| abstract
| - The tranquility of space is broken, as a small force exits hyperspace, the center-piece is the Marauder Corvette, Eternal Vigilance, which is flanked by a pair of assault shuttles. A trio of X-wings arrive as well, and they are arrayed as if to protect a force of three Y-wings. In what is a very quick launch, six Hornet Interceptors are launched from the Vigilance, and take up a leading position. Hearing the communication from the Eternal Vigilance 2nd Flight Officer Rebecca Varn acknowledges the communication and switches over to the flight frequency. "Listen up flight. Our job is to protect the Y's, so stick with 'em. Only fire if fired upon." She flips a switch and the S-Foils split into their attack formation. "S-Foils to attack position." The other two X-Wings follow suit. The Imperial convoy was a bit larger this time around, probably because they were carrying a more important cargo. Or just perhaps because the NR raids were taking a toll on getting supplies to the frontline. In a completely different sector than the day before Krieg was along this convoy to continue his assessment of the front line security. The force today consisted of a Nebulon B Frigate, 1 squadron of TIEs, and 5 heavily loaded freighters. Watching outside he sees the familiar lights of a new assault force, again, he has been jumped. Somebody had his number in the NR intel world. "Launch fighters. We will defend this convoy to the max extent possible. Get our freighters out of here." Here we go again he thinks. The fighters deploy, and Krieg makes his way to the launch bay to board his fighter once again. Today was a different day, but the pressure of this many battles in the span of a few days was almost as intense as large scale combat. Razor Squadron has the luck of the draw to be the squadron on station and at ready status when the call to arms echoes through the Hangar. In the middle of fiddling with the wiring to the console of her fighter, Dante smacks her head against the console, sees stars for a moment, then wiggles free and sits upright in the cockpit again. "Razor lead, saddle up boys and girls, looks like we're being invited out to play." One of the pilots in the squadron calls out, "Ooh man, I left my shock ball gear back on Coruscant!" which brings laughter to the rest of the squadron, while they're doing pre-flight checks. Alpha-1 and 2 are the first to launch from the hangar bay, spinning neatly out of the way to clear the area for the rest of Razor to launch, forming up briefly while scanning the convoy and the immediate area, "These guys are starting to look familiar, Chance," Alpha-3 calls out. Chance grins then replies over the comm, "Looks like they're getting brave again, we'll have to do something about that." "Yes, Dear...." A roll of his eye, and Gren smiles behind his helmet's blast visor, pressing the throttle forward on the fast and nimble little Interceptor. "Sentry flight, we keep Gold Flight clear, and protect the shuttles. Keep it loose, and watch each other's back." A hand reaches up to flick a switch in the unfamiliar ship's cockpit. "Ghosts, Gold Flight. Sentry Lead, here. Strike-1 and Strike-2 will begin scanning those freighters, and I want the Y-wings doing the same. A freighter a piece. "Bloody hell, I miss flying without an astromech, Blue." This is groaned over the comms to his wife, aboard the bridge of the Marauder, even as the little interceptor dives toward the approaching Razor squadron, red streaks of laser-fire reaching out toward the leader. His wingman, and the rest of the fighters under his command dive in after him. It's a simple plan, really. Frowning, Twila looks out the viewport, taking in the ships as she begins to pace, her lekku twitching slightly as her nerves start to ramp up. "Alright. Helm, I want you go get us next to the freighters and be careful. They're going to do what they can to protect them." As the ship's brought around and moved closer, the Twi'lek begins to look for targets. Picking the Neb, she nods in silent self-approval before muttering, "Open fire." The gunner answers affirmatively and begins to shoot at the enemy's larger ship, letting the fighters target everything else. Xar'on sits back, away from the action, looking a bit relieved to be relieved of command. He watches the Twi'lek as she issues her commands, and merely nods in silent agreement. The formation of Y-Wing's and X-Wings break away and move towards one of the freighters and starts their scans. The X-Wings fall back while the Y's close with the ships and keeps the Tie's away. The Nebulon B starts to take fire from the Marauder only to throw it right back at the other craft. It was standard capital ship type combat, the two behemoths slugging it out. As for Krieg, he took his fighter down and out, glad to have Squadron Leader Dante with him today. It was vaguely familiar to him as he was just doing this, but what had to be done had to be done. Shooting out at