Star Wars OPEN Star Wars: Black Sheep (Always Accepting New Players)

IC: Zara "Zero" Yaren
Hoth

Having flown Y-wings previously, the biggest drawback to the A-wing was its lack of firepower, but Zara felt, personally, that the speed more than made up for it. It did mean she was going to do frak all to the remaining cruisers, but there were still a handful of TIEs on her sensors and those were much more her speed.

Ring and her wingmate were on one pair of TIEs, but the other pair looked like it had given up on the dogfight and began to loop up to defend the cruisers. The wishbones and X-wings had the firepower to do some damage against the other two cruisers, so Zara would just have to make sure those eyeballs never got there. Two on one wasn't exactly great odds but the other X-wings on the field shouldn't be wasted on TIEs when their torpedoes could take out bigger targets. If she assumed Ring and Spitfire had the other pair locked down, that only left two to distract. SQ was down closer to the planet's surface after his wingmate had blinked out, and might be able to assist if that cross-jockey could get moving at any decent pace. Or better yet, the three could just go assist the wishbones. Regardless, she lit up the three X-wings on her sensor board so she could see their positions better, now that their flight group was down to minimal numbers.

She could almost hear the last R4 unit she'd been stuck with before transferring out of the Y-wing unit. The droid had been afraid of everything, even when it was a calculated risk. He'd be screaming right now if she still had him, and Zara had been glad to hand the droid off to some other pilot to deal with. R4 had never understood that individual survival wasn't important, that sacrifices had to be made if the rebellion was to survive. If the rebellion fought on, it would be enough.

Eyeballs were still blasted fast. "Zero, Striker flight, giving you some space to deal with those cruisers. Hurry up before the eyeballs come back." Intercepting the pair as they each rose towards the cruisers and wishbones, Zara opened up a loose spread and they broke off their path to deal with her. Hope this was kriffing worth it, she thought to herself as the pair of TIEs snapped towards her, head to head. She shunted her shields to full front and opened up, damaging one as the three ships passed each other. Quickly returning shields to even, she rolled her starfighter around and down, her inertial compensators struggling with the tight turn. She couldn't let the TIEs get away...

The eyeballs had reversed direction, one of them with some scoring on a panel. Their course indicated they wanted to keep playing with her rather than supporting their cruisers. Zara set her jaw and dove in, avoiding their fire as the pair split, making it harder for her to hit either of them. So be it, at least she could keep playing keep-away.

TAG: Bardan_Jusik Mostlymad BookExogorth galactic-vagabond422 The Admiral Vehn

 

IC: Kayn "Mean Streak" Balzroth
Plunging into the Anoat fracas

Kayn missed another shot as he closed the range on the dogfighting snubfighters. Vixen transmitted, "I got two, can someone cover me while I take that tractor out?" and rolled to port, positioning herself to take the shot. A Preybird followed her maneuver and rolled onto her tail, but Paladin pounced and pounded its aft shields before it could get a shot off. Another Preybird swung in behind Paladin.

Swerving the Starfiend III clumsily, Kayn managed to drop in on the second Preybird, but the third pirate had arced up and looped around onto Kayn's tail. All six fighters snaked around in a deadly game of follow-the-leader as Vixen maneuvered toward the big ships.

A wild shriek from the droid distracted Kayn as he tried again to hit the Preybird in front of him. He snapped a quick glance at his sensor screen. "Vixen, Mean Streak, take the shot, we can't hold them off forever! I've got a homing missile on my tail!"

TAG: Adalia-Durron

 

IC: Kayn "Mean Streak" Balzroth
Exeunt Anoat System

Out of the corner of his eye, Kayn saw both big ships lurch, the pirate corvette upward as torpedoes impacted its belly, and the transport Hercules forward as the tractor beam was cut off abruptly. Moments later, the Herkybird fled into the safety of hyperspace... again.

"Tractor gone, let's get the Kriff out of here!" transmitted Vixen.

The homing missile closed in on Starfiend III's tail. The battered aft shields would never hold against the missile, no chaff or flares were left to decoy it, and evasive action would just slow him down and close the range for the Preybird's guns. The R2 unit was practically screaming in panic. The droid!

Kayn's focus shifted into his cockpit. Ejection seat maintenance safety interlock... there, engaged. Nudge the stick forward, dipping the X-wing down momentarily, and pull the ejection handle. His ejection seat clicked audibly, but did not fire. The R2 unit's shrill whistling cut off instantly as it was catapulted out the top of the ship, directly into the path of the homing missile. An explosion lit up space behind him and Kayn jostled in the shoulder straps. Shields were all but gone, but he was still intact.

Time to take Vixen's advice and follow the Herkypig. "Droid, have you got a hyperspace escape course plotted-- SON OF A BARVE!!!" No more astromech droid. I have to plot the course manually. Oh, my aching head.

Plotting a course would take a few minutes, even when his neural implants were in perfect synch with his brain, and at the moment they definitely weren't. He needed time.

"Paladin and Vixen, Mean Streak needs a few minutes to plot an escape route," he transmitted. "There's nothing to gain by tangling with these losers, let's run for deep space until we can jump."

He turned away from the dogfight and fed max power to the sublight drive. Starfiend III responded with a flickering warning light:

REACTOR TEMP
WARNING

No problem, just activate the auxiliary coolant system. He flipped the switch and instead of the normal soft whirring of the pump, he heard a dry squeaking whine. Another warning light lit up:

AUX COOLANT
TANK EMPTY

Frackety fracking frack-FRACK!!!

