There would be a bit of a nod to Lizzy's suggestion that they head to the observation dec before Izzy then got to her feet and followed Lizzy.

----> Observation Dec

Helping out technicians where he could Stavros eventually ended up carrying ammo belts to his new fighter, loading her up himself. He made sure at least one belt was fully loaded, then he started removing every tenth round from the next one. He was a creature of habit after all.

He thought back on the last fight, how his 37 mm rounds had just ripped through the fighter hulls like they were paper.
That gave him an idea.

 Andruss  shugged,I?  find nothing  wrong  with that.. there is a reason the   crew  chief  shouted. I guess a lot has to  do with , how thinned out the cres  are, and distractions  don't helf? Just need to be a bit grown up about that..right? People can lost   jobs or  rank like that.

 he sighed,Speaking of   job, i guess i should see  if there is  any hope o getting  creeper on her feet, if not, I got to get my load out  for  the  Back up.

 he stood, gathered  his  things

................

 Shadow   , Shade  and   Larry   were  quiet, some times   Shade  would bleep. Shadow  would answer,  but they started out  at the  Planet... noting the 'dashes' across the face, were really   Angel Cap ships

............

 One of the Harried  crewman  watched   Stavros,beggin your  pardon, Sir?.. but  each Belt has  500  rounds... that's  1000  37 MMs  before you either have to  come  back and reload, or  go , purley on  Pulse?..so? removing   those  rounds , costs you 100  rounds?  I have never ehard a pilot  come back and sau...' I wish  i didn't have some many  rounds?  One  hundred round  could save  a few lives?...maybe...your own?

Tarja didn’t agree with him, believing that although certain things had been needed to be said that it could have been handled a lot better. Delivering a public dressing down more often than not simply made the situation worse.

With Andruss reluctantly saying that he needed to get back to work Tarja would zip her undergarment back up before getting to her feet, gathering up her rubbish as she did so ”Well if you are needing help come ask, Bjarne and myself were in mech unit” she said, hesitating a moment before leaning in and giving him a quick kiss before turning and heading towards the AI compound to see if any of the team needed any help and maybe ask Kira for another suit to bring her little unit up to eight.

 Sam came back after getting food, she looked at Beth," Beth go get some rest I have this, we need you at 100 percent ok, if something comes up I will com you ok."

beth  Nods  tiredly.. I used my  bunk in SEC....CM  me if   there something   happening, or the Admiral needs  me.
 she  Moved off, Looking   across the  dec where the   figure of   The LC  sat whit  Shade and a  curled  larg.

 walking  past the Mech section, she nodded to  Morgan and  Kira, as  AI  folks were hustling with there   armor.

After stepping out of Morris's shed Nikki began to return to her skeeter.  She did look about at some of the other craft.  Specifically for Mitch's torpedo craft.  She gave a silent prayer hoping to spot it and him.

Spartan looked at the mechanic, and could not deny the logic of the man's words. And yet he only shrugged. Back when I flew freight the old 30mil rotaries were prone to jamming on extended bursts, so we removed every tenth round to prevent that. That kind of stuck with me. Yes, I know those extra rounds can save lives, but a lack of trust in my weapon is infinitely more dangerous I think.
He then pointed over to the crate of ammo he had already done.
My previous run however has taught me that the 37 is a lot more reliable, so instead of removing them all I am planning on changing them up. We have a couple more hours, so tell me... who's the gunmaster of the deck, because I wish to exchange these 100 regular rounds with explosive tipped ones. These rounds rip right through Angel wings... which is nice, but I think an explosive round will do a lot more damage when exploding on impact with the wing instead of just leaving neat holes. I saw a great many of them get hit and just spiral away out of control. If we can get them to explode they will do a lot less collateral damage. So if you can point me towards the ammunitions master that would be great!

   The   Ground crew guy looked  and nodded to  Stavros...hey? I only help  keep these in the air, you guys have to fight   in them. Rivets   , or the LC  can have  the final say on  load outs?. They'll let you  use what you think will work. Now?  we   got  HE...AP and  Frag... we don't  normally use  frag unless were  going   in atmo? and the  Heavy pulse on your  wings pick up some slack when  you run out  out  the 37 MM.... LC would side with you. He wants his pilots  comfortable.

..................

  Andruss  returned to his Mech. Morgan was  chuckling  about  , 'If guys are  Horn dogs,  are women Horn Buns? " The question was  directed  at Kira  as    Andruss
 looked at the Creeper.

