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  • AETAS 2

    Idiota 16 years ago
    Well now, I took the liberty of naming this 'AETAS 2', as the former AETAS 2 never got started, and because it's a bit of forum tradition to name it like this. I can rename it later if some of you think that AETAS 2 will happen in the future, but first it's time to start his RP. I will set things in motion by initially writing a prologue describing the conflicts to come, but I will discard the NPC as soon as I can, (but I will need to write short bits to allow the story to progress,) and will only retake it if we all deem it necessary for the RP. Here it goes...

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------

    "So I ask once more, do we agree to this course of action?" [OT]Italics indicate that the prases written are not spoken verbally, but using the conjoiner machinery in the head.[/OT] Admiral Lorington glanced over the proposal once more. After all, it was his fleet that would be send to the outskirts of the system, not admiral Operin's. It was, as he finished reading the details, the perfect oppertunity to gain some reputation with the other members of the meeting. Little risk involved, but a large task nevertheless. He was sure that he would eventually be succesful, which isn't something he could say of admiral Operin.

    The other counsilmembers were quick to agree with the chairman, general Preston. He could almost imagine Operin's face as the counsil decided, growing more sour by the second. A very humane thought, he concluded, but those were okay at times. "It's settled then. Admiral Lorington, you are to escort Colonising ship D3 to it's destination planet, Omtin, set up it's defenses, and then await further orders from the counsil."

    That was 3 years 2 months and 6 days ago, the admiral concluded. 3.5 revolutions around the sun, plus 6 rotations of Versillo. People would begin to harvest their outdoor crops normally. Ofcourse, there was no such thing on his own home planet. All they had was ice. "Attention: Admiral Lorington, your presence is requested on the bridge. I repeat: Admiral Lorington, your presence is requested on the bridge."

    As the last words faded from his quarters, the admiral tightened his uniform and proceeded towards the bridge. The ship was quite large, so it took him 5 minutes to get their, even though it was mostly because the main elevator was out of order. It would have taken him up in less than a minute. Upon his arival of the bridge, an officer approached him"Sir, you're not going to like this. Take a look at these readings from a few minutes ago."

    The big screen flickered to live, showing only white light for a while. Then, the screen slowly showed an enlarged version of the radar screen from the console of the officer. "Well, what's wrong with it? I don't see anything." the admiral spoke. "Now you don't, but..." the man operated his console before speaking: "Take a look when we amplify the incoming signal by 30." The screen appeared the same, only a few tones lighter, due to reflected radar waves from small space objects. There were two lighter areas to be noted, however... The first one was right ahead of them, which was logical, because it was the planet. The second one was to their right. "We have reason to believe this to be the Versillian Coalition fleet. By calculating it's course, we conclude that it will arrive at the planet half a month before we do, assuming it has the same type of engine." The admiral stared blankly at the screen for a while, then smashed his fist in his palm. "FUCK!"

    ---------------------------------------------------------

    The RP begins a few days before the arrival of the conjoiner fleet. The Versillian Coalition was aware of the conjoiner fleet and have prepared some defenses (but nothing rough) after succesfully founding their first colony in space. Feel free to describe the planet and it's details, I left that out intentionally. The conjoiners will be planning an attack, where the Versillian Coalition expects them to send an missionary. This doesn't mean that the entire fleet is cought off-guard, however, and both parties are drilling their forces for war.
    #
    MageKing17 16 years ago
    [OT]
    "Idiota" said:
    Admiral Lorington glanced over the proposal once more. After all, it was his fleet that would be send to the outskirts of the system, not admiral Operin's.
    So... is Lorington in charge of 3rd Fleet (in other words, am I in Lorington's fleet)?

    "Idiota" said:
    That was 3 years 2 months and 6 days ago, the admiral concluded. 3.5 revolutions around the sun, plus 6 rotations of Versillo.
    So a year is only four months long (3 years + 2 months = 3.5 revolutions)?

    "Idiota" said:
    People would begin to harvest their outdoor crops normally. Ofcourse, there was no such thing on his own home planet. All they had was ice.
    So... hydroponics? Or what?

    "Idiota" said:
    The conjoiners will be planning an attack, where the Versillian Coalition expects them to send an missionary. This doesn't mean that the entire fleet is cought off-guard, however, and both parties are drilling their forces for war.
    So we'll get a brief moment of surprise as the enemy fleet reacts to the unexpected turn of events, but once that's over they'll behave pretty normally?
    [/OT]
    #
    Idiota 16 years ago
    [OT]Guess that I'll have to kick off then...[/OT]

    Warren exited his fighter, adrenaline still pumping from the last training session. In total, he 'downed' 9 ships in a dogfight and assisted one of his team mates 8 times. As he exited the hangers, the beta wing's faces were dread and without inspiration. "Well, we did give them one hell of a beating..." he thought. "I do wonder how they'll ever survive when battling conjoiners. It wasn't like it was hard to get such a score, just look at Derek." That same Derek came up to his left and mentioned something exciting about how he beat Warren by one kill, and that that one kill was better than that one assist that Warren had more than him.

