| abstract
| - Renaal IV. A backwater planet on the fringes of Imperial space, but an important stop on a small space-lane, nonetheless. Very little exciting happens here, save for a reason dogfight that claimed two Interceptors. Now, a convoy has arrived in system, and is making it's way, rather slowly, toward the planet, where it's expected to wait for more ships to join it. It is lightly defended, a squadron of Interceptors based out of a bulk freighter, and a Guardian-class Light Cruiser...but, surely that should be enough, considering the relative unimportance of this formations' cargo. A smattering of light freighters, 3 YT-1300's, 2 YT-1400's, and about 4 bulk freighters are the extent of it, currently. The Z95a Headhunter Mk II known as Cyclopean Rage exits hyperspace with a flicker, it's pilot already bringing weapons online, as well as shields. A cursory glance is given to their surroundings, and he begins to speak into his comm. "Raid Flight, this is Lead. We've got targets, still a distance away. Diligence, you're primary concern is the convoy itself. Raid Flight will focus on any fighter escort." A snort, and he laughs..."Hopefully, they've not found better pilots, here." The throttle is pushed forward, and he trusts that the two other Headhunters, one a Z-95, the other a Z-96, are able to keep up, as he moves to intercept the freighters. "Roger that, Rage. Diligence moving to intercept convoy. Keep the bugs off my thrusters, guys." With that, the RX4 Patrol Craft turns in it's own lumbering kind of way and heads after the three fighters as its weapons come on-line and its shields go up. Tak Dagon smiles to himself as he prepares to see what this bad boy can do. Raid Two, Copy that." as the pilot turns his weapons on and shield up. Getting his scanner up, to keep watch for anything out of the ordinary. Checking out the window portal, at the space around him, and runs a check of all his weapons. A small convoy slips its way through space, several frieghters carrying supplies escorted by a light cuiser and an entire squadron of Interceptors, once again headed by Flight Officer Molokai. "This is Delta 1. I want us to keep a careful eye out here. Not sure if my 'friend' from last time will be around this time or not, but I want us to be careful, just in case." Once the order to be careful is given, Liza switches her sensor switch, setting them to a broad sweep so she can see what's out there. Pilot Officer Ricaro is tucked firmly in the cockpit of the Imperial TIE Interceptor, clad in the all-black enclosed flight suit and helmet, symbol of the Empire's fearsome Starfighter Corps. His hands gripping the control yoke, Ricaro, a relative newcomer to the Imperial ranks, having just graduated from the Academy several months ago, pilots his TIE in cover formation to the rear starboard flank of the convoy, keeping a safe distance while still being able to provide maximum cover in the event of an enemy ambush. He sets his sensors to search, trying to pick up anything within the nearby vicinity that might pose a threat to the convoy and to himself. He had heard about the last ambush in which ended badly for their leader, Molokai, and he had his hesitations about this mission. The routes just weren't safe anymore. Damn rebels... They came out of hyperspace not too far from the convoy, and their ships, save for the RX4 are rather fast, so it's only a short time before the raiders are apparent on the scopes of the Imperials. A small smile, and Gren slows his starfighter, just a hair, to allow the slower Z96's to maintain formation. "Diligence, looks like they've added a Light Cruiser, since the last time. You do your best to outfight it, we'll aid you, once the fighter cover has been taken care of." A glance out port window, at his s-foil, where the the emblem of the New Republic has been hastily painted, as well as the decal of Vigilance Security Systems. "Raid Two, Three. We'll make a pass on the freighters, fire at will. Then, it's furball time." A flick of a switch on his flightstick, and his torpedo targeting computer comes up, and then a pair of proton torpedos are bearing down on the lead Yt-1400. "You just worry about the fighters, Raid One. If I need help I'll call for it." Yeah, it's a bit of arrogance, a hair of irreverence, and just a spritz of ego. The RX4 lumbers its way into attack position and bears down on the Light Cruiser. "Come to papa." He unleashes a fiery barrage of turbolaser fire upon the cruiser as soon as he makes range, grinning the whole time. The other pilot just shakes his head. "Arrogent" he calls over the com, but someone needs to keep them at bay, and he's just the pilot to do it too. Shifting his throttle and heading for the barrage of Interceptors, the pilot of the second Z96 gets one in his sights and lets go with a barrage of blasts. "Doom doom doom" he chuckles as they fire toward the first Tie in range. As the fighters start attacking the convoy, the friegters tighten their formation and the cruiser comes in behind them, trying to get them out of harms way while not taking any more damage itself. The loss of one ship's bad enough and all they can hope for is to get the hell out of the range of enemy fire while their escorts work on drawing the enemies