RP: 5th XF Mission 005-01: "A Trail of Fire" (17th Armor Wing

>ON 17th's Lounge aboard the Akuro, 0600hrs

Karou sat on one of the couches in the 17th's lounge, her legs hanging over the armrest and her dark hair spilling over the cushion. Where the hell is everyone? she wondered, lifting her head up to look towards the door to the corridor which lead to the 17th's barracks. I told them 0600 hours; damn sleepy heads must be hung over from all that post-mission partying. Karou had been restless all night, wondering how the hell they were going to pull this next mission off. She was thankful that she had carried over the most of the flight group that would be accompanying her. It would be her, Jaq, Camellia and Caine again, just like on that derelict ...

Camellia walked to the lounge, her eyes barely open and her hair, which still obscured half her face, was a slight mess. Her uniform was on, but her jacket wasn't done and she had a book tucked under her arm. Opening the door, she barely stifled a yawn as she awkwardly bowed to Karou.

Jaq hopped into the room after Camellia, pulling on the last sleve of his jacket. Jaq was wide-eyed and had a dissheveled look to his hair. "I'm so sorry that I'm late ma'am, but the alarm in the barracks didn't go off, and when I woke up finaly it was to late."

Karou shot up. "Hey, you look like you got a great deal of sleep last night. I could barely sleep a wink; so much damn noise on this boat with everyone packing for their reassignments. Did you hear, they are finally upgrading the weaponry on this thing?" Swinging her legs back to a normal sitting position she reached for her mug of tea. She had chosen to have them meet her in the lounge because their briefing room was filled with clutter from the base crews coming aboard to work on the ship. Caine ... heh, must be sleeping still.

"You're not late; there's no one for me to report you to if you were late, unless you want me to call the bridge" Karou said. "Flight Control officer has already left for the Iori ... we will be the last flight group off ..."

Camellia nodded, and then looked at Karou's hand. "Is there more tea, ma'am?" she asked in a slightly half-asleep voice.

"I could go for some coffee myself if there is any ..." Jaq sat down in a car faceing where Karou was sitting. "So just the four of us again? This should be intresting."

"Yea, plenty ... I had the kitchen make up a few pots before they shut the door in my face about twenty minutes ago ..." Karou pointed towards the three pots of tea on the counter. "Sorry Jaq, no coffee ... and yea, it's just the four of us as it stands now. Caine is still alseep, but this isn't a formal briefing anyway and he has heard most of this." Taking another sip of her tea, she looked across at Jaq, he seemed oddly awake, compared to Camellia anyway.

Camellia made a mad dash towards the tea pots and poured herself a cup. "Sorry for my appereance, ma'am. I'm not myself without a morning cup of tea," she offered as she sat down and began to drink.

"You sure do seem to like your tea." Jaq noticed Karou's strange look. "Why are you looking at me like that? Is it because I'm awake? Well if it is, it's because I don't need that much sleep and I get up quickly ..." Jaq looked over at the tea then looked back the the others.

"You just looked more awake than, what I expected." Karou said. "Well, seems we got handed the bottom of the barrel this time guys. We are going to be transferring to the YSS Sheridan, one of the Irims assigned to patrol the outskirts of the Kilnar system. It seems there has been some trouble with pirates. Anyway, I'll save you my rendition and let the AI give you the song and dance the Taisho has planned for us." She leaned back on the couch and said "Freya, read breifing file, A645." The voice of Freya then rang out, reading the breifing sent to Karou for the flight group's mission.

Camellia listened to Freya while sipping her tea. "Hmm, pirates, in this day and age? Who would have thought it possible," she muttered.

"This leader ... if he is in fact becoming a religious figure, we need to capture him alive," Jaq pondered in a semi mono-toned voice as he rested his head on his arm. "If we kill him that would only serve to Martyr him. this one is going to be quite tricky...â€

>ON: YSS Akuro

Jaq picked up his helmet and inspected it for any visible damage. Not finding any he went on to his arms, namely the plasma progectors there-in. "Oh we are going to have some fun to day, aren't we my friend," Jaq said aloud more to his suit than anyone else in the room.

