Gunhand4171
The Gunman
Fort Sentinel, Planet Fortuna
0600 hours
The base was calm. Well, calm by military standards. There were jets launching and techs running to and fro, but to the naval personal there, it was peaceful. Fort Sentinel was established on Fortuna. The Fort was built to be a testing facility for the Nep. Navy. They would test fly new planes and aircraft. For this the best of the best were asked to come here. That is why Captain Nero Vega was getting off the shuttle. Captain Vega grabbed his glasses and hopped up from the shuttle that had just brought him in. "Thanks for the lift pilot." he called over his shoulder. "No...no problem Mr. ‘Crux’ sir... I mean Captain." He laughed, 'Looks like my story precedes me again,' thinking to himself. Nero walked into the base, walking up to the short wiry attendant at the desk. He looked up and snapped to attention. "At ease son, I'm Captain Vega, I'm here to see the Admiral. Could you direct me to his office?" "Yes sir, he is down the hall, last door on the left." the young man said. He nodded to him and walked to the Admiral's office.
He walked up to the door and knocked. "Come in." called a deep rough voice. As he walked in, Nero met the man himself. It was the ‘Warhawk’, Rear Admiral Titus Orion. Nero snapped to attention. As quickly as he did Titus waved him off. "We can spare the formalities for now Captain. I am glad you could make it." the Admiral said as he reached into his drawer to grab a cigar. He offered it to the Captain. Nero took it with a nod. "Thank you Sir," the Captain said. "Listen Nero, I have called you here to ask you something. I want you to create a new flight for the 78th Tactical Battalion. I have heard of your previous service against the Reds and I was impressed. I know that you will be a good fit for the Aquilas." Nero was surprised. "I'm flattered sir, but do you really think that I am the man for the job? I have previous experience, yes, but does that make me qualified?"
The Admiral laughed, "Of course you are Captain. I am very confident in your abilities. Your flight record is quite impressive. I am asking you to lead the best flight of pilots the galaxy will ever see. Will you do it Captain?" Nero puffed on his cigar. He let out a ring of smoke, flashing the Admiral a grin. "If you think so sir, then count me in." Admiral Titus grinned, "I was hoping you would say that. In fact we banked on you accepting the position. We already have your XO here ready to meet you." He tapped a button on his desk. "Please send in the Lt. Commander."
Lt. Commander Jayden Solaris had been idly pacing the floor in another room, rather impatient to say the least. What did the Admiral want with him? Wasn't it enough he agreed to start training the fresh recruits, a task he absolutely dreaded with the whole of his being. He wasn't some lap dog, he was an Ace, a damn good one. Jayden's scowl wasn't the worst thing to be seen, but it did leave one feeling like they'd rather watch paint dry than see that face again.
"Lt Commander Solaris, the Admiral is ready to see you now." Ensign Maloy offered, a young female officer in training, serving as the Admiral's temporary assistant. "Ensign... Maloy was it?" He eyed her sharply as if to cut her down for disturbing his thoughts. "If you ever enter a room without saluting me again, I will make sure you never make it through the Academy. Do I make myself clear?" She snapped to attention next to the door, visibly shaken by his serious threat. He saluted her back casually and made his way into the Admiral's office.
As Commander Solaris walked into the room, the Admiral and Nero turned to face the new comer. "Good morning Lt. Commander Solaris. Sorry for the wait."
Jayden's demeanor lightened just a little, carrying less displeasure in his face and more of a serious if not impassioned expression. Snapping to attention, he saluted his superior officers. "Good morning, sir!" It was almost as if there was a condescending tone to his actions, almost exaggerated and mocking even. He brought his salute down and relaxed into an ‘at ease’ position, however, he would not sit down with Orion or Vega until ordered to do so.
The Admiral and Nero returned Solaris's salute. "Have a seat Commander." He said gesturing to the seat next to Nero. Titus looked over to Vega as Solaris sat down. "Captain Vega, I would like you to meet your new XO, Lt. Commander Jayden Solaris." Nero tuned to face the younger commander. He smiled and stuck out his hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you Commander. I hope we will work well together."
