ILLUMINARRPG: (1-0949) Pilots Lt. Arthur ‘Snoopy’ Corday, Ensign Victor ‘Raid’ Montero, and Ensign Alexander Dyson

[Al Muir]

Mission:  Prelude

Day: 1

Stardate:  2446.03.23

(Mars Perimeter - Fighters  – Pilots Lt. Arthur ‘Snoopy’ Corday, Ensign Victor ‘Raid’ Montero, and Ensign Alexander Dyson – 0949)

Raid spoke “Ah, even odds then. Two on six.”

=^=Two =^= replied Arthur’s voice. =^= thanks for the vote of confidence Raid. I count three of us. =^=

Raid clicked his selecter to speak to just Arthur “Yea, you and me.  Hotshot over there may fly shuttles, but he knows nothing of fighter tactics and is going to be a liability.  He’s going to be in the way.”

Corday frowned, “Belay that. It’s our job to make sure he can make a difference and keep him alive. It’s his first live dog fight. Remember yours?”

Arthur certainly remembered his. And it hadn’t been pretty. It was the real deal and his ship took a beating. He almost bought the farm twice, but two other fighters had his 6.

=^=Heads up, Knight 1 you have the lead.=^=

“Copy that Knight 3,” he replied.

“Mars is down,” he said.  “Knight 2, form on on my high left, Knight 3 high right. On my mark, we’re going old school with a Thach Weave. You two dive for Mars below the opfor, I’ll drive up. As  you cross their plane, let go a pair of torpedoes. I don’t care if you hit anything, just to scatter them from their flight. We have more manoeuvrability than they do, so use that to your advantage.  Knight 3, keep an eye on Knight 2.”

“Roger that,” Snoopy said.  His eyes narrowed and he was no longer Arthur Corday. Now he was Snoopy, the youngest ace in the fleet. “Knight 2, time to earn your call sign.”

Arthur remembered when he earned his. He had gone four on one with some Orion pirates after both his wingmen had been inoperative. He had splashed three of them and the fourth bugged out. The squad said that he fought like Snoopy in his Sopwith Camel. And he had been dubbed Snoopy.

“On the mark, Knight 2, dive at a forty-five degree angle and then loop back up. Keep up or we’ll leave Raid hanging.  On your mark Knight 1.”

“Acknowledged.” Alex said.

~Time to get to work.~ And it would be a steep learning curve. Alex had heard about Bravo Squadron. ~They are good.~ He looked at the AI display and considered turning the system on, but decided against it. If he was going to earn his call sign, he would have to do it cold.

“Acknowledged,” he replied to the responses.

“Mandy, how long to mark. “

=^= Three seconds, two seconds Mark, =^= his AI replied.

“Execute, execute, execute,” he called over the radio, and actived is RCS thrusters to point his fighter up before starting his speed run.

Alex did as Snoopy had ordered him to do, pushing the throttle open as far as he could. ~Remember, not an aeroplane.~ Which meant he didn’t have to worry about his engine stalling. He hit his mark and his target appeared ahead of him. So he pulled the trigger, launching a pair of torpedoes as ordered. One missed and one hit.

“Blast ! Missed one !”

“You also got a hit,” Snoopy encouraged.  “Check on the damage to their shields.”

He had completed his move and fired two missiles.  Both struck a different ship.

“Acknowledged.” Alex said, while keying an order into his communications panel. ~Time to see if that genius idea will actually work.~ The display came to life as the computer began searching for Bravo’s frequency.

[Their shields dropped to 87% Snoopy,] Lucy informed him.  [Analysing the data of their shield fluctuations.  A hit to their direct rear, or central dorsal.]

“Relay that information to the others,” Snoopy ordered.

[Unable to comply.]

“What?  Explain,” Snoopy said.

[Knight 2 has turned off his AI.]

“Turned off?!!  Any sign of malfunction?” he asked.

[Negative.  It was turned off at the source.  I already checked.]

