"Oh four twenty." Wendy corrects. "I was instructed to let you sleep in some."

"Kyou?" You ask, and she nods.

"Yes." She says. "Miss Wells approved it, of course. She indicated that she expects to have a mission packet for us shortly, but she doesn't expect us to be flying today."

You shake your head. "We sure do sit a lot for how valuable I was told we were." You say- though it bothers you as soon as you're done saying it. That's not the sort of thing you really tend to voice- not like it does any good when you do anyway.

Wendy frowns. "It is something lady Kyou has mentioned to me." She responds. "I had assumed it was because of a lack of targets, but she thinks it's because of some unknown threat to us."

Could be either, you have to admit- and while the PLAAF have hardly put up much of a fight to you so far, you also haven't seen much in the way of their top of the line aircraft, either- besides a handful of ex-soviet fandances, there's been hardly any sign of their superfighters, and hardly any witches from a coven known to number in the thousands, easily.

"Regardless," She says, sitting down herself. "I'm to make sure you've eaten, then I'm to change into a duty uniform and we're to proceed to the hangar deck as soon as we're able."

You nod, noting she's still wearing what could charitably be called pajamas- like Kyou, apparently she prefers to sleep in little more than a shirt and some underwear. You find yourself wondering, for a brief moment, if she, like Kyou, sleeps hot- then you discard the thought. Wendy deserves better than that, you think- even if, going by her statements recently, Kyou intends to answer that question as soon as possible.

Wendy withdraws to her room as you finish your light breakfast- it's enough to kickstart your body, you know, but not enough for a really good meal, though you're sure that'll come later. If there's one thing you've learned about her, it's that Kyou eats astonishingly similarly to BB- she'll put away enough food for three people her size easily, and still be hungry. It's not an uncommon flaw in magic, but it's noticeable either way- Wendy, for example, eats normally, and while she eats quickly, Merlin does too, mostly.

Wendy steps out of her room after a couple minutes- semi-bareleg, her NWU top joined by the stockings Kyou got her. It's in regs, of course- these days, regs do allow for a large number of leg coverings, but most witches still prefer to go bareleg as a status symbol. She shoves her beret into the top of her stockings, leaving it hanging halfway out- and nods. "If you're ready?" She asks.

[] Let's go.
[] Any idea what they're up to?

>>4262639
>[x] Any idea what they're up to?

>>4262639
>[X] Any idea what they're up to?

>>4262639
>[x] Let's go.

Ok, votes called!

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[x] Any idea what they're up to?

"Any idea what they're up to?" You ask as you step out of the apartments and hold the door for Wendy to step through before closing it. She shakes her head.

"No." She says. "Though it sounded as if it were routine work. I'm sure if it were anything major, my instructions would have involved waking you earlier, if lady Kyou didn't do so herself."

You nod- she's no doubt correct. Honestly, you're a little surprised Kyou didn't get you up anyway, though she maybe decided you needed a couple minutes extra sleep. It's something she's brought up before, anyway, though you always dismiss her concerns on the topic. You've run yourself far harder before, and this hardly qualifies as exhausting. It's part of her personality though- she's aware how much stronger, faster, and more energetic she is than most people, and tends to underestimate their ability to keep pace. For you it's a challenge- but hardly one you're not up to.

The ship's corridors are fairly empty this time of morning- the ship's crew is partway through fourth watch, with the galley crew getting ready to feed the fourth watch before they head off to their racks while first watch is still waking up. Chow for the crew usually falls at the end or beginning of the watches- though, for aircrew, there's a whole separate mess that's manned round-the-clock while the carrier is on war footing.

"Any news about the front?" You ask.

She shakes her head. "Nothing I've heard." She says. "I'm sorry. I'm sure there's updated news available, but I've not had a chance to look at all this morning."

You nod. "I'm guessing the group is still putting in strikes?"

"From what I've gathered, the imperial air force is taking over most of the missions near the front." Wendy says. "I'm not sure if that's to allow us to refit and replenish, or for another reason. Miss Wells has indicated she thinks it's to allow some recuperation time before we're expected to assist the American naval assets in their attacks to allow the marines to make their landing."

"We are an American naval asset." You point out. "At least, you and I are."

She blinks. "Oh yes, I didn't mean to say we weren't!" She says, quickly. "Just that we'd be flying more directly with aircraft from the American carriers. Lady Kyou felt quite sure they'd have uses for us soon, moreso than they have."

[] Since when is she Lady Kyou, Wendy?
[] You keep calling her that. You'd better not be calling me Lord Morgan.

>>4262795
>[X] Since when is she Lady Kyou, Wendy?

>>4262795
>[x] Since when is she Lady Kyou, Wendy?

>>4262795
>[x] Since when is she Lady Kyou, Wendy?

>>4262795
>[] Since when is she Lady Kyou, Wendy?

ok, votes called!

>>4262795
>[] Since when is she Lady Kyou, Wendy?

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[x] Since when is she Lady Kyou, Wendy?

"Since when is she Lady Kyou, Wendy?" You ask.

Wendy hesitates. "Well- that is, I'd assumed, as I'm her servant- "

"Stop." You order- she cuts her sentence off midword. "I'll accept that you're going to be with us forever past this point, but I'll not accept you behaving like you're an inferior. You're our teammate, not our maid." You're not mad- a little frustrated, maybe, but not mad. You'd been afraid of this sort of mindset developing- and frankly, it's not one you're comfortable with her having.

Wendy pauses, then nods. "Quite right, I'm sorry. I misspoke." She says, to your relief. "I meant, as your subordinate, and given her standing as an imperial princess, I thought it proper."

"It's not." You say. "At least not here, to me. Call her Kyou."

She smiles. "Shall I start referring to you as master Morgan, then?" She asks, laughingly. "Or shall I save that for later?"

You blink. "Define later."

"Oh- um. " She hesitates, her bluff called. "Well, Kyou has broached the topic before, and I thought-" She pauses again. "I think I'd rather discuss this later. Perhaps sometime next ice age?"

You laugh. "I'm surprised she brought it up to you at all."

"Oh, she's been rather indirect about it." Wendy admits. "Nothing so blunt as I'm sure she's discussed with you. But it has been something she's mentioned." She says.

"Do I need to talk with her?" You ask.

1/2

"I'd rather prefer you didn't." She says. "At least, not without me. I feel as if a decision were to be reached, I'd like to be there when it is."

You blink. "Not be a part of the decision?"

"I've already discussed that with her." She responds. "Please, can we change the subject?"

You nod. "Sorry." You say. "No flight today?"

"I'm unsure." she says, looking a little relieved. "It sounded as if there were targets being planned, and we should expect to have an assignment by the end of the day, but not an actual sortie quite yet. La- that is, Kyou, had indicated that she's heard the imperial army intends to land massive reinforcement concurrently with the marines, and that they intend to drive the Chinese back across the Yalu river. That's just a rumor, however."

"Wouldn't we be seeing more movement if it were?" You ask, thinking back- the drive across Europe involved landing several divisions from the 'states in France first, and weeks of buildup. This is a much smaller theater of war, of course, and Japan is both much closer to the front and much more compact than the US, with it's military being disproportionately large for it's landmass- but there should still be a buildup of ships, you'd think.

"Aboard a carrier?" Wendy asks, then shakes her head. "I doubt it. If we're being kept back for a blitz to open the airspace or hit targets just before the landings so there's no chance to repair them, if anything we'd see significantly less action."

"Makes sense." You admit. "Anything on our Japanese witches?"

Wendy shakes her head. "Nothing yet, sorry." She says. "I'm still not sure what to make of either of them, and I'm afraid my opinion will be quite useless when the time comes to decide."

[] Give it some thought anyway, we'll be asking.
[] It's alright, the MoD will probably put Kyou's opinion above both of ours anyway.

>>4262988
>[X] Give it some thought anyway, we'll be asking.

>>4262988
>[x] Give it some thought anyway, we'll be asking.

>>4262988
>[x] Give it some thought anyway, we'll be asking.

>>4262985
>[] Give it some thought anyway, we'll be asking.

ok, votes called!

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[x] Give it some thought anyway, we'll be asking.

"Give it some thought anyway, we'll be asking." You say, and she nods.

The rest of the walk to the hangar deck is quiet- you're still kind of amazed Kyou has apparently talked to Wendy about the same topics she's brought up with you- and part of you is curious as to what Wendy's response was like. You're sure you could just ask the princess when you see her, but you don't think that'd quite be fair, either. You put the thought aside for now, instead walking into the hangar deck and heading for the starboard section set aside for your fighter and Wendy's valkyrie.

Kyou and Merlin are there, with Merlin having had her ground cart brought over and plugged into the fighter. Kyou's up in the fighter itself, though what she's doing is hard to tell from here. She's not plugged in right now- you can see her hair from here, along with the outsized triangular ears of her familiar. Merlin, for her part, isn't plugged either, instead standing next to her ground cart, using the computer on it.