"Ugh... is he really going to make me sit down and play nice?" Jayden hesitated a moment, then proceeded to nod to the Admiral. "Just because my father is a benefactor for Orion, doesn't mean he can just..." Hearing the Admiral say he was being reassigned again to be someone's XO drew a subtle glare toward the Admiral before he collected himself and sat down. "Captain Nero Vega... To what do I owe you the honor..." He turned from Vega, giving a cursory shake, but more importantly his gaze fell back upon the Admiral. "This isn't just some mundane assignment like the last you gave me. It would seem as though you are amassing forces for something much larger.”
Nero retracted his hand. 'This little...' As Vega was about to speak the Admiral cut him off. "You’re right Commander. I have brought both of you hear to create a new highly trained Flight for the 78th and I want 'BOTH' of you to lead them." He said Looking g at Solaris. "Captain Vega will be your Flight’s new CO. That being said, whatever he says goes… Am I clear?" He said, with an eyebrow raised questioningly.
Jayden started reading much deeper into things, and seemed much less about impressing his new CO. It wasn't anything against him, and despite the tone, he actually admired the legendary Captain. Would the Captain ever hear him say such? Hell would freeze over first. This seemed serious; nothing like this had been done in recent history and especially not with most of the Fleets turning to 90%+ PA usage. What was the old Warhawk cooking up, or more importantly what was the threat they needed the best for? Jayden straightened up, and narrowed his eyes a little, but acknowledged the command without a grumble or anything. "Sir, yes sir."
The Admiral gave a wry smile. "Good, I have forwarded the dossiers of your new squad mates to your DataJockeys. I want both of you to review them and get your craft in order. Dismissed." He said. Vega stood up and saluted, looking to his new XO. “Let us get to work XO." he said making his way to the door.
Jayden stood up and saluted as well, then looked to Vega and nodded, "Yes sir." he stated evenly. Words took a back seat for the time being as Jayden dug deeper into the events that just happened. Almost immediately upon exiting the office, Jayden had his DataJockey out going over the names of the team - it was odd that one listed TBD. Jayden's pace even though he was focused on the DataJockey was still fairly quick and purposeful, probably to his CO's surprise.
"Okay 'Striker,' how does the roster look?" Vega asked as the two made their way towards the hangers. He had heard a little bit about his new XO. He was quite an excellent pilot - Though as he had just seen, a bit egotistical.
Hearing his commanding officer address him by his call sign so soon drew a raised eyebrow from Jayden. "Well sir, it seems Robin Hood is going to get his rag tag band of 'merry men'." He knew his response wasn't actually a good answer, but it seemed a fitting jab toward the Captain in good taste. "I honestly don't know what the Admiral was thinking with this, we might as well go collect 5 fresh bodies and throw them in planes." He paused before reading off the team's names and call signs, then their previous flight history.
As Striker read off the names and their history, he chuckled. "Well just remember Commander, don't judge the card before it's drawn. We might have some aces in here. They will just require a little work, and that’s where you and I come in." He said looking at the Commander. "We will create the greatest pilots the galaxy has ever seen, you and I." Vega said looking off towards his fighter. The light gleaming off the Southern Cross constellation on his upgraded Unos as they made their way into the hanger. He stopped and faced his plane, watching the ground crew work on her.
He looked to Crux, idly annoyed by his optimism, but knew that he was probably right. The team wasn't that bad, they actually were pretty good all things considered. "With all due respect Captain, I'm not a babysitter. You can shape them however you see fit, and I will do my best not to make their lives absolute hell if they don't live up to my expectations. I believe that is fair enough."
The Southern Cross didn't even turn around. "I don't expect you to be a babysitter Striker. I expect you to be my XO." He said turning now to face him. "You will be the second in command of a squadron of the best fighter pilots. In a world where most people think that the traditional ace is a thing of the past. We will make them better, there is no doubt in my mind that a young experienced ace, and a veteran can whip these nuggets into shape. Am I right Commander?" He said with a smirk.
