Zappin' Bugs [open, Libra Fighters]

[Anonymous]

"If you want somethin' done right, you... gotta... do... it... yourself," Vin panted, yanking askew the shell plate.  He blew on his hands to get out the sting and reached for the metal-cutter on the tray next to him.  "Except not you until you learn better.  Aw.   Aw, man.  Aw.  No."  

"I'm sorry, sir."  Ensign Lewis stood at ease on the ground, looking down.  He was still a young kid, and apparently someone thought it was funny to assign him repair on the TOPZ-1903.  Very cute.  

Vin shifted, one foot on the hull of his ship, the other stable on the repair ladder, tongue caught between his teeth.  He leaned forward, grunting as he tried to reach the gunked-up coolant pipe.  "Whatcha sorry for, Ensign, you didn't know any better.  Pay attention now.  You flush the pipes before you add coolant.  Aw.  Sheee-it."  The pipe opened, he backed off and reached for the suction tool, which he used to clean the inside of the carefully opened pipe.  Whoosh. Whoosh.  Shluck!  There, done and done.  He came back out, wiping his forehead with one arm, and replaced the tool on the tray, craning to look behind him at Lewis.

"I can only figger Gunner Harren was messin' with me.  Next time you want practice on a phasor turret ask me before you screw with my Bricey. "  He patted the turret affectionately.

"Thanks, sir."  Lewis snapped a salute, and Vin nodded at him before he turned to close the pipe up, careful to keep the seam as smooth and invisible as possible.  That done, he leaned back, rubbed his hands together, and cranked the tray down.  Once the plate was back in place, he climbed hand over hand down the ladder, hopped off, and wiped his hands on his pants.  

"That'll be all."  Vin saluted the ensign casually, and the boy jogged off, weaving between docked TOPZ and OZ.  Where was Tali?  Vin squinted at his watch, itching the back of his neck and swinging his braid around.  It thumped him on the chest.  It was a bug-zapping day, and the 77s got to taste space without the hassle of full deployment.  Tactical had spotted unregistered craft buzzing around Libran space over the past couple of days.  Maybe he'd get to shred metal this time, last time he hadn't even gotten a shot.  Fun times, fun times, and a lot better than sitting around on the Bastion waiting for action.  'Bring back a souvenir,' Nil had said, through his perpetual cloud of mango-flavored smoke, and Vin had explained once more that the Libran military wasn't really down with plunder, and that zapped bugs didn't usually leave anything for it anyway.

Vin leaned against the side of his ship and looked around, waiting for the rest of Squadron 77.  He was early, of course.  Less because he'd wanted to be early than because he'd wanted to finish his tune-up, but that was important.  He'd have plenty of time to gear up now.  Stifling a yawn behind one palm, he thumped the side of the 1903, shifting against her cold metal exterior.  Lessee, who else wanted to come early to the party...

"Hey, cap'n."

[Anonymous]

When he was younger, Tali could roll out of bed, shower, get dressed, groom and be out the door in time to be early for everything.  Now he prowled around the apartment with a cup of anything in the fridge (or coffee if they remembered to set the machine to go off), checked the news and had breakfast.  This morning was a no coffee day and Mo polished off the last of the juice before trotting out the door.  If there wasn't a mission today, he would have given some serious consideration to having an Eddie style breakfast.  Shot of whiskey mixed with the instant coffee they kept around for emergencies like this one.  Might as well print off a mishap form and have it ready for the inevitable disaster.

So he prowled, checked the news (the Griffins beat the Exo Guards, so the day wasn't heading down the pipes) and had a few pieces of toast before heading down a local coffee place.  One of those ultra trendy places that kept popping up.

It was crowded.

It was the only in and out coffee place on the way to the docks.  Tali grumbled and bore it.  He was going to see if he could talk one of the girls into selling him one of the pots of coffee when he heard the guy in front of him, some little office minion, rattle off a ten second long order that included how hot the coffee was supposed to be, and get a nod from the girl at the cash register.  Holy shit.

"I'll have what he had, with the caffeine."

There wasn't so much as a raised eyebrow or the beginning of an eyeroll.  Trendy coffee place seemed to have figured out something about enforcing compliance that the military hadn't.  That or the company had some sophisticated robots.

The Ten Second Drink was a dinky little thing with a head of foam that belonged on a beer and a pouf of whipped cream capping it.  Pure coffee murder.  Pure wallet murder if he had second thoughts and ordered a cup of black.  So Tali took his frou-frou drink, crushed the happy little pouf with a flat plastic cap and started walking to the lift to take him down to the docks.

At least he was walking when he started, by the time he was heading toward the 1903 he was almost skipping along like a little fairy princess from the onslaught of sugar and caffeine.  He was arriving with the first wave.  The guys that knew what an alarm clock was for and the kids whose adrenaline got them out of bed and walked them onto the docks before the roaches had time to turn in.  Like Vin.  It'd have been unfortunate if he made it work before Vin on a mission day.  How'd that Ozzie line go?  Damn inconsiderate when the Captain comes before the Gunner, ain't it?  Cue laughter from any Ozzies that flocked around.

Tali made an effort to contain the prancing when he saw Vin leaning against the ship's side and raised the dinky coffee cup in a casual salute.  "Morning Vin.  Ready to take this girl out on a date?"

