Cain's question was apparently answered by the first pair of fighters launching.  Flight crews scrambled, with expertise born of experience that went far beyond drills and exercises, to get the next pair queued for launch.  In short order, all of Echo Squadron was launched or on the flightline next to launch, as 2nd Lt. Khan's voice came on the comms...

"<TC>Echo Lead, not sure if they picked up on us or not.  They're on the Ranger's five o'clock, just beyond her sensor range...if we hadn't been tied in, they never would have picked up the enemy.  Captain Wilson ordered us to fall back and cut sensors, so their position may have shifted--but it looked like they were flying a standard patrol sweep.  I suspect they're still in that general area..."
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:30, Thu 25 Feb 2016.

Cain triggered his comm, {"Echo Five, to Echo Lead.  I'd like to volunteer to go on point sir to sweep the enemy forward formation and relay back the enemy status before we engage.  Could tell us if we need reinforcements immediately if they are out in-force sir!  By the time they are on our scopes.. its will be too late to alter our force quickly."}

Hands flying across his controls again he set his Veritech head laser to 'agis-fire' to intercept incoming missiles, and of course selecting a track of music for his next engagement...

Smirking to himself, {...something from MANOWAR this time, I think!}

"<TC>Copy that, Echo Five...on your way.  Echo Four, take his wing.  Hanako, take the evens and go down the Ranger's six o'clock axis, I'll take the odds and go down the four o'clock...if anyone comes sniffing after Cain, that puts us in a position to sweep in and pincer them."

He banked his plane into the new flight vector, watching half the squadron follow him on the scope in his cockpit.  He kept his attention rotating...visual sweeps of space around him, the comm panel, and the sensor scope, noting the increasing distance between the two halves of the squad and the scout element he'd agreed to send out...

And trying to decide whether he wanted the rest of the scope to remain clear, or show an enemy craft approaching.

Cain pondered Echo Lead's directions over the Tac-Comm, 'hmmm... pincer maneuver eh?  Al'right... let's get 'creative'... a obvious scout mission.. more of a lure for prey.'

Switching to tight-beam laser comm with his assigned wingman, Echo Four, <"Echo Five to Echo Four, Parker... you up for a little creative rabble rousing?  Echo Lead gave us leave to forward scan the enemy formation... he's moving our force to a pincer formation.  Why don't we make use of that to actually lure a hopefully as eager force of the enemy to follow us into the kill-zone?  I'm asking cause it's a bit beyond the Echo lead's 'expressed' orders... follow if you want or not if you don't .. but I'm doing it.  Gonna try to draw fire across their forward formation and lead them into the pincer.  Help or keep your head down buddy.. but you deserved to know what I'm a shooting for!  Echo Five - Over!">

Cain started his fight music, and immediately went weapons hot... sliding the wings of his veritech to full forward sweep for maximum space maneuverability with is attitude verniers in space.

Across the Tac Comm {"Echo Five~ Acknowledge, Echo Lead! Proceeding with forward scouting sweep of the enemy. Let's see what they brought us to play with today!"}

'I Surrender My Soul Odin Hear My Call'
'One Day I'll Sit Beside Your Throne In Valhalla's Great Hall'
'Like So Many Before Me I'll Die With Honor And Pride'
'The Right Of A Warrior Forever To Fight By Your Side'
'Send A Sign Raise The Sail Wave A Last Goodbye'
'Destiny Is Calling Immortality Be Mine!'

Hands on the HOTAS, Cain pushed his drives to 100% and tore away from the formation pushing for as much speed as the Veritech could provide... his flight suits chest constricting and his shoulders while the life systems automatically enriched the O2 flowing into his helmet all to keep the blood from rushing from his extremities to his head as sudden G's increased...

'Call The Witch To Cast The Runes, Weave A Magic Spell'
'We Who Die In Battle Are Born Not For Heaven Not For Hell'

Forward sensors swept for the enemy units as the 'klicks' of space were ate up at a frightening rate by the maddening speed the protoculture driven drives pushed the Veritech. The 'feet' of the veritech wide for maximum thrust leaving a drive trail flairing on any Thermal sensor scopes as Cain charged the enemy forces.. no sneaking up here...

'We Are Sons Of Odin The Fire We Burn Inside,
Is The Legacy Of Warrior Kings Who Reign Above In The Sky'

Cain directed his Head-lasers Agis search for the potential~ likely inevitable missile target locks upon his Veritech forward toward the direction of the enemy forces in priority... as drawing their attention was EXACTLY what he wanted to do!

'I Will Lead The Charge My Sword Into The Wind'
'Sons Of Odin Fight To Die And Live Again'
'Viking Ships Cross The Sea, In Cold Wind, And Rain'
'Sail Into The Black Of Night Magic Stars Our Guiding Light!'


As enemy unit began to show on his scopes Cain's weapons systems went immediately for target locks gathering the needed intel on numbers and composition... he continued straight toward their formation gathering as much intel as possible.

But... selecting from his ordinance he targeted the heart of the formation for maximum spread firing two Medium SR HE missiles and two Light Plasma/Napalm missiles at the enemy...

Cain braced himself as he pulled his 'B' lever... shifting the veritech without slowing to battleoid mode... swinging the Veritech's leg's forward toward the enemy so he was positioned feet down toward their formation as the sudden reverse-trust drove him mercilessly into the pilot's seat and the life system struggled to contract his legs and arms releasing the pressure on his chest and shoulders to force his blood to return to his brain...

Even ready for such a reckless maneuver his vision became blurry his head light risking unconsciousness... but that dog-determined will he was so renown for and his own natural G-tolerance for acceleration, he grudgingly admitted to himself .. a talent he inherited from his Hated father ...'barely' saw him through such a crazy maneuver.. and he retained consciousness.. mostly.  But that had been the plan~ that as the enemy dealt with the barrage of missile fire they could not ignore.. he would have precious seconds to get his senses back to himself...