Jayden snorted, conceding to his CO that apparently put their rose colored shades on. Hope is a powerful tool when used properly. Hope is something that can literally make or break a person. Hope is something the weak cling to when they have nothing else to hold them up. Jayden knew better than to allow hope to control his emotions long ago, brought about by something in his past. "Yes Captain, we shall see what they can do." He offered flatly before walking around Nero's Uno with every intention of seeing the modifications for himself.
Nero shook his head. 'I guess that this one will be the yin to my yang.' he thought. He saw Jayden walking around his plane. He looked up at his Unos and called out, "Hey Cipher! Say hello to Lt. Commander Solaris. His designation is Aquila 2. Say hello and tell him about yourself. There was a moment of silence, and then the plane rang to life. "Hello Lt. Commander Solaris. I am Captain Vega's ACE. He has named me Cipher. The craft in question has been upgraded with a new cockpit, better armor plating, larger and stronger power plant, brand new electronic warfare equipment, extra weapons bays, and a new computer for me to reside in. It is a pleasure to meet you Aquila 2." Nero laughed. "What do you think XO?"
Jayden raised his eyebrow after hearing Nero speak to another person – as such the response that came back surprised him a little. "So we’ve been given the green light to use ACE AIs as well?" He thought to himself before responding back. "Thank you Cipher for jumping the gun, I had wanted to enjoy discovering things for myself." He admonished the AI sharply, but then added in a lighter yet no less serious tone, "Forward me a listing of the specs at your earliest convenience Cipher. That will be all." He looked to Nero, giving him a cursory nod. "We have a lot of work to do, and we need to acquisition upgrades for a number of craft. I will start work on seeing what resources we have access to and recommend a new standard retrofitting for the flight."
Cipher quickly compiled everything it had on Nero's Uno, and forwarded it to Jayden. "A full report has been sent to your personal data jockey Lt. Commander. I hope everything is to your liking." Nero looked to his XO. "All right, that sounds like a plan. While you do that, I will call up some more ACEs and get the planes requested. We can meet back here at 1900 hours. Let Cipher help you with the retrofitting, okay?" he said.
"Yes sir, Crux sir." He called to the Captain, focusing more on the report and studying the ship. "Cipher, I want you to run a full diagnostic on all the systems and compare them versus the data I just sent you for a stock Unos..." He would continue going back and forth with the ship's AI, both drilling it for any inconsistencies as well as to hammer out the details for modifications the Unos could handle.
Fort Sentinel 1900 hours
Jayden yawned softly, having literally worked himself like a dog to get done the task of evaluating what they needed to bring Aquila Flight to the forefront of Nepleslia's core of Aces. If they were going to be the best, they needed to be able to stand toe to toe with anything that could come their way. Cipher was probably happy, no - was really happy to have finally finished being drilled by Jayden. As much an AI could be anyway.
As Nero walked back into the hanger, he could see the fruit of Jayden's work. The newly designated Uno X was looking like a great improvment over the stock Unos. He walked up to the XO with a cup of coffee. "Here you go Lt. Commander. I like what you have done with the old girls." He said admiring Strikers handy work. "Can I have a staus update on your progess?"
Jayden looked to the cup of coffee, and nodded to his CO in a silent sign of gratitude. "Well, the poor saps here in the hanger officially hate me but I think the modifications to the ship were much needed and will serve as good groundwork for a new fighter we will eventually finish R&D on." Jayden picked up his DataJockey and sent a list of what had been replaced on the Unos, the comparison between the original Unos and the retrofit Uno X, and lastly the file that outlined the beginnings of a next generation multirole craft that could bridge the gap between PA use and traditional fightercraft.
Nero opened the file on his own datajockey. The retrofit list was quite large. "Damn fine job Striker. I like the work you have done here." He said patting the man on the back. "Excellent work indeed. Your new design looks absolutley astounding. You have totally earned your rack time." He said setting the Datajockey down. " I spoke with the Admiral and have procured ACEs for all the newbies, plus a spare for our TBD. We can distbute them when they get here." He looked at Jayden, his face showing the signs of fatigue. Nero smiled a little. "The Admiral has also left the base. He said he is seeing about the 78th's newest Flagship the 'Thanatos.' Our orders are to meet up with him in two weeks. That gives us some time to put the newbies through the ropes."
