RP: YSS Aeon [Mission 5.1.2] Frozen Wings

"It would appear that the diverging trajectories of the Aeon and the target allowed a large stationary obstruction to come between us. The last volley struck a promontory. There is no effective way for us to engage both ships at the same time." Eternity replied

Alia let out a string of curses. She then angled Aeon's nose down and accelerated after the low flying transport. I hate ground-pounders, I feel obligated to stay nearby in case they need an emergency evac. Alia thought to herself.

Eternity started providing what data the sensors could provide to allow Alia to pursue the enemy craft without flying the ship into a cliff. Once the MEGAMI felt certain that they had a clear firing solution she notified the pilot.

Once Eternity had notified her that the firing solution had been acquired, Alia fired off a volley from the ventral turrets and primed the dorsal turrets in case the first volley wasn't enough.

The Aeon's dorsal turrets caught the transport amidships. The deadly weapons sliced through the hull and caused secondary explosions in the stricken craft. It began a tumble as it lost altitude and impacted into the frozen surface.

Two down, one more to go. Alia thought to herself before pulling the aeon up to a higher altitude and activating the sensor sweep again. "Eternity, let me know if you find traces of the ship that was approaching escape velocity. However, keep an eye out for any other ships flying around; I want us to maintain air superiority here." Alia said and deactivated the Virtual surroundings, letting the bridge fill her vision again.

Alia turned her chair around bleary eyed to face the Taisa. "Ise-Taisa, I need a report on the situation on the ground to correctly prioritize different elements in our current situation." She said curtly.

Katae arched an eyebrow at the young Neko, she briefly thought about cutting the soldier off from the ship controls, but restrained herself.

"The away team is liberating prisoners of the NMX installation. They are loading them aboard the Diligent. They will rendezvous with us once they have all the prisoners loaded. Meanwhile, I strongly recommend you watch how you speak to the Taisa." Eternity sent to Alia telepathically.

Alia turned back around resisting the urge to roll her eyes. "I didn't realize my request for information pertaining to the mission ground side was offensive to the Taisa. Anyway, thank you for the information Eternity. I wasn't aware that they had transport." Alia responded telepathically.

Alia returned to the controls and rocketed the Aeon at escape velocity, hoping that the NMX transport hadn't yet activated its FTL.

"It was not your request, but your tone. You were bordering on disrespectful. Especially when a simple check of the mission status would have shown you that the shuttle was deployed along with a medic. for the prisoners." Eternity replied.

Alia once again 'sunk' into her virtual control interface. She watched the frozen world, through the aft sensors, disappear as the Aeon continued its rapid ascent.

Alia's virtual self let out a sigh. "I'll apologize to her once our people are safely aboard. I guess this rock's interference making me nearly blind is really getting to me." She said sincerely.

The red haired Neko watched the clouds slide around the hull, buffeting the ship with the occasional turbulence. She admired the harsh beauty the frozen world had, and respected it as the true enemy to her here. Though the moment passed and the ship broke through the cloud cover and after another few moments left the atmosphere all together.

Alia immediately leaped to action. "Eternity continue the ascent until we reach an astrosynchronous orbit over the base. Also activate all scanning devices to search for that transport or for that matter anything that isn't natural to this system. I don't want any surprises." She said as the data began streaming through her mind.

Katae walked over to Alia. "What do you think you are doing? I did not give you orders to take us out of the atmosphere. Reverse course and return to the rendezvous coordinates. The rest of the squadron are in stealth up in orbit keeping an eye out for anything. Taking us up uncloaked you have exposed the ship to detection."

Alia calmly left her Virtual Control Interface and turned to the Taisa. "Mam, your last orders for me were: 'Anything that is not showing Star Army registration, take them out. We got reports of transports. I don't want anythings leaving.' I identified an enemy vessel approaching escape velocity, I opened fire but due to the weather conditions I was unable to determine the extent of the damage dealt to it or even if it had been hit. I then pursued a second such target closer to the surface and eliminated it. I then left atmosphere in an attempt to determine whether or not the transport had left the system. If it had not I was going to pursue it and destroy it as per your instructions. I wasn't aware that remaining in atmosphere was apart of the mission parameters." She said without a hint of emotion.

