06-17-2015, 06:11 PM
Sleek spacecraft cruised past the small porthole. The light of Terra gave their purpose-built fuselages a bright blue sheen; just a touch of light in this otherwise soulless environment. Tearen let out a soft sigh and turned away from the blissful scene. It would be his turn to fly CAP next, so he put on his flight gear with lethargic reluctance. The Aschen native thought back to his wife and baby daughter on Caprica. If only they knew how harsh it could be on the front lines of this conflict. The TNG was still putting up a valiant fight on the surface of the world below the carrier ship he was stationed on, but the battle for orbital superiority was done.
The only thing left for starfighter pilots such as himself was to try and catch the odd civilian ship that tried to escape past the Aschen blockade. It was tedious, like trying to scratch an itch on your back that you could never quite hit. So far six ships had gotten past them, two of them on his watch. The Admiralty would surely be out for blood, if only for the fact that they too were feeling war fatigue and needed an outlet.
The pilot took a seat in the mess, and after proper salutes were given, everyone went back to eating. The food was really quite good, but everyone still complained about it on principal. Tearen ate alone, his mind a whirling slurry of resentment and homesickness. It was with almost robotic automation that he then made his way to the hangar, clambering into his personal vessel. It was a larger ship, designed to hold a support role within a fighter wing. Normally two pilots were required to fly it effectively, but Tearen didn't both calling his assigned co-pilot. This sort of patrol didn't require the craft's full flight capabilities.
The sleek, almost featureless helmet sealed itself shut over his head with a hiss, and after a moment, the HUD hummed to life, inundating the pilot with a stream of acid green data that stung his sleep-deprived eyes. As the logistic fighter's harness clunked into place, the craft powered up automatically, and hovered on to the launch track. Various flight deck personnel cleared the way, and the voice from the flight deck of the carrier buzzed in his ear.
"Cherubim Tau-67, you have been cleared to sortie."
"Copy that, sweetheart." Tearen said with a smug smile. He could heare a nearly inaudible scoff from the other end of the comms. He knew Angelica too well; she would be giving him hell for it later. Tearen had been tempted more than once to potentially have a little inter-rank fling with her, but the memories of home stung too much to risk sullying then with scandal.
"Tau-67, confirm hardware green."
Tearen reached up and clicked a few switches into place. More digital prompts, more lights blasting in his face.
"Yyup. Hardware green. Tau-67 cleared to depart?"
"Affirmative. May His Divine Shadow fall upon you."
"You too, sister."
With that, Tearen punched the throttle up to maximum and let the magnetic sling heave him out into the vacuum beyond. He oriented himself to the fleet and waited for his wingmen to sortie as well.
Ten minutes later, Tearen was the lead in a wing of six. They were assigned to fly for six orbits, offsetting the sigma of the orbital plane every rotation. As such, Tearen burned into the proper orientation for this pass around the planet and cut the engines, bringing a deathly silence to the entire scene.
The world below was verdant and lush, just like Caprica. On the mainland of Aslund, however, fires raged, visible even from thousands of miles in the sky. Wing City was the worst...he heard tell that the entire metropolis had become a burnt out no man's land. It would be a tragedy if it hadn't happened at least a dozen times before. As recently as four years ago, so insane god named Maleficus nuked the entire city just for the hell of it. Even though Terra was the largest thorn in the Aschen Empire's side, it still put a knot in his stomach. The Caprican parliament swore that their planck devices could keep such wonton destruction from befalling their core worlds, but seeing this...Tearen wasn't so sure.
...
Three hours later, the flight group was making its fifth pass over the north pole of the planet when everything in Tearen's cabin roared into alert mode. The flight deck of his home carrier bellowed into his ear.
"Contact! Correction...multiple contacts on the far side of the moon. All CAP pilots burn to the designated coordinates and wait for target distribution!" cried the new flight deck attendant. Tearen shot forward in his seat and put the burn path up on the screen.
"Tau wing, on my mark. Three...two...one...mark!" Tearen called. In response the other fighters under his command all ignited their engines in synchronicity, and they rocketed off to meet these attackers.
"Who are we even fighting?" Tearen called over to the flight deck. There were a few moments before a response came.
"Taiyou!"
"...What?!"
"All contacts ID as Taiyou Empire vessels. Stand by, Tau wing."
This was bizarre. The Aschen had JUST signed a peace treaty with the Taiyou the day before. This sort of turn around on an official treatise was completely unprecedented... and what was the point in attacking here, where their military presence was the strongest? What were they after?
Tearen turned his head to look at Terra and wrinkled his face. That place. Whatever the Taiyou were desperate for, it was there.
