Firebrand | Andrew Struikas

[Nodoka Hanamura]

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AUTHOR: Andrew 'Firebrand' Struikas ENTRY NO.: 04-001 ENTRY TITLE: Hard Rocks ENTRY DATE: June 20th, 835 AS | 1452 Sirian Universal Coordinated Time ENTRY LOCALE: HFF Return to Sender, Badlands, New York System, Liberty Space ENTRY TYPE: Video The feed starts on a damaged command deck of the Grendel, on fire and severely damaged from an earlier engagement. Through last second decision by Mieko that spared the ship total destruction - battleshorting the mine dispenser and firing off a series of explosives that rapidly detonated, followed by a sudden silent running move in the deep particle cloud. For all the Kennedy and its' escorts were aware, the 46th's finest had whacked Firebrand and his crew, but in reality the ship was on its' last legs. The ship was worse for wear, having been struck in the powerplant by a stray rock, disabling it. Stranded in the dark, and on limited oxygen, the ship's bridge is glowing with red emergency lights from a fallback battery. Struikas stands at the commander's station as the helm before him, Fire Control and Intelligence stations beside him on the ends of the bridge are also manned, before Struikas turns to Yoruha at the FCO's chair, who goes up to him and stands at attention following what comes out of his mouth next. "Yoruha, status!" Struikas shouts as the feed cuts to the bridge proper. Mieko comes forth in her Promethean attire, having not worn the Auxesian uniform in months even if formally she was in their ranks still. The Ouroboros' pin rests on her lapel, alone, the Serpentis badge nowhere to be found. "Powerplant is offline, external leak - Fire Control and Search radars are inoperable - RCS Thrusters 11 through 19 are inoperable - Main thruster ignition is damaged, Deck B is venting atmosphere, LSS offline." Mieko responds, looking over the systems she is linked to. Struikas gives off an irritated groan. "Of fucking course... Yoru, damage control." "I sealed Deck B after the Kennedy penetrated with its' forward gun. Thankfully most of the superstructure is intact. quarters on those decks are still intact. We can still fly without the RCS thrusters but with limited mobility. Without the Muninn Sensor suite, we are reliant on visual local navigation and manual targeting. The Powerplant however.. I've stopped the reactor to minimize hazards. We have approximately 15 hours of power and 5 hours of life support remaining since the Hydroponic system is also down." Mieko answers, haven diligently resolved most of the issues already, at least those that can be fixed. Struikas meanwhile is speechless, eyes widened. "Fuck, color me impressed." "Hanamura-sensei would often encounter unfavorable odds. I've had to apply the hypothetical tourniquet more than once, Struikas-sama." Mieko responds giving a gentle smile in a bit of pride. Struikas turns to the view outside the bridge. Watching the purple hues of the Badlands. "Do we have any way we can bring the reactor back up?" He responds, trying to figure out a way out of this mess. Mieko ponders a second before looking to her superior. "The leak surface area is not extensive, and there is possibly enough shielding from what is on the Muninn's fire control radar that could be possibly welded over the leak area. It would be enough to restore the powerplant and get us to Bethlehem for emergency repairs." The man nods. "Right, Anyone want to volun--" Struikas asks before Mieko interjects. "I will volunteer, sir." "No, it's too risky for someone of your importance to the fleet to-" "Sir, with all due respect for your rank, tenure and history, I am likely the only person who can accurately repair this ship to a stable enough state for super-luminal travel, let alone travel at all." Mieko answers sternly, not having any of his protectiveness. A hurt look briefly covers Andrew's face before he resets himself, giving a nod. "Alright. There should be an EVA suit in the DC Locker just outside the bridge. Suit up and take the airlock and fix it up. Keep in contact on Channel 13X." Mieko salutes her superior before walking out of the bridge. The helmsman, Lieutenant Drake Halsey, a dark-haired young Libertonian man, speaks up. "For a bot she sure is a kissass.." he comments, before raising the ire of Struikas, who marches over to the Helmsman's chair, lifts his hat from his head and proceeds to hit him with it. "You watch your fucking tongue, do you understand me?" Struikas shouts, angrily. "She busted her ass out there earlier, whacking those Aegis shitstains and keeping our men, and us, safe! If anyone should be a kissass, it should be you, kissing hers, for keeping your shit flying from getting us killed - especially when you almost smeared Carmine across the bow, and didn't know the definition of "Standoff" if it bit you on the ass!" he says, going all out. The freshly minted Legionnaire collapses in on himself his seat, as Struikas stares him down. "And she's not a -fucking bot-, she is an AI, and as far as I'm concerned she