Chapter 1.0 Operation Cataclysm!

Banshee saw the satisfying pop of the port thruster on the Kouken catching alight following her barrage of energy, as the Scythe flew right through the cloud of oxygen and trace gases being hastily vented from the storage compartments to avoid a cascading explosion. Her CFS and Centrifuge came to full power, pulling up into a fast climb as she weaved an elogated figure eight pattern through the angry, retaliatory turret fire from the wounded, but still deadly Foxtrot 2, in an effort to make it spread its fire over a larger area and put more strain on the escort's power core.

As pulses of energy lanced past her mere nanoseconds apart and Shiori informed her that the shields were holding together well so far, the green-haired pilot heard the comms chatter from their leader. "Roger, Crux. Setting up for another attack run now," she responded, checking to see how much time before she could build up the neutrons to fire the spinal canon again.

There was a pause as she heard Miranda's idea on the matter. "Spirit, according to schematics I have to fire across the crew quarters to hit the internal bridge module. I can make no guarantees..." Sayoko seemed particularly cool on that last suggestion of sparing the lives of their foes, and the way she trailed off it didn't seem likely that she could be easily convinced to show mercy. Any method to remove the enemy's ability to harm them was the primary objective, and with these pirates it was even more critical.

The veteran dodged a laser burst just in the nick of time, as a few asteroids were summarily vaporized not far from where Jaeger was seen zooming into the battlespace. This prompted the Jiyuuian to send his way: "Aquila 10, I know we've gotten off to a bad start before, but we're going to have to work together. Whatever anger issues you may have with me as your wingman, I simply ask that you direct it to our foes."

Banshee took only a fraction of a second to squint at what just happened to the unlucky bogey in Spirit and Smokey's way. It was an extremely risky scissors manuever, but they seemed to get out of it relatively unscathed. "Aquila 6, Aquila 8, are you alright?"

Whatever concern she expressed in those moments of setup, began to fade away into the roar of her nose-mounted Laser Pulse Vulcans as they peppered Foxtrot 2 from a fast-closing arc, her craft easily able to outmaneuver the Kouken with its thruster hampered. Her ACE reported the main gun was nearly ready to fire again, as the weak spot aft came into view...

Space

Nero watched on as he and Cypher tried to attempted to save his craft for as long as possible. His atmosphere was completely gone, having routed all remaining atmo to his suit. "Cypher status report?" Nero asked as he watched the battle

"All units have begun attacking. Virus's cyber attack... well"

...on board Wolf 18

Jeff wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed. As he began to dogfight with the NSN pilots he received a notification of new battle orders. After the Kouken had taken that beating he figured that comms had went down. So Jeff opened the attachment...

To Jeff's horror, porn began to flood his systems. His entire hud was full of nothing but naked squirrels. He wasn't able to see the asteroid in his path until it was too late. His craft smashed headlong into the asteroid. The last thing he saw... a naked Happy...

...Nero's Uno

"Virus is in their systems." Cypher finished. Nero smiled. "Good job Virus, tear their systems apart."

"Smokey and Spirit's maneuver was also a success." Cypher continued. "Lt. Miranda has taken minor damage."

"Spirit, watch your ass!" Nero called. "You're carrying the big guns and we need those ships cracked." He said as he monitored everyone's progress. "The dogfight is also going well. 3 Wolves down. Unfortunately Foxtrot 1 has begun laying down covering fire for Foxtrot 2. Lining up a shot will be a bit more difficult." Cypher added. Nero thought for a moment.

"Jager follow Banshee in and hit the target simultaneously. Spirit, strike Foxtrot 1. I need those guns offline ASAP. Guard Dog, follow Spirit in and provide support." Nero called.

"Roger that commander." Guard Dog replied, as he broke away from the dogfight to join up on Spirit's wing. "Let's knock this thing out Spirit." He said arming his weapons.