the enemy he notices it is a new force, the transponsders all different. Not recognizing the force yet he demands on an open comm, "Rebel forces, leave." Knowing this would not stop them he gets a good target lock on the craft shooting at Liza's fighter, knowing that the Hornets were just like their own TIEs. (shooting at Delede) Issuing the instructions to her squadron to put them into the right defensive position, Dante's sensors chime out the warning in time for her to try to bank to port. Her shields are taken out in that initial exchange, her fighter rocking slightly from the impact. She swears in a calm voice, more from the need to say something than to actually create new invective, she starts to work on recovering her shields while continuing the roll, Alpha-2 riding shotgun while the rest of Razor squadron takes up position to protect the convoy. "Hornets, weapons hot, fire when ready," are her simple instructions while working steadily at her shields. <> A slight sigh, as Gren slews his starfighter around in an attempt to avoid the fire from Krieg's interceptor, but it's to no avail. Still, no screaming astromech, this time. With his shields down, Delede is stuck in a fragile, ugly box. He should have brought the Headhunter. As sensor reports begin to fill his cockpit, the Hornet twists again and continues to target Dante's fighter. Another pull of the trigger for a quick deflection shot..."Sentry Lead, here. Gold flight. Target that third Freighter. Once it's disabled, the first shuttle is to board it, immediately." Rebecca keeps her eyes peeled on the Sensor Board and watches as a Tie shoots at a friendly ship. She flips on the flight frequency. "Ghost 10, on me. 11 and 12 stay with the Y's." She banks her X-Wing towards Krieg's fighter and both X-Wing's open fire. The Y-wings continue their scan on what's left of the freighters then as they get their orders break of to disable the freighter with Ghost's 11 and 12 in tow. Xar'on had turned to watching the battle on the sensors, and noticed Gren taking hits. "May wanna spare one o' our guns fer the Cap...I think he's takin' some hits," he grumbles. Switching to Gren's channel, he growls, "How ya hangin' in there, One-Eye?" Still searching for a good targetting solution the Nebulon continues to fire, its shields taking a pounding from the Marauder. It was here to protect, but it could not hold up forever as its smaller cannons open up on the y-wings and shuttles trying to disable the third freighter. Krieg in the meantime is rewarded with a minor hit on the hornet, and starts to take fire from other directions. Not wanting to have a repeat of last time he takes the time to evade, narrowly escaping before coming back around and opening up on Delede's craft once again. He also notes Dante's fighter taking heavy hits and calls to her, "Chance, Banger. Return to base. That is an order." He knows she can't do much more good out here, and he needs all the pilots and commanders alive, not in a million pieces. Getting a good tone he fires again, wishing to end this fight sooner than later. Insult to injury, Dante takes another solid hit, her shields still not recovered and this time her TIE visibly recoils from the impact. She does swear this time with feeling, her mic silenced for the duration of the exercising of her vocabulary, spinning in a neat roll to port she observes the engagement in theatre and unmutes her mic. Catching the order to return to base, Dante sets her jaw in a stubborn angle but training wins out over stubbornness, "Aye sir," Dante replies in a grim voice and peels off from the squadron and heads back to the barn. "Razors, form up on Banger," she orders as Alpha-2 slides into position beside the Marshal and opens fire. "Son of a bi...." As the laser fire from Krieg stitches across the wasp-like starfighter..."See what you can do about that dam...." Another curse, as Delede realizes that he can't order an imaginary astromech around. With sparks flying, the man can't help but find a smile, as he see's that the allied starfighters continue to fight well, as does his command ship, the Vigilance. He has a quick choice to make, and he makes it, letting the severely damage Alpha 1 escape, turning his attentions onto Krieg's starfighter. The pilot cuts his engines, and pulls hard to starboard, a sharp spin that allows him to fire a burst of red-death toward his own attacker. "Get those bloody freighters disabled, Gold Flight." "Helm, get us closer. I want them to be taken down. I don't care how much danger that puts us in. Understood?" The helmsman's face blanches slightly as the command's given by Twila but does as they're told while the guns keep with their attack, the weapons fire relentlessly streaking across the void of space towards its target. The Y-wing's continue to put up their assault on the freighter, aided by the two X-Wings. Rebecca and Ghost 10 continue to sight in on the trouble Tie and try to shake from the