The Line in the Stars (IC) [PG/14]

[Prof B Hunnydew]

Two hearts that beat as one.

"Oh oh Damn it, Loki  I am in less danger of dying than you are... Just like you to make me forget that you are at death's door..... Worry not, I have the true location in my memory" shouts Lt Nova as picks up the little fox and helps him along a sliver path back to his Body... Once there, she runs back to down her own silver string to her body.  then she pulls herself back into herself.

During the operation of remove the bullets from Loki's body. the doctors and surgeons must now rush to restart Loki's heart   When hope looked lost, his heart starts beating again,  Only, to have the stable Lt Nova Hunnydew goes into code blue, too, for no apparent reason.  Just as they are about to electrical shock her, her heart starts beating on it own.   The relieved doctors return to the work at hand, thankful that two emergencies adverted.

PBH

[ShadesFox]

Hitchen a ride

Wait... I'm actually the superior officer?  Boy this will be fun.

"Alright, first part of the plan is figuring out part two.  First off, what do we really want out of them?  After that, how to get it.  Our specialty around here seems to be blowing things up with gusto, so we will go with that.  Richard, what is your opinion on sneaking up on pirates?  How well equipped are they in firepower and and detecting our approach?"

Aaron was rather favoring sneaking up.  But sneaking up leaves the problem of having to be sneaky.  That and the possibility of sneaking somewhere that you don't actually want to go.

[Azlan]

Yeah runnin down a dream


The lead doctor consults with the other doctors and a few specialists as they perform their operation on the small fox, much medical jargon and terminology is tossed about as the doctors consider their options.  Lacking any data on this species, all those involve take a leap of faith that the body is structured and functions like that of a normal anthro fox.  Sealing up damaged internals and draining off lost blood, they complete their removals.  A few blood plasma transfusions later, Loki is a universal recipient,  he is deemed stable.

The operation on Nova is simpler, having well known biology and a single projectile removal.  The exploration and removal is simple, however a complication seems to occur when closing up internal damage, and blood removal.  The doctors are not able to initially locate the source of her bleeding, as all normal areas are sealed or secure.  She drops to critical before a hidden nick is found in the major artery.  Quick transfusions, barely pull her from the brink, but a strong resolve in the patient aids this recovery.

Both patients are kept under observation.

The doctor's night is not yet over, as a female fox arrives with similar injuries.  Far more serious and critical then the previous two, however, there is no complication in this operation and it goes pretty much textbook.

OOC: I'm being mean to PBH 




Cool running...


Amanda focuses her attention on Major Brown, "well major, I'm not afraid of a bit of walking a little... so being sneaky is good."


Richard gave one of his rather common, and rapidly becoming a trademark, shrugs, "well, most all of the fighting types and sneaky ones came out here to challenge you... thinking that a planetary militia squad had moved to recon the area.  What's left are those that consider themselves the leadership and their personal guard.  No more then 24 remain at base.  Their detection level is pathetic unless we have a signature the size of a shuttle or larger.  Visual sentries are the most dangerous at this point... and you all shot most of them."

[ShadesFox]

I'm in your base

"All roads point to sneaky.  Though from the sounds of things we should be able to capture a lot of leadership type pirates.  We sneak in, kill anyone who shows any sign of fighting back."

At this point Aaron realized he never got Amanda's rank for anything.  He made it a know to keep a watch out for insignias.

"We should move quickly.  Hopefully they are still a bit off balance from our previous thrashing."

[Azlan]

Capping your dudez


OOC: I'll probably add a small NPC area in the tech and info thread with some infor on the NPCs that are important.

Amanda's rank is quite visible on her collar, in gray, on her arctic jumpsuit.  She is a Senior Chief Petty Officer, E-8, with a specific rate of SESC (Aerospace Flight Engineer Senior Chief).   

