| Pizza Delivery — Air Wing |
| Summary: | Lovely day for an ambush. The Air Wing's log of the day's events. |
| Date: | 16 Apr 2041 AE |
| Related Logs: | Pizza Delivery - CIC |
| Players: |
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| Space — The Parnassus Sector |
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| Post-Holocaust Day: #49 |
The diminutive Lieutenant sighs into her comms. Marko would have doubtless recognized her as the newest addition to the Harriers. She was the Raptor pilot, lightly wounded and a little sick who was pulled off Parnassus. Every now and then she fiddles with the controls, giving her ECO for this flight a few hesitant sidelong glances. While furtive, her flying's solid enough. "So, your — /the/ XO" she corrects, "is just going to have us running a couple missile tests here and there. Can think of better things to do with this ordinance." Lieutenant JG Hippolyta 'Amazon' Greene grimaces. Her call sign is a two-fold joke. Play on her first name, play on her height.
[TAC3] (from "Amazon" Hippolyta) Lt JG Hippolyta 'Amazon' Greene's voice rings out over the wireless, through the requisite static and channel distortion. "All Points, Amazon. We're taking it /nice and easy./" Her voice sounds a little distant, but so far this CAP is uneventful. "Thanks to our valiant escorts out here."
[TAC3] (from "Lucky" Alessandra) There's a slight sigh from Lucky that accidentally sounds over the comms but it's quickly covered up by a clearing of her throat, her expression a bit sheepish behind the visor of her helmet. "Nice and easy. Can't tell you how good that sounds to me, Amazon," she gets out once her embarrassment passes.
"Okay, Amazon." Marko calls around a sleep-deprived yawn. "Setting ECM suite to standby, keeping the emitters cold. " he announces, flipping the appropriate switch. "Everything's good on my board. No contacts we weren't expecting." he announces. "Missile tests, eh? What's Tillman want us to shoot at?" he asks.
Another day and another cubit, the boxy form of the CAP's attached raptor drifts slightly as her pilot corrects her course with a tap of the yoke, gently moving the ship to and fro as it gets in line with her Viper escort. Outside, the stars glitter and the battered anchorage and debris still stand a silent vigil orbiting a dense ice planet. The Cerberus and her support vessels remain a familiar, comforting sight outside.
[TAC3] "Flasher" Marko says, " From your lips, to the Gods' ears, Splash."
"Huh." Twiddling the controls a bit more. "Running them on passive? Gods." The woman chuckles as he guides the ship along. "A little less paranoid than Turkey was. Guy I used to fly with." She tosses out a slight clarification. "So, anyway. These racks - basically we're just doing fire control tests. XO said we had enough firepower to shift in our tactics a bit and start arming Raptors on less-dire circumstances. I guess I agree with him, y'know?"
[TAC3] (from "Amazon" Hippolyta) The other woman barks a rough laugh. "Ha. Lucky, I know /exactly/ what you mean. Don't I know it. This bird is loaded for bear."
[TAC3] (from "Lucky" Alessandra) "Gods, since when have these harnesses been so tight," Lucky asks, this being one of those questions posed to no one yet everyone all at the same time. "Frakking thing's cutting me hard around the chest." Of course she's still bandaged so perhaps it's because of that that the flight harness doesn't fight right instead of something having changed.
"It's like the man once said, 'Just because you're paranoid, don't mean they're not after you.'" Marko chuckles in reply, shifting a little in his seat and keeping his eyes glued to the DRADIS console. "And I'm with you, it'll be nice to be able to shoot back once in a while. Riding one of these things through combat unarmed is just a little too much excitement for my delicate constitution." he says.
[TAC3] "Lucky" Alessandra says, "Uh…fit right. That's what I mean."
[TAC3] "Splash" Malone says, "Let's hope they're listening then, Flasher."
"I think," Amazon begins wryly and speaking slowly, as she points on over at the planet, "it's been proven they're out to get us." A little bit of space wreckage glitters at the end of her outstretched finger as it slowly decays in orbit, crashing day by day into the atmosphere below.
[TAC3] (from "Amazon" Hippolyta) Greene's voice starts lilting a bit in a weak chuckle. "If you're worried, Lieutenant, I can recommend a month-long crash diet. It just leaves you feeling…hollow inside."
[BlackKnight-662: Malone] Moving his Viper along with the rest of the CAP, Malone looks around carefully and then over at the rest of the ships for a few moments.
[TAC3] "Splash" Malone says, "If there's much of inside left, that is."
[Harrier-303: Marko] "Yeah, that's kind of my thinking as well." Marko replies grimly. "Hopefully, knock on wood." he adds, rapping the side of his helmet. "They'll leave us the frak alone tonight. A little dullness is good for the soul sometimes."
The Raptor's engines flicker as her weapon-racked wings glint a little in the light reflected off the ice planet's surface.
[Harrier-303: Hippolyta] The Raptor's pilot turns towards her ECO. "You know, if it were up to me, I would have slapped a whole metered ton of obvious disclaimers on the sign-up form at the academy. There's stuff they don't tell you. So yeah. Quiet. I like it."
[BlackKnight-309: Alessandra] BlackKnight-309 is brought in a bit closer while its pilot keeps her attention on both the DRADIS and those with her, trying to keep as aware as possible. Allie is trying her hardest to remember what she has learned over the last month. "No need, really. Eating at the Galley is enough of a crash diet but thanks."
[Harrier-303: Marko] Marko sweeps his eyes over the blessedly empty DRADIS display on his panel once more as he settles back into his seat. "Heh, was talking about that with a friend the other day." he comments. "All of the things they never mention at the Recruiters." he sighs, a smirk in his tone. "'Signing up with the Fleet involves a slight, but very real, chance of getting your ass vaporized by homicidal robots.'" he snerks. "Guess there's no truth in advertising."
[BlackKnight-662: Malone] Staying silent for now, Malone concentrates on watching the space outside his Viper, looking from one direction to the other, a bit thoughtfully. Keeping the Viper in line.
As the ships continue their preset CAP route, the station stands, silent, battered, broken, but still it stands. The planet remains a bright blue-white beacon, the cloudy depths of its atmosphere hiding the graveyard below. All is quiet. All this talk of quiet. "Yeah." Hippolyta murmurs. "At least if we die, I plan to go down flying. But…" Her voice is interrupted by the 'DINK DINK' of the Raptor's DRADIS console. The other ships should register this too. Coinciding with this is a bright flash indicative of a spatial FTL ripple alongside the station, just a tiny distance away. And in its wake?
This DRADIS ping is huge. Larger than a Colonial Battlestar. Did anyone ever ask where Raiders came from? They may not want to know the answer. A large, black, spindly growth bedecked with tiny lights comes into view. Sitting there. Lurking, waiting. It is unspeakably creepy and immense. It is — this generation's answer to a Cylon Basestar.
[TAC3] (from "Amazon" Hippolyta) Amazon suddenly cuts across the sleepy com channel. "Cerberus, Amazon. Uhh.. We've got a contact. Unknown configuration. Frakking /huge/. Wait one on that!"
[Harrier-303: Marko] "DRADIS Contact! Reading a….oh frak me! Cylon _Basestar_ at bearing one one four carom two one six." Marko calls, sitting bolt upright in his seat hard enough to jam his shoulders against his harness. "So much for a quiet night….Going hot on the jammers, all frequencies!" he says, activating the Raptor's powerful ECM suite. "Amazon, I think it's time we got back to the barn!"
[BlackKnight-309: Alessandra] The pings and the resulting read out has Lucky cussing under her breath, it coming across as hissing exhales over the comms instead of anything understandable. "Command, this is BlackKnight-309. We have a read out on the DRADIS. Big…" If she knows what it is she waits on announcing it herself…but it seems someone else is announcing it for her so waiting is rendered moot. "Yeah. Basestar, Command. What are our orders?"
[TAC3] "Flasher" Marko says, "Cerberus, Flasher, Cylon Basestar just jumped in at one one four carom two one six."
[TAC3] (from "Splash" Malone) "Frak! The big ugly one's come to dinner," comes the words from Malone. Waiting for the orders now, as he looks over at the big ugly enemy.
[TAC3] "CerbTac" Tillman says, "Baseline Flight, Cerberus. Back to the barn. Were ge-" Tillman's voice cuts off for a second. "Belay that order. Standby.""
And the monolithic black form of the edge of the Basestar just sits there silently, the bulk of its mass obscured by the form of the station and even part of it by the planet. It's still not doing /anything/.
[Harrier-303: Hippolyta] Hippolyta jams the controls as she initially nods to Marko. "Let's move aw—" Yanking the controls to one side, she brings the ship around a little to get a better line-of-site view. "Gods." She gasps as Tillman's voice comes across channel.
[TAC3] (from "Lucky" Alessandra) There's a cough and a barely concealed 'frak' mingled in with it when the XO tells them to wait, Lucky's shock at being told to stay out there with the Basestar that's in the vicinity. "Someone's been smoking something funny. Must've broken into the stash of herbal offerings in the Chapel."
