Combat Training [Private]

Admin Posts : 69 Join date : 2010-04-24

Dammit, she's late.
"Alright. We're gonna have to take off without our Wild Weasel. John, looks like it's just us in the air today." A blonde-haired male yelled that across the hangar of the Macross Quarter. His EX-Gear was already connected to the cockpit of the massive plane he was in. Streamlined with a forward-swept wing design, the CFA-21 prototype Valkyrie was no laughing matter. It had enough firepower to rival a VF-25S Super Messiah. The canopy slid down and locked. Tsubine pulled on the joysticks. This was followed by pushing and turning them. As he did each action, the flaps on the wings and tail moved in accordance to how he moved each one.

"Aerilons are check. Engines are runnin' smooth. I'm moving to the catapult."

The massive fighter's twin engines lit up in unison as the behemoth crawled to the elevator to the left-hand side of the hangar. As the massive aircraft was being lifted to the deck, the pilot looked down at the pilot of the bulky Armored Messiah and pushed his glasses up by the nose. As the elevator came to a halt, Tsubine looked around. All he could see, aside from the Frontier's escort fleet, were stars. Millions upon billions of them. "This is Skull 05, Strigon Lead, Tsubine Blanc. Requesting clearance for takeoff on catapult 3."

The radio cackled and a voice broke through. Slightly stern, it was the voice of Skull 01, Ozma Lee. "Skull 05, permission to launch has been granted. 'Dunno why you need this damn training but go ahead. The Vajra ain't getting weaker."
"Tch, alright Skull 01." Tsubine popped his neck and took a firmer grasp on the joysticks on his Ea. "Skull 05, launching." With that, the electromagnetic link of the catapult pulled on the fighter. Tsubine pushed forward on the throttle, increasing the speed. In an instant, he was clear of the deck. The fighter turned around and soared past the bridge. If one had been able to see into the cockpit for any length of time as he passed, they would have seen the young man pushing up his glasses as he smirked. The Ea then flew past the bridge of a Northampton-class frigate before doing another one-hundred-and-eighty. The fighter slowed down as it passed over the Macross Quarter.
"Hey, Skull 06, what's taking you so long? I need my suppressor or else this won't go well."

Posts : 4 Join date : 2011-03-02

"Just the two of us, eh? This is going to be boring." Slumping his shoulders down in a slight joke, but still activating the switches inside of his Armored Messiah without any delay, a brown-haired tall man was seen for a moment before his cockpit closed itself upon startup. His EX-Gear was like a second skin to him, or so it seemed, as he gripped the joysticks with precision. He was rather new in the Skull Squad, but not new inside of a Valkyrie. He knew how to fly this thing, even though it had nearly twice the power of the last official army Valkyrie he ever piloted.

"Skull 06, Johnathan Walker, requesting liftoff from Catapult 4. Get me into the air before that Tsubine crashes into the next best asteroid."
"Permission granted. Try not to demolish your Valkyrie."
"Skull 06, taking off."
The electromagnetic field did it's magic, as the heavily armored Messiah was launched into the depths of space, right after his Squad leader, Tsubine Blanc. As he followed the motion of said commander, speeding past the bridge, the smirk on his never wavering face was only growing larger.
"Well excuse me, Skull 05. I was just struck down by how awesome my flying is that I couldn't follow at lightspeed." Seething with sarcasm, the answer of Tsubines question followed with the typical tone of the brown-haired man who stopped his fighter infront of the Ea his leader was piloting. One hell of a machine, for sure. Still, even this 'simple' Armored Messiah was so much better than the last piece of junk he piloted that he had no complains... yet.
Besides his overconfident smirk, Johnathan also checked through all of his systems now in-flight again - everything was running smoothly. Not that it mattered too much, since no Vajra had been reported today. This was mainly another flight training - or how John called it, another chance for Tsubine to show of his Enuma Elish.
"So what's the plan now, Boss?"

Admin Posts : 69 Join date : 2010-04-24

"Rule of combat number two: no matter how good you think you are, if you're slow, you're dead. Anyways, we're just going to be testing out how well Strigon is at taking out warships. We've got a couple of Northamptons providing live fire to simulate a battle while we take out the wreckage of four Guantanamo-class carriers that were damaged during the last Vajra raid." Tsubine zipped past his wingman, firing a flare signalling the start of the operation. This was nothing more than simple cleanup duty for the military, but it did help the training of the S.M.S. pilots in combat training. The live fire was specifically requested by Tsubine. He needed to test himself in three ways.

