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Post by Logan on Mar 23, 2006 21:10:57 GMT -6
"Everyone, we are not to pursue the Raiders. We are to keep as many of the busy as we can, take out as many as we can, but we are not to pursue them towards the Basestar. Alpha Flight, keep them off the Battlestars, all other flights, engage at will...."
"Roger that, Skyler," Logan replied as she banked in behind Brik and 'Bronze' who were being swarmed by Raiders near one of the Callisto's landing bays. There didn't seem to be much purpose behind the Raiders attack at this point, seemed like they were just buzzing around the Vipers as a nuisance, which told Logan they were buying time for the Baseship to clear some distance from the Callisto and the Galactica. It made sense, but seemed useless at this point. The Raiders that weren't retreating to the Baseship were being picked off before they could do much damage. 'But, by the Lords, they had made pretty work of one of Brik's engines', Logan mused to herself with a small shake of her head as she pulled her Viper in an arc to avoid fire from behind.
She saw Ike pull alongside and fire his lasers into the midst of Cylons beleaguring her fellow Warriors as she did the same. Only two remained as they overshot the Callisto. Logan kicked in her turbos to give chase and saw with satisfaction that Brik was doing the same. "Hey, Brik. I got it. You can sit this one out if you need a breather." She could hear him chuckle over the comm.
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Post by Amy81 on Mar 24, 2006 7:22:38 GMT -6
Ally swooped low over the battlestar, taking out another close-firing raider. She could see Brik heading out, chasing down a pair of raiders with another viper by his side. From the dark high engine she knew that it was Brik, and from the chatter she understood the other pilot to be Lt. Logan.
A surge of jealousy shot through her veins. She knew it was silly and absurd, for this was war. And it was, on many levels, for Ally was of a different squadron, a lesser squadron, and Logan and Brik were in gold together. She didn't know Logan personally, but knew of her. Stunningly beautiful and talented, and a member of Gold, Logan had everything Ally desired for herself. She knew Logan hadn't taken Brik away from her, for Brik was hardly Allys to start with. But it sure felt that way. That's life in Bronze Squadron, she thought to herself.
It wasn't that Bronze wasn't an effective squadron, or that it didn't have skilled, capable pilots and great people. It was just that Gold was the standard, Gold was the elite squadron. At least in the eyes of everyone in Bronze, and...
Commotion ahead of her snapped Ally to attention.
Ally looked back to the scanner, instantly taking the viper to the left and down under the belly of the great warship in order to avoid some Cylon heat. She found clusters of raiders here, taking potshots at the battlestar and being chased away by laser batteries. She came in hard, firing away, several raiders exploding as others banked in her direction, trying to zero in on the source of the destructive fire.
The raiders opened fire on her and she veered straight down and away from the battlestar. Ally could see on her scanner two, then three raiders beginning pursuit...
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Post by Logan on Mar 24, 2006 10:48:24 GMT -6
Logan banked hard to the left and fired at the Raider centered in her targeting scanner. The resulting explosion lit up the depths of space on the edges of the Callisto, followed shortly by a similar display thanks to Brik's accuracy with the other Raider.
Now coming up under the belly of 'Mother Callisto', as Brik so affectionately called their home amonst the stars, Logan dodged lasers from the Raiders trying to take out the laser batteries and few Vipers who had migrated to the battle there. 'Holy frack,' she muttered as she narrowly missed having her Viper blown out from under her. She pulled up sharply and turned the tables on the annoying Tin Can who had singled her out. 'Persistent buggers,' she thought as another Raider went up and over her canopy to chase down another Warrior who seemed to be popular with the Raiders at the micron. In fact, several Raiders were abandoning the belly of the ship to give pursuit to the lone Warrior who had taken out several of their brethren. A quick scan of the area and the comm chatter made Logan deduce 'Bronze' was the favored attraction for so much Cylon attention.
"Well, two can play at that game. Brik, looks like your new friend needs some assistance," Logan stated as she kicked in her turbos and put her Viper in a nosedive to give chase to the Raiders, lasers blasting her way clear as she closed in on their position.
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Post by Col. Charybdis on Mar 24, 2006 11:27:59 GMT -6
"Centurion," Cyclid spoke. "Manouver the baseship lower into the planet's atmosphere. We must escape this predicament."
"By your command."
Meanwhile, aboard the Galactica, Apollo stood at the helm. Omega shouted out, "Commander. The base ship is still on course to lower itself into the planet's atmosphere!"
"He's trying to hide in the upper cloud layers and give us the slip. Although that's not going to happen this time! Get me Sheba on the comm!"
