| Enter the Swarm 6: Bastard Son of Swarm |
| Summary: | Guess what's back? |
| Date: | Wed Feb 16 2042 AE |
| Related Logs: | All Swarm Logs |
| Players: |
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| SPACE |
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| Infinite, cold, hostile. Kinda cool. |
| Post-Holocaust Day:#355 |
(Thanks to Volans and Hydra for the help with this one.)
Sector 5201, 22:02 HRS
Before Warday, this patch of nowhere in particular was considered to have the strategic and tactical significance of an Aerilon dung heap. Now, after Warday, it's become the temporary home of BSG-132 containing the bulk of the survivors of the human race. Needless to say, this has had an effect on it's importance. With Cylon forces appearing with increasing regularity and aggressiveness, the redoubtable Col. Pewter has ordered the CAP to keep the fleet covered, quote, Like frakking swaddling clothes, end quote.
All of this brouhaha means little to the emptiness through which that aforementioned CAP now flies. Space may be uncommonly hostile these days, but at least it's still pretty. This particular spot offering a lovely spray of diamond-white stars against a dark blue swirl of nebula.
And then, in the twinkling of an eye, a pair of the now familiar marked Raiders duck in, move to attack position and drive in to start the show.
It's a safe bet their back up is on the way.
[Harrier-304: Cidra] Cidra was flying on the double CAP with Pens in her backseat. When the Raiders appeared she got on the horn to CIC. Not that they didn't see them as well. Everyone is getting good at *spotting* the heralds of the swarm. It's avoiding them they haven't mastered. "Warm up the suites, Pens. Here we do go again."
[Petrel-649: Pallas] Those who have been within earshot of Pallas in the past day or so will be unsurprised to know that he's flying in a Viper Mk. II as opposed to the usual Mark VIIs. When he's not reviewing flight footage, he's been running through the sims over and over again testing out the Areion's modification system, and his answer is always the same: the computer compensates too much. The ship's not responsive enough. So he's going back to basics tonight in one of the old birds.
[Harrier-307: Marko] "I'm telling you, Flasher, I've got a bad feeling about having that thing on board." Classy calls over the intercom as the Raptor crew settle in for the second CAP of their day. "I mean…think about it…we're doing fine, then we bring that thing here now we're up to our necks in….." he begins.
"DRADIS contact! Flight, Flasher, DRADIS contact, two Cylon Raiders bearing one four one carom one four three." Marko calls.
"What did I tell you?" Classy shouts, throwing the Raptor into evasive maneuvers!
[TAC3] "Toast" Cidra says, "Flight, Toast. CAP engaging the Raiders. Watch your DRADIS, expect more coming."
[BlackKnight-855: Wade] Wade launches with all the Alert Vipers and immediately seeks formation with the new Ensign, Sonja Lyon. He looks all over the place and when he spots her, he takes some brief seconds to see how she is doing. Right after that, he repositions his Viper and moves in formation.
[TAC3](CIC) Toast, Cerberus, launching alert Vipers now and we are starting the clock."
[BlackKnight-308: Devlin] Devlin is out on CAP with the rest, patrolling boredly until the raider contact appear. He shifts position automatically, but picks up a tail in the process, and gets on the comm.
[TAC3] "Drips" Wade says, "Lyon, Drips. Alright, this is it. On my six, punch the throttle, let's move in to engage. Clear eyes and steady hands out there, Ensign."
[TAC3] "Decoy" Devlin says, "Spiral, Decoy. One of them's picked me up. I'm gonna try to get a shot off at the other while I lead mine your way, yeah?"
[TAC3] "Toast" Cidra says, "Cerberus, Toast. Copy. Gods speed to your jump engines. We shall hold them off."
.
[TAC3] "Spiral" Pallas says, "Flight, Spiral. My DRADIS is frakked, not showing Cylon signatures. Defaulting to Mark I eyeball, call them out as they come."
[TAC3] "Spiral" Pallas says, "Decoy, Spiral. Copy, engaging."
[TAC3] "Flasher" Marko says, "Flight, Flasher, two confirmed Cylon Raiders coming to course one four four carom one one five. Keep your eyes open out there, their friends are probably on their way."
[BlackKnight-650: Sonja] Newly promoted Ensign Lyon, is bricking it and with good reason. She's barely had her wings on, when the alert was called. Launching with the rest of the alert squad, she moves out and keeps to the right and slightly behind Drips, as they've done so often before in the sims. The sound of his voice breaks through her thoughts, her hand steady and eyes peeled she trottles forwards staying on his six. Here goes nothing.
[Harrier-304: Bran] "Let us walk the path of righteousness and lift our faces unto your goodness. Help us tur- contacts," in the middle of a prayer, Bran's DRADIS has lit up with incoming bogeys. It only takes a flash of a moment later for him to verify their being bandits. The next moment has him spooling up his countermeasures while Toast works on the Wireless, "We're good to go here, Boss."
[TAC3] "Bunny" Evandreus says, "Toast, Classy, this is Bunny. We're clear of Cerberus' proximity and are coming in at Toast's six-twenty-two carom ten to form up."
<COMBAT> Raider4 passes.
<COMBAT> Raider3 passes.
<COMBAT> Trask passes.
<COMBAT> Sonja passes.
<COMBAT> Raider6 passes.
<COMBAT> Raider5 passes.
<COMBAT> Helia attacks Raider1 with KEW - Moderate wound to Body.
<COMBAT> Classy passes.
<COMBAT> Cidra passes.
<COMBAT> Wade passes.
<COMBAT> Raider1 attacks Psyche with KEW - Serious wound to Body (Reduced by Armor).
<COMBAT> CREW HIT! Psyche - Moderate wound to Right Hand.
<COMBAT> CREW HIT! Psyche - Moderate wound to Right Foot.
<COMBAT> Psyche attacks Raider1 with KEW and MISSES!
<COMBAT> Pallas attacks Raider2 with KEW and MISSES!
<COMBAT> Marko suppresses Raider1 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Marko suppresses Raider2 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Evandreus passes.
<COMBAT> Devlin attacks Raider1 with KEW and MISSES!
<COMBAT> Bran suppresses Raider1 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Bran suppresses Raider2 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Raider2 attacks Devlin with KEW and MISSES!
<COMBAT> Psyche has been KO'd!
[TAC3] Sonja says, "Drips, Lyon. I copy that."
[BlackKnight-854: Psyche] The advance scouts blink into existence — and one goes straight for Psyche, shifting predatory from side to side as it tries to lock on target. "Frak me! Where did you come from?" Psyche mutters, engines flaring brighter as she leans into the throttle, putting a quick jolt of distance between her and her pursuer so she can flip, rotate, and charge straight back at the motherfrakker. It turns out to be an overly ambitious move with her arm not at 100-percent — not only do her shots fly wide, but she takes enemy fire point blank and right in the face. Ow. That's gotta hurt.
The Cylons don't bother with subtlety, coming straight in to attack the two Vipers from on high. Streaks of orange-red KEW spit from their weapons as they close. Sunspot gets a strong hit, ripping steel and sparking electronic guts from the lead ship. It's twin, however, manages to bracket Psyche and blasts at her as her flip backfires.
As the two opposing forces begin to exchange weapons fire, the DRADIS consoles on the Colonials' ships begin to fill with hostile targets as four more marked Raiders begin to streak in, converging on the Fleet from the cardinal points like a bear hug. A Cylon bear. With guns….and an attitude…
[TAC3] "Toast" Cidra says, "Flight, company has arrived. Alert fighters engage. Bubbles, sing out." That was a nasty hit Psyche took. "Say again, Bubbles. Status?"
[TAC3] "Drips" Wade says, "Toast, Drips. Copy that, weapons in, moving in to assist. Lyon, on my six. Let's take them down."
[TAC3] "Flasher" Marko says, "Flight, Flasher…Multiple DRADIS contacts, Cylon raiders coming in at one two four carom two one two, coming in at two two six carom one four eight, coming in from…Oh Gods, where aren't they coming from?"
[BlackKnight-308: Devlin] Devlin tries to drag his target into Spiral's line of fire but it evades his shot, and the ensign's attempt to take out the other raider fails miserably, instead driving him into Psyche's path, rather than out of it. He curses and comes around again, immediately on coms.
[TAC3] "Decoy" Devlin says, "Bubbles, Decoy. You okay in there? Say yes."
[TAC3] "Blue" Roland says, " Flight ..Blue is inbound. Who needs help?"
[TAC3] "Sunspot" Helia says, "Bubbles, Sunspot. You alright in there?"
[TAC3] "Drips" Wade says, "Lyon, Drips. You have one after you, take evasive maneuvers, I'll cover you. If you can hit, go for it."