[BlackKnight-662: Malone] Getting the Viper into a good position to watch that Basestar, while still being near the others, "Why the frak aren't they doing anything?" he asks, unaware that he's spoken out loud.
[TAC3] "CerbTac" Tillman says, "Baseline Flight, Cerberus. Corsair is having FTL problems. We are scrambling all Vipers. Expect friendly company in about ninety seconds to two minutes. Prepare for engagement."
[TAC3] "Lucky" Alessandra says, "Roger, Command. Hopefully things will still be calm in two minutes."
[Harrier-303: Marko] "Oh joy…" Marko sighs. "Amazon, the Basestar doesn't seem to be doing much of anything." he advises her. "Just…sitting there. Which freaks me out almost as much as if were launching Raiders at us. Continuing jamming, though, just to be on the safe side." he adds. It's not like anything the size of Cerberus and her escorts could be missed in this system.
And like that. It starts. As the CAP Raptor moves into formation with the Viper wing, there are little flashes from the Basestar's black expanse. Twinkles. Little sparkles that get a little closer as they start to erupt in tiny, flashing dots along the skin of Parnassus Anchorage. The Cylon Basestar begins to just sit there, launching ordinance. It's here for a reason, it seems, and their first preoccupation is to destroy the Anchorage and whatever lingers aboard.
[Harrier-303: Hippolyta] "Oh. Shit." Hippolyta mutters. "Flasher, get that EW suite fired up before we get fired /on/."
[Harrier-303: Marko] "You got it, Amazon, EW suite's active and ready.
[TAC3] (from "Amazon" Hippolyta) Amazon responds tightly. "CIC, Amazon. Copy that. Falling back as an EW picket. Do we have permission to go weapons free?" Hey, somebody is putting /missiles/ on these things lately.
[TAC3] "CerbTac" Tillman says, "Negative. Baseline is weapons tight. Let's see what this thing is doing first."
[TAC3] "Lucky" Alessandra says, ""Frak…" Lucky blurts out when she notices some of the flashing off in the distance, it being an all too familiar sight. "Looks like we'll be picking off missiles like…" Her voice drops as she falls silent, no longer cluttering the comms with her random commentary."
[Harrier-303: Marko] "They're going after the Anchorage." Marko notes, tracking the Cylon's missiles on his DRADIS screen. "Man, they sure seem to be pissed at that place." he breathes. "They've got enough ordnance heading for it to blow up two Anchorages."
[TAC3] "Shiv" Sitka says, "Flight, this is Shiv. Alert vipers will be airborne in approximately one minute. What's your status out there?"
[TAC3] "Lucky" Alessandra says, "Shiv, this is Lucky. We're doing fine but Flasher just announced that the Basestar's firing upon the Anchorage in case you didn't hear that."
[TAC3] "Flasher" Marko says, " Cerberus, Flasher. They're targeting the Anchorage, big time, too. Multiple missiles being fired. No, repeat, no nukes as of yet, though."
[TAC3] "CerbTac" Tillman says, "I didn't hear that, either, Baseline! How heavy is the fire on the station and are they targeting anything at the battle-group yet?"
[BlackKnight-662: Malone] Staying silent for the moment as he looks around a little bit, Malone grimaces as he watches the missiles against the anchorage. "And to think that I liked fireworks as a child…" he mutters, careful about not sending it onto the channel.
[TAC3] (from "Amazon" Hippolyta) Amazon echoes. "This is Amazon. Negative on Radiological. Negative on battle-group fire, either. I'm seeing — Oh Gods, that's a /lot/ of ordinance. They're approximately, three-zero-eight carom one-five. Just sitting half behind the station. That thing's just opening up on it. It's like we're not even here."
[BlackKnight-309: Alessandra] Lucky is quiet for now, simply listening to what's being said while she tries to get a bead on just how many missiles have been fired towards the Anchorage which has become the target of choice. As she does her lips move, Allie counting to herself without uttering a single word.
[TAC3] "Shiv" Sitka says, "Copy, Lucky. Cerberus, what are our orders?"
[TAC3] "CerbTac" Tillman says, "Copy your report, Baseline. Attention all Colonial forces: You are weapons free. Repeat, weapons free. If the missiled Raptors are scrambled, you are ordered to engage. Praetorian is probably going to have to maneuver to get a shot around the station."
[TAC3] "Queenie" McQueen says, "This is Queenie. Uh, I got a problem. Godsdamn tube is /stuck/. We're getting a repair crew on it, but…"
[TAC3] (from "Amazon" Hippolyta) Hippolyta responds, "This is Amazon. Copy, that. Flasher, let's go weapons hot." Sounds like somebody woke her up. "Let's show them what happens when you frak up somebody's house."
[TAC3] (from "Shiv" Sitka) The tail end of a shaky exhale might be heard over the radio, followed by, "All right, you heard the man. Lucky and Splash, take forward escort on our raptor. Spanner, you're with me. Queenie.. do you have an ETA?"
[Harrier-303: Hippolyta] Slapping down a switch, Hippolyta glances indicatively over at her co-pilot's weapons toggle with a shift of her head. "You ready for this?" She barks out to her ECO, off-comms. She seems ready. The Raptor starts to streak ahead, banking a little and leveling off to get a better view of the Basestar as it starts to shoot up the hardened station some more. This thing took quite a beating before.
[Harrier-303: Marko] "Copy that, Amazon, powering up the missiles now." Marko replies, starting to flip the appropriate switches. "Weaps are hot, Amazon, all the lights on the missiles are green. Ready to shoot when you are." he says, feeling a surprising tug of eagerness at being able to finally flip a few at the enemy.
[TAC3] "Queenie" McQueen sighs. "Long enough, Shiv. Looks like there's still some ambient damage from the boarding. They're gettin' the tube fixed now but if they don't, we'll vent this big girl into space."
[TAC3] "Shiv" Sitka says, "Copy that, Queenie. Keep us updated, and find a different bird and tube if you have to."
[TAC3] (from "Lucky" Alessandra) There's a wince and a growl as Allie begins to throttle her Viper forward a bit faster, doing so putting pressure against her chest when she's pushed against the seat. "Frakkers." With Shiv taking the role of flight lead she waits for his orders, her intention being to bring her fighter closer to the others, grouping up with them.
[Petrel-649: Sitka] There's a smattering of red and white amongst the sleek silver and black of the Mark VIIs making their egress into space. Shiv's viper is one such relic of the first war, engines coming alive as he leaves the tubes and swings into formation with the other fighters en route to the engagement.
[BlackKnight-662: Malone] Moving his Viper forward faster as well, Malone moves to take up the indicated position. Frowning as he looks around, studying the other ships present for the moment.
[TAC3] "Shiv" Sitka says, "All points, let's, uh.. stay in formation, but hang back a little. Give the Praetorian time to get into position and take some heat. Weapons hot and hold."
[Petrel-647: Rojas] "Ooh, Eee, Ohh ah-ah. Ting, tang, walla-walla bing bang." Luckily for everyone else, Nathan Rojas doesn't have his finger on the outgoing communications button. No such luck for his Red and White Mark II, which has to suffer in silence for quite possibly the whole battle. It's putting on a good show, however; Engines flaring as it leaves the Cerberus'' tubes to form up about 220 yards behind Shiv's.
[TAC3] "CerbTac" Tillman says, "Negative, Baseline! Negative! You are ordered to engage without delay! We aren't waiting for that basestar to turn its weapons systems on us!"
[Harrier-303: Marko] "Heh, I think I'm with Tillman on this one." Marko muses, chewing on his bottom lip for a moment. "Kind of defeats the purpose for us to be carrying these birds if we wait til the thing's pounding on our mother ship to use 'em."
[TAC3] (from "Lucky" Alessandra) "Oh what the…" Coughing again, Lucky looks out her cockpit and towards that of Sitka, her expression incredulous. "Guess we get to put our names on the frakking thing's dance card first, Captain. Shall we?"
The little Raptor that could barrels on into position, hugging her Viper escort close as more Vipers come creeping across the black. Amazon gives a little 'thumbs-up' sign to Flasher as she grins humorlessly to the Ensign. Tweaking up the throttle, the larger, slower ship starts to train its payload on the figure in the distance, all while the missiles flash and fire flows, pummeling the station.
Meanwhile, those new Vipers start hurtling from the Cerberus' tubes. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the first two-sided Capital Ship engagement of this war.
[TAC3] "Splash" Malone says, "Let's throw some poisoned meat down the throat of the big bad wolf, then."
[TAC3] "Spanner" Rojas says, "Shiv, Spanner. M'guns suddenly seem awful dinky. Want I should get out and try punchin' it?"
[TAC3] (from "Shiv" Sitka) There's a second's hesitation from the lead viper, like he might argue with the order that's come down from on high. Then, "Acknowledged, Cerberus. All points, combat spread, weapons free! Let's try a slash and dash, and give a prayer to whatever gods you haven't pissed off lately.
