05:00 January 9th, 1648 AC Batavian Standard Meridian Date TimeHMCS Bonaventure (DSC 013), Cassandra’s state room
Cassandra felt her Ghost waking her up at 0500, exactly as she set up the day before. She yawned slightly as she stretched in her bed, as she praised the Stars and Tides for the advances in implant technology humanity was now able to enjoy. While the human body still longed for its full eight hours of sleep, even in the time of the old Terran water navies, the Admiralty noticed that the senior officers rarely got even five to six hours on a good day. The Biometric Integration Suite, lovingly nicknamed the Pulse, did wonders to improve an exhausted crewmember’s quality of sleep, with the only cost being some additional food supplements. It was an elegant solution that Cassie had no idea how Navy crews ever functioned without..
It was also definitely made easier by the more modern squadron commander state rooms aboard the Orion class deep space carriers, compared to the rooms she was used to aboard Starlight. It was still quite compact, and definitely designed for function over comfort, but compared to her old berthings, they seemed excessive, almost palatial.
Granted, this time she was effectively the deputy CAG and the officer in command of all of the reserve personnel of the ship.
It followed the same utilitarian design language that ran through Bonaventure’s interior. Recessed deck lights traced the edges of the floor, with roof lights illuminating the rest of the space, making the dark, ferric alloy composite flooring feel a bit warmer than the rest of the ship spaces. The rest of the flooring was covered by navy blue padding.
Her narrow bunk, with its quite comfortable mattress, was built directly into the wall, the framing seamlessly integrated into the ship. Right behind the space for her head was a small shelf holding the few books and the datapad she brought with her to Bonaventure. The wall to her left held a storage container which had the rest of personal belongings neatly stored inside. Opposite the sleeping space was her desk, sticking out of the bulkhead at its base with a slanted console on one side and a holographic screen projector in front. Those systems could be easily linked to her Halo, making work flow smoothly for the officers of the ship. She did, however, have a few stacks of papers, rosters and other documents and a second datapad sitting on the surface beside an empty coffee cup.
Most of the remaining walls in her state room were designed with utility in mind. The designers worked in a few empty shelves, labels for device access ports, a drink dispenser for the most necessary of officer liquids, a couple of screens with readouts on the ship’s status, and a single couch in front of her work station, intended for more private meetings with officers of her portion of the air wing.
Beyond the small amount of personal items, Cassandra didn’t really have time to bring many of her belongings with her, nor the time to personalize her quarters. She considered putting up a flag or bringing more of her own books, but in the end Cassandra opted for a single starfighter model that was now sitting on her desk, her old squadron patch from Starlight with the most odd of her personal items being a bean shaped plushie that was meant to resemble a dragon, which was presently inside of her private storage near her bed.
After putting on her shipsuit and uniform, fixing her hair and going through her morning routine, Cassandra filled her standard black navy coffee mug at the drink dispenser with coffee and went over to sit down at her workstation. She took a brief sip and sighed. Naturally, this was much worse than the coffee in the office mess or the wardroom the day before, but there was only so much those smaller drink dispensers could do, despite all of the advances in technology over the centuries. Her Ghost linked with the holoscreen of her desk and projected the messages she received while asleep, and she let out a slight groan at the flurry of pop-ups that filled her vision.
Most of it was things she expected. The message that stood out to her bleary eyes was the notice that the delivery of their new Typhoons and Starfire missiles was scheduled for 1400, which just needed her mental signature. The rest was just coordination with the rest of the Green Squadron, which resulted in a very long paper trail from the other departments which were reassigned into the reservist portion of the air wing, but the true kick in the guts were the updated flight schedules and deck access times from Radish.
He really wants us off this ship, does he? Cassandra thought bitterly as she confirmed receiving the messages as she continued going through her paperwork.
She shuffled the messages from her civilian life aside. She already expected this to be a long deployment, so she had her belongings stored at a friend’s home before cancelling the rent on her apartment. It was quite a shame, she liked that place, but there simply wasn’t any way around it. She hoped she would see a message from Magellan, but unfortunately there was nothing.
More surprising was a message from her new WSO. She didn’t know if she should be impressed or feel bad for the girl. This was just about the most formal and anxious sounding message she could imagine. Did that girl not sleep? She also thought as she saw the timestamp. She had to do a double take on the schedule of the green squadron as she saw it was sent at 0432 that day. She rolled her eyes and sighed.
