Scene for the 'Scramble!' period.
~ We really should have done this sooner. ~ A.C. thought as she worked on her presentation. ‘This’ was the Professor-tech holographic systems, allowing her to have more and larger screens as she put things in the right order. Leonard was already refitting the Forge to use it everywhere, and was making his own tweaks.
Suddenly a high-pitched whine, rising in frequency followed by a thunk and roar came from the Stallion’s superstructure. Then it started to shake and groan under stress and the floor tilted against Ganymede’s greater gravity field.
“EddIE!” A.C. grabbed the doorframe to the ships office, startled by the A.I.’s actions. He was clawing for the sky like Lucifer trying to get back through the closing gates of Heaven. What needed a zero scramble like that?
The cockpit door was open, Lebia sat blank eyed in the co-pilot seat fully hooked into the White Stallion’s systems. Out through the forward window she could see contrails and lights leaving the surface and desperately reaching for the Black.
“Enemy fleet, E.T.A. 5 minutes.” Eddie’s voice was cool, calm, and almost machine like.
A.C. felt time slow down as she considered her options. She and Lebia were the only people on board, with Kasumi, Andy, and Greenpeace back at the Con. The Enemy had logically already infiltrated Serenity Valley. The Tachikomas hadn’t been Turing’d yet, Keiichi wasn’t even really armed.
“Tachikomas!” A.C. yelled over the internal coms. “Donkey-Goodyear-7-0-Betamax-12! Prep for Combat! Keiichi! Ready for drop!” And A.C. dashed to the secure locker for their gear. She might be able to get Keiichi’s grenade launcher reinstalled quickly enough to help on the ground after he delivered the gear to the others.
~ We really should have done this sooner. ~ A.C. thought as she worked on her presentation. ‘This’ was the Professor-tech holographic systems, allowing her to have more and larger screens as she put things in the right order. Leonard was already refitting the Forge to use it everywhere, and was making his own tweaks.
Suddenly a high-pitched whine, rising in frequency followed by a thunk and roar came from the Stallion’s superstructure. Then it started to shake and groan under stress and the floor tilted against Ganymede’s greater gravity field.
“EddIE!” A.C. grabbed the doorframe to the ships office, startled by the A.I.’s actions. He was clawing for the sky like Lucifer trying to get back through the closing gates of Heaven. What needed a zero scramble like that?
The cockpit door was open, Lebia sat blank eyed in the co-pilot seat fully hooked into the White Stallion’s systems. Out through the forward window she could see contrails and lights leaving the surface and desperately reaching for the Black.
“Enemy fleet, E.T.A. 5 minutes.” Eddie’s voice was cool, calm, and almost machine like.
A.C. felt time slow down as she considered her options. She and Lebia were the only people on board, with Kasumi, Andy, and Greenpeace back at the Con. The Enemy had logically already infiltrated Serenity Valley. The Tachikomas hadn’t been Turing’d yet, Keiichi wasn’t even really armed.
“Tachikomas!” A.C. yelled over the internal coms. “Donkey-Goodyear-7-0-Betamax-12! Prep for Combat! Keiichi! Ready for drop!” And A.C. dashed to the secure locker for their gear. She might be able to get Keiichi’s grenade launcher reinstalled quickly enough to help on the ground after he delivered the gear to the others.