Reaper's Return
Posted on Sun Feb 14th, 2016 @ 1:12am by Captain Liarra Von & Lieutenant Colonel Edward Maxwell
Mission:
By Dawn's Early Light
Timeline: [Backpost]
Ed was anxious, to put it mildly. Six weeks ago he'd been ordered back to Earth to take command of the Advanced Marine Fighter School. He'd been shipped off with damn little notice, both for him and for Lynsi. But, Ed was a Marine and a damn good one, so he followed his orders, packed up his and Ryan's belongings and shipped out. A two week trip back to Earth and then the news of a potential Sojourner invasion of SB-332. He'd be damned if he was gonna sit on his ass behind a desk on Earth when everyone he knew was about to step through the fire again. So a series of rather irate calls back and forth with Admiral Quinn had secured him orders back to Three Three Two. He'd sent Ryan to stay with his folks until things calmed down on the home front, packed up the necessities in his war bag and shipped out again.
Now he was about to dock with his home again. He felt a rush of pride as he watched the fighters as they went about their duties, escorting the ship in to drop him and a few others off and load up with civilian evacuees to ferry them to safety. He knew he wasn't going to be CAG anymore, Quinn had made that obvious to him from the beginning. That was fine, he'd find somewhere to set up shop on the base, no doubt there was an opening somewhere. In the meantime, he was there as a consultant and an extra pair of willing hands. Since he wasn't going to be in the cockpit of a fighter this trip, he'd opted for the standard Marine Infantry uniform, complete with tactical vest and sidearm. After all, they were about to be attacked and invaded.
"We're docking now Colonel."
Ed pulled himself away from the view of the fighters and wondering if Lynsi was among them or attending to duties onboard the base. Either way, he doubted they'd be having much time to get together until this thing was done and over with. In the meantime, he had other things to worry about, like keeping the base in one piece and everyone alive. The same worries everyone on the senior staff would undoubtedly have,
"How long until the invasion force is due to arrive Sarge?" He asked turning to face Master Sergeant Tom Davis, who had been serving as his aide while he'd been on Earth, and who had opted to follow him into the fire. Whether he'd be having an aide here on 332 or not remained to be seen, but in the meantime, he'd use what he had.
"Not long enough Skipper. This may well be the last ship out."
"Last chance to change your mind then Tom." Ed said as he picked up his bag and headed for the hatch.
"And let you have all the fun? Like hell. I'm not leaving my fellow Marines."
"Then let's go get our hands dirty. Find the quartermaster and get us some accommodations. Bunk us in the same room if you can. I doubt we'll be sleeping much in the near future anyway. I'm going up to Ops and see just how big a mess we've stepped into."
"I'll handle it. Gimme your bag." He smirked and held out his hand. "No need to lug it all over the base."
Ed shook his head with a wry grin and handed off his bag. The two men separated as they left the ship, with the Master Sergeant off to track down someone from the Quartermaster and Ed heading straight for the turbolift. It felt good to have his boots back on the deck plating of 3-3-2. This station felt more like home to him than most other places. It was about tied for 'home' with his parents place back on Earth. And one reason for that was probably sitting in the cockpit of a fighter. That however would have to wait.
"Ops." He ordered quietly as the doors to the lift slid closed behind him, with their telltale hissing sound.
The ride seemed to take longer than he remembered from before he left, but that was easily explained. Most of the stations power was probably being shunted into three systems, shields, weapons, and sensors. Less important systems would be slowed down by the subsequent power drain. The doors slid open as the lift finally came to a stop. He stepped out and looked around the room. The small grin that had formed on his lips during the ride up broke into a full on smile.
"What the hell Liarra, I leave for a measly six weeks and you let things go to pieces around here!" He called out as he walked towards the center of the room. "Don't worry though, I'm back to put everything back in order again."
Liarra Von had been studying the display on the situation table. Panels build into the surface of the table showed her the status of the various departments, including placements of troops and security teams, and the status of the civilian relocation. But dominating the area was the holographic display of the station and the surrounding space, showing the traffic moving in and out. The area was surprisingly bare, at least compared to normal circumstances. Her attention was pulled away from the status reports by the voice of the newcomer, a voice that she recognized as her former air group commander. She pulled away from her display to greet him. "Welcome back, Colonel. I take it you were briefed on the situation?"
"Yeah, it's all going to hell in a hand basket." Ed agreed somberly. "Since you've already got my replacement in place, where do you need me? Once we figure that out we can figure out how to kick the Sojourners right back into their own damn space."