The rest of her morning routine was fairly calm, which she was quite thankful for. She got her exercise in the flight country gym, greeted a few of the senior noncoms, exchanged a few words, some idle chatter and then, just as she was about to head towards the green squadron wardroom for breakfast…
“A-Ah! C-Commander van Ness. L-Lieutenant Junior Grade Bakker reporting…!” She heard the familiar, anxious voice right behind her. She took a moment, closing her eyes for a second before turning around to take a look at Lorelei Bakker who was readily saluting to her.
“At ease, Lorelai. You are my WSO… No need for so much formality. At least not here.” Cassandra said with a slight nod. “... I’ve got your message. Do you have trouble sleeping?” She asked casually, nodding in the direction of the green squadron’s ward room.
“Y-Yes… Commander van Ness… It was… so sudden.” Lorelai got out of herself, repeating the entirety of Cassandra’s rank and last name again. This will take a white… Cassandra thought to herself.
“Seraph, Cassandra or just Cass is fine, Lorelai. At least at times like these.” She began simply, waving her hand dismissively. “But if those issues will persist… have doc…” she began, checking the medical professional assigned to green squadron through her Ghost. “... Graveland check your Pulse and prescribe you something.”
Sleep was something of importance, even if they could accelerate it. And pilots especially needed to be alert. Lorelai quickly nodded, hurrying after Cassandra as they walked through the corridors of the flight country.
It didn’t take them long to reach the small wardroom of the green squadron. It was tucked away just besides the ready rooms of the carrier. Quite compact but just like everything else, larger than on a Commonwealth Strike Cruiser. It was still a familiar sight, space filled with the more informal hum of conversation of her new squadron’s pilots. For Cassandra this familiarity brought a bit of comfort.
There were several tables bolted to the deck, filling up most of the space, the ferric alloy surfaces showing a dull, dark grey surface. The tables were spacious enough for about eight officers to eat a light meal or share a hot beverage and go over some notes or chat. The lighting was brighter than in the personal spaces and berthings, but still a bit softer than the corridors of the ship, with amber strips of colour along the deck edges cutting through the otherwise cold and uncaring bulkheads.
It was nonetheless, surprisingly empty. It was understandable, given the fact that the squadron just arrived on a brand new carrier, but it was still an odd look to Cassandra who was used to those spaces being lived in.
The compact galley unit on one side was fitted into the structure of the carrier, housing several dispensers, breakfast and other food packages, utensils, cups and more importantly a proper coffee machine. It already hummed steadily as it worked, filling in another aviator’s cup. Cassandra quietly wondered if it was the same local coffee which was in the wardroom on the command deck as she walked over to the small food preparation space together with Lorelai. She casually grabbed two trays, setting one in front of Lorelai before setting down a breakfast package. Lorelai tried to protest, muttering something about skipping breakfasts, but Cassandra instead interrupted her with a question.
“How do you take your coffee?”
“U-Uh… B-Black is good.” Lorelai muttered to Cassandra’s surprise, but she nodded, taking two cups of coffee and setting them on the trays before walking over towards one of the free tables. Lorelai quickly followed after her, holding her own tray in front of her. They sat down, Lorelai sitting right in front of Cassandra, nervously opening her breakfast package with both hands.
The breakfast which one could take in a wardroom was fairly standard for a package like this. A croissant sliced down the middle with salad, cheese, ham and tomatoes stacked between the two halves. It wasn’t quite as large or hearty as what was served in the squadron mess hall, but it was faster to eat and still quite good when one was in a rush for the day. The packages also tasted fresh, thanks to the packaging and the frequent refilling. The coffee was also surprisingly good. While not quite as good in the command deck wardroom, it was still the same, local brand of beans from Corlain. Cassandra took a long sip of the coffee while looking over her other paperwork on her Shine while Lorelai slowly nibbled away at the breakfast croissant.
“We have a squadron briefing at 0700. Normally we’d have our squadron brief before that… But the CAG is busy with other duties.” Cassandra noted before taking a bite from her own croissant. It definitely was good.
“T-The others… Um- The other pilots… They don’t want us here, right?” Lorelai asked slowly, her gaze firmly pointed into the ferric metal alloy of the table as if she wanted to drill a hole into it with her gaze. But… Cassandra couldn’t say she didn’t understand her feelings on the matter.
