| Into the Lungs of Hell |
| Summary: | A Raptor is sent to Leonis to drop off supplies and medevac a few of the wounded. |
| Date: | 22 May 2041 AE |
| Related Logs: | Anything with Leonis. |
| Players: |
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| Ina Raptor, Yo! |
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| Buttons. Switches. Its a party. |
| Post-Holocaust Day: #85 |
Tillman met them on the Deck with specific orders: "Get in, get out. If you can get the wounded, then do so. If you think its too risky at any point then abort. Nobody will hold it against you. Your first priority is coming home." So with a parting salute, the XO left them on the Deck and headed for CIC while the knuckledraggers loaded the contents of the resupply: four large crates. Two of them are stocked full of explosive ordnance like AP ammo and grenades. The other two are filled with medical supplies and MRE's. So after take-off some minutes later, the crew floats away from the Battlegroup. In the backseat is LTJG Emerson, a short woman who seems to know her ply with the ECO station. "Alright. FTL is spooled and we're ready for jump on your mark."
Temperance's jaw is set in a tight grimace, as she glances from her controls to her view of the stars in front of them with narrowed eyes. Load her ship up with ammo and meds and ask her to fly through Cylon space, down to a cylon planet, and load up some already injured people to cart back through that madness home? She's /totally/ calm about that. "Command, Knickers, ready for FTL. See you when we get home." Gritting her teeth once more, she calls back to the newly met rook along for the ride. "Ready, Fresh?"
While things are getting ready for the jump, Ethan does a control check, just to make sure that everything 'does' look OK. It's kind of a religious experience, to be flying a Raptor loaded with pretty fireworks, but he wanted the assignment so, no complaints there, at all. "I'm ready, Knickers…" says the man to the lady Raptor pilot. He adjusts his harness just a bit more and takes a deep breath "Let's get them back"
Emerson can be heard flipping switches. "DRADIS is passive. …Transponders secured. Swallows armed and secured. We are under emissions control." The ship is electronically quiet and emitting nothing. She cracks her neck in the helmet and tightens the straps to her chair. Tillman replies quickly over the comms, then: "Blackjack One-Five, Cerberus. You are cleared for jump. Be careful down there. Cerberus, out."
"Please watch m' back fer me, sir," Temperance murmurs to Emerson lightly. "Ain't sayin' ya wouldn't normally, but I got ta admit, I'm gettin' mighty sick a' havin' Raiders pop outta nowhere on m' five." She takes a deep breath in, a deep breath out, nods to Ethan, and inputs FTL. There's that sickening lurch, and they're on their way, to either glory and rescue, or fire and doom.
"They tend to do that, don't they?" says Ethan, with a bit of a bitter smile. The rook shakes his head and looks over his shoulder at the cargo and the ECO "Let us hope we don't get Christmas lights on that DRADIS" his attention returns to whatever is out there as he sits next to Temperance. He adjusts his weight on the seat and takes a deep breath, and they are gone.
<FS3> Coll rolls Technical: Good Success.
"Jumping in three..two..one.." Emerson sits back in the chair as it reaches zero and the whole ship is enveloped in a dazzling white light for a brief moment. Then suddenly, they're at Leonis. The ship bucks and shakes with the medium-altitude entry onto the planet. "Whoa!" she calls out. "Alright! Almost nailed the position. We're about thirty miles from Kythera! DRADIS looks clear." Out in front of them, the late afternoon sun beats down on the surface. Lush forests run for miles in almost every direction. Its almost like the war never happened. Way out ahead Kyhtera's outskirts disappear into a humid haze just before the downtown area is visible.
"DRA - DRADIS looks clear?" Temperance calls in disbelief. "Let's go, let's go! I wanna burn fuel afore those frakkers realize we're 'ere." She punches the Raptor a bit faster - not so fast as to break the sound barrier and call mass amounts of attention, but certainly nearly there. "We're gonna make it," she mutters to herself softly. "We're actually gonna get ou' a here wi' them."
Seeing Leonis once again gives Ethan a weird sensation, he closes his eyes and received flashes of events that happened years and years ago. When he opens them, he nods in acceptance "DRADIS clear is always a good thing" now he looks at Temperance and says "You are doing fine Knickers" this said to maybe help ease the nerves a bit. He? He's frakking nervous too and it tells when he adjusts his position on the chair again "I'm a Leonis Citizen, born here, my dad used to work at the Shipyard, he helped put Cerberus together you know?" some light conversation but maintaining full focus on everything out there. "Alright Knickers, let's do this"
"Ha! Yeah! Its clear! At least, there isn't anything transmitting!" Emerson nearly sounds like she might squee but its restrained. More rocker switches are flipped as she begins scanning any radio frequencies. "Suggest we drop down to the deck, Ensign. Hug the terrain. There may not be anything out there but I don't want to tempt them."
"I'll fly this thing upside down iffn' ya think that'll make a difference, long as we get there fast as we can, sir," Temperance laughs nervously. But Ethan gets a sympathetic look and then, "Listen, darlin', I'd love ta listen ta ya tell me 'bout that some other time. But iffn' I'm streamin' this bird towards injured people an' waitin' fer a Cylon ambush, I ain't gonna be able ta do that real well iffn' I'm lookin' 'round thinkin' 'bout yer daddy worked 'ere, ya used ta play there, an' so did thousands 'a dead little kids. You an' I, we'll 'ave a drink an' ya can tell me all 'bout it then, but ya tell me 'bout it now, an' all I'm gonna see on this pretty planet are th' people what ain't 'ere anymore." She'd pat his hand, but then they'd crash, so she settles for a wink in his direction and goes back to zipping to their destination.
Ethan laughs amusedly at that comment and nods "Sure thing, you do your flying…" he offers a soft smile and then sits back on his seat. Ethan looks down at his gun, and no, it's not to shoot Temperance with it, come on!. Now it's time to analyze all the potential scenarios that they might encounter down there, many of them, for whatever reason, seem to require guns. He presses his lips together and keeps looking at the Leonis he knew.
"Just keep it low and fast, Ensigns. We'll get through this." Emerson hopes so, anyway. "Last reported position according to Command puts them nearby the Eternal Bridge. We should be over that position in two minutes. Want me to break radio silence or just wait for them to pop smoke?" She glances up front to look out the window and back to her ECO panel. Out ahead, the bombed out and skeletal remains of the once grand city stand in stark contrast to the evergreen forests around them. Tall towers have been crushed between the weight of nuclear attack and now lay strewn across the terrain like so many childrens toy blocks. Very few of the old landmarks remain. "Hold this heading for the bridge."
"Yes, sir, holdin' heading, an' no on the radio, iffn' ya don't mind. Rather wait fer them ta signal ta us than take the chance'a bringin' a welcomin' party out fer a romp." Temperance has the Raptor moved down as low to the ground as she safely can, and her jaw ticks with each second that goes by, each second they get closer, each second nothing pops out at them.
Ethan nods in acceptance to Temperance's call, he agrees with that one. "If some type of long range radar is in place, we are better without radio. Still, any type of signaling has it's potential dangers." He looks down and rechecks for status, things can chance pretty fast so he better keep a close eye on that one. For a few seconds, he holds down his breath, heartbeat faster now, they are reaching destination.