"Eternity, if you would please alert the squadron of the potential threat and then bring us out of orbit and back into atmosphere." She sent telepathically while still looking the Taisa in the eye.

"When you cleared the interference layer. Did the sensors show any ion trail or a radar target for the transport. Our RADAR could sense any transport between the atmosphere out to at least 1 light second.

No they did not. So the transport you were looking for did not go straight up. But what you did do was take us up so that if there are any tracking systems they know where we are.

Not only that, we know that somewhere on the planet there is a enemy transport filled with whatever they produce and we have no idea where it is now."

This wasn't the first time she had gotten in an argument with a superior officer, she had gotten in arguments with Tso-Taii numerous times. Alia knew enough about these kinds of arguments that no matter what happened next she was in trouble. Though arguing with the Taisa was much more terrifying then Tso-Taii's had ever been.

"Mam, I'm sorry I may be a good pilot, in fact I'd venture to say excellent pilot, but there is only so much I can do at once. Perhaps if the bridge had a few more bodies then just the two of us then I could focus on the flying instead of having to comb through the garbled non-sense data that we are getting in the cloud cover.

Besides I had no idea where the transport was before I left atmosphere, the Aeon leaving the interference layer didn't change that. In any case it's not like it can leave the system, the interference coupled with the close proximity to a gravity well would make an FTL attempt impossible.

Also if they have tracking systems, they'd have to be above the interference layer otherwise they'd have the same limited sensor range we do.

Taisa, please I'm only trying to do my job to the best of my abilities." Alia said.

"Eternity, I know the interference is terrible but I want you to sweep for any signs of the missing transport in the atmosphere as we descend." She sent telepathically.

"Eternity, take the helm and disable SPINE interface. Take us to close proximity of the NMX installation." Katae said aloud. Alia found herself rudely disconnected from the data stream and locked out of the controls.

"Now as for you Tsukiki-Hei. If you are just a pilot, then you are on the wrong ship. I need starship operators, if you want to be just a pilot, I can arrange a transfer to a fighter squadron.

The Aeon can and has been flown in combat with just a single starship operator. With more than one her efficiency improves. Do not blame your short comings on the lack of personnel. You had Eternity to help you if you had taken the time to ask her to run a sensor scan when you broached the cloud cover.

You may consider this your evaluation aboard the Aeon, and so far you have failed to impress. Now are you ready to do your job, or do I have you confined to quarters?"

Alia turned a heavy shade of red and bowed deeply to the Taisa. "Mam, I'm sorry for my performance. I promise to meet your expectations and the expectations of the Star Army of Yamatai. Please give me a second chance I promise I won't let you down." She said on the verge of tears.

A part of Alia wanted to argue further, to push her point that she was right and that the Taisa was wrong. However, she knew that was a quick trip to a court marshal, and that was scary enough to make her admit defeat. Besides, she loved the Aeon; she didn't want to be transferred again so soon after getting aboard.

Katae took a moment before replying to Alia. She looked momentarily at the main screen, the gunship was rapidly approaching the top of the cloud layer. Something stood out on the screen to her, something small barely noticeable.

"You ever study fluid dynamics Tsukiki-Hei? There is a a fundamental fact of fluids that can be useful. An object passing through a fluid always creates a wake, the faster the movement, the bigger the wake." Katae said turning away from the screen and moving back to her console.

"Eternity, release the helm to the Hei. Everyone deserves a second chance, as long as they learn from their mistakes." she said entering a series of commands into her console.

"Take a heading of 135 relative, if I am not mistaken that disturbance in the cloud layer is our missing transport."

Katae sent a quick reply,

Aeon to Tsubei-Heisho. We need to finish off one enemy transport then we will return to your coordinates for pickup.

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