Eps. 2.2: Milk Run

[InfernosCaress]

Kaumirran


  "What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger, eh?"


Kaumirran made a noncommittal sound as her lips tightened. She did not feel particularly stronger. Smarter, that she normally felt, at least in comparison to that pirate scum. Today, that was not the case. Seeing one of her sisters again, that had thrown her for a loop. She had hoped that they had all escaped. Some of them had apparently not been so lucky. Some of them had been left in that hell.


Bah yanks his fighter to the right.


Kaumirran was pulled from her reverie by the missile warning. Two rapid blinks brought her mind to the present and the space around her. She could mope around later. At that moment, she needed to live.

When Bah moved, she copied the action. The force shoved her back in to the pilot’s couch. She gritted her teeth and rode out the maneuver. Once she pulled from of the turn and the pressure lessened, she bit out, “That is the opposite of left!”



"/z/ Protect our sisters and brothers! /z/"


I wish that I could.

Even as the thought ran through her mind, Kaumirran was swinging around to an intercept course. The inertia pulled her against the side of the cockpit. That was what gave her a glimpse of Bah moving in the wrong direction.

“Hey!” she yelled in to the comm. “Wake up!”

She did not have time to wait for him. She threw the engines up to full power. Kaumirran thumbed the safety off of her gunpod. She tried to line up a decent angle at the center of the missile cluster. They wove in and out of her reticle. The distance made it difficult to zero in on them without dipping out of her intercept course. She took her best guess. When it felt right, she pressed the trigger letting out a short stream of her own projectiles.


ACTIONS:

1) Direction Change to Intercept the Missile Cluster

2) Max-out Thrust

3) Attempt to lock in a fire solution with Gunpod against said Missiles and fire a short burst.
[b/]

[Sketchley]

2069-02-09-Sat. (17:00–17:30): Elpis Faction Border, 5 Sisters (deep space between the Irmuska and Caterina Systems)

“That is the opposite of left!”

"He wasn't talking to us!" Bah promptly barks back.


“Hey!  Wake up!”

"Yeah..." Bah says, his response muted as he's lost in thought.  He also yanks his fighter over and maxes out the thrust, to keep pace with Kaumirran.

"Something doesn't seem right..." he muses over the radio channel.


1.
The Quadoran-Rō team gets within range of the nearer missiles.  They fire their arm laser guns, and take out the 3 missiles they each shot at.  Luckily, Nur's hits caused an explosion that took out the other 7 missiles in the volley.  30 missiles remain.

"Gawdammit!" the Major curses.  "This Valkyrie's slow as $hit!  I should've taken Björn's '11!!"

Bah checks, and notices something on sensors.  "What the heck is that??"


2
The Quadoran-Rō team fires at the next volley.  This time, Amina's and Putri's shots sets off the chain reaction that takes the rest of them out.  20 missiles remain.

"They're good..." the Major compliments after witnessing the next bunch of missiles to burn up at Amina's team's hands.

"Very good!" Mr. D adds.

Bah starts easing off on the throttle.  He responds to Kaumirran's inevitable question with, "the... nothing back there!"


3
The Quadoran-Rō team fires at the next volley.  This time—perhaps not to be outdone—it's Nur's shots that once more set off the chain reaction that takes the rest of its volley out.  10 missiles remain, and as they're all aimed at the Hamekahame, the supply line is out of immediate danger!

"The what?!" the Major barks at Bah.

Bah starts turning his fighter around.  "Kaumirran!" he yells with concern at her.  Responding to the Major, he adds, "the big blank wedge on radar!"


4
"/z/ One more group! /z/" Amina yells at her Quadoran-Rō team, as she begins firing.

While Amina takes out the one missile she shot at, Putri's shots go wide.  However, Nur fires a spray that hits each and every remaining missile, and they all explode.  The Hamekahame is momentarily clear of danger!

"Say what?!" the Major exclaims with surprise.  "D!?!"

"... he's right, sir!"  Mr. D replies.  "I think we're being jammed in sector E12!"

"I... can't see anything moving out there."  Bah says, as he visually surveys the blank area on the radar.


5
"/z/ Good shooting, Nur, Putri! /z/" Amina enthusiastically congratulates her Quadoran-Rō team.

"Deculture!" she yelps, as she dodges a burst of beam gun fire that erupts from the direction that the missiles came from.  Nur and Putri aren't so lucky, and both their Quadoran-Nona soak up a bunch of hits.

"Major!  3 QF-4000 series drones just popped up!" Mr. D practically screams.

"Bah!  Take Kaumirran and investigate!  We've got your backs!"  the Major yells, as he turns his Valkyrie around, and Mr. D quickly follows.  "Amina and her team know how to take care of themselves," he adds, with a note of concern in his voice.



Map/visualization aid: Click on Eps. 2.2: Milk Run Map.
Note: fixed question mark error.
Green triangle: Quadoran-Rō team
2 bluish-purple triangles: Fighter Pod teams
light pinky-purple triangles: QF-4000 team


OOC: technically only the Major, Amina, and the drones have 5 actions—and Mr. D has a pitiable 3!  Also, shame that Kaumirran never got within gun range, eh.

[InfernosCaress]

Kaumirran




"Gawdammit!" the Major curses.  "This Valkyrie's slow as $hit!  I should've taken Björn's '11!!"


Kaumirran’s thoughts were centered on the missiles. If they had not been so laser-focused on twitching minor course corrections, then she would have had more time for taunting and general snarkiness. As it stood, she could barely manage the odd injection. It was a sad event, robbing the universe of her beautiful mind.

“But then you wouldn’t have had the chainsaw.”





"the... nothing back there!"