[TAC3] (from "Amazon" Hippolyta) Amazon says, firmly and tonelessly, "This is it, then. This is for the Invictus, you sons of bitches." My, /somebody/ has an ax to grind.
[TAC3] (from "Spanner" Rojas) Spanner sounds a little… agitated at Shiv's order. "Captain, that'd be NONE OF THEM." A breath. "Also, I got your six." Cough.
[Petrel-649: Sitka] Shiv rolls his viper off of the Raptor's tail, and streaks in on its three o'clock as they near their objective. Heart thudding in his chest, gloved hand steady on the stick, he trusts Nathan to be right where he should, without so much as a shoulder check.
[TAC3] "Splash" Malone says, "Will be an awfully short prayer, I suspect."
[BlackKnight-309: Alessandra] Lucky follows as well; the Knights have assigned section leaders and wing-men and they should be able to group up as Vipers launch and join, hopefully that being enough to provide ample protection for everyone involved.
[TAC3] "Shiv" Sitka says, "How's that launch tube coming, Queenie? We need you out here tout suite."
As more Vipers are dispensed by the Battlestar's launch tubes, little flashes, specks appear off in the distance, in the Basestar's airspace. They're coming at a different trajectory as the missiles, coming the long way around. The familiar 'dink dink' of DRADIS indicates some unwelcome friends. Cylon Raiders are being launched, as they come around, apparently to engage the Colonial Fleet. They may have come here a little late, but this pizza ain't going to be free.
[TAC3] "CerbTac" Tillman says, "Baseline, be advised. Main battery guns are coming on-line. Maintain a clear lane of fire."
[TAC3] "Flasher" Marko says, " "New DRADIS contact, Cylon Raiders are launching from the Basestar, repeat, Basestar is launching Raiders. This dance just got a hell of a lot more interesting."
[TAC3] "Queenie" McQueen says, with no shortage of exasperation in his tone, "Shiv, Queenie. Um, you ever heard the phrase 'Get out and push?' Because that's what we're doin'. I'm shifting. Might as well strap this piece of shit to a damned wagon for all it's worth. ETA in three, five at the most."
[BlackKnight-662: Malone] Splash keeps his own Viper near to the one flown by Lucky now, trying to keep in the position where he can do most good. Pilot staying silent for the moment.
[TAC3] "CerbTac" Tillman says, "Corsair, Cerberus. Prepare a flak ring along Plot One-One-Five. Hold fire until we have incoming. Out."
[Harrier-303: Hippolyta] Dink dink, dink dink. As that DRADIS console flares up, Hippolyta curses to herself and starts flying faster and looser, breaking off her dead-ahead course towards the Basestar and doing her best to find cover.
[TAC3] "Shiv" Sitka says, "Uh, copy.. copy that, Flasher. Fall back and give us some EM coverage, could you? Vipers, engage the raiders first, and make sure to give our capital ships a clear line of sight."
[Petrel-647: Rojas] Below and behind is how Spanner follows lead, swaying the Viper from side to side in a lazy 'u' and getting a good idea of what's going on as far as Shiv's cover is concerned. It's disorientating, but hey, good view. When the 'Dink Dink' of DRADIS flashes up, the second Mark II pulls away a little more, nose raising as if to slow down via airflow.
[TAC3] "Shiv" Sitka says, "Got it, Queenie. Just do the best you can. We'll see you out here soon."
[TAC3] "Spanner" Rojas says, "Copy that, Shiv. Which d'you want, ten on th'left, or the ten on th'right?"
[TAC3] Corsair's commanding officer is patched in. "Cerberus, this is Corsair-Actual. We copy. Moving twenty-plus port, three-plus yaw. We'll bring her into position. Baiting the trap.
[TAC3] (from "Lucky" Alessandra) Allie looks to make sure Splash is on her six before doing anything like pick a target for them to pair off on. "Alright, Splash, let's try to follow Shiv's lead as much as we're able to. Pick the same target if we're able to and for frak's sake, please sound off if you get something on your ass, eh?" She picks their first target, trying to keep her eye out for the one that is the most strategically sound to shoot at.
[TAC3] "CerbTac" Tillman says, "Copy, Corsair. - Baseline, get those missile armed Raptors in there. Hit that Basestar before it decides we look tempting."
[TAC3] (from "Splash" Malone) "Will do, Lucky. Let's hope that call sign of yours is true, shall we?" Malone says, a bit lightly, before he growls loudly. "Why do these frakkers always hit me? Someone tell me that?"
[TAC3] "Shiv" Sitka says, "We're dealing with some- *there's a grunt, and the sound of engines being fire-walled* -ders at the moment, Cerberus. Trying to break through, but we're taking a lot of heat."
[Harrier-303: Marko] "Damn….the little frakkers are getting good at this." Marko grumbles, fingers flying over the ECM suite's control pattern to vary his jamming pattern. "Are we in position to fire yet?"
[Harrier-303: Hippolyta] The CAP Raptor bobs and weaves through a small torrent of KEW fire as its diminutive driver jinks on the controls. These Raiders are very much not the 'dumb suicidal' ones they encountered last time at the Anchorage. These are the real thing, and going after the Colonials' throats like wolves. Amazon shouts, "Steady, steady, Turkey. I mean Flasher! Keep sending what you're sending!"
[Petrel-648: Covington] Petrel 648 shoots out of the tubes carrying inside of it the blonde pilot known as Skids, Dallas, Dally, Dal, Covington, Cov, Cupcake, and a myriad of other names, all of which she responds to with a smile and, usually, invasion of personal space. When inside the cockpit, the woman flies hard and fast, but usually gives those not accustomed to close in flying enough distance to breathe. When on the wing of a Petrel, she's been known to ding the proximity alarms multiple times. Throttle down, Skids shoots through the black of space toward the engagement.
[TAC3] "Skids" Covington says, "Shiv, Skids. Somebody order the spicy wings?"
[Petrel-649: Sitka] Shiv barrels in like a bat out of hell, guns lighting up in bursts of threaded tracer fire that manage to gouge his prey, but not quite bring it down. Instinct tells him he's acquired a couple of friends, as two raiders vanish from his sights, and he slams on the stick to drag his bird wing over wing in a fast unloaded extension.
[BlackKnight-309: Alessandra] The subject of her call sign is delicately ignored, that being something she has no desire to touch upon, especially in the middle of a dogfight. "Careful…" she murmurs when she sees Malone being hit. "Don't need to lose you this quick in the game." She notices she hasn't been targeted until no but that's a very minor concern. "Looks like I got one on me. Let's make it have a bad day." She angles her ship towards the newest target.
On the XO's order, a grouping of Raptors start pouring out of Cerberus' Port Hangar, their racks bristling with warheads as per the weapons testing orders. There are more coming on the way. They pull back in a loose grouping, using the emerging screen of Vipers as cover. Gunfire is exchanged, weapons blaze. All the while, the Anchorage starts /disintegrating/ in little gouts of chunk and flame, bits of its innards start hurtling through space as it begins venting O2. It still keeps taking missile fire, although for how much longer? It's hard to say.
Corsair and Praetorian start lurching into position like great, lumbering space-borne beasts, to deal with the Basestar and her children.
[TAC3] "Shiv" Sitka says, "Hey, nice of you to join us, Skids. You can fly with Val, until Queenie gets his technical issue sorted out."
[Petrel-647: Rojas] There's no doubt that Spanner is beaming from ear to ear at the sound of those guns firing. The rattle in the cockpit, the shudder his entire Viper makes. The man's in bliss. He pulls up above Shiv's Viper, inverting to come down and give their joint-target a little smooch with highly kinetic rounds before snapping away sharply, rolling fast enough to give most folks serious nausea.
[TAC3] "Spanner" Rojas says, "You made a friend, Shiv! …Oh shit, so did I."
[TAC3] (from "Shiv" Sitka) There's a muttered curse over the comms. Then, "Cerberus, this is Shiv. That station's coming apart fast."
[TAC3] "Shiv" Sitka says, "You sure did, Spanner. Try to line him up for me, would you?"
[TAC3] "CerbTac" Tillman says, "Understood." The XO sounds impatient. "Any Raptors with rocket packs, end around and engage as soon as you are within range!"
[TAC3] "Flasher" Marko says, "Splash one Raider. Repeat, splash one raider."
[TAC3] "Amazon" Hippolyta says, "Cerberus, Amazon. We should be within range in one. There's some flak there, but, uhh, can see part of its center. Raptor Flight, we're going to let the Vipers punch a hole, drop our payload, and get the /frak/ back."
[TAC3] (from "Skids" Covington) Skids' southern lilt crawls across these here comms, "Shiv, Skids. Shovin' my hand in Val's back pocket. Stuck like gum to a tacky high heel shoe." There's a brief pause, then, "Eat that, shit for brains." Then another even shorter pause, "Oh, not you, y'all. Talkin' to my unfor-tu-nate opp-o-sition's right wing. Got a little twitterpated, ain't take my finger off the button."
