Memories (from the future) chapter 2

[Cath]

(*screams like a fan girl who saw Justin Bieber*)

[Sylviekat]

The aftermath of a damaged / crippled starship. Miss Parker leads a search / rescue party to the cut off area of the ship.

A Stellar Rescue: We left through the hatchway on D deck, but in the after portion and although smoky, there were no active fires in this part of E deck. I sent Gierson to check the forward bulkheads of the compartment, she said they were cool, so we opened the hatchway to the next compartment, and encountered several wounded personnel of F Battery; the hatchway to the next compartment was warped and warm to the touch. We helped move the wounded up to D deck where others took over, so we could continue or survey.
E deck was a mess, but F deck was worse, the compartment we entered was charred and badly warped, what was even worse was this was the main infirmary, which meant the senior medical staff was killed. DC 4 is on G deck after frame 60, and behind the firewall bulkhead that separates engineering from the rest of the ship. We stayed on F deck until at frame 40 we were forced down because of flooding in the missile magazine. Liquid Nitrogen was pumped into the compartments to prevent detonation, which meant living things could not enter.

Deck G was just a bunch of charred and twisted metal; several compartments were flashing red, which meant they were exposed to vacuum. We stayed in the starboard passageways as much as possible until we got to Frame 59, or the firewall. Passing through the airlocks we entered engineer country and Kaptain Daniels, the ship’s chief engineer, greeted me.

“Ah Miss Parker, so how bad is it?”

“Bad Ma’am the whole port side from Deck E to probably M is gone, we found some survivors at F battery..”

“And the other batteries?” she asked/

“Don’t know my task was to link up with you, F battery just happened to be on the route, also the infirmary is a total loss and the SRDM magazine is flooded, sealing off most of the undamaged area of F and E decks. Deck E forward of F battery is warm; fires are raging confirmed by examination of hatchways at frames 35 and 22. The bow is gone forward of frame 8.” I explained to the senior technical officer.

“Gone, as in destroyed?”

“No ma’am as in sliced off, floating out there somewhere along with A turret, we lost her during the impact.”

“Right and I assume the Theta is worse off?”

“Oh yes, Ma’am, we cut her into two and the after part blew, and forward part was destroyed when their torps cooked off, that is what slagged the forward sections.”

“BDC?” she asked with a faint bit of hope.

“No commo, but since it is on J deck, we fear the worse…”

“Right, ok so is Greer in command?”

“Yes Ma’am, the superstructure minus some superficial damage and the VNB is fully intact; we have an aid station set up in the ward room.”

“Good, well we are fairly well off here, but I will send our people who aren’t dutifully employed up to the superstructure, also I am going to send a team to try to reach the BDC, carry on Miss Parker.”

“Aye Ma’am.”

We then went down the ladders on Engineering which took us to K deck, now things got tricky as somewhere between K and L the damage switches from starboard to port, also this area is where several items are stored many of which are very hazardous and flammable. We managed to move up through frame 42 before needed to divert down to L deck, and finding a fairly intact maintenance shaft switched from starboard to port. Then we moved up to frame 34 and the access hatch down to M deck.

The center bulk head was warped and you could tell that the starboard side was a total write off; we moved down through M deck and encountered a search team sent from DC 5. The DC and maintenance logos on some of my team did not shock them but seeing a whole bunch of command types did. Their leader a Senior DC Mate exclaimed

“Wow, you’re not from the BDC are you?”

“Ah no VNB, we are trying to link up with DC 5.”

“Ah right Ma’am if you would follow DCM Shultz she will take you back to Miss Winters and Miss Travis.” The SDCM named Michaels replied.

“Thank you SDCM Michaels that would be great.” I said after looking at her name tape, and then we walked the twelve frames to where DC 5 was located.

“Hey Cynthia, is that you?” a familiar voice called out.

“Yes it is Wendy, what a mess we are in.” I spotted my bunk-mate in the DC compartment with several others.

“You said it, how are things topside?” Asked a SS&M Lewtenette

“Well, you are going to find out, Miss Winters are you senior here?”

“Yes Miss Parker, although you are now as Command is in charge.” She said with visible relief that someone else would call the shots.

“Ah right, ok then Ma’am could you gather up all of the Officettes and senior personnel please?”

“Well I could, but you are looking at them already…”

“Oh, right what happened to G Battery?”

“M deck forward of frame 32 is exposed to Vacuum, one of those secondary explosions after the collision ripped a seam at the base of the Navigation Sail root.” Wendy interjected giving me the details of the problem,

“Damn, any survivors?” I asked either of them

“Not that we know of?” Wendy looked at Miss Winters, her expression was bordering on resignation and frustration, as clearly the senior of the three of us was in shock and out of her comfort zone to say the least.

“Has anyone checked?” I asked again trying to get a clear picture.

“What, go out in that?” the support Lewtenette asked with shock.
“Miss Winters, you may be SS&M, but you are still an Officette, it is our duty to go and find out, never mind, Gierson, grab your stuff we are going to see what is beyond frame 32….” I scolded well explained what I was going to do, Miss Winters was clearly an emotional wreck and temporarily unfit to lead or make decisions.

“You can’t do that…” She feebly tried to reassert her authority by her rank, but it was to no avail.

“Why not?” I countered, “as you so distinctly stated Ma’am, Command is in charge, Wendy stay put and get everyone ready to evac to Engineering. Ichorne you stay here and assist Miss Travis with getting the girls ready to move, Gierson and Ling and these two stalwart ladies will accompany me if I am not back in twenty minutes start evacuating.”

“What about using the lifeboats?” Miss Winters asked in one last desperate attempt to keep me, as an emotional anchor here.

