| Tag Team |
| Summary: | Simulator training. Eight pilots enter, ONE PILOT LEAVES. |
| Date: | PHD 268 |
| Related Logs: | None |
| Players: |
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Hestia - Simulator Room
Roubani has been in here the last hour or so, in his flightsuit from CAP and settled at one of the computers, entering the last of the data for the simulation. A mug of tea, mostly finished, sits abandoned on the table behind him, away from the electronic setup.
Eddie is in a partially zipped flightsuit, a lit cigarette dangling from her lips as she enters the Simulators. Yeah, so this is a duty room. But as long as no one says anything, she's going to keep right on puffing away. "So do we get to put bets on this?" She asks Roubani, drawing up behind him to lean over and see what he's doing. At least she's not reaching out to push any buttons. Yet.
Samantha has been off duty waaaay too frakking long. And while she needs to prove herself in the sims, prove that she's strong enough to manhandle a viper out there, she's going to use those sims as much as possible. So… at Roubani's side, having been here for the last little bit listening to the lay of the land with him, she's standing in a flight suit and almost entirely looking back to herself. A bit thinner for the bed time… but the same old Sam Passi as before. "…So… pick teams and we'll be off, right? Shouldn't be too hard."
Scheduled time comes around, and Kallisto isn't about to miss out on some friendly competition with the new jocks. Like the others, she's already zipped up in her Red Aces flight suit. Mostly milling around by the door, she waits for the go-ahead for the sims to get all setup and ready to go.
Harrison enters from the corridor, apparently trying to finish tugging his zipper upward the rest of the way on his flight suit. "Am I late?" he asks as he fairly well skids through the door.
"Theoretically," Roubani replies to Samantha, one brow arching at the screen. Hold up, programming, you can do it. He looks up at the sound of Eddie's voice, with a slight half-smile. "I would be surprised if no-one did." He sits back a bit, rolling cramped shoulders. "Not late at all, we've not started. Everything will be explained in a minute, though to make things easier - this is a pairs game, so if you'd like to fly with someone in particular then go on and pair up."
Iggy comes in just after Harrison, grumbling quietly as she wrestles with HER flight suit. Zipper's stuck, apparently. A quiet string of invectives escapes her lips, though they seem to be without heat. And in Thracian.
Eddie cracks a grin at Exile as she tosses a glance over her shoulder. "Don't know your cycle well enough to say. Give a few more days, and if you don't get your period, go see the docs for a pregnancy test." Her cigarette is touched back to her lips, and she's looking back down to see what's in store.
"Just like high school gym class." Comes the voice belonging to Willem Price, as he slips on in not too far behind Harrison, his hands swaying loose at his sides as walks lazily along, approaching the sim console. His face bears a hint of a tentative half-grin.
Samantha gives both Eddie and William a wiry smile, though she chokes back a bit of a cough at Eddie's… colourful response to harrison. Well, wasn't that interesting? Sam does nod towards Rebound, though. "As he said. Pick your parnter, then we'll get things on the road. The brains of this pair…"She nods towards Poet, "Has asked my big mouth for help so he can hide behind his technology and I can hopefully help explain things. Though for those placing bets, I'm already giving Mooner a point for her ability to make Exile blush."
Leda makes his way into the room and he is full on ready to slog his way through whatever is about to be thrown at him. He is in his Furies flightsuit and he is looking forward to taking someone down a notch. The puppy in fact turns to look at Iggy as he grins slightly and nods his head.
Harrison just raises an eyebrow as he makes his way toward the console. "Nah, I'm not worried. There's enough blood all over one of my Navy t-shirts to make me think that I was hemorraging," he replies in as flippant a tone as he can manage, but is that a slight edge to it? "Maybe next month, though."
Eddie smacks Samantha on the rump as she heads towards her favorite Simulator, one of the Mark II's. "That's not all I can make Exile do." She puts her foot up on the steel plated running board of the mock cockpit. "Alright, who's with me?" She asks, looking for volunteers or victims.
Roubani sets his hands to keys, marking in the bird that Eddie's chosen as hers. His dark eyes flicker around the faces, letting people organise themselves before stepping in with any tyranny of pairings.
"Wonderful, we're not even in the machines are you're already talking about periods," Kallisto comments dryly from the back of the room near the hatch. Which of this bunch is going to be her partner, she wonders, looking them over. It's like making sure you don't pick the bad kid in dodgeball.
Iggy glances over at Eddie and cocks her head ever so slightly to the side…smiling. Iggy Nikos. Smiling. It's that very same expression that has cleared out the berthings more than once. One more yank on her flightsuit zipper has it giving up the fight. Whatever was blocking it is now annihilated. "Who wants with me," she asks quietly, glancing around. Her eyes fall on the puppy for just a moment.
"Eh. Leave it up to chance. It's worked for me -so- far." Wil says, that little smirk lingering on his face to be tossed over towards Samantha, and then Roubani, before stepping away a bit to find himself an empty console himself. He pauses as he looks about the other participants, as if obviously mulling the choice of wingmen over.
