AmongHeroes

Mobile Suit Gundam: The 261st

Laytn greeted McKnight and Milo with a salute and a nod respectively, as there was little chance they could hear any spoken greeting above the pitched whine of the hover-fans. The two men mounted the waiting Wappas, and as they did so, Laytn pulled his helmet over his head. He grumbled to himself as the lingering sweat from the helmet’s previous wearer dripped from inside the enclosed device, and down the back of his neck.

“Comms check,” Laytn said into the helmet’s built in microphone. “I’m good to go, Milo. Since you’ve got all the electronic goodies with you, Commander McKnight and I can scout along your flanks while you take point. You okay with that setup, Commander?”

As the crackling replies of the two men came through the helmet, Laytn lowered the protective face piece. Nodding to his two companions, Laytn gave an exaggerated thumbs up to each, letting them know he would be taking off first. With one hand on the control stick, and his feet firmly against the rudder pedals, Laytn used his other hand to flick the comm selector over to the convoy-wide channel.

“2-6-1, 2-6-1,” he said, denoting all listening units within the 261st’s convoy, “be advised, three friendlies lifting off.”

Saying this, Laytn pulled back on the control stick as he simultaneously fed throttle to the hover-fans. The whine from the motors grew in pitch, and sand whipped out from beneath the body of the Wappa. Soldiers standing nearby covered their faces, and placed hands upon their caps to keep them from being blown off. In short order, the fans began to produce enough thrust to get Laytn’s vehicle airborne.

Hovering several meters above the ground, Laytn executed a turn to point the nose of his Wappa towards the convoy’s front. Using the control stick, he redirected thrust from the fans, and instantly the Wappa began to propel itself forward. As the vehicles and soldiers of the 261st moved beneath him, Laytn increased his speed and altitude. His Wappa raced over the desert now, and soon Laytn was out in front of the leading edge of the convoy.

Banking to the left, Laytn swung this Wappa in an arc that would take him back towards where he had lifted off just moments before. The feeling of the hot wind whipping against him brought an exhilarated smile to Laytn, and he called out to his fellow officers.

“Ready to form up on you, Milo.”

Mobile Suit Gundam: The 261st

Well I haven't seen him, have you?

Mobile Suit Gundam: The 261st

I vote that we go ahead and move the story along, and when Eschatologist comes back, he can jump in. What do you think, AutoFox?

Mobile Suit Gundam: The 261st

@Eschatologist You still around buddy?

Mobile Suit Gundam: The 261st

Like the great Tom Petty said, "The waiting is the hardest part."

True Vacuum - New Universe Space NRP

@duck55223 I'd do a collab with you.

Mobile Suit Gundam: The 261st

Laytn had to hide his irritation with Commander McKnight’s seemingly flippant disregard for the disposition of the 261st’s officer corp. It seemed uncharacteristic of the man to be so cavalier, and the manner in which he insinuated that the Black Saints, and the remaining Mobile Suit pilots, could simply take the place of the three lieutenants should tragedy strike, galled Laytn. The fact that the whole Zeon military was in the process of surrendering to the Feddies only worked to intensify Laytn’s feelings on the matter. It was only with the interjection of Milo’s reasonable tone and suggestion that Laytn was able to fully bite his tongue.

“Fair enough,” Laytn said with a single nod as Milo finished. “I’ll go make sure our rides are fit.”

Without a departing glance to either Joshua or the commander, Laytn turned on his heels and marched his way in the direction of the parked Wappas. The desert wind gusted hard, and Laytn had to keep his hand upon his boonie hat to keep it from blowing from his head. Squinting against the sun and shifting sand, he looked up to the group of soldiers that were sitting in the small pools of shade provided by the Wappas’ hover-fan nacelles. The men saw Laytn approaching, and they stood from their places as he drew near.

One soldier, a corporal named Enders, stepped forward and saluted smartly. “Good afternoon, Lieutenant. Something we can help you with?”

Laytn returned the salute and nodded. “As a matter of fact, Corporal, we’ll need your Wappas. Commander McKnight, Lieutenant Tyranne, Lieutenant Gordon, and I will be doing a forward recon. They ready to roll out?”

“Yes sir,” replied Enders, “they’re all yours, sir. The MG’s are fully loaded, fuel levels are full, and the fan motors have been running cool, despite the heat.”

