| Gravedigging |
| Summary: | The Raptor salvage operation in Virgon's orbit nets one Raptor at the highest cost. |
| Date: | 05 July 2041 AE |
| Related Logs: | Strike Viper stuff |
| Players: |
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| Virgon's Orbit |
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| Its a Graveyard of ships and people. |
| Post-Holocaust Day: #129 |
"Jump Complete," the ECO calls. The jump finished, the light fades from outside the Raptor's cabin. Its evident immediately that the ECO plotted the position perfectly. Out in front of them wreckage hangs in zero-G, tumbling gently like giant man-made asteroids. Chunks of destroyed Vipers and Raptors dangle aimlessly, their hulks no longer driven by the throttles and jump drives that powered them only a few months before. A few dead can be seen interspersed with the clumps of debris, the lifeless bodies frozen in time and temperature. Out ahead, the wreckage of the Battlestar Corvus drifts. With one of its flight pods still attached, the alligator head has been sheared cleanly away and is missing most of engineering and the other flight pod. The Starboard one appears to be at least moderately intact.
"This place is seriously spooky," Shiner notes quietly, double checking the seals on his suit. "I mean, dude, there are /dead people/ floating around. I don't like it."
Fresh back onto the flight roster after extended medical grounding, Tags finds himself back in the hotseat again. His eyes scan instruments, confirming the ECO's pronouncement before they sweep the vista out beyond the viewfield. "Yeah," he replies, looking back down at his instruments. "Let's just get what we came for and get the frak out." The Corvus is obvious ahead, so he gestures. "Looks like they left the side door open for us."
Coll sits in the back quietly, waiting. She had to file this flight plan. She's just along for the ride even if her eyes are glued to the ECO board. On her lap is a large bag of various tools and items that might be needed to disassemble a Raptor. After the jump completes, she does a doubletake and stares at the wreckage out front. "My Gods," the Crewman whispers over the coms. "Yeah. I'm with Shiner. Let's get this done."
"Frak me…" quietly says Ethan as he looks at the scene outside. The young Raptor pilot is attacked by memories of Warday and the sight of all those bodies floating around makes the vivid image of the Green Gulls, appear in his mind. He's flying co-pilot on this one, so, he does his part. The young man looks down at the Raptor controls and checks for a couple routine things here and there. "Convenient…" offers Fresh after Tags comment. "Let's pay a little visit, see what we find"
<FS3> Heres rolls Raptors: Good Success.
<FS3> Ethan rolls Raptors: Success.
Flying through the debris field, Virgon looms out the right side of the canopy and I pretty much obscured from those in the back. Its atmosphere, even four months after the attacks, is a disgusting mixture of yellow, green, and brown. It swirls and turns through the clouds in a series of turns that if it wasn't what it was, it might be artistic. The last time a Raptor crew went down there, Trask and Evandreus almost didn't return. SAMs, AAA, and more Cylons than anyone wants to shake a middle finger at. Luckily, the DRADIS still seems clear out here so far - other than the soup of unknown contacts that make up the wreckage. Approaching at quite a nice clip and with some deft maneuvering, the Raptor closes the distance down to the Starboard Flight Deck. Lain before them during the slow approach are the remains of some aircrews that tried vainly to make it home during the attacks. Raptors and Vipers lay half-exploded on the runway, many of them shoved up into corners with long, black scorch marks trailing behind them like dark fingers of death that point the way to another dead pilot. There is a large hole blown in the flight deck itself that dives down into a cavern below - probably deep into the hangar deck.
Shiner winces as he looks out of the front window of the Raptor at the carnage. "Dude, that is so not nice," he murmurs, shaking his head and surreptitiously running his fingers over the various controls for his helmet. "It's like digging in a graveyard."
"That's why they call it a graveyard," Tags notes dryly. His focus stays on his immediate job, however, maneuvering up to and into the ship as well as he can. "Keep an eye out for toasters and stay sharp. I really don't want to have to try shoot our way outta here." 'Cause, he doesn't want to trade war stories with Trask on this one. Besides. He's just out of medical. He'd rather not earn a new callsign by crashing back into it, first flight off the deck. "How deep in you need us to go, Bud? I think we might be able to squeeze our way into the hangar."
