Improvise, Adapt, Overcome.

Posted on Thu Jul 29th, 2021 @ 7:24am by Lieutenant Commander Marcus Decius 'Gladius' & Lieutenant Sturek 'Rook' & Lieutenant JG Nozomi Kusuda 'Gemini' & Lieutenant Iowa Riverside 'Grey Ghost'

2,152 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Operation Romulus Return
Location: Academy Flight Range, Moons of Saturn
Timeline: Present

ON:

Marcus Relaxed. He was in the cockpit again, his favorite place to be. Triumph Squadron had just launched from the deck of the Tokyo. He keyed his mic. "Triumph Squadron, this is Gladius. Assume standard V formation and punch up coordinates for the Academy Flight Range. Gemini, you're my wingman for this hop. We will execute on my mark. All craft, Acknowledge."

"This is Grey Ghost, standing by!" Iowa's voice came over the radio.

Sturek responded crisply. "Rook standing by."

=A=This is Gemini; standing by and awaiting your orders, Lieutenant!=A= Nozomi chirped with evident excitement in her voice.

Marcus smiled. It had been a while since he had been that eager to go on a training run. "Roger that. Set course for the Academy Training grounds, and engage at full impulse. It should be about a half hour trip. Buckle up, cupcakes. Three, two, one, ENGAGE! He toggled the switch after plotting the course, and hit full impulse.

"Yippie-Ki-Yaaaaaaaay!!!" Nozomi exclaimed as she engaged at full impulse and followed Marcus's lead.

Clearly, she was enjoying being behind the controls of a Valkyrie again way more than she had any right to...

Alone in his cockpit, Sturek silently raised an eyebrow.

In her cockpit, Iowa engaged full impulse. She was still getting used to the rather clunky maneuvering presented by a stock fighter, but she was nonetheless happy to be back in the cockpit at all.

Marcus keyed his communicator. "While we're en route, I wanted to go over a few things. First off, I want everyone to switch all weapons to training mode. There may be a few surprises waiting for us, and even though it's a routine formation practice, I want us to be ready for anything. Expect the unexpected."

"Second," he continued, "I expect everyone to perform at the peak of their abilities. It's easy to become complacent. It's easy to go on autopilot when you're not expecting danger. If we as a squadron have this undesirable trait, we will work together to root it out. All craft, acknowledge when your weapons are in training mode."

Sturek set his weapons to training mode. "Acknowledged," he said tonelessly.

"Acknowledged." Iowa responded as she set her weapons to training mode, her display changing colors to indicate the switch. "Training mode online."

=A=Training mode engaged; awaiting your orders, Lieutenant,=A= Nozomi chimed in shortly after the other two. She was still getting used to the 1a setup and the fact that the switch to engage training mode was now located on the right side of the instrument cluster (rather than above her left knee, back when she'd last been flying these things), but for someone who hadn't flown a Valkyrie for quite some time (or so she alleged), she was a surprisingly fast learner.

As soon as they arrived at the training grounds, Marcus put them through a few basic maneuvers. Immelmann, Split-S evasion, Break right. Throttle control for formation flying. They had no problems with these. Then without warning, Marcus fired his boosters and broke formation getting out ahead of them be a few kilometers. Maintaining his momentum, he twisted his ship on its y axis. He was now flying backwards, and had his wingman squarely in his sights. He squeezed off several phaser shots, thumping the hull of Gemini's ship to get her attention. "Tag, you're it, Gemini. Pilots. weapons free. Go get 'er. Last one to score a hit is it. Gemini, stay alive as long as you can! This is where the fun begins! If your ship registers a fatal hit, you're out of the game, and the one who got you becomes it." He immediately engaged his thrusters, and joined the hunt, closing the gap between his fighter and the others, keen to see who would be it next.

"Oh! Um..." Nozomi spluttered as she suddenly became aware of the fact that everybody's phasers were now turned on her. "Ohcrapohcrapohcrapohcrapohcrapohcrapoh..."

In a panic, she engaged full impulse and dove for cover behind a large asteroid.

Sturek glanced at his sensors, since Gemini's fighter was not in visual range. Mentally plotting an intercept course, he would capitalize on the pilot's inexperience. Intercept in three... two... one... he thought. As he squeezed the trigger on his phasers, a large obstruction came between him and his target. She had ducked behind an asteroid. He calculated where she would emerge, only she wasn't where he expected her to be. She must have changed course. Humans are in some ways unpredictable. He glanced at his sensors, got his bearings, and plotted a new intercept course. He would not underestimate her again.

Gemini wasn't where Sturek had been expecting her, because Iowa had already chased her out of cover, and was keeping up with Nozomi's erratic flying.

"You should know that I've shot down my fair share of Jappies in my lifetime." She said as she focused her weapons on Nozomi's fighter. "This ain't personal, kid; it's just business."

Iowa then fired a series of shots at Nozomi's starboard wing, with at least three of the shots striking the wing.

"WHOOO!" Iowa exclaimed as her systems registered the successful hits to the target alongside the visual confirmation.

Fortunately, Nozomi's on-board computer didn't register the hit as fatal, but by her standards, her performance was rather disappointing; if this were a live combat situation, she'd be spraying fuel right now.

"I'm not out of the running yet," Nozomi smirked as she sharply pushed the yoke forward. "Let's see if you can handle THIS!"

Without warning, Nozomi's fighter made a sharp dive underneath Iowa, expertly maneuvering around Marcus and Sturek before diving for cover behind another asteroid.

"Most Kamikaze pilots never did that after getting hit." Iowa muttered as she watched Nozomi speed off. "Whatever; I could do this all day..."