The first was how well he could pilot. If he could not avoid the AA and AS barrages from the frigates, then he would be shot down. But Tsubine's main concern was not if he could avoid them, but if he could outrun them. "Survival of the Fastest" as he would say. The second way was how well he could lead. He hasn't been in control of the Strigon Team for long, and he needed to be able to lead without relying on his spotter. In the Strigon Team, the currently three-member team consisted of a leader, a suppressor, and a spotter. A suppressor is a craft designated specifically for destroying defenses. The spotter, or Wild Weasel, was the craft designated for radar sweeping.

The final way Tsubine needed to train himself was how well he could determine where ships were just by their angle of fire. He had no idea where the Northamptons were, except out of his view. If he thought he had one located, he would make a note of it and report it back to HQ. If correct, it would be like a game of battleship. In an instant, the warships would deactivate and move locations. Hell, Tsubine didn't even know how many there were. But he didn't care.

Pushing the aircraft past cruising speed, he zipped around asteroids and small debris faster than any Nightmare Plus could. As he neared the front of the 25^th Fleet, he began to see some of the damaged craft. A smirk crawled back onto his face as he pulled back on the throttle, slowing the craft down to wait on his wingman. "Well Skull Six, you ready to test out how well you can pilot? Also, if you find out one of the Northampton's locations, just stay quiet about it."

Posts : 4 Join date : 2011-03-02

"Well excuse me my prince for not flying the damn fastest Valkyrie we have. I'll try to remember your wisdom once your speed leads into the next best wall." The biting sarcasm and slight chuckle in Johnathans voice only strengthened the annoying image anyone would most likely have from him right now - but Ozma didn't put him into the SMS for making stupid jokes, but for his talent in piloting and that certain something that made him survive being goddamn reckless.
"Anyways, the plan sounds easy enough, if our 'live ammuniton' training partners don't fire ten times the amount of bullets of a normal Vajra swarm. Though knowing you, the surprise is just waiting for us." Stopping his Valkyrie behind the one of his leader again, changing it into Battroid mode on a whim, scanning into the area ahead. Unlike his leader, Johnathan wasn't nearly as serious about WHAT to train - he was always following his instincts anyways, and trusted in them.
"Keep clear of location into, break through, destroy the targets. Roger that. I'm ready when you are, Skull 05." Having all his systems loaded and double-checking his armored pack once again, Walker was ready to kick ass and show his squad leader that he could do more than just talk.

Admin Posts : 69 Join date : 2010-04-24

Tsubine ignored Johnathan's comments. Well, he failed to reply is more like it. He peered over to look at Johnathan's Messiah turning into its humanoid form, known as Battroid. He shook his head. I guess I should've told him the only stipulation of this training... "Skull Six...I'm going to need you to go to fighter mode only. That's the only rule I was given. The others are orders from me personally." The Enuma Elish's throttle was pushed forward, giving the fighter a large speed boost. The two thrusters lit up blue and it was off. Passing the Armored Messiah, Tsubine smirked again. His mecha lurched as the Northamptons opened fire. The blue, yellow, and orange shells and beams swarmed like hornets around the Enuma Elish. They were obviously not trying to hit one another, and so it was even more chaotic. The ships were firing from both sides, with a full broadside every few seconds. That's what Tsubine needed.

Three sets of two parallel beams shot out from the left. It was slightly above Tsubine's fighter. He reached to the front panel and typed out three letters. B. D. S. The cockpit's internal shield popped up and the two control sticks that were at the side disappeared. Where the original cockpit only had visuals around the the top and to the front, the cockpit now had an omnidirectional panel view. This was something left over from the YF-21. BDS (Brainwave Detection System) was a neuro-control system that would use the pilot's mind to control the plane. Tsubine looked around and followed another broadside's beam's trajectory. After an approximation, he opened up the radio channel.

"Macross Quarter, this is Skull Five. I have Northampton Alpha's coordinates. They are at two-o'clock high, sectors fifteen through seventeen."

"Skull Five, you are correct. Northampton Alpha is moving to position seven now." Tsubine slightly laughed it off as he saw the first flare signalling a "hit" go up. His fighter lurched around, avoiding every shot he saw. He came across the first Guantanamo-class. Dropping his first missile pod as the five lock-ons appeared on screen, Tsubine watched as the pod launched each of the five missiles at different points of the Guantanamo. One hit the remains of a hangar door, one hit the bridge, one the old upper left thruster. It took a while, but in the end the missile struck the wreckage. Of course, it didn't do much. The strike was simply to weaken it for Johnathan's attack.