tail of the ship it's been harassing. Evading the rounds of fire, the craft he was engaging far easier than the x-wing that was on his back, Krieg takes his fighter back around for another round of shots. The other man was tricky, but he wasn't going to have him stand in their way of defending the force. He saw the freighters taking a pounding, but with their firepower there wasn't much else they could do but hope they all could get out of here alive, the frigate being their only way home right now. Calling on the friendly frequency, "All craft badly damaged are ordered back to base, otherwise we press the attack until we can leave." On the open frequency that he knew the marauder and their forces could hear he demands in a chilling voice, "Leave. There is nothing to be gained here, we will not submit to this insanity." Taking a good aim he pulls up the damaged craft in his targetting array. Yes, it was damaged, but damaged or not, it still hold a sting, thus it still needed to go. Getting a good tone he fires again, hoping it to be his last required. (at Delede) Delede pulls his flightstick back as far as it will go, and climbs, barely avoiding the fire that's directed his way by Krieg, but his inertial dampener isn't working so well, but he's grunting and groaning as he maneuvers. After leveling off, his left hand moves to the console, where he begins to cooly work on his shields, making an attempt at getting them back online. "Strike 1, the Y-wings almost have the freighter disabled(2). Move in. As soon as you've got it, Hold, head toward the fifth ship in line." "Gold Lead, Copy that." The Y-wing's and X-Wings continue their assault, avoiding incoming fire from the cap ship. Blue streaks roll out from the X-wing's as they launch their compliment of torpedoes. As soon as the freighter is disabled the Y-Wing's and the X-Wing's veer off to the new target. Rebecca and Ghost 10 hang behind the annoying Tie still trying to shake the blasted thing from doing any more damage. Rebecca's finger caresses the trigger as her targeting reticule glows green with a solid lock. Spinning and diving out of the way of more enemy fighters taking the jump on them, Krieg is forced to fire on a less than optimal route of fire and ends up missing, but there were other problems that Krieg had on his mind. The Ghosts were agile, and he knew they were not to be toyed with. If anything, it was time to move faster and smarter than ever before. His orders were still standing, so far they had not taken any losses, but he wanted to see how long that would last before they got of out this. Calling the nebulon he says, "We aren't going to make it out of here with all of the freighters. Standby for recovery operations." The nebulon was taking a beating, but there was nothing he could do about that. Taking his craft along a new path and avoiding fire once more he snaps rolls into a roll that puts a barrage of fire back down upon the damaged ship's path. That last burst of laser fire ripped across the nose of Gren's ugly insect-looking fighter, and causes his fighter to spin hard to port, a shower of sparks filling his compact, even as his inertial dampener fails to keep up, throwing the pilot against the side of the cockpit. A crunch, as his left arm fractures, and Delede recovers control, showing that he does have some skill. The Hornet is still under it's own power, and cruising along fast, as it burns out of the furball, heading for the Vigilance. "Blinky's on his way home. Get a crash-line all set, don't know how soft this is going to be, Vigilance." A groan, and he stifles it..."Ghost 9, you've got command of the fighters....get those freighters." The 'captain' of the Vigilance prepares for a possible recovery attempt while she stands there, her eyes narrowed as she watches the firefight from the safety of the ship she's on. "You better get yourself home, damnit.." she growls over the comms to Gren as he begins to make his way back. The Marauder still fires upon the Nebulon, the majority of the fire aimed for one spot opposed to several targets, the gunner trying to maximize the damage delt to the ship by doing so. Xar'on rises from his seat, grabbing his medpac. He bangs the top of his R6, growling, "Let's go." Turning to Twila, he grumbles, "I'm on it. You keep on the mission," before running toward the hangar, remarkably fast for a man of his age. The Y-Wing's and X-Wing's keep attacking their first target, using lasers and ion cannons to conserve their concussion missiles and torpedoes for their remaining target. Meanwhile Rebecca and Ghost 10 stay on the aft of their target still trying to save the damaged ship. Rebecca flips her com over to her wingmate. "Light him up with a torpedo lock and see if he bounces into my line of fire, 10." "Acknowledged, Lead." 10 replies, then Rebecca notices the ship she was trying to save bank off back towards the carrier. And she acknowledges the transmission with a click of