Posted by Lieutenant Colonel Krin “Hannibal” Lardel (Commander, Air Group (CAG)) in Main Sim - When In Doubt, Call The Marines (Tag All Marine Aviators)

Posted by Lieutenant Colonel Krin “Hannibal” Lardel (Commander, Air Group (CAG)) in Main Sim - When In Doubt, Call The Marines (Tag All Marine Aviators)

Posted by Lieutenant Colonel Krin “Hannibal” Lardel (Commander, Air Group (CAG)) in Main Sim - When In Doubt, Call The Marines (Tag All Marine Aviators)
Posted by… suppressed (22) by the Post Ghost! 👻
snip
A shudder ran through the shuttle and the pilot shouted back, “Getting a bit rough out here. Shields are holding but it feels like skipping stones on a lake and we’re the stone!” More shudders as the shuttle entered into shearing territory, bucking up at one point causing Parrot to bite his tongue. By luck or by skill the grapple was near enough to Bravo Nine for him to catch a corner of it.
- Wookiee

Jury smacked the control for the wench and hauled the aviator in. She grabbed him and then lowered them down through the hatch and sealed it up. “Parrot get us out of here.”

“Roger that, getting out of here.” Parrot turned the shuttle and headed back for the evac line. =/\=IRIS this Parrot. We’ve got Bravo Nine. Returning to Evac.=/\=

=/\=Good flying Parrot. Tell Jury great job.=/\= IRIS switched her comms. =/\=IRIS to Hannibal and Oni. Bravo Nine retrieved. Transports 6 returning to Evac.=/\=

Parrot took his helmet off and shook his head, only then noting that he had a nose bleed and a fair sized bump on the right side of his forehead. He touched it gingerly. “When did I .. ouch,” he said. His eyes were somewhat unfocused and he slumped back in his seat.

In the back of the transport, Jury was getting the shell off Bravo Nine and doing a full medical scan.

Mar Cpt sh’Rharror, Delta SQLD

Lardel finally had enough. Once Parrot was secure, he jabbed the comms. =/\= Black Sheep and Knight… commence full engine burn on my mark. Five… four… three… two… one… Mark. =/\= and he turned the throttle to full power. Simulatneously, all the other fighters attached to the hull of the Knight fired their engines as well. =/\= All fighters. Maintain full burn. =/\= Lardel said, hoping that they were enough to buy the Empress some much needed time.

Lardel, CAG

Bump for GM

Oni and his men fired up at full throttle along with Hannibal. Having a smile on his face after hearing that Parrot was safe, but he focused on his task at hand and so did his men.

Major Shinzo Oni Honda Bravo Squad Leader

The engines of the Knight flared as they pumped more power into their impulse drive. The collective power was not without effect. The two behemoths that were cruise liners slowed from a gradual losing ground to stopping their momentum. Slowly, as though in a crawl, they crept up gaining ground. The flank of the Empress bent under the pressure and in two places there was a hull rupture and blowout as gases escaped into space - but no people.

=^= Can’t do more =^= came the comms from the Knight. =^= We’re almost punching through the Empress now. Have to cut power =^=

The resultant power cut resulted in a standoff .. neither gaining nor losing ground at least for now ..
- Wookiee

=/\= All fighters continue full burn. Once the passengers are clear, we help the Knight get clear. Do not cut power until I give the word. Got it, Sheep? =/\= Lardel barked. A plethora of acknowledgements came back to him and he nodded to himself. Nothing to do now but wait for IRIS to get the ship empty.

Lardel, CAG

The burn continued and it was evident that there was going to be serious structural damage to the Empress at best. As positions were held, there were minutes where there was calm ..

.. which was before there was a sudden pull. The first evidence was at the stern of the Empress where hull plates started peeling off as though the Titanic struck by an iceberg. This was accompanied by a tug as though a giant’s hand were shifting things. The Empress swung about nearly 90 degrees and taking with it the Knight. The stern of the ship continued to be battered by the shear as the Knight struggled to keep position …

One such piece of debris bounced along the hull and passed just in front of Lardel’s fighter ..
- Wookiee

=/\=Cpt sh’Rharror to Capt. Andreassen and Col Lardel. The Empress is tearing apart and we still have 2000 people on board. We need more shuttles…=/\= IRIS looked out at the shuttles as the Black Sheep worked to realign and dock, successfully, as the ship began to crumble. =/\=Or could you link the Chimera with the shuttles transporters and use them to enhance the signal and start beaming people off as well?=/\=

Mar. Capt. sh’Rharror, Delta SQLD

Lardel gritted his teeth, but replied. =/\= I’d say daisy chaining transporter signals was a desperate act… but we’re in that kind of situation. If we don’t disengage soon, the fighters won’t be able to get out of the gravity well. IRIS! DO IT! Make that s#!t happen yesterday! =/\=

Lardel, CAG

=/\=Aye Col. Chimera is working on it. Evacuation shuttles will hold however long we need to.=/\= Even if the fighters had to disengage. They were running out of time, and they wouldn’t be able to save the Knight’s crew either.