Gritting his teeth, he weakly muttered as his senses reeled from the G's pulled, "s-Suck it... you Alien Aa-ssholes!"

'Today The Blood Of Battle Upon My Weapons Will Never Dry
Many I'll Send Into The Ground Laughing As They Die.'


'THAT should get them interested!', he thought as his battle computer automatically relayed intel scans back to the Echo Lead and the Ranger C&C.

'We Are Sons Of Odin The Fire We Burn Inside'
Is The Legacy Of Warrior Kings Who Reign Above In The Sky'


The Veritech came to a sudden stop engines stressed to the limits and the warning system-klaxons blaring... Cain kept up the thrust as the Battleoid began accelerating in the opposite direct away from the enemy... 'yeah.. I'm gonna catch Hell from the techs for this maneuver...!'

'I Will Lead The Charge My Sword Into The Wind'
'Sons Of Odin Fight To Die And Live Again'
'Viking Ships Cross The Sea, In Cold Wind, And Rain'
'Sail Into The Black Of Night Magic Stars Our Guiding Light'


As a parting 'gift'..Cain followed up the missile explosions with a long burst of the GU-11 Gun Pod strafing the enemy front line formation with depleted uranium Death!  Also~ just to keep the enemy dodging and not targeting him hopefully long enough for his Veritech to pick up speed to once again become a hard target... and maybe pick off any lazy enemies if possible!

'Place My Body On A Ship And Burn It In The Sea'
'Let My Spirit Rise Valkries Carry Me'
'Take Me To Valhalla Where My Brothers Wait For Me'
'Fire Burning To The Sky My Spirit Will Never Die'


Switching his head laser to Agis fire to focused to the aft he pulled the 'F' lever switching the Veritech back to Fighter mode and again still at full thrust the Veritech tore away from the enemy formation.  Once again forcing Cain into his pilot's seat as the life system reversed its efforts again to try to keep him conscious.. but Cain smiled as the Veritech accelerated.

'I Will Lead The Charge My Sword Into The Wind'
'Sons Of Odin Fight To Die And Live Again'
'Viking Ships Cross The Sea, In Cold Wind, And Rain'
'Sail Into The Black Of Night Magic Stars Our Guiding Light ...'

He went into an erratic series of jinks, and talloon rolls to avoid a target lock on his plane... part from skill and part from delirium for the G-forces being pulled...

Cain laughed... thinking, 'what a way to go...'; then aloud, "Hail GODS of WAR!!"

The Veritech tore its way back across space toward the pincer 'kill-box'.. blood in his eyes from burst blood-vessels Cain hoped he had given enough intel for Echo lead to make the best use of the tactical info...
This message was last edited by the player at 06:23, Sun 28 Feb 2016.

Aboard the Ranger, crews were monitoring the feeds from the fighters...

"Sir?  Captain? You should see this..."

One of the techs backed up the footage of sensor information they'd received from Cain's fighter, to the moment that he first began picking up signals of enemy planes.

"Right here, Sir..." the tech pointed to the screen, focusing Donovan's attention.  The Captain watched, one eye focused on the feedback showing what Cain was doing with his plane, the other watching the indicators of the enemy forces.

"What the frozen Hell..." Captain Wilson muttered softly, as Cain overloaded every sensor on his plane momentarily with the G-forces of his abrupt direction change.  The feed went erratic, at that point...

But it was still clear enough to see that, while a section of the enemy forces moved to confront the encroaching Veritech, the main body of the formation diverted, moving further away.  "Get me a course projection...need to know where they were going..."  He straightened, and started back to the central position on the bridge, where he could monitor everything more effectively.

"And make a note of that maneuver.  I'll let it slide, now...but if that hotshot tears his plane in two out there...and manages to make it back home safely, somehow...he's going to be piloting a repair drone for the rest of his career.  We can't afford to risk damage or destruction of the Veritechs outside of combat emergencies...we simply don't have the facilities to build more of them...airframes, yes, but if we lose the powerplants...with the SDF-1 gone MIA, we don't have the facilities available to generate new reflex systems."  He scowled at the thought...but said nothing further as the course projections came up on a tactical display.

"Mars...?" Wilson mused aloud.  "What the hell are they going to Mars for?  There's nothing left there..."
----------------------------------------
IN THE BATTLE ZONE

The skies lit up in Cain's wake as his battleoid reversed direction back toward the Ranger, as enemy battlepods took hits and ruptured.

And then lances of fire came out of the cloud, first weapons firing through it, and then enemy craft that displaced the expanding clouds of flame and plasma as they flew through it in pursuit.  It was impossible for Cain to get a visual count...and it didn't matter.  It was too many for him to deal with alone, especially now that they were vigilant for incoming fire.

Surprise was still working in his favor...none of them were dialed in and they were largely 'panic-shooting' at false sensor readings, thrown off by the energy distortions from the exploded craft.  But that wouldn't last long...

Vance was watching his screens, monitoring what Cain was doing as he flew in...

And then Cain's Veritech did a very atypical move, and the screen lit up with indicators of weapon detonations...and then return fire.  "Well, dammitallanyway," he muttered, then clicked his mic to hot.

"That's our sign, people...Echo Lead, tally-ho, weapons hot!  Follow in echelon, break formation when we engage.  Remember, these guys aren't the best dogfighters in the world, get them out of formation and our odds go up a LOT!"

His fighter banked over into a 45 degree turn that pointed the nose of his craft at the dissipating clouds of debris from the explosions of Cain's fire, tracking indicators started showing target locks as enemy craft came through the clouds...

