Cool.” Patch went to stand up again and Murdock proceeded to ask another question and pre-empt the action again.

“I also have a question about the different unit echelons and sizes of the Corps. For instance our mission was referred to as “Arrow flight” on the duty roster on the Victory. But there is also a unit echelon in the starfighter Corps that is referred to as a ‘flight’, and usually consists of 4 vessels.”

“Ah yes, you’ve noticed the fine line between the Fleet, and the Space Arm. Runabouts by and large area Fleet assets, the Starfighter Corps, or Space Arm, or Fighter Wing, whatever this administration has changed the official name to.” Patch waved into some politically opinionated speeches before catching himself.

“So anyway, runabouts are small commissioned auxiliary vessels operated by the Fleet. The fighters constitute their own mini branch within Starfleet, similar to the Starfleet Corps of Engineers, or…Starfleet Medical. They’re essentially self contained branches with their own training pipelines, structure, and culture, as you’ve noted. We are all Starfleet, but certain areas of operations require a more specialized and focused Branch or whatever have you… now to your question the smallest unit of fighters is an  element or section, which almost always consists of 2 vessels, a lead and wingman. The next step up, is the one you noticed, a Flight, and it almost always has 2 elements, and 4 vessels. Then you move up to Squadrons, there’s anywhere from 2 to 6 Flights in each squadron, that’s to provide flexibility and customizability based on the need of the mission.” Patch took his turn pre-empting the Ensign by answering his question before he asked it.

“I see. That seems prudent. And you referred to the Fighter Wing in reference to the different names that they have gone by over the years. But there is a unit echelon that is a Wing as well, and consists of a various number of squadrons, correct?”

“Yep, that’s the next level, and probably the largest unit of fighters that you’ll ever have on active operations together in the same area. The next level is the group levels which is usually 3-5 Wings, and is mostly an administrative level unit these days. Though a few fighter groups were mobilized during the recent Vaadwaur invasion. Then is Division level, with a bunch of Liberated, that level of command usually just consists of a command and administrative element at one of the major regional bases of Starfleet. And the Branch itself is the Corps level. Now when people people refer to the whole Branch as the Fighter Wing, that’s one of those colloquialisms where they’re using the word Wing in a more historical context, using it as a synonym for the word Branch, on earth a Wing of an army was usually a self contained component that would operate independent of the main force if necessary.”

“I understand, thank you sir.” The Benzite looked down at his console and altered the course of the vessel again, veering away from their intended flight path.

“What’s going on, why are you pulling us off course there?” Patch noticed what the young Ensign was doing and turned to his own console, and assessed the ship’s status.

“I have been attempting to parallel a faint anti-matter trail to the starboard sir, right at the range of our sensors.” Murdock admitted.

Patch accessed the sensor system on his display, and saw it there, at the edge of their range.

“Pass helm control to me. That could be them.” Patch said before the Benzite transfered him the ‘stick’. Paccelli wheeled the nimble runabout around and Chains direct for the the suspect warp trail. As they approached it the trail started to show signs of radial and lineal symmetry, indicating that it was likely a warp trail. After a jother few minutes they confirmed thebdual warp trail consists with 2 Federation Valkyries.

“Contact the Victory, tell em we’ve found our lost puppies.”

A bit confused about the verbiage, Murdock dutifully complied.