"Copy that, Ensigns. Looks like we should be seeing the Eternal Bridge out front any second. The river for sure." Emerson leans back in the chair and looks back out again. Up ahead, sure enough, is where the bridge should be - but its not. The whole thing has been blown to pieces and the span has collapsed into the river. "Godsdamn," the ECO breathes. "Okay.." She busies herself back at the ECO station. "No ground transmissions so far. Everything still looks clear. Watch for popped smoke. Might wanna take up a racetrack pattern around the bridge unless you just wanna make some high speed passes at the location." Sounds like the choice is left up to them.
Temperance opens and closes her mouth for a moment, eventually biting her lip as she thinks. It's possibly just occuring to her that there is no Command giving her orders, Trask isn't her ECO on this one, telling her what to do. There's no one to defer to here - she's the pilot, she's the one who has to decide. And she doesn't look so calm about that - in fact, she looks a tiny bit green. "Racetrack," she says after some hesitation. "I don't want to risk the sound of high speed here."
Meanwhile, on the ground…
| The Eternal Bridge - Leonis |
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| Despite its well-augured name, the Eternal Bridge did not emerge unscathed from the recent Cylon assault. The four-kilometer span that connects both banks of the city is now no more than a broken ruin, its brilliant steel towers jutting up from the riverbed while its deck lies crumpled and sagging. Carved stone casements once held aloft by decorative caryatids are now blackened reflections of their original selves. Bits and pieces of those statues lie with exploded sedans and smashed asphalt on the corpse-covered shores, caressed by softly rolling waves that reach almost to the cliffs. |
| Post-Holocaust Day: #85 |
Late afternoon and the pouring showers from last night have sputtered off into just a bit of drizzling rain. At least it's helped with the heat, and some of the stench there in. Maggie's on her Task of the Day, which has been held over from last night because it's taking that long. She's got Lunair's comb and is slowly picking through, bit by bit, every knot in her hair. She's got about half her head done now and that half is tightly french braided as to not get matted again until she gets back to the ship. She sitting on a tree stump just on the edge of camp, watching everything with tired eyes.
Samuel makes his way along through the camp, humming a little bit to himself as he's moving. When he notices Quinn, he starts making his way over in that direction, a bit slowly for now. Stopping as he seems to be hearing something, he looks to the sky, rather carefully for now.
Alessandra's been up and down since her injury with today being one of those off days. She's low on energy and looks like she is feeling shitty, her face especially pale and damp with sweat. Sitting up with her back against a tree, she simply watches people come and go while she tries to do some minor organizing of what's left of her belongings, her pack opened beside her with what few things she has in her possession strewn about it.
Trask is out and about, standing guard near Quinn and his duffel. Wearing his gear, including his backpack, the events of last night are patently ignored, even if the promise given to his Captain firmly remains. Right now, though? She's still the SL of the Harriers, and he's not about to let her tenure be cut short. Ears perk at a distant sound. The ECO knows aircraft and what he hears is definitely that. "Jet engines, comin' up quick. Come on, hustle." Which means he's about to start hauling the redhead to a safer position.
Quinn swears softly, hearing it herself, "Yeah… coming from the west… gotta have a defendable position somewhere around here!" She curses and throws her arm around his shoulders, leaning heavily aganist him so they can start hauling ass as they please, without her putting any weight on that splinted and bandaged leg. She's all business now, all professional. Injured or not, she's still a Captain in the colonial navy.
Samuel pauses a bit, nodding a little. Heading over in Alessandra's direction, while glancing to the sky every now and again, "Something's coming," he offers to her, as his attention goes to his rifle, for a few moments. Just in case.
"Hold on," Trask says, quickly maneuvering to get the duffle over one shoulder and Quinn on the other. "Y'arright?" he asks her. Not that it matters. He needs to get her to cover ASAP. Good thing that one of his rules is that his pilot is permitted to venture only so far from such cover.
"Wait… what?" Alessandra missed the sound until it is brought up, it causing a look of panic to fall over her. "Gods…" She scrambles to throw her shit in the pack and it's hauled with her as she gets to her feet, hurrying for as long as it takes her to realize it is a Raptor. Gasping, she moves quickly behind another tree, this one about twenty feet from where she was sitting, just in case this is some kind of frakking trick. Color her paranoid.
-His- pilot? Oh, Maggie would so throttle him for those thoughts. Fortunately, she's not a mind reader, and they're also not that far from cover or from the main camp, all of them having been hovering near the edge of the bedding down area, but now on the move to slightly safer positions. "Fine, fine, let's just… move…" She blinks, looking up, her eyes narrownig… "Frak me…is that one of…ours?" SHe breathes out, suddenly moving a bit slower.
Samuel pauses a little bit as he watches the happenings up there. Moving over to get hold of his things now, just in case. Keeping silent for the moment.
Yes. -His- pilot. Quinn may protest but she totally loves it. Nothing could dissuade Trask from that belief, anyway. At mention of a Raptor, he peeks that way, still remaining in cover. "Dunno if it's one of ours or one that used to be ours. Until I see people I recognize, we remain put." Lucky does not hold the monopoly on paranoia.
Laskaris and Tisiphone, along with that eerily silent guy Chris from the news crew and a marine, are not with the rest of the group, but hunkered down on the edges of the bridge wreckage, serving as sentries — or bait, depending on your point of view. Lasher's head cranes upwards at the sounds of engines overhead, but he stays crouched behind the burnt-out husk of a car, an anxious expression on his face as he sights nothing above them.
Tisiphone is hunkered down near the blown-apart remnants of The Eternal Bridge, not too far from the Knights Captain. She's twitchy and restless, and for once, it pays off — she whistles low and sharp under her breath to get Lasher's attention, and points toward a growing speck on the horizon, coming from the direction of CFAS Anadyomene. "Sir. Think that's it over there."
"Yeah, fine." Maggie murmurs, remaining low under the bit of cover he's managed to help her limp towards, but there's hope in her eyes. The first real hope in a while now. They were getting off. They were all -going home-, right? But it's just one raptor. How could one raptor take everyone down there. She frowns, "Looks like a lone gun.. maybe it's not one of ours. They'd bring back up…" Right? Her voice is nothing but a whisper against the wind, barely heard and then only for Trask's ears as they remain hidden.
There's no way Alessandra's seeing what's going on, the Raptor's approach lost on her even if she can still hear it. "Sam," she whispers while her rifle's looked for, a sudden panic coming over her. "Do you know what's going on?" Confused, she is having to rely on him to fill in the missing blanks.
Lasher's head lolls to the side at Tisiphone's whistle, and his eyes twitch upwards. Indeed, there it is, a dark blot against the grey clouds, growing ever larger as the whine of engines grows ever louder. He narrows his eyes as he looks up at the thing, studying it for a moment before slowly going to the emergency radio clipped to his belt.
