07:30 January 11th, 1648 AC Batavian Standard Meridian Date TimeDSC-013 Bonaventure, Flight Country Command Briefing Room
The briefing room was at the core of the flight country, far enough away that rookie officers still finding their way around the ship couldn’t stumble their way here by accident. It wasn’t quite large as some might have imagined, with barely enough room for the large table, the status displays—which wound up being crammed on the bulkheads by the ship designers—the holographic projector in the middle, and everyone who needed to attend.
The rectangular table was presently covered in papers, plans, and readouts from the other datapads, with the projector itself showing a model of the space between Corlain and Vidar. There were little readouts on distance and time for the trip Bonaventure would undertake. The holographic model of the carrier was expanded beside Crestfall, and near it, there was a live feed collating all of the information that was scattered across the table and ship to show the statuses of all of the squadrons aboard.
Due to her formal position as the DCAG, Cassandra stood besides the most unpleasant of the officers in the room, Reese Martens. The only benefit to this arrangement was that Kato wasn’t around this time. Cassandra’s Shine also highlighted the identification of the rest of the aviators at the center of the room.
Her Shine immediately pointed out the tall, brown-haired man with black eyes illuminated by his own Shine. He was the leader of Blue Squadron, Jean-Louis “French” Lagarde. He stood on the opposite side of the room, with a ginger-haired man: Patrick “Gene” Steeler, who was responsible for Orange Squadron. Both men were standing next to each other as they reviewed the information before them, and finally, beside her stood the final squadron CO, who was responsible for the AWACS aboard the ship; Sofia “Cereal” Fleer. She had black, short cropped hair.
She recognized others from her time handling the bureaucracy needed for Green Squadron and the other reservists aboard Bonaventure. The Air Boss, Deck Chief and some of his own senior chiefs were present at the meeting, discussing last-minute adjustments to their schedules and updates before the ship got underway.
“Alright everyone,” Radish cut through the silence, tapping the desk, setting down his cup of coffee beside his datapad. “We are presently about six astronomical units away from our destination, Vidar.” He pointed at the hologram as he continued, “Accounting for cruise speed, and with what the Captain told me, it will take us 28 hours to reach it. We are in our home system, but we are not treating this as a routine transit between planets. Someone took a shot at one of… ours.” He deliberately paused before declaring the Greens as part of the air wing, but in the end, even Reese had to swallow his pride and admit that some of the Greens surprised him with their performance.
“We don’t have any known hostile void assets, no clear threat vectors… but I still want two fighters on station flying CAP, with backup ready on deck, and one spare section cycling and preparing.”
“Now DCAG, would you?” Reese shot a sharp glare to Cassandra and handed her the datapad.
At least he acknowledged my position on this ship, Cassandra thought, as she set down her cup of coffee and picked up the data pad. Faced with the test results, Reese had to admit that he would let a portion of the Green Squadron at the very least fly in their home system. Of course, the spiteful little man had to mention that he doesn’t want her ‘Collision Hazards’ causing any trouble, and that if it was his choice, he would boot them off the ship.
But there were things the Navy expected her to do and her position here was clear.
Cassandra focused her Ghost on the holoprojector’s interface, highlighting the combat patrol’s orbits around Bonaventure with the rotation schedule appearing beside it. “The plan is for a 2 Typhoon combat patrol with another pair of Typhoons on standby. One spare section of two will be cycling.” Cassandra explained, going over the tablet and the holographic screen, the visualization changing as she spoke, showing the deck parking scheme and elevators cycling with the takeoff and readiness status for the Typhoons.
“We will want six to eight Typhoons in a cycle. With one cycle counting for two hours on station. The total length of the sortie will be about three and a half hours for a total sortie,” she said as she brought up the blueprint of the Anchorpoint Typhoon and its hardpoints. Another command from her Ghost had the hologram change as the weapon stations filled up with munitions, and indicators appeared on the display; numbers and statistics highlighting the standard loadout. Under all of that, a dialogue box with the approval for squadron changes, and Squadron CO input, appeared on the screen.
“We will separate this into three phases, ladies and gentlemen. Phase One for Red Squadron—Jesters—with the two other fighter squadrons acting as backup. Orange Squadron—Sulfur Sound—will be the primary squadron on standby. Phase Two will be split between Orange and Green, otherwise known as the… Collision Hazards, to give the Reds a bit of time to rest,” she presented without any humour or distaste in her expression.
