Chronicles of Sol: The Fall

Amelia showed Sali around the living space as Countryman settled on the sofa working on something. It was modest with a desk in the corner, and an entertainment center set up on the wall. The sofa Countryman was on faced the monitor integrated into the wall. A tasteful rug and a few fake plants were placed around the room to add some life. Sali even noted the painting on the wall, it was pretty cute; a stylized anime catgirl in a forest. She was perched on a branch with a drawn bow. Her outfit was rather... exposing yet managed to be tasteful.

Stepping into the bedroom, she took a look around, as Amelia spoke up, "I'd say you are pretty lucky."

Sali turned back to Amelia, "huh? What do you mean?"

She smiled and gestured into the other room, "You and the captain? Not many girls can say they have the captain looking out for them." she shifted conspiratorially, "Ever considered taking it a step further?"

For a moment she just stared then blushed as she realized what she was talking about, "What? No! He's practically my grandfather."

The other woman chuckled, "So?"

"He's practically my grandfather," she repeated in a deadpan tone.

Amelia shook her head, "Girl, he's the most powerful man on the ship. Trust me when I say, you shouldn't throw away a good thing."

"I'm not sure I'd want to be a mistress and I already have a guy."

Amelia grinned, "Oh? Can't wait to meet him."

Sali looked back at the room. The bedroom featured several bunks built into the wall, there was a lamp on a table in the corner. A pair of low chairs sat in the opposite corner, there was a large closet on the rear wall. Checking it out she found four trunks set up in divided sections. It fit with the four bunks out in the main room, as the unit was for four people. "I'm sure you will meet him soon enough. Now Countryman hadn't gotten around to telling how much this unit costs."

"Well when he does, he'll tell you the current lease price is 12 credits a day, we are one of the nicer places on the block."

"I noticed: the nice living area, and we are right off the local market. Not to mention the lift is just thirty meters away."

"I think you see why I like the place, I've been here since they put the unit in."

Sali smiled, "Sounds like you think it's worth the rent."

"I do, keep in mind that factors in the local utilities and we do have a functioning half bath, complete with an in-house laundry setup, two sinks and a toilet. No tub or shower sadly. The real question is if you can afford it. What are you planning on doing?"

"So you know my past?"

"That you've been in jail since May of the first year SDE, that's six years."

Sali sat on one of the chairs, "I'd like to be a pilot again, but that means school. I'm just not rated on anything we fly here, so I was thinking of taking up farming to pay for it."

"Aw, well, I guess that means you might be working with Lyn, she loves the hydroponics level. Commutes there every day."

Sali recalled the numbers for hydroponics weren't that different from the factory, but she still had to ask, "What does she make?"

"She averages 37 credits a day, a bit more than what most people make down there."

"I know, the average is about the same as the factory; thirty credits a day."

"You do your research, good and that should be good enough to pay for this. I'm sure Lyn would love you too."

She smiled, "thanks, I'll go tell Countryman that this is the place."

A couple of hours later, she found herself walking into the starboard hangar. A young woman in a flight suit that left little to the imagination was standing inside waiting to meet her. Off to the left she could see the familiar form of a Refuge fighter. Like many of their hulls it was painted a sleek black and silver. The overall shape of the vehicle was angular, almost predatory with sharp yet sleek lines. The wings were long straight and angled back towards the rear of the craft, at their ends were a pair of particle cannons fitted into an armored mounting. The rear of the craft lacked any kind of thruster port or much of any indication for how the ship was meant to fly. Something she wasn't too surprised about since Refuge vessels used a reactionless drive system.

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The young woman smiled, "Greetings, I'm Lieutenant White and I will be your instructor for this course."

Sali gestured at the fighter, "Will I get to fly that?"

Behind her, Countryman chuckled, "I'll be leaving you here. I trust you can find your own way back to your quarters when you are done?"

Sali nodded, and White commented, "Not today. I'm not going to let a fresh pilot fly anything more complicated than a shuttle until I'm sure of their skills and know they are familiar with what a craft can do."

"But I'm rated on the Valorian Lancer, surely that warrants..."