is just as human as the rest of us, especially given the fact she can feel like the rest of us too! She busts her ass, day in and day out, whether as my WSO, or FCO here on this fucking shitheap, and has gone through so much fucking worse than any sob story you can draw up - and you will give her the respect she deserves, even if she shares your fucking rank, do I make my self clear, Legionnaire!?" "Yes sir!" Halsey responds, the fear of god in his eyes. Struikas' demeanor returns to normal. "You should thank your lucky stars I don't see fit to report your ass to With. Dubliner like her would do way worse than me, and she likes Mieko as well, so if I were you I'd keep any negative opinions of her that aren't justified to yourself." He says, before going back to his chair and sitting there, waiting for her to check in as he watches the purple hues and dark planetary rock of the Wastelands' dark depths. Mieko appears on another feed, this time outside the airlock. "Firebrand, Yoruha. I am leaving the ship now, beginning disassembly of the Muninn FCR. Note that fuses 1149, 1200 and 145 through 165 have been tripped to cut power to the sub-relay for the sensor." Mieko says over a secure line to Struikas, who monitors her from the camera views outside of the ship - those that weren't destroyed by the fight. "Got it." Struikas responds. A silence covers the deck as Yoruha works her way to the bow of the Grendel with arc welder in tow. "Thankfully the gases in the cloud here allow for much easier use of arc welding equipment.. No need for a cathode or shielding.." Mieko responds, continuing on with a slow and steady thrust from her jetpack. "Yoru." Struikas chimes in. "About the other night, what we had talked about with you leaving the Technocrats for us full-time. You have my support on it. Actually, I'd like to approach With with you when she gets out of the Infirmary. But I want to know if you're sure this is what you want to do." Mieko doesn't answer for a moment, but upon getting visual of the puck-like radar on the nose of the ship she responds. "Yes. I've not heard from Victoria in over a year, and being near Valravn sickens me. I've been without any orders other than my standing ones since the incursion last year. I have no purpose in Auxesia. I feel like an unused pawn - I don't want to be in their game any longer." "What about the other girl, Cherry?" "She and I have similar sentiments, along with a close friend of theirs, Vengeance." She says as she approaches the sensor, raising the arc welder to it. "This stays between us, of course. They grow tired of the Inner Phalanx's poor decision making. I've heard murmurs in the lower ranks that some are getting restless, even in Auxesian civil society." "That and.. Leviathan promised me so much, and yet.. in the end, I haven't seen much if anything of him for months, even before my departure from Valravn to reside on the Freeport." Mieko continues, feeling as if all of this was just a lure to be yet another asset of the Inner Phalanx. "I feel as if I failed them, their cause. Revenant demands absolute loyalty and yet I now question whether or not her authority is legitimate.. and with what I know of Leviathan now too.. I am tempted to take back what I had said about him.." She continues, spilling her heart out to the man. Struikas meanwhile contemplates her grievances and tries to be a good friend and superior to her. "I get that. Feels like all these years later, Liberty just used me too. Yes, we were fighting a common evil but after that? When the guns fell silent at New London? After that victory I.. It didn't feel like the Navy I signed up for, anymore." he says, as Mieko works to disassemble what remains of the shielding from the sensor. "So believe me when I say this. I've got your back in all this. I wouldn't go into detail.. especially towards Leviathan and Revenant if they catch wind either directly or by proxy but -- Just tell them Serpentis wasn't what you were expecting it'd be, and you're leaving to work with us. If they're not aware you still have ties to Hanamura and them I bet they'll just roll with it. Big Man on Valravn over there won't be too pleased but at this point the Leviathan you knew's deader than Freeport 7 and what in his place ain't exactly the genuine article or anything close to it." "Unless they had a copy of me from my dying breath I wouldn't want anything replacing me." He concludes, with Mieko concluding work. "I understand.. It is just.. I wish things went better.. for all of us." She says, as the shielding breaks free of the radome, which she pulls off with ease and takes to the rear of the ship, to work on the powerplant, moving at a somewhat faster pace. "Who doesn't. Life's fucked though, Mieko. It's gonna give us hard punches more than we'd like unless we somehow have ourselves really cushy lifestyles to protect us from most of it. So honestly? You're just going to need to accept it all. Auxesia's not all sunshine and rainbows, Leviathan's not the man you thought he is, and Revenant's a cunt who personally if I