AWD #605: Viper Missiles Sims
Viper Missiles Sims
Summary: A model Twelve designs a means to get locks on Cylon Raiders for missile systems to put on the Colonial vipers. The pilots hit the sims to test it out before they go to live fire practice. All those weeks of having a stinky Raider sitting in the Orion's hangar finally pay off.
Date: 16/02/2017 (OOC Date)
Related Logs: Stinky Raider logs?
Alejandro Charlie Niko Pearson Alastair Bennett 
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.
Sun Sep 03 18:23:45 2006

The Lucky Strikes Squadron Leader has called his Viper pilots to assemble in not the Ready Room, but the Flight Simulators. Flight Suits and helmets required. Chiron himself arrives a few minutes late (unusual for him) and takes his clipboard to set up on the sims desk console. Alejandro turns to watch people coming in, "Come on in, park yourselves and for a moment, pretend we are in the ready room. I have a quick briefing to bring you all up to speed, then we are going to hit the sims for some practice. We have a lot of ground to cover tonight and not a lot of time."

Carrying her helmet in the crook of her left arm, snugging the helmet against her side, Pearson is already in the sim room and currently occupying a perfectly good space against the wall facing the entrance, and - not incidentally - a good line of sight on the entire room. The hand that isn't hooked to her helmet is working a yoyo idly while waiting for the briefing to start.

The callsign-less Johnson finds a place to park her carcass, the helmet set down beside her left hip once she finds a low table or whatever to perch upon. Attentive, she nods hello to those here and then gives the Captain her full attention.

Niko shows up as ordered, suited up and helmet in hand. The young pilot is a little bit late, but jogging at least as he hurries to not be the last one to the meeting. "Sir," he says to Alejandro as he passes the CO, going to join the other pilots. Everyone else is greeted with, "Hey people."

Charlie is one of the newest transfers into the Air Wing and as such, has not yet gotten a wicked cool callsign yet. But he has been working as hard as he can to get off of the bench and into real combat with his comrades. His helmet is tucked under his arm as he hurries in and lifts a hand in greeting to those present. "Good evening, Sir," he greets to Alejandro with a dip of his head as he moves to take a seat where indicated.

Alejandro gives each and every one of them a nod, not being a fan of having people salute him. Ever. There's a story behind that, should any of them ever think to ask him. He sets his own flight helmet aside and when everyone is here who's not on CAP or other duty assignment, the Captain reaches over to pick his clipboard back up. "First of all, whether you like them or not, we are all indebted to a model Twelve skinjob for assisting with redesign to allow our Vipers to hereby be outfitted with missiles. So, that's why we have gathered here in part. We'll be hitting the sims in a few minutes to try out the new armaments and see how they work in combat simulations before we try them in live fire."

Chiron's dark eyes skim over all of his pilots, one face to another. "Furthermore, we have an upcoming mission assignment to head back to Aerilon. We'll be departing in a few days after a few last tests of the missile systems to lend support in driving out the APF in key locations and taking out AA batteries. As you may have noticed, for the moment, the war is winding down. The Cylon have been pushed or have withdrawn to recollect themselves. You may also have heard rumours of the recent meeting with the Cylon at the Armstice Station. I'd suggest that if you have not read the After Action Report on that meeting, that you should do so."

"How is the weight of the extra weaponry factoring into our fuel equations, Captain?" Pearson wonders from where she's standing. "Are all the vipers going to be tricked out accordingly?" the second question following the first as she tucks the yoyo into one of the pockets of her flight suit and reaches instead for the small spiral bound notebook and flat pencil to take notes.

There's a low, appreciative whistle from Niko for the new missiles. Weight of extra ordnance on the bird? Not even a concern for the kid. "You mean we're gonna be able to lock on to Raiders? For real?" Then he laughs to himself, probably imagining the look on the raider's face. If they had a face. "Seems like we should thank that skinjob."

"And what about our manoeuvrability? Is the extra weight going to have an impact on that?" Gods, Kris hopes not. As it is, she sometimes feels like an easy target out there without being slowed down. The mention of the mission has her going quiet and she takes that in.