Apostle had an appointment in the medbay not long ago, but as he tails in toward the end of the group it doesn't seem to bother him any. The banter from within lets him know nothing's on, yet, so he's got time to zip up once he's gotten in, flightsuit hanging off of him in a rather slovenly fashion until he does so. Eddie's call for a partner beither the first he's heard of pairing up, he looks aside to Sketch as she sizes up the crowd, then up to Eddie, again. "Yo," he calls to her, a laconic, casual note. Mingle with the Kharon natives— why not?
A little amendment on Willem's part. "Case. Moon. Poet. Which one of you feels unworthy?"
Samantha blinks, heading over to Willem and wrapping her arm round his shoulders. "Frak that… I'm the unworthy one. I wasn't certain if I was flyin' this game, but it'd be an honour to pair with Rebound here. 'sides… I might need a Rebound…looks like I scared another one away, but we'll talk about that later." Apparently, Sam IS going to eb participating.
Roubani smirks slightly at Willem and nods as Samantha takes up that particular mantle. Wil and Sam, names entered. PAIR ONE.
The puppy looks over at Iggy, "I want to go against you." Leda says as a smile falls across his face, "Though if you think you can keep up with me I'll fly with you." His smile is toothy and confident, for once Leda acctually looks like a Viper jock.
Harrison just crosses his arms over his chest and shakes his head. Good times, right?
Eddie slings her arm over the canopy of the little cross sectioned piece of bird. If Iggy's smile is meant to kill, Eddie's still standing. Still grinning wryly, in fact. She smacks her hand against the plexiglass, "Apostle it is. Try to keep up, boys and girls." One of the youngest pilots in the fleet talks a good game, at least.
Iggy's chin comes up and she looks to Harrison. "You and I flying against the puppy and his wing," she asks, lips twitching a little. "Or do I get the puppy?"
"Your choice," Exile replies easily as he leans up against the bulkhead. "I wouldn't dare tell a Nikos what to do."
Wil's shoulders ripple a little as he shrugs, climbing into the mock cockpit. "I'm going for familiarity, Sam. This will be like 'old times'. Right?" With that, he just settles in and starts setting up the console.
Roubani looks kind of amused as the decision-making process lingers on. He laces his hands behind his head, crossing his legs. "Shall I make the call for you, then?"
Castor looks at Iggy, "Your call, you flying with me or against me?" He puts the offer out there and he looks around the room to see if anyone else wants to join him in a two on two scenario. That smile is still there, and if he had a tail it would be wagging right about now.
"Mooner, eh?" Rook ambles up, planting a hand briefly on the canopy Eddie's leaning against before he pushes off of it and slides into the one next to it. "Like to give your wing a pleasant view, I guess," he makes his supposition as he powers on the simulated cockpit, letting the rest get themselves sorted out.
"Flip a coing, use a random number generator, something. Seems like it's your style, Poet," Kallisto says. She's still reclining on the wall next to hatch, not too stressed about the selection of wingmates for the games, given that her old one is healing and the new one isn't present.
"Against," Iggy tells Castor with a grin. "We'll talk when I blow your ass out of the air. Saddle up, Exile. You and I are going for a ride."
Eddie flashes a full on grin at Rook, full of nice white Caprican dentistry. "Because I am an ass just as much as I show my ass." She hops up into the seat of the plane mock up, then jumps down into the cavity both feet at the same time with a thunk, dislodging a bit of ash from the tip of her cigarette. "Poet Actual, this is Moonbeam, powering up and showing green for some virtual ass-kicking."
Willem's pale brows knit just a tad as his head slides forth in a nod. "Understood. Seems basic enough. Not quite a standard two-on-two combat situation."
"Alright…" Roubani trails off as fingers clack on keys. Not enough people for him to be flying but really, he's got enough to do. "As Passi said, this is a 'Tag Team' experiment. Only one member of each team may be on the 'attack field' at any time. The other member /must/ hang back. The active member may 'tag in' the inactive member at any time. The inactive member may attempt to repair their Viper if they like, to keep this interesting."
Harrison plops into his seat, securing his harness before he starts running through a pre-flight sequence. It's practice time, may as well practice completely. "Ladies first, Booster?" he asks over the general hubbub.
"Ladies first." Wil says towards Passi a little flippantly. It's not a mocking tone or anything, but still clearly hands over the mantle of 'first active combatant' as he finishes initializing his console, going through the sim equivalent of 'pre-flight.' Which is completely different than the real thing. Of course.
Iggy does her pre-flight as well, even in the sim, then grins over at Harrison. "Such the gentleman," she murmurs, eyes glimmering.
Apostle lets out a breath of a laugh at Mooner's explanation, giving the eponymous portion of her anatomy a brief looking-over from the corner of his vision as he gets the sim up and running. "Poet Actual, Key on Moonbeam, ready here," he notes, "Go on ahead, Mooner. Let me see a little of that famous ass in action," he tells his partner, grinning aside at her.
"Gentleman, hell," Exile replies with a grin. "I just want you to get shot first."
