Kensai

Shattered Steel - An Ace Combat/Project Wingman/etc inspired aircraft-based RP

Mykhailo Martinez

Mykhailo, after seeing Wolf, sought out Aurelié and asked bluntly, "So, we have a few hours to kill; want to go around town having a good time? Just the two of us, of course..."

He then gave a slight smile and added, "By the way, thanks for letting me win in that simulated fight."

@Letter Bee

Aurélie had just been to the galley to fill her thermos with coffee - there was an Italian commis in the kitchen brigade, who had a good hand with a Bialetti and a soft spot for a winsome smile. It pained both of them to abuse fine espresso by tipping it into a thermos, but "c'est la vie in the military".

Aurélie's charm was just another tool in her toolbox, of course, but the good thing about people from civilised cultures was that they understood the game - flirting was part of it, the exchange of gifts material and immaterial, and nothing too serious to come of it. One was here for a little space of time, and then one was not; best to live well while you could. And just as life was too short to tolerate bad wine or bad food, it was also too short to waste on bad relationships. You made each other happy for a while, and then you left while you still desired more - a little unsatisfied, but that gave spice to the waiting, rather than being so replete that you could not face the next good thing that came along.

So when Mykhailo came bouncing up to her, all but wagging his tail, and propositioned her with an approach so blunt he could have used it as a rolling pin, her moue was entirely genuine. "C'est à moi que to parles? Bonjour, s'il vous plaît? Pardon, but our squadron has, how you say, fucked up on this mission, so my idée of a good time for tonight is to take this - " she held up the thermos, " - and put in a few centiliters of cognac, and then to write up my after action reports so that we do not repeat this utter shitshow, n'est-ce pas?"

And with that she snapped around on her heel with the precision and firmness of an airbrake deploying. As she strode away, she left him with a final thought. "And do not mistake mentoring for affection."

Shattered Steel - An Ace Combat/Project Wingman/etc inspired aircraft-based RP

Aurélie had spent the hours since the recon flight's return sat at her desk with a coffee and brandy, writing up a report and lessons learned from the mission. Too much gone wrong, in the most suspicious ways - and then at the briefing, Scott had confirmed her suspicions.

And then ordered her to start running on the ground like a poor bloody infantryman.

Aurélie hadn't done any fieldcraft since basic training, all too long ago (she didn't like to think how long), and she only shot her pistol enough to pass her annual qualifiers - although that, at least, was easy, given her eye. Some things translated well, others not so much. Given a rifle and a hide, Aurélie might make a decent designated marksman, for much the same reasons that she was an excellent pilot: keen eye, steady hand, patience, and the heart of a killer.

But the brief this time was to follow Peacenik and do fire and movement. Which was... not her strong suit, to say the least. She wasn't terribly athletic, she was far from being strong (and what was this propensity of Shattered Steel to hire giantesses?), and she hated the clutter and mess on the deck.

Still, orders must. She had tagged behind Peacenik, bringing up the rear so that she wouldn't be in anyone's way when it came to go charging at people with guns... it was odd; she had no qualms about going into the merge with a dozen friendlies and bogies flashing all about the sky - those were risks she was used to, and could deal with. But the thought of charging a gun, even if it was objectively less dangerous than the dogfight, left her trembling. An ancestral memory of the Great War perhaps, and the plight of the poilu? Who knew?

And then the shooting started, and the trembling stopped, and Aurélie noticed something - and the next time someone thought to check whether she was still there, she most pointedly was not....

Shattered Steel - An Ace Combat/Project Wingman/etc inspired aircraft-based RP

Aurélie nodded tersely as Fuka's SLAM-ER struck home, wrecking a ro-ro ferry. Her wingman was competent, at least - something she might not feel about some other components of her squadron, pilots and ground staff alike. There might have to be... words, or more than mere words. But that was a concern for another moment. Right now, she was barreling in low, counting on the Rafale's speed, low observability, and ECM suite - and the distraction of the massive explosion - to give her a window.

"Good hit, Cobalt 2," she said. "Tally two bandits on the deck and climbing."

She adjusted her angle of approach just a tick. The enemy pilots were rushed, clumsy - their alert five birds, if they bothered with such things, but the base caught napping by Cobalt's sudden appearance. And then having a missile impact in their vicinity while they were taking off... that would have rattled better fliers than these.

"Mirage F1s," Aurélie murmured, feeling the irony of engaging an earlier generation of Dassault fighters. The fliers knew their birds, at least. One of the strengths of the F1 was its power to weight ratio and low drag in interceptor configuration. Lean on the throttle and it would take off like a rocket.

Unfortunately for them, Aurélie was a student of air combat. And the problem with leaning on the throttle was that putting out a lot of thrust meant putting out a lot of heat, and taking off like a rocket meant you were going straight. That gave her MICA-IRs a nice juicy target, and they were already well within her no-escape zone. The tone rang in her ears.

"Cobalt Two, I'm engaging the leader. Take the wingman. Fox Two!"

The heat seeker streaked off its pylon, rocket motor accelerating it at forces that would snap a human's neck. It covered the distance between the aircraft in seconds.