[Harrier-303: Marko] "Okay, that didn't work at all." Marko grumbles to himself as he resets his ECM gear. "Let's try …this." he says, dialing a new set of frequencies and toggling the transmit key.
[TAC3] (from "Lucky" Alessandra) There's the sound of pinging although it's faint, it barely able to be heard over the communications and the fact that it happens from outside of her Viper as it's hit. "Crap…" she starts to say only to woot when she sees that their target's space dust. "Great shooting, Splash…" Chewing her lower lip, she finds herself yet again being flown towards, this time by two bogies. "Go for the one on the right…" she calls out while doing that herself, trying to hit the frakker in the cockpit.
[Harrier-303: Hippolyta] Hippolyta does just that, continuing to fly gently and jumpily.
[TAC3] (from "Shiv" Sitka) There's no whoop, no congratulations over the comms from Shiv. He's far too intent on not getting shot to pieces, at the moment. "Keep 'em coming, vipers. Raptors, spread out a little, a wider field might give us better interference."
[TAC3] "Queenie" McQueen calls out frantically. "This is Queenie. Looks like the hamster ran fast enough in his cage to get this thing moving. Launching in Five."
[BlackKnight-662: Malone] Blinking a bit as he sees the Raider go down, Malone shakes his head a bit, "Nobody hit you that hard, you wimp," he comments, without letting the words leave his cockpit. Making sure none of the enemies are going for him, he spins slightly to the side, then moves for the indicated enemy.
[TAC3] "Shiv" Sitka says, "Copy that, Queenie. Skids'll fly your wing once you get out here."
[TAC3] "Splash" Malone says, "To be honest, it was probably about time that I actually hit something, I guess. On to the next one."
[Petrel-648: Covington] Skids' shots rocket toward the raider she and her wing man are playing footsie with, and hammer its right wing like somebody's aiming to take a souvenir. She greets the edge of the field of engagement, then crosses into the fray, riding the ass of the wounded raider. There's blood in the water, and some of the Colonials are hungry. Omnomnom.
[TAC3] "Skids" Covington says, "Pleasure t'hear your voice again, Queenie. Keepin' a spot warm for ya."
[Petrel-649: Sitka] Sitka powers his viper out of its escape dive, engine one and engine two at full burn as he strafes in and lines up a shot on.. well, the raider chasing Dallas, now.
[TAC3] "Jugs" Quinn says, "Hey, boys and girls, Jugs here… Just got around a few of these buggers, got you all in my sights. Who needs some hard hitting back up?"
[Petrel-647: Rojas] Large, flared-engine loops are great for not getting your face shot off, but they're not so great for blowing a tin-can out of the air. Vacuum. Whatever. Spanner's Viper flings a few shots across the bow in an accidental burst of warning shooting before it's twisting away, homing in on Shiv's target just as a few rounds glance off of his nose. A few seconds later, he nearly trades paint with not one, but two Raiders. That gets a burst of cursing, no doubt.
[TAC3] "Shiv" Sitka says, "Jugs, you're sure a sight for sore eyes. We're trying to clear some space for you to punch through and get a few shots off at that Basestar If you could drop back and give us some EM coverage for now, that'd be great."
[TAC3] "Jugs" Quinn says, "Got Skeeter with me and she's already on it, Shiv. Good to see you too."
[BlackKnight-650: McQueen] A little late to the party isn't too late, when you get right down to it. McQueen comes barreling out of the launch tube in his Viper, the plane starts to pull hard left as he starts hugging the space lanes next to the creeping form of Cerberus, in the fray.
[TAC3] (from "Spanner" Rojas) There's a burst of profanity from Spanner's comms. "Cawkgarglin'tincan! Watch where y'flyin'!" Raiders: Even Sunday drivers are preferable.
[TAC3] "Queenie" McQueen answers, "Copy that. Oh, how gracious."
[TAC3] "Queenie" McQueen ends that with a little laugh.
[TAC3] "Click" Daphne says, "Click to flight lead. Gods, I…" She trails off for a second. "Coming in on vector two seven bravo to crash your party. There's no shortage of cake."
[Harrier-303: Hippolyta] The closest Raptor closes in as Amazon darts the controls back and forth. The ship starts to lurch a little, it's not made for the type of maneuvering she's trying to pull. But, for what it's worth? Ship's undamaged, so far.
[TAC3] (from "Skeeter" McCoy) It's not Bootstrap who chirps a reply; he's still not cleared for flight. No, the voice that comes over the comms is the rather bubbly, somewhat tinny, decidedly female voice of one Daisy "Skeeter" McCoy, which, by the by, always kinda sounds like she's inhaled some helium. "Got 'em in my sights. Snack time."
[TAC3] "Shiv" Sitka says, "Acknowledged, Click. Take Spanner's wing; I'm going to run a little interference."
Little flashes emerge in the distance as the Baseship's warhead fire start buffeting the lower part of the station, it comes apart, drifts, and finally starts to break off and detach as pressure is lost and bits of station-innards start getting sucked into the vacuum
Flashes of flak and cannon fire from the cap ships start to litter the battlefield. It's becoming a dangerous place.
[BlackKnight-308: Daphne] Daphne's viper streams in towards the chaos. The body is tarnished and blackened in various places, but is structurally sound. Predictably, the pilot's got a bloody lip.
[Petrel-648: Covington] Skids makes a quick adjustment as a raider buzzes her port side, pinging her proximity alarms as they just barely avoid a paint swap. Something explodes nearbyoh, the rude raidertaken out by Val's quick snap shot to the face. Bits careen and bounce off of her canopy audibly, and rattle off the body again. She pulls into a barrel roll to avoid another pair dog-fighting nearby, dipping down as her target goes up, in hot pursuit through the combat. It's in the return spin that she takes a shot, and blows off one of its weapons while fire from somewhere aft blows past her viper.
[TAC3] "Skids" Covington says, "Queenie, sound off if ya got a bead on the overzealous fella keeps starin' at my ass."
More Raiders come pouring out through the expanse of space, streaking through the stars. Little trails start in turn emerging from them, as they begin start launching warheads. Some of them start to streak across the void. The others appear to be aiming their warheads at the Cerberus Battlegroup, herself.
[TAC3] "Flasher" Marko says, "New DRADIS contacts, two additional Cylon raiders launching from Basestar, repeat, two more Cylon Raiders coming in from two one two carom one four eight."
[Petrel-649: Sitka] The ratatattat of gunfire from Sitka's fighter lights up the space around his quarry, and slices almost clean through its wing. He banks his viper sharply, tail up, by killing all three engines simultaneously and then bringing them back online again, to dodge another pair of vipers screaming past. The wreckage of Malone's kill bursts open in an explosion of corroded metal, blood and gore which sprays across his windscreen and comes dangerously close to knocking his systems out. With a few hasty switch flips, he's back in the game and chasing down his next target.
[BlackKnight-309: Alessandra] There's a grunt of relief from Allie when she sees their target go down in a shower of sparks and fire, it causing her heart to stop for a second only to start racing afterward "Gods…" Calming herself, she looks at the DRADIS, once again checking Splash's ass, not yet noticing the two newest members to their little tea party and the fact that one of the late comers has her targeted. "Take out the other one," she directs the Ensign while going to do the same, frowning intently.
[TAC3] "Skids" Covington says, "I see somebody's taken an int'rest in you, Queen. Adjustin' to say howdy."
[Harrier-307: Quinn] Quinn's Raptor is staying back, just to the side, trying to keep clear of the raiders that might shoot across their bow as she looks almost desperately for that hole to get into the Basestar She keeps looking back to check on Skeeter, but the younger woman is merrily jamming away so she doesn't interrupt
[BlackKnight-650: McQueen] With a hard turn of his flight controls, Queenie's Viper pulls around in a graceful, if wild arc. Someone's showing off, But, true to form, he gets on Covington's wing, bouncing around, dancing to and fro and squeezing off a salvo of cannon fire.
[TAC3] "Queenie" McQueen says, mildly, "Copy that, Skids. If you insist."
[Petrel-647: Rojas] Weaving his craft through debris, explosions and raider-goop, Spanner watches with some satisfaction as rounds hit home, the combination of wing and control damage sending the toaster spiraling off course and well away from Covington. Good enough for him! Before he really has a chance to enjoy it, the Mark II does an inertial U-Turn, just in time to avoid two streaking Raiders hotly Pursued by Mark VII's. Well, it's more avoiding the explosions, really. Debris clatters off of the metal frame as he searches for a new target.
[BlackKnight-662: Malone] Firing off the shots again, Malone nods at the directions from Alessandra, and moves into position to help with the taking out of one more of the remaining Raiders at the moment.
[TAC3] "CerbTac" Tillman says, "Corsair, Cerberus. Radiological alarms! Open fire. You are Red and Free."
