EP 2 BTS | D02 | 2300 hrs] Turning Into the Wind

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EP 2 BTS | D02 | 2300 hrs] Turning Into the Wind

January 22, 2025, 11:01:39 PM

Lok’s ears shot up as the red alert sounded, his hands still in the innards of Janus’s fighter, he hadn’t had a chance to fully finish hooking all the opti-cables into the array that controlled the starboard panel screens of the fighter’s cockpit. With no time to fix it, Lok looked around and spotted a nearby crewman fully alert from the blaring alarms and gestured to him to come over. “Get this back together ASAP!” he shouted. Once the crewman had swapped spaces with him, the large Kzinti sprinted across the flight deck, the exhaustion he had been feeling before was smothered in a wave of adrenaline, something he would surely regret later when all this business was done. He needed to reach his gear which he had left on a workbench at the far end of the hangar, along the way though he shouted words of encouragement to his guys, “let’s get these birds ready”...”grab your gear”...”let’s whoop some Romulan ass”...and so on.

[Inbound enemy contacts bearing 0-5-2, mark 0-2-3, range fifty thousand kilometers! Wolf Squadron to your spacecraft!] sounded the Flight Operations Officer over the hangar’s communication’s system.

He reached the workbench and grabbed his phaser along with his tricorder, stuffing them into their holsters, then his comms earpiece and Fight Ops PADD. Once the earpiece was shoved into his left ear and hooked around it, and after taking a moment to listen to the flurry of voices over the comms, Lok sprinted back towards the flight deck launchers. Along the way he ran into the line of pilots running to their fighters. Like his own people, Lok shouted words of encouragement to them as well, though perhaps a bit harsher owing to them being officers and all that, “move your asses”...”are you waiting for an invite from the Romulans, move move move”..”Shadow, get your ass in that plane, now”...and so on. Finally though he reached his station and noted with some satisfaction that the crewman he had tasked with finishing the repair on Janus’s fighter had completed it and was just putting the panel cover back on. With a moment to spare as the pilots reached their birds and went through their initial pre-flight checklists, Lok took the time to open a window on his PADD that showed a simplified view of the tactical situation; Theurgy, or Ranger specifically, and her allies shown in white dots with the names and applicable registry of each ship on the left side of the screen, the enemies in red with simple contact designations on the right. The dots were all in motion, the allied fleet was turning to engage the enemy fleet which was coming straight in, no sign of enemy fighters detected yet though.

His momentary curiosity satisfied, Lok went back to the business of getting these birds in the air, though he had yet to hear the order to launch from the Flight Operations Officer so there was still time yet. He spotted Janus climbing into his Valkyrie, at the head of the pack of course and soon to be first into battle; he also spotted the larger Atlas, climbing into his own bird, a moment of anxiety filled him at the thought of never seeing him again, but he brushed that aside. He knows what he is doing, just do your job, Lok thought to himself. Getting back to the task at hand, Lok sprinted over to Janus’s fighter and ascended the pilot steps before they were pulled away; he wanted to take one quick look at that control panel before letting the squadron commander fly off.

“Excuse me Commander, I just need to check something”, he said to Janus as he reached down and pressed a special button on the right hand panels to run a function check. The LCARS display flashed three times and then momentarily lit each button in its own unique color before going back to normal and the function check button flashed green. All was well with the panel at least, who knew what hidden damage lurked inside the rest of the craft, with only a few hours to service it after the previous round of fighting earlier in the day the possibility of some kind of failure was much higher than it normally would be. At any rate there wasn’t much time to worry about it now. Satisfied, Lok climbed down and walked over to his post where the rest of the lead spacecraft inspectors, ordnancemen, and signal warrants were standing, all waiting patiently for everything to kick off. As he walked, Lok felt a brief moment of familiar vertigo, the sign of a Starship making such a tight turn that the inertial dampeners needed a moment to catch up. Sure enough when he glanced out of the open entrance of the hanger bay Lok could see stars streaking past along with the occasional Klingon or Romulan ship; Theurgy was in a tight turn to port, to confront the advancing enemy.

OOC NOTES-
-This thread is specifically for the battle from the perspective of anybody in the Fighter Assault Bay and Lok, once the pilots take off from the ship they should switch to THIS THREAD to continue the action in space unless they wish to return and land in the hangar.

