AWD #552: Not An Even Trade
Not An Even Trade
Summary: Brandon and Gloria are given an anti-AA mission in the sims.
Date: 25/12/2016
Related Logs: None
Gloria Brandon 
Flight Simulators - Deck 2 - Battlestar Orion
The Air Wing has access to flight simulators to train pilots off the ground in combat maneuvers and situations that are hard to replicate with regular dogfight practicing and this is their home. A rectangular room, the hatch opens up beside the bank of computers that control the simulations and what is seen by the individuals when training sessions are in progress. The sims are actual cockpits cut out of old frames and installed here to function exactly as the real thing, right down to oxygen plugs for suits. In front of each cockpit, complete with armored glass, are LCD screens that cover most of the front view to the front and above. There are two Vipers, two Predators, and one full-cabin Raptor available.
AWD #552

There's no active mission for the Ghosts today, so that means it's training time. Today that training is in the simulators rather than the real thing, so they can work on anti-AA effectiveness. Up first is Brandon paired with Gloria, and as the Ensigns arrive they're met by a tech who indicates the prepped cockpit and then heads to load up the programme selected by the higher-ups. The wing's newest ECO looks a little nervous, but greets Brandon with a friendly smile, and gestures towards their chariot, "after you."

Brandon grins to Gloria as she nervously gestures to the Raptor, stepping in and hooking up to the system. "Relax…I'm the pilot so I'll be the one who does most of the frakking up." Once he's in, he waits for her to load into the backseat before beginning preflight checks.

Gloria follows Brandon into the sim and buckles herself in. As she starts her own pre-flights she quips back, "just don't frak up enough that I have to fly okay? I might be able to keep us airborne for a few seconds, but I wouldn't hold out much hope beyond that." She doesn't mention the last anti-AA sim run she had, the one where her and Kelsey wiped out within seconds of engaging the target. He doesn't need to know all the gory details. Once she's happy with her board she adds quickly, "all systems green back here. Ready when you are."

Brandon nods. "Acknowledged. As long as we don't have a repeat of Leonis that should be fine." His last combat mission was a cluster-and-a-half in many respects, with bombs repeatedly finding their targets but failing to disable them. He continues through his last checks before starting the engines up. "Ready to go…and today, they sent us to…" And with that, they flash out of a jump (sans uneasy feeling) and into space above…Virgon, drawing an almost-audible groan from Brandon. "…a very bad joke." There's a mental note in Brandon's mind to suggest pulling the ex-planet out of the random grab bag.

Having been raised in a military family, Gloria had spent a couple of years on Virgon while her mother was based at the shipyards, so there's an intake of breath that indicates she recognises their location too. Still, there's little time to dwell on it as she interrogates her displays for the information they need. "Okay, we're needed to knock out a hostile SABER site before a marine landing can take place. Last known co-ordinates of the launchers was," and she reels off a latitude and longitude. "Prepping for ECM."

Brandon nods. "Yep, focusing on the mission. Location acknowledged, getting us there." Beat. "I'll take bomb deployment unless you /really/ want it." On the one hand, this is his job; on the other hand, if his backseater wants the training, Brandon is /not/ going to fight her over it. That said, he's expecting a negative response and proceeding down into the atmosphere reasonably aggressively.

<FS3> Gloria rolls Ecm: Good Success.

"I suspect I'll have my hands full with ECM," Gloria replies as she starts to run the numbers for their approach, "you shoot them, I'll stop them from shooting us. Seem a fair breakdown of labour?" Shifting her focus to the DRADIS she tracks their progress and calls out at, "twenty clicks to target co-ordinates. I have nothing on DRADIS ye.. scratch that! One contact, SAM site bearing 276, range twenty two clicks. Don't think they've seen us yet. Then a few moments later, "fifteen clicks, they're attempting a lock!"

Brandon manages a smirk as they get a contact, followed by a lock, as they approach. "Knew it wouldn't be that easy. Alright…you jam 'em and I'll damn 'em." With that, Brandon punches the throttle all the way in and comes in as low as he dares before triggering the bombs as they're suddenly…very, very close. "Releasing in 3, 2, 1…bombs away!"

<COMBAT> Gloria suppresses Sam1 with Ecm. <unsuccessful>
<COMBAT> Brandon uses a Bomb Racks!
<COMBAT>
<COMBAT> EXPLOSION! Pretty Close To Aa Battery-7425j - Critical wound to Body.
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Aa Battery-7425j - NEAR MISS!
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Aa Battery-7425j - ARMOR on Body stops the attack!
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Aa Battery-7425j - NEAR MISS!
<COMBAT> Sam1 uses a MISSILE AA!
<COMBAT>
<COMBAT> EXPLOSION! Right Next To Raptor-4612l - ARMOR on Body stops the attack!
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raptor-4612l - ARMOR on Right Wing stops the attack!
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raptor-4612l - Moderate wound to ECM.
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raptor-4612l - ARMOR on Body stops the attack!
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raptor-4612l - ARMOR on Body stops the attack!
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raptor-4612l - ARMOR on Body stops the attack!
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raptor-4612l - ARMOR on Right Wing stops the attack!
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raptor-4612l - ARMOR on Engine stops the attack!