[BlackKnight-308: Daphne] Daphne looks all about her cockpit, trying to get a feel for the situation she's shoving herself into and probably coming up a little short. She swings around, dodging a couple stray shots while she looks for Rojas. She widens her eyes at the sheer quantity of chaos around her, and slips onto something related to the Mark II's wing. As gunfire bursts behind her, she gives the back a quick glance and pulls forward on the flight stick, diving downward, and then twisting towards Spanner's target.
[Harrier-303: Marko] A glance at the DRADIS tells Marko that the two new arrivals aren't anywhere near inside of combat range just yet, so he doesn't bother trying to scramble them. Giving him all the time and attention in the world to turn the two remaining combatants' targeting computers into mush.
[Harrier-307: McCoy] Merrily is a good descriptor of how Skeeter zones in on her targets. As more Raiders arrive, she says in that slight twang of her, "Mmm. Fresh blood."
[TAC3] "Shiv" Sitka says, "Cerb.. Cerberus, Flight. We're still trying to punch a hole through this mess, but it's like a godsdamned sewage leak. Jugs, I don't suppose you're carrying any swallows on one of your buses? This is ridiculous.."
[TAC3] "Click" Daphne says, "Copy. Spanner, Click. I'm here. Whatcha got?"
[TAC3] "Flasher" Marko says, "New DRADIS contacts! Two more Raiders launching from the Basestar. Cerberus, Flasher,Vipers keep knocking them down, but the Cylons keep launching more fighters. They are serious about keeping us away from that Basestar."
[Petrel-647: Rojas] Raider is flying straight. Raider is flying straight. Raider is flying to try and blow the hell out of Alessandra. Raider doesn't have much choice when Lucky nails it's controls but to fly forward. The last thing the poor tin can sees is Spanner's Viper dropping in front of it like a bowling ball off of a building, belly first. Well, it sees that, with added muzzle flashes as the KEW Rounds punch right through it's glowing eye and exit rather promptly through it's ass. Spanner's treated to the sight of goop and fire skimming over his cockpit by mere feet.
[TAC3] (from "Skeeter" McCoy) Skeeter relays, "Looks like the Cylons are breakin' out the radiological bug spray."
[Petrel-648: Covington] Skids blows through the remains of her dance partner, jukes around a mangled mess of raider hull, and kicks in the thrusters after a flip to swap direction in an end of end maneuver. She kicks in the burn as some debris kicks off of her wing, and forms up near Queenie once she has a visual on her wing.
[TAC3] "Jugs" Quinn says, "Well, we'll throw the hard stuff right back at them. Keep your heads down, boys and girls…"
[TAC3] "Spanner" Rojas says, "Oh, EW! That jus' ain't ri-… Click, Spanner. Let's see if'n we can't give Amazon a lil' cover. Toasters are fiesty today!
[Harrier-303: Hippolyta] Amidst the havoc, the weapons racks start ticking off, one by one as Amazon's Raptor is in position. "Open racks. PAYLOAD AWAY!" She shouts to Marko excitedly, slamming her own hand down on the console. Foom. Foom, zip, zip. One by one. One by one, the missile payload empties. Other Raptors follow suit. The payloads emptied as they start streaking around towards the big honking form of the Basestar. Bet they weren't expecting /that/.
[Harrier-307: Quinn] Quinn looks rather more serious now behind her helmet, not really having played with these missiles before other than in the sims. But she's experienced, getting her craft straight into place, trying to find the clearest shot she's going to get towards the base star…"Getting ready to fire missiles in three… two…. one…"
[Petrel-649: Sitka] There isn't even time to gain any satisfaction from those solid hits he just delivered; the instant the raider begins to lose structural cohesion, Shiv guns his fighter up and away from the shredding wreckage and hunks of metal whipping out from the point of impact at high velocity. He takes his hand off the flight stick only long enough to crack his knuckles, then settles his fingers around the control column again as he feeds a little more tylium to his engines.
[TAC3] "Shiv" Sitka says, "Jugs, you've got two bogeys on your tail. Repeat, two bogeys."
[Harrier-307: McCoy] Skeeter merrily goes, "Zzz bzz bzz," and continues being a pest to those Raiders.
[Harrier-303: Marko] "Weapons away! Missiles are tracking hot, straight and normal." Marko calls as his Raptor shudders a little from the effect of a full pack of missiles dropping from the racks and streaking towards their target.
[BlackKnight-650: McQueen] Darting about, McQueen's good as his word. Except, well, for lack of a better word, he hesitates a little. For all of his dancing about, he carefully moves up on Covington's seven as he lets loose a burst of fire as he engages the target. In space, nobody can hear him laughing right now. Until he hits the com transmitter.
[BlackKnight-309: Alessandra] "Crap…" Allie's voice trembles slightly when she sees the Raider coming towards her, her calm shattered for a moment. Thankfully Spanner and Malone are there to save her from having a bad turn of things and she's able to get out of the way before her ship's hit by chunks. "Good…good." Taking a breath in, she looks around, collecting her wits, trying to see where Splash is and, more importantly, what's aiming at them. "Looks like the Raptors are getting into the nastiness," she intones over the comms. "Let's lend them some aid." Gunning her Viper towards one of Jug's new buddies, she takes aim for the frakker's engines.
[TAC3] "Queenie" McQueen howls a laugh. Madman. "Skids, Queenie. I think your new friend is broken!"
[TAC3] "Jugs" Quinn says, "Well frak. Trying to shake them, just got the big boy out…"
[BlackKnight-662: Malone] Not caring about much more than seeing those Raiders go up in flames, Malone follows Alessandra, aiming for that very same Raider now. Humming to himself, careful not to get much of the song out for now.
As the hulking form of the Cerberus lumbers into view, it moves in tandem with Praetorian. It pulls upward a little, drifting through the stars as the turret starts firing salvos towards the Basestar Those are some /big/ shells. They go streaking towards the target. At the same time, some more Raiders start swarming in an intricate dogfight, a Viper explodes. A Raider explodes. Back and forth. Some more Raiders start to get caught in Corsair's flak solution.
And suddenly the source of those radiological alarms flickers on DRADIS. DINK DINK. DINK DINK. Warheads. Five of them, start streaming from the Basestar's nearest missile tubes, straight towards Cerberus. They're easy enough for the Vipers and Raptors to avoid or shoot.
[TAC3] "Flasher" Marko says, " Radiological Alarm! Cerberus, Flasher, you've got five, repeat zero-five nukes inbound!"
[TAC3] "CerbTac" Tillman says, "Baseline, be advised. Main battery anti-ship cannons are opening up. Maintain clear lanes. Flak batteries are operating on full-auto."
[TAC3] (from "Shiv" Sitka) Shiv's voice crackles over the comms, "Copy that, Cerberus. Uh.." There's a pause, which the roar of his viper's engines fills in. "I'm going to see if I can take any of them-" His transmission cuts off abruptly.
[TAC3] "Skids" Covington says, "Shiv, Skids. Don't play coy, sugar. You OK?"
[TAC3] (from "Amazon" Hippolyta) Amazon snaps quickly. "Cerberus, Amazon. Baseline payload away. Estimating impact in — twenty seconds or less. That station's going down, and — shit!! Shiv. We got an SAR beacon. Requesting permission to attempt a pickup."
[TAC3] (from "Spanner" Rojas) Spanner is now what most people would call… Delicate. "WHAT. THE. SHIT. Those tins are carryin' SSMs! Click, Keep your distance!"
As the fire is exchanged, something interesting happens here. More cannon fire erupts around the station, and the Basestar The station's midsection is trashed, utterly, as it starts to break apart. This thing is /armored to Hell./ But there are other things going on.
Those five nuclear warheads streak on through the black. They'll prove tempting targets. Those nukes are /dangerous/. But an able Viper pilot could divert attention here to mop them up, perhaps saving lives. But it's a risk. Your call.
[Harrier-303: Marko] "Eh, I think we've got a new friend, Amazon." Marko calls as he frantically searches through the DRADIS console for Shiv's SAR beacon. "Better shake him before we start playing white knights." he advises tensely. "Weapons are still hot, estimate impact as you reported. Hope the frakkers work, that Basestar's a pain in the ass!"
[BlackKnight-309: Alessandra] Being in close approximation to Shiv has her blinking and whimpering, perhaps sympathetically. "Dammit!" Unfortunately she can't do anything to help him so she keeps her mind on the fight instead. The missiles are seen but she doesn't do anything as Command calls to keep the line of fire clear, the Raiders being the more practical of the targets anyhow. She finally sees the one on her ass and pulls up and over, semi-looping around to get the tin can in her sights. "Take this puppy out, Splash!"