The comm unit buzzed as Sheba and I were standing at the helm of the Callisto. Aegina piped through the communique from Apollo.
"What is it, Apollo? We're almost in position to begin firing."
"The base ship is going into the atmosphere to try and hide. But I've got another plan. Remember way back on Terra? When we energized the planet's atmosphere and destroyed the missiles from the colonists and the Eastern Alliance?"
"Yes, I remember, but what does that have to do with this?" Sheba inquired.
"Bring the Callisto around and together, both battlestars will energize the atmosphere around the baseship. By my calculations, the same thing should happen to them as did the missiles."
Sheba nodded her head. I was lost, since I had not really been privy to what they were talking about way back when. I do remember something about the planet Terra and we helped them or something, but I was only ten yahrens old at the time!
Sheba sprang to life. "Aegina. Bring her around. Follow the Galactica's lead."
Apollo continued, "I'm recalling our fighters. I don't think we'll need them anymore. Do you need any assistance?"
"Our fighters are doing fine, Apollo. I hope this works."
"Me too. WHen I give the signal. Fire your torpedoes and tranmist phase adjust signals into the blast. Then wait for the fireworks to begin."
The comm unit went out and we went back to work. The Callisto pulled around and located the Galactica. She pulled alongside and manouvered above the Cylon baseship which was now shrouded in the deadly gases of the planet's upper atmosphere.
It would be interesting to see what would happen...
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Post by Amy81 on Mar 24, 2006 12:23:33 GMT -6
Ally cut left as the pursuing cylons fired at her. The shots went by harmlessly. A split-micron later the raiders scattered as she tried to line them up and took several shots of her own. She veered again, finding herself heading back toward the underside of the battlestar.
Out of the corner of her eye she could see a viper coming closer. But then more enemy fire rained in, so thick for a moment Ally thought she could have landed on it as it flashed beneath her.
Then all hades broke loose. Her cockpit flashed red with warning lights as her ship rocked hard enough to come apart, but by the grace of the lords somehow stayed together. But she was in a spin now, tumbling toward the battlestar.
Stabilizer! Ally thought. Reset! Reset! She tried to hit the buttons to make it work, but then looked up. The battlestar was close now, too close. Out of luck...
Ally screamed as she thought she was going to crash into the bottom of the beta landing bay, but somehow just missed. The battlestar flashed by her as she continued to tumble, trying to reset the controls. Her scanner showed the raiders still in pursuit, with at least one viper still closing in behind them...
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Post by Logan on Mar 24, 2006 12:48:25 GMT -6
Everything was happening so fast, Logan was silently thankful for the skill of her fellow pilots. Lesser-trained Warriors would have cracked under this kind of pressure. What seemed to have been a few stray Raiders had turned into clusters of them under the Callisto and now pursuing them into the void. She was relying on innate abilities at this point, not even pausing to think as she and her ship flowed as one through manuevers.
She and Brik had been able to dispatch several of the Raiders on Bronze's six. All Logan's concentration was primed on her mission...to defend the Callisto and the Fleet. 'Watch yourself, L,' she heard Brik's warning and checked her scanners. A Raider was on her six, laser blasts flying past her, too close for her tastes. 'I'm on it,' she replied automatically, pulling down on her joystick and evading the deadly fire. A micron later, the Raider was smoke and ash, flaming detritus that she flew through towards her next target.
They were everywhere, but Logan just pressed her lips together in determination and targeted the next Raider. Skyler often joked that her stubborness was her most valuable asset in battle. They laughed about it, but she knew he was probably right.
She had a micron to take stock of her surroundings and did a check on her squadmates. Brik was still holding his own. She had no idea where Skyler was, but he was usually silent during an actual engagement as was his way. The Viper she took to be Bronze was being harassed but holding her own it seemed...until Logan saw a Raider make contact with the Bronze Squadron Viper in a nasty hit. Bronze's Viper went into a spin and headed straight at the Callisto. 'Frack,' Logan breathed as the brave Warrior's ship just missed contact and she lost sight of it for a micron.
Raiders were on a pursuit course for Bronze's out of control Viper. Logan pulled hard on the controls and banked to follow them. 'Oh no you don't,' she said matter of factly. She'd seen remarkable things out of this Bronze pilot and wasn't about to let those bottom feeders finish her.
'Bronze! Lt. Logan here. Can you stabilize? Whats your condition?', Logan called over the comm as she closed the distance between herself and the Raiders she fully intended to blow into the ether.
