Please Excuse my poor grammar, writing style or sheer... derpy. I have not composed a proper story in close to two decades (when i wrote about halflings with pink hair with honking familiars...) based on toons i hired on my current MMHQ session...Pilot: Lt (SG, Aero) Yoon-Mi Inuoe
Callsign: Moon
Age: 25
Homeworld: Asta
Recruited: 20Apr3068
Martial Status: Married to Harvey Inuoe (Previously [Redacted])
Combat Status: Active [Regular]
Hired by the Lone Wolves (Group 117) during their trek across the former Sarna March in the Spring of 3068. Lt Inoue is considered a ronin aerospacer and mercenary (and does not discuss why she is not currently in the DCMS instead).
Current Assignment: Corsair V14 #1 (Previous Assignment: Seydlitz Z2A #1)
Note: There is no proof that Moon consummated her engagement on the top of her fighter...
Note2: [Academy] Basic 1.0+ Inf 1.0+ Aero 1.0+ Officer 1.0Total Chaos Pg 38 (SIM)
15Feb70 1745 Local: Called off early because of an Alert at the Jump Point...
15Feb70 2113 Local: False alarm. Just a civilian Jumper with sh*t coms and IFF. Now i know why Moon keeps that square... weird thing in her kit when she flies CAP (It's called an 'Etchasketch, Boss!'). Whatever, It's still Lostech...
Ok, here's a weird one. *smiles* I was out with
Mayhem (Yeah, that one. Yes, the guy who
somehow survived two crashes in
Lucifers) on Combat Air Patrol at Seginus's Nadir Jump point, day three of charging. Scheduled for 4 & half hours before Naga and the new guy (Lt Geng,
Moon!) relieved us. *glares at Mayhem* ANYway, we were at hour Three when
Rusty (Quartermaster on the
Eggstain [Union-X Dropship on the Scout Jumper, the other 3 Unions on the Intruder 'Dude!']) got on coms to have us hold position. Which wasn't as difficult as it seems in space.
Anyway, the reason
Rusty even bothered us became apparent 3 minutes later when the usual method of POOF Light show and a Ship appears to our right, slightly above and about 15 Light-seconds away from us. A
merchant-class.
Mayhem pulls his jet to my port wing (about 20 meters distance from wing tips) and we watch. The jumper only has 2 vessels docked, both Aurora's, type unknowns.
So this passive observation continues for 10-12 minutes when Rusty tells us to approach the jumpship. It seems that Seginus Control isn't getting either coms or IFF. Since we are the closest units, with the rest of the
Corsairs about 10 minutes from launch (Someone is gonna get a ear full about the concept of Alert-15s later),
Mayhem and myself, hit the jets and coasted a leisurely 200kph towards the uncommunicative vessel.
The trek took another 8 minutes for us to reach the merchant. As we approached in standard non-aggressive posture (AoA about 30 degrees low to the jumper, to show we are not ill intent, which is one thing you can do when trying to establish communications with anyone lacking a working radio), we noted two things. First, the Auroras were firmly in the former state of existence. The
Merchant had what can be decribed as scrap still attached to its docking collars. Something detonated in the starboard aft module ('It looked like when you sneeze and fart AT THE SAME TIME, Moon' *grimaces*) and apparently when through the port aft module. End result? You need a new dropship.
Same deal with the other Aurora, apparently. So obviously, because the lights were permanently out on both dropships, they no longer were threats to us. I told
Mayhem to check the other dropper, which i inch around my Corsair towards the bridge. I checked six briefly and noted my second observation: No Jumpsail action. I had a crap view as i cycled vision POVs but from my perspective, i think i saw the mechanisms for the solar sails but no meshy stuff. So i coast along the hull, about 25 meters (Yes, i was careful to avoid the thingie claws, Thank-You-Very-much!), jostled my controls until i was nose to nose with the 1/2 bowling ball shaped primary hull.
"
Moon,
Mayhem. Both droppers are cored, near as i can tell. Both were the Cargo style."
"Anything else? I didn't see jumpsails when i did my approach fore..."
"Nothing there. Looks like they were ditched destination..."
*Chews on her lower lip* "Copy." The bridge was also dark, for a moment, when light appeared at a corner of the bridge space. I had served on several Merchants in my time in the DCA so i knew that door that opened was the port side to the passageway that led to a head, an enlisted berthing and... something else that i couldn't remember at the time. The light silhouetted two figures, one at the door, the other sitting at the #2 Control station. The doorway figure floated towards the control station holding a portable light (unlit at the time) and something else...?
Anyway, at that point i turned on my interior lighting, dimmed it so my night vision wasn't completely compromised and waved. They paused, looked at me, then waved in return. With my left hand, i tapped my helmet with my figure tips before doing the same with just my index finger. The woman with the light, turned on her lantern and promptly blinded herself a moment before almost blinding me *laughter* She finally gets the business end aimed towards the control panel and i can see this will harder still. The man sitting at the station was trying to make repairs but having little success. That's when the woman (girl, really) put the light down (business end in a useful angle as it floated in mid air) pulled out a binder of paper.
I nodded and gave them a 'Roger-Roger' thumps up and waited for the girl to write her message.
[NEED HELP. Only me and my Dad. Pirates at Alkaid. SEND HELP, PLZ!!!]. Again, i gave her the 'Roger-Roger' while talking on coms to our jumpers what the situation apparently was (It was then that a training SIM being worked with Boss Lady and her company was stopped mid-session. Pissed off Hopper to no end because she was mid DFA when the Knock-It-Off was issued). I then realized that i made a mild mistake.
Aviators (and some Mechwarriors) commonly have knee boards, pouches on the top of their thighs that typically have their flight instructions and mission details, called NATOPS manuals. Mostly they contain operational stuff, emergency procedures and the like. The material typically used are paper but i always the funky fiberboard, because I can use grease pencils with them (super easy to clean. Barely an Inconvenience!) because of that one time a pen exploded in space which made a major 0-G mess. Anyway, I am a firm believer in grease pencils, so piss off.
I reached for the pouch where my grease pencil was supposed to be. Gone. Later on, i remembered that i gave it to my crew chief briefly but never got it back. I had other options but i didn't want to damage my cockpit screen. (Wanna know HOW i got my callsign? Ink in 0-Gee can be messy. Got all over the cockpit, most of my lower portion of my suit. I got my call sign because at one point, while moving around the cockpit, i pressed my ass against the cockpit screen. Left an impressive looking impression. Of. My. Ass. Anyway, my crew chief suggested grease pensils as a viable alternative) so i reached for my pilot kit to my left...
Pilot kits are small by their nature. Really being nothing more than overnight bags, they don't care much when you are earth-bound, they are actually of little use in space. Not supposed to remove your helmet in space for reasons so you can't snack outside of approved rations via tube, so they are mostly just extra weight. Extra weight that i found invaluable this mission. Because i didn't have any other means to communicate besides my hands, i pulled out my
etchasketch.
I had this 'toy' since i was a little girl. I actually have two of these, one the type that you can use in gravity (because its actually filled with some kind of sand. I'm told it really is Lostech) and the other type that really works more like a template (but the electronics are really primitive, designed to imitate a standard
etchasketch while in space). So here i am, using my etchasketch to send a return message... Yes, eventually they got help.
('You gonna tell them about when you
banged your hubs on top of your plane?') SHUT UP, Mayhem...