  Its up to Kira, But  i feel you'd be better serviced , getting the back up going.  You don't want to send the Creeper  into battler   and not make sure she can  function. Right?

 Andruss ran a   hand  down the left arm of the Creeper.....yeah?.. i guess that would be  smart?

............

 Frans  talked to  Shadow, he nodded and waved her off.. Frans , S=Eckles  and Mara   wen to go to the OB  dec. others filtered  to their  quarters, or  found a  bulkhead to curl up against.

Satisfied with the answer Stavros goes looking for Shadow again.
If his idea works they could very well get an unexpected edge again, two battles in a row.
The moment he found him he began to ramble, too enthousiastic to check if the moment was even appropriate.LC, LC, sir... I have an idea, and I think it will give us an edge in the second battle too!  Have you noticed in battle how a lot of our shots just cut neat holes in Angel fighters, taking them down and sending them out of control? Many of them caused a lot of collateral damage, and you can be sure those Angels will strengthen their fuselages to prevent that from happening again. So I was thinking... what can we do to stop cutting neat holes? Then I figured... frag! it normally explodes in atmo, and probably wont actually explode in a vacuum... but they will shatter on impact instead of cutting neat holes in wings. Shattering shrapnel will rip the wings right off! A lot less collateral damage.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:24, Tue 14 Mar 2023.

In reply to hanger Dec (msg # 919):

Kira overheard and gave Morgan a raised brow as she looked over the mechs with them, "Naw i think 'Horn dog' is a pretty gender neutral term" she then walked over and put a hand on Andruss's shoulder, "Will get Creeper fixed up in no time but for now i need you in the back up we need to be battle ready for when we go out again"

”If you haven’t already go eat and get rest!” Tarja called to her team as she entered the AI compound ”…you all did very well today, I’m proud of you, keep up good work!” she continued, clearly trying her best to be encouraging and motivational, though she wasn’t quite hitting the mark.

Walking over to where Kira and Morgan she would offer the pair a slightly confused look as she caught the tail end of their conversation ”Horn dog? I…I do not understand…” she said before deciding that it probably wasn’t important ”…Master Chief I was thinking…could I request another suit? It would bring squad up to eight and allow for two fire teams of four” she politely asked, hoping that today had given them enough of an idea of what the AI could achieve and the flexibility an additional suit would provide.

 Sam smiled at Beth," Don't worry if any happens I will com you right away ok Beth, but you need your rest too." Sam then listened to the Coms and took over what was still going on, trying to get a lay of the land of what was happening with the Delta Fleet and the Angel home defense Fleet.

In reply to Tarja Vanska (msg # 922):

Kira sighed a bit and chuckled, "Sometimes it's for the best Corporal" she then heard her request and waved her over to her desk where she pulled out a vidboard and after signing a few lines slides it across the desk for her to sign, "Sign on the line and hit send in the lower right hand corner, and we can try and get a new suit here as soon as possible but i can make no promises it will get here before we are done with the invasion"

 Sam got a call from AP-LO he wanted to talk to Admiral Hack," Hold on AP-LO, I will see if he is available to talk to you."  Sam didnt wait for an answer and put AP-lO on hold.

 "Admiral Hennings sir, I have AP-LO on the line wishing to talk to Admiral Hack, I put him on hold to see if he was available to talk to him. " Sam smiled at Admiral Hennings.

  Hennings  chuckled  as he   jigged  from the middle of the Hanger dec to climb the   scaffold.

  we have a  high tech, 50 million cred, war  room omn the command dec? and this is what we use .... Pipe  him  to  one of the Screens, Sam.

 Sam giggled then replied," Already done sir."

 Sam then without saying a word transferred AP-LO to the Screen in front of Hennings, " You are both on sir."

 Sam tried to trace the comms as she listened.

    Hennings  Looked at  The Angel Admiral, Good  evening , AP-LO... i hope you are enjoying your brief  respite, before the 9 hells rain down on you? he smiled warmly

 You  humans and your banter. It merely hide how afraid you are

 ahh,,yes   AP-LO..i must admit to some fear...

AP-LO  scoffed, you mock me words.

 mostly, because your  words  are Mockable. But seariouly.. i am afraid  we would have  enough ammountion to kill all teh  Angels  we see. he motioned behind him.