    So he shooed him away and went for his flight assistant. "How'd I do?" Warren asked, when he finally came before the rather slim Jake. "Perfect, by ship standards, but there's allways room for improvement. I'll grab a certain moment I wanted to tell you about." Warren sighed. "I couldn't help that and you know it. I had their team leader on my tail, there's no way I could have saved him." Jake ignored him, and moments later his hand held computer showed the scenario Warren described. "That team leader you mentioned wasn't that good, Warren. He barely stands out of the rest of Beta, I'm sure you could have outmaneuvered him." While Jake was saying that, Warren was apperently too busy inspecting his nails to listen. "God, why did I have to be YOUR flight assistant. You're such a damn loser that you don't even understand the sole fact that you're the best this ship has to offer. I don't even know why you NEED a flight assistant. However, I do think you can still improve. It's just your attitude."

    "I don't have time for this man, I'm outta here. Yo Derek, wait up!"

    [OT]Rather lame, I know, but I'm tired and we need to get something started[/OT]
    #
    Murska 16 years ago
    [OT]Hey, YOU'RE the best? No fair. [/OT]


    Derek waited impatiently for Warren to return. He was on a cheery mood after triumphing over their rivals. Well, they did usually win the ground combat training, but what would a pilot do with that anyway?

    "Man, something wrong with the beta today... They're even worse than usual. It's like we could've beaten them all together." Derek grinned. "You were good today. But I still beat you. A kill beats an assist, it's a rule! Anyway. What do we have on schedule today? Hours of free time?" Derek checked his schedule. "Nah, ya bet. We'll have to practice ground combat later, and we got a guard shift on the barracks. Oh man. At least we have some time right now."
    Right after Derek had finished saying this, it proved to be a dreadful mistake, when they both got a message calling them to their leader's quarters in a couple of minutes.

    "Wait, what now... I didn't do anything. You? If I have to clean anything one more time, I'm going to snap." Derek exclaimed and sped up his walking. "Let's get going straight away then. At least we won't be scolded for being late."

    [OT]I'm sick, but we do need to get something started - Besides, I don't really know what we know, so I'm kind of assuming we'll be briefed about the conjoiners here. You can make up anything you wish really. Also, how many ships ARE there in these two wings, seeing as only two pilots got a total of 19 'kills'...[/OT]
    #
    Idiota 16 years ago
    [OT]Don't let the subjective talk of my flight assistant fool you, Murska. Also, a training session consists of multiple battles and scenario's, so it's not uncommon to 'kill' the same pilot twice. Also, a common wing will consist of 7 or 9 fighters. More than that will give the wing leader a data overflow, and less will prove to be no match versus other, bigger wings.

    Also, I like how you used your 'power', so to say, to further the story. It's exactly what I want the others to do as well. Just make sure it allways sounds plausible, and if in doubt, consult another player. You, too, have the right to bend the story your way by seizing control over powerful NPC's for shor periods of time.[/OT]

    Warren did not like the sudden call. It seemed that the entire ship would be stripped from active duty for just this meeting, something that had never occured before. Allways they were kept updated on a need-to-know basis. They knew the conjoiners were coming, just the how and the when were allways left in the dark. Now, it seemed, something was finally up, and they decided to spill it with the crews. How nice. It probably meant that the conjoiners were at their doorstep, only moments away from provoking a political crisis.

    "I don't like this one bit." Was all he shared of these thoughts, however, as the two proceeded.

    [OT]Think it's best if we wait for the other VC players to introduce themselves, Murska. Also, you might want to start RPing on the conjoiner side, MageKing and Crazy. I know you're outnumbered but let it not hamper your creative ability.[/OT]
    #
    Murska 16 years ago
    [OT] Waiting for the others then. I'm giving you the right to RP the briefing, seeing as you're probably better with it than I am. And it's your setup anyway. [/OT]
    #
    MageKing17 16 years ago
    [OT]How many hours are in a day, here? Because my navigational officer should say a number that's between two and three days, but 56 only works for 24-hour days (or something close to it, like 25 or 26).

    Also, I'm still a little fuzzy on how advanced the technology is for either side. Not only which side has the tech advantage, but what that tech consists of. Artificial gravity? Gravitational sensors? Reactionless drives? Lasers? Grasers? Particle beams? Or just railguns and chemical missiles, with rotation for the illusion of gravity, and nothing but light to detect things with? Actually, I suppose that makes the most important question, "Does either side have sensors that update faster-than-light?"[/OT]

    Alan gazed at the navigational plot. "Time to target?"

    His navigational officer double-checked some figures. "56 hours, sir."

    Alan nodded. The ships of 3rd fleet were in the deceleration phase of their approach, so if Alan was looking at a visible light display, he would see many drive emissions, as his ship was located toward the front of the formation. His plot, however, used mostly stored information to show various objects in three dimensions. He let his attention wander to the briefing he'd been given when they first detected the Versillion Coalition fleet.