And he rippled off several missiles at multiple targets, racing after his missiles and preparing to really stir things up as the formations mingled.  Streaks of light went past him as the planes following him did likewise...

Cain kept up the speed as he tore across space back toward the waiting 'kill box'... enemy chasing fire zeroed in on him just about as quickly as he expected despite his jinking and tolloon rolls.  'In a volume of space... when the target's vector and velocity are known, there is a limited amount of space where they can avoid return fire and the longer they are on the same heading... the easier it becomes to narrow down on where they are and where they will be to resolve a target solution.' {Text-book space combat, basically the longer they watch you run.. the easier it is to lock on to you and kill you!}, thought Cain.

An enemy laser burst glanced off his right side fuselage jarring the Veritech.. but only scoring the surface, then there was a shudder that shook the whole plane and peering out his cockpit Cain saw a fist side whole blown straight through his left-side wing,  then warning claxons warned of a series of hits to his left leg engine of minor damage, and his tail surfaces of mostly cosmetic damage... clearly a set of hits from a spray of laser-fire he narrowly avoided.  The leg hit had unbalanced the power output of his engines by about 6% and soon he would start to 'yaw' in his vector if thrust was not adjusted and re-balanced.  The battle computer saw to it ... the wonders of Robotech, and the Veritech slowed by about 3%... not significant but Cain could already feel the difference.  Also that hole in his wing had moderately compromised its integrity... so as not to risk shearing it further the battle computer was adjusting it vernier output so the wing would not be overstressed.  Meaning his pitch and roll in that side would be sluggish as the vernier's output was reduced and re-balanced with the right-side wing.

{Yeah.. I'm getting slowly shot ta pieces out here I hope Echo lead~}

Then came the full wash of Veritech return fire... a little unexpectedly early... Cain had not entirely led the enemy into the 'kill box' of the pincer formation, but he was not complaining.

Cain smirked, "...guess I'm not the only one eager to get this on..."

Switching to Wing Channel, <Echo 5 to Echo Lead, A little early on the hop Sir, but I'm not complaining... these aliens are good shots.  I think I pissed them off!>

Cain pulled the 'B' Lever and switched his veritech to Battloid mode swinging up his GU-11 Gun pod to fire three short bursts into the approaching enemy taking advantage of the sudden fullisade of the Veritech squadron's incoming fire to pick off any enemy that broke formation and had no cover-fire support, using the Battloid's greatly slowed speed and added maneuverability to confound the enemy fire that was zeroing in on him by majorly changing his speed vector.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:12, Wed 13 Apr 2016.

The space around Cain was radiant with laser fire, missiles and enemy craft exploding, the fading fireballs of earlier explosions...if it weren't for the combat tracking programs in the onboard computers, the chaos would be almost impossible for the human mind to process.

The enemy formation was badly compromised by the massed fire from Echo Squadron, but they reformed quickly...very quickly...into smaller formations.  It was a maneuver unlike anything that had happened in any of the encounters the Ranger's forces had been through with the aliens, unlike, even, anything that had happened in the initial attacks.

These smaller formations peeled off evenly, moving to counter the pincer that Hardy and Echo Squadron were trying to close on them, with a reckless aggression that seemed above and beyond the normal 'fight 'til you die' mentality that the aliens seemed to have.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Back aboard the Ranger, one of the navigational officers waved Captain Wilson over.  "Sir, we've worked out a course projection for the main body of the alien craft."  He pointed to his screen...were the marked course headed in a long, looping path to rendezvous with the orbit of the fourth planet in the system...

"Mars?!!" Wilson growled.  "What the hell do they want on Mars?  There's nothing there, unless they plan on blowing up an abandoned outpost..."

Cain pondered the enemy response to the fusillade of the Veritech wing... and wondered, {Is that a trained maneuver... it seems like a 'video-gamish' kind of response.. perhaps.. it could be used against them?}

He smiled and switched his music...

. . .  .  .
... . ... .
'Shriek the lips Across ragged tongue,
'Convulsing together. Sing violently,
'Move the jaw Cry aloud.'
'Bound up the Dead Triumphantly'

Pulling the 'F' lever... Cain switched to the veritech to Fighter mode and picking one of the splitting off clusters of enemy formations... he targeted the center of the formation with one of his few precious fragmentation missiles and the lead pod in the formation with a HE missile...

'The ragged they come and The ragged they kill!'
'You pray so hard on bloody knees.'
'The ragged they come and The ragged they kill!'
'Down in the cool air I can see.'

Cain fired a one fragmentation missile into the center of the Zentradei formation, then fired a HE missile at the lead enemy pod... hoping after they All had been perforated with fragmentation shrapnel they would follow that trained reflex and follow the lead right through the HE fireball...

'Hey, Yeah - I'm the one that you wanted'
'Hey, Yeah - I'm your Superbeast'
'Hey, Yeah - I'm the one that you wanted'
'Hey, Yeah - I'm your Superbeast'

Pivoting to hit them head on {a very gusty move of chicken} as they exited the fireball Cain barrel rolled into their direct forward arc and cut loose with a long burst from his GU-11 Gun pod at the formation waiting to see who would break first and provide a perfect profile to nail! Cain was ready to follow any break if they fragmented into an even smaller formation in response to keep his deadly barrage of DU rounds on a small grouping of targets.. hopefully they would all break the same direction... for multiple easy kills from his DU Barrage of Death!

. . .  .  .
... . ... .
'Stir the limbs across the wrist,
'Full possession of memory.'
'Bury me as a dog,
'Icy hands surrounding me.'


Then the target lock klaxons went off warning of incoming missiles.  Cain reacted on reflex pulling the 'G' lever to shift the Veritech to guardian mode as the Vertiech's legs swung forward to change his vector instantly and roll the Veritech over facing the incoming missile barrage from his rear arc...

