Hangar

Jessica had been over the Rapier with a fine-toothed comb and a critical eye already. You could take her out of maintainer uniform, but you werent going to take her out of maintainer mentality when you put her in front of a new hull. All things, of course, were impossible to know, but her old job had been electrical; so she'd learned a bit of everything. Enough to now know that the Chief had been right, and this solid bird was going to be as easy in the void as she was on the deck. She couldnt wait to take it out even just for CAP, let alone combat.

Sitting where the broad wings met the side of the huge engine cowling, she was sketching with a grease pencil the finishing touches of some tail art. A hyena head, of course, looking dead on with a psychotic, fang-baring grin; spotted mohawk of a mane only adding to the dishevled and assylum-worthy appearance. It'd be painted by morning, and Jess already sees something worthy of distracting her from waiting.

"About time!" The call is loud, of course, as she jumps off the wing and strides towards Ray and Tiaan. Hyena did nothing in a small way. "I was beginning to wonder if I was the only void-sucker aboard this crate!"

Sharp eyes scan Tiaan, then Blue in the distance, then Tiaan again, all the while wearing a carnivore's smile not far removed from the one now on her fighter's tail... "Heavy fighter, eh? Cool, didnt know who was going to claim that beast."

Noticing Ray, the smile broadens and she nods in recognition, "And about time you found the hangar. You get lost and manage to pick up chicks on the way? I can tell this cruise is going to be a party... Please tell me that was the XO that just ditched... You know what they say, man, bad luck to boff someone you work with.." And a sly wink breaks the laser-intensity stare. Innapropriate? Ever so slightly. Military humor, whaddaya gonna do?

"But serriously, you two seem to both have the Huge Fucker field covered, I guess I'll be the one knocking ticks off your slow asses." And she jerks a thumb back at the Rapier in its slot. With decent armor in its own right and those huge engines pushing out plenty of thrust, the quad guns hanging off its wings and its compliment of internal anti-fighter missles meant the venerable old Rapier still had plenty of teeth to play interceptor and superiority fighter.

Tiaan Peyton

Back in her welcome area, she grinned her usual lop-sided way before answering the new person, "Blue Tit here could outgun your craft any day of the week sister. I customized her myself and she not got anything but the best. You can hardly tell she was a Mercury Class Fighter, hell do they even make those anymore?"

Feeling much safer she continued, "Also you, gunner boy, it's not the size of your craft darlin' but how you use it?" winking she grinned again. This was much better and she was happy to be out her craft now, just bantering and flinging bullshit, although that girl wasn't the first underestimate Blue Tit, many thought just because of the obvious design, that they could out fly her. Let's just say boys didn't like losing, much as it was Tiaan's experience in this matter. Whatever happened after this she could worry about it later, for now she was in her colour, her climate.

"Also sister, the name Peyton, you recognize the name you should? My Father was flying before you were out of nappies. My Grandfather was flying before you were twinkle in the milkman's eye."

Smirking she waited for an answer, feeling much more in her element and relaxing completely.

Drama could wait.

Jessica laughs at Tiaan, folding her arms in a 'challenge accepted' way.

"Your Grand-daddy could be Santa Claus and your Daddy can turn tricks on the corner for all it counts towards what -you- can do." Her grin gains an edge, "Hell, my -boots- have more deck time then you do, ring-knocker." The term was a derogatory one; a term mechanics applied to academy officers (they liked to wear their graduation rings) who beleived they were inherrently and genetically better then the ill-bred enlisted commoners.

Her eyes slide off of Tiaan to Ray as he demonstrates the advantages to extra room on a gunboat.

"A basketball hoop, really? Dammit, man, I thought you were about to unveil the kegerrator. Dont get my hopes up like that."

Chuckling, she spreads her hands out wide again, "And I said I'd be there, didnt I? No worries, I'll make sure no big, scary insurgeants scratch your paintjob just as long as you make sure to remember my hard work and dedication when we hit a planet with a bar."

She cocks her head to the side as the Salient's engines come to life in a deep, quiet thrum that sung through the ship and would become a constant background song for the next few months. There was no sensation of movement, of course, given the huge ship's artificial gravity. A quick, familiar thrill for Jessica as, again, she left the red Martian dirt behind. There was a whole lot of unknown ahead of them, and it all had the potential to be one badass adventure. She'd have to remember to talk to the Chief again, see if she could get her name on the flight schedual for an early patrol as soon as they hit open space.