[TAC3] "Jugs" Quinn says, "Yes, Amazon, permission granted. Go get Shiv back for us in one piece, okay? Someone try to cover her ass…"
[Petrel-649: Sitka] In the midst of the fray, it's not difficult to miss another viper going up like the fourth of July Maybe he didn't expect to be fired on with rockets, or maybe he just made a bad pass. But either way, the Petrels' Captain's red and white fighter lurches as it's struck by the first missile, then is torn apart by the second. Hunks of the antique are sheared off every which way; Quinn's treated to one of his wings whipping by her cockpit. Maybe, hopefully, someone noticed him eject somewhere in all that mess. The little blinking light of his suit's beacon starts.. blinking, transmitting its coordinates to the other ships. The pilot? Is down for the count.
[Harrier-307: Quinn] Maggie is just trying to dodge weaponry herself, especially with that one bastard on her ass. She watches Amazon, though, trying to be certain that the woman can get into Shiv fairly easily. If not, she's ready to shift around and take the SAR herself…
[Petrel-648: Covington] Skids remains in hot pursuit of her target, rolling through debris, dodging that she can, though her eyes stray a little over-long to the wreckage of the Petrel Captain's viper. She doesn't have long to ponder. Combat doesn't stop even if your heart skips a few beats. There's only so many Petrels left! That raider is going to eat some fiery vengeance. Oh, yes.
[BlackKnight-309: Alessandra] There's the missiles and then there are the Raiders - Logic dictates that the Raiders are the more practical of targets but logic also dictates that the missiles are the bigger threat, making them the…yes…more logical target in the long run. "Splash. Here's what we're going to do," she calls out to her wing man even as she angles for the missiles while also trying to keep clear of the Cerb's LOF, "We are going to aim for one of the front-most missiles and when the frakking thing is close, we're going to shoot at it." Here's for hoping it works otherwise Lasher's going to be frakking pissed as hell at her.
[BlackKnight-662: Malone] Moving in to follow Alessandra, Malone nods a little bit as he hears that, but keeps silent for the moment. Concentrated on the work at hand, perhaps?
[BlackKnight-308: Daphne] :breaks off from her impromptu wing mate, drawn towards the missiles as if they killed her mom or someth… oh, yeah. Right. She swoops towards them, completely breaking anything resembling formation and gives the afterburners a push while squeezing the trigger. Clearly she's hoping she doesn't have to get close to this thing.
[TAC3] "Click" Daphne says, "Copy, Spanner. Distance is good." She chuckles nervously, as though becoming slightly (more) unglued.
[Petrel-647: Rojas] Spanner's Viper swoops down. Yes, Vipers can swoop. With a quick burst from the guns, the Raider that tried to open fire on Amazon gets a few extra holes in it's wing for the trouble. Instead of cheering the hits, Rojas is busy glancing over at the sudden explosion where a Mark II Viper once was and mashing the comm. As the craft rolls to one side, past what remains of an unlucky Raider, there's the caught glimpse of incoming missiles. Not little space-to-space ones. Big ones. Bad ones. He ponders. "Click, Spanner. I know you're gonna go for them mi-." Yes, she already has. He sighs. Loudly. "Fine. If Lucky ain't wanting her wing man to cover her ass, I'll do it."
[TAC3] "CerbTac" Tillman says, "Praetorian, Cerberus. Open fire as soon as you have a clear shot. ..We have five nukes inbound. If we go off the air, take command, Actual."
[TAC3] (from "Queenie" McQueen) Again, Queenie howls as he fires off on a Raider. "That's it, dog. Bow before your master. This time we're going to put you /down/ like we should have the last time!" There's more silence as his viper breaks off. "I'm engaging this nuke."
As the Nukes streak through the stars, two of them suddenly cease to be in bright flashes of light, buffeting a couple of ships, some destroyed, but one Raider not. It goes flying off, taken by the blast and spins out of control through space as it drifts right into Corsair's firing solution. Bye bye birdie. Three nukes left. They inch closer, and closer. Meanwhile…
[TAC3] Another voice on the Tac channel. "Cerberus, this is Praetorian-Actual. Excellent timing, Major! We are in position in ten seconds. Main fire control is primed and ready."
The hulking form of Praetorian moves into position, covered by Corsair's flak fire as it starts to train its launchers on the vague direction of the Cylon Baseship, which, coincidentally fires enough volleys into the ruined Anchorage that even the hardened top starts taking hits and disintegrating. It's basically gone.
And the Raptor missile payload starts to tear into the Cylon capital ship, it lumbers as its corner starts to erupt at the same time. It's getting hurt. Badly, in fact.
[BlackKnight-308: Daphne] Daphne covers her eyes from the flash as not one, but two nukes go off in the distance. She glaces behind her, then looks all around, peeling off, and then spiraling around for a second before making a second run on one of the three remaining warheads.
[TAC3] "Click" Daphne says, "Spanner, Click. Good guess. Good guess. We'll chew me out when we land."
[Petrel-648: Covington] Missile lock. Shit. Betty's gotta be bitchin'. There's a split second in reaction time before the second Petrel of the evening is forced to punch out, while the missile alarm goes nuts. That's shortly silenced, too, when the canopy blows off, the seat ejects, and Skids' viper spins off, not quite blown into pieces, but it's an iffy salvage prospect at the very least. Again.
[TAC3] (from "Skids" Covington) Skids' voice comes over the comms, "Queenie, where in the h—" And then it cuts out. The reason is shortly obvious.
As the Vipers do their duty, two more of the nuclear warheads flash and flare up, sending shock waves, destroying another pocket of Cylon ship debris, including one live Raider that just flat-out /disintegrates/. When all is said and done here, there will be one little lonely warhead left. You'll have time to get it. But just /barely/.
The Cylons swarm around angrily as their slowly-dwindling numbers eat hot rounds. Lots of them.
Speaking of heating rounds, a veritable torrent of warheads starts to get sprayed flat-out. It's ugly. Very ugly. It's going to be ugly for that baseship too. Uh-oh.
[TAC3] "Jugs" Quinn says, "Frak, Jugs here…got another one ejecting… I'll take this SAR. Someone watch my back if you have a second. Otherwise, I'll just have to duck pretty damn fast. Skids, if you can hear me, we're comin' for ya!"
[Petrel-647: Rojas] Raider5 takes Spanner's rounds to the wing with all the grace of a cartwheeling swan, but alas it is too little, too late. By the time the Raider's hit, it's already loosed it's SSM at Skids. With her viper obscured by the blast, his annoyed grunt is about on par with a pissed-off Aerilon native. Well, Pissed-off Aerilon native putting some major G-Forces trying to keep on Raider5's tail.
[Harrier-303: Hippolyta)] "Shit. SAR's hot. Let's get Shiv and get the /frak/ out of here. Standing by for pickup." Hippolyta zooms in on Sitka's position as their Raptor proceeds to retrieve the hapless pilot. It rolls up on him and the door starts to open.
[TAC3] (from "Spanner" Rojas) Spanner deadpans. "Nice work, Queenie. Y'killed your wing man"
[Harrier-303: Marko] Marko double-checks his safety harness before unstrapping and moving to the door to reach out and haul Shiv into the Raptor. "It's okay, Cap, we gotcha." he calls to the man. "Are you hurt any?" he asks, looking over the man's flight suit for any visible signs of injury.
[BlackKnight-308: Daphne] Daphne grits her teeth and squeezes the trigger again. Shots stream from her guns, tearing into one of the three remaining nuclear missiles. It takes more damage than one would expect to trigger a detonation in a weapon known for being so dangerous. The fireball is bright and beautiful, if not more than a little terrifying. Once it's clear that the missile's not going anywhere, she streaks towards the last one, finally peeling off once it's clear that Alessandra's on that last missile, herself. She hits her afterburners and takes herself on a course for her, looking to back the other pilot up.
[TAC3] "Queenie" McQueen grumbles. "Frak. Splash. Cerberus, Queenie. I count four warheads down. I count — " and then he hears Covington. "MOTHER OF FRAKKING GODS. All of them. I'm going to get this piece of pig shit." He sighs, almost sounding off-comm. "Sorry, Skids. Sorry." Of course, this doesn't stop him from snapping off a rejoinder to the other Viper pilot who obviously points out his blunder. "Maybe you'd like chunks of this nuke rammed square up your ass, yeh? Ever think of /that/?"
[BlackKnight-309: Alessandra] Bouncing around after the wake of the first explosions has Allie wincing. "Gods…" she grunts but she saves the rest of the bitching for later as she notices that last missile that's streaking towards its intended target. "I don't think so…" she whispers before she takes one more shot, this being at the sole warhead. She manages to get one good shot and the frakker blows, lighting up space like so many fireworks. "Got it. Cerberus, this is Lucky. We got those missiles taken care of. Going to try to clean up the rest of this frakking mess and hopefully we'll be able to get everyone home in one piece, relatively." With that done and the more immediate threat eliminated, Lucky goes back to take care of the tin cans with the others, always mindful of where her wing man is.
[TAC3] "CerbTac" Tillman says, "Copy, Queenie. Keep it up. Get the fifth one as soon as you can."
