23:39 January 11th, 1648 AC Batavian Standard Meridian Date TimeDSC-013 Bonaventure, En route to Vidar, Cassandra’s State Room
Cassandra leaned back in her chair at her work station. There was so much that needed to be done; messages from department heads, readiness reports on both personnel and equipment, stacks of virtual paperwork she needed to put her Ghost signature on, and the logs from simulator exercises. She let out a sigh, gently scratching the bean shaped dragon plushie on her lap along its dark green back ridge, the pressure on the outer fabric of the squishy creature making its brown horns wiggle.
Thankfully her workload went down slightly, as the admin personnel of the squadron were slowly getting acclimated to the military’s system.. Unfortunately, for the most important documents, she would still need to sign them herself. While she was confident that the reservists of the admin personnel assigned to the Green Squadron would eventually shake off their own rust, right now… it was going to be hell for her.
“Days of planning for a few hours of fun in the black sky… huh?” Cassandra muttered as she looked down into her lap on the smug creature presently occupying it. And then she noticed something else, looking over to the panel showing the front of her door.
There was another creature standing outside, one that was very small and easily startled.
She didn’t… ring? Or knock? Nothing? How long was she standing there? Cassandra thought as she looked at the diminutive form of Lorelai in front of the door to her state room. She was poking her fingers together and looking very, very lost. She could also tell that she was very unsure whether or not to disturb Cassandra.
The leader of Green Squadron sighed, set aside the round form of the dragon plushie, and used her Ghost to interact with the door to open it.
Lorelai gasped, startled by the door suddenly opening.
“C-C-Cassandra! A-Ah- Commander van Ness! Uh-uhmm… I am… uhh…” she began explaining, her complexion pale as she was trying to explain her presence. Cassandra did a mental check on the clock and shrugged slightly.
“Do you want to sit down and have some coffee before we head to the ready room?” she offered. Lorelai furiously nodded in agreement, as she entered the room and sat down in one of the couches, which was on the left side of Cassandra’s room.
Cassandra walked over to the drink dispenser and began preparing two cups of the liquid black gold of the navy.
“Are you nervous about your first sortie into the void from a carrier deck?” Cassandra asked, figuring that this was the reason for Lorelai’s panic.
Lorelai nodded again, and Cassandra noticed that the other woman’s shoulders slowly relaxed. She was clearly thankful that Cassandra was doing most of the talking.
Lorelai’s usual anxiety aside, it wasn’t surprising to Cassandra; many pilots were stressed out when faced with the reality of their first launch off the deck of a carrier. In a way, the hover or launch bay takeoffs from Strike Cruisers or more improvised carriers weren’t that stressful. Most of it was handled by the system and combat takeoffs weren’t expected, and on some ships, they even weren’t possible.
On the flip side, Deep Space Carrier pilots were supposed to be the elite. Pilots were supposed to have certifications for landings and takeoffs under stressful situations, and even in the most hellish of combat conditions, one’s performance would be graded.
She picked up the two cups of black coffee and headed back over to her desk, shuffling one cup over to Lorelai before leaning back into her chair. The other woman seemed to be lost in thought, looking at the dragon plushie which was smugly observing the pair of pilots from the side. If she looked closer, she could’ve sworn that Lorelai’s eyes were… sparkling?
Cassandra cleared her throat to get her attention. The effect was instantaneous: Lorelai immediately snapped to attention, her spine going ram-rod straight as she whipped her head to face her.
“Don’t worry too much. It’s just like the simulations. You did really well, even in the pilot role. Plus, under most conditions, the flight control laws will handle the majority of the variables. Not to mention you’ll have me focusing on the take-off itself.” She gave Lorelai a smile, “you won’t have to do this yourself until you get your pilot certification.”
Lorelai seemed relieved the more that Cassandra spoke, and she was a little dismayed that the other woman was twisting herself up in knots over this. Did she really believe someone would force her to do this?
Cassandra pondered it, taking a sip from her cup, enjoying the rich taste of Corlain black coffee on her tongue. The Commonwealth really had the best beans in the entire service.
“Now, shall we head to the ready room? We should be on standby.”
“A-Ah! Y-Yes!” Lorelai said with a gasp.