She signalled for a stop of the transport, "alright, this is likely as close as we should get.  The fleet operations center has identified a fusion signature at the location we are heading to, probably because someone is powering up a corvette sized vessel.  They are ordering a bomber run against this signature to either disable or destroy it.  They should be done as we arrive, so the fireworks will probably work out well as cover."



Tribunal Class Troop Cruiser, Phalanx - Zeta-Group ready room


A klaxxon went off in the Zeta-Group area as an order came over the 1MC:

All Zeta Group members, priority scramble.  Strike ordered at planetary location 0.0.25.  Target is a corvette classed ship, fusion signature is detectable from orbit.  Please ground vehicle if possible, destroy otherwise.  Please scramble, priority one, all pilots to craft.  This is not a drill

[Lushin]

Over hill, over dale,  all along the snowy trail
Romulus smiles at Aaron and nods his head. "Nice plan Major. I like it" Romulus didn't seem to happy with the chance that someone maybe doing a bombing run. He radios to the LAM pilots if they are still planet side. "You guys might want to keep an eye out for a ship coming from the direction we went off in. Someone may be planning a bombing run" Romulus moved to the hatch of the transpot as it stopped. As it lowered to let them out he aimed his rifle, scanning the area for movement.

[techmaster-glitch]

Tribunal Class Troop Cruiser, Phalanx - Zeta-Group ready room


   All Zeta Group members, priority scramble.  Strike ordered at planetary location 0.0.25.  Target is a corvette classed ship, fusion signature is detectable from orbit.  Please ground vehicle if possible, destroy otherwise.  Please scramble, priority one, all pilots to craft.  This is not a drill

   The members of Zeta Group in question were on their night-shift and thus, in their sleeping quarters at the time the klaxxon first started. When it did, all five wingmen instantly woke and sat up in attention, listening to the dispatch. When it finished, the figure on the farthest bunk stepped out and stood up. He was tall in the extream, over seven feet, being a Komodo Dragon.
   "Zeta-Group, assemble!" CWO-4 Nazareth Duke ordered, his deep voice booming in the confines of the quarters.
   One by one, and in mere seconds, four other reptillian figures were out of their bunks and lined up in front of Nazareth: Burns Torson, crocodile; Mack Narth, gecko; Norton Kalmunt, frilled lizard; and Satch Nestor, snake. None were tired, they were trained for this kind of thing.
   "Zeta-Two, ready."
   "Zeta-Three, ready."
   "Zeta-Four, ready."
   "Zeta-Five, ready."
   Nazareth regarded them for a moment before speaking up. "It seems that once again, we have been called upon to provide the service of the Crusading Scales." The origin of that informal designation was interesting. Once, a punk raw recruit had refered to the previous original Zeta-Group as that. He ended up with an... appointment... to a sickbay, but the title caught on quickly as a nickname, though it is primarily only used by young members of the military. The title carried over to the current Zeta-Group, who try to uphold the gossip-legends set by their predecessors. They still have yet to hear a superior officer address them by their nickname.
   "You all heard the dispatch, and from the sounds of it, things could get real hot real fast, or already have. We have our objective, and we must take it out before it launches. And it could do that at any time. In that case, I want to be over that target in FIVE MINUTES AGO. Now move it!"
   The five Zetas filed out at lightning speed, going for their Tactical Life Support suits. In thirty seconds, all five had their suits fully on, minus their helmets, which they held under their arm for the time being.
   The Crusading Scales lined up in a column, and jogged at a quick pace out of the ready room and down the corridor.
   Nazareth then adressed Torson, his second-in-command. "Burns, I want you to get on your communicator and contact the fighter launch bay. Have our Sabers lined up on the launch ramps. Make sure they are fully fuel and ammo stocked. Find out what will be most effective on our target, and have our fighter's bomb bays appropriately ordinanced. I want the fighters ready for us when we get there, and prepped for launch in T-minus three minutes, if not sooner."
   Nazareth then activated his own communicator. "Zeta-One, Chief Warrant Officer Duke to Dispatch Officer. We are en route to our Sabers now, and will launch in three minutes or less. Requesting additional details surrounding our dispatch; defences, hazards, friendlies, ect."
   The Crusading Scales then entered an elevator, setting the destination to Fighter Bay.

