A
Alex Hart
188604, Queen's Slave CIC>
The Queen's Slave was a freighter that doubled as many different things for Uso. Not just a place to live and work, but also seemingly a place to dump just about anything she wasn't using at the time. The ship's main room had a single large display-table with various papers and datapads strewn about. Some gun parts were still on the floor, seemingly from a small pistol and a half-disassembled power armor was still strapped down in one of the chairs built into the wall.
Uso herself was waiting for Jay and Alex to arrive.
Alex arrived, with Jay soon to follow. "What's up?" He asked.
Alex had only been told in the message from Uso that he and Jay should come meet her at the Queen's Slave, but not what this was all about.
Jay arrived somewhat confused.
"What's going on here?"
"Well, we didn't really get a chance to talk after your introduction earlier. From what I understand you're somewhat related to psychopomp and you've got your own huge bag of baggage that goes along with that?
I also assume you're a mecha pilot due to your age... and because you got here without someone dropping you off I think...
Which in turn means that we need to come to some kinda arrangement about you being here. Stick around, help us with our problems, we'll give you a place to stay, food, some spending money, and let you in on what we've learned about psychopomp." Uso said. The neko was dressed in her usual bodysuit, unzipped slightly in the front, datapad on her hip like it was some kinda weapon in a holster. It was about as professional military as Uso got.
"So, what kind of stuff would I be helping with?" Jay replied.
"I thought you were staying with the sky guard." Alex piped in. "And what is this information about Psychopomp you're talking about?"
"Lets start with that," Uso said, half heartedly pointing over at Jay, "We have our own baggage that needs to be taken care of, and one of those things is a planet a few lightyears space-north of here called B7R. It is in our intrest to keep the Rixx away from the planet but at the same time the whole thing is a big poison pill. Trying to just take over the place is going to be problematic.
There shouldn't be any starships in the area, and I wanted to get the two of you to scout the place out, see what the situation on the ground is like."
Uso, just for a moment, looked like she was going to let them speak...
"... BUT! I do mean just scout. No blowing stuff up, no trying to play hero... Alex... that means you... we need to see what we are dealing with then we can come up with an appropriate response."
"Okay." Alex said. "Should we take a broadsword from the sky guard, or use a larger cargo ship? And I'd like us to at least go out lightly armed."
".... Alex... you're just showing up to scout the place. If there is anything there that is shooting at you then you need to leave..." Uso said.
"Alright." Alex said reluctantly. "But what's this about Psychopomp?"
"You do realize that I have priorities, right? Not to sound condescending, but---"
"But you enlisted in the sky guard, now its priorities are your priorities. And the sky guard's priorities are helping people. If we can help the people there somehow, we should. And Uso, I don't like the idea of scouting just for a takeover."
Uso nodded, "Either you want to work with us, or you don't. I don't really care what your priorities are but if you want in then we'll work on them together."
"Fair enough. Now, we're just in and out for this, or is there some ulterior motive?"
"No ulterior motive. Just politics... well... we're getting this problem dumped in our laps so another group can go deal with one of their problems. In exchange we don't get invaded for a little while longer which gives us some more time to figure out what all is going on.
Better the Elysian's attention is elsewhere, rather than here." Uso explained.
Alex sighed. "You haven't answered my question Uso."
"So I'm not allowed to know about myself? Besides, you guys get access to the data chip once it's been decrypted, so---"
"So we're not just helping you for no reason. You want a place to fit in, people to work with, whatever. I need people to help me out to. So do you want in or not?" Uso asked.
"As long as people stop interrupting me." Jay said jokingly.
"Yes."
Alex changed the subject slightly. "So, for this recon mission, how are we going to get there? Should we use a cargo ship, or use a warship?"
"We have the U-1s. Do we need much more than that? The two of you could do a quick fly by and drop some probes planetside." Uso suggested, "Between the U-1's onboard scanners and what you end up dropping we should be able to get a good idea of what we're dealing with."
"We'll need some ship to return to, as my U-1 doesn't have a built in CCD."
"Really?... Fuck." Uso said, crossing her arms, "Look, you got that skyguard thing going on. Just use whatever you need ok?"
"And why do I need to be on this mission?"
"Because, One; it'd be nice to not be alone up there, two; Uso seems to think you should come along, and three; would you really rather stay here?" Alex said.
"Flying is cool, and this place is a little bit boring on its own."
A door swished open, sending forth a tired-looking elysian female who more or less stumbled into the room. "I heard voices... What's going on out here?" Her voice lathered in the grogginess of sleep still, Araxie leaned cautiously against the wall in her pajamas, consisting mostly of the shirt she'd worn earlier in the day as well as flannel bottoms. Her plumage and hair were a mess, and the silvery eyes barely managed to stay open.
Alex turned to address Araxie. "We're just talking about a recon mission that Uso wants us to..." Alex paused for a brief moment. "Wait. Why were you sleeping in my room? There's plenty of other ones."
"Buh? That was yours...? I thought all the rooms were messy on here..." To be fair it should have been obvious to both that more than one person had been sleeping in that room, as that much traffic makes the place noticeably more messy even if the occasional mismatched garments (and undergarments) were thrown into the mix.
Alex began to blush profusely. "I'm sorry... I should have noticed all the other clothes around."
Still barely considered sentient as of the time, Arx simply shrugged and observed the three actually important people groggily from her door.
Uso held her head in her hands, waiting for this to be over.
Alex spoke uncertainly. "Would you... like to ride as a passenger in my plane on this mission?"
"TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION JAY," Uso said, speaking up over the two of them, "I want you on this mission so you can start getting familiar with us. This should be a cake walk, minimal danger. Easy. If you show you can work with us then we can figure out what we can do for you.
This is as much about learning what it is we can offer each other as it is learning what is currently going on at B7R604."
Waiting for Uso's bout of cat-herding to pass, Araxie spoke quietly to Alex. "I'd... Rather pass, actually..." Cautiously turning back, the noctournal Elysian shuffled back towards her-and apparently Alex's-room to finish that nap which had been so obviously interrupted.
"Alright then, seems pretty straightforward. Anything else?" Jay added.
"You do know how to fly right?" Uso asked.
