RP: 21st Fighter Sq [Mission 1.0] Christening of Blood

"Hai Raikou! Solitaire, I have your wing. Munkata out." Yaeko changed formation and took the Chui's wing. "Vas, how are things looking at your end?"

"Y...yes sir!" Ren said, glad that the tense situation was diffused. She dropped stealth mode for her pilot, unlocking his turbo boost. "Yes master Shin!"

She waited until Shin had gotten the ship far enough away from all of the other fighters that he would not draw attention to them, then she closed her eyes, feeling her connection to the fighter through her spine, and began throwing up ECM. LOUD ECM, loud enough to, hopefully, drown out all sign that any fighters other then Shin's and Hachirou's were active.

She set the communication systems to wail and scream like banshies on all channels, except for the ones she had been trained to keep clear for Star Army Comunications Traffic. She was directing all attention towards her ship while interfering with the opponent's targeting systems. With luck she'd force them to target visually, and break up their radio and computer chatter blinding and confusing them.

While she used the com system to screw with the opponent's communications, she laid down chaff, and flares. She also plugged deeply into the active missile knockdown system, turning it on and limbering it up with some rotation. She was dropping Chaff and Flares like they were water, spending five of each in just a few moments to make sure she had the mishu's attention. The rest she would save for when she really needed them badly, but these would give her the cover for Shin to dive into the enemy formation.

She was coming in loud and hot, and she played in the shields, forming a thin plasma wake with them to draw further attention to her ship, purposely weakening the shield in certain places and malforming the shielding bubble. She was faking a crippling injury to her fighter, and when her shields proved to be strong in the faked weak points it would gain her precious seconds for herself, her partner, and the pilots sneaking beneath. All mushu eyes should be on her ship, all mishu sensors trying to target her blurred, messy, target.

She really hoped she would live through this. She didn't particularly want to die on her first mission. At best it would be an inconvenience. At worst... but that would take several backups being lost, she was sure. Still she didn't want to figure out what it felt like first hand yet, and a part of her just was a little iffy on the whole exact replica thing. Was an exact replica of her still her, or was it someone else with the same name, body, and personality?

She didn't want to think about that, so she channeled her energy and focus into the task at hand, furiously chewing on her pacifier as she lit the ship up like a Christmas tree.

"Yeah... that's right... come and get us! WHO WANTS SOME!" she wanted to scream. She didn't though. It wasn't who she was, it was just something she'd seen in some movie. She was terrified. Maybe she could use her terror to stay alive.

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Tl;Dr summation. Ren is being a decoy, as per orders from Hachirou's character. She's being wasteful in an effort to distract the opponents so that they don't notice her allies. She plans to tone things down once the other pilots have successfully intercepted the foe

Side note: there's a radio silence order in effect now I think...

"Only a few minutes, Tarrim-Juni."

Minoru was indeed in the rear seat, going through the last of the pre-flight checks. When the explosion had gone off he had been thrown to the ground and it had taken him a moment to get his bearings again, by which time the rest of the squadron had been running for the fighters.

"You took a chair to the head. No bleeding, but its never a good idea to try and rouse someone with a head wound."

What went unsaid was that Minoru was not up in the air because he had taken the time to drag his superior away from the tumbled desks and chairs to a more secure spot, and then ensure she wasn't too injured. The nanomachines in Nekos tended to make injuries less serious, but you still needed to be careful. Since she only seemed to be suffering a minor concussion he estimated it would not be too long before she woke up, though likely disoriented and dizzy.

"I will need to give you a more proper physical when this is over. For now though, the pre-flight is complete. We can lift off at any moment. Though please do not hesitate to tell me if you feel too disoriented, I can take the piloting controls if needed so that you can concentrate on the weapons systems."

His voice was laced with a fair amount of concern. Frankly, he was not comfortable with letting someone suffering a concussion near anything save the base medical center. But there were...extenuating circumstances. And as her doctor he was accompanying her. Or so he rationalized. Still...he was worried.