Fancy & Folly (Historic slife-of-life and drama)

Wow, this is really different and interesting. I'm in.

Shattered Steel - An Ace Combat/Project Wingman/etc inspired aircraft-based RP

Aurélie toggled the detachment push on her radio. "Good work, Cobalt 2. I confirm seven repeat seven helos and multiple triple alpha. I'm picking up search radar but no targeting. Could just mean they're smarter than we think and they're not switching on until they have a decent shot. With how they just performed I am not betting against it."

Her voice was terse, with much less of her usual singing accent in it. The enemy had taken out two of their squadron in the first set of contacts. This would not be easy, and it would get even harder with the loss of capability.

Aurélie's mind raced through the permutations. Cobalt was down, effectively, two strike and one air superiority fighters. Dealing with the bases was going to be a pain. They would need to make multiple sorties, peel back the defences gradually, against an enemy that was quite capable of taking a toll on them. It would hinge not only on pilot skill, but the ability of Shattered Steel's maintainers and logisticians, to keep up their sortie levels enough to get the job done.

It wasn't a bet Aurélie was entirely comfortable making, but it was the only game in the house. Sometimes you just had to accept the odds and deal with it the best you could. Or, as the Ami liked to say, "suck it up".

"All right, Cobalt 2, I'm calling part 1 done. Let's get over to Lampedusa. You fly top cover this time, and I'll do the close pass."

@Smike

Calling All Heroes and Villains!

Could I get a GM call on whether the bomb's fuze is electrical in nature? @Pumpkinlord

Calling All Heroes and Villains!

We could make it an IC mistake though. Ethan says "dirty bomb" and everyone thinks it's radiological - especially Mika. And then it turns out it's biological.

That said, if it's got any kind of electronic fuze or control device, she could still disarm it pretty handily. She'll try to get to the bomb and do so. I'll wait on a definitive GM call on whether that will work before I write up my next post.

Calling All Heroes and Villains!

A dirty bomb, you say? Looks like a situation where someone who could control EM radiation would come in handy. If only there were someone like that in the vicinity....

Calling All Heroes and Villains!

Mika sat and sipped her frappuccino while looking for all the world like she was idly scrolling on her phone, as young people all over the world do. And while she was scrolling, it wasn't entirely idle. She had multiple video feeds incoming from all the CCTVs in the area, fed to the device through her powers. And while it wasn't beyond her to view the feeds directly, it was a lot less of a headache to have phone do the processing for her.

And of course, it freed her to think about what was going on. Which wasn't good. For some reason, a relatively simple robbery had turned into a gathering for paranormal individuals - with the attendant risk of collateral damage. Back in Japan, supers were heavily regulated and licensed, and one of the aspects of their training was to minimise danger to civilians. That wasn't the case here in Nova City, and the body count when supers clashed could be frightful.

Mika tugged on a lock of pink hair, a nervous habit that she never could quite break. She needed a plan, but things were moving fast, and it seemed like even more paranormals were on their way. There should be a protocol, a hierarchy - someone taking charge and making sure things stayed in control. But it looked like more of a free for all, and she was worried that jumping in would only make things worse.

But even so, there was a need for crowd control, and someone had to keep the civilians safe. Let the other supers fight it out if they wanted - Violet Lightning was here to help people, not gain glory. Time to change up and do her duty.

Shattered Steel - An Ace Combat/Project Wingman/etc inspired aircraft-based RP

Aurélie nudged the throttle on her Rafale just a hair, the roar of its twin Snecma turbofans changing pitch almost as soon as the input came. She hadn't told the rest of the squadron, but the fighter had a name: Milou. And it was as frisky and spirited as its namesake.

Milou edged forward of the other two fighters of the recon section, neither of which were as agile. Reagan's F-117N had its virtues, but nimbleness was not one of them - it depended heavily on its admittedly impressive stealth capabilities for survival and tactical advantage. Peacenik's Hornet, on the other hand... well, it was a good, how do you say, "bomb truck", no? In any case, a leader had to understand the strengths and weaknesses of her followers - so it was time to sort out precise roles.

Aurélie toggled the radio to the section push. "Cobalt Recon, this is Cobalt 3," she said, her voice a thing of smoke and cognac, like the air in a restaurant after the last customer has left and the patron takes a drink and a cigarette with his brigade. "Cobalt 4, you have the best stealth profile, so you are taking point. We will deactivate Link 16 to preserve low observability until positive contact has been made with the enemy. I will follow echelon right and high to provide top cover for you. Cobalt 5... you are in trail, keep your eyes peeled and be ready to deliver ordnance once we've tagged targets for you."

She gave the section half a minute to shake out into the formation she'd described. Unorthodox, but since when did a mercenary squadron have the luxury of playing by the book?

"Exquisite," she said when they were in place, half sincerely. The others had genuinely impressed her with the intelligence and precision with which they'd taken up position. "Now - we are mostly here to be eyes and ears, not as trigger pullers. But if it comes time to open up, we do it quick and decisive, no half measures. Maximum violence in minimum time."

That, too, was one of her principles.

@AvaP @Smike