The corporal waved at his fellow Wappa pilots to get up, and clear off. Immediately the men began hurriedly picking their personal gear off the hovercraft. They were careful to leave the flight helmets that housed the communications systems for the machines.

“Very good, Corporal. The four of you that still have your Wappas will still be assigned to the convoy’s immediate vicinity. The rest can go take a break from the heat in the cabs of the Samson’s.”

As the four displaced Wappa pilots moved off towards the trucks, Laytn began walking around to the hovercraft. With each machine, he set the throttles to idle, started the engines, and ensured that each machine gun was set to ‘SAFE’ and securely locked into its pintle mount. By the time he had completed the pre-flight check on each Wappa, the immediate air was filled with the low whine of the hover-fans, and the gurgle of the engines.

Satisfied, Laytn jumped into the command chair of the last Wappa, and adjusted himself comfortably into the seat. Placing his feet on the rudder pedals and his hand on the collective stick, Laytn went about checking the operation of the control surfaces that directed the thrust of the hover-fans. Each of his movements was instantaneously followed by the articulation of the applicable flap. A smile came to Laytn’s face as he awaited his comrades.

True Vacuum - New Universe Space NRP

I'm still here.

Mobile Suit Gundam: The 261st

@AutoFox Great post. I'll have something up soonish.

True Vacuum - New Universe Space NRP

Post #2: Putting Down Roots

Hider

The destroyer, VRS Venture Star, along with the frigates White Knife and Altos, departing the Qetesh System.

VRS Venture Star
Underway ≈10,000 LY beyond VUR controlled space

It was an exciting time to be a Val. For the first time in over a century the species was expanding beyond its borders, and venturing forth into the great unknown. That the universe beyond was even more wild and uncertain than in all of recorded history, made the occasion even more momentous.

Captain Selussa Esta-Athobus lay in her berth, quietly contemplating the import of her species’ undertaking, and the role in which she was playing. It was yet difficult for her to comprehend just how much had changed in the six weeks since the Quantum Spacetime Anomaly had transplanted her entire nation into the frontier of the true vacuum. She had gone from being a decorated, ambitious, and talented naval officer of the venerated 4th Fleet, to being granted command of a brand new destroyer as a part of the equally contemporary 5th Fleet.

While having been under development for several years, the 5th Fleet expansion had been rushed to fruition in the aftermath of the QSA, and the VUR’s new focus of establishing a more secure military force. Where the other naval fleets were tasked solely with the defense of their specific systems and sectors, the 5th Fleet was a new animal altogether, bearing the distinction of operating beyond the established boundaries of the VUR, and setting the first building blocks for secure galactic expansion.

Selussa, and her ship, the destroyer VRS Venture Star, were leading the 5th Fleet’s first foray into this bold, new purpose. A small taskforce of thirty-six ships had departed from the Qetesh System just over seven days ago, hurtling through space towards the expanding remnant of a supernova some 46,000 LY beyond the VUR. The fleet itself was mainly comprised of specialized research vessels from various space mining companies, intent on being the first to claim the prized resources yet held within the supernova remnant’s rich womb.

The VUR navy had almost been left out of the expedition entirely. So fervent was the intent of the mining corporations to explore this new find, that they announced that if the navy was not prepared to escort them at the time of their set departure, that they would forego official support in the name of expediency. The politics of the matter, however, demanded that the navy have some presence within a mission of such momentous import. As such, those in the upper echelons of government had made it so, heedless of the more conservative thinkers in the naval high command.

As a result, Selussa and her compatriots of the 5th Fleet, made up only three ships within the taskforce: the destroyer Venture Star, and the frigates White Knife, and Altos. While these new, and state-of-the-art warships, represented a formidable threat, the rush to get the ships prepared to escort the taskforce had made it impossible for the government to outfit the naval contingent with more support vessels. So, while the 5th Fleet had the esteem of being the first military body of the VUR to venture beyond its established borders, it also had the heavy responsibility of tending to its flock with little more than an honor guard.

Captain Selussa checked her chrono. It was still another hour before she was to take her watch on the bridge. Sighing, she lay her silver-furred head back onto the pillow. Sleep had eluded her for most of the voyage, and she knew it was a useless proposition now. Three more weeks of travel at FTL speeds until they reached the supernova remnant, and the captain knew it would take longer than that to find restful sleep once again.