Emergence Day (Earth Forces)

[Eaon]

((OOC: Note this is for people who plan on being in the Crew of the Vengence))

Eaon walked around the Command Bridge of the LCAM-03 Vengence and for the first and probably last time he looked out the windows and could see Earth. This was a week after the Coronation Ceremony for the Earth Alliance's newest addition to The OMNI Forces, The LCAM-03 Stealth Assault Ship. This ship's entire construction had been done in secret and even now only enough of the ship was shown to the public so that it looked like a normal LCAM-03. However a good portion of the ship was underwater, in fact nearly half of it was. Two whole Catapults and several of their guns were floating just beneath the murky surface of the Hudson River in New York.

If they were on schedule, the crew of the Vengence would be located inside of the Crew Quarters so they would be safe for lift off. Eaon had reported to the bridge where he would likely be serving most of his time for the next three or four years- or until the Vengence was destroyed. However at that particular moment the general feeling with the crew and even with Eaon was that if they survived take off, once in space they'd be generally unsinkable. A lot of that came from the Roster of the people on board too. Captain Lumina Kruger and another advanced Mobile Suit Pilot: Etna Foley.

From what Eaon had read on Foley she was only an Ensign with the Earth Forces, but due to the prestige of her Machine she had to be a pretty good pilot. That was a scary though because she was only a little younger than Eaon and she was significantly under ranked in comparison. However it also gave Eaon confidence in his pilot as she would be more often than not launched out into space alone or with a single partner on scouting missions and she'd be the first line of defense in the chance someone got wind of the Vengence.

Eaon had a relative unknown about Captain Krugar though. He expected she was a good pilot and experienced as she was quiet a bit older than Eaon and certainly more certified. Eaon had been sent here to observe her and learn from her so that in the near future if needed he could Pilot the Vengence or a ship of his own.

Still and all though, Eaon was a Mobile Suit Pilot and he was brought along not just to learn on this mission, but to do what he did best, pilot a Mobile Suit. Eaon was aware there was something big happening with ZAFT or at least one of their crew members, or else they wouldn't have intercepted that message about the attack a year ago. Eaon knew that meant there was a good chance Vengence would be going into ZAFT territory, however he didn't think it would be for awhile. Their first launch was to get them off of Earth and to the Lunar Base on the moon.

[Lumina Kruger]

Lumina sighs as she walks up to the bridge door, she didn't feel ready to leave the gravity of earth. She presses a button on the wall (dunno where it is on this ship...) and the door to the bridge slides open, she is in full dress including cap as she enter's the bridge.

"Captain on the Bridge!" The guard yells out, no longer lax as he was before Lumina enters.

She began to walk over to the Captain's chair, only to stroke the left arm rest. "She is a good ship", she started to look around, only to see a young man in a Commander's uniform. "I take it you're going to be in charge of mobile suit operations? Or is their another set for that task?" She asked.

[Etna Foley]

Ensign Etna Foley was busy finishing setting up her living space, making sure that everything was prim and proper for the journey ahead. Everything was in place and ready to go with the exception of a single container marked with "Handle with care", which contained the items that were too delicate for atmospheric flight. Finished, and satisfied with the results, Etna gave a quick nod of approval before closing the door to her room and making her way to the bridge. She was an officer after all, even if only a lowly ensign, and it was an officer's privilege to view the takeoff from the bridge itself, although she had heard that the view wasn't nearly as spectacular as the vids make it out to be. Before she entered the bridge proper, Etna gave a quick one-over of her uniform to make sure everything was in place, scanning from her shoulder boards which displayed the single gold bar of Ensign to her "salad bar" of commendations, medals, and awards. On the "salad bar" there was the bars set in place with a variety of colors, only a single line so far but with luck that would quickly change. More interestingly, there was a silver parachute for expertise in the use of Mobile Suits in the air, and a Tigershark insignia next to the flying cross, which meant that she had served as an experimental test pilot some time past. She still had the uniform, shoulder patch and all, although there was little chance that she would get to wear it on her new assignment.

Satisfied, Etna opened the door into the bridge and gave a crisp salute to her superior officers. "Ensign Etna Foley reporting to the bridge. If it is okay with you two, sirs, I would like to spend the take-off here." Ensign Etna Foley was a short, stumpy woman of African decent. She was wearing the olive drab uniform worn by enlisted men and women in the OMNI Enforcers, however if inspected you'd notice that, unlike the rank and file's uniforms, her uniform had been tailored to fit her 5'6" 150 lb. frame. Etna had not yet met her CO's, although like everybody else she had heard the rumors. For now her biggest concern was to leave a good impression on them and to not screw up while on the bridge.

[Eaon]

"Sir yes sir! I am Commander Eaon, I'm here to learn how to pilot from you and lead Mobile Weapon Operations either from the Bridge or in the field!" Eaon answered in due turn. It was quiet after that, only the lights of the consoles and the occasional buzz of the computer screens interupted until another pilot waltzed in, this one Eaon recognized as his strange Ensign- Etna Foley.