"G-got it! Sorry about that, I'm beginning my run now!" Miranda blurted out, still quite flustered from her unintended bout of vehicular manslaughter. Swinging her craft around in a wide arc, she hurriedly brought the battered Hornet to bear on the vulnerable enemy ship. "Guard Dog, I'll be in your care then, keep those fighter off of me for a bit! Help, this is going to be a difficult shot to make, can I leave aiming the cannons to you?"

"Affirmative, Pilot Bannings. Pre-calculating firing trajectories of plasma cannons to breach in enemy vessel's hull. Fire when ready."

"Thanks! Beginning cut-in in three, two, one, MARK!" Pulling the battered bomber into a steep turn, Miranda flared the thrusters just as the Hornet's nose lined up with the hostile Kouken. With a blast of white-hot exhaust, the Hornet "lagged" in the middle of its turn for a few crucial seconds, aligning its still-smoking nose with the enemy vessel for a brief moment. That moment was all the advanced military AI needed, the Hornet's twin Plasma Cannons shuddering as they spat a short burst of superheated matter shells towards the hardly-visible hole in the Kouken Escort's charred hull.

The moment over, the Hornet continued on its momentum-driven turn and swerved past the capital ship's bulk, almost skimming the surface of the larger vessel's ovoid shield bubble as it shot off into the distance, aether cannon antiaircraft fire nipping at its heels.

Space...

As the fighting ensued, the enemy fighters all broke from formation and beelined it for Foxtrot 1 and 2. "We didn't get paid enough for this shit. That damage is going to take weeks to repair. We are bugging out." The pirate leader replied on all channels. "Until next time NSN!" He replied as the Koukens maneuvered for a clear jump line then FTLed out.

"What the hell?" Nero replied. "All units stand down. My sensors show clear..." Nero's console flashed. "WARNING CORE OVERLOAD IMMINENT" He cursed under his breath, he pulled Cypher out and plug him into Nero's suit. "The is Aquila 2 ejecting!" He said as he was thrown from his craft. As he tumbled away from his ship the core finally ruptured and the Uno was consumed in a fireball that was quickly extinguished.

A young woman's voice came over the comms. "Hello? This is Captain Judy of the Spring. Are any of you in need of assistance?"

"Yes, this is Commander Vega, NSN. I am pinging you with my transponder now. I could use a pick up." Nero replied as he continued to tumble end over end.

"Roger that Commander we are on our way." Judy replied. At that moment, the Spring's engines roared to life. And a delicate rescue maneuver began.

Aboard the Spring minutes later...

"Welcome aboard Commander Vega." The captain said as he entered the airlock. "Thank you captain."

"Aquila Flight this is Oracle Actual." Lexi called over the comms. "No enemies in the area. Escort the spring to us for repairs. Good job everyone. Oracle out." She said as the cut the transmission. "You heard the lady. Set course for home."

Several hours later...

The flight escorted the spring back to base and were ordered to debrief aboard the Oracle. As they landed, Nero was shuttled over to the Oracle. "All Aquilas report to the briefing room. All Aquilas report to the briefing room." The intercom announced.

"All right Aquila Squadron, stow your armor and catch a shower. Then meet in the briefing room." Nero replied as he entered the PA bay.

Oracle Shuttle bay -> Briefing room

Jo climbed out of Jethro, first giving him a quick once over. It didn't look to be too much damage taken, thank the powers that be, but he would need some major repairs as well as a few minor ones.

"Get goin', Smoke. You need a shower as much as I need to be cleaned. You know I'll be with you at the debrief."

Jo smiled a bit at that and nodded, "You're right, Jethro. I know yer in good hands here." She then heads out, stowing her gear where it was supposed to go and then to her room to grab a quick shower. She was fast, thanks to having shorter hair than most women, and was heading to the briefing room in no time.

When she arrived, she took a look around, not sure if she was going to be first, last, or somewhere in the middle.