Coll watches the approach to the flight deck in silence, the woman not seeming even to want to comment on what they are seeing out from. The breathing in her helmet comes deep and quick while those blues stay wide and focused. They dart back and forth over the wreckages before she finally musters up something to say. "Not far off. We are visiting the largest Graveyard the Navy has ever seen," she whispers. But when Heres speaks up, she blinks a few times and looks around as she rises out of the seat a touch. Hands fall on the back of their ejection seats. "Nah, that hole is probably too small. There won't be maneuvering room in the hangar, anyway. Just, ah.." She gestures over by another wreckage. "Nudge us up against that Raptor so we look like scenery."
"This /is/ a graveyard" states Fresh. He looks at the scene and can't help to take a deep breath, to shake the evident uneasy feeling that invades him. Eyes back to the Raptor controls for a bit, but since Tags has the control of the bird, he lets his gaze trail over everything outside the Raptor. "If there is anything good to be said about this, is that I think we can easily get the parts we need." he looks over his shoulders at Coll and nods "Looks like we are in the right place" He presses his lips together and says "I can't way to get out of here already."
Shiner flips a switch on his helmet, paling somewhat for a moment before flipping it back again, sweat visible on his brow. "So we park, we raid, we get back on board and we bug out. I like that plan." He adjusts his suit once more and starts limbering up, stretching out his muscles as best he can. "You just tell me what to lift and I'll lift it."
Tags gives an oblique nod that's more a brief tilt of his head to one side before he follows the decktech's suggestion and eases the ungangly bus off to starboard and sets her down. "Right. That's as good as it's gonna get. Pop the hatch, people. I wanna be back in time for dinner." If he notices Coll's lack of protocol, he doesn't mention it. He doesn't have a reputation as a real hardass… not that he's particularly a lightweight, either.
Coll backs up from the ejection seats and picks up the toolkit off the floor and waits for the hatch to open. She nods to Shiner and the ECO's that are hanging out but doesn't say anything. Under that light in her helmet, her face is pale. The last time she was in a Raptor, she was wearing a parachute and had to drop 120,000 feet in a freefall. She looks about the same right now: Ill.
When the bird lands, Fresh immediately starts to unhook himself from the co-pilot chair. The Ensign stands up and stretches a little, arching his back and extending his arms. "Alright then, let's head outside and find what we are looking for" With that said, he approaches the hatch and notices that Coll is not looking very well "It'll be an in and out thing Coll, don't worry" he offers an easy smile that intends to provide some comfort and after that, he hits the big red button that opens the Hatch.
The door opens and suddenly its all a little more real. The magnetic boots on everyone's feet can keep them locked down well enough but the sights are a little unnerving. It's the same class Battlestar as the Cerberus and nobody could miss the resemblance of the Flight Deck. Following the walls up, Deck and Aircrew personnel hang up in corners where they have drifted to over the past four months. Some are in flightsuits. Some aren't. Most of those that are not are directly of the hole that is blasted down into the cavernous hangar deck below. Anyone that moves closer and points their flashlight down will see a large scorchmark deep below them where something like a missile dove right in and exploded down there. The lines, barely visible beneath the carbon, point to it being the hangar deck.
Shiner is shuffled out of the hatch, bundled, one might say. He freezes when he hits the actual deck, however, his helmet clouding up with… well. It's a good thing he found the suction controls on the suit already. Ssssshhhhhhhhkkkkk! Clear! And he can see again! He spits once or twice to clear the taste, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment before directing his flashlight across the deck.
It feels like the thunk of his boots echos. But, there's not enough atmosphere outside for that to be true. Even so, that's what Tags feels. He pushes the feeling away and takes a moment to look around. "My Gods…" The words are barely breathed, barely audible over helmet wireless. He notes reactions, sees and hears them. "Everybody okay? C'mon. Faster we start, faster we're done." And the less time they have to look at this. "What do we need?"
When Coll steps out and onto the Flight Deck, she swallows hard and lifts her flashlight to the flight pod coverage high overhead. Her light freezes for a moment before she just looks away. Focus on the job. "Whatever," the Crewman mutters. She heads away from the Raptor and over towards the hole. "Engines and an ECO panel, sir." Its the Avionics tech's flat voice, keeping it level as easily as she can. This is some disturbing shit. "Ideally, we steal a Raptor. If we can't strip them down and bring them aboard. Leave the seats we flew in with." Stopping at the hole, she peers down but says nothing more.