He'd need to reduce the load on the power systems as much as possible. No targets in front, so weapons off, and front shields could go down too. Aft shields were practically gone, so no point in wasting power on those, turn them off. The reactor temperature stabilized, and he seemed to be keeping just out of range from the pursuing pirates. Just need a few minutes to run the numbers and jump clear. As long as nothing gets in my way, I'm golden.

Irregular blips lit up the sensor display. Something dead ahead... Asteroids!

TAG: Adalia-Durron

 

OOC: This is a joint post between me, galactic-vagabond422 and Vehn, thank you for your participation, it was a lot of fun!

IC: Jocelyn “Joy" Sunwalker, Ianna Mcear, Louise "Lou" Gray
Battle of Hoth

The Y-wing shook from a near miss, these were getting uncomfortably frequent. Joy was about to order shields to double front, but the sensors indicated that there were TIEs in the vicinity, so leaving your rear open for attack was not a sound strategy. She checked whether the Kid was still with her and was reassured by her presence. The targeting computer chirped as it had acquired a lock so she pressed the trigger and a couple of torpedoes shot forward towards the Light Cruiser. Mynock 3 and 4 raced along with the ones that were shot by her squadron mates. The shimmering of the shields and its subsequent demise was hypnotic, the fireballs that erupted on the surface too...

The shriek that came from the Striker Leader's demise took her out of her stupor. That meant that she was the Leader for now... She was back in her old position, though back then she was flying a TIE Defender and was prepared to be the tip of the spear that was to strike at the Rebellion, now she was at the opposite side...

"Kid, stay close."

Ianna was calm, trusting her escorts and Pat to warn her if TIEs were closing in on her and her exposed rear. She still had her shields double front, the fire coming in from the cruisers was still too heavy for her to balance out her shields yet. Her Y-Wing rattles with another blast impacting upon the sturdy shields. The targeting computer chirped, signifying a hard lock. With a quick pull of the trigger two more torpedoes left her craft joining the spread of glowing points in the darkness. She watched as they slammed into the shields and hull of the center craft causing it to start to break apart.

A smile grew on her face, the Empire wouldn't have them this day.

The grin faded when Striker Lead fell off the scopes, her final cries echoing through the comm. A wave of sadness washed over the young woman, soon followed by anger. The Empire just took and took from her. It was time for her to take something from them. She lined up activating her targeting computer again.

The orders from Joy came in, she was the commander now and was taking the lead.

Another smile was forced upon 'Kid's' face, she could let the other know the pain inside, the rage of a girl through with losing.

"On your wing Joy." She replied.

There was a pang of sadness that Joy felt when she heard the girl's voice. She almost wanted to get her under her wing, to protect her, like the little sister that she never had. But had to bury it deep, there was no time for softness right now.

"Try to ignore the fighters, do not engage in a dogfight." the Y-wings had little chance against the more agile TIEs. If they were to escape they had to try their best not to get bogged down in fighter duels. They were to destroy or at least severely damage the Light Cruisers and make a run for it. Hopefully their escort will keep the enemy occupied and then make a run for it afterwards.

Lou broke her concentration on her attack run, banked hard right, and doubled back toward the remaining members of Striker Group. She adjusted her shields to encompass her Y-wing as she slowly brought her craft into formation with Joy, acting commander of Striker Group. There was strength in numbers. Three Y-wings could really pack a wallop over one against a light cruiser.

"Try to ignore the fighters, do not engage in a dogfight," Joy ordered.

That made sense. Lou didn't know Joy very well. She didn't know the other woman who called herself Kid. Lou realized she didn't have to know them at this point. She just had to do her job and survive. She goosed the throttle a little more to tighten formation and opened her throat comm.

"Ready to go, Joy. Following your lead," Lou announced.

Joy acknowledged with a click to the other woman, who joined her and Kid. Lou was it? Jocelyn had studied the files of each of the pilots. Another fellow former Imperial fighter, or at least had her formal training. Carida was good, but was not Coruscant. Some of the old rivalries were still alive, the Empire unofficially approved of these competitions and pitted them against each other. Jocelyn knew that it was rigged as there were far too many offsprings of important Imperial Officials who were at the Coruscant Academy and they did not want the spoiled brats to get bloody noses.

But the fact that Lou had completed her training reassured Joy so she took a mental note to rely more on her and keep the Kid protected.

"Got it." Kid replied, she was already ignoring the fighters, she knew what she was good at and dogfighting in a Y-Wing was not one of those things.

Ianna checked her scopes seeing a third joining the group of Y-Wings making their attack run. She didn't know the woman but, that didn't matter. All that mattered was she was on their side and not trying to kill them The smile grew on the young woman's face. If there was one thing she learned at flight school it was that two fighters were good but, a coordinated attack by three could be devastating.

With these three women bearing down on the cruisers, they didn't stand a chance. Soon the skies would be clear.

"More the merrier." Ianna commented in her cheery tone hiding her pain and anger, "Joy I have four torpedoes left, enough to put two into the remaining ships." She reported to the new Striker Lead. She prepared to start up her targeting computer, ready to make their run in earnest. All she was waiting for were orders from her wingmate.

'Good' Jocelyn thought. It should be enough to take out the Light Cruiser.

"Copy that. Lou, how many do you have left?" if this thing was going to work the three of them should have enough ammo.

Just as she was going to ask the other survivors she saw an emerald blast striking the cockpit of one of the other Y-wings. It disintegrated instantly without even a scream.

"Do any of you have any proton bombs left?" their trajectory would bring them over the enemy ship so they could bombard it.

"Four torps, Lead," Lou replied as she grimaced from the brilliant flash of a Y-wing being obliterated.

