RP: YSS Ryūjō YSS Ryūjō - Mission 1.1 - Fury in Doubt

Ryujo - Shuttle

Breyja tilted her head to the side when Sebastian answered her outspoken thought, "First for me other than training." She grimaced as she said that, thankful that her helmet hid the facial expression. She mentally turned the volume down on her music as she spoke again, "I'm Breyja Usaki by the way."

Ryujo - Shuttle

Sebastian shrugged her shoulders a bit and replied, "Don't worry. Training will take over when we get there. The hardest part is the waiting." Her lips twitched into a small smile, even though it wasn't seen, as she added, "Sebastian Wells."

Landing Approach-Ryujo

Kakeru felt his face freeze in a wince as he considered Erroyn's offer. Her fighting style was the total opposite of the "quiet and sneaky" tactics that was trained into him to the point of subconscious and the dissonance between his conditioning and her tactics was giving him a massive case of nerve twitch.

"Hellcat, they might need ground recon for the landing team. We really didn't get anything from our recon run other than there are 2 crashed ships, people still alive and they are hostile. They might need me to infiltrate and at least find out who these guys are. We'll have to ask the CO and XO on what they want me to do."

Landing - Ryujo

Errowyn smiled to herself, as she responded back to Kakeru, "Affirmative. I've my orders, already." As she eased her ship into the maw of the hanger bay. She was already unhooking herself the craft as she landed the Teistu and bringing it to a stop on the lift. She began powering down the craft, once it came to a full stop. By orders, permission to proceed with her intended plan.

As the craft began to rise into the upper parts of the hanger bay, she was raising the canopy to make the transition to '5' quicker. She nodded to the deck crew to finalize prepping her Kawarine for immediate take off as she climbed out of the cockpit of the craft as they rolled the craft to its slot amongst the other aerospace crafts.

She jumped from the ship and floated down to the deck at an angle to get her closer to her '5'. She scrambled for her fighter rising up to enter it as the deck crew moved it to the lift. She scowled at the newest paint job on her fighter. Instead of 'YSS Hieten', it now sported 'YSS Ryujo' in its spot. Still it was her 'baby' no matter what was painted on the craft. She would definitely raise hell if anyone removed the 5 from her craft.

Aurigaesha I, Surface

His breathing having since returned to something that approached normal, Masato replied over the comms once more, this time to Matonaka-shoi. "Matokai-Hei, uninjured." Peeking his head up from behind cover (and taking note of the relative...stillness) of everything, the engineer gingerly made his way over to where Kongo-Hei lay - for he'd been thinking about something that, should it work, ought to provide the Away Team with a bit more information on whatever'd hit them. Starships of the SAoY usually tend to have a heavily-secured flight recorder buried within their superstructure...so perhaps the Mindy would have something similar?

With his facial features scrunched up in thought, the Minkan spoke again over the channel, his voice a bit more steady this time. "Ē to......would it be possible to access the logs from Kongo-Hei's Mindy? They could provide a bit of insight into what happened..."

Recon / YSS Ryujo Vicinity.

As the drone bobbed, it's first attack sheared into Henry's left wing, tearing off a portion of the wing and the armor as well as disabling one of the engines; it then targetted one of the numerous fighters that had come to investigate - blowing out a cockpit and then taking another one down before it took off at high-speed toward the Ryujo.

Inside the ship, the bridge had gone from being quiet and listening to the rather calm chatter from the pilots to there now being calls for action. Takeyu's ears twitched as he raised his hand. "Battle Stations!" he shoutted as the ship's lights dimmed into a red hue.

All across the ship, people began to run around, getting to their assigned positions. In the hangerbay, the flighter officer was quick to start barking orders. "Get to your fighters!" they shoutted as one after another began to launch from the ship.

Outside, a squadron of Plumeria's tilted their leading edges toward the much smaller object and then took up a position in front of the Ryujo, forming a kind of 'wall' between it and the Ryujo.

YSS Ryujo: Hanger Bay

Errowyn closed the canopy to her fighter as it lowered into the launch portion of the hanger bay. Seeing the lights change to full Alert, she fired up the thrusters, causing the her fighter to roll off the lift as it was settling the last few inches.

