Fighter Check

Fighter Check

Heather O'Leary
Elizabeth Maxwell (logging)


The plan is set, now to check the equipment…


Heather O'Leary is working on an open panel of the Squad Ship, checking various things out.

Elizabeth Maxwell slips quietly into the new barn, looking around, and smiling as she sees Heather. She slips over quickly, glancing to see what's being worked on. "Hi there…"

Heather O'Leary smiles, turning her head long enough to grace the Smile on Lizzie, than reaches into the Panel, and pulls something odd looking out, "Checking the Gravity Coil… or whatever they call the thing. If we are going to use these in space, I don't really think we want to go floating into the ceiling…" She looks at the thing, and checks it against a picture she has of one that was working. "Looks the same… doesn't it?"

Elizabeth Maxwell laughs a little bit. "Well, we'd really have to test it in use, to make sure… it looks the same, if its still the same on tine inside…"

Heather O'Leary shrugs, "According to White Christmas' local Fifth Columnist, Jennifer, I think her name is, the outside is what you have to worry about. Inside is solid…." She shrugs, "Mind you, Forysthe, Stewart, and Jennifer think we are nuts to consider trying to take down a Mothership…."

Elizabeth Maxwell laughs and shrugs a little bit. "As long as we can confirm with Atlanta how much of the force w as offloaded, we almost certainly have the shot at claiming it for ourselves."

Heather O'Leary shrugs, "According to Pete…. Atlanta Resistance is off the air. No one has been able to get into Radio Contact with them for about a week. That was why the Navy was ordered to raid. They were hoping something would bring the Resistance out of hiding… Nothing yet." She shrugs, "He did mention that there seems to be a high level of activity there though… Extra patrols, extra Sky Fighters in the air…" She shrugs, "But he did also mention that it is close enough that the Mothership that is stationed in Miami. or the one over the Carolina's could easily send Skyfighters that far, with plenty of time to do the flights. I figure they may not have left the Skyfighters behind, but they had to have left their Shock Troopers, and a good portion of their Security forces behind."

Elizabeth Maxwell hmms and nods a little bit. "That's even better, then. The more skyfighters still aboard when we take it, the better for us. Wonder if I could program up an automatic piloting system really quick, that could be activated remotely… If I could fix it so the fighters could fly themselves to a specific point, we could do this with fewer pilots being needed."

Heather O'Leary shakes her head slightly, "We don't have room in the Barn for more than 5 or 6 more anyway… Mike, myself, you, Maggie, I'm sure we could find a couple more… Too many more ships, and we won't be able to land them in here, without a major traffic jam…."

Elizabeth Maxwell nods a little bit. "I've been thinking about that, actually. If we can get hold of a heavier weapon from the ship, it should be possible to hollow out a cave in the mountain itself, to store some extras at."

Heather O'Leary shakes her head, "I'm sure we could, but it would weaken the mountain… Might cause an avalanche…. Rocks and Snow coming down could cause some serious damage to people and property hereabouts… Plus, you can bet someone would hear, and would inform the Visitors. Than any chance of remaining up here quietly would go out the window."

Elizabeth Maxwell hmms a little bit. "Suppose so. I thought maybe we could do it quietly from one of the caves already there, from the inside out. probably a bigger risk of a cave-in, though. It'd probably only have a big enough opening to take two ships going in or out, to avoid a cave-in. And would likely have to have columns of rock left intact to brace it…" She hmms. "Suppose it isn't entirely workable, is it… if we could get enough hydraulic equipment, I'd say to put a door on the ground and dig an underground cavern, but that runs into similar problems, unless it's heavily designed and braced…"

Heather O'Leary nods slightly, "I don't think we need to have more than the 10 that would give us. We take a Tanker, a Squad Ship so we have two, and 4 Sky Fighters… That would give us 7 Skyfighters, 2 Squad Ships, and a Tanker… Plus the Harrier." She motions slightly to her baby.

Elizabeth Maxwell sighs a little and hmms. "I suppose we could stash some of the others elsewhere, if we had to…" she considers a bit. I guess I just want to get as much as absolutely possible out of the capture, and don't want to see anything wasted."

Heather O'Leary chuckles, "Well, I mentioned to Pete that he should let other groups know that if we succeed, we'll have a lot of stuff to offer… He said we could probably get whatever we needed in exchange… The President offered us unlimited access to Military Hardware, and possibly, even access to Military Personnel, in exchange for the Mothership itself. Just the Shell, the Engines, and the Command Center."