-ALL PILOTS, please do not take off until after Lok gives the go ahead as part of the regular launch operations of the flight deck.

-Refer to this post for additional information on the current state of the flight deck.

-If you were tagged in this post and do not have a character here just ignore this thread beyond the requirement by the GMs to keep it in mind when writing your own posts.

Re: EP 2 BTS | D02 | 2300 hrs] Turning Into the Wind

Reply #1 – March 06, 2025, 12:57:13 PM

[
Dominic Winters | Flight Deck | Fighter Bay | Deck 16 | U.S.S Theurgy ATTN:@rae @Pierce @Dumedion @Stegro88 @Havenborn @Eden @Krajin @Tae @P.C. Haring @ob2lander961 @Dree @Ellen Fitz

Dominic helped lift and load some of the heavy ordinance into Wolf 10 as part of the last round of bits needing to be done to his craft, having suffered less damage than most, aside from the ablative sheet needing to be replaced. The big-arse Kzint moved with some surprising dexterity as he shifted around and helped the crew, following directions while others rushed off to do other jobs elsewhere. All he had to do was hold this, that or lift a thing.

[Inbound enemy contacts bearing 0-5-2, mark 0-2-3, range fifty thousand kilometers! Wolf Squadron to your spacecraft!] That’s the call! Finishing with the last task he headed up to his cockpit and climbed right on in. His hefty bulk settled into that incredibly comfortable chair, and the big man slipped on his helmet. He sucked in his breath, counted to three, and then exhaled before he began his pre-flight checks. The first of all little customizations that everyone does to their fighters, Dom slipped a small photo out from a pouch of his Father and Mother and slipped it onto a spot where it would not be in the way but still sat in his vision.

Today we are the damned. His ears and tail both twitched as a degree of excitement welled up from deep down. Dominic wanted this fight, no not wanted.. needed it. "Wolf-10, All preflights checked. Ready for final clearance to launch."

He glanced out of the cockpit towards the various officers and crew milling about, wondering who of this he would get to see when all is said and done. Lok was handling himself pretty well for being under pressure and assuming the role of deck chief. He knew his fellow Kzint would come out of this safe and sound.

Re: EP 2 BTS | D02 | 2300 hrs] Turning Into the Wind

Reply #2 – June 16, 2025, 05:41:22 PM

[PO1 Vinnie "Fury" Ferris | Fighter Bay | Deck 15 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: ATTN: @rae @Pierce @Dumedion @Stegro88 @Havenborn @Eden @Krajin @Tae @P.C. Haring @ob2lander961 @Dree @Krajin

The shriek of klaxons was almost drowned out by the pounding of boots and shouted orders echoing across the flight deck as PO1 Vinnie Ferris emerged from the corridor, helmet tucked under one arm and flight harness slung partially over his shoulder. His pace was brisk, but there was a calm in his movement—equal parts muscle memory and practiced urgency. The red lights flashing across bulkheads painted the Kestrel’s tail fins in shades of crimson and shadow.

Fury was already dressed for launch, and despite his station still being in limbo following an alarming number of deaths among the Wolf Pack, he was assigned to back up several pilots for launch readiness and emergency fill-in. He’d been rotating between simulators and real seat time ever since, keeping sharp, staying useful.

His sharp eyes swept the deck and immediately caught sight of the two Kzin—Lok’s distinctive striped frame sprinting across the deck, shouting orders and rallying the crew, and Dominic already hauling himself into Wolf-15, like a great beast climbing into a war chariot. It was chaos—but it was controlled. That was good. Theurgy didn’t need hesitation. She needed teeth.

Ferris quickened his stride past the line of Valkyries being fueled and armed, nodding to the ordnance team as he passed. “Make it sing, Warrant,” he tossed over his shoulder to the munitions tech loading photon torpedoes into Wolf-07’s belly. He reached the access ladder to one of the standby Valravns and paused, watching Lok at the top of Janus’s ladder, running a function check like a man trying to plug every hole in a sinking ship before takeoff.

He respected that—respected *him.* He'd only been awakened recently and yet the other Kzin worked like a man possessed, but there was calculation behind his chaos. That was what made the difference between surviving a battle and just being another smoking crater in someone’s kill report.