"See?" You hear Kyou say as you approach. "If we use a variant of the old zip fuel formula, we'd be able to push our sprint speed into the hypersonic range, if only just."

"But where are we going to get zip fuels?" Merlin counters. "They stopped making them in the sixties, and even the novel fuels plant doesn't put out more than a few hundred pounds a year, and NASA typically gets first dibs on that."

"What of that new beryllium mix?" Kyou asks. "That could perhaps offer advantages."

"Requires an entire fuel system and powerplant designed for it." Merlin responds. "And it's all kinds of toxic and doesn't play well with air. And, again, NASA gets most of it for testing purposes."

"The other option, of course, is to simply facilitate greater transfer rate from myself to Muninn's systems." Kyou says. "Though at this point I'm worried about resonance saturation in the airframe."

"Don't be." Merlin says, looking up. "If we have to, we'll just redesign the existing web and find different focii to use. Right now they're quartz crystal, but there's studies that have indicated we'd be better served by using a semiprecious stone like lapis or even precious stones cut for the purpose, though where we'd get gemstones that big is a good question. No one's going to let us install the hope diamond as a focus in a fighter plane."

"Sadly." Kyou says, looking over at you and Wendy and smiling. "Good morning, Morgan. I trust you slept well?"

[] I was pretty tired.
[] Got a little cold there right before I woke up.

>>4263151
>[X] I was pretty tired.

>>4263151
>[] I was pretty tired.

>>4263151
>[] I was pretty tired.

>>4263151
>[] Got a little cold there right before I woke up.

The cat has been disturbed.

>>4263151
>[x] Got a little cold there right before I woke up.

Also, can we talk about how the military apparently runs foci on quartz? Like, wait, you mean we've been getting our results out of *watch movements*?

>>4263151
>[X] Got a little cold there right before I woke up.

>>4263151
>[] Got a little cold there right before I woke up.

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decipher it and get to know me ...

Ok, votes called. this'll be the last one for the night!

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[x] Got a little cold there right before I woke up.

You shrug. "Got a little cold there, right before I woke up." You say.

Kyou smirks. "Is that so? Perhaps next time I'll arrange for a way to keep you warm." She responds. "I'd hate to be considered failing in my duties in that regard, afterall. Admiral wells and I were just discussing methods for increasing our speed."

"Mostly fuels." Merlin says. "I'm not sure how much you heard, but we'd thought about converting one or more of the cells to handle one of the HEF formulas for your afterburners, but I don't think that's very practical, and I think our best bet is still going to be the focuses."

"That's far more work, though, isn't it?" Kyou says, standing up on her ejection seat and stretching before swinging her legs out over the lip of the cockpit and climbing down the ladder. You can't help but note she's bareleg- certainly well within her rights to be, you know, but it's still worth noting.

"Short term." Merlin responds. "But in the long run it's far less work because there's much less upkeep involved. You've still got the mounts for the SRBs if it's really necessary, though the current gen isn't rated for exoatmospheric flight."

Kyou blinks. "There were wyverns for space flight?"

Merlin nods. "Design work and a prototype." She responds. "Dual-cycle engines with the performance we needed were too bulky, though, and it ended up being poorly armed for a wyvern, since we had to delete the nacelle and centerline weapons stations to fix oxidizer tanks. It doesn't matter much anyway, since by then we had prompt strike. With solid rockets a wyvern can operate comfortably at the stratopause, right on the border of the mesosphere."

"How classified is that?" You ask. Merlin shakes her head.

"It isn't." She says. "They wrote a book about it bashing the DoD for canning the project and President Clinton for letting it happen, but the results weren't coming and the functionality wasn't necessary then or now. Prompt strike gets a test every couple of years, they'll pick out a crew and have them do a strike sprint from Wattisham or Torun South to Edwards or McChord, one way unrefuelled. We don't use it in practice because there's so few targets we'd need it for, and it's got to be a shuttle raid by it's very nature."

1/2

"I find it hard to believe the EDF wasn't interested." Kyou muses.

"They were." Merlin says. "They've wanted wyverns for a while, but congress refuses the sale every time it's come up. It's part of the reason why the UN went with felons over the proposed EDF raptor. I've proposed a variant with most of the really neat things removed, but it's been shot down anyway. The EDF wants full wyverns, AI cores and all, and congress won't sell without assurances that the US would be able to block any pilot they didn't like from getting their hands on one. The EDF refuses to sign a contract that's got that stipulation in it, saying that it's an unacceptable level of national control over a major UN body."She shrugs. "It's all politics, really."

"Regardless, it's probably not practical for us." Kyou says. "As much as the concept of a solid rocket booster intrigues me, it seems as if it's usefulness here is limited, at best."

Merlin nods. "And I'd rather work on the guns some more anyway." She says. "There's some interesting new ideas coming out of DARPA's public call, and even a few promising designs, but two of them would require changes to the cannons to use."

"What sort of changes?" Kyou asks.

"Mostly just changes to the barrels." Merlin says. "One of the shells is a fin-stabilized sabot round, and sabots are hard to deal with since they have a nasty habit of getting ingested by the engines. I may have a way around that, but we'd have to see. That's for computer testing right now, not live fire. The other round is interesting because it's a solid round packed full of a dual-base propellant that has a muzzle velocity comparable to the EML rounds. They bleed energy faster than any of the other rounds, but in their effective range band they could be incredibly effective. Their designer fired scale rounds out of a shotgun to test them."

[] A shotgun? that's hardly a comprehensive test.
[] Sounds interesting, but do we really need them? We've already got APEX and the tungsten carbide penetrators.
[] How soon can we get them?

And that's going to be it for the night!

I'm pretty tired, so I probably won't be able to get to any questions or comments tonight, but I'll try to answer anything posted in the morning!

Till tomorrow gents, cheers!

>>4263304
>[x] Sounds interesting, but do we really need them? We've already got APEX and the tungsten carbide penetrators.

>>4263304
>[] Sounds interesting, but do we really need them? We've already got APEX and the tungsten carbide penetrators.

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>>4263304
>[X] Sounds interesting, but do we really need them? We've already got APEX and the tungsten carbide penetrators.

>>4263306
Thanks for the run boss.

>>4263304
>[x] Sounds interesting, but do we really need them? We've already got APEX and the tungsten carbide penetrators.

>"There were wyverns for space flight?"
Oh boy we're gonna go Ace Combat 3, aren't we?

>>4263304
>[x] A shotgun? that's hardly a comprehensive test.

>>4263306
Thanks for the run Ghost!

>>4263570
Scalability in test articles, projectile and propellant design.

Its basically a small scale version of a wind tunnel, but for deflagrating propellant design work.

>>4263575
I'll take your word for it.

>>4263304
>[x] Sounds interesting, but do we really need them? We've already got APEX and the tungsten carbide penetrators.

>>4263304
>[X] A shotgun? that's hardly a comprehensive test.

ok gents, votes called!

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[x] Sounds interesting, but do we really need them? We've already got APEX and the tungsten carbide penetrators.

"That sounds interesting, but do we really need them?" You ask, frowning. To you it sounds like a great way to complicate an already complex supply system- no other aircraft here uses 40mm rounds, and while it's not hard to schedule a COD bird to deliver a few thousand shells more, it's using logistical assets needed elsewhere to do so, too. "We've already got the APEX rounds, and the tungsten carbide penetrators for anything they can't handle."

"And a half dozen specialty and legacy shells." Merlin says, nodding. "Most of the old bofors stocks are compatible with the guns after some changes. We don't use them because like you said, APEX and the Tungsten rounds do everything we need, so there's not much point in bringing them onboard and taking up space."

"If that's the case, why was there a public call?" Kyou asks. "It seems foolish to devote resources to a solved problem."

"It was the airforce." Merlin responds. "their gunships don't have an APEX round, yet, and they don't have access to the penetrators we have. At least not yet, they're talking about installing these cannons on the AV-22, but that's still just a proposal anyway."

"I see." Kyou says. "So this wasn't something driven by us."

Merlin shakes her head. "Not in the least." She says. "But we might be able to get some use out of it, so I've been keeping track. And since we're talking about them, I've been thinking on Wendy's weapons as well. The valkyrie was designed as a gunfighter, mostly, and that's been working out, but the reports I've been getting have been saying that it's a little underarmed for it's role."

Wendy nods. "I've not had reason to complain yet, but it does seem that way." She admits. "Didn't the wartime version have bays similar to the ones you'd installed on your fighter?"

"Similar." Merlin says, nodding. "we deleted them and left the space open when the powers that be decided that the valkyrie needed modularity, so it could handle a number of mission profiles."

"I assume that was not your first choice?" Kyou asks. Merlin shakes her head.