Kaumirran eased the thrust back. With a few sparks of counter-thrust, she reeled her velocity in. She kept an eye on the readout that displayed her speed. Once it reached a number that was safely low, she titled her fighter and banked it around. Technically, it was not banking as there was no atmosphere. That was how it looked, through, with the plane turning on its side. The reason for it was mainly because it allowed her an overhead view of the space that was arcing in to. That was better than plowing blindly in to a rock.

“Nothing back where?” Kaumirran finally had enough free juice in her head to process more than what was immediately necessary.





"I think we're being jammed in sector E12!"


“Are they giving you the raspberry?”




"Bah!  Take Kaumirran and investigate!  We've got your backs!"


Kaumirran grimaced behind her faceplate. Its tint, designed to block out the harmful solar rays that could be found in space, gave her skin a bluish tint. “Gee. Thanks.” There were no words for how honoured that she felt. Unless those words containing meanings close to not and incredibly, unbelievably small.

She moved her fighter in position behind Bah’s wing. “You can take point.  You’re welcome.” As she said the words, she sent an active sensor ping. Her finger hovered over the trigger, ready to send a burst of bullets toward whatever happens to pop up.



OOC: ... Also, shame that Kaumirran never got within gun range, eh.


OOC: Do bullets have a range in space?

[Sketchley]

2069-02-09-Sat. (17:00–17:30): Elpis Faction Border, 5 Sisters (deep space between the Irmuska and Caterina Systems)

“But then you wouldn’t have had the chainsaw.”

"Heh," the Major snorts, with a goofy grin.

“Are they giving you the raspberry?”

"No!  Grapes!"  Bah retorts, obviously displeased at Kaumirran's interruption.  "The sour kind." he curtly finishes.

“Gee. Thanks.”

The Major doesn't reply.  Either he's ignoring her, or he's focusing on the bigger picture.

1
“You can take point.  You’re welcome.”

"Gee, thanks," Bah echoes Kaumirran's early comments.  "Hõla!" he says, as he spots something on the return from Kaumirran's "ping".

...
Amina yells at her Quadoran-Rō team: "/z/ Putri, Nur!  Take them out with missiles! /z/"

2.
Everyone notes where Bah highlights on the sensor data: at the centre of the circular blob that marks the start of the sensor jamming is a... small something, or group of small somethings.  It's either a Recon Pod-sized object or Fighter Pod-sized objects grouped in close formation.

The Major orders, "Let's get their attention with some missiles, eh."

As Kaumirran and Bah ready their weapons, they enter the circular tip of the region being blocked from sensors.  Immediately their missile targeting goes haywire.  While they can still roughly make things out on the screen, they are covered in static, and occasionally washed out in static.  The washing out seems to happen in a routine cycle... like a musical beat.

...
There are grunts and muffled cries of alarm from Amina and Nur.

3.
"Major!"  Bah cries in alarm.  "The missiles...!"

"What?!" the Major asks with alarm.  Then, in a much quieter voice adds, "oh..." as he and Mr. D enter the sensor distortion field.

...
Putri yells with concern at her wingmates: "/z/ Amina!  Nur! /z/"
Amina yells back, "/z/ still here Putri!  Give these buzzards your best! /z/"

4.
Bah sends out another sensor ping, and the object—or group of objects—are continuing on a steady path, toward the ruins of the Command Battleship.  It—or they—doesn't appear to have noticed the Steel Valkyries having spotted it (or them).

...
"/z/ Stop them before they get away! /z/" Amina yells.

5.
The Major worriedly glances back over his shoulder at the flashes of explosions occurring where the Quadoran team and the QF-4000 are battling.  "... it doesn't sound like things are going well..." he murmurs, before returning his attention to the Steel Valkyries' target.

The Steel Valkyries are now close enough to visually see their prey: it's purple.  There are 4 or maybe 5 thin but bulky vehicles moving in close formation.  Their shape gives the impression that they're Valkyries... possibly VF-171 or VF-4.  Or maybe even Jināru Air-Battle Pod Kai (AKA Stealth Air-battle Pods).

"Looks like we have to do this the old fashioned way." the Major concedes.  He quickly assigns each team member a target.  "Short gun burst in 3... 2..."

...
"/z/ Goddammit! /z/" Amina can be heard cursing as the buffeting shock-waves reverberates through her cockpit.  As she recovers, she barks: "/z/ Fire Missiles!  NOW!  NOW!  NOW! /z/" at her subordinates.



OOC: full description of the Quadoran Battlesuit and QF-4000 battle below the blurb.

Map/visualization aid: Click on Eps. 2.2: Milk Run Map.
Green triangle: Quadoran-Rō team
2 bluish-purple triangles: Fighter Pod teams
Light pinky-purple triangle: QF-4000 team
Purple triangle: mystery group

1.
Amina yells at her Quadoran-Rō team: "Putri, Nur!  Take them out with missiles!"

As if hearing her command, the lead QF-4000 fires a salvo of 8 micro-missiles from its Super Parts at Putri.  Its wingmates do the same (24 missiles in 3 volleys).  Putri fires a volley of 7 missiles from each launcher (21).  Nur and Amina do the same—Amina being in a Quadoran-Rō makes it 28 missiles (2 volleys of 21, and 1 volley of 28).

2.
The QF-4000 simultaneously release a burst of flares, shoot at the missiles, and corkscrew out of the Quadorans' missiles' paths.  The flares help it shake off the missiles, and the burst from its beam guns destroys all of Putri's volley.  The QF-4000 Amina attacked is even luckier—it doesn't even have to fire a shot, as the missiles explode in the flares!

Putri mimics the QF-4000, and she successfully avoids and shoots down the missile volley.  Amina isn't so lucky, and is unable to avoid the missiles.  At the last moment, she shoots the missiles down, but is momentarily obscured as she is surrounded by their explosions (scorch marks, no damage).  The last QF-4000 avoids and destroys Nur's volley just like the first one did.  Nur has similar misfortune to Amina, but she also comes out with the skin of her teeth (scorch marks, no damage).