[Harrier-307: Marko] Marko frantically starts trying to get his suppression systems slewed over to where they'll do the most good as Classy swears from the cockpit as he spots the incoming Raider lining up his attack run. "Frak me! Flasher, hold on to something!" he shouts as he begins to fishtail the Raptor in an attempt to pull the kind of flip turn like Bubbles just tried, only with the intent of getting them out of the way.
[TAC3] "Bubbles" Psyche says, "Fligh — *bzzt* ubb — *gzzcht* Hit ba — *fzzztffft* — yllium. Cont — *SKWEEEEE* — sponsive. Fra — *gzzzzt*"
[TAC3] "Drips" Wade says, "Bubbles, Drips. Your comms are frakked, use light signals if possible. Over."
[TAC3] (from "Bootstrap" Trask) Here comes the cavalry. "Flasher, Bootstrap. Dunno. But I know where they're headin'." The scrapyard.
[TAC3] "Toast" Cidra says, "Bunny, Toast. Get a fix on Bubbles frequency and move in on her last-known coordinates. She may be in need of SAR, cannot tell from her transmission."
[TAC3] Sonja says, "Drips, Lyon I see it, going to come around and try my luck."
[Petrel-649: Pallas] Pallas' Viper fires several bursts, none of them landing on target. As more Raiders join the battle and switch targets, he sticks to the one targeting his wing man. Maneuvering closer, he cuts straight across the Raider's path for a better shot.
[BlackKnight-854: Psyche] Adrift at a crazy angle, Bubbles' viper has the faint, dying-ember glow of emergency power reserves, venting tylium in a glittering trail across the black.
[Harrier-304: Cidra] Cidra does her damnedest to maneuver her Harrier through the KEW fire and growing population of Raiders, to keep an eye on her people, to keep in synch for jamming. But the swarm is growing, and it's a blur out there in large part. She murmurs under her breath in Old Gemenese. Always hard to tell if she's praying or cursing. "Are you Devoted to any of the gods in particular, Pens?" She's not purely making conversation.
[BlackKnight-1118: Helia] As her wing mate is hit, Helia curses; as two more converge on her, she lets out a curse, going on the evasive, cursing all the while. The Raider that went after her wing mate is targeted as she dodges. "Frak me, this is insane!" She grits her teeth, eyes narrowing. Why does the backdrop of this battle have to be so frakking beautiful? This is going to turn bad.
[BlackKnight-855: Wade] With Cylon Raiders now in range, Wade scans the area, studying the options. One of said Raiders is greatly interested in his Wing mate so Wade makes a hard turn, speeding towards Sonja's attacker.
[TAC3] "Bunny" Evandreus says, "Toast, Bunny, I hear you."
[BlackKnight-662: Roland] Blue leans on the afterburner trying to close the distance to the fight as quickly as possible. He glances at the DRADIS, and eases his course towards the Helia, and Bubble's zone.
[TAC3] (CIC) Flight, Cerberus, all craft away. Be aware of flak rings. Good hunting out there, Fourteenth!"
[BlackKnight-650: Sonja] Sonja closes her eyes and counts to 10 before she opens them fully and takes evasive actions. Wade she hopes will keep her from dying on her first time out, here's hoping anyway. She doesn't try anything fancy, but turns and fires off a few shots then turns tail and runs, laving the way clear for Wade if he has a better shot.
[Harrier-303: Evandreus] "Boots, can you get a hold of her coordinates?" Bunny calls back to the Bootsies in his backseat. "I'm trying to get a visual, but it's soup out there. Hopefully she'll flash her brights for us."
[Harrier-303: Trask] "Ask and ye shall recieve." Scanning… Scanning… Scanning… "Double, double, toil and trouble. Where the frak's the bursted Bubble…s?" Ping. "Carom thirty, fifty-three, niner."
<COMBAT> Trask suppresses Raider1 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Trask suppresses Raider2 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Trask suppresses Raider3 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Trask suppresses Raider4 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Trask suppresses Raider5 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Roland passes.
<COMBAT> Psyche passes.
<COMBAT> Devlin attacks Raider1 with KEW - NEAR MISS!
<COMBAT> Raider6 attacks Classy with KEW - Moderate wound to Body (Reduced by Armor).
<COMBAT> Pallas attacks Raider3 with KEW but MISSES!
<COMBAT> Marko suppresses Raider1 with ECM. <unsuccessful>
<COMBAT> Marko suppresses Raider2 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Marko suppresses Raider3 with ECM. <unsuccessful>
<COMBAT> Marko suppresses Raider4 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Marko suppresses Raider5 with ECM. <unsuccessful>
<COMBAT> Helia attacks Raider1 with KEW and MISSES!
<COMBAT> Evandreus passes.
<COMBAT> Classy suppresses Raider6 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Wade attacks Raider4 with KEW - Moderate wound to Right Wing.
<COMBAT> Raider5 attacks Helia with KEW and MISSES!
<COMBAT> Raider1 attacks Evandreus with KEW and MISSES!
<COMBAT> Cidra passes.
<COMBAT> Bran suppresses Raider6 with ECM. <unsuccessful>
<COMBAT> Bran suppresses Raider5 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Bran suppresses Raider4 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Bran suppresses Raider3 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Bran suppresses Raider2 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Sonja attacks Raider4 with KEW - Moderate wound to Right Wing.
<COMBAT> Raider4 attacks Sonja with KEW and MISSES!
<COMBAT> Raider3 attacks Devlin with KEW - Moderate wound to Left Wing (Reduced by Armor).
<COMBAT> Raider2 attacks Helia with KEW and MISSES!
[Harrier-304: Bran] "Holy frak," that's to one of theirs being clipped so quickly. Bran could focus on that or more important matters like protecting everyone else, lending into his cycling through his jamming suites in order to suppress a larger range of Raiders with the countermeasures. "Well," he starts distractedly, "Well, there's Ares. And Hephaestus, and, wait, no, that's it - why do ask?"
[Harrier-304: Cidra] "I do like to know who of those above and below is watching closest over me," Cidra replies to Bran, though her attention never wavers from the star field in front of her. "I am a Devotee of Athena, myself. But we live in the age of Ares, Pens. I pray the Lord of War is on our side this day." And it's fervent enough to make a proper prayer.
The Cylons continue to press home their attack, with more mixed results this time. As the Fighting Fourteenth stands up to deal with the threat, all around them, each ship in the fleet capable of it begin to stream brilliant streams of KEW as their flak rings join the action, swatting some of the Raiders in flashes of yellow-orange explosions. Some of our heroes take some fire, Classy and Marko's Raptor takes a moderate hit as Classy's kick turn doesn't seem to have much more effect than poor Bubbles' did. Devlin takes one in the wing.
[Harrier-303: Evandreus] Evan taps in the coordinates in time with Boots' calling them out, a series of firm, swift taps and then he's rigging up a course, "Thanks, Boots," he calls back, voice mildly distracted as he programs in the course corrections and implements them, the Raptor rising over the very tip of an arc before it dips and cuts through a less crowded patch of the great big nada, toward a spot just above the coordinates offered.
[TAC3] "Drips" Wade says, "Lyon, Drips. That frakker is harder than it looks. It's not after you anymore but it's going for Toast's Raptor. Let's shoot that piece of
[Harrier-307: Marko] Inside the Raptor, it's not quite so clean as all that, as the Cylons' attack tears through the recently-patched ship's hull like wire through hot cheese. "Godsdamnit! You little bastards, we just _fixed_ this thing!" Marko snarls as he starts going through the Raptor's suppressive systems and blowing out a huge sigh of relief when they turn out to be functional. Meanwhile, Classy just shuts down the alarm system and concentrates on trying to not get them both killed. "I hate this job…" the pilot repeats like a mantra. "I hate this job…I hate this job…."
[TAC3] "Decoy" Devlin says, "Spiral, Decoy. Today frakking sucks and I am sick of this bullshit. I want to kill that stupid frakking bastard but I can't seem to hit it. Son of a bitch. I will get it after I get the one after you."
[Petrel-649: Pallas] Pallas' shots continue to go wide, though they're starting to narrow down on target. The sims are good, but they're not as good as flying the real thing in a combat situation - he's adjusting to the Mk. II, tightening his control over his vessel. But the Raider he's chasing breaks off Devlin and pursues another target, leaving Spiral high and dry. And with his DRADIS malfunctioning, he doesn't immediately know that there's one on his own tail until Devlin calls it out.
[TAC3] "Flasher" Marko says, "Bubbles, Flasher, say your status, over? Repeat, say your status? Flight, Flasher, does anyone have comms or visuals on Bubbles?"