"Sure. I flew all the way here from Nepleslia, I should be OK for a single mission
"Fantastic. I take it that Alex can arrange for you twoooooothree... you three to get whatever ships you need. Vier's already... uh, somewhere, doing stuff. You guys have her contact info if there is anything special you need built for this operation. As always the Pumpkin Eater is avalible if you need transport."
Uso walked around the table until she was infront of Jay, leaning forward slightly and putting her hands on his shoulders,
"Don't let Alex get into some long protracted fight ok? If stuff starts to go down just leave."
"I'll be sure to do that, but I can't guarantee Alex will be back with me if I do."
"We'll be fine." Alex assured Uso. "Sleepyhead here can ride in the back of my fighter. I'll ask a sky guard ship to drop us off just outside of the B7R system, we don't want to look like we're trying to do anything threatening."
Uso nodded, "Alright then, get going..."
---
1 hour later, Osman City Starport;
A broadsword class light cruiser had landed nearby, the sky captain in charge agreeing to drop them off right outside of B7R. The two pilots were to select any gear they would want now, so that it could be loaded into the port side hangar bay.
Alex had selected a single gunpod, an ammo pack, and two submunition launchers loaded with small recon drones.
Jay chose a gunpod, along with an ammo pack and a submunition launcher with recon drones.
The technicians in charge of loading their equipment set about the task of lifting the large weaponry into the hangar bays. The two pilots and their feathered companion were then taken to a locker room to change into flight suits. There were partioned sections for private changing, and three suits were laid out on a bench, one highighted with red, one with cyan and one with a bluish green color.
Alex looked around for a moment before picking up the red suit, stepping into one of the sections and stripping down before putting on the flight suit, which was a little bit tight, and extremely formfitting.
Picking up the turquoise-like suit cautiously, Serai wrinkled her nose a little in distaste. It looked to be small on her, just as it was... Ducking behind the partion nonetheless, she turned to face outward as she changed. Swapping her looser, more comfortable clothing for brief nudity, Araxie slipped her feet into the leggings of the flight suit before raising the torso area upwars. "Damn, this'll be..." Muttering curses to herself and occasionally grunting in a non-feminine way, the civil engineer of '604 struggled around for several minutes to fit her normally rather flexible wings into the correct position, before finally zipping up the remainder to cover her chest. Looking slightly more displeased in the form-hugging garment, the hummingbirb balled up her normal clothing and tossed it into a locker, before fluffing at her hair to get it somewhat in order again.
Jay quickly sized up the cyan-coloured suit, then casually stripped down and stepped into the legs, pulling them up somewhat carefully to avoid any wrinkles - if that was possible with these suits - and effortlessly slipped on the rest of the suit. He had worn bodysuits before during shady black market deals, to protect him in case things went sour.
"This is different." He thought. "Very light and flexible. Whoever designed these knew what they were doing."
There was a dull thump as the CCD turned on in the broadsword, and the ship transitioned to faster than light travel. Soon after everyone was done changing the ship's captain came over the loudspeaker and asked them to join him on the bridge.
Alex turned to a nearby crew member and asked, "Excuse me, where's the bridge?"
The stout crewman responded gruffly. "Follow me." And began to lead the trio toward the bridge.
As they entered, the captain, the very image of the classical starship captian, bushy mustache and all, gestured for them to come over to a holographic display.
Following the three males up to where they needed to go, Rax took a good look around before she made her way over to the display. "So, what's all this about?"
Jay shrugged his shoulders. "Don't ask me. I've only ever worked alone."
The captain turned around before speaking in a deep voice. "I wanted to show you where we would be letting you off. In about ten minutes, we'll be exiting FTL here," The captain pulled up a holographic map, tapping a point on it just outside the gravity well of B7R's star.
"That is where you will disembark and we will wait. You will have to enter the system and conduct your recon on your own. When you finish, you will reembark and we will jump out. Understood?"
Alex nodded curtly. "Thank you Sky Captain. We appreciate you helping us out in this mission."
"Seems straightforward enough, at least." Arx was still somewhat unsure what purpose she was to serve during this, but Alex insisted enough for her to cave in. The guy's got something in him she can't keep saying no to sometimes, and what could go wrong with a bit of scouting?
The trio were escorted down into the bay where their craft awaited them. As they walked the cruiser shuddered slightly as it transitioned back into sublight propulsion. As Alex approached his custom U-1, he mentally opened the cockpit and lowered the ladder.
"I guess you'll be riding with me Araxie." He said, gesturing to his fighter.
"I figured you would have planned that one from the start..." Climbing inside the cockpit of Alex's U-1, the technically underdressed Elysian tried to make herself comfortable in the relatively tight conditions.
Jay frowned slightly at the odd pair, then shook his head before climbing into his fighter.
The flight technicians gave the two fighters a final lookover, and gave the pilots the universal thumbs up symbol to indicate that all was well.
Alex was the first to launch, taxiing the short distance to the edge of the hangar, where he was moved into position. He gunned the engines, producing a throbbing vibration throughout the craft. He released the breaks, spiralling out into the void.
"KAACK!" Forced backwards by the rapid acceleration, Arx had cried out in a quite inglorious manner, taking a few moments afterwards to catch her breath, panting audiably in the tiny cockpit. "Alex, that was not very nice!"
"Showoff." Jay muttered as he followed, arcing gently to follow Alex's fighter.
Hidden from Alex's view due to being behind him, the angel realized she had made a mistake. Or at least, the designer of the stupid tight suits did. All this jostling was having quite the discomforting effect on the female passenger, a fact she decided to note down later.
There was still debris from the space battle with the Rixx up in the orbit of B7R.
B7R604 had not changed much since the last time Alex had visited.
There were a few gas giants, some rocky inner words... and the only one habitable planet of note.
There were no other starships in the system... and it seemed that the Elysians were serious when they spoke about withdrawing from the area.
But there certainly was something using a lot of energy planet side. The single habitable planet was mostly water and barren land with the exception of the single vedant continent near the planet's equator. The single major city was still standing however the coastline that they had flown over last time was now covered with black spheres. Large scale shield generators were blocking out entire swaths of territory for miles in every direction, with smaller shields extending outward haphazardly. The shields were blocking scans, and made it impossible to see what was going on underneith.
A few moments later, Alex opened up comms. "How should we go about approaching the planet?" He asked.
"Well, they're certainly trying to hide and protect something..." Stating the obvious, Serai decided to look for any potential holes or cracks in the defensive array, especially anything along the lines of a proper landing site.