Eaon really couldn't believe she was already on piloting an Experimental Gundam and she was only Ensign ranked. Eaon had always believed he was the top of the line when it came to piloting but this kid's tactics were unusually high. Hopefully though that talent would become easily transfered into experience, because the thing that killed more pilots than Eaon could count wasn't that they couldn't pilot, but because their test scores were high they thought they could handle experienced opponents and then boom.

"I've no objections to that request unless our Captain does." Eaon spoke up as he noticed the rest of the crew that was to pilot showed up and took their places in two single file lines and all stood in attention facing Captain Krugar. That could only really mean one or two things at the most, it must have been time for the unveiling, the launch of the Vengence.

[Lumina Kruger]

She gives a glance to both Eaon and Etna in turn, her answers answered, she replies to neither as she turns watches the rest of the bridge's crew enter. Lumina then walks over to the Captain's chair and picks up a small phone like device attached to the chair and presses a button which puts her voice to the loud speaker across the ship.

Whistle sounds over the com which is natural and automatic when the Captain's phone broadcast across the ship.

"This is your Captain speaking. I Welcome all fellow members of the Earth Alliances Forces, we today are to embark and a momentous occasion, as we launch this Brand new Vessel of our grand fleet. It has been a long and hard road to recovery since the past space wars leaving our alliance of nations crippled, and fragmented. This ship and it's brave crew are a symbol of it's reconstruction. It has been over a decade since our military strength was nearly removed from this grand planet and the Earth System. As many of you already know, we will not launch with a full crew, nor stock of mobile suits, those of you who do not know, this ship will never again return to this planet. I know that some of you are here voluntarily, others were not given a choice. However, I expect each and every one of you to do your jobs regardless for the honor and respect of your ship, and fellow crew members. We will soon head to Alliance Moon base, and unite with the rest of the crew, many have spent much of their lives in space, show them the same respect you would anyone who is stationed on this ship, whether they came from the far east of Asia, or the southern tip of Africa, or the dense Jungles of the Amazon. We are all one crew, one ship. Today we will make our own foot note on history! Head to your stations and prepare for Launch!"

The speech echoed throughout the hull of the ship, much of which was empty as though it was a ghost city. The Vengrence was never designed to support itself in Earth's Atmosphere and for the sake of safety and weight much of the crew and heavy machines/weapons and most everything else which wasn't needed for the launch was sent to or will be supplied when they reach the moon.

Lumina sat down in the Command chair, she began to watch much of the crew hurry to their work station on the bridge.

"You two better buckle down, there are a few empty seats on the bridge still find them." She said forcefully, as though unpleased.

(OOC Just how is this thing going to get off the ground? It doesn't have the ability to make itself float like the Arch Angel.... *laughs* Not on a mass driver either?)

[Etna Foley]

"You two better buckle down, there are a few empty seats on the bridge still find them." The semi-disapproving tone in the captain's voice almost sent a chill down Etna's spine Oh, god, I screwed up badly, didn't I? I'm only an Ensign, I should have stayed in my crew quarters. I'm going to get the cat now, I just know it. With a bit less candor then what she had previously used, Etna managed to let out an "Aye aye, Ma'am." before scurrying away toward an empty seat on the starboard side of the bridge. Quickly strapping herself into the safety harness on the seat, she continued to inwardly curse herself for her mistake, because no matter what you do you can't erase a first impression. Etna was a mostly subservient soul, and it was against her very nature for her to purposefully anger her superior, but how was she to know that the new captain would react in this way? She's most likely just under stress due to her position. Perhaps there is something that I can do to alleviate her turmoil? I'm sure she's not as bad as that, she's probably just taking her job extra seriously. I'm not sure about who the Commander is though, although he seemed less stressed then the captain, so if I'm lucky he can vouch for me and I won't be totally screwed.

During her worrying, Etna managed to survey the bridge and all of its contents. The crew who had filed in just behind Etna were each at their separate consoles, monitoring a variety of minutiae that could be the difference between life and death during takeoff. The Commander was outside of her field of vision, but since logic dictated that he would sit near the captain she wasn't going to bother looking for him for too long. Her final thoughts for the moment lay upon the statement made by the captain earlier about how they were not launching with all of their mobile suits aboard. Due to the expensive nature of her Wild Dagger, it had been shipped ahead to the Lunar base so as to minimize possible damage caused during takeoff. This meant that, should ZAFT forces attack, all she would have available would be some NCO's N Dagger, and while there was nothing wrong with that particular piece of machinery it just wasn't the same as the mobile suit that had been assigned to her as a parting gift for her excellence as a test pilot over the course of a year and a half, which had ended three months prior, when she had received her reassignment orders. However, The flight to the moon wasn't that long, so she would have her Wild Dagger back in no time anyways.

[Eaon]

((Orb did something along these lines earlier. Basically it's a super powered catapult that gets us to where our thrusters can kick in))

"Yes Captain." Eaon said as he moved to an open seat and began to watch the show. The crew quickly began punching in calculations and hitting buttons making sure all systems were a go. A quick systems check and everything was online. This was the part Eaon was most nervous about, he knew how they were getting into Space, but if they undershot their mark even a little, everything was over for them.