1/2

"Not really, no." She says. "I'd been working on it after seeing Wendy fly it over the soviet union there at the end of the war, trying to improve it's ability to fly with a Wyvern. It didn't need modularity because the wyvern already provided that to the combat team. Valkyrie just needed to make sure that the wyvern could do it's job without being interrupted."

"So what can we do?" Wendy asks.

"Well, my first thought is to simply rebuild the bays." Merlin says. "The spaces are still there, and the bays could handle any conventional weapon in inventory other than a few of the really big demolition bombs. The guns are going to be more trouble though."

"Why's that?" You ask.

"We designed them without much room to change them around." Merlin says. "So there's not a lot of space to work, and it's not like we were able to do with Muninn where we could just fabricate a new fairing to cover the part that doesn't fit into the existing bay, we'd almost have to design and fabricate a whole new nose to get anything else in there."

"So there's nothing to be done." Kyou says.

"I didn't say that." Merlin responds. "Remember I said the space where the old weapons bays is empty. We could install a twenty or twenty five millimeter weapon in there, that's much easier since those sections remain a solid unit even in other operation modes. Anything we put there would only be useful in fighter mode, but it wouldn't block transformation or anything like that. I don't think we could get a rotary weapon in there, so no equalizer or anything, but I'm sure we could get a revolver cannon and some ammunition into t he space."

"That does sound rather interesting." Wendy admits.

[] If you started now, how long would that take? I'd like it if Wendy was better armed for this.
[] We already decided to wait for any major work, but that's something I think we ought to look into.

>>4264721
>[X] We already decided to wait for any major work, but that's something I think we ought to look into.

>>4264721
>[x] We already decided to wait for any major work, but that's something I think we ought to look into.

>>4264721
>[] We already decided to wait for any major work, but that's something I think we ought to look into.

>>4264721
>[x] If you started now, how long would that take? I'd like it if Wendy was better armed for this.

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>>4264721
>[] We already decided to wait for any major work, but that's something I think we ought to look into.

Ok, votes called!

>>4264721
>[X] We already decided to wait for any major work, but that's something I think we ought to look into.

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[x] We already decided to wait for any major work, but that's something I think we ought to look into.

"We already decided to wait to do any major work, but that's something we should look into." You say, getting a nod out of both Kyou and Wendy.

"I'll start working on a design document." Merlin says. "And maybe look into replacing the nose mounted guns with something a little better. I might not be able to get anything larger caliber in there, but I think we could get maybe Mark twenty fives in there. You'd lose bullet weight, but you'd gain volume of fire." She frowns. "I guess we could work on a cut down twenty millimeter cannon, but that would almost definitely require a full rebuild."

"Which isn't in the cards right now." You remind her- she does have a tendency to get ahead of herself, especially when she's planning something like this- she'll get it planned and instead of waiting, she'll start spinning up her fabrication shop to build it. It's one of the things that's made her beloved of chance-vought, you know- anytime they need something new to show the investors, there's better than even odds that there's something new and amazing that she's got a prototype of. Maman said she'd done the same thing during the war, too- she seemed blissfully unaware that she was doing her research and development work less than a hundred miles from hostile forces, sometimes. At least, according to Maman.

She nods. "I know." She says, looking over at you and smiling, her eyes closing as she does so. "But I should get started on the design work, since the sooner I have that done, the sooner I can see what we need to change for the fabrication teams. Keep in mind that this isn't just you. Changes here might get pushed to the entire valkyrie fleet."

"You think these specific changes may be?" Kyou asks.

Merlin hesitates for a second. "Maybe. Danielle has said similar things about the firepower available to her, and Spears mentioned it once or twice in testing, even suggesting that we see if it were possible to modify a tankwitch main gun for the platform. I'll present some of the options they've suggested as well, and we'll see if we can agree on something everyone likes."

You nod.

[] So what do you need us for today?
[] Have they suggested anything else?

>>4264977
>[X] So what do you need us for today?

>>4264977
>[x] So what do you need us for today?

>>4264977
>[x] So what do you need us for today?

>>4264977
>[X] Have they suggested anything else?

>>4264977
>[x] Have they suggested anything else?

>>4264977
>[] Have they suggested anything else?

>>4264977
> [] So what do you need us for today?

ok gents, votes called. This'll be the last for the night, I'm gettin really tired over here, haha.

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[x] So what do you need us for today?

"So what do you need us for today?" You ask- you figure she must have had a reason for telling you all to be up at the time she did.

"You're headed to the America." Merlin says. "The marines like to meet any navy wyverns they'll be working with before any operation. You'll meet their combat element commanders and their air wing commander." She frowns. "They're usually pretty good, but you need to keep in mind that while they'll rank you, you're not in their chain of command. Their targets for you still go through my office, they don't assign them to you directly."

"Is that a problem?" Kyou asks, sounding curious.

"It can be." Merlin shrugs. "It depends on who their commander is. Usually they're good about remembering that wyverns are kept on pretty short leashes for a good reason, and they've got to go through the combat team commander instead of to the team directly, but..." She shrugs again. "Sometimes they like to see what they can get away with."

"So are we to not consider any of their orders legally binding?" Kyou asks.

"Not if they're related to flight operations of your aircraft." Merlin responds. "Only I can give you actual legal taskings right now." She says. "And since we know you're going to be busy soon, and can't operate off the America anyway, I'll be spending the day with the crew going over the fighters and getting them ready for surge operations again."

You nod. "How soon are we leaving?"

"Your ride should be on the way already." She says, looking at her watch. "They'll expect flight suits, but I'd prefer if you just wore regular nomex ones and left your actual suits here. I'd like to run calibrations on them today, if I can. Bareleg is expected, of course."

Kyou nods, and Wendy looks slightly relieved.

"I think that's it." She says. "You won't be staying very long, just a few hours so they can talk to you, so you don't need to take anything. Any questions?"

[] No.
[] Write in!

And that's it for the night! I figure I should be back to normal sometime in the next week or so, thanks for being patient gents- it means a lot. I won't be on much anymore this evening, in fact after this post goes up I'll be racking out, but I'll get to any questions or comments in the morning!

So till tomorrow gents, cheers!

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>>4265249
>[X] No.

>>4265253
Thanks for the run boss.

>>4265249
>[x] No.

>>4265249
[] No

>>4265249
>[x] No.

>>4265253
Thanks for the run Ghost!

>>4265249
>[X] No.

>>4265249
>No.

>>4265249
>[] No.

>>4265249
>[] Write in!

"So how are the rest of the Wyverns in theater doing?"

Bit of a delay gents, evening chow. I'll call votes around 19 EST and we'll run from there. We may extend a day if we don't end where I was hoping we'd get to!

Ok, little later than I'd planned, but votes called!

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[x] No.

"None." You say, looking over at Wendy, who similarly shakes her head- not that she was going to ask anything anyway, you think.

"Will any other wyvern crews be present?" Kyou asks.

"They haven't told me, but I know there's at least two aboard the Roosevelt." Merlin says, and you nod- you'd been told the same the day you were up, testing your new fit with Lovelace riding along. "They may be there, they may not. I'd guess not, since they'll have had plenty of time to meet with the MEF commanders on the trip across the Pacific."

Kyou nods. You don't necessarily mind- you know that your mother was popular among the marine corps when she had to use their assets- and the majority of the marines you've dealt with so far in your career have seemed decent enough.

"Either way, go ahead and go change." Merlin says. "You'll need to draw rescue vests from the Kaga's support shop as well."

Kyou nods, descending from her place in the cockpit to join you and Wendy on the deck. "Should we return here to wait?" She asks.

Merlin shakes her head. "You don't have to." She says. "You probably won't have time to, either."

"Understood. Come, Wendy, let's go change."

"Yes mum." Wendy says, falling in behind Kyou seemingly by reflex.

It's quiet for a few seconds as they walk off. "I'm glad to see they're getting along so well." Merlin says with a smile. "So far everyone in a group of three like you seems to be, so this is working out really well."

[] Does that mean that we'll be seeing more valkyries joining the fleet?
[] They get along a little too well. I'd be suspicious if I was that kind of person.

>>4266388
>[] Does that mean that we'll be seeing more valkyries joining the fleet?

>>4266388
>[X] Does that mean that we'll be seeing more valkyries joining the fleet?

>>4266388
>[x] Does that mean that we'll be seeing more valkyries joining the fleet?

>>4266388
>[x] They get along a little too well. I'd be suspicious if I was that kind of person.

>>4266388
>[] Does that mean that we'll be seeing more valkyries joining the fleet?

>>4266388
>[] Does that mean that we'll be seeing more valkyries joining the fleet?

MORE MAD SCIENCE

ok, votes called!

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[x] Does that mean that we'll be seeing more valkyries joining the fleet?

"Does that mean that we'll be seeing more valkyries joining the fleet?" You ask. She nods.

"Oh, without a doubt." She says. "But that's still months away, there's too many long-lead items that go into one for us to have them in production that quickly, especially not with Wyvern production ramping up for the imperial military."

