| Pirates of the Castorbbean |
| Summary: | Pilots vs Pirates |
| Date: | 2657.333 |
| Related Logs: | Related Logs (Say None if there aren't any; don't leave blank) |
| Players: |
 .. .. .. .. .. .. |
Mission Plan.
Mission Summary: Rendezvous with the TCS November and the TCS Rubidium, Drayman class transports carrying medical supplies for the TCS Majestic, and escort them home.
Flight Plan:
Checkmate Wing - NAV 1: Fly through an asteroid field.
Checkmate Wing - NAV 2: Rendezvous with TCS November and TCS Rubidium.
Checkmate Wing - NAV 3: Escort TCS November and TCS Rubidium.
Checkmate Wing - NAV 4: Return to TCS Majestic.It is vital that these resources make it back to the TCS Majestic. Logistical problems since the loss of Perry Naval Base have allowed the Majestic's medical bay to become seriously underequipped, which is unacceptable for a front-line vessel.
"If we get fucking ambushed in another one of your dumbshit asteroid field missions again, Lieutenant, I will personally see you keel hauled minus an EVA suit and that is serious damned business in a vaccuum. Count on it." With those parting words, Markovic lead the rest of the pilots out of the briefing. The man was left pale and twitching about security when the hatch slammed.
Launching out of the tubes, the Captain leads the flight up and overtop of the Majestic, heading for the asteroids. Again. She glares at them with some srs loathe. "Checkmate Flight, form up. Radars on and warm your weapons. I want to hear Tally calls as soon as you think you see something. Sound off."
"Forget your Xanax today, Needles?" Alex asks with mild humour. Good mood is seriously his today, even with being surrounded by asteroids. And possibly LARGE SHOOTY THINGS again. "Flight, Torch. In formation and weapons hot. I see a lot of fucking rocks."
«Mouse here,» says Aisling, meek as her callsign suggests. Her sleek Stiletto does a fancy loop in space before settling into formation alongside the rest of her squadron, the quiet pinging of her radar marking time in her head. «Weapons hot, but I don't see anything.»
"Flight, Verdict. All systems green. Launch commencing." Xiang goes through her pre-flight check with her usual care. Perhaps a bit of extra care today. Proper planning (hopefully) prevents explosions. "Forming up, weapons hot." Her Stiletto banks to join the group, slipping into formation.
«Checkmate Six to Checkmate Lead, Midnight here Captain. Roger that command.» Sonia's larger Scimitar does little of the acrobatics the Stilettos do and she simply falls in behind the wedge of light fighters. She cycles through a quick post-launch diagnostics and nods to herself as the computer AI gives the all clear. «Midnight is Green.»
A good night's rest seems to have Kell back in good working order though under his flight helmet, his head is bandaged to be on the safe side. Given the option to sit out of the mission tonight, the young rookie vehemently rejected the free pass, wanting to fly with his squadron.
Flying through the maze of rocks once more, Kell chimes in with a status check, "Weapons online and sensors working. This place looks familiar." It does look very familiar but the young pilot is on edge, adrenaline already running as his eyes flick from the surroundings outside to the sensors, ready to go evasive in case another ambush is waiting for them.
The near-emptiness of space, a dark orchestra of black with tiny pinpricks of white, serves as a backdrop to what is a vast field of rock. Large chunks of nickel, iron, aluminum, and frozen ice of some kind litter the area, turning what is normally a nightmare for the agoraphobic into something best experienced by the claustrophobic instead. They rotate in space slowly and ominously, and anything could be hiding out there. Anything at all.
"Alright kids," the Captain begins with a deliberate, long breath. "Combat spread in these asteroids. Mutual support is the phrase of the day." She banks her Stil into the field. "Mouse, you are on me. Verdict, you take lead for Midnight and break high. Torch, you have Razor and peel to the right. Throttle up, Checkmate, and lets push through here." She flicks off her Master Arm.
«Roger,» says Kaye, her voice sounding more timid than usual. Thank the intership comms for that. Her fighter banks to starboard, cutting a gentle arc past one particularly large ball of ice and rock to settle below and behind Dejana; a few bits of space debris clatter loudly against her transparent cockpit before burning up in her engine exhaust. «It's a little choppy out here,» she offers, stating the obvious. That observation is no doubt followed by a couple of Ave Marias - off channel, but still.
«Lead, Torch. Copy that.» Alex drums his fingers with a soft beat on the control panel, easing the craft to starboard as he looks up, getting Draygo's craft into view both in visual and on his panel. «Razor, Torch. Ease off to mark five two carom nine. Don't bump Needles, she might break a nail.»
