StarCraft: Brain Storm
Chapter 37: Goodbye Blue Sky
Katsuragi eased back into her chair, coffee in hand, and propped her feet up on the tactics table. One of the many pre-launch changes she'd made recently was to raise the improvised foot rest a full two feet, effectively making it the coffee/junk table she preferred it to be. Hyuga had gotten rid of the unnecessary bridge crewmembers and the rest of the ship had been stripped down to facilitate a small number of operational personnel.
That was one of Katsuragi's secrets to commanding: a skeleton crew was a help, not a hindrance.
After losing most of her original crew during the long months on Braxis, she had been forced to work with a small amount of people. In the end, it had worked as an advantage that she stood by to the present day.
Typically, she had the same crew throughout her different commands. Normally she had a German engineer named Karl Engelhorn, but the experimental nature of the revamped Shogoki rendered his services useless. Instead the snot-nosed college brat known as Dr. Samantha Atari had replaced him, much to Katsuragi's chagrin.
Traditionally, she didn't have a detachment of ground troops, since most of her work had centered on space combat. In fact, she hadn't run a troop insertion mission since her Dogs of War days. But with wreaking havoc being the main objective in the upcoming operation, a ground team was a must. And the Directorate had been only happy to oblige her with a combat force as experimental as the ship they would live in.
They called themselves the Black Dove Platoon and had earned enough respect to be recognized as such. Led by a charismatic lieutenant named Rika Horaki, the Doves were considered the crème-de-la-crème of UED Special Forces.
They sported power armor that was slimmer than the bulky variants worn by frontline marines, yet they could still stand up to a hefty amount of damage. The added flexibility of their armor and the addition of experimental laser rifles made the Doves a good mid-point between assault troops and Ghosts. They were perfect for hitting fast and hard, which was strangely enough the entire doctrine Katsuragi would employ during the upcoming months.
When the Black Dove Platoon had arrived on board, Katsuragi had gone down and introduced herself to Lieutenant Horaki. The following conversation had been both awkward and strained, almost breaching the 'how about that weather?' marker of shitty interactions. It was bad enough to make Katsuragi almost want to go and talk to the ignorant Dr. Atari.
Well, almost.
In any event, there was a schedule to keep. A schedule that required the Shogoki en route to the Korpulu Sector by 1900 hours, and Katsuragi was quite keen to beat that by at least one hour. "Hyuga, take us out," she instructed, taking a sip from her coffee.
Hyuga grinned wolfishly as he input instructions into his helm console. The tactical cruiser's photon reactor-powered engines hummed to life, glowing a strange blue across the Washington space ports' employees. The docking clamps released and the Shogoki disengaged the power cables and safety lines attached to it, floating free over the tarmac.
"Ma'am, permission to break protocol?" Hyuga asked over his shoulder.
Katsuragi looked at her coffee cup and deduced that it was low enough to endure the proposed action without spilling. "Permission granted, lieutenant. Let's see what she can handle with this newfangled power plant."
The engines kicked into overdrive, blasting the ship straight up. Its frame rocked and rattled with the force of the acceleration. A resounding bang echoed across the planet below as they shattered the sound barrier.
Soon, the trio of view screens displayed the blackness of the exosphere. Hyuga eased the ship into an out-system vector without any instruction and soon they were coasting by the man-made orbital defense ring that encircled the world responsible for human evolution. The ring bristled with anti-ship weapons, and every two hundred miles there was a gun capable of burning through a capital ship.
Every time Katsuragi saw the emplacements she was overcome with a sense of awe at the ongoing engineering project that had created the ring. They still had a large portion to arm and coat with plating, but it would still be a daunting task to attack it.
"Warp computer has completed its calculations, ma'am," Hyuga sounded, "We can jump on your command."
Katsuragi took one last look at the planet she'd been born on, its vibrant green continents, its deep blue oceans and swirling white clouds that overlaid it all, casting long black shadows gently across the surface.
It was all quite disgusting, really.
"Engage," she said, making a little forward motion with her hand.
As the Shogoki slipped through the warp portal, Katsuragi felt fine. Earth had gotten boring. The Directorate didn't even allow smoking, and Katsuragi had been craving a cigarette for six whole years. Getting back to the freedom of the Korpulu Sector was going to be a blessing. The risk of death was a mere afterthought.