For a second Lou hesitated as her mind raced with the odds of surviving this mission. It wasn't looking good. The bombers always seemed to take heavy casualties but this particular engagement left her wondering just how much time she had left in the galaxy.

"I've got one proton bomb left," she added as she dodged another round of turbo laser fire.
Ianna shook her head.

"I'm torps only, guess we ran out of bombs." She said to her wingmate. It was always the way of the rebels, running on a knife's edge when it came to supplies and ordnance, she was surprised that she got as many torpedoes as she did much less bombs along with them. "I can still do some damage to them." Another flash another Y-Wing gone, a few more losses and they might not have enough left to finish this.

No, she had to believe, they could do this.

Jocelyn pursed her lips, that was not good, but will have to work. The sensors indicated that the remaining bombers shot their torpedoes and flashes from the other Cruisers could be seen. Her targeting computer signalled that she had acquired a lock, so she pressed the trigger. Mynocks 5 and 6 flew towards the designated Light Cruiser.

Seeing the release of two more torpedoes from Joy's bomber was all Ianna needed to loose two of her own targeting the same the cruiser.

Lou watched as the torps streaked toward one of the cruisers. Her own targeting system hummed green indicating a lock. She only sent one torpedo to join the others before focusing on the remaining targets. She kept in formation but she was well aware that her proton bomb was about to come in handy. It was a little gift to her Imperial brethren. A little thank you for starting her down the path to Rebellion.

They did a lot of damage to the enemy. Pieces of debris flew everywhere, which created another hazard. The fire had stopped as they must have struck something critical, hopefully they won't recuperate on time.

"Lou, be ready with the bomb, the window of opportunity is small. Kid, stay on the course and get ready to jump." Jocelyn broadcasted to her wingmates, then repeated her last orders to the other survivors.

"Joy," Ianna called out, "I've still got two torps left. I can help." Her voice was eager ready to strike another blow against the Empire, even as they ran.

Lou flicked a switch on her controls. The bomb was armed. She knew they only had one chance to make this work. She sighted up her target and got a lock. It was now or never.

"Bomb armed, Joy," Lou replied, "target locked. Kid and I can blow this thing, let's do it!"
Joy almost smiled. Her remaining bombs were also ready. The ship was getting bigger and bigger as they got closer. Another squadron mate got blown up.

"Kid, target the bridge. Lou, get ready to release your payload."

"You got it," Lou replied.

She juked and jinked her way around turbo lasers as the distance closed. Now was the time. The cruiser ahead didn't stand a chance. Especially once Kid destroyed the bridge. That was going to happen in a matter of seconds. She thought briefly about the Imperials on the ship ahead. She'd once been one of them. Now, well, she was getting some payback.

"Now's the time, Joy, let's take it out!" Lou suggested.

"On it," Ianna replied a laser blast flashing off her shields, her craft rocking with the impact. Power was draining from them, soon there would be nothing between her and the sickly green bolts of energy that were being sent her way. Lining up her run she lowered her targeting computer one last time. She was honing in on the bridge, the nerve center of the ship, take that down the crew would be in disarray.

With a few quick flicks of the stick she barely avoided a few more blasts that could have taken her down. Soon her target was locked, and she released her last two torpedoes. Pulling up and away she caught a glimpse of the officers and crew inside fleeing for cover. For just a moment she thought she saw a woman, young like her, with shining blonde hair dressed in the black uniform of the Empire. If was only a moment before the blinding flash of the ordnance wiped the image away.

Ianna took a deep breath.

"They're the bad guys." she said to herself, soothing her conscience. She had already taken lives in this conflict but, she rarely ever saw the faces of those she killed, it was always machines the she destroyed, suits of armor that she tore apart, it distanced her from the blood she was shedding. It didn't change the fact that they were still people, with lives and families that she was snuffing out.

Her simplistic way of looking at it all seemed to help, they were the bad guys, they had a choice, to be good or be bad, and they chose the wrong day to stay bad.

She looked to her wingmates, both former imperials and she held no malice towards them. They had changed, they made the right choice before they met her, before they had to die.

"Bridge is out, now blow this thing so we can go home."

Wherever home was for them now.

Her Y-wing was shaking wildly as they passed over the cruiser. Ianna complied with her order and made her attack run. Hopefully she will be able to take out the bridge before they could deliver their payloads.

"Releasing bombs." she still had several proton bombs and hoped they would be enough. The explosions rocked her craft even more "I am out, prepare to jump to lightspeed!" she commanded the survivors.

The navicomputer had made the necessary calculations and as soon as they were clear she was ready to jump.

"Bombs away," Lou announced as she dropped her payload on the wounded cruiser.

She pulled hard not the stick to avoid the concussive blasts and ensuing shockwave. A brilliant flash in her visor told her everything she needed to know. The cruiser was gone. Kid and Joy and done their job and her bombs had helped finish off the vessel. They'd survived. Their part of the fight, it seemed, was over.

Lou watched as Kid and Joy made the jump to hyperspace. She tapped in a quick calculation on her navicomputer and followed suit. As the stars stretched and elongated themselves she couldn't help but wonder if perhaps her life was changing for the better. It'd been a long time since she found something meaningful in her life. A very long time.

TAG: Bardan_Jusik, Rebecca_Daniels, Mostlymad

 

IC: Kayn "Mean Streak" Balzroth
Almost Safe in the Asteroid Field

Kayn released his controls momentarily and cracked his knuckles. This was going to be a worthy test of his hand-flying skills.

"MS, are you sure about this?" asked Paladin. "Asteroid fields are no place to mess around, and you've got that burnt-out sound in your voice."