As the pair of fighters closed in on the planet, impossibly bright particle beams would lance up from under the black spheres. Whatever was shooting them was well hidden, but the beams themselves were impossible to miss. The two fighters, however, were far enough away from the planet that any shots taken at them would give plenty of time to manuver out of the way. The ground forces simply taking pot-shots at them, hoping to drive them away.
Alex lazily wove through the beams. "Alright, I guess someone down there doesn't want visitors."
"Yeah... Means getting the drones in will be difficult. We could try to come at them from a really low angle? Those beams are probably designed to fight a capital ship in orbit, not a couple of fighters just above the surface..." Reaching around Alex to literally point at the planet, Araxie traced a general line to follow.
"Wouldn't that be what they're expecting us to do though?"
"Umm.... Well, it almost looks like they decided to shoot us down if we came down right on top of them. That's the only place they've got defenses right? We can take advantage of the curve of the planet to avoid that..."
"I'd have to agree, but something about this doesn't feel right." Alex said hestiantly.
"You want me to take a peek through those shields, see what they're hiding?"
"I think we're too far away for that to work"
"Oh yeah, I didn't tell you about Bit, did I?"
"About what?"
"Bit. My alias."
"Okay, what about your alias?"
"Yeah, 'Bit' is wanted for scores of cyber crimes. Theft, impersonation - you name it I've hacked it."
"Okay, give it a try, but I think we're way to far away from the planet for our systems to reach there, let alone through those shields."
"I can get eyes through those shields, but it might take a few minutes."
Jay started checking the shields, testing them with scans of various types and frequencies. It would indeed take a few minutes for him to get a result.
At this extreme distance, it was hard to get a very detailed scan of the surface, doubly so with the shields up. The powerful electrostatic barriers were designed to absorb or defect just about anything right up to heavy anti-starship weaponry. The displays infront of Jay were basically scanning a brick wall and looking for an access point...
... however, just on the edges of the shield barriers, and sometimes appearing through small holes in the shield opened for specific frequencies, were various sensor systems, long range subspace radar, regular radar, and even the occasional wide band broadcast array. They weren't models that Jay was familiar with, having been built by Rixxikor, but they were a point of entry for electronic signals.
"OK, I got something. No eyes, but a possible entry point. You want me to keep working on recon? Or maybe something else?"
"I think you should keep going with that."
"Roger that. And if they engage with their own craft...?"
"Then we fall back. We're not supposed to fight anyways... Dodging their defensive weapons would be pretty easy but if something more focused heads our way, we'll pull back." Birdy did have a point, since not only would the broadsword be a better defensive position if need be, it was also the trio's only ticket out of the system save for using the ST system Uso disliked.
"Alright then. Lemme know if you need anything else - I'll be monitoring their comms."
"Lets transform for now and hide behind some of the wreckage in orbit," Alex suggested.
"Sounds good. See if you can find a satellite or something. I'm gonna need a relay if we move back to orbit."
The planet had a handful of small rocks orbiting it as well as the wreckage of a Rixxikor colony ship that had been destroyed by the Elysians the last time Alex was at B7R604. The ship looked almost like an asteroid, the majority of the exterior having been vaporized or melted into a slush of metal. There were also other small Rixxikor ships that had similarly been torn apart or melted however they were all cold now, the destruction having happened long enough ago that all latent heat had bled away. The scanners could conclusively determine that these ships wouldn't be starting up again.
"I have an idea." Alex said."Jay, after you see about hacking those shields, we can push one of the hulks over there into re-entry and hide in it as it falls, using it to disguise our decent."
"Negative on those shields. They're gonna have to stay up."
"Alright then, get into positon behind that wreck," Alex pointed at a nearby ship that was mostly intact with the exception that its back half was torn off. "We'll need to push it into re-entry and then get inside it."
Alex transformed and maneuvered over to the hull and took up a position on one side of it.
Jay flew over to the other side of the ship, transformed, then safely anchored the mecha to the side of the wreckage. "I've got a bad feeling about this."
The Rixx would watch on sensors as the two fighters approached the wreck... and then again as the wreck started to de-orbit. As what was left of the ship started to approach the atmosphere a series of bright beams from the surface lanced through the hull of the ship, blasting it apart into two sections... with additional beams following shortly, blowing chunks off of the craft, rapidly heating the wreckage with each shot.
"If we're planning on staying, stick behind the largest pieces! We don't need to stay in contact with them as long as they're between us and those beams." The cusom U-1's passenger seemed to be thinking hard throughout the descent despite the incredible number of factors that should shatter her focus like the plummeting wreckage.
"Understood." Alex said, all business now. It was a far cry from the usually gung-ho charge in. He pulled back from the wreckage, staying in cover behind it, but not touching it. Though the re-entry was still rough, it was a lot smoother than it would have been without the wreckage to serve as a heat and weaponry shield for them.
"Araxie, can you plot a flight path for us to take after the wreckage starts to decay that will take us right under their guns?"
"Let's see... We'll lose effective coverage before we're low enough to fly under. Taking into account the angling and refire rates of the defenses..." The normally reserved civil engineer seemed to be immersed in a chant-like speak, estimating values and calculating approximated blind spots. "We'll need to leave early. the biggest burst of firepower won't bring the cover down, but reentry and follow-through attacks will expose us only a few seconds afterwards. We need to move away as soon as the burst hits, and dodge the lighter fire until we're at the surface. We'll need to find a different way out, and the easiest would be to use the planet's curve as a shield."
"Okay. " Alex said. "I won't pretend to understand any of that, but if you can pull together a flight plan for me, I can make it work."
Arx sighed behind her pilot, working away at the interface until an obvious orange line swept across the planet from the approximate location of the mecha, to the fortress, and then off towards the north pole. "Okay that's what we're doing once we reach the surface. On my mark, I want both of you to stop hiding behind this falling junk heap and use everything you got to speed down to the surface, out of the immediate danger."
"Got it." Alex said, nodding even though Araxie couldn't see him. "Jay, you catch all that?"
"Yeah. It's risky, but it may be our only shot."
"Can you give us a countdown?" Alex asked Araxie.
Just as Alex finished speaking, another blast cut right through a nearby bulkhead, causing their current piece of the ship to splinter, parts starting to flake off and burn like confetti in a fire.