3.
Putri yells with concern at her wingmates: "Amina!  Nur!"  Perhaps from her momentary lapse in concentration, she isn't able to avoid the QF-4000's burst of beam gun fire at her, and her armour soaks up the hits.

It's the same story with Amina—as her armour is shot up, she yells back, "still here Putri!  Give these buzzards your best!"

Putri responds by firing her arm pulse guns... which the QF-4000 avoids.  However, Amina is much more successful—not only does she tag her target with significant damage, its left Super Pack is ripped off in the process!

Nur is tagged with a few glancing blows, and the QF-4000 avoids her counterattack pulse gun shots.

4.
The QF-4000 fire another volley of 4 micro-missiles from each of their Super Packs, as they change vectors and accelerate toward the supply line—while dodging incoming fire.

"Stop them before they get away!" Amina yells.

Putri fires her arm guns, but her target avoids the shots.  Amina attempts to do the same, but both her arm guns jam!  Nur's target also avoids her shots.

5.
The QF-4000 continue rocketing even faster toward the supply line.  While the Quadoran are starting to fall behind—due to lining up shots, avoiding missiles, and generally not having the right alignment to match the QF-4000's acceleration vector.

Putri and Nur shake off the missiles fired at them, and the missiles sputter out of fuel harmlessly as they attempt to spin around and reacquire their targets.  Amina, on the other hand, can't get out of the missile's path, and even though she manages to shoot them down with the chest impact guns, the missiles are too close, and she is damaged by their shockwaves.

"Goddammit!" she can be heard cursing as the buffeting shock-waves reverberates through her cockpit.  As she recovers, she barks: "Fire Missiles!  NOW!  NOW!  NOW!" at her subordinates.

[InfernosCaress]

Kaumirran




"No!  Grapes!"  Bah retorts, obviously displeased at Kaumirran's interruption. 


Kaumirran was a little too distracted at the moment to forth much brain power toward bantering. There was a lot to deal with. She did not wish to get shot, rammed, blown up, or surprised by someone sneaking up on her if allowed herself to lose focus. That was why when she responded, her voice held the tint of distraction. “Isn’t that what they feed to goddess?”



Amina yells at her Quadoran-Rō team: "/z/ Putri, Nur!  Take them out with missiles! /z/"


Kaumirran’s face tightened briefly as the message came over the team channel. She was trying not notice things that did not directly relate to her, but something managed to slip through the mesh netting of her brain pan. “Who names their kid Putrid?”




"Short gun burst in 3... 2..."


Kaumirran sputtered a scoff. Now, while she was all for conservation of missiles --those things were valuable, after all; they could be sold for a pretty penny and there was one thing that she loved, it was pretty pennies. And ugly pennies. Really, any kind of penny was fine with her.

What was she thinking about again? Oh, right: missiles and not spending them.

Kaumirran hit the brakes, or the legs, as the swinging appendages may have been. Her velocity bottomed out. She converted to Battloid. The static on the sensor screen made it difficult to lockdown her target. So, rather than trying to pinpoint it, she let the bullets fly as she looped her metal arms in a small circle. The result was a ring of ammunition flying toward where she guessed the target was at. Once they were away, she switched back to Fighter in order to take back up her place in the formation.

"/z/ Fire Missiles!  NOW!  NOW!  NOW! /z/"


Nur checked her screen. The jamming was making it difficult to distinguish any one thing from another. She wanted to have a decent lock before she let her payload fly. She checked the screen again. There was not much of a change. So, she did what anyone in her extra large Nike’s would do: she checked the screen for a third time with the simple assumption that it would now be clear. Much to her dismay -and mild shock- it was not.

“/z/ I can’t see no nothin’, ‘Mina! It’s all sparky-sparky, buzz-buzz! /z/”

Well, that really only left one viable option. Nur set her missiles to proximity detonation.  Then, also as anyone would do, she squeezed her eyes shut and fired forty-eight missiles. That left her with fifty in reserve. She was not thinking about that. That was what the computer was for. It could keep track of the complicated mechanics and the math. She only needed to point in the correct direction and pull the trigger. The targeting was also optional. That was why missiles came with built-in boom-booms.

Nur opened her eyes when the vibration of the missiles rocketing out of her suit died down. Her screen was clear once again. That sort of thing happened when one moved out of a debris cloud, whether they were doing so intentionally or purely by luck. Naturally, she assumed that she had fixed it on her own. Boom-booms fixed everything.

“/z/ Oh, hey-heeey! I can see again! So, uh, never mind all that other stuff. /z/”


Kaumirran‘s Actions:

1) Quick Slow

2) Transformation to Battloid

3) Long Burst Spray

4) Transformation to Fighter



Nur's Actions

1) Throw 48 Boom-Booms and the Bad Zoomies


Also, I have decided that Nur is a dumbass.  You're welcome.

[Sketchley]

2069-02-09-Sat. (17:00–17:30): Elpis Faction Border, 5 Sisters (deep space between the Irmuska and Caterina Systems)

Who names their kid Putrid?”

"That's Putri," the Major grumbles back.  "And she can fly rings around you.  So watch what you say!"

Ignoring their relative skill levels for a moment, Kaumirran can appreciate the logic behind his statement—as far as she knows, Putri's Quadoran-Rō is fully repaired and operational, and her VF-11 can be described as run-down and well-used at best.  Humans just don't make their machines to last, totally unlike Zentrādi equipment, which can operate for decades, if not centuries, with almost no maintenance!