Mar. Capt. sh’Rharror, Delta SQLD

OOC: Bump ..

The fighters were straining to keep the Knight in position. Lardel looked at his readouts, cursed, and then opened the comms. =/\= Marine squadron to Knight. Recommend you set the ship to automatic control and begin evacuation. I don’t think we are going to be able to hold position much longer, and any closer to the gravity well and your escape pods won’t clear. Get out, Knight. =/\=

Lardel, CAG

Bump

Bump for GM

=^= Knight here =^= There were sounds of shouting in the background and the comms person was talking loud to compensate. =^= We copy. Doing our best =^=

Locked in place with the failing starliner the Knight’s impulse engines strained to extricate itself from the grip of the Empress on one side and the gravity shearing on the other. A chunk of the Empress broke off and slammed into the side of the Knight creating a hull breach whole decks wide, but that perhaps was what saved her for the impact jolted her to the side breaking off her contact with the flank of the liner. With a window open the engines turned from full astern to full forward and with a slow motion crunch the Knight slid across the hull of the Empress gouging it deeply but slowly pulling clear.

Meanwhile the Empress, without the push of the Knight and already in a twisting spiral from the impacts of the shearing spun slowly in a direction parallel to the shear but certainly towards its fate. Estimated time of fatal gravity well proximity was 89 seconds ..
- Wookiee

Freja was en route to the Chimera with a runabout full of Empress evacuees, =^=Andreassen to Chimera, if you have any idea on how to pull or push the Empress out of the well, do it now. We’re out of time!=^=

~Freja Andreassen~

=/\= All Marines break contact and return to position around Chimera! Evac shuttles, you have time for ONE last trip! No more after! That means you, IRIS! =/\= Lardel barked. There was no way the fighters could keep themselves from the gravity well if they stayed any longer; all he could do was hope that the evac shuttles had cleared the passengers and crew.

Lardel, CAG

=/\=Aye Colonel.=/\= Siraa meant it, but she also wasn’t leaving anyone behind if she could help it. =/\=IRIS to all evacuation shuttles. You heard the colonel. Last trip. Get as many people as you can. Tell them to hold their breath. Then create 4 relay lines to help the Chimera boost the power for the transporters.=/\=

Mar. Capt. sh’Rharror, Delta SQLD

Lardel pulled the fighters back to a (moderately) safe distance and watched as the final run of transports began the last physical removal of passengers and crew. It was then a thought hit him. He tapped the comms and spoke to everyone listening. =/\= Hannibal to all stations. Do we have a fix on the Captain of the Empress =/\=

Lardel, CAG

Freja had ordered the runabouts and shuttles provided by her personnel to fall back with the fighters after they completed their last run so the Chimera could try their very last idea to try and get the Empress out of her current predicament, turning about in her chair, “Does anyone here know where your captain is?”

~Freja Andreassen~

Scans showed what looked to be a full complement of crew on the bridge of the Empress.
- Wookiee

Lardel tapped the comms. =/\= Hannibal to Transporter room. The damn bridge crew is still on board the Empress!. Get a lock and yank them outta there! NOW! IRIS! Get those people out NOW and get those transporters moving! =/\=

Lardel, CAG

=^=Andreassen to Hannibal, I’m going to have the Chimera move into range as well, now that the Empress is free of the void, we can focus on transport. I’m presently ferrying some passengers back to the Chimera, but NE Fodder is on Runabout C and is free if you require any assistance from our Starfleet craft in the meantime,=^= Freja contacted the Marine CO, =^=If we’re overstepping, say the word and we’ll back off.=^=

~Freja Andreassen~

=/\=Aye Colonel. I’m dropping off the last evacuees. We’ll get them.=/\=

Mar. Capt. sh’Rharror, Delta SQLD

=/\= We aren’t standing on protocol, Captain. =/\= came the terse reply from Lardel. =/\= Get him in position and try to get a transporter lock on the bridge crew and beam them out now!! =/\=

Lardel, CAG

=^=Fodder, you heard the man, go. Any starfleet personnel in craft, converge on the Empress to commence transport of any life signs on board, immediately.=^= Freja ordered.

~Freja Andreassen~

Mainly now transports were plucking people in in one’s and two’s. There were few groups at all to lock onto but the numbers were still high. Now out of danger it wasn’t frenetic but more a sensor hunt for life signs and locking on. The difference was the bridge where there was a number of people present there in a cluster.
- Wookiee

Hannibal had maneuvered the Black Sheep fighters into a protective formation around the perimeter of the evacuation area. A few of the ships that had stopped and were watching had moved a bit closer, but were halted by the perimeter of Marine fighters. =/\= Sheep, we don’t need to add to the chaos. Keep the looky-loos away and make sure the evac routes are clear. =/\=

Hannibal, CAG

bump

bump

bump for GM