"Araxie, you better be right about this!" Jay said through his teeth as they plunged towards the surface.
"NOW!" Pointing to the relative right-side of the deteriorating hull, Araxie indicated quite enthusiastically that the pilots needed to change positions when possible.
Alex moved to the indicated position. "If we leave the wreck now we'll have to re-enter on our own." He said worriedly, his concerns met with a retort, "And if we wait around the next noticable blast heading our way won't be hitting a ship, it'll be hitting us! We need to burn fast and down to take advantage of the gap!"
"Got it. Follow my lead Jay!" Alex half shouted as he transformed into fighter mode, nosed towards the planet, and ignited his thrusters. "Araxie, is there some way to predict their shots at all?"
"I can do that, but I'll need to know who's controlling those guns." Jay said as he morphed back to fighter mode and barrel rolled off to the side before following Alex.
"I doubt we could predict their firing. Even those Yamataian AIs can't pull that off! Just move irregularly!"
"Got it." Alex said. The atmosphere began to buffet the small craft around jinking it from side to side in sudden movements, giving the female passenger more than she expected in excitement during its descent. Blushing pretty heavily as the craft finally reached the surface, Serai decided to rest for a couple of minutes in the relatively calm low altitude.
Alex turned around for a brief moment to check on his passenger. "Are you okay back there? I'm sorry about the reentry being so rough."
"I'm fine, let's just get this scouting over with..."
The trio would find themselves nearly a quarter of the way around the planet, flying over one of the many oceans, the curvature of the surface keeping them out of the line of fire of the Rixx weapons.
Jay called out over the radio, slightly agitated. "If you guys are done there, we do have a mission to accomplish here."
"I just wanted to make sure that she was okay." Alex said as he began to fly towards the black spheres, low to the glittering surface of the water.
"Araxie, how long do we have until those guns can get another shot at us?"
"Quite a while. We'll be a few hundred kilometers out before anything can aim at us reasonably again. And even then, there's going to be enough time to dodge for us to get closer. If we get too close, though, we don't have anything to hide behind. We'll need to deploy those drones and get out as soon as possible."
"Alright. If you can let us know when we're approaching that area, I think that Jay and I can pull up into a vertical climb and use our submunition launchers to fire the drones forward into the killzone so that they can map out more."
"I'd say not vertical. They'll be floating in the air like targets in a simulation if we launch them vertically. Angle about thirty degrees from level,then launch the drones. Take advantage of our momentum and the launchers to throw them as far in as possible." Birdy pulled up known data of the planet, variable fighters, and scouting bots to double-check her estimations as the trio soared.
"Okay. Let's get ready for this."
"Ready when you are, Alex."
"Araxie, let us know when to begin the maneuver." Alex directed.
===Zack might wanna post something here?===
"Start angling up, thirty-four-point-two from level..." Shifting forward in her seat slightly, Arx started to tense up as the fightercraft continued to dodge the oncoming fire, a single hit enough to slow them down or even force them to land in this hellhole.
"NOW!"
Alex angled the nose of the fighter up as directed. Fire flew past them on all sides. Two shots came simultaniously. At first it seemed as if the two beams would impact Alex, but he managed to fire off the drones and still manage to dodge them in time, although not without the two shots coming too close for comfort, causing the girl behind him to scream quietly in shock.
Alex looked back with his sensors to check on Jay, who had only managed to fire off a few drones.
"So, do we just run away now? Or do we poke around a little more?" Jay said, oddly calm given the situation.
"No sense hanging around waiting to get shot down! Burn to the far side, away from the guns and we head to orbit from that far."
"Roger that." Alex said, turning around and initiating the burn.
"Well, that's disappointing." Jay muttered as he started his burn.
"What'd you like instead, then? Getting shot down and captured?" Her voice snapped through the comsets, some of that early awakening mixing with the uncomfortable flight suits and a near-death experience for a toxic mixture of attitude. "Let's just get back to the cruiser..."
"Well excuse me miss, but the rest of us kinda have to deal with that all the time." Jay replied, slightly offended.
"Both of you calm down. We're all getting out of here fine, and we did what we came to do. Jay, I don't know what you were hoping for, but for what its worth, you did a good job today. Araxie, same goes for you."
"Sure." Jay said as he peeled of towards one of the wrecks.
"Mhm..." To the best of her ability, the green-suited girl mentally steeled herself for the jostling ride out. At least it was marginally smoother from the lack of weapons fire.
Jay called over the comms, slightly distracted. "Their systems were actually a bit of a challenge to crack. If I could just get some samples..."
"Ok, but we shouldn't keep the ship waiting." Alex said.
"Know your enemy, Alex. Know your enemy."
Later, after reembarking on the ship...
The two fighters were safely loaded into their bays, and were clamped in place.
The trio were lead back toward the room where their clothes were so that they could change. After they were entered the room, Alex looked toward Araxie.
"Are you okay? You were making some funny sounds when we were flying."
Shit! Turning her face towards the locker to hide her blush, Birdy went down to pick up her normal clothes. "It's fine... The suits are just a bit uncomfortable to wear I think. Need to ask for a new design." Taking her time to walk towards the changing area, she made sure she was out of sight before starting to struggle out of the suit, opposite of the way she got in.
"Okay. If you let me know what you want changed I'll see about getting it fixed for you." Alex said while walking into his own area and beginning to strip the flight suit off of his body.
"I'd... Rather not bring it up here, Alex..." Bumping into the division between herself and her pilot, Serai grunted a little as she finally freed her second wing, the suit unfolded down to her waist.
"Are you okay over there?" Alex asked innocently. "Do you need some help?"
Bending down slightly to free the lower half of her body from the high-tech full-body strangulation device, she sighed and leaned her back against the wall for a moment. "No, I'm fine..." If Alex looked down he could see her shadow and bare feet for a moment before she scu forward a little to get something more comfortable on... Something with underwear, for sure.
Alex, having finished getting his flight suit off, began to redress himself in his normal clothes.
"Alright. Well, I can give you the contact information for the person who designed the suit, or you can send me a message and I can pass it on."
"T-yeah, that's good. Thanks, Alex..." Stepping back into the main section of the room with a partially folded suit in her hands, she waited for someone to tell her where to put it. Or for somewhere to go for debriefing.
