ABS FIESTA REDUX

[Mr. Hurricane]

"Whatever in on the Gods' green hills you're doing Walt you'd better be quick about it because I haven't heard anything from the fleet and if our carrier goes down then we will all be bailing out into the water. The same goes for you Ellie,"

Jaakko hopes his faith in Walter isn't misplaced.

[Ad Bot]

[Qwepir]

"I can tell her if you don't return."
Walter pauses as he slows down and converts the thrusters while watching the chute
"I'm going to ultimately leave it up to you, but I think you will have better chances turning back and helping us."
Walter continues making adjustments and realizes he has to give his full attention to the situation at hand.
"I'll see you on the other side Arkhip."

You get no response, either because he's out of communications range or too ashamed to reply.

Walter brings the Shikra into hover mode by Kommandant shortly after he hits the water, careful not to point the engines down on top of him.

[Badger]

Walter works on steading his ship and lowering it further, while extending the mount ladder, being wary of the sea spray blocking his vision through the canopy.

[Operator¹]

Ellie keeps her distance, observing Walt's Shikra hover above the water.

[Qwepir]

Walter works on steading his ship and lowering it further, while extending the mount ladder, being wary of the sea spray blocking his vision through the canopy.

The mount ladder, being intended to get someone from the ground a few feet up to the roosterpit, is not going to be able to reach Kommandant. Perhaps if the water was completely still and not swelling and crashing all around you, you could theoretically get the plane close enough to the surface for someone to grab the bottom rung, but any attempt to do so in these conditions will see your plane swallowed up by the ocean. You'll have to find another way to get him up.

[Badger]

Walter views over his equipment for a moment and try to think of a way to retrieve kommandant. After a short amount of time he tries to access the controls to the nose gun and depress it's angle down as far as it can go to the side of the roosterpit, hoping it serves as a makeshift extension to reach the mount ladder.

 Walter realises he can't  access the copilot controls and opts to look around at other places in the roosterpit other than his panel.

[Qwepir]

Walter views over his equipment for a moment and try to think of a way to retrieve kommandant. After a short amount of time he tries to access the controls to the nose gun and depress it's angle down as far as it can go to the side of the roosterpit, hoping it serves as a makeshift extension to reach the mount ladder.

 Walter realises he can't  access the copilot controls and opts to look around at other places in the roosterpit other than his panel.

You set the Shikra's autopilot to maintain position and take this time to look around the cabin. With your attention freed up somewhat, you quickly find the Shikra's survival equipment. You won't be getting much use from the lighter, compass, or iodine tablets, but you do find a coil of rope.

[Badger]

Walter gets to work making several loops and a knot near the end of the rope and looks for an available tie off given he needs it. After hastily testing the ties he opens an access window in the canopy to feed rope through towards the rough waters below.

[Qwepir]

Walter gets to work making several loops and a knot near the end of the rope and looks for an available tie off given he needs it. After hastily testing the ties he opens an access window in the canopy to feed rope through towards the rough waters below.

You find something resembling tie-off near where the canopy closes and attach the rope there. You aren't sure how much weight it can support, or if it's even for attaching ropes at all, but there are no other options you can see. A while after you let the rope down you see it being drawn taut by something.
Kommandant's STR 33
Athletics training provides bonus of 10
Climbing a wet rope during a storm while weighed down by damp clothing is Difficult: -10
Test taken at 33
Roll: 12 - success
About a minute later, Kommandant plants his feet on the boarding ladder, bangs on the canopy, and gestures for you to get it open.

[Badger]

Walter opens the copilot's canopy( or depending on how the canopy is designed; the whole canopy.)

[Qwepir]

Walter opens the copilot's canopy( or depending on how the canopy is designed; the whole canopy.)

The canopy opens, you get moderately soaked, and Kommandant hauls himself into the copilot's seat.
: Thanks for the pickup. I owe you one.

With Kommandant aboard, Ellie and Walt take off to catch up with the rest of the air wing.
Right away for those arriving at the fleet first, things are not looking good. A half a dozen oily plumes of smoke stain the clear(ish) skies above the Aesthian battlegroup, and you have still yet to hear anything else from the surface navy.

[Gojira]

"Aw hell, what happened?"
Markus begins scanning for any possible survivors as soon as he can, looking specifically for lifeboats and sinking ships to report positions to CSAR.

[Qwepir]

"Aw hell, what happened?"
Markus begins scanning for any possible survivors as soon as he can, looking specifically for lifeboats and sinking ships to report positions to CSAR.

You're currently too far out to look for survivors, but as you get closer you can plainly see that the fleet has not been wiped out entirely. Several ships appear entirely undamaged, and there's no sign of the enemy submarine. At least, not until it surfaces only about a hundred meters away from an Aesthian frigate, nearly capsizing it from the waves caused by it breaching the surface. The smaller ship fires first with its 5 inch gun and scores a lucky shot that destroys some electronics topside, but the submarine returns fire before the frigate can fire again. Three heavy beam laser turrets punch all the way through the frigate, nearly cutting it in half lengthwise. As it begins to collapse on itself due to lost structural support, the beams reach the front of the ship, detonating the magazine of anti-ship missiles and blasting the bow off entirely.

Crash, Scorch, Snowman, Letterman, and Djuriskas are in missile range and will enter gun range in two turns. Walter and Skytracer have just entered radar range, due to their little detour.

[Mr. Hurricane]

Jaakko aims and fires at the aft-most laser turret.

"Is our sonar loving worthless? How the forget did they miss that!"

[Gojira]

"...oh sweet Ark."