Episode 11 - Granada Vanguard [4th]

[Psyden]

Celeste pushes off the floor (or ceiling?) at a angle and skips off the floor, flying past Celeine before skillfully spilling speed and landing gentle on her feet on a bend in the wall way.

Looking up at Celeine, who is now seemingly falling towards her in slow motion, she points down the hallway that leads to the mess hall.

“Come on, the Mess’s this way!”

Celeste may seem a bit playful, considering that not a few minutes ago was crying, but she’s always been a bit of an odd one. This is just her way of getting through it.

((OOC: Isn’t spatial orientation in null-g fun?))

[The Big Zabowski]

Richard furrowed his brow as the young Izuruha seemingly began to have some sort of panic attack in the middle of his question. As the Ensign pushed back from the table and reached for his shoulder, Richard also spotted the rank tab and insignia that had, unbeknown to Richard, drawn the attention of another of his team members.

Al began to drift from the table as Richard trailed off, the glazed look in the junior officers eye bringing true concern to the Lieutenant and promptly made him leave his seat, rising as quickly as he could while taking into consideration the zero-G environment..this young kid was a strange one alright.

It was then, as Richard "stood", that Al snapped out of his panic stricken daze, stuttering out a meek reply of “...no. I haven’t been here that long...”. With a satisfied huff, Richard pushed off of the table and over toward the now composed Izuruha.

Being the man that he was, Richard now was going to take it upon himself to not only act as superior officer to the boy, but also as a friend and sounding board if he needed it. He wasn't about to have this kid fall to pieces in the middle of a sortie... Richard would never forgive himself.

This wasn't the military... and with kids like these in their ranks, hard-a**ing it wasn't going to gain any ground in helping them with their problems. It was best to use the knowledge and wisdom that these veterans gained during these turbulent times to support the kids of this new generation and to have a good foundation for the kids of tomorrow.

He found himself quoting an exert from a short story about a police officer that became a do-gooding PI for a rich foundation..with a talking car.

~One man, can make a difference..~

By then, he was now standing a foot away from the kid, obviously shaking like a leaf from his vantage point. With his right hand, he grabbed/slapped the kids shoulder to get his attention, and looked him straight in the eye.

"Al, remember the bond we pilots now supposed to share, and keep that in mind. We are a brotherhood. WE, myself especially, will always be here for ya if ya need to talk..and with that in mind I think we may have something to discuss.."

Richard then looked back to Norman, a soft glare in his eyes.

"Applegate, take Bernie with you and check out the Nemo's on the hangar deck. I want full status reports on refits, repairs, and all maintenance checks done on those suits when I get back. I want them in pristine working order.."

With that comment in the air, Richard floated toward the mess door, nodding toward it in a motion for Al to follow suit.

[King Monkey]

Of course, telling Ltjg Jacob Markado not to worry was somewhat akin to telling a fish not to swim. He was a worrier, it was inherent in his nature. In fact, about the only time he wasn't worried was when he was in combat when he was simply terrified or infuriated by the enemy.

All those people could die and there was nothing any of them could do about it. The thought left a queasy knot in his stomach and made his blood run cold. He pushed the remaining peanuts aside, his appetite gone, but his gaze remained on the shiny foil package.

"It's not enough," he murmured quietly to himself. "It's never enough."

[Fritz Ashlyn]

- The Dervish -
- Bridge -

After a conversation with Gates and Abbey about the new look of things, Fritz walked over to Jane’s comm station and picked up one of the free handsets. His voice soon echoed through the ship on the PA system. “Will all pilots please report to the mess hall for an informal meeting. Repeat, all pilots please report to the mess hall,”.

- Mess Hall -

Clute had just put his feet up on the table to enjoy some cake when Fritz’ announcement went out. He shrugged and dug in while he waited for everyone else. A couple of minutes later Michiko wandered in and sat down across from him. “I thought I was always late to these things,” she said, crossing her arms. Clute chuckled and replied, “Nah. Only reason I’m here already is ‘cause I was sittin’ here when the call went out,”.

[mcred23]

- The Dervish -
- Ready Room 1 -

It was a few hours later when Marvin strolled back into the ready room. Everyone had left, Ian and Roy to do various things, and Marvin had caught a short nap. He opened the doors and prompted found music playing far louder than it had been when he left.