Ferris tapped his earpiece, catching the tail end of the Flight Ops call.

“—Wolf Squadron to your spacecraft!”

His own Valravn, Wolf-15, gleamed beneath the hangar lights. It had been stripped down and refit twice since their last engagement. No one wanted to put it in the air until now. But desperate times. Fury gave a grim smile and jogged over, climbing the side with the fluid grace of someone who’d done it a hundred times before.

The cockpit canopy was cold to the touch as he dropped into the seat—not his usual role now, but if called, he’d be ready to fly solo again. He ran the checklist like muscle memory: life support, ECM, shields, pulse phaser control, warp field modulator sync. One after the other, green lights swept across his display.

He opened a comms link to Flight Ops.
"Wolf-15, Pilot Fury. Preflight complete. Bird’s green across the board. Standing by for launch clearance or reassign if needed."

As he waited, he glanced across the canopy toward Janus’s fighter, seeing Lok finally drop from the side and stride toward the other crew chiefs. A low chuckle escaped him.

“Damn right,” he murmured. “Let’s whoop some ass.”

Re: EP 2 BTS | D02 | 2300 hrs] Turning Into the Wind

Reply #3 – July 20, 2025, 10:03:45 PM

[LT CMDR Thomas “Razor” Ravon | Flight Deck | Fighter Bay | Deck 16 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy] Attn: @rae @Pierce @Dumedion @Stegro88 @Havenborn @Eden @Krajin @P.C. Haring @ob2lander961 @Dree

Commander Ravon heard the Red Alert and practically leapt over one of the couches in the pilot’s lounge as he, along with everyone else in the room, rushed to get themselves to their spacecraft. Having been waiting for battle he had already donned his flight suit and with his helmet tucked under his arm he entered the damaged but still functional flight deck to his waiting Valkyrie, a bit scuffed up and in need of a major paint job but with a dedicated deck crew like they had in the Fighter Bay the craft was tougher than ever.

He ascended the ladder to his fighter, as he had done hundreds of times before, perhaps thousands at this point, it all sort of blended together, and plopped into the seat. The harness was secured and the LCARS displays whirred to life casting the thirty-three year old lieutenant commander in orange and yellow light. A crewman helped put his helmet on and do a couple of brief checks before jumping down from the ladder and dragging it away. The canopy of his Valkyrie closed with a rubberized hiss, the sounds of the outside muffled, only the familiar voices of his pilot comrades filled his ears and the whine of his ship’s powersystems coming to life.

Within a couple minutes of him getting to his cockpit, Ravon’s, now going by his callsign Razor, fighter was wheeled out of its parking space and onto the center of the deck in the middle of the pack of ships waiting to launch. The idea was that if Janus got popped on the way out he would hopefully be able to take charge of the squadron. Now came the wait as the rest of the air wing got into position and the bridge gave the go ahead.

[LT(jg) Logan “Wraith” Hale
| Flight Deck | Fighter Bay | Deck 16 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy]

The Valravn was shoved into line near the back of the pack of hungry wolves, Wraith waited patiently like the rest of the squadron for the go ahead.

The waiting was always the worst, he just wanted to get out there and show those Romulans and Klingons what the Valravn could do. His checklists completed with usual diligence, Lieutenant Hale had nothing left to do but watch quietly as the various comm checks sounded in his ears. His green scanned across the deck, not as many pilots or deck crew as there used to be, the over six months of running and fighting was starting to take its toll, but somehow they always managed to get the job done. Perhaps a no finer crew in Starfleet, though desperation can bring out the most in anyone.

The thought crossed his mind, would there even be an after for them, could they defeat The Infested and go back to their old lives, would they even be wanted, it was a thought that surely found space in one way or another for the entire crew of the ship.

Ahead of him the last of the pilots were getting ready and things looked primed to go off at any moment. Hopefully they would all come back alive.