“Oh you may, Ma’am but if we stay together then when the rescue party comes we have a much better chance of survival. Old Skull is DIS (Dead In Space) but she is not a threat to break up.” I turned to the DC team. “DC Mate Schultz, tell me who is the senior for these compartments?”

“Uh that would be Miss Gonzalez Environmental Officette, hydroponics deck O, but that is near Battery G.”

“Right and where is the Officette for DC 5?”

“You met her, SDCM Michaels, Miss Partridge was evacuated at Avonia, and her replacement did not arrive by the time of the scramble.”

“Right ok Wendy, look after Miss Winters, Shultz you are coming with me. Walters stay here. Ok gang let’s move.”

We headed towards frame 32 and got to the hatchway at frame 33, the red pressure light was on.

“Damn we have a breach, ok, folks suit up and go back to frame 34 and seal that hatch, we will use this as an airlock. However make sure frame 34 is closed because we will not be able to pressurize this compartment.”

“Aye aye.” The group said almost as one.

Having the two hatches closed we then cleared the corridors of anything that could fly around and cause damage and then locked ourselves in place and opened the hatch. After the compartment was vented we moved quickly through the next frame, frame 31 was also showing red, so we opened that hatch and sealed it behind us.
“Uh why did you do that Ma’am” asked Ling.

“Keeps integrity even though both compartments are vented, we will do this until we get to a green hatch. Also look for the breaches and any side compartments, search them even if the hatches are red, you may never know.

“Shultz, since this is your area, where are we at?”

“Potable water reclamation storage, Environmental is directly below us…ah here is the breach these tanks blew, rupturing the hull.”

“Right ok can you seal that breach?”

“Sure no problem, Harris and I have it.”

“Ok, follow quickly, there should be a hatch and ladder down to O deck soon, we will wait for you there if it is green if not we will continue down this deck until we find a green hatch.”

“Aye Ma’am.” As we continued down I overheard Shultz talking to Harris. “Now we see why she has the astrolabes, definitely going to go far… “

“Yeah Sarj, unless she gets killed, not like that pansy Winters…”

“Enough, Miss Winters is just out of her depth, you know those gals came all the way from the VNB…”

“No shit, wow, glad someone did not forget about us…”

We were out of earshot so I could only guess what the rest of the banter was, the hatch at frame 30, it was showing green, and so was the hatchway down to O deck. I took out a huge wrench from the tool kit and banged it on the side of the hatch. A few seconds later the view port slid open and I saw a face, not wearing a Vacuum suit. I motioned her back and towards the speakerphone.

“Ah I am glad to see you gals, can you let us out?” The speaker asked

“Uh how many and what section is this?” I asked

“Launch tube control systems, we have 14, Miss Dandridge is hurt, SLCM Rivers is in charge, we are up in frame 26.”

“Right ok, I need you to go back to frame 29 and seal the hatch, then do the same all the way to frame 27. Also you need to get some vac suits as the area between here and frame 32 is exposed, we are trying to seal the breaches but they may not hold.
“Aye Ma’am, you going to get us out?”
“We’ll do our best, there are others trapped below, that may be worse off than you.”

“Understood….”

“Uh Troopie is there a hatchway down to O deck forward?”

“Yes Ma’am in compartment 28, the hatch reads red though. Ok, well this hatch read green, so there is hope.”

We waited for the landing control tech to get back to compartment 26M and then for Schultz to bring her team up. “Ok we got it sealed, but there might be other leaks.” She said.

“Well we will find out, ok open that hatch.”

As the hatch opened the rush of air was not nearly as violent as with the ruptured tank sealed, the compartment was no longer exposed to vacuum, in fact the hatch at frame 31 flashed yellow, which meant low pressure but not vacuum.

“Good job Shultz, ok let’s open the hatch at 29 and see what happens.”

That hatchway had even a smaller rush and only went to yellow before we sealed it then went back to green. “Good, ok the area in front of us has atmosphere still, probably until we get to end of the ship since M deck ends at Frame 20. Schultz you and Harris head back aft and see if we can get yellow all the way to 33. Look for mirco breaches if we can get the path to yellow we can start moving these people out.”

“Aye, Ma’am are you sure you aren’t DC?”

“I scored second highest in that area, just keep me away from the guns and engines and we will do fine, ok Sarj?”

“You got it.”

There was a small leak that was easily patched, and after that the area was either yellow or green. We then opened the hatch down to O deck and entered the environmental level, Troopie Vort was down here along with Miss Gonzalez and about eight others. I told them that they could all make it to Engineering by going on M deck, and asked where Battery G is, I was informed that it was just forward of this compartment, probably where we saw the red hatch. I sent Shultz aft and down to P deck to collect the rest of Battery K and then headed up to Battery G.

Only I and Gierson and Ling went because we had hard vacuum suits rather than the soft suits. Luckily for us the access way between Engineering and Battery G was an airlock so we could cycle through without compromising the atmosphere. The area forward of Environmental was totaled however we could see that the three gunners were trapped in their turrets, as for the rest of the gun crews, they looked to have bought it. We searched quickly and found the remains of three crews but a huge hole was where the Battery Mistress’s station should have been. The gunners were in soft suits, and after prying them out, were able to move forward. We then reunited with the rest of the survivors from the lower deck and I made my way back to DC 5.

“DC 3, this is Miss Parker I am at DC 5 with 53 survivors.”

“Say again how many?”

“Five Three from portside decks M on Down, senior Officette present is Majourette Gonzalez from Environmental, also present is Miss Winters, and Miss Travis. Miss Dandridge is injured and presently sedated…”

“Anything from Miss Evans?”

“No Ma’am we only got three people from G Battery, they were all gunners and isolated in the turrets.”