"I'm sure that's going to make them popular." You say. "Are they the first out the side the US to get the nod?"

Merlin nods. "Yes, and there's already been noise. Political, not military, so it doesn't concern us."

"But you're aware of it." You point out.

She blinks. "Because they forwarded me the messages." She says. "Don't worry about it, Morgan."

You nod- that's about as direct an order as she'll give in this sort of thing, though you do make a note to keep an eye on things. Most people prefer to leave Merlin out of this sort of thing- she's not easily distracted by things she doesn't care about, but she's been wary of politics almost to the point of paranoia since you were a little kid. It reminds you of you, in some ways.

"You need to go." She adds, looking at her watch again. "That osprey can't sit on deck very long, they'll need to load and get going so they don't interfere with operations. Don't keep them waiting."

You nod, turning to leave as the crew starts to file in from their own pre-duty routines. You don't see the chief yet, but you're sure she's on the way, though you won't get to see her at all. It's too bad, but it is what it is, you guess.

You're met in the life support shop by Kyou and Wendy, now both wearing almost identical flight tops. No one's sure where the design originated- some say an enterprising witch just cut the legs off a flight suit during the war- but it's become somewhat more popular among striker witches in the years since, though most still prefer simple uniform jackets. You note that Wendy's still in her thighhighs, with Kyou now wearing an identical pair. Overall the effect isn't so bad- they both clearly belong to the same unit, you think, even though, instead of a wyvern patch on her flight suit, Wendy has the valkyrie patch.

1/2

The three of you draw rescue vests- an IJN requirement, they're little more than self-inflating life preserving vests with a beacon and ink capsules built in. They're also a requirement for anyone leaving the ship at sea- while the rule isn't IJN wide, it's rigorously enforces on the Kaga. Clipping them on, you head up to the island, waiting for the MV-22 from the America. It arrives within a couple of minutes- you'd only just found an out of the way space to tuck into.

You're greeted by the marine crew chief, standing on the tail ramp, tethered off to the aircraft by a heavy-duty lanyard. He directs you to three of the bench seats near the front of the aircraft, speaking into his mic as soon as you're seated and belted in. You almost admire his balance as the osprey lifts back off the Kaga- even though the pilots banked away pretty hard, he didn't have to change his position at a ll, and just stood there like he was welded to the deck of the aircraft.

The flight is shorter than you'd expected- you spend maybe ten minutes in the air before you feel the osprey's propellers start to shift into their more vertical configuration. It's an odd sensation- the deceleration is noticeable, but it's not quite like simply slowing down, reminding you more of a helicopter flaring than anything else.

You disembark to find the America's deck isn't empty- there's another osprey on the deck, though it's wings are in the stowed position and it's not actually on the flight line right now. otherwise it's almost eerily deserted, especially compared to the Kaga's deck. Still, you're met by a marine you make out to be about your age, his rank pins indicating he's a first lieutenant.

"Welcome aboard the America." He says, not quite having to shout over the noise of the osprey behind you powering down. "I'm lieutenant Bridger, VMFA-two three five."

You nod. "Lieutenant Laroux-Bishop, Wyvern Team Muninn."

"Follow me." He says. "Shame you couldn't fly over yourself, eh?"

[] If they'd had cables like a proper carrier we could have.
[] Is what it is.

>>4266637
>[X] Is what it is.

>>4266637
>[x] Is what it is.

>>4266637
>[] Is what it is.

>>4266637
>[] Is what it is.

>>4266637
>[] Is what it is.

>>4266637
>[x] Is what it is.

ok, votes called, this'll probably be the last update for the week!

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[x] Is what it is.

You shrug. "Is what it is." You say, stepping into the ship's island and immediately pulling off your survival vest, taking Kyou's and Wendy's from them as they remove their as well.

"You can stow those in the ready room." Lt. Bridger says, indicating the vests. "The old man and air group commander are in there with an other drake team, they've been waiting on you."

"There's another team aboard?" Kyou asks, blinking. "That makes six in the region."

Lt. Bridger shrugs. "I wouldn't know, ma'am." He says. "To us mortals, one drake is plenty. In through here, please." He indicates a simple wooden door, set along the side of the passageway.

Inside, the ready room is smaller than the squadron room on the Kaga- you make it to be about a third of the size, all told. That makes sense, you guess- the America carries less than a third of the aircraft the Kaga does, due to it's design as more of a multirole ship. There's five other people in here- two older men, both in crisp, clean MARPAT uniforms, and another flight team. You recognize Lotus and Spears immediately as they look up.

"Good to see you, Lieutenant. Take a seat." The older of the two officers says- indicating the front row of chairs. "Lieutenant Sorenson was just telling us you've all met?"

You nod. "Yes, sir. We flew with Major Spears in Iraq, and Commander Earhart and I had a trial flight during my workup phase."

"It's captain Spears, Lieutenant." He says, a very slight smile on his lips. "That navy tradition shit doesn't fly when there's no one around who's worried about it."

You nod. "Yes, sir."

"Anyway, I'm General Lockhart, first mardiv. This is Colonel Diens with VMFA- Two thirty five."

The other man nods to you as you sit. "Heard you've been busy in theater already. How many confirmed?"

You shake your head. "Not sure right now, sir." You admit. "Haven't been keeping count."

"Thirty plus." Kyou states, taking a seat one chair over from Spears. "We can provide a more exact count on request, of course."

He smiles and shakes his head. "I was just asking. That's still leading score in AOR north. And I think in the conflict so far."

"As it should be." Kyou says.

That gets a chuckle out of the two marine officers. "I guess the stories about the aggressiveness of the wolf princess are true." The colonel says. "Good to see. We're gonna want that over the landing beaches."

"I look forward to it." Kyou nods.

Wendy shoots you a glance as Kyou talks- you shake your head. While you do occasionally have to pull the leash a little in the air, here you're more than willing to let her take the lead- her raw aggression and drive should speak well to the marines, and you know your record will back it up. You're more worried about chow- a couple pieces of toast aren't enough for you, and you know Kyou can't have eaten much before she went down to the hangar deck- and the last thing you want is a hangry superwitch on a ship with no escape options.

And that's going to be it for the week! We got about where I was hoping, so that all works out- I know the update pace was slow tonight. I was mostly sidetracked reading about this hole Denuvo anticheat thing with doom eternal and all- what a mess that's been. Don't even know why, I haven't messed with Doom eternal at all yet and probably won't till it's on sale. Oh well. haha. That and been working on this army list- why do space marines get so many neat toys?

Anyway, that's enough of that. I'll be taking a shower and racking out here as soon as this post goes up, so I probably won't answer any questions or comments tonight, but I'll get them in the morning for sure! As usual, I'll be around on and off over the week and through the weekend to chat, if anybody wants. Otherwise, gents, as usual, till next week, Cheers!

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>>4266902
Thanks for the run boss.

>>4266892
Need to find a nearby boot to scavenge some snacks to appease the Wolf.

A pallet of MREs might do it. Might.

>>4266902
Thanks for the run Ghost!

>>4266902
thanks for running

>>4266914
>A pallet of MREs might do it. Might.
You want to sink the ship by fucking up its sewage system? cause thats how you sink a ship

Ask Earhart, she looks like a snacker.

>>4267126
What kind of plumbing do carriers have ?

>>4263302
>prompt strike
What's that? I don't remember the details. Is it an airstrike deal or insertion of ground troops?

>>4271494
According to a quick google, Prompt strike is an airstrike that can hit anywhere in the world within an hour.

The way Wendy ehaves she has some libido left. Kyou and Morgan should just 'invite her in' one evening.

Hey gents, just wanted to hop by and say that, owing to me needing to check all my shit and find all my stuff for machining (my 0-1 mic and my Calipers are MIA) we're gonna postpone till tomorrow.

>>4271494
A 90's era program to allow a wyvern to hit any target on the globe within an hour of alert. It's semi-cancelled- all the hardware still exists, and all wyverns can use it, but no one sits alert for it anymore, and the hardware is almost never deployed anywhere other than it's 'home' base.

>>4271642
That's very much Kyou's desire, yes.

>>4275491
>That's very much Kyou's desire, yes.

"Wendy, I'll need your help in bed tonight. Kyou drank all of Merlin's Monster Stash. One man alone cannot satiate her when she's this incredibly wired."

>>4276317

I'd expect Kyou to KoolAid man her way through Wendy's door with Morgan under her arm if she drank that much Monster.

>>4275491
Thanks for explaining!

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Ok gents, sorry about the late start!

So school kinda bamboozled me- my classes don't start till 15 June. Long story short they've got two weeks of make up for the 8 weeks they missed at the end of the spring semester, then a week off, then summer starts up. That was super cool, finding that out after waking up early and all the running around I had to do to find my tools! Oh well, guess they're found now, at least!