Alejandro actually smiles at Pearson's question, "That of course depends on whether you are flying in atmo or not, since we have no weight in space. I didn't bring the engineering specs with me, but I believe I skimmed it at being roughly 6% more fuel consumption per average mission in amto, based on the assumption you didn't actually fire the missiles. Our rate of fire has yet to be determined. Also, I do not yet know how it will effect manoeuvring though I am assured we won't really notice a difference." Pilots might though, they are sensitive creatures where their craft are concerned. A nod to Niko, "Do you recall when we brought a captured Raider back to the Hangar and it stank for weeks? All that study and research is paying off for our guidance systems." A nod from the Captain, "Indeed." Not to mention all the Nine's helping them out as additional pilots.

Another look at his clipboard, "Also, in related news… the CAG has put me in charge of organzing a plan of evacuation for Scorpia." Salazar looks back to them, "This means before I can come up with a plan, we need more intel. I'll be seeking a meeting both with the TACCO but also Scorpian Resistance. Likely we'll also have to do some recon flying and take out air defence assets before a plan can be put into action. A plan that could take years to execute even if the Cylon don't return in force. Or worse, these 'Machines' show up that the Arpay speak about."

"The only reason I am telling you this is all of you need to start hitting the gun footage /hard/ on past Scorpian missions of any kind."

"Six percent factoring in drag, weight of the missile and accompanying hardware , presuming we don't use them as they're intended," Pearson shares a quick gleam of a grin with Niko (aka: KID). "I'm thinking a big card signed with all of our names?" she suggests, rhetorically, while taking those notes. A glance is flicked up from the notes to Salazar, "Scorpia is going to be the alpha test for the evacuation plan of the colonies?"

The Scorpian born Captain leans against the sim controls desk, his arms lightly folded and the clipboard still held loosely to dangle from one hand. "Maybe so, Metis. Though if we choose to evacuate Piraeus, that'd be easy in comparison. Cylons and people in the jungles of Scorpia are going to be very, very difficult to dig out. Many will come voluntarily but many won't and likely we'd have to leave them behind." He shrugs, "I just don't know what we'll be up against until we know a lot more. I myself haven't been back to Scorpia in years."

Staring at the captain with a look that's part incredulous and part sceptical, "Sir, not to be.. " and she waves one hand to try to encompass rude/snarky/impertinent, "but how are we supposed to sort the genuine evacuees from the enemy combatants under some layer of mind fuk acting like a genuine evacuee? Do the Arpay have something that'll help sort the walking mind fraked from the not mind fraked and just mostly starved and shell shocked?"

Alastair arrives from the Air Wing Corridors.

Salazar shrugs, "I don't know yet. I don't even know /where/ we are supposed to evacuate them to. There's a lot to be found out and decided long before we get that far. We don't even have the ships at the moment to do so. But, we'll start flying recon on Scorpia almost at once to help gather that data."

Aljenadro glances one last time at his clipboard, then lays it on the desk, "Any questions before we hit the sims?" Looks like his briefing is about over.

Alastair's late to the briefing, but really, with the lack of Raptor jocks, the ECO is mainly here to observe and get in a little time with the rest of the air wing after being pulled away on various projects over the last couple of months.

"Yeah …." Niko sounds confounded by the idea of evacuating an entire planet. "That's gonna be a big job, you know? And it's not like we can fit passengers in a Viper." Then he flashes the Alastair a grin, but whatever banter he was going to toss off is cut short by Captain Salazar's call for questions. Niko shuts his mouth and shakes his head.

Alejandro twists his mouth into a smirk for Niko, "No, but we'll fly escort to Raptors and Rhinos and other things. We'll recon places where people are concentrated, and take a lot of footage to help decide where LZ's can be based, and ID potential problems from the air, defences, enemy locations and the like." A nod is given to Alastair's arrival, "Lieutenant." And to the others the Captain adds, "Let's get started." He reaches for his helmet and heads for a sim.

