Aerial Recon, part 1
Posted on Tue Jun 28th, 2011 @ 4:18am by Lieutenant JG Randall "Iceheart" McGraw & Ensign Ewan "Calvin" Fraser & Ensign S'rren "Hobbes" & Lieutenant JG Talia "Phoenix" Richards
Edited on on Thu Jul 14th, 2011 @ 5:02am
976 words; about a 5 minute read
Mission:
Shades of Gray
Location: Over Michnar VII
Timeline: Current
ON
The fighters received their final check and waited for the go-ahead to launch.
"Phoenix to IceHeart. Ready to launch," Talia reported.
"Copy that Phoenix. Hobbes, Fraser? Are you a go?"
"Fraser ready to go."
"Ok, that leaves us with one left. As soon as Hobbes is up, Phoenix and myself, Iceheart, will be taking the northern hemisphere, Hobbes and Fraser, you two will be taking the southern. Any questions?"
"None, Sir." The Caitian responded. His fighter read green straight across the board.
"None, sir," Talia echoed. This was a routine mission and promised to go smoother than the previous one.
"Right then. Calypso, this is Iceheart. We are a go for launch. Are we clear to launch?"
"Iceheart, this is Calypso, launch when ready."
"Roger, Calypso. We are launching now." With that said, he raised up the fighter, and swiftly exited the hangar area. "Go ahead and form up, then head for your sector. Phoenix, are you with me?"
"Right on your tail, sir," Talia replied as soon as she was clear of the Calypso.
"Alright. Lets just stick to the game plan. Calvin and Hobbes, you are clear to break off. Good Luck, and if you need us just call."
"Understood. Safe flight." The Caitian clipped over the channel.
He pulled his Razor in a tight arc and peeled away from the rest of the flight with his wingman in tow; accelerating as they went. He was careful not to push his fighter past the point of running 'silent'.
Talia paired off with Randy and dropped into the wingman position. As soon as they approached the atmosphere she began to scan the planet.
Randy was looking down on the planet, when his console beeped. "Hey Phoenix, I have a sensor blip, looks like it might be some kind of orbital spy satellite of some kind. Do you register it on your sensors?"
"Affirmative, Iceheart. Recommend adjusting altitude to compensate," Talia replied. They weren't close enough for it to spot them, but she didn't want to take any chances at this point -- not until they knew more about the situation on the planet.
"Negative, Phoenix. This type of satellite could be just the break we need. It isn't a spy satellite looking outwards, but inwards. We should be able to disrupt the uplink through our communications array, tow it back to the Calypso, and get an up to date view on what has been going on down there."
"Roger, Iceheart," Talia replied. It was an interesting option and could give them a lot of valuable information.
Randy turned in his seat, preparing to send a communication to the satellite that would overload the communications array on board the satellite, disabling the satellites entire array.
"Calypso, this is Iceheart. Phoenix and I have come across a spy satellite, one that is focused towards the ground. I am preparing to disable its communications capability with the surface, what options do we have as far as simulating its destruction, so that we can bring this satellite on board and access any data that they have on whats going on on the surface?"
"Stand by, Iceheart."
A minute later, another voice responded. "Iceheart, this is Miller in communications. If you can give us the coordinates, we can transport the internal components to the ship and leave the shell behind. Would this work or do we need the satellite in its entirety?"
Randy sat there for a moment. He scanned the satellite in its entirety, and then looked over the scans. "Miller, stand by." He spotted what he had been looking for, and compared the scans to the schematics for any other comparable satellites. Once he had found it, he sent it to Talia. "Phoenix, take a look at the scans. Does it look like we can get away with transporting the internals alone? I think we might be able to, I just don't recognize this one part of it. Think it might be some kind of explosive?"
Talia looked over the scans carefully. "It's definitely some sort of anti-tampering device. Could be meant to harm the person tampering or the data inside. Hard to tell without a closer look. What do you recommend? Do we transport and deactivate whatever this is in the transporter or can we beam everything but this out?" After a moment she added. "Can the data be accessed without the physical equipment, Iceheart?"
Tapping his fingers on the console in front of him, he sighed. "Unfortunately, no. Calypso, I recommend beaming out the anti-tamper device, and then having us tow this bad boy in for Miller to have at it. I am standing by with tractor beam, Phoenix, go ahead and come around, to these coordinates," he said furiously typing them and sending them to her craft, "then prepare to lock on to the satellite in tandem with me."
"Acknowledged, Iceheart," came the reply from Calypso.
"Roger, Iceheart." Talia maneuvered into position. "Ready on your mark."
"Calypso, prepare to beam out the anti-tamper device on my mark." Randy toggled the broadcast to the satellite, and watched on his screen as the power readings fell off. "Mark."
"Transporting now ... transport complete."
"Ok, Phoenix, go ahead and engage tractor beams at seventy-five percent......now." Right as he said that, he engaged the tractor beams.
About five minutes later, they had successfully gotten the satellite within tractor range of the Calypso. "Calypso, Iceheart. We are disengaging our tractor beams, ready to load the satellite. Prepare to transfer tractor lock in ten seconds."
Ten seconds later, "Tractor lock established, Iceheart. We're bringing it in."
"Roger that, Calypso. Phoenix and I will be resuming our scans."
(Continued...)
Lieutenant JG Randall "Iceheart" McGraw
Wing Commander
USS Calypso
Ensign Ewan "Calvin" Fraser
Squadron Leader
USS Calypso
Ensign Talia "Phoenix" Richards
Flight Leader
USS Calypso
Ensign S'Rren "Hobbes"
Flight Leader
USS Calypso
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