1.
Before any of the Steel Valkyries can react, the mystery flight of purple Valkyries disengage their jamming.  8 large missiles launch out of the engine nacelles of the lead purple Valkyrie—they rapidly accelerate toward the Zentrādi transferring the cargo containers into the Hamekahame.

The second, third and fourth enemy Valkyries all also launches 8 large missiles each at the same target area.  If they weren't enemies firing at friendlies, it would be a pretty impressive scene!

Kaumirran deploys her Valkyries legs, and space in the direction of the mystery VFs is lit up by the flare of her engines as she puts the brakes on.

Mr. D jinks to avoid smacking into the rear of Kaumirran.  "Hey!  Watch it!" he cries in protest.  He regains alignment, and fires off a 10r burst.  Being Mr. D, his shots are mostly off the mark, and his target easily—and gracefully—does a barrel-roll through his incoming shots.

Bah also fires a 10r burst.  Despite being out in front and not having anyone block his path AND firing at his target's center mass, his target also avoids the shots (nothing as slick or as fancy as Mr. D's target, of course.)

The Major barks at Kaumirran, "What are you doing!?!  Match our velocity!"  He also fires a 10r burst.  Unlike his subordinates, his shots hit.  And unlike the VF-11's 30 mm gun pod, the VF-1's 55 mm GU-11 has some serious bite!


2.
About this time, data from Mr. D's radome pack, as well as visual sensor reading confirm that the enemy Valkyries are the same purple VA-14's that the squadron tangled with in the rings of the gas giant!

The lead enemy VF transforms and returns fire at Mr. D.  Mr. D struggles, but just barely avoids the incoming bullets.  They're close enough that some scrape off bits of paints as they ricochet off his armour.

Kaumirran transforms, and fires a 50 r spray in a circular pattern.  She ends up hitting all 4 enemy Valkyries!  However, the damage is negligible...

The second enemy VF also transforms, and returns fire at Bah—and hits!  Bah incurs major damage.

Mr. D seems to have found his fight as he comes out of his dodge screaming a war cry, and neatly fires a 20r burst that catches his target's center mass—dishing out a lot of damage.  That VA-14 begins streaming smoke and sparks, and doesn't move as well thereafter.

Bah looks over his damage displays as he lines up a shot.  He depresses the trigger and... there's nothing other than the clicking sound.  "Crap!" he curses.  He puts on the brakes—just like Kaumirran moments before—and yells over the radio channel, "gun pod jam!"

The third purple VA-14 fires a 10r burst at Kaumirran—and hits!  She takes significant damage, but still has approximately 3/4 of her armour remaining.

The Major yells at Kaumirran, "conserve ammo!" as he lets loose a 10 r burst—and hits!  His target fires haphazardly, something that even Mr. D could easily dodge.  However, perhaps because the Major is distracted by Bah's predicament, he practically walks right into the burst!  His VF-1 is now in as bad a shape as the VA-14 that Mr. D just pummelled.


3.
The lead VA-14 fires 8 micro-missiles at Mr. D before turning sharply and accelerating back the way it came (toward the "?" on the map).

Kaumirran transforms back to fighter and has to accelerate to catch up to the rear of the Steel Valkyries.

The second VA-14 does the same as the lead VA-14, with the third VA-14 copying, and launching 8 micro-missiles at Kaumirran.  The last enemy Valkyrie does the same as the other 3, and begins its strategic retreat, too.

Mr. D tries to take advantage of the lead VA-14 turning tail, but his 10r burst is easily avoided.

Bah—taking advantage of the lack of jamming—opts to fight fire with fire, and launches 10 micro-missiles at his target.  The Major copies Bah, and also launches 10 micro-missiles.


4.
The lead VA-14 accelerates even faster, and concurrently fires it's head lasers at Bah's missiles—he hits, and destroys the entire volley.

Kaumirran almost catches up with the others.  She begins slowing so she doesn't overtake them and accidentally put herself in the front.  She initially attempts to avoid the missiles with jinks and flares, but that doesn't work.  So, she opts to shoot at them with the head laser-—she hits, and destroys them all!

The second VA-14 attempts to copy the first and help the one that the Major lobbed his missiles at.  However, his head laser shots go wide.

Mr. D also shoots at the micro-missiles with the head lasers—hitting and destroying them.  Bah does the same, with the same results.

The third VA-14 successfully shoots down the Major's missiles, while the Major returns the favour.

The last VA-14 also accelerates quickly away, but it also starts emitting that strange jamming again.  Missiles are once more ineffective.


5.
The Major shouts, "bastards!" as he fire a parting 20 r burst at the last VA-14—hitting it!  It hammers the VA-14 so hard, that not only is it trailing smoke and sparks (like it's squad-mate), but that strange jamming is interrupted in a stuttering form while the Major's shots are hitting the fuselage.  Even afterwards, the jamming doesn't return completely to it's former strength (missiles are still ineffective).

"Let 'em go!" the Major grumbles.

He overhears Amina: "/z/ The convoy line!  Quickly! /z/"  With alarm, the Major looks toward the supply line, and cries: "the missiles!"


OOC: full description of the Quadoran Battlesuit and QF-4000 battle below the blurb.

Map/visualization aid: Click on Eps. 2.2: Milk Run Map.
Green triangle: Quadoran-Rō team
2 bluish-purple triangles: Fighter Pod teams
Light pinky-purple triangle: QF-4000 team
Purple triangle: mystery group
4x 8 MRM at supply line

[Sketchley]

1.
Nur keeps glancing at her sensor screens until she realizes that her, her wingmates, and her targets are all unaffected by the jamming.  Only those Valkyrie-riding humanized Zentrādi currently off of her left side are disappearing into the sensor disruption.  On the other hand, the beat-like pulsing to the jamming static is kind of catchy.

