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| - A short time has passed since the recent attack on Varonat, and while everyone is still talking about that, whispering as is more likely the case in Imperial systems, there does seem to have been a sort of calm that fell upon the area. Of course, as goes the saying, it's always quiet before...stuff hits the fan. Bespin's traffic, presumably, is handled normally, the world's tibanna of such importance that customs have to take second place to getting it offloaded to other locales. A transport, not immense, but not too small either, carries the Republic's initial strike force into the system, an expertly designed secret cargo hold allowing the Marine platoon concealed within to pass unnoticed. The vessel, an Action-series class transport, descends at a normal speed until it reaches the mining platform not far fom the planetary capital of Cloud City. There, the slow process of loading up its tanks with the precious resource commences, the Marines, aso rdered, beginning to depart from the vessel through shielded conduits in order to sneak onto the platform. Their mission being to wreck as much chaos as possible and take the Imperial facility out of commission. With that process well and truly under way, the Republic's main force arrives into the system, one large enough to not be instantly overwhelmed by the Imperial assets within the system. At its heart, though not necessarily in command is the MC40a class cruiser, the Rapier, a vessel that has distinguished itself in the recent engagement not far from here. Unlike previous engagements, the Republican forces do not immediately spring into action, instead fighters begin to launch from their motherships as the task group forms up. "To the Imperial forces illegally occupying the free system of Bespin, you are commanded to surrender your weapons and ships. Any and all who do so and renege their allegiance to the Empire will be shown leniency, any who resist will be treated as no more than enemy combattants and fought until your surrender, or worse. Task Group Valiant, out.", and so goes the rather provocatory message that is broadcast over open frequencies. Commodore Alexei's telltale, to any Intelligence officer on the Imperial side assisted by voice recognition software, thick Basic fairly easy to pick out in that. The Imperial presence in and around Bespin has been long standing and has undoubtedly been the source of much discontent on many fronts for many years, something the Empire has gotten used to dealing with long ago. It is because of that fact that they are unruffled as the hailing from the NR's task force rings out over their coms. "Task Force Valiant, this is the Imperial security check point Esk-46. Your transmission has been received but we will not comply with them. Turn around and leave the system or we will be forced to deal with such threats in a manner that will be swift and undoubtedly messy." The security officers look at each other and then the other speaks into his coms, hailing a near by Imperial vessel for back up. "Rodger..." a female voice replies as they're notified of the New Republic's presence and the news is passed on, first to the higher ranked officers and then down the ranks and the alert is given scrambling all pilots to their ships to prepair for launch to deal with the Rebel presence. The newly promoted Captain Lance 'Wildman' Corbet sits within the cockpit of his X-Wing. "All systems check." he relays to the Rapier as he goes through the pre-flight check. Finally, he calls, "Good to go." Some moments pass, ere the expected reply is sent. "Rogue Two, you're good to launch. Godspeed." "Roger." states Lance calmly as he manipulates the controls, sending the X-Wing forward, and subsequently out into the void of space. "Rogues, fall into formation on me. This is routine for us. Let's get ready, and let's give them Hell." A chorus of cheers reverberates within Lance's cockpit as Rogue Squadron delivers it's affirmative concerning his last comment. Being launched into action is one thing, but being held back for the purpose of -telling- the enemy you're there. That bugs Crash. He just wants to whoosh in and start shootin' some TIE's. Nevermind the fact that apparently the TIE Avengers that seem to be more numerous than stormtroopers these days, are -better- in every respect than any fighter the NR fields, but he's here to pit his A-Wing against'em because it's so damned much fun. "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon.." he mutters almost unaware that his comm circuit is open. "They're gonna open fire any second... " And something just doesn't feel -right- to him. He closes his eyes a sec and shakes his head. He's prepared to wrench his fighter into a full speed, full twisting roll to get away from his position in the fighter screen if the need arises. Gotta hate (or love) gut instincts. His, is to search for TIE's on the scope and dive for'em the moment they arrive, but that's being suppressed at the moment. Dante slides into her fighter and does a fast-forward version of the pre-flight check and launches from the deck at that break-neck speed of the likes that has long since taught her to duck her head down, chin tilted towards her chest, as the fighter rockets into the cold of space. She forms up with the rest of the squadron, instinctively forming into the assigned formation and giving her fighter a deft snap-left snap-right to shake the dust off, so to speak. As soon as he is let loose from his reins, the Imperial response, as expected, sealing the fate of things as far as this battle is concerned, Rasi's orders come quickly. "Rapier to air group, the orders are simple today. Do as much damage as you can to anything that moves, keep us from being swarmed and do not take unnecessary risks. Commander Cen, out." The communique sent, he turns to his gunnery section, a small nod offered to the officer in charge of this group and the cruiser's long range weaponry opens up on the nearest target of opportunity, at the same time moving forward with speed belying the vessel's size. The Imperial forces of course number just shy of insane, the numbers meant to outnumber those of the NR by 3:1 if at all possible, if not more. Being near a Tibanna sortage facility making bombers impractical but the loss of those ships are made up by more fighters, the Avengers equalling three squadrons, easily. The TIEs are allowed to take off as soon as their quick pre-flight checks are completed, the black fighters streaming from the cruiser they were transported in in near unison and in near-pefect formation. At the lead is a seasoned veteran, a