"Tau wing, target assignments incoming now."
Tearen looked off towards the moon, growing ever larger in his viewport, and saw several targeting reticles pop into place.
"Alright ladies and gentlemen, looks like were tasked with taking down a resupply ship and her escorts. Let me know you heard me." Tearen said, his eyes flicking across the buffet of targets. His wingmen called in.
"Alright...Pazo, Klee, Erin, you three cover Hendro, Master and me. We'll take point and put some alpha down on the supply ship."
Ten minutes later, they were on grid with the enemy vessels and in the thick of it. Tearen's large Cherubim fighter couldn't out maneuver the Taiyou Katana fighters, but they crumbled when the wing leader could get a firing solution. Still, he was seriously hurting without his copilot. The supply ship they were attack actually made pretty good cover against the Taiyou's own defenses, but Tearen couldn't help but feel something is off. On a whim, he toggled vector visibility on in his HUD, and tilted his head.
"Uh Klee, you seeing this?"
Klee responded through a storm of static.
"Motherf...now is NOT a good time captain!" she screeched. Tearen watched as she blasted across his field of view, pursued by two enemy fighters. Tearen hauled his fighters ass into alignment and started pursuit.
"Stay still, I can scratch yer itch!" Tearen shouted, arming two missiles.
"Make it SNAPPY!"
Klee stopped her evasive maneuvers and pulled up into a straight line. The katana fighters followed her, but they weren't stupid. They went into opposing barrel rolls, playing havoc with Tearen's targeting.
"Uhh...okay. Missiles won't work. Gonna have to eyeball it!"
"Tearen, don't you fucking d-"
But Tearen had already pulled the trigger. His quad disruptor turret blasted to life, lighting up the two Katana fighters with hot blue death. One broke off and the other took a hit in the engine block, immediately spinning out of control and forcing Tearen into an evasive roll.
"...ooookay then. Put on your vectors, Klee. You see it?"
"You're a bastard and yes. What do you make of it?"
"I dunno, a resupply ship breaking formation and charging headlong into the enemy line is, y'know, tactically unsound. Unless..."
"...what?"
"Break off the attack, get clear of that supply ship now!" Tearen screamed into his comms. He kicked his engines to maximum and tried to pull away from the immense freighter, but it was too late.
The next thing Tearen saw was the resupply ship bulging outwards as the singularity bomb it was carrying released itself.
After that, blackness...
The only thing left for starfighter pilots such as himself was to try and catch the odd civilian ship that tried to escape past the Aschen blockade. It was tedious, like trying to scratch an itch on your back that you could never quite hit. So far six ships had gotten past them, two of them on his watch. The Admiralty would surely be out for blood, if only for the fact that they too were feeling war fatigue and needed an outlet.
The pilot took a seat in the mess, and after proper salutes were given, everyone went back to eating. The food was really quite good, but everyone still complained about it on principal. Tearen ate alone, his mind a whirling slurry of resentment and homesickness. It was with almost robotic automation that he then made his way to the hangar, clambering into his personal vessel. It was a larger ship, designed to hold a support role within a fighter wing. Normally two pilots were required to fly it effectively, but Tearen didn't both calling his assigned co-pilot. This sort of patrol didn't require the craft's full flight capabilities.
The sleek, almost featureless helmet sealed itself shut over his head with a hiss, and after a moment, the HUD hummed to life, inundating the pilot with a stream of acid green data that stung his sleep-deprived eyes. As the logistic fighter's harness clunked into place, the craft powered up automatically, and hovered on to the launch track. Various flight deck personnel cleared the way, and the voice from the flight deck of the carrier buzzed in his ear.
"Cherubim Tau-67, you have been cleared to sortie."
"Copy that, sweetheart." Tearen said with a smug smile. He could heare a nearly inaudible scoff from the other end of the comms. He knew Angelica too well; she would be giving him hell for it later. Tearen had been tempted more than once to potentially have a little inter-rank fling with her, but the memories of home stung too much to risk sullying then with scandal.
"Tau-67, confirm hardware green."
Tearen reached up and clicked a few switches into place. More digital prompts, more lights blasting in his face.
"Yyup. Hardware green. Tau-67 cleared to depart?"
"Affirmative. May His Divine Shadow fall upon you."
"You too, sister."
With that, Tearen punched the throttle up to maximum and let the magnetic sling heave him out into the vacuum beyond. He oriented himself to the fleet and waited for his wingmen to sortie as well.