saw her in an escape pod I'd leave her to rot. But you didn't hear that from me." Struikas answers, trying to comfort the dismayed AI, but at the same time give her the cold facts of the matter. "But, you have us. Me, With, Carmine, Hideyoshi, Freud, Levenko, Scerri, Knox, West, Rialto, Crowe - even that big ugly bundle of brains Megiddo. They all give a damn about you. I think honestly, you'd be happier here. Brothers in arms, kicking ass and taking names to rebuild what those corporatist bastards took from us and keep taking from us. Auxesia as far as I've seen lost the human part of transhuman, and truth be told, I'm not that big on that kind of stuff like Hanamura is, but fuck if I can't see a bunch of dicks sticking out from a mile away." He says, venting his own frustrations about Auxesia as well. Mieko starts to work on the exposed Reactor plating, taking the arc welder to it, soldering it to the frame slowly, diligently but surely. "You've got family both with the snake and the burning skull, Yoru'. Kusari you may be, you've got that Liberty blood in you, I can feel it, as do all of us. We want a place in this hellhole humanity's carved for itself to a beacon of hope and prosperity. And I know you want it too. It's what the Legionnaires I used to fight for a time wanted. But in all honesty? If I could have changed sides back then, I would have, knowing what I know now." Struikas concludes. "You're not wrong for wanting out." Mieko finishes her work, examining it for any flaws, before responding. A tear manifests from her eyes. Then another. A few more follow. A smile on her face. "Thank you.. sir.." "Don't call me sir, and none of that -sama shit, you hear me?" he says sternly, but from a good place. "Andrew. Call me Andrew. You deserve it." She smiles with all her digital heart, and nods affirmatively. "Hai! Andrew!" "Atta girl. What's the condition on the reactor?" Struikas asks of her, with a bit of pride. "Reactor is.. mm.. not good.." Mieko says as her mood turns dour once more, but for another reason. "What's going on?" "Sadly on closer examination, the superstructure's suffered too much damage to be fit for superluminal travel... The communications relay still works, however.. maybe we can hail the Incursus to jump in system with a repair ship once out of the Badlands?" She answers, before Struikas moves to ponder the decision. Mieko already is heading back to the airlock to reenter the ship as he does so. "Incursus will likely be unavailable. That and a lot of us got fucked hard in that fight, so their pods are probably well on their way back to Inverness by now.. Don't really have much options this deep in Liberty." he concludes, realizing how rough their situation is. Mieko, however, has an epiphany. "Maybe we can phone a friend, Andrew." She comments, as her magboots clamp onto the airlock exterior, with her waiting to be cycled in. "What, call on the Hackers for help? That Chloe girl got her ass smeared by Kemp and his lackeys, don't think the others will--" "Can you get us to Sector A7?" she says, interupting Struikas' retort. He stops for a second, before trusting Mieko's judgement. "Helm, run up the engines and get us to A7." The powerplant kicks on into life, albeit barely, as the ship starts to move once more, roaring to life slowly, moving its' way through the dark purple void. The ship cuts its' way out of the storm cloud at speed, working its' way on cruise engines out of the area.. only to be met by a patrol -- a Liberty Gunboat and two fighters - bearing the mark of the 7th Independent. ♪ With their radars out, they don't see it until Mieko makes eye sight of it through the onboard thermal sensors. "Contact, Defiant-class Gunboat with two times Defender escort, our 050 for 80, leaning on us!" Mieko calls out, as Struikas shows his frustration once more, not with Mieko, but with the situation at hand. "So much for getting out of here with our new ship!" Radio communications on the other end meanwhile, are much more surgical. "Galveston-actual, Gamma 1. VID via EOTS is 1 times Grendel-class frigate, HFF Return to Sender." "LNS Galveston to Gamma flight. Yep, that's the one Kemp-Smith said was fragged. Finish it." "Gamma-Actual, Affirm. Master arm on." The two fighters move ahead of the gunboat, and press on the frigate, preparing to arm cruise disruptors. "Yoruha! Weapons --" Struikas says, before suddenly, the ship is hit by a cruise disruptor at range. He corrects himself and orders again. "Let those pricks have it with what we have left!" "That won't be needed, Andrew-kun." she answers. The hull shudders and shakes as above the Return to Sender, a rip in spacetime manifests -- a jump-drive initiated jump hole. The pilots of the enemy group look on in shock. "The fuck..? Ulysses, Gamma-Actual, we have any Surveyor signatures on this thing!? It just opened a--" the flight lead says before his jaw drops mid transit to the target. A massive, hulking hull slips out of the wormhole, done in black and teal - a Bustard-class Aviation Battlecruiser. Upon its' fore, the sigil of