"Ah. Hello, Miss Cigaro." Miranda greeted as she trotted into the briefing room, picking out a good spot around the middle of the room and settling down on the general-issue classroom chair. Though used to frugal arrangements, the young lady couldn't help but wince as the top rim of the hard-backed plastic furniture dug into her aching back. Might've strained something when I ran into that fighter, she thought with a rather sheepish expression, recalling the rather bizarre accident. Still nothing compared to the face that Crew Chief Eriksson made when he saw what I did to the Hornet...

Shaking herself out of her reverie, Miranda turned to the only other occupant in the room. "Thanks for covering me earlier, you really helped me out back there." she offered, looking up at the the tanned Lieutenant. "I must say though, that sortie went rather unexpectedly. Where in the cosmos did those pirates get that sort of hardware?"

NSS Oracle, Briefing Room 2

The doors of the briefing room opened to admit one extraordinarily exhausted-looking Lieutenant Milo Frost - who, instead of making some smartass comment in response to Miranda's question, boasting about the hard-fought kills he'd earned, or even flirting with the two gorgeous women present...........merely collapsed into one of the annoyingly-uncomfortable chairs at the back of the room, nursing a bottle of (seemingly magically-acquired) Jägermeister as he slumped back into the aforementioned chair. It was obvious that something was wrong with the usually gung-ho cyborg - yet there appeared to be nothing wrong with him physically, apart from the fact that he looked like he'd just come back from the Rok'Veru Offensive, not a (relatively) small-scale skirmish.


There appeared to be nothing wrong with him physically, but mentally......it was a different story altogether.


The crushing headache was one of the things (literally) on Milo's mind - but even that, while responsible for his haggard demeanor, wasn't the reason for the Nepleslian's uncharacteristically quiet behavior; a brief perusal of the relevant sections in the Scythe's Operations Manual had revealed that it was the consequence of utilizing the KRAKEN in a ferocious dogfight against not one but three opponents, each of them almost as skilled - and well-equipped - as the Lieutenant himself.


Nor was it the fact that the aforementioned KRAKEN had very nearly cost the cyborg his life (via rendering him temporarily unconsciousness); following his little jaunt through Hell, the fighter jockey had, after all, long since stopped giving any fucks about whether he was alive or dead.


The reason was something else that had occurred during said battle. Something far more ominous......

* * *

Space - Several Hours Earlier

The LT (still recovering from that earlier bout of unconsciousness) blinked as he came to amidst the semi-functional remains of his battered starfighter - and felt his jaw drop a centimeter or two, his sense of shock momentarily surpassing how shitty he was feeling.


Milo had, of course, heard of the legendary "cockpit-to-cockpit" maneuver. The leader of his old squadron, Peter "Maverick" Lawson, had managed to pull it off once during a training exercise in - but that was only due to Maverick having flown combat missions for nearly a decade.


Yet Aquila One - who'd been flying alongside the heavily-damaged Aquila Ten just a moment ago, the former escorting the latter back to the rendezvous with the rest of the Aquilas - had just performed the maneuver like it was nothing.


Then the newly-appointed leader of Aquila Flight - "visible" through the volumetric screens of the Sycthe's cockpit - began to do something even stranger: She held her palm to the side of her helmet, while gesturing at her communications display.


* * *

NSS Oracle, Briefing Room 2


It had taken a long cold shower for the Nepleslian to realize that the Lorath superior had been referring to a failure in her communications equipment - but that was just it: the comm transmitter's positioning (helpfully provided by that aforementioned Operations Manual) meant that nothing short of a kill-shot should've been able to knock it offline. It just doesn't make any fucking sense at all...


The fighter jock took another swig from the bottle. I'm getting too fucking old for this......

NSS Oracle, Briefing Room 2

It was awhile before Sayoko entered the briefing room, standing at the door silently for a moment with the light of the hallways behind her like a wraith about to haunt the place. As much as the green-haired Jiyuuian tried to bond with the others of the flight, there were always those moments like this when something about her just seemed incredibly ominous. Perhaps it was part of her IPG training to appear this way with her aviator scarf pulled up around her like the collar of a greycoat. Or the brush with the Mishhu that followed her like a shadow... a shadow as black as the paint job on her Night Raider armor that was now carefully stowed, along with her battle-tested Scythe in the hangar as ordered.