    Our primary objective is to clear a path for Colonizing Ship D3, the Admiral had said. It represents too great an investment to just turn around and go home, and we need to show the Coalition that we "mean business", as the phrase goes. At that point, Alan had finished reading the size estimates for the Coalition forces. It didn't look good. Our secondary goal is to protect the Order battleship, Lorington continued. It also represents a great investment, and not having it around will hurt us in every future engagement if we lose it here. Any questions? Alan had looked around, but no one else said anything aloud or on an "open" transmission. Any further conversation at that point must've either been private or nonexistant, and Lorington had dismissed them.

    Alan frowned. With the enemy having numerical parity, it would be entirely up to the individuals to do their absolute best. They could afford no mistakes in this engagement. With that thought, he sighed. Sometimes he felt very alone. It was a natural feeling for a starship captain, because your authority had to be absolute in the eyes of your crew. But that didn't make the feeling any less real.

    He straightened in his chair. Of course, just because he had the feeling didn't mean he had to let it effect him. A slight manipulation of his brain-cage software and it became nothing more than a dull reminder in the background of his conscious mind. Alan turned to his tactical officer. "When was our last combat drill?"

    The tactical officer didn't even need to touch his console to look it up. "34 hours and 52 minutes, sir."

    Alan nodded to himself. "I think it's time for another. We must be in peak readiness before the engagement. Initiate full battle simulation."

    The tactical officer grinned. "Aye aye, sir."

    EDIT: Removed FTL reference.
    #
    Idiota 16 years ago
    [OT]I don't know what's the common rotational time for a planet, but from looking at Mars, Venus and Earth I'd say 24 hours is both easy in use and not odd. Anyone disagrees? About technology, I allways assumed that the gravity on ships was artificial. current drive technology is limited to nuclear fusion. Common weapons are lasers, railguns, Gauss cannons, chemical rockets with either nuclear or biochemical payloads, or with special penetration heads to disable ship functions. There are no shields (yet?). As for the last question: No. sensors work with light.

    Also, it might be a good idea if you guys posted suggestions for the outcome of the fight. There's no one who's going to decide the outcome just like that. You should ask yourself, what type of society does humankind need to battle the eventual return of the Outworlders (Both the VC society and the conjoiner society have their pros and cons), how do you want your character to progress, etc.

    Or we could also flip a coin.[/OT]
    #
    Crazy 16 years ago
    The Needle exited Edward's back with that distinctive sound made by smooth metal surfaces sliding against eachother. He opened his eyes quickly and gasped a breath of air with a cramp all over his body. A voice was heard through the thickness of his newfound consciousness. It was a warm baritone but far too quiet to hear.

    "Louder, Tilly, my ears are pinging like hell." It had to be Tilly. Edward could recognize that voice through a blast door in the heat of battle. He had to at one point, too.

    "Full battle simulation," said the voice a bit louder but with utter calm. Tilly is a nickname. Not a whole lot of people outside the squad use it. "Tigershark called a full battle simulation, Admiral's calling for one aboard all ships." The name Tilly came from his registry starting with "T111Y". It was one of those nervous jokes before combat, but it somehow stuck.

    Edward's eyes were clearing to see the metal-lined simulation bay. Four rows of Needles with 8 in each row made the place a mess of wires, open panels, touchscreens and other miscellaneous mechanical and electronic devices or tools in constant need of maintenance. Much hadn't changed in the few hours he was running his sim. "Agh. Why not go for a general one, then?"

    Tilly's voice was full of sarcasm:"Uh. The less units the are in a simulation, the more intense it will be? We're going to combat in 30-something hours." Ed felt like he should have known that. It was going to take a few minutes before he could think clearly again. His first stumbling steps out of the Needle cage didn't exactly boost his confidence either.

    Tilly took a hold of him. "Out of one sim and into another, eh Ed?" "Yeah. What bay are we in, anwyay?" "Three." "No, i mean the one our squad is in." "Oh. One."

    Ed stretched a bit and suddenly felt a whole lot better. "Full sim, you say? Looks like its out of the frying pan and into the fire."
    #
    E_net4 16 years ago
    "If everything goes fine, the conjoiners won't stand a chance against the HEDECBL (High Energy Drain of Electric Crush Bomb Launcher). However, I must make sure it works. In fact, I'm not sure whether the energy drain calculations are correct."
    Indeed, Sajur's mind and body were becoming weaker over time. His only strengh and happiness were on his design of electrical apparatus. And now that his new idea for a weapon came to be accepted for use on the VC defenses, it was vital for him to complete the design in time and with the most of efficiency.

    [OT]Believe me, it was a pain to type this.[/OT]
    #
    Idiota 16 years ago
    Warren and Derek were sitting in the conference room a few rows from the back. Warren looked around as CO Trent was preparing to begin. He was sitting next to Rosa, one of the few female pilots on the ship. She was quite skilled, but her acceptance aboard was much debated. Arguments were that other pilots would become emotionally attached to females, and fight at reduced efficiancy. But Rosa's skill was good enough to overcome those arguments, allthough she was far from the top. Next to Rosa was Alan, who was often teased for his last name Slonch. But he made a damn good squad leader for Warren.

    "Good day everyone. I hope you're all comfortable and it wasn't too much of an inconveniance to be here. As you all know, there is a conjoiner fleet approaching the planet. What you might not have known, is that they are due to arrive in 56 hours."