Elizabeth Maxwell stretches out a little bit. "Oh, I think we can provide that, once we have everything off…" she grins a little. "Unlimited hardware access would be a definite help, as well. I should be working on another project as well, now that I think about it. After hearing about the airbase attacks, I've been wondering why the hell the anti-aircraft defenses didn't catch the attackers before they were able to fire. That's a bad sign, when they can't. Need to figure out why, so it can be compensated for…"

Heather O'Leary shrugs, "SAM's have a hard time picking up the Visitor Skyfighters… Something in the radar signatures being too closely resembling a Birds…. I think that is one reason the President wants the Mothership… So that the Sensors she has can be copied…"

Elizabeth Maxwell hmms a little bit and glances over at the fighters. "Wonder if the sensors on the fighters themselves aren't better as well, could strip one down and give them something temporary in advance, possibly…"
Heather O'Leary shakes her head, "They have them… just not effective at a long enough range." She shrugs, "Hard to get Missile lock on in a Jet against them, but since that is more of an IR or Heat source thing, it works, mostly…"

Elizabeth Maxwell hmms a little bit and nods, scratching her head. "Damn… I'm mostly worried because if we turn the thing over, I don't want it getting blasted before it can be analyzed. Because if it is, I'm worried that we might not be getting as much support as promised.

Heather O'Leary shrugs, "I imagine the President has some idea of where to put the thing…"

Elizabeth Maxwell nods a little and shrugs. "I hope so… If the weapons are working, it and the White Christmas mothership could in theory defend each other…"

Heather O'Leary nods slightly, "The White Christmas Mothership probably would be tapped to defend it… Since it is hovering over the Northern Atlantic somewhere…."

Elizabeth Maxwell nods a little bit and hmms slightly. "I'm assuming so, anyway… it'd make the most sense. But even then, two together wouldn't put off a full scale attack from several others. Wonder if they'd be survivable underwater, sealed up…"

Heather O'Leary shrugs, "They can survive in Deep Space… Why not under water? Only… Have to watch how deep, they might not survive getting too deep, because of the Pressure. Still, would the Visitors risk getting Red Dust in their motherships to come after them? They have not come after the one they already know we have…."

Elizabeth Maxwell shakes her head a little bit. "If they sealed up the landing bays, they could easily come after them. The same things that let them survive in deep space would let them keep their atmospheres sealed off from the dust. The question is, how deep? I assume the hangar bays are able to be decompressed and recompressed, so they should be able to handle an underwater craft landing if needed…"

Heather O'Leary shakes her head, "Liz… Not our concern, remember. We only have to deliver it. I'll get Pete to get us something in writing that will prevent the President from backing out, if his new Mothership is destroyed. Besides, he is honorable, he wouldn't pull out of the deal… Don't let paranoia make you think you have to solve every problem."

Elizabeth Maxwell laughs a little and shrugs. "Well, I'm just trying to make certain that it's more worth the effort down that avenue, for them as well as us. It's not our concern when thinking strictly about our own little group, but in terms of the bigger picture…"

Heather O'Leary shakes her head, "Let someone else worry about the big picture. My plan concerns here only… California. I can't stop the Visitors world wide, even across the country…. but… I can stop them here, with everyone's help. So that is what I am going to concern myself with. Whatever helps us, that is what I want. Sure, thinking about a global victory would be nice, but I'd settle for starting with California first, than maybe the entire U.S….." She shrugs.

Elizabeth Maxwell sighs a little bit. "The big picture has to be worried about, even if you're not the one doing it. I know that none of us individually can stop them worldwide, or across the country. But the fact is, that the more people are willing to keep the bigger picture in mind, the better chance there is of everyone overall being able to do more about it. We'll get the equipment for California, but it isn't wrong to be keeping the larger picture in mind, in the background."

Heather O'Leary sighs, softly, "Elizabeth, is there anything that our idle speculation about how to hide a Mothership would affect what the President and his advisers decide? I highly doubt it, unless you want to move to New York, and join his advisers. He might entertain our ideas, but than, do whatever is recommended by someone else. I have met the man once, and he is extremely set in the Government ways… I don't know that we could do anything to make him decide differently. I'm not trying to say you don't have good ideas, but… for now, I think we need to think more locally, than globally…" She shakes her head, "I don't want to fight over it, but also, I'm not sure it is something I want to talk about either. I want to make sure I keep the people I love safe… They are all here in California now…"