her com as she concentrates on the enemy Tie. Taking his last hit on the enemy fighter, it bugs out. Krieg was rewarded with this at least, and now moves his craft around to engage that x-wing that was pestering him this entire time, trying to free up targets for the other TIE craft. He was having fun, in a weird way as he twisted about the laser light show. Taking his craft in another precision manuever he moves in behind the X-Wings, seeking a lock on the craft. This time he keeps quiet, pulling all his energy into manuevering and dodging the fire, attempting to give the x-wings a lesson they soon would not forget. This was his last straw at being the center of attention. With a good lock tone he pulls the trigger, the rapid fire of the lasers lights up the dark around them all with superheated death. (at Rebecca) Sentry 3 takes a hit, and rolls out of the fight, momentarily, but his wingman attacks the TIE on his pal's tail, and shows that they might not be official military, but VSC's pilots know their stuff. A Y-wing isn't so lucky, being destroyed just prior to the third freighter being disabled. Strike-1, the assault shuttle moves in, having been waiting just in the wings, and begins boarding procedures. The two remaining Y-wings intercept the fifth freighter in line, and open fire with ions, and torpedoes. Sentry One's speed is reduced drastically as it approaches the Vigilance, it's pilot able to weave through stray capital ship fire, and into the Corvette's hangar bay. It's not a pretty landing, and it does require the crash netting, but the Hornet is safely down, and fire crews are already spraying the spark-throwing starfighter, before Gren's cockpit opens, to show the fighter pilot grinning widely. "Been a helluva long time since I made a landing like that..." This is uttered to the forlorn crew chief who drags him out of the cockpit. Once the announcement that Gren has been safely recovered, Twila takes a second to take a deep, calming breath. "He'll be docked pay for this.." she snarls softly to herself as she moves towards the helmsman console, looking at the readings of the situation. They've taken a hit, finally, but Twila's more concerned with the condition of their adversary, the Nebulon still fired upon as if it were the only threat left in the galaxy and its VSC's job of removing it. Rebecca snaps her fighter deftly into an S-Turn and gets out of the way as green bolts lash out at her from the now free Tie. She then immediately inverts the maneuver into an Immelman and comes out on the Tie's Aft once more. Ghost 10 breaks away and circles around to come back onto her wing and both ships open fire at the same time, sending terrajoules of red energy at the Squint. She then opens the com to Ghost 11. "Ghost 11, you have command of your charges." She snaps off the com and glances at her sensor board and notices that they're still around. Then she brings her concentration back to the battle at hand. (at Krieg) Xar'on arrives at the crash-landed Hornet, closely followed by his astromech. Nearly pushing the crew chief aside, he growls, "Get back to what ya know how to do," as he gingerly guides Gren down a ladder. "Alright, Cap, let's see what we got," he grumbles, as he injects Gren with a local anesthetic. "You gotta get me a bigger ship with a proper medbay," he complains, as he assesses the damage to Gren's arm. Timing was everything, and Krieg knew that. Patient, he takes careful action to evade the laser fire, but pressing the edge of the craft's capability to get into a good firing position over his foe. There were a great deal of things that could happen in combat, and anything could still happen. Noting the first freighter was away he contacts the Nebulon, "Nebulon control, Banger. What is the next rebel target?" He doesn't have too much time to think about it, but his orders would be coming in short order as to their next course of action. They were taking a beating and anyone could figure out the likely course of action that this fight would take. He sees everything the X-Wing does and realizes it is not a veteran pilot. All the same, he wasn't going to toy with the craft, just disable or send it away from the fight. Getting a good lock at that right time he fires, once again lighting up the night. (Rebecca) "I need to get to the bloody bridge, Doc." This is growled at Xar'on, as Gren submits to the local anasthesia. "It's just sprained..." Which isn't true, as his left arm is hanging at a decidedly odd-angle. "You'll get your med-bay, the renovations will be starting soon, damnit." A groan, and he turns his head to look out the shielding field to the Hangar, watching what he can of the fight. This also reveals some burns on the left side of his face, nothing too severe, but there, nonetheless. The Y-wings continue their assault on the fifth freighter in line, while the New Republic and VSC fighters continue to control the initiative of the dogfight, sending more TIES