[Anonymous]

[ Delete This ]

[Anonymous]

"OH! What the...? Really?"

Loud clicking followed, spreading around the room. Aryte's fingers moved over the keys quickly, seriously. Her eyebrows pulled together trying to decipher something on her screen. The lights from it blinked across her face, the light giving a dizzying sort of feeling to the room as it was the only illumination. She clicked angrily with the mouse her tongue coming out of her mouth slowly and her eyebrows coming even more together. Then there she through her hands in the air.

"You son of a BITCH! I almost got you. Next time you are soooo extinct your Mama will feel it." Aryte was playing World of Warlocks. She had to get in her Daily Morning Vitamin requirement before going out on a mission. It helped her to focus in, or so she told herself. Really? She was just a huge nerd. Her finger hovered over a button on the headset that covered her ear. "Yeah, heading out today. You know the drill. I'll catch you later on." She pushed in the button and the orange light it gave off extinguished and the headset folded up back into the goggles resting on top of her head.

She stood up stretching some of bones cracking and her wings wiggling as she did so. Aryte was already in her uniform, all set up and ready to head out. She even already had her bandanna tied around her head. A blue and silver one today, her hair all tucked inside. She put one of her feet up on her chair lacing up one combat boot and then switching. Those things were awesome, but sometimes so much work.

She clomped to the kitchen pouring herself a cup of coffee into one of her foam cups. Then she reached into one of the smaller cabinets pulling out a bright yellow container. Retrieving a spoon for a drawer she popped open the lid of the container and started to empty out chocolate flavoring into her coffee. Mmmmm. As far as Aryte was concerned one of the nest things ever invented was this chocolate flavoring. You could put it in anything. ANYTHING. She wanted whoever invented it to have her babies.

The walk to work was pretty uneventful. All except for one kid towards the end who had gotten away from his parents briefly...and was bound determined to get the wings off of her so he, himself could have them. She spun on him and flicked on the nose like she would a pet.

"Those," she paused for effect, "Do not belong to you. They are mine. You need to get your own somehow."

"But how?" His eyes wide, his parents were approaching. She adjusted her fingerless gloves as she looked at him then stood back up at her full height.

"Experimenting with bio hazardous material I'm sure. Isn't that what you kids do?" She spun on her heel and headed towards the docks. When Aryte arrived there was her Squad. Wel la few of them at least. Lex, Tali, and Vin. A small smile crossed her face and she hopped landing next to Lex and looking the two of the boys over.

"And she can barely stand them as it is. Poor men." She patted Lex on the arm and then took a sip of her coffee. She lifted her arm to look at her watch and grinned canines showing as she smirked.

Kibble should be up about now.

[Anonymous]

“MOTHI!!”

     Allaw landed with a thump, squarely on her gunner’s chest causing him to grunt in pain.

     “Ge’rof…and go away…” a muffled voice from under the covers groaned.

     The pigtailed woman pouted, “Time to get up Mothi!”

     “Go…away…”

     “Get up! Get up! Get up! Get up!” Allaw said in a sing-song voice, bouncing on the bed as she said each syllable.

     The mound just shifted, ignoring the bouncing woman all together. That was just rude. They had an extra special, not too much hassle mission today and her lazy excuse for a gunner would not wake up. This made Allaw unhappy, very unhappy indeed.

     “Get up or I‘m going without you, then you can explain to the captain why you slept in!”

       “…I’ll get up in a minute, just go away,” the mound whined.

     Allaw pouted again, “Fine! I’ll go without you. I don’t need a gunner anyway! I’m sure I can replace you with a monkey.”

    Making sure she bounced on the bed one last time, she hopped off it and headed out of the apartment. Sometimes her brother was a lazy good-for-nothing baboon…Whatever the hell that was, she had seen them mentioned in a book once. That was a funny word, baboon. Hehe.

     She might as well head to their craft, though she probably did need him…well she’d get him later if necessary. At least she had tried to wake him up. Instead she headed to the Docking Station alone, she’d see who wasn’t a lazy baboon.

     When she got there, she was a little surprised to find that there were a few people present, Vin and Aryte and Tali and Lex. So not everyone slept in. At least some people were professional.

     Smiling to herself, Allaw ran up to the group and promptly launched herself at Aryte, engulfing her in a very tight hug.

     “Aryte!” Allaw said, then turned to the others, still attached to the winged woman, “Mornin’ everyone. Mothi wouldn’t get out of bed so I had to bounce him to death.”

[Anonymous]

Yes Kibble should have been up by now. As the alarm starting blaring like a foghorn, a long tan arm slid out from underneath a black comforter and swatted randomly at objects until the offending noise finally silenced.

A sting of curses came from under the comforter, causing it to puff up a little with each indecent syllable. As the lump under the covers shifted a long black feline tail flopped out over the side of the bed, swishing lazily. As the comforter was pulled down a messy mop of black hair appeared first, followed by bright yellow cat eyes.

Will LOATHED mornings. The only reason he ever wanted to get up this damn early was because there was a promise of blowing up things. Which he loved to do, dearly. Yawning lazily, showing a mouth of sharp fangs, Will looked over at the clock.

"HOLY SHIT!!"