«Copy, Lead. Midnight, Verdict. Coming up on your two o'clock high. I'm with you.» Xiang's Stiletto swishes to a higher angle in slight lead above the larger Scimitar. Is her tone a touch more clipped than usual? Hard to tell, but she doesn't engage in any snappy banter with her fellow pilots. Or try any acrobatics in her sleek Stiletto. Her flight pattern is all-business as they head toward the asteroids. Eyes flit down to her radar display, to see if the passive is picking anything up, then flit back up to space proper.
"Copy that." Kell responds to the pairing assignments that has just been handed out by the Captain before maneuvering his nimble Stiletto to form up with Aquilina's fighter as they navigate through the asteroid field. "I have your wing, Torch, keeping an eye on our six and an escape route if something pops up behind us." He is certainly not going to have the Kilrathi catch him with his pants down like they did last night, atleast not so easily. The young pilot does chuckle at the advice given to him and comms back, amusement evident in his tone, "Will definitely keep that in mind, Torch, thanks."
«Copy Lead. Verdict I'm on your five and below.» Sonia warns her wingmate and brings her guns online. She scans the asteroids and remains midful of even the slightest oddity is shadow or form. "Now lets hope the Cats elected to take a holiday for once…" she says to herself in the confines of her cockpit.
"See, Mouse? Torch is an asshole. Just like I told you," she chides primly. The Stil slides past a larger asteroid, sitting its rear down as it passes underneath. "You are just worried I will pull a thread on one of those fabulous socks." Her eyes scan the asteroids as they move through, paying a little more attention this time and even giving the stink-eye to the last place they got ambushed. "Almost out. Roll wings and sanitize your bellies when you exit the field."
«She's just proud of her nails.» Alex replies into comm, mildly. «What is that colour, Needles? On-The-Rag Red?» His Stiletto keeps moving forward, and for all the chatter his eyes are sharp. No new dents on his wings for him.
"Bitchslap-Your-Face Pink, actually."
There seems to be a lot of head movement in Kell's cockpit as the pilot continuously moves his gaze from port to starboard while during the transition, his eyes would flick down to the sensors. There was a glint of something shiney during one his visual scans but it turns to be a particularly shiney and perhaps minerally rich rock that is slowly spinning in place. The heightened alertness by the young pilot is evident with the pilot giving just enough attention to his flying so he doesn't ironically slam his fighter into a massive asteroid. The only participation given by Kell in the good natured conversation is, "That's a hawt color, Needles."
«It's okay, sir. I know where the squirt gun is,» says Kaye, giggling a little as she tilts her stick to port. Her fighter's engine wash catches the top of an asteroid lolling about nearby, turning ice into a blast of steam that drifts behind her bird like a contrail. It's got an eerie sort of beauty that's probably intentional, if Mouse's subsequent roll is any indication. More vapor streams from the last few rocks in the field, sprays of water re-crystallizing as quickly as they melt. «Checkmate Flight, Mouse is clean.»
«I see you, Midnight. Don't worry. I won't dent your Scim.» Xiang's tone loses *some* of its clipped edge as they near the end of their trip through the asteroids. Her eyes narrow behind the visor of her helmet, squinting at the unusually obscured space beyond her cockpit. She sees nothing but rocks, black and stars. Still not joining in the banter, though an faintly amused *sniff* is audible. She goes into a roll once she's clear, with more flourish than usual for her. It's good to be out. «Flight, Verdict. In the clear and clean.»
The Scimitar is hardly graceful when compared to the Stiletto she follows but Sonia does make her fighter skew and flip as much as she can to keep on her wing's tail. "Damn rocks are simply everywhere. Might as well be flying blindfolded." she mutters to herself and Sonia flits within the span of a pair of asteroids. «Okay Verdict… Your six is clear.» She tosses a look behind her and glaces at the looming asteroids they filter through. She rolls her fighter and runs a second diagnostic to ensure no debris pocked her sensors or exhausts. «Midnight here Flight. Green and good.»
SCENE: A panoramic shot as five Stilettos and a lone Scimitar fly through the great beyond. The camera starts at the front, and then pans around as they fly by, pointing at the rear of their craft.
Beyond the asteroid field, a pair of Drayman class transports fly side by side, unescorted as they traverse the dark void between worlds. Each armed with five laser turrets, the transports are otherwise undefended and vulnerable. Unsurprisingly, their thrusters are on full blow. Their trajectory takes them towards what the pilots would know as nav point three and odds are that the pilots contained within couldn't possibly get there a moment too soon.