away. "Sh..." Liza starts to swear as she finds her shields blown and she starts barking out orders as she tries to get her shields back up. "Delta 4-8, I want you to work on getting the fighter away from that cruiser...9-12, get the guy off of me. I'm going to try to get my sheilds up. Delta 2-4, keep that SOB off of me while I do so." She works the controls for her shields even as she says that, allowing her flight to take after the ship that just fired at her. Oh, he knew it. A rebel attack... just great! Anxiety befalls the relatively green pilot as he watches the first of the convoys explode from enemy attack. The cruiser itself falls under enemy attack but her shields manage to absorb the damage for now. With the attack underway, the Imperials respond, although having been taken by surprise they are at somewhat of a disadvantage. "You heard the lady!" he shouts over the comm., pulling his craft up and to starboard, three more TIE Interceptors flying in close pursuit behind him in a delta formation. "Let's keep them off of the cruiser, guys. Shoot that little bastard all the way to Hell," he says, banking around the cruiser to come into visual range of the fighter piloted by Dagon, which had launched its assault against the cruiser. He does not hesitate; every second wasted, the enemy had a chance to wipe them all out. He opens fire on the fighter, diving moments after releasing his first salvo to give his three comrades a clear line of shot as well, each of them firing in succession and then banking in their own different direction. "Two, Three....keep the bastards busy here...I'm going to clean off Diligence..." A frown forms on Gren's face, but his voice is impassive, as he smoothly rolls the high-tech starfighter toward the flight of Interceptor's that were fixated on his brand-new bloody light cruiser. The one-eyed pilot leads Interceptor 7, his targeting reticle lighting up for a split second, before a barrage of deadly red-laser fire is directed toward his opponent. The second Z-96 tries to protect the first, targeting the lead Interceptor's wingman, sending a flurry of weapons' fire at Interceptor 3. At the hail of blaster fire that tears across his nose just missing him, Dagon curses darkly under his breath. He should have known this wouldn't be -that- easy. He thumbs the blaster controls and moves to target the team of Intererceptors coming at him. The turbolasers are still warm from their last fire and begin to belch green energy towards the machine designated Interceptor 8, leaving the damaged Cruiser alone for the moment. "Slag off you dirty wamprats!!!" The pilot after the other TIE's is getting a bit irritated now, as he dodges and rolls to get out of the way of the blasts. Unfortunately, he loses his shield and gets a bit of damage. "Bloody hell." ok, so he's not Irish, they donh't exist in this realm. Anyway... he swings around, and tries to take aim on one of the other TIE's that are coming after him. Once it's in range of course. And fires at the second one, since, that is where his manuvers have taken him to. Two's given the orders to bug on out, Liza not willing to lose a good man due to being over powered, Molokai having learned her lesson the hard way the last time. As the limping fighter gimps its way back 'home', Liza begins to bark out a new set of orders. "Let's concentrate our fire power on the fighters solely for now. I want us to shoot at nothing but the other fighters. Forget the cruiser. I want you to shoot free, gentlemen." Shaking her head, she puts her comms on an open frequencey, the Sarian finally figuring out just who their enemies are..or at least once of them. "I can not believe you have the gall to return. I do hope you do not mind dying today because that's exactly what you're going to do." The comms switch back so that only the Intereceptors hear her and she gives her commands, "2-4, they have an injured ship (Gene) so take that ship on...I want to see the pilot eject this pass. I'll back you up just in case." Ricoar curses as the RX4 returns fire; the enemy cannons blast against his shields, reducing their effectiveness by several percentages. The impact forces his TIE into a dizzying roll which he soon regains control of. "Blasted bastard..." he says, watching as his wingmate explodes in a fury of twisted metal and debris from the enemy return fire. "Lost Hutch!" he says over the radio, angling his Interceptor out and diving under a new set of barrages from the RX-4. "We're no match for that ship.. need support from the cruiser," he says, "form up on me and we'll try to take out those Headhunters." His two remaining wingmates form on his flank and they zoom in on one of the Headhunters (Gene), firing a quick succession of fire from their fire-linked cannons. "Two is dead...." A groan, as the Headhunter that he had rented for this mission explodes, killing it's pilot. Delede's face goes impassive, though, and he turns his ship on it's wing. A flick of his finger brings the channel to open comms..."How very Imperial of you. Take on the out-dated fighters, first." That channel is shut down, and the Z95a screams toward Interceptor 7, his laser-cannons spraying red death on the lightly damage interceptor. "Tak, I'll handle these buggers. You