Roubani calls out over the screen. "We're ready to start. Teams, pick your first active person and head on out into the field, if you would."
Leda looks over at Kallisto and he smiles and says, "We will knock them on their ass." He looks smiles warmly as he looks at the other pilot and he offers a fist to bump in the air as he looks over to Iggy and he gives a cheeky little wink to the 'enemy' pilot.
Samantha settles down into her sim, getting her arms moving after two weeks practically out of service. IT feels good again. She comms over to Willem, "Rebound… which of these pretty little shinies look the most mean to you? I'm thinkin' Apsotle there could use a few holes in her flight plan…You can take point. I'll sit back and watch you work first."
Eddie moves her cigarette to the other side of her mouth, purely by the power of lips and tongue. "Alrightie, Key. We win this thing, I'm going to drown your liver at Harry Lemon's." Smoking and flying. Doesn't get any better then this. She punches her simulation out in the black, taking point for the first round.
"Fair 'nough." Willem says with a rueful smirk. Sam just outsmarted his slacking plan. With that, he goes through the motions and brings his 'bird' to bear. "Case, Rebound. Target called. Two-two-four by three-seven, carom one-nine." With that, he punches the controls and proceeds headlong into the mock combat, arcing his bird sharply and tearing through the simulated blackness towards his chosen target.
Iggy settles in, glancing over at Harrison for a moment, then smiles. Yes, she's smiling. This is bad. Her virtual bird goes airborne and she's off.
Roubani hits a button as the four starting pilots head to the field. May the thrashings begin…
<COMBAT> Eddie attacks Willem with KEW but MISSES!
<COMBAT> Willem attacks Eddie with KEW - Light wound to Weapon.
<COMBAT> Iggy attacks Castor with KEW - Moderate wound to Body (Reduced by Armor).
<COMBAT> Castor attacks Iggy with KEW - Serious wound to Body (Reduced by Armor).
<COMBAT> CREW HIT! Iggy - Moderate wound to Abdomen.
It's a proverbial darting, weaving, bobbing joust. Rebound's flying and shooting is light and quick, banking sharply Starboard as he cruises on his mutual assailant, Eddie, firing off a few small salvos of KEW rounds. Nothing her 'ship' can't shrug off, though.
"Deal," Key returns, "Won't be much of a bath, I've only got three quarters of the damned thing left," he remarks, keeping his imaginary viper back and on an arc path with Mooner's, keeping his nose in the air and ready to spin in if tagged.
Watching over Castor's shoulders, Kallisto gives a silent nod at the serious hit he puts on Iggy. Squad mates or not, it's nice to see her own simulation teammate score some big hits like that, driving her to tag out early.
Eddie is fast on the stick, even sometimes encroaching on the stupid and reckless as she flies. Only problem with flying like a bat out of hell, is that your aim is…off sometimes. Her KEW traces out into the blackness of the simulated space, and her own bird gets tagged for her trouble. "No love, Rebound, no love."
Samantha calls over the comms again…"Nice shot, Rebound…and your ass is lookin' cleaner than her's is now. Keep it up… I don't mind sittin' back here and stretchin' my legs while you do all the work." Sam mock yawns, cheering her partners on over the comm..
There's a series of quiet Thracian curses from Iggy. "Tap," she calls to Harrison, jaw working slightly. Oddly, she's not doing her usual bitchyness. She must be having fun.
Leda calls over his coms to Kallisto, "Own him." He says as he works on fixing his bird. Leda seems pleased with what went down but he is not pleased that he took as much damage as he did.
"Wil. What do you say we double team these bitches, and we can clean up each other afterwards…" Eddie mutters around her cigarette.
"Roger," Harrison replies as he opens up his throttle, heading out into the blackness of "space" to cruise for targets. Who looks tasty this evening to pounce on? Why, it's Sketch!
Tagged in by Castor, Kallisto swings her bird into the fray. However, Harrison's got the angle on her, above and behind. Not expecting the attack, she attempts to evade all the while trying to bring her own guns to bear on Harrison.
Samantha calls back over the comms, "Rebound…if you wanna get in bed with the enemy, that's your call. I think she's just scared of ya now."
"It's something. A drop in the bucket, but something." Wil chatters offhandedly to Samantha as he keeps his eyes glued to the cockpit and instrument pannel. "Sorry. Wait, are you suggesting something unsporting, 'Moon? Shocking." Still, though, he actually does it. "She just appealed to my more civilized instincts, Sam." And with that, he breaks his bird off to chase down the nearest enemy. Wait? That is….HARRISON.
<COMBAT> Harrison attacks Kallisto with KEW - Serious wound to Controls (Reduced by Armor).
<COMBAT> Willem attacks Harrison with KEW - Moderate wound to Body (Reduced by Armor).
<COMBAT> Eddie attacks Kallisto with KEW - Moderate wound to Body (Reduced by Armor).
<COMBAT> Kallisto attacks Harrison with KEW and MISSES!
<COMBAT> Viper-110 has been KO'd!
<COMBAT> Kallisto has been KO'd!