[Prof B Hunnydew]

"Goan" What shuttle hit me?" asks Nova as she awakens.. She makes to get up or sit up, but she only manages to move her arm and hand to her head. The rest of her is like lead and it hurts to breath... She can't remember, why she had to help Loki back to his bed, last night.  or was that a dream How much was a dream?

A nurse comes so after to check on her. "Bamma?" asks Nova as she looks at the younger female... but Nova can't seem to put two words together right now.  Not with your Nanna look like bending over you.

PBH

[Azlan]

Tribunal Class Troop Cruiser, Phalanx - hanger elevator


Torson nods, "got it."  He taps his comm unit and reaches the airboss, "sir, we need our craft ready and outfitted for a strike operation, priority one."

The airboss nodded, "already on line for you, you are stocked with heavy missiles."

When Nazareth queried for details, he was bombarded with the situation to date.  The position to be assaulted was a covert base of space pirates, not affiliated with the privateers that have just signed on with your forces.  Air defenses are estimated as poor, consisting of person portable missile launchers and possibly a few automatic cannon emplacements.  The corvette likely has a few defences to it, but it may or may not be able to fire back depending on how active it is.  The cliff walls of the valley slope up quickly near the end of the approach and an inattentive pilot could wreck himself/herself on them. 

Friendlies are considered to be in the clear and consist of a Vengeance class assault dropship, currently on the ground, a pair of LAMs providing close air support, and ground infantry.  A team of ground infantry will be infiltrating the base after the bombing runs, relying on the cover of the chaos that Zeta Group will cause.

Upon arriving at the flight deck, the sabers are indeed ready for launch.  The flight crews perform the last checkups and help the team into the fighters, strapping them in and giving the thumbs up.  The ground crews clear the area and with an okay from flight control, each fighter is rocketed out into space.

The other members of Zeta Group form up on  Nazareth.


That never would come to me


Nova felt very weak and her appearance in a bedside mirror shows herself to be really pale.  Any attempt to sit up or rise from her reclining position makes her stomach and ribs raise an air raid alarm of pain.

The nurse smiles and nods, "if that will help, then sure, you can call me that.  Now rest, you've just been through surgery and the sedatives and pain medications are starting to wear off.  If the pain is too much, I can give you something to help with it."

The nurse keys a sequence into the medical bed's computer panel, and a surge of cold fluid enters her body from her left arm.  The feeling is quite unusual, but the coldness helps the clear her foggy mind.  She notices that the room she occupies also has a second bed, which Loki appears to be occupying.  He seems so small and fragile in the huge medical bed.  The monitors show wild, off the chart readings.  The nurse shakes her head when she notices where Nova's gaze had wandered.

"We believe he is stable, but a lot of the readings were get from the equipment is odd."


Snow... and guess what, more snow!


The transport deploys the squads, Aaron, Richard and Amanda, then closes up.  One of the hoverscouts covers the transport and also scans the surroundings with its gun turret.

Romulus's team and Ben's team take up a defensive posture and after a few moments of patrolling, discover that the area is secure.

Amanda gives the forward signal and the team makes its way towards the treeline carefully.

   

[Prof B Hunnydew]

I am alive, I'll Survive

"He'll live." states Lt Nova with her eyes closed. Her tone mixture is certainty and relief.  Nova lays back and rest a moment.. "Thank you Nurse but no you are not over 80 and have royal blue hair.  You just look like my Bamma when I was a kitten except she had blue hair even then.  But I am too tired and hunger to tell you, why my grandma had natural blue hair most of her life."