'The ragged they come and The ragged they kill!'
'You pray so hard on bloody knees.'
'The ragged they come and The ragged they kill!'
'Down in the cool air I can see.'

The Head laser set to 'Agis' fire went to work on the incoming barrage of 6 missiles
clipping 3 of them off the bat and Cain fired one more of his fragmentation missiles into the approaching homing death and detonated the last of the missile volley.. mostly far enough away ... but his Left arm and wing took some minor damage from the resulting blossoming searing fireball.

{Sloppy Boy! Got to do better than that, or get Aced weakling!}, he heard the chiding and sneering tone of his father's voice in the back of his mind.

Cain frowned, {Fuck you!}

'Hey, Yeah - I'm the one that you wanted'
'Hey, Yeah - I'm your Superbeast'
'Hey, Yeah…'

Cain pulled the 'F' lever to switch back to fighter mode and got the hell out of the area to break lock on him~ hopefully... and try to reacquire his cluster of enemy pods and finish them off...

Triggering his Comm <"Echo 5. Where the hell is my wing man? Echo 4. I could use a little help here.. gettin' hectic and getting low on missile stores!" >

It did not look good.. only 2x HE, 2x Frag and 2x AP missile remaining... still had 39 short-bursts of ammo remaining... but weather Cain wanted to or not.. he'd have to rearm soon...
This message was last edited by the player at 16:48, Sun 24 Apr 2016.

The comm lines opened just long enough to hear, "I'm right he--"  The signal died in a burst of static as Echo 4 erupted in a ball of flame.  It was almost instantly lost against the greater backdrop of fire, missiles, lasers, and explosions that littered across the sky.

There was no denying it...this group of aliens flew with a very different style than what had been encountered by any of the troops...more reckless, more erratic...they still flew formations, but they were ragged and shifting, with ships veering sharply after targets.

In one of the ships, Zentraedi Flight Leader Azeem sneered as his shot finally landed on one of the pesky Micronian craft.  They were elusive, yes...

"You're not such a threat now, are you?  Khyron was right..."

And then his ship erupted as one of the Micronian missiles homed in on its energy signature and detonated.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Back on the Ranger, Flight Operations was hopping, directions being called out as what remained of Fox Squadron was positioned to reinforce Echo.  "Confirm one lost, Captain," one of the radar technicians reported.  "Echo Four is down, registering damage on...well...everyone else in Echo Squadron, but thus far, nothing critical."  He didn't add the thought that, prior to the fatal hit, Echo Four had been almost completely untouched.

From another part of the bridge, another voice called out.  "Confirmed, sir, the main force is out of sensor range again, but speed and trajectory put them on an intercept with Mars..."

Captain Wilson shook his head...it was something to be puzzled out another time.  "Get Revolt Squadron on the ready line, position Raven Squadron to catch anyone who gets past Echo and Fox, and get a couple of destroyers to start dumping fire into what's left of the enemy formations and see if we can't help our fighters out!"

"Okay, skip trying to break their formations...they're not fighting with their normal tactics...break into teams of four and--"

And, at that moment, Lt. Harvey's indicator flickered out on his panel.  Vance swallowed hard, knowing what that most likely meant...he'd seen it happen all too often.  And it never got any easier.

He corrected himself, in a voice that was tight with suppressed emotion..."Teams of three or four, try swarming their formations, keep them shooting at one or two while the others loop around and attack from other angles."  It made sense that they wouldn't all fight exactly the same.  Human forces didn't...even planes flying in the same air forces adopted different tactics, depending on who taught them.

"Echo Two and Three, pair off with Echo Five.  Echo Six, Eight, and Ten on me, the rest on your own.  Keep your gun cameras running as much as possible, let's see if we can figure out the key to busting these guys."  There was no such thing as an impossible enemy.  You just had to know what your plane did best, and their plane did worst, and how to use your strength against their weakness.  The Flying Tigers had done it half a century earlier, using almost obsolete planes against the Japanese Zeroes in WWII.

Yeah, I could sure use General Chennault right about now... he told himself.  But the man was long since dead.  And the next best thing he knew was...well, his resources aboard the Ranger.  Himself, the other squadron leaders, Chief Bixby...

They'd figure it out.

A round detonated a little too close to his plane and snapped him out of his self-imposed pep-talk.  They'd figure it out...if they lived long enough...

...a ball of flame that illuminated Cain's cockpit briefly as he turned his head to see the tail end of the flowering detonation... then nothing.

"...Parker~ no...", and that cold familiar stab in his gut came over him... the loss the shock and the cold fury.

"...damn it!", the sick turn of the knife in his stomach as the cold certainty... no one would ever see the young pilot again or hear his voice.

The helplessness of the moment washed over Cain.. the regret and anger... and yes sorrow.

There were no words to be spoken, nothing said would matter~ a comrade was gone and never coming back...

It would have been easy to result to fury to scream in frustration.. to Rage against the unfairness of it all but to what point?  None of that would restore the young pilot's life.. and Cain would have to live with that... and wonder... could he have done something different to have saved him from such a tragic death?  But... the cruel truth was... he would never know for certain... and still it did not matter.  Parker was dead... and all the rage and recriminations in creation would never change that certainty.

All Cain could do... all any of them could do was to make sure Parker's death was costly... not that it would make it any easier to accept... but perhaps.. it might make the emptiness less painful...

AND as such Cain set to that task with a cold reckless brutality as he pushed the Veritech to its full thrust and strafed the enemy formations with a series of Short bursts followed by medium burst into the scattering battlepods unleashing missile after missile he punished the enemy killing with a reckless abandon... heedless of the hits that struck him in return.. shifting modes between Battleoid, Guardian, and Fighter Modes in a dizzying dance of unrelenting RAGE!