Double teaming. It's not just for pornos anymore. As Willem and Eddie split off from attacking each other to gang up on the other teams, Eddie does a tight roll to change trajectory. One she comes out of her spin, she's chasing hard after Kallisto, nearly swapping paint with Harrison as she screams past laying heavily on her weapon. "Alright, Apostle…go go go…!" She's swapping out to duck low and regroup.
"…oh, so that's how this is," Exile mutters over the comms as Willem drops onto his tail and sends some rounds sizzling through the body of his fighter. "Frakkin' furballs." He changes tactics, rolling away from Eddie's way too frakkin' close fighter to go after Rebound.
Samantha can be heard clapping one hand on her leg over the phone, applausding the work out there even as she remains sitting back, letting her partner shine for the moment. "Lookin' lovely, Rebound. And Mooner and I can play nice on occasion. She smacked my ass tonight…I'm feelin' sweet on her today, it seems. Keep it up… When or if you gotta go down for repairs I'll take over." But Sam was here to help Roubani run the night, not to show off herself, so she doesn't seem to mind sitting back.
Ahhh, more swearing as Iggy tries, and fails, to treat her bird. Perhaps she's trying to scare the damned thing into behaving? She's not so occupied, though, that she misses Harrison's shot. There's a brief cat-call, then she's back to work.
It's a free-for-all, all right. "Need to spend more time in these relics. I like the feel. Not as janky on the turns." As he takes a rather direct and brutal vector, wounding his target and pumping some junk into Exile's grill, he breaks, sliding the stick and rocketing his Viper hard to Starboard, getting a bit more evasive.
Show up on time and still make an early exit. That's how it goes for Kallisto tonight, it seems. No chance to evade Harrison AND Mooner, as they both come in and score severe shots. Knocked out of the fight, she just peels off the little com headset, and slides out of the simulator to watch the rest of things.
Willem simply mouths, "Oho. Now you see me."
Leda is not in a good mood as his wingman goes down there is a grunt over the coms and then things change and the pilot moves in for a possible kill, he is still utterly professional in his flight since this isn't the first time he has lost a wingman.
"I'm in," Key calls back to his partner, kicking his bird into a dive and slipping past her on her way out in the semblance of a physical tag without actual contact, jetting just over the group ganging up on Harrison, angling past with a shot downward for the Shepherd.
<COMBAT> Willem attacks Harrison with KEW - Light wound to Nose (Reduced by Armor).
<COMBAT> Harrison attacks Willem with KEW - Moderate wound to Tail (Reduced by Armor).
<COMBAT> Castor attacks Harrison with KEW - Moderate wound to Right Wing (Reduced by Armor).
<COMBAT> Apostle attacks Castor with Kew - Moderate wound to Body.
A bit of a bob-and-weave, dance, a good old-fashioned and some fire is exchanged between Willem and Harrison. Wil grits his teeth a little, but still appears vaguely good-humored about the whole situation. "I just picked her up from the shop! C'MON!" He says, jokingly. "Sam. You want my, uh, sloppy seconds?" There's a bit of a delay in his request.
As rounds rip through the nose of Exile's fighter, and then the wing, he curses and rolls away again. "The holes give her character," he jokes as he rolls out, then turns himself in a loop to try and fall on Castor's tail. "Booster, you're missing all the fun out there."
Samantha groans over the com chatter…"I don't know how Perse would feel about that, Rebound…but I'll take care of the bogey you clearly couldn't clean up on your own." Sam teases gently, laughter behind her voice as she sits up a bit straighter and gets into the combat, taking over for her unscathed teammate.
Iggy grumbles, laughing. "Yeah, yeah. Tell me about all the fun you're having out there with the frakking pansies. Nail their asses to the wall, Exile. I'll clean up your mess."
"There you go baby, there you go!" Eddie whoops over the intercom at Key, her joy causing her cigarette to fall out of her lips. "Frak." She gives a startled laugh and a smack at her thigh out of habit to extinquish the cherry that broke off. Not that it's getting through her flight suit. The rest of the unsmoked cigarette gets tucked behind her ear, and she starts fiddling with the console to see if she can get damage control going.
Roubani is typing swiftly as the game goes on, keeping up with the switch ins and switch outs where the rapidly-parsing code is concerned. He smirks a little at the trash-talking, finding some of it quite funny here and there.
"I have no eye for tasteful scorch marks." Willem says, ruefully as he pulls his Viper out of the melee. For the moment. He starts sighing as he tries to perform a little 'shipboard maintenance.' Never was his strong suit.
Leda says, "I thought this was civil but since some people want to make this a free for all I can only say this…my ass, kiss it, all of you." He continues to fly and as Harrison comes in for him again he stays focused on his target, Team Iggy and they are going to go down if the puppydog has anything to say about it.
Apostle flips at the tail end of the first pass, pivoting back at opposite orientation to the bulk of the combat, and as he goes for a second pass it's unclear whether his aim's for Castor or past him to Harrison.
<COMBAT> Harrison attacks Castor with KEW - Serious wound to Cockpit.
