Book Two, Chapter One: Unfinished Mission

[dakota]

" Always playing with your toys. You tech types are all alike." Khris shook his head with a chuckle. " You and our first tech Wrecker would be like two peas in a pod." He considered getting himself a drink, but showed some restraint for a change and glanced out his window.

[shiivster]

*She just looks at Khris and then frowns. looking away she just states 'figured one person freezing up like i did was bad enough. figured to have a mini extinguisher or something to help stop the panic session next time'

*her hand shakes as it rests against her forehead. her inner strength is wavering slightly, but its fighting back to regain full control. the fact she survived the first time was cause of her twin .. and this time its because of her choice to get past this problem.

[tag]

[albatross]

After a few hours flying, Tiger changes places with Strongbow and flies the next leg of the journey. Strongbow takes the controls back eventually, and Tiger even lets her fly while they dock mid-air with a Chinese re-fueling plane for more fuel over the Pacific.

Hours later, they are nearing the coast. A rhythmic sound is heard over the plane's comm system, like a techno beat. Tiger turns to Strongbow in the cockpit, "I need you to do exactly as I tell you. Now climb." Strongbow dutifully pulls back on the controls and the Catalina begins to climb to a higher altitude.

"Everyone, find a gunner station. Strap yourself to the plane. Things are going to get rough. Kris, take the tail gunner spot" Red lights come on. Tiger runs back to the radio seat, which sits in front of modern electronic equipment. She has a brief conversation in Chinese, and those who speak Chinese will realize she has asked for an ETA for fighter aircraft. She doesn't like the answer.

There are four gun stations on the plane, one in the front bow turrent, one on each side waist blister turrent and one in the tail.

The guns are high-tech electromagnetic rail cannons, mounted on hydrolic recoil absorbers. They can shoot about a mile and will sound like a machinegun when they go off. Ear protection sits next to each gun to prevent deafness.

[tag: any]

[dakota]

" Perfect. Next time I want first class." Khris sputtered as he got up and made his way to the tail gunner section. As he position, he looked at the gun, sizing it up. He continued sputtering even as he slipped on his hearing protection. " I donna know how to use this thing? Where the bloody hell is the scope?"

[shiivster]

*Jeckle moves o the port wing

and gets herself settled. she gives a faint chuckle as the ear protection goes on. all she hopes now is .. the wing gunner's spot doesn't get hit. while she might be able to 'glide a little way, the aerodynamics of her coat will fail, and if the weapons firing up at her don't kill her .. the sudden stop at the end sure will.

*goes thru a verbal checklist in prepping the weapon, then gets her hands on the directional and firing handles, and prepares to fire back

[tag]

[albatross]

Tiger hits some switches at her controls and targeting computers spring to life at each of the gun stations. "Use the onboard weapon systems to control the guns and pull the trigger when they give you a target lock. I'm patching through the enemy profiles now."

"Eight are inbound, we are engaging the enemy on all sides below us. Keep climbing Strongbow," Tiger adds.

Kamov Ka-50 "Black Shark" Helicopters and R73 air to air missiles appear in the target list, miles away the incoming 'copters approach from all side at around 300 knots, slightly slower than the Catalina.

"The cannons range is around a mile, the choppers are well out of range. I imagine they will hang back and fire missiles at first. Your first priority is to shoot down any incoming missiles and your second priority is to get the helicopters. Weapons free."

[dakota]

Still sputtering, khris checked out his tactitcal display, hoping he was doing it right," I remember this movie. the TIE fighters ought to come sweeping in any moment. But whoever's flying needs to strap a pair of danishes to their ears to complete the tribute." He aimed towards the approaching copters and waited for a lock.

[shiivster]

...o0( danish's to the ears? ... whatever that means. sounds gross not to mention useless )

*Jeckle shakes her head and after the orders are finished .. nods 'got it .. i'll do my best .. not my forte tho ...

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[albatross]

Ionic slips into the other waist gunner position next to Jeckle and starts trying to figure out the rail gun.

"Strongbow, I told you to climb! Get up! Higher! Go higher!" Tiger says urgently into the comm. Strongbow merely mumbles, "I'm trying."

A musical notes sounds, then another, and another, then a dozen in rapid succession. "Missiles incoming," Tiger says calmly. "Keep climbing until I say so."

The targeting data is fed to each gun position and everyone can see the missiles veering erratically. Tiger must be jamming them somehow. Only a dozen or so still fly at the plane.

"Roll us over, then twist down into a turn along our previous path." The missiles are in range of the guns now, coming right at them from all sides as Strongbow flips the flying boat upside down and then slides towards a dive.

[Dome]

"Tiger, will the enemy ships have a way of detonating the missiles before they hit? If so I may be able to reach out and trigger that."

[tag]

[albatross]

"Its worth a shot, there are plenty of missiles to target, find a window in the cockpit or the front turret and go for it!" Tiger responds.

She is bent over the ECM controls, desperately trying to divert as many of the missiles as possible, her left hand hovering over the chaff-flare decoy deploy waiting for the last possible instant after jamming and shooting down the incoming missiles is no longer possible.

"Fire at will," Tiger says, perhaps repeating herself, but hoping that Kris, Jeckle and Ionic can shoot down at least a few of the missiles.

[dakota]

" Which one is Will? They all look alike from back here." Khris said, trying to alleviate the tension in Tiger's voice. He flicked off the safety and sighted down the barrel at an inbound missile. As he does, he began to hum to himself ( CCR's Fortunate Son) and squeezed off a short burst to get a feel for the unfamiliar weapon.

[albatross]

The short burst from Kris' rail gun sounds like a machinegun and the kick, if it hadn't been securely anchored to the recoil system, would have pushed the plane off course.

The super fast rounds are easy to see as the tail of the plane, and they line up pretty much exactly where the targeting computer thinks the gun was pointing. The rounds are so fast, the normal dogfight considerations of wind and distance are almost irrelevant to the high speed gun, however the movement of the plane relative to the targets is a strong consideration, and most of the basis for the information Tiger is uploading to their targeting computers (the path of the enemy missiles plus the path of the plane equals where everyone should be shooting). Of course, the cannon's massive recoil means it isn't exactly as accurate as a sniper rifle...

[dakota]

" This is more like a bloody video game than shooting." Khris sputtered as he aimed for the incoming missiles and began firing short bursts once his targeting computer had a lock.

[Dome]

Dante reaches looks out the window, and reaches out to his mind toward one of the choppers.(isp 10) He takes control of it and first, if there is a missile detonation button, he triggers that. Next he points the ship towards the other choppers and triggers it to open fire.

[tag]