"Alright, I think a crewmember said that we should bring these suits with us. When we get back we should talk to Uso about what we saw."
The Queen's Slave was a freighter that doubled as many different things for Uso. Not just a place to live and work, but also seemingly a place to dump just about anything she wasn't using at the time. The ship's main room had a single large display-table with various papers and datapads strewn about. Some gun parts were still on the floor, seemingly from a small pistol and a half-disassembled power armor was still strapped down in one of the chairs built into the wall.
Uso herself was waiting for Jay and Alex to arrive.
Alex arrived, with Jay soon to follow. "What's up?" He asked.
Alex had only been told in the message from Uso that he and Jay should come meet her at the Queen's Slave, but not what this was all about.
Jay arrived somewhat confused.
"What's going on here?"
"Well, we didn't really get a chance to talk after your introduction earlier. From what I understand you're somewhat related to psychopomp and you've got your own huge bag of baggage that goes along with that?
I also assume you're a mecha pilot due to your age... and because you got here without someone dropping you off I think...
Which in turn means that we need to come to some kinda arrangement about you being here. Stick around, help us with our problems, we'll give you a place to stay, food, some spending money, and let you in on what we've learned about psychopomp." Uso said. The neko was dressed in her usual bodysuit, unzipped slightly in the front, datapad on her hip like it was some kinda weapon in a holster. It was about as professional military as Uso got.
"So, what kind of stuff would I be helping with?" Jay replied.
"I thought you were staying with the sky guard." Alex piped in. "And what is this information about Psychopomp you're talking about?"
"Lets start with that," Uso said, half heartedly pointing over at Jay, "We have our own baggage that needs to be taken care of, and one of those things is a planet a few lightyears space-north of here called B7R. It is in our intrest to keep the Rixx away from the planet but at the same time the whole thing is a big poison pill. Trying to just take over the place is going to be problematic.
There shouldn't be any starships in the area, and I wanted to get the two of you to scout the place out, see what the situation on the ground is like."
Uso, just for a moment, looked like she was going to let them speak...
"... BUT! I do mean just scout. No blowing stuff up, no trying to play hero... Alex... that means you... we need to see what we are dealing with then we can come up with an appropriate response."
"Okay." Alex said. "Should we take a broadsword from the sky guard, or use a larger cargo ship? And I'd like us to at least go out lightly armed."
".... Alex... you're just showing up to scout the place. If there is anything there that is shooting at you then you need to leave..." Uso said.
"Alright." Alex said reluctantly. "But what's this about Psychopomp?"
"You do realize that I have priorities, right? Not to sound condescending, but---"
"But you enlisted in the sky guard, now its priorities are your priorities. And the sky guard's priorities are helping people. If we can help the people there somehow, we should. And Uso, I don't like the idea of scouting just for a takeover."
Uso nodded, "Either you want to work with us, or you don't. I don't really care what your priorities are but if you want in then we'll work on them together."
"Fair enough. Now, we're just in and out for this, or is there some ulterior motive?"
"No ulterior motive. Just politics... well... we're getting this problem dumped in our laps so another group can go deal with one of their problems. In exchange we don't get invaded for a little while longer which gives us some more time to figure out what all is going on.
Better the Elysian's attention is elsewhere, rather than here." Uso explained.
Alex sighed. "You haven't answered my question Uso."
"So I'm not allowed to know about myself? Besides, you guys get access to the data chip once it's been decrypted, so---"
"So we're not just helping you for no reason. You want a place to fit in, people to work with, whatever. I need people to help me out to. So do you want in or not?" Uso asked.
"As long as people stop interrupting me." Jay said jokingly.
"Yes."
Alex changed the subject slightly. "So, for this recon mission, how are we going to get there? Should we use a cargo ship, or use a warship?"
"We have the U-1s. Do we need much more than that? The two of you could do a quick fly by and drop some probes planetside." Uso suggested, "Between the U-1's onboard scanners and what you end up dropping we should be able to get a good idea of what we're dealing with."
"We'll need some ship to return to, as my U-1 doesn't have a built in CCD."
"Really?... Fuck." Uso said, crossing her arms, "Look, you got that skyguard thing going on. Just use whatever you need ok?"
"And why do I need to be on this mission?"
"Because, One; it'd be nice to not be alone up there, two; Uso seems to think you should come along, and three; would you really rather stay here?" Alex said.
"Flying is cool, and this place is a little bit boring on its own."
A door swished open, sending forth a tired-looking elysian female who more or less stumbled into the room. "I heard voices... What's going on out here?" Her voice lathered in the grogginess of sleep still, Araxie leaned cautiously against the wall in her pajamas, consisting mostly of the shirt she'd worn earlier in the day as well as flannel bottoms. Her plumage and hair were a mess, and the silvery eyes barely managed to stay open.
Alex turned to address Araxie. "We're just talking about a recon mission that Uso wants us to..." Alex paused for a brief moment. "Wait. Why were you sleeping in my room? There's plenty of other ones."
"Buh? That was yours...? I thought all the rooms were messy on here..." To be fair it should have been obvious to both that more than one person had been sleeping in that room, as that much traffic makes the place noticeably more messy even if the occasional mismatched garments (and undergarments) were thrown into the mix.
Alex began to blush profusely. "I'm sorry... I should have noticed all the other clothes around."
Still barely considered sentient as of the time, Arx simply shrugged and observed the three actually important people groggily from her door.
Uso held her head in her hands, waiting for this to be over.
Alex spoke uncertainly. "Would you... like to ride as a passenger in my plane on this mission?"
"TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION JAY," Uso said, speaking up over the two of them, "I want you on this mission so you can start getting familiar with us. This should be a cake walk, minimal danger. Easy. If you show you can work with us then we can figure out what we can do for you.
This is as much about learning what it is we can offer each other as it is learning what is currently going on at B7R604."
Waiting for Uso's bout of cat-herding to pass, Araxie spoke quietly to Alex. "I'd... Rather pass, actually..." Cautiously turning back, the noctournal Elysian shuffled back towards her-and apparently Alex's-room to finish that nap which had been so obviously interrupted.
"Alright then, seems pretty straightforward. Anything else?" Jay added.
"You do know how to fly right?" Uso asked.