<COMBAT> CREW HIT! Castor - Moderate wound to Right Foot.
<COMBAT> Castor attacks Harrison with KEW and MISSES!
<COMBAT> Samantha attacks Harrison with KEW - Moderate wound to Weapon.
<COMBAT> Apostle attacks Harrison with KEW - Serious wound to Controls (Reduced by Armor).
<COMBAT> Wolf-8 has been KO'd!
<COMBAT> Castor has been KO'd!
<COMBAT> Wolf-15 has been KO'd!
<COMBAT> Harrison has been KO'd!
Samantha laughs over the combat channel again, "Look at -that-. Now that's how you clean up a man a bit too big for his britches. Hell yeah." Sam's back water gemenese accent is coming across juuuust a bit thicker than usual there, with the pride of it all. "Hows your bird feelin' over there, Rebound. Still all in one piece? Got a bit of a brand on your ass. Keep workin' on it. I'll stick around to finish one more up.
Meanwhile, Wil's eyes widen a bit. "I'll be damned." He has very minor success in getting his bird up to snuff. Very, very minor, in fact. Looking back up at the console, he lets out a brief snicker. "Good shot, Sam."
Harrison's simulator shuts down, but he still looks satisfied as he pops out of his cockpit. "Well, that'll work," he offers with a smirk, tugging on his suit. "How're you feeling, Leda? Go whip up on the bastards for me, Iggy."
Eddie has done all she can with the bird given her limited knowledge, and now she's just hanging back. As two more fighters are taken out of the game, Eddie's grin grows. "One team down, looks like we know who has to buy the first round."
Leda snaps out of his Viper and he looks pissed as he turns to Harrison and his gaze just stays there and he says nothing as he climbs out of his simulator, he came here with an agenda and it got blown to pieces. He then lets the gaze fall and he begins to move to the back of the room to watch a monitor to see what is happening.
Apostle lets his pseudo-Viper skip through the bright debris of the two ships just recently firing at one another, then veers about, coming almost into a formation with Samantha on her approach of the last remaining ship not on either team. Looks like he's going to honor his partner's agreement, after all.
Iggy growls a little, then laughs. "All for you, darlin. I'll avenge your death." There's clearly a smirk in her voice.
<COMBAT> Samantha attacks Iggy with KEW - Moderate wound to Body (Reduced by Armor).
<COMBAT> Iggy attacks Apostle with KEW and MISSES!
<COMBAT> Apostle attacks Iggy with KEW - ARMOR on Body stops the attack!
<COMBAT> Wolf-13 has been KO'd!
<COMBAT> Iggy has been KO'd!
"Huh. Now we know who made the playoffs. Guess the truce is off, Moon!" Willem notes as he finishes fiddling with his Viper. "Don't quite believe it. How we doing, Sam? You good? Or you need a break?"
Now they're dropping like flies. Roubani grimaces as Samatha gets a hit on Iggy, the screen flashing to register the newest KO in the fray. He glances at the scrolling code in a second window, then back to the representation in the first.
Iggy heaves a sigh. "Damn. Sorry about that, Exile. Apparently my ass attracts bullets tonight."
Samantha calls out a little cheer across the comms there, she and the other team looking quite, quite unscathed in compare to the other two poor teams…"Alright, Mooner… Key…it's all over. Let me take this pass, Willem, then you can come up and clean the rest. Only fair that I pass the sloppy seconds right back to you!" And with that, she keys in a new target.
"Well, it was a good try. Admittedly, I'm used to someone being on my ass to keep it from getting double-teamed. Seems you Kharon folk enjoy beating on us poor old folks on the Hestia," Kalliso says to Castor, giving him a pat on the shoulder for a job well done. And for staying alive longer than she did.
Eddie's tongue makes a pass over her lower lip, her laugh barely held back as their teaming up tactics seem to have paid off. "All is fair in love and war. And it is game frakking on, my friends." Truce over, it's time to see who's the last Viper standing. Or flying, as it were.
Apostle laughs, "Right, then," he assents laconically to the treaty's falling by the wayside. From formation with Sam he dips to the side, wavering downward before pulling into a tight spin and gunning as he jets it hard toward her wing.
<COMBAT> Samantha attacks Apostle with KEW - Serious wound to Body (Reduced by Armor).
<COMBAT> Apostle attacks Samantha with KEW but MISSES!
Leda looks over at Kallisto and he says, "Yeah…well, we are still out of the game, eh?" He seems less than pleased with his preforance, "And to be fair I was just gunning for someone who was hiding from me." He then winks at Kallisto, "Anyway, things worked out like they had to I guess."
"Gods, Case. You're making me look like a scrub, here." Wil exclaims, in mock-jest.
Samantha might have been off a dozen days treating her own wounds, but she still hasn't lost her flare for being behind the viper stick, it seems. And she's quite comfortable even in the old vipers, having been a pilot a dozen years as well… the older technology isn't horribly unfamiliar. She sweeps down, firing across Apostle's bow, a good hit to the front…"Hell yes. Willem… care to finish up? And I really am just that good. You can't help but pale in compare. We all understand."