“Don’t worry about that.” She said with confidence she herself didn’t feel. “We’ll show them we are just as good as they are.” She said casually before taking another bite.
“Uhmm… My results… They aren’t good.” Lorelai noted. So that was what you wanted to talk about… Cassandra thought. And it was true. Lorelai was barely passing in both physical abilities and her abilities in the cockpit.
“Don’t worry about that. We’ll catch you up on sim time and we should get plenty of flight hours as we deploy.” Cassandra said and hoped by Stars and Tides that what she said was true. Both of them would definitely get tested and she had to make sure that Lorelai wouldn’t sense any uncertainty from her once they would connect their Ghosts in the cockpit.
“Don’t mind me asking but… Why did you join the navy, Lorelai?” Cassandra asked the smaller girl as she continued to eat. The girl nervously shifted her gaze to the side, swallowing her bite and shrinking in her seat before speaking.“Errr… Uhhh… I got… Set up by my friends… Or well… Not really friends… They told me to come somewhere and… uhh… it was a recruitment spot for the starfighter corps.” She muttered out.
Cassandra was in complete and utter disbelief.
“I couldn’t really say… no… so… uhh… they tested me for implant compatibility and it turned out well… and I somehow passed physical. And well… Uhh… I thought that after passing all the tests I could use it to pay for my later education…” The girl finally finished.
That would explain a lot, Cassandra thought. She gave the girl a smile which she hoped to Stars and Tides was reassuring and set down her coffee cup.“That’s… Definitely a very unique way of joining the navy… but I am sure you’ll be able to catch up with the rest of the pilots here. You have potential and we’ll figure things out in the cockpit.” She told the smaller girl and then returned her attention to her own breakfast and coffee, giving the girl a chance to steady herself before the squadron meeting.
07:00 January 9th, 1648 AC Batavian Standard Meridian Date TimeHMCS Bonaventure (DSC 013), Green Squadron ready roomA little bit later, all of the Green Squadron pilots and WSOs were gathered in the ready room again. She quickly glanced over them, checking if everyone was gathered with her Ghost before clearing her throat. That seemed to be enough to get everyone’s attention this time.
“Good morning everyone. I hope that you had some time to take in your surroundings and familiarize yourself with the flight country. For the foreseeable future, that will be our home.” Cassandra said while bringing up the schedule of the Squadron on the holoprojector of the ready room.“I looked over your performance and the CAG said that he doesn’t intend to let you even take off from the deck, unless those numbers improve.” she began, tapping the stand in front of her. “While I would normally disagree, most of you have been flying Tempests until now and high command issued our squadron with the shiny new Typhoons.” She said with emphasis on each machine’s name, bringing up a hologram of the Anchorpoint Typhoon. “I won’t be doing a full technical brief… I sent the information to your Ghosts already, and we also have a number of other reserve pilots informally joining us on decision of the CAG. Schedules for flying the Albedos strike fighters, Valwind dropships and the Galaxy AWACS were sent to you with the most senior pilots in your group serving as your provisional squadron leads.”
She was quite glad she didn’t have to go over it in detail. The way Radish set things up they were essentially a second air wing of their own squeezed onto a deep space carrier which was for all intents owned by a different air wing.
“Since you were assigned to me, I’ll be commanding you and planning joint exercises as if you were an air wing I would be taking to battle. So- for as long as you won’t be passing the navy standard for an air wing, everyone is going to be doing double simulator time minimum.” She said, ignoring the pained groans and wincing from the room.“I already arranged it with the deck chief. After your warm up time at 1300 to 1400 hours we will have more simulator time at 1600 to 1800. This will be a tough day, so we shifted meetings and our other duties around. I also encourage anyone who will be able to get more sim time to do so. We won’t get the luxury to fail, everyone.”She said, gesturing over to the holo projector. “But because I am not heartless… I will give you a quick sum up of what you can expect from your first simulator battle as our own air wing. In the simulation there will be a convoy distress call the ship will answer to. I already arranged for some of our ship’s weapon officers to join the exercise and they agreed. So prepare yourself with that in mind.” The holo projector displayed the battle situation. Lit in green was a group of civilian ships with a trio of hostile frigates marked in red and a small carrier conversion closing in with the group. The jade green light marking the Empyrean and her air group was deploying on the side, aiming for an intercept.“I will look forward to your performance. Green squadron… dismissed.”