Nighthawk Drops In

Log Title: Nighthawk Drops In

Characters: Ace, Nighthawk, Temera, Wisp

Location: The Pit

Date: March 05, 2007

TP:

As Logged by Ace - Monday, March 05, 2007, 8:59 PM

Command Center - The Pit
This is the Heart of the G.I. Joe Base. It is setup almost like NASA's Mission control, but one a grander scale. Instead of only one wall filled with Screens and information, three of the walls have large screens that display maps, Information Leading from the center of the room, is a slope filled with rows of Monitoring stations, where Individual techs can watch just part of the world. In the center of the room, from which all the slopes start, is a raised Dias, from which the Command Center's Command Staff can watch the action, and also, address troops, or other groups, gathered along the fourth wall, which is set up like a briefing area. All of The Pit seems to be accessible from various doors leading from the Command Center.

Ace sits in the command center, going through late-night reports.

Wisp pokes her head in, glancing around just a little, and smiling as she sees Ace, walking in more to the main area.

Ace glances up, looking a bit distracted, and throws Wisp a wave.

Wisp smiles and slips towards Ace. "Hi there... anything up?"

Ace frowns. "Not too much. Trying to get a lead on those Cobra kidnap victims... got some information on who they may have been, but not where Cobra has taken them -- although with the recent activity in Brasilia, that might be a good start..."

Wisp hmms a little and nods. "We'll need to sneak someone in on the ground for that though. Hostage rescue isn't exactly my area of expertise..."

Ace nods. "I've been talking with Falcon about sending in a ground team."

Wisp nods a little at that. "Sounds like a plan, certainly..."

Ace says winningly, "Sure you don't want to go? You could use some ground experience..."

Wisp laughs a little at that, raising her eyebrows. "Well... The last time I tried doing something on the ground, I kinda had a little bit of trouble, actually. Mostly being one spotted by a sniper, and being on my back for a month after."

Ace nods, looking more serious. "Well, I certainly wouldn't want you getting hurt."

Wisp nods a little bit. "Yeah, that's why I've been trying to keep myself for pilot operations, lately." she shrugs a little bit and blushes. "Plenty of ground staffers, though..."

Ace's smile returns. "That's certainly true. I'm sure Falcon and Jaye will have no problem rounding up a full team of volunteers."

Wisp smiles and nods a little bit. "Shouldn't be hard, no."

Camera> Nighthawk flies along at a low altitude, just high enough to avoid clipping the trees, a thick plume of smoke trailing from his left engine as he struggles to maintain a steady course. Picking up an adequate landing surface nearby, he carefully banks around, extending his landing gear as he fights his damaged rudder and dented ailerons. "Better than nothing.." he mutters as he throttles down his only operational engine, beginning to reduce altitude as he heads towards the buildings beyond.

Ace glances over as something beeps on his desk. "Hold up," he says suddenly. "Incoming."

Wisp blinks a little at that, frowning slightly. "Hmm..." She raises her eyebrows. "Wonder who it could be, and why..."

Ace stands. "Try to get an ID on the craft, and see if you can hail the pilot. Be ready to scramble of this is some sort of Cobra trick." He sits back down, pulling on a headset. "No flight plans filed anywhere near here... not that anyone would be able to legally..." he mutters.

Wisp peers at the screen and frowns. "Hmm.... looks like a 117, but ours are all in their proper places. And it should be saying something on approach, especially when not in stealth mode..." She frowns. "Definitely a possible trick. Should I warm my fighter up?"

Ace nods. "Do it. I'll check with the Bots, see if it's one of theirs. If not, this definitely could be trouble."

Wisp nods... "Right." She sighs just a little, slipping for the main pad.

Ace stands in from of the Air Force station in the command center, speaking into his headset. He frowns.

Temera pokes her head in quietly from the lounge, raising her eyebrows just a bit as she sees the frowning one.

(Radio) Ace transmits, "Blaster says they lost track of a Bot in our area, but I can't hail the craft, as we can't guarantee it’s the same one. Be ready to scramble and intercept," to Wisp.

Ace receives a radio transmission: (Radio) Wisp sends Ace a radio transmission, 'Already got the engines warm, sir, ready to lift off...'

(Radio) Ace transmits, "Deploy and shadow the craft. Do not engage without hostile action or my order," to Wisp.

Ace receives a radio transmission: (Radio) Wisp sends Ace a radio transmission, 'Acknowledged...'

Camera> Wisp's XF-35B JSF #639 floats in at the tree line no higher. It's in hover mode moving very slowly with its lights off.