"….I don't know about being that cocky, Sam. Don't tempt fate -too- much." He says, dyly. "Allright, you two, You've got a new punching bag!" With that, Willem throws his bird back into the fight.
Iggy settles back, quiet for the time being. Considering.
Harrison shakes his head as Iggy appears from her cockpit. "S'okay. It's a game, there's always winners and there's always losers. Just be a winner when it counts, okay?" He's clearly teasing her.
Rook grits his teeth some as he takes the shot to the gut of his bird, "Damn and hell and all of that," he speaks far, far too placidly for the words he's uttering. "Mooner, hang back. If I don't make it, tell Nurse Tits I'll always love her," he calls to his partner, following Sam rockily out toward the edge of combat, peeling off to confront Willem.
<COMBAT> Willem attacks Apostle with KEW - Moderate wound to Body.
"Sure thing, Babydoll." Eddie replies at a slow drawl, slumping down into her seat and propping her foot up on the console as she waits.
<COMBAT> Apostle attacks Willem with KEW and MISSES!
Eddie whistles through her teeth as she watches what action she can on her little skewed view of the fight. "Pick it up, peanut. We can do this. He's getting you on your blind corner."
Samantha rolls her eyes, the motion practically heard in her voice, "…Oh, come on, Rebound…barely scratched the kiddo. I know you can do better than that. I got confidence in you!" She calls across the comms, having returned to settling in comfortably in her sim chair.
Wil's hand makes a 'saluting' gesture, momentarily as he pulls his other bird on course and grimly brings his bird down into a joust with the mighty Rook. There's another exchange of fire as his bird weaves hard and starts firing off a series of rounds into the Viper's hull. "I know, I know." He says. "Those guns still work. Not getting -too- cocky."
Apostle is flying battered, and another hit just knocks him further off-kilter, but he peels off, flipping about until he yanks the stick back hard and goes for it again, looking almost as though he's just trying to slam his bird straight into Willem's and get something like a level playing field for his partner against the remaining Viper.
<COMBAT> Willem attacks Apostle with KEW - Serious wound to Controls (Reduced by Armor).
Though she's been knocked out a while, Kallisto shows comradery and hangs about. Standing behind the machines, she watches on the screens, able to see each pilot's position in relation to the others, guess their moves, see what they do, how right she was, on and on. They duck and weave, and she watches the end of the simulation fun starting to come to an end as they weed each other out.
<COMBAT> Apostle attacks Willem with KEW and MISSES!
<COMBAT> Viper-100 has been KO'd!
<COMBAT> Apostle has been KO'd!
One more KO for the pile, and three left standing. Roubani taps off Apostle's name on the list and looks back at the screen to watch the final showdown. Eddie VS the World.
Eddie drags her foot off the consoles with a muttered, "Frak me." As she's back in the game. "Alright. Guess it's showtime or final curtains. Who's gonna tango first?" She asks the Sam/Wil combo as her bird gets plunked out back in the game.
Leda watches the fight as it is still going on and he is watching the monitor and he is looking at Eddie vs Sam vs Willem. "Mooner has moxy." He tells Kallisto as he watches the pilots all go for it. "This ought to be interesting." He says with a small grin on his face as he watches the monitor like a hawk.
Samantha calls over, "Will, you have fun. Once she eats you alive, I'll clean her up and buy her a drink for the privillage." Sam teases gently, but doesn't insert herself back into the fight yet.
"Sorry." Willem finally says, as he swings about to finally nail the other Viper's cockpit. His tone actually does seem apologetic. He's not flying against Cylons here. Even if he isn't really staying his hand. "Allright. Finish what we started, Moon?" He snickers a little at Sam but says nothing. NEXT.
<COMBAT> Willem attacks Eddie with KEW but MISSES!
<COMBAT> Eddie attacks Willem with KEW - Moderate wound to Tail (Reduced by Armor).
<COMBAT> Wolf-11 has been KO'd!
<COMBAT> Willem has been KO'd!
"Here kitty kitty kitty…" Eddie makes kissy noises into the coms as she suddenly drops her pitch and instead of going balls to the wall as she normally does, she actually flies a little bit more reserved. Maybe it's that, that saves her ass, and lines her up for a beauty of a sucker punch to Willem. There's no way that shot should have taken him out, but it's luck she doesn't taking.
Roubani is even caught off guard by the sudden flashing on the screen that screams out Willem's fiery death. "Hah!" He swivels the chair, fingers quickly clacking against keys to adjust down to the last two alive.
"It's like this." As the two planes converge, ONE PLANE LEAVES. And it ain't Willem. The console turns red as the screen gets lit up with Mooner's gunfire. GAME OVER. The stick rumbles in his hand and then he just leans back, sighing, letting out a whistle. "Damn. Nice shot. Top Gun. Oh wait. Uh, Sam, don't let her get away with this. Pleaaase?" He asks, plaintively. "See what I meant about getting cocky?"