pilot who has seen more than his fair share of space combat, a man who is more than able to lead the Imperial pilots to victory with relative ease, or so the skuttlebutt says. They all rush towards where the other vessels are, looking to hit hard and fast and leave little evidence to the fact that the other side was here at all save for perhaps an bit of an increase in space garbage. Rogue Squadron forms up on Lance's X-Wing, and in loose diamond formation, the elite squadron makes their attack run. "Alright, boys." states Lance calmly from his cockpit, his hands tapping along the controls of his X-Wing, S-Foils folding out. "Set S-Foils to attack position, and prepare to engage the enemy. Let's hit them hard and fast, then get out of here. That means, get out before you're too badly damaged. Right, Four?" Sheepishly, the man piloting Rogue Four agrees with his Captain, even as the four vessels sail ever onward to battle. Formations have only one use, at least in the mind of one Crash "Speed" Thomas. And that's for making easier targets. "Now we're talkin'.." he mutters into his com as he wrenches his control stick about and aims that sleek overpowered little A-Wing of his towards the enemy formation. The engines are in almost afterburner mode already and he calls into his comm, "Falcon Four. Going in! YoooooWWWWWWW!" Yeah, that'll become distortion over the comm units. But the fighter is heading in, and the leader of the approaching TIE-Storm is already being bracketed with targeting solutions and jammers. Kind of a SOP for this crazy kid. The other A-Wings might have trouble keeping up with the hyperkinetic, overachiever. "Heavy boys, go after the heavy stuff. These toys are gonna be easy!" *Sigh*... kid's a bit too confident as well... ain't he? Dante recognizes the flying style, if not the actual fighter itself, that Lance is driving around in. She gives his x-wing a narrow eyed look, cues up her targetting computer to make sure that she has a good read on him and opens a ship to ship channel. "Hello there, Wildman," she says in such a casual tone of voice, so calm, as though speaking over.. well.. they're pilots so it'd probably be something alcoholic. Weapons are hot, and she's guiding her fighter towards Lance's with deadly intent. As the Avenger speeds towards the Rogue Leader, Leo angles his own ship towards the TIE. As he approaches the target, the targeting brackets move over the side of the speeding Imperial ship until the cross-hairs land over the enemy. Depressing the red trigger, scarlet bolts launch towards the craft lighting up space for a moment. Though not surprised by the sheer number of Imperial vessels, Rasi is still left frowning when the first readings come in. Still, one only has to roll up their sleeves and get to work. "Turn long range batteries on the farthest-out Imperial formations, when a firing solution far enough from our men is found, fire.", an enemy out of formation is one perhaps more vulnerable and that might just mean more of his fighters make it out. The nearest guns dedicated to keeping the Rapier itself free of trouble and its shape used to plow into whatever enemy starfighter comes too close, forcing out of its path hopefully and onto the line of fire of one of its turbolasers. The fighters are going full bore which means the missile's unable to be maneuvered around by the TIEs which makes the premature detenation of the warhead a blessing. The lead pilot is shooken around as he flies through the explosion, his shield taking damage but not enough to truly cause any thing such as worry as far as his well being goes. It does take him a moment to get his feet under him, so to speak but where he's temporarily out of the action there are others to take up the slack and one sends a missile towards Crash's fighter, muttering "An eye for an eye" while pressing the trigger. "Ah, Chance." states the XO of Rogue Squadron after he's switched over to a ship to ship comm channel. "Seems we're to cross paths again. Are you prepared to lose this time?" he queries, his words, though civil and proper, carrying a tone of mirth behind them. Switching to the Rogue frequency for a moment, he calls, "Rogues, BREAK!" Upon his command, the squadron breaks off, each going after a seperate vessel. Lance, however, continues his headlong flight directly at Dante, his ship lined up, and soon, his finger depresses the trigger to lay down a beam of fire upon the woman whom Leo just struck. Watching his own missile have a premature detonation, Crash can't possibly lose his cocky attitude or poodoo-eating grin. He lifts the nose of his craft and barely speed-bumps out of the way of the return missile. Broadcasting in the clear, he attempts a bit of a taunting of the Imperial Pilots, "Oh man, is this the best you guys got? You may as well go home to mommy and fly hologames instead.." and then he laughs at his own crazy humor as he snap rolls and kicks his stabilizers in just in time to try to bypass the majority of the oncoming formation and try to get behind the lead TIE. "Here I am.." he mutters as he unleashes multiple rapid fire bursts of laser fire towards the target. Dante's shields take the brunt of the damage cause by the incoming weapons fire, holding her fighter steady even in the face of oncoming fire and adjust shield strength to compensate for the energy loss. She lowers the volume on the mechanical voice that calmly announces the percentage of energy loss to the shields even as she guides her fighter right towards Wildman's. "I'm prepared to let you surrender gracefully," Chance replies via comm channel to Lance with the same tone of quiet amusement. When the Rogue's break formation and fly apart, and Lance angles his ship towards hers, Dante waits for just the right moment then guides her ship in a sharp roll to the right, spins around and brings her fighter 'down' and around on a sharp curve and opens fire in return on Lance's fighter. The lasers land a hit against the Imperial's shields causing the slightest grin on Leo's visage as he turns his fighter around for a second go at the TIE. With the pilot seeming focused on X-Wing, he once again moves in at an angle. Once within range, another volly of red darts lance from the cannons towards the enemy ship. With the surprise and the swiftness they hit with, the NR was successful in getting the tibanna gas they had come for and the facility's now temporarily out of commission. Despite the fact that they're outnumbered, their support ships are able to make the jump safely out of system as are their fighters once they're able to disengage from the furball.
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