Charlie has sat through the briefing saying little. He is sitting with his ankle lifted up atop his opposite knee and his arms crossed and when the green light is given to get started, Charlie hops back to his feet and crosses toward one of the sim units. Pulling his helmet over his head, he tosses a look toward Pearson and says, "Hope we manage better than we did the last time, eh?" He grins before slipping it over his ears and climbing into the sim.

Popping a brief salute. "Captain." Alastair offers. "Mind if I sit in to take notes? May help with the planning for the invasion." he suggests as he opens up his old notebook filled with information that he has from the start of the war.

"Nope, don't mind at all. We're really only going to see if the sims have been updated with the missile systems our vipers have recently been upgraded with. I was told the sims were so we'll see how things handle here before we do live fire testing." Alejandro puts on his helmet and seals it up. He is getting into a viper's stripped down cockpit frame when an Ensign arrives. She clears her throat, "Captain, sir. I'm to fetch Pearson and Johnson to provide escort for a Raptor down to Picon." Chiron steps back out and removes his helmet long enough to check the orders and then sign off on it, "Go ahead. You are excused." And off they go.

Soon as they are gone, Salazar gets back in and fires things up.

Niko looks over hopefully when the ensign arrives with news, and then awwws to himself when two other pilots get the call to go fly. Oh well, to the Sim! The kid makes his way over and hops into the Viper pod cockpit and buckles up. Helmet on, he starts pre-flighting the ship and getting his comms hooked up.

Bennett arrives from the Air Wing Corridors.
This simulation starts with the Orion clearing the Vipers for take off. Chiron slides his throttle forward and is spat out of the Battlestar simulation after his preflight checks and out into a field of stars. Picon spreads out below them in all of her magnificence, opalescent with swirls of cloud cover over blues, greens, and browns like a child's giant marble against the black velvet sky.

Stars glitter brightly but so does the basestar that lights up their DRADIS as a hostile, "Flight, Chiron. Form up on me. Hartmann, you're on Scythe's wing. We have incoming hostile Raiders. Let's keep'm clear of Base. Weapons hot and fire at will, over." In the flight simulation there are many other vipers in the peripherals and the Battlestar, as well as other ships in the system, start lighting things up as the forward batteries open fire.

Niko's viper launches, the young pilot giving a whoop as he's catapulted down the tube and into space. Then he's on the controls and vectoring over to the squadron leader. "Holy frak…" he says when the Basestar pings on his DRADIS. That's going to mean a load of raiders alright. "Scythe copies," he says tersely into his comms, then looks around for Hartmann. "Hartmann, Scythe. Missiles up. Let's see if we can get a tone…"

Alejandro is on it as well, since the entire simulation's point is to test the missiles systems from guidance to locks. He pushes his viper to top speed to rush out and meet the Raiders and keep them as far out from the Orion as possible. Two groups of swarming bees, so eager to sting one another. "Flight, Chiron. Try your missiles but watch your backsides! Hartmann, you have two coming at you! I'm going to starboard." Salazar's flaps shift and his airframe curves off to the right relative to Charlie's position so that Alejandro can come around and engage. Well before they close the final gap, the first missiles are fired. When they get in close and fast, it'll be KEW work until there's breathing space.

Charlie launches out along with Niko and Alejandro, flying as fast as he can while maintaining appropriate formation. He listens to the warning from Alejandro over the coms and then responds, "Roger that. Going into evasive manoeuvres." He watches as Ale shifts position and then turns his head back to eye the two on his tail.