Re: EP 2 BTS | D02 | 2300 hrs] Turning Into the Wind

Reply #4 – July 22, 2025, 09:18:59 PM

Tessa heard the call for action. She was still ragged from the ship being hit and hearing the red alert klaxon sound. "Oi, this is rough!" She exclaimed ready to jump into the fray. Her wild blond hair swinging behind as she left the confines of the lounge, dashing to the fighter bay to her beloved ship. The sleek form looked ready for battle. Glancing downward she realized that her jumpsuit was not on, and she was still sitting in shorts and a crop top. Quickly dashing back to the lockers, she ripped hers open and nearly fell on her bottom as she attempted to stop before grabbing her clothes. Slamming her legs into her pants and the boots, she grabbed her jacket and ran as quickly back out the door again into the bay.

No quips. No happy-go-lucky behavior. It was game time. Her mind on high alert already as she ran up the ladder into the cockpit of her fighter and closed the lid. Firing the thrusters, she took off like a bat out of hell.

Re: EP 2 BTS | D02 | 2300 hrs] Turning Into the Wind

Reply #5 – July 23, 2025, 04:05:56 AM

[Lt Reggie “Gemini” Suder | Wolf Den | Fighter Bay | Deck 16 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy] Attn: @joshs1000‍ @rae‍ @Pierce‍ @Dumedion‍ @Stegro88‍ @Havenborn‍ @Eden‍ @Krajin‍ @Tae‍ @ob2lander961‍ @Dree‍ @Ellen Fitz‍

Reggie found herself halfway through her second Raktajino when the call came in. The wolf had been sitting in the Den, nursing the drink mulling things over. Not only did she remain uncertain where things stood with T’Less, but she also felt this odd sense of foreboding. The latter had started shortly after the teams' returned from the Romulan research station but for the life of her, the Betazoid couldn't figure out why. She assumed it was just her picking up on the emotions of the crew around her.

She and Athen had already entered their link and his presence in her mind calmed her and she became immediately aware of the activity on the flight deck when the call came down. Taking one last pull on her coffee, she rose, her exosuit bumping the table. Athen was already at the plane as she jogged onto the flight deck bit a deckhand waited patiently by her ship. There was no time for a full inspection but she trusted Allen's judgment. Knowing her preferences, he had ordered a pair of micro torpedo launchers as well as a pair of torpedo launcher pods, each loaded with three quantum torpedos for her ship.

Her console hummed to life as she sat down and secured the exo-suit helmet that waited for her. and she let her mind focus on the link as she exec-dad the now familiar pre-flight sequence.

Power Systems. Check. Engines. Check. Weapons. Check. Sensors and ECM. Check. Emergency Systems. Check. Preflight complete. Ordinance Secure. Safeties on. Initiate startup.

Silently, they moved as one, a shared mind and focus that the Borg would envy. On her Screen, indicators lit as wolf-13 poured up. A second set of icons drew her attention, these sharing the status of her wing and the squadron as a whole. The Betazoid looked across the bay as wraith's engines powered on. To her right, Fury's canopy secured and looked. She didn't know Fury all that well, as he'd been brought in following Chaos's death. Last but not least, Dixiebee's cockpit closed up as her own engines lit .

"Wolf-13 to Wolf-1 and ground crew- Wolves 13 through 16 are ready for launch.”

Reggie switched over to the channel she'd reserved for sending only to her wing.

"All right Valravyn, wing, time to kick some Romulan ass ."

Re: EP 2 BTS | D02 | 2300 hrs] Turning Into the Wind

Reply #6 – July 23, 2025, 05:44:36 PM

[

Ens. Via "DixeBee" Wix | Squadron Locker Room | Deck 16 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ]
[Show/Hide]

[Inbound enemy contacts bearing 0-5-2, mark 0-2-3, range fifty thousand kilometers! Wolf Squadron to your spacecraft!] the announcement blared through the hanger intercom, and a shot of anxiety went through Via's body.

"Fuck!" She spoke out loud, finally, but the words only barely held back a bout of sobs. If Via were any less worried about looking like a "baby" they would've come out. She pushed back her feelings once more, burying them as she wiped away her tears and composed herself. She had a job to do- she couldn't let her camrades down. Not when everything was on the line.

Via pulled herself up and rushed to her locker grabbing the rest of the flight gear she stowed away and donning it. Before grabbing her helmet she downed a can of her favorite energy drink from her stash that she had kept.