She knew that Radish wanted this designation to sting, but she knew she would make him eat his satisfied smirk by showing him her ‘Collision Hazards’ could do this.
“Finally in Phase Three, Green Squadron will be primary. They will be backed up by Jesters as they will re-enter the rotation. We’ll tighten our CAP as we approach the Taffy 14 rendezvous point, and Vidar’s orbitals will take over CAP duty from there. We’ll be expecting each squadron to fly between four to six sorties with backups always on standby.” Now she let the grin appear on her face. “We want to shake off the rust, ladies. There isn’t a reason to think we will be ambushed, but it’s always better to be ready, right?” she asked, giving a stare to Radish.
After a series of nods, some grumbling from Orange Squadron, and mumbling in the back of the room, she continued. “Now on to the Blues, the Stareaters. We’ll need two Albedos on deck. Blue Squadron, we want you ready to assist us in EW. We are within reinforce range from local fortresses, so strikes are secondary. Gemblades will be standby on deck. The Franklins dropship element will keep two on standby for SAR and emergency ops,” she finally finished. This was roughly the entire force and bird allocation for the entirety of the trip, and she wanted to be thorough.
“Any questions?” she asked while waiting for the gathered officers to respond.
“Are you sure you want this many birds up and ready in our home system? SysDef should handle this, no?” A higher pitched masculine voice with an asian accent sounded from the back of the room. Her Shine highlighted the name of the person; John “Meal” Jia Sheng. “We’re a freshly assembled air wing. And we got four birds downchecked on Orange Squadron,” he said, the concern quite clear in his words. “Sulfur Sounds should handle this, but it will be rough. We still got a few people fresh enough for me to want to keep them on the low. Queen knows they need the practice, but it would be good to give them slower schedules.”
It was a fair question, if she hadn’t just been attacked by mercenaries a day ago. To her surprise, it was Radish who spoke up. “We don’t have a choice, Meal. That’s why we are including the Greens. They are less experienced, but Seraph showed me the results. They got enough experienced and ready pilots for the CAP rotation. I was the one who reviewed the proposal, and though I’m not as enthusiastic as Seraph, I approved it,” he said, tilting his head to the side. Clearly he was going to defend his plan even if it included defending someone he hated.
“How about the ground crews?” A tall, tan, and muscular looking woman with wavy black hair spoke out from the back of the room. She was wearing the overalls of the ground crew, and Cassandra’s Shine flagged her as Alissa Romero. “We’re waiting for quite a few people to adjust and arrive on the deck. We’ll be picking up almost a hundred at the stations in Vidar High Orbit. I’ll be running my deck boys rugged, and it’s going to be even more shite when we’ve got to work overtime. You’re overloading the recovery windows,” she pointed out.
There was a briefly pleased expression on Radish’s face, and she didn’t like it any better than when she had last seen it. “We’ve got some of the contractors aboard. They should have finished their duties aboard the ship by tomorrow at 0900 hours. They’ll at least help you drag the hoses and move the birds on the deck.” Alissa only pursed her lips in response, but she didn’t seem to have any major objections to his proposal.
“It will be tough,” Cassandra admitted in an attempt to soften the blow. “We’ve got some issues with the catapults as well. But we got two fully operational, and we can roll off with the grav catches on the side decks. It won’t be elegant, but the contractors assured us the new catapults will work by the time we reach Vidar.” She pulled up Bonaventure’s diagnostic screen again and highlighted the machinery on the sides of the vessel. “We’ll be launching Red Squadron with the working catapults as soon as we depart, and then switch to doing rolling takeoffs as we do the first rotations. There are some complications with doing it this way, but we won’t have a problem with deck congestion.” This was the plan which she already went through with Reese, and he nodded and flicked to the next slide of the holopoint.
“We’ll be doubling the CAP if a situation occurs. We don’t expect an attack on the ship, but the usual SOPs are in place if that happens. In case Galaxy goes dark, we’ll have their standby ready on the deck, and launch them as their replacement.” she finally finished.
There were a few questions and a brief discussion about the rotation. A few pilots and crew were shuffled around, before finally, the CAG spoke again.