Samuel pauses a bit as he hears Alessandra's question. "Seems like we've got incoming. Sounding like a Raptor or something, although to me, all aircraft engines sound like noise, I'm afraid." Another pause, and he frowns, "Let's hope it's one of ours…"
"Toast came solo," the ECO murmurs. Even so, time on Sag was enough to know, "/Should/ be more." Unthinkingly, it is followed with, "Might've been." Not a pleasant thing to note. Brown eyes remained trained on the sky, trying to find the vanished speck. There's tension, and he remains poised to grab Quinn and start running at a moment's notice.
"She did…maybe it's her. Just another fly by-chat…" Maggie murmurs, some of that hope slipping away. It's not enough to get them all off. Not nearly enough. "If…if they take anyone back, you should go. We need a strong SL up for the Harriers so they can come get everyone else. I mean it." Maggie is fairly useless in the water right now, why waste valuable space on a useless commodity? At least, that seems to be how she sees it.
[TAC3] "Lasher" Laskaris says, "Evac Flight, Lasher. Suren hope that's you I'm seein' near the bridge, otherwise we're all about to have a real bad day."
[TAC3] "Knickers" Temperance says, "Lash, Knickers. Tryin' not ta transmit so's not ta attract attention. Got some goods fer ya, need ta do this fast an' quick. Gather up yer wounded an' whatnot, got a bit'a room fer 'bout three ta head back wi' us. See ya soon."
[TAC3] "Lasher" Laskaris says, "Understood. We're on the east bank near what's left of the bridge. Put down where you can."
Ethan looks at Temperance for a moment and then back outside, when Lasher's voice sounds on the TAC3 channel, he opens his mouth to say something but Temperance beats him to the punch. "East bank…" he looks that way and nods in acceptance while pressing his lips together "Knickers, I think we can lower the thrust output of the engines a bit, after that message from Lasher, it should be fairly easy to find them and hopefully attract less attention from the Cylon"
In the back, Emerson has already heard the transmissions and strips off her helmet quickly, turning in her seat as she unbuckles. "Fresh, gimme a hand with this equipment and the wounded." The helmet is tossed onto a seat and the ECO begins working on the straps that hold the boxes in place. Someone was expecting a bumpy ride.
Below them, the East bank is lain out with some wreckage of destroyed buildings but there is a clear area on the road beside the bank. It should offer just enough clearance to touch down on evenly.
"A what?" Alessandra sounds rather incredulous until, finally… "Frak. Me. Running backwards with a pitchfork," she says around the gasp for air; still suffering the ill effects of her wounds, Allie's scramble for cover and following panic has left her winded and she's still trying to catch her breath.
"Easy, sir. Such activities should be kept for when we're back on the ship, and not out in the wild," Samuel offers a bit quietly to Alessandra, before he studies her for a few moments, "Okay there?" Sounding a bit concerned for now.
"I'll go let them know, Sir?" Tisiphone whispers, looking away from her nervous scanning of the seemingly-abandoned streets, back to Laskaris. She flicks on the safety of her rifle, already starting to sling it over her shoulder.
After a hushed exchange with the pilot in the Raptor, Laskaris slips the radio back on his belt and nods. "Have at it," he says to Tisiphone in an equally muted voice. "Have a couple others come up with the wounded. Said they've got some things for us," Lasher adds a second later with a nod upwards. He stands slowly from his position of cover, anxiety momentarily abated as he watches the Raptor circle overhead.
<FS3> Temperance rolls Alertness: Good Success.
<FS3> Ethan rolls Alertness: Success.
Suddenly, from behind a destroyed car, one of the pilots stands up in full battle gear. He waves his arms and at the same time another figure moves off towards a nearby set of trees, running at full clip.
Temperance squints that way, but doesn't see anything just yet. "They must'a found an awful nice hidin' place, cuz I ain't seein' nothin'," she muses. "East bank it is, anyway." She knocks the thrusters down as per Ethan's suggestion and wheels them around, moving them smoothly over to the target area and hovers them down to the clearing. She catches sight of two people moving around, and gasps. "It's Lasher and Tisiphone," she breathes in relief. "We got 'em." Once they're on the ground, she's unstrapping herself and wheeling around to hop out as fast as possible. Post and pre flight checklist be damned, she's leaving this thing on for a quicker getaway.
Ethan nods after Temperance's comment "I thought it was Lasher…" he is still not familiar with everyone. Now he gets his harness off and looks over his shoulder at the ECO "Yes, Sir" the Ensign takes off his helmet and leaves it on the copilot seat. He stands up and moves over towards the ECO, between the heavy looking boxes. He looks over his shoulder at the Knickers and nods to her. "Alright, time to do some unloading and loading after that, let's get to it." With that said, he hits the 'OPEN' nifty button to get the door.
Tisiphone sweeps a glance around the street, then looks back to Laskaris as she nods. "Yessir," she says — and she's off, running back toward the camp as fast as she can while staying crouched to the level of the nearby cars. It doesn't take her long to cross the distance — the group never moved very far from their initial, ah, landing spot amongst the base of the bridge. "Ride's here," she calls once she's hit the riverbank, voice scratchy when she raises it. "Need extra hands up there. Extra supplies to hand off."
Whatever. Quinn's ass is gonna be on one of those seats even if Trask has to personally yank someone else out and strap her in. Even though he sees the slow circling of the Raptor, he doesn't budge until he gets some manner of confirmation. "Yanno, I prefer my ego being stroked without an underlying current of self-pity," he quietly cracks. Oh, but then there is Ensign Fuzzy-Wuzzy. "Right. Time to move, Magpie."
Ride's here? Is she dreaming? Maggie's eyes go a bit wide, her brow furrowing at him as she's about to snap back but, well, they'll figure it out there. Part of her knows it's going to be wounded, no matter the cost to the military, so why waste time fighting? "Alright, alright! I'm movin'…" She mutters to him, beginning that quick limp at his side. "…This doesn't seem real…" she breathes out a heartbeat late.
Sam gets a shake of Allie's head as response to his concerned question. "I'm fine," she says however, contradicting the side-to-side motion of her head. "Felt better but frak, think that can be said by everyone, right?" Tis' voice is caught and she looks off towards her, her brow arching a bit. "Supplies. Guess we got our answer as to what's going on, huh?" Taking one more breath in, she looks around one more time before running as fast she can, keeping herself behind Trask and Maggie.
Samuel shrugs a little bit as he hears Allie's words, before he gets to his feet at the mention of the supplies, starting to run as well. And staying positioned on the run so he can keep an eye on the woman, in case her headshaking is telling the truth, not her words. Glancing around carefully for a few moments.
Kal and Quinn aren't running so much as they are moving like a three-legged horse attempting to canter. There will be no glue or gelatin made outta Maggie, if Trask can do anything about it. "Have Tillman pinch your ass when you get home." Then she'll know if it's real or not.
Quinn is getting a bit breathless in this crazy little race, definitely probably an amusing sight with one side of her head picked out and in a french braided pigtail, and the other side of her head matted and frizzed like the bride of frankenstein. She smirks to him as they hobbledash. "All yer… frakkin' talk about Tillers and I… I think yer frakkin' obsessed. Whatever stops ya from bein' lonely… at night…" She teases lightly.
"That'd be my left hand, honey muffin," Trask quips back to Quinn, still hauling as much ass as the redhead safely can. "And lemme tell ya, I never feel lonely."