Ten minutes later, Tearen was the lead in a wing of six. They were assigned to fly for six orbits, offsetting the sigma of the orbital plane every rotation. As such, Tearen burned into the proper orientation for this pass around the planet and cut the engines, bringing a deathly silence to the entire scene.
The world below was verdant and lush, just like Caprica. On the mainland of Aslund, however, fires raged, visible even from thousands of miles in the sky. Wing City was the worst...he heard tell that the entire metropolis had become a burnt out no man's land. It would be a tragedy if it hadn't happened at least a dozen times before. As recently as four years ago, so insane god named Maleficus nuked the entire city just for the hell of it. Even though Terra was the largest thorn in the Aschen Empire's side, it still put a knot in his stomach. The Caprican parliament swore that their planck devices could keep such wonton destruction from befalling their core worlds, but seeing this...Tearen wasn't so sure.
...
Three hours later, the flight group was making its fifth pass over the north pole of the planet when everything in Tearen's cabin roared into alert mode. The flight deck of his home carrier bellowed into his ear.
"Contact! Correction...multiple contacts on the far side of the moon. All CAP pilots burn to the designated coordinates and wait for target distribution!" cried the new flight deck attendant. Tearen shot forward in his seat and put the burn path up on the screen.
"Tau wing, on my mark. Three...two...one...mark!" Tearen called. In response the other fighters under his command all ignited their engines in synchronicity, and they rocketed off to meet these attackers.
"Who are we even fighting?" Tearen called over to the flight deck. There were a few moments before a response came.
"Taiyou!"
"...What?!"
"All contacts ID as Taiyou Empire vessels. Stand by, Tau wing."
This was bizarre. The Aschen had JUST signed a peace treaty with the Taiyou the day before. This sort of turn around on an official treatise was completely unprecedented... and what was the point in attacking here, where their military presence was the strongest? What were they after?
Tearen turned his head to look at Terra and wrinkled his face. That place. Whatever the Taiyou were desperate for, it was there.
"Tau wing, target assignments incoming now."
Tearen looked off towards the moon, growing ever larger in his viewport, and saw several targeting reticles pop into place.
"Alright ladies and gentlemen, looks like were tasked with taking down a resupply ship and her escorts. Let me know you heard me." Tearen said, his eyes flicking across the buffet of targets. His wingmen called in.
"Alright...Pazo, Klee, Erin, you three cover Hendro, Master and me. We'll take point and put some alpha down on the supply ship."
Ten minutes later, they were on grid with the enemy vessels and in the thick of it. Tearen's large Cherubim fighter couldn't out maneuver the Taiyou Katana fighters, but they crumbled when the wing leader could get a firing solution. Still, he was seriously hurting without his copilot. The supply ship they were attack actually made pretty good cover against the Taiyou's own defenses, but Tearen couldn't help but feel something is off. On a whim, he toggled vector visibility on in his HUD, and tilted his head.
"Uh Klee, you seeing this?"
Klee responded through a storm of static.
"Motherf...now is NOT a good time captain!" she screeched. Tearen watched as she blasted across his field of view, pursued by two enemy fighters. Tearen hauled his fighters ass into alignment and started pursuit.
"Stay still, I can scratch yer itch!" Tearen shouted, arming two missiles.
"Make it SNAPPY!"
Klee stopped her evasive maneuvers and pulled up into a straight line. The katana fighters followed her, but they weren't stupid. They went into opposing barrel rolls, playing havoc with Tearen's targeting.
"Uhh...okay. Missiles won't work. Gonna have to eyeball it!"
"Tearen, don't you fucking d-"
But Tearen had already pulled the trigger. His quad disruptor turret blasted to life, lighting up the two Katana fighters with hot blue death. One broke off and the other took a hit in the engine block, immediately spinning out of control and forcing Tearen into an evasive roll.
"...ooookay then. Put on your vectors, Klee. You see it?"
"You're a bastard and yes. What do you make of it?"
"I dunno, a resupply ship breaking formation and charging headlong into the enemy line is, y'know, tactically unsound. Unless..."
"...what?"
"Break off the attack, get clear of that supply ship now!" Tearen screamed into his comms. He kicked his engines to maximum and tried to pull away from the immense freighter, but it was too late.
The next thing Tearen saw was the resupply ship bulging outwards as the singularity bomb it was carrying released itself.
After that, blackness...
And, we dream of home I dream of life out of here Their dreams are small My dreams don't know fear I got my heart full of hope I will change everything No matter what I'm told How impossible it seems We did it before And we'll do it again We're indestructible Even when we're tired And we've been here before Just you and I
Don't try to rescue me I don't need to be rescued
Don't try to rescue me I don't need to be rescued