Fresh reaches the deck and the magnetic boots help him stay in place. He looks around with a calm expression and turns on his flashlight, revealing a more ugly view that he would have expected. "En-" starts the man but Coll beats him to the punch. He just nods in acceptance after this and says "Correct, what Crewman Coll said" The Ensign takes some steps further into the deck, aiming his flashlight at different locations to see what he can spot. He stops for just a couple seconds and then continues further inside, going through everything he can to find what they need.
The Flight Deck is a tangle and mess of wreckage. Most of them look at least partially exploded from internal fires. Finding anything up here is going to be tough. Meanwhile the ECO's have wandered out of the Raptor and brought up the tail of the pack. "Sir, I don't think we're going to find intact ECO panels or engines up here," as if to confirm the obvious.
Shiner fixes his light on a dead-body-free pile of wreckage in the corner. It's less disturbing. "Somebody belay me to a line and I'll climb down and see what we can find on the hangar deck," he allows, tone empty. "Raptors or spares, yeah? Let's make this quick."
"Yeah," Tags says, agreeing with the ECO as he looks at the wreckage. He glances towards Shiner. "Let's get a couple of lines," he suggests. "Two-by-two. No wandering off alone." Standard flight procedure and just good, old-fashioned common-sense, far as he's concerned. He starts reaching for the gear they brought to help with the job.
Coll lets go of the bag next to her and it floats beside her. "No gravity drives, Shines. Sir," she glances to Tags and his magnetic boots. "Rope isn't a problem." She shines her light down into the pit again. "You could probably walk the wreckage or just shove off slowly and head down there. I don't see any ordnance…" Keep that voice level. Don't think about the lifeless eyes watching you. Her breathing is still heavy and those eyes are wide.
Fresh walks to the edge of that pit thing, and looks down at the Hangar Deck "I'll go with you, Shiner" says the man with a soft nod. He points his flashlight down there and tilts his head, trying to define what's into the darkness. Now he nods and offers "Raptors or spares, that would be right, yes." About the chance of them not finding anything usable, he makes no comments. Getting here and not digging through stuff, is not what he plans on doing. "Alright then.." and with that, he sets on getting himself, into that damn hangar.
The hole does not go directly down at a vertical angle. It looks like the missile was fired through the pod entrance at the rear and burrowed down through the decks before exploding. It would almost be too steep to walk if it weren't for the magnetic boots. Maybe seven feet wide, the circular cut is jagged all the way down but provides for decent places to jump to and from. Its four decks down and could pretty easily be made in a single go. Zero-G means never having to say 'I fell too hard'.
Shiner gives Fresh a hesitant nod, taking a look down the hole in question. "I hate heights," he mentions, before setting his boots down gingerly on the angled entrance. Not so much with the jumping, he takes steady paces (which really ought to clang, damn you vacuum of space!), careful to keep his suit clear of any jagged edges. "There won't be space to get a whole Raptor back up here," he adds thoughtfully, flashlight flickering from side to side.
Rope may not be strictly necessary for maneuvering in zero-g, but having a couple of lines in case things go wrong or start careening one way or the other isn't a totally bad idea. He moves towards the edge of the hole and looks down it. "It's a deep hole, crewman. May not need the lines to rappel, but that doesn't mean they won't come in handy." Even so, he has no objections to Fresh and Shiner heading down first.
"Aye, sir." Coll reaches into her pack (which is at the perfect height in its float - Thanks Zero-G!!) and pulls out some line. She kneels down and ties off one end at the top of the hole before tossing the rest into her bag. It will just stream out as they move. "Rank before beauty, Lieutenant," Coll says deadpan. If that was an attempt at a joke it probably sounded more like a dig. This isn't fun for her at all and it shows. But regardless, she will follow the men down.
Fresh smiles after Shiner's comment "Just thing of this as being a big tree and that being a big fall, but in slow motion" Will that help? Probably not. Good thing is, Ethan is trying to get his nerves aside and just focus on the task aside. He let's himself go, down, deeper into that hole "Given the size of this thing, I think we are probably not going to find and entire Raptor, more like many pieces of different ones. Which works really, makes our job easier"
Dropping down into the hangar deck doesn't take as long as one might think. Nor is the level of destruction approaching what one might think, either. Most of the aircraft around the missile's impact zone have been vaporized into millions of pieces. Load-bearing structures have disintegrated. This, the area where the sudden vacuum leak occurred in such a huge volume, is almost devoid of anything. However, looking further down, the blast doors tried to shut before the whole ship lost power. There's barely enough room to squeeze a subcompact car between them. This area is as deep and black as the inkiest cave ever explored. There's no light. There's no bodies. There's no aircraft parts. The only thing that moves in this tomb are the lights that search the walls and the people that carry them.