“Ok good work Parker, get your group back to Engineering and then tell Ms. Daniels to get her group up here, we are going to evac out of the lifeboat station on C deck, Illy is sending shuttles, ETA about twenty minutes.”

“Aye Ma’am out. Al’right we are going aft to Engineering then up to C deck, Ms. Greer has decided to evacuate from there and I happen to agree with her, so if you are not carrying anything vital help out the injured, let’s go!’

The trip back to Engineering was easier than the trip from, mainly because we knew where we were going and could bypass much of the hazards. We had one slight delay as a compartment had to be patched so we could get a yellow reading but beyond that we got everyone in the group safely to Engineering.

There Ms. Daniels officially took over, even though she still deferred to my decisions on the route out. From DC 4 I updated Ms. Greer we now had 249 survivors, which coupled with the 365 collected from the rest of the ship mounted to about 25% of the complement.

Ms. Daniels expedition to the BDC met with abject failure, the damage was just too severe. The trip from DC 4 to DC 3 was also easier, again we stopped to patch some compartments but we got to DC 3 and Deck C with about 5 minutes before the first shuttle arrived.

Ms. Greer wanted to put me on the first shuttle, but I told her, that I would like to join her on the last one, in fact my entire team wanted to stay behind to see if they could find any more survivors. Finally after all the wounded and other personnel were evacuated we boarded the last shuttle and left the Old Skull for the last time.

Upon arrival Ms. Greer, Ms. Daniels, Miss Travis and I were ordered to Flag Plot, to give an account of what happened. Miss Winters had to be sedated so that made Miss Travis the senior for her compartments. The toll of the Golgotha was 614 survivors, most of them wounded to one degree or another and the rest of the 2000 crew (actually 1824 since we were under strength in several areas) were missing and presumed lost. Among the hallowed dead were Lady Amanda, Ms. Walker and Miss Thompson, and from my training rotation, Sensor Mate Hollister, Troopie Waters, and Rookie Dambroux. Two were on the BDC or adjacent stations and Dambroux was in the flight operations area. For their performance, Troopies Ichorne and Ling were promoted to Troopie Upper Class, and Gierson was promoted to Troopie. They all got the Meritorious Service Medal. As for those summoned to see Lady Shelly that is another story.

[Sylviekat]

Cynthia and Wendy adapt to a new ship, as you shall see it is not hard nor terribly unpleasant before getting a new ship.

Battlefield Promotions: We went to see the TGR, still in our grungy Vacuum suits, of course by now I got out of the bulky hard suit, but my soft suit was covered in sweat and grime, and a little blood. Wendy was little better, only Ms. Daniels had a relatively clean suit, although the sweat marks were visible as she had her bulky engineering coveralls over them, until we got to the shuttle.

We were ushered in and since she was senior Ms. Greer reported for all of us.

“At ease ladies, ok well first of all let me thank you for saving my ship, and next give my condolences for all of those we have lost. Unfortunately the Big Illy is out of the upcoming fight, as my aerogroup got hammered. The good news is we are going not to Avonia but to Chronos to reequip. Then we will join Lady Catherine just a little later. For the record, the Famous is no longer attached and she is going to Avonia. The bad news is Golgotha is being written off; the good news is that we are not going to scuttle her; she is going to be towed by the Famous to Avonia where she will be decommissioned and scrapped. Therefore all survivors of the Golgotha will transfer to other elements of CTG 61 as they best fit. Radiant will escort the Famous and get reassigned. So until further notice Zambezi will work on Licorice and we will leave the Rooster with them, and Big Illy and the animals will head to Chronos. Now starting with you Ms. Greer give your account.”

“Yes Ma’am once general quarters were sounded….”

We each gave accounts of what happened, Wendy stated that her battery smoked a Newton and strafed the living crud out of a Trig class destroyer. By the grace of Soro her section was never seriously threatened unlike the starboard or upper port sides. After the ramming she evacuated her station and headed up to M deck, and waited at DC 5. She also recommended that her section get commendation especially Gunnery Tech Foxy Girl, and in the Ssuperliss tradition a new name, honoring her deeds. Lady Shelly liked that idea, and so we decided on Slayer of Corvettes, as Newton Smoker was a bit vulgar.

Kaptain Daniels explained that like lower port, the engineering area was never hit, the only major actions was ejecting the reactors, which went by the numbers. She commented that whoever was flying the ship the last few moments was one heck of a helmsgal, although it stank loosing the ship in the process.

When it came to my turn I down played the actions on the VNB and focused on the recovery effort, however as modest as I tried to be, the others would hear none of it. You’d think I saved the Empire single handily rather than be the person responsible for destroying a heavy cruiser.

“OK, well you all did a fine job, actually the whole CTG kicked major rear today. Let’s see two Dolci’s although I think Dauntless will claim one, 12 Thetas that is including the one you gals rammed, forty Trigs, and eight Hawkings, two bailed when the Dauntless and Company arrived. Oh yeah I forgot 20 Newtons, I am including the mis jump and the fool that rammed you, and 80 aerospace craft, twenty Numeric bombers, 50 Quads, and 10 new things that were actually tough. And in exchange we lost the Golgotha, even though she will be parts, two frigates, one corvette, a badly damaged light cruiser, a heavily damaged destroyer and 60% of my aerowing. That includes the flight you had. Of those all of my Jean De Arch, 90% of my Amazons and 20% of my Sheena-cats, the new warriors did superbly we are picking up more of them and something new called a Raptor when we get to Chronos. I am trading all of the Amazons. Oh and over 3000 lives, which is the greatest sacrifice, losing those three ships with all hands hurt. When I am done here I am going to do the same with the Aerogroup folks.” She paused