"Don't sweat it, wingy, I used to do this all the time when I was racing. Spectators love it when a course goes through asteroids or planetary rings. Just stick close to me and I'll show you how it's done. It's easy when you get into the flow of it. Vixen, you're welcome to tag along too, if you've got nothing better to do today. Don't lag behind; I think the king of the pirates is rallying his troops."

Aft sensors showed the battered-but-still-dangerous Marauder class corvette trailing the rebel X-wings at a distance. It looked like the surviving Preybirds had been browbeaten back into formation with the mother ship. Just then the comm panel crackled with another unwelcome distraction.

"Rebel ships, once again the magnificent pirate Captain Don Karnage comes to you with a warning out of the goodness of my own generous heart. If you surrender now your petty little lives will be spared. But if you go into that asteroid field, your lives will be cut even littler. Many ships flee from the Iron Vulture in there. How many come out? Let me count. None!"

"I've got a funny feeling he's telling the truth, Meany. If we go in, we might not come out."

"Bantha pudu, Paladin. You're just saying that because no one ever has. Stay close and do what I do. Deflectors double front. They won't save you from a head-on collision with a boulder, but they'll keep pebbles out of your windscreen. Keep the S-foils open; I know that makes a bigger profile, but we need the best maneuverability we can get. Stay tight."

The Iron Vulture and its escorts slowed, lurking near the edge of the asteroid field, obviously waiting to pounce if anyone turned back.

A few stray rocks whizzed past the X-wing's canopy. Massive boulders loomed closer. Kayn activated the range finder in his cybernetic eye and zoomed up the magnification. The optic input was an irritant to his abused neurons, but not nearly so painful as it would be to link into his ship's computers at this stage of his withdrawal symptoms.



"Don't fly any faster than your eyes. It's all in the reflexes."

Starfiend III jinked up over a big boulder, down under a bigger one, and rolled left into a vertical bank, threading a needle between massive chunks of rock. This was the kind of flying he lived for, what he really loved. This is where I prove I'm the best!

Speaking with elaborate casualness, he transmitted, "Just a few minutes of this, then we'll find a spot to hole up and catch a few z's. Anyone else ready to take a nap? I'm bushed."

TAG: Adalia-Durron

 

IC: Kayn "Mean Streak" Balzroth
Between Rocks and Hard Places

"Are you insane? I mean seriously, have you been certified and someone let you out here?" Kayn chuckled at Vixen's impertinent question.

"Geniuses are always accused of insanity. Such accusations are just another burden I have to bear for the sake of the galaxy. Veer left, there's a killer boulder behind that cloud of gravel."

The X-wings bobbed and weaved through the wildly fluctuating obstacle course, somehow managing to avoid the rocks and stay more or less together. Kayn nodded in silent approval; he knew Paladin was a pretty hot stick even though Kayn would die before he'd tell him that, and it looked like that Vixen fighter jock had good instincts for this kind of flying. He nudged his throttle forward slightly, confident that his wingmates could keep up.

"Remember the five D's: dodge, dip, duck, dive, and dodge. You rookies are doing great." Sometimes it feels good to be magnanimous in praise.

After a couple more minutes of intensely focused piloting, the asteroid field became a little more sparse and scattered. This is a good sign, there must be a big one nearby, sucking up the small ones with its gravity. There!

"All right, wingies, follow me and maintain radio silence, all sensors to passive only." The last thing we need now is a stray transmission to give away our location.

The threesome emerged into a more-or-less clear space in the middle of the asteroid field, a space with a big round rock in the middle, maybe a small moon of a long-ago disintegrated world. Kayn throttled back as he visually scanned the surface for deep fissures. Swooping low, he spotted a steep-sided canyon. S-foils closed, sublight drive to dead slow, landing gear extended, landing lights on, before landing checklist complete.

The floor of the canyon seemed to be hard-packed gravel, reasonably level. Kayn touched down gently and then flashed the landing lights twice to indicate to the others it was safe to land. He quickly switched life support to emergency battery power and shut down the reactor; it would need a while to cool off to normal operating temperatures. After that, he'd need to check if there were any cans of coolant in his cargo space; there should be enough to replenish that empty auxiliary coolant system, if the ground crew back on Hoth had done their jobs right. Wonder how many of the working stiffs got out? Hope they're all right.

There was nothing to do about them now, so he relit the cold stub of his cigar as he watched Paladin land his X-wing next to Starfiend III, but facing the opposite direction. Then he leaned his head back, and closed his eyes.

TAG: Adalia-Durron

 

~IC~ Captain Cassell Wystari
Location: Hoth - Echo Base Hangar

‘Time seems to be slipping away…’

They did not have time for these antics in the midst of an evacuation. At least the droid was talking sense, however, its actions kinda contradicted that with the clanging of sharp knives. Was it glitching? Like one of those blasted battle droids from back during the war against the Confederacy? Wystari’s hand subtly rested over his holster...

Another tremor had hit the cavern, the power flickered out as more shards of ice rained down upon them before the backup generators came back on. This was getting worse. There was more urgency now to the activity about them. Then came the announcement that Imperial Troops have entered the base before it crackled out.

“Nobody panic.” Wystari worked his jaw and took a breath. “I think it is time for us all to leave…” He looked to the Hutt and droid and then turned his head. “Lieutenant,” he addressed Lieutenant Cadin whom had accompanied him. “Thank you for your assistance and time, best return to your transport and finish up.”

“Thank you and good luck, Skipper.” She said and dashed back to the Roaming Vagabond.