"Come one! Let's get em bitch asses..." Via nearly growled as the heavily carbonated drink brunt her throat as it went down. It pumped her up, but that sinking feeling still was there.

|Flight Deck|

Regardless she pushed through, taking her helmet and running off to the the flight deck where she would be welcomed to the hive that was the flight operations personnel going around doing their work to prepare the fighters for a combat launch. Via hurried towards her Valravn's parking spot running through NCOs barking orders at crewmen and Pilots alike to get to work.

There was a school of maintainers and other OPS personnel surrounding Via's lighter once she reached it. It was clear they didn't have enough time to do a full comprehensive repair of everything the needed to. The battle damage still persisted, hastily welded deck plates and quick patch solutions gave the once prestine fighter a frakenstein ish look. It matched Via's exosuit, anyone looking wouldn't have been surprised it was her's.

The assigned crew chief wasn't her regular one. Probably someone who had to fill in at the last moment. He gave her the rundown which essentially amounted to "flies but don't expect things to be up to code" which didn't brother Via too much. She climbed in the cockpit and started to do a pre system's check like she had done hundreds of times before, though now she was actually able to skip certain parts due to the aforementioned quick repair job that had been done to the spacecraft.

Suddenly she heard a familiar but hoarse voice come from below.

"Ma'am!"

Via looked over and her eyes widened to see Charles fully suited up, but looking like walking death.

"Ain't you ass s'pose to be sick or somethin'?" she questioned but to be honest she was happy to see him. Especially after dealing with the mess that was his replacement RIO.

"I still quite *cough* am ma'am." He began to make is way to the fighter and up to his seat. Via visibly looked disgusted and recoiled as he did.

"*cough* They put me on the roster. We don't have enough nav pilots to go around."

Via looked back and just stared at him, seeing the snot slowly run down his nose, and gaunt look.

Charles stared back.

"Ma'am I'll be fine! I was feeling better any- any-....ACHOOOO"

The young pilot recoiled again and put her hands up blocking her view of him. The exosuit she was wearing was vacuum sealed so there wasn't any true worry that she could get sick but Via was a bit of a germaphobe. It was digesting regardless.

"Your ass is keepin' that helmet on until my ass is lightyears away from you. Sick ass Beachhead..."

Via put on her helmet and closed the canopy.

"Hell be careful cause my ass thought you were lookin' like them Savvy aliens. Bout to be your ass"

"Very *Cough* funny ma'am"

Everything powered up, hud was activated and the information rushed at her. Her flight lead to her left along with the rest of the squaderon's statuses came online. They were ready to launch...or ready as they could ever be given the circumstances.

"All right Valravn, wing, time to kick some Romulan ass ." She heard Gemini speak over the comm.

"Why we always gotta keep carryin' the entire squadron every mission. Them Valks never be pullin' their weight." Via joked back hiding the immense anxiety she had as she looked out of the hangar into the darkness of space. It would've been heard slightly in her voice.

Re: EP 2 BTS | D02 | 2300 hrs] Turning Into the Wind

Reply #7 – July 23, 2025, 10:08:54 PM

[ Lt Cmdr. Jaru “Janus” Rel | Fighter Bay | Deck 15 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @joshs1000 @Ellen Fitz @ob2lander961 @P.C. Haring @Pierce @Krajin @Dumedion @Stegro88 @Havenborn @Eden @Tae
[Show/Hide]

[Inbound enemy contacts bearing 0-5-2, mark 0-2-3, range fifty thousand kilometers! Wolf Squadron to your spacecraft!]

Finally.

Somewhere back in the peaceful, safe, and – as they all now knew, thanks to the Infested – utterly fake utopia of the Federation, a counselor was shaking their head in exasperation. Battle was supposed to be stressful and avoided at all costs. But Janus just felt relieved. No more planning, no more training, no more preparation. No more waiting. Nothing left but the main event, the adrenaline rushing through his veins to sing in his ears like the sweetest melody. For him, battle had always been the easiest part. He could live purely in the moment, and everything else would wait until he was back in the hanger bay again.

“Everybody up! Nap time is over, party’s on!” For the most part, the entire squadron was haunting the area around the bay, set to ready alert and left to twiddle their thumbs. His call had been for the others in the Den, but he hurried along everyone in the corridor as well. A quick duck into the lockers for his exosuit, which had been prepped earlier for quick turnaround, and he was ready to go.