<FS3> Ethan rolls Alertness: Failure.
<FS3> Shiner rolls Alertness: Success.
<FS3> Heres rolls Alertness: Success.
Shiner has a good look around, taking a long breath when the deck appears empty. Fixing his flashlight on the blast doors, however, he gives a nod towards them. "There's something through there. Could be parts." He doesn't, however, seem very keen to go first.
Tags is last of the four down. He shines his light around, focusing it on the blast doors. "Could be," he agrees, moving towards it. "Eyes open. Let's take a peek." Last thing he wants to do is walk into an ambush… And he wouldn't put it past the toasters to plant one, either. Thus, he edges carefully towards the gap, keeping to one side, before he shines the light through to take a better look.
Fresh doesn't see a godsdamned thing, nada, zero. At least nothing out of the ordinary. "Over there?" asks the man as he listens to Shiner, and then Tags speaks and he looks over to the LT. "Sounds like a plan, I want to see what's there" Right now, he's thrusting everyone else because he didn't see anything. The man moves closer to the thing, keeping himself to one of the sides of the blast doors, using his flashlight to see what's in there.
Putting light into the next section of hangar reveals more. A lot more. None of the other doors even started closing. The light goes on forever and disappears. But what the lights do illuminate is more of what they had seen on the flight deck. Smashed Raptors and Vipers clog the whole area, the once useful vehicles smashed by either explosion or impact during the venting process. Crew float lifelessly here, too. Burned and smashed in their own ways, they mingle amongst the floating debris and frozen in their last moment forever. Further in, the aircraft look more intact, though.
Shiner switches the suction on his helmet once more, pre-emptively this time. He doesn't say anything, instead simply willing himself not to toss his cookies again at the sight of the lifeless bodies, scorched and horrific, floating between pieces of twisted metal.
In Tags eyes, the bodies are transmuted to so much flotsam. To dwell on what — who — they were, is to invite more nightmares. And, like everyone else, he has enough nightmares. His breathing is steady, though there's a trace of a slightly stronger exhalation that's not so much a sigh as it is one of those focussing breaths. Carefully, he moves ahead through the door now, letting his light illuminate his way beyond. Where he can't step around some of the flotsam, he gently pushes it away. "I think there might be something usable in here."
"Anadyomene," Coll whispers as she moves to the entrance. "Wish you were here, Sarge." Her breath is a little more steady but its still deep and quick. With a long sigh and a gaze straight ahead. "Look. Let's just do this. Like the Lieutenant said, let's get past this here and make it further down. It looks like we can find something down farther." She steps in after Tag and does her best to shut out what she's seeing.
"You got that right" sates Ethan a bit dryly, eyes a bit focused on the remains of all those people. He takes a deep breath and nods to himself. A step is taken, and then another, and another. His eyes focused on what's on the back now, paying less attention to everything that's floating around. Soon, the man finds himself walking a little faster or at least as fast as the boot magnets allow him to. Gotta get this done with, they have a ship to build.
<FS3> Ethan rolls Alertness: Success.
<FS3> Shiner rolls Alertness: Success.
<FS3> Heres rolls Alertness: Success.
The move farther into this cavern and it doesn't look any better at first. But gradually the Raptors and Vipers appear a little less damaged. One of the elevators looks like it was in the process of attempting to lift a Raptor up to the Flight Deck when the cargo was disturbed, the cabin twisted and smashed between the hydraulic lift and the bulkheads over them. Only the engines, which appear to have exploded, hang by some control lines. However, further down, there is a Raptor missing a hatch door and glass. For the most part, it looks intact except for thsoe few points. It floats near the ceiling so it will take a jump to get into.
Shiner hangs back a little, bringing up the rear in order to spend as little time as possible in the company of the floating bodies. "Anything we can salvage here?" he asks of his fellow deckhands, trusting to their experience over his.
Tags looks up. "How 'bout that?" he suggests, pointing to the floating, glass-less Raptor above them. "May be able to reach it with a bit of push." He shines his light along the brown hull, sweeping it slowly, looking for any other obvious points of damage.