PBH

[techmaster-glitch]

Just outside of the Phalanx launch bay

   The Crusading Scales cruised to a clear distance from the Phalanx when Nazareth spoke up, his all-too-familiar booming voice sounding in the cockpits of the Zetas. "Now listen up. For all we know, that corvette could already be off the ground by now. Speed is of the essence, so we are going down to the planet at full throttle. Hit your afterburners in three...two...one."
   The five Sabers all blasted to maximum speed at the same time. Nazareth began discussing the battle plan with his men as they passed through the atmosphere. "There is also an infantry ground team that is going to infiltrate the base as we bomb the ship. Our primary objective is the ship, the secondary is providing cover for the strike team, drawing all attention away from them. We are going in hard, we are striking fast. When we get there, the cruiser shouldn't be launched yet, but it could be. Here is Plan A: The ship is still in it's launching sequence. If that is the case, then the rest of the pirate base shouldn't be too mobilized. I will give you precice target areas on the ship, and we all fire at the same time. The ship should be sufficiently grounded, and the strike team will be moving in. Reduce speed, then turn around and make a second pass, take out any substantial anti-air defences. Then start causing general havoc on the base, drawing their fire and attention from the strike team. Plan B: The ship is already airborne. If that's the case, then the rest of the base will probably be mobilized as well, including the anti-air cannons. This time, target order is reversed; take out the cannons, then the ship.
   "But while we cause misery to the base, the friendly infantry will infiltrating it it. Do not fire on the base unless you have scanned and know the exact position of EVERY soldier, if you inadvertantly hit any of them, I will have your hide.
   "Are orders recieved and understood, Zetas?"
   In chorus, the other four stated, "Affirmative, Zeta-One."
   Nazareth checked his NavCom. We sould be nearing the site by now, he thought. He activated his command-to-command communicator. "Ground Team, This is Zeta-One, Chief Warrant Officer Duke, leading the Zeta fighter group on approach, reporting. We are nearing the target now, who's in charge down there? I require your current location and status."
   Whoever is receiving the communication will probably get quite an unfamiliar deep-voice speaker-blast...

[ShadesFox]

Let's turn the heat up

Aaron surveys the situation, a bunch of heavily armed military type folk are about to lay a beat down on some pirates, who thought it would be a good idea to try and run.  Never mind the large fleet in the area, with fighters, with big weapons, and big ships, with bigger weapons.  Still, Aaron could not shake the the why question.

Then, over his radio, "Ground Team, This is Zeta-One, Chief Warrant Officer Duke, leading the Zeta fighter group on approach, reporting. We are nearing the target now, who's in charge down there? I require your current location and status."

He replies, "That would be me, Major Aaron Brown.  We are down by the tree line, just waiting for things to start blowing up.  I'm sending our exact position."

[techmaster-glitch]

Approaching Ground Team

   Nazareth recieved the information and widened his scanner. Quickly he had all the Ground Squad personnel signatures locked in as navpoints in his NavCom and HUD. He quickly forwared the scanner data to the other Zetas, who promptly locked in their scanners as well.
   Nazareth opened up his comm line again. "Major Brown, is it? Good. Anyway, as you might know, there is a pirate corvette powering up at the base. I don't know what the specific objective of your squad is, nor do I care. I assume it's on a need-to-know basis, and if I needed to know, I would have been told earlier. My primary objective, however, is to ground that cruiser. My secondary is to provide distractive cover for your squad, so you can do whatever it is you are supposed to do. Major, for the safety of your men and maximum probabilitly of the success of your mission, do not, I repeat, do not begin infiltration until I signal for you. Do you copy?"

[Azlan]

The cold front

Amanda signalled the ground forces protecting the dropship, the ground transport vehicle and the LAMs, "watch the screens boys and girls, some flyboys are going to light up a bunch of hostiles."

She turned back to the major and gave him a thumbs up as she acknowledged the directive from Nazareth, "We acknowledge Zeta-One, we await your signal.  Please start your runs when you are ready."