"The design is still missing quite a bit. I'm hoping that between the use of the Uno X and what data we can gather from the advanced training we're going to run them through, we might be able to fill in the gaps. As it stands, with the firepower we bring to a fight, we are the backup force to Power Armor, period. Even Yamatai has better ships than we do, on Standby." Jayden really didn't like the thought of being rushing into producing a masterpiece in less than two weeks but there was no point in arguing now. "First the Admiral concocts this scheme to pull us together, then he says work some miracles with assembling a flight from out of nowhere, and now we get to sit here and babysit for two weeks on top of it all?" His voice carried a little bit of annoyance, but overall he seemed to be jesting.
Nero looked at Jayden, then sighed. "Yeah, I'm not going to lie, this will be difficult. However, Admiral Orion wouldn't have entrusted this task to us without having faith in our abilities." he said reaching for something in his pocket. "By the way, I have a gift for you." The captain said, pulling a data chip from his pocket. He handed it to Jayden. "It is your new ACE. Take care of it." He smiled "I think you're going to love it. Load her up and say hi." He said, a mischievous smile growing on his lips.
Jayden raised an eyebrow at Nero when the mentioned having an ACE assigned to him, then wondered just how pissed off at his CO he was going to be. Taking the data chip, Jayden huffed and went to his Unos to install his new ACE. A few moments passed and then, "Good evening Commander!~" A chipper, pleasant female voice rang out throughout the craft which caused Jayden to immediately glare in the general direction of EVERYTHING. It was like his worst nightmare, the disgust written on his face. "Commander? You really shouldn't make that face! It would be a shame for your looks to be tarnished by such~" Oh how he loathed his CO right this moment. He snorted, his face drifting back to just mild distain and promptly exited the ship. "Captain, if you were anyone else, I'd..." He called to his CO, but trailed off remembering he had to save face here.
Nero watched as Jayden entered his craft. As he plugged 'Lilith' in and she began to speak, it took all Nero had to not burst into laughter. Jayden exited his Uno X and Nero threw his hands up. "Hey now XO, I didn't have anything to do with her personality. I might have mentioned an idea, but I didn't order anything." He said smiling uncontroably. This is Lillith, she is your new ACE. Hey Lillith!" Nero called out. "Please take it easy on the XO. I would like it if you didn't drive him to kill me." He finally lost it and laughed.
Lilith responded in kind. "Aww... the Commander doesn't like me? But... but I love him! He's so... cute!~ We're going to get along so well!~" Jayden seemed to be simmering there - from the way he stood there with his arms tightly crossed, to the way his brow was furled along with the wrinkling of his nose, - and the sharpness of his eyes, they were like daggers toward Nero. He couldn't tell if this was the real deal or if he were being toyed with. Lilith was just being Lilith, plain and simple. "If anyone dies due to friendly fire, this is your fault. Remember that." He muttered under his breath.
He really did lose it. "I will keep that in mind. In all seriousness, I did not having anything to do with Lillith's personality. All of the personalities are based off of your psych evaluation. So you can thank some psych eval you filled out for this." He smiled "Don't worry Striker, Lillith and I will grow on you." He smiled. I will leave you both to meet and greet. You have the rest of the day off. We will meet back here at 0700 tomorrow." He started walking out when he turned around. "Oh, Jayden," He looked his XO dead in the eye and smiled. "good work today." He turned and walked out olnly calling back. "Play nice Lillith!"
Jayden was not happy, nor did he want to play nice with his ship's new AI. "All this good work will mean nothing if it's a pile of scrap in the morning~" He tried to emulate her voice with mocking sicky-sweet inflections. Lilith called back to him. "Oh Commander, you have to take a girl out to dinner before you start talking about undressing her to your friends.~" That was it, all he could take for the time being. Jayden snapped to attention to Nero, then stormed off away from both his Unos and his CO. Cursing and muttering could be heard from him as he faded in the distance.