Ensign Fuzzy-Wuzzy?! Well. It's two weeks and change since her last buzz. Who wouldn't be? Tisiphone steps back so the others can get by her more easily, muttering, "Over here. It's easier to climb," as she gestures toward her suggested route of ascent. She watches Trask and Quinn, then Alessandra, move past before she moves to follow then back up toward Laskaris's post.
The climbing is kind of slow going for Lucky and by the time she's back it is easy to see she's hurting, each breath coming in a faint wheeze and her left arm pinned tightly around her chest. By the time she's reached the top she's sinking to her knees, her pep officially pooped.
Samuel makes sure to stay behind the others as they move up the top of the little climb, pausing at a few times to look around, before getting to the top with the others.
The Raptor overhead circles once in a pattern and slowly begins the approach. Though the canopy glass, two people in the back can be seen moving around. But the approach isn't slow, either. These pilots are in a hurry. The Raptor flares briefly as it approaches a clear strip of the road and settles down. The door is already opening when the skids make contact. Inside it, LTJG Emerson, the ECO, and Ensign 'Fresh' are working on ripping the straps off of four large crates that are secured to the floor.
"Wondered why you insisted on always takin' the left side of the bed. Now I'm sad I thought about it." Maggie quips again quietly, and then they're climbing. Frak, this won't be fun. Her upper half has, if anything, gotten stronger through this whole ordeal, so she's climbing with her arms and hopping/pulling her legs up to get to the next ledge. Fortunately, it's not that long of a climb, but she too is beyond winded for any more quips by the time they're almost there, "…frak…me… on a …stick."
The Raptor is still on, hot, and ready to go, when a face pops out around the boxes and whatnot and Knickers scans the area for the people making their way over. "TISIPHONE!" she hollers excitedly in the other woman's direction. "Who's comin' wi' us? Are ya alrigh'?" She'd really like to vault over these boxes right now, but she shifts her weight from side to side and tried to exert some patience. "Where's th' rest 'a them?"
Ethan works along with Emerson to get those crates free of the straps. He lifts his gaze now and looks towards Lasher and Tisiphone, offering a short wave to them and a nod but immediately resuming his task. "Ok, let's get these off…" says the Ensign as he gets a secure grip of one of the crates handles. After this, he just partly lifts one side and pulls towards the Raptor door.
By the time he reaches the top, Trask is also feeling a bit winded. That's probably because he's opted to shoulder Quinn as much as possible, even while climbing. "Yeah… well…" he pants a little, "I'm not… stingy… with foreplay." He, however, isn't so tired to not quip, "That's… Tillman's job… stick… or no stick."
Quinn gives a bit of a -glare- towards Trask as he brings it up between breaths now that they are in earshot of everyone, "Just tell the whole frakkin' crew…I should send you back on this thing, gimmie some peace and quiet at night, finally." She breathlessly grumbles as they crawl over the edge of the hill, right near the landing spot. And… down she goes. Once dislocated knee having taken the adrenaline spurt to get her through this but now that home and safety is in sight, it just buckles under her…"Frak!"
Upon leaving the riverbank ascent behind and returning to the blasted city streets, Tisiphone stoops to brace her hands against her knees. She pulls in a few deep breaths before pushing onward. Now that everyone's made it to the top, she moves past the injured folk to quick-step it toward the Raptor, leaning wearily against the open doors as she peers in. Fuzzle-headed and sunburned, she musters a quick flick of a grin to Temperance. "Daphne's okay," she says. "Stephen's okay. Captain Quinn and Lucky are hurt, think they're coming back with you. Have a frakking hot shower for me, okay?"
As the Raptor touches down, Laskaris makes his way stiffly over to the parked craft. Still feeling the effects of his earlier wounds is the Viper captain, though he has no plans to accompany the evac flight himself. A startled look goes to Temperance. "Rein it in, Ensign," he says sharply. "Get these bloody crates down, already," he barks to Tis and the two she brought back with her. "Need to get those two out of here." Allie and Quinn, presumably.
Emerson hefts the crate with Ethan and hauls it towards the door. "C'mon! Let's move with a mission! Knickers, get the other crates or help the wounded!" The little Jig isn't in the mood to get stuck planetside. Not when there's hot food and warm bunks back on the Cerb. The first crate is slid easily enough onto the winglet and the ECO looks to Laskaris, the closest officer. "Sir! Two crates are filled with AP ammo and frags. Other two have med supplies and food. Heavy on the food!" She then straightens and hops down from the doorway to make sure there's room as she reaches into a zippered pocket. "Got something else, sir. Message for Lieutenant Kulko. From Command."
Alessandra darts a wary look towards Tisiphone and the Raptor's crew, her expression priceless; eyes wide and brows drawn up to just about her hairline, she looks shocked in the way a kid might after being clued in to the fact that Santa Claus isn't real. "I want to stay," she starts to say to Laskaris in protest but she suddenly falls quiet, unable to get anymore words out as she fights the urge to argue.
"Don't have to," he heaves, his breathing slowly normalizing, "Y'already did on Beltaine." Oh, yes. He went that. Just like he goes to, "Peace and quiet at night… I /used/ to know what that was like." Oh to the snap. The universe has a nasty sense of humor, though. Case in point: no sooner than that crack is made, Quinn's knee makes a crunching sound. "Frak." Trask's heartrate just shot back up. "A little help here!" he calls out. "Preferably more than a little…" Meanwhile, the ECO is doing his best to keep -his- pilot's weight on himself.
Listening to the others, Samuel nods a bit to himself. "Let's make sure that they don't blow up the taxi here," he comments. Pausing a bit at Alessandra's words, he turns to offer her a grin, "We need you to go back and make sure that people back there know what they're doing, sir," he offers to her. "And the rest of them will be fine, I'll look after them," he offers with a bit of a grin. Turning as he hears Trask's call. "On it…" Moving to help the ECO with getting Quinn to the Raptor now.
Lucky's shooting disbelieving looks at Money, who's shooting another one of those black and unfriendly glares at Lasher. It's Musical Chairs: The Eye Edition. Tisiphone doesn't reply to Laskaris, though she /does/ turn to follow his orders, helping to drag the crates off the Raptor's wing, as fast as they can manage.
There's pain and then there's -pain-. Possibly the knee has slipped out again, or she's just getting too old to do this, but Maggie's half unconscious from the wave of sheer agony that cuts across her from from that crunching knee…"Frak…frak…" She breathes out, no longer protesting going back to the ship, no matter how much she might want to…"You… you stay fightin'…down here… we'll come back for you… I promise… I promise.." She mutters breathlessly to Trask, over and over, tears in her eyes now and probably not just from the pain.
"Sir…" firmly says Ethan to Lasher, accompanied with a nod. The ECO gets a look but it's none of his business so he just keeps getting the crates off the Raptor. Since some of those are quite heavy, he lifts one end and drags the crates a little bit to get them over the wing and safely lower them to ground level. As space starts to clear up inside the Raptor, the young Ensign looks up and says "Coming!" this said to Trask and Quinn, and he promptly makes his way towards them, to assist.