Camera> Nighthawk wobbles jerkily from side to side, his altitude steadily decreasing as he struggles with his damaged flight controls. "Come on, come on... lock up... that's it.. no, left left! Easy does it... a little nudge..." he mutters as he maintains a course for the landing strip his sensors have detected.

[G.I. Joe] lil Wisp says, "Arming weapons... Looks like he's headed right for our strip..."

Temera just watches quietly, glancing up at the monitor and frowning just slightly.

Camera> Wisp's XF-35B JSF #639 moves in to follow for the strip taking all due precautions as such since the contact is unknown.

Ace leans forward and frowns as the two craft dip below monitoring range.

[G.I. Joe] Col. Ace says, "Sitrep, Captain?"

Temera bites her lip at that, softly.

[G.I. Joe] lil Wisp says, "not sure yet. Asking for ID now. He plopped himself down on our airstrip..."

Ace frowns, and takes off the headset. "I'm going down there."

[G.I. Joe] lil Wisp says, "I'm not getting out of the fighter. I'm right on his tail, and have missiles armed."

Temera glances up, nodding just a little bit at that, even if she hasn't been seen. She's very quiet.

Ace heads out, going to the Airfield.

Airfield - The Pit
A large airfield stretches out around Ace, with multiple hangars. Many of the runways and pads are showing signs of low maintenance, small plants starting to grow up through cracks in the tarmac. A ramp near the main complex leads below, into the vehicle storage bay.

Contents:
 * Wisp's XF-35B JSF #639
 * Nighthawk
 * Nighthawk F-117A #884

Ace comes out onto the tarmac, in his flight suit, pistol in hand.

[G.I. Joe] lil Wisp says, "Ask Blaster for the name of their missing Autobot, and for an altmode listing."

Ace talks into his radio.

[G.I. Joe] lil Wisp says, "He's claiming to be 'Nighthawk', one of theirs."

[G.I. Joe] Col. Ace says, "Blaster tentatively confirms this is our guy, but be careful... could be a doppelganger, or worse."

Wisp slips off from the fighter, keeping it at 'ready', though parked. She has her weapon out as well, though it isn't exactly impressive, walking for the cockpit, to take a look. "Okay, so you say you're working for Prime..."

Ace approaches the incoming craft on foot, staying out of likely landing paths. He also has his pistol out, although it's not much more impressive than Wisp's. He walks quickly to catch up with the tinier Wisp, backing her up as they approach the downed craft.

Nighthawk begins attempting some internal re-routing of his circuits to get his transform relays back on line. "Yes, that's right. I was out on patrol when I came across a Decepticon starting up a makeshift demolition derby on a highway not far from here. At least I can say, he's in about as bad a shape as I am.." he says with a bit of a pained chuckle. 'Bad shape' being an understatement. His cockpit windows are shattered, the frame mangled and twisted. Numerous dents cover his entire fuselage, and his left rudder is bent almost in half. The neighboring left engine appears to have had something shoved clear through it, leaving a gaping hole.

Ace slows a bit and talks into his headset.

Wisp bites her lip just a little at that. "IT would have been nice if we were notified, I would have scrambled earlier, and likely spared you a lot of this damage..." She shakes her head a little. "The problem is, there's no one here who can repair you, I don't think.

Ace mutters to Wisp, "That's the second random road attack already this month..."

Nighthawk tests one of his flight control surfaces a bit. "Well, I wasn't expecting that to be honest. The only thought on my mind was, 'Find safe spot to land.' Otherwise, it would have been 'Land anywhere as my engines cut out, heck with the stuff in the way.'" he says. "Didn't have much time to send out a broadcast, he was already preparing to start smashing," he says in response to Wisp. "All I wanted to do was distract him long enough to let them escape, and that I did. That's all that really matters."

Ace half-listens to Nighthawk as he carries on a murmured radio conversation. When Ace returns from his conversation, he says to Nighthawk, "We appreciate your intervention."

Nighthawk tries a few more re-routes of his circuits as he talks. "That's what I'm hear for. Though, you said the second this month? Was it an older style car, '74 Pontiac Firebird?" he queries.

Ace says, "Some sports cars and a tractor trailer, actually. I contacted the Autobots. They won't have a shuttle for quite some time, however."

Wisp hmms a little at that, nodding just a little and listening quietly to Ace.

Ace says, "You'd better rest here..."

Nighthawk says, "Not like I can go anywhere at the moment, but I appreciate the call. Sorry to drop in on you all like this, but I wasn't going to be picky with where I set down."

Wisp nods a little at that.

Ace frowns. "I guess taxi him inside. We can do what we can to patch him up until his friends arrive."