"Sure. I flew all the way here from Nepleslia, I should be OK for a single mission
"Fantastic. I take it that Alex can arrange for you twoooooothree... you three to get whatever ships you need. Vier's already... uh, somewhere, doing stuff. You guys have her contact info if there is anything special you need built for this operation. As always the Pumpkin Eater is avalible if you need transport."
Uso walked around the table until she was infront of Jay, leaning forward slightly and putting her hands on his shoulders,
"Don't let Alex get into some long protracted fight ok? If stuff starts to go down just leave."
"I'll be sure to do that, but I can't guarantee Alex will be back with me if I do."
"We'll be fine." Alex assured Uso. "Sleepyhead here can ride in the back of my fighter. I'll ask a sky guard ship to drop us off just outside of the B7R system, we don't want to look like we're trying to do anything threatening."
Uso nodded, "Alright then, get going..."
---
1 hour later, Osman City Starport;
A broadsword class light cruiser had landed nearby, the sky captain in charge agreeing to drop them off right outside of B7R. The two pilots were to select any gear they would want now, so that it could be loaded into the port side hangar bay.
Alex had selected a single gunpod, an ammo pack, and two submunition launchers loaded with small recon drones.
Jay chose a gunpod, along with an ammo pack and a submunition launcher with recon drones.
The technicians in charge of loading their equipment set about the task of lifting the large weaponry into the hangar bays. The two pilots and their feathered companion were then taken to a locker room to change into flight suits. There were partioned sections for private changing, and three suits were laid out on a bench, one highighted with red, one with cyan and one with a bluish green color.
Alex looked around for a moment before picking up the red suit, stepping into one of the sections and stripping down before putting on the flight suit, which was a little bit tight, and extremely formfitting.
Picking up the turquoise-like suit cautiously, Serai wrinkled her nose a little in distaste. It looked to be small on her, just as it was... Ducking behind the partion nonetheless, she turned to face outward as she changed. Swapping her looser, more comfortable clothing for brief nudity, Araxie slipped her feet into the leggings of the flight suit before raising the torso area upwars. "Damn, this'll be..." Muttering curses to herself and occasionally grunting in a non-feminine way, the civil engineer of '604 struggled around for several minutes to fit her normally rather flexible wings into the correct position, before finally zipping up the remainder to cover her chest. Looking slightly more displeased in the form-hugging garment, the hummingbirb balled up her normal clothing and tossed it into a locker, before fluffing at her hair to get it somewhat in order again.
Jay quickly sized up the cyan-coloured suit, then casually stripped down and stepped into the legs, pulling them up somewhat carefully to avoid any wrinkles - if that was possible with these suits - and effortlessly slipped on the rest of the suit. He had worn bodysuits before during shady black market deals, to protect him in case things went sour.
"This is different." He thought. "Very light and flexible. Whoever designed these knew what they were doing."
There was a dull thump as the CCD turned on in the broadsword, and the ship transitioned to faster than light travel. Soon after everyone was done changing the ship's captain came over the loudspeaker and asked them to join him on the bridge.
Alex turned to a nearby crew member and asked, "Excuse me, where's the bridge?"
The stout crewman responded gruffly. "Follow me." And began to lead the trio toward the bridge.
As they entered, the captain, the very image of the classical starship captian, bushy mustache and all, gestured for them to come over to a holographic display.
Following the three males up to where they needed to go, Rax took a good look around before she made her way over to the display. "So, what's all this about?"
Jay shrugged his shoulders. "Don't ask me. I've only ever worked alone."
The captain turned around before speaking in a deep voice. "I wanted to show you where we would be letting you off. In about ten minutes, we'll be exiting FTL here," The captain pulled up a holographic map, tapping a point on it just outside the gravity well of B7R's star.
"That is where you will disembark and we will wait. You will have to enter the system and conduct your recon on your own. When you finish, you will reembark and we will jump out. Understood?"
Alex nodded curtly. "Thank you Sky Captain. We appreciate you helping us out in this mission."
"Seems straightforward enough, at least." Arx was still somewhat unsure what purpose she was to serve during this, but Alex insisted enough for her to cave in. The guy's got something in him she can't keep saying no to sometimes, and what could go wrong with a bit of scouting?
The trio were escorted down into the bay where their craft awaited them. As they walked the cruiser shuddered slightly as it transitioned back into sublight propulsion. As Alex approached his custom U-1, he mentally opened the cockpit and lowered the ladder.
"I guess you'll be riding with me Araxie." He said, gesturing to his fighter.
"I figured you would have planned that one from the start..." Climbing inside the cockpit of Alex's U-1, the technically underdressed Elysian tried to make herself comfortable in the relatively tight conditions.
Jay frowned slightly at the odd pair, then shook his head before climbing into his fighter.
The flight technicians gave the two fighters a final lookover, and gave the pilots the universal thumbs up symbol to indicate that all was well.
Alex was the first to launch, taxiing the short distance to the edge of the hangar, where he was moved into position. He gunned the engines, producing a throbbing vibration throughout the craft. He released the breaks, spiralling out into the void.
"KAACK!" Forced backwards by the rapid acceleration, Arx had cried out in a quite inglorious manner, taking a few moments afterwards to catch her breath, panting audiably in the tiny cockpit. "Alex, that was not very nice!"
"Showoff." Jay muttered as he followed, arcing gently to follow Alex's fighter.
Hidden from Alex's view due to being behind him, the angel realized she had made a mistake. Or at least, the designer of the stupid tight suits did. All this jostling was having quite the discomforting effect on the female passenger, a fact she decided to note down later.
There was still debris from the space battle with the Rixx up in the orbit of B7R.
B7R604 had not changed much since the last time Alex had visited.
There were a few gas giants, some rocky inner words... and the only one habitable planet of note.
There were no other starships in the system... and it seemed that the Elysians were serious when they spoke about withdrawing from the area.
But there certainly was something using a lot of energy planet side. The single habitable planet was mostly water and barren land with the exception of the single vedant continent near the planet's equator. The single major city was still standing however the coastline that they had flown over last time was now covered with black spheres. Large scale shield generators were blocking out entire swaths of territory for miles in every direction, with smaller shields extending outward haphazardly. The shields were blocking scans, and made it impossible to see what was going on underneith.
A few moments later, Alex opened up comms. "How should we go about approaching the planet?" He asked.