“/z/ I can’t see no nothin’, ‘Mina! It’s all sparky-sparky, buzz-buzz! /z/”

"/z/ The hell...? /z/", both Putri and Amina echo each other, briefly confused by Nur's transmission.

The Ghosts all sharply bank to the Quadoran-Rō team's left.  Concurrently, they all launch half of the missiles in their belly weapons bay.  39 missiles rocket toward the cargo transfer line.

Nur launches 48 micro-missiles at her target QF-4000.  Putri and Amina do the same, however, they're a bit more conservative: 24 and 36 missiles.

The Hamekahame launches a volley of 4 anti-air missiles at the closest QF-4000.


2.
The QF-4000 all fire 2 missiles from their belly weapon-bays at each of the Quadoran Battlesuits to cover their retreat.  While they're accelerating in a large arc back toward the direction they came from, they also start jinking to avoid the incoming missiles.

Nur maintains formation with the other two, and yells out, "/z/ Oh, hey-heeey! I can see again! So, uh, never mind all that other stuff. /z/”

Her target Ghost releases a burst of flares, and would be smiling smugly if it had a pilot, as all the micro-missiles explode in fratricide.

Putri takes advantage of the QF-4000 dipping back into gun range, and fires her forearm pulse laser.  The Ghost just barely avoids the shots, as it is focused on getting away from her 24 micro-missiles.  It echoes Nur's target Ghost and destroys her missile volley, too.

Amina—being the only one of the 3 in a Quadoran-Rō AND with disabled arm guns—fires a further 18 micro-missiles.  Just like Nur's and Putri's, Amina's target Ghost destroys her first missile volley.

As she watches in dissatisfaction, she yells at Nur, "/z/ you say something stupid like that again, I'll shoot you myself! /z/"

The sky lights up with the bright neon bolts of ship mounted beam cannons firing.  The shots are almost too close for comfort to the Quadoran team.  Thankfully (or not) they are aimed at the Hamekahame.  Instantly explosions and showers of sparks erupt from its armour surface where the fusillade hits.

The Hamekahame returns fire with its Standard Guided Converging Beam Guns, and space is crisscrossed with fiery beams of instant death.  It's hard to see if the Hamekahame is giving as good as its getting, as its target is still mostly concealed by the 5 Sisters wreckage that the enemy ship has been hiding behind this whole time.

The Hamekahame fires a second volley of missiles at the Ghosts, while its first volley goes up in smoke as the missiles ram into a burst of flares released by the trailing Ghost.


3.
The Ghosts briefly flit their noses around, and fire their beam guns at the Quadoran Battlesuits, before resuming course.  Nur is hit, and suffers major damage.  Putri dodges the shots, but Amina is also hit—her suit's also majorly damaged, but Nur's is even worse.

Nur yanks hard on the control columns as she releases a burst of flares, and can't help but feel satisfaction as the 2 missiles the Ghost fired at her explode harmlessly.

Putri's arm beam gun burst is avoided by her target Ghost, and then she's forced to repeat Nur's missile avoidance move.

The Ghosts are close enough for Amina to use the Impact Cannons, however the Ghost avoids the shots.  She also evades the missiles the Ghost fired at her.  On the other hand, her missiles hit and annihilate her target QF-4000!

The enemy ship and Hamekahame continue trading shots.  The Hamekahame fires another volley of 4 missiles at the retreating Ghosts.


4.
The Ghosts really start putting on speed to evacuate the area.

Putri's arm beam gun burst nails her target, and it starts to loose acceleration performance as smoke and sparks begin streaming from the holes in its armour.

Amina makes one last attempt with the Impact Guns, and successfully tags her target.  It is vaporized in the ensuing explosion.

The two ships continue trading fire, and the Hamekahame fires another salvo of missiles at the Ghosts.  It's preceding volley annihilates its target Ghost.


5.
Amina yells at her wingmates.  "/z/ The convoy line!  Quickly! /z/"  She twists her Battlesuit around, and rockets after the Ghost's 39 missiles rapidly approaching the convoy.


3x 13 MRM at cargo line

[InfernosCaress]

Kaumirran



"And she can fly rings around you.”


“Well, I am sure,” Kaumirran paused to make a face at the fighter piloted by Mr. D as it zipped around her. It looked like crap. That was not entirely due to the fault of the pilot -but that did not help, either- but because of the second (third?) -hand nature of the craft, itself. She felt a pang of jealousy for the Meltrandi and their battle suits. They were also normal height and not midget-ified like she was. The lucky bitches. “That she envy of all of the local hedgehogs.”





"What are you doing!?!  Match our velocity!"


“You’re not matching mine.” Kaumirran retorted. “Maybe you’re the one out of sync. I’m slowing down to get a better aim. That’s what all of the cool kids do behind their school buildings.”




She ends up hitting all 4 enemy Valkyries!  However, the damage is negligible...


“Seeeee,” Kaumirran adds smugly over the com-net. “That’s how you do it. Take note, losers.” So what if her shots had not actually put down the enemy? She had hit them. That was good enough.  At least, it was in the short run. In the long run, she had better start killing them or they would kill her.




The Major yells at Kaumirran, "conserve ammo!" as he lets loose a 10 r burst—and hits!


Kaumirran bounced around in her cockpit. Her head bounced off of something hard. She did not catch what it was because all that she saw stars for a second. Thankfully, her helmet took the majority of the impact.

She shook the cobwebs from her head. “I am.” Her words came slower than normal as she recovered from the stun. “I’m collecting the ones that they generously offered me.”




"Let 'em go!" the Major grumbles.


Kaumirran, now somehow in the lead, made a rude comment about people not matching her velocity. She doesn’t pay much attention to any reply that she receives. Instead, she lets off a burst of ammunition at the engine of one of the retreating VF-14s. She released the trigger as the order came in. Grimacing, she repeated her attack.

