Heartbreak117

  Hoisting the husk of a turion onto a makeshift table, which is using part of a ial Raptor's wing, Weiss and I start dusting off our bat gloves. Looking at the battered e job imitation of a humanoid soldier, Weiss goes on to say.

  "They seem pretty dead to me."

  Other than the ker we found leaning against the sealed bulkhead, the JTF scoured the hangar and came up with an additional six turions, all deactivated or destroyed. The one Weiss and I just carried was the st, crushed beh a crashed Viper Mark VII.

  Magos Hedagine, havihe task of unsealing the door forward to her subordieps to the makeshift disse table.

  "One 't be too careful, Rookie." The Magos unfurls her meical hands, fitted with disassembling tools and sers, and removes bits and pieces from the dispyed kers. "The... kers, as so aptly named by the Corporal, may seem deactivated, destroyed even, but their bodies still tain traps. What if they are to receive a signal, thus activating a self-destruct sequehe result be catastrophic, given the right circumstances. Fortunately, none of the kers, at least these specific variants, seem to tain any explosive meism. Their power systems are also destroyed or dry of any power. We should be safe in this hangar."

  Weiss and I both nod at the Magos, watg as she finishes cutting apart the kers into many, many pieces. Before that, Weiss asks me in a small tone. "Will I be stuck with the Rookie designation food?"

  To that, I giggle, shaking my head. "Give it around five missions and it should go away on its own, Weiss."

  Sihe hangar is pretty much secured until further notice, 3rd Ptoon roam around while other units file in to pick up the sentry and logistic tasks. This leads to Weiss and I apanying Magos Hedagine on her round to oversee the other Tech-priests in their quest to analyze the teologies in the hangar bay. Mama and the Sisters of Battle are busied with setting up a and post in the hangar. The Samander Chapter is there as well, to help go over what we've learned about the Battlestar Pegasus. I don't see much use for myself if I linger around there, so I take the ce with Weiss to help the Magos instead. The fact that I i with teologies from the Battlestar Gactiiverse is a nice bonus.

  Now that the kers in the hangar are perfectly disarmed, Magos Hedagine nods at us, gesturing for Weiss ao follow her to the matter that requires a Magos' attention. With a bit of a surprise, I e to see Sergeant Johnson and members of 3rd Ptoon crowding around a few slightly damaged, yet seemingly operable Vipers and Raptors. The Tech-priests are able to get the cockpits opened on the Raptors and Vipers. However, they are caught in a stump when their body modifications disallow them to board the voidcraft, something about their forms not being able to fit. Yeah... Raptors and Vipers are built pact, Tech-priests with their quasi-meical bodies won't be able to squeeze in any of them.

  While I am struggling to hide my ugh at the image of a Tech-priest being stud squeezed by a Viper's cockpit, Magos Hedagiraight-up facepalms. The sight is something I thought I would never see in a Tech-priest, much less a Magos. To ihe voidcraft, the Tech-priests will need someoh a smaller stature, and preferably ohat is adept stifically. Fortunately, Magos Hedagine has one such person, so handily on hand, and that person is me...

  Truthfully, I didn't think that the Magos would so easily give me the ce to hahe oys. I thought the Adeptus Meicus would hoard everything, rather thaing a Guardswoman inside one of the cockpits of their reasures. I guess all that w and charisma finally paid dividends.

  After an encing boost from Magos Hedagine using one of her hands, I now find myself squarely installed in the pilot seat of a Viper Mark VII. If anything, the trols and avionics for the Mark VII are pretty basiot nearly as plex as the cockpit of the Imperium Valkyrie. I know that because I charmed myself in one of the training pods for them before.

  "Are you sure this is a good idea?" Weiss asks, peering into the cockpit by standing on a box.

  "Nothiure, nothing gain." I reply with a smile before turning to Magos Hedagine. "Ready when you are, Magos."

  The Tech-priest nods before saying something in Lingua-teis, which roughly traently raise the power output, and be ready to activate the failsafe if the voidcraft 't hahe strain. We must preserve not just the mae, but also its troller.

  Per her and, the subordiech-priests raise the output on the peors by the side of the Viper. They're ected directly to the voidcraft's avionics via cables with jury-rigged plugs. Gently, I start going through the activation procedure for the Viper. Now I really don't know how to work this thing, mind you. I am going off at this using the experience I have in grinding through flight simutor pods.

  "Ok, so you're obviously human..." I say, mostly for myself. "You have ten fingers, two hands, and two legs. The whole thing is like a flying coffin or a cigar. How will you build the yout of your avionid determine which button does what?"

  Hearing what I have to say, Johnson, Weiss, and the rest of 3rd Ptoon wisely move out of the line of fire of the three kiis the Mark VII has. I look at them with a deadpan expression.

  "You serious? I find your ck of faith in me most disturbing."

  Johnson barks out a ugh while Weiss apologetically smiles. I roll my eyes at my teammates, faking my annoyance, before tinue mapping out the avionid trols. After a minute, I figure out the button to power up the instruments.

  "Here goes nothing..." I flick open a cover before pressing a button with a faded symbol. Smiling when I see the three multi-fun dispys flickering up to life, I say. "Bingo."

  Turning to the Tech-priests standing by the side with a whole bunch of sers from who-knows-where, I report. "Alright, I got her avionics up. What do you need me to do ?"