Caine yawned a bit, coming into the bay and going to his armor. He checked it over, brushing the outside of it as he got ready to don it with a few stretches and such. "Um what'd I miss? Sorry I didn't make the briefing; I know I'm gonna pay for it later," he sighed. He got the armor off the rack, stripped down out of his uniform and got into the Kylie. He got to putting the uniform in the accessory back with an extra knife for a just-in-case scenario.

Camellia was checking her suit along with Jaq, though, unlike him, she was humming to herself. Looking over to Caine, she shrugged. "What did you miss?" she repeated. "You missed the briefing, that's what you missed," she said matter-of-factly as she began to strip down, halfway, she paused and sighed. "How I wish we had a suit to wear under this armor ..."

"Freya, enable launch sequence Karou Delta Sixer Nine ... Alert flight groups Two, Five and Nine they are first up on the port bay. Flight group One will be launching with me ... starboard bay." Karou walked out across the polished black floor and toward the four who awaited her. "Ok people, the first three flight groups off the ship will be our escorts ... hopefully they can punch a hole in whatever opposition we face." Standing beside her Mindy, she slipped out of her uniform, casting a quick look toward Caine. There was no one on the flight bridge, as most of the Akuro's crew had left for the base, and the refit crews were mostly on the upper levels.

Jaq put on his helmet and tested the external audio. "We won't need their help ... and besides they shall steal our grace and glory." Jaq finished afixing his hemlet. To make sure it was on, he shook his head from side to side. "Well I'm ready. Shall we go catch our ride?" he said, gestureing to the void of space.

Caine put his helmet on and tested his external audio as well. "Hey don't lick a gift horse in the mouth, if these people are as zealotic as Karou has informed me, we'll need them to put some kind of dent in them or at least a distraction. Worse comes to worse we got our stealth," he smirked and nodded to the CO; she would get a feeling he was winking at her. "I'm ready to go and whup zealot ass man; let's go." he said. "We're already the best and we know it, but now we gotta show these newbies how to do it right!" he said punching a fist at the ceiling, then relaxed.

Camellia, now in her suit, did some preflight exercise. "I'll never get used to how stiff these feel when I get in them," she muttered to herself as she watched Jaq and Caine be males. "Seriously, bravado will get us nothing, Caine," she said to him as she followed Jaq to the launching platform.

The soft fleshy warmth of the Mindy's interior was her cup of tea, more often then not she found being in her armor exciting, in more than just the adreniline-pumping way. She literally walked right out of the bay, and with a burst moved past Caine and Jaq, getting onto her radio. "Kiss the Akuro goodbye ladies, cause Kilnar here we come ..." The other three flight groups were already approaching the Sheirdan, which had been holding right outside of the Taiie anchorage areas. The Irim looked like a dwarf in comparison to the Akuro. The flight was merely seconds, before the communication began.

"17th Wing Leader, this is Taii Todd Mazu of the YSS-Sheridan, we are ready to take you to the Kilnar system. Once we have reached position you will be given clearance for launch. I have my tactical officer standing by, maybe we can get a few shots in before we have to leave you there."

Karou returned the message, "Thank you sir..."

"Ok, you heard the nice lady. Let's get going!" Jaq said to the others while taking to the void from the ship he was growing to love. He took into flight pattern with Karou, heading toward their ride and guardian.

Caine went silent and took a couple steps then dashed out into space and flew off like a shot, quickly catching up to Karou and Jaq. "Damn that thing's tiny," he said referring to the Irim. "Well either way ..." Caine said as he kept up with them.

Camellia watched them all run out of the ship, while she simple strode, not wanting to waste what energy she had with a meanless race.