Wystari looked to the injured Commander, who had stood back onto his feet now, and the medic. “Take him aboard the Valkyria, it’s the Corellian YT-2000.” His eyes focused on the medic. “I’d rather you accompany him to make sure he doesn’t die and there might be more injured incoming. Medical kit is in the main hold if you need it…” he then looked to the droid and Hutt. “If you don’t have a transport, follow them... and don’t touch anything on board otherwise you have me and my axe to answer to.”

He took another deep breath and gave a tight smile. “I’ll be there when I’m there. Someone has to stay behind to make sure everyone gets out...” He took out his blaster and fired a bolt angled at the ceiling. A chunk of ice broke free and came crashing down on some crates. “...and sabotage what is left behind.”

TAG: Koruga, Foodie, Commander Craven, Open

 

IC: Foodie
Main Hangar, Echo Base, Hoth

Members of the Alliance to Restore the Republic sometimes had the most peculiar behaviours, Foodie thought. The medic who had suggested that the injured commander be loaded on Captain Wystari’s ship seemed to be the most rational mind of the lot, but between Koruga, Craven and Wystari himself, there was something to be said about the need for reprogramming, or, as organics called it, psychological support for Rebel troops. The Hutt was about as refined and subtle as one of his kind could be expected to be, Commander Craven was out of his wits and Wystari... Wystari had to be outright suicidal. Did he not realise that the ice cave was shaky enough after hours of Imperial bombardment that it didn’t require his help to collapse like an overcooked soufflé? Granted, his dedication to ensure that everyone was evacuated was admirable; it was also a fair point that left-behind equipment should be sabotaged, and there was no doubt that bringing down the ceiling was the fastest track to this noble goal. But Foodie was quite certain that it was infinitely preferable to begin the demolition after the last ships, including those that, ahem, ahem, were due to carry them to safety, had flown out of the cave. Foodie had a few plans for his future, and becoming deep-frozen spare pieces for the Empire was not one of them.

One option, of course, was to board the GR-75 transport where they had loaded the B-wings, and let the rest of the little group fend for themselves.

A better option was to do his bit for the Rebel Alliance.

He summoned the four binary loadlifters and led them around the perimeter of the hangar. “If I may say so, Captain Wystari,” he called as he examined the walls, “I believe that I have a somewhat safer solution to offer. Perhaps we could weaken the structural integrity of this cave in a few well-chosen places, and let these droids strike the final blow after we are gone?”

Tags: Outsourced Corellian_Outrider Bardan_Jusik

 

GM Update: Part I​

Striker Flight
Battle of Hoth

With the path cleared in front of them, and the battle behind them rapidly coming to a close, the surviving fighters and bombers of Striker flight and its escort blinked out one by one as they entered hyperspace. For them the battle of Hoth was indeed over, though for some it would never be forgotten. Now though, with time to take stock as they made a series of micro jumps before that long last hyperjump to the rendezvous point with the main fleet, the pilots were alone with their thoughts and well into their own individual post battle routines...

TAG: Rebecca_Daniels, galactic-vagabond422, The Admiral, Mostlymad, Vehn.

OOC: Feel free to navigate through the microjumps or just skip ahead to the journey to the rally point with the fleet. I'll have you actually arriving with the fleet in my next update, so now is a good time for those character development/introspective posts.

---

IC: Commodore Tomho
Imperial Interdictor cruiser Grappler, Battle of Hoth

Commodore Tomho grinned, a twinkle in his eye as he did so. Yes the enemy fighters out there wiped out the fighters sent to destroy them, but the first freighter was now in the pull of the Grappler's tractor beam. They would pull the vessel aboard (lifescan showed it was full of refugees trying to escape the planet below), capture its passengers and crew for interrogation and hand deliver an intelligence coup over to Lord Vader. This war wouldn't be won by taking out individual fighters, it would be won by eliminating the rebels en masse. Destroying their bases, wiping out their command and control and showing the people that peace, order and stability was the way of the future. And for Commodore Tomho that future began now.

TAG: Mistress_Renata, Anedon

OOC: Go ahead and take out the Interdictor and have your pilots on their way into hyperspace as I'll need them rendezvousing with the fleet in my next update. for clarification, Tomho has misidentified the soldiers as refugees, surelt the last mistake he will ever make.

---

IC: Captain Don Karnage (NPC)
Bridge of the Iron Vulture (Marauder class corvette), Anoat system

"Dear Captain, we are disinclined to acquiesce to your request good Sir." Karnage was confused at the declaration from the female pilot. "What does she say? Why can she not talk like a normal person!?" He looked around at his bridge crew as she continued on. "Oh, and kiss your Preybirds goodbye!" Karnage still had a perplexed look on his face as one of his Lieutenants explained, "means no," which did nothing to improve the dread pirate's mood.

"She could not just say this, yes, no?" The pirates on the bridge just shrugged. "Why does she have to be so embarrassingly loquacious? She should just speak in simple easy to understand terms. Like me." Again the pirates shrugged not really understanding what he was going on about. "It doesn't matter, bring in the cargo ship and destroy those fighters!" The rocked with an explosion and alarms blared. "What? What is it that is going on?" The dread pirate demanded.

"The tractor beam is destroyed, the transport went to lightspeed." Karnage ran his hands over his face and head in response to the news. This was supposed to be easy! "Our fighters are falling back." Those cowards! Karange thought. He was growing weary of these Rebels and their meddling ways. Why could they not just simply surrender like good little pilots and allow him the prizes which were so obviously his? He opened a comm channel, he would show his cowardly pirates how to handle these Rebel pigdogs!