[TAC3] "Bubbles" Psyche's channel remains open, but all the issues forth is a steady stream of static.
[TAC3] Sonja says, "Drips, Lyon, copy that."
[Harrier-303: Trask] Re-targeting those Raiders, Trask lobs back, "Anytime, Bunny boy. Let's just see to it that Bubbles isn't permanently popped."
[TAC3] "Toast" Cidra says, "Bunny, Toast. Status on SAR? Get Bubbles out of there and back to the barn."
[TAC3] "Spiral" Pallas says, "Decoy, Spiral. No joy on these cannons either, I got too frakking used to the sevens auto-compensating. But the twos still fly like a son of a bitch, so keep on me. I'm going to draw him out clean, then flip to fire."
[TAC3] "Decoy" Devlin says, "Bubbles, Decoy. Are you alive in there? Light signals? Something? Come on."
[TAC3] "Bootstrap" Trask says, "Flight, Bootstrap. We're en route to last transmitted coordinates."
[TAC3] "Toast" Cidra says, "Toast, Bootstrap. Copy and gods speed."
[TAC3] (from "Bunny" Evandreus) "Toast, Bunny, we're almost on top of her. We'll be hooking her on the line here shortly." Because no news, in this case, does not mean good news.
[BlackKnight-1118: Helia] As her Raiders veer off toward other targets, Helia switches back into offensive mode, still firing shots hot on the tail of the Raider that took out her wing mate. "Frak frak frak— motherfrak these frakking Cylons!" She's staying as close to her wing mate as possible, attempting to get a glimpse into the cockpit.
[TAC3] (CIC) Flight, Cerberus, be advised, four minutes until jump, repeat, zero four minutes until jump. Maintain situational awareness of flak rings."
[TAC3] "Bunny" Evandreus says, "Flight, Bunny. We're running SAR on Bubbles, here, can we get some cover? We'll be sitting still while we get her on the line."
[BlackKnight-855: Wade] Wade tails the Raider that it's after Sonja and he does get a hit. He also sees that Sonja gets it two but not even their combined efforts are enough to get a kill. That Raider is not turning towards Cidra, and here Wade goes, another round to bring it down.
[BlackKnight-662: Roland] Blue banks, his Viper, streaking through the vacuum, only do draw the attention of a Raider before he can help anyone. He sets his jaw, lining up a shot hoping to down this one, and get back into it.
[TAC3] Hydra says, "Cerberus, Toast. Copy that. We shall endeavor to stay out of your teeth. We shall have a search-and-rescue bird inbound shortly. One of our pilots took it harsh out here. Have Medical team standing by on the Hangar deck, ASAP. Drips, Lyon, I can handle my Raiders. Cover Bunny and Bubbles."
[TAC3] (CIC) Toast, Cerberus, we copy your SAR action and will have a medical team standing by, out."
[TAC3] "Drips" Wade says, "Toast, Drips. Copy that, moving in to cover Bunny, Bubbles and Trask. Lyon, adjust target."
[TAC3] (from "Bootstrap" Trask) Trask mock protests, "I don't wanna be on top of 'er." Beat. "Ever. That said, we're readyin' the lasso."
[BlackKnight-650: Sonja] Sonja didn't miss at least and even a hit to the wing is a hit to her. She follows the conflicting orders and changes her target. With a deep breath, she holds it then fire, letting out the breath as she does.
[TAC3] "Decoy" Devlin says, "So not funny right now, Boots."
[Harrier-304: Cidra] Cidra murmurs something else in Old Gemenese that Bran might recognize as a reference to Athena and takes hard evasives. Her Raptor swerves with as much grace as she can get out of it, which she's clearly praying will be enough.
[TAC3] (from "Bootstrap" Trask) Unfazed, Kal quips back, "I wasn't aware you wanted me to be on top of your wife, Decoy."
[TAC3] "Decoy" Devlin says, "I want you to stop frakking joking around when she's not responding, Bootstrap."
[Harrier-303: Trask] Inside the Raptor, Trask's head bobs side to side and in a whiney voice he repeats, "I want you to stop frakking joking around when she's not responding, Bootstrap." There's a pause when he's confirmed all his targets have been jammed, and then he snerks, "Next he'll be telling me to have respect for the dead or some shit."
[TAC3] "Toast" Cidra says, "Boots, shut it and keep the comms clear. Decoy, focus. Bunny has got her, and we are far from out of this yet."
[TAC3] "Spiral" Pallas says, "And I want you to frakking focus on your wingman and the battle. Let Bubbles' wing man and the Raptors deal with her. Is this understood?")
[Harrier-304: Bran] "Ares does enjoy the rush of martial action, only time will tell if he truly favors us once again." Bran's spent enough time around the CAG to appreciate the Lords, ghosts, and Old Gemenese, and respect her flying whilst he spools up a fresh set of suppression.
<COMBAT> Roland attacks Raider3 with KEW - Moderate wound to Right Wing.
<COMBAT> Raider3 attacks Roland with KEW and MISSES!
<COMBAT> Raider1 attacks Classy with KEW - Moderate wound to ECM.
<COMBAT> Helia attacks Raider1 with KEW - Moderate wound to Body.
<COMBAT> Devlin attacks Raider5 with KEW - Moderate wound to Cockpit.
<COMBAT> CREW HIT! Raider5 - Serious wound to .
<COMBAT> Classy passes.
<COMBAT> Trask suppresses Raider1 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Trask suppresses Raider2 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Trask suppresses Raider3 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Trask suppresses Raider4 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Trask suppresses Raider5 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Sonja attacks Raider6 with KEW - Moderate wound to Cockpit.
<COMBAT> CREW HIT! Raider6 - Moderate wound to .
<COMBAT> Raider6 attacks Evandreus with KEW - Moderate wound to Body (Reduced by Armor).
<COMBAT> Psyche passes.
<COMBAT> Pallas attacks Raider5 with KEW - Moderate wound to Body.
<COMBAT> Evandreus passes.
<COMBAT> Cidra passes.
<COMBAT> Bran suppresses Raider6 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Bran suppresses Raider5 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Bran suppresses Raider4 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Bran suppresses Raider3 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Bran suppresses Raider2 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Wade attacks Raider6 with KEW - Moderate wound to Left Wing.
<COMBAT> Raider5 attacks Pallas with KEW and MISSES!
<COMBAT> Raider4 attacks Cidra with KEW and MISSES!
<COMBAT> Raider2 attacks Cidra with KEW and MISSES!
<COMBAT> Marko suppresses Raider2 with ECM. <unsuccessful>
<COMBAT> Marko suppresses Raider3 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Marko suppresses Raider4 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Marko suppresses Raider5 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Marko has been KO'd!
<COMBAT> Classy has been KO'd!
<COMBAT> Raider5 has been KO'd!
<COMBAT> Raider6 has been KO'd!
<COMBAT> Marko spends a luck point to keep fighting!
[TAC3] "Drips" Wade says, "Lyon, Drips. Nice shooting! You are doing really well Lyon, keep it up. That's what I call good teamwork. Bootstrap, Bunny, you should be clear from that one Raider, we'll keep working around the area."
[TAC3] "Decoy" Devlin says, "See, Spiral? I am frakking focused on killing as many of these frakking things as we can."
As the battle rages around them, Bunny and Bootstrap's Raptor begins to get ready to tow Bubbles' badly damaged Viper, and its hopefully less damaged pilot back to the barn, until one of the Raiders come in on a high gun pass and starts tearing chunks out of the Raptor. Flak rings and other fighters continue to make inroads against the swarm of hostiles, and in this little corner, three of them are swatted down by the Vipers. Others aren't quite so lucky, as one of the Harriers is left drifting, the lights inside flickering
[Harrier-304: Cidra] Whether it's the Lord of War or the Wise Lady - or neither - that favors Cidra and Bran today, Toast manages to avoid the Raider fire aimed at her. "Ah!" There's a hint of triumph in the exhaled exclamation from her as she slips past a blaze of KEW. "I will take His favors if I can get them, and trust my own hands in the meantime. I am moving closer to Classy and Flasher to see if we can better synch our jamming suites. Sharp work back there, Pens.
[TAC3] "Bootstrap" Trask says, "Flasher, Classy: Sing out."
[Harrier-303: Evandreus] Evandreus has either been tuning out the comms chatter or else simply not deigned to chime in. "Oh, sweet golden Lady," he grips onto the console as the boat shakes with the force of a shot to the flank, trying to keep the thing as still as possible so that the lines can attach. "We got her," he says, louder, then, turning on the outgoing comms.
[TAC3] "Bunny" Evandreus says, "Toast, Bunny, we've got her, scrambling RTB RFN."