Eaon had gained little hope from Captain Krugar's words. The ship was for the most part a Ghost Ship until they made it to the Lunar Base, but it was time to launch and launch they would. From the depths of the Hudson a very long strip tunnel of metal emerged. It was the North American's way of launching things that they build on Earth but couldn't sustain in the atmosphere. The tunnel quickly began to open up and expel any water it had taken on during it's time in submersion and the Vengence was quickly loaded in in such away that it wasn't damaged or in any real danger of grinding up against anything.

A few more moments passed and the Ship was powered up, held only in place by the locking system on the tunnel which was charging up as well. Five more minutes passed and with a sudden burst of speed they were racing down the tunnel that was slightly inclining. The G's on the troops bodies would be intense as suddenly they reached the end of the tunnel and they would be ramped up high through the air at great speed. Tearing through the air at ten thousand miles an hour (which is accurate for a Nasa take off) they were forced along the planet at such an angle so that they could manipulate the Sphere shape of the planet and cut across it so that they could jet out with their own force.

The entire process lasted probably thirty minutes, but soon their jets were in control and they were clearly out of Earth's Atmosphere. "Congratulations Captain Krugar, we're in space now."

[Lumina Kruger]

((OOC may exuse me but I'm not the most descriptive writer. hehe))

Though she was happy the launch went successfully she didn't see reason for the cheerful tone brought out by the Commander after they exited the atmosphere. The external assistant rocket booster detached from the ship to fall back to earth to burn up in their decent. Makes me wonder if it wouldn't of been easier to build this thing in space. She thought to herself seeing the danger in the launch they just survived, not just in lives but the valuable ship itself, if one thing went wrong it would of gone crashing to Earth having no ability of it's own to keep it in the air.

"Head course for Luna, 3 minute acceleration burn, max thrust, get us out of the Earth's gravity weld, minimum thrust hence force." She yelled making a motion of her arm, her words almost confusing in nature, as she tried to sound a bit too poetic. Giving the moon a short and easy to remember name as well. She was hoping to minimize detection by keeping their heat signature as low as possible without testing the stealth features of the ship prior to having a full crew. Giving the ship a sudden increase in speed, they would only need mild propulsion to keep the ship going without having it slow down from the pull of gravity, once they get closer to the moon they can completely cut engines and allow the moon it self to pull them in.

"Neither of you have to stay here if you like. Time for formality has already ended." She said casually, her tone completely different from before.

[Etna Foley]

"Neither of you have to stay here if you like. Time for formality has already ended." Etna held in a relieved sigh at the captain's permission to leave. As far as she knew, she had still screwed up by showing up at the bridge with such a lousy rank as Ensign, and she had been so busy mentally kicking herself that she forgot to take in the sights of space through the view screens, instead choosing to beat a hasty retreat before the captain showed any further signs of disapproval. After all, Space is infinite, and thus flat and uninteresting by definition, while her personal belongings had personal significance and needed to be set into her quarters. After unbuckling her safety harness, Etna jumped to her feet and walked aft towards the bridge door, stopping by the captain along the way to give another salute at attention and to speak her small piece. "Ma'am, I will be in my quarters if you need me for anything at all." Etna snapped her hand back to her side in crisp military fashion before stepping over to the bridge doors and skedaddling out of the doors as quickly as she could manage without causing a disturbance in the ship.

When she arrived back at her quarters she quickly changed uniforms into a set that wasn't soaked in sweat and other perspiration brought out from the G-forces impacting her body before fishing out the box with the word "Delicate" written inside, retrieved the remainder of her personal belongings from the box and set about arranging them as best she could. When finished, she was still feeling anxious about what the Captain had been thinking about her, so in order to move her mind onto other things she began to read a novel she had picked up at a used book store shortly before she was ushered aboard the ship for deployment. The book, entitled 2001: A Space Odyssey was hopefully just the ticket she needed, so she sat down upon her bed and began to read.

[Lumina Kruger]

(ooc. Hate to do this... but Eaon you're so gosh darn slow... even if you're busy... hehe)

It has been well over an hour of silence, only the random noises on the bridge, the sudden cough, or mumble amongest the crew, being fresh, there isn't much conversation going among them yet. Lumina finds herself bored viewing the emptiness of space through the bridge's windows. She grasps the arm rest tightly before getting up almost with frustraition, she couldn't believed she requested a transfer to such a possition, without even a beautiful view to see out side the ship, it was already getting dull.

"Commander Norellia." She said to Eaon when she stood up from the captain's chair calmly. "You have the bridge." She said as she began to walk away. Knowing Eaon couldn't possibly crash the ship or worse in the present situation.

She adjusted her uniform, pulling down on the jacket, and straighted the sleaves and her cap before opening the bridge door as she preseded out.

[exit]

(ooc: Woot shortest post thus far! I do hope this wasn't ment to last all the way to the moon base? If so I guess one can always re-enter hehe)