===================================

"I hear things over Korea have calmed down some." Ulysses- the marine wyvern pilot- says.

"Since the initial moves, yes." Kyou says. You've been left more or less alone in the ready room while the marine officers you were talking to have stepped out for a couple minutes. "We've encountered significantly fewer Chinese assets in more recent missions than we did at the beginning."

"Word is you're also running some real wizard intrusion software." Lotus says. "Like, Mama-Merlin special tier stuff."

Kyou looks over at you- you give a slight shrug. "I would be interested to learn where you heard that." She says.

Lotus blinks- then laughs. "Vinny told us!" She says.

"Vinny?" You ask. Ulysses nods.

"Our Drake's AI." He says. "Invincible. She calls him Vinny."

"I see. I wasn't aware the news had traveled so quickly." Kyou responds- still, you note, not confirming or denying anything.

"I guess there's not many secrets among Wyvern AIs." Lotus laughs. "Yours was pretty popular in the last week."

"Being the only wyvern in theater I'm sure had much to do with it." Kyou offers.

"No doubt." Spears says- the first she's spoken. "Looks like that was all the hard fighting too."

"I doubt that." Kyou says, and you shake your head, agreeing with her.

"We bled them, but they're still in control of most of Korea." You say.

"But no one's reporting the same concentrations you saw in the first forty eight." Spears counters. "Even this last raid didn't see shit, compared to that."

1/2

You shrug. "Hard to say what they're up to."

"Scuttlebutt says they're working on finalizing some kinda anti-drake weapon." Spears says, leaning back in her chair. "Some kinda stonehinge knockoff or something."

"I have trouble believing that." Kyou says. "Their design is hardly secret, but the UN installations like that are also incredibly expensive and tightly controlled. There is no way they could have built one for national use without the EDF knowing."

"They still haven't found all the lichbirds." Spears responds- using a popular nickname for the soviet 'dreadnoughts' like the one your father and Merlin destroyed over Megalith in the last war.

"The soviet union is also much larger, with significantly more empty space." Kyou points out. "And it is a much simpler matter to create an underground hangar in a mountain than it is to disguise one hundred twenty centimeter combined propulsion defensive cannons and their associated supercomputer clusters."

Spears frowns. "Word is there's chinese superwitches too." She says- not quite admitting defeat on the point, but moving away from it.

[] There was a Russian one, we haven't seen hardly any witches at all though.
[] Smart money's on an AI platform or drone swarms.

>>4277827
>[] Smart money's on an AI platform or drone swarms.

Our cat is nothing, if not smart

>>4277827
>[x] Smart money's on an AI platform or drone swarms.

>>4277827
>[X] There was a Russian one, we haven't seen hardly any witches at all though.
>[X] Smart money's on an AI platform or drone swarms.

>>4277827
>[x] Smart money's on an AI platform or drone swarms.

>[x] We haven't seen hardly any witches at all though.

[Concern intensifies]

>>4277827
>[] Smart money's on an AI platform or drone swarms.

I agree though we should probably mention the worrying lack of enemy witches

Ok, votes called!

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[x] Smart money's on an AI platform or drone swarms.

"Smart money's on an AI platform or drone swarms." You say.

"That wouldn't surprise me." Lotus says with a nod. "But they'd have to get past the multiple body psychosis that we saw with trials when we tried it."

You shrug. "That's not impossible." You point out, thinking of Lovelace- who can apparently easily cope with being in two places at once.

"But a lot more expensive than building a counter-drake." She says. "I mean, you'd want to use an AI to observe them and extrapolate things from there, but it's not like there's really a whole lot of classified stuff about a drake, either. I mean there's some critical stuff sure, but most of what goes into one isn't classified."

"But that is more than enough." Kyou points out. "The Empire has tried for almost twenty five years to match the Wyvern and has yet to produce a viable answer to it, and our nations are allied. The Fandance may have been a match for the wyvern during the war, but none of the Chinese variants are."

"That we know of." Ulysses says.

"I mean, the Soviets had VDNI before we did." Lotus says. "And there's no way they didn't share that tech with the Chinese."

"But would the Chinese have iterated on it?" Kyou asks. "We had access to it as well, and the system has never come into use in the imperial military. It's not impossible that the Chinese would have similarly decided to not develop it."

"Yeah, but you knew you wouldn't be fighting drakes in the next war." Spears points out. "They did, and everyone's been looking for a wyvern killer for twenty years."

Kyou shrugs as the hatch opens and the marine officers step back through. Spears has a good point, you agree- the Japanese, similar to the British in Europe and most of the old commonwealth by extension, enjoy an excellent relationship with the US- and though only the Japanese have been pushing for Wyverns of their own, there's little chance any of them would be fighting against drakes.

"So, lieutenant Bishop." Colonel Diens says. "We're told that your bird isn't much good at air to ground, compared to the other drakes in the fleet."

You frown- that's not really true. While it could be argued that your guns are less effective at strafing, because they deliver a much lower volume of fire, the additional weight of your shells- and their greatly improved velocity- more than makes up for it, in your opinion.

[] That's probably incorrect, sir.
[] I think our record so far proves otherwise, sir.

>>4278031
>[] That's probably incorrect, sir.

>>4278031
>[X] That's probably incorrect, sir.

>>4278031
>[x] That's probably incorrect, sir.

>>4278031

[] That's probably incorrect, sir.

>>4278031
>[] That's probably incorrect, sir.

Ok, votes called!

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[x] That's probably incorrect, sir.

"That's probably incorrect, sir." You say. "Our cannon throw a shell with better than twice the weight of a twenty five millimeter round at almost six times the muzzle velocity. Using Tungsten-cored penetrators, we can defeat MBT's armor from all but the front."

He nods. "What about your VLS systyem?" He asks. "That's less room for air to ground weapons."

"I'd say that's incorrect as well." Kyou says. "While it is true in a full air to ground configuration we cannot carry an additional few maverick missiles, in mixed loads our ability to move most, if not all, of our air to air missiles to the VLS means more available space for air to ground weapons."

"You understand why we're asking." General Lockheart asks. "We've got the navy's cooperation with the drakes, but we want to know where to send you. Normally it'd be a pair of the horsemen over a landing like this, but only one of our Wyverns is marine."

"And," Colonel Diens adds. "It's not a secret that Admiral Wells is active again, and you're her pet drake, meaning no one but her and you and maybe god really knows what you can do."

"Ideally, we'd like to set you out alone, forward and above the landing beaches and just dare 'em to come at you, and let the death angels handle the air to ground, but we need to know if that's something you can handle." The general says.

Kyou blinks- you can see her growing excitement at the prospect. A marine landing isn't something that can be easily hidden, you know, and it's something the Chinese will have to respond to, meaning that they'll have to throw everything they can at it to prevent a beachhead from being established. It'd be an almost perfect challenge, in her mind. Still, she stays quiet- leaving the question to you.

[] We were told there were going to be lead-in sorties first, sir. Are those being scrubbed?
[] We'll be able to handle it, sir, but we can't agree to any official tasking without it going through the Admiral.

>>4278135
>[X] We'll be able to handle it, sir, but we can't agree to any official tasking without it going through the Admiral.

>>4278135
>[] We'll be able to handle it, sir, but we can't agree to any official tasking without it going through the Admiral.

BIG AWOO ENERGY

>>4278135
>[x] We were told there were going to be lead-in sorties first, sir. Are those being scrubbed?

>>4278135
>[x] We'll be able to handle it, sir, but we can't agree to any official tasking without it going through the Admiral.

>>4278135
>[] We'll be able to handle it, sir, but we can't agree to any official tasking without it going through the Admiral.

ok, gents, votes called! Sorry about that delay, getting pretty tired over here, so this'll be our last update for the evening! I was up pretty early, so I'm hoping we can get closer to our regular run times tomorrow

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[x] We'll be able to handle it, sir, but we can't agree to any official tasking without it going through the Admiral.

"We'll be able to handle it, sir, but we can't agree to any official tasking without it going through the admiral." You say, frowning a little.

He nods. "I figured you'd say that. That's fine, we'll go through her but plan around you doing that. Spears was telling us your wingman units are underarmed for air to ground work anyway. Of course, we've heard that that's not really a problem for the famous Wendy Maloney."

Kyou smiles. "Wendy is quite capable, yes." She says, handily stepping in for the older witch. "However we have had concern over the firepower of the valkyrie units. Admiral Wells is working on solutions, but we don't anticipate one being available for some weeks yet."

"Good to hear it's not just me." Spears says. "I'll never figure out just what they were thinking, putting thirty cal MGs on there. Like damn peashooters."

"I'm sure it was intended for infantry and ground actions." Kyou supplies. "But we've not needed them yet in that capacity."

"Neither have we." Spears says. "Hell, I haven't even shifted the thing out of fighter mode since leaving Miramar, have you, Wendy?"

Wendy shakes her head. "No, I've not needed to." She says.