Gods he was an hour late! Why didn't Ary wake him up? They wouldn't have left without him would they? Damn it, he was going to be in SOOOOO much trouble. Jumping out of bed, the lankey and naked feline fella pulled on his uniform with amazing quickness and quickly brushed his teeth. They were quite important to him and the only daily routine he had was brushing them.

Will was usually extremely graceful, but as he reached down to put on his boots, he slammed his head against the nearby dresser. A groan of pain escaped him but he shrugged it off as best he could and dashed out of the door.

The feline rushed past everyone in the halls to get to the landing bay, and when he decided people weren't moving fast enough, Will took a running leap and jumped clear over a few of them and kicked off a couple of the walls, landing a good seven feet from where he had jumped.

Finally he reached The Mitty and noticed that he was indeed not late. Yellow eyes narrowed at Aryte. Out of breath Will walked over to her, inches from her face, ignoring Allaw.

"You, my winged friend. Are a complete cunt."

[Anonymous]

Lieutenant Eselain Tanaris jumped out of bed. The alarm was the equivalent of a starting pistol, with a bang she was up and running to the shower. Mission time. Her favourite type of time. Bar drink time. But that was always usually after mission time. Might as well enjoy something before drink time. She immersed herself in the warm water, giving her green hair a quick rinse before stepping out just five minutes later. Towelling off, she slipped into her uniform- undress. Only a pompous arse would wear full dress uniform outside of the mess. She put the red beret on top of her still wet hair, signifying her rank, and then wondered into the kitchen to make coffee.

Only to find her kettle was busted. Brilliant. She physically depended on caffeine in the morning, this wasn’t just a minor setback. She regarded the coffee granules thoughtfully for a moment before shrugging and picking it up. Holding it level with her mouth, she crunched at what she thought to be about a tablespoon’s worth of granules. She then promptly realised why people just didn’t do that. She chased down the chalkiness with a glass of cold water before sighing and leaving her room whilst munching on a cereal bar. Just the cereal bar, she’d lost her appetite following the shock of her coffee mishap. She started power walking towards the docks.

She liked it when the mission objectives were simple. Shoot the pirates in the location given. Wonderful. No envoys to protect, no independent vessels to worry about. Just the team. It was more like joint target practice really, except with targets that could shoot back. That just spiced things up a bit. Made it more exciting. She was getting excited just thinking about it. She hadn’t been flying in a while. Not with a purpose, mostly they were just the obligatory rides to make sure you didn’t get rusty.

Upon reaching the dock, Eselain performed a greeting similar to Allaw. Except not on a person. She passed the group entirely with a markedly fake look of indifference. She raised her hand half-heartedly, a rather limp and lifeless wave. Then, with enthusiasm, she sprinted across the area towards her own Cruiser, which dominated the space in the dock. She then placed her body next to it, arms outstretched in a semblance of a hug and one cheek against the cool metal. She was immediately dwarfed by the size of the ship. “I’m sorry baby. Mummy’s here now,” she cooed lovingly. “Mummy missed you.”

Then she shot a glance over her shoulder at the people gathered. They were making noise already. That was good. The sound of voices and lots of them was particularly heartening. With a bright smile on her face, she counted the number assembled. Still a few more to come, she reckoned. But they would be good to go soon, then she could get the show on the road.

[Anonymous]

The first thought that crossed Finn's mind as he woke up was, Oh, cool. I haven't been up before my alarm in ages.

The second thought was, Huh. I wonder what time it is.

Struggling to open his eyes, Finn turned his bleary gaze toward the clock—and snapped immediately awake, powered by sheer panic and adrenaline. Late. Late, late late. He rolled out of bed, threw on his uniform, and staggered into the bathroom to brush his teeth. No time to find his comb—he ran his hands through his hair instead. Good enough. No time for breakfast either, though, he noted regretfully.

Stopping only long enough to make sure that his place was locked up, Finn jogged to one of the smaller side exits, and—wait, something wasn't quite right. He paused midway through the doorway and glanced around. Normally there were a lot more people leaving, all trying to stuff themselves through the door at the same time, whenever he was late. Right now there were barely any.

Rubbing his chin a bit ruefully, Finn turned to the nearest person, a woman who had just reached the door behind him and was in the process of trying to get him to move out of the way. "Do you know—" he managed to say, before he was compelled by the woman's immediate glare to add apologetically, "Hi. I'm not flirting with you." You're not that pretty, anyway. "Say, have you got the time?"

She tried to shove him out of the way. Shove him. Hah.

Finn didn't budge. "Oh, c'mon. Handsome devil like me—show a little compassion, woman."

She told him. Then swung her purse at him.

He grimaced and stepped to the side, and the woman shoved past him. He stared at her retreating back. If she hadn't been lying, then he was early—had enough time to shower and catch a bit of breakfast. Hell, even had enough time to take a stroll.

A second try with a more cooperative passerby confirmed that he had some time on his hands. "Piece of shit clock," Finn muttered. Still, breakfast and a shower. Nothing to complain about, really. Time enough to go slow.

By the time he reached the docks, Squad 77 was already a noticeably big flock of people. Well, okay, Squad 77 was always noticeable—Tali was never that hard to miss. He played 'follow the shiny head' to get to them, remarking as he arrived, "Mornin', ladies."

[Anonymous]

"When am I ever not ready."