"Well, well," Lasher muses as Emerson goes over the manifest. He smirks. "All we need is some booze and we can make it a proper resort town," the man deadpans to the ECO as he reaches out to accept the message for Kulko, shoving it into a pocket of his own. He looks over to Allie with a reproachful scowl. "You're going. No arguing."
<FS3> Trask rolls Alertness: Success.
<FS3> Ethan rolls Alertness: Success.
<FS3> Quinn rolls Alertness: Success.
Well, Temperance is going to just swallow that one down, because Lasher has likely been chewed on by bears, and because this really isn't the time and place to go toe to toe with a superior over some /feelings/. She bites her bottom lip, and neatly hops over the crates to help move the cripples to the door. She does, however, wait until she's moved past Lasher, when he's got his back to her, before quickly attempting to throw her arms around Tisi's neck in a supahug. There's no guarantee the Saggie's going to allow her to do this, mind you.
It's true. Trask -is- sporting a goose egg on his noggin, which makes the wearing of his helmet less than pleasant. For the new arrivals from the Cerberus, he's also sporting a trim beard. "Hold on, Maggie. Just a little longer." Despite the calm he wrestles into his voice, those expressive brown eyes are wide and a bit wild, tinged with anxiety and perhaps a hint of fear. "Don't worry. I'll be home soon. Bunny and Pickle, too."
Then he hears something above the heavy pounding of his own heart. "Shit. Trash cans. We gotta move it NOW." Whether or not Bootstrap's assessment of the noise is correct is moot in his mind. He's taking no chances.
Emerson smirks. "Heh. Yes, sir. Make sure he gets that." She points to the note as Laskaris puts it into his pocket. "I haven't read it but the XO told me I had orders to destroy it if we got shot down or it looked like we were going to get captured." She then blinks and her face goes expressionless. The Jig's eyes glance to the side as if something had been heard in her earpiece. She slowly turns back to look at the ECO panel but the chair is in the way. "Make a hole!" The woman begins scrambling back up into the Raptor.
Ethan finally reaches Trask and Quinn, he looks at them and finally focuses his attention on Quinn "I'm getting you out of here Ca——" now he lifts his gaze and looks over the source of something he just head "Oh Frak…." He looks at the Captain and shakes his head "No time…" and with that said, he moves his arms behind the captain's back and behind her knees, lifting the woman up in his arms. Time to run y'all! "We got a bit of a problem…." announces the young Ensign now. He looks at Trask and nods to the man "I'll take care of her…"
Samuel pauses a little at Trask's words, moving to help bringing Quinn into the Raptor. "I'll keep an eye on him, so he'll be back safe and sound," he offers to the Captain, being part of the huge crowd moving her into the relative safety of the Raptor now.
"…I swear by the gods…" Maggie gets a hold on herself just long enough. She can't go and leave them behind, yet she has to. She blinks against those tears in her eyes, staring up at her best friend whom she's soon going to be parted from, possibly permanently. "We're coming back…" SHe cracks out again, and then Ethan is there, and Samuel helping, and there are more arms around her than she knows what to do with. SHe's scooped into Ethan's arms, her grasp instinctively going around his neck, hanging on. There was no time to protest any more, no time to pray… "Gods… be with you…" She calls back to Samuel and Trask as she feels herself slipping away, the rustling jog to the Raptor going faster now.
Surprise hugs. Ut-oh. Tisiphone finishes helping with one of the supply crates, and stalks back over toward the Raptor's door, calling, "What's next?" as she goes. Her attention's split in a number of directions — Lasher, the approaching injured, the deafening roar of the Raptor's engines — and she doesn't clue in that she's about to be hugged until it's happening. "Temperance!" It's a startled shriek — the sort of sound someone makes when ice is dropped down their shirt. She manages an awkward pat-pat of the other woman's shoulders — or maybe she's trying to pry free — before she sort of duck-twists out, eyes wide with alarm. "Frak. Frak. Get ready to go. Don't you frakking /dare/ get shot down!" Backing away, casting a look around for crates to Make Clear from the immediate vicinity.
There's a quick span where Allie mulls over all the ways she could possible respond to the Captain but the majority of what goes through her mind is either the kind of commentary that'd get her into trouble with him or are the things she can't say at the moment. "I'm going to miss you," she quips before adding, "You know. Don't have anyone else to butt heads with besides you." That is said just before Trask tells them they have to move, her gaze snapping away from Laskaris towards the others. "Yes, stay safe, Lasher. You too, Sam. Pass on our well wishes to the others," she blurts hurriedly to make sure she gets it all out even as she struggles to hurry to the ship.
"Get the frak out of here," is Lasher's only reply towards the wounded, a noticable catch in his voice as he does so. He lingers near the side of the Raptor for a moment, casting one last concerned look towards the ship and the people scrambling aboard before he reluctantly turns back to the others and steps away from the ship. "Come on, godsdamnit, get those crates out of sight," he roars to the rest. "Time to get this movable beast on the road!" His sidearm is out, and he's moving with as much a sense of urgency as his own lingering wounds will allow.
It's fleeting, how he watches the departing Quinn, but there is an instant where Trask is all large, puppy dog eyes, like a pooch who's lost his owner and is now confined to the pound for possible euthanasia. It lasts not even three rapid heartbeats before he's back to hauling ass — this time to haul crates. "Less talking, more moving, people!"
Emerson slides into the seat quickly and stares at the DRADIS readout. "Oh. SHIT!" She immediately begins flipping switches. "Knickers! Fresh! Kick these crates off and get the wounded on NOW! WE GOTTA BOOK!" She twists quickly to the seat behind her and grabs her helmet up. "Forge sites and a Saber just active! ..Possible Raiders! Bearing three four five, charom zero-niner…four!" The helmet is secured with the clasps as she cranes to look behind her at the group. Meanwhile, the sounds of approaching Centurians finally reach even those near the engines. The thunder of the falling footsteps resonates in the ground and in the chest. They are getting closer.
"Will do," Samuel offers to Alessandra, before he starts for the crates. "We'll be back before you know it," he calls out back to the others, hurrying to the crates. And checking his rifle as well, very quickly.
With Quinn in his arms, the Ensign makes his way /FAST/ towards the Raptor. No time to talk right now, just a goal up ahead. He looks at Quinn and gives at least a reassuring expression to the woman, and then starts to pick up speed as he moves. Come on, come on, come on. When he reaches the Raptor, he gets in with Quinn and gently lowers the woman to one of the seats, securing her harness. When she is safely secured there, he looks outside and does a quick check on where everything is "Emerson, can we warm up the FTL and make a jump once we hit a safe altitude?"
Temperance doesn't hear what Tisi hears, but everyone's reactions and orders make it pretty clear what's about to happen. "Don't die!" she calls to Tisi quickly. Temperance takes one split second to look atound, and it's Trask she stops on, Trask and his egg sized lump. "BOOTSTRAP!" she yells over the sound of the engines. "Take my place! Go with Quinn! Fresh can fly the bird!" She's hedging her bets, though, and moving toward the ship just in case he refuses.
Being that he's already on the move to move crates, Knickers isn't heard. Even if she were, it's probable that Trask would just harshly deride the Ensign for not being aboard the bird 30 seconds ago.