"Rebel ships, once again the magnificent pirate Captain Don Karnage comes to you with a warning out of the goodness of my own generous heart. If you surrender now your petty little lives will be spared. But if you go into that asteroid field, your lives will be cut even littler. Many ships flee from the Iron Vulture in there. How many come out? Let me count. None!"

The Rebels didn't respond to his threats the way he had hoped, instead of surrendering, they accelerated towards the asteroid field, with the Iron Vulture in pursuit. The Marauder class corvette shuddered as a medium sized asteroid impacted the shields with a flash. As agile as the corvette was for a light capital ship, it came no where near the maneuverability of a fighter.

"Big rocks, hitting the hull of my ship?" He looked aghast at the prospect of taking any more damage, especially from something as mundane as space debris. "Oh no, no, no. That is no good!" The freighter was gone, the Rebel fighters had little to offer in the way of profit, even is he could manage to capture one of them. No it was time to make good their own escape, though he would remember these fighters, especially the woman pilot who had dared to talk to him in that way!

"Enough!" He clapped his hand together. "Bring our fighters back, get us out of these rocks and plot a hyperspace course away from this place." He sounded saddened by his own order, the dread pirate Don Karnage would just have to find a different place to secure his precious fuel.

TAG: Adalia-Durron, Sarge

OOC: Karnage is gone (but not for good, no way we won't use him again in the future). Y'all are a go for your final hyperspace jumps in your posts. I'll have you meeting up with the main rebel fleet in my next update.

 

GM Update: Part II​

IC: Thunder Lead (NPC)
Thunder Flight, Battle of Hoth

"Lead, Waxer and Wolf looping around the long way. Check for stragglers on the road out."

The blue skinned twi'lek hated herself for her next set of orders, she would regret them for the rest of what remained of her life, but she knew in her bones they were the proper ones to give.

"Negative that Wolf and Waxer. Return to base immediately, we have TIE's inbound." She was disgusted with herself for sending that, she hated to leave anyone behind. But the Rebel Alliance needed to save anyone they could, they couldn't afford to send off capable pilots off on. And with the TIE's now entering the air space over the battlefield, the snowspeeders had no chance. Every member of Thunder Flight would have heard the evac code, it was up to them all to follow that order...

---

IC: Commander Craven (NPC)
Main Hanger, Echo Base, Hoth

“Take him aboard the Valkyria, it’s the Corellian YT-2000.” Craven would have jumped for joy had he been physically able. He was going to get through this after all! “I’d rather you accompany him to make sure he doesn’t die and there might be more injured incoming. Medical kit is in the main hold if you need it...” Craven heard the words from Captain Wystari but in his euphoria they washed over him. He was going to escape!

“If you don’t have a transport, follow them" The Captain said to the Hutt, though Craven didn't react. Even the idea of evacuating with the Hutt didn't upset him. The sound of blaster fire rang out, and now Craven did jump a little, but it was just the Captain sabotaging the base as best he could, knocking down ice and snow and burying whatever the Rebels couldn't take with them. The sound of roaring speeder engines filled the bay as the surviving members of Thunder flight made their emergency landings. Thunder Lead lifted herself out of her cockpit as soon as she had popped the canopy. Making eye contact with her surviving pilots as they followed suit, including Ditch and Wolf, she saw what Captain Wystari was doing and nodded to herself grimly before calling out.

"Anyone have any thermal dets or even some conc grenades. I'd like to put these out of action before we go," she indicated the speeders they had flown in on. The craft had proven their worth, and she was loath to destroy such heroic machines, but she was even more loathe to let them fall into the hands of her enemies. One of the few remaining hanger workers nodded his head eagerly.

"I think we can scrounge something up!" He shouted to her over the din of the bay as a chef droid(!?) piped up with an even better idea. “If I may say so, Captain Wystari,” Thunder Lead was still processing that this was a cooking droid of some sort making the suggestion. “I believe that I have a somewhat safer solution to offer. Perhaps we could weaken the structural integrity of this cave in a few well-chosen places, and let these droids strike the final blow after we are gone?”

Thunder Lead smiled at that idea, as more blaster fire broke out in the hanger, at first Commander Craven thought it was Captain Wystari continuing his work, but his assumption there was put to rest as Thunder lead fell from her craft and toppled to the hard frozen deck of the hanger, a blaster mark through her chest. More blaster fire erupted and chaos broke out in the bay as two squads of snowtroopers burst into the bay, their blaster rifles chattering putting red bolts into whoever, whatever, they could target. One of those targets was the cowardly Commander Craven, who stared down at the brand new hole in his chest with a curios look on his face until the pain stuck him. Then he felt nothing as a moment later he joined Thunder Lead, dead on the deck.

TAG: Outsourced, Chyntuck, Corellian Outrider, Mitth_Fisto, The Vanguard

OOC: Told y'all you would get some more excitement. Feel free to deal with the snowtroopers however you see fit, roughly 20 of them, but don't worry if you don't get them all. I have a plan for that. Oh and please don't leave yet, you have a straggler yet to pick up.

---

IC: Beskaryc Taab
Northern edge of the battle area, Hoth

Taab impassively watched the snowspeeder fall from the sky and hit the hard frozen ground with a tremble only a few hundred meters from the bunker. He highly doubted anyone would survive that, but surveyed the wreckage from a distance for a moment, only satisfied when he saw no movement from the downed craft. Giving the breifest of nods he turned his attention back to the few remaining men he had with them. For troops supposedly trained to take on Jedi, they weren't acquitting themselves very well and Taab had to ask himself he he had lost a step, had he gone soft on their training? Another shake of the head as he told himself to not dwell on such matters, he had a job to do now, he could wait until later to perform a self evaluation of his training techniques.