“Now the good part of this horrid day; Ms. Greer you are reassigned Commodore of escorts, right now Kommandette that consists of the two frigates but once we get the Rooster and the Licorice back they will also be in your charge, Lady Greer. Ms. Daniels you are to report to the Licorice as Chief Engineer, same grade but with commendation, upon reaching a suitable station and vacancy you may wish to transfer to a ship worthy of your caliber. Miss Travis I would love to reassign you to the Licorice as a gunnery officette, but in light of the request endorsed by the late Ms. Lyons and Ms. Rivera that would be bloody unfair so you are assigned to 2nd watch gunnery division ISS Illustrious as seen fit for position of senior Battery Mistress, after all not many BM’s can claim a corvette kill, and an assist on a destroyer. Now what to do with you Miss Parker, some would blame you for wrecking a starship, others would ship you off to Amazonia as a recruitment ploy, I think we can come to something less drastic. I already have a damned good helm control officette on the VNB, but Lady Grenville had to transfer several of her personnel over to the Licorice, including the senior maneuvering officette 1st Watch, are you interested?”

“Uh yes Ma’am but you said your position on the VNB is filled…”

“So I did, but unless I am mistaken I said senior maneuvering officette, that position is not on the VNB but the BDC, right? Ah now you get it. Now let’s see we need to decorate some uniforms a bit, Ms. Daniels and Miss Travis you are awarded the MSM, as soon as I can get the paperwork submitted. Ms. Greer as CO during the critical hour you are awarded the Silver Star Cluster, pending approval from Lady Catherine. And now young Miss Parker, I see gold in your future if not rubies. Your actions especially the search for fellow crewmates at great risk to yourself is greatly appreciated. That was some quick thinking getting those gals off M deck. So I will endorse the award for the Gold Star Cluster, but with a recommendation for upgrade as seen fit. In the meantime you and Ms. Greer will be also awarded the MSM, for your conduct during the battle. Now that I have made your uniforms a bit heavier, we have a few of you out of uniform; namely all four of you. Ms Greer, you are promoted to the rank of Lady Knight or Equetassa effective this date, congratulations My Lady. Ms. Daniels you will be promoted to Kommandette backdated to this date effective your transfer to an appropriate command. And finally Miss Travis and Miss Parker those orange V’s are no good, trade them in effective immediately for proper gold chevrons, as Lewtenettes you are both out of uniform. Congratulations to all, Dismissed!”

After we left Flag Plot we hurried to see the quartermistress to see about getting the new insignia and frankly new uniforms and gear since all of us lost everything when G deck was gutted. I also saw several other people milling about getting new items, including both Terry and Barbi. “Hey girl’s how are you doing?”

“Cyn, Wendy is that you?”

“Soro be praised how on earth did you live through that?”

“We were lucky, Wendy has a kill and an assist…”

“No way, fighters?”

“No, a corvette and a destroyer, while you flygals were off doing your thing we smoked some Newtons, and then brawled with two destroyers, both of them were slag when it wall over.”

“How about you Cyn, no kills?” Barb asked me jokingly

“Well I’m not gunnery we don’t do things like that…”

“Actually girls, Cynthia does have a kill.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked Wendy.

“That Theta, this crazy mother, under orders, mind you charges a pair of Thetas and we take a beating from their torps and guns, and then she rams one, cutting the bastard in two, the crazy thing is if we were just a little bit faster we would have kept the Old Skull alive, but the Skully was just a little too slow and when the Theta blew, we were right in the middle.”

“How did you two do?” I asked the two aero-babes.

“Well since a torp run is hard to get individual credit, the flight has an assist on a Dolci, that bastard Dauntless hammered the ship right when our torps detonated, so everyone gets a partial or assist. The flight also has three destroyer kills, two Trigs, and one Hawking, we also have an assist on a Theta. As for fighter kills, I have two Quadratics, and two new things, man those suckers are tough, we missed Ace by 1 lousy kill. One of those new jobs waxed the flight leader, and Riana and Melissa bought it on the attack run against the Thetas. The other cat in our flock was badly damaged and its crew is in the infirmary. So we both got promoted to Lewey, and I am the new Flock Mother.”

“Oh yeah we got stripes as well, but we have a huge problem.”

“What’s that?” Terry asked.

Wendy explained “Uh well we lost everything on old Skull, clothing personal effects you name it, and our bunks….”

“Oh silly we both found out you two are assigned here so well, Terry and I got moved to a new room that has room for four, two guess who the other two are?” Barbi said with wink.

Thus the pace was set for my tour of on the Illustrious. The only thing of special note was when we got to Chronos, both Barbie and Terry fell instantly in love with the new Raptor. The problem was that they were single seat craft, so Terry had to become a pilot, which she did. By this time the 4 Lewies in OB (Officette Billet) 34 had a four-way intimate partnership contract, and two permanent partnership contracts pending. When those get approved it would mean always being stationed in the same area or platform. We had to decide how we were going to juggle the different career requirements, and each take a possible hurdle to further advancement. This was going to be extremely problematic if Terry could not get her pilot wings. As things turned out she did, and so both Terry and Barb got posted to the same Raptor squadron, but different flights. It was just a matter of ensuring that Wendy and myself get billets on the same ship.

As Lewies in Weapons and Command that was not very hard, even if we did not get the best postings. The good news was our first posting together in 2631 was a new (as in just commissioned) Neptune, the AISS Gremlin. She shared several similar characteristics with the Golgotha but her flight area was redesigned to operate the Raptors, and her guns were upgraded to Heavy Naval Pulse Laser Cannon in the A, B & C turrets. Wendy was posted as Battery Mistress for B turret, and I was posted as maneuver control Officette on the BDC. The first cruise was a routine shakedown cruise and beyond increasing the personal relationships, nothing really happened.