Coll doesn't see it at first. Its not until Tags points it out that she lifts her light to look up at it. "Well its missing the door and windscreen. Neither of which is really needed. The only reason you can't jump a Raptor without a door closed is because the open door is outside the jump bubble." Her voice is still flat. She's trying to be informative. "Either of you guys want to take a look or have me head up there?"
Ethan looks up at that Raptor and a soft smile crosses his lips "Look at that lady" His gaze lowers itself again and he looks around at the team "I'll go check" offers the man quietly and then looks at Tags "El-Tee, take one of the ends of that rope and hand me the other end, I'll make the jump and see if I can reach it. If I can't, just pull me down again" With that, he extends his hand, waiting for the rope.
Shiner suggests, "You could just walk up the walls, sir. No gravity, see? Walk up the walls… uh… deckheads, I mean… and then shove yourself off to the bird."
Heres passes Fresh the rope. "Here y'go, Ensign," he says. He blinks, then, and looks over to Shiner. A wry smile touches his lips, illuminated by the lamps in his helmet. Not a bad idea… Unconventional, at least. "Whatcha think, Fresh?" he says to the Ensign in response to the AE's suggestion. "Wanna try a highdive?" He still may want the rope, however.
Coll just watches the group discuss the options but she doesn't seem inclined to volunteer more. She turns around to take a look at whats around them. Her light illuminates an old, sealed firefighting locker, refueling lines, some floating ammunition carts.. The list goes on. Her light stops at a set of tools suspended in the air while her light reflects off of their crystalized and frozen exteriors. Its almost beautiful.
Ethan considers the new option for a few moments, he presses his lips together and nods "Not a bad idea at all." he nods and smiles "Good one, Shiner" Since there's a bit of junk against the sides of the walls, to avoid the risk of the rope getting stuck with something, he lets it go. The man immediately starts walking to one of the walls and then lifts one foot, placing it against the wall, only to lift the other after that and get it against the wall at first. Now, this is an odd thing. "Right…" says the man and then starts walking. Walk walk walk walk. Soon enough, he reaches the Raptor and gets a good grip on where the glass would have been. He deactivates his boots and glides inside the bird.
Shiner cranes his neck upwards, then shakes his head, setting his feet on the bulkheads himself to start walking upwards towards the Raptor. He doesn't, unlike Fresh, release himself to enter the vehicle, but remains on the wall ready to lend a hand. Or carry. Or something. "Well? How does it look?"
Tags positions himself below the Raptor, continuing to shine his light up on the bird. He lets Shiner's question stand; it's the question on all their minds, no doubt.
Ethan takes a quiet look for a moment, not reporting anything during the first seconds. He examines the ECO panel and after taking a deep breath "Here goes nothing…" he extends one arm and flips a few switches. The immediate visual response is that, the lights inside the raptor turn on. The ECO panel signals a few things to Ethan and now he speaks out to the rest of the team. "Alright, Raptor has power, it needs fuel tho. I don't think there's enough to make a jump" He keeps digging through the information given and adds "No major damage. I think we got a winner"
The lights on the exterior kick on, too. Including the floodlamps. It illuminates the whole interior deck. There's something to be said for flashlights - they don't provide the context of what you see. Especially when you don't want to see it. The lights illuminate teh burned hulk of the interior Starboard Hangar Bay. The charred remains of everything are mingled in with the rest. But alas, it is a working Raptor.
Shiner fixes his eyes on the Raptor hopefully. "So what are we going to do with her? Fuel her and weld her and give it a go? How do we get her out?"
Tags blinks some as the room is illuminated by the Raptor's lamps. It casts the floating corpses of techs and technology in a much starker light. His expression tightens. He turns away, however, to look back at the door. "Think we can push that open wider?" he asks, glancing over, then, to Coll. "Think she'll fit?"
Coll turns back as the Raptor lights up. "Sierra Hotel. Ain't that somethin?" she whispers. Her light shuts off with the flick of a switch and she looks around for a moment before wishing she hadn't. Her eyes quickly come back to the Raptor. "Fresh, how's that jump computer look? Is it booting?" She turns the flashlight back on and swings it around. "Shiner, all we need to do is give her some gas." She finally smiles and looks back to him. "Put a pilot and an ECO in her? Jump that thing from inside the hangar bay. We don't even have to set propulsion. Those doors are run on huge motors, though, sir. We'd have to push everything else out of the way then figure out how to open them. Even then?" She shakes her head. "Its not making it out of that hole we walked down. It'll rip this hangar bay to shit. But it will work. We just need one of our ECO's down here." She looks to the refueling rig, then back to Shiner. "Here, grab the hose. These fuel systems are simple pneumatics. Lets hook her up."
