Z
Zack
High Orbit, 188604, Necromancer>
Werner sat in his ready room reading reports. The ship had took a lot of damage and now he had to coordinate the repair efforts. He sighed, standing from the desk and moving to the couch. He layed down and began reading the report again. "Just gotta finish a few more, I can sleep afterwords." He mumbled to himself as he read the report about the boarders. As he did the was a knock on the hatch.
"Sir?" The guard asked.
"Yes, what is it?" Werner replied.
"Umm sir, your sister is here to see you." The guard replied.
Werner stood and threw the report on his desk. "Send her in." He said.
Hazel would push her way past the guard, and then 'help' him back out the door with an authoritative shove. The woman closing the door behind her, and then pulling a flash out of her jacket pocket. "You need a drink?" She asked, taking a sip herself before offering the container to her brother.
Ulysses smiled. "Hell yes." He replied grabbing the flask and taking a shot. He savored the burn, and handed it back. "That is good stuff. Where did you get this stuff?" He asked moving to his desk and taking a seat.
"It is from my rainy day stash." Hazel said, "We're down three pilots, their ships, and the Necromancer is going to be out of commission for a while. I just want to Punch someone... " She snarled.
Ulysses sighed. "I will notify their family and get some head hunters on the horn." He said rather tersly.
"Well... we have backups in place. It'll be months before they are rebuilt and recovered though." she replied, "... That last operation was a shitshow."
"There were to many unknowns. Mistakes were made." He said looking up at Hazel. "That kid that was placed as Admiral doesn't know what he is doing..." he said referring to Raphael.
"Hell, their fighter and mecha crews were just winging it. We should be running our operations without them instead of trying to have an integrated air wing. For every skilled pilot they have they've got two pieces of dead weight." She added.
"That's true, but we a so short staffed we need them now." He said bitterly. "Plus the lady signing our checks said we had to keep them, so we keep them. However they aren't allowed on the flightline until they can get their shit together." Werner added.
"She's picking up the tab for all the replacement parts too... which seems very generous of her." Hazel added, taking another long drink from the flask.
"Yes, speaking of which. Where are they? After they all bailed out I have been working." He said snatching the flask from his little sister's hand and taking a swig.
"Our backers? Or the people hiring us?" Hazel said, shaking her head, "I Mean, I should clarify. We've been hired by Uso's group. They are footing the bill for operations. We've got another group backing us, paying for ships, crew, equipment, ect. THAT VC firm is throwing a lot of money our way and that is what seems weird... Uso and her group just seem like a bunch of amateurs playing at space-empires."
"Wait." Werner said looking confused. "What do you mean backers. I thought we were being payed by Uso. I mean it seemed odd that they would have so much cash on hand, but they have done decently well so far. Even if it's sheer dumb luck." He said, placing the flask on the desk. "Why did you not tell me about them? That seems like something I should be informed of Hazel..."
"You were moping about your apartment, the last thing I wanted to throw in your lap is the complexities of Nepleslian Corporate Finance Law. We have a company that wants to fund development of a private army, and we have a group wanting to hire a private army. It seems like a great deal for us so long as we can live long enough to spend the money... you know, they say the combat pay bonus is equal to the odds of living to spend it." She replied.
"Damn it Hazel that is not the point. I have been working for someone and I didn't even know I was working for them. I look like a fool!" He said angrily. "You always leave out the important info until I am neck deep in shit. For once I thought you were playing it straight." He grumbled.
"Oh get off your high horse. You wanted to captain a ship again and this was your chance. You can go down with the Nepleslian ship, or you can figure out a way to make this whole thing work." She snapped. "Get your fucking head in the game."
"Yes, thanks for letting me captain again Hazel. BUT that doesn't change the fact." He sighed. "I just want to have the entire picture before jumping in head first Hazel. I am not getting screwed again."
"It is a mercenary outfit. If you don't like it you can just leave. This isn't the military OR the government." She said.
He stood. "Come on. Just got a message. We are needed planet side for something." He said moving to the door. As he brushed past her, he gave her a shove, sending her into the couch. "Now we are even." He said moving to leave the room.
Hazel would glare at him, taking the cap off her flask and throwing it at his desk, sending the liquor splattering over his machinery.... before getting up and following him out of the room.