Hyena laughs lightly at Tiaan and shakes her head, "Yeah, I saw it. But I figured you had a gunner seat. What are you going to do with a manual turret in a dogfight? Put her in park every time you want to pop off a shot?"

Waving a hand dismissively to gloss over the comment, the pilot changes the conversation, "Now that the obligatory dick-waving is out of the way, we've got an issue."

Beckoning Ray and Tiaan in conspiratorily, that meat-eating grin spreads from ear to ear, "We're set up for pretty much The most boring sunset cruise in the Federation. This boat's got more guns then God, and we're heading out to the fringes of Big Fuckin Empty. Any pirates or insurgents out -that- goddamn far arent going to have the balls to step up to this crate unless they've gone completely batshit. What this says to me, is that smart people came -prepared-. See, I used to turn wrenches, and I've already tapped some guys I served with in another squadron. They know some comm crewman, who know some engineers, who have a compartment a few decks down that -no one- uses. I was going to just use it as an oversized closet, but I'm thinking it could have a more... 'social' calling. The kind of social you cant have in a ship's lounge with Big Brother breathing down your neck. You still with me?"

Jesus Christ, not 24 hours on board and she's already tapped into the JO Underground, planning to pool the resources of various enterprising individuals. Jess was the type of individual to whom you could trade a bent paperclip and by the end of the month she'd trade you back a brand new car. Came with growing up on a merchant dock, and maybe with being just plain sneaky.

"We need one last hoorah out here, before that XO with the starched shirt buckles down, and before people forget what shore leave was like. Besides, I dont know you two tug drivers, I dont trust people I dont know, and I dont fly with people I dont trust. So just think of it as 'building unit cohesion and encouraging good morale'."

She snaps her fingers and adds, almost as an asside to herself, "I think we can talk to a couple of the Marines and maybe that Nav I met at the breifing, too, they seemed pretty chill, if they can keep their mouths shut around the brass..."

Looking back to her fellow space-jockies, Hyena shrugs, "Whadaya say? I know you've got some hidey-holes in those big-ass birds, dont tell me you cant contribute. I've got some smokes, some cards.. We'll add in some booze and I'll see if I can scrounge up a cook willing to slide a few of the Staff Officer prime meat rations... One of the spaceframers is already working on cutting a grill out of a hydraulic drum... Oh, man, this is -so- on."

If that smile got any wider, it would split her skull, and she was practically dancing in place. Listen closely enough, and you might actually hear all those clever little gears in her head whirring at speeds to make FTL jealous.

Tiaan Peyton

On one hand Tiaan loved this idea, on the other she was trying not to make big show. Although way things were going she doubted it be possible to avoid now. Chipping in she replied, "I can distract Lt General easily enough, you guys handle the supplies. All in all this could be fun." Why, why, why was she volunteering herself in this case. It's not like she had even been on board for a day, but now she was thinking of distracting her superior and letting a party happen. This wasn't right, not even close to right. Although wh was she kidding, she loved parties, and anything that loosened the crew up was a major plus. Either way, she wouldn't directly be involved and at least Lt Chen wouldn't assume anything as it was her who begun this.

Now to get that dress washed and try survive one day. Despite everything this day might not be the worse one ever. Not to mention maybe she could have some fun by taking such risks. Nothing was ever given by playing things safe. Nope, not at all, if anything Tiaan hated being cautious, preferred being impulsive. The only time she ever kept complete was during flying, and that was only to concentrate.

Remembering something she added, "To make an omelette gotta crack a few eggs eh?"

Commander Dunaway had given word for Marines to suit up and prepare for boarding action; he carefully laid down way points for security teams to patrol in the event that more pirates loomed on the horizon and were planning on boarding the Salient. At the same time, he prepared two strike teams to enter the two hostile frigates and neutralize any on board presence, either through capture or termination.

The first team would be led by his younger brother, Captain Dunaway, with Staff Sergeant Jackson, Corporal Reterec Smithy, Corporal Frank Grahams, and Private Quinn O’Neil. They would enter the first frigate that had been crippled since the onset of the battle due to the efforts of Tartarus Group.

The second team would be led by Eli, including Sergeant Major Carter, Corporal Adriana Stark, Lance Corporal Shane Weifert, and Private First Class Gary Reynolds. They were to board the second frigate that was disabled as a result of the Salient’s railgun blasts.