Kaumirran rolled her VF-11 on to its side. That positioned its top-mounted laser to be able to take a shot at the missiles that were streaking toward their mother ship. Once it was away, she followed through with the turn. She chased after the missiles but the laser bolt moved a lot faster than she did.




ACTIONS:

1) 25 Round Burst at VF-14 Engines
2) 25 Round Burst at VF-14 Engines Again
3) Head Laser Shot at Missile Cluster
4) Attempt to close the distance between herself and the Missiles

[InfernosCaress]

"/z/ you say something stupid like that again, I'll shoot you myself! /z/"


Nur did not let the threat of violence get her down. She was bred for that kind of thing. Having it come from Amina made no real difference in her mind. Well, maybe a small difference in that she thought it to be an unlikely occurrence to realize. Another thing that it had little effect on was its goal in preventing her from talking. She simply directed her next comment over the team channel to Putri. “Pootyyyyy,” she said as she let rip a flaming round of her chest cannons at one of the annoying drones. “/z/She’s being a A-Meanie agaiiiin./z/”

She probably should have spent less time running her mouth as she was a bit too slow to avoid a laser shot. The stuttering beam carved a gash across her powered armour. The armour plating flared away, as did some of the mechanical components underneath. Along the deepest part of the hole, her vacuum suited forearm was exposed. That, thankfully, remained intact.

"/z/ The convoy line!  Quickly! /z/"

“/z/On it./z/”

Nur pivoted around. That exposed her back to the surviving Drones, but there was something more pressing at the moment. Besides, with her front armour damaged, her backside is actually better protected. Plotting a course ahead of the flickering dots on her HUD, she kicked her thrusters up to full. She could not outrun the missiles, of course. They were much faster than she was. She could, however, attempt to bring herself within firing range.

Nur watched as the numerals marking their intervening distance ticked down. It took several seconds but there was nothing that she could do to speed things along. Soon, though, the hundred dropped to tens, and then to singles. Once she crossed in to range and the icons representing the missiles shifted in color, she raised her arms. Nur let fly a burst of lasers first her left and then with her right cannons toward the deadly cluster.



ACTIONS:
1)  Impact Cannon Shot at Drone when it comes within range
2) Intercept Course toward the Missile Cluster
3) Single Arm Laser Burst at the Missile Cluster
4) Single Arm Laser Burst at the Missile Cluster

[Sketchley]

2069.02.09 Sat. (17:00–17:30): Elpis Faction Border, 5 Sisters (deep space between the Irmuska and Caterina Systems)

"I am.  I’m collecting the ones that they generously offered me."

"Try harder to do it the right way!" the Major grunts out as he is buffeted by G forces, the shock waves from explosions, and so on.

1
As the Major, Bah, and Mr. D all race back toward the supply line in pursuit of the missiles, Kaumirran turns to put her VF's nose on the retreating enemy formation—effectively sliding horizontally as she doesn't change her last vector.

Her first burst hits her target (the "3rd" VF-14) in the engine nacelle—doing negligible damage.

"What are you doing?!" the Major barks at Kaumirran.  "Let them go!"

2
Kaumirran fires another 25 r burst.  This time, the pilot anticipates her attack, and avoids the shots.  It's two wingmates, on the other hand, transform into Battroid and fire their chest beam guns at her—while still flying along their retreat vector.  She successfully avoids their shots, but her firing angle is now way off, and they are out of gun range.

Behind her—in the direction of the supply line—there are a series of bright flashes, as the 71 missiles launched by the enemy explode all along the length and breadth of the supply line.  The explosions are markedly brighter than the continuing light show from the gun fire between the Hamekahame and its target, and the explosions all over the bow of the Hamekahame.

"The missiles!" the Major yells in anguish.

3
Kaumirran notes that the missiles—even if they hadn't just exploded—would be way out of head laser range, and opts not to fire.  She turns and accelerates toward the rest of her team.

4
"Sir...?" Mr. D concernedly radios the Major.

"Check for survivors!" the Major shouts back.



OOC: full description of the Quadoran Battlesuit and QF-4000 battle below.

Map/visualization aid: Click on Eps. 2.2: Milk Run Map.
Green triangle: Quadoran-Rō team
2 bluish-purple triangles: Fighter Pod teams
Purple triangle: mystery VF-14 group



"Pootyyyyy, /z/She’s being a A-Meanie agaiiiin./z/"

"/z/ Leave me out of it! /z/," Putri immediately, angrily retorts.

Amina growls in disgust, and flicks her manoeuvring jets to move her above the other two.

"/z/On it./z/"

"/z/ No, you're not. /z/," Amina gruffly says, moments before firing a single impact gun shot into the left main thruster on the back of Nur's Quadoran-Nona.

Nur's Battlesuit immediately switches over to limp-home mode.

Before she can reply, Amina growls, "/z/ go back to playing house with Tool, that dog you call a husband!!  I told you when you joined me team that we aren't into the kind of crap that comes out of your mouth! /z/"

Amina shuts Nur out of the squad's channel, and communicates solely with Putri.  She asks, "/z/ Do you think Farah's broken arm has healed? /z/" as they rocket along with no chance of catching up with the Ghosts' missile volleys.

The 71 missiles dive toward the convoy line.  There are 6 teams of 2 Nūjaderu-Gā doing the actual heavy lifting, and 2 teams of 3 Quadoran-Rō and Quadoran-Nona standing guard (mainly deployed to make sure that the transport ship that they're getting the supplies from—or its escort ship—don't try anything funny).