"Hazel Gehärtet Werner!" He shouted, grabbing her by the wrist. "You are cleaning that up or so help me...!"
"You shove me, you get your shit broke. I'm not playing this bullshit game of who's shoving who." She said, the once sweet, rather timid girl having a rather steely determination in her eyes, "You shove me like that, I'm breaking your shit."
He looked at his little sister. A look of concern. What happen to the little girl who used to follow him around? Who used to do everything together? Now...
Queen's Slave, Meeting Room>
The Queen Slave's meeting room was secretly just the ship's main room... though it had been cleaned up a little. A single power armor was stuffed into one of the chairs around the edges of the room, and the CIC table in the center was glowing, showing the local area with the planet and the small mercenary fleet in orbit. Uso herself had changed into sweat pants and a hoodie, casually watching from the side as Vier looked over the data presented from her spot in front of the table.
Ulysses walked up knocking on the hatch. He had changed into his officer's jacket and beret, looking way to formal. "Permission to come aboard?" He asked as he walked through the door.
"YEAH, COME ON IN!" Uso shouted from in back, the few crew members about not really seeming to know how to handle the formal introductions.
He walked in nodding for Hazel to follow him in. Ulysses moved and stood before Uso. "You wished to see us?" He asked lookind down at the Neko.
"I wanted to get your assessment of the NMX forces at Ee'ee." Uso said, while Vier stood upright by the table and added,
"And we should start discussing plans for dealing with the NMX assets there as well."
Werner moved to the table. He pulled out a data drive and plugged it in, showing the data that the Necromancer was able to gather. "Here is the fleet strength that we could see. They are heavily entrenched in the system." He said highlighting the ships they saw.
"Three carriers.... 24 of those smaller ships... Vier?" Uso asked.
"This isn't a Nepleslian operation. I do not have easy access to the equipment required to defeat these targets."
"And how much do you need......" Uso replied
"More than we can produce your end of the month timetable...."
Uso then turned her attention to Werner, "How about you? The Necromancer and her flight wing, how much can you beef up before the end of the month?
" I can beef her up, but one ship isn't going to be able to take them on. I also need new planes and pilots to replace the ones we lost." He answered. "Bottom line I can make it happen, but it won't be enough." He replied.
"I'll make it work. What can you get me?" She asked again.
"I can beef up the armor and get some new munitions. I can also put out a call to get some more pilots, for the sake of argument we will say 14 new pilots and fighters." he answered
"Make it happen then." Uso said.
Vier would turn her attention to Uso, "He is correct, by the end of the month we will be able to take on a small fleet, or deal serious damage with a leap-frog style attack... but not enough for the entire NMX fleet."
Uso frowned, "What are we looking at then? We need to be able to show some progress... What can we take out?"
"The NMX seem to be using a fleet on the outside of the system to jump in and prevent escapes. We could handle that but not their full force." Vier responded.
"It is a start..."
"It is a way to get the NMX to dig in and fortify their position. It could make things worse."
"Yet it is probably our only choice. Unless..." He said looking thoughtful. "Vier what if we made kinetic kill vehicles?" he asked looking at her. "Load up several massive pieces of space debris with ftl engines and put them on collision courses with their capital ships?" He asked.
"With the amount of point-defense the NMX have available to them they would be able to destroy a large number of the vehicles, making it prohibitively expensive to build a force of RKVs to destroy their ships. We also will not have the number of ships necessary to escort the kill vehicles to their targets. This leaves our best bet as a leak-frog attack: We have a ship arrive in system and draw the NMX outside of the star's hill sphere. Once there our kill-vehicles can jump on top of the targets and engage. Along with our fleet we can deal the maximum damage with minimal loss of our assets." Vier said.
"Draw them out with the ol' wild rabbit and POW. We just need the missiles and the ships to pull it off." Uso added.
"That or we can deploy missiles through the debris belt, bring them in and fire the missles, then bring in the rest of the fleet." He replied.
"Deployment in system would be impossible without also tipping off the NMX," Vier said.
"Unless we get the I'ee to build the missiles.... but working with them isn't the easiest thing in the world. Even then, I would prefer it be US that save them rather than them that saves them." Uso replied.
"Then the simplest plan is the best. We will lure them and and smash them with the few ships we have." Ulysses replied.