Fun days in the hospital


The nurse smiled pleasantly, "I am definitely not 80, but my hair is blue... just so dark it looks black.  As for food, you won't be able to eat anything solid for a while, you will be receiving intravenous sustenance for a while so that your insides can heal.  No getting up without assistance please, I'd hate for you to injure yourself more.  Now rest."

The intravenous fluid did little to satisfy her hunger, but it was to be expected.  The nurse eventually completed her tasks and left Nova alone for the time being.

 

[techmaster-glitch]

Approaching Pirate Base

   "Affirmative." Nazareth said back over the radio. He manipulated his scanner controls, setting it to full forward scanning, while just keeping the ground team within it's field of vision. A beeping started, and the base came into range.
   "Zetas, we are coming up on the target. Pepare for hostile contact in five... four... three... two.... one."
   The five Sabers zoomed over the trees at maximum speed. Now they would find out if the cruiser was launched or not, and just how active it's defences are...

[Azlan]

Base assault


The fighter formation reached the danger zone, the open area between the treeline and the base wall's, without incident.  The base's defenses were indeed as bad as reported.  The air raid alarm did not sound until it was nearly too late to be effective.  The base was an open one, having a perimeter secured by chainlink fence separated by towers.  Eight towers all together made up the perimeter, of which three were autocannons.

The corvette was still grounded on the small landing field, but unlike the base defenses, it was active enough to have gun turrets primed.

Men with missile launchers scrambled to get their weapons ready and the fence towers just began to move as Nazareth's group reached attack position.  Only the corvette put out anti-aircraft fire, unfortunately that is one of the prime uses for corvettes, anti-fighter screens for larger ships.  Light bolters pumped out fire at the fighters.

 

[Lushin]

Left out in the cold
Romulus moved with the others to secure the perimeter. He along with the others, waited for airsupport to move through. "Once our birds come into view I say we move out. Use them for cover. Hit the base while they are dealing with the ships"

[Prof B Hunnydew]

Hellooooooooo Nurse!....

Lt Nova awakes again to a view of the sick bay ceiling, she find she more clear headed and her eyes more focus and she hunger is but manageable level.  With awake mind also come the pains and hurts of her abused body that is weighting her down.  "Computer, raising head of the bed to 30 degree, please?" ask Nova and waits to see if the computer will raise it for her.

She turns her head and see that the little green guy is looking better than before  Yea, a little brighter Green in his fur.  and Loki is still sleeping but he should be counted out of any mischief. 

PBH

[Azlan]

The Doctor is in


The unit does indeed raise the head 30 degrees as requested.

As if sensing he is being watched, Loki's eyes open and he yawns wide.  His voice starts small as he tries to find it, "hiya Nova, you look like someone used you to land that shuttle on.  Ooooh, I feel weird." 

The little fox tries to get up, but finds he has no strength to lift his own weight, "when do I get to go?"

[ShadesFox]

Burrr...

"Sounds like an idea, however there are a number of things in there that have me concerned.

For one thing, that corvette will do unpleasant things to the fighters.  After the initial attack we should take out the towers, then work to the corvette."

Aaron liked his plan, he always did like his plans though.  He was the one the devised them.  Still, it wasn't often that his plans were attack plans.

[techmaster-glitch]