As soon as the enemy attack began, the 4 Quadoran-Nona start helping the Nūjaderu-Gā move the cargo containers into the Hamekahame, and the 2 Quadoran-Rō spread out to protect the cluster of 9 containers that the transport ship dumped just before it fled the area.  7 out of the 24 containers were safely inside the Hamekahame by the time the missiles got within the range of the Battlesuits' guns.

The Hamekahame also turned its Anti-air Beam Guns against the missiles after the 3 QF-4000 Ghosts were shot down.  It manages to shoot down all of 2 of the high-manoeuvrability missiles launched by the Ghosts despite firing 20 salvos from various guns.

The Nūjaderu-Gā fire their chest impact cannons, and the Quadoran-Rō and Quadoran-Nona fire their arm lasers.  Some hit, many miss.

All told, 13 containers, 5 Nūjaderu-Gā (with another heavily damaged), 2 Quadoran-Rō, and 1 Quadoran-Nona are lost in the missile strike (in other words, the supplies in 11 containers were saved).

Not long after the multitude of explosions, the incoming fire from Purple Squad's ship ceases.  It's a couple of beats before the Hamekahame also stops—as Purple Squad's Stealth Frigate space folds away.

[Sketchley]

2069.02.09 Sat. (18:00): Elpis Faction Border, 5 Sisters (deep space between the Irmuska and Caterina Systems)

There's not much that the Steel Valkyries can do other than stand guard over the surviving Battlesuits as they finish transporting the remaining cargo containers into the Hamekahame.  The remnants of Amina's Quadoran team also give commiseration to their sisters and brothers as they try and recover any salvageable debris from the destroyed cargo containers.

Many Jināru Air-battle Pods sortie from the Hamekahame, and they spread out to provide air cover and patrol the debris field that the 5 Sisters is composed of.

The Steel Valkyries and Amina's Quadoran team land and go their separate ways.

Safely back in their pressurized helmet, the Major waves everyone over for an after-mission meeting.

"Everyone, repair duties!" he immediately orders.  "We need your VFs running ASAP!  Patch the leaks, un-jam the guns, and reload with what we have in stock." he says, indicating their dwindling supply of bullets and missiles with a sweep of his hand.

"Cap't Alakai wants us on escort patrol double time, as it's all hands on deck to repair the damage to our ship!"

It's the kind of orders that no one wants to hear, and no one needs to be told twice—as they are deep inside enemy territory, in a well travelled part of Elpis territory.

The Major sternly points at Kaumirran as the others trot off to begin the repairs.  He yells at Kaumirran, "what the hell was that?!  We move as a team!  Every time you break formation or go off tactic, you put everyone, especially yourself in danger!"

"What would have happened if Purple Squad pressed their attack when you were alone?!  You'd be smeared on the side of the scenery right now!"

[InfernosCaress]

Kaumirran

]

"Try harder to do it the right way!"


Kaumirran made a face at the camera. She was wearing a helmet and was not sure if anyone noticed. Plus there was that whole life-or-death exchange of gunfire going on serving as a distraction.

“We can still use these,” she added in case no one had been looking her way during her first rebuttal. “Pound out the dents, add some more powder, and they’ll be good to go. Bullets are like that.” Debatably.





"What are you doing?!"


“They shot me!” Kaumirran returned. “Do have any idea what’s that like? They hit me. With a bullet and it’s friends. That is very disruptive to this snowflake’s mildly egoistical nature.”





After her damaged suit touched down in the bay, Nur unsealed the front plate. She chest compartment hissed open. It was a bit slow to respond thanks to the damage that it had sustained. She slipped her arm free of its control nest and added a bit of her own strength to get the hatch completely open, then she climbed out and dropped on to the deck.

There were a lot of things that could have happened. Pooty could have backed her up and told a A-Meanie to get off her case. They could have flown together. The missiles could have been intercepted and a lot of people may still have had their lives. But, no. She had been sucker punched by her own team mate. The missiles had not been intercepted. A bunch of people died. Well, A-Meanie was going to get an earful about it and at least one really hard shove for being a two-faced, backstabbing, teammate-shooting trollop.
 

 
"What would have happened if Purple Squad pressed their attack when you were alone?!  You'd be smeared on the side of the scenery right now!"


“We weren’t moving as a team. You ran off!” Kaumirran countered. She did not like being called out. She especially did not like it when there was a very real, very tiny chance that she may have been at fault. “I was trying to stop them! You ran off and they got away!” She began to poke a finger down against her palm as if she were pointing to an illusory sheet of paper. “We could have disabled one of their fighters. We could have taken one of their pilots prisoner. We could have gained a whole mess of intel about who they were, where they’re based, what their numbers are, and where they keep their cash.”

 

[Sketchley]

2069.02.09 Sat. (18:00): Elpis Faction Border, 5 Sisters (deep space between the Irmuska and Caterina Systems)

“We weren’t moving as a team. You ran off! ... We could have taken one of their pilots prisoner. We could have gained a whole mess of intel about who they were, where they’re based, what their numbers are, and where they keep their cash.”

The Major raises one hand as if to tell her to stop (or to say "talk to the hand").  However, he pauses mid-action when he hears the last part of Kaumirran's retort.

Lowering his hand, he adopts the pose of a pissed-off of a teacher lecturing a petulant child.  "You do not want any of that trash from De Moins on this ship!"

"Yeah, that's right.  We know where Purple Squad comes from, and that the four of them are privateers just like us—except that they drive VA-14's, have better funding and resources, and have better training and tactical discipline then you do!" he aggressively points at Kaumirran to emphasize his point.

"We don't know which faction on De Moins sponsors them—I honestly doubt that all of them would ever work together for a common goal!  We know ESCALUS is definitely not behind them.  Maybe Anthony or Mantua, as they'd have the most to gain...," he muses.

"Anyhow, if you want to go after their bank, best of luck with that.  That's if you can find it... let alone land on De Moins undetected!"