Iowa then threw her fighter into a dive roll to intercept. Despite multiple alarms going off in the cockpit that she was overloading the inertial dampeners, she successfully completed the maneuver, offloading a volley of shots at Marcus and Sturek as she maneuvered past them, hoping to at least slow them down.

"I have got to get the inertial dampeners upgraded again..." Iowa muttered. "Come out, come out, little bunny; mama fox is hungry!"

Iowa flew around the asteroid at a different angle than Nozomi had taken, the bottom side of Gemini's fighter coming into view as she rounded the asteroid, this ensured that Nozomi would only have a visual of her after it was too late. This time, Iowa focused her fire directly at Nozomi's engine.

It turned out, however, that when Nozomi really got in her zone, she wasn't as dumb and soft-spoken as she looked; just seconds before Iowa's shots would've made their mark, Nozomi looped around to the rear of her fighter and fired off a volley of her own.

"BOO-YAH!" Nozomi shouted as her computer registered that she'd scored a direct hit. "I've still got it, baby!"

Before Iowa could retaliate, Nozomi was off again, this time weaving through a cluster of asteroids in an attempt to shake off her pursuers.

Iowa had barrel-rolled out of the way of most of the shots. However, Gemini had managed a lucky shot and had taken out one of Iowa's torpedo launchers.

"That was a lucky shot!" Iowa responded. "It won't happen again!"

Harmos smiled as he watched his squadron show off their skill. The were good. Iowa's experience belied her years, but she had a tendency to think of flying as though she were still in an aircraft rather than a starfighter. She did not take full advantage of her craft's capability, and he was disappointed that she didn't seem to abide by the rules of tag. Choosing to fire at fighters that were not "it" showed a surprising lack of respect for the rules of engagement. He would have a "come to jesus meeting" with her after they got back to the Tokyo. Sturek was precise and methodical, but lacked intuition. Nozomi was holding her own, in spite of being unfamiliar with the Valkyrie 1a. Now, it was time. he slowed, and focused on his navicomp. He plotted a quick course to a point about 600 kilometers in front of where the others were chasing Gemini, and engaged his warp engines.

He came out of warp just as Nozomi dodged most of another vicious salvo from Iowa's phasers... stationary and directly in her flight path. Using his rcs thrusters, he boosted himself up vertically relative to her flight path and fired point blank at her starboard nacelle, then followed with two shots to the cockpit. The computer registered the hits. Had they been full strength, her warp capability would be gone, and her cockpit spaced. He imagined he could hear the alarms of a crippled fighter going off in her cockpit right now. He keyed his communicator. "Gemini, you're out, and I'm 'it'. Stand by and watch your sensors. Learn a few new tricks. Grey ghost, stop flying an airplane and start flying a starfighter! Sturek, this isn't a game of chess! Stop treating it like one! FLY! Catch me!"

Marcus engaged his boosters, and his impule engines, heading off in a most antiballistic direction, maneuvering around behind Sturek to get on his six.

As Marcus was focused on Sturek, Iowa shut her fighter completely off, so that she disappeared completely from her squadron leader's sensors. She waited until Marcus and Sturek were far enough away to safely execute the maneuver she was planning before she suddenly turned all her systems back on and made the jump to warp, dropping out of warp right behind Marcus just as she appeared on his sensors at her old location. Before Marcus even had time to react, Iowa fired off a training torpedo at his engine, this time scoring a direct hit. She engaged her boosters and fired off a volley at the cockpit for extra measure. In a real combat situation, she wouldn't need to do so, as a direct torpedo hit to the engines would be enough to cause catastrophic damage. Her computer registered the hits.

"You want starfighter flying?" Iowa asked over the coms. "Well, how about a little Picard Maneuver for you there? If I'm reading this correctly, you're out, Gladius, and I'm it: Rook, I hope you've been reading up on human history, because I'm about to give you a lesson in how the Riverside sisters fly!"

Sturek flew to open space, holding a lateral line. He wanted room to maneuver. He engaged his boosters, still holding a straight course with no turns away from the asteroid field. He waited until Iowa was clear of the asteroid field and on his six, lining up her shot. He let go of his boosters, using his forward momentum. Rotating 180 degrees on his Y axis, He now faced his opponent. He switched to computer targeting, and firing tone registered on his eardrums. at a range of 20 kilometers, he could only see his target as a tiny dust mote, reflecting the light of Jupiter. His computer, however, detected every strategic weak point on the Valkyrie. He fired crippling shots, using his computer to target major subsystems: Shields first, then weapons, thrusters, directional control, then delivering a coup de grace by firing a shot just behind the cockpit, registering that her life support systems had been hit. Under full strength phaser fire, her cockpit would be filled with toxic smoke, and she would have had to jettison, depending on her space suit's oxygen to hold out until SAR picked her up. In the emotionless even tone that Vulcans had perfected over the centuries since Surak, he calmly responded, "Premature boasting is illogical. Your mention of the Riverside sisters was most helpful. However, you should not give your enemy clues to your tactics before an attack."

Marcus winced. Vulcans may not admit that they have a sense of humor, but he thought they had a hilarious lack of one. And it seemed that Sturek had been learning new tricks. Right from Marcus. He keyed his communicator. "Okay, pilots," he said, "Recess is over. Time to head back to the ship. Form on me. I'll debrief each of you in private in my office. Stow your gear and head to your quarters. I'll ping you when it's time for your debriefing. Form up. Let's go home."

They headed back to the Tokyo without further incident, and Marcus spent much of the return flight going over each pilot's performance. Now he had to figure out a way to bring out the best in them that would mesh with their personalities and learning styles.

OFF:

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