The Captain rolls her Stil easily as they exit the field. "Spasiba, Razor," she replies with an easy smile that can be heard in her voice. "It looks wonderful on Torch." Spotting the transports, Marko switches over to the assigned frequency.
"Castle One and Castle Two, this is Checkmate Lead. We have tally on you. Expect formation CAP in five mikes. Do you copy?"
"Checkmate Lead, Castle One. We copy your last. CAP in five. Glad to see you."
There's a pair of mic clicks from Needles as they continue their approach. She heads off towards the lower port side. "Checkmate, keep your spacing and wing assignments. Watch those radars."
«Checkmate, Mouse, I have eyes on target as well.» Aisling hits the accelerator and carves a path upwards, bringing her fighter fully in line with the Captain's ship. «They look lonely out there.»
«Flight, Torch. Moving in with Razor.» Alex's previous blitheness about nails is put to the wayside as things come into visual. The reprieve will be brief, no doubt.
After his Stiletto clears the final floating rocks of the asteroid field, Kell lets out a brief sigh of relief as no mishaps occur this time with lurking Kitties. His sensors do pick up to the two friendly Capital vessel signals, the Drayman transports they are suppose to escort back to the main task force. The young rookie maneuvers with his wingman towards the Drayman for an escort formation.
«Copy, Lead. Sticking with you, Midnight." Though Xiang's Stiletto does bank to give the Scimitar a bit more breathing room, now that they're out of the close-quarters of the rocks. Eyes peeled, weapons on, toward the cap ships.
«Copy that Lead.» She throtles the engines and brings the Scimitar up to higher power levels now that they are all free of the asteroids. She flicks the missles on line and brings her sensors up to full spec. «Roger Verdict. I have your wing. You lead the way.»
After falling into escort formation with the rest of the patrol flight, Kell's alertness is maintained despite no longer being inside the asteroid field, his blood still pumping at a faster rate. Most of his attention is focused on visually scanning their surroundings as well as poking at his sensors to do a radar sweep of particular areas. The young pilot's eyes seems to catch something in the distance, the glittering revealing nine possible contacts, "Lead, this is Razor. I've picked up nine blips on our two o'clock on an approach vector, can't tell if they're friends or hostiles yet. Are we expecting company on this run?"
Markovic moves the Stil into position down at Castle-1's low two o'clock. She floats it carefully down to match velocities and scans the stars. The radio call gets her attention though. "Negative, Razor. - Castle One, Checkmate Lead: Shift course to heading three-zero-zero." She switches off to the universal frequency. "Unidentified contacts in the Castor system approaching two Confed Caps, this is Checkmate Flight. You are on an unauthorized approach. You are instructed to reverse vector immediately. Do you copy?"
«Oooooh. Confed. Scary.» Another voice on the comm starts making meowing noises. He's soon joined in by another pair. It actually has the potential to sound a bit unnerving, given the seriousness of the situation. «This is your mom, on approach vector fuck you, requesting clearance to fuck you, suck my balls. Over.» The ships proceed towards the convoy without any signs of stopping. They can be identified now. Five talon fighters, a trio of broadswords, and a drayman. None of them have confed markings of any kind.
"Charming." Its a dry response from the Captain. "This is your final warning. Reverse vector or we will engage." She breaks with a mic click. "Checkmate Flight, Arm'em up and lock your targets. Torch and Verdict, your two sections on the heavies." That was said deliberately for the others to hear. "Final warning."
«Did you hear that, boys? Sexyvoice over there wants to engage us.» Gales of laughter flood the radio. «Princess, you can engage me any time you like, but we've got a vector bravo for you too. How about you surrender those cargo ships, fly home like good little boys and girls, and find yourselves some Kilrathi to shoot. Do it or the transports get it in the face.» Someone else adds «Final warning.» They're nearly upon you.
The targeting computer comes up and the warbling tone of a locked missile can be heard in Marko's last transmission. "Checkmate, engage. Cleared weapons free. Light them up! Lead, Fox Two!" Marko makes no more conversations as she firewalls her throttles and a missile leaps off the rail. "Mouse, I have you covered."
Flicking a couple of switches, Kell toggles his systems to allow the targeting of 'friendly' silhouettes and gets ready to break with his wingman to engage the hostile Broadswords that could lay waste to the two Draymans they are escorting, "Sounds like they want to ask you out for a date, Lead, dinner and movie perhaps." The young pilot seems to be keeping it light as he turns his Stiletto towards the enemy, selecting one of the 'Swords to target. Though they aren't dancing with Kilrathi fighters, a hostile is a hostile.