"Now, as you don't seem to have enough to do, get to work on unjamming Bah's gun pod," the Major says with an alarming scowl as he switches to full-on authoritarian mode.  "If you still have something to say, I think Nur would like the company on latrine duty—I heard Amina assigned her to it for disobeying orders!" he adds with an evil glimmer in his eyes, hoping that Kaumirran provokes him.

Steel Valkyries perform a quickie service on their VFs.  It's not going to win any awards for neatness, but their Valkyries are flyable and leak-free once more.  Kaumirran laments the lost tip of her Valkyrie's left wing—the lost signal lights in particular—but acquiesces that it doesn't effect flight control at all.

While they are repairing their VFs, the Hamekahame moves toward the largest remains of the Suvāru Saran in the 5 Sisters.  Scores of Pertahanan can be heard sortieing to salvage outer armour parts and weapon turrets to repair the Hamekahame.

The Steel Valkyries soon sorties to assist in the effort.  The Major reminds them that the Hamekahame is Folding in less than 30 min, and they have to finish by them.

Almost immediately, the Steel Valkyries are pulled from escort patrol duties and assigned to different salvage teams where they are mostly used for laser cutting with the head lasers.  The Zentrādi Power-suits assist, but mostly as muscle, as high-powered laser cutting tools are few and far between in the Zentrādi inventory.

Rigādo and Jināru pods stand guard and perform the escort patrol duties.

After salvaging a considerable amount (which is never enough for the Hamekahame), the ship Folds, while the Starbug and a skeleton salvage crew of VFs and Power-suits remain to salvage interior fixtures for another 30 min.  They salvage a far smaller total amount, but what they do recover is infinitely more valuable than a bunch of slabs of external armour.

The Starbug Folds to the rendezvous point about half a light year away (1 hour travel time).  Almost immediately, the Hamekahame embarks on a 14 hour Fold that takes them out of Elpis territory and back deep inside the Unified Government controlled Sector M45-3.

During that trip, the ship's crew takes stock on the day's events, mourn the dead, count their new supplies, and have their first meals with fresh foods in a long time.  With belly's full and heads full of deep thoughts, the ship rests.

[Sketchley]

2069.02.10 Sun. (09:00): Phat-p Territory, deep space (equidistant between the Phat-p and Anush Systems)

The Hamekahame Defolds in deep space.  It's truly in the middle of nowhere, with no stellar objects around.  The ship deploys flights of Jināru as interceptors, and Rigādo for close-in defence.

The Pertahanan—who take great pride in their ship—busy themselves with repairs both internal and external.  Teams of Battle-suits get to work outside cutting damaged hull armour off, and welding on replacement armour taken at the 5 Sisters.  In the process, a couple of the inoperable weapon emplacements are also replaced.

Internally, giant-sized Pertahanan work on repairing or replacing critical wiring and fixtures.  Poor Nur is assigned to unclogging the sewer pipes under the barracks.

By the end of the day, the condition of the outside of the ship is approximately the same as it was just before having its front all blasted to hell by the Purple Squad's mothership.  The interior is in a considerably better—not to mention safer—condition; and the toilets are flushing with no problems once more (Nur has disappeared to spend the next 3 hours in the shower!)

The Steel Valkyries focus on repairing their Valkyries, in the process also giving an overhaul to the most troublesome systems.  They spend a good chunk of their time on the most damaged Valkyries—the Major's and Bah's—and using the parts Valkyries, they restore a good percentage of the armour (on Kaumirran's, too!)

Kaumirran takes pride in replacing the damaged wingtip—nevermind what Björn has to say about the missing wingtip on his VF-11D!

However, the lack of paint in the ship's stores does weigh a bit on everyone's minds—while their VFs are in the right shape, the blotches of primer on the freshly welded joints doesn't quite sit right with any of the pilots.

The Steel Valkyries then retreat to "Paradise" (their quarters) for some much needed downtime.

[Sketchley]

2069.02.10 Sun. (19:00): Phat-p Territory, deep space (equidistant between the Phat-p and Anush Systems)

The pilots in the Steel Valkyries are quiet from all the hard work they put in during the day while they eat their evening meal.  The fresh food raises everyone's spirits, as it is infinitely better than the military rations they were stuck with for the past week!

As they begin heading to their individual trailers to "watch a video disc" (Mr. D) or "play video games" (Bah), the Hamekahame's red alert warning siren blares out.  The chamber their trailers sit in echoes with the ship's XO Kaipo Kekepania's cry: "/z/ Battle stations!  Battle stations! /z/"

Moments later, the voice of Keanu Melika, the Hamekahame's tactical officer, echoes out of Paradise's PA system, "/z/ Steel Valkyries, hot scramble! /z/"

Massa Andurven immediately pivots on his right foot and begins dashing to the nearest Sentinental Sugar-Foot-style jeep.  He barks, "Bah!  Take the wheel!"

As everyone races toward the jeep, the ship makes the familiar shudder as it jumps into a space fold.

Everyone piles into the jeep, with the Major sitting in the passenger seat.  He activates the vehicle's radio, and calls the bridge, "/z/ Melika!  This is Andurven.  What's the sitrep? /z/"

On the way down the corridor toward the hangars, they see Amina, Farah, and Putri pass overhead on a hoverplatform.

"/z/ How's the arm? /z/" Putri asks Farah concernedly.

"/z/ It's fine, /z/" Farah asks, as she rubs near the wrist.

"/z/ Didn't you just take it off? /z/", asks Amina, looking back over her shoulder at Farah's arm.

"It'll be fine," Farah says, as she lets go over her arm, and stands up straight and tall, with a determined expression.



OOC: as it appears that we've lost Buran, would you be interested in taking over his PC Björn "Scotsman" Eriksson?