00:00 January 12th, 1648 AC Batavian Standard Meridian Date TimeDSC-013 Bonaventure, En Route to Vidar, Green Squadron Ready Room
Cassandra and Lorelai entered the now familiar Green Squadron ready room. Immediately, she noticed the slim and smaller form of Emery Bishop, who was idly playing with a lock of her dirty blonde hair while reviewing a datapad. There was also Bas Achterkamp, a tall man with his short blonde hair cropped into a military cut. Both of them were sitting in the front seats, with Emery not paying the other pilot any attention as Bas ate one of the croissants from the automats in the room. It was filled with ham, cheese and salad, and while it looked dangerously close to collapse, Bas somehow managed to keep the entire thing from making a mess of the table or his uniform.
Cassandra chuckled. “Alright, Liner, Deaf. Are you two ready for the brief?” she asked as she entered the room. Neither of them said anything, with both of them merely giving humming signs of agreement. Lorelai, meanwhile, slipped to one of the seats opposite to the two more experienced pilots, once more trying to blend into the furniture.
I really hope she will stop being so nervous around other Greens, Cassandra thought as she went over to the front, going over her briefing notes and glancing over the deck info readouts in the screens located near the ceiling of the briefing room. She spared a brief glance at the flight deck and hangar feeds.
It didn’t take long for the other officers to start making their way into the briefing room. The now familiar Intel Officer, Winkel, appeared first with another pair of officers; one with air wing insignia, with the other bearing the stylized anchor of Starfleet.
Cassandra waited for everyone to get seated, emptying her cup of coffee before flicking on the holoscreen. It took a moment for it to flash through the readouts and diagnostic screens before loading Bonaventure’s orbital transfer plot, with the paths simplified and the progress frozen at the moment the ship began its manoeuvre burn towards Vidar.
“For the pilots in this room, this is our first real sortie off the deck. Any questions will be answered at the end, Lieutenants,” she began in a formal tone of voice, before letting the time on the holographic projection of Bonaventure's trip from Wijtschate flow again. showing the carrier’s trajectory as it was joined by several SysDef corvettes. They escorted her past the familiar form of Crestfall and past the moon of Tidemark, the orbital paths of the two corvettes diverging after Bonaventure left the planetary safety zone.
Everyone could also see the dots representing the Red Squadron’s Typhoons and their Mirage II-type loyal wingman drones.
“SysDef doesn’t have that many assets, and they usually are focused on protecting the high orbitals and main merchant routes in the system. We should not rely on them too much.” Cassandra placed her hands against the podium as she continued, “We got no confirmed hostile void assets, but we did have a merc attack on Wijtschate. So keep your eyes peeled. Now… Lieutenant Commander Winkel?” Cassandra turned towards the intel officer.
The younger officer nodded and smoothly continued where Cassandra had left off. “The good news is that we got no records of stowaways. After the contractors finished their work, a few were assigned to Green Squadron to support the Ground Crews. They will give us some extra hands while we get the rest of the ship ready for combat.” He made a clicking gesture with his left hand, and the screen changed to a view of the traffic around the carrier. “In the meantime, we have had no updates since the last Marchaussee report, and we should have more information on the attack once we reach Vidar. The best part of the situation right now, with half of the system on restricted traffic? We got low civilian traffic in our segment of space.”
When he finished, Cassandra nodded and pointed over to the screen, as she fought the urge to roll her eyes at the clicking gesture Winkel made as he handed control of the display back to her. “We picked up IFF from the only civilian ships around at the moment. Two standardized Liberty type freighters. One Gordeldier type transport owned by civilians, and a contracted mining ship in the asteroid field. All of them were advised to avoid our security zone and their manifests have been checked by SysDef. They are marked in our battlespace as Passage One through Four,” Cassandra continued.
“We’ll be a two fighter CAP flight. Marked Sage One and Sage Two. We got four Mirage IIs as our main backup. Operate under standard protocol, standard rules of engagement. Weapons free only if we get confirmed hostile contacts, or in clear self-defense. We’ll maintain visual and sensor coverage, report any contacts to AWACS Galaxy and protect the ship… and most importantly…” she added, tapping the stand in front of her. “Do not embarrass the Squadron. This is our chance to show we are a part of this Air Wing.”