    Sounds of gasps and quick gossips emerged from the previous silence, but they faded away quickly.

    "So far, no attempts of diplomacy or any other form of contact have been made. While we assume that the conjoiners will not attack us, it would be unwise to not prepare for a possible attack. Therefore, the fleet admiral has recalled all ships in the fleet to defensive positions between Omtin and the conjoiner fleet. We will be in a state of military stand by."

    "About the enemy fleet: It is about the same size as ours. 1 flagship identified as the Order, with 4 somewhat smaller ships around it, and clusters of smaller ships like frigates and cruisers. We know that 2 of the larger ships are destroyers, and 2 of them are carriers, just not which one is which ship. We suspect that the Conjoiners did not have any scientific breakthroughs after they could no longer learn from the outworlders, so their weaponry should match ours."

    Trent drank some of his water before continuing.

    "You all know what it means to be stand by. It means that you are in your designated area, waiting for further orders. Your ships will be loaded out, and the Panopticon weapon system capacitors will be fully charged. Chances are big that thise will all be a ruse, but be alert and be ready. If it comes down to a fight, do what you have to do. You are at least as good as the conjoiner filth, but what's more important, we've got the balls that they don't. You are dismissed. Be at your designated positions in 40 hours."
    #
    Murska 16 years ago
    The pilots walked back to the barracks, excited from the news. None of them had been in a real battle, and they were itching to get to it. Warren, as always, was rather quiet, and Derek was chatting with people. Some of the pilots wanted to get in on the action, and said they hoped the conjoiners would attack, but most just shrugged at that. The pilots separated, going to their duty.Warren and Derek were soon back together, chatting about the briefing.

    "The Order fleet, eh?" Derek said, "We'll give it a warm welcome. What's the conjoiner trash doing here anyway?"
    "I dunno. Coming to steal our babies?" Warren answered. They walked to the end of the next corridor, turning toward the barracks.
    "Way out here? They're aiming for the wrong planet." Derek said. "We'll make them pay dearly for that mistake. It's time to even up the fleet count."
    "It is possible that they wanted to colonise this planet themselves. Many of those smaller ship could carry civilians coming to take our colony." Warren said in a more serious tone.
    "Well I don't think that's going to happen. We outnumber them, and we're much tougher than those monsters anyway." Derek said. "Well, better cheer up. We don't even know if we'll have to fight after all. Although I'd guess we will, they've got no reason for being here. I'm going to go check up on my fighter. Who knows what the gearheads've done to it."
    #
    MageKing17 16 years ago
    Alan scowled. "Gunnery, you're slipping. Your miss rate increased by 10% since last drill."

    Alan's tactical officer, a tall man in his forties most people called "Jimmy" (a nickname the origin of which was beyond Alan's comprehension; his actual name was Frederick), shifted his stance uncomfortably. "I'm sorry, sir. I have no excuse."

    Alan snorted. "Yes you do, the hostiles were almost 150% their previous speed. The fact that you didn't miss more than you did speaks volumes for your competance."

    "Jimmy"'s expression became bemused, though he got control of himself so he could deadpan his response. "I'm sorry, sir. I'll be sure to talk back to you at every opportunity."

    "Better," replied Alan without a hint of a grin, and turned back to his plot. "Navigation, your maneuvers were a little... unorthodox. Care to explain?"

    His navigational officer was a woman named Weliss, and she didn't waste any time getting to the point. "Standard doctrine would have exposed us to direct fire from the enemy flagship. My maneuver took us past three battleships, true, but they weren't expected us to dodge in that direction, and we got a free shot up their engines."

    Alan nodded. "Absolutely correct. Feel free to be as unpredictable as you like; I like staying alive, however, so please avoid further placement that near weaponry capable of vaporizing the entire ship in a single shot."

    Weliss bowed her head and returned her attention to her instruments. Alan chose his executive officer to berate next. "Geoffrey, would you care to tell me what you were doing when the pair of cruisers chose to launch their armaments at us instead of the flagship?"

    Geoffrey "Jeff" Valkins simply shrugged. "I panicked and made a hasty calculation. It was entirely my fault, but I'll try not to make it happen again."

    Alan raised an eyebrow. "Make a faulty calculation like that in a battle and we could end up as space dust. See to it you don't have a repeat performance in--" he checked his chronometer, "--fifty-two hours. All in all, however, a pretty good drill. Send a message to the Order, tell Admiral Lorington that I am confident in my crew's ability to perform admirably in the coming engagement."

    There was a light scattering of applause before attention returned to consoles and chronometers, all anxiously ticking towards the fateful moment.
    #
    Idiota 16 years ago
    [OT]Finally, free time! [/OT]

    "Jake, replace the projectile weapons with dummy missile launchers and restart simulation." Warren was sitting in his virtual cockpit as he drank some of his water. "Are you sure pal? We've already given the enemy ships speed and hull enhancements, they'll be pretty damn hard to kill with just lasers..."

    Warren sighed. "Who said I was going to kill them with lasers? C'mon, it's a simulation. Just do it." Ignorant fool... You may never known in what situation you may find yourself in on the battlefield.