Elizabeth Maxwell hmms and shrugs a little bit, pondering slightly. "I suppose not. And I'm not really enough of a bitch to go on somewhere publicly and say "I told you so" if he lost it after not following a recommendation made. Oh well…" she hmms a little. "think we could get the full procedure for reversing a conversion, from White Christmas? If we could, we'd have a chamber now to do it ourselves…"

Heather O'Leary nods, "I think we could… Pete didn't mention it, and I didn't ask, but I know he is more than happy to share information with us, of course, a quid pro quo is expected that we share back…" She winks, and replaces the Grav Coil in the Squad Ship muttering, "If this doesn't work, people will definitely want to be strapped in…"

Elizabeth Maxwell laughs a little bit and nods quickly. "Oh yeah…" She winces a little and laughs again. "that could get pretty ugly, couldn't it…"

Heather O'Leary nods, "Well, as long as everyone is sitting down, strapped in, and re secure all loose packages… Everything should be OK." She slips the coil into it's housing, and connects a wire to each end. She sighs softly and looks thoughtful, "Hopefully we can get one or two of their Computer banks, and get a good deal of the schematics of their Vehicles and Technology. Sure would make it easier to fix things, if we knew exactly how things were supposed to fit together."

Elizabeth Maxwell laughs and snuggles, nodding. "Yeah… I suppose so." She nods a little at that. "Yeah, I was mentioning to Mike last night that we should probably dump as much of the computer's information onto a portable source, as we can."

Heather O'Leary shrugs, "Just load a couple of their Computers, filled with the information we need, into a Squadship… I don't know quite how big they are, but we could the Computers used in an Air Craft Carrier's Command and Control Center into one Squad Ship…."

Elizabeth Maxwell hmms a little and nods. "Suppose so… just depends on how big they are. I'm hoping for a bit more than just technical stuff for fixing ships, the more we g et, I figure, the easier it'll be to outthink and outplot them. The more they're forced to redo things after critical breaches of intelligence, the easier things become."

Heather O'Leary nods slightly, "Well, mainly I'd like the Specs to help fix things, and to help us plot easier ways to disable their vehicles…"

Elizabeth Maxwell nods a little bit and smiles. "Yes, I understand that, and I agree completely. Far easier to fix when you know what its supposed to be. Though I'll have to translate all of it…" she rolls her eyes.

Heather O'Leary chuckles, "Well, they might have a Translator Program… they had to learn our language somehow…."

Elizabeth Maxwell hmms and scratches her head. "If they do, I want my hands on it, I'll put it into all the fighters as well."

Heather O'Leary chuckles, softly, "I doubt my vocal cords could make half the sounds they use in their language, but… it might be a good thing to understand…>"

Elizabeth Maxwell laughs a little and nods, snuggling gently and kissing your cheek. "Well, I'll help as much as I can with that, if you really want to, but I don't want to take too much time out from doing more enjoyable things with you, either…"

Heather O'Leary closes the panel, and looks at the Skyfighters, briefly, before pulling you to her, "Well, Liz'beth, there is always time for the more enjoyable things…. Maybe we should make sure the Grav Coil doesn't work in whatever craft we take… You figured out an autopilot… Have Mike or Maggie Fly everyone else in the Squadship, you and I take a Skyfighter…." Heather grins and winks.

Elizabeth Maxwell laughs and tickles slightly. "Well, we could always take it out, in the ship we're using…" she grins and snuggles, tickling more then. "Could definitely be interesting…"

Heather O'Leary smiles, "We could also take it for a test flight… Might be fun to become a member of the 30 mile high Club…."

Elizabeth Maxwell laughs and snuggles, kissing quickly. "Hmm… suppose we could, at that. My main concern is about being tracked before we do the actual mission, don't want the enemy catching wind that we might be going out a little further into the field…"

Heather O'Leary shrugs, "With you to tell them we are a training or Testing new repairs flight…." She shrugs, "But I guess that could wait."

Elizabeth Maxwell hmms a little and shakes her head. "Yes, if they believed the second lie about the transponder being broken…" She laughs a little and tickles. "Anyway…"

Heather O'Leary lets her arms enfold Liz, and shrugs, "Well, I suppose we can wait for that… Just something that would be fun once…." She pauses, than snuggles Liz, and asks, "How is your wound, love?"