"Well, they're certainly trying to hide and protect something..." Stating the obvious, Serai decided to look for any potential holes or cracks in the defensive array, especially anything along the lines of a proper landing site.
As the pair of fighters closed in on the planet, impossibly bright particle beams would lance up from under the black spheres. Whatever was shooting them was well hidden, but the beams themselves were impossible to miss. The two fighters, however, were far enough away from the planet that any shots taken at them would give plenty of time to manuver out of the way. The ground forces simply taking pot-shots at them, hoping to drive them away.
Alex lazily wove through the beams. "Alright, I guess someone down there doesn't want visitors."
"Yeah... Means getting the drones in will be difficult. We could try to come at them from a really low angle? Those beams are probably designed to fight a capital ship in orbit, not a couple of fighters just above the surface..." Reaching around Alex to literally point at the planet, Araxie traced a general line to follow.
"Wouldn't that be what they're expecting us to do though?"
"Umm.... Well, it almost looks like they decided to shoot us down if we came down right on top of them. That's the only place they've got defenses right? We can take advantage of the curve of the planet to avoid that..."
"I'd have to agree, but something about this doesn't feel right." Alex said hestiantly.
"You want me to take a peek through those shields, see what they're hiding?"
"I think we're too far away for that to work"
"Oh yeah, I didn't tell you about Bit, did I?"
"About what?"
"Bit. My alias."
"Okay, what about your alias?"
"Yeah, 'Bit' is wanted for scores of cyber crimes. Theft, impersonation - you name it I've hacked it."
"Okay, give it a try, but I think we're way to far away from the planet for our systems to reach there, let alone through those shields."
"I can get eyes through those shields, but it might take a few minutes."
Jay started checking the shields, testing them with scans of various types and frequencies. It would indeed take a few minutes for him to get a result.
At this extreme distance, it was hard to get a very detailed scan of the surface, doubly so with the shields up. The powerful electrostatic barriers were designed to absorb or defect just about anything right up to heavy anti-starship weaponry. The displays infront of Jay were basically scanning a brick wall and looking for an access point...
... however, just on the edges of the shield barriers, and sometimes appearing through small holes in the shield opened for specific frequencies, were various sensor systems, long range subspace radar, regular radar, and even the occasional wide band broadcast array. They weren't models that Jay was familiar with, having been built by Rixxikor, but they were a point of entry for electronic signals.
"OK, I got something. No eyes, but a possible entry point. You want me to keep working on recon? Or maybe something else?"
"I think you should keep going with that."
"Roger that. And if they engage with their own craft...?"
"Then we fall back. We're not supposed to fight anyways... Dodging their defensive weapons would be pretty easy but if something more focused heads our way, we'll pull back." Birdy did have a point, since not only would the broadsword be a better defensive position if need be, it was also the trio's only ticket out of the system save for using the ST system Uso disliked.
"Alright then. Lemme know if you need anything else - I'll be monitoring their comms."
"Lets transform for now and hide behind some of the wreckage in orbit," Alex suggested.
"Sounds good. See if you can find a satellite or something. I'm gonna need a relay if we move back to orbit."
The planet had a handful of small rocks orbiting it as well as the wreckage of a Rixxikor colony ship that had been destroyed by the Elysians the last time Alex was at B7R604. The ship looked almost like an asteroid, the majority of the exterior having been vaporized or melted into a slush of metal. There were also other small Rixxikor ships that had similarly been torn apart or melted however they were all cold now, the destruction having happened long enough ago that all latent heat had bled away. The scanners could conclusively determine that these ships wouldn't be starting up again.
"I have an idea." Alex said."Jay, after you see about hacking those shields, we can push one of the hulks over there into re-entry and hide in it as it falls, using it to disguise our decent."
"Negative on those shields. They're gonna have to stay up."
"Alright then, get into positon behind that wreck," Alex pointed at a nearby ship that was mostly intact with the exception that its back half was torn off. "We'll need to push it into re-entry and then get inside it."
Alex transformed and maneuvered over to the hull and took up a position on one side of it.
Jay flew over to the other side of the ship, transformed, then safely anchored the mecha to the side of the wreckage. "I've got a bad feeling about this."
The Rixx would watch on sensors as the two fighters approached the wreck... and then again as the wreck started to de-orbit. As what was left of the ship started to approach the atmosphere a series of bright beams from the surface lanced through the hull of the ship, blasting it apart into two sections... with additional beams following shortly, blowing chunks off of the craft, rapidly heating the wreckage with each shot.
"If we're planning on staying, stick behind the largest pieces! We don't need to stay in contact with them as long as they're between us and those beams." The cusom U-1's passenger seemed to be thinking hard throughout the descent despite the incredible number of factors that should shatter her focus like the plummeting wreckage.
"Understood." Alex said, all business now. It was a far cry from the usually gung-ho charge in. He pulled back from the wreckage, staying in cover behind it, but not touching it. Though the re-entry was still rough, it was a lot smoother than it would have been without the wreckage to serve as a heat and weaponry shield for them.
"Araxie, can you plot a flight path for us to take after the wreckage starts to decay that will take us right under their guns?"
"Let's see... We'll lose effective coverage before we're low enough to fly under. Taking into account the angling and refire rates of the defenses..." The normally reserved civil engineer seemed to be immersed in a chant-like speak, estimating values and calculating approximated blind spots. "We'll need to leave early. the biggest burst of firepower won't bring the cover down, but reentry and follow-through attacks will expose us only a few seconds afterwards. We need to move away as soon as the burst hits, and dodge the lighter fire until we're at the surface. We'll need to find a different way out, and the easiest would be to use the planet's curve as a shield."
"Okay. " Alex said. "I won't pretend to understand any of that, but if you can pull together a flight plan for me, I can make it work."
Arx sighed behind her pilot, working away at the interface until an obvious orange line swept across the planet from the approximate location of the mecha, to the fortress, and then off towards the north pole. "Okay that's what we're doing once we reach the surface. On my mark, I want both of you to stop hiding behind this falling junk heap and use everything you got to speed down to the surface, out of the immediate danger."
"Got it." Alex said, nodding even though Araxie couldn't see him. "Jay, you catch all that?"
"Yeah. It's risky, but it may be our only shot."
"Can you give us a countdown?" Alex asked Araxie.