packing, while taking a bit more damage, themselves. No unread messages on any board. The attack continues, the Vigilance still firing upon the Nebulon. Every so often, as it does, a soft little chuckle of pleasure sounds from Twila who, it seems, is getting to enjoy her job..perhaps a bit too much so. Xar'on continues to work on the obviously broken arm, grunting, "Shut it," without looking up. "This'll hurt fer a bit," he growls, as his skilled hands reset bone. Applying a field sprint that completely immobilizes the arms, he grunts, "Alright, go on, but watch it...you bump anythin' with that busted wing, 'n yer gonna be hatin' life fer a while. I'll fix it up properly when we get back." One or two green bolts impact against Ghost 9's shields, and the astromech squeals, as she slams her throttle to zero and pulls up sharply on the stick. Rebecca gets slammed into the accelerator couch as the inertial compensator nears it's limits, and the X-Wing noses over as the faster Tie speeds past just barely centimeters from the fringe of the snub-fighter's shields. Rebecca slams the thrust to full as the maneuver is complete and rockets after the Squint, sending red laser bolts after it. "Nice maneuver, Lead." Ghost 10 calls out over the flight com. "Thanks 10." Rebecca replies trying to chase down the Tie. (at Krieg) Dropping down and around, his fighter's lasers come close to Rebecca, but the greater force now on their side was able to offer cover and protection for her ship. He knew time was running out for his force and was glad the second freighter was able to enter hyperspace. The third he knew was unrecoverable, and about the fifth he got in comm message from a junior officer on the Nebulon. That meant it was only a short while before the fourth would get away, and they should be leaving around then as well. Calling the Nebulon back he says, "Nebulon control, Banger. Recall the fighters once the fourth freighter is away. We leave once they make it out." Knowing it was the sacrifice of a freighter, he also knew he was saving the rest of what fighter force was still around to fight. Focusing all his attention now on this pilot that was getting lucky he wonders if she actually knows how lucky she is. A snap roll followed by a quick turn and dive into the proper lead pursuit gives him the chance for another shot, and so he fires. (Rebecca) It's not a long walk to the Bridge on this ship, and that's where Gren finds himself, arm immobile, thanks to Doc. He gestures for the man to follow, and speaks..."The lass is doing well, isn't she? She's pounding that Imp frigate." That brings a smile to his lips, as he clears his throat, and walks to the communications console, punching a key, and speaking over allied frequencies. "You've done well, people. But, let's finish this. All X-wings and Y-wings, target the fourth freighter, and unload your torpedoes into it. It's full of Tibanna gas, so it should be a lovely explosion." A flash of a smile to Twila, and he gestures with his good arm, as if to keep up the good work. "Strike 2, move in, and capture the fifth freighter. Hornets, keep on the TIEs." A frown, now, though, as he watches Sentry 6 tear apart, and explode. "Kill them all." "Alright.." Twila says with a sadistic little tone to her voice, the Twi'lek still standing at the helmsman's console to keep an eye on everything she's able to from there. "Increase fire power. I want that ship down for the count." With a nod, the gunner changes the settings on the weapons' power level, some of which is a result of diverting from a few other 'nonessential' systems. Gren's given the evil eye for his being there when he should be resting but that's a topic best saved for later. Xar'on merely nods in agreement as he hobbles along after Gren, his knees and hips feeling the effects of his little sprint to the hangar. "Course she's doin' well," he grumbles, "What'd ya expect?" Rebecca keeps an eye on her sensor board and tries a desperate maneuver against the better pilot. She slams her foot and the starboard rudder pedal and reduces her thrust to zero as the X-Wing slides it's tail around on the same axis. Her nose now pointing directly at the Tie, as a few green bolts splash harmlessly against her shields, she snaps off several rounds as the distance between to the two fighters close at an astonishing rate. Once the Tie is past, she throttles up and dives after the Tie trying to get back on it's tail. "Imagine what our insurance premium is going to go up too," he jokes lightly, though it's no joking matter of course. There's a grim sort of amusement passed among the bridge crew, such is their luck right? Seeing another craft dive around Krieg learns their pattern, but it isn't enough to actually hit his target. Taking his fighter now in snap dive roll he moves, trying to break their evasion manuevers. He deftly takes his craft around, easily shaking the enemy piots efforts to really try and nail him. He knows