What's new
  • If you were supposed to get an email from the forum but didn't (e.g. to verify your account for registration), email Wes at [email protected] or talk to me on Discord for help. Sometimes the server hits our limit of emails we can send per hour.
  • Get in our Discord chat! Discord.gg/stararmy
  • 📅 April 2024 is YE 46.3 in the RP.

RP: YSS Aeon [Mission 3.1] A matter of gravity

Nashoba

Nashoba

SARPaholic & Admin
Convention Veteran
Retired Staff
In Orbit above AX-01

Katae was in her chair on the bridge of the Aeon. After receiving word from the shuttle that they had been shot down she began adjusting the gunship's orbit.

She was bringing her ship into a geosynchronous orbit that would allow her to maintain direct communications with the away team.

She noted the shuttle Diligent making its approach to the shuttle bay, which meant that her XO was returning from her tour aboard the Integrity. She hoped that Eun-Kyung time with Tso-Taii was productive.

"Taisa we are being scanned from what appears to be multiple locations on the surface." Yani called out from her station.

"Diligent docking in 30 seconds ma'am." Gi's voice came across the speakers from the shuttle.

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

Shuttle Interior

The purple haired Neko flying the shuttle turned to Eun-Kyung, "Seems you are returning during interesting times ma'am.

The Vigilant was brought down while bringing the away team to the surface." Gi said to the XO.
 
“Interesting times...” Eun-Kyung's voice trailed off as her mind spun quickly through the possibilities that could entail a shoot-down of the Vigilant even while her fingers spun through her hair, pulled into an expedient ponytail. Her time in a different command environment – particularly in the aftermath of that rather traumatic bit of shore leave – had left its mark, in more ways than just her hairstyle. She was more deliberate when approaching a problem and more sure of herself, but also more apt to respond to a situation as the violence of action dictated. That is, she was less likely to charge – or more accurately stumble – headlong into the unknown and she was more comfortable cracking skulls to get the job done.

She looked up, realizing that getting lost in her own thoughts wasn't quite so polite. Smiling, she replied to Gi. “That's a pretty curse, though accurate enough from what you described.” The smile faded from her face as she turned to look at the main displays. “Have we any communication with the shuttle, at least?” she said, hoping they weren't going to have to list all hands lost on any reports.
 
"Curse? I did not mean any curse Shoi." Gi said her puzzlement showing clearly on her face.

"The shuttles comms and other systems were knocked out. My sister Shina Kim was relaying from their PA's to the drone. She reported that all hands were safe, shaken and bruised. But no serious injuries."

Gi deftly maneuvered the shuttle into the bay and as it touched down.

"Do you think that whatever took down the Diligent was what disabled that SSS ship down there?" she asked.
 
Eun-Kyung smiled ruefully. “Sorry, that's an old reference, ancient even, if I recall aright. A curse for one to 'live in interesting times;' I didn't mean to imply I had taken offense. And after all, everyone is all right, as you said. Still... This matter of the shoot down...”

She pondered the situation for a moment. “If we're speaking of weapons, it is possible, but something that could take down a full starship would have destroyed a mere shuttle. And if we're talking about some species, well I can only assume its the same. Let's just hope there's nothing too serious beneath the surface here. We don't need anything more on our plate with this war already so wide reaching.”

She rose from her seat and gathered her things, waiting for the pilot to power down and crack the hatch.
 
Gi did a final system check, then activated the side hatch. "Perhaps we can have a cup of coffee together Shoi. I would like to hear about your time on the Integrity. I have only served on the Aeon and would like to know..."

A sudden jolt shook the shuttle, "What the fish..." Gi swore as she unbuckled her restraints. "That felt like something hit us. I better get to the bridge." she said as she hit the power shutdown and exited the shuttle. Gi opted to fly across the shuttle bay rather than run.
 
“I'd like that too. Maybe when...”

Eun-Kyung stumbled with the jolt. “Well then,” she said and took off at a run behind the flying neko. The amount of inertia needed to be felt even through the Aeon's artificial gravity systems was substantial indeed. She decided, with Gi already well ahead of her, to run past her crew cabin rather than ditch her bags as she went. Drawing up to the hatch, she hit the door control and literally tossed her belongings in before resuming her charge across the ship. She wasn't breathing too hard when she arrived at the bridge but did take a brief moment to compose herself.

“Back in time for the fun, am I, ma'am?” she said, with a wry grin as she entered. If there was a time for making a formal report to the Taisa she guessed that it wasn't now. “What's our readiness condition?”
 