Vin ducked into the 1903 to clean up a little.  His face shifted from the angles of joking banter to set and serious, focused on the business of getting ready.  He tucked his braid down the back of his collar, where it'd stay out of the way.  The gesture implied, too, the folding inward of his unwieldy ego.  While he might lament a missed shot and the lost queue after-flight, he wouldn't let symbolic pride affect his decisions.  

The hair inside his collar heated his neck for just a moment, and then his suit's temperature adjusted automatically.  Vin propped one leg up on the side of the ship's little entry port and patted down the seam between pants and boots, to make sure the airtight seal stayed that way.  Their new suits were pretty lightweight, but he didn't forget for a second that they were the only things standing between him and a vacuum in case of emergency.  He pressed the little button on his collar, and, schwoop, clear airtight helmet; another press, and--schwoop--gone.  He still got a kick out of that, like he had when he was a kid playing with his toy soldiers.  The sudden suck of the seal, the taste of synthetic air, also served to remind him that this was, all else considered, serious business, potentially dangerous.  He could wind up struggling like a bug himself in the black of space, or worse.  Checking to make sure his suit worked was just one more of many little safeguards, little precautions, he took against the essential risk of the job.  

The Fighters weren't state-of-the-art, and they weren't the tackies' fancy unmanned drones.  They didn't have heavy shields, and while their phasors served their purpose, any idiot with a crystal could rig one.  What the 77s had, what Vin had always been proud of, was the nerve to go out there anyway.

Uniform and basic systems check settled, he leaned out the hatch, scanning the group that'd joined them.  He spotted a few of the various stages of caffeination, from 'puddle of exhaustion soup' to 'vibrating.'  On the other hand, Allaw might've just been born that way.  

Ol' Blowyer didn't look too happy, Vin noted, when he caught a glimpse of the guy's face.  It was too early for heavy-stress argument, though everyone got a little strung out before mission.  Some got giddy, some got surly, it all depended.  This one wasn't really high-risk, but they all knew they had a good chance of not coming back any time they went out.  Vin coped by trying to check everything, notice everything, and get into that groove his father called 'effortless effort'.  Getting in the moment, feeling alive, feeling focused.  He loved his job.  Every time out and he loved it more, the way he could sink into the controls, the way he felt perfectly at ease, as though the phasor tower were a natural extension of his senses, his body.  

Not that he was sentimental or anything.

"Wonder what's eatin' Kox?" he said, leaning out from his perch halfway aboard the ship to slap a hand down on Tali's shoulder.  From here, on the hatch's sloping ramp, he was finally tall enough to look down on him.  He enjoyed it.  "Aside from you, cap'n."  He raised his voice.  "Hey guys, save it for the bugs!"  

Ducking back inside the TOPZ 1903, he let the familiar pale blue internal light sink into his skin like a wash.  He hitched himself up the ladder to the gunny's seat and, grabbing hold of the cross-rails overhead, picked himself up and let himself drop into the familiar embrace of his chair.  His control panel and array of screens and windows spread before him, and Vin smiled.

 "Good mornin', Brice," he murmured, setting a hand on the print scanner and blinking into the light of the retinal laser.  The station blinked its acceptance, and his headset came down over his eyes, drenching his field of view in aqua for just a moment before it clarified.  If he clicked the side button a scrolling array of numbers would let him know the systems information, but for now, the headset showed him the full three-dimensional view from the ship.  Thus far, of course, he could only make out the shining surfaces of the other ships and a fish-lens view of the vaulted docking bay ceiling.  Everything looked too close; the perspective lenses were used to the distance of space.  

His com microphone clicked into place.  And with that he was ready for anything: he could talk to Tali, get orders from the Lt., hear updates from the rest of the 77s.  They might squabble, but like any good group of Fighters, the squad remained fundamentally connected.

Vin kept a hand on his joystick even as they edged out into the airlock.  They were on the right wing of the formation, third position.  Vin appreciated the nod to their skill and prestige, but would it have killed them to give him some sort of southpaw concession?  He'd kick ass anyway.  From here on out his nerves were connected to the ship's phasors, and he liked to stay ready--relaxed, but ready.  He half-smiled and cut a glance at Tali from beneath one side of the headset.  His captain's face was half in shadow and half in blue light, which glinted off his bald dome.  On the Lt.'s order, they'd take off.  

"Permission to shut off the autograv if Tali tries to barrelroll me again," Vin said, in the soft monotone he used for coms, over the open channel.  Before takeoff they still had a little time to be silly.  And last flight, Tali had turned them in a corkscrew right out of the lock; if Vin had messed with the ship's gravity, the taller man would have hit his head.  "Over."

[Anonymous]

Wes crouched in the ship's narrow corridor, fitting a key into the aluminum locker with his name on it. W. Damone, in nice bold letters. Granted, they had been quickly scratched on a piece of paper and taped on, but that had to count for something. At least he'd survived long enough to warrant a label, and this particular racket paid cash every weekend in the denomination of your choice. Which reminded him...

"Hey, do I get hazard pay for this one?"

His voice echoed against the bulkhead, and the uncomfortable feedback hit his headset a few seconds later. Their commander relayed back, an amused, gruff voice.

"Psheh ... that's what she said."