Right over the perimeter of the pirate base, in a thick of laser fire

   "EVASIVE ACTION!" Nazareth yelled over his comm to his wingmen as the barrage of laser fire came up from the corvette. Dammit, I wasn't expecting it to be active without being launched... Nazareth thought, frustrated. He furiously began scanning the corvette and tried to lock in target areas for the missile salvo...then all five Zetas overshot the corvette, trying to dodge the deadly thicket.
   "Blast it!" Nazareth cursed. Then some garbled speech came over his comm from Major Brown. "Please," Nazareth growled out through clenched teeth, trying to lock targets, evade lasers, and concentrate on thinking at the same time, so you couldn't blame him if he was slightly edgy. "You have your own job to do, and we have ours. Now stop making plans to take out our targets while we're being shot at and let us do our job."
   Then the canyon wall came up. Another thing to multitask. "Pull up!" Nazareth roared. The five Zetas, still dodging lasers, all attempted to pull up and turn around for a second pass, but the heavy load of the missile ordinance was weighing them down. As they were turning, Nazareth saw a small flash outside of his cockpit.
   "Norton!"
   "I'm hit, but not bad, I can hold for awhile."
   A small commbeep chimed on Nazareth's console, with a small computerized voice saying "Targets confirmed."
   Finally, Nazareth thought.
   All the Zetas were turned around, and heading back for the second pass. Nazareth quickly sent the target areas on the corvette to the others. They were just five areas along the spine of the ship at regular intervals, not targeting any specific system.
   The corvette was back in view, lengthwise, and loosing it's deadly bolts at the group. "Spray that ship with pulse plama and heavy rails, try to jar up those turrets, we need to fly straight for this." the five fighters started randomly blasting from range, and it began working; the blaster fire became erratic and innacurate. It wouldn't stay that way for long though. Fortunatly Nazareth didn't need that long.
   They got closer to the ship. "On my mark, drop six missiles on your target areas. I don't want to take any chances." Nazareth said. The others confirmed his order. The ship was even closer. "Steady..." Closer... "Steady..." Closer...
   "FIRE!"
   In unison, the five Crusading Scales let loose six heavy missiles each, for a total salvo of thrity. The Sabers flew directly overhead of the corvette at the same time the missiles impacted it's hull. The fireworks on the side of the cruiser's hull were spectacular, instantly rupturing the hull and blowing off about a third of it, but Nazareth looked in his rearview HUD, that was going to be small compared too...
   Two seconds after the initial impact, the entire ship exploded from the massive critical damage. The blast radius was wide and strong enough that the entire landing platform was completely obliterated with nothing but a crater left, as well as knocking down several adjacent structures. It even rattled the Zetas slightly, what with debris flying past them.
   Nazareth immediately got on his command-to-command comm. "Ground team, this is Zeta-One, we have their attention, you are in the clear! You have a green light to infiltrate! I repeat, you have a green light! Go, go, go!"

[Azlan]

Echo Base


A finely dressed human male of a mixed descent of Asian and Caucasian ancestry entered the mostly deserted study and bowed low to the rather nervous heavier set man with the rather dashing mustache and goatee.

"Sir, I regret to inform you that your ship has just blown up."

The heavier man hammered the hard wood desk with his fist, "I can see that Benawi!  Now what?"

The other man, who has not straightened up from his bow, replies calmly, "I suppose we shall be killed sir."

"That's really not good for business Benawi."


Meanwhile, outside...


The fence turrets manage to finally get themselves online and fire at the fighters, but their targeting systems are somewhat substandard.

[ShadesFox]

Burn

"Well, so much for taking the corvette part of the plan.  You heard the fellow in the sky, lets go get us some pirates!"

[Prof B Hunnydew]

Good Bedside Matters?

"Oh no You are stuck there until my body heals enough to walk .. no to run you down, and stop anymore mischief from you. God and Goddess, Be careful what you wish for, My Granny Bam would said, You may get it.

No waltzing around without your body, I wouldn't be able to carry you back to that body or shell or whatever you run around in.  Most people have a string at least connecting their bodies and souls.  You just have a path, and Goddess forbid if you do not have the strength to travel it." shouts the catgirl, and falls back panting.... "Damn, If I can't even get a drink of water around here."  Nova finds a robot arm with a straw tube moving to her face, but computer only allows enough water for a small sip to wet her mouth and throat, then to moving back.

"Well, Loki, If you are awake, we may as well report to Capt Summers" says the defeated Nova, knowing full well none of what she says make it though to the Lord of Chaos. "Comms.... voice mail to Capt Summers ....Lt Hunnydew request meeting with the captain when he can spare some time.  Please.  Lt Nova Hunnydew out... End message"

PBH

[Azlan]

Damn it Jim, I'm a doctor not a...