0600 hours
The base was calm. Well, calm by military standards. There were jets launching and techs running to and fro, but to the naval personal there, it was peaceful. Fort Sentinel was established on Fortuna. The Fort was built to be a testing facility for the Nep. Navy. They would test fly new planes and aircraft. For this the best of the best were asked to come here. That is why Captain Nero Vega was getting off the shuttle. Captain Vega grabbed his glasses and hopped up from the shuttle that had just brought him in. "Thanks for the lift pilot." he called over his shoulder. "No...no problem Mr. ‘Crux’ sir... I mean Captain." He laughed, 'Looks like my story precedes me again,' thinking to himself. Nero walked into the base, walking up to the short wiry attendant at the desk. He looked up and snapped to attention. "At ease son, I'm Captain Vega, I'm here to see the Admiral. Could you direct me to his office?" "Yes sir, he is down the hall, last door on the left." the young man said. He nodded to him and walked to the Admiral's office.
He walked up to the door and knocked. "Come in." called a deep rough voice. As he walked in, Nero met the man himself. It was the ‘Warhawk’, Rear Admiral Titus Orion. Nero snapped to attention. As quickly as he did Titus waved him off. "We can spare the formalities for now Captain. I am glad you could make it." the Admiral said as he reached into his drawer to grab a cigar. He offered it to the Captain. Nero took it with a nod. "Thank you Sir," the Captain said. "Listen Nero, I have called you here to ask you something. I want you to create a new flight for the 78th Tactical Battalion. I have heard of your previous service against the Reds and I was impressed. I know that you will be a good fit for the Aquilas." Nero was surprised. "I'm flattered sir, but do you really think that I am the man for the job? I have previous experience, yes, but does that make me qualified?"
The Admiral laughed, "Of course you are Captain. I am very confident in your abilities. Your flight record is quite impressive. I am asking you to lead the best flight of pilots the galaxy will ever see. Will you do it Captain?" Nero puffed on his cigar. He let out a ring of smoke, flashing the Admiral a grin. "If you think so sir, then count me in." Admiral Titus grinned, "I was hoping you would say that. In fact we banked on you accepting the position. We already have your XO here ready to meet you." He tapped a button on his desk. "Please send in the Lt. Commander."
Lt. Commander Jayden Solaris had been idly pacing the floor in another room, rather impatient to say the least. What did the Admiral want with him? Wasn't it enough he agreed to start training the fresh recruits, a task he absolutely dreaded with the whole of his being. He wasn't some lap dog, he was an Ace, a damn good one. Jayden's scowl wasn't the worst thing to be seen, but it did leave one feeling like they'd rather watch paint dry than see that face again.
"Lt Commander Solaris, the Admiral is ready to see you now." Ensign Maloy offered, a young female officer in training, serving as the Admiral's temporary assistant. "Ensign... Maloy was it?" He eyed her sharply as if to cut her down for disturbing his thoughts. "If you ever enter a room without saluting me again, I will make sure you never make it through the Academy. Do I make myself clear?" She snapped to attention next to the door, visibly shaken by his serious threat. He saluted her back casually and made his way into the Admiral's office.
As Commander Solaris walked into the room, the Admiral and Nero turned to face the new comer. "Good morning Lt. Commander Solaris. Sorry for the wait."
Jayden's demeanor lightened just a little, carrying less displeasure in his face and more of a serious if not impassioned expression. Snapping to attention, he saluted his superior officers. "Good morning, sir!" It was almost as if there was a condescending tone to his actions, almost exaggerated and mocking even. He brought his salute down and relaxed into an ‘at ease’ position, however, he would not sit down with Orion or Vega until ordered to do so.
The Admiral and Nero returned Solaris's salute. "Have a seat Commander." He said gesturing to the seat next to Nero. Titus looked over to Vega as Solaris sat down. "Captain Vega, I would like you to meet your new XO, Lt. Commander Jayden Solaris." Nero tuned to face the younger commander. He smiled and stuck out his hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you Commander. I hope we will work well together."