Hopefully, his ship was ready too. Janus bit his tongue to stop himself from shooing the new deck chief off as the Kzinti followed him up the ladder. Lok was doing his job, and it was Janus’ own damn fault for taking damage on another mission hours before. “It doesn’t have to be perfect chief,” he said, running his own preflight at the same time, “As long as she flies.” He was – as all of the young hotshots were fond of teasing him about – old. Plenty of experience adapting to handle damaged systems.

As Lok finished and the canopy came down, he started getting preflight confirmations from the rest of the squadron. He ran through them mentally as his own checks came back. Not perfect, he’d definitely have to keep an eye on the port thruster. But like he’d said, as long as it worked.

“Fury, Janus,” he replied to the RIO, tying in flights ops so they’d be up to date on the change. “Take the front seat today. Fall in with Gemini and the other valravns.” They were short staffed, and he was qualified to fly on his own. More butts in seats, more birds in the air. He preferred experience over numbers, but numbers always helped.

“Ops, Wolf Leader – Squadron ready for launch. Good hunting everyone.”

Re: EP 2 BTS | D02 | 2300 hrs] Turning Into the Wind

Reply #8 – July 24, 2025, 09:11:03 PM

[Ens. Talia "Shadow" Al-Ibrahim | Fighter Bay | Deck 15 | USS Theurgy] Attn: @joshs1000 @P.C. Haring @Stegro88 @Pierce @ob2lander961 @Havenborn @Eden @Ellen Fitz @rae

The FAB pulsed with crimson light as Shadow marched briskly the Den, helm in her fist. Her eyes scanned and followed the others as they made their way out, and managed to deftly side-step around Wix; apparently her RIO was sick but still going up. Talia arched a brow at the pair with a faint curl of her lips while she passed. The two made an interesting pair, to say the least.

No sooner had that happened, Shadow was nearly shoulder checked by the massive, fur-bodied Kzin – who was now likely the CoD – and who also had promptly issued a series of snarled commands as he passed by in the other direction, one aimed for her.

“On it, Chief,” Talia nodded without a backwards glance at him, her eyes and demeanor all business. The helm in her hands was spun and flipped up over her head as she walked, then clamped and sealed into place with a hiss of atmosphere pressure. She didn’t want them to see the way her jaw muscles trembled, or the nervous, shallow breaths through her parted lips. Even for someone that had trained themselves to hide their feelings as well as Shadow, it was a frail, feeble mask. Her pulse hammered in her chest and ears. It wasn't fear, exactly; or at least it wasn't just fear. It was adrenalin, anxiety, anticipation and dread, spiced with just enough this shits really happening to threaten even Talia’s remarkable self-control conditioning.

She glanced around again, and counted the souls left among them, headed into the fight ahead. The drone fiasco had already claimed one Wolf; misfortune had claimed another. Still more had already fallen at Hobus.

No more of our blood today, Shadow frowned as she approached the nose of her bird. We’ve bled enough. More than enough. She knew there was nothing she could do to back up that claim; even as her eyes, hands, and mind ran through the muscle-memorized ritual of pre-flight, combat checks, and readiness procedures. Deep down, Talia knew all she could do was fly her heart out, watch her six and…

The sight of Goldeneye racing across the flight deck derailed Talia’s train of thought, forcing a snort of amusement from the façade of seriousness she normally showed to the world. “Well, at least she’s acting serious about it too,” Shadow smirked, then shook her head and refocused. Janus was already ahead of the pack, she noted with a flick of her eyes in his direction, then took a breath and settled herself back into the flow of preflight checks.

It was over in a matter of moments, as the canopy closed down around her. Talia held her eyes closed until the lid locked into place, gloved hands flexing open and closed near the fighter’s controls.

Focus. Don’t overthink. Just focus.

When she opened her eyes, they were lit with determination.

“Wolf-4, ready up,” Shadow signaled, then waited for the call.

Re: EP 2 BTS | D02 | 2300 hrs] Turning Into the Wind

Reply #9 – July 26, 2025, 02:26:25 AM

Everything rolled into position like clockwork, even with his crew understaffed, Lok was able to get the entire squadron of surviving Wolves loaded up and ready for launch within a few minutes, now to wait for the signal from the bridge to launch.