Just as Alex finished speaking, another blast cut right through a nearby bulkhead, causing their current piece of the ship to splinter, parts starting to flake off and burn like confetti in a fire.
"Araxie, you better be right about this!" Jay said through his teeth as they plunged towards the surface.
"NOW!" Pointing to the relative right-side of the deteriorating hull, Araxie indicated quite enthusiastically that the pilots needed to change positions when possible.
Alex moved to the indicated position. "If we leave the wreck now we'll have to re-enter on our own." He said worriedly, his concerns met with a retort, "And if we wait around the next noticable blast heading our way won't be hitting a ship, it'll be hitting us! We need to burn fast and down to take advantage of the gap!"
"Got it. Follow my lead Jay!" Alex half shouted as he transformed into fighter mode, nosed towards the planet, and ignited his thrusters. "Araxie, is there some way to predict their shots at all?"
"I can do that, but I'll need to know who's controlling those guns." Jay said as he morphed back to fighter mode and barrel rolled off to the side before following Alex.
"I doubt we could predict their firing. Even those Yamataian AIs can't pull that off! Just move irregularly!"
"Got it." Alex said. The atmosphere began to buffet the small craft around jinking it from side to side in sudden movements, giving the female passenger more than she expected in excitement during its descent. Blushing pretty heavily as the craft finally reached the surface, Serai decided to rest for a couple of minutes in the relatively calm low altitude.
Alex turned around for a brief moment to check on his passenger. "Are you okay back there? I'm sorry about the reentry being so rough."
"I'm fine, let's just get this scouting over with..."
The trio would find themselves nearly a quarter of the way around the planet, flying over one of the many oceans, the curvature of the surface keeping them out of the line of fire of the Rixx weapons.
Jay called out over the radio, slightly agitated. "If you guys are done there, we do have a mission to accomplish here."
"I just wanted to make sure that she was okay." Alex said as he began to fly towards the black spheres, low to the glittering surface of the water.
"Araxie, how long do we have until those guns can get another shot at us?"
"Quite a while. We'll be a few hundred kilometers out before anything can aim at us reasonably again. And even then, there's going to be enough time to dodge for us to get closer. If we get too close, though, we don't have anything to hide behind. We'll need to deploy those drones and get out as soon as possible."
"Alright. If you can let us know when we're approaching that area, I think that Jay and I can pull up into a vertical climb and use our submunition launchers to fire the drones forward into the killzone so that they can map out more."
"I'd say not vertical. They'll be floating in the air like targets in a simulation if we launch them vertically. Angle about thirty degrees from level,
"Okay. Let's get ready for this."
"Ready when you are, Alex."
"Araxie, let us know when to begin the maneuver." Alex directed.
===Zack might wanna post something here?===
"Start angling up, thirty-four-point-two from level..." Shifting forward in her seat slightly, Arx started to tense up as the fightercraft continued to dodge the oncoming fire, a single hit enough to slow them down or even force them to land in this hellhole.
"NOW!"
Alex angled the nose of the fighter up as directed. Fire flew past them on all sides. Two shots came simultaniously. At first it seemed as if the two beams would impact Alex, but he managed to fire off the drones and still manage to dodge them in time, although not without the two shots coming too close for comfort, causing the girl behind him to scream quietly in shock.
Alex looked back with his sensors to check on Jay, who had only managed to fire off a few drones.
"So, do we just run away now? Or do we poke around a little more?" Jay said, oddly calm given the situation.
"No sense hanging around waiting to get shot down! Burn to the far side, away from the guns and we head to orbit from that far."
"Roger that." Alex said, turning around and initiating the burn.
"Well, that's disappointing." Jay muttered as he started his burn.
"What'd you like instead, then? Getting shot down and captured?" Her voice snapped through the comsets, some of that early awakening mixing with the uncomfortable flight suits and a near-death experience for a toxic mixture of attitude. "Let's just get back to the cruiser..."
"Well excuse me miss, but the rest of us kinda have to deal with that all the time." Jay replied, slightly offended.
"Both of you calm down. We're all getting out of here fine, and we did what we came to do. Jay, I don't know what you were hoping for, but for what its worth, you did a good job today. Araxie, same goes for you."
"Sure." Jay said as he peeled of towards one of the wrecks.
"Mhm..." To the best of her ability, the green-suited girl mentally steeled herself for the jostling ride out. At least it was marginally smoother from the lack of weapons fire.
Jay called over the comms, slightly distracted. "Their systems were actually a bit of a challenge to crack. If I could just get some samples..."
"Ok, but we shouldn't keep the ship waiting." Alex said.
"Know your enemy, Alex. Know your enemy."
Later, after reembarking on the ship...
The two fighters were safely loaded into their bays, and were clamped in place.
The trio were lead back toward the room where their clothes were so that they could change. After they were entered the room, Alex looked toward Araxie.
"Are you okay? You were making some funny sounds when we were flying."
Shit! Turning her face towards the locker to hide her blush, Birdy went down to pick up her normal clothes. "It's fine... The suits are just a bit uncomfortable to wear I think. Need to ask for a new design." Taking her time to walk towards the changing area, she made sure she was out of sight before starting to struggle out of the suit, opposite of the way she got in.
"Okay. If you let me know what you want changed I'll see about getting it fixed for you." Alex said while walking into his own area and beginning to strip the flight suit off of his body.
"I'd... Rather not bring it up here, Alex..." Bumping into the division between herself and her pilot, Serai grunted a little as she finally freed her second wing, the suit unfolded down to her waist.
"Are you okay over there?" Alex asked innocently. "Do you need some help?"
Bending down slightly to free the lower half of her body from the high-tech full-body strangulation device, she sighed and leaned her back against the wall for a moment. "No, I'm fine..." If Alex looked down he could see her shadow and bare feet for a moment before she scu forward a little to get something more comfortable on... Something with underwear, for sure.
Alex, having finished getting his flight suit off, began to redress himself in his normal clothes.
"Alright. Well, I can give you the contact information for the person who designed the suit, or you can send me a message and I can pass it on."
"T-yeah, that's good. Thanks, Alex..." Stepping back into the main section of the room with a partially folded suit in her hands, she waited for someone to tell her where to put it. Or for somewhere to go for debriefing.
"Alright, I think a crewmember said that we should bring these suits with us. When we get back we should talk to Uso about what we saw."