"Ugh... is he really going to make me sit down and play nice?" Jayden hesitated a moment, then proceeded to nod to the Admiral. "Just because my father is a benefactor for Orion, doesn't mean he can just..." Hearing the Admiral say he was being reassigned again to be someone's XO drew a subtle glare toward the Admiral before he collected himself and sat down. "Captain Nero Vega... To what do I owe you the honor..." He turned from Vega, giving a cursory shake, but more importantly his gaze fell back upon the Admiral. "This isn't just some mundane assignment like the last you gave me. It would seem as though you are amassing forces for something much larger.”
Nero retracted his hand. 'This little...' As Vega was about to speak the Admiral cut him off. "You’re right Commander. I have brought both of you hear to create a new highly trained Flight for the 78th and I want 'BOTH' of you to lead them." He said Looking g at Solaris. "Captain Vega will be your Flight’s new CO. That being said, whatever he says goes… Am I clear?" He said, with an eyebrow raised questioningly.
Jayden started reading much deeper into things, and seemed much less about impressing his new CO. It wasn't anything against him, and despite the tone, he actually admired the legendary Captain. Would the Captain ever hear him say such? Hell would freeze over first. This seemed serious; nothing like this had been done in recent history and especially not with most of the Fleets turning to 90%+ PA usage. What was the old Warhawk cooking up, or more importantly what was the threat they needed the best for? Jayden straightened up, and narrowed his eyes a little, but acknowledged the command without a grumble or anything. "Sir, yes sir."
The Admiral gave a wry smile. "Good, I have forwarded the dossiers of your new squad mates to your DataJockeys. I want both of you to review them and get your craft in order. Dismissed." He said. Vega stood up and saluted, looking to his new XO. “Let us get to work XO." he said making his way to the door.
Jayden stood up and saluted as well, then looked to Vega and nodded, "Yes sir." he stated evenly. Words took a back seat for the time being as Jayden dug deeper into the events that just happened. Almost immediately upon exiting the office, Jayden had his DataJockey out going over the names of the team - it was odd that one listed TBD. Jayden's pace even though he was focused on the DataJockey was still fairly quick and purposeful, probably to his CO's surprise.
"Okay 'Striker,' how does the roster look?" Vega asked as the two made their way towards the hangers. He had heard a little bit about his new XO. He was quite an excellent pilot - Though as he had just seen, a bit egotistical.
Hearing his commanding officer address him by his call sign so soon drew a raised eyebrow from Jayden. "Well sir, it seems Robin Hood is going to get his rag tag band of 'merry men'." He knew his response wasn't actually a good answer, but it seemed a fitting jab toward the Captain in good taste. "I honestly don't know what the Admiral was thinking with this, we might as well go collect 5 fresh bodies and throw them in planes." He paused before reading off the team's names and call signs, then their previous flight history.
As Striker read off the names and their history, he chuckled. "Well just remember Commander, don't judge the card before it's drawn. We might have some aces in here. They will just require a little work, and that’s where you and I come in." He said looking at the Commander. "We will create the greatest pilots the galaxy has ever seen, you and I." Vega said looking off towards his fighter. The light gleaming off the Southern Cross constellation on his upgraded Unos as they made their way into the hanger. He stopped and faced his plane, watching the ground crew work on her.
He looked to Crux, idly annoyed by his optimism, but knew that he was probably right. The team wasn't that bad, they actually were pretty good all things considered. "With all due respect Captain, I'm not a babysitter. You can shape them however you see fit, and I will do my best not to make their lives absolute hell if they don't live up to my expectations. I believe that is fair enough."
The Southern Cross didn't even turn around. "I don't expect you to be a babysitter Striker. I expect you to be my XO." He said turning now to face him. "You will be the second in command of a squadron of the best fighter pilots. In a world where most people think that the traditional ace is a thing of the past. We will make them better, there is no doubt in my mind that a young experienced ace, and a veteran can whip these nuggets into shape. Am I right Commander?" He said with a smirk.