[TAC3] "Toast" Cidra says, "Good work, Bunny. Bring our girl home. Cerberus, Toast. Deck be advised, SAR inbound."
[TAC3] "Drips" Wade says, "Lyon, Drips. You have fans again but Sunspot is in trouble. Adopt evasive maneuvers, and let's help her out. Sunspot, we are coming to help you."
[BlackKnight-650: Sonja] Sonja is constantly reciting as she's flying, remembering all the useful hips and hints she got while in training. She must have remembered something because in the next few moments her Raider blows up, the effects of her and Drips combined fire power. She shifts into Evasive once again and heads towards Sunspot, keeping on Wade's wing.
[TAC3] Sonja says, "Drips, Lyon Copy that."
[BlackKnight-1118: Helia] "Motherfrak, this thing just doesn't know when to give up." Sunspot whips around, doing her best to cover the ship towing her wounded wing man. "Frak— where the frak did these frakkers come from?!" She goes on Evasive, even as she's firing after the initial Raider she's been tailing this entire time.
[TAC3] "Flasher" Marko says, "Flight, Fla….We'….Radi…….Stil….supress………Cross….ingers…"
[TAC3] "Bootstrap" Trask says, "Copy that, Flasher." Beat. "Mostly."
[TAC3] "Spiral" Pallas says, "Decoy, Spiral. Good kill. My ass clear now?"
[TAC3] "Sunspot" Helia says, "Drips, Sunspot. Copy that. Get these frakkers off my ass."
[Harrier-307: Marko] "Ah, frak it." Marko grumbles, killing the radio link and going frantically through his suppressive systems, discovering that more than a few of them have sucked up bullets along the way. "Oh, this sucks…." Marko grumbles. "Classy, forget the cabin lights, bring us to one four two carom two one one. We gotta get Sunspot some help."
[Harrier-304: Bran] "I figured I'd cover them the best I could, Toast," and though Bran should probably stick to keeping his eyes on his consoles and jamming suites the man glances up and over, outside of their Harrier and to the dizzying streams of KEW and flight wings converging upon one another. It gets him murmuring a clipped curse under his breath.
[TAC3] "Drips" Wade says, "Blue, Drips. I see you are tailing one that's going after Spiral, he is already being covered by his wing mate. Either try to hit yours or provide cover fire for Sunspot."
[BlackKnight-308: Devlin] Devlin helps splash one raider, helping chase it into position so that Pallas can, at the last moment, flip and help blow it to hell (or wherever bad little raiders go when they die). When his wing man picks up another tail just as quickly as they lose the first, he zeroes in on it, attempting to duplicate the previous maneuver/success.
[TAC3] "Blue" Roland says, " Drips…Blue .. Roger that.."
<COMBAT> Drake has joined the combat as a pilot in Petrel-648 on team 1.
[Harrier-304: Cidra] Cidra does her best to give Bran a good show, zipping about - as much as a Raptor does zip - the zooming Vipers and Raiders and fire from all sides. Not a boring ride today, at least.
New DRADIS Contact: Petrel-648 arrives from Hangar Deck - Port.
[Harrier-303: Evandreus] Bunny does a slow, round loop with his boat, not exactly the most nimble-looking maneuver, but one designed to move off with a minimum of jerking the already busted Viper around as he heads for the barn with her in tow.
[BlackKnight-662: Roland] Blues banks away from the Raider he's chasing, and moves to try to line up the Cylon about to fire on Sunspot. He mutters to himself, "C'mon you frakker.. Make it easy…"
[Petrel-648: Drake] Exit Bubbles and enter Bizarro Bubbles. Flying a Mark II as though it were every bit as advanced as a VII, Dizzy zooms in. The barrel rolls are a dead give away. Seamlessly, as befits one of the Evocati, she takes up Sunspot's wing.
[TAC3] (from "Dizzy" Drake) A sunny voice comes over the comms, "Flight, Dizzy. Have this funny feeling in my tummy that someone needed cover."
<COMBAT> Psyche passes.
<COMBAT> Pallas attacks Raider4 with KEW - Light wound to Right Wing.
<COMBAT> Marko suppresses Raider3 with ECM. <unsuccessful>
<COMBAT> Marko suppresses Raider2 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Marko suppresses Raider4 with ECM. <unsuccessful>
<COMBAT> Marko suppresses Raider8 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Marko suppresses Raider7 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Roland attacks Raider1 with KEW - Light wound to Body.
<COMBAT> Raider8 attacks Sonja with KEW but MISSES!
<COMBAT> Raider4 attacks Devlin with KEW - Moderate wound to Nose (Reduced by Armor).
<COMBAT> Raider1 attacks Helia with KEW and MISSES!
<COMBAT> Helia attacks Raider1 with KEW - Serious wound to Cockpit.
<COMBAT> CREW HIT! Raider1 - Light wound to .
<COMBAT> Drake attacks Raider1 with KEW - Moderate wound to Body.
<COMBAT> Devlin attacks Raider3 with KEW and MISSES!
<COMBAT> Wade attacks Raider8 with KEW - Moderate wound to Cockpit.
<COMBAT> Trask suppresses Raider1 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Trask suppresses Raider2 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Trask suppresses Raider3 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Trask suppresses Raider4 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Trask suppresses Raider7 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Raider7 attacks Cidra with KEW - Moderate wound to Cockpit.
<COMBAT> CREW HIT! Cidra - Light wound to Right Foot.
<COMBAT> Raider2 attacks Roland with KEW and MISSES!
<COMBAT> Evandreus passes.
<COMBAT> Cidra passes.
<COMBAT> Sonja attacks Raider8 with KEW and MISSES!
<COMBAT> Raider3 attacks Pallas with KEW and MISSES!
<COMBAT> Bran suppresses Raider8 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Bran suppresses Raider4 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Bran suppresses Raider3 with ECM. <unsuccessful>
<COMBAT> Bran suppresses Raider7 with ECM. <unsuccessful>
<COMBAT> Bran suppresses Raider1 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Devlin has been KO'd!
<COMBAT> Raider1 has been KO'd!
<COMBAT> Raider4 has been KO'd!
<COMBAT> Cidra will treat Harrier-304 this turn.
[TAC3] "Spiral" Pallas says, "Decoy, Spiral. Nailed that frakker on your tail, but I saw you get hit. You still in the fight?"
[TAC3](CIC) Flight, Cerberus, be advised, two minutes to jump, repeat, zero two minutes to jump. Keep up the good work out there. Out."
[TAC3] "Sunspot" Helia says, "Dizzy, Sunspot. Frakking good to see you."
[TAC3] "Decoy" Devlin says, "Spiral, Decoy. Yeah, I'm still here."
[Harrier-304: Cidra] There is no immediate reply to Cerberus from Toast's Raptor, as Cidra is busy letting out a strangled cry that's half-scream, half-snarl as her craft takes a KEW hit right to the face. It doesn't puncture the plating this time, but it fraks the controls something awful, and sparks off a cockpit fire. She frantically stamps to put it out, and the thing fills up with smoke. She does manage to douse it, singe her suit though it does.
[TAC3] "Spiral" Pallas says, "Somebody tell Cerberus we don't need them cutting into our frakking comms to hold our hands every two seconds."
[TAC3] (from "Dizzy" Drake) Sounding just a tiny bit distraught, "Pupcake got hit? Oh, no." More merrily, she greets back, "Hi, Sunspot. I'm guessin' it's your six that I'm coverin'. So, whose toes do you wanna step on next?" And then she hears that Devlin's okay. "Yay!"
[TAC3] "Spiral" Pallas says, "Decoy, Pallas, copy. I still got one on me? My DRADIS is blind to bandits."
[TAC3] "Drips" Wade says, "Blue, Drips. You have two after you, form up with Lyon and myself, we'll take care of them. Lyon, target 0689-Foxtrot"
[TAC3] "Decoy" Devlin says, "Spiral, looks like we haven't got any friends this time, yours has wandered off. I see two on Blue, one each of Sunspot and Dizzy. Who you want to help?"
[TAC3] "Blue" Roland says, " Drips.. Blue… Dragging them to you.. Down your starboard side.. Nail 'em for me.."
[Harrier-303: Evandreus] The Bunny's headed back to his hole without much looking in his rear view on the way. Eyes on the landing, he moves with a little forward thrust before reversing the propulsion vector for a short burst to let the line slacken and the towed Viper to land with as light as possible contact with the landing.
[TAC3] "Spiral" Pallas says, "Blue ain't gonna give me a thank-you frak. And if he is, I don't want it. Let's hit up Sunspot and Dizzy."
[TAC3] "Dizzy" Drake says, "Awww. You're worried about me, Pupcake? That's /so/ sweet. I'm fine, though."