Once the teams were on board the vessels, hostiles were neutralized, they would gather any data still remaining, untouched by the destruction wrought forth by the Federation battlecruiser, and slip out of the ships. Considering the holes blown apart by the Salient, the marines would have to don spaceborne operation suits, equipped with oxygen tanks. Travel would be by gunship, but in the case of the two special operatives, they’d have to provide their own transport.

Eli and his squad reached the hangar and spotted the nearest gunship, being attended by her pilot. Peter “Ray” Davidson was inscribed on his tag as he turned to greet the team.

“Hmm, so is this going to be everyone sir? Seems like most of the room on my Swing class shall be used for naught,” Ray said cheerfully as he went into the cockpit and activated the egress hatches which flipped upward. The marines by now had equipped themselves with contained suits that were pressure sealed to prevent vacuum infiltration. As Eli stepped inside, he noted the large space, enough to carry maybe two more six man teams. The rest of the crew boarded after their squad leader and quickly took seats.

“Seems like it,” Eli checked the cartridge in his rifle while the tactical display inside his helmet began re-calibrating the auto-targeting systems.

“So, where are we headed for today?”

“Take us to that frigate Davidson,” Eli stepped into the cockpit and pointed his fore finger at the damaged frigate that rested amongst the two Altamus freighters. The three ships floated listlessly, being carried by the current of the vacuum if there was such a thing.

“Roger wilco, but ‘eh you can call me Ray instead sir,” the pilot said as he pressed his palm against a touch screen thereby closing the egress hatches, and linking him to the ship's systems. He donned his helmet after the egress hatches were sealed.

“I’ll have you there in two shakes,” the gunship began to lift vertically, being propelled by two ion thrusters. Once it reached a sufficient height, the thrusters turned a full 90 degrees, pointing to the rear. Then Ray activated the engines and the ship pushed forth and skimmed through the particle field in the hangar that blocked out vacuum.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is Captain Ray speaking, we’ll be facing a little turbulence due to the bandits, so you might want to buckle” Ray said this as he dodged a Federation fighter being pursued by a marauder.

Miranda smiled at the woman. "Ah well traditionally the Savannah class gunship does have a crew of three. But my group uses them as a more all-around type of craft; fighter, bomber, vacation home. There is Just me; the rear compartment where the navigator and gunner usually sit is being occupied by my laundry and a hammock, probably about a dozen liquor bottles." She laughed and ran her fingers through her hair. "We're not really one for rules, just about flying tough and watching each-other's asses."

The woman wondered how many times she would tell her story, hopefully only once. There was an explosion once at a bar and instead of ducking out she stayed and told five different Federation officers what happened. "As soon as all this is done you guys can interview, uh I mean debrief me any time." Frowning she snapped her fingers. "Oh man, you'd probably be one to tell. Look the Alta-Corp vessels, um, if you can't get a hold of them that's my bad. We tell them to stay off the comm because they have those broadband suckers that anybody can pick up. Pirates hear them coming and it's just a question of waiting till they show up."

She scoffed. "I mean that's how they ran stuff until we started leading them home. You gotta get a hold of my boy Cronos on the Summerwind. Send a general hail, then say the key phrase "Salvo fire, wins wars." he'll open the line and there you go." Miranda hoped Cronos was still there on the bridge, he likely was as the crew of both freighters were new to combat scenarios. The issue of replacing the escort was on her mind, the fat ladies still needed dates to the ball and a couple broken gunships would not cut it. "Look, Commander those two freighters still need to make it back to Mars and I'm not sure what you guys are working on out here but if the Federation could take the time to send an encrypted message to one of our other squadrons for replacement that would be decent of you."

Ronin was pressing her luck; she was talking Federation charity and asking for favours to boot. Well it probably wasn't a surprise, after all mercenaries weren't known for their manners.

Tiaan Peyton

Whipping her helmet off, she felt some mechanics help her off, one even tried to grab her ass -- cheeky. That didn't bother her today, once they done congratulating her. She turned to the fighter to review any damage, other than some charring, nothing was terrible. BlueBird had done it again, although it was great she hadn't been only one to survive this time.