A burst of laser fire cut across the chest of his battloid mode inflicting moderate damage to the hydraulics in the right arm, now unable to open its right fist or use the hand.  A Command Battlepod particle cannon beam tore the tip off his port-side tail-fin as Cain barely avoided being bisected by the bright green energy beam, as Cain tracked the command pod with a long burst that kept the pilot moving but never scoring a hit.  A near miss from a missile detonated at his undercarriage in guardian mode flash frying the head lasers on his head unit and causing a persistent static in his sensor readouts...

And yet Cain's anger and pain did not subside.. he continued to kill using his weapons stores to almost depletion...

{I will make them pay... ALL of them!  For Parker...}
This message was last edited by the player at 03:01, Sat 14 May 2016.

For a few moments, the outcome seemed in doubt...the alien mecha fought with a ferocity and abandon which, heretofore, had been unseen.  But they were fighting against the best Veritech pilots Earth could field, in planes that were more maneuverable and motivated by the fact that they were, to the best of their knowledge, the last effective line of defense between the aliens and their homeworld.

Between that, and the fact that some of the alien craft opted to draw off and follow their main force, rather than remain in the engagement, the fight ended, tapering off as more and more alien ships were destroyed and the Veritech pilots had to become more and more selective about firing due to depleted ammunition stores.

Nobody in Echo Squadron had more than 10% of their ammo load-out remaining, and most of the proximity defense lasers were dangerously close to overheating, when Lt. Khan's voice came over the comms.

"<TC>Echo Squadron, withdraw.  Revolt will take care of the mop-up."  Her voice took on a darkly humorous tone, as she added, "Frankly, we need the live-fire practice..."

Cain was in a lull of his fighting frenzy.. there were not enemies within his guns range.. he had long expended the last of his missile ordinance, when he heard the TC call for the withdraw.

Almost on reflex he readied an angry retort but his sensor display went fritzy again from the battle damage and he smacked his display a few times for the grainy display to clear up again out of sudden panic of being blind and targeted by the enemy.  The action dulled his enthusiasm for fighting on his thoughts turning starkly sensible, 'What was the point anyways? No matter how many of them I kill... Parker is still gone.. and not I'm not gonna bring him back... getting killed myself!'

Given pause to think, the adrenaline rush fades and the emotional stress came down on him like a Veritech Battloid foot, and Cain started sinking into a deep depression.

Triggering his Comm, "<TC> Echo Five. Acknowledge. Returning to Base sans wingman, Parker~ Echo 4. KIA...", his voice decidedly.. NOT humorous!

Cain piloted his battle scarred Veritech back to the Ranger paying little attention to the battle carnage and floating wreckage of battle pods.  Adjusting the attitude thrusters... somewhat sluggishly from the control surfaces damage he'd sustained but eventually to slide into position matching velocities with the retrieval gantry... often times used to rearm the Veritechs in Zero-G.  But the reloading armatures with their ordinance were retracted and only the mechanical securing arms extended and locked on the securing hardpoints on the veritech and hauled it into the retrieval lock before closing the exterior doors and represurizing the lock.  Cain lowered the landing gear as the Veritech was lowered to the deck and the interior lock door opened to the landing bay. The tracks for the floor jack locked onto the forward landing strut and automatically rolled the battered Veritech to the nearest unoccupied repair bay.

Cain sat in the cockpit even after the deck technician gave him the thumbs up to open his canopy and exit... his emotions in a doldrum.  The Tech had to actually rap on the canopy~ his voice muffled by the sealed pilot's compartment, to jar Cain out of his dark thoughts, "Hey are you ok in there.. are you injured?"

Cain unsealed the cockpit and triggered it to open a blank shocked expression on his face, and retorted perhaps a little angrier than he intended, "...no I'M fine!"

The tech looked at him with confusion but turned his gaze back to lowering the recessed step-ladder from the fuselage for Cain to climb down muttering, "...must'a been rough out there this time?"

Cain made no reply as he climbed down.. his mood only darkened even more.

He was a little ushered away from out of the techs way as two more came to survey the battle damaged Veritech... each wondering how he managed to pilot it back but Cain just stood a few steps away and removed his helmet staring at it in his hands.. his thoughts and emotions in turmoil.

His anger and self-guilt reached a peek and angrily he threw the helmet straight down at his feet, "DAMN IT ALL!!"
This message was last edited by the player at 01:09, Thu 16 June 2016.

Vance let out a sigh of relief when the recall order was given...Echo Squadron had given better than they got, but there wasn't a plane in the squadron that hadn't gotten chewed up somewhere in the battle, and some of them looked like they'd been downright mauled.

"<TC>Copy that, Lt. Khan.  Happy hunting...and be advised.  These guys are harder to kill than the pilots we've been flying against.  Don't let you squadron get too stretched out hunting stragglers, because if one of their better pilots manages to get his systems back online, you're gonna lose people."  There was an earnestness in his voice that hopefully laid to rest any thoughts that he was talking up the enemy to scare the newer pilots...Alexa had heard that tone before, and hopefully, she remembered it.

His plane was still solid enough to land under normal procedures, rather than having to rely on retrieval gantries, so he was on the ground as the rest of his squadron made their way in, by whatever means they needed.  He talked through the damage he knew of with his ground crew, knowing there were probably hits that he'd not noticed in the heat of the moment...but he looked up in alarm when Edwards' ground crew began knocking on his canopy to verify his condition.  If his own plane was chewed up, Edwards' had been chewed, swallowed, and spat back out again.  There was every chance the man had been injured and held it together just long enough to get his plane home...