A quick scan across the room with her emerald eyes of who was already present for the post mission debrief -- as well as the conspicuous absences -- was conducted before Lt. Mochizuki finally found a seat in one of the chairs that was in the center of the room. Now that she had settled in, at least a little of the foreboding atmosphere that entered with her had also faded. She offered a small nod in greetings to her fellow pilots -- and perhaps a slight sigh when she saw Milo nursing his bottle -- but said no more, waiting for the others to come to her.

In truth, Sayoko was quietly reviewing the combat logs of the mission in detail which were uploaded to her digital brain from the Scythe, trying to discover exactly what had caused the pirates they were fighting to suddenly withdraw as they did. It seemed quite illogical, considering the overwhelming advantage that they had in sheer firepower. Even though her strikes were definitely well-placed, it was certainly not enough to threaten the Kouken by itself. She did not disable any critical system, nor was her Xeneth Cannon even able to fire upon the bridge successfully before the escort she was engaging turned and fled into hyperspace. Then why?

She could not help but think this was all part of a larger game at play, Nero and her wingmates little more than fancy toys in the hands of the Red sleeper agents in the upper echelons of command. Or was that all too simple of an explanation? From what she had experienced first hand and the footage from the Lorath, these Aexalli were far from normal pirates in a chopshop operation. There was serious engineering prowess at play here... some of these modifications seeming more in the realm of an AI directing it all than a human intelligence. Sayoko couldn't entirely dismiss the rumors of involvement in something called the Galactic Armament Organization either, a group she well knew since it contained some outlaw Jiyuuian elements in it. But didn't they usually harass Yamatai? What could they possibly be doing in this sector of Nepleslian space, going after the Spring? Did it have cargo they were not being told about?

"It is not a comforting feeling, flying blind," the green-haired woman finally spoke to noone in particular, letting the statement hang in the air for what it was. Likely everyone in the room shared her frustrations at being on the short end of the stick in regards to intel... but would they leave here with answers, or just more questions about who the enemy really was?

NSS Oracle, Briefing Room 2

Nero stormed into the room. "Well this is just fucking lovely." He said walking up to the podem. He sighed. "Good job everyone on a successful mission." He said opening a map on the screen behind him. The Spring is docked to the Thanatos for repairs, and we got some new data on the Scythes." He said rubbing his temples. "However... that was one of the oddest mission ever." He looked around the room, being much smaller than it had been before the mission. "And as you all can tell we have lost some pilots." His voice beginning to bubble with anger. "The Rear Admiral in all his infinite wisdom had decided to transfer out Lt. Commander Solaris, Lt. Donato, Lt. Canton, and Ensign Knight." He Pulled up the current roster with the new rankings. "As you can see that put a serious damper on our force strength, but we are all aces here so I think we will manage."

He looked across the room. "This also means that we need to step up our game. We are one flight, one team." He said. He looked to their junior member. "Ensign you did a good job out there. To that end I am promoting you to Lieutenant . I think I speak for all of us when I saw that was a damn fine job." He tossed a pair of Lt. bars to her and looked to his men. "You all did a damn fine job. Pulled off some crazy shit that I would do..." He said looking at their bombadier with a smirk. "Now I think we need a damn drink. We can debrief in the morning, right now we need to unwind. First round is on me." He said closing the roster and moving to the door. He opened it and opened his handing. inviting them to exit. "Let's celebrate a successful mission and Ms. Cigaro's promotion. By the way, anybody seen our CO?" He asked with a cocked eyebrow.

Briefing Room 2

Jo caught the new rankings and just had to stare at them in her hand for a moment or two. Though she knew that she had earned these, she was still amazed at it. The praise she got for her flying, even with a losing battle, was more than enough for her. She clutched them, though, for fear that they might disappear on her and then gave Nero a smart salute before he headed out the door. She then went to her room first to drop off the ranks and get changed. Now that they had some downtime, she was not going to wear her uniform until tomorrow!