The communications console beeped, meaning that the computer had found the frequency that Bravo squadron was using. Of course, the communications between the fighters were encoded, so he could not hear what they were saying. ~Gotcha.~

It was at this point that Snoopy yelled at him for having his AI turned off. “You kept telling me how I was not ready for AI. Besides, I find them annoying.” ~You asked.~ Alex was not a fan of AI and since he couldn’t use the neural interface yet, he didn’t see any benefit in turning the thing on.

Irritated at the Ensign’s lack of attention he said “I told you not to use the neural interface.  The AI is essential.  It learns from your manoeuvres and anticipates your decisions, do when you ask for the ship to respond it does so faster.  It is an edge that you will need in this fight.”

Rolling his eyes in annoyance, he turned the AI on. ~Piece of unnecessary junk.~ The computer asked him to pick the gender of the AI. Alex picked the female option. Then she asked for a name and he named it Vicky. Victoria Sanders had been a girl at the orphanage. She had been an annoying know-it-all

[AI Knight Two on-line]

“You don’t need to interact with the AI, just let it do its job,” Corday said.

The AI display showed data on several of the enemy fighters. “Orders ?”

“I have an idea to identify which fighter the lead pilot is in,” Alex began. “But it’s far outside of the box. Anybody up for some unconventional tactics ?”

“Belay that Knight 2.  This isn’t a shuttle craft.” Montero said over his com.  Assessing the current situation.  “Use your maneuverabilty, and loop behind them. Stay on Knight 3’s wing.”

Switching to Knight 3s frequence, “I’m going to do some razzle dazzle in front of them, try to keep them focused on me. You two pick them off from the rear.  The safeword is sickbay.”

Switching back to general frequence, Montero called “Knight flight, Execute. Execute. Execute.”

Flipping on his RCS and thrusters, he shot ahead of the Opfor to line up facing them. He started straffing their line with his phaser cannons before flipping the fighter around and shooting up, away from Mars.

~You should have asked for forgiveness, not permission.~ Alex thought as he stuck close to Snoopy and executed the manoeuvre Raid had ordered. This time he fired the phasers and unleashed a salvo of eight bolts. This time, only two shots missed. The remaining six all hit the same target, which was the same fighter that Snoopy had knocked down to 87 percent before.

“Got him.”

[Tango’s shield down to 2 percent. One hit will kill tango.] Vicky announced as she shared the data with the other fighters.

“That’d some good shooting kid,” Corday said.  “:Don’t get cocky.”

~Turns out I’m better with the phasers then the fish.~ The Bravo fighter turned on its axis and unleashed a salvo of fire, which Alex managed to dodge by the skin of his teeth. It was clear that Bravo Squadron had earned its reputation fair and square.

[Shields down to ninety-five percent]

~Oh, to Hades with it.~ He kept moving and shooting, while giving Vicky an instruction. He still didn’t like the AI one bit, but he had to admit that it would come in useful here. Alex set his radio to Bravo’s frequency and did his thing.

“La Donna è Mobile ! Qual…”


~Ugh!~ Snoopy thought, can I tell you how much I hate opera.~

~Come on, bite !~ Alex was trying to get under Bravo’s skin. And he got what he wanted when a voice came over the radio, yelling at him. The yeller demanded that he identify himself and explain what he was doing on a Starfleet channel. Vicky locked in on the source of the transmission, which was the order he had given it before.

[Fighter Three is Bravo Actual] Vicky said as she transmissed her finding to Snoopy and Raid.

“This is Knight Two, demonstrating that strategy is manoeuvres AND psychology. Anger is the shortest route to a mistake. And for those of you thinking that this is a dirty trick…” He barely dodged another shot from Bravo. “...remember that we are practising for war. In the real thing, the enemy won’t give a hoot about Starfleet’s rules or the Codes of Conduct. Knight Two out.”

He switched back their own channel.


(TBC)

(Posted by Al, Ruben and Tim)


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