NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: Time for attempted character development! Huzzah.

Yusaf Loraal, the Horrible Holidays Of #1

Three Years Ago

The room was filled with the distinct sound of sobbing.

"...I thought... I thought this would make you happy. I can..."

There was a particularly loud wail, though at least the neighbors hadn't come over to investigate yet.

"...I... I'm sorry. I'll visit... I promise."

---

"rrgh, I hate this time of year."

"You're just jealous. When are you going to get off your ass and actually try _talking_ to the next pretty girl you see?"

"Oh, shove off, Derin. Do you even remember the name of this one?"

"Who?"

"You're horrible."

Derin stifles a chuckle. "Come on, you're always like this. Cheer up a bit. Listen, I gotta go, but if you're still sitting there when I get back, I will drag you out to a bar. Make ya mope with company."

"Ha. Seeya."

Yusaf slouched back a bit as the door slid shut. It was a little annoying, sometimes, not being able to talk about where you'd been for the past year or so, but at least no one bothered him about _that_. Few people signed on with the Combined Federal Services and wound up at TYCS Camp R.

Most people managed to stay in one place for longer than a few months before bouncing out of CFS Office of Research and Design, though. Yusaf had been through basic training and had some experience in the Ground Services - such was required for anyone signing on with the CFS - but his 'wishlist' was largely research assignments. He'd gotten on with a Dr. Lesaan, for a while, which wasn't exactly his top choice, but it paid alright and the travel was interesting, at least until Lesaan's little operation found itself assigned to Camp R, and he followed.

Sure, they wound up developing what would evolve into the newest weapons system to grace the Trium's new and recently refitted warships, but if he ever told anyone about it, he'd be locked in a little box for a very, very long time.

Camp R was, apparently, something of a prestige assignment, and most people assumed Yusaf was downright bitter over getting booted from it. In reality, with Lesaan's shady disappearance, they'd needed to assign a new researcher to the projects underway there, and after a brief period of sorting through what was and wasn't good, the old assistants were let go.

Turns out that you're not allowed to cash cheques from a 'missing' man in the Federated Imperium. It's more than slightly on the grey side of the law, especially when those liens and charges of fraud came up against the good Doctor.

Out of all the crap that'd recently screwed up his career, though, that wasn't what was bothering Yusaf. This was more of a seasonal thing, for decidedly different reasons. Three years ago today, he'd come home and announced that he'd be leaving to join the Combined Federal Services, because they'd pay for his tuition and even help with job placement after school. He'd always been a smart kid, real interested in how things worked, how they fit together into a larger whole.

He wanted to make the galaxy a safer place.

He was a little naive, perhaps. Certainly hadn't expected all the tears. She yelled at him for what seemed like forever about how he was throwing his life away, how the CFS would just suck him up and he'd disappear into the military machine never to be seen again. That they'd send him to Mars and he'd die in some sort of disaster.

Most of her scenarios were patently absurd, but she wasn't entirely wrong. The first place they'd sent him was Mars. He'd gone through Basic at a small training base outside of Kajurmani, where he wasn't particularly exceptional. He didn't wash out, at least, and he'd basically done guard duty for twelve months out on Mars, usually rotating to a new zone of the Qaaol protectorate every two. Actually sticking with it for a year had brought with it a promotion to Private First Class.

At least, for now, he was on leave, even if he was still stuck on Titan. He'd been trying to figure out why, exactly, but he'd been stonewalled in his inquiries and his 'leave' was a little odd. The powers that be hadn't exactly decided what to do with him, it seemed.

Oh well. Not a lot he could do about that at the moment.

Training Run
Yusaf Loraal, the Horrible Life Of.

At one time, Mars was, frankly, an unstable place. The most trivial of issues would blow up into all-out war and terrorism, and one could cut the tension in orbit with a knife. Opposing nations were constantly attempting to one-up each other in all sorts of arms races, and the resulting gigantic craft and weapons were still around in certain places to remind people of it.