“Siren and I fly as Sage One. Liner and Deaf as Two. We’ll maintain standard combat spread with one millisecond spacing. We’ll have a racetrack patrol pattern around our projected course. Transit cruise while outbound, then combat speed. Liner, you and Deaf got the open flank. Siren and I will handle the asteroid field side.”
“I confirm Galaxy on station. I transmitted primary and back-up frequencies to the flight, Ma’am.” The small built AWACS coordinator in the briefing room added. “We are under cluster discipline for comms. If comms degrade we’ll fall back to laser connection and visual signals per standard lost comms procedure. Emergency frequency for the day is included in the Ghost package.”
“Alright everyone, you heard it. In an emergency declaration, squawk and Galaxy will vector recovery. If Sage One goes down, Sage two assumes lead and reports to ship. We’ll have standard SAR. Franklins got our back. We got standard weapons loadout on both birds and our loyal wingmen. We’re loaded for air defense as usual,” Cassandra finally finished with a nod from the Weapons officer, confirming the loadout.
“Any question? Ladies, gentlemen?” she asked.
“So, no Gemblades or Dawnbreaks? Cherubims, Aerials and a pair of Malakims?” Deaf asked. There wasn’t a trace of worry in his voice. Cassandra simply nodded at his question.
“Yes, with your Mirage IIs loaded up in a pure anti-strike craft role,” she confirmed immediately.
“No more questions Ma’am,” Deaf then nodded.
“Alright everyone. We’re pilots. We do our job and come back. Do your final checks, get something in your stomachs and then… Saddle up.” he said with a smile.
Everyone stood up as they were dismissed, their faces filled with determination.
They could do this.
01:16 January 12th, 1648 AC Batavian Standard Meridian Date TimeDSC-013 Bonaventure, En Route to Vidar, Hangar deck
Cassandra walked onto the Bonaventure’s hangar deck. This cavernous space stretched almost as long as the length of the carrier and was packed tight with equipment, starfighters, drones and people running around, preparing and checking equipment. Heavy ferric alloy structural beams and service gantries crisscrossed in layers overhead, blending into shadows with hard white light illuminating the space.
Made from a similar Titanium alloy as the hull of the ship, the fighters were locked to the deck with clamps, and were illuminated by a variety of faint, jade green lights and other deck and guidance illumination lights. The mix of colours cast shadows all over the space, while the deck crew, their role indicated by the colours on their work suits, checked the Typhoons before take-off. The other fighters were ready, moved over to the lifts up to the flight deck, strapped with munitions in their external pylons and surrounded by a combination of deck crew and the assisting contractors.
One of them waved over to Cassandra and Lorelai with his thick work glove clad hand. He was wearing the standard contractor suit. It was nothing like the sleeker pilot models: heavy, dull matte fabric made of heat-resistant, synthfiber materials, with thick, slightly oversized joints, were perfect for frequent contact with plating or other workspaces. She could also tell that this was definitely one that has seen a lot of battles, with entire spots worn into a much lighter colour. Reinforcement panels covered the impact points, though unlike the military version it had better ability to resist impacts at the cost of less ballistic protection. The torso itself had a heavy duty vest covered with a variety of straps, which was attached to the helmet.
Her Shine showed his contractor ID immediately with a full link to his contract. “Tony Acevedo. With the Brineworks contractors,” he said as he dropped his hand. “We were getting bored after fixing your boat. So they tasked us with helping your deck crews,” he explained.
“Me and the boys helped with the grunt work. Carrying shit around. We volunteered, of course. Not many chances to look at your fancy starfighters when we usually just weld pipes. Your birds are painted on time,” he said, waving over to the starfighter behind him.
“I need to say you rocket jocks have a strange sense in squadron symbols. Weren’t the jerks from Red making fun out of you for that stuff?” he asked, pointing over to the squadron symbol on the tail of their starfighter. The space that was bare before now had an impact warning triangle with the silhouette of a Typhoon type starfighter. Her Shine pinged as it scanned the symbol: Registered with VFC-214, Collision Hazards.
Cassandra chuckled as she walked over.
“We got to own the name and rub it in. A little bit of payback never hurts,” she said with a grin while tightening the straps on her own protective gear.
“So true, sister. It’s in the middle of nowhere in our home void, but hey, I mean, fuck it. Go scare some rocks. Drinks are on me when you’re back if you score a kill!” he said, laughing, knowing full well how unlikely this was in their home system.