Eckardy was in the same place he'd been when Hamilton had left the room, perched on a couch, his hands behind his head, eyes closed, looking quite asleep except for the steady movement of his feet in tune with the music. Marvin walked over to the stereo and turned the volume down considerably, which roused Eckardy. "You could have asked me to do that Cowboy." He said with a smirk.

Hamilton returned it. "That stuff was so loud you couldn't hear me. You'll go deaf."

"Right mom."

"Like I said, it was so loud you couldn't hear me." Marvin said.

Eckardy was starting to reply when the ships PA System cracked to life with the voice of Fritz Ashlyn. “Will all pilots please report to the mess hall for an informal meeting. Repeat, all pilots please report to the mess hall."

Both men frowned and let out audible sighs. "Well, come on Cowboy." Eckardy said and started out the door. The two headed toward the mess hall.

On the way, the came across Ian Greydon. "Going my way?"

Eddie's eyes went comically wide with horror. "I've seen this movie before! Your gonna kill ol' Cowboy here with a hacksaw and I'm going to toss you into a giant pit and crush you with a giant rock!" Both of the other pilots exchanged strange glances before Eckardy spoke again. "I thought so. Onward!" He said, pointing toward the mess hall.

As they approached the mess hall doors, Greydon tapped Eddie on the shoulder. "Any idea what this is about."

Eckardy stopped walking and turned to face them. "No, but it'll probably be interesting." Marvin rolled his eyes at this. "But I might as well start things off on a crazy note." He grinned and opened the doors and bellowed "HELLLO!".

Marvin burst out laughing while Greydon grinned to himself. There were only two people, Michiko Sato, whom Eckardy and Hamilton both vaugely knew, and another man both knew was a pilot but lacked a name for. Greydon knew neither. "S***, I hate it when I'm early. It spoils all the fun of making an enterance." Eckardy muttered as he started over toward the table where the two were at, the other two in tow. Upon arriving at the table, he nodded to the two pilots sitting there and asked, "Well kids, any idea what we're doing here?"

[EZero8]

--The Dervish--
--Hallway--

Wes was on his way back to his room when the PA crackled to life with Fritz's voice ringing out:

"Will all pilots please report to the mess hall for an informal meeting. Repeat, all pilots please report to the mess hall."

Sighing, Wes turned around and went back in the direction of the mess hall. It seemed like they were finally getting their first "assignment" as an assault squadron.

He finally arrived at the mess hall to find several people there already waiting, with many familiar faces and some new ones.

"Hey... what's going on?" he asked to nobody in particular. "Anyone have an idea on why Fritz called us over?"

[wonton bob]

- The Gela -
- Hanger -


Bernard emerges from a huddled group of mechanics. A female technician from the group kicks off toward the nearest Nemo.

The hanger is oddly quiet devoid of activity since all repairs have long been finished. Bernard hops over to Ltjg. Applegate.

"Well, we got a top notch crew here. All suits are currently combat ready. I , myself, did a systems check on each one a few hours earlier. All systems ran through their diagnostics and found no problems." Bernard nods over to the female tech entering a Nemo. "She's gonna double check the control panels and linear seats."

Bernard points to a Nemo with a custom paint job.

"Only the Lieutenant's Nemo needed some extra care. It has seen some hard core action." Bernard pauses trying to remember what the mechanics told him. "A rebuilt MSA-003 so, its got replacement plating pretty much all over, new chest thruster vents but overall they were able to tweak its performance slightly. Oh, and a new shield. The last one.. melted."

Scratching his head, Bernard wonders how such machinery can easily be made to fulfill mankind's war-like nature.

[Heretic]

Norman was secretly thankful for Bernard’s initiative in checking the Nemos. He would never admit it, but he hadn’t a clue about any of the mechanical techno-babble involved. He could pilot an MS and had a rudimentary understanding of how things worked, damned if he knew how to fix them.

"Well, we got a top notch crew here. All suits are currently combat ready. I , myself, did a systems check on each one a few hours earlier. All systems ran through their diagnostics and found no problems." Bernard nods over to the female tech entering a Nemo. "She's gonna double check the control panels and linear seats."

Norman nodded as if he understood all that, “Good work Bernard,” he said, forgoing the formalities of rank out of laziness but not being so informal as to use some short form of Bernard’s name. Norman didn’t care for short form names, after all, the short form of his name was ‘Norm.’


"Only the Lieutenant's Nemo needed some extra care. It has seen some hard core action." Bernard pauses trying to remember what the mechanics told him. "A rebuilt MSA-003 so, its got replacement plating pretty much all over, new chest thruster vents but overall they were able to tweak its performance slightly. Oh, and a new shield. The last one.. melted."