The good thing about being inside the Raptor right now, is that he is too focused on the Computers to notice everything outside, at least the now visible things that would bring yet more nightmares. "Let's see…" says the man after hearing Coll's request. He starts running tests on the jump computer, and a smile appears a moment after "Coll, jump computer is running ok, all systems green" This is good news, this is definitely good news. "Let's get this baby ready to go"
Shiner gives a thumbs up, holding out his hands for the hose. "Heave it up, Bud." Refueling is one of the few things Shiner's actually experienced in and can't cock up, and he doesn't take long to connect the hose to the tank and seal it on. "Hooked on. Knock the power on the head and we'll pump away."
Tags taps his wireless. "Hey, Skeeter," he says. "Feel like lightin' up a hanger? Could use you down here." Who better, really, to do the daredevil bit than the mosquito of a woman the Jig is? He lets the decktechs do what they do best. "What's the word, Fresh? You wanna try the crewman's crazyassed jump idea, or you want me up there?"
Coll lifts the hose up towards him and it drifts nicely. She watches as he hooks it up and gives a nod towards the other Crewman. "Alright. Clear tube." She goes through the checklist and takes up one of those floating wrenches. Moving back, she knocks a wrench against the rubber piping. "Feels solid. Alright. Flow up in three, two.." At zero, she lifts a switch on the wall. The piping loses its slack as she puts a hand on it. The counter on the wall, a simple mechanical measure begins ticking up. "Ha!" she hoots. "Hot damn! We've got flow!" Pointing her light back up towards the Raptor. "Okay, Shiner. Wanna run around the outside real fast? See if we have any fuel leaks and do a quick pre-flight?"
Fresh keeps working on the Raptor, checking here and there to make sure that the bird actually /works/. "Yes, yes everything looks good" repeats the man, finally reassuring himself of that fact. He listens to Tags and moves outside the Raptor, pushing himself down with the rest of the group "You take this bird El-Tee, she's ready" When he's finally down with the rest, he nods and says "I'll take the other Raptor, we'll get them both out and have a good meal when we get back to Cerberus"
It isn't long before Skeeter picks her way down through the maze. She's alone, too. This probably wasn't a journey she wanted to make alone by the looks of her. Her face is a sheet of white. She just approaches and can take the hint. Blowing up a Hangar. Right. Its powered with no other way out. "Uh, you got it El-tee." She jumps on up into the Raptor. "Okay, I'll plot this up. Whoever came up with this idea is godsdamned insane, though." She plugs her magnetic boots down and goes to work on the jump plot.
Shiner warns, stepping out onto the outside of the Raptor like some kind of overgrown spider, "You know I've never done a pre-flight on my own before, right?" Never mind one in zero-G. He chews on his lip, fumbling in the zip pocket of his suit for the checklist. Steadying his breathing, he carefully reminds himself of the job in hand, and moves over the hull of the vehicle methodically. Step by step, according to the book. Twice. "Uh. Got some kind of… liquid… stuff. Here. At the pointy end," he calls down. He's so helpful that way. "Could be oil, maybe?"
Ye-ah. Tags seconds Skeeter's opinion, really. He moves towards the wall with her, stepping onto it much as Fresh did, and slowly making the climb. "We survive this jump, Skeet, I owe you a beer when we get back to Cerberus." He carefully launches himself over to the ship and through the broken windshield. As his boots reattach to the deck of the Raptor, he swivels a little to eye just where Shiner is. "Is it a problem?"
Coll nods to Shiner. "Up front? Its probably the hydraulic lines for the ordnance." She looks back towards Tags. "No, sir. Ain't a problem. Just tell Petty Officer Damon about it when we get back. It wouldn't clear off any normal deck but..?" That fades away. "Awesome job Shiner. Alright, I'll shut off the fuel. Let's unhook her and get movin. I've had enough of my visit to the Corvus." She reaches up with her gloved hand and shuts off the fuel flow with a drop fist on the handle. The rubber line goes slack and the counter in the wall stops immediately. "Alright, let's get the frak outta here. Shiner? Comin with us or jumping out with the El-tee?"