Honestly. Same old military bullshit no matter where you go. He pulled a scratched and dusty magnetic card out of the locker and inserted it into a nearby slot, shaking his head.

Wes had been in the Libran fleet a few years back, and even made enlisted gunner. Bright future, really, but command still saw fit to cut him from the payroll. It was a long story, but basically centered around a certain ship he'd held onto after a mission and used for a few side jobs. He managed to pay off his student loans and then some before his squad tacky shuffled the forms and noticed it was missing. The charge was "recklessly endangering military property for personal gain," and come to think of it, they had it mostly right.

"Check the scanner for easy marks," said the commander, "don't want to give the kids too much of a challenge."

Some chick he met at a bar on Cancer thought his tale of woe was incredibly funny and hired him on the spot. His commander, he had been told, was also ex-military. The others were space cowboys, excitable and inexperienced as they come. Not a winning combination, and the commander was probably right to avoid the heavily defended transports for now.

"And get that chaff cartridge," grunted the commander through the headset as an afterthought, "we're working close enough to Libra to need it."

The command ship consisted of the two of them and a short-range scanner/radio rig. There were about a dozen other fighters and two small haulers in formation around them, but he didn't know the names of the ships or their respective crews. Probably just as well, in case he had to pick them out of a lineup. Wes glanced at the scanner readout. Cruising for Libra transports always made him feel a little guilty.

Shipping depot ahead. Never pass up a chance to stick it to Thanatos.

"Hound and Eight, take point," he said, switching the radio to the raid team's frequency. "we're coming up on a Thanatos box, 310 and closing. Looks to be unmanned, but the generator and receiver are online. Free lunch, but keep an eye out."

250...

190...

Shit.

"Hound and Eight, pull back."

The faceless pilot of Raid Fighter Eight turned on his transmitter with a sharp click but said nothing. The blip on the scanner inched closer, but slower now - apparently their commander had figured it out too and slowed the ship down. Wes switched on the cockpit intercom again, his voice uncomfortable.

"Confirmed negative, commander, that's a Libra intel drone. I can tell, it's sending a transmission right now. Cargo boxes don't do that, they just receive orders. Fucking tackies are going to know everything about us."

This was not what the commander wanted to hear.

"What are you recalling the fighters for? Tactical engineer, tell the team to shoot the drone."

"I live to serve," came the voice of the engineer through the cockpit intercom. On the commander's display, the other ships began locking in on the Libra drone in sequence. Left alone in the back of the command ship, Wes sighed and raised his hands to his face, fingertips massaging his temples. They hadn't even taken down one cargo box and they were already ... no, intentionally ... raising a big pirate flag. He really hoped the raid team knew what they were getting into.

[Anonymous]

Tali finished the coffee as the rest of the squad gathered on the dock, handing the empty cup to an Ensign to take care of.  It wasn't long after that he regretted doing so.  The empty cup was destined to be FOD if he held onto it too long, but he needed something to do with his hands.  There were always more uniform checks.  It couldn't be good for the rest of the crew to see him always climb into the ship without doing a uniform check.  They'd think he was a lazy bastard, or too gung ho.  If they even bothered to watch what he was doing before missions.  Never mind that he, like most of the others, did a uniform check while putting it on and had a wriggle system to check the seals.

Damn, he needed to get in the ether.  His mind was racing too fast for idle standing and talking and bs.

Maybe Lt. was onto something.  Hug the ship.  

Nope.  As much as he wanted to get in the 1903 and get started, he would sit and wait.  And try not to bounce around like his nieces and nephews did whenever they knew they were getting some sort of treat.  No need to start inching onto Tails' territory.  That was a close contender on the weirdness scale against a TOPZ captain snuggling up to his spaceship.

Tali checked the seals in his uniform.  They still fit like a second skin.

One of these days he'd figure out some excuse to get up in the spaceship before they were ordered to board and prepare to be taxied to the airlock.  "Mmmmm-mmm," he trilled, high pitched, in response to Vin's rib as he climbed up the ramp and into the ship.  

Once he was settled in, he loaded a few mission docs and a map for a quick review as they were taxied the rest of the way to the airlock.  Never could be too prepared for where they needed to go and what they needed to do once they were there.  Before the taxi-craft disengaged he put the documents away and engaged the 3-D view and prepared for take off.  Fingers dancing across the buttons on his control panel.  These days it was possible to program the various functions into one button, but Tali didn't feel like using them today.  Hitting one button didn't have the same feel as making sure everything was ready to go on his own.

He almost laughed out loud when Vin asked permission to shut off the autograv in case of barrelroll.  Time to give gunny a spin he'd remember.  The hangover maneuver.  Tali flew out at an angle, flying straight for a few seconds before dropping into a simple aileron roll, a button press and rudder yank later and the ship was tumbling forward tail over nose as it spun.  The 1903 tumbled twice before Tali rolled her back to a normal flying position.  Then Tali laughed, looking over at Vin and grinning.  Partially to disguise nearly hitting his head during one of the tumbles.

There weren't many tricks after that.  A few sharp turns and almost rolls as Tali changed directions with the rest of the Fleet.  As usual, he scanned the open space, keeping an eye on the corner of his headset.  The important reading corner.  Anything could come up there.