start working on those freighters. Take 'em out, and we can go home/ "Aye!" It's the only thing he really even cares to say at this point as his targeting reticle finds its way back on to that Cruiser. Take out the big guns first, the freighters should be cake. The man in the RX4 unleashes another destructive wave of green fire on the Light Cruiser, looking to finish what he stopped when the Fighters attacked. "Here's to ya, ma!" The pilot of the first Z96 tries his hardest to get the upper hand, but things are stacked against him today. He goes up into a ball of fire and ash... The pilot of the second Z96 cusses and tries to move in, to take revenge on the others demise, but already he is under attack, he gets hit, hard by the first batch of fire, missed by the second, and hit by the third, all he can do is sit there and try to get the systems back up and running. And wondering how he'll break the news of the demise of his friend, to the family. If he is even around long enough to, at this point. He grumbles and does his damndest to get it all working again. With a bit of a smile, she can sense the enemy's ship's floundering but, at the same time, she can't help but to worry about Delta 7's condition as she watched her fellow Imperial take a pretty 'good' hit, as well. "You alright, 7?" She frowns as she pulls her ship around, her eyes narrowing as she sends her ship screaming towards where Gren and their other ships are. "Alright. Listen to me. I want the other fighter but I won't compromise myself so we're going to work as a team. 2 was sent home and not sure if 7 can join us after being hit like that, but that's alright. We'll do just fine. I just want to distract them for a bit longer...if not kill them outright for another attack." Sighing, she looks towards where the convoy's position is and she shakes her head, watching as their cruiser comes around, trying to get a position on the ship that has had it targeted, their command having given orders to open fire. "Well..okay." Liza shrugs to herself while she gives her own set of orders. "3 and 4. Come with me. I want the rest of you to take shots at the fighter later. 5 and 6...get that lame duck out of the water before it starts to stink things up" Yes..she's giving them the order for them to shoot Gean. She waits until she has Delede in position and she, along with the other two ships, open fire just as their larger ship begins to do so as well. Ricoar curses profusely as another laser blast slams into his TIE. The Interceptor is sent careening off course, blue electricity sparking from the console, indicating his controls were ionized. Not good... he was a sitting duck. "Keep them off me until I can get back online!" he shouts, working quickly to repair the damage and get his Interceptor back online and back into the fight... if he can live that long. His two comrades, still flying by his side, obey their orders and turn to protect their comrade. They keep the assault up on the same Headhunter, which had once again been hit by their fellow Imperials With the destruction of their wingmen, Gren finds himself in a bit of tight spot. His droid is screaming, due to the loss of his starfighters shielding, and he is heavily outnumbered. "Get those shields online, Shorty." A pause, and he pulls back on his stick, intercepting the Sarian's fighter, as she had already done the damage to him. Her words suddenly strike him, and he opens a channel..."So, you're the rookie that I let live, last time?" His voice is calm, and quiet. He's not worried, not yet. His thumb tightens on his firing stud, sending bolts of red fire zipping toward her ship. The Diligence lumbers into the freighter formation, it's commander, Dagon continuing his attack on the Imperial light cruiser, bolts of green fury striking out try and finally kill the already severely damaged light cruiser... "I'm damaged...I repeat, I am damaged pretty badly. I want you guys to get in.." Turning on her coms so their enemy can hear her, she speaks to him in a hissing tone of voice as she replies, her eyes narrowing and her body tensing as she sees the cruiser explode while she talks. "I am hardly a rookie. But I doubt that truly matters to you. You might as well go home, little boy. I am sure your mommy's wondering why you're not in the yard like you're supposed to be." Turning comms to her comrades' freq, now, she begins to give orders. "Alright 4, 5 and 6, come with me. We're going after that cocky bastard (Delede) and are going to take him out the rest of the way. The rest of you begin to head for that cruiser. I want nothing but scrap metal left, gentlemen." The ships begin to streak towards where they're supposed to be, falling into a fairly tight formation as they do so. "Yahoo!" one of the TIE pilots shout as the Headhunter explodes. Maybe they weren't all going to die afterall. Ricoar manages to fix the ionization that disabled his craft and was back in action, ready to take the fight back at these rebel scum. But all was not well. The cruiser was pounding them hard, and their own light cruiser met a sad end... an end that will be avenged, surely. "All right, boys, I'm back in the game. Form up on me and attack the cruiser. Jon and Stark, attack from the bottom; Mon and I will