[Cath]

Holy shit! You've got a lot!

[Sylviekat]

As I mentioned to Willie, multi-year project off and on. It has stalled around chapter 7 but until then, just a matter of editing format.

[Cath]

Multi year, you mean you've been on it for some years, right? How many?

[Sylviekat]

Oh the game world started in college. Let's just say Clinton was President at the time.

---

Gremlins in the works: After the shakedown cruise, the Gremlin’s mistress rotated out and we picked up a brand new command team including Ms. Francis, as a new Kaptain and command branch department head. Her posting was 1st Watch BDCO. The rest of the senior BDC team, including the Mistress Lady Karlie Du Prix, were Senior Navigation Majourette Evita Rodriquez, Senior Sensors Majourette Eva Lyn Brooks, Senior Commo, Lewtenette Dianne Evans, assistant Maneuver Control Officette, Kaydette Lisa Michaelson and astrogator Lewtenette Gloria Spears.

One of the other changes from the Old Skull, to Gremie, was that fire control and defenses are in a separate compartment adjacent to the BDC. Kaptain Ursula Greer (Lady Greer’s sister) is in charge of that division and compartment. This adds another firewall to the ship and probably means that at least one senior will survive all but a catastrophic explosion. Using what little pull I had, I convinced the powers to be to post all many of my fellow survivors from Old Skull to Gremie. Granted Junior Mate Ichorne was not too happy at first, until she found out she would be sitting 2nd chair in my watch. Chief Helm’s Mate Lydia Walenstein had 1st chair.

The other changes were mainly organizational. As the ship’s MCO on first watch I was responsible for the entire MC section, this included four Kaydettes, one each for 2nd watch, BDC, 1st and 2nd watch, VNB, and 3rd watch (BDC/VNB, who was also assistant DCO station 1, which was adjacent to the BDC. (DC Central was relocated to E deck, just aft of the central lift, again moving a department head to a separate area of the ship.

Basically during general quarters, Lady Karlie was on the BDC, Kommandette Nelson on the VNB, Kaptain Tavington in Engineering, Kaptain Francis, on the BDC, Kaptain Greer in Primary Weapon’s Control (a secondary control room was on deck N just aft of D turret (now a copy of A turret but on the ventral, and all other batteries numbered on letter higher), and Kaptain Sheen in DC Central. (The redundancy and relocation of key personnel proved invaluable on many ships, luckily we never tested that capability on Gremlin, I guess Soro thought having poor Miss Parker loose two ships would be really bad form). The last senior non-medical officette was Kaptain Harriet “Momma Bear:” Dorn, the CO of the interceptor group. We carried 24 or two squadrons of Raptors, and 4 Ocelot class shuttles. The last were very light shuttles that could be carried by any ship in AIDOF, and could be used in boarding ops if needed. Miss Rita Towns commanded the NAIL convent, so we had five ladies in pink aboard a ship with over 300 Officettes, including 30 in dark purple and 12 in lavender. The rest wore light blue. However in mission and routine Old Skull and Gremie were near identical twins. However rather than a carrier who tried to stay away from fights we played goal keeper with the AISS Debutante, a Heavy Attack Cruiser, or sometimes called a battle cruiser or mini dreadnought. In other words a big mother who looked for trouble, our task was to keep the enemy aerospace and small fry away.

The sector we were assigned was near Goddard, system that has been captured and recaptured several times, so this was a hot area. With the big Deb and Gremie we had two Saturns, the Falmouth and the Franklin, two Tyche’s Lionfish and Lawrence, and two Vulcan class frigates, Bainbridge and Belknap. This gave BATCRURON 854 a very heavy offensive punch but a modest defensive capability. The AS craft on the big Deb were a mixed bag composed of single seat and two seat attack fighters. On squadron of the combat proved Warrior, and two of the venerable Sheena-cat. No Arcs were carried on anything except carriers. Each of the Saturns had one squadron of Warriors and one of Sheena-Cats. So amongst the four AS capable ships we had 24 of the brand spanking new Raptors, 48 Sheena Cats and 36 Warriors.

Beyond the crew of the ungainly looking Raptors, most of the Aerobabes derided them, until the first series of exercises proved that the Raptor could almost out run, out gun and out maneuver any of the other platforms, as well as take more damage. The Warrior was faster and carried more but less effective missiles, but could not turn as tightly or in a gun dual the Raptor’s pulse cannon proved to be extremely deadly. The Sheena-Cat had the same speed, but a much wider turn radius; it could stay in action longer and carried a wider array of weapons. Again in a dogfight, the Raptor’s four guns to the single powerful particle gun of the Sheena-Cat proved to be overwhelming.

Needless to say the Corps Quads and new Pi fighters were outmatched, in everything but numbers. BATCRURON 854 was also tasked for limited independent operations, we did not have an attached tender but there were five squadrons to ATG 85, and three had tenders. BATCRURON 854 was the muscle for the ATG, we were supported by a CARON, it had a Juno class and was a carbon copy of the old CTG 61 (in 2630 Task Groups were expanded to include squadrons that were ship and mission specific, so CARON 851 and CTG 61 were the same size but CARON 851 was led by a Baroness while CTG 61 could have been led by a Countess.) Designators for Squadrons were 3 numbers, the first two being the mother task group and the last being the position within the TG. In an ATG (Attack TG), first squadron was always a CARON, 2nd a CRURON (light and medium cruisers and fast ships for screening), third squadron was either another CRURON or DESTRON (a light cruiser with several destroyers) for scouting and fast strikes, 4th Squadron was the heavy punch, in most cases a BATCRURON, but sometimes a full BATRON, and finally 5th Squadron was a SUPRON or support squadron with defensive ships and tenders. A CTG or Carrier TG 1st and 2nd were CARON’s and 4th was always a DESTRON. In an BTG (Battle TG), 1st through 3rd were BATRONS or BATCRURONS, and 4th was a CRURON. (At this time ASTG, STTG, and STG were not operational units, for Assault TG’s there were no centralized control for assault ships, they were task organized as needed. Strike units were not around because AIDOF employed very few Hyperwarp capable platforms in the early 30’s and Support ships were always part of the existing TG structure so no one thought create a dedicate large support force. In fact this defect in SAN would not be rectified until the debacle at Ayemore was seriously analyzed in 2645.)

