RP: YSS Aeon [Mission 4.1] Stars above and trouble below

"We regroup with the squadron, and get in position to assist the away team. Shina-Heisho has reported that they are going to try to liberate a former UOC craft and use it to bring the Peacekeepers and Civilians that they found on the surface up here. I am fairly certain that the NMX will try to prevent their success. Meanwhile all ships in the squadron should effect repairs and reinitialize their CFS." Katae replied.

“Aye, ma’am.” Trowa responded as he turned back around and began punching buttons and throwing switches. Within minutes, the Aeon was on course to meet up with the rest of the squadron. “Ma’am,” Trowa announced as he tried to scan for enemy ships. “There is an awful lot of debris out there. I’m having trouble getting a positive read on anything.”

Katae received a status update from Shina Kim on the surface. "Unci," she swore.

"Situation on the surface is going to hell real fast. Yamamoto-Heisho, take us down fast, burn the paint off our hull if you have to. We need to get to Mayers Station ASAP. Once there engage any NMX mecha that are moving in the vicinity. We need to provide covering fire to keep the Away team from being overwhelmed." she said to her pilot.

"Integrity, Succubus, Ouroboro start clearing a path in the debris field for whatever ship the Away team is going to appropriate to exit through safely." She sent to the rest of the squadron.

Trowa was stunned for a moment. Burn the paint off… “Feth!” swore Trowa using one of his Nepleslian mother’s favorite swear words. “I mean, Aye, aye ma’am!” The pilot got to work in a hurry as he prepared the Aeon for atmosphere travel. Though he usually preferred voice communication, Trowa sent a mental message to Eternity asking that she inform all hands to prepare for atmospheric descent immediately. Come on love, Trowa thought to the ship; Show me what you can do.

The Aeon began to move towards the planet. Trowa put her into a steep decent that was several degrees steeper than any recommended angles for ship decent. The ship began to buckle and shutter. “Here we go.” Trowa announced. The ship’s hull began glow red as friction from the atmosphere rubbed against the ship and heated it. Warning alarms flashed and screamed as the temperature began to burn the paint off the hull. Trowa fought with the controls to keep their decent in line. “Come on ol’ girl. Just a little longer.” Trowa encouraged the ship.

Trowa waited another 30 seconds then pulled hard on the yoke and leveled the ship out. At the same time he engaged the counter thrusters to further slow there decent. The Aeon bucked and kicked and Trowa could feel the engines protesting the strain he was putting on them. Then they were through. The ship leveled out began to fly like normal. Trowa shut off the screaming alarms and smiled a cocky Nepleslian grin. “That’s my girl.” He exclaimed to the ship. “Eternity let the Away team know that the Calvary’s here!”

Katae activated the gunship's weapon systems, targeting the group of tanks and other mecha that were moving towards the station. "Sorry to ruin your day Squids." She said initiating surface bombardment.

"Away Team and Peacekeeper Personnel. This is Ise Katae-Taisa, commander of the Aeon. We are in position to keep NMX forces outside the dome from getting close for the moment. We will keep them busy. The rest of our squadron is clearing the the worse of the debris for a departure vector from the planet." she sent.

"Nitô Heisho, start making sweeps around the Station, Eternity will take care of the weapon systems for the surface. Anything airborne is your responsibility."

“Aye, aye Ma’am. Be a pleasure.” Trowa replied as he flew the ship around the Station. He began an active scan of the surrounding area for targets but also activated a ship diagnosis to check for any major damage that may have occurred during their rapid decent. The last thing they needed was to get the Away Team onboard only to learn that they had an engine blown out.

His scanners began to beep warnings. Trowa looked down at his radar and say four blinking red light moving towards the sword shaped icon in the center. “Looks like someone else decided to join the party.” Said Trowa. ETA was 45 seconds. Trowa circled the station again, allowing Eternity to blast away at the helpless ground targets.

Eternity was carving a line of death for any ground based NMX that tried to approach the station.

Swarm of surface to air missiles launched from the distance and streaked towards the gunship.

Having completed another pass, the Nepleslian pilot moved to engage the fast approaching targets. Until his scanners told him what they were. “Incoming missiles!” Trowa yelled as he activated the Aeon’s point defenses and banked hard left. The Aeon felt sluggish in the atmosphere compared to the fight they had just had high above in space. Trowa continued left then hit the side thrusters and performed a hard barrel roll right, try to avoid the surface-to-air-missiles and allow the Aeon’s point defenses take them out.

The automated cannons fired a frenzied array of destruction at the incoming missiles. But despite that a few managed to slam into the Aeon's shielding, which absorbed the destructive energies.

“Ah… Feth!” Trowa cursed as the Aeon was struck. Though the shields prevented any real damage from occurring, Trowa was still pissed that missiles were hitting his ship. If they kept firing surface-to-air-missiles they would eventually wear down the shields and do some serious damage. It was very difficult to try to avoid them in atmosphere. Trowa did a long range scan to try to locate the source of the missiles. If it wasn’t too far away and Eternity cleared enough of the ground targets then they might have a chance to go take out those missiles platforms.

Trowa was able to identify several of the launch sites, as they fired yet another wave of missiles at the gunship.

Eternity sounded Collision Alert in anticipation of the missile hitting, and trained the automated cannons on them.

The Nepleslian pilot realized that he couldn’t effectively evade the missiles in atmosphere. He would have to rely on the shields and Eternity manning the automated cannons. Trowa flew straight towards the launch sites, firing as soon as he was in range.

The shields of the Aeon were taking a beating as they surged towards the NMX missile site. Red lights flashed across the display indicating the shields rapidly weakening. Also fair number of the anti-missile turrets were offline.

Trowa's barrage however was effective. In a matter of sections he silenced the sites permanently.

Trowa bit back curse after curse as the Aeon took hits from the missiles. He had thought that while flying relatedly straight that the auto cannons would have an easier time locking on to the incoming missiles since they didn’t have to constantly change targets because of evasive maneuvers. His cursing soon turned to cheering as he watched the launch platforms blow up in a beautiful ball of fire. “Yee-Haw! Take that you dumb buggers!” Trowa flew back towards the base to continue giving air support to the Away Team.

There was no critical damage to the gunship despite the pounding she had taken charging towards the missile sites. On there way back to teh base, Eternity unleashed a deadly volley at a group of NMX forces that were moving towards the dome.

Trowa continued to fly around the base to let Eternity blast away at the ground targets. He began a long-range orbital scan for any debris or enemy ships and calculated several escape routes for when the Away team finally got their shuttle in the air.

At the moment all was clear on the ground and the immediate vicinity of the Aeon over the base. The sensors of the gunship showed the energy signature that could only be a starship power supply.

"Saito-hei calling YSS Aeon, Saito-hei calling YSS Aeon. We are aboard a UOC vessel leaving Mayer Station. We have UOC personnel and NMX Nekovalkyrja prisoners. Multiple wounded in varying states. Oshiro-juni and an NMX prisoner are the most grievously wounded. There is also a matter of some urgency to report to the Taisa, in person. Please acknowledge."

"Aeon to Away Team. Ise-Taisa here, glad to hear from you. The Squadron is clearing a path through the debris above to allow the ship to depart. We will fly escort with you once you are airborne.

What is this urgent matter?" She replied.

"Yamamoto-Heisho, begin calculations for a departure vector. Position us over the point of that transmission. Once they launch, anything even looks at them wrong. Make it regret it." she ordered her pilot.