Kaye's Stiletto twitches when the com chatter comes in, if a fighter can in fact twitch. «They're human?» she wonders on com, sounding more than a little plaintive as she brings her fighter into an intercept course. «Why attack /us/? Don't they know we're not the enemy?» Not that she hesitates one second. Her missile's tone sings out joyfully in her earpiece and she squeezes off a shot of her own before banking in formation with Needles. «Fox Two!»
Xiang is silent as she hears the strange chatter over the radio line. Most likely trying to figure out precisely what to make of all this. But her Stiletto remains in a steady pattern with her fellow pilots. There's a hint of puzzlement in her tone as she does reply over the line, but her voice is firm enough. «Copy, Lead. Armed and ready, on heavy three. Fox two armed." Missiles ready, that is. «Stay with me, Midnight. This is just like any other sortie.»
Sonia brings her aged fighter in a wide arc and comes in tight under and away from Verdict's wing. «Midnight hot. I have tone.» she warns over the comm before letting loose with her missles down the gullet of the approaching bomber.
«Oh. Goodie.» Alex's voice is dry as desert. Flipping his missiles into lock, he pulls slightly away from Trey to send fire into the first bomber in their path.
Kicking his Stiletto into full afterburners, Kell sends his fighter screaming towards the incoming bandits while flicking his armaments to Heat Seekers. Doing a quick corkscrew maneuver, the young rooking banks low to pass under the head-on charge before pulling up on his flightstick hard so that he does a tight half loop, swinging behind one of the Broadswords. Awaiting a solid lock, Kell hears the clear tone and pulls the trigger, releasing one of his lethal projectiles streaking towards the hostile bomber where it intercepts the slow, lumbering target in the cockpit, doing pretty nasty damage but not causing it to explode like his wingman did to his target. Trying to stay on the heavily damaged broadsword's tail, Kell spots three hostile blips appearing on his rear sensors and curses, "I have three on my six, trying to shake them."
«They always do this the hard way.» The space pirates… honest to goodness space pirates, break and attack. Their talon strike craft are unusual for villains of their stature specifically because they look so utterly shiny and new. Space pirates usually have ships that look like they survived hell through uncertain odds. A trio of craft swing onto Kaye and open fire, tearing pieces off of her ship and knocking its pilot about. Sonia and Markovic take nasty shots as well. WHile this is occuring, the two drayman transports open fire in all directions as a furball opens up with them in the center, and as the centers of attention. A trio of torpedos manage to miss their mark in the excitement.
Markovic watches her missile track right in and impact the target. She takes her own hits, rolling hard through the turn and she falls in behind Escort1 again. "Lead, Fox Two!" Seeing Mouse take her hits, she's adament about the next call: "Mouse, break contact and RTB!"
«Hang in there, Razor. Got a lock on this bomber and I'll be right there.» Alex can barely see Kell peeling off and trying to evade his attackers, but he's got a bomber in his viewport and that's where his next missile is going. KILLIT.
One fighter Mouse can do; two, even, might work. But three? Even Mouse isn't that good. Her fighter is carved like a Christmas turkey a few seconds after her missile hits home, and it's all she can do to maintain stability as every instrument panel on her Stiletto lights up at once. «Mayday, Mayday,» she calls, though she has no idea whether or not her comm system is even operable. Given the crackling bursts of static now flickering over her controls, the answer to that is very much no - but she'll try anyway, breathing hard as she wrestles against her suddenly unresponsive Stiletto. «Mouse is RTB.»
«Midnight, Verdict. What's your status?» Xiang's voice manage to maintain composure over the comm, but it still has that clipped edge to it. From her rearview, those hits looked nasty. «Fox two hot for another go.» She banks around for another pass at the bomber, Stiletto flitting to stay out of Sonia's firing arc. Eyes move in the direction of Kaye's fighter. But that's something she'll have to worry about later.
"FUCK!" comes the explitive as the cockpit systems spark and flicker after the first pass. Sonia banks her fighter and stays on Xiang's wing even though she has taken damage and her targetting is being a little wonky at the moment. «Verdict this is Midnight, cokpit systems are shorted out. AI is gone. I'm going to have to act as your cover for the time being. Fall in my wake.» She ups the power and climbs up to give the Stiletto a heavy layer of steel between Xiang and the enemy fire.
Markovic's missile impacts but seems to only scratch the target. Wonderful. "Fucking hell. Torch, your section break contact on the bombers and engage these fighters! I am on one of your trailers!" She waits for another tone and then mashes the trigger. "Lead, Fox Two!"