Norman understood that clear enough, “So the LT has been through some rough scrapes. Good. I’d prefer a leader who’s seen tough action and survived over some green officer who thinks he knows what to do because he read it in some book.” Norman also had his doubts about Richard. He wasn’t going to voice them and it didn’t have anything to do with combat or leadership skills or styles.

Norman didn’t agree with Richard’s ideas about moral, the ‘Never say die’ attitude. Pilot life expectancies were well known, the reality of what kind of death could be waiting just on the other side of the Gela’s armored hull was ever present. There were many ways to deal with that reality. Norman was a believer in facing it and coming to ones own way of handling it. In his case, accepting that death was probably just around the corner and choosing to face it head on in the hope that some fluke of Murphy’s Law or cosmic irony will see him through.

Richard it seemed, was the kind of man who rejected thoughts of death outright and moved forward on some internal confidence that death couldn’t touch him. Neither method was perfect and neither worked for everybody. In the case of young Al though, something would have to be done to keep the kid from breaking down in a battle situation. By the reaction Norman saw in Al after his ‘bad luck to die on an empty stomach’ line, the kid needed to face the heard realities soon. With a sigh, Norman resigned himself to the fact that he would have to have a long talk with his superior about the matter.

[Wedge14]

(OOC:I bunnied the Ensign a bit, I'm not sure how much power i have to control the NPCs but i'm willing to lighten the workload and possibly take one over full time!)

-The New Yark-
-The bridge-

Pan and the Ensign showed up at the bridge at a bad time, the whole 4th fleet was in the middle of reposition and the Captain seemed busy, so Pan pretty much had to drag Thibaut by the collar.

Pan hung around with the kid for most of the day, showing him around the ship, and planning the fastest routes to the ready room. Pan was stressing that if there was ever an emergency they should be in the ready room in a minutes time, suited up in half that and straight to the catapults.

They explored the ship thoroughly to get Chareux accustomed to everything, even actually pretending there was an emergency and getting to the ready room in time. Again it was very casual, talking about certain sports teams, their cars, women and Ramon. The Ensign he probably had no idea Pan was actually training him.

After a few hours they hit the their stomachs with some food, and visited the bridge when it wasn't busy.

Pan and Chareux floated over to the captain.

"Sir" Pan said firing off a salute. "Lt. Jg. Pan Heyden and Ensign Thibaut Chareux, we're the newest pilots It's nice to actually meet you"

Pan was a bit nervous about meeting the captain, he would know everything, he'd know about Pan's shaky military carrier the murder charges everything. The others wouldn't have access to his military profile unless they went out of their way to look at it, Pan assumed Mello hadn't seen it, so he was comfortable around the other pilots.

But who the hell has the right to make an opinion on someone, for something that was just a mistake, just an accident. None of these people where there, for all that Pan knew. They didn't know what it was like, how it was, and what he had to deal with. Noone had the right to judge him for his mistakes. No..not mistakes, there will be no more mistakes for Pan Heyden.

[wonton bob]

- The Gela -
- Hanger -


“So the LT has been through some rough scrapes. Good. I’d prefer a leader who’s seen tough action and survived over some green officer who thinks he knows what to do because he read it in some book.” Norman observed.

Bernard continues to stare at the Nemo. Hmm, I think the mechanic told me it was a Ltcmdr Eckardy's Nemo before. I'm sure Lt. Barrique is just as capable.

"Too bad we can't be put back together like that." Bernard muses as he looks over at Ltjg. Applegate and sees that he is in deep thought. Bernard decides to interrupt his train of thought because the silence was unnerving.

"We're ready for sure. But what exactly is the Fleet's next move, sir? Also I hear we are above Von Braun now. I knew a few places where one could get lost .. too bad I don't drink anymore."

[Ascension]

-Dervish, Mess Hall

Jim hated the Dervish's main mess hall, or, rather, he hated traveling to it. As he made his way towards the mess, he had to go through the always unsettling transition from the familiar microgravity of space to the opressive 9.8 meters per second per second of simulated Terran gravity. Under gravity he felt chained, sluggish, especially when the transition to full gravity was as sudden as it was aboard Irish-class vessels.

His boots clomped heavily down the hallway, through the door. He hated hearing his footsteps, loathed the sound. While weightlessness is occasionally awkward, there is much greater potential for grace when one is not tied constantly to the deck.