The sudden dipping of her fighter then straightening out to aim properly at the exit as she hit full thrust to launch out of the hanger bay. Being the first to launch and seeing the rest of the fleet moving to protect the Ryujo, something must've gone wrong with the CAP around the Fleet of bigger ships. She quickly accessed tactical feed and coms to get the quick and dirty on what's happening.

CAP encountered Bogey. Bogey attacked CAP, leaving wounded fighters in it's wake and now heading to the Ryujo. She smiled as she armed her weapons systems and getting all green across her HUD. Momentary closing her eyes to kick in the SPINE Interface for direct feed and becoming the Organic Brain of her Kawarime. Speeding up the response time that made her a good pilot, if not the best, at least a survivor.

Space: Fleet Controlled Area (hopefully)

'Ears' listened on 'airwaves' to the chatter, picking out information she needed to direct her craft to face the bogey. 'Feeling' the coolness of space against her extended 'body' metallic skin. The heat generated by Aether generators that keep the electronic, pneumatic and hydraulic blood flowing and power to move through the vacuum of the Void of Space. 'Eyes' searching the spectrum for the incoming bogey, knowing what to look for.

She was thankful for the trip with Kakeru on the recon mission, even though she did the running, instead of fighting like she was going to do now against the Bogey that decided to injure and kill her fellow pilots. She was looking forward to the encounter to pit skill and machine against each other in the Dance of Death where there would only be the one victor and the dead...

"Hellcat / Five..." Both were heard simultaneously; one metallic, other human. "... has lead," Errowyn gave short broadcast to let others know she was already on the hunt and closing upon the Bogy.

As automated systems slotted the recon fighter back into the bay assigned for it, Kakeru had the cockpit canopy open even before the craft came to a stop. Retrieving his uniform from the flight locker, he did a quick walk/job to the pilot's ready room for a "two minute shower" before changing. He stank from hours being cooped up in a small cockpit as well as the sweat from the adrenaline high from running away and he wasn't looking forward to doing an AAR (after action report) with the captain while smelling like yesterday's socks.

While he was getting back into his uniform, he sent a short message through MEGAMI to Chusa Nayacesan: "Chusa Nayacesan, Hei Shinozaki, Intel support, reporting back from recon, where do you want me?" If he was part of the infantry, he would be reporting up the chain to his next in command, his platoon sergeant or platoon commander but as "attached auxiliary specialist personnel" without a structure above him, he was directly attached to the HQ, which meant that the next one up was the XO or OC/CO, hence his request for instructions direct from the CO.

Ryujo's Space

Errowyn spotted the fast moving bogey as she kicked the Kawarine up to full attack speed. Coming up on it quickly, she fired a few missiles at it as soon as she gotten lock on it. She chased her missile as she closed on the Bogy.

The bogy flared with defensive chaff to spoil the missile locks on it as it continued its kamikaze dive at the YSS Ryujo. A few missiles that were being guided by her, slipped through the defensive chaff and closed on it. It began to go into evasive maneuvers to throw the guided missiles off.

Errowyn snarled as she lit up her Aether cannons. All four blazing steady streams of destructive energy at the now herded Bogey. Its shields flared as the first of the Aether cannon fire struck. Guided Missile 1 slammed into the weakened shield of the Bogy and detonated.

Bogy shields flared one last time and died. It tried one last ditch maneuver to throw off its pursuers only to meet the second missile which blew up, crippling it and slowing it down.

Errowyn sent another volley of deadly Aether Cannon fire into the defenseless Bogy, watching it explode into glowing particles.

"Hellcat / Five.." same dual metallic human voice came over open tactical feed. "... Scratch one bogy! Sending tactical data on the encounter. Please acknowledge receipt of the data packet. Out." After the voice transmission came the flight/fight logs of the encounter.