Jayden snorted, conceding to his CO that apparently put their rose colored shades on. Hope is a powerful tool when used properly. Hope is something that can literally make or break a person. Hope is something the weak cling to when they have nothing else to hold them up. Jayden knew better than to allow hope to control his emotions long ago, brought about by something in his past. "Yes Captain, we shall see what they can do." He offered flatly before walking around Nero's Uno with every intention of seeing the modifications for himself.
Nero shook his head. 'I guess that this one will be the yin to my yang.' he thought. He saw Jayden walking around his plane. He looked up at his Unos and called out, "Hey Cipher! Say hello to Lt. Commander Solaris. His designation is Aquila 2. Say hello and tell him about yourself. There was a moment of silence, and then the plane rang to life. "Hello Lt. Commander Solaris. I am Captain Vega's ACE. He has named me Cipher. The craft in question has been upgraded with a new cockpit, better armor plating, larger and stronger power plant, brand new electronic warfare equipment, extra weapons bays, and a new computer for me to reside in. It is a pleasure to meet you Aquila 2." Nero laughed. "What do you think XO?"
Jayden raised his eyebrow after hearing Nero speak to another person – as such the response that came back surprised him a little. "So we’ve been given the green light to use ACE AIs as well?" He thought to himself before responding back. "Thank you Cipher for jumping the gun, I had wanted to enjoy discovering things for myself." He admonished the AI sharply, but then added in a lighter yet no less serious tone, "Forward me a listing of the specs at your earliest convenience Cipher. That will be all." He looked to Nero, giving him a cursory nod. "We have a lot of work to do, and we need to acquisition upgrades for a number of craft. I will start work on seeing what resources we have access to and recommend a new standard retrofitting for the flight."
Cipher quickly compiled everything it had on Nero's Uno, and forwarded it to Jayden. "A full report has been sent to your personal data jockey Lt. Commander. I hope everything is to your liking." Nero looked to his XO. "All right, that sounds like a plan. While you do that, I will call up some more ACEs and get the planes requested. We can meet back here at 1900 hours. Let Cipher help you with the retrofitting, okay?" he said.
"Yes sir, Crux sir." He called to the Captain, focusing more on the report and studying the ship. "Cipher, I want you to run a full diagnostic on all the systems and compare them versus the data I just sent you for a stock Unos..." He would continue going back and forth with the ship's AI, both drilling it for any inconsistencies as well as to hammer out the details for modifications the Unos could handle.
Fort Sentinel 1900 hours
Jayden yawned softly, having literally worked himself like a dog to get done the task of evaluating what they needed to bring Aquila Flight to the forefront of Nepleslia's core of Aces. If they were going to be the best, they needed to be able to stand toe to toe with anything that could come their way. Cipher was probably happy, no - was really happy to have finally finished being drilled by Jayden. As much an AI could be anyway.
As Nero walked back into the hanger, he could see the fruit of Jayden's work. The newly designated Uno X was looking like a great improvment over the stock Unos. He walked up to the XO with a cup of coffee. "Here you go Lt. Commander. I like what you have done with the old girls." He said admiring Strikers handy work. "Can I have a staus update on your progess?"
Jayden looked to the cup of coffee, and nodded to his CO in a silent sign of gratitude. "Well, the poor saps here in the hanger officially hate me but I think the modifications to the ship were much needed and will serve as good groundwork for a new fighter we will eventually finish R&D on." Jayden picked up his DataJockey and sent a list of what had been replaced on the Unos, the comparison between the original Unos and the retrofit Uno X, and lastly the file that outlined the beginnings of a next generation multirole craft that could bridge the gap between PA use and traditional fightercraft.
Nero opened the file on his own datajockey. The retrofit list was quite large. "Damn fine job Striker. I like the work you have done here." He said patting the man on the back. "Excellent work indeed. Your new design looks absolutley astounding. You have totally earned your rack time." He said setting the Datajockey down. " I spoke with the Admiral and have procured ACEs for all the newbies, plus a spare for our TBD. We can distbute them when they get here." He looked at Jayden, his face showing the signs of fatigue. Nero smiled a little. "The Admiral has also left the base. He said he is seeing about the 78th's newest Flagship the 'Thanatos.' Our orders are to meet up with him in two weeks. That gives us some time to put the newbies through the ropes."