Gi was sitting at her station, taking control of the gunship to free the Taisa up for more important tasks. She glanced over her shoulder at Eun-Kyung when she came on the bridge.

Katae turned towards Eun-Kyung, "We are currently at Condition 2. We are currently being targeted by graviton beams. Gi is doing her best to keep them from maintaining a lock. But our ability to avoid them is hindered by having to maintain position so we can keep LOS with the away team. We are trying to identify the source of the graviton beams but without success so far."
 
“Graviton beams?” wondered Eun-Kyung aloud, even as she began to pull on an AMES from one of the lockers. “And perhaps with a shielded emitter?” She finished sealing up the suit and moved to take a seat at the Mission Operations station. Initializing the screens, she pulled up both main systems and the communications displays before considering the problem at length.

“Well this is a pickle,” she said, turning her chair slightly to obliquely face the command chair. “Any chance of triangulating from our other assets deployed in space? Or, for that matter, any sign from the ground team of a potential originating installation?”
 
"The rest of the squadron are scattered throughout the system, the Integrity is the closest and she is more than an hour away.

The last report from the away team was that some of them were effecting repairs on the shuttle, and the rest were proceeding to the SSS encampment to find answers." Katae replied.

The Taisa looked at her console. "Blast.. as near as I can tell there are more than a dozen projectors down there. Before we can get a fix on the position of one it switches off, and a few moments later another one takes a pock shot at us."
 
Eun-Kyung hesitated before speaking. She was hardly one to invite wanton violence, but the situation was serious.

"Perhaps, ma'am, we ought to consider a full scale weapons release. Let the computer calculate high-probability areas for the projectors and then perform a saturation bombardment." She stopped, shrugged, and poked at her console for a moment. "Of course, we wouldn't release any of these even near where the ground teams are, but if we can't even identify the projectors, let alone engage point targets, we should consider the possibility. Acting in defense of the ship and in support of the downed crew would be more than ample justification, ma'am."
 
Katae listened to Eun-Kyung's suggestion. It was definitely a different soldier who was before her. The near death experience had added some steel.

"Actually I have considered such an act, but for the moment I prefer to use restraint. After all we know that somewhere down there are seventy-two Yamataian citizens, not including our crew members. I would prefer to not kill them in a random bombardment. After all from our position in orbit, a one degree of error in targeting is significant. Also we know absolutely nothing about who is down there, they could be merely trying to defend themselves from a perceived threat. I would rather we not make a new enemy if we can find an alternative."

She stood up and crossed over to the mission station. "Let's use our resources. Signal the OGSP and bring it around to this side of the world. Once here have it commence a scan of the surface and beneath. While its doing that, we can continue to try and get a fix on their projectors. Eternity and I were attempting to use prior partial scans to narrow down the area when another beam comes from the same region. It might help us to pinpoint the sources so we can take them out with precision if necessary."

Katae returned to her station and opened a channel to the Integrity.
 
“Aye, ma'am,” replied Eun-Kyung as she turned back toward her station. She immediately sent the orbital repositioning orders to the OGSP and watched with satisfaction as it sent back acknowledgment and data showing its thrusters firing. She switched her displays to show the new orbital track the platform would settle into and the sensor targeting queue. In a moment, she had a new order stack in the platforms to do list; it would begin executing the scans of the areas indicated by the Taisa as soon as it entered the proper window.

She began rotating in her seat and giving the start of a report when she noticed the Taisa already had an comm channel open, and so stopped and waited for the Captain to complete her business.

Instead, she thought about the situation again. The Taisa's objections to a saturation bombardment were completely sensible - probably even the best decision - and she normally wouldn't have even suggested such a radical action. But of late... I never knew NSP bursts had such deleterious neurological effects, she thought to herself and settled back in her seat, a sarcastic twist of a smile forming on her lips.
 
As Katae was concluding her communication with the Integrity, the following message appeared on Eun-Kyung's screen.

Aeon this is Shina-Hei, main group has arrived at Genus, possible hostiles encountered. Shuttle position still secure.
Click to expand...

Meanwhile the OGSP was initiating the surface scan and deployed two MOGS to the surface. The two drones streaked down towards the surface. Meanwhile Eternity continued refining the targeting for the graviton beams.
Collision Warning...
Collision Warning... Incoming ballistic object.
Click to expand...
 
Eun-Kyung turned quickly toward the command chair. “Sorry to interrupt, ma'am, but we have new word from the away team. Shina-Hei reports that team members have encountered possible hostiles near the Genus's crash site. Do you have further...”