[TAC3] "Lucky" Alessandra says, "Got it. Cerberus, this is Lucky. We got those missiles taken care of. Going to try to clean up the rest of this frakking mess and hopefully we'll be able to get everyone home in one piece, relatively."
[BlackKnight-650: McQueen] And like that, a little late, but definitely, well, it's not the thought that counts, but don't tell Queenie that. He's on his downed wing man's assailant like a beast, flying with his heart before his head here as he rams straight through towards the Raider.
[Harrier-307: Quinn] Quinn's raptor flying is really close to as top notch as it gets. Two decades behind one of those things will do that to a woman. She ducks and dodges in towards the floating Covington, managing to get almost dangerously close as she fishtails so her back hatch is in his direction. "Secure for depressurization…" She mutters to her raptor-mate. Not the same without Trask, but she has a bit more peace! She then pops the hatch, leaning over to toss a wire towards the floating Covington…
[TAC3] "Jugs" Quinn says, "Skids! Can you hear me? You awake! Grab the frak on!"
[Harrier-303: Hippolyta)] Amazon shouts, "C'mon. Let's get him in." Sitka flails a bit, indicating he's indeed conscious. They go through the process of securing him and pulling the door shut. "Let's get the FRAK back to the barn, now. Flasher, strap him down and let's go, man!"
[Harrier-307: McCoy] Skeeter takes hold of the cable and starts reeling in Covington as soon as the downed pilot is secured.
[Petrel-648: Covington] Though Skids has been separated from her viper, the pilot isn't too bad off. Seems so from the way she waves as the raptor comes closer. She remains strapped into her seat. Behind the visor of her flight helmet, she looks a little sweaty. Also slightly pale. That's probably normal.
[TAC3] "CerbTac" Tillman says, "Good work, Baseline. Keep it up."
[Harrier-303: Tucana] Having Sitka secure, Hippolyta jams the controls. "Hang on, boys! Hang on!" And with that she turns tail and starts hauling ass on back to the barn, along with the other Raptors. "hanging back to act as an EW picket!"
And o, how the tide is turning. The disintegrating station blows apart in a last, pathetic gasp. And its parts start streaking away, presumably to join the fallen Battlestar Invictus as it is all pulverized into dust down below. That leaves the Basestar free to fully engage and — oh, wait. It's taking heavy fire. The combined pummeling of the Cerberus' main gun and the Praetorian's missile salvo, in addition to the collected Raptor payloads all mean one thing. It's starting to get hit, hard, and is really losing integrity. Little chunks of Basestar start joining the debris, and the chunks will get bigger. And bigger. And bigger. And….Bigger.
The Raiders too are getting caught in the Corsair's trap. The ones engaging the Colonials are dwindling, too.
[TAC3] "Queenie" McQueen says, "Hold still. Almost there."
[Petrel-648: Covington] Skids closes her eyes once she's been reeled in, taking a moment, once in the raptor, to just breathe. She reaches down to undo her seat harness, and moves to sit on the floor of the raptor.
[TAC3] "Skids" Covington says, "Pilot without a plane is confused as a cow on astroturf. Thanks for the pickup, sugar."
[TAC3] "Lucky" Alessandra says, "Pushing her Viper to the limit, Lucky gets back into the fur ball eventually. "What are we looking at now, Flight?""
[TAC3] "Jugs" Quinn says, "They call me Jugs out here… though Sugar is infinitely kinder a name. maybe I'll switch call signs… And no issue, Skids. Glad to see you in one piece."
[Harrier-307: Quinn] Maggie does indeed reel Skids in the moment she's hooked up to the harness, getting her in the raptor fast and smooth before she seals the hatch and re-pressurizes the cabin. As SARs go, that one was smooth as silk.
[Petrel-647: Rojas] Quietly humming to himself as bright flashes of Viper-Eating rounds rush past his cockpit, Spanner throws his own rounds back as he and the Raider weave through debris on a path that is more likely than not going to end up in a head-on collision. The closer they get, the louder his humming becomes, feathering the trigger each time the tin can crosses his target. If he can hear anything on the comms, he's ignoring it.
[TAC3] (from "Queenie" McQueen) Queenie sighs. "She aboard? I owe you, Skids. Sorry about that. Nukes make me nervous. I'll let you shoot me in the back later."
[BlackKnight-308: Daphne] Fuel tank heading needle bending towards the wrong side of the gauge, Daphne's viper shoots across the star scape, attempting to make up for lost time and in a hurry to get back onto Rojas' wing, again. She gives a quick glance around the cockpit, banks hard to one side, and swings in around towards the craziness, trying to get right behind the thing that wants to off him.
[Harrier-303: Marko] Marko doesn't waste any time getting the unconscious Shiv secured and himself back into his seat. "Punch it, Amazon!" he calls, strapping himself back in. "How many nukes remaining inbound?" he asks, turning back to the ECM console and resuming his jamming duties
[BlackKnight-650: McQueen] Back and forth, Queenie has regrouped with the others, forming up as he launches an all-out attack on the offending Raider which he is clearly dead-set on ending with his next burst of fire.
[TAC3] (from "Skids" Covington) Once again, Skids replies to Queen, "How 'bout we settle on sugar Jugs jus' for today. Man, that was a close call." And then there's a bit of a lengthy pause, before a slightly less enthusiastic Skids notes, "Queenie, I shoot a man, he's facin' me an' armed. You got any booze, I'ma hafta go ahead an' lay claim, cuz that was so ugly, its mama'd take it ever' damn where just so's she ain't gotta kiss it goodbye."
[Harrier-303: Hippolyta)] Amazon yells out. "Punching! I'm punching!"
[TAC3] (from "Skeeter" McCoy) Skeeter's tinny, helium-like voice says, "Only sugar out here is in here. Cylons are provin' they can catch more horseflies with vinegar than sugar, though."
[Petrel-647: Rojas] Spanner's Viper makes a sound akin to someone shaking a metal lunchbox filled with gravel as it flies through the hastily exploded carcass of a Raider, combined fire causing a chain reaction that sends bits and pieces heading off with enough velocity that a million years in the future some transport ship is going to be nailed by the wingtip at a fast enough speed to pierce the hull. With a little roll, the engines flare up to close the distance on Quinn's Raptor, albeit with Viper-Pilot head on a swivel.
As Amazon's Raptor barrels out of the fray and hangs back, it's a torrent of Cylon explosions and death. One more. And another. This battle is, for once, not actually one-sided. The Cylon forces are clearly in the process of getting wiped out.
The Basestar gets pummeled by cannon and missile fire. The big guns of the two ships tear it to pieces, more and more, and part of it starts to crumble as one of those spidery 'legs' falls off.
[TAC3] "Amazon" Hippolyta says, "All points, Amazon. That thing's getting..We're killing it. We're KILLING IT!!!"
[TAC3] (from "Amazon" Hippolyta) Amazon howls with some sort of bloodthirsty delight here.
[TAC3] (from "Lucky" Alessandra) With a low groan Lucky's voice comes out over the comms, "Thank the gods." She sounds like she's either hurting or isn't feeling exactly too hot right now.
[TAC3] "Jugs" Quinn says, "Fraaaak that's a purty sight."
The battle is clearly winding down here, as more missiles seek their target. Volley after volley flies. Flak, fighter combat, missiles all manage to clearly buy everyone time to escape.
[TAC3] (from "Spanner" Rojas) Spanner's voice finally comes over the channel, still lacking in any major emotion. "Jugs, Spanner. Immediate AO clear of Raiders. Got your six all the way home."
[TAC3] (from "Skeeter" McCoy) "Mmm-hmm. BBQ Cylon. My favorite," Skeeter agrees.
[Harrier-303: Marko] "Heh, payback's a bitch, ain't it?" Marko grins, turning to look out of the nearest viewport to try and catch a glimpse of the Basestar's destruction. "Think the toasters are wondering if they maybe didn't frak this one up a little?" he asks with a chuckle.
[TAC3] "Queenie" McQueen chuckles. "Well. I'll be sure to remain unarmed. And look at that! BOOM, you ugly sack of shit, go back to your daddy!"
[TAC3] "CerbTac" Tillman says, "Attention all aircrew: Return to Battlestar immediately. Combat landings approved. We are starting the jump clock. You have three minutes. ..Good fight, pilots."
[BlackKnight-308: Daphne] Daphne comes in with the advantage of speed, a long setup time, and relative altitude. She zooms in, tears into Rojas' raider, and leaves a lot of smoke and debris before baking hard. Her breath is all that comes in over the comm, a momentary lapse as she pushes the transmit button and forgets to speak. The glance she makes over her shoulder at the raider who's attention she gathered is for nothing. The thing is promptly turned into junk by McQueen, and she twists towards the Cerberus.
[TAC3] "Click" Daphne exhales. "Thanks, Queen."
[BlackKnight-650: McQueen] He didn't miss a second time. McQueen's flaws are probably legion, but one of them isn't sheer bloodthirstiness. He fires off enough weaponry to light up a veritable nest full of targets. Unfortunately, it's overkill. Fortunately, it's enough. He sails on through, forming up with Daphne and then alters his course back to the hangar bay, full tilt.