Elizabeth Maxwell shrugs a little bit, glancing down at herself. "I'll live, anyway. It doesn't really hurt today, that I've noticed. Maybe I just haven't twisted the wrong way by accident, today. Not sure… But it seems to be well enough to go back up and get shot at again…"

Heather O'Leary chuckles softly, "You look ready to tear the arms off of a Shock Trooper…" She winks, "I suppose we all are, even if some of us would not admit it about anyone but themselves…"

Elizabeth Maxwell laughs and snuggles. "I'm sure. Though as of last night, Mike claimed that Julie still has him stuck on the couch not doing anything. Guess we got off lucky."

Heather O'Leary smirks, "Mike also might just want to enjoy not having to do anything…"

Elizabeth Maxwell laughs a little and nods. "Yeah, I'm sure. He was loafing on the couch when I found him. Lazy people…" She shakes her head a little. "I'd never be that lazy…"

Heather O'Leary grins, and teases, while poking your ribs softly, "I don't know, you do not like it when I get up in the mornings…." She winks, "I think this morning you even growled at me…"

Elizabeth Maxwell laughs and tickles in response. "Did I? Hm… I wasn't entirely awake at the time, sorry…" She blushes a little and kisses.

Heather O'Leary returns the kiss, and shrugs, "You might have, but I tried to get out of there fast enough not to find out. I can't say… but I did hear some odd rumblings this morning, while I got dressed in the hall…"

Elizabeth Maxwell laughs a little bit and shakes her head, rolling her eyes. "You sure it was me growling, or was it someone in one of the other rooms snoring?"

Heather O'Leary hmms, "Could've been Tyler I suppose… Besides, I was teasing you, Love."

Elizabeth Maxwell laughs and tickles a little bit more. "Oh…" She blushes then. "I guess I just get nervous at the thought, worrying about what happens when I'm not entirely awake. Had that worry once before as well, going to the dentist once between wars. I don't exactly like needles, and I'm sure I wouldn't like the drill, but I worried about bad reactions under the gas."

Heather O'Leary hmms, and shrugs slightly, "I don't know what to tell you… although, I suppose any good vet could probably help you there." Her tone of voice is not meant to be mean, but is still teasing.

Elizabeth Maxwell coughs and elbows gently at that. "Funny. Really funny." she rolls her eyes then and shakes her head. "I have a legitimate reason to be concerned about the idea, anyway. Considering what might come just after growling, and stuff you told me a couple days ago. So it registered as a problem, even if it was teasing."

Heather O'Leary nods slightly, turning serious for a minute, "We might want to ask Julie to compare your venom, to Visitor Venom, and see if there are different chemicals, or genetic makeup, or whatever, and see if I am allergic to it as well… Than, get a good batch of Anti-Venom to carry around. I should probably get some for the Visitors themselves anyway… I lost my last batch of Anti-Venom when I bailed out of my Harrier, back when I joined this group… I should get more…"

Elizabeth Maxwell sighs a little bit. "Yes, you should get more. And I'm not sure how different it is. But I'd rather be cautious about being half awake, than be sorry later. The concern at the dentist was about the same. A matter of not being entirely conscious…"

Heather O'Leary nods, and says softly, "Liz… You can not control what happens when you are not awake. That is one reason I try to wake you gently, when I need to wake you…" She shrugs slightly and leaves out that she is quick to comfort you when you are in the middle of a nightmare, not wanting you to know that she wakes up for your nightmares.

Elizabeth Maxwell laughs just a little tiny bit at that. "Actually, there's probably a better way to make certain that doesn't happen, when you're waking me up…" She raises her eyebrows quickly. "Just roll me over, off the bed. Then if it happens, it won't be anywhere near y ou."

Heather O'Leary smirks, "But that would be… A Rude awakening for you dearie… I couldn't do that to you."

Elizabeth Maxwell laughs a little and shrugs slightly. "Even if it were, if I were really growling, it'd be for the best. Because hearing you scream would be a far worse one. I only want to hear that when I'm doing something naughty down below to warrant it." She grins brightly.

Heather O'Leary chuckles softly, "If you start growling again, I'll roll off the bed…" She smiles at your 'down below' comment, and shrugs, "That is about the only time I want to see the extra long tongue of yours… but at least I don't find it revolting…" She winks, "It just makes me… shall we say… hot and bothered?"

Elizabeth Maxwell laughs and tickles a little bit. "Well, you don't have to see it when I'm doing that, anyway. Just feel it licking clear up in the unmentionable places." She laughs a little more. "Always fun to hear you enjoying yourself, after all…"

Heather O'Leary chuckles softly, "I enjoy it…" She winks, and than sighs softly, "I need to check these other ships…"


Back

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License