"Well, either way. Lieutenant, if you're comfortable taking your team out forward, then that's what we'll request you be doing." The general says. "We'll probably hold you back from the preliminary strikes, since we're gonna need you for the main show."

"Unless, that is, you're up to surging." Colonel Diens says. "We're not gonna risk you not being available, but you know your crew. You think you'll be good to handle a couple sorties before the landing?"

[] I don't see it being a problem. We've got a great support team aboard the Kaga.
[] If we're that critical to the landing, we ought to minimize risk till then.

And that's it for the night, gents! I'd hoped to run a little longer, get another update in, but I'm dog tired- was up at around 04 this morning. Eager to get back into things, so another three weeks on my ass is gonna be difficult to s it through, haha!

I won't be around much anymore this evening to answer any questions or comments, but I'll be sure to in the morning! Till then, gents, cheers!

>>4278335
>[X] I don't see it being a problem. We've got a great support team aboard the Kaga.

Hit early, hit fast, hit often.

>>4278335
>[x] I don't see it being a problem. We've got a great support team aboard the Kaga.

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>>4278335
>[X] I don't see it being a problem. We've got a great support team aboard the Kaga.

>>4278339
Thanks for the run boss.

>>4278335
>[x] I don't see it being a problem. We've got a great support team aboard the Kaga.

>>4278335


[] If we're that critical to the landing, we ought to minimize risk till then.

I really don't expect a problem, but it'd be a hell of a note to get down checked or worse by a golden bb.

>>4278335
>[] If we're that critical to the landing, we ought to minimize risk till then.

thanks for running

>>4278335
>[] I don't see it being a problem. We've got a great support team aboard the Kaga.

>Surging
>Lt. Morgan
>Lt. Surge

HA! HA! TIME FOR LIGHTNING!

>>4278335
>[] I don't see it being a problem. We've got a great support team aboard the Kaga.

>>4278335
>[] I don't see it being a problem. We've got a great support team aboard the Kaga.

Walk the Awoo. Play with the Awoo. Working breeds need activity, and Morgan can nap for the both of them later.

>>4278335
>[X] I don't see it being a problem. We've got a great support team aboard the Kaga.

Ok gents, I'm going to call the votes here! I need to finish my evening chow here, and as a heads up apparently there's a tropical depression rolling through- one that spawned a tornado up north of me. If I drop off suddenly, you know why, haha!

>>4279911
Well you better be ready to maybe hit a shelter then right? Dunno if there is any potential for tornadoes where you are but stay safe ok?

>>4279923
No shelters around here, but the cells that could have produced them have moved off to the north. I'm always hopeful there's gonna be one in chase range, but I doubt it anymore this evening- and I won't chase at night. Pretty rare for us to have twisters here anyway, and when we do they're usually fairly weak. Last significant one we had was 2011, i think.

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[x] I don't see it being a problem. We've got a great support team aboard the Kaga.

You shake your head. "I don't see it being a problem, sir." You say. "We've got a great support team aboard the Kaga."

"And we've been held back quite enough already." Kyou adds. "We've been prepared to surge missions since the beginning, but the only time we saw significant flight time was the first forty eight hours. Since then we've flown infrequently, at best."

"I wouldn't worry about that if I were you." The general says. "If Imperial high command and the navy can't find a use for you, we sure can."

"And you don't have any problems running strike missions into Korea, correct?" Colonel Diens asks.

You shake your head. "Most of our first missions in theater were ground support roles where we performed strikes on high value targets."

"Or provided air support over critical areas." Kyou adds, and you nod. "We are capable of whatever is needed of us."

"Only problem for us is everything's gotta go through your handler." General Lockheart says. "Not that I expect a problem, I've worked with Wells before on a couple minor things. She's usually pretty decent, but I know she's been out of uniform a while."

"She is still quite capable." Kyou says.

"I don't doubt she is." The general responds. "But we've never had to deal with her as a combat element commander." He shakes his head. ""I'm sure it'll be fine. We're told that you usually select what you'll do from a short list of preferred targets?"

[] We've done that, but we've also been assigned critical tasks directly.
[] Usually, yes sir.

>>4280090
>[X] We've done that, but we've also been assigned critical tasks directly.

>>4280090
>[] We've done that, but we've also been assigned critical tasks directly.

Alright, let's earn some good cat points

>>4280090
>[x] We've done that, but we've also been assigned critical tasks directly.

As circumstances dictate.

>>4280090
>[] We've done that, but we've also been assigned critical tasks directly.

>>4280090
>[x] Usually, yes sir.

ok, votes called!

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[x] We've done that, but we've also been assigned critical tasks directly.

"We've done that, but we've also been assigned critical tasks directly, sir." You say.

"Good. We'll have plenty of those for you. What do you think about Chinese defenses in the area?" He asks.

You shrug- he's asking to ask, not because he needs the intel from you. While you're sure you've all got access to the same information- Muninn makes sure of that, at least- what he won't have is access to personal, direct opinion from you. He's no doubt seen your after-action reports, as dry and technical as they probably are, written as they are by Muninn. It's one of the strange quirks of the platform- you rarely, if ever, end up doing most of the paperwork associated with your job. While informality is the word of the day within the wyvern community and those around it, you sometimes wonder if that's really a good thing.

"They're weak." Kyou states. "Hardly fitting opponents for us, but they had a significant numerical advantage over us early on. Our strikes in the last few days should have gone some way towards redressing that."

"Not to disagree, but they're rather uncoordinated." Wendy says, her voice notable almost only for how soft it is. "They've deployed their assets against us poorly, but typically in overwhelming force."

"That has never succeeded in overwhelming us." Kyou points out.

Ulysses and Lotus look interested in your assessments as well- though you know they, too, no doubt have access to the same information set you do, via their own AIs. You wonder how much they've flown since the war started- if they're here in theater, then probably not much yet, but you don't keep track the same way other pilots do sometimes.

Wendy's quiet after her short statement, while Kyou continues. "We know they've been steadily increasing the numbers of their surface to air systems, but their warning network is poor at best, and their pilots have displayed little quality of training. We have only very rarely encountered witches, and in all instances were able to defeat them with ease."

"What about you, Bishop?" Colonel Diens asks. "Is that your assessment as well? They're playing from the old soviet book?"

[]Yes, sir. So far they haven't been able to seriously compete with us.
[] No, sir. I'm not sure what they're doing, but they're not doing the same thing the Russians did in eighty nine, either.

>>4280219
>[x] No, sir. I'm not sure what they're doing, but they're not doing the same thing the Russians did in eighty nine, either.

The Soviets at least made a serious fight of things. What the Chinese are doing now... doesn't make a lot of sense as an effective stratagem.

>>4280219
>[X] No, sir. I'm not sure what they're doing, but they're not doing the same thing the Russians did in eighty nine, either.

>>4280219
>[x] No, sir. I'm not sure what they're doing, but they're not doing the same thing the Russians did in eighty nine, either.

>>4280219
>[] No, sir. I'm not sure what they're doing, but they're not doing the same thing the Russians did in eighty nine, either.

Ok, votes called!

>>4280219
>[] No, sir. I'm not sure what they're doing, but they're not doing the same thing the Russians did in eighty nine, either.

it's like we're fighting untrained peasants; bith theur pilots and command.

It'd be easy to accept if it were on the ground against conscripts with ancient SKSs, but pilots in million-dollar airplanes? And their command structure?

No way. Something sketchy is going on.

>>4280228
>>4280279
This smells of a distraction, their better forces have to be somewhere else. The only question is, what area would be more important to the Chinese than Korea, the obvious in-road to their country for the U.S. and Japan?

>>4280298
TAIWAN NUMBAH WAN

>>4280301
A rebellious island province that they can barely threaten with their anemic navy? No, I don't buy that. They know they'd have to beat two superior opponents to do that.

But, I just had a really bad thought. What if they're holding their best forces back, because they want us to commit to Korea and then pull Stalin's Curtain 2: Nuclear Boogaloo?

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[x] No, sir. I'm not sure what they're doing, but they're not doing the same thing the Russians did in eighty nine, either.

You frown. You're not sure what they're doing- it's inarguable that they've achieved stunning first-week successes, but there's something else going on down there, and you're not sure what it is. You doubt they'd have started this war without some kind of plan in place- you know they wouldn't have- but so far they've seemed content to suffer terrible losses to their air forces against you and let the remainder of the KDF and IJA to dig in along their defense lines. You keep coming back to it being a strategic trap of some kind- but you can't imagine them staking everything on that, especially not when they stand to lose so much. China is undoubtedly the communist world's powerhouse, and a war against the empire of Japan and the US will cripple them- win or lose, you think. Still, it's impossible that something isn't going on- even if they'd have staked everything on occupying the entire peninsula in the opening moves, they had to have known that they'd have to defend it, as well.