"For now the best place for you is probably here in Ops," Von replied, gesturing to the room in around her. "We're using the fighters to reign in the surrounding ships, but they're also acting as the first line of detection. They'll fall back towards the station as the Sojourners get close. There's no need for heroics. They'll retreat to the area surrounding the station for support from our defenses. I think the rest of the garrison will be sitting ducks compared to the size of that fleet, but the fighters will be much harder to hit. They can concentrate on the enemy fighters and take shots at the cruisers when they have openings. Any thoughts?"
"Its been a few weeks since I've looked at the charts. Any changes in the local nebulae? Hide a squadron in there where they can't be detected, or the Jackal preferably. Jackal and Montreal if we can, wait for the Sojourner's to go past and then hit them in the flank. That's why I said the fighters or Jackal, they're maneuverable enough to hit them fast, evade and duck back into the protective envelope of the station, could have the fighters start laying out a minefield. They can each carry one mine at a time, the bombers can probably do two at a time. Use the minefield on the flanks, funnel the Sojourners into a killing field of the stations defenses. Pack them in tight and most every shot is guaranteed to hit something." Ed thought aloud, spitballing ideas as they came to him.
Liarra thought about his suggestions. "The closest nebula is too far away to make for an effective ambush. Even if the Sojourners passed near it, they'd be too far away from the station to have any support. And if they didn't pass near, our ships would be detected long before they could make an impact. I don't think a mine field is viable either, not in the amount of time we have to prepare. The Sojourners will be in a matter of hours. We'd never get the mines placed in time. But, it might be something worth considering. Even if we can't create an appropriate field, dropping mines in the path of attacking ships could be effective."
"Anything that funnels them closer together is a benefit for us." Ed replied, leaning against the 'Pool', his weight resting on his hands as he stared at its surface. "If we get them close enough together, if we can cause one ship to blow up we get splash damage to the ones nearby. Force them close enough to each other and we can even block their fields of fire since they can't shoot us without hitting a friendly ship."
"True," Liarra replied. She gestured at the hologram of the station in front of her. "But it's a big station, and would be easy for them to spread out. We're exposed and easy to surround us. It would be in their best interest to focus fire on one section of the station and not completely surround us, but there is still enough open space that we're not going to be able to restrict them enough to limit their range of fire. Our best hope may be to use the fighters for hit and run attacks and just try to draw the fire away from the station."
"Well then I guess it's a good thing I brought my flight suit then." Ed replied with a wolfish smile. "You don't need me in here Liarra, you've got this under control. And yes I know that one more fighter isn't going to make much of a difference," he started in order to cut off any negative retort right away, "but those are my pilots out there. Sure I'm not the CAG now, but still. I helped train those kids out there. Seventy percent of the pilots on this station are about to get their baptism of fire out there and some of them won't be coming back. That's on me, for not giving them enough training or maybe too much and not enough rest, I dunno. Either way, there's no way in hell I'm sitting here in relative safety while Marines are getting their asses shot off. It isn't going to happen."
Von nodded. "It doesn't sound like I'm going to convince you otherwise. In that case, report to Major S'er'in'e. I'm sure he'll appreciate the help."
"They're getting a lot of ECM trouble. I started out in a Wild Weasel squadron. I've still got the tracking gear on my bird. I'll just go back to my roots and go hunting. Give the nuggets a fair chance out there. They don't have any jamming to back them up, so I'm gonna do what my first squadron leader told me we do. We take the advantages away from the enemy and level the playing field."
Von's eyes glossed over just a bit. "I'm not really sure what you just said, but it sounded like you knew what you were talking about. I'm sure if you tell the Major, he'll understand better than me. If you want to give them a hand, report to flight control. I'll let him know you're coming."
"Basically it means that until the sensors can burn through all the jamming out there, our pilots are blind and the Sojourners are not. Burn through could take up to ten, fifteen minutes depending on just how much jamming is out there. That's long enough for a lot of our pilots to get swept out of the sky. With my gear, I can hunt down those jammers and get rid of them. If your new CAG is anything like me, you won't find him in Flight Ops. He's gonna be leading by example, out there." Ed replied, nodding at the holographic representation of the space around the station.
"The enemy isn't here yet, Colonel, but I agree with your sentiment. Do what you can to help."
"I'll take a minute to touch base with him." Ed agreed. "By your leave Captain?"
Liarra nodded and watched Maxwell hurry away. She only gave herself a moment before turning back to the tactical display in front of her, her thoughts going back to the battle ahead of them.
Captain Liarra Von
Commanding Officer
Starbase 332
Lt. Colonel Edward Maxwell
Tactical Advisor