“Am I reading this right? You’re front loading the Reds and back loading them too?” Meal asked as he blinked thrice in row, clearly quite discontent with the lower amount of work from Orange Squadron, despite the downchecked Typhoons.
“Yes,” Radish responded simply. No one said anything afterwards.
“Well then, my Jokers are going to be first. We’ll have Sulfur Sounds and Collision Hazards share the space afterwards, and finally, Collision Hazards will keep the deck warm for tonight. I want Sulfurs filling the gaps whenever needed. Jokers will take over on approach to Vidar. I gave you all a copy of the HoloPoint and highlighted the most likely trouble spots around the asteroid cluster we will pass. If anything will happen, it will be there. And I don’t care if we got rookies on board…” That was a lie Cassandra knew. “... but we’ll do our job. Keep it tight. We’re not guessing out there.”
The department heads and officers began to disperse, but Cassandra continued staring at the squadron readout on the hologram. It might not have seemed like much, but to Cassandra there was already one victory won today. It might be small in the grand scheme of things, but she knew they made the first step. Not all of them made the mark, but the rest would be motivated to follow. And in they end, they did it. They were officially a part of the carrier air wing and they would be flying.
They would be riding fire in the sky.
08:30 January 11th, 1648 AC Batavian Standard Meridian Date TimeHMCS Bonaventure (DSC 013), Cassandra’s state room
While Cassandra was well-aware that the CAG didn’t like them, the attack on the asteroid fortress at least shook him awake. They couldn’t play high school politics while they were about to deploy to a warzone. Even in their home system, if there was a shooter gunning for them, they wouldn’t know that their journey would be safe. While she believed that SysDef wouldn’t allow something like Cadair Idris to happen ever again, one could never know for sure. Occam’s Razor dictated that the simplest explanation was usually the right one… and if that was the case… SysDef on Wijtschate got infiltrated. She let out a sigh as she set the bean-like dragon plush on her bed, which smugly looked back at her as it gazed upon her from its throne while she focused on the tables in front of her. The door buzzed.
Glancing at the angled screen of her workstation she saw Salad Leclerq, Casey Schaars and Emery “Liner” Bishop, the final person she had picked as a potential squadron lead. The dirty blonde-haired woman, whose sharp cut and polished features looked like she had jumped out of a recruitment poster from the last war. She had shown herself to be quite a proficient officer, guiding her fellows in Green Squadron with calm and collected confidence.
“Come in. No need for formalities, we got work to do,” Cassandra said as she opened the door for them. The trio walked in, and Cassandra casually waved over to the side of the room. There were a few stools scattered around the room, and the trio pulled them over to her desk instead of sitting on the couch at the other side of the room.
“Alright Greens. We got our ‘informal’ squadron name, but we’ll probably keep it” she said with a grin. “The CAG provisionally named us Collision Hazards, so let’s keep it and prove him wrong. I’ve got some of the contractors working on making our tail markings.”
The other senior pilots of the green squadrons looked a bit stunned, but after a brief moment, they began chuckling.
“Collision Hazards? I like it,” said Leclerq. “Let’s show them how hard that can hit the deck running, shall we?” he added, glancing at Static and Liner with an amused smile on his face. Both women gave him a confident grin, and Cassandra nodded back. A weight lifted from her chest at the easy acceptance that the three senior pilots had for her scheme. She was actually fairly confident at this point that they would manage to meet the impossible standards they have been given.
“We got the most birds and the least attached and experienced personnel. I asked some of the contractors to help out, and we should manage on the way to Vidar. In phase One of the trip, we’ll have Static and Saracen on the alert. You’ll be back up for the Sulphur Sounds. Saracen and his WSO seemed capable, as they were the only ones from the Limes that managed to avoid the virtual grave during the sim ambush.” Cassandra explained while flicking them the details of Phase Two; hours 8 to 18 of their journey.
“We are sharing Phase Two with the Sulfurs. I already went through the plan and adjusted the schedule for the Sages. We’ll handle that just fine.” Cassandra moved to a display of the Corlain system, and zoomed in on a particular spot. “Around the asteroid field we’ll pass. I'll fly personally and take command of the squadron. Pick out one of the more experienced Greens to fly with me. Salad will be on standby on deck,” she added, adjusting the holomap of the system further and flagging the most dangerous spots. “I want our most experienced people here. That is where the CAG expects us to fuck up and I intend to prove him wrong.”