He thrust aside his dark thoughts as he entered the room. A meeting probably meant approaching action, and if there's one thing he was craving, it was action. It would be good to finally give his Dias a proper workout, no-holds barred...

"I take it we're mobilizing? Anybody know 'bout how many of the colony-gassing bastards are we expecting to show up for the party?"

EDIT:
((I wanted Noa, as your team leader, to run the sim aboard the Chuikov, but we've been stalled for too long, so I'm going ahead.))

-Chuikov, simulators

A shiver of fear ran down Ensign Tucker's spine as she climbed into the simulator. She knew she wasn't very good in simulated combat. She had barely made it through her combat training, and she had passed solely on the basis of her performance in training suits with paintball rounds. She had never been comfortable with sims, and she knew that her discomfort would soon show.

-Chuikov, bridge

Captain Dombrowski watched as four lonely-looking Nemos appeared on every screen which could possibly be configured to show a feed from the simulators. Behind them, the Chuikov itself, in virtual form. Ahead of them, the distant silhouette of an Alexandria class and the thruster flares of six Marasais.

The show was about to begin...

[Bright Noa]

"Oh, did I say that out loud?"

Jonas leaned over to Vantz

"Yeah.....you did....lets go on, shall we?"

-------------------------------------------
Chuikov--some time later

Jonas sat in his room looking over the sim results
Looks interesting, he thought. However, sims cannot replace actual experience in battle. I hope that these results do reflect what happens in reality....


OOC: Real life hit me so hard, I forgot this Rp was here. My apologies. *shakes fist at 3 research papers*

[Folken Fanel]

Vantz nodded at what Jonas said and mentally re-signed himself to the fact that he wasn't going to last very long in this simulator run, or in real combat for that matter.

As the simulator started up, Vantz tried to remember his basic training. Okay, you can do this. Eye of the Tiger and that crap. Oh man, I'm screwed.

The Nemo Vantz was piloting in the simulation was positioned slightly behind the other three, and he was on the far left of the formation. He moved his Nemo's shield arm in front of the main body and watched the six thruster trails of enemy mobile suits draw closer.

[Bright Noa]

OOC: Okay...lets make this a flashback then.....lol


Jonas took the point. He looked ahead at the opposing force.

"Alright team, stay focused. Alexandria-classes ain't easy to take down, especially with Marasais as support. Lets go!!"

Jonas hit the throttle and accelerated towards the enemy.

[Ascension]

((OOC: By the way, Dombrowski's setting you guys up to fail, in case you hadn't noticed... He's going to use this sim as an excuse to drill you constantly...))

Three of the Marasais charged directly at the Nemo team, firing their beam rifles. The other three went left in a wide arc, trying to circle around and attack the Chuikov while its MS escorts were occupied wtih the other Titan suits.

[Folken Fanel]

(OOC: ALright, sounds good to me.)

Vantz threw his Nemo to the side to avoid a beam shot fired by the approaching Marasais. However, he'd really slammed on the throttle, resulting in his Nemo sailing out of the formation and into the path of the Marasai's that were heading around towards the Chuikov.

Vantz, thrown off guard by this accidental interception, frantically tried to get a lock on one of the Marasai's with his rifle.

[King Monkey]

Unlike Jim, in fact, quite the opposite, Jacob preferred real Earth gravity. Born and bred on the planet, he never bought into that "gravity dragging down the soul," business and thought of it more as gravity grounding and anchoring humanity. Without that anchor, it seemed mankind was prone to radical, insane ideas...like dropping colonies on people as a legitimate form of warfare.

There was actually a bounce in his step as he walked along in the normal gravity. A bounce that would have sent him ricochetting off the walls in any other part of the ship.

It took him only a moment to spot Tideland in the small batch of pilots in the Mess Hall and he quickly moved to sit next to the man. "Lieutenant," he said with a respectful nod as he settled into his seat.

"Have you heard from David or Angelina, sir? I haven't seen them since we were transferred."

He watched the door hopefully, waiting for his remaining squadmates.

[Ascension]

The computer's AI reacted to Vantz's intrusion like sharks react to blood in the water. Vantz's wild shot blasted the left arm off their leader, but they kept coming, surrounding the Nemo, beam rifles blazing.

Caroline clumsily threw her Nemo behind Jonas's MS, thus avoiding even becoming a target of the first assault. She glanced to the side and saw the other three Marasais attacking Vantz.