    The screen flickered to live as the ship simulated the take-off procedure. It was allways an impressive sight to see the walls of the launching tube dash past you as you were accelerating into space. As he left the Panopticon, his board computer started scanning for enemies. Within seconds, 3 ships appeared on the radar screen, flying together in a wedge formation. Warren relocated reactor power from his laser capacitors to his engines and sped forward, straight at the enemy ships. He fired his railgun at the lead ship and adjusted his course to the left. His shot missed, and he knew that they had fired and missed by an inch as well. His board computer signalled that the enemy ships were discharging their lasers on him, but he knew that the hull could stand them for a while.

    Dummy missiles were a relatively hard weapon to use in fighter combat, so most pilots didn't use them. Warren did. He discharged his capacitors, but not into the lasers, but into the engines. His ship lunged forward at one of the ships and Warren fired his 2 missile launcher only meters away from the enemy ship. The missiles would be launched in a helix, so whatever direction the enemy evaded in, one of the missiles would allways hit the target from close range. The misile hit the ship's engines, and Warren knew that the target would not be causing any other virtual pilot any harm anymore.

    A second VC ship approached the scene, as programmed. Just now, Warren's board computer warned him that the hull integrity was critical. Warren turned his ship towards his friend and increased reactor power output to 110%. A red light started flashing, indicating that the reactor was heating up. Warren didn't care, he was speeding towards the other pilot just fast enough to force the other ships to stop their lasers to chase him. The other ship fired a salvo of projectiles at one of the ships, and due to the speed at which the other ship was travelling, making it harder to evade, the salvo hit. One of the slugs penetraded the cockpit and it was all over for the pilot.

    Now it was 2 on 1. Warren made a turn as tight as his body would handle and fired his railgun in rapid succession, until it's barrel bended due to overheating. 3 of the 5 shots hit and penetrated the enemy ship, killing the pilot in the process.

    Simulation end.

    "I didn't think you'd win that one. You do realize that eveyone back here on the ship would be pissed off with the state you brought the ship back in? I mean, There is now only an inch of hull plating protecting the pilot from the vacuum of space at some points. You nearly blew up the reactor, and you facked up the railgun."

    "I survived, didn't I?"

    [OT]EDIT: STUPID BROKEN CENSORING[/OT]
    #
    Murska 16 years ago
    Meanwhile, Derek had just finished intercepting an escorted enemy bomber wing with some of his teammates, and was chatting to them about their performance.

    "That went quite well, no losses. Was close for you, though, Jack." Derek said, "If the bastard behind me wouldn't have been blown, I couldn't have saved you. But all in all, the bombers didn't get hits and we're still alive, so that's one for Versillo, zero for the conjoiners!"

    "Yeah, but that was just a small skirmish. We'll see some real fighting soon enough, and that'll be a real battle. We'll have to be careful of the larger ships, and the scale will be much bigger. Get hits on your fighter and it won't hold together for the whole battle", interjected one of the pilots.

    "Right, right. We don't really know if they'll engage, and if they do, we'll be ready enough. We've got the numbers, and, of course, the skill. Warren here just beat three upgraded conjoiner fighters with dummy missiles!"

    The pilots walked for a break. They were partly excited and partly nervous, for the rumors were that there would be a battle.
    #
    Idiota 16 years ago
    [OT]Time for a little character development... Don't read this if you don't want to, it doesn't contain anything crucial. I'm just bored and need something to do. :p[/OT]

    In 3 hours they would be put on stand by. Then, a long and dreadfuly period inside his fighter bay would follow, concluded by the message that the conjoiner fleet departed and all was well again. Politics. politics, politics. All it ever was was politics. It was as if there was no other end for humanity than to battle eachother for power. In the end, he knew he would die in a fight fighting over some petty recource desired by multiple factions. All he could do was try not to make that recource planet Omtin. He looked around. It was still his room, containing his petty belongings and some items he valued. But all in all, if he ever did die, his room would be vacated within the hour, made ready for the next pilot to step in line for Alpha 7. It had allways been his lucky number, that. "Perhaps my eventual death would be caused by a promotion to Alpha 1, or some other squad leader." he thought. Not that he would ever be selected, he didn't have the right skills.

    "Warren? Can I come in?" a familiar female voice from outside asked. "Yeah, come on in." He replied. The door whirred open, and Rinnith stepped inside. Warren has had a brief relationship with Rin, but things didn't work out as she was almost never allowed on the ship. She was a colonist, a fortune seeker who had nothing left on Versillo. Most of the colonists lost their family to the outworlders, and decided that rebuilding their life on Omtin was preferable over being constantly reminded of the death of their relatives and friends. He got to his feet and hugged her. Her warm body was a comfortable change from the cold and harsh environment that they were forced to live in.

    "You're cold, Warren. You've been sitting here for a while haven't you?" Rin asked.
    "You didn't really need the hug to know that, did you?" Warren replied.
    "I guess not... you allways complained about living on this ship."
    "I did not!"