Werner sat in his ready room reading reports. The ship had took a lot of damage and now he had to coordinate the repair efforts. He sighed, standing from the desk and moving to the couch. He layed down and began reading the report again. "Just gotta finish a few more, I can sleep afterwords." He mumbled to himself as he read the report about the boarders. As he did the was a knock on the hatch.
"Sir?" The guard asked.
"Yes, what is it?" Werner replied.
"Umm sir, your sister is here to see you." The guard replied.
Werner stood and threw the report on his desk. "Send her in." He said.
Hazel would push her way past the guard, and then 'help' him back out the door with an authoritative shove. The woman closing the door behind her, and then pulling a flash out of her jacket pocket. "You need a drink?" She asked, taking a sip herself before offering the container to her brother.
Ulysses smiled. "Hell yes." He replied grabbing the flask and taking a shot. He savored the burn, and handed it back. "That is good stuff. Where did you get this stuff?" He asked moving to his desk and taking a seat.
"It is from my rainy day stash." Hazel said, "We're down three pilots, their ships, and the Necromancer is going to be out of commission for a while. I just want to Punch someone... " She snarled.
Ulysses sighed. "I will notify their family and get some head hunters on the horn." He said rather tersly.
"Well... we have backups in place. It'll be months before they are rebuilt and recovered though." she replied, "... That last operation was a shitshow."
"There were to many unknowns. Mistakes were made." He said looking up at Hazel. "That kid that was placed as Admiral doesn't know what he is doing..." he said referring to Raphael.
"Hell, their fighter and mecha crews were just winging it. We should be running our operations without them instead of trying to have an integrated air wing. For every skilled pilot they have they've got two pieces of dead weight." She added.
"That's true, but we a so short staffed we need them now." He said bitterly. "Plus the lady signing our checks said we had to keep them, so we keep them. However they aren't allowed on the flightline until they can get their shit together." Werner added.
"She's picking up the tab for all the replacement parts too... which seems very generous of her." Hazel added, taking another long drink from the flask.
"Yes, speaking of which. Where are they? After they all bailed out I have been working." He said snatching the flask from his little sister's hand and taking a swig.
"Our backers? Or the people hiring us?" Hazel said, shaking her head, "I Mean, I should clarify. We've been hired by Uso's group. They are footing the bill for operations. We've got another group backing us, paying for ships, crew, equipment, ect. THAT VC firm is throwing a lot of money our way and that is what seems weird... Uso and her group just seem like a bunch of amateurs playing at space-empires."
"Wait." Werner said looking confused. "What do you mean backers. I thought we were being payed by Uso. I mean it seemed odd that they would have so much cash on hand, but they have done decently well so far. Even if it's sheer dumb luck." He said, placing the flask on the desk. "Why did you not tell me about them? That seems like something I should be informed of Hazel..."
"You were moping about your apartment, the last thing I wanted to throw in your lap is the complexities of Nepleslian Corporate Finance Law. We have a company that wants to fund development of a private army, and we have a group wanting to hire a private army. It seems like a great deal for us so long as we can live long enough to spend the money... you know, they say the combat pay bonus is equal to the odds of living to spend it." She replied.
"Damn it Hazel that is not the point. I have been working for someone and I didn't even know I was working for them. I look like a fool!" He said angrily. "You always leave out the important info until I am neck deep in shit. For once I thought you were playing it straight." He grumbled.
"Oh get off your high horse. You wanted to captain a ship again and this was your chance. You can go down with the Nepleslian ship, or you can figure out a way to make this whole thing work." She snapped. "Get your fucking head in the game."
"Yes, thanks for letting me captain again Hazel. BUT that doesn't change the fact." He sighed. "I just want to have the entire picture before jumping in head first Hazel. I am not getting screwed again."
"It is a mercenary outfit. If you don't like it you can just leave. This isn't the military OR the government." She said.
He stood. "Come on. Just got a message. We are needed planet side for something." He said moving to the door. As he brushed past her, he gave her a shove, sending her into the couch. "Now we are even." He said moving to leave the room.
Hazel would glare at him, taking the cap off her flask and throwing it at his desk, sending the liquor splattering over his machinery.... before getting up and following him out of the room.