Errowyn kept her weapons hot and ready as she sped through the formation of ships to the stricken CAP. She was curious as to how they faired. Hoping to find at least one or two of the pilots alive for rescue. She signaled the other combat pilots that launched from the YSS Ryujo to fall in on her with her at lead as she approached the CAP. Opening a second channel to receive any emergency beacons from the survivors to find them and guide the rescue shuttle to pick them up and recover the fighters.

Ryujo

Takeyu left out a sigh of relief when the enemy contact suddenly vanished from the sensor display. The man leaned back in his chair and relaxed - but only for half a second. "Deploy recovery squads to retrieve our injured. I want another team dispatched to collect what wreakage remains of that unknown. Plus," the man turned in his seat for a moment. "Remain combat alert, order all ships to return to formation and prepare for a close range jump."

The captain thought for a moment and then responded to Shinozaki. "For now please report to the bridge, but I'll have a job for you later," was all the captain would say for now. I wonder how our away teams are doing... there hasn't been word from them since their request for backup..."

Outside of the ship, a number of shuttles began to deploy, some of which moved toward the wreakage while others made their way toward the damaged and drifting fighters.

"Comm. I want a status update on the away team," he ordered; the ships comm. officer nodded.

Ryujo Hanger Deck

"Acknowledged." Kakeru replied. After a short stopover at his fighter to pull a copy of the mission record just in case the captain needed it for the AAR, he headed up to the bridge. Stepping into the hushed busyness of the bridge, he saluted the stocky Chusa sitting in the command chair. "Hei Shinozaki reporting as ordered sir!"

Space

Errowyn took notice of the fleet moving back into formation and the spacing was a bit wider in jump formation. It wasn't the first time for her to make an intersystem transit in her fighter. She checked up on her emergency ration and smiled as there was a little extra.

She came up on the stricken CAP still reeling from the Bogy's attack on them as she scanned the area for more threats and pilots who had to EVA. Seeing the disabled fighter missing a wing, she flew across the front of it to alert the pilot she was trying to get in touch him or her.

Plus to see who was piloting the craft. She inquired the Ryujo's MEGAMI for the roster on who was flying CAP currently. Recognizing 'Doc" and the other new pilot's name on the CAP Roster. "Doc, Hellcat, Help is on the way. Acknowledge, over." Wondering if she would get a response back or not. Via text messaging to the Pilots with her to begin searching for survivors and then the rest to resume the interrupted CAP Patrol in a higher state of alert.

Ryujo Space

Henry's brow lowered, eyes narrowing as the contact decided to give him a light show. The thought would have been amusing if the situation wasn't so tense... Or for the weapons lock, for that matter. Holliday cursed as he attempted to cancel the scanning process and dodge the incoming fire. Needless to say, it didn't work. The hostile fire slamming into the wing of his fighter elicited another curse from its pilot as he unconsciously brought up a hand to shield his face from the blast. He swung his Kawarine around to fire at the drone, but with his speed cut in half and the extra time needed to maneuver, it had already left weapons range. He sighed deeply, a sense of disappointment in him. He didn't bother to pursue, he could already see more fighters being launched to combat the bogey. He remained around the more critically damaged fighters. If another one of those things showed up, he'd at least be able to defend them somewhat as a firing platform.

Doc didn't seem to need to wait long, as reinforcements arrived quicker than he thought they would. "Hellcat, this is Doc, acknowledged. Did you get the bastard?" He responded. Judging from his question, he seemed a bit miffed the he'd been taken out of the fight by the first shot, in the literal sense of the word.

Ryujo Space

"Doc. Hellcat. Nothing but salvage for the Intel weenies and techs to go over." Errowyn metallic voice was tinged with relief as she radioed back to him as she kept her Kawarime on the move as she circled the stricken fighters. "Help is on its way." She hoped that the other new pilot was okay. But if not, then he'd get a fresh start. "You can assist by sending the data on the encounter back to the Ryujo."

She had forgotten Doc's Wingman's name already, even his call sign as he became just another stat for the ship's Personnel Officers to deal with while she dealt with the living. "Take it slow back to Ryujo. Hopefully they'll have another Kawarime awaiting you."

The shuttles began to arrive to begin rescue recovery operation as Errowyn flew to provide protection along with another fighter pilot.