Nova knew and probably Loki knew as well, that despite bobbing his head up in down in response to Nova's orders, they had likely gone in one fuzzy fox ear and out the other faster then she could speak them.  He just smiled happily, the type of smile a mischevious child gives to their unaware parent to placate them.

The request to meet with the captain garnered a quick response, earning a direct conference as soon as the request was completed.

"Lieutenant Nova, you are awake.  When I received the report that you and... Loki was it... were injured, I was concerned.  The mission was supposed to be uneventful at best, we had received assurances from the militia that the area was safe.  I hope it is nothing serious."  The captain seemed reasonably concerned, a bit more then most commanding officers she had been under.

A blue fox elbowed his way into view of the screen, "how is... you know who?"

Before Nova could answer, Loki bounded out of bed and hopped up next to Nova, his previous weakness and grevious injury seemingly forgotten, "hihi Ix, how ya been?"

The one Loki called Ix smiled, but gave a nudge to his side and mouthed a word that looked to be, "Kanzoria."

Loki sighed as the captain resumed full view.

Captain Summers continued his conversation with Nova, "I see our guest came out relatively unscathed.  Now, your report on your findings would help... as we seem to have an alien vessel berthed on the Phalanx with you."



Fire and Ice


Major Brown's command was acknowledged by Ben and Romulus's teams and both professionally moved into action.  The two snipers moved to positions along the ridge and made short work of the tower guards before the rest of the teams hit the fence line.  Taking precautions for potential electrification, the team opened a big hole in the fence.

Ben's team entered first, securing the area.

[Lushin]

Oh it's a pirate's live I'm takeing
Romulus comes back down from his sniper perch and has his team follow Ben's team into the Pirate base.

[techmaster-glitch]

Skrimish over Pirate Base

   Nazareth heard the confirmation of Major Brown's Spec Ops troops moving in. He switched over to his squad communicator.
   "All right, Crusading Scales, the worms have entered the garden. Time to put on an act and keep the hostile's attention away from our friends. Let's make it look good.
   " First, take out two of the cannons, but leave one standing. Harass the rocket infantry, but don't kill off most of them. If we eliminate all of their defences, they're going to start wondering why we're just flying in circles. Pirates may not be the geniuses of the galaxy, but they're not dumb, they'll figure out the diversion sooner or later. Let's make it later. Split up, pick your targets at will. Remember, mostly harass, kill some, but leave most of them alive, in not neccessarily unhurt. Keep the Ground Team in your scaners, and try to draw attention away from wherever they are. "
   The Crusading Scales had turned around for a third pass when Nazareth finished issuing his battle plan. As per orders, the Zetas split up to bother separate areas of the base they were somewhat distant from where the ground squad broke in.
   Nazareth saw a small group of rocket infantry taking aim at him. Nazareth swooped in low, shooting his pulse plasma cannons in an attempt to scatter them. Some of them did, but four of them remained firm. As Nazareth flew over them and pulled up, they fired their rockets. "Blast." Nazareth said. He pulled to the right to dodge the first, did a left barrel-roll to dodge the next two, and flipped up and over to dodge the last. The last one almost hit him, even though he dropped a good fraction of his heavy missiles earlier he still was weighed down by the rest. After he had done so, he saw a fifth rocket off to his left, launched from a pirate on a tower who's launcher looked longer and shinier than the others. The rocket itself was also chrome-plated, and looked more polished than the other rugged dull brown rockets.. But Nazareth didn't have any time to register these facts, and instead pulled around to head right at the rocket. At the second-to-last second, he pulled sharply up and right. But out of his rearview HUD, the rocket was...turning! It wasn't a rocket at all!
   "BLAST! A seeker missile!" Nazareth recognized it then; it was an old-model ISF anti-vehicle missile. Nazareth's first though was, How did they get their hands on those kinds of munitions? but that thought was quickly brushed aside; pirates lived off of stolen technology.
   But Nazareth didn't have time to ponder these thoughts, as the missile was on his tail, and gaining. Nazareth tried to shake it, but it was useless; older model it may have been, but it's tracking system was still good. It's manuverabilty wasn't special however, but it's tracking 'determination' made up for that deficiency. Nazareth then saw the infernal missile pirate loading up for a second shot. That gave Nazareth an idea, Return to sender...
   Nazareth then pulled down for what looked like kamikazi attack on the missile pirate. The pirate looked up in absolute shock; there was no way he could get away if Nazareth crashed into him. Then Nazareth opened up a comm channel on all frequencies, and directed the transmission at the pirate. "I think you lost something, little man!" Was all that Nazareth said before pulling off.
   The pirate just blinked in confusion, and didn't even have time to open his mouth to scream when his own missile impacted at the base of his feet on the top of the tower. The tower's tip was blasted black, and random pieces of the pirates body rained down to the ground.
   That was too close... Nazareth thought. A comm suddenly came over for him fron Norton;
   "I'm having trouble with my stabilizers, it must be from when I was hit earlier."
   "Pull out and land somewhere, you can't do any more good if you're damaged. See if you can patch up the hit."
   "Yes, sir."
   Nazareth then opened up his command-to-command comm again. "Major Brown? How much time do you think you'll need to complete whatever your objective is? One of my men has had to pull out."