[TAC3] "Decoy" Devlin says, "Spiral, Decoy. Got it. You can have Dizzy, then, and I'll take Sunspot. Oh, you already picked it that way, shocker."
The battle wears on as Dizzy joins the party. The Cylons suffer a dramatic reversal of fortune as the Battle Group start making real inroads. Two Raiders in just this sector are duly swatted in bursts of flames by the Viper pilots. Elsewhere, the flak ring crews are starting to get a handle on this Raider-sniping thing, sweeping four of them out in one fell swoop. But it comes with a price, as Cidra's Raptor takes a bit of a beating. The good news, Bubbles' SAR is back aboard. is not a valid participant.
[TAC3] "Spiral" Pallas says, "Decoy, Spiral. Dizzy's hotter."
[TAC3] "Decoy" Devlin says, "Spiral, Decoy. Yeah, that's why I figured I would— never mind. We're on the same page, dude. Also this is nuts that you pick targets by who's hotter."
[BlackKnight-650: Sonja] Sonja keeps on Wade's six, firing as soon as she has a clear shot. Though this time she misses, getting cocky? She might have to go back to taking her time, rushing certainly doesn't help. A quick glance out of her canopy lets her spot Blue and if he happens to look her way she'll give him a thumbs up.
[BlackKnight-1118: Helia] That was close. As Dizzy flies in and takes her wing, Sunspot cranks her throttle, flipping over to face the oncoming Raiders with a sneer and a volley of curses. She likes to curse in the cockpit. It helps her to focus.
[TAC3] "Spiral" Pallas says, "This is the last stand of humanity, Decoy. The hotties must survive."
[Petrel-648: Drake] While the boys discuss the value of hotness, Captain Drake is lining up to take out the Raider looking to take out Helia.
[Harrier-304: Cidra] Cidra would likely snip at the present display non-decorum on the comm channel, but she's still dealing with the last remnants of her cockpit mini-fire.
[Petrel-649: Pallas] Pallas' Viper spins this way and that, breaking formation from his wing man to give Dizzy an assist. Is it because they're fellow Mark II pilots for this battle? Maybe. Or maybe it's because, as he said on the comms, she's the hotter of the two in his opinion.
[Harrier-304: Bran] On one hand, flying with the CAG is thrillin'. On the other hand, there's a whole lot of incoming flak coming from nearby Raiders. As Bran begins to recycle frequencies in order to continue spamming nearby Raiders with jamming there's a sudden rumble that distracts him long enough to notice fire and smoke, and quite possibly brimstone too. "Lords almighty, everything fine up there, Toast?"
[TAC3] "Dizzy" Drake says, "Hey, I'll go through the motions of breeding, but that's it. Only babies that interest me are my birds."
[TAC3] "Sunspot" Helia says, "Thanks for the compliments, boys. How about we focus on these frakkers instead of arguing hotness quotients?"
[TAC3] "Decoy" Devlin says, "Dizzy, if you think that's gonna keep Spiral away you are so wrong."
[BlackKnight-308: Devlin] Whyever Pallas has chosen the targets he has, Devlin is his wing man, and he is there to assist, keeping to the LT's six before breaking off as planned to target the raider heading for Helia.
[Harrier-304: Cidra] "Took a hard hit, Pens. I think I can do some spot patching, so long as they stay off us. Gods willing." Such is Cidra's perhaps less-than-reassuring reply to her ECO. "Those jump engines need to spool ASAP." Said like she's ordering them to.
[Harrier-307: Marko] "Damn, four just ate it." Marko grumbles, switching to another set of frequencies as yet another of the Raptors' suppression suites throws its hands up and quits. "How we doin', Classy?" he calls as he frantically retasks the surviving emitters.
"So far, so good, but I'm not looking forward to a combat landing in this bucket." comes the reply.
[BlackKnight-662: Roland] Blue is a little busy at the moment. He bends is Viper in to a turn, bumping the afterburners, and passing Wade Lyon, two Raiders in persuit.
[TAC3] "Dizzy" Drake says, "That's what a knee to the nads is for, Pupcake."
[TAC3] "Spiral" Pallas says, "All I think about after handling a stick in this phallic extension of my body is going through the motions of breeding, Dizzy."
<COMBAT> Sonja attacks Raider7 with KEW - Moderate wound to Weapon.
<COMBAT> Roland attacks Raider3 with KEW - Moderate wound to Right Wing.
<COMBAT> Raider8 attacks Drake with KEW - Light wound to Body (Reduced by Armor).
<COMBAT> Pallas attacks Raider8 with KEW - Moderate wound to Cockpit.
<COMBAT> CREW HIT! Raider8 - Moderate wound to Neck.
<COMBAT> Helia attacks Raider8 with KEW - Light wound to Body.
<COMBAT> Drake attacks Raider2 with KEW - Moderate wound to Right Wing.
<COMBAT> Cidra treats Harrier-304:
< Cockpit (Moderate): successful
<COMBAT> Raider7 attacks Roland with KEW but MISSES!
<COMBAT> Raider3 attacks Roland with KEW and MISSES!
<COMBAT> Raider2 attacks Helia with KEW - Serious wound to Tail.
<COMBAT> Psyche passes.
<COMBAT> Bran suppresses Raider2 with ECM. <unsuccessful>
<COMBAT> Bran suppresses Raider3 with ECM. <unsuccessful>
<COMBAT> Bran suppresses Raider7 with ECM. <unsuccessful>
<COMBAT> Bran suppresses Raider8 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Marko suppresses Raider2 with ECM. <unsuccessful>
<COMBAT> Marko suppresses Raider3 with ECM. <unsuccessful>
<COMBAT> Marko suppresses Raider7 with ECM. <unsuccessful>
<COMBAT> Marko suppresses Raider8 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Wade attacks Raider7 with KEW - Light wound to Right Wing.
<COMBAT> Devlin attacks Raider2 with KEW and MISSES!
<COMBAT> Raider7 has been KO'd!
<COMBAT> Raider8 has been KO'd!
[TAC3] "Sunspot" Helia says, "Motherfrak, I'm hit!"
[TAC3] "Drips" Wade says, "Sunspot, Drips. I see it, what's your status, are you injured?"
[TAC3] "Sunspot" Helia says, "Drips, Sunspot. I'm fine, they just got my poor bird."
[TAC3] "Drips" Wade says, "Welcome to the Fighting Fourteenth darling."
The Cylons keep fighting, though it's evident by now that the tide of the battle is starting to turn in the Battle Group’s favor. With one minute until the fleet's ready for the jump, only a few persistent stragglers hold on, trying desperately to get to the cap ships.
[TAC3] "Flasher" Marko says, " Toa…..lash…..in…ming….on….arboard…..ran….hree….e..ade!"
[Harrier-304: Bran] "O-on it," calls out Bran in reply. He's not reassured given the cabin's current smoky decor and it's still rather distracting as he returns to his duties as ECO. Keep them at bay, the man can handle that much easily enough.
[TAC3] "Blue" Roland says, " Lyons…. Blue… Good shootings.. Thanks Drips."
"
[TAC3] "Drips" Wade says, "Blue, Lyon, Drips. Focus fire on 6963-India, let's turn that frakker into dust."
[TAC3] "Dizzy" Drake says, "Looks like that Raider thought you have a nice ass, Sunspot. How about we punch it in the face for getting fresh?"
[TAC3] "Decoy" Devlin says, "Spiral, Decoy. Nice shot, man. Let's go after the one on Toast and Pens?"
[BlackKnight-1118: Helia] As the Raider's KEW slams into Sunspot's tail, she spins out briefly. Gritting her teeth, Helia pulls her Viper back under her control, flipping the nose around to face the last of the Raiders currently on the fleet and firing on the one on Sonja's tail.
[TAC3] "Sunspot" Helia says, "Sounds like a good plan to me, Drake. I really hate it when those frakkers try to give me a pinch."
[BlackKnight-650: Sonja] Sonja helps take down another Raider, not even pause to pat herself on the back she's after the next one. This is rather hypnotic fire kill, evade, fire, kill evade. No wonder people are stupid enough to do it, the rush alone is enough to get her hooked.
[TAC3] "Dizzy" Drake says, "Spiral, Dizzy. I see you know how to handle your stick. I like that in a man."
[TAC3] Sonja says, "Drips, Lyon, Copy that targeting now."
[Harrier-304: Cidra] "Got it," Cidra says, and indeed the Raptor does fly smoother when she finishes whatever work she was doing with the cockpit controls. Still, they're far from home yet. "Steady hands back there, Pens. The Lord of War toys with us today, as he ever does."