Quinn is jostled and then set down in the warm, solid, strangely comfortable seat of the Raptor. Technology, home, familiarity. It still didn't seem real. Blinking against the tears down her face, she grabs her own harness, "I got it, Fresh, go… Just go.. we have to get out of here." And her own moment of losing it is, apparently, over. But she does look back to Trask, her throat tight again, staring into those eyes… ANd Temperance's offer is like a breath of fresh air. She tries not to hope. No one should have to be stranded down there, not Temperance, not Trask… But she can't entirely hide that hope that Bootstrap decides to come with.
Alessandra is climbing over, up and into the Raptor, the snapped order from Lasher being like the crack of a whip at her feet, more than enough to get her moving. One last look to the SL and then she's dissapearing, going to get herself strapped in. Scared witless and tired as hell, she can't do anything else but just wait.
Tisiphone has a long and proud history of being derided by Trask. Actually, there's only been a couple incidents, and she's not proud of any of them. Still, she's the one who hears Temperance's cry, and the nearest to Trask to carry it along over the Raptor's roar. To him, she shouts, "Temperance wants you to take her spot and go back with Captain Quinn, Sir!" She doesn't wait for a response, already turning to help drag one of the supply crates toward the edge of the riverbank.
"Get up in the air now, godsdamn you!" Lasher roars at the redhaired ensign as he retreats, eyes darting around as the sound of footsteps gets closer and closer. He's turning as he moves, trying to get an idea of where the approaching Centurions are coming from. The pistol is exchanged for the rifle, and it's gripped tightly in a ready position. "We don't have the time to play switcheroo, Ensign," he snaps at Tisiphone, watching over the rest of the group as they drag crates to the treeline.
Down the road, maybe half a mile, a line of Centurians appear to those outside and the canners don't waste their time. They open fire right away. Rounds ping off the Raptor's armor and Emerson reflexively flinches down inside the cabin of the Medevac bird. "Godsdamnit! On it, Fresh!" She swaps out one of the screens and begins FTL spool. "Three minutes!," the Jig shouts over the gunfire. "Knickers! Get your ass on board! We can take both of you!" The Centurians slowly begin marching towards the Raptor which is apparently their intended target.
Samuel frowns as he listens, and sees the Centurions. "Oh no…" Moving slightly away from the crates, he brings his rifle into a ready position now. "Get out of here!" he calls, with the others, towards the Raptor.
The second Ensign manages to catch Trask's attention. Between the heaving and hauling, and the 'GoGoGo!' running through his mind, the man still manages to make a 'wtf?' expression when what Tisiphone relayed finally is processed. Without pausing, Bootstrap's soft brown eyes turn hard. "ON THAT BIRD NOW! THAT IS A FRAKKING ORDER!" Trask livid? Oh. Hells. Yes. "GET THE FRAK OUTTA HERE! NOW!" Livid? Okay, that actually is an understatement.
Well, she offered, and that's all she can do. Taking his silence for refusal, and not deafness, she finally climbs into the bird and slides into her seat. Probably best for her sanity, she can't hear Trask blowing his gasket out there. Thankfully, she made the choice to leave it on, so all that's left is to rise up. "Get the door!" she yells, moving them up into the air and praying someone's close enough to slam that thing before people start tumbling out. There's really no time for safety. All the same, she's going to wait until someone confirms they've got that thing shut before she really starts to get some air under them.
All bits of hope that her best friend and partner in the skies might be coming back with them, since he is injured, are gone. And they do have to move. She shakes her head, "Just go, we have to go, now!" She echoes into the various commands being thrown around to the same intentions. Too late now. They had to get the frak out of her. Maggie holds on, staring over to those still on the ground, just watching as they begin to depart.
Ethan gets his ass on the co-pilot seat and nods "Copy that, Emerson" He shakes his head and goes "Frak!…" he doesn't like the idea of leaving the others behind, he doesn't like that not one bit. "Knickers, take us out!" calls out the Raptor pilot as he puts on his helmet. His hand extends to the panels and he starts to get the engines ready for take off, trying to ease up Knickers work. He looks over his shoulder at Allie and Quinn and then back "Hold on tight" Now he looks at the ones outside, he presses his lips together, his eyes say that he'll be back, he wants to be back…for all of them.
Quinn shifts, probably not the safest position, as close to the window as she can be, but she's watching the ground. Watching the impending threat and, more so…the men and women they've left behind. Tears continue to silently streak down her face, a shaken palm agains the window, as they do begin into their take off. She doesn't speak a word.
Tisiphone's head hunches down a little toward tensed shoulders at the sound of Trask's shout. She pointedly Does Not Look His Way while she continues to work at hauling the crates, boots skidding against the buckled pavement as she puts her shoulder against them and bodily shoves them along. Must. Get. To. Cover.
Emerson wheels to Temperance as the door is coming closed, aiming a gloved finger out the canopy glass. "Don't gain altitude! They've got us bracketed! Shove those throttles to the stops and take us low down the river! Might protect us from anti-aircraft fire!" She then looks back outside as the door closes and throws a stern-faced salute towards Laskaris as she disappears behind it. The Raptor begins a slow rise off the ground, the wings waggling a touch as the ship continues taking even more groundfire. Bullets clang and prang off the sides, causing sparks. A few even glance off the curved glass. Much longer on the ground and they would have been poking holes in that air-tight cabin.
Back in the Raptor…
"Don't - ahh! Okay! Okay. Okay." Temperance is full on talking to herself now, as she reverses everything she was previously doing and punches the Raptor low, fast, and straight along the river, instead of the up, high, and gone plan. With every ping and clang of fire, she cringes and winces - it all feels so different, with two injured bodies in need of rescuing at risk.
Alessandra's white faced and knuckled , her fingers curled around the flight harness as if her life depends on it. "Frak…" she whimpers. This is an entirely different ballgame from flying in a Viper, in her book, and she's pretty frakking scared shitless at the moment.
<FS3> Coll rolls ECM: Success.
Ethan fixes his harness once again and presses his lips together when the first bullet hits the Raptor. "Goddamit…" says the Ensign with a low tone of voice. "Emerson, how's the countdown on the FTL?!" asks Ethan to the ECO, not loosing focus on what's outside. He eyes Temperance and then back "Anything on the DRAIDS?" Keeping calm, keeping calm…it's hard to do sometimes but he needs to.
With the Raptor lifting off, the Centurians' fire fades away quickly as they dive down to the water and skim along the river. The half-destroyed buildings begin whizzing by the canopy glass. "Going Active!" Emerson calls from the ECO station as she flips a few switches. "Music on!" She flips on the jammers with the second call and pauses for a second. "I've got three Forges tracking us! Loose locks! ..Looks like four Raiders, too! SAM LAUNCH!" The Jig finally shouts the last. "Two-thirty to jump!" Out ahead, tracers appear firing across their paths. The bright yellow lines cut swaths across the sky, firing almost horizontally to the ground from unseen positions.
<FS3> Temperance rolls Raptors: Failure.
<FS3> Ethan rolls Raptors: Success.
<FS3> Coll rolls ECM: Success.