She cut off in mid-sentence, having turned back to her console to record any orders from the Taisa. The warning displayed there couldn't be missed. “Eternity, sound collision warning!” she sent telepathically to the computer while calling aloud, “Ma'am, imminent impact with a ballistic object.”
 
Hearing the threat Gi trained the anti-armor guns on the object. The cannons fired at the object detonating it. The view screen on the bridge turned a brilliant white as it conveyed the explosion.

"Okay, now whoever is down there is really starting to on my last nerve." Katae said from her station. "Kim-Shoi, I want the coordinates of those gravity cannons, and any other structures near the Genus ASAP."
 
“Aye, ma'am,” replied Eun-Kyung, her hands already flying across her inputs. Within moments, she had all of the collated sensor data from their scans pulled together. She threw the data packet to the command chair's display queue and also sent a copy to Gi, in the event that she would need the targeting information as well. She then replotted high priority scan areas for the OGSP and MOGS units to get higher resolution sensor data, if there was time for it. That done, she turned back toward the Taisa.

“Ma'am, while you were on comms, we received another report from the away team,” she said. “Shina-Hei reports that the main element has reached the Genus and has made contact with unknown, possibly hostile, targets, though the shuttle is secure. We've received no follow on information or word of actual combat. Do you have instructions to pass down?”
 
Katae considered Eun-Kyung's query for a moment while she looked at the data on the command console. The targeting solutions were still not as precise as she would like, but if the situation warranted her unleashing a barrage they would suffice. Additional scans would only continue to help with the refinement.

"With our position, we should be able to contact Oshiro-Heisho directly. We need a sit-rep. Who have they contacted, are they indigenous? What is the status of the Genus and its crew? Basically information so we can act accordingly." She replied to her XO.

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

Meanwhile the OGSP in response to the additional requested scans launched additional MOGS to the surface to increase the speed and accuracy of the scans.
 
"Understood, ma'am." With a nod, Eun-Kyung again returned to her screens, spending a moment ensuring the communications systems were showing a positive connection. With the transmission set to hit Oshiro as the primary target for communication, but also repeating to the rest of the team, she lifted her handset and keyed the mic.

"Away team, this is the Aeon. Oshiro-Heisho, a situation report and contact report is requested. What is the status of the Genus, her crew, and your team? We have reports that you have made contact with unknowns. What is their disposition? Please advise, over."
 
Eun-Kyung kept the handset up as the reply came through.

"Aeon, this is Oshiro-Heisho. We had one known enemy contact in an LUT with a cannon-mount approach from the East of the Genus. We fired one warning shot.

It engaged Asine-Hei and Trowa-Hei. Through either skill or luck we have de-crewed and disabled the enemy vehicle with the exception of the cannon-mount. Proceeding to finish the enemy contact.

Genus crew status unknown. Josea-juni has detected a lifesign in what should be the Medical Bay. Cargo outside torn up by what looks like energy-weapon fire. Genus appears inoperable.
Click to expand...

She quickly threw the message traffic to the command chair's queue, in case the Taisa wanted the full text, before turning herself.

“Bad news, ma'am,” she said. “Oshiro-Heisho reports that his element is currently engaged in combat and the Genus is disabled. However, there is the possibility that they may have localized one of the SSS crew.” Pausing, she stared at the main display for a moment. “Ma'am, have we started to consider extraction options?”
 
Katae spun her chair to face Eun-Kyung. "Extraction options are rather limited at the moment. Someone down there has a weapon that knocked our shuttle out of the sky. We have no idea of what it was, or what defenses will work best against it. We still need to know what happened to the Genus, and her crew. If the same weapon that knocked the Diligent out, was responsible for disabling the Genus then the Aeon could be vulnerable. Which means we need to find the source of said weapon.

At this point in time, as much as I hate to have to say it, before we risk the ship. The Away Team needs to get us some answers, and if possible knock out that weapon. After all if they manage to repair the shuttle and the weapon is still operational, they can shoot it down again, and from a higher altitude I do not give our crew much of a survival rate. And if we fly down that same weapon could be used against us."

Katae paused while she considered the ship resources. "We just might have a fall back plan. Go down to the Power Armor bay, suit up and equip with a Ke-M2-P3000 attached and grab the other two. I will have Eternity get you coordinates for the shuttle crash site. Teleporting should keep you out the firing arc of the weapon. And if they can not disable the weapon you can use them to evac back to the ship. It will take more than one trip since there are seven persons down there. But its a safe option."
 
RPG-D RPGfix
Back
Top