<COMBAT> Niko uses a Missile Aa!
<COMBAT> EXPLOSION! Right Next To Raider-8644k - Critical wound to Body.
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raider-8644k - Moderate wound to Body (Reduced by Armor).
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raider-8644k - ARMOR on Left Wing stops the attack!
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raider-8644k - Critical wound to Left Wing (Reduced by Armor).
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raider-8644k - Critical wound to Cockpit.
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raider-8644k - Light wound to Right Wing (Reduced by Armor).
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raider-8644k - ARMOR on Left Wing stops the attack!
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raider-8644k - Serious wound to Cockpit.
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raider-8644k - ARMOR on Controls stops the attack!
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raider-8644k - Moderate wound to Weapon.
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raider-8644k - NEAR MISS!
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raider-8644k - ARMOR on Left Wing stops the attack!
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raider-8644k - Critical wound to Controls (Reduced by Armor).
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raider-8644k - Critical wound to Weapon.
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raider-8644k - Critical wound to Cockpit.
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raider-8644k - ARMOR on Left Wing stops the attack!
<COMBAT> Alejandro uses a Missile Aa!
<COMBAT> EXPLOSION! Right Next To Raider-0934a - Critical wound to Body.
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raider-0934a - Critical wound to Cockpit.
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raider-0934a - Critical wound to Cockpit.
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raider-0934a - ARMOR on Left Wing stops the attack!
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raider-0934a - ARMOR on Right Wing stops the attack!
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raider-0934a - ARMOR on Body stops the attack!
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raider-0934a - ARMOR on Body stops the attack!
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raider-0934a - Critical wound to Body (Reduced by Armor).
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raider-0934a - Critical wound to Weapon.
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raider-0934a - NEAR MISS!
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raider-0934a - ARMOR on Left Wing stops the attack!
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raider-0934a - Critical wound to Cockpit.
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raider-0934a - Serious wound to Weapon.
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raider-0934a - Moderate wound to Body (Reduced by Armor).
<COMBAT> Toaster3 attacks Niko with KEW and MISSES!
<COMBAT> Toaster2 attacks Charlie with KEW but MISSES!
<COMBAT> Toaster1 attacks Charlie with KEW and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Raider-0934a has been KO'd!
<COMBAT> Toaster1 has been KO'd!
<COMBAT> Raider-8644k has been KO'd!
<COMBAT> Toaster3 has been KO'd!

Niko hears the warbling tone that says the seeker on the missile is locking onto target. Sweet music. "Fox one!" he calls as he hits the firing button and launches one of his missiles head-on before breaking hard to the right. "BOoooOOoom!" adds a few seconds later as the first Cylons go up in explosions. The kid twits around, checking on Hartmann, and then eyes his DRADIS. "New contacts inbound."

Charlie grips the flight yoke of his viper and slides the ship left and right as the two enemy vessels behind him try to gain a lock. He shakes his head and says into the coms, 'No way I am going to be getting in a shot. I'll just keep them busy." As Niko and Ale open fire and ships begin exploding, Charlie steers his viper into a steep dive and then swivels, coming up to take aim on one of the enemy ships inbound.

Alejandro banks to starboard and fires his missiles at one of the Raiders and wow, it is SO BEAUTIFUL. Military hard on followed by impact is nearly orgasmic to a combat veteran like Chiron, "Holy Frak! Swwweeet!" He rips his viper away from the debris that starts expanding and swivals his head around on a stick as his DRADIS is a mess of contacts, "Flight, Chiron. Heavy Raiders inbound. Careful. We only get two shots with the missiles this ride. Two on my six!" He jinks to port, pops his flaps and nose dives towards the gravity well, then pushes his throttle hard to twist and try to keep them from getting a lock on him, zipping in and out of the debris of the exploded raiders and out past them.

<COMBAT> Niko uses a Missile Aa!
<COMBAT> EXPLOSION! Right Next To Heavy Raider-9220v - Critical wound to Body (Reduced by Armor).
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Heavy Raider-9220v - ARMOR on Controls stops the attack!
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Heavy Raider-9220v - ARMOR on Right Wing stops the attack!
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Heavy Raider-9220v - ARMOR on Controls stops the attack!
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Heavy Raider-9220v - ARMOR on Left Wing stops the attack!
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Heavy Raider-9220v - ARMOR on Controls stops the attack!
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Heavy Raider-9220v - ARMOR on Body stops the attack!
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Heavy Raider-9220v - ARMOR on Engine stops the attack!
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Heavy Raider-9220v - ARMOR on Controls stops the attack!
<COMBAT> Toaster4 uses a Missile Aa!