"The design is still missing quite a bit. I'm hoping that between the use of the Uno X and what data we can gather from the advanced training we're going to run them through, we might be able to fill in the gaps. As it stands, with the firepower we bring to a fight, we are the backup force to Power Armor, period. Even Yamatai has better ships than we do, on Standby." Jayden really didn't like the thought of being rushing into producing a masterpiece in less than two weeks but there was no point in arguing now. "First the Admiral concocts this scheme to pull us together, then he says work some miracles with assembling a flight from out of nowhere, and now we get to sit here and babysit for two weeks on top of it all?" His voice carried a little bit of annoyance, but overall he seemed to be jesting.
Nero looked at Jayden, then sighed. "Yeah, I'm not going to lie, this will be difficult. However, Admiral Orion wouldn't have entrusted this task to us without having faith in our abilities." he said reaching for something in his pocket. "By the way, I have a gift for you." The captain said, pulling a data chip from his pocket. He handed it to Jayden. "It is your new ACE. Take care of it." He smiled "I think you're going to love it. Load her up and say hi." He said, a mischievous smile growing on his lips.
Jayden raised an eyebrow at Nero when the mentioned having an ACE assigned to him, then wondered just how pissed off at his CO he was going to be. Taking the data chip, Jayden huffed and went to his Unos to install his new ACE. A few moments passed and then, "Good evening Commander!~" A chipper, pleasant female voice rang out throughout the craft which caused Jayden to immediately glare in the general direction of EVERYTHING. It was like his worst nightmare, the disgust written on his face. "Commander? You really shouldn't make that face! It would be a shame for your looks to be tarnished by such~" Oh how he loathed his CO right this moment. He snorted, his face drifting back to just mild distain and promptly exited the ship. "Captain, if you were anyone else, I'd..." He called to his CO, but trailed off remembering he had to save face here.
Nero watched as Jayden entered his craft. As he plugged 'Lilith' in and she began to speak, it took all Nero had to not burst into laughter. Jayden exited his Uno X and Nero threw his hands up. "Hey now XO, I didn't have anything to do with her personality. I might have mentioned an idea, but I didn't order anything." He said smiling uncontroably. This is Lillith, she is your new ACE. Hey Lillith!" Nero called out. "Please take it easy on the XO. I would like it if you didn't drive him to kill me." He finally lost it and laughed.
Lilith responded in kind. "Aww... the Commander doesn't like me? But... but I love him! He's so... cute!~ We're going to get along so well!~" Jayden seemed to be simmering there - from the way he stood there with his arms tightly crossed, to the way his brow was furled along with the wrinkling of his nose, - and the sharpness of his eyes, they were like daggers toward Nero. He couldn't tell if this was the real deal or if he were being toyed with. Lilith was just being Lilith, plain and simple. "If anyone dies due to friendly fire, this is your fault. Remember that." He muttered under his breath.
He really did lose it. "I will keep that in mind. In all seriousness, I did not having anything to do with Lillith's personality. All of the personalities are based off of your psych evaluation. So you can thank some psych eval you filled out for this." He smiled "Don't worry Striker, Lillith and I will grow on you." He smiled. I will leave you both to meet and greet. You have the rest of the day off. We will meet back here at 0700 tomorrow." He started walking out when he turned around. "Oh, Jayden," He looked his XO dead in the eye and smiled. "good work today." He turned and walked out olnly calling back. "Play nice Lillith!"
Jayden was not happy, nor did he want to play nice with his ship's new AI. "All this good work will mean nothing if it's a pile of scrap in the morning~" He tried to emulate her voice with mocking sicky-sweet inflections. Lilith called back to him. "Oh Commander, you have to take a girl out to dinner before you start talking about undressing her to your friends.~" That was it, all he could take for the time being. Jayden snapped to attention to Nero, then stormed off away from both his Unos and his CO. Cursing and muttering could be heard from him as he faded in the distance.
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