  Magos Hedagine requests. " you give us a run-down on what this voidcraft do?"

  I nod. "Should be easy enough, Magos."

  I then work the button, describing bits and pieces of what I learn on hand for the Tech-priests to record and analyze.

  "Huh... There's a checklist by the lower dispy s. It's faded, but it's in Low Gothid I see that this thing is called a Viper Mark VII."

  "Let's see... System check... Instruments are green... Ammo is green... Fuel is e... Hull iy is green... Wow, this thing is still holding up. trol surfaces..." I pce my hands on the good stuff. "Hands-on-Throttle-and-Stick setup, easily useable and much more ve for any pilot. Rudder and RCS thrusters are trolled by the paddles on the floor. Sihis small thing is powered by three turbo-thrust engines, I re the whole thing will be a wild beast to fly, being too fast and agile to be trolled unless one is very skilled. To alleviate this issue, the avionics are mostly lio an onboard cogitator. There are far fewer analog gauges and more reliance is pced on a powerful tral flight cogitator instead."

  I thee the stid the paddles, looking around to see the trol surfaces of the Mark VII moving up, dow, and right. "Right, this thing fly imosphere. However, its specialized avionid RCS thrusters indicate it as a voidcraft purpose-built for spainance, for the most part. I don't think it's wise to activate any engine or on system in here, but from what I see, the Viper is also no-slouch."

  "The voidcraft is a perfeub fighter, in essence."

  It's at this point that Weiss interjects, hearing the mostly unfamiliar term. "Snubfighter?"

  Johnson is the oo expin. "Snub fighter is a term used to describe a small starfighter with the capability to operate in and out of the atmosphere. These small ships are usually depe on er ships. They are sometimes referred to as a parasite craft, yet pack just enough firepower to make their presenown. They stand because they're also cheap, easily buildable, and reliable. Am I missing anything so far, Ein?"

  "Eh, you just about sum it up correctly, Johnson. More cookies for you, I guess?" I reply with a wave of my hand, my head is still gazing down at the dispys on the Viper. "That said, if there's ohing I have to add, then it's the fact that this thing does not have FTL capability, nor does it have a Gelr Field to teract a Storm. Then again, I don't think any ship this size has them."

  Going bay report to Magos Hedagine, I tio list the Viper's potential. "This snub fighter is fast, like very fast. Three big engines, multiple RCS thrusters. Imosphere, it easily reach escape velocity and reach a top acceleration of 9 G. However, most of the time, the cogitator limits the acceleration to 7 G for fear of pilot bckout. The Viper Mark VII rotate 180 degrees vertically in .25 seds, and I think any pilot worth their salt will fall in love with it. It is a VSTOL design and it ot be unched from a standstill but needs a short runway. To power everything, it uses Nuclear Fusion."

  "As for armament, it is quite heavily armed for something of its size. The Viper is fitted with three Mass Accelerator ons, a missile bay, and an additional two external on hardpoints. The ons are, apparently, the main on of the Viper, capable of firing 20 rounds per sed. Useful for shredding light and even bug medium to heavy armor if used properly. Holy, Magos Hedagihe more I explore, the better it gets. I 't see why we shouldn't start reverse-engineering the Viper for the Navis Imperialis."

  The Magos nods. "It's very tempting, yes. While not a revered STC, we have multiple spes, intad wrecked alike, to build ourselves a blueprint of our own. I see the Viper filling the gaps that the Fury Interceptor 't, owing to its size, logistics, and cost. If anything, a swarm of Vipers help clear the way for the Furies and Starhawks to strike an enemy flotil. Its prote will be its number and agility while the bulk of the firepower will be provided by other voidcraft. A fasating prospect."

  "It is," Mama es to interject, smiling at us. "but it will be an endeavor for when we're back at the Kasr."

  The Magos nods in agreement. "Indeed."

  Mama then says. "The door is jammed, it's sealed off from the other side by the look of it. So we will have to wait for another hole to be cut, quite unfortunately so."

  I bnch. "Again? These doors are thick as well, even the ser drill will have to take some time."

  Mama shrugs while Magos Hedagine sighs in visible annoyance. Mama steps forward to the Viper's side, looking at what I am doing with obvious i while handing me a teen. "And I thought I have seehing my daughter has to offer. What, yonna be my pilot soon, dear Ein?"

  I pop open the teen, smelling the aromatic st of the liquid inside. "Is this recaf, Mama? Oh, and this is but a skill I picked up in my free time, just in case I . I am nowhere near adept in piloting vehicles."

  "Yes, Ein, it's recaf. I figured you would like to have some." Mama smiles, taking pride in seeing my preparedness. One 't be too careful, after all.

  Saying my thanks to Mama, I down a hearty gulp of recaf, ign the traumatized look on Weiss' face or the wry grins on the rest of 3rd Ptoon. I spare my unit a side gnce as if to pin.

  Hey, I am not that bad under recaf's influence for you to look at me like I'm a hot potato.

  However, when I purr tently after downing Mama's recaf, I feel a light bulb going off above my head as the caffeine kicks in. I look at Mama.

  "Oh, Mama~! I think I know just the thing to keep the ball rolling~!" I grin as I look down on the instrument panel of the Viper Mark VII.

  Weiss, who is standing by the rest of the Ptoon, feels a bad premonition creeping up when she sees my smirk.

  Giving her recaf is the worst idea ever...

  Heartbreak117