"S'alright, man," Key calls back to Willem, sounding good-natured about the whole thing while he powers down the unit, "Sorry Mooner," he goes on, only to look up and notice that there's one less Viper in play. It takes him a moment to realize it's Willem's, and laugh aloud a moment.
Iggy is settled back in her seat, watching the last two getting down to the wire. Her lips purse slightly as she sees just who's left. Hard to tell who she's rooting for.
"Let's hope your prophecy ends there, Sam. C'mon out and play with the Moondoggie. Show 'em how the Vigilante girls can get it done." Even if that means one of them is going down in a fiery pixilated death.
Samantha laughs warmly, "I won't, Rebound. Don't worry. I'll avenge your dead ginger ass. Come on, Mooner. Ya always knew it'd be me and you, didn't you? Let's end this…" And with that, Sam is swooping in on the sim…
<COMBAT> Samantha attacks Eddie with KEW - Moderate wound to Body.
<COMBAT> Eddie attacks Samantha with KEW - Moderate wound to Weapon.
It's like the Pyramid playoffs allright. "Caprica Vs. Gemenon. C'mon Sam. If she beats us both, there will be no living with her." Wil calls out, clapping his hands.
Leda raises an eyebrow and he watches stuff go down, "Unfrakkingbelieveable." He says as he watches this flight go down, "I mean this is fairly legendary." He isn't gunning for either pilot since he is friends with both of them but he is watching this with extreme interest.
Eddie's virtual Viper banks around, coming at Samantha almost head on. It's one hellatious game of Chicken that they're suddenly caught it, but Eddie isn't about to ram her beautiful bird into Sam's. She jukes, but not before she swaps some serious lead with Samantha.
Samantha gets right into that game of chicken, opening fire a heartbeat before her viper has to jerk to the side to avoid the collision along with the other pilot's bird. "…Got some balls on you, Mooner…"
Roubani folds his hands over his nose and mouth, watching. Mostly because he's trying not to laugh, fingers pinching his nose shut until he coughs quietly and lowers them. As the Vipers swing back at each other he glances at the workscreen to be sure the code isn't choking, then back at the action.
<COMBAT> Samantha attacks Eddie with KEW - Moderate wound to Cockpit.
<COMBAT> CREW HIT! Eddie - Serious wound to Right Hand.
<COMBAT> Eddie attacks Samantha with KEW and MISSES!
<COMBAT> Eddie has been KO'd!
Clap, clap, clap. Wil lets out a -hoot-. An honest-to-gods -hoot- as he leans forward in his seat, watching the carnage. "Damn. I wasn't sure who'd come out of that one. Mooner, Sam. That was beautiful."
Eddie has to physically bite her tongue to keep from responding to Samantha by following her first instinct. Maybe she should have just let that zinger fly, and it would have improved her aim. Or her luck. It finally runs out and Samantha tags her fair and square. It's almost as if she expects a little mechanical ditty to play over the speakers and a big flashing red 'GAME OVER' to appear on the screen. Eddie just fades off the DRADIS, and she's sliding her faux canopy back open. "Well. Damn." Eddie says, her grin beaming and her cheeks flushed.
Roubani now lets out that laugh he was holding back during the last few passes. He lifts his hands and claps once the last KO flash rips across the screen. "Beautifully done!"
Leda gives a thumbs up toward Samantha and he looks over at Eddie giving a small smile as he takes a moment to say, "You gave them hell, Mooner." He looks pleased with the wing for the most part and he studies everyone closesly as he is pleased with what he has seen.
Harrison applauds as the simulated fight comes to a close. "That was some fine shooting," he observes candidly as he straightens up from the bulkhead. "Congratulations, Case." It's Mooner he gives a respectful finger touch on the brow to, though, before he's turning for the doors.
Apostle tilts to the side and pushes himself up out of the cockpit, grabbing hold of the canopy to balance himself before he hops down. "Very smart air time, Mooner," he tells his partner, offering her a hand either to shake or for her to lean on as she climbs out, herself.
Samantha slips out of her viper, stretching out her arms as the adrenaline still pushes through her, making slightly stiff upper body come alive with fire. It definitely -feels- like the first time she's flown since the wound, but at least she still has it under her belt. She's grinning. "Couldn't have done it without handsome partner of mine over there." She nods towards Rebound, patting his back. "Damn fine job… all of you. 'specially you, Mooner… I thought you had me a minute there."
Samantha says, "This lady ain't one whose gun I like to be starin' down."
"And just think - she didn't even have a cheating ECM Officer of a significant other painting targets and helping her out." Wilem quips, sarcastically as he flips his head to one side and juts out a finger, pointing at Samantha. "Not that I would -ever- know what that's like." He collapses into a fit of ridiculous giggles and climbs out of his console, languidly. "Uh. Mooner. Thanks for teaching me a lesson on that approach. I'll remember -not- to do that."
Iggy rolls to her feet and sketches a salute to Samantha. "Nice flying, Case," she calls. "Damned good flying."