Turning to Hyena who was revelling in the attention she smirked, "Fly girls never change huh? We're certainly not to down to earth." waiting a little she added, "Great flying, but how did you avoid fighter hurtling at you, when I blew it's wing off, I lost sight of you so couldn't see what was going on."

While waiting she stretched and played through fight in her mind, overall it had been great fight. Pirates were never really trained flyers although she had once heard her Father had fought the legendary pirate Silver Eyes once known as Vice Admiral Atreus Eturrer, a very renowned Admiral at the time, sadly his story of heroics ended when he went over to Pirates. To this day no one knows why, or why he massacred his whole crew. Many who had fought Silver Eyes had died in action or barely escaped. It was actually that fight which had made her father return for a whole year to be with his family.

Hushed tones of reverence and fear were often heard when the name was spoken.

Secretly Tiaan wanted to be the one to kill him, it was her main goal. Shoot Silver Eyes out into space, and let his reign of tyranny end. Although it was unlikely to happen in this case, but maybe just maybe these pirates were led by him. If this was the case, this thing could blow up in their faces. Silver Eyes had fought full fleets and escaped. They'd be easy picking.

Shaking the thought out her mind, she smiled, although maybe she was just worrying too much.

Acknowledging the call to return, Hyena sighed in wistfull disappointment that the fight was more or less 'officialy' over. At least for the pilots. Turning to the lights of the hangar and slowing, her arrowhead fighter coasts smoothly back through the magnetic containment field with an atmospheric snap that popped the ears of anyone working in nearby areas. Ah, there was the gunboat, looking a lot more haggard in the light of the hangar then it had during the breif flyby encounter she'd had with it out in space. Lucky pilot; that the Salient had shown up when it did.

Dropping her landing gear, she follows the director's hand signals and neatly lines up into her booth, settling down to the deck. Engines shut down, cabin pressure matched to the hangar, and systems cooling with familiar pings and hisses, Hyena lets the hatch slide open.

Standing in her seat to give a theatric bow to the nearby maintainers who sarcastically applaud, Hyena shucks the heavy life support overgear in favor of the more comfortable flightsuit underneath, handing it off.

"Have my suit pressed, Jeeves, and tell them to go easy on the starch." The toothy smile on her face only grows when he tells her in no uncertain terms what she can do with her starch, and she leaves her bird in the care of the mechanics as she heads for the readyroom to store everything else.

“Colter…this is Ulric, we still have a bomb, but it’s safe to say that the ship is ours now…please advise."

Bravo team had detached from Ray’s gunship after they had successfully docked in the hangar. The hangar crews were quickly attending the craft’s engines, while Ray sat a bit awkwardly comfortable in his seat in the cockpit. Eli distanced himself from the others, who ran directly to the barracks; he stayed behind in the hangar though. At the present moment, there were only a few crews attending the hangar, it seemed as though word had not reached many ears about the impending battle. Perhaps the admiral was waiting for the pirates to make the first strike, thereby alerting the crews of the situation.

“What the hell? Ulric, did you diffuse the bomb or something?” Eli walked over to a private corner so that the crews wouldn’t over hear him.

He pressed a key on his gauntlet’s holographic interface. The haptic system quickly retracted the pressure seals, as they unlatched from the armor’s junctures. As the seals pulled away, a hiss of air followed as the contained oxygen slowly spread outward from the little openings in his suit. The latches on Eli’s collar pulled away from his helmet, allowing him to take it.

As he took his helmet off, it revealed his face, and his head covered by the black tactical beanie, which he wore most of the time. Rarely had anyone seen his hair, aside from higher up officers who demanded that officers at his level show some respect, whether it was in the field, or a court martial. However, he made it clear that his hair was a simple military grade buzz cut that didn’t warrant any interest. He looked, fairly different with the helmet off, others could tell now as they saw his face was barely dry. It was the synthetic hormone coursing through his veins and arteries that was the cause of this.

“That ship was damaged, you can’t pilot it, and even if you could, what could you do with it?”

Before Eli could get a response from Ulric, there was a click in the comm. channel, forcing Eli to pick up the call.

The voice of a young woman filled the air around the comm. unit. "This is Elizabeth Waltz, does anyone read?" There was a gap in the transmission.

"Repeat, this is Elizabeth Waltz, on board a pirate craft. Any nearby vessels, do you read?"