However as a Lewie and responsible for other junior Officettes of my section, such big picture things were far from my head. Mainly because of my relationship with Barb and to a lesser degree Wendy and Terry, I did not see the need to get intimate with my subordinates, beyond doing the minimum that was expected or course. And they all understood that I was committed, and in fact I encouraged those who were interested to pursue longer lasting bonds than the typical Amazon seemed to express until much older.

We were on patrol of the 2nd system beyond Goddard, a dead system called YX 8342, the only item of note was the 4th planet was a Corporate resource world. CRW’s are worlds claimed by the corporation for future exploitation, needless to say quite a few CRWs lie within Imperial space. It was during 2nd watch, so I was in the wardroom training my off duty personnel (I rotated sleeping during 2nd and 3rd watches so I could train them on my off hours) when the GQ alarm sounded.

GENERAL QUARTERS, GENERAL QUARTERS ALL HANDS TO ACTION STATIONS, THIS IS NO DRILL.

Stopping the class, I instructed the 3rd watch kaydette to go to my quarters and get my vacuum suit. Rushing to the BDC and to my station I just beat the navigation team. “Hey what’s up?”

“Multiple jumps detected, and at least one theta has been ID’d.”

“Oh boy this should be interesting….”

“Miss Parker, plot course for intercept we just got word from Deb, we are going close and engage.”

“Aye Ma’am ok plot course bearing 218 angels plus 11 speed 30MMH.”

“Oh Miss Parker?”

“Yes, Ma’am?”

“Where is your V suit?”

“On the way, Miss Woods is bringing it…”

“I see, well very good, perhaps we should have spare sets in the BDC, look into that Miss Parker.”

“Aye Ma’am.”

A few minutes later Miss Woods came in and handed me my suit then headed to her station at DC 1.

“Right ok, let’s do a status check. MC?”

“MC is up and ready.” I said looking at the people in my section at their stations.
“Good, Commo?”
“Commo Up Ma’am….” And so went the roll call throughout the BDC.

“Ma’am BDC is all manned.”

“Very good Ms. Francis, signal rest of departments.” Miss Evans queried the rest of the ship’s stations and got all present and manned. She relayed the information to Ms. Francis, who then told her Ladyship. “Ships is manned and at action stations.”

“Right time to intercept with enemy ships?”

“At present speed and course eight hours.”

“Ok 1st Watch stand down, 2nd Watch take over, 3rd Watch remain at secondary stations, alert me when enemy is two hours from weapons release.”

“Aye Ma’am, ok you heard Lady Karlie, 1st Watch return to your quarters and get some rest, 2nd Watch and 3rd Watch resume duties and maintain present course and speed. Miss Jelinkski you have the con.”

I retired to my quarters and slept very fitfully, however having had to endure one prolonged battle back on Golgotha I knew I needed the sleep now as once the action started things were going to be very intense. On reason for my unease was this was the first time in a long while where the other bunks were empty, as the pilots were all at the ready room getting briefed and the weapons division was fully manned, doing last minute checks and battle drills. When the ISC beeped and summoned 1st Watch back to their duty stations, I was already awake.

An hour after returning to my station, we got word to launch the fighters, all of our Raptors would be used to protect the strike craft, while the Warriors hung back to provide cover for the ships.

“Ma’am we have positive ID on the Corps, two Dolci’s, eight Thetas twice the number in destroyers and small fry, and one Pascal….”

“Right ok, what is Deb doing?”

“She and the attack cruisers are lining up for missile launch, we are ordered to have the Raptors go ahead of the strike craft and blow a hole through the quads and new fighter Pi fighters. Meanwhile the “F” Troop, the nickname for the two Saturns and the Tyches will engage the front line with missiles, and the big Deb will fire her salvos at the Dolcis and the Pascal.”

200 missiles at the three big boys, and another 300 at the escorts, should make for a wonderful light show from the VNB. Meanwhile in the BDC we just had the huge holographic tank plotting the action, as well as the smaller screens at each station.
“Missile Launch!”

“What?”

“The Thetas and the Pascal, and Dolci’s have fired missiles!”

“Ah so they can learn, right ok get us a broad side approach to them so we can intercept the missiles.”

“Aye Ma’am, ok plot course bearing 87 degrees, angle minus 5, then turn about 120 degrees at the 4MM mark.”

“Very Good, Helm, make it so.”

“Aye Ma’am, Ichorne execute first leg of the maneuver. Speed 34MMH.”

“Aye, Speed 34MMH.” The helmsgal replied.

The Gremie rocketed forward and slightly to the starboard of the big Deb and then we slewed abeam so our starboard weapons were facing the incoming missiles.

“Track has 300 missiles approaching, in three waves, 100 from the Dolcies, another 150 from the Thetas and last 50 from the Pascal, last group appears to be bigger but slower.”

“Right, Thetas and Dolci probably are packing some form of Shipkiller, the big guy probably has a home grown weapon. ETA?”