Roubani rolls his chair back up to the console, the screen now making irritated blips as the program keeps looking for more SHIT TO KILL. He stops it and brings up the working code jumble behind it, tapping a few keys and setting the whole thing to dump for later decompile. Hey, it worked. Small miracles.
Eddie rubs the back of her neck ruefully, her smile turning a little tentative at Harrison's little salute. She turns to Apostle though, as a distraction, offering out her hand out and clapping him merrily. "Yeah. That was good." She clears her throat and whatever cloud that threatened is gone and she's back to beaming. "Frak that was fun. Case?" She winks, which is probably better then any words of praise she could give.
Samantha steps over to Mooner now and offers her hand, "Hell yeah, Mooner, Gotta do it again sometime. Without Papa Poet hovering like a worried bird that we've broken his brand new program. If a couple of crazy bitches like you and I can't break it, Mooner, I'd say that think is rock solid." Sam states, laughing warmly. If Eddie permits, she pumps Eddie's hand a few good times before saluting towards Roubani. "Was fun, Poet. Nice work."
Leda for his part looks at Roubani, "We should have a prize for this…a trophy of some kind." He says as he looks over at Samantha, "And next time we do this if Sam loses then someone else gets to carry the trophy?" He has a rather toothy grin on his face as he says this.
Samantha also adds a quick nod to Iggy, actually beginning to blush just a bit. She's not usually the ace fighter, or she doesn't feel like it. "Thanks, Igs."
"Next time, Leda," Roubani promises, folding his arms on the table. He looks up at Samantha's salute and smiles. "Looked terribly fun. I'll join you on the next one, can't resist after seeing that."
"Nice job everyone. Now, I think it's time I go wash the stink of failure and the rust I so clearly showed tonight off," Kallisto says with a wry little smile. It's definitely not a fun feeling to be the first one out, even in a simulator, but someone always has to be, right?
Apostle hops back up onto a rung of the ladder into the fase cockpit, getting out of Sam's way so she can come add her congratulations. One step, two steps over the machine and he jumps down the other side, knees bending into the landing before he hops up again, "Put this program together?" he asks of Roubani in a few simple words, the question itself denoting a sort of genial approval punctuated by a nod of his head as he walks by.
Eddie shakes Samantha's hand without problem. "I owe you a drink, Passi." She steps back out of the fray of jovial pilots, slipping around to Roubani. "That was great. I actually had an idea…maybe for next time. But I'll leave you to your adoring fans." She grins and steps back, letting Apostle fill the void.
"Don't worry about it, Sketch," Harrison observes as he approaches the hatch. "You just got tag teamed without any question of lube." She's in his squadron, after all, so he's got to look out for her too.
"Speaking of which. I'm going to find Thorn. Before you do, Sam, as I have a feeling he won't be in any condition to talk for a while. I just got an idea for a template to make the next training exercise a horrific, nail-biting, soul-destroying experience. Nadiv here just gave me some ideas." He bows his head. "Good flying. With everyone. And sorry about the cheap shots." With that, he strolls on towards the door, looking flushed, generally pleased with life, having gotten his game on.
And that, was, Wil.
Iggy drifts back out of the way, just looking among the pilots as if she's trying to memorize faces, mannerisms. No one is safe.
Roubani lifts his chin to Kallisto in farewell. His dark eyes turn to Apostle and he nods. "Yes, sir. Everyone needs things to keep them busy, hm?" He half-smiles at the Lieutenant, then looks up at Eddie. "Do you? I'll plug it in for you if you want to give it a go. Something out of your mind's bound to be thrilling." He winks at her.
Samantha lofts a brow to the departing WIllem, especially as he makes that kryptic remark about her man. She chuckles faintly and shakes her head…"I'm not gonna eat the man alive… but be well, Rebound." And she waves after the man, looking back to the group. "We all owe Poet a drink, frankly.. but right now, I'm gonna hit the showers then go, apparently, destroy Thorn." Maybe only just a bit. She winks to the group, heading for the door..
Castor looks over at Roubani and he nods his head, "Fair enough." He says softly as he is still grinning, "Though thanks for putting this on for us." He looks over at Willem and he says, "Last time you went to work on something for the sims I recall being caught in your test flight. Soul-destroying sounds about right." He winks, "So, bring it."
Eddie puts her hand over her heart. "You and me. Lunch this week. We'll talk about it and see what we can do." She tells Roubani as she walks backwards, looking to slip out herself.
Apostle is not a man of many words— not unfriendly, by any means, but often alternatively expressive. A positively-toned 'Hm' responds to Roubani's questioning one, and a look of approbation from kindly grey eyes, almost paternal in flavor. He goes on by, only pausing by the door and unzipping his flight suit before stepping out.
Apostle heads through the exit labeled <O> Out.
Apostle has left.
Roubani presses fingers to his lips and languidly blows Eddie a kiss on her way out. "Goodnight, dear." Sam's comments about Thorn make him grimace faintly, but no comment there. Nope. He leans down and pulls the flashdrive from the console station and flicks the screen off, standing up. Biting back a yawn. "You're welcome, Leda. Have a good evening." A polite nod to Apostle too as the man goes.