    "Oh, no, you didn't. But it wasn't that hard to guess. In fact, that's the reason I came here today." She smiled at him, and he immediately knew what she wanted. It had never been much of a 'love' relationship between them.
    #
    Crazy 16 years ago
    [OT] Idiota, don't you mean dumbfire missles? The ones that fly in a straight line? AFAIK, dummy missles are missles without an explosive charge. [/OT]

    Rattle. Dry thump. Rattle. Another rattle. Dry thump. Whistle. It felt like there was an entire fighter squadron trying to take them out.

    "What are those whistles?" Greenhorn Gary Dowell. He was pretty good. But still a greenhorn.

    "Missiles."

    "What do they sound like when they hit?"

    "Death."

    Ed felt like he shouldn't be this harsh on the kid, but his mind was filled with the upcoming landing. It was just a simulation, but eight people sitting in an assault craft that was not much more than a moving target always made him uneasy. The greenhorn was on Red, so Ed would atleast always have his eye on him. Red and Blue of the same squad rarely broke up, but the option was designed to be there.

    A dry, static-filled voice could be heard through their combat helmets.

    "Impact in ten seconds"

    The squad braced in their cages. Cages are a specific kind seat designed for situations where the user will experience large G-forces, incapacitation or possibly death and they will need to stay in the seat.

    "Five seconds."

    These impacts always hurt. Always have, always will.

    "Impact!"

    But it wasn't the hangar floor. The craft rammed an exiting fighter at full speed, filling the ears of the seated with a deafening crash as the fighter was crumpled by the heavier, structurally reinforced assault shuttle. And then it was the hangar floor. This one was more of a bang. It hurt. And then came the wall. Ed didn't really hear it much, the G-forces ripping his body apart were keeping him busy.

    It took a few seconds for the shuttle to settle inside the hangar of the enemy carrier. The cages popped upwards, releasing the battered men inside. One point two seconds later they were standing. It took zero point six seconds for the back door of the craft to blow open. Two point four more and the entire squad had exited the craft, first fire was opened by Blue and Red leaders with K43s at 2.3 seconds since cage release. The squad organized to fire on priority targets in 5.2 seconds since cage release. At 8.4, all enemy armed personnel was neutralized. At this point, the squad had lost two men. At 10.4 the squad had fortified their positions, removed any critical support personnel and taken control of the hangar.

    They covered the incoming second and third assault craft. Squads 3, 5 and 13 were ready to advance to the bridge by 20.6. They entered three different corridors, squad 13 under the lead of Edward H43R17 taking priority route, squad 3 under Stephen Jenkins took secondary route, squad 5 under John McMillan going to intercept armed opposition. Squad 3 encountered resistance at 52 seconds, stopping to fight the enemy. Squad 5 met massive enemy resistance at 72 seconds, losing two men but keeping the main armed opposing force under check. Squad 13 was able to advance toward the enemy bridge at nominal speed, going directly through the few enemy support personnel that stood to fight them. They reached the bridge at 84 seconds, taking out the automated turrets by 88 seconds, opening up the bridge blast door with charges at 95 seconds. They covered the inside of the bridge with the maximal amount of anti-personnel explosives they could and charged forward. Squad 13 took control of the bridge by 104 seconds with no additional losses.


    Two hours later, the simulation was over. The infamous squad 13 of The Bloodhound battalion received praise from the captain of the ship but were largely unaffected by it. They've done this simulation before. A lot of times. The real thing was different. The greenhorn was a bit shaken by the blitz of such an intense assault. "He'll do good. Remember your first real simulation?" Tilly said in his usual positive manner. Tilly was shot taking the hangar bay but the simulation didn't deem it a fatal wound. "What do you mean by 'real'?" Ed knew very well, actually.

    Forty-six hours until battle. Resting time.

    "I can't believe you took the carrier in less than two minutes." Ed didn't even turn around to see who it was. Neither did he reply. He shuddered a bit as he remembered the battle against the Outworlders. He was far too young to be in that battle. But he was. It didn't take two minutes that time. It took five hours. Five hours and seven full squads lost their life there. It's never like the simulations. Never.
    #
    MageKing17 16 years ago
    Alan awoke with a start and checked his chrono. Forty-two hours until zero hour. Forty-two hours until the killing started.

    He sat up with a sigh and rubbed his eyes. This was going to be the first actual combat he'd ever seen. A part of his mind always kept nagging him about that. "What are you doing in the captain's chair? You have crew members who actually fought the Outworlders." Another part was simply resigned to death. "You've got nothing but a frigate. You're going to get vaporized in the first exchange of fire before you can even contribute your measly armament to the battle." A third thought, "The colonists are all that matter. Even if the Order and the Colony ship were the only ships to make it out of this battle, it would have been worth it.". Yet another was cynical. "Only if we win does any of this actually matter. It's all good and well for the Colony ship to survive, but if they survive by fleeing it doesn't matter. The Order probably wouldn't survive anyway, it's too big a target."

    The last part, and the part that ended up having to make the decisions anyway, simply didn't know what to think. So he decided to exercise until he couldn't think anymore. Then at least he wouldn't have to listen to himself think.