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Post by Amy81 on Mar 24, 2006 18:50:04 GMT -6
"Logan!" Ally shouted. Lords! Logan... the last voice I'm going to hear... "My stabilizer's out! Won't... reset..." She stabbed desperately at the controls, her viper tumbling on, away from the fight but dangerously close to the fields of debris...
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Post by Logan on Mar 24, 2006 20:08:26 GMT -6
Logan could hear the desperation in Bronze's voice. 'Bronze,' she thought, 'I don't even know her real name.'
The Callisto was moving over the planet now, positioning itself over the Baseship. She didn't know what they were planning, but didn't have time to worry about it now as she blasted a path through the Raiders trying to get to Bronze's position. Her hands danced over the Viper's controls as she blasted another Raider out of existence, rolling through the debris field with the practiced grace of a dancer.
She noticed Bronze's trajectory taking them both farther from the battle and the other members of Gold Squadron were making handiwork out of the remaining Raiders. 'Hold on Bronze. Almost there,' she thought to herself.
"Bronze, listen to me. You're going to have to recalibrate the stabilizer control. Even if the main stabilizer has been damaged, there's a backup. A trick Skyler taught me yahrens ago. Just listen to me and you'll be flying circles around these Tin Cans in no time...on purpose I mean." She put just enough lightness in her tone to try to put the Warrior at ease. She could only pray to the Lords that it was working. But she had a feeling about this Warrior from Bronze Squadron. She could handle it. She had broken from her own Squadron and saved more than a few Gold Squadron member's from a fiery demise in this battle.
Logan was as close as she dared to Bronze's Viper now, but a new hazard had shown its face. The debris field. Logan took aim at everything in Bronze's erratic path as she gave her instructions on rewiring the stabilizer. They both had to keep their wits about them if this was going to succeed. A wrong guess on Logan's part could spell disaster for them both, either from the debris crashing into either of their Vipers or Bronze's erratic movements taking out Logan if she got in too close.
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Wraith
Ensign
I see you...
Posts: 10
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Post by Wraith on Mar 25, 2006 12:02:48 GMT -6
"Splash one more!" Wraith exclaimed as he flew his Viper through the fire-ball that a moment earlier was the Cylon Raider that had caused 'Bronze' so much grief.
Catching the cross-chatter between her and Logan, Wraith's attention was drawn to their sector. Realizing that their predicament could get terminal in a hurry, he waisted no time taking action.
He banked his Viper hard, peeling away from the main body of the attack to asstist them any way he could. He could feel the G's climb as he punched the turbo-boost, then straightened his course as he zeroed in on their position.
As he pushed every bit of thrust from his engines, he drew nearer to them and the deadly debris field that they were headed into. Listening to the heroic effort Logan was making to see this brave pilot from Bronze Squadron through seamingly hopeless odds, he charged his forward laser-guns and settled in a parrallell course along side the two warriors and lit up the space in front of them-- guns blazing-- as he vaporized the largest, most threatening of the objects in their path.
Startled by the abrupt flashes in front of them, Logan broke radio silence; there was only one lunatic she knew of that could pull this off.
"Wraith...is that you?!....Where the Frack did you come from??"
A wide grin formed on Wraith's face as he continued to blast on-coming projectiles into space-dust.
"Sounded like you two could use a little help...what'd'ya say, friend?...let's CLEAR the road!!"
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Post by Amy81 on Mar 25, 2006 19:08:28 GMT -6
Ally's eyes were blurry with tears, and vertigo was starting to overtake her as the viper tumbled on. She tried to focus on what Logan was telling her, and she forced her hands to keep working when all she wanted to was cover her eyes and scream.
Her scanner was flashing bright red with debris all around, dangerously close by her.
"The debris!" she called out. "I'm going to hit!"
"No" came a calm reply. "Wraith and I are on it. Just keep working on the stabilizer..."
"Okay" Ally said in a shaky voice. As she worked on the open panels, Skyler's picture came loose and fluttered down into her lap. As the viper kept on rolling the picture slid down to her feet and disappeared underneath the control panel. Skyler... I'll never see him play triad! The panel sparked suddenly, and Ally yelped in surprise.
"Logan?" she asked into her com.
"Yeah Bronze?"
Ally remained silent, still trying to fix the control, a feeling of hopelessness coming over her. I'm going to hit something. I know I am. I won't even know it when it happens... "You're okay, Logan... Wraith..." Ally said. "But you'd better get clear before I splash." Just then she crossed a pair of wires that made the red lights flicker green for a micron. Ally's face screwed down in concentration as she tried to find the wires and cross them again...
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