That peripheral vision was good for checking on his other instruments too.  Like the scanner picking up the little blip of something, a non rock something.  This wasn't the scanner that would pick up every little fragment that zipped by the ship, it was the one that picked up large metal bodies.  They weren't close enough to the asteroids for it to be picking up the M-types.  "Got a positive scan at eleven hundred, upper right quadrant-Over."

The rest of the Fleet could find its position now, if they weren't already aware of it.  Tali eyeballed the blip.  Small, but it was something.  Not like they found anything else to go sniff.

[Anonymous]

Aryte was grinning trying to maintain her cool after her joke. Taking a few sips of coffee and watching the routine everyone had as they came onto the docks. It was as familiar as her own almost. This was her family now. She couldn't help but be happy around them. Her happiness was showing on her face as she lifted her cup of coffee to take a long gulp. Luckily she had finished it because Allie was suddenly there and attached to her. She coughed but held onto the girls arm with a smile. Also luckily, Aryte had pretty good balance.

Will arrived next and he was all up in her face! The corners of her mouth dropped twitching slightly.

"What do I have to do with your crazyness hmm?" She kept an innocent face on and wide eyes as she looked at him. She lifted one electrical taped index finger and poked his nose. "I think that you," poking again. "Are just so ready to accuse me because you aren't comfortable with your insanity. I don't know why." She smiled at him the serious face dropping and she started to giggle. She leaned down to let Allie off of her and gave her a tight hug and a smile.

"See Allie has given an example of a perfectly acceptable way to greet me." She rubbed Allie's hair then hopped over to the ship as Vin called over. She waved at him and gave a thumbs up. She walked over to Mitty and smiled down at the ship running a hand over the cold metal. Her eyes closed for a moment then she crawled in. She pulled on her suit doing the regular check through of things. Everything seemed to be in order it always was. She hummed while she did so then stuck her head out of the ship briefly.

"C'mon Kibble." She yelled to him and then slid her head back into the ship. Her hands ran over the controls for a minute. She pushed a button and a retinal scan checked to make sure she was who she claimed to be and she nodded and started doing her check up of the ship. She patted a stretch of metal and smiled. "Good girl." She stood up for a moment after starting a Sys Check and checked the rest of the small ship just to make sure everything was in order. Mitty was her baby and she treated the ship as that.

As the console started beeping she headed back to her seat and smiled clicking some buttons. Maps came up and her own headset came down onto her head. She smiled with the familiarity of it. Her hands were on the controls ready as she pressed a few buttons bringing up maps and missions docs as well. She had read through them several times already but it was always good to have our flight info.

She grinned hearing Vin whining over the headset about Tali, then of course Tali showed him what for as he took off. She gave a small laugh to herself and then spoke to Kox.

"See aren't you glad I don't do that to you?" She prepared to launch off the ground and did a countdown to herself under her breath. She loved the anticipation of that moment. Then clicking a couple buttons and things they shot off into the sky with the rest of their squad. It was smooth going for a little bit. Then Tali over the headset, a blip. Shortly after it showed up on hers. She felt that anticipation again that adrenaline getting ready to launch. Hopefully it was bug zappin time.

"Copy Tali. The scan is positive here as well."

[Anonymous]

Will's yellow eyes looked down his nose at Aryte's finger, his eyes crossing as he did so. He let out a hiss and was about to comment but she was already gone. He gave a flash of a smile to Allie, his sharp teeth shining and took off.

The feline-boy slipped into his suit and jumped into the gunner seat just as the Mitty's cockpit was closing. He settled into his seat, doing a sys check as the shop took off into the black of space. Everything seemed to be working just fine, and Will's fingers were itching to start blowing things up.
 
"You know, if you think I'm so crazy then perhaps you shouldn't taunt me, Ary. I may just eat your face while you're asleep."
His fingers ran over the buttons as he looked up at Aryte.
"Or I just might switch the start up button with the ejector button and one day...POOF! Out into space you go and I get the entire apartment to myself."

[Anonymous]

Ese climbed into her Cruiser. Muscle memory made easy work of set up. Her fingers knew where to hit to engage the buttons and the ship’s systems. She settled herself in her seat, feeling the familiar sensation of emptiness where her stomach should be. It wasn’t unpleasant- she was too used to it. It was a part of her pre-flight regime. And she didn’t want to feel entirely invincible. She didn’t really ever feed off the adrenaline. She had to remind herself that it was logical to be scared. It was a healthy realisation. Leave the courage to the fighters- being scared meant more caution on her part. Her orders could potentially send them … well. Morbid thoughts were meant for morbid times. This was not so.

She slipped on the headset, playing with the settings until everything was just right. She entered a sequence into her keyboard and felt the ship hum with activity. She did miss her OZ craft. A Cruiser just wasn’t as dainty. Though there was that satisfaction that came with carrying the larger vessel with the larger guns and sweet shields. Even if she was the bigger target. She did appreciate the platform for making ‘mine’s bigger than yours’ assertions.

After being taxied into position, she switched her com to base, momentarily leaving the Squad link.

“77 ready for take off.”

“Copy. Preparing air lock. Stand by.”

She switched back to the linked coms in time to hear Vin’s quip. She smiled, waiting for the rebuff. But it didn’t come. Perhaps it would when the hatches opened.

“All clear.  Good luck to you.”