>SET: YSS Sheridan

It was not long before Karou was standing in the bay of the Sheridan, looking out the forcefeild awaiting for things to finally get underway. "Why send power armors in?" she thought. "This mission is off ... One damn scout ship could take care of this group in an hour ..." Waiting for the others to join her. Over the comm she said to Camellia, "Alright out there, Bookworm?" she said caringly, trying out the new callsign.

Jaq slowed down quickly just before crossing the threshhold of the force field. He crossed the force field at a leisurely speed, then dropped to the deck and walked to Karou. He then turned around to watch the others enter. As he waited he took from his pouch his trophy rack and tied it off to his left shoulder pad as he readied for the combat he was about to delve into. "The fighting's not that bad, can even be pleasureable," he said outloud over the squad's radio. "It's the waiting that kills me"

"Eh that's your opinion," Caine said, entering slowly, cautiously after Jaq and stretched a little more, sighing. "Not all killing is pleasurable, too much of it taints your soul," he said philosophically. "But I think something is off; why send us in when they could just vaporize them with a satellite shot?"

Camellia snorted some when she heard her call name. "Gee, just because I like classics, I'm called bookworm?" she responded. "What's Caine called? Trouser snake?" she quipped as she passed the threshold of the force field and calmly walked over to Karou, poking her.

"Not sure ... but its not our place to question it," Karou said. "Keep in mind, we won't have the usual sensor preformance ... That side of the cluster has a great deal of interference." She then took a deep breath. "Remember, once we get within range of the seventh planet, I will determine a landing site and we will get this underway. We will try and land out of range of any of their planet-side defenses if there is any ..."

Laughter followed as she heard Cam's inquiry. "Nah; Stiffy is his name, remember?" poking back.

Jaq's head raised from what he was doing as the two passed insults back and forth. "Sooo ... What's the ETA for us getting to the planet?" Jaq then looked at Caine. "Well if we blasted it from orbit, A: there may be civilians, and B: what would be the fun in that?" Jaq looked back down and made sure the bones were attached, then for part effect and part ritual he lifted up the oldest one and dropped it against his shoulder pad. It let out a rattle as the other bones on the line moved also.

Caine sighed and walked past Jaq; he thwapped him on the back and sighed. "True," he said in a resignated sigh and nodded to Karou, fully understanding the orders. "We want to infiltrate, not go in blasting; I get it." He smirked a bit. "And yeah! I'm proud of that callsign, it's not as bad as a few others I could've gotten," Caine said. "Besides ... eh ... nevermind ..." he said, glad they couldn't see him blushing.

Camellia watched the two of them and sighed. "Men," she muttered simply as she crossed her arms.

The YSS Sheridan made its jump into the Kilnar system, just outside of the Kilnar IX's orbit. The hard truth of the situation was about to become apparent. Upon exiting hyperspace, a swarm of 26 Bellystabber IIs emerged from around one of the Kilnar IX's satellites in a pyrimid formation. The three other flight groups launched from the Irim, and moved into an offensive pattern. According to protocol they would hold fire until fired upon.

Seconds later, one of the Bellystabbers fired two blasts from its pulse cannons towards the leader of flight group Five. "Good luck Flight Group One, you're clear ..." The Taii then ordered his pilot to do a countdown of 10 seconds and then to go back into hyperspace. In the meantime, the Irim launched volleys of 10 MSAPs from two of its missle launchers.

Karou simutaneously gave the signal to flight group one and jetted out of the bay. As expected the sensors were not working great, the damn interference seemed to be like nothing they had ever encountered before. "Lets goo...!" she said, as the vollys of missles blasted 2 of the Bellystabbers, disabling one and destroying the other....

Jaq quickly jumped out after Karou. "To battle my friends! Stay alive and good hunting!" Jaq had waited a great deal of time in boredom for this. This mission was going to be a good one for him: A great taste of combat and some of the more subtle points of it.