"Hazel Gehärtet Werner!" He shouted, grabbing her by the wrist. "You are cleaning that up or so help me...!"
"You shove me, you get your shit broke. I'm not playing this bullshit game of who's shoving who." She said, the once sweet, rather timid girl having a rather steely determination in her eyes, "You shove me like that, I'm breaking your shit."
He looked at his little sister. A look of concern. What happen to the little girl who used to follow him around? Who used to do everything together? Now...
Queen's Slave, Meeting Room>
The Queen Slave's meeting room was secretly just the ship's main room... though it had been cleaned up a little. A single power armor was stuffed into one of the chairs around the edges of the room, and the CIC table in the center was glowing, showing the local area with the planet and the small mercenary fleet in orbit. Uso herself had changed into sweat pants and a hoodie, casually watching from the side as Vier looked over the data presented from her spot in front of the table.
Ulysses walked up knocking on the hatch. He had changed into his officer's jacket and beret, looking way to formal. "Permission to come aboard?" He asked as he walked through the door.
"YEAH, COME ON IN!" Uso shouted from in back, the few crew members about not really seeming to know how to handle the formal introductions.
He walked in nodding for Hazel to follow him in. Ulysses moved and stood before Uso. "You wished to see us?" He asked lookind down at the Neko.
"I wanted to get your assessment of the NMX forces at Ee'ee." Uso said, while Vier stood upright by the table and added,
"And we should start discussing plans for dealing with the NMX assets there as well."
Werner moved to the table. He pulled out a data drive and plugged it in, showing the data that the Necromancer was able to gather. "Here is the fleet strength that we could see. They are heavily entrenched in the system." He said highlighting the ships they saw.
"Three carriers.... 24 of those smaller ships... Vier?" Uso asked.
"This isn't a Nepleslian operation. I do not have easy access to the equipment required to defeat these targets."
"And how much do you need......" Uso replied
"More than we can produce your end of the month timetable...."
Uso then turned her attention to Werner, "How about you? The Necromancer and her flight wing, how much can you beef up before the end of the month?
" I can beef her up, but one ship isn't going to be able to take them on. I also need new planes and pilots to replace the ones we lost." He answered. "Bottom line I can make it happen, but it won't be enough." He replied.
"I'll make it work. What can you get me?" She asked again.
"I can beef up the armor and get some new munitions. I can also put out a call to get some more pilots, for the sake of argument we will say 14 new pilots and fighters." he answered
"Make it happen then." Uso said.
Vier would turn her attention to Uso, "He is correct, by the end of the month we will be able to take on a small fleet, or deal serious damage with a leap-frog style attack... but not enough for the entire NMX fleet."
Uso frowned, "What are we looking at then? We need to be able to show some progress... What can we take out?"
"The NMX seem to be using a fleet on the outside of the system to jump in and prevent escapes. We could handle that but not their full force." Vier responded.
"It is a start..."
"It is a way to get the NMX to dig in and fortify their position. It could make things worse."
"Yet it is probably our only choice. Unless..." He said looking thoughtful. "Vier what if we made kinetic kill vehicles?" he asked looking at her. "Load up several massive pieces of space debris with ftl engines and put them on collision courses with their capital ships?" He asked.
"With the amount of point-defense the NMX have available to them they would be able to destroy a large number of the vehicles, making it prohibitively expensive to build a force of RKVs to destroy their ships. We also will not have the number of ships necessary to escort the kill vehicles to their targets. This leaves our best bet as a leak-frog attack: We have a ship arrive in system and draw the NMX outside of the star's hill sphere. Once there our kill-vehicles can jump on top of the targets and engage. Along with our fleet we can deal the maximum damage with minimal loss of our assets." Vier said.
"Draw them out with the ol' wild rabbit and POW. We just need the missiles and the ships to pull it off." Uso added.
"That or we can deploy missiles through the debris belt, bring them in and fire the missles, then bring in the rest of the fleet." He replied.
"Deployment in system would be impossible without also tipping off the NMX," Vier said.
"Unless we get the I'ee to build the missiles.... but working with them isn't the easiest thing in the world. Even then, I would prefer it be US that save them rather than them that saves them." Uso replied.
"Then the simplest plan is the best. We will lure them and and smash them with the few ships we have." Ulysses replied.