[Prof B Hunnydew]

My report....ah the Dog ate it

The ship is an AI that calls itself Mother, and it looks after these "Kids" or Fox cubs.( points to Loki and Ix} It also seem to have enough fire power to destroy the Phalanx even if it were outside the shields.  It was testing us, or I sure say that Loki and Mother were testing us.  To see if we would try to save him, Loki.  I don't know if Loki knew about the ambush before hand.  But he did stay with us to try to stop the pirates from killing us. * pauses* I wishs I to thank the rescue crew." reports Lt Nova.

"Also, Loki feels that we need to find another ship." says Nova "My granny Sarah's ancient Shipwreck on Regina 3, which no one has found since.  Because it is not on Regina 3..."

PBH

[Azlan]

Skirmish over Pirate Base


The pirate anti-air troopers with their rocket launchers kept near the cannon towers, largely thwarting the Zeta's attempts to take them out as everytime they tried, they were met with proximity detonating and armor piercing rockets.

Norton was lucky his fighter had VTOL capabilities, because with stabilizer problems, he was not confident enough to try and reach escape velocity.  He put his fighter down next to the dropship and called for the "fighter taxi". 

Nazareth's unbelievable maneuver with the tracking missile was unluckily counterbalanced as a rocket impacted the cockpit area of his fighter (fuselage area, not the canopy).


Pirate base perimeter


As both teams moved into the compound, they met with no resistance.  The only active pirate forces are in the gun towers and around them, which are not near the teams' position.

The base is small, with what was once a landing field, a large hanger building of some sort, a pair of small barracks style buildings and a larger administrative type building.


My karma ran over your dogma.


Ixiah stuck his head back into screen view and shook it, "no, Mother does not look after all us... 'kids', just errant little Loki.  My personal ship is... elsewhere."

The Captain raised an eyebrow at Nova's comments, "please elaborate on what you mean about this shipwreck."

Loki quietly and seriously makes a reply directed at Ixiah, "she found Xaos and Gaea's ship... and all indications are that they may still be in it."

Ixiah turned pale, "oh dear, that is not good news."

[Lushin]

Nock, nock. Avon calling
Romulus kept his gun train on one of the barracks. He then looks at his squad and turns on his com "Ok here what's I think what should go down. Ben and my teams each sweep a barracks. Make sure there is no one hiding in them. While we are sweeping the barracks Nitro and Ben's demo person can set up explosives to take out the towers, if you have any thing big left Nitro. Amanda, The Major and Richard there could secure the larger building" Romulus then looks to Amanda and Aaron to see what they think.