"Copy that, Emerson" calls out Ethan as he maintains an both eyes scanning /everything/, visuals are after all, of big importance. He spots something out of the corner of his eye and immediately gets a better grip on the controls, by instinct "Hold on!" and with that, he abruptly moves the Raptor to move out of harms way, dodging the tracers. He levels the ship once again, still holding his breath and with heart beating faster "Keep us informed, Emerson." Not even for a second, he lets his focus drop now, there are others that depend on them.
Temperance finally lets go of the breath she was holding in, and glances to Ethan gratefully. "Nice move, Fresh," she murmurs. "We've got ta get ta atmo," she calls back to Emerson. "Ain't never gonna get clear an' safe till we can jump. Jus' let me know when I can start ta take her up, yeah?"
For all the screaming and chaos that's going on in the Raptor, Jugs is… dead silent, and almost as pale as death too. Probably shock, or resignation, or grief… Or, most likely, a mix of all three. She's glued back to her seat, her hands fragile and loose in her lap, eyes half lidded now. Should anyone get close enough to Quinn to hear over the madness in the raptor, she's very, very faintly murmuring a quiet prayer, over and over…one of apology and begging for strength, for blessings…
The ECO in the back works feverishly to jam the inbound missile even while the Raptor dodges and skids across the sky, the speed ever-accellerating. "Not til we get clear of the SAMs, Ensign! We may have to jump from ground level!" That should be interesting. "Jammed the missile! Gonna be clo-!" She doesn't get to finish before a long, flaming object flies over the canopy glass. It rattles the whole frame as it does so, the exhaust plume briefly blinding the crew inside with smoke as it dives in. It crashes into the water and explodes, sending a plume of water up in front of the Raptor. The glass is briefly coated with the radioactive water but its quickly dashed away by the wind against the glass. "TWO MORE SAMS! ..FORGE GUNS HAVE A LOCK! 10 O'CLOCK! BREAK RIGHT!" There's barely enough room between the buildings on the side of the river to do just that.
<FS3> Coll rolls 4: Success.
<FS3> Coll rolls Ecm: Success.
<FS3> Coll rolls Ecm: Good Success.
<FS3> Ethan rolls Raptors: Success.
<FS3> Temperance rolls Raptors: Good Success.
<FS3> Coll rolls 4: Success.
<FS3> Coll rolls 4: Good Success.
<FS3> Ethan rolls Raptors: Success.
<FS3> Temperance rolls Raptors: Success.
It took all Temperance had not to scream as the missile? flew right above them, but she's barely holding it together. Emerson warns her about the lock and without thinking, and without barely looking, she jerks the plane to the right and they're in between to buildings, narrowly missing scraping either one. "Gods!" she allows herself to yell. "This ain't gonna work long term!" There's a huge, loud BOOM behind them as the destruction intended for them misses and explodes a building behind them. "Tell me we lost 'em, tell me they're gone."
Ethan is has all his senses working together to get them back to Cerberus, in one piece. The ECOs voice rings in his ear and his grip of the controls is a visual signal of that. When Temperance manages to avoid those missiles, Ethan breaths once again "Good flying, Knickers" says the man and nods firmly, now looking around "Perhaps the metal structures will help get their DRADIS confused, buy us some time." He takes a deep breath and nods "Keep a close eye Emerson, if your DRADIS goes fonky, we might need to move away from these buildings"
"Not yet, Knickers!" Diving between the buildings, the whole aircraft skids and bucks. G forces mount and the ECO in the back grunts against the strain while still trying to jam the missiles. "Gotcha, Fresh," she grunts through the G's. "So far, no interfer- Gonna be close again! Brace for chop!" Probably not something one wants to hear an ECO say in this situation. Only a few seconds pass then the Raptor bolts between two buildings. The taller one to port, closest to Ethan's seat, loses its top and side in a pair of explosions as the SAMs impact and their warheads detonate. Debris is thrown everywhere in front of the Raptor, bricks and smoke clouding the view for half a second. "We lost two of the guns! Still working on the third! ..Raiders inbound! Stick to the buildings! ..THEY'RE FIRING! BREAK LEFT!" Coming up on a cross-street, again there's barely enough room for the maneuver.
<FS3> Coll rolls 4: Success.
<FS3> Coll rolls 5: Success.
<FS3> Coll rolls 5: Success.
<FS3> Coll rolls 4: Bad Failure.
<FS3> Coll rolls 4: Success.
<FS3> Coll rolls ECM: Success.
<FS3> Ethan rolls Raptors: Success.
<FS3> Temperance rolls Raptors: Good Success.
Maggie's flown for years. The Gs don't normally bother her but, maybe it's the shock, today her stomach is turning. That deathly pallor turns just a bit green on the seasoned pilot's features as she swallows back bile, prayers cut off by body's insistance that she doesn't want to spew all over the poor damaged raptor. At least the smoke in the cabin hides quite what a mess the woman is. She swallows back again…"Flyin' like a dream, guys…Keep it up… flyin' better than I ever did!" She calls from the back of the cabin, at least giving a bit of rasping morale into the chaos.
"Frak me…" says Ethan as he looks at how the building next to him is falling apart. He shakes his head, trying not to pay attention on that, altho the debrief falling on the Raptor is hard to be ignored. He steers the Raptor, trying to avoid as much as possible but, if anyone needs to be recognized right now, it's Temperance for avoiding the incoming Raider fire "That's how 'it's done!" exclaims Ethan with a cheerful expression "Great job, Knickers" But they are not out yet, work still needs to be done and he's going to do it "Emerson, do you think that if we get inside the metal structure of this building that just fell, we can get enough DRAIDS interruption to confuse them?" asks the young Ensign while piloting the Raptor.
"Whoooooaaaaaahhhhhh!!" comes Temperance's reply, dodging this crumbling building and that Raider fire and hoshit! Break left! And so she does. Like buttah. Like buttah on a hot piece of bread, all melty and perfect, because she executes such a tight turn with perfect precision that it doesn't seem right that the girl Trask is probably going to court martial is only a rook. "Alright! Alright! We're okay! Ach Gods, I gotta pee. Alright. We hafta get ou' a here." Captain Obvious smirks when her SL compliments her, and giggles a bit hysterically. "Tell me what ta do, Emerson, sir, jus' tell me 'ow ta get us out."
"Jammed the last Forge! He's down and we're moving out of range! Just gotta worry about the Saber and the Raiders!" Saber: Rediculously long range SAM system that might even be able to hit ships in low orbit. Emerson continues working the panelling and switches off the jamming towards the raiders chasing them. "We'd have to stop maneuvering to get into a building! They'd be right back on top of us. Less you want to crash us into one?" Was that a joke? She manages a little chuckle, anyway. As the Raptor breaks left, the chasing Raiders can be seen trying to keep with the fleeing Raptor. One of them is going too fast, though. Its wing clips a twelve-story tower and rips away, the rest of the ship spinning like a frisbee into the city below them and exploding in a rolling ball of red-orange flames. "Just lost contact on a Raider! ..Sixty seconds to jump! Just keep up the fancy footwork! Sierra Hotel!" She's finally sounding as if there's a little hope weening into her voice, the last two words hooted. If anyone could see her face inside the helmet, its absolutely coated in sweat.
<FS3> Coll rolls 4: Success.
<FS3> Coll rolls ECM: Success.