Silic looked up as he detected abnormalities in number forty's shields, he also saw it wasting counter-measures, his mouth twitching behind his clear helmet. “Whatsyaname-Munkata?” he said quickly “Electronic and sensor counter-measures are standing by, all other systems are green-ish. CFS is tweaked for better gee resistance, expect to feel slightly lighter than usual.” he finished, sounding distracted.

Eventually his pity got the best of him and he swapped channels to talk to Tsukino “Number four-zero, second seat, you're trying too hard. You're going to burn out your electronics and run out of chaff at that rate. Don't let your pilot make you do something stupid.” he cautioned.

Ren's Threat detector lit up like a festival when Shin chose to break formation and climb for altitude. She had four no make that five, of the NMX battlepods attacking the fort upon seeing a target of opportunity, now targetting them working towards a firing solution.

A second later the systems showed multiple missile launches.....

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That idiot, IF he survives today he'll be lucky to fly a garbage collector. Atsui thought as she watched Shin break formation when the second group was no where near range.

"Ma'am, I'm showing multiple battlepods moving to engage Ryusei and Raikou, should we engage and assist?" Yoshi asked looking up from he EWO screen.

"There is no time every minute we stay here fighting these battlepods the other get closer to Ryou. Ryusei made his bed, I just hope that Raikou does not pay the price for his idiocy." Atsui replied.

"Solitaire to all other Diamonds accelerate to Mach 3.5, stay with me. We need to get to the interception point ASAP. Ryusei's stunt just changed the odd from 4-1 to 6-1 if he and Raikou don't rejoin us. ETA to intercept point six minutes which puts the enemy 4 minutes from target." Atsui sent shoving the throttle forward.

Ren noticed the multiple missile launches, and reduced her jamming so as to not burn out her EMC too quickly. She took a deep breath, focusing on the sensor reads from the ship which were so much more accurate then her eyes. She watched the missiles approach the ship in a calm lucidity.

"One.... two... three..." she counted in her mind. She spun the active defense anti-missile turret around to target the incoming missiles, trying to snipe them. An anti-missile active defense turret carries only 200 shots, and given the number of opponents she and Shin were up against she had to make every shot count. "Six... seven... eight". She targeted each of them, preparing to take them out at suitable times.

"Hai Solitaire!" Yaeko punched the throttle and accelerated to the needed speed. She watched on her radar as the green blip appeared because Shin went above his instructed height. I can honestly say that if he gets himself killed, I won't be upset. She shook these evil thoughts out of her head and concentrated on piloting. Starting to get the hang of it, her position in the formation was starting to look more professional.

Silic gripped the back of Yaeko's chair as acceleration kicked in, despite his changes to the CFS g-forces could still be felt in the cockpit. Unlike his comrades Silic was more susceptible to black outs, for his pilots sake and his own he'd racketed most of the changes to only seriously affect high-gee situations. “Go get 'em lass.” he encouraged, adrenaline putting a second surge into him.

"Kail-Juni, you're on my Wing since Raikou is with Ryusei, so get in position. Watch your instruments, flying NOE a slight mistake can be ugly." Atsui sent.

Looking at her radar she noticed several power armor were taking to the air. Most likely trainees diving into the fight to defend the fort.

Note: For all fighters except Raikou and Ryusei's should make one last post here then move to [Mission 1.1] Defense of Ryou


Ira having completed pre-flight throttled up and accelerated to fall in position with the rest of the squadron.

Shin couldn't help but grin as he saw the missiles coming at him, heard Ren count them out one by one. But Shin didn't care, they were only obstacles between him and the battlepods. Hitting the throttle of his fighter, The Kawarime sped forward as Shin jerked the stick around in what seemed to be chaotic motions, but it was in reality a wild dance of hands and controls. The fighter responded, going high and starting to spin and roll and juke around in an ungraceful manner, not so much gracefully dodging the missiles, Shin actually starting to chuckle as the Kawarime rocketed past the missiles, returning fire with the fighter's guns on the nearest Battlepod as he closed in on it.