[TAC3] "Flasher" Marko says, "Cerberus, Flasher, we've got one wounded aboard, requesting med crews on deck for Captain Sitka."
[TAC3] "Queenie" McQueen says, "Click, Queen. Don't mention it."
[TAC3] "CerbTac" Tillman says, "Copy. Medical will be standing by."
[Harrier-307: Quinn] With the recall orders and her new passenger aboard, Jugs happily turns tail and smoothly makes her way back towards the ship. She slips into the hangar bay, her flying as silky as ever, not a scratch on her.
[Harrier-303: Tucana] As the Raptor closes on in, Amazon brings 'er on into the barn, sailing upwards, and then hitting the deck hard, howling. "NO SHIT RIGHT?" She cackles at Marko. "We just sent a message."
And like that, this is the end of one Cylon Basestar. It just crumbles, and erupts in a fount of gas, flame, debris, and who knows what else?
[Harrier-303: Marko] "Heh, That we did." Marko nods, starting to shut down the ECM gear in preparation for post-flight. "And, who knows, we pound the deck plates hard enough, maybe we'll even get the deck crew to send us a message." he teases playfully.
[BlackKnight-650: McQueen] Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng boooom. Ha ha. Just kidding you, man. McQueen's viper comes in a little hot, raining sparks across the deck, but really, that's all it is.
Spanner's Viper got in early, and he's already shutting off the systems by the time most have touched down. When all is said and done, his canopy pops open and he's shuffling down the ladder, head low and helmet off. A clipboard is immediately obtained by a passing deckhand with only minor protestations from one side, and silence from the other. It's never good when he's quiet. Ever.
[TAC3] "Amazon" Hippolyta says, "CIC, Amazon. All ships aboard."
[TAC3] "Flasher" Marko says, " CIC, Flasher, Harrier 303 signing off."
| Hangar Deck - Port - Midship - Battlestar Cerberus |
|---|
| The single largest rooms on the Cerberus are the hangar decks. Each flight pod consists of two stacked landing bays with adjoined decks and hangars, which along with computer-assisted landings results in a faster Viper recovery rate. Mirror images of each other, these two huge areas are located on the flight pods. The inboard sides of the deck, closest to the ship's main hull, are lined with parking and maintenance bays for Vipers and Raptors based aboard the battlestar. The outboard side of the deck contains the launch tubes used by the Vipers for standard deployment. Huge blast doors seal the deck into four sections, each one containing an elevator that leads up to the flight deck directly overhead. The fore-most section contains an elevator system that leads towards Aerospace Fabrication. |
| Post Holocaust Day: #49 |
[TAC3] "CerbTac" Tillman says, "Copy that, Amazon. - Praetorian and Corsair: Commence jump prep and set your clocks to thirty seconds. Cross-check and confirm jump coordinates. Have a nice day. Cerberus, out."
Hippolyta comes out of her Raptor, helping a slightly wobbly Sitka. Which is funny if you think about it. Even she's shorter than him. "Give me a hand, will you, Flasher?" Having ripped her head off, she looks windy, sweaty, but, exhilarated
"Yeah, just one sec, LT." Marko replies, finishing up his post-flight before unstrapping and moving out to help Hippolyta maneuver Sitka towards the med teams. "Heh, so much for our nice quiet evening." he smirks. "But damn if I don't mind."
Quinn touches down smoothly, popping her hatch a heartbeat later. She nods towards Covington, looking over the woman properly now. "Do I need to call a medic down here, hun?" She murmurs protectively. The woman might not be one of her pilots, but she's protective never the less.
Lucky's lucky but her Viper isn't as much, it taking some hella nasty structural damage as it lands thanks to the hits it took while in combat. It takes a bit for the crew to get the fighter towed into a spot and pry the canopy open but at least its pilots able to get out under her own power. The decontamination setup is looked at and approached hesitantly, the way she moves gingerly at best.
Daphne opens her canopy as soon as the Viper has come to a complete stop. There is no white line. A deckhand helps her out of the ship, and offers her a cup of coffee, which she takes greedily and appreciatively, then makes her way directly towards Spanner. She rubs her temples, "I'm sorry."
Covington comes in riding backseat of Quinn's raptor. Or rather, floor, since she elected to sit there. She doesn't immediately exit as the SAR touches down. Her helmet is off before the tow's even finished. She tucks it under her arm, then pushes off the floor, standing when the raptor comes to a halt. Strands of long blonde hair cling to her cheek, sweat drying slowly. The rest of her hair is pulled back into a tail. She's gained back a little color after that adventure in ejecting. She glances over to Quinn, then shakes her head. "Naw, honey. I'm okay. Just a little bruised is all. Thank you." She reaches out to touch the other pilot's arm. "I mean it. I about peed myself floatin' out there alone."
Quinn smiles reassuringly towards Covington, pulling off her helmet and letting some damp, frizzy red locks tumble down against her forehead. Somehow her braids never really survive the actual missions. "Not a problem, Skids. That's what we're there for, you know? We'll never leave you floating long, I promise." She strongly pats the younger woman's shoulder, giving a brief squeeze before she shakes her head and steps down and off into the deck. Happy Birthday to her.
"Bah. Lah. Mother of frakkin' shit. I'm going to seriously find whoever didn't check that tube, rip the assembly off, and ram it so far up his ass he'll be SHITTING OUT OF HIS MOUTH." This all comes in a barely-sincere torrent of rage on McQueen's part as he gets hauled out of his Viper, has his helmet removed and stowed, preparing for the jump. He looks rather sheepish.
Nathan just keeps on writing on that clipboard, getting off of the main deck proper at a brisk-ish pace so wrecks, injuries and bruised egos can be seen to. Somewhat in that order, no less. When Daphne appears with a temple-rubbing apology, the usually boisterous chap doesn't even look up. There's just a grunt from somewhere near the back of the throat as he keeps on walking. It's either accepting the apology, or ignoring her. Hard to tell."
McQueen adds, to the nearest deckhand who just looks like he doesn't want to deal with this. "Not you, crewman. You're doing stellar." Queenie adds, with a timid smile.
Covington steps out onto the wing of the raptor, and stands there for a moment before she moves to hop down. She's moving around OK on her own, and seems fine. She drags a hand over her face, flight helmet still wedged on her arm, and takes one last look at the redhead that scooped her up. She nods, though she doesn't speak again on it. A breath is blown out, then the blonde turns for the stairwell. There's a more than a fair chance she's headed for the Head. She does not even look at McQueen.
Skeeter merrily goes through her post-flight checks, quietly singing a jaunty song about drinking the blood of her enemies.
"Heh. I'd call that — quiet." Hippolyta meanders down, helping Sitka along who's actually looking fairly intact, before handing him off to the nearest medical staff as they become available. She reaches about with her free hand, pulling a set of dog tags out of her flight suit. Not her own, but another set, stowed there carefully. She kisses the tags. "We got them for ya, Turkey."
The decontamination process takes a while as it has to be made one hundred percent sure that no one carries radiation throughout the ship, something Alessandra understands on an intellectual level but the scrubbing and prodding hurts her already sore body. "Goddammit! Will you watch out? I just got out of sickbay, you crazy frakkers! What the hell are you trying to do? Put me the frak back in?" It's an outburst that will be more than easily heard by others as she does nothing to keep her voice down but it's also one she'll wind up feeling sheepish over once it's done.
Quinn is quiet now, the excitement over… she falls into doing her post flight checks in a slightly heavier silence than she normally might take. Definitely not the happiest of birthdays. Not that anyone really knows… She just goes through the motions, calming her breath quietly… off the adrenaline rush.
McQueen's just left there, shrugging nonplussed as he starts clicking through his post-flight checklist. Time enough to deal with all that later, apparently. He concentrates on filling out, well, paperwork.
"So say we all." Marko says, nodding somberly as Hippolyta says her farewell to her former ECO. "Damn nice flying with you, Amazon." he says, offering his hand.
"You're no Turkey. You realize. No offense. But you're Flasher. Maybe that'll work just fine." Hippolyta says, looking up at Marko as she accepts the gesture.
Quinn slips off the deck once she finishes her checks..
Rojas drops the clipboard aside, slapping a bright red post-it with the viper number in bold lettering on top. With that, and without much ado to anyone, he's off, running a hand though the slightly-too-long for his liking hair as he goes. Minimal eye-contact, minimal speech. Oh yeah, good mood right there.
Alessandra's eventually deemed properly scrubbed and decontamination-free and is given a set of BS Cerberus issued sweats for her troubles along with a pair of socks, those meant to help her keep her feet from getting scuffed or whatever. Hair hanging about her in limp, ugly waves and her face now a raw red, she looks quite like a wet dog or something. She looks at her fighter, mentally checks it off as needing major repair work and leaves, needing to get the frak out of there.