The Newest Recruit

Posted on Mon Nov 20th, 2017 @ 9:23pm by Lieutenant Valeria Mordin & Warrant Officer Koh Otassu & Captain Michelle Bartlett

Mission: https://wellington.pegasusfleet.site/index.php/sim/missions/id/4
Location: Fighterbay - Wellington
Timeline: After "The Feasts of Four Nations"

There was an open bay in the fighter bay on the Wellington, by no mistake. Tukal promised a punctual pilot seeking to transfer, and right on time there was an arrival. Sensors picked up an approaching Ts'usugi fighter craft on approach, and looking out of the bay doors out to the empty void of space there was nothing. There was nothing....

Then there's was a quick blur of activity, and then there was a fighter craft. Sleek, with a build that suggested both atmospheric and transatmospheric capacity. "This is Red Bishop. Request permission to land." the pilot's voice came over the comms. It hung in space, no obvious nacelles or other means by which to travel at warp, though it moved through space on impulse power. Except for that brief display of speed that the Blink fighters were known to do: Hyper brief jumps to incredibly high velocities.

"This is the Bridge. You're cleared to land in main shuttle bay." Michelle said.

The craft pulled into the designated bay, and hung in the air for a moment before solid landing gear deployed to keep it elevated off the ground. The front hatch opened with a hiss, and the pilot climbed out and took the leap to the deck like he had done it a thousand times before. The pilot removed his helmet and took a moment to shake off the confines of the headgear, letting his long ears perk up for a moment before they half-flopped forward in a more relaxed fashion. Black fur, with a white patch around his left eye, and lusterless... reflection-less gray eyes. The moment had passed, though, and he stood to attention.

The fighter itself was just as alien as the pilot that brought it here. For propulsion, it sported a singular impulse engine situated between two atmospheric thrust ports, though it had no tail fin of any form. Sufficiently advanced aerodynamics could simply have rendered said fin obsolete. Very sleek, very low profile, with various warnings and identifiers all spelled out in the native language of the Ts'usugi. As she cycled down, she was a very quiet beast.

Gordo had been advised to expect a new pilot, so he was in the fighter bay when the alien fighter arrived. Sleek, yet with a menacing appearance, it looked to be a craft that could function equally well in space or in an atmosphere. 'A hell of a lot more aerodynamic in appearance than anything we've got...' he thought as the ship slowly touched down and came to a stop. The pilot, a Ts'usugi by appearance, dismounted and strode over to where Cooper stood.

"Koh Ottasu, previous callsign Red Bishop. sir." the pilot said, "Ready for interview and gear inspection, sir."

"Welcome aboard. I'm Commander Cooper, second-in-command of the squadron. Our skipper is Commander Lawson and I will take you to meet him in just a few minutes. Did you have a good flight here?"

"As smooth as wet ice, Commander." was the pilot's reply, as he turned and gave the hull of his craft a pat. "I've brought the schematics for everything needed to keep her fueled and in top shape, and the fabrication mass to repay for fabricating the pieces and equipment needed. Equal exchange, after all."

"I saw your craft out there in action. Looking forward to flying with you and the wing."

"Glad to have you here," Cooper said as he began to study the alien craft. "Before we meet with Commander Lawson, tell me about your fighter. What sort of drive and weapons do you have? And we in the fighter wing don't stand much on ceremony. Usually the only one referred to by rank is Commander Lawson. My call sign is 'Hot Dog' but friends call me Gordo."

Koh gave a nod, "Hot Dog it is." and then he gave a pause to gather his thoughts about the craft he loved... "Ichiga class Blink Fighter. Closest translation is Class One." Koh started, "Cruising speed of Mach 2 in atmosphere, maximum of Mach 4. Trans-Atmosphere capacity, impulse engine for vacuum flight. Once out of an atmosphere, that's where the Blink Drive works her stuff." the rabbit gave the main body of the craft a gentle pat.

"It's capacitance driven, so it takes a bit to charge up. Four, maybe five seconds. Then, it floods the drive system with stored energy in one big rush. The Inertial Nullifier usually runs low on power, to just kinda compensate for inertia's pull but just before the Blink Drive kicks in it gets its full power charge and fully nullifies inertia for just a fraction of a second."

"The Blink Drive propels the fighter at around point eight seven light for that fraction of a second. Twenty five thousand kilometers in a blink, or computer guided repositioning in that blink." he continued, "I can't use weapons while that drive is active, though. There's the risk I'd outrun my own pulses." he paused for a moment. "Now, as for weaponry, standard class eight charged pulse cannons mounted in the nose." he motioned to recessed areas in the side of the cockpit and one under the nose, arranged in a circular display.

"For a little more, there's a solid weapon carriage in the underbelly. Usual compliment is ten hunter seeker missiles and two negatron warhead torpedoes." Koh stooped a little to motion to the underside of the craft. "As for fuel, the craft is powered by a heavy muon decay reactor. Muons are easy to generate, with the right equipment. Our engineering team loaded up the schematics for a filter that works with Dalacari antimatter reactor systems, and it shouldn't be too different from the system you use. Techs say I won't need a direct feed to the reactor, just a connection to the power grid. I think the joke would be... I need a wall socket." he joked.

"Well that's something you'll need to discuss with the engineering department," Cooper answered with a chuckle. "I just fly 'em. What I know about engineering you could fit on the head of a pin and still have room left." He continued to look the fighter over. "What about shielding? How's she set for that?"

"She's shielded, heavily so, but it takes a long time for those shields to regenerate so it's a sacrifice between initial strength and lasting power." he paused, and gave a smirk, "You know, saying it like that... there's a joke there somewhere."

"There's a certain science officer aboard that I'm sure would agree with you on that point," Gordo said with a bit of a grin, "and something tells me you'll meet her eventually. As for your fighter, it's most impressive - especially that Blink Drive. Sounds like it might run rings around what we're flying."

"In the short run, I wouldn't doubt it, but in the long haul, she's just a Blink ship. Ts'usugi power systems allow for an either or setup. You're either a Blink ship, or a Dark ship." Koh pointed out, then realized that might not make a whole lot of sense to a non-Ts'usugi. "She's not warp capable."

"You ready to go meet the skipper?"

Koh straightened up his flight uniform, dusted off his shoulders, then gave a nod, "I am. If you'd kindly lead the way, Hot Dog?" there was a smirk. It was going to take a while for him to get used to that. "Oh, one quick question. Call signs. Are they assigned, given, or earned here?"

Gordo grinned slightly, thinking about how he had been given his call sign 'Hot Dog'. "Usually a pilot's call sign is chosen by the pilot themselves," he said. "But occasionally it is given by their flight leader or another pilot and may be based on an event the pilot was involved in or perhaps the pilot's outlook or attitude. For instance, the squad leader you will probably be flying with is called 'Ice Queen'. She got that sign because she is cool under pressure. Our other squad leader is called 'Cobra' because she can strike as quickly as a snake..." he said as they turned to leave the fighter bay.

TO BE CONTINUED...

OFF:

LtCommander Gordo "Hot Dog" Cooper
Wing Commander
USS Wellington

Koh Ottasu
Transfer Fighter Pilot
USS Wellington