The battle itself seemed to be winding down, there were reports of Rebel troops retreating from their trench lines, though a few were performing valiant rear guard actions, preventing the Imperials from simply rolling the remainder of the Rebels up. To the south he could see a pair of snowspeeders banking towards his position, but the screech of TIEs overhead caused them to turn tail and run. The speeders were ill suited for combat against dedicated superiority craft. To Taab though the arrival of the TIEs meant something else, the arrival of a single Lambda class shuttle to the bunker, and the arrival of the CIC of the entire operation. Lord Vader.

Taab himself knew little of the black clad man, save he was a powerful force user. A very powerful force user. The Darth honorific denoted he was a follower of the dar'jetii (Sith) faith, though Taab didn't care enough about politics or religion to give that much thought. Just another spoonbender, though one best not to cross. The shuttle landed, as another pair of TIEs screeched overhead. There would be no air attack on the LZ now, of that Taab was sure. Even if there were, this Vader was apt to rip the craft out of the sky himself. Taab stood at attention as the black clad man strode confidently down the shuttle's boarding ramp and stood on the snow covered ground for a moment. He looked left, and then right, surveying the scene. Taab was prepared to give his report but the force user never so much as looked at him. Instead, after making his own observations, and keeping his own counsel, he strode into the bunker, his own cohort of snowtroopers following after him as he disappeared into the interior of the Rebel base.

As a group, Taab's troopers exhaled as one, a small cloud forming in front of their faces. Taab found to his surprise that he too had been holding his breath. "Do we...follow them?" One of Taab's troopers asked, but the Mandalorian shook his head. "Our orders are to stay here, secure the LZ and provide support if needed." He pointed to the bunker. "Bunch of tunnels connecting that bunker to the rest of the base." The trooper nodded his comprehension. "Lord Vader is going hunting, and we're to stay out of his way." The men all nodded, exhaling yet another sigh of relief.

"OK, so what about that?" Another trooper pointed to the nearby crashed speeder. It was smoking but there were no flames visible coming from the wreck. "What about it?" Taab shrugged. His squad was down to a fire team now, just four men and himself. Enough to guard the shuttle, he doubted Vader would let any fleeing rebels past him in the tunnels to escape the bunker. "Well, should we check it out? might contain some intel." The man shrugged back at Taab, he was clearly bored. These were highly trained men and women...no Taab had to correct himself, the two women in the sqaud had been blasted apart by the snowspeeder run, they might not want to go running off after Vader, but they didn't want to just sit around guarding his shuttle either. "OK, let's go."

Following behind Taab the remainder of his squad moved out towards the crashed speeder. They could see as they drew closer that the rear section of the vehicle had been completely blown away, and the leading edge along with the starboard wing had completely crumpled on contact with the ground. The canopy was still closed, whoever had been piloting hadn't made it out. The men rushed forward now, two went to a knee, facing outward, providing security to the team as Taab and the other two clamored atop the stricken craft. With Taab watching those two slung their blaster and with some effort managed to raise the canopy. The first view of the interior came as a shock to them all.

The pilot was clearly a Mandalorian as demonstrated by his armor, armor that was immediately recognized by Taab. The commandos though seem surprised. "Is that a..." one of them started to say but Taab interrupted him. "A Mandalorian." His voice showed no hint of the emotions roiling through him now. he knew who it was, but he bent low to remove the pilots buy'ce (helmet), he had to make sure. "Careful boss, might be booby trapped." Taab released the helmet's seal, and a hiss of heated air escaped from it. "It's not." He said simply, quietly, as he lifted the helmet off the Mandalorian's body. "It's my son." There was a pause, a moment of confusion from the troopers who didn;t quite understand what Taab was saying.

"Say what boss? Your..." He never finished his question as Taab quickly drew the Westar-34 pistol from his holster, and still holding onto to his son's helmet spun around and drilled a pair of blaster bolts through the chest of each of the remaining squad members. Their bodies fell to the ground, expressions of shock and surprise still on their faces as Taab explained to their corpses one last time. "He is my son." Taab dropped the pistol, where it clattered about inside the wrecked speeder's cockpit. Reaching up he unfastened his own helmet and removed it, tossing it into the snow nearby.

For the first time the biting cold of Hoth's freezing air assaulted him, but his tear streaked face felt nothing. He looked down at his son one last time with his own eyes. It was Atin, of that there was no doubt. It had been several years, and the boy he had once known had grown into a man, but it was Atin Taab. On Atin's face was frozen a look of pure determination, and rage. He had not died peacefully, but rather the same way he had lived.

Taab rubbed an armored hand across his own face, cradling his son's buy'ce in his other arm. "Ni su'cuyi, gar kyr'adyc, ni partayli, gar darasuum Ati'ka. (I'm still alive, but you are dead. I remember you, so you are eternal, little Atin)." He reached down one last time, and kissed his son's forehead, taking Atin's blaster, a WESTAR-35 from his holster as he did so. Taab would use his son's weapon from now on.

Taking a step back, down and off of the wreck, he holstered his son's blaster and held onto his helmet tightly. It was made of beskar, Mandalorian Iron, and had been handed down through seven generations of Taab's. Beskaryc had hoped one day Atin would hand it down to his own son or daughter, but that would never happen now. The rest of his son's armor though had been made of durasteel, his son had always disliked the heavy weight of Mandalorian Iron, and felt the durasteel gave him greater mobility. It, like his son's corpse, was now expendable.

He looked around,the pure white snow marred by the crash site. There was no one else around now. he was surrounded only by the dead. From the radio traffic he could hear though his own bucket he knew that the Rebels were affecting the last of their evacuation. From the traffic coming through his son's buy'ce, he knew just where those rebels were.