“First wave 20 Minutes, 2nd about 30, and last nearly an hour…” Sensors read from the plot

“Right time for our barrage?”

“First group in 15, then rest are at two minute increments.”

“Right ok, Commo, advise rest of the squadron to take bow on aspects to missiles and have the frigates get in our shadow.”

“Aye, Weapons reports they will engage at 16MM with large batteries.”

“Very good, ok set condition Zebra, secure all hatches!” Lady Karlie said from her command chair.

NOW HEAR THIS, NOW HEAR THIS SET SHIP TO CONDITION ZEBRA, SECURE ALL HATCHES

“Lead Raptors want to know if they should engage missiles?”

“Negative, they are to concentrate on enemy AS craft, however request that Warriors should be used to help with leakers.”

“Aye Ma’am…Flag concurs, using one Warrior Squadron on CAP, other two to assist with missile defense.”

“Very good, status on enemy missiles and AS craft?”

“Dolci’s have launched fighters, looks like they are launching a strike as well, lead Raptors are engaging!”

We all watched the distant battle as the icons representing our Raptor interceptors launched missiles at the oncoming corporate craft. Unlike the missiles carried by the Warriors and Sheena-Cats, the Raptors were armed with a new plasma tipped missile; they exploded in a huge burst of superheated plasma that could, if lucky take out two craft at a time. Each Raptor carried 10 of these weapons so that meant 240 missiles directed against 120 quadratic fighters. After all of the plasma blooms dissipated only 40 quadratic fighters were left. 30 more died by the heavy cannon of the Raptors, before they closed into knife range. Here the superb maneuverability of the Raptors and the heavy armor paid off, as only four Raptors were damaged and only five quads limped back to their ships. The Raptors continued on station escorting the Sheena-cats to their respective targets, but first our missiles.

The first wave, or 300 LRAM missiles streaked into the Theta cruisers and Trig destroyers, (this group had none of the ancient Hawkings) Even with double kills and the enemy point defenses, only three Thetas and eight destroyers survived the maelstrom. The next wave of 100 targeted at the two Dolcis, was mostly destroyed by enemy defenses, as it was twenty missiles hit, all but three on one ship. So one Dolci was toast, the other only superficially damaged. The Pascal likewise suffered moderate shield damage. Now it was our turn to receive the enemy missiles.

“Ma’am we have detected 12 Newtons but they seem to be not interested…” “That’s because they know we would smoke them before they got into effective range, they will only move in after we are beat up a bit.”

“Roger that, first missiles ETA 1 minute!”

“Right ok it’s in Weaps hands now.”

We watched as the big guns on A through D batteries engaged and destroyed 20 missiles. Then once the smaller batteries were in range, the space before the missiles was laced with deadly beams from the lasers. This accounted for another 40 missiles. Next our own short range missiles fired and took out 30 more, thus leaving 10, all homing on the big Deb to leak through, and between the Warriors and the big Deb’s own defenses only one missile got through to explode on the massive shields of the battle cruiser.

“Big D, got hit, but only 5% loss to starboard shields, next wave in 5 minutes!”

We repeated the process for the other two waves, however the last five missiles in the 2nd wave were targeted on us, so our point defenses came into play as we smoked all five, the nearby explosions rocked the ship but our own massive shields easily warded the blows. All that was left were the massive missiles launched by the Pascal. In the meantime the Sheena-Cats struck the 2nd Dolci and broke its back, and seriously damaged the big Pascal battleship. Only three Sheena-Cats were lost, so for the price of three AS craft with 6 crew, and some light damage to the shields to two ships, we destroyed over 100 fighters, two battle cruisers, five thetas and eight destroyers plus damaging their only major offensive threat. All and all a great victory, however, Lady Meyer, the Squadron Regent, decided to make a statement and sent the big D and the two light cruisers in with their guns. We had the VNB patch the visual down to us, as the four massive Whirlwind disruption beams tore into the Pascal, which was just charging up its own main fusion battery when it shuddered briefly and then broke apart into four sections. The dissection of the Pascal was incomplete when it flared to bright plasma as the reactor containment fields failed. With the loss of the Pascal, the other ships were easy prey, only the Newtons and two destroyers managed to limp away to jump out. Goddard was saved once again.
Three weeks later the jump signature of our relief the massive form of the AISS Palanquin appeared. BATRON 712 took up our station, so we could go home and refit and refresh our stores. The rest of the time on this patrol was routine and hardly worth mentioning, let alone remembering.

[Willy_for_Boobies]

again ... (much to read ...)  ;-))
. but well and interesting written ..
.. nice view at the tactical thoughts and acting ..
... a good story ... ;-))
.... are there any drawings ( perhaps from the aliens or the ships ) ? ....

[Sylviekat]

hmm there is an idea how do you post pictures and images?

---

Closing out Chapter 2, and setting up Chapter 3

A Diamond Girl: Midway through the 2nd cruise, I was transferred from MC to BDCO, for 2nd Watch. Along with the transfer was the addition of a second chevron, giving me the diamond insignia of a Majourette. Wendy was still a lewie, and so was Terry, but Barb became the flight mother for 2nd flight of their squadron and besides the nice new diamonds, she also had eighteen icons on her bird, each picture, a stylized FMA representing the Corporate military meant a fighter kill. She was easily the leader in AS kills in the entire aerogroup. Her call sign of “Pyschobabe” was well earned, her primary winggal, Terry or “Iron Horse” had a respectable 8 kills. If Barb could stay alive, the squadron and perhaps mini group would be hers to command in no time.