"I know this is the accelerated course. Now the Lancer is a solid craft, she's quite agile and very responsive to a pilot. Her low weight and powerful engine give her impressive acceleration and top speed, and she carries a decent shield for protection, but she's also got weaknesses. Her plasma missiles are rather bulky and she lacks ammo reserve as a result, and the pulse cannons while quick firing don't pack much of a punch." White gestured to the alien fighter, "Now the X-1204 is a very different beast. She's of much heavier construction and is actually designed to take a hit. Unlike Valorian vessels which rely on shields for protection, her main protection comes in the form of a uniform powered armor system 12 centimeters thick.

"The overlord armor on the fighter offers good all-around protection against most common threats, lasers, particle beams, plasma bolts, kinetic impact, and the like. As long as the AIF field is charged the plating should be able to absorb or deflect most hits. However, that doesn't mean it's invulnerable, meaning if there is enough energy behind a strike that round could very well get through. Don't go face-tanking energy bolts meant for a capital ship, that is a very good way to end up dead.

"Now the armor isn't the only protection system you'll have on one of those. The X-1204 is also outfitted with energy web projectors, these devices are AI-controlled and surround the ship with a high-intensity charged laser net. In other words, the titular energy web, which is quite effective at burning up incoming missiles and disrupting the containment fields of guided plasma munitions like Valorian plasma missiles."

Sali blinked, "With such good armor, wouldn't the plating help against a plasma missile hit just as well as standard plasma cannon rounds?"

"Missile protection is quite important. Overlord armor relies on a dispersion field that forces an energy round to hit a wider area than it would otherwise. In other words the field lowers their armor penetration making it easier for the plating to absorb or deflect the hit. Missiles are typically solid projectiles however and can't be dispersed. Some warhead types also have very focused detonations that can punch right through the plating, overwhelming it at a focused point. Plasma missiles can be forced to hit a wider area, but disrupting them is still a net gain since they will drain a larger chunk of your AIF energy to absorb."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Oh it's going to be on the test and we will be going over it in more depth later. I'm also going to require you to familiarize yourself with the various weapon systems available to the 1204, the 1205 and the 1208. Those three ships are the most commonly flown vessels in our arsenal. Now of those three, our ride is right there."

Sali turned and looked at what was clearly a shuttle. It was robust with an angular armored hull, and two short stubby wings on either side of the craft. A round turret sat flush against the side of the craft with a pair of particle emitters jutting towards the front of the ship. Like the fighter the craft was painted a sleek black and silver. "A shuttle?"

"The X-1205 is by far the most common shuttle in our inventory, she's outfitted for heavy combat and intended to serve in a number of roles. She can be outfitted to serve as a gunship, light bomber or combat transport. This one has been fitted for recon duty, the rear bay has a lot of space which left us plenty of room to fit her with extra scanning equipment and additional fuel cells, while still having room to load her with spare supplies and a few bunks. Now we aren't going on a long recon just yet, so you won't have to worry about that. For now we will focus on getting you familiar with general flight control."

"Great back to being a shuttle pilot."

White grinned, "Sure are, but it's the fun shuttle. She has the same protection systems the 1204 does, but she has more reactor power and her armor is thicker at 55 centimeters. Letting her take a bit more punishment than the 1204. Now this one carries four fixed mount particle cannons, and four more mounted in the twin turrets mounted port and starboard. She's also outfitted with a photon bomb launcher and has a dozen warheads stored on her rack."

"No missiles?"

"The 1205 isn't really geared for that and we aren't going to be playing missile boat. Now let's get aboard and I can show the basics of ship control and we can see how well you do."

She nodded and followed White into the craft via an armored hatch on the side of the vehicle. It led her to the rear bay and they had to take another passage to reach the cockpit. It was a small room at the front of the craft with two seats set in front of a console bank and a pair of benches at the back. The first thing Sali noted was that the seats were positioned looking at alien alloys.

"There doesn't seem to be much of a view."

"Well you do have a viewport, but it's really only there as a backup. The displays are built much like the viewports on the ship's observation decks. You have an outer shutter which is heavily armored and an interior window constructed of a resilient transparent alloy. In normal operation, the shutters are closed and holographic displays give you a solid view of what's in front of the craft. On the left of the pilot's console you'll find the controls, you have options to adjust resolution and magnification, along with controls to switch sensor feeds."

Sali noted that down as she took the indicated console. It was covered with indicators, displays and controls, but thankfully it was all labeled. That gave her a reference point to identify the various systems at her command here.

White spoke up as she was inspecting them, "okay let's start with the basics, the main controls are dead in the center and deal with everything from thrust to...."