<COMBAT> EXPLOSION! Very Far From Viper-6780a - ARMOR on Body stops the attack!
<COMBAT> Charlie uses a Missile Aa!
<COMBAT> EXPLOSION! Right Next To Raider-6939f - Critical wound to Body.
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raider-6939f - ARMOR on Body stops the attack!
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raider-6939f - ARMOR on Engine stops the attack!
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raider-6939f - ARMOR on Body stops the attack!
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raider-6939f - ARMOR on Engine stops the attack!
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raider-6939f - Moderate wound to Left Wing (Reduced by Armor).
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raider-6939f - Light wound to Engine (Reduced by Armor).
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raider-6939f - ARMOR on Controls stops the attack!
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raider-6939f - ARMOR on Controls stops the attack!
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Raider-6939f - ARMOR on Controls stops the attack!
<COMBAT> CREW HIT! Toaster2 - Serious wound to Chest.
<COMBAT> CREW HIT! Toaster2 - Critical wound to Neck.
<COMBAT> CREW HIT! Toaster2 - Light wound to Left Arm.
<COMBAT> CREW HIT! Toaster2 - Light wound to Chest.
<COMBAT> Toaster5 uses a Missile Aa!
<COMBAT> EXPLOSION! Close To Viper-2264f - Moderate wound to Body (Reduced by Armor).
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Viper-2264f - ARMOR on Left Wing stops the attack!
<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Viper-2264f - ARMOR on Tail stops the attack!
<COMBAT> Toaster2 attacks Alejandro with KEW but MISSES!

<COMBAT> Toaster2 has been KO'd!
<COMBAT> Heavy Raider-9220v has been KO'd!
<COMBAT> Toaster4 has been KO'd!

As the time wears on, they don't even realize how much is slipping away because even in the heat of /heavy/ raiders dogging them, the viper pilots are having too much FUN to notice. Exclamations are made into the helmets and even sometimes into the coms pickups. The cockpit frames shake, shudder, throw up bitching Betty alarms, missile locks, and all sort of generally fun shit. A viper pilot's bread and butter with honey drizzled on top.

After a while Alejandro speaks up over the coms, "Flight, Chiron. Sweet. Let's RTB. I want to hear your comments when we are out of the frames, over." His lightly damaged viper is brought around and the simulation of raiders and on going fighting fades as Alejandro keys in to dim the simulation. He shuts things down in his cockpit and then breaks the seal of his helmet to climb out.

His second missile locks on too, and as soon as Niko has tone and a decent angle, he squeezes the trigger. Whoosh … flash. A heavy raider is hit and out of action. So intent is he on his own shot, it takes a second for the radar warning alarm to register. "Missiles inbound!" Scythe calls, breaking hard left. He's lucky that the Cylon warhead detonates too far out of range to do any significant damage. With his AAMs fired, Scythe falls back onto Hartmann's wing and lets him take the lead until he's fired his last. When they shut down Niko pops out of the cockpit with a whoop. "The Cylons are gonna need shiny steel diapers when they see those things flying."

Bennett popped in for a moment to fetch an errant hard drive some scatter-brained pilot (possibly her) left behind, and became distracted by the simulator session in progress. She lit up a smoke at some point; the scent is bitter and cinnamon at once, and not too difficult to detect across the room where the sim pods are.

Charlie gets a light slap on the shoulder from Salazar, "You did fine. I'm going to clear you for combat. I want to see you continue to hit the sims and the gun footage." Scythe gets a very rare laugh out of Ale, "As long as I don't have to clean their shiny diapers, that's fine. We'll blow those off too." He sets his helmet down by the clipboard he'd left, his dark hair now tussled and lightly sweaty from the excitement. Then Chiron glances at the new arrival as Bennett comes in. He straightens up and eyes her with her … strange modifications, "Major." His nostrils flair at the smell of the cigarette.

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