[TAC3] "Spiral" Pallas says, "Decoy, Spiral. Copy, moving to engage. Just keep an eye on my blind spot. Dizzy, plenty more where that came from. The principle's all the same."
[Harrier-307: Marko] Marko does the best he can with what little functioning electronics he's got left, vectoring everything he's got on the two remaining Raiders as Classy brings them into position to blast 'em with white noise. "C'mon, baby, hold it together just a little longer…" he murmurs as the ship makes a few ominous creaking noises around him.
[Petrel-649: Pallas] Pallas manages to put some good dents in that Raider before it blows to pieces. Is it possible that he flies better when he's aiming to impress? Or maybe it's that he's now fully settled into that Mark II and adjusted to the changes from the birds he usually flies. Either way, that's another bandit away, and he's off to tally another kill with his wingman.
<COMBAT> Roland attacks Raider2 with KEW - Light wound to Body.
<COMBAT> Pallas attacks Raider2 with KEW - Moderate wound to Right Wing.
<COMBAT> Drake attacks Raider3 with KEW - Moderate wound to Left Wing.
<COMBAT> Sonja attacks Raider3 with KEW and MISSES!
<COMBAT> Raider2 attacks Cidra with KEW and MISSES!
<COMBAT> Helia attacks Raider3 with KEW - Moderate wound to Cockpit.
<COMBAT> CREW HIT! Raider3 - Light wound to .
<COMBAT> Cidra attempts to treat Harrier-304 but HARRIER-304 has no treatable wounds.
<COMBAT> Raider3 attacks Sonja with KEW and MISSES!
<COMBAT> Marko suppresses Raider2 with ECM. <unsuccessful>
<COMBAT> Marko suppresses Raider3 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Devlin attacks Raider2 with KEW - Serious wound to Cockpit.
<COMBAT> CREW HIT! Raider2 - Moderate wound to .
<COMBAT> CREW HIT! Raider2 - Light wound to .
<COMBAT> Bran suppresses Raider2 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Bran suppresses Raider3 with ECM. <successful>
<COMBAT> Psyche passes.
<COMBAT> Wade attacks Raider3 with KEW - Serious wound to Body.
<COMBAT> Raider2 has been KO'd!
<COMBAT> Raider3 has been KO'd!
[TAC3](CIC) Flight, Cerberus, jump prep complete. Fall back, repeat, all craft fall back. Combat landings!"
[TAC3] "Toast" Cidra says, "Cerberus, Toast. Copy that. Flight, RTB."
[TAC3] "Spiral" Pallas says, "Good kill, Decoy, good kill!"
[Petrel-648: Drake] Coming up fast and hard on her target, Dizzy lands a solid blow on the Raider's left wing before barrel rolling out of Sunspot's line of fire. Then, with a fluid loop-de-loop, she twists into a few more rolls, as though part of a victory lap, and zooms back to base.
[TAC3] "Drips" Wade says, "Lyon, Roland, Drips. You heard it, RTB, nice work out there. If any Raider comes between you and the barn, shoot it down."
[TAC3] "Decoy" Devlin says, "You too, Spiral. Good teamwork."
[TAC3] Sonja says, "Drips, Lyon, RTBing."
[TAC3] "Blue" Roland says, " Drips..Blue.. Roger that."
[TAC3] "Sunspot" Helia says, "Toast, Roger that."
[Harrier-307: Marko] "You don't have to tell me twice!" Classy calls and starts slowly bringing the damaged Raptor around to fall into the landing pattern. "This landing is gonna be rough…." he cautions Marko.
"Just try not to break her, Sweet Pea'd never forgive me."
[TAC3] "Flasher" Marko says, "Tos….Rog….."
[BlackKnight-650: Sonja] Sonja moves her Viper forwards with a sense of relief, she lived to fight another day. And another day she'll fight. "Well, that wasn't so bad. I didn't even fill my poo bag." She murmurs.
[BlackKnight-1118: Helia] If she weren't in a wounded bird, Sunspot would be doing a victory lap right alongside Dizzy. Instead, she simply flips her bird around, carefully bringing the bird toward the landing pattern. It'll be a rough landing for her, too.
[Harrier-304: Bran] "Toys he may, gives us the strength that we might destroy our enemies the Lord does," Bran bounces his comment off of Cidra's. Steady hands he uses as he checks the readouts of his DRADIS before turning away in order to process another set of jamming signals.
[BlackKnight-855: Wade] Wade turns his Viper around and makes his way back to the barn. His bird received no damage this round, it means the Deck crew will be happy about that. He lands his bird at one of the designated spots without problem, and the elevator brings it down to the Deck.
[Harrier-304: Cidra] "We shall live for him to play with another day, Wise Lady willing," Cidra replies to Bran, seeming to enjoy the theological banter as she pushes her bus hard back home.
[BlackKnight-308: Devlin] Pallas and Devlin combine for another kill, the ensign lighting up their target before it explodes. He doesn't celebrate, just turns to RTB, flying backwards for a time to provide cover as needed before flipping around to plow through the raiders ahead and back home to the hangar.
| Hangar Deck - Port - Midship - Battlestar Cerberus |
|---|
| Post-Holocaust Day: #355 |
| The single largest rooms on the Cerberus are the hangar decks. Each flight pod consists of two stacked landing bays with adjoined decks and hangars, which along with computer-assisted landings results in a faster Viper recovery rate. Mirror images of each other, these two huge areas are located on the flight pods. The inboard sides of the deck, closest to the ship's main hull, are lined with parking and maintenance bays for Vipers and Raptors based aboard the battlestar. The outboard side of the deck contains the launch tubes used by the Vipers for standard deployment. Huge blast doors seal the deck into four sections, each one containing an elevator that leads up to the flight deck directly overhead. The fore-most section contains an elevator system that leads towards Aerospace Fabrication. |
| Condition Level: 2 - Danger Close |
Cidra comes in for a landing, hitting the flight deck hard. The remnants of smoke furl out from the Raptor doors as they open, but the plane isn't *too* broken. Just a nasty hit to the nose that seems to have jumbled its cockpit some.
As soon as his Viper reaches the Deck, Wade starts working on his post-flight checks, going through the list to make sure that all systems show green. Satisfied with that checkup, he takes of his helmet and unlocks the Canopy. He unhooks himself from the seat and stands up, moving one leg to the stairs and then the other one, starting to climb down after that.
As per usual this past week, Circe is waiting on deck for the return to base. With a lug of her bag, she starts for the first injured person she lays eyes on. Cidra is taken notice of and she moves for the CAG, "Sir, how are you doing? Your arm?" She asks first of the old wound she saw to.
The medic gives a look back as the rest fan out to attend others.
By the time the birds have returned to the roost, Bootstrap has swapped green for orange and is already working on the Raptor that towed Psyche's banged up Viper.
<FS3> Devlin rolls Vipers-40: Terrible Failure.
For a second there it looks like Classy's going to pull it off, bringing in his increasingly temperamental Raptor with a light touch onto the deck. And it would've been, if a pair of thrusters hadn't failed at the last second. Instead of a gentle float, he and Marko get a hard _thump_ that leaves a trio of divots in the deck before the Raptor stops bouncing and is finally brought in with the arresting gear. Harrier 307 has clearly had better days.
For the second day in a row, Devlin brings back a damaged Viper, though this one is nowhere near the smoking, mangled, how-the-hell-did-he-fly-that mess that last night's pile of scrap formerly known as Black Knight-312 was. His landing is far from pretty, but it at least seems not to make anything too much worse, and his canopy is quickly popped, the pilot climbing out under his own power and removing his helmet and gloves to begin post-flight.
Helia's landing is a hard one, jarring her as she lands. Thankfully, she's not nearly as bad off as her poor bird is. The moment she's on the Deck, the post-flight checks are ran through, while deckies examine the damage. Once finished, she quickly shimmies out of the cockpit, tugging off her helmet and unzipping her flight jacket as she taps a hand against 1118's hull. "Sorry, baby."
Bran is in the middle of sweeping his hands back and forth in order to clear his pathway of smoke whilst climbing down from the Raptor's flank. Helmet soon peeled off, he's circling around the front in order to eye just how badly 304's nose had been bloodied. "Wise Lady willing indeed," he peers down at the scorched metal and where portions have been shredded into. "Huh," is breathed before he turns away to face the rest of the deck. That's about when the ECO's approached in order to worry over post-flight.
Sonja remains seated in her Viper for a few moments, her heart is racing and she knows she's on a high. The rush of adrenaline surging through her body, giving her a dizzy and strange feeling. Finally her crew chief knocks on the window and mouths are you okay Sir. Sir! It's the first time anyone has addressed her so, and for a second she hesitates before opening up. "I'm fine thank you." She murmurs, hands shaking as she braces herself on the edges of the canopy and pulls herself to a standing position, slowly she comes down and begins to speak with the chief, going over the post-flight checks. She's new at all this, though the chief pretends to gloss over anything she missed and gives her a thumbs up. Leaving her, Sonja is left to lean against her bird, heart rate slowly declining.