the Ouroboros, and on its' side, the nameplate. The OCS Tochigi. As it slips out into normal space, a second shaking, and audible horn-like blaring, deep and furious, can be heard from all in the immediate area, as if it were a battlecry. Cannons and CIWS batteries across the hull turn towards the Defenders as they manifest, the Kirsche Fire Control Radar aboard locking them in quick unison. "The fuck!?" Struikas, Halsey and even the enemy pilots share in unison. "Galveston FCO here, contact singleton, Bustard-class Heavy Battlecruiser! IFF response is sour, Ouroboros capital has penetrated the Liberty defense net!" The FCO on the Ulysees shouts, in shock at the sight as her superior slams his chair in confused anger. "When the fuck did those third-rate Kusari Blood Dragon rejects have a fucking Battlecruiser!? Someone get Chadwick and West Point on the line!" He says, as seconds later, a Dromedary, the OCS Allegiant Hope, undocks and in short order, begins to jam communications beyond the range of the ships' FCR, flooding the neural net's datalink frequency in the region, stopping any calls for assistance. "Unable! Electronic warfare is being instigated on the neural net datalink, we can't hail beyond visual range!" One of the comms officers on the Ulysses shouts in a panic. Back on the Sender, a hail is recieved. "This is Major Kenichi Inubashiri, Ouroboros CVBC-01, Tochigi. Hanamura-dono said you needed assistance?" the voice of a older Kusari male utters over the line. Struikas looks to Mieko, surprised. "I managed to notify Hanamura-sensei that we would be likely needing assistance as we were being chased by the Kennedy. I sent the signal to jump as soon as I could reconnect to her." The Tochigi's primary cannon, as the gunship comes into range, primes itself, bearing down on it with the fire of a thousand suns from the Amaterasu cannon aboard. The Sunwreath-pattern cannon charging, as VLS Cells along the bow break open to reveal Harpoon-type missiles in their silos. With the shot of the cannon, all hell in the area begins to break loose. "All hands, priority on threats closest to the HVA, CIWS batteries on the snubcraft, everything else on the LNS Galveston. Scramble the Alert 5 flight to prosecute snubcraft if they break away from the engagement." Inubashiri orders, just as the Sunwreath's fire finally hits the Galveston, a precise shot as it was manevuering to flee out of the area to call for reinforcements. The hit quakes the gunship, bringing down shields to the point it disrupts the cruise engines briefly from charging. Two harpoons are let loose in a single batch of six, firing from the VLS Cells on the ship at the Galveston, guided by the IRST sensors aboard the massive ship. "MLWS alert! Harpoon tracks, multiple at 130 for 20 plus 1! They're volley launching!" The intel officer aboard the Galveston reports, somewhat panicked. The FCO follows up. "Time to impact is 10 seconds, readying cannons for CIWS fire!" she calls out, desperately trying to keep calm amidst the frenzy. The ship dumps countermeasures, but the missiles' terminal guidance has kicked in, and using IR countermeasures at this point was moot as their onboard radars now follow the ship to its' fate. "Any station, any station! LNS Galveston to any station, we are in distress - foreign insurgent capital is engaging us, any station, support, request support! West Point, Norfolk, Missouri! - I'll settle for Fort Bush - anyone! We need reinfor--" the commander shouts out, hoping to get through the jamming as they run away from the Allegiant Hope, being harassed by the fighters as it and the Tochigi exchange fires with them -- only to be sharply cut out by the hit of a Harpoon through the CIWS screen of the Galveston, striking the aft just as the shield was about to recharge, knocking out the engines in a lethal blaze of light. "Damage report!" He shouts out, desperate to know what's going on. "Propulsion and rear MLWS sensors are bent! Additional missiles inbound! Vampires 7, 8 and 10, time to impact is 5 seconds!" cries the FCO, not sure she can intercept them all. "Brace! Brace!" the commander shouts, knowing what likely will come next. "Ready NCS and DCC systems and brace!" As the Harpoons bear down on the Galveston, one is managed to be defeated by the fires from the ship, whereas the two remaining plow straight amidships, first knocking down the shields from the blast, whilst the second devestates the starboard side of the hull, exposing two of the ship's four decks to direct vacuum - overkill for the ship, as its' coolant and power lines are severely damaged in the blast, knocking it into a slow spin as it tumbles uncontrollably. "Catastrophic hull breach, Deck B lost, Deck C blocks 1 and 2 are lost! Shield and DCC busses are gone, powerplant's gone on a wildcat meltdow--" the FCO is alerted, before the commander orders to abandon ship. "Muster stations, muster stations! All hands, abandon ship, to the escape pod, now!" he shouts, as the ship veers slowly to see a final Harpoon on course to hit them again, the Tochigi in