The Kajali were not innocent in this, no. They had started construction of a series of vessels very much larger than feasibly required. With original plans to build at least twelve, the project was essentially abandoned after the completion of two vessels, and the remains of the third scrapped after a particularly odd terrorist attack.

The Admiralty and certain members of Government had been _very_ vocal in their belief that the third ship should be repaired and completed, insisting that a terrorist attack shouldn't end such a glorious and "much needed" shipbuilding program for the navy. The program itself had been several trillion galacs on the side of uncomfortable with only two vessels completed, and it had been obvious to many that the designs themselves were, quite frankly, vastly inefficient.

The two completed vessels - FKT /TITAN/ and FKT /DELSA ARASUR/ had certain uses, to be certain, but represented too large an investment of resources to simply fling around the galaxy as originally intended. A new program was instead authorized, intended to produce a vessel that would match the carrying capacity and armament of the much larger Titans at a fraction of the cost and a much smaller turnaround time for construction.

These craft found a basis more in certain technologies shared through the Triumvirate than anything else. It was largely believed that the designers went about the Titan project backwards, in that they first created a massive carrier and then attempted to arm it to rival a Supreme Emperor.

The Mars Class battlecarrier came into being first as a battleship, and only after initial trials was carrier capability added. This came about in a way not previously considered, as prior Kajali carriers often opted to attempt to protect the flight decks from attack at all costs through burying them deep within the superstructure. Such a philosophy instead lead to vessels that while capable in a carrier role had little space or manpower to mount an effective battery of weapons. The use of podded flight decks, a design feature first noted by the Kajali in Kaeneian designs, simplified the logistics of such a craft vastly compared to older carrier designs, at the tradeoff of decreased protection of the flight decks.

Still, the use of such flight pods more than doubled carrying capacity over older carriers, as well as crew requirements.

Several dozen had been produced, and for each, a standard training and shakedown cruise was made. Such cruises always started over Mars, but after the initial run, the ship could proceed to any number of facilities.

This latest one, FKBC /SERA MIYANNA/, was en route to Titan for TYCS operations training and crew transfer. Most would be TYCS enlisted and officers, for purposes of gaining experience with Kajali equipment and procedure, while half of the CFS crew aboard /SERA MIYANNA/ would be assigned to various TYCS vessels for the same.

Notifications to those personnel to be transfered, both currently deployed on Titan or aboard the /SERA MIYANNA/ were sent about six hours before the expected arrival of the aforementioned battlecarrier. Warships of the Kajali Federal Naval Services ran on a four shift rotation with few exceptions, and there were likely to be some personnel who were not accustomed to such a rotation.

Like, for instance, Private, First Class Yusaf Loraal, transferred from the Federal Ground Services to the Naval Services, granted field rank as Specialist and attached to Ship's Operations, Scientific.

---

"Titan, /SERA MIYANNA/ actual, confirm ident solo echo nine-four-nine, requesting permission to dock and begin crew and equipment transfer."

"/SERA MIYANNA/, Titan actual, ident confirmed. Permission granted to moor at $dock."

The battlecarrier's sleek form glided into the assigned berth under escort, and once secured, began flight deck transfer ops. Crew transfer would begin once major equipment transfer had completed. For anyone watching, the ship arrived looking every bit as new as she was, the paint of the insignias that adorned her hull looking as pristine as if still wet. Each of the Dakar II fighters transferred to the TYCS-side docks was just as pristine, having been delivered mere weeks prior. Phantom IIIs waiting to be moved onto the /MIYANNA/ were no different, though somewhat more colorful, bearing shark's mouthes amongst other decorations that were conspicuously absent from the smaller Kajali craft.

Yusaf boggled at it all from the lounge overlooking the dock. He had maybe an hour before crew transfer would begin, and he had no idea where aboard he was expected to report...