All lined up, they shot out of the dock with ease. Ese watched the few in front shrink into the inky blackness ahead. Tali did so with expected exuberance. She flipped switches, engaged full throttle. The thrusters propelled her forward, and then she eased back on the joystick a touch, feeling the nose move in response. Then she was out, with the rest of the fleet, flying towards their objective.

“Good show,” Ese said into the com. Tarn’s face appeared momentarily in her head, eliciting some satisfaction. She invested a lot of pride with the Squad. They settled into formation and ate up the distance.
Things were quiet for a while. Not much happening over the coms. No interesting readings. She tapped her fingers on the joystick, eyes scanning the projection of the outside on her headset.

“Base to Mummy. Intel reported visual of one hostile craft. Drone now bent. Transferring co-ordinates.”

"Got a positive scan at eleven hundred, upper right quadrant-Over."

"Copy Tali. The scan is positive here as well."

The information appeared at the bottom of her vision. The locations matched up. Her mind buzzed momentarily with the information. She paused for a second, digesting, before speaking into the com again. “Mummy to Base. Visual confirmed,” she relayed, just so they knew what was going on. She knew what needed to be done. “Pressing reading.”

“Copy.”

She flicked back to the Squad. She also transferred the information to everyone’s screens. “Scan confirmed hostile. Begin pursuit. Authorising tango hotel. Potential hostile back up remains unconfirmed. Break formation to jive if necessary. Over.”

A few more moments. Then a glint, a metallic speck in the distance. “Tally. At the ready boys and girls. Approach at speed.”

[Anonymous]

Vin squinted through his headset, glad to be at the fore of the formation.  He hated not knowing what was going on.  Tali had swung them smoothly around with the rest of the fleet, in the direction of his scan.  Vin double-checked the ship's guns, and made sure they were all aligned for maximum range.  Then he eyed their scans again.  The unknown ships blinked on, near one of Libra's drones, which lit up red on Vin's screen.  It had taken another hit.  He sat back and waited while Ese sent the scan information to the squad.

It downloaded fast.  The display on his headset rippled sideways as the text shifted rapidly.  The drone had had time to get the specifics of the bug swarm.  Fifteen ships: two cargo and twelve standard zipships, made from salvage parts, class C shields.  The ship positioned in command had sent out a radio signal, and they'd picked up on a vocal signature in their records.  Vin saw it the second it popped up and his stomach plummeted:  W. Damone.  Former Libran gunner, dishonorable discharge, whereabouts currently...

... oh right.

Little bitch.  It pissed Vin off when people he knew did shit they knew was wrong.  Like go bug.  A Libran who went bug was pathetic.  At the same time, he felt a certain uneasiness; Damone had been a fellow Fury.  Vin didn't really want to kill him.  Death was kind of final like that.  But the regret passed way in the background, like one of the stars they whipped by on full thrust.  Because in the moment, Vin knew that in a him-or-us situation, he was always gonna pick us.  Not me, because the thing to remember was it was always us, and a missed shot or hesitation was almost as bad as shooting one of his fellow fighters himself.

Vin shifted  slightly in his seat, fingers wiggling, just about ready to take a shot. The drone wasn't down, yet, but its shields were totally bent.  Who was flying that thing--

The coms crackled again.

"Seventy-sevens, this is Spahky calling in from Base."

Vin had just a second of who?  Sparky...?  And then he read the info that zigzagged across his headset field of view.  Tactical Officer Anton Oslo.  He piloted drones from the Thresher, one of the fleet's motherships, and he sounded tense.  Tacky ranks were almost totally opaque to the rest of the military, and they liked to keep it that way, but anyone who steered drones wasn't going to be senior.  Senior tackies sat around on computers and plotted frighteningly complex codey schemey things, everyone knew that.

"The Hellion is still receiving fiyah.  Sending out visuals dahrect from drone."   He sounded distracted but not scared.  Well, he wouldn't be.  The drone, the Hellion, was out here, but Oslo himself remained safely back at base; the Thresher wasn't deployed.

Images from the Hellion's scanners flashed across Vin's headset, updated data on the bugs' ship capacity, position, and movements.

They'd almost caught up to the action now, and Vin had enough of his own visual to take a shot.  He caught sight of the drone, which, now that Sparky seemed to have caught his stride, whipped through a series of rolls that could've made Tali proud.  Well, maybe not.  A bug stung it hard on the left wing and it swerved clumsily to one side, wobbling.  The leftmost in the pirate's formation squeezed off another shot and the drone took it in the belly.  The Hellion, at last, released its single-missile payload--a precautionary addition to all unmanned probes, designed to go off if they were tampered with.  It wavered through space, ungainly compared to phasor fire, but once ten seconds had elapsed it went off and tore a bug ship to pieces.  Metal sheared off sideways, clogging the formation, and the suicidal recoil blast ripped what remained of the Hellion apart.  Orange fire flared against the black sky.  The part of Vin's headset that had been channeling the drone's communication went dark.

"And ah'm down."  The Thresher tacky would be of no more use.  His drone was gone.  The information they had gotten would be all they would get.  "Over and out."  

"Tango, Mummy." Vin said through gritted teeth, but his lips had pulled back in a grin.  He put on a bit of a funny voice, not enough like Sparky's to seem like a parody, but one of the accents he adopted when making fun of his little brother.  "Dey been berry naughty dese buggies."