“Sure will!” she said, giving a pat on the back to Lorelai, which let out a slight surprised gasp. “Got my WSO to watch my back when those rocks attack.”
He laughed and gave them a thumbs up as the deck crew finished preparing their fighter.
“Alright Seraph, we’re ready. Get in the kettle and you’re up on deck next!” The crew chief shouted while the rest of the deck crew closed the final open panels on the jet, walking away from under the Typhoon. “You’re green. Do your nose to engine check and get out there.”
It was time.
01:35 January 12th, 1648 AC Batavian Standard Meridian Date TimeDSC-013 Bonaventure, En Route to Vidar, Flight Deck
Moments later they were strapped in the full protective pilot flight suit used by the Navy. The bottom layer of the body suit was complemented by an external layer, with a vest that had extra armour padding and oxygen supply worn over the jacket, which itself was fitted with extra padding in most likely impact points.
Thanks to the Ghost link being the main form of interacting with the modern fighters and advancements in suit and synthetic muscle technology, flight suits got slightly heavier than the older models. Requirements set by the government were also required for pilot suits to provide ballistic and radiation protection, even if it wasn’t on the same level as what the Marines used. Pilots, of course, grumbled about this.
But the last war proved it can save lives. It wasn’t quite as comfortable as their usual gear, but at the very least, it had more pockets for items the pilot might need. Cassandra tightened a few straps and looked over the interior of the Kettle as she checked her cockpit controls and flicked a few switches.
The crew chief assigned to them did a good job. There were no issues with fueling, weapon load or system checks. When she and Lorelai did the final walkover everything was in order. The traditional pins and covers were also in order. Lorelai was nervous, but she calmed down after a moment when she fell into the tempo of their pre-flight checklists.
“Brakes… On. Turning off docking clamps… Ground power… On. Life support… In order. Got the comms. Setting my displays and flight controls. Ghost link responsive,” Cassandra confirmed her part as she ran through the checklist.
“Comms setup… checked. All green. AWACS and ship links are ready. Ghost link… responsive.” Lorelai confirmed as well. Cassandra could feel her WSO’s anxiety touch her Ghost for a moment, but the younger pilot seemed to collect herself just as quickly as the sensation faded from the back of her mind. She busied herself with going through the rest of their checklists, and Cassandra paused. It felt oddly familiar.
Cassandra observed the status of the CAP flight in the air and listened in to their comms, settling better in the padded seat of the cockpit. It wasn’t quite as comfortable as a couch, but all things considered it was comfortable for a fighter seat. She took a moment to catch her breath, but she felt a weird knot build in her chest.
It took her a moment to realize that it wasn’t coming from her, but from the girl behind her.
She thought that the way they had smoothly flowed through the checklists, just like how they had gone through them in the sims, would have calmed her down, but Lorelai’s anxiety kept building up. She sensed her WSO constantly checking and re-checking everything about their Typhoon’s systems, checking and re-checking weapon status and fiddling around in her seat.
“Siren…? Hey… Lorelai?” she had to repeat her name.
“A-Ah… S-Sorry! C-Cassandra- uh… Seraph. I am fine…! Kind-of” Lorelai muttered. She could feel her fellow pilot’s heart racing.
Cassandra steadied her own breathing as she tried to extend her calmness to her WSO.
“Don’t worry about it. Everything is fine. Just close your eyes and think about something nice for the moment. We are ready to launch. I know that you are ready for this. Or just take a look at vectors of the CAP flight. Think of it like… Stargazing,” Cassandra suggested while sharing her feed of the CAP flight’s trajectory.
That seemed to calm Lorelai down.
“A-Ah… Thank you Seraph. I am glad… t-that you’re my pilot,” she said, her voice slightly more steady than before.
Cassandra smiled. She was glad it worked. Now she could just relax for a moment…
“Uh… He… we won’t get seriously attacked by a rock… right?” Lorelai asked briefly.
“There is no way… I don’t think humanity discovered a sentient rock. We’ll be fine,” Cassandra assured her.
“A-Ahaha… Figured… Oh well… a bit of a shame… free drinks could be nice?” Lorelai added, trying her best to loosen up and quip back.
“Quite true Siren! Guess no free drinks for us this time.”
Cassandra felt slightly wrong jinxing them like that.