    Half an hour and a shower later, he decided he couldn't avoid thinking any longer and sat down. He decided on two things. One, that he was in charge of his ship, and he owed it to his crew to see this thing through; and two, that when this was all over, he'd see a good psychiatrist.

    The chime of the door brought him out of his reverie. "Come in."

    It was Jeff, holding something that looked suspiciously like tedious paperwork that would require his attention. Alan decided to ignore that until it was brought up, however. "Yes?"

    "Sir, I thought you should know, we finished the full-range pre-battle systems check. All systems at 100%, and all stations good to go."

    Alan nodded. "I suppose we've really done all the pointless shuffling we can, then."

    Jeff also nodded. "I suppose so."

    "That means it really is just a waiting game at this point."

    "Pretty much."

    Alan sighed. "I hate waiting games."

    Jeff shrugged. "That's why I brought you a present."

    Alan looked pointedly at the paperwork, then back at Jeff. "Oh, goody."

    No longer able to maintain a straight face, Jeff, simply grinned. "Since I know how much you hate sitting around with nothing to do, I decided to bring your the crew evaluation forms you've been putting off for two weeks. Have fun!"

    Alan scowled. "Remind me to have you court martialled when we return to Loindred."

    "I'll put in on your calender, sir." With that, he was out the door again. Alan allowed himself to grin and got to work.
    #
    E_net4 16 years ago
    After many hours perfecting his design, Sajur realized: "I believe I should start building the first prototype."
    He head straight to his basement in order to gather the required materials.
    After all pieces of machinery, tools and batteries were on his desk, he yelled: "Marko, get over here! It's time to build the weapon!" The response, which was heard two seconds later, was: "Get lost, jerk!"
    Marko supposed to be Sajur's working partner, but they never fit well. And since they went on a fight the previous month, Marko did never care about the project.
    Their fight was due to having different ideas. Marko preferred working on ballistic weapons, rather than making weapons that work on energy.
    Fortunately, this gave Sajur Kõen the whole project to himself, hence allowing him to receive all credits.
    And so, he proceeded on building a hand-held version of the HEDECBL.
    #
    Idiota 16 years ago
    "Attention hangar personnel. Ship inbound for landing in 20 seconds." Greg walked casually over the landing zone, waiting for the ship to land as he moved behind the safety screen. Moments later, there stood a normal-looking civilian ship, but with the conjoiner emblem on the sides. It looked kind of shabby, as if they'd send the worst ship in their possession for this diplomatic meeting. A few more moments the crew waited for the cockpit to open, but it did not. Procedures demanded that the crew opened the cockpit from the outpit to check on the pilots health, so Greg moved towards the ship with some others. He climbed on top and pulled the lever that manually opened the cockpit. To his shock, the cockpit was empty.

    "Admiral, we are detecting a large tathering of electrical power in the Order's main weapons. They're going to fire!" The odd thing was allways that the beams were practically invisible. Only computers could register the faint reflection coming from the scarce particles on the beam's way. But the ship was being hurt allright.

    "Admiral, the ship they send to the planet was empty!"

    "Hmm... So this is the game you're playing. Very well. Prepare to engage the enemy in full force. Captain, engage evasive maneuvres and counter attack."

    -------------------------------------------------------------------

    "Alright Alpha, we've been cleared for take-off. It's for real this time." It took a moment for Warren to realize that they were really going to fight this time. It wasn't going to be against bots anymore, they'd be killing real men this time. Strangely, that thought didn't worry him at all.

    During stand-by, Alpha wing was allways prepared in advance to take-off together, while normally ships only launched 2 at a time. It wasn't hard at all, the board computers matched eachother's speed and heading, so it allways went without incident. "Alpha, our orders are to intercept the enemy bombers heading for the carrier. We're outmanned out there, so show them what it's like to mess with us! Alpha 1, out." The usual jokes about the formality of the last words did not follow. Everyone was nervous.
    #
    MageKing17 16 years ago
    "Order to Frigate Group Two, Bomber Group Three is short on escorts, come about to course three five nine mark two five and engage hostile fighters with point-defense."

    The comm unit was still speaking as Alan sat down in his command chair and began barking orders. "You heard the Admiral! Three five nine mark two five! Point-defense batteries ready!"

    The Tigershark moved alongside her sister ships, bringing their rapid-fire PD weaponry to bear on the flitting forms of the VC fighters desperately hoping to destroy the Conjoiner bombers before they could unload their deadly payloads upon their motherships. Alan scowled. The Tigershark wasn't really an anti-fighter frigate, but it was equipped with enough point-defense cannons to take on a fighter wing or reduce missile attacks. Being among an entire group of frigates helped, but the Tigershark was primarily an anti-cruiser vessel, so they weren't likely to get too many kills against these tiny targets.

    "Jimmy, let's focus our shielding towards those carriers. They probably won't have too many weapons to fling our way, but at this range they won't have trouble missing, either."

    "Aye, sir."

    "Weliss, suggest to Group Flag that we initiate evasive pattern," he took a moment to check his chair computer, "Delta Three to make it hard for those support frigates to get a lock on us."