If I thought being on the VNB was dull, there were times that 2nd Watch on the BDC was downright tedious, for one we couldn’t be distracted like on the VNB, as we were still running the ship, but nothing happened during 2nd Watch. And even when we were at action stations, I was just the back up to Ms. Francis. However as watch BDCO, I did get familiar with all stations on the BDC. This was definitely a step up the ladder to having my own command someday, but at the moment it is dull and tedious. The worst part was that I saw less of the aerospace crew as much as I liked the Gremie, an escort cruiser is also not the place to be for adrenaline rushes.

My own responsibility extended from including just the MC division, as I was still the senior rated MC officette, but also the other officettes in 2nd Watch including the BDC and VNB, a grand total of eight more pretty faces, three Lewies, and five Kaydettes. So if anything we got a lot of training done. Miss Paula Sanders, the MCO for 2nd Watch made Lewie and took my old station on 1st Watch. I was training a new Kaydette Miss Rebecca Stoneman as MCO for 2nd Watch.

AIDOF seems to have the policy of training up, and keeping the crew on one ship for as long as possible, it makes for a very close knit, almost family like atmosphere but also means some attachments and rivalries are made much more intense. For example Miss Stoneman and Miss Greentree (MC VNB 2nd Watch) do not like each other, as Miss Greentree seems to think the new girl should have the VNB while she should transfer down to the BDC. This animosity went both ways, as Greentree and Stoneman had eyes for the same lady, Miss Annette Kingston, the Navigator for 2nd Watch. Needless to say the fact that I was only a year or so older and already wearing the diamonds of a Majourette and also partnered with a very attractive person, meant that these two Kaydettes did not really care for me either.

Oh well, the prima Donna attitude that Miss Greentree exhibited did not endear me to her anyway, as for Stoneman, she had the attitude of a feisty dog trying to establish herself among the girls. I also held Miss Kingston partially responsible for she was a Lewie with a few years of experience, actually two more years than me, but being a technical specialist not on the same fast track for higher ranks. She did not seem to mind as MC, and Sensors were the two tracks that led quickest to command. I decided to shut them up once and for all by having a command inspection, during 3rd Watch so, only Miss Woods was exempt, the dress for the inspection was Shore Dress Uniform with all ribbons. I was after all making a point.

All four Lewies were present as well as the six Kaydettes off duty. Miss Kingston by far had the most time in service as was noted by her two bronze hearts on the service ribbon, for a total of six years. Miss Dianne Watson, the Sensors for 2nd Watch was next with one heart; however I knew she had almost five years in, the first two as a rating. Miss Erica Strasser the sensors and VNBDO for 2nd Watch had only three years but had a MSM for actions aboard the Dauntless, she transferred to the Gremie to be closer to her own sweetheart, also a Raptor pilot, but in the other squadron than Barb. And then Miss Sanders, who although junior to both Watson and Strasser, was by default of being the next senior MCO, was my protégé so to speak, and like Kingston and Watson were both from the original shakedown cruise.

Within the sphere of responsibility, I naturally had the MCO’s in one group and the other divisions of 2nd watch in another group. However the MCO’s on 2nd Watch were also under operational control of either the ABDCO (Miss Kingston) or the VNBDO, depending on where they were. This left only Miss Watson without any real authority, so she tasked as the training officette.

As for the Kaydettes, well Miss Harriet Rivers, (MCO, 1st Watch VNB); Miss Greentree, and Miss Stoneman rounded out the MC division, minus Miss Woods of course. Miss Janice Longfellow (Commo, BDC 2nd Watch), Miss Ursula Nitron (Commo VNB 2nd Watch), and Miss Maria Anna Lopez-Garcia (Astrogator and assistant Navigator 2nd Watch) rounded out the group. Lopez Garcia and Greentree both had service ribbons without any hearts, thus they were on their second tour. Not uncommon for an astrogator to remain being a Kaydette for over 2 years, but as I had already found out Miss Greentree’s personality has cost her going to gold at least once.

Now besides the diamond on my collar, the other two things that stood out (besides only having one star on my service ribbon) were the MSM and the dark red ribbon with a single gold star, signifying the Gold Star Cluster. (The sector regent thought that getting the instant approval for the lesser award would be better than fighting the arcane bureaucracy of AIDOF to get a Ruby cluster, for a mere Kaydette.) But the impact of those two ribbons did the trick, I may be young but I have seen action and possessed the 3rd highest award in all of AIDOF.

After the little inspection and pep talk about doing our jobs and keeping a civil attitude while on duty; they got the message and shaped up. By the end of my 2nd cruise on the Gremmie, all but Miss Greentree and Miss Stoneman were wearing the gold of a Lewie. Greentree is destined to serve her entire time (albeit short) in AIDOF as a Kaydette. I was glad when she was transferred off the Gremmie to the Corvette Sunshine; I think being in a small corvette will do wonders for her personality if not her career. Her replacement was a new Kaydette Miss Linda Jones, and I could tell right away she was going to be a rising star, no attitude there, as well a s nice figure. Miss Stoneman now had a new piece of eye candy to ogle. The addition of Miss Jones was just in time as the whole ATG just got tasked to the 141st Attack Fleet under the command of Wanaxxae Catherine Volkberg as part of something called the 1st Expeditionary Fleet, under Princess Nicole Volkberg, who has fully recovered from her injuries sustained in the Zeta campaign.

[Willy_for_Boobies]

2 possible ways:
you can attach pictures from your own computer with the attachement bar:
    attached under your post... or
   
    to insert into post ;-))

or you can a insert a picture by inserting (see green circle) the (web) link to the picture who is in a (own or other) webspace or gallery ( this could be a uploadpie link too ...)
or linking to a webpage (see red circle).
   
.. if you use own webspace, be careful which informations could be read there about you ;-))