 The Admiral and his  wife are spending some time together, before we bring the hammer  down  on your people..  and when we  invade?.. it is not going to be pretty... But war is never pretty, AP-Lo.. You made a deal with the Empire..then you joined them, all for the express  purpsoes, for yu planet , not  to feel the pain of  war

 Our Most High, had  ne COM you. for one last chnce to save  the lives of those in your fleet..we are  willing to give  5  Cap ships each, to the  red and Blue  moon..and we will give the fleet 4..one for each section

 Hennings   chuckled...AP-LO.. you have no idea what you are about to experiance...and even less of what will happen on the  third stage.. I'll mention this to
 Oliver when he comes back down...if..i don't forgt, 'cause  i'm scared and all. I am really eager to  see you  'raise the Flag' on your flag ship..but..maybe? you artr scared.... Take care AP-Lo..

 he nodes  to  Sam to cut the feed.

Nikki walked among the Skeeters and shuttles, mechs, but was looking for the torpedo bombers.  More importantly... Mitch.  She just wanted to know he was okay, alive to go again into the hell of battles.

 Sam smiled at AP-LO and then cut the feed. " Sir I rally dont think they know what will happen next they still think they are above us and we wont pound them into the stone age Sir."

Tarja would slowly nod, still not fully understanding what was going on but deciding to just go with it.

Following Kira over to her desk, Tarja would sign and date the indicated sections before hitting the send button ”thank you, extra suit will mean no one is having to share and add more flexibility, also no real rush as Velta is still injured” she said, not overly concerned if the suit didn’t arrive until after they were done with Paradise.

  Morgan  was chuckling  about his  joke.  Andruss    was  sitting in the back up gremlin   testing its  arms   and   seals.

 Andruss   talk  to..anyone who is listening...so we are going to be  doing,  the same thing...  pick out a  ship and try to  capture it?

 Morgan  nods...In stead of  swing  across 10 yards of water, like those old old movies, we're  going but shuttle across   50 or   60 miles of   space, and then cutting holes in them

..............

 Lights  were  coming on, for an incoming  Drop ship  shuttles.. T Rivets  Called on the   PA...SM please report to shuttle bay entrance..... LT Simmons, please report to Shuttle bay entrance.

 the shuttle  had  some  burn marks on, when the  ramps  came  down  there  were   4 drop ship troopers, with two Hover carts, each containing two  metal Cabinets..

 One for the Troopers, a SGT by his markings..spoke to  Roy and Stefi when they arrived.. we didn't want to  take a chance witht he Hinges, we  brought the  Untils   over  after  cutting away the walls.

  Shadow listened to Stavros, he nodded slowly and said.. If you what to try a load  out like , Go ahead, You gun cams and such will record   the actions and you can gibve a report to me and captain Morris.. The  thing here? we are In the  Black.. you don't   fall, or crash land, you  drift away.... now? when  we flat out invade that  big  Blue-green-yellow ball there?.. that;s when  knocking off  wings  matter.. Qarl use saucers, but they can't  dogfight in them.. everyone  else  usees   aircraft with some kind of   wings ... so when you're in atmo, and You knock a wing off..they are out of the fight..

Roy nodded as he got the trooper's report.  "Good call, Sergeant.  We've got specialists who can take care of the hinges in practically no time.  As long as the contents were secure, everything should be fine."  He motioned for the crew unloading the cabinets to set them together in one area, and sent a comm to the Sec Duty Officer to dispatch four people to the Hangar Dec.  He didn't bother specifying that they be reliable...he had faith in pretty much all of his people and those he wasn't sure of, he tended to keep busy with jobs where their trustworthiness wouldn't be much of a factor.

"How soon do you need to head back?" he asked the sergeant.  "If you've got time, I'd like to send something back with you to share with your men...reward for work well done and all that."

  The SGT  smiled  at Roy,The  Captain of  our  Drop Boat didn't  tell us  to Hurry. So. we have  as much time as needed? I would not extend that too far though.  Captain Rike can get ..um..testy at times.

....................

 Hennings    leaned back against the   additions  scaffold the uses to prevents   the COM techs from being  thrown back, and also   , helped secure the monitors  on   front  and  outboard side  on the scaffold.

 Strange  war, is  this not, LT.... he said to  Sam, perhaps half talking to himself...we have Emmie's  transports  between us   and our  support ships,  using   secondary transponders to  catch the  angel's eyes  while  the other..almost 100 ships, are punching tthe Angels in the mouth...we are looking at a planet that is  deep , in the myths  of almost every culture on earth.. and we're about  to shell the 9 hells out of it...should we be successful this next    Jump off... he  shakes his  head staring  at the Hanger  bay  doors, that are  almost a halfmile away