As Shin performed his aerial acrobatics, Hachirou caught up to the new dogfight. Now in range, he began targeting Battle Pods with his Mini-Missiles in a spread at the those closest to him, and tried to skirt the edges of their group.

Lynn watched the radar for any Battle Pod missiles, and was ready with the Anti-Missile Launcher for any attacks.

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Kail called a woozy "Hai!" after the Chui ordered her to catch up. Throwing on the speed, Kail pushed the Kawarime to Mach 4.

"Be ready, Doc!" She said.

Two of the missiles guidance systems sensing the Kawarime's speed and losing direct lock switched to proximity detonation and exploded on either side of the fighter. The shock wave jarring the craft, but the force of the blast mitigated by the shields.

Meanwhile the battlepod began its own series of evasive maneuvers unfettered by organic components causing all but one of Shin's first barrages to miss.

Hachirou waited until he was closer, and fired once more at the Battlepods as he climbed and skirted the edge of their formation.

"Binky! Ryuusei! Give me your status!"

"Five battlepods trying for lock, four missles inbound" Ren reported to Shin and Haichiro "Status: Alive, conscious and breathing. Damage is minimal, however shields have suffered moderate reduction." She closed her eyes, biting down again on her pacifier. Her voice was high and tense

First thing was first, the immediate problem was the inbound missiles. She fired a few active anti-missile defense rounds at them, hardening the sheilds that faced towards the oncoming missiles.

Second the five battlepods that were approaching a lock, so she changed her ECM pattern again. Then she highlighted them on Shin's tac-screen so he would know who to take out of the sky. Finaly she prepped the chaff, preparing to fire it post lock to confuse the lock and possibly cause it to drift to the chafe in case the ECM and Shin didn't work.

Shin's smile was wide and full of teeth as he increased this fighter's speed, rolling and juking his fighter, performing aerial maneuvers that would be aerodynamically impossible if it weren't for the superior performance and speed of the V8, the yamataian's laughter clearly audible to Hachirou. All of this maneuvering wasn't just for show, though, Shin was trying his hardest to get a good angle on that damned battlepod so he could fill it full of burning holes. As the distance between him and the pod closed, Shin launched a full salvo of missiles from the minimissile pod at the battlepod's companions, hoping to get their attention so his wingmate could get a shot off at them.

The battlepod Shin was targeting tried to avoid but as the aether cannons slammed into it. The battlepod was reduced to bits of debris raining upon the ground.

There were still a number of missiles closing on his fighter, and two of the enemy battlepods took the bait from his salvo and were banking to get an optimum firing solution.

Ren was starting to get a little overwhelmed with all the incoming missles. She tried picking them off with the active defenses but she missed noticing the two battle pods that were banking for an optimal firing solution.

Shin smirked as his fighter pitch nose-upwards, its pilot cutting the main engines for a brief second as it flipped end over, firing a spread of missiles at the two offending pods as it flipped. Laughing, Shin pushed the engines to full throttle, rushing towards a third pod and firing the aether cannons at it.

Hachirou banked in at the battlepods attempting a firing solution, then fired his missiles and cannons -- if Shin was hit, it wouldn't just be the eager young pilot dead. It would be Binky as well.

Hachiro was able to take down the battlepods pursuing Shin and Binky. They were intent on the first fighter, and trying to avoid the missiles Shin cut loose at them. It gave him the moment he needed to reduce them to debris raining down. Of course there were still many more battle pods than the two lone Kawarime.

Meanwhile the third pod decided to accelerate directly towards Shin and Binky's fighter. Only the fire power of the Kawarime's cannons kept it from slamming into the fighter with catastrophic results.