Eli paused, that name sounded so familiar. As Eli looked on, he noticed a label on the underbelly of a resting fighter craft. The label had the word “Waltz” on it. Of course, she was the daughter of the deceased CEO of the Waltz Corporation. Her name was literally plastered throughout the news during the time of his death, which was approximately around the same time the Salient departed from Rust City, Mars.

Her sudden presence puzzled Eli, who wondered what the heiress of a multi-trillion dollar corporation was doing out here in the middle rim worlds…on a pirate vessel?

There was a girl with me…Elizabeth, if I can't make it then she becomes priority.

Eli understood now, she was the other prisoner that Ulric referred to. He quickly dispatched a response in case her channel might die.

“This is Captain Colter, United Federation Marine of the F.S.S. Salient. You were the other prisoner on board the pirate frigate? Never mind that now, our ship is directly in view just fly to it I’ll tell the guys at control to let you have clearance. You might wanna’ hurry; more pirates are on the horizon.” And with that, Eli closed the comm. and resumed Ulric’s channel as he walked to the control room of the Salient’s hangars.

In a couple of minutes he was in the domed room superstructure which rested at the very top of the Salient’s hull. The dome regulated all incoming and outgoing traffic through the hangars, by monitoring docking speeds. Should a ship come in too fast, they would have to throttle down in order to dock in the hangar otherwise they might collide with other inactive fighters and gunships. If not that then they would have to spin and do a go around and attempt to re dock in the hangars on the opposite side of the Salient.

As Eli stepped into the room, he saw that everyone was on their feet rushing back and forth. The control dome realized that they were under attack, and they were prepping the fighters or scrambling them on a second’s notice.

“Ah Captain, what can I do for you?” a gruff looking man with a grizzled chin, probably in his forties, approached Eli toting a warm smile. He was the control director, Victor Keschek, and he had known Eli from the start of the trip, as he was one of the first crew members aboard alongside the Admiral. Command had handpicked a number of experienced officers to keep the recruits in line on this mission. Victor and Eli shook hands for a bit before the Captain got to the point.

“How you doin’ Vic? I’ve got Elizabeth Waltz coming in on a pirate craft, she’ll need clearance,” At the mention of her name, Victor scoffed as if the Captain was playing a joke on him, but then he saw Eli’s countenance and realized he wasn’t kidding.

His mouth dropped agape, “THE Elizabeth Waltz? The one from Waltz Enterprises?” he scrambled over to the control console, “What the hell is she doing out here?” he pressed some keys on the haptic interface that glowed into being when he approached it.

“She was prisoner aboard the frigate I was sent to clear. Chances are she might have been abducted by these bastards.” Eli’s face descended into a scowl as he thought about those words.

Victor glanced at Eli “Yeah, no kidding, they were probably going to ransom her. She commands the entire fortune of the company, anybody with that kind of wealth is bound to have some enemies, and maybe some captors...”

After spending only 30 mins on the coms, she got a response. “This is Captain Colter, United Federation Marine of the F.S.S. Salient. You were the other prisoner on board the pirate frigate? Never mind that now, our ship is directly in view just fly to it I’ll tell the guys at control to let you have clearance. You might wanna’ hurry; more pirates are on the horizon.” With a gasp, she fallowed the captains orders and took the controls of the small shuttle, soon finding the Salient only a few miles away.

Slowly she inched the ship towards the larger one. Since the ship was a shuttle, it didnt have any sort of auto pilot. Only manual piloting. Slowly she brought it around and propelled forward towards the ship, finally reaching it in just a few minutes. "This is the F.S.S. Salient, we have you." Someone broadcasted out to her. She sighed in relief as she gripped her chair and was pulled in by the ship, responding; "Thank you F.S.S. Salient... Have a medical team on stand by... I... Iv been hit."

Only a moment later, the ship pulled into the hanger. She gripped her side lightly from where the bullet grazed her. As the shuttle touched down in the hanger, she unlocked herself from the pilots chair, and stood up. Holding her side as she walked to the rear of the shuttle, opening the cargo bay door to be met by the crew.

Three men rushed to her, helping her stand up as she was about to faint. The trauma of the events finally getting to her caused her to start to cry, both in relief and in happiness. The three men put her in a stretcher, not knowing the extent of her injuries, and pushed her through the body of the ship. Over a loud speaker a woman announced: "Trauma team be on stand-by. In coming code-56. Priority package. Dr. Bergman report to medical bay."