He let out a sigh of relief when Cain climbed out of the cockpit, and down to the deck, without any apparent injury, and Vance went back to addressing concerns with the crew chief.  He looked up, just in time to see Cain slam his helmet to the deck...and made his way over.

"It could have been any of us, Cain," he said, quietly.  He recognized the frustration...he'd felt it, himself, on many occasions.  "That much firepower turned loose, using unfamiliar tactics...nobody in the squadron made it home unscathed, and we're lucky that we only lost one pilot."

He paused, knowing that wouldn't be any comfort...and not knowing what would.  "Sometimes we die.  That's why we try to end wars as fast as we can.  And no matter how good we are, or the guys we're flying with, sometimes it's just not good enough..."  His voice caught, and he fell silent, thinking of all the good pilots he'd seen vaporized in space, or heard screaming in pain or horror as they realized they weren't coming home from this mission.  And he suddenly felt very old, and very tired.

Cain turns an angry gaze the LC's direction... making the burst blood-vessels in his eyes evident... clear sign he has pulled more G's in rapid succession from different vectors than is medically advisable.

But the angry drains away from him as he wipes the stress sweat from his brow and he lowers his gaze... replaced with a somber pause.

"...t-thanks Sir, er... thanks Hardy.  It's not like I've not seen pilots die.. in battle or even just in training... but its the first time I knew the pilot personally.  It's not the same..."

He sadly shakes his head, "...I just keep wondering if I could have done something different, or something better or if I did something I should not have done.. Anything to have brought him back safely?  When I know 'war is hell' and I could have done everything right .. and blind luck he or I could have bought it with a particle beam to the cockpit 'nuff said!  It don't make the doubt and loss go away... I just feel kinda cored out, empty inside ..where my heart should be.  And keep thinking~ how much I'm gonna miss hearing his joking voice..."

He crouches to pick up his helmet and slip it over the cook of his elbow.. and is a little unsteady on his feet.. adrenaline crash and battle stress already settling in. But he does quickly wipe his eyes... his expression briefly broken and hurt.

"I won't say~ 'I'll get over it', I don't think a sane human being should be able too, but don't worry.. I remember why we're fighting and I'll fly straight when you need me to.  I just need some rest~ I have a pretty blonde-haired little sister and proud military mother to go home too.. and no alien's gonna stop me from doing that!!"

He takes a deep ragged sigh and comments, "...I'd better get down to medical, think I over did it a bit in that fight~ feel like I've been used as a punching bag.. and a serious headache is coming on, probably should get checked up on.  Thanks again Hardy.. really!"

Cain turns to slowly leave the flight deck looking very tired...
This message was last edited by the player at 11:51, Thu 16 June 2016.

Vance stepped forward, resting a hand on Cain's shoulder, trying to will the younger pilot the strength and will to overcome the trials he was facing.  "Let's get you checked out, then," he said, with a nod.

He added, after a momentary pause, "I think, if you were the kind of person who could just get over that, you'd make a lousy combat pilot.  Remembering those we've lost is part of what makes us strong, keeps us from becoming so unfeeling that we become a risk to ourselves."  He shrugged, and added, as they walked, "And I know it's easier said than done, but try not to let yourself get too caught up in asking if you could have prevented it.  It's a tricky thing...you've got to be introspective enough to analyze your own actions and motives and their results and consequences...but it's dangerously easy to get so involved in the process that you end up constantly second-guessing your every action and instinct...and that's when you actually do start getting people killed, as they try to compensate."

The tension that crept into his voice as he spoke about it indicated that, from his own perspective, at least, the words were far more than hollow platitudes.  There was a raw edge to the way he said them, a barely-hidden pain that shone faintly through the facade of decisive leadership that he tried to maintain.

He gave a gruff cough, and clarified, "Hopefully, you get a day or two to work through it in your head.  But, after that...do what you can to move on, call it a lesson learned, even if that lesson is only, "Sometimes you draw the short straw."  Because I need every pilot operating in the here-and-now, not worrying about what-if's and should-I's.  These guys are too good to spare us that luxury...if we're thinking like that when we're flying, we won't be flying very long."

Cain... is a little not sure how to take the friendly gesture.. he's not had many 'friends' in his short-life... but he thinks it feels good to feel the support of a fellow veteran pilot.

He gives on of his familiar part-smirk which seems to be the closest the taciturn, obsessive, ambitious young pilot comes to a genuine smile~ perhaps he is one of those individuals who has has a hard life and really does not know how to deal with genuine 'friendship'?

"...yeah, Thanks boss!  But I'm of the opinion I'd better damn well get use to us loosing people cause this wars not gonna be resolved with successful sorties."

He walks step in step with the LC... clearly making an effort to act in better shape than he really is. Evidently, the LC has his respect and he wishes to have his as well.

"I went to OTS and know all through human history~ at least, every military conflict was eventually resolved with diplomatic means. Sometimes just wiping out the enemy and their nation was enough ...but rarely so.  However, right now... we're in a real shit-storm... we have no idea where these aliens come from, why their here, or what they want?  Strategically we can't win this cause we cannot deny the enemy their objectives cause we don't know what they are! We also cannot strike at the enemies infrastructure to hurt their ability to project this war and make it too costly to continue, so were stuck fighting for no real progress towards any conducive resolution~ well at least for mankind in general at least!"

He shakes his head, "If they would have attacked just 5 years ago... or before the Battle Fortress arrived we would already be dead... our Lancer space fighters are a joke compared to what a Veritech can do.  Earth was in the throws of the Global Civil War... we'd likely still be fighting the E.B.S.I.S. and their cronies if the fear of a vastly superior alien civilization showing up with weapons that would make our~ basically resource war, seem like kids slugging it out on a playground!  Only that threat and the UN's total domination of the Macross project made them come to the ceasefire and work together.  Then to the day we decide to turn the damned Battle Fortress on these aliens show up and attack... THAT can't be coincidence!"