Yeah.  Never mind Damone.  He had been a Libran, but now he was a Goddamn bug, and Vin knew there was just one thing to do to bugs.  And there was no room for doubt or second thoughts when he was out in the 1903.  Later, when they got back to base and out of the ship--later he'd have regrets or think of what else he might have done.  Now, as always when Vin was out on mission, he existed in an almost holy eternal present.  Thought was suspended.  Feeling held in abeyance.  

He cranked the phasors around and took aim at the foremost two ships, still only dots in real-space visual.  Three, two, screw it and shoot.  Again.  Shew.  The twin beams, fired so quickly in sequence that they seemed simultaneous, chased the still-distant bugs.  Shit.  Just clipped 'em.  He wanted another shot.

Good thing 'break formation' was Tali's middle name...

[Anonymous]

Lots and lots of bugs.  Plenty of zapping fun for the entire squadron.  Tali grinned, one hand hovering over the burst button as he looked over the report from Lt.  He was still mulling over the enemy formation, busy planning a path through it that would give Vin maximum opportunity to engage, when the voice feed was matched and the results appeared as a flashing beacon in the upper corner of his headset.  Bug identities never interested Tali, it was easier to imagine them as actual bugs.  Annoying things that got where they weren't wanted and had to be discouraged by the occasional death.  Reading information on the bugs broke down that barrier.  Sometimes it was nothing but a name, maybe a photo and an assortment of random facts.  Then there were the times when Buggie Jon was really the kid that seemed to be in all your classes in primary school.  

Tali acknowledged the report and dismissed it seconds later, barely letting the name finish spinning onto his screen.  He didn't need to be distracted, now or later, by any familiar faces.

Tali tapped the burst and the 1903 began crawling steadily ahead of the pack.  The bugs were right there.  It was hard to resist the urge to race forward and begin fighting.  With that many bugs they would be overwhelmed if they got too far ahead of the rest of the squad.  Depending on how good the bugs were, it could be immediate or it would take them a second to maneuver them into a crunch.  It would happen, and there was no glory in serving themselves up to the bugs like the first bowl of chips to be passed around on Game Day.

When another, friendly, voice came over the com Tali eased back to thruster power alone and listened in.  It was the captain of the drone getting chewed up out there and he had presents.  Good tacky.  His eyes shifting between the drone's feed and their own, Tali began angling the 1903.  Almost as soon as they were in a position that would give Vin his choice of shots the drone was firing its missile.  The puff of orange fire that followed was a good a starting pistol as anything.

Then, ah shit, Vin started talking in that ridiculous accent.  Tali laughed, nearly snorting.  "Going to put the bugs in the corner Shoe?"

Tali pressed them halfway into their full burst speed, sliding free of the formation and barreling toward the swarm.  Soon enough they were literally barrel rolling as the first wave of phasor fire streamed their way from the bugs.  They cut through the bug formation, afterward spinning in a wide turn that took them upside down over the formation as the rest of the Seventy Seventh entered the fray.

The zipships scattered, more a clusterfuck than a proper formation.  There were a few ships huddled in some semblance of a formation.  Tempting targets, but there were single ships that they were in a better position to swat.  As the 1903 was wheeling around to engage one of them the left wing was brushed by a beam of phasor fire.

Just a scratch.  Tali didn't intend to come home with much more.  He was well on his way to becoming the squadron's tin rope, the person who wound up taking the most damage and junking the most ships.  Definitely not a prize to envy, unless you were a nut-job like Fireball, an Ozzie that could be expected to get something blown off on every mission and was oddly proud of it.

[Anonymous]

Aryte saw the info from the drone going across her visor. She let her eyes follow it quickly. Then her stomach sank, W. Damone? She closed her eyes for the length of a short breath and opened them again. It always hurt to see one of her own kind on the wrong side. A piece of her squad, which she considered family, an enemy now, and the worst kind.

Why did a Gunner go rogue get a discharge, a dishonorable one at that? Well, these questions weren't vital right now, in fact they didn't matter.

They had some bugs to zap.

"Get your wipers ready kids, looks like a swarm of bugs." Her voice was sort of tense, but had a feeling of enjoyment to it. Was it sick for her to enjoy shooting down another ship, especially one that might have someone familiar attached? Probably. She didn't really care either way though. Libra was her home, and she was going to protect it.

Then a Tacky was one the radio, she breathed carefully, listening. She was trying to pinpoint that accent for a minute. She obviously couldn't just dive in with a drone taking the lead. It made her antsy, but appreciative. Always good to get the unmanned vessel in and take down a few. It made the anticipation worse however. Then the Hellion was down, but so was a bug. Aryte's pupils shrank as she looked at the bright explosion, a small smile on her lips. Explosions were always so pretty and rewarding.

She gave a small chuckle listening to Vin over the radio. Lord, a tense moment defused. For at least a second. Aryte maneuvered Mitty, sort of following Tali but going an opposite side. Giving them both plenty of room for their Gunners to shoot to their hearts content, and the pairs behind them to get in on the action.

So many damn bugs. They were gonna get squished though, and squished fast.

"Tango Hotel Will, Get those bugs out of the sky."