"No sir." You say, shaking your head. "I'm not sure what they're doing, but they're not doing the same thing the Russians did in eighty nine, either, according to what I know of that war."

"They're not. I was in the Aleutian campaign back then as a platoon leader." The general says. "The Soviets wanted Europe and launched the Alaska campaign to distract us. There's no tellin what the Chinese game here is. Even if they occupy Taiwan and Korea, they're not gonna get to keep them."

"And Alaska was a colossal fuckup on their part." Colonel Diens points out- a fact generally agreed upon by most military historians. "I'm having trouble seeing a war in the east as just a distraction."

"You and everyone else." The general says. "but all I'm worried about right now is making sure they know how bad an idea it is to tangle with my marines."

"I find it difficult to believe they'd launch a war such as this without territorial claims in mind." Kyou says. "They've long complained about the empire's acquisition of the Kuril islands after the war in the nineteen nineties, and have been one of the leading voices in blocking the administrative transfer of the Kamchatka region to us as well, but to launch a war such as this over Korea is foolishness." She pauses. "Especially when we had already granted them self-rule."

1/2

"If I may, have they made any justification so far?" Wendy asks.

The general shakes his head. "Not that I'd seen since we've sailed, no." He says.

"Didn't they put a Korean in charge of the occupied territory?" You ask. "Maybe that's what they're angling for. Short war to change out the Japan friendly Korean government with a Chinese-friendly one."

"Damned stupid of them to do it this way." The general says. "No way we'd recognize them, and if the Imperial Japanese didn't either, it'd make life difficult for them, to say the least."

You shrug- you're no international politics expert, and a lot of the theory of it goes over your head. You're not as blind as your father was to politics- maman made sure of that- but guessing at a nation's motivations for launching a war of aggression like this is well outside your experience.

"Either way. So you're comfortable with an increased sortie rate up till we don't need you anymore?" The general asks.

You nod. "We can handle it, sir."

"Outstanding. That gives us four drakes for the landing window." He says, actually smiling. "Shit, you could take over most nations with four drakes and a full MEF. And here I've got a whole flat-top and another marine squadron too. I feel almost spoiled. And you say you're fine with any tasking we need to give you?"

[] We're rigged mostly for air to air, but we can do any strikes you need us to do.
[] We've been doing mostly air to ground work, but we're fine for any air superiority you need us to do.
[] Yes, sir. We're good to go on anything you need us to do.

>>4280407
>[] We're rigged mostly for air to air, but we can do any strikes you need us to do.

And that's gonna be it for the night from me! I think we'll probably have to shift the run time some, here- 18-23 isn't too bad, but 19-22 is much shorter than I'd like, and that's looking more the norm right now. IDK what exactly to do just yet- the problem with starting earlier is gonna be evening chow most nights, so we'll have to figure something out. Maybe extending a day? Not sure. Let me know what you gents think!

Anyway, as usual, I'm probably not going to be on long enough to field any questions or comments anymore this evening, so I'll do my best to answer anything in the morning when I roll out of the sack. So till tomorrow, gents, cheers!

>>4280407
>[] We're rigged mostly for air to air, but we can do any strikes you need us to do

>>4280407
>[x] We're rigged mostly for air to air, but we can do any strikes you need us to do.

>>4280411
Thanks for the run Ghost!

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>>4280407
>[X] We're rigged mostly for air to air, but we can do any strikes you need us to do.

>>4280411
Thanks for the run boss. Extending a day sounds fine to me, not sure about other anons.

>>4280319
Doubtful. Risk/reward for the amount of forces in Korea is too small.

Taiwan is a *massive* ideological bugbear for the Communists and the doctrinal parts of their military that aren't dedicated to internal suppression or their pathological fear of invasion are purely dedicated towards the singular ideal of Taking the Island Back.

I can absolutely see them going for a Sealion strategy and throwing *all* their best air forces and witches at the place to cover a less capable seaborne force to take it at all costs.

>>4280407
>[c] We're rigged mostly for air to air, but we can do any strikes you need us to do.

>>4280407
>[X] We're rigged mostly for air to air, but we can do any strikes you need us to do.

>>4280540
>>4280540
>Doubtful. Risk/reward for the amount of forces in Korea is too small.
Are you basing that on the current amount of forces there? Because after the MEF secures the landing zones, the U.S. Army and IJA are going to come in with several divisions and push for the Chinese border. Before they even get to the border, they'll be routed through a few mountainous passes (read: chokepoints), perfect for nuking and blocking off the best way into China. And what is China risking to draw them in? Their dregs with a couple of less obsolete units for backbone.

>I can absolutely see them going for a Sealion strategy and throwing *all* their best air forces and witches at the place to cover a less capable seaborne force to take it at all costs.
Take Taiwan, sure. Hold it? Only for as long as it takes for a couple of carrier strike groups to show up and blockade the area, then the PLA on the island is fucked. Granted, this timeline didn't have the Pacific island hopping campaign to show why stationing garrisons on islands when your opponent has the superior navy is a bad idea, so they may be stupid enough to do that. But I doubt it.

>>4280613
>Are you basing that on the current amount of forces there?
Generally speaking I don't find the risk/reqard value of wiping out even a Corps to be worth becoming the new nuclear pariah; especially when it means probably killing off at least the same quantity of your own forces, conscript meatshields or not.

Stalin tried it for far greater gains and he was completely insane; I have no confidence whatsoever the Chinese would try it for far less.

>so they may be stupid enough to do that. But I doubt it.
Crediting the Chinese with intelligence is a mistake people frequently make.

That being said; even if they were being smart for once I'm still confident they'd try it.The CCP is pathologically obsessed with Taiwain, well, *existing*, because it's the sole remaining challenge to the CCP's legitimacy as the undisputed rulers of All Under Heaven. They're willing to try lust abut anything to get them back or destroy it, and it's only been the threat of imminent nuclear annihilation in OTL that's stopped them here; I can't see them having the same compunctions in SW89.

>Take Taiwan, sure. Hold it?

That's what worries me.

For Communist China, Taiwan's mere existence is a massive existential threat and they'll do just about anything to ed it once and for all.

You might actually be right about Stalin's Shield 2 - but with the bombs dropping straight on Taiwan instead. Even the Chinese have enough warheads to turn the island into a wasteland.

Ok gents, votes called!

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[x] We're rigged mostly for air to air, but we can do any strikes you need us to do.

"We're rigged mostly for air to air, but we can do any strikes you need us to, sir." You respond- and get a tight grin in response.

"All you fighter pilots, I swear. Are air to ground missions that boring?" the general asks, looking over at the colonel. "Well, are they?"

"Mostly." The colonel says. "Besides, you don't make ace by plinking tanks."

"Chasing after witches, more like." The general says, shaking his head, then turns back to you. "We promised we wouldn't keep you very long, lieutenant, and my staff should already be sending over our short list of targets we want hit. If you want chow, though, now's a good time to grab it, the mess will be getting ready to serve up for my marines."

"I can get someone up here to show you where the mess is, your ride's got to get get refuelled and ready for flight anyway." The colonel adds.

"I know where it's at, sir." Summer says. "I was aboard once before when I was with Iron Horse before I went to wing."

"That's right, I forgot you'd been a tanker." The general says, looking at her. "Even you, huh?"

Spears shrugs and gives a very tight grin. "You know what they say, sir. What happens aboard, stays aboard."

"I swear, the bastard of Barin has a lot to answer for." The general says, shaking his head. "Chasing witches wasn't nearly as popular before he went and started a trend. Alright, y'all go get some chow and then you can head back to your ships."

"Speaking of, before you go, How's operating on an IJN flat top treating you, Lieutenant Bishop?" The colonel asks. "We did some cross deck exercises with them before, but you've been aboard as long as any liaison officer."

[] I can't really say, sir. I only had part of my deck tour done before this touched off.
[] We're kind of spoiled aboard the Kaga, sir.

>>4281816
>[X] We're kind of spoiled aboard the Kaga, sir.

>>4281816
>[x] We're kind of spoiled aboard the Kaga, sir.

>>4281816
>[] We're kind of spoiled aboard the Kaga, sir.

>>4281816
>[] We're kind of spoiled aboard the Kaga, sir.

Not only is it true, but it'll bother the Marines

>>4281816
>[x] We're kind of spoiled aboard the Kaga, sir.

On the flipside, Kyou (figuratively) wears the pants.

>>4281816
>[] We're kind of spoiled aboard the Kaga, sir.

ok, votes called!

>>4281847
Bossy Wolf~

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[x] We're kind of spoiled aboard the Kaga, sir.

"We're kinda spoiled aboard the Kaga, sir." You say with a very light smile.

"We are treated as befits our position within the imperial navy." Kyou corrects. "Though it is safe to say we benefit from an excellent and attentive maintenance crew."

"Speaking of, are your ground techs most Japanese or American?" the colonel asks.