Posts : 4 Join date : 2011-03-02

"Only fighter mode? Eh, whatever you want. I'll impress you either way, cause I'm awesome like that." Johnathan was a tad bit disappointed, but he was soldier enough to accept an order from his leader, even now in the SMS. Returning his Valkyrie into the Fighter Mode, which looked pretty much like a heavily armored and weaponized battle jet, Walker turned his machine around with a smirk on his face. Things were starting to get interesting - of course, this was only training, but it was the perfect chance to show that he was way more than just talk. There was a reason why the army of the Galaxy didn't just throw him out back when he broke all protocols and rules in place nearly at once.

"Commencing mission." Setting his boosters from zero to maximum output, with a burst of speed, the Armored Messiah started moving through space like a lightning bolt, diving into the swarm of bullets and beams right after his Squad Leader. If one was to take a look through the on-board cameras onto his face now, the self-confident smirk had disappeared. In fact, it was hard to tell just what kind of facial expression Johnathan had. Joy? Happyness? Extasy? Or just a strange trance? It was just the same mess inside of his head. Right now, dodging beams and bullets, he was alive. Nothing else mattered - he was now fighting, even if it was only a simulated fight. And a fight was the thing where he was truely alive.

Spiralling through a rain of yellow bullets, Walker perfomed a quick barrel roll as two beams nearly crossed each other, aimed at his cockpit. Those guys didn't want to make it easy on them, and that was good. However, maybe it had been the plan of the way faster Tsubine - he was drawing a lot more fire than the heavily armored Valkyrie.
"Target registered... aiming." Locking onto the same spots as his Squad Leader on the first target in sight, he was questioning just how the hell Tsubine had figured out where that thing was so fast. A sharpshooters eyes were something scary indeed.
Doing a barrel roll into the opposite direction, Johnathan showed just what kind of moves he could pull off even in this heavily armored Messiah, as his firing solution was approved from the on-board computers, and he pulled the triggers.
Releasing a swarm of small missiles, he speed up to the maximum he could, showering down a rain of bullets onto the target just together with the missiles hitting - the explosions ensuing were quite something. Leaving space rubble behind, the Armored Messiah was now facing the problem of way more guns at him - speeding up once more, he just broke right through the debris that was left of their target like a speeding bullet. The mechanics would hate him for the damage to the armor from this action.

Admin Posts : 69 Join date : 2010-04-24

Tsubine looked back at his wingman. Taking a few shots from AA fire from a Northampton was nothing for an Armored Messiah. Tsubine looked back and saw the first of four pieces of wreckage fall to pieces. As the second ship came into view, he noticed the fuel tanks were still attached. The best part? They were unharmed other than some dents The bad part? The fuel tanks were in an area where even a sniper's bullet couldn't take out in one shot. Tsubine tapped on a virtual keypad and selected the second missile pod set. He closed his eyes as he pressed the trigger. The pod released and soon after so did the missiles from within.

Using his brainwaves, he spun the missiles through the wreckage. One after another, the five missiles hit the fuel tanks. The explosion ruptured each side of the tanks, and the resulting lasting explosion was enough to ignite the fuel. The tanks exploded in a fireball. The steel around the containers were melted instantly. Nothing could stop the explosion. The exterior hull began to split and the edges of the explosions came out of the cracks. That is when...the real explosion began.

As the explosions reached the hangars, one caught a reflex missile inside. In an instant, the entire bow of the ship was split open like a can as the missile and its pals exploded into a fireball. Tsubine, using the B.D.S., maneuvered around it at high speeds. Nothing could stop him as the third ship came into view. He would let John have this one, and then they'd team up to take out the final one.

However, a broadside from a Northampton caught him off-guard. He immediately jolted down, avoiding the massive beams. "Shit. That was too damn close." Tsubine thought for a moment. Calculation after calculation after calculation sped through his mind. Within five seconds of the broadside, he figured it out. "March Quebec. Sector 2 Four O'Clock Low."

"Correct Strigon Leader. Northampton gamma is moving to its next location." Tsubine waited for the flare...but instead he saw an explosion. From the remains, he could see a large object flying through the fire. It was massive compared to a Valkyrie. It was at least the size of a König Monster. As it approached the two Valkryies, it fired at least thirty micromissiles at Strigon...what the hell was this?