<COMBAT> Aa Battery-7425j has been KO'd!
<COMBAT> Sam1 has been KO'd!

Gloria tries not to let her conscious brain register just how close they are to those missiles, it's enough to make her faintly queasy as is without dwelling on it. As she works her board though her face contorts into a mask of concentration and concern, before she see's the AA missile launch and run true. "Frak!" she cries as the hit registers, damaging her system, then she calls through to Brandon. "We have another system targeting us, twelve clicks, bearing 245. You want me to jam, or try and repair the DRADIS?"

Brandon mutters his own slew of language, though whether said language is sacred or profane would be in the ear of the beholder. "Uh…fix the Dradis. I'll try to throw off any shots for a moment." With that he begins executing a series of semi-random manoeuvres aimed at giving anyone tracking them a headache.

<COMBAT> Gloria treats Raptor-4612l:
< ECM (Moderate): successful

"Copy that," Gloria calls, going distinctly green round the edges as Brandon starts throwing them around the sky. She does manage to focus on the task in hand though, just, and manages to restore most of the lost functionality. "Okay, I reckon that’s as good as we're going to get before we get her back on the deck," she notes as she quickly changes back to blocking mode. "They're locking on, attempting to jam."

Brandon nods before remembering. "Understood. Alright, going in for a strike against them…" His approach is just as aggressive as before…something that has become a fairly normal pattern around him, come to think of it.

<COMBAT> Sam2 uses a MISSILE AA!
<COMBAT>
<COMBAT> EXPLOSION! Right Next To Raptor-4612l - Critical wound to Body (Reduced by Armor).
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raptor-4612l - ARMOR on Body stops the attack!
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raptor-4612l - ARMOR on Left Wing stops the attack!
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raptor-4612l - ARMOR on Left Wing stops the attack!
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raptor-4612l - ARMOR on Engine stops the attack!
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raptor-4612l - Serious wound to Cockpit.
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raptor-4612l - ARMOR on Engine stops the attack!
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raptor-4612l - ARMOR on Left Wing stops the attack!
<COMBAT> CREW HIT! Brandon - Moderate wound to Chest.
<COMBAT> CREW HIT! Brandon - Serious wound to Chest.
<COMBAT> CREW HIT! Brandon - Critical wound to Head.
<COMBAT> CREW HIT! Brandon - Serious wound to Left Foot.
<COMBAT> Brandon uses a Bomb Racks!
<COMBAT>
<COMBAT> EXPLOSION! Pretty Close To Aa Battery-1221y - Critical wound to Body.
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Aa Battery-1221y - ARMOR on Body stops the attack!
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Aa Battery-1221y - ARMOR on Controls stops the attack!
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Aa Battery-1221y - NEAR MISS!
<COMBAT> Gloria suppresses Sam2 with Ecm. <unsuccessful>

<COMBAT> Raptor-4612l has been KO'd!
<COMBAT> Brandon has been KO'd!
<COMBAT> Gloria has been KO'd!
<COMBAT> Aa Battery-1221y has been KO'd!
<COMBAT> Sam2 has been KO'd!

While she might have managed the repair work okay, it seems Gloria is still struggling with her countermeasures. As they approach the target the range of enlisted-level swearing increases as she just can't seem to jam the missile's lock. Just before it impacts she even throws her arms up in front of her face, as if that's going to give her some additional protection from the impact. One the klaxons finish though, and the red lights across her board just blink silently, she slumps a little in her seat. "Sorry," she calls forward, "just couldn't get it off our tail. Did we at least destroy it before it got us?"

Brandon grunts a bit out of instinct as the klaxons all light up. At least this time his suit isn't so full of holes that he should donate it to a shrine of Hermes or Posideon, though when he checks the results it would've come close. Once he's through with that check, however, he manages a smile. "Yep, got 'em both. Wouldn't call it an even trade…" Not even close, considering how few Raptors they have left. "…but we achieved our objectives."

"Well, that’s something I guess," Gloria replies, still sounding disappointed. The fact that she is unscathed is no great comfort as she powers down the console in front of her and then unstraps herself from her seat. "I guess we better go and see what they have to say in debrief, but I agree, not a fair trade." Then, to try and add a touch of cheer, "we're just to pretty to go out to a missile."

Brandon smiles back at Gloria as he powers down his end. "Yeah, I'd prefer to avoid that as well. Yeah, let's go down to debrief where they can rip me a new one over being too aggressive." He's surprisingly cheerful…but then again, this isn't his first time getting /that/ lecture.

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