plain sight. The commander stares down the missile as it veers towards the helpless ship. The final thoughts of the commander, are out of spite of their superior's negligence in killing the Sender. "Kemp-Smith, you stupid motherfu---" he shouts, only cut off by the missile's impact upon the bridge, striking it head on. The blast silences the Galveston - as its' bridge falls quiet. The fight continues, as the two fighters see the Galveston go up and decide to run off to West Point, being chased after by a pair of Falchions which joined the fight amidst the capital battle. As the two pursue, the Sender is hailed again - by Hanamura herself. The man heard stories about her from Mieko, but now he was face to face with Ouroboros' infamous leader. He stares her down as she looks to the helm, him and Mieko adjacent. "You're welcome." Hanamura says, a bit smug as she looks to the duo. Struikas, in his usual crass manner, responds. "One helluva planetside assistance call." "I spent years in Liberty. One thing that didn't change, especially with Kensington's information verifying - they intensify patrols after an engagement like that to weed out any other major threats. Tochigi was overkill, but It was the best option we have given the time-sensitive nature of the situation and what you needed. Speaking of.." Hanamura says, before a pair of Starfliers undock from the underside of the Tochigi, bearing nanobot injecting arms protruding from the lateral mounts. They are repair drones, designed for battle repairs of ships in space. ♪ "The drones here will get your superstructure in order. We'll open a wormhole for you to Ontario. From there the Tochigi will return to Tau-44. You would be wise to go back to Valravn." She continues. "It's an honor to meet you, Miss Hanamura." Struikas says, presenting to her more formally, now that his opinion was out of the way. "Mieko's told me a lot about you, her sister, everything." he says. "Suffice to say it's an honor to be in the presence of living history like you." Hanamura nods. "Yes, yes. As has she about you. Thank you for keeping her safe where Leviathan clearly failed." She says, unamused with Leviathan. "Yeah.." Struikas says, patching the audio in to Mieko and his' neural laces, to keep eevesdroppers out of the discussion. "Seems he dropped her like a bad habit and left her to deal with the spook brigade's unfeeling masses." Struikas says, mocking the Serpentis division. "Have to ask, haven't seen you guys in months." "Things came up and we needed to reassess interests. No offense, but we terminated the Demeter AOR. We're working to start talks with the Dragons and expediting our shift to Kusari. Don't expect us to roll in to help you like this on the regular." she says, bluntly, as the nanobots get to work to repair the superstructure and get it ready to jump. Struikas nods. "Yeah I get that. Liberty's a crowded mexican standoff already as it is. Fuck, we had a Non-Alliance Xeno, Lovelace hacker, and to a lesser extent, an Outcast capital out there blasting navy ships with us today." He says, sincere in his understanding of the situation. Hanamura is unnerved by the last part. "Outcasts?" "Look, we didn't phone them in, they rolled up and picked a fight with the 46th whilst we were lobbing SSMs at an Aegis Gunboat." Struikas comments. "I see... anywho. My men will see you to clearer waters. Skidbladnir already is on station with a surveyor to set up an endpoint." "Right. Well, if you ever need a hand with anything, you know how to find me or Yoru." Struikas answers. "Maybe when Prometheus gets out from under Auxesia, we can. Suffice to say, we're not exactly on the same page about Kusari.. but we can at least agree Liberty's no good." Hanamura responds with a nod. "With that being said.. I have a communique to write to the TSK sect." "Right. Godspeed, Hanamura." "To you as well. Keep Mieko safe. And if things turn sour --" Hanamura replies before being cut off. Struikas chuckles. "I doubt they will. We're family, brothers in arms here. But if it ever comes to it, I'll let you know, ma'am." The horn of the Tochigi blares again, as a new rift manifests before it, and the drones pull away, snubcraft moving in to land. "There's your ride out. Good luck." Hanamura says with a gentle smile, before both lines cut. Struikas looks to Halsey and gives an order. "Helm, through the hole." "Helm through the hole, sir." Halsey responds. Mieko and Struikas look on at the wormhole before them. "Andrew." Mieko says, turning to the grizzled veteran. He turns, a bit tired, but otherwise still in decent mood. "Yeah?" "Thank you. For being here for me." She says, with the smile she oft used to give to Hanamura, years ago. A smile filled with compassion and cheer. He can't help but give a hearty laugh. "Anytime, Yoru. I'm glad you're here too." he responds. Before the two seperate to their stations, and prepare for the jump, the Sender limping home, having lost the battle they came for, but winning the chance to fight another day.

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