    Weliss didn't even turn away from her console. "Got it, skipper."

    Alan looked at his plot again, then pursed his lips. "Jimmy."

    "Sir?"

    "Those support frigates. Do you think they're carrying much point-defense?"

    Alan's tactical officer thought that over for a moment. "Guarding a carrier? They'll probably rely on its point-defense and fighter cover to handle any small targets and just mount anti-ship guns and missiles."

    Alan grinned. "At this close range, will that carrier be able to get much of a point-defense lock on a missile we launch towards those frigates?"

    Jimmy's eyes suddenly gleamed with understanding. "Highly doubtful, sir. They'd need very good tracking systems."

    "Get me some missile firing solutions on those frigates and send them to Group Flag along with what you just told me."

    "On it, sir."
    #
    Zombie 16 years ago
    [OT]
    Nice so far. I'm watching, mind you.

    May feel like jumping in eventually. Who knows. Depends on if I can find time between class, work, and my girlfriend...

    Ahh, us girls and our social lives, right? Oh, wait. I think I'm the only one in here. >.>

    *slinks away*
    [/OT]
    #
    Idiota 16 years ago
    [OT]Speaking of social lives, I'm very busy atm to explain my recent 'absence'. Do move on if you feel like it, there's been a halt on this thing long enough...[/OT]
    #
    MageKing17 16 years ago
    [OT]I'm not double-posting in a situation like this, people! Post![/OT]
    #
    Murska 16 years ago
    Derek jumped into his ship and proceeded to take off. Everything proceeded like in training, but everyone knew that this time it was for real. People who were their friends, people who they had spent countless hours training and complaining about the commanders with were going to die. And the nagging feeling deep inside reminded them of their own mortality.

    Derek channelled all his fears and doubts into steel-hard concentration, determined to win this battle for his family and his country. After the pilots were in the field, they speeded off in formations toward their targets. Derek and Greg's formation was sent to attack the advancing conjoiner bomber squadrons. The fighters started shooting with their railguns, and couple of the bombers were hit. They were too clumsy to really stand a chance in a dogfight, and so they had to rely on the frigates and their own fighters. On the other hand, the attacking VC fighters had to keep an eye out for the frigates' point defenses and the opposing fighters while trying to keep the bombers from firing.

    Lasers and railguns were filling the space with deadly fire as the VC and Conjoiner formations clashed. Soon it became apparent that while the Conjoiners' frigates were offering rather good cover, their fighter pilots were no match for the VC ones. Slowly the waves of bombers started thinning as more and more of VC fighters joined the battle, either after taking off or after finishing with some other objective. Derek's formation was in the thick of it all, and while they were outnumbered against the enemy, their coordination and tactics paid off as they managed to down another bomber formation.

    "Hell yeah! Take that, Conjoiner scum!" Derek yelled through the radio as his shots downed an enemy fighter. "Let's show them what we can do!"

    ((Meh, I'll let Idiota continue with a probably more technical description of the battle. I can't remember half of the setting so I'll go re-brief myself now. ))
    #
    Idiota 16 years ago
    "Ok guys, we've recieved new orders. Cannon Fodder will be taking over from us here. We are to escort our own bombers to the enemy carrier identified as C4RS1."
    "Carson?" Frank suggested.
    "Hey, nice going. kinda like that name. Was having difficulties keeping their carriers apart." Anderson suggested jokingly.
    "Well... whatever," Nina said. "but let's rendezvous with our escortee."
    "Roger." Was all that Greg added to the fun.

    [OT] Not gonna make this to long since we really kinda need some conjoners to start posting! And I'm not talking about MK...[/OT]
    #
    Murska 16 years ago
    "Yeah, they have so many carriers that I at least can't be bothered to remember their serial numbers." Derek commented. Well, let's go then.

    ((Sorry for short post but I believe the Conjoiners should get to do something aswell. ))
    #
    Murska 16 years ago
    ((Bumpity. Crazy seems to have disappeared. Mageking? Want to try and represent the conjoiner side of this struggle?))
    #
    MageKing17 16 years ago
    [OT] Where are your OT tags?

    Also, I was the last Conjoiner to post. I'm not going to RP an entire battle by myself.[/OT]
    #
    Murska 16 years ago
    "MageKing17" said:
    [OT] Where are your OT tags?

    Also, I was the last Conjoiner to post. I'm not going to RP an entire battle by myself.[/OT]


    ((Right, fix'd. Well, since we don't have any OTHER conjoiners here, I'm guessing this'll be on hold 'till Crazy returns.))
    #
    Idiota 16 years ago
    [OT]Unless someone else volunteers as a temporary replacement?[/OT]
    #
    Crazy 16 years ago
    [OT] Actually, i quit. I didn't think my character(s) through well enough. I don't like them any more. Perhaps another time. [/OT]
    #
    Idiota 16 years ago
    [OT]Unless someone steps in to save the conjoiners from certain death?[/OT]
    #
    Murska 16 years ago
    ((Please? Anyone? I want to RP my piloting skillz stuff more! ))
    #
    Murska 15 years ago
    Still nobody?
    #
    Forum » AETAS 2
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