<FS3> Coll rolls 4: Failure.
<FS3> Coll rolls 4: Success.
<FS3> Temperance rolls Raptors: Success.
<FS3> Ethan rolls Raptors: Success.
Maybe it's the weavnig, or the feeling ill, or just finally all the shock catching up to her, but at the announcement of a jump in 60 seconds, Maggie's adrenaline finally and fully gives out. She gives a white lipped smile, breathing out one last whisper of thanks to the Gods, before her head lulls back quietly and she is out, a limp rag doll in her seat. The only part of her stiff being that horribly splinted up leg sticking awkwardly out into the back area of the raptor.
Ethan can't help to chuckle at the ECO's comment "That would certainly prove interest…" he shakes his head at that with a very slight smile. Quinn's comment bring new energy to him and help him focus on what he's doing "Alright we are almost there, we just gotta dance with these toasters a bit longer" Hands in the controls, helping Temperance. He tilts his head from side to side, making cracking noises with his neck as he releases air pressure from there. "Come on, come on, come on…" Bullets sound against the Raptor and that makes him hold his breath.
Sixty seconds, alright. She can do that. Stay alive for one minute. Well, it's not exactly a cake walk, given the ping ping pew of a few hits glancing off the armor, but nothing the deck crew can't slave over once they get back in one piece. And then, "Sierra Hotel? What? I DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS." There's juuust a little bit of panic in her voice as she joins in with Ethan's mantra. "Come on, come on comeoncomeoncomeon…"
As the tracers streak past the cockpit, the sounds of a few impacts jar the airframe. The stray rounds impact the buildings ahead of them, blowing huge chunks out of the sides and throwing more debris into their path. As they blink by one blasted structure it begins to crumble to the ground in a rumbling mass after Raider gunfire rips it nearly in half. "Boards are green across! Still good!" The late afternoon sun shifts wildly around the cockpit as the Raptor turns and jinks through the low-level of the city. The effect is almost nausiating - as if the whole 'flying between buildings thing' wasn't enough. "Thirty seconds! Almost there, guys! Go! Go! Go! FTL is coming on-line..!"
<FS3> Coll rolls 5: Good Success.
<FS3> Coll rolls ECM: Success.
<FS3> Coll rolls 4: Success.
<FS3> Coll rolls 4: Good Success.
Alessandra is busy messing herself. Metaphorically, not literally although the latter's a very big possibility in the near future if the 'fun' doesn't stop soon. "Gods…" she whispers, while closing her eyes tightly, her prayer now silent.
<FS3> Ethan rolls Raptors: Success.
Temperance spends 1 luck points on I don't want to crash on Leonis and be eaten by bears.
<FS3> Temperance rolls Raptors: Failure.
"Incoming!" shouts Ethan. These two are going to be complicated and they do hit. The Raptor shakes furiously, Ethan hits his head against the glass and that makes his vision goes blurry until he shakes his head to clear that out. He spots something and looks over the ECO "Emerson, Engine fire, starboard side!" He moves his attention back to the controls and says "I'm closing oxygen intake on that engine to clear out fire and lowering thrust force on the second one to minimize deviation path deviation" If that Engine keeps like that, the whole Raptor can go boom, so, let's hope this helps.
Temperance hasn't got the slightest idea what Ethan's up to, but she focuses on manuevering them around, and lets him deal with the we're on fire! situation. "Thir'y seconds, come on come on, we can do thiiiiiiiis!" By this point, she's not even paying attention to what she's saying. "Can we jump with an engine fire? Say yes, say yes!"
"SHIT!" The rounds hit and the interior of the cabin sparks, the ECO flinching away from the small shower as it cascades off her flightsuit. But she's back up quickly. "Got it! Firing the extinguishers and shutting it down!" And none too soon. "FTL Spooled! Cabin pressure positive! We're clear! Let's get the frak out of here!" Apparently Temperance's question is answered. She doesn't wait for another word. She just jams her fist down on the button and the sky in front of the canopy flashes. Then?! Nothing. Peace and quiet. No more Raiders firing or buildings to dodge. Just space and twinkling stars lain out in front of them. And the Cerberus Battlegroup just off to starboard. "Fire is out!" Emerson calls from the back. "Are we dead?" She doesn't look up from her ECO station.
"Come oooon!" calls out Ethan just a couple seconds before the jump. When the scene changes in front of his eyes, he takes a deep breath, arches both eyebrows and…contains himself. His heart beating FAST. "Emerson, full check on the DRADIS please, let me know if only friendlies are indeed, what we have." He can't help to smiiiiiiile, knowing that they are back, back home, and alive.
[TAC3] "Knickers" Temperance says, "Cerberus, Knickers! We made it, we're 'ome! (awkward pause as she realizes who she's talking to) Please, ahh, have a fire crew an' med team standin' by, go' two injured on board."
[TAC3] "XO" Tillman says, "Welcome back, Blackjack One-Five. Fire and rescue standing by. Cleared into the break. Contact control on one-niner-three point two. Cerberus, out."
Temperance can't help it. It's not really the safest thing she could choose to do, but when they start to jump, she squeezes her eyes shut and doesn't open them until Emerson asks if they're dead. Cracking one eye open slowly, the other one pops open wide as soon as she sees stars. "WOOOOOO!" She fumbles with her coms and yells out to Command, before slumping back in her seat with an exhausted sigh. "Fresh, can ya take us in ta the deck? I gotta sit 'ere an' have a mental breakdown fer a few, iffn' ya don't mind."
"Uhm." Emerson pauses for a moment. "Yes. That look like home. And bed. And a cigarette. And a WHOLE LOT of booze. Not in any particular order." She finally looks away from the screen and back to the pilots. The disblief finally settles in. "GodsDAMN YOU TWO can FLY a Raptor! Yooow!!" she hollars on the comms with a giant-ass grin on her face. She throws a fist through the air in celebration and collapses back into the seat, sprawling out as if dead. "Okay. I'm spent."
Ethan looks at Temperance and smiles to the woman "I can do that, Knickers. Sit back and relax, you've earned it" he smiles once again at this and takes a deep breath as he manipulates the controls to move the Raptor towards server. "And you, my dear Emerson, are one HELL of an ECO. /Fantastic/ job" Cerberus is getting closer and closer in front of them, and Ethan moves the Raptor calmly, leveling it for a nice, smooth landing…not like he has done in the past. A few moments after, the bird lands on the deck, right on one of the elevators, ready to be transported. Booze, bed, shower…all good things await. "And, we are home." A smile comes to his lips, and he starts the process of turning off the engines.
Temperance just slumps there, weakly, giving first Emerson and then Ethan a thumbs up. "This's so much better'n m'last landing," she offers in a small voice. "When we get there, can we jus' 'ave some strong 'alf dressed Marines carry us ta th' showers?"
Ethan laughs at Temperance comment "Sure, but mine should be a lady Marine, you know?" he chuckles softly as he takes the camera footage. The man stands up, takes off his helmet and moves towards the Raptor door, punching the big red button to open it. He moves towards Quinn and Allie, kneeling down in front of them to check on status. He's no doctor but he can tell if someone's dead or not! "We are home…" says the man.