For the first time in a long, long while, Pallas' Viper lands in the same condition as when it was taken out - minus some ammunition, of course. After his bird comes down the elevator, he waits until a deckhand takes his helmet and releases him from the cockpit before getting out. "You sent me out on a blind bird," he snaps to the deckhand, pointing at the console. "DRADIS showed no Cylon contacts. None. This happens again, I'll send you out into space blind the next time there's a Cylon attack. Understood?"
When the canopy lifts, Lana pops out of her Viper as jubilantly as though it were a birthday cake. Frakking Evocati. The smile she flashes at the deckie who removes her helmet is oh so sunny. "Thanks, hon. She's a little dinged but nothin' you boys can't hammer out." And then she's out and about, commencing post-flight checks.
Marko and Classy take their time post-flghting the bird, mostly to keep from having to deal with a deck gang that looks like they could cheerfully throttle them after bringing back 307 busted so soon after they got it back. Soon enough, though, the two have to face the music. "Don't look so glum, Classy…." Marko chuckles as he pulls his helmet off, "At least we're alive enough to get yelled at."
Roland pushes his cockpit open, as soon as the Viper stops skidding. He takes of his helmet, and sets it in his lap. Letting out a long breath, he scratches his head, talking to himself, "They're getting weaker."
"We must stop meeting like this, Crewman," Cidra says, a touch wry as she delivers herself into Circe's care. "The arm is fine. Controls in the cockpit started sparking, and I think some of the fire got through the suit." The post-flight is left to Bran.
There's no screaming. That's a good sign. Trask peers from what he's doing to get a quick assessment of what's on the repair line. "Mendoza," he calls out to a passing knuckledragger. "Go tell Ensign Devlin that his wife's not dead." Meanwhile, the SL is beating feet to the CAG. "What's the sitrep, Cid?"
Wade looks around for a moment and spots Roland, walking towards him. In a low voice, he speaks to the other man "Blue, if for some reason you think's is better to target another Raider, you can let me know, that's cool. But if I say, target this one, I expect you to do so" He nods in acceptance to his own words, not even mad about it. Now, he looks over his shoulder and spots Sunspot there. Wade smiles at her and nods, not really remembering a lot of what happened last night at the berths.
Devlin does his post-flight, and then peers around the deck, beginning to head towards Trask. Mendoza catches him on his way, and they speak for a minute or two before Devlin claps him on the shoulder and nods, heading back towards Pallas instead. "Spiral," he greets his wing man, "Nice job flying blind."
"Birds took it hard. Not many casualties again…I think. I shall need to get a full report from Sickbay," Cidra replies, looking up to Trask. "How is Bubbles?"
"I see…" She says and motions for the CAG to shimmy out as she starts to pull on her gloves. Circe rubs at her hand before she tugs on her left one, looking somewhat weary. The crewman grins a little. "Well I never see you otherwise. I suppose this is the best I can hope for." She laughs a little. "Lets see what we got here…" She says.
Sonja watches from her Viper, still in her helmet until someone happens to mention the fact, with a blink she takes it off and grins. "Whoops." She murmurs, following with her gloves, placing them inside the helmet. Yeah, she's alive, go her!
Roland climbs out of his Viper, and nods, "I target every bogie you call out Boss…I don't think I've missed one." He arches an eyebtow, and looks at the man, "You feelin' alright?"
Wade nods to Roland "You did, the last one." He pats Roland on the shoulder and shakes his head "I'm feeling OK, head still hurts a little after yesterday but I'll live."
A faint nod to the report. "Conscious, unburned, bones all in one piece, retaining what little hair she has," is Bootstrap's blithe reply.
Done with all of the last check-overs, Helia promptly spots Wade, smiling faintly as she makes her way across the deck toward him. "Lieutenant Duncan." She greets him with a faint smile on her face. For some reason, the woman has a rather amused twinkle to her eye as she peeks over Wade. "Good to see you're feeling better today."
Roland nods slowly, "Its Alright Drips.. It was behind me.. I just had one front of me is all.." He clears his throat, "I'll check out your birf for you.. Why do you take it easy for a few?"
Marko makes his way over to Trask, looking concerned. "Do you know what the story is with Bubbles?" he asks the man. "We never got anything from her on comms after she got hit." he adds unnecessarily.
Sonja pushes off her Viper and was about to go approach Wade, but seems Helia moves over there, she shakes her head and instead goes to store her Helmet and her gloves, yawning as she saunters across the deck. She's coming down off her high, which is leaving her rather tired. Roland is given a quick smile, though she doesn't stop to speak with him either.
Wade shakes his head at Roland "I don't need to take it easy, Blue." offers Wade to him. He nods to his own words and adds "Like I said man, if you think there's a more viable target, just let me know, that's perfectly alright" He shows a faint smile to the man and then turns his head as he hears Helia's voice "Lieutenant Gryphon" offers the man, smiling a little at her. "I'm feeling better, I have a little headache but I'll live." He tilts his head now and asks "You? Everything alright?"
Post-flight completed, Dizzy enjoys a languid stretch. Then she's unzipping her flight suit. Looking about, she spots Spiral, smiles brightly, and starts to head that way… and then stop, blinks, and makes an abrupt detour, dashing for the head. Seems that someone needs to make an emergency pit stop.
"DRADIS can only do so much," Pallas answers to Devlin. "All I need is my Mark One Eyeball and a wing man watching my six." His eyes narrow at Devlin for a moment. "Good work, Ensign." Taking a clipboard, he checks everything off going straight down in a line. It gets handed off to the deckhand carelessly. "But mine's bigger than yours," he adds as he walks away from his Viper. To clarify, he points at the mustache he's been growing as part of their latest bet.
Bran finishes removing his gloves in order to more easily write, using quick strokes in order to sign off on things and explain the small cockpit fire. Post-flight drama is easy to handle though. He's yet to wreck a bus. Soon enough he's headed for CAG and his SL, glancing briefly to the others he knows less of and wryly smiling for everyone else. "I won't ask about Bubbles, if it helps bring in a quicker answer. Just wait an' listen for me," adds the man.
Cidra shimmies out at Circe's instruction, gingerly. She is limping a bit. She sits so the medic can have a proper go at her leg, grimacing as she removes her singed boot. "Thank the gods," she mutters at Trask's report. Then nods. "Sharp work by you and Bunny pulling her out of that. Those things multiplied like maggots." Eyes tick up to Bran as he approaches, and she offers him the faintest of smiles. "Fine work on the suites, Pens. Lords were with us today. We are alive." Said dryly, but she does mean it.
"Thanks," Devlin replies to Pallas's compliment, adding, "Seems like we fly pretty well together. You're a better shot than people give you credit for." As for the mustache, though, he laughs, starting to back in the other direction as he shakes his head, "Yours is grayer, that's all I see! Measure them in the morning?"
Roland rubs his neck with the back of his hand, and nods over to Sonja as she passes near. He lets out a long breath, and turns back toward the Viper, stopping to pick up his helmet.
A bland glance at Marko and an oh so dry smirk. "That's 'cuz her comms are fried. She, however, is not crispy." Brown eyes on Bran, then, and Trask is curling his fingers in a 'gimme' motion for the post-flight report.
Sonja isn't sure what to do right now, she lingers but doesn't really join one group or another, everyone seems to have their thing going on. Speaking to wingman or repair people. So she takes the time to just look and watch, thankful they all came home.
Going to a knee as the CAG sits, she looks at the singed leg and takes note of a small shard. "Gonna need new boots." She commends softly. Circe reaches into her bag and pulls out a balm and her tweezers. Drawing the foot up she gives a tug to the sock and rolls it down carefully.
The medic lifts the leg and then discards the sock to the side as she nods, seeing the shard more clearly. She rests the CAG's foot against her leg and she reaches down with the tweezers to carefully grasp the piece of shrapnel.
A charming smile meets Wade's smile as Helia steps just a bit closer. Briefly, she nods over toward Roland, before her brown eyes turn back toward Wade. "I'm doing okay. Pissed off that they got Bubbles. Seems like my wing men get bad luck." She glances back toward 1118. "But at least I'm okay." Right? She glances toward Wade, still looking…amused.
Marko blows out a sigh of relief and nods, stepping back a little to take a look in Cidra's direction so Bran can give his report.