Aquilina's missile follows Xiang's, blasting some poor bomber's cockpit to hell. His Stiletto rocks as one of the escorts peels a hit on the undercarriage, making the light craft shudder. «Oh, fuck off.» His guns turn away from the limping bomber and onto one of the enemies targeting their hurt Scimitar. «Midnight, Torch. Two trailing you, heads up.»
As Aquilina takes out one of the bombers, the pilot's face appears on everyone's comscreen. He's not even wearing a helmet and he looks like he hasn't shaved for days. He looks like he hasn't bothered with a haircut for a year. He also looks terrified, covering his eyes with his arm. «AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA*STATIC*» Pieces of the wreckage fly everywhere. «Goddamned PIGS!» announces another while a pair of Talons lay into Xiang and Aquilina as payback. The draymans avoid damage, turrets making the starscape a lot busier than it otherwise would be.
Pulling his nimble fighter into a tight barrel roll, Kell manages to dance through the hail of destructive cannon fire that is directed at him from three different Talons, leaving his lightly armored Stiletto unscathed. Checking his sensors again, the rookie sees that two of them are shaken off but are now on his wingman, "Watch your six Torch, you have two baring down on you. You too Midnight, suggest going evasive!" Switching back to Heat Seekers from the twin Mass Driver Cannons, Kell tries to focus on finishing off the last bomber while having a Talon still trailing him.
The pings of active radar hit the battered Scimitar's fuselage and Sonia swears. «Torch this is Midnight, roger that. Targets smell blood and I'm choice right now. Verdict I am going to give you an opening, don't blow it.» She throtles the engines up fully and pulls the yoke back and redlines the medium fighter.
«I'll do my level best, Midnight,» Xiang's voice comes somewhat dryly over the comm. «Keep your wings down. We'll try and give you some breathing room.» Her bomber target sorted, she comes about for a pass at one of the escorts.
«Aw SHIT. Torpedo launcher's stuck again.» Shots streak in every direction, the space combat getting chaotic by any definition of the word. «Are you kiddiAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA*STATIC*» Markovic makes short work of the one speaking, which is when one of the Talons sharply changes course, «We whiskey tango?» «Fuck this. Yeah.» «Looks like you owe me that fifty credits we bet.» The surviving pirate ships veer off in unison, sharply flying into the same vector that got them here in the first place.
Markovic's missile finally finds home and scores a Crit. The lead pirate explodes into little piratey bits. "Lead, splash one." But when they turn tail to run, Marko is less inclined to let them speed off so fast. "Checkmate, pursue and engage to one thousand klicks!"
The Broadsword that Kell is targetting seems to be very resilient as it manages to eat some of the laser cannon barrage from the Draymans as well as swallowing his second Heat Seeker Missile whole. "What the hell are these 'Swords made of, I don't remember the one I flew a while back being this damn durable." Indeed, all it took was one missile and Kell was out of commission on that mission. However, the young rookie doesn't relent and continues to pursue the now fleeing Bomber that is on the verge of breaking apart as he unleashes yet another missile.
That sound is Alex snickering quietly at Kell. «Copy, Lead. Shooting fish in barrel.» Missile armed, he pushes throttle and zips after one of the escorts unlucky enough to jink right in the path of his craft's crosshairs.
Weapons are exchanged on both sides, but the surviving pirates scream off into the good night. The bomber, incidentally, doesn't veer off course one iota. Maybe the pilot's dead or having a very good nap.
"What the fuck?" Markovic asks as the fleeing aircraft fire missiles at the people behind them. She dodges past the missile and her own tracers skip across the sky. "Alright, knock it off. Knock it off. Return to Castle One and resume CAP formations." She throttles back and heads off for the escorted capitals.
Aquilina snorts quietly as the rest of the ships flee. «Right, then. Lead, Torch. Setting vector for Castle One.» And, thus, he does.
«Verdict. Copy, Lead. Forming up with convoy. Radar on, passive scan." Xiang doesn't terribly want anything else sneaking up on her. "Will keep weapons hot for the duration."
«Midnight. Copy that Lead.» Sonia brings the engines back down to 70% and then falls in beside one of the hulking transports to escort it through to the Majestic.
«Thanks for the support, Checkmate. Sure glad you guys were here.» is the only thing said by either transport for the duration home.
As another missile slams into the hostile Broadsword, Kell mutters out a curse as the bomber somehow stays intact despite the beating it has taken along with a random FoF missile streaking towards him and missing. However, there is no movement of evasiveness or change in direction as it just flies straight, "This is Razor, looks like that 'Sword pilot is dead, no change in movement is detected, a scrapheap floating straight ahead. Returning to CAP formation." With that the Stiletto forms up with the rest of his squadron as they resume ecort formations.