END

Karou watched as the Sheridan returned to hyperspace. "Alright flight group one, let's keep a close formation, and let the other three flight groups get most of the kills so we can get to our objective.â€

Camellia's foice piped in over the com after Karou's. "Jaq, Caine, you two take the belly stabbers. I'll flank Karou incase there's a suprise."

Camellia's armor then sped up from her place in the rear to pull up next to Karou's armor. Aether blades flaring to life on both her forarms as she looked over her shoulder towards the Raiders.

"Be careful, though guys. They pack a lot of hear for being that size." She cautioned.

The two bellystabbers, having leveled out opened their lowet guntry doors and lowered the underbelly's ten transphasic Plasma cannons (which sound better and is easier to say the the regular weapon name), Though, due to the much smaller size of single man armors, the cannons were having a slightly diffacult time to lock.

As the Sheridan was en route back from the Kilnar system, it was greeted with an ominous message.

Shosa Yomitomo Asuko said:

Taii Mazu,

Retrieve the 17th immediately. The fleet is faced with an emergency involving a Mishhu fleet. Take any steps necessary to retrieve them; we might require their expertiese.

Inform your crew of this situation, but do not alarm them.

Click to expand...

Todd Mazu curled his lips into a frown. Mishhu were nothing to sniff at, of course. But how would a few power armors help against a "fleet?" Not your place Todd, he chastized. "Helm, turn us around."

"Eh? Taii?" The pilot looked a notch or two above confused.

"We're going back to get them."

"But, Taii, we dropped them off just -- "

"I know, but this is from the top." He paused for just a second. "We've got Mishhu back home."

"What?!" The pilot, along with the other officers, looked back at their commander. "Mishhu?"

"That's right, so let's move! The 17th might need some help, so it's battle stations for everyone."

The officers appeared dazed. Wish I had that luxury, he thought. "Let's move!"

Abruptly the movement began. Dropping out of hyperspace, the Sheridan spun and headed the other way, crew readying themselves all over again for battle.

The Bellystabber raider is a tough ship. It should be, Taii Todd Mazu thought as his Irim-class gunship slowed out of hyperspace. We built it.

The battle between the wing of power armors and the Bellystabbers had not progressed much -- they did not have the weaponry to really break the shields of the raiders. The raiders, for their part, couldn't hit the armors with their plasma cannons.

"If it weren't for those raiders, we'd be done here." Mazu shook his head. "Tac, range to target?"

"500k," a Nekovalkyrja said, eyes glued to her monitor.

"Good. Ops, positron cannons ready?"

"Yes Taii," another Nekovalkyrja said.

"On top of it today, just when we need it. Pilot, target Raider 01 and fire at will."

The Nekovalkyrja in the pilot pit grinned visibly. "Yes Taii."

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

On the top and bottom of the Sheridan, four turrets exposed themselves. Glowing fire erupted from the guns, hurling shells at the raider vessel.

Karou had noted the arrival of the vessel with a brief moment of confusion. But if the Sheridan wasn't going to waste time, neither was she. Dodging a stream of railgun fire from a Ronin starfighter, she grinned as one of the anti-matter rounds pummeled the small raiding vessel. The first volley had been just a bit off, and the one shot that touched the shields was hurled out of the way. But the second volley was dead on. Gas belched for a split second through the buckling hull of the Bellystabber before the power cores went and the ship was gone.

The second raider took the hint, as its fighters reeled from the battle and back toward their ship. Not that it mattered -- the anti-matter rounds from the Sheridan found it too, before it could fire its combined pulse cannon. The ship disappeared into space with most of its starboard engine missing. Karou grinned. It wouldn't last long.

"This is Taii Todd Mazu," a voice proclaimed to all of the armors in the field. "Karou, get your people back on the Sheridan immediately. There's Mishhu back home."

Karou's eyes bulged a little. "What?"

"You heard me. Get moving, now!"

"Yessir," she said curtly. "You heard him! Everyone on the Sheridan!"