In the Navy: Chapter 1 - Indomitable
03 Jun 2016Nicholas Locke
March 15th, 3297, on board the INV Indomitable."So what exactly is going on down there?" I asked my flight leader, Gaius, walked up behind me, standing on the edge of the hanger bay, where a light blue wall of energy prevented all of the atmosphere in the fighter-bay of the Majestic Interdictor from being vented into the vacuum of space.
"Well, we've reports of the Federation supporting the local rebellious organizations that recently managed to overthrow the local government, which is why we brought the Capital ship in, I suppose. Our job in the eagles will be to clear a landing zone for the Imperial marines, and then loiter until they can set up a base of operations on the planets surface, but we won't be flying out for a couple days while the ships get refitted with some missiles. It isn't an especially large population in this system though, so its a bit odd for us to be here in this capacity."
I stepped away from the atmospheric shield, in any other circumstance, this bay would be used for dignitaries to land in, able to fit a cutter or clipper inside it. Currently, as many Imperial eagles and Couriers as could fit occupied the area. Looking over at where our eagles were stored, I could see the crew chiefs currently working on the avionics package and fitting a Class 2 multi-cannon on the top of the ship. I turned again to face Gaius and asked,
"What kind of equipment should the rebels have? Any SAM sites or triple A we should worry about?"
"Doubt it, unless the Feds are actually here, in which case... Yeah, yeah, they probably would. If it turns out there is a Federal presence, we can also expect armored vehicles, IFVs, and all other sorts of fun stuff. I imagine that after we clear out a space for the operations center they'd have us dropping guided bombs."
I let out an audible sigh, you could drop those things from 20 kilometers up and they'd hit, there was just no effort in it. Might as well just use a drone or something just as useless.
-Two days later, day of the attack. -
I lowed myself into the Imperial eagle, and adjusted the seats height an ever so slight amount. One of the crew chiefs must have messed with it, a bit of an annoyance. As the canopy closed and sealed, the holographic display started to boot up, running through basic diagnostics and preflight checks. I looked to my left, through the canopy glass to see a engineer performing last minute checks on Gaius' own ship, an Imperial Courier, befitting his rank in the navy.
I heard a small beep as the communication link between Gaius and me opened.
"The marines are already en route, so we have to get planet-side quick, you just about ready, Nick?"
"Yeah, fire-groups have been set and shields are at full capacity, just booting up the drives now."
"Alright, I'll follow you out of the bay when you're ready."
I looked around the cramped cockpit again, now bathed in a light bluish tint from the holograms that made up the display. Out of the side I could see the crew chiefs step away from the ship and give me a thumbs up.
I raised the eagle around 5 meters in the air, before turning and accelerating out of the blue atmospheric shields, all the sound from the activities around me disappearing in an instant, leaving me with only the sound of the idle link between me and Gaius, as well as the sound of my drives pushing me away from the Interdictor.
Gaius' white Courier flew out in front of me, and I came into formation a few meters behind his right nacelle.
As we turned to face the planet, we left the mass-lock range of the Imperial capital ship, and he promptly engaged his ship's FSD, myself doing the same soon after, and we both leaped into super-cruise, the blue planet in-front of us.