strafe the starboard flank of her." By hitting the cruiser from multiple vectors, it would force the cruiser to expend further energy to defend multiple flanks: the shields could not protect every side with an equal amount of protection, and with multiple sides being harassed at once the crew of the cruiser would be hard pressed to keep the shields fully operational. But when the shields go down, this all becomes moot: all they can do now is hurt the hull as much as possible, and the bottom of ships tended to be not as highly defended. With all this in mind, the pilots sweep in and attack. A shot from one of the Interceptors ends up leaving Gren's fighter's controls ionized for a few crucial seconds, causing him to growl..."Shorty, work on getting the shields back up, and I'll help..." As he waits for his fighter to become responsive, his fingers fly over control panels, even as he starts giving orders.."Tak, get the Diligence into hyperspace, before you get it shredded. You killed that Guardian, that'll have to do for you." A growl, his first real frustration showing, and he grabs the flight-stick, finding that he can control his fighter, finally. The Diligence is already making for clear space before Gren even barks his unneeded command. "Gren, get your ass clear and jump too. We lost this one. But at least we don't have to pay the mercs. Meet me at the secondary extraction jump and we'll get back home together." The pilot is shoving every bit of power into the sublights to get him to safety before he locks in the coordinates for the first jump. "Either you come now or I'm coming back. You're not staying to fight a lost battle." "Draw back. I want all firing on the cruiser to cease." Shaking her head yet again, Liza watches Delede's ship as she banks again, getting herself into position, the same three fighters flying behind her in slight-staggered position to either side of her. "Let me have this shot.." she then says to her wingmen, the Sarian pilot smirking cooly as she does so seconds before firing upon Gren. Ricoar acknowledges his orders and pulls back from his assault on the fleeing cruiser. His wingmates follow, each one peeling off and regrouping on his flank. "Good work, gentlemen... though I must say they hit us hard," he muses, noting the destruction of their own cruiser, a transport, and two TIEs. "I hope they don't suspend our salary for those losses once we get back to base." Groaning, Ricoar lines his fighter back up with the surviving convoy units and guides them in towards their intended destination. "I'll be right behind you, Tak. I promise..." With his fighter flying smoothly, and his shields down..."And, that wasn't a loss, Diligence. We bled them." Gren's face changes, as he smiles, and snap-rolls, avoiding the laser fire directed his way by the lead Interceptor, and continuing through the roll, until he can bring his more maneuverable starfighter into position to let lose with his own barrage of red-laser fire, though he does seem to by heading toward the fringe of the battle, after that shot. Time will tell, if he chooses to retreat. There is an affirmative response over the comm system, and the Diligence, damaged as it is, shoots into hyperspace, fleeing the convoy, leaving a disappointing raid. But, as Tak Dagon said...atleast they don't have to pay the Z96 pilots. The last bit of weapons fire from Delede is pretty much for nothing as Liza manages to steer herself clear of it easily, the pilot doing her darnedest to keep the other ship in her sights. "I hope you do not have a wife..she's about to become a widow, now if you do." Gritting her teeth, she narrows her eyes as she pulls the trigger, once more firing upon the ship as she moves closer towards him. "You talk too much." This is transmitted across space to his dueling partner, Liza's interceptor. Gren falls silent again, turning sharply to avoid her laser fire. "And, my wife would gut you." A smile, at that, and the Z-95a twists to starboard again, the pilot's targeting reticle crossing the opposing Squint, before he fires a short burst of red laser fire at Interceptor 1, though his path is clearly one of exiting, so if she survives his volley, she will have time to fire back at him, before he's clear enough to jump. Yet again, Molokai finds herself ejecting, the ship exploding beneath her just seconds after the pilot punches out. She can't help but to glower in the direction of the other fighter as she begins yet another wait to be picked up. A shake of his head, as his scanners show the ejecting pilot, and Gren reaches up to settle a hand on the hyperspace lever. "Shorty, once we're home, you'll upload the visual and sensor record to our database. I need to show everyone how we fouled up a simple raid, I suppose." A sigh, and he pulls back on the lever, sending the Cyclopean Rage into the safety of hyperspace, and towards home. It was not a particularly successful day for either side, with his own forces losing two Z-96 Headhunters, and his brand-new light cruiser taking severe battle damage. And, the Imperials got off with a trio of dead Interceptors, their own escort light cruiser, and a single freighter. The convoy was all but unharmed, after all.
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