"But it makes no sense.. what do they want? If what they want is the Battle Fortress out of our hands why not just blow it up?  They have at least a fleet of ships... they should be able to do that considering how they near totally decimated our UN Spacy forces!  They clearly don't need the fortress as they have more ships and much bigger ones at that... so what do they really want?"

He sighs, "So yeah.. basically we're fucked, until we can answer some of these questions cause we're just fighting for no benefit other than to stay alive. We can't win like that.. can't resolve the conflict! The aliens can just keep sending more ships until we've got nothing to defend with!"

He turns to look at his superior officer, "I don't know if you've been told anything about the strategic overview.. but I know UN Spacy is frantically trying to get another A.R.M.E.D. Station up and running, like the Ranger, but I think as soon as we do... we need to send one of them to make contact with the SDF-1 and start figuring out what is so special about that Battle Fortress that the aliens want so we can find a way to end this quick or Parker's gonna have a lot of company in the there-after... soon!"
This message was last edited by the player at 13:47, Fri 17 June 2016.

Vance sighed, and shrugged.  "We still don't even know for sure if the SDF-1 is out there to be found.  We know the aliens took off somewhere, and in a big hurry...we know there's been a lot of unexplained activity in the far reaches of the Solar System, that looks a lot like space battles...but we can't confirm anything yet."

He scrubbed at his medium-length hair, in a gesture of frustration.  "And, truth be told, I'm not sure we're not better off, at the moment, with the SDF-1 out there, who-knows-where, keeping the aliens busy.  We're holding our own against a token task force they left behind...but they had enough ships, when they first arrived, that they could swat us out of the sky by sheer force of numbers, if they really decided to.  At least this way, we have a chance that they'll get bored with us and go away..."  His tone made it clear...he wasn't convinced of the viewpoint.  It was sound, logically...but it didn't sit well with him, morally.

They arrived at the medical station soon enough, and the flight surgeon and his assistants gave both men examinations...Hardy's was cursory, as he'd experienced nothing beyond the standard strains of space combat.  Cain, however, got a more in-depth examination, that ended with the surgeon giving him a topical muscle-relaxing gel and instructions to use it every two hours for the next three days to prevent whiplash symptoms from developing after the strain to his neck and upper spine with the high-G maneuvers he'd done.

Other pilots trickled in, with a variety of minor ailments...many of them also related to pushing their Veritechs into maneuvers more extreme than the pilots' bodies were equipped to handle, even with the support of the flight gear.  The few seriously wounded personnel were routed directly to the main medical area...Echo Squadron would be short a couple of pilots for a week, and Lt. Khan was ordered to select two men from Revolt Squadron to fill in.

All this took place in the space of a few hours, after the end of the battle...but just as things were calming down on the flight deck, the bridge was bustling with activity...

It was at 1000 hours the next day that Echo Squadron was summoned to a briefing room...and found it shared with Fox, Raven, and Revolt squadron's pilots, as well as an array of comm gear designed to pipe the information to the rest of the Ranger crew that was either on duty or couldn't all fit in the briefing room...

Cain sat in his chair in the briefing room... stifling a yawn and absentmindedly rubbing the base of his neck... with his right hand... helmet propped on his knee.

He was feeling the body-wide 'little pains' of the stress he'd put himself through int he previous battle... he glanced at the ...empty seat next to him... and the dull ache of Parker's absence struck home.. Hard~ as it would every day from now on.. until it was someday's Cain's seat that would be vacant.

He scowled pushing the non-constructive thought away.. trying to focus on what was likely going to be a vital mission briefing... but his .. attention was unfocued... he could still hear Parker's joking voice in his memory.. from the last mission briefing only scant hours ago.. and.. its absence now.. really hurt. Deep inside where a man holds his guts.. cause he knew.. he would never hear him again and every briefing would remind him of that.

{Damn it all.. we were not even that close!  god... I'm really gonna miss him.}

Cain stared blankly at the floor... his eyes strained trying not to look at the empty seat next to him.. and his expression haunted..
This message was last edited by the player at 06:54, Mon 25 July 2016.

Vance settled into his chair.  Something didn't feel right...not 'normal'...and he couldn't quite put his finger on it.  Physically, he was fine.  He'd slept well...hadn't even dreamed, that he remembered, so it had been a pretty deep sleep.  There was the empty chair in the middle of the squadron...but he'd lost pilots before.  This was something else...

Part of it, no doubt, was the presence of ALL the Ranger's squadrons in the same briefing area.  That rarely happened...had only happened a couple of times, in Vance's memory.  The last time he could think of was when the Ranger decided to take the fight to the enemy and Echo Squadron had nearly been killed by being sent out in untested prototypes.  He certainly hoped that wasn't happening again...

He looked at the comm gear.  THAT was different.  Never, in his time aboard the ship, had a pilot briefing been piped out to the rest of the ship.

And, usually, when he arrived for a briefing, either Captain Wilson or Commander Keyes was already present.  Their absence, while not crisis-inducing, was uncommon enough to have him on edge.

"Whatever they're going to tell us, it's big..." he muttered, as much to himself as anyone around, though he took no pains to prevent it from being heard.

Captain Wilson walked into the briefing room with a look of resignation in his eyes.  "Good morning, pilots...and the rest of the crew.  We've received word from Commander Ritter...final word, it would seem..."  The resignation turned grim.  "I had Chief Bixby scrub the message, as best he could, to clarify everything...but I think it's information you all need to hear, and it's best if it's heard in Ritter's own words..."

He nodded, and speakers came to life, with an odd whine and crackle to them that indicated some kind of heavy interference.  "This is, in all probability, the last message we'll get out," said a voice, recognizable to the older crew as Cmdr. Ritter.  "With that said, I've got to set a few things to rights...both for the Ranger and her crew, and for the UEDF in general..."