Fresh looks at that liquid and only when Coll clears it as being nothing to worry about, he breathes again. "Alright then.." starts Ethan, clapping his hands together "Let's get the frak out of this place, shall we?" He takes a few steps back and is about to turn around to leave but stops to see what Shiner answers. "El-Tee, don't forget the rest of the crew, yes? We all drink beer I do believe" an amused soft smile is shown and then he gets ready to leave, finally.
Shiner scrambles to unhook the fuel, letting the hose just fall away in slow motion through the hangar, then shoving himself off to walk down the wall again and back towards Coll. "I'm coming out how I came in, Bud," he decides. "This place gives me the willies, and riding a ghost ship gives me the willies even more."
"Are you jumpin' me outta a closed hangar with no windshield, a missing hatch, and an oil leak?" Tags replies to Fresh, giving a grin as he does. "No. You're climbing out and gettin' back in to a nice cozy enclosed box office with all its working parts. You get your own beer." A beat. And then he laughs. "But, we get that good meal an' I might spring for a pitcher to share around." Which, really equates to the same thing. Beer's beer. He moves forward toward the pilot's seat, now, and starts looking at just what the real operable condition of the broken down bus really is.
"Heh. Copy that, Shiner. No arguments." There's no humor in her voice either. "El-tee, I'd ride with you but I want to check another Raptor up there. Thought I saw a couple sets of munitions on it. If there are, I want to grab them. Shouldn't be more than a few minutes. Just have Stiffy spin the FTL, aye sir?" she asks politely before moving off towards the inky blackness once more, the black bag begin drug through the zero-G behind her.
"Suuuuure" says Ethan with a bit of a laugh. Oh, boobs, how precious and powerful are thee. Now, he just turns around and follows Coll "Oh yes, let's get some more stuff to get back to Cerberus, the more we can use, the better" Looking over his shoulder "Let's go Shiner, don't think you want to stay here more than we do" an easy smile comes after this, he is just glad that they found a usable Raptor. YAY. Flashlight back on, he just walks into the darkness, like Coll.
Shiner wrinkles his nose, wiping his gloved hands down his suit by habit, and moves to head after Coll and Fresh, ready to lend a hand with whatever they find. "What, one bird isn't enough? Chief'll wet himself when he sees it."
Once Tags is satisfied that his board works, at least, he attends to the rest of the situation. "Right. You still with us, Stiffy? Bud, Shiner, and Fresh are on their way back up to you. Start spinnin' up the FTL. There's a pitcher back on Cerberus with our names on it." Right on the heels of that is, "Munitions are good, crewman. Do what needs doin', but do it quickly. Skeeter wants her beer."
The trio pick their way back towards the same hole they came down. The rope turned out to be pretty handy for grtting back up to it and not having to walk back up the walls and around the whole room. They pick their way up towards the top and are just about to crest when Stiffy makes a radio call. Her voice hushed and worried. "Sir! Eyeballs on Raiders. Five of them. They're circling through this area. ..Looks like one of them is heading our way." They most really be hauling ass because its only a few seconds before the afterburners on the rear of the intruder light up the inside of the flight pod. It slows dramatically, then. "El-tee. I think we've been busted. I'm in the Raptor, though." She sounds like this is the last place she wants to be. Then, just above the hole, it appears. Shooting jets of compressed gas, the Raider comes to a hover with its right wingtip a mere five or six feet from their exit. Its guns are aimed directly at the Raptor.
Coll becomes frozen at the first radio call. When it appears damned nearly close enough to touch, her breathing nearly stops. Its only a few feet further than the height of an average man to that wingtip. "Oh my gods."
Shiner bumps into Coll before stopping, eyes wide. "Ah… shit. What the frak do we do now?" he asks anyone in general, glancing back down towards the hangar. "Will it go away?"
Ethan spends 1 luck points on SPARTAAAAAAAA!!!!.
<FS3> Ethan rolls Athletic-25: Success.
Frak. Tags looks up automatically towards where the Raider hovers, the light spilling through the hole and the hatch. "Bud, Shiner, Fresh. Get your asses back down here. Jump, if you have to. Stiffy, you're gonna need to make the jump to Cerberus, yourself. Wait for my mark to tell you when they're clear." He's hoping, and it may be a vain hope, that the Raider won't fire at Stiffy before she's outta there… before the others are able to jump out with him. "Skeeter, we good to go? We're all gonna need to punch it. Move, people!" If the Raider fires, they're dead. If the Raptor jumps before they're safe in the retrieval craft, they're dead. With luck, Tags may only lose one person outta this. With a frak-ton of luck, he'll lose no one. Or he'll be dead, himself, and won't care.
