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Episode 02: Cosmic Imperative / Re: Ch 4: S [D01 |1830] Second Station from the right and straight on till its over
Last post by Tae -Victor sighed heavily as all of the mission details ran through his head. This wasn't a cakewalk, and it was a hell of a mission for his first combat mission as a pilot. However, Victor's love of history and aircraft had scratched an itch somewhere in the back of his mind. It was a high-threat mission with very few craft; this wasn't a standard mission. Going in, taking down a Savi station, and recovering data had special operations all over it. And after a moment, it finally clicked, and he didn't like where this was going, but it was similar in levels of ballsiness.
"Yeah, a few thoughts, Lieutenant, this is a 'Dam Buster' operation. Something From Earth's Second and Third World Wars: the first time The British tried it against the Germans, and how it played out for them wasn't great. The aircraft came in low and fast and used an ineffective ordinance, disrupting operations and drawing attention. The second time the Americans tried, it was more effective; if I remember correctly, it involved the use of a stealth aircraft loaded up with fuel and nuclear warheads against the Three Gorges Dam. It was effective then due to shoddy construction, the dam being on a fault line, and overwhelming firepower. But it was still a distraction for the more significant push of the airborne landings in Beijing. This is a mix of the two operations, Sir. Our part as pilots for this is to disrupt and attract attention; we're bait."
"So we must make a fast insertion, drop our payload, and keep burning thrust to draw attention. The goal is to buy as much time for the shuttle to get in and out. We don't have exact real-time positioning data for our targets, so we must come in fast and keep going. We must divert full power to engines and target whatever explosives we carry with us. After getting their attention, we have to engage and keep them covered until they can escape. Attacking the facility isn't likely to be a minor operation; this will get very bloody exceptionally quickly. If I have permission, Lieutenant, I know how to override the safeties on the engines and make the inertial dampeners more efficient; the engines are going to get hot, and we'll need every ounce of power we can get so we don't turn to jelly on the initial attack run. Spaceframe And Structure was my field with these, but I worked closely with engines and even helped write the specs. I know what I'm doing."
Victor sighed heavily at that, already thinking about what he'd have to do to give them every edge possible. The Valkyries weren't even in the same ballpark as Savi Fighters, so every small advantage that they had would add up. And even then, it wasn't about providing an advantage; it was about drawing attention. The look on his face was thoughtful, even as fingers danced with the necessary calculations and rewiring he'd have to do to hack their fighters. After a moment of muttering equations and technical details to himself, she shrugged.
"I can overcharge the engines by fifteen percent past safety margins, and Structural integrity to eight percent. We'll actually feel some pretty heavy G forces even then, But it's that or shields, and we can't stand up against that kind of power even with a few extra gigawatts going to them. Your choice Sir."
Victor was in his own element but still nodded to Thanalda, giving her a polite smile and doing his best to look reassuring. However, with his mangled visage, it wasn't liable to come across properly. When a ghoul grinned at you, it wasn't comforting. "Ensign vanVinter callsign Corsair, Formerly Chief of Spaceframe and Structure for our birds. I know this sounds scary, Lieutenant, but I helped give the Valkyries their final shakedown before they went into service." That last bit was directed to both Callax and Thanalda; the truth, though, is Victor only expected the shuttle to make it out, and even that was a hell of a risk.