There was the unmistakable sound of an explosion, and a burst of static, before Ritter resumed, "...have to confess...I've been operating undercover, feeding information to the Anti-Unification movement for years.  It started innocently enough...but the longer I was in, the more they wanted, and the higher the price became if they sold me out.  Lt. Cmdr Hardy, Lt. Khan...the rest of you from Echo Squadron that are still alive...I'm sorry.  It was my recommendation that you take the prototypes for the upgraded Veritechs into battle, knowing full well that they hadn't been properly tested.  Maybe, in some way, I can make up for some of the lives lost and suffering endured as a result..."

Wilson shot a look at the Squadron leaders...he had, briefly, spoken with them about Ritter's involvement...the Commander had been found out, but the UEDF had opted to keep him in place.  Wilson had managed to find a way to remove the threat to his crew without violating orders...but it didn't matter, now.  Ritter's secret was in the open.

There was another series of explosions, and some excited, frantic chatter that was barely audible...which indicated Ritter's ship was taking a beating and wouldn't last much longer.  More static broke in as Ritter continued, "We had...*static*...on Titan.  I've been sending a tight-beam signal to them for days, now, with no response.  I...*static*...known, I'd have stayed dark.  Think I led them to us.  They're coming back at you, but there's good news.  We think we found--"

There was another large series of explosions, and the audio cut out almost completely.  When it resumed, there was a tinny, dulled quality to it.  "...survived," Ritter said, his voice tired and pained.  "We won't make it back...but that doesn't mean we won't go down swinging..."  More orders were given, muffled and incomprehensible.

"Don't EVER give up..." Ritter said, his voice labored and almost gasping.  There was another explosion, and the audio cut out completely.

Captain Wilson stepped back to the podium.  "We completely lost the Truman's transponder signal immediately afterward.  Best analysis leaves us with only one conclusion.  The Truman was destroyed, a little more than a million miles beyond Jupiter orbit.  While Commander Ritter's treachery cost us dearly, he died fighting for his planet...and that's the way I hope you will all remember him."  He fell silent for a moment.

"There's more grim news.  Sensors have determined that the alien craft encountered yesterday are NOT part of the main fleet that was part of the attack that resulted in the SDF-1's disappearance.  Their flight characteristics don't match anything we have on file and their overall approach vector doesn't match any of the data we've been able to gather.  The one thing we do know about them is, they're heading for Mars."

He sighed, and added, "There's also a large force...apparently the same group that destroyed the Truman...which is also on an intercept vector with Mars.  We don't know why, and we don't know how many...they've got broad-spectrum signal-jamming going at full strength, and it took every trick in Chief Bixby's not insignificant arsenal to get as much as we did out of Commander Ritter's message.  We know there's a lot of them...and they're screening something.  Whether they've got some new weapon they're bringing back to Earth and they want to hide it from us, or whether they've got some new enemy they're trying to isolate...or some other, less comprehensible motive behind it...we don't know.  What we do know is this...we have to get back to Mars.  If this is some new weapons system, we need intel on it.  If they're fighting another enemy, maybe we can score some points by helping in the battle.  But we need to know what they're doing on Mars, and why they're trying so hard to mask something else's arrival."

He looked around.  "This will be dicey, at best.  We haven't faced their full fleet since most of them took off after the SDF-1 vanished...we've been barely holding our own against the task force they left behind.  We'll be flying against alien numbers unlike anything most of you have seen.  And, on top of that, they've brought in reinforcements.  This could turn into a suicide mission. But our forces need intel, and we're the only ones in a position to get it."  He paused for a moment, brow furrowed in thought.

"Any questions?"

Cain speaks up~ his tone not irreverent but resigned, "So, if a good majority of their fleet is coming to Mars... how are we 'hopping' this...Sir?  Assault and a Glorious but Certain END or a sneak and scouting mission which might succeed~ and I can't stress Might strong enough here?  I might suggest hiding the Ranger close into Phobos .. or perhaps the even smaller Demos.. cause if the enemy catch the Ranger with overwhelming numbers, by default, its a suicide mission. Our Veritechs don't have the Life Support to get us back to Terra.. unless their are anymore Mars bases that have not been blown to dust left?  If their are anymore Mars bases left... if we're quick a small detachment could set up surveillance there and IF we all stay quiet~ we might get to see what we can see.. and hope they move on at some point so we can evac and get our intel back to Earth Gov."
This message was last edited by the player at 11:34, Fri 19 Aug 2016.

Wilson nodded in response.  "All valid points, Lieutenant.  My actual thought is to keep the Ranger just beyond their known sensor range, outside of Mars orbit...and send a small team of volunteers in with Veritechs, under Chief Bixby's direction, to monitor what's happening on the planet."

He raised a remote, and a holo-image of Mars, with its two moons, came up before him.  "If the team takes up an approach vector that is synchronized to Phobos' orbit, they should be able to get at least to Phobos, and possibly even around Phobos, still in high orbit, so they can get a clear view of the planet.  The residual radiation left over from our earlier mission there should mask the energy signatures of two or three Veritechs, especially with the Chief running countermeasures against their sensors...as long as they don't come looking far enough to get actual visuals, you're good.  And with Bixby monitoring everyone's sensor suites, nothing should get close enough to get a look at you without you getting a chance to duck closer to Phobos."

Bixby spoke up.  "We can't stay long around Phobos...might have to dip in and out.  Radiation levels are dangerously high, even with the Veritechs' protection, and the closer we are to the surface, the worse it gets.  I'll have to wait until we're actually there and getting active readings on the actual circumstances to set up a definite strategy...but we can do it."