"Disregard that order…" says Ethan as he looks at the Raider pointing at the Raptor "Tags, if we go, the Rider will still open fire and destroy the Raptor" He gulps and takes a deep breath "Bud, Shiner…get your asses in the Raptor after I do something." he takes another deep breath and looks at Coll "Lauren, I'm sorry" With that said, Ethan looks at the Raider again and gives a step forward, and another, and another…and then he finds himself picking up speed, regardless of the magnets in his boots. The young pilot reaches the wing of the Raider and uses both hands to get a hold of it. With his incoming speed and all, he just /tackles/ the damn thing.
<FS3> Coll rolls 6: Good Success.
Ethan may have gotten a decent hold of it, but its a Cylon Raider. There isn't a whole hell of a lot you can do. The move seems to sure as hell piss the Raider off, though. The impact is enough to make it try and adjust aim, but the sudden addition of mass has it freak the frak out. Thrusters on the whole Raider fire at once and it lifts away from the hole and rapidly clims towards the top of the pod. Its aim is well and truly spoiled. It tries to maneuver but something isn't right. It sputters and waggles its wings up in the space above Shiner and Coll.
"Copy, sir," Coll whispers. This is probably about the worst place to be. She's not about to question orders like that. But Ethan..wait, what? "Sorry about-" She doesn't get to finish. "Gods! Ethan!" She watches this go down with ill-disguised shock. Though its only a moment before she moves to grab Shiner. "GET TO THE RAPTOR! STIFFY! GET READY TO JUMP!" Coll is off like a shot. A shot in magnetic boots. Covering that fifteen meters is like trying to sprint in sand.
"That guy's frakking /nuts/!" Shiner exhales, eyes wide. He just stands and gawps for a moment, before remembering himself, and with Coll's assistance (or grab, as the case may be), he gets himself moving. The magnets are flipped off and he throws himself in a graceful swan dive through the air for the Raptor, going for speed over safety.
Ethan spends 2 luck points on Hoooolding on..
<FS3> Ethan rolls Athletic-25: Success.
"What the bloody frak?!!" Tags can't really see the Ensign. But, he does know his orders have just been gainsaid. "Ensign, what the frak you doin'?!!" The lights above flicker on account of the Raider's bucking. "What the frak's going on, up there?" It's not like he didn't consider the cost of the other Raptor when he made his call, after all. He doesn't want to lose anyone. Of course, now… Gods know what's going to happen.
Wooooooah there horsie! Ethan manages to hold on to it's wing, the man goes upwards along with the Cylon Raider. Multiple voices echo in the intercom of the helmet and he just shouts at it "GET THE FRAK OUT OF HERE! NOW!" Seriously guys, while this thing thinks it's a bronco. It is of course, starting to hurt like hell and he battles to keep his grip, because as long as he does, the thing won't be able to aim….he hopes.
Centrifugal force represents the effects of inertia that arise in connection with rotation and which are experienced as an outward force away from the center of rotation. When a Cylon Raider can't get something off its wing that should not be there, it produces this. En masse. It begins one hell of a rotation, spinning along the center axis. It doesn't take long before Ethan is flung off. His body flies off to the side and impacts the side of the pod. The Raider, with its red eye, wheels on the probable location and spots the young Ensign. It doesn't take much. It also doesn't see the rest of the group fleeing into Stiffy's Raptor. Its called Target Fixation. Biomechanical switches flip inside the Raider and in another instant, the wings twinkle. Shell casings float away while cannons roar. Its aim is just a little high at first but it doesn't take but a fraction of a second to adjust. The wall chews up around him before those 30mm tracers find home at their target.
"JUMPING, LIEUTENANT!" Stiffy yells, watching the scene from the cockpit in horror. As soon as the two are into the cabin her hand slams down on the controls. The last thing they see before jumping home is the Raider slowly turreting in place to bring its guns to bear on the Raptor. Ethan bought them that precious few seconds. The light flashes and when it fades, the Cerberus Battlegroup floating peacefully around the Anchorage. They never get to see the entire flight pod of the Corvus implode on itself. Heres' Raptor blows a massive hole in the Hangar deck and sets off a chain reaction of Tylium lines blasting apart as the whole aft section of the Flight Deck collapses onto itself - crushing that Raider and all that remained of Ensign Ethan "Fresh" Weber.