"Oh no!" she cried. She turned and started firing wildly into the group.

Dombrowski narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth. They were even sloppier than he had expected...

[Fritz Ashlyn]

- The New Yark -
- Bridge -

Capt. Guanche removed his glasses and rubbed his temple. Ever since he had been reassigned to the New Yark, he had been constantly moving, organizing, reading, memorizing. Not only was the New Yark going to be relied on as a combat cruiser, but her captain was the new co-intelligence guru for the 4th. Cmdr. Guanche had served in the Titans as a sort of ‘catch-all’ officer at a bunch intelligence bureau. “We’re set, captain. Von Braun City. Should I put the pilots on stand-by?” came another question from the bridge crew.

“No, Dasilva. Just help Mr. Rausch monitor voice traffic from the city,” the captain responded, his eyes still closed. What a perfect time to develop a migraine. "Sir," came a voice from his left. "Lt. Jg. Pan Heyden and Ensign Thibaut Chareux, we're the newest pilots. It's nice to actually meet you,”.

Guanche slid his glasses back on and sat up in his chair. He responded appropriately to Heyden’s salute. “Likewise,” he replied, his hands dropping back to the chair’s armrests. Such a rush to get the ship ready for service had left him unable to meet all of his pilots properly. “I’m glad I’ve got an officer with experience to lead the team. That, and perhaps a fresh-faced rookie we can pound our own ideals and foibles into. Welcome to the New Yark, gentlemen,”.

- The Dervish -
- Hallway

On the 4th’s flagship, the fleet’s other intelligence officer was on his way to the mess hall. Fritz realized he could hear the sound of his boot heels clicking on the hall’s floor and found the gravity and familiar noise comforting. His thoughts wandered from the imminent meeting with the other pilots to what he had been reading in his room before he had gone to the bridge.

The incident report on Vaughnz Nuqui’s death said he was shoulder-rammed by a Marasai in orbit. His name was one of the few that had truly made Fritz’ heart sink when he found it on the casualty list. Sure, it had been tough reading about Grave going down in an outdated machine, but Vaughnz had been different. Fritz had saved Nuqui’s life early in the escort operation, but he wasn’t there when the kid really needed him...

Fritz shook his head and dispelled that train of thought. He had seen enough combat duty to know that sort of idea would bog him down and get him killed. Vaughnz had died in orbit so the fleet could complete their mission. His death was unfortunate, just as much as any other, but it wasn’t the end of the world... And yet... “God, I hope someone feels more than that when it’s my time...”

But now he found himself at the mess hall door. He reached up to straighten a cap that wasn’t there and quickly changed the motion to slick his hair back. The door opened on nine of the Dervish’s pilots already occupying a table around Lt. Tideland, who was still working on a container of cake. Fritz quickly waved down any attempts at salutes or rising from seats and grabbed a chair next to Michiko and Jim. “Has anyone seen Lt. David or Ltjg. Angelina?” he asked quietly enough to not interrupt any conversations.

- Bridge -

After settling in to wait for orders, the 4th had been quickly contacted by the AEUG command unit in Von Braun. After some tense debate about the future of the fleet, Gates and Abbey had secured the 4th’s autonomous designation and agreed to join the city’s defense unit. Shortly afterward, the Argama contacted the Dervish. Gates, quite satisfied with himself for the time being, retreated to one of the nearby break rooms for coffee. “We’re estimating the 10th, sir,” Torres answered, nodding. Abbey rubbed his chin and shook his head. “I don’t like it. Exactly what do they expect us to do, again?”.

Torres frowned slightly and nodded, “We’re not too keen on the idea, either. The plan for now is to have the Argama rise out of the city and engage them at a safe distance, with your fleet ‘below’ us in Von Braun as the center of a support line. If you ask me, somebody down there pulled that right out of their a–“. “That’s enough, Torres,” interrupted Bright’s voice from somewhere off screen.

[Folken Fanel]

Beam shots surrounded Vantz's Nemo, tearing off its head and left leg. His training began to take over and Vantz managed to block two shots that would've hit his cockpit before the shield was blown out of the Nemo's hand.

Vantz fired at the Marasai he'd hit earlier and tried to get out of the deadly circle of fire the Marasais had him in by flying underneath them. Vantz knew he couldn't last long against them, but he could try and wear them out for the other pilots and the Chuikov's AA guns.