"Mixed bag, sir." You respond. "We're acting as the hands-on trainer for their cadre, so they'll have trained techs when they start getting their own drakes. Our chief is American though, and of course we've got admiral Wells in charge of our entire combat element."

He nods. "Yeah, that's about what we figured. Any problems integrating Imperial navy weapons with your aircraft?"

"Not at all, sir." You say, shaking your head. "As far as I've been made aware it wasn't ever even a concern."

He nods again. "That's good. They're still spinning up the mothballed plants stateside. We're not expecting any kind of shortages, but if there are it's good to know we can lean on imperial weapons stockpiles."

"Most of our weaponry was designed for use with allied aircraft." Kyou says. "It's part of the reason the majority of the navy's inventory is license built derivatives of American or British aircraft."

"That's good to hear." The general says, cutting in as he looks at his watch. "Why don't you go grab some chow and chop back to your carriers, we'll have strike orders sent to your handlers."

1/2

You nod, standing at the dismissal. You're first out of the room, and you have to hug the bulkhead as Wendy, Kyou, Lotus and Ulysses join you in the narrow corridor before Spears squeezes past your group to take the lead, heading in the direction of the mess. "Chow's not terrible aboard." She says. "They made a pretty major effort to make life aboard not all that is ass, and chow was one of the first things they looked at, thank god."

"Was it of poor quality?" Kyou asks, frowning.

Spears grimaces. "Princess, you have no idea." The marine witch responds. "I'm pretty sure the meat was shoe leather blended with leftover circus animals. Holy shit was it bad. It's a lot better now, I'd say it's about like eating at a chain casual place stateside."

You blink at that- that's a marked improvement from the stories you've been told, though, to be fair, maman almost seems to have made it a point to travel in the most convenient way possible to her- which meant she'd spent as much time aboard surface ships as she did aboard submarines, and even occasionally used government contracts to travel aboard civilian ships. There'd been a rumor you were born aboard a warship of some kind- one that, like most things of that nature, maman would carefully dance around. While you're reasonably sure it's not true- Frank and Merlin both saying you were born on post at NAS North Island.

You work through the chow line fairly quickly- it's still early enough that it's breakfast food, eggs and sausage patties with a couple of small, flat pancakes and a sort of sad-looking hashbrown puck. "Ok, fair enough, it's about like a damn waffle house." Spears says. "So word on the street is you three are hot shit in Japan right now, el-tee."

"It's easy to imagine why." Kyou says, taking a seat next to you- Wendy sits on your other side.

"Rumor has it you nailed their deputy air force chief early on, too." She says. "How the hell did you pull that off? I thought headhunter shit was verboten?"

[] Got lucky, and he was stupid.
[] It wasn't a headhunt, he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

>>4281980
>[X] Got lucky, and he was stupid.

>>4281980
>[x] Got lucky, and he was stupid.

Futzing around on the Chink excuse for an E-8 in an active combat zone is not a course of action particularly conducive to survival.

>>4281980
>[] Got lucky, and he was stupid.

>>4281980
>[x] Got lucky, and he was stupid.

>>4281980
>[] It wasn't a headhunt, he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Where is lie?

>>4281980
>[] It wasn't a headhunt, he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Ok, votes called!

>>4281980
>[] Got lucky, and he was stupid.

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[x] Got lucky, and he was stupid.

"We got lucky, and he was stupid." You say. "Should have known an AEW aircraft like that was going to attract the attention of any raiders."

"And his escort was pathetically weak." Kyou adds. "Hardly a challenge to defeat them and destroy the deputy's aircraft. Though we didn't know he was aboard at the time."

"Now, when you say pathetically weak" Lotus asks with a smile. "Do you mean for a wyvern or for a once in a thousand year imperial witch?"

Kyou returns the smile. "In general." She says. "A properly briefed flight could have performed the same mission as well."

"It looked like it." Spears comments. "We got part of the play by play through the AI net, but it looked to me like he was trying to stay low-key."

"By flying in an airborne early warning aircraft?" Kyou asks, shaking her head. "More the fool him, then."

"Well, regardless." Spears says, shrugging. "Dude's dead and they're saying it's part of why their air defenses have been so jacked up. If he was in charge of the theater overall and you iced him day, like, two?"

You shrug. It's possible- likely even, that she's on the right track with that line of thinking. It's one of the biggest weaknesses of the more centralized command and control systems that the Soviet union and other communist nations favored- knocking out command staff has a much more severe effect on their overall operations than it does in western military formations. It's something the Japanese struggle with as well- while they've long since changed over to the more decentralized western style of C3, and done as much as possible to promote based on skill and ability, rather than social class, there's still no enlisted nobles- and a bare handful of their flag rank officers aren't nobility.

"Sounds like it's gonna help us now though." Ulysses notes. "We've already seen part of the target list, it's all around Wonsan and Tanchon."

1/2

Kyou frowns. "Those are rather distant from each other." She says. "Supporting two landings would be difficult. I'm sure one is merely a decoy to draw forces away from the real target."

"Or both of them are." Spears points out. "They could be planning to land closer to the pocket and threaten the rear of the Chinese lines. Rumor has it there's already a seawolf in the yellow sea."

"Given how shallow it is there, that seems unlikely." Kyou points out. "Imperial submariners have long held that those waters are suicide for submarines. It's part of the reason the imperial undersea fleet is as small as it is."

Spears shrugs. "Just a rumor. We know that three MEU is going to Taiwan."

"No surprise there." You say. "We haven't heard much noise out of the south."

"No one has." Ulysses responds. "And what's been getting out is conflicting."

"We know there's carriers in the south. What of the wyvern network?" Kyou asks.

Lotus shrugs. "We haven't heard anything you probably haven't." She says. "Everything down there is just so... hazy."

You suspect there's something they're not telling you- and you distinctly remember the unusual circumstances of your trial flight with her. It's possible whatever's going on in the south is very highly classified- enough so that even the notoriously talkative wyvern AIs are keeping it under wraps. You know what that would generally mean, as well- they're doing things that other people, not just the Chinese- don't need to know about.

Very briefly, you consider that- if you'd have been told Lotus would be flying missions as black as anything maman ever did when you first met her, you'd have laughed. Now, though, you've got to admit it's a distinct possibility.

You finish your meal as the marines are starting to file in- the witches, as usual, attract more than a little attention, and while Wendy shrinks from it, Spears and Kyou seem to enjoy it as you leave the mess. "Well, it was fun seeing you again." Lotus says with a smile. "what's the traditional parting here?"

"Good hunting." Kyou supplies with a grin you can only describe as 'hungry.'

Lotus smiles back- there's more than a bit of predator in it. "Good hunting, then." She says.

And that's gonna be it for the week! We actually hit a really good stopping point despite me being slow and kinda crap, haha!

I'm thinking I'll probably call a break the first week of school- that'll be Monday, 15 June. Reason being, there's a lot of math that I haven't touched in a couple of years I'm going to have to get back up to speed fast on- trig, mostly, with a healthy dose of geometry. If you'd have told me in high school I was gonna use trig, I'd have laughed at you.

Go figure.

Anyway, that's it for the week, but as usual I'll be around some to answer questions or comments if there are any between now and next week. Otherwise, gents, till then, cheers!

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>>4282174
Thanks for the run boss.

>>4282174
Thanks for the run Ghost!

>>4282174
Thanks for running.

>>4282174
thanks for running

>>4282174

MURDER GOOSE.

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>>4282581
What did Nicole ever do to you?

Archive up

>>4282174
Trig for welding ? \or what are you doing now ?

>>4284929

Finishing out my machining degree. There's a surprising amount of math that goes into it- along with an institutional disdain for engineers.

Though to be fair I had the first after working as a welder for a couple years, haha!

>>4285216
Our engineers keep producing unmachineable shit, including things with blind square holes. It's like nigga, unless you are going to be buying the sinker,you need to fuck off with that.

>>4286393

"Lol fabricators are wizards" seems to be a common theme with these people. like "No, I cannot construct this like that. It is unpossible, physics and reality do not allow for it."

It's bad in welding too, like "No, you cannot weld that like that what the fuck are you doing you're going to ruin the steel"

And then they repeat themselves so you hand off a brittle ruined mess because if you weld tool steel it stops being tool steel.

Hey gents! I'm going to push the thread back a day to tuesday starting, and I think our regular run times are gonna shift to tues-thurs as well for now. School might change that again, but Mondays are actually kinda busy for me and I can't deliver on them (As if that's any shock to anyone anymore!) I'll see you guys tomorrow!

>>4286437
Yeah,if an engineer comes to you with a production item that requires a wire edm, they need to redesign it

So as a heads up gents, for anyone that didn't catch it on twitter, my neighborhood is apparently on a list of areas they plan to expand the protest into. I still plan to run, but things may get strange. Apologies in advance if they do!

>>4290111

Protests or rioting? Stay safe Ghost.

>>4290111
Setting up a 240 nest in the hallway?