Ryujo Space

"I should surely hope so, or I'm going to be very disappointed." Holliday replied as he began the process of sending the data he collected to the Ryujo. "Dragon, this is Asset 1-2. I'm transmitting the data I was able to collect on the hostile drone to you now. Be advised, my Kawarime has suffered damage. Returning to base, over." He informed as he began to make his way back to the ship. He sighed deeply as he once again went over the fighting in his head. Wasn't much else to do with that sense of excitement lingering as he waited for the response to his message and the trip to end. "Guuuh, that was a mess. Oh well, could've been worse."

Ryujo Space

With the wounded heading back to their base ships and salvage operations under way, Errowyn took notice of a troop transport leaving the vicinity of the fleet. She checked on the CAP to see they was properly doing their jobs and the few that remained, called them to her and took off after the Troop Transport to provide extra defense for it.

"Ryujo, Hellcat/Five. Taking 4 fighters with me to provide escort for the transport." Errowyn used tight beamed communications to the Ryujo to let them know her intentions. "4 fighters on CAP. Salvage and wounded are in the process of returning to their home ships." Her human/mechanical voice came over the comms speakers.

***********
Footnote:
hellcat/five is said at the same time. to show the SPINE Immersion with the Kawarime's AI system.

Ryujo

Takeyu sat on his chair as he watched what was unfurling around him, it was interesting turn of events, with the enemy just disappearing like that, but he was happy as it meant the teams could do what they needed before anything new comes to surprise them. He leaned forward in the chair as he listened to the crew chatter over the comms he broke into a light-hearted smile as he spoke to Errowyn "That sounds expectable Jôtô Hei Errowyn" he looked over the bridge and smiled "Attention all crew members be prepared for the jump after all the salvage and wounded are back onto the necessary ships."

He sighed still worried about the ground troops, no word for a long time, he needed to hear from them to know what they had to do "Try and get contact with the away teams on the planet, we need to know what is happening to them and do it quickly the longer that we have no contact the more dangerous the jump will be as we don't know what is over there."

The ships comms officer nodded "Sir we are trying our hardest but it doesn't seem like anyone from the away team is responding" the officer tried again hoping that there would be a response this time "Attention Ryujo's away team please respond, any member please respond, we need to know if it is safe to jump or if it is too hostile for us to come," the comms officer kept repeating the message for the away team, they needed a response quickly or the Ryojo could be jumping right into trap it wasn't the most likely thing to happen but at that time it seemed that this would actually be the most likely outcome of the jump.

Escort Duty

Taking advantage of the situation, Errowyn and another fighter shot ahead at full burn of the thrusters, leaving two with the Troop Transport. Errowyn, while in en-route, updated her wingman and what to look for concerning the bogies. Taking advantage of the transit time. She could hear the Ryujo's transmissions to the ground troop already on the ground. This was definitely different that being on a carrier and with a battle group facing down the MNX and their warships.

She smiled softly, looking forward to the job at hand. she purred softly as she sped through space with her partner.

Shuttle

The pilot smiled as he listened to others in the shuttle with him as he took them planet side, he had the coordinates of the landing zone as he travelled "attention guys, will be planet side soon, get ready to jump out and provide covering fire to the people who need it down there." As the pilot talked a warning light flickered on making the pilot veer sharply to the left knocking around anything loose in the shuttle "Sorry guys, something just tried to shoot us, judging for the trajectory it is coming from the surface , be prepared for an evasive landing guys."

The shuttle zigzagged around trying to dodge attacks while trying to land the crew inside the ship, he grunted as he kept veering side to side "They really don't want us landing down there" he grunted again as a missile hit the side of the shuttle and gulped "I am going to land for you guys, we are north from the LZ but it is dangerous to continue with all this anti air." The pilot veered down into a small clearing and landed hard into the ground shaking the inside of the shuttle violently until it came to a stop.

"We are here now ladies and gentlemen, lets go and provide backup for the people already here" he stood up and went to the shuttle door opening it for the others "Come on we need to go quickly."