Launching fighters in combat was not so much a scramble and shoot from the hip kind of affair, though it sometimes could feel that way, to successfully perform an operation meant that timing was critical. When Starfleet first started using carriers during the Dominion War, whole operations lived and died on good and bad timing. Unleash the fighters too soon and they might stumble into an attack unsupported, release them too late they might miss the intended target entirely. In these close quarters knife fights, like was starting to happen just outside the Fighter Bay, missing the target wasn’t the problem, it was knowing when exactly to send out that weapon to blunt an enemy advance. Thus like all things when it came to combat, a disciplined, well organized, well led living machine that functioned as a single unit was what was needed to carry the day.

Thus Lok and the squadron waited with bated breath for the perfect timing.

The black Kzin’s yellow eyes looked up to Janus waiting in his cockpit, this might be the last time he ever saw him again, perhaps the last time he saw any of these pilots again. His voice, his command to launch, sent them away from the ship they called home, and they could never return, lost to the void of deep space. This wasn’t what he signed up for when he joined Starfleet all those years ago, but he would do his duty all the same.

[Fighter Bay, this is Flight Ops, commence launching in sequence, Mission Ops recommends port turn for best engagement opportunity.]

[Fighter Bay copies, launching now], Lok’s voice had no flair of excitement, just a simple affirmative.

It’s time.

Lok stepped forward to his position just to the right of Janus’s Valkyrie, giving a couple meters for safety. He raised his clawed hand to begin the hand signal portion of the launch procedure, just in case communications were on the fritz.

[Wolf-01 prepare for launch], he reported over the Squadron’s comms, then looked down at his large PADD that ran several fast systems checks, a final bit of safety to prevent hazarding the deck crew or the rest of the squadron during launch, [...system check…thrust nominal…weapons clear, launching in five…four…three…two…one, good hunting.]

As the final digit lowered he swung his arm dramatically down, and the accelerator whirred to life then with a loud pulse Janus’s Valkyrie shot through the forcefield and into space in a blur of immense speed. His impulse engines kicked on as soon as the craft had cleared the entrance with a bright orange glow. Janus was off for the fight.

Each fighter received the same check and clearance then itself was launched into space, one after the other in rapid succession. When the last Valravn, bringing up the rear of the squadron, left the deck the Fighter Bay, now empty, was silent as the deck crew watched the glowing lights of Ensign Vix’s fighter disappear into the cacophony of stars. Sensing the emotions of the crew around him, Lok could only sum up their thoughts simply with a small whisper, “Stay safe.”

But they weren’t done yet and the battle was only just getting started.

“Alright! I want to get this deck ready for recovery immediately!” he shouted to his crew as he turned to face them, “I also want to form a DC party for our section, help the engineers out, they are stretched pretty thin.”

“Hussein, I want you to run that DC party, pick who you need but leave the signal warrants. Phuc you’re with me.”

“Let’s move out!”

The deck gang scrambled to their new duties, clearing away the launch equipment, signalmen donning space suits, people assigned to the DC team grabbing respirators and tools.

[All hands, incoming ordnance, brace brace brace], sounded over the ship’s comms, Lok recognized the voice of Commander Cross, the bald vulcan who had shared a bit of coffee with him the day before. At least somebody up there is looking out for us, he thought to himself.

Moments later the ship rocked and groaned as whatever the incoming were hit, the shields must have absorbed the blow, but as the ship continued to jolt and shake Lok’s stomach sank and his hearts beat faster. The shields weren’t going to last for long though if the ship was continuously pounded like that. Memories of Helios flashed in his mind, digging his mangled shipmates out of the torn and buckled decks of one of the most powerful ships ever built, this time though, no cavalry was coming, if Theurgy went down, they were dead, whether quickly all at once or slowly in the hands of Romulan torturers.

Obey orders, do your duty, and no harm shall come to you, the words of his drill instructor on Mars.

You have a job to do Lok, you may not know these people well yet, but you have to trust them and help them.

“Those Romulans don’t know the hornets’ nest they just stuck their dick into.”

FIN