“So, continuing on to Phase Three. This is where we get hours 18 to 20 and 26 to 28. I’ll take the final flight again. I want Salad from 18-20. We got pushed to be in the back of this, but we’ll show them we can handle it.” Cassandra shook her head, and there were appropriately solemn expressions on the three other pilots’ faces.He doesn’t like us, but this is the chance to prove we are aviators as well. Any pilots of Green who aren’t deployed during this hop are expected to be in a simulator, practicing the same rotation. The CAG, as much as he dislikes us, gave us a chance. We’ll prove ourselves and we’ll do it in style.
“Static, you and Saracen will be getting a surprise from me when you were on alert at 6 to 8 operation time,” Cassandra said with a grin. “Tell me how you like the new paint on our wings when I’ll be going to the ready room, aye?”
“Yes ma’am.” The trouble making white haired pilot said with a wide grin.
11:36 January 11th, 1648 AC Batavian Standard Meridian Date TimeHMCS Bonaventure (DSC 013), Hallway of the Green Squadron flight country
Cassandra could recognize the small, hunched form of Lorelai anywhere on the ship. She felt a faint smile appear on her face. She really wanted to make her WSO feel more at ease on the ship, especially since she definitely proved that she belonged on the ship. After all, Lorelai did quite impressively in the simulator battle and had been working extremely hard ever since.
At the same time, she had a potentially very bad idea. She walked up to her. For a moment she considered giving her a pat on the back but then, considering how scared of everything aboard the Bonaventure the girl seemed, she just decided to remote ping her WSO’s Ghost.
She jumped as if she poked her anyway. Oh well.
“A-A-A-A-Ah! C-C-Commander van Ness! S-Seraph!” The brown haired girl got out of herself with a bit of trouble, closing her eyes and bowing slightly forwards as if she was expecting Cassandra to hit her. Cassandra let out a sigh, rubbing her own temple and shaking her head slightly.
“That got to be a new record, Siren. I never heard of that rank type,” she teased the younger pilot.
Lorelai blinked. “Uhhh… Siren?” she asked with genuine confusion.
“It’s your provisional callsign. I had the contractors write it on our bird. We’re flying CAP hours 18 to 20 of the journey to Vidar. I’ll be counting on you,” Cassandra said with a reassuring smile. Lorelai seemed to go as pale as an actual Ghost, her eyes widening behind her glasses as she went completely non-responsive.
Cassandra quietly pulled up Lorelai’s Pulse. She was still breathing, even if she was unable to get a word out of her.
“C-C-C-CAP?” Lorelai stammered That’s a lot of combat air patrols, Cassandra mused with a mental grin.
“You’re fine. In the sims, you had good results in the places that mattered for a WSO. You’ll be able to do this,” she reassured her with a warm smile. “Besides, you’ll have the time to catch up. You need flight hours and this is the perfect time to get them.”
“A-Ah… Wilco!” Lorelai muttered, looking a little light headed from the encounter. She made a noise that suspiciously sounded like a very drawn out ‘uuuuu…’ as she seemed to whine a little as she sagged and had to lean against a nearby bulkhead to steady herself.
“Are you… Uh… Sure I am…” She held a clenched fist in front of her chest. “Okay with me… Uh! Actually! I want to ask! Are you okay?! I heard you got shot at?!” she asked, instantly switching from being about to pass out to genuine concern at her squadron lead’s condition.
Cassandra chuckled. “I am fine as you can see. All the important pieces are in place and the doc didn’t downcheck me yet,” she said with a thumbs up and a grin. Technically she avoided the doc on the grounds of having to prepare the air wing for the trip, but she didn’t need to know that.
“A-Ah. That is… Good. I am happy,” Lorelai said with a nod and what Cassandra would call even a sniffle.
“Don’t worry so much. I am tough enough. Let’s go get some lunch in the officer’s mess,” Cassandra said, rolling her eyes good-naturedly at the brunette’s hesitance. She dragged Lorelai along in front of her.
“But uhhh… Is it fine?” Lorelai asked, trying to shrink in place and look invisible in the middle of a hallway, as if the act of curling up on herself activated optical camouflage.
“You’re my WSO, it’s fine. It’s to be expected,” Cassandra declared.
Lorelai let out a noise which Cassandra simply couldn’t decipher if she tried.