Pallas misses Dizzy run away to the head since he's walking backwards facing Devlin. "I shoot for shit," he says, waving off the praise. It's not humility, either. "I fly. That's what I do. I only land hits if I'm spraying like a motherfrakker or right up the bandit's asshole." He chin tilts to his wing man before turning around, smoothing down his growing mustache. "You're going to lose, Decoy. The bet is mustache, not beard."
Roland looks over to Sonja for a moment before moving towards her. He nods once to her, "Nice shooting on the raider to clear my tail. I appreciate it."
Wade tilts his head a little when Helia offers that smile and then looks over his shoulder at Roland. He wasn't trying to be harsh or anything like that. His attention moves back to Helia and he says "Stuff like this happen, you know, things get pretty crazy out there. If your wing mate gets hurt it doesn't necessarily mean you are not doing your job." He nods this and now, he does pick up some sort of amusement on her end "Is there something wrong, Lieutenant?"
The wound itself is shallow, like the last Cidra suffered. Still stings as it's worked on, though. She grimaces. Though she does manage a nod and terse half-grin to Marko. "Flasher. Looked like tight flying for you and Classy out there. Well. Tight for us all."
Sonja looks up at Roland. "Oh, not a problem sir." She says, looking a little frizzled. "Was totally frakking myself out there, amazed I hit anything." She gives a little hiccup laugh, and smiles. "Glad you made it." She adds. "They hit hard." She seems a little off, like she's really not sure how to handle this elevation to pilot-hood, for realz.
Bran starts to speak up and then offers a short, 'oh,' before leaning over and offering the board to Trask. He's giving a light nod, too, and folding his arms over his chest in the spot he stands. "Thank you, sir. It was… a challenge as always, but here we are - alive." Eyeballing the piece of shrapnel, he's quick to point out: "That's big."
"Yes, sir." Marko replies, nodding. "That's the second time they've managed to turn our comms into hash." the young ECO grumbles. "We got any spare armor plating, sir?" he asks her with the barest hint of a smirk. "Be nice to be able to do the other half of my job out there now and then. Tried to warn you about that last Raider, but I don't know how much of it sounded like speech and how much of it sounded like popcorn popping."
Roland chuckles, "Well you didn't puke… Sometime they do." He glances back to Wade a moment without saying anything. He looks back to her, "See if you can get a copy of your gun cam.. Hang on to it."
Letting the shrapnel drop into a a side pouch on the bag. Circe shifts Toast's leg a little to get a look at it and with some gauze, she wipes the wound clean gently. Next comes the antiseptic, spreading it generously to stop possible infection. From there, the slight burning of the skin is addressed with another balm. She spreads that over the affected area and then places a gauze patch over the laceration. The medic's eyes lift to look towards the other pilots, "Anyone else that needs help?" She asks Cidra.
Helia nods slowly. "Thanks, Drips." She reaches up, pulling the tightly wrapped hair tie from her hair, letting it fall loose over her shoulders. "I'll try to keep that in mind." It's still something that the woman tends to worry about, in any case. At his question of whether something is wrong, Helia can't help but offer a slight giggle. "Nothing is wrong, no." How to broach that subject? He doesn't seem to remember last night.
Devlin shrugs at Pallas, "Well, I pretty much do everything for shit," he replies, "So. You know. We still splashed a couple and didn't die." As Spiral strokes his mustache, Devlin reaches up to stroke his own as well, shaking his head, "I don't need to focus all my testosterone into my upper lip to have enough to beat you," he claims, "Just you wait." He grins a little, and then turns to head over towards Trask, though he doesn't interrupt the conversation among the Raptor pilots, waiting patiently.
Sonja never thought of that and nods her head. "That's not a bad idea, after I took my first CAP, with the Captain." She glances Wade, half listening to his conversation, at Helia's giggles she looks between the two and smiles back quickly at Roland. "I should get going." She says, then quickly moves to leave.
"No copious amounts of blood." Not a lash is batted at Cidra's injury. "The birds aren't /too/ badly damaged," Trask remarks, perusing the clipboard. "Good work out there, Harriers," is the casual compliment. Looking up from post-flight report, he notices Devlin. "You're not freakin' out, so I take it that Mendoza told you the news. He should've also mentioned that she's already down in Sickbay." Because, for some reason, Decoy is still /here/.
"You sure?" asks Wade about Helia's last. He finally nods a couple times and takes a deep breath "Very well then" He does know where he woke up, he doesn't remember how he got there exactly. And, in addition, he didn't speak with the CAG yet, which he'll have to do, eventually. "I know it's hard…to see a wing man going down like that. It's pretty damn hard" Yeah, he knows it.
"Yeah, that's what your wife tells me," Pallas shoots back to Devlin. No sign of a grin on his face or in his voice. "Got some good kills out there today. Or assists. Hard to tell for sure when multiple birds are firing on one bandit. The flight footage'll confirm." He loves his numbers - even before his kill count started getting boosted with these recent attacks, he was always a stickler for keeping track of kills.
"I try to avoid copious as I can," is Cidra's dry reply to Trask. To Devlin she adds, "You are dismissed as you require, Ensign. I shall have your post-flight seen to, if it has not been already." There is a trace of inscrutability about the look she gives him, but she seems willing to let him go to Sickbay…for now. To Circe she replies, "I think the SAR birds took most of our wounded up already. They were quick on the jump, thank all gods."
A slow nod is offered in response to Wade's remarks. "It is…" She knows it pretty well. Makes her feel a little guilty, even if it typically couldn't have been helped. "I'll have to pay a visit to Bubbles in sickbay soon…probably once she's not getting treated for injuries." The woman tilts her head to one side, before smiling faintly toward Wade. "Well, that fight concludes my CAP. If you have some free time once we're all finished here, we could have a quick drink to celebrate victory." So she can tell him about the whole butt flashing thing, too.
"Ha," Devlin shoots back to Pallas, "That why you were always grumbling about us keeping you up?" As for the numbers and footage, he nods, "Yeah, think you got a couple." The Ensign isn't much into numbers it seems but he lifts a hand in farewell, offering, "See you around, Spiral." To Trask he nods, but does not quite speak, cut off by Cidra's acknowledgment, to which he nods, "Yes, Major." He looks back to Trask then, and offers a little more quietly, "I just wanted to come by and apologize," he says, "I shouldn't have been bitching at you, that was out of line. Sorry."
Taking up the binding wrap, the medic nods her head, "Good, well not good in the sense of others, but that they are being seen to." Circe hooks the end at the woman's foot and then begins to wind it to keep the gauze in place. She gives some room for the wrappings but otherwise keeps it tight. The medallions of Aurora and Asclepias swing at the corpsman's neck as she leans back to continue to wind up around the ankle to help anchor it into place. She hooks the end into place and looks over the work. "Should be good, sir." She remarks to Toast.
"Good flying out there, Viper jocks." Marko calls, collecting his helmet from the wing of 307 and starting to make his way out. "You make us look real good." he teases. "I'll be back in a minute sir. Just gotta grab a protein bar and my laptop so I can start putting Bertha's innards back together." he adds for Trask's benefit.
Wade nods to Helia "Do that, she'll like that. Bubbles is a great person. You'll like her" He smiles a little at this and then takes a deep breath, letting his fingers touch his stitches. "A drink? Sure" says the man, smiling a little at that "Granted, I'm not much of a drinker but it's always good to have a sit down and enjoy some booze." He chuckles at this and then narrows his eyes "I'll have to drop by sickbay, I own an apology to someone"
"Blood, anyway," is the wry smirked reply Trask has for the CAG. When Devlin speaks, he listens. When the Ensign is done, there is a brief pause. "There's a reason why you shouldn't shit where you eat, so to speak. Still, seeing that you already have, and that you have feelings…" A half-shrug follows. "Well, no blood, no foul." Apology accepted. "Now get your ass to see your wife." To Marko, "Do what'cha gotta do, Flasher," with an idle wave of dismissal. "Speaking of which, we'll speak later, Toast." That said, he's going back to the Raptor he had been working on.
"I've never been much of a drinker, but there's nothing wrong with enjoying a bit of booze every once in a while." A faint smile, as Helia glances up towards Wade's stitches. "And definitely no drinking to excess this evening." Especially not after last night. No way is she going to let him get that frakked up again— even if it was thanks to the painkillers.
Wade nods in silence at Helia's first words and then says "By the way, have you had the chance to speak with Poppy? She's our Squadron Leader and all" he smiles at this and then laughs just a little "Ah, yes…just a glass for me, or maybe less, I'm on Painkillers, they have decreased the dose however." And one would wonder why the hell did that happen. Right. Now, he looks over at Cidra and shows a very faint smile "If I could stop by your office Major, at some point today, that would be great" Yeeeah, he does know quite well the he woke up in her bunk.