LazarusBoard

Fluffiness wrote:

Rachel Fergus, Head of the Military

Leonism wrote:

The Morgenröte rocked again. "This one hit closer to home", the first officer noted. "We better not let them get any closer". Vizekonsul Schulte agreed with that assessment. "Destroy the entire silo. We will have more time for our primary targets later", he ordered. "Herr Vizekonsul, we should watch our heat buildup though, we might have to keep waiting inbetween shots to-". Schulte cut him off "Just do it!".
Over the next three minutes, the corvette reduced the missile silos of WRADC to craters with a salvo of orbital laser fire. Most of the silos were empty now anyways, and for those that weren't the failsafe mechanisms prevented accidental nuclear explosions on the ground. Meanwhile, the onboard instruments showed heat building up in the corvettes laser system to sub-critical levels...

Johann Rettig rejoiced as the "Incoming Missile" warning on his panel ended. He had evaded the shoulder launched anti air missile. Time to give the ground troops more hassle. He swung his R44 "Würger" around for another strafing run. Two LBR55's air-to-ground missiles made their way from his craft to the ground within seconds. One Eciton[/u] armoured car got hit and turned on its side by the explosion, the other LBR55 detonated past its designated target, showering it in shrapnel without doing much lasting damage. "Take that you bastards", Johann muttered to himself as he held down the firing button for the UR50 unguided rockets. One of his rockets hit the hangar itself, which he was supposed to protect, but he couldn't see if any people inside got hit as he zoomed by the area. Speed was his best protection against return fire. What he did notice though was gas grenades being discharged into the hangar from one side, while a group of [i]Raumwaffe troops blasted their way out of the hangar to the opposite site. They were obviously trying to make a run for it. Johann decided to focus on their protection.

Tribun Lara Pfeilke was in her element now. The duel with the Loftegan interceptors was a free-wheeling dogfight of the classical kind, something she had long trained for. Lara was no Tanja Fassberg, but she had quite a reputation for being an excellent pilot. She would have made a great career in the Imperium. Would have, if Vizekonsul Schulte hadn't personally converted her to join the New Light Order.

Now all that counted was downing the forces of darkness. Just as she thought she would never get another shot in, one of the interceptors made a mistake and decided to change his turn direction right now. Lara wasted no second and poured her two 5 MW "Illuminator" class lasers into it from close range. First, it looked as if nothing happened, then one of the fuel tanks in the enemy's wings started being on fire. The fighter broke off for an emergency landing or ejection. Lara didn't care for which, because at the same time another fighter had got a lock on her in return.

---

Captain Lee Gwin took a deep breath. "I have you now", he muttered, pressing the fire button to unleash an air to air missile towards the engine section of the enemy R44 fighter. The ion engines of the strange craft did not emit as much heat as a jet engine, but the heat-seaking missile found its target nevertheless. Just as it was about to make contact, the enemy craft "jumped" forward at an amazing pace, outrunning the fireball.

---

Lara Pfeilke blacked out. As a last resort maneuver, she had simply slammed the throttle full forward. The enormous power of the R44 made it lunge forward at such acceleration that she lost conciousness due to the g-forces. The Emergency Flight Control System (Notfallflugkontrollsystem, NFKS) detected her loss of conciousness and automatically stabilized her flight path in a "straight and level" kind of way. Lara was out of the combat zone for now.

The 114. Raumwaffesicherungskorps, Vizekonsul Schulte's loyal detachment to Loftegen, was equipped with gas masks. While they hated wearing them, now was the time for this unloved piece of equipment to shine. As the paprika smell of the gas grenades began to fill the hangar along with the reddish vapor, most of the 114. put on their gas masks. The Luftwaffe personell inside the hangar were not so lucky. They weren't equipped for combat at all, they were engineers and logistics staff sent to repair the Konsul's F148 VIP airplane and support the Imperial mission to Loftegen. They were also loyal to their Imperator. And they had no clue what was going on. When Tribun Böttcher from the 114. asked their leader, Legat I. Klasse Conrad Kunkel, to come along, many followed him, not knowing that Böttchers order ultimately were to assassinate Lady Zaharra and Imperator Konsul Leo along with her.

The crew inside Hangar 415 got a respite from the gas attack when suddenly an air to ground rocket destroyed parts of the roof of the hangar, creating a "vent" for the gas to get out and fresh air to get in. Still, quite a few of the men and women stumbled outside towards the 1st Security Police Squadron, their arms held up high, noses and eyes itching and running uncontrollably. For them, this fight was over.

Böttcher's men meanwhile detonated a demolition charge at the opposite hangar wall and used the resulting hole to get out of the Hangar. Outside they were facing elements of the 1st SPS, who themselves had just survived an aerial attack by a R44 fighter. A short but intense firefight resulted in which the nearly 200 men of the 114. Raumwaffensicherungskorps ultimately emerged victorious, destryoing two more Ecitron tanks with their Panzerfaust anti-tank rockets and forced the remaining ones into retreat. The 114. had used an LL9 point-defense laser to shoot down any incoming grenades and smoke grenades to obscure their movement, resulting in only light casualties for themselves. Now they were pushing towards the airport buildings proper on foot.