it wouldn't be long before they would be leaving, but was a little more concerned that the fifth freighter was disabled faster than it should have. Coming about and firing off probably what would be his last rounds he takes his last shots, hopefully it will be something for them to remember him by. (Rebecca) "One more volley of torpedoes if you can get them in, Gold Flight. The rest of you, keep after those bloody squints." A frown, and Gren reaches up, and touches the burns on his face. He just noticed them, as his adrenaline starts to wear down. A glance up from the comm officer causes VSC's leader to shake his head, and offer a re-assuring smile. "Nah, Sully, it doesn't hurt too bad...not near as bad as gettin' your eye cut out, kid. Now, get back to work." The man turns to study his crew, now...smiling again, pleased at their performance in their first true ship-to-ship battle. Especially, that smile falls upon his wife. "Of course, I'm not suprised Doc. She's a natural." The conversation flows around Twila unnoticed as she's a bit too busy trying to do her job. "One more...make this one count, gunny..." The large guns spit out laser fire towards the Neb as the gunner takes the shot, hopefully resulting in a slap in the Empire's face that won't be forgotten anytime soon. Xar'on harumphs loudly at Gren's comment on his wife, grumbling, "Yer damn right," before plopping into an empty seat. Rebecca watches the blip of her enemy come in unerringly and opens up as she shunts her engines to zero and pulls sharply back on the stick, trying for another tight loop but her timing's off and the full force of the Tie's green bolts impact on the top of her shields blasting them to zero and slagging her astromech. "Son of a mutilated hutt." Her eyes scan the damage readout and frowns as no response comes from the astromech and she shrugs her shoulders and banks the X-Wing sharply away from the enemy Tie and shuts her weapon energy into her engines to make the X-Wing faster than the Squint, but just barely. "You alright Sparky?" Ghost 10 says over the com, but all he gets in response is a string of curses that'd make any pirate of the fringe blush. "Bug out 10, we're going home, well back to the ship anyway." She says as she thinks about jumping out before the others, but guides her ship steadily back to the friendly cap-ship. Finally rewarded with a good hit and his target's shields going out, Krieg knows it is time to go home. The last freighter jumping out in just mere moments. On the squadron frequency he orders, "All ships, tactical retreat. We're leaving." Taking his craft around he kicks in the power, this battle being one he was able to avoid being hit. A good fight indeed, and now he wonders if Delede was amongst their fighters. Maybe... but he'd have to let the intel folks tell him that for sure when they reviewed the fight. Not long after he enetered the protective blanket of fire from the Nebulon, and was soon landing aboard its hangar bay. Right before he lands he calls on an open comm, "Until we meet again." "Ghost 9...go ahead and land with the Hornets. We'll get you back to Ord Mantell before the rest of the squadron, as it is. The rest of you...good work, and I'll be buying drinks for all of you. You're clear to get those ships home...and treat those prisoners nice." A sigh, a tired sigh, and the man goes to cross his arms, only to realize that he can't. "Damage repair crews to the Hangar bay...looks like the Vigilance won't be needing them today." A look to his wife, and he cocks his head, even as he sits in his familiar Captain's chair. "I've got the Bridge, lass. But, why don't you give that familiar order, love." A gesture forward. Twila looks at Gren as if he lost his mind. "You're....strange.." she says with a fond smile. "Alright. Let's get everyone loaded. Let's get ourselves home before our luck runs out anymore than it already has...color me paranoid or something, I dunno.." Rebecca barely hears the communication as she settles the X-Wing into the hangar. As soon as she's down and the canopy rises she climbs out and on to the top of the fighter to inspect the damage, which isn't considerable, though the replacement of the Astromech isn't going to come cheap and a new shield generator but other than that the fighter was still pristine. She glances around at the techs and shouts loud enough for all to hear. "Nobody is to touch this ship as I am the only one who repairs her!" She jumps off the X-Wing and lands lightly on the deck and storms off to the bridge to make accommodations for the trip home. A glance at Xar'on, and Gren reluctantly allows the man to work on his burns. "Is this what it was like for the Rebels, Xar'on? I've seen these raids from the other side, plenty. But...this is different." A shrug, and a wince, and he growls. "You've got to me in the Bacta when we get back to Ord Mantell. I've got raids to run."
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