He clipped his son's buy'ce to his belt, and grabbed his own from where it lay in the snow. He brushed it off before putting it back over his head. Now taking a trio of thermal detonators from his belt now he tossed them into the snowspeeders open cockpit. They would be enough to destroy the craft and incinerate any trace of his son's body. They exploded, doing their work. With any luck the Imperials would figure that he and his men had been ambushed and killed while inspecting a booby trapped rebel crash site. If luck wasn't with him? Well right now he didn't care about that.

Checking that his jetpack was primed, he now flew off at low level towards the last remaining rebels, a small hanger where the members of Thunder flight, his son's flight he now knew, were gathered to evacuate.

TAG: no one

 

IC: Mel Ksiur

Two TIEs.

They weaved in and out of battlefield debris, knowing that maneuverability was a weakness of an x-wing, but they appeared to have been damaged already, because they weren't moving as quickly as the battle around them was. Mel was able to keep up with their constant motions, but it was beginning to get to her, with less time between each twist.

"Spitfire from Ring," she said, opening the com. "Need to get 'em straight. Separate from me, try to stay with 'em."

There was a click as Spitfire acknowledged the message, and her fighter dipped a bit, curving towards the left as the pair of Ties went straight up. Mel pitched up as fast as possible, but it wasn't fast enough for them to be targetable. She kept her priorities running through her head, fly straight and avoid everything. The Ties were moving again, but they had a moment of uncertainty, it seemed. It was enough for Mel to shoot one repeatedly, and it finally sputtered out, blinking and dying. Just then, Spitfire came from below and targeted the other, which had just tried to pitch down. She surprised it and blasted it cleanly. It disappeared in a flash of light.

The com crackled. "Ring, Spitfire. We need to get out of here." Mel looked around and was surprised that she could not see any of the y-wings. She clicked to acknowledge, and started putting the calculations in the nav-computer. She sped to the outskirts of the battle, and made the first jump to lightspeed.

Tag: Bardan_Jusik Rebecca_Daniels Mostlymad galactic-vagabond422 Vehn

 

IC : Foodie
Main Hangar, Echo Base, Hoth

Desperate times called for desperate measures, and, well, with Imperial snowtroopers having entered the hangar and shooting at them, these were clearly desperate times. One of the pilots who had just entered the hangar on their snowspeeders was already dead, Commander Craven had just joined her on the frozen ground with a gaping hole in his chest, everyone was pulling out their blasters and shooting back, but Foodie was well aware that they needed more, shall we say, radical measures.

He issued an order in binary and the four loadlifters moved in unison to screen the little group of Rebels from the Imperials’ laserfire. Bolts ricocheted on the thick durasteel of their limbs, gouging smoking holes into the walls and ceiling of the ice cave and sending more chunks of frozen snow and ice to the ground. This was becoming exceedingly dangerous given the instability of the cave. Foodie looked around frantically for anything that could be used as a weapon but wouldn’t bring the ceiling crashing down. He spotted the crates of industrial mixing equipment that had been removed from the transports to make space for the B-wings – there wouldn’t be time to reload them anyway – and ran towards them. His automated bread knife made short work of the seals, and soon the binary loadlifters had been converted to hulking catapults that hurled all manners of pieces of machinery at the Imperials.

He dropped on all fours to dodge the snowtroopers’ fire and crawled to a hangar worker who had found cover behind a speeder. “Excuse me, sir, I believe you mentioned thermal detonators and concussion grenades?”

The hangar worker peeked over the speeder to send a few volleys at the Imperials, then hunkered down again and shook his head. “No go, droid. The good stuff is behind the Imps now.”

“Hmmm.” Foodie computed as fast as he could. “What if we could detonate it just where it is – after we evacuate, of course?”

The worker looked at him with a sly smile. “You mean kill the troopers and destroy the cave in a single go?”

Foodie’s photoreceptors flashed. Now this was someone he could do business with. “Precisely, dear sir. In my line of work, we call that stewing two mynocks in the same broth.”

The man sent a few more shots towards the snowtroopers, then turned to the speeder’s pilot, a four-armed female whom Foodie identified as a Codru-Ji. “Flight officer!” he called. “I need to hotwire your speeder to crash into those ammo crates after we’re gone.”

Tags: Outsourced, Corellian_Outrider, Mitth_Fisto, The Vanguard, Bardan_Jusik

 

IC: Shirl Coppa​

Thunder Flight, Battle of Hoth

"Woohooo, you did it!" Shirl's wingman usually took the optimist high road, something that he appreciated but didn't understand. The boosted confidence he felt melted faster than the morning snow as the comm lit up with an eerie transmission from Frenzy, "Ummm.."

A tingling sensation on the back of his neck that gave him goosebumps as Shirl realized their current position was quiet, no shots from the AT-STs were inbound. "Frenzy we need to-" a loud crashing sound accompanied by a flashing light erupted just off Shirl's wing before he could finish. He didn't want to look behind to check on his wingmate, Shirl knew the man was gone. A stonewall sensation gripped him momentarily and he went into a mental auto-pilot, evading the shots and heading away from the battlefield. Flying wildly off course, he entered a trance. He didn't want to believe what had just taken place was real. Maybe if he kept flying, he would wake up and they would have the Imperials on the run. Frenzy was a good wingman, as demonstrated by his willingness to provide cover, even in an exposed flight path.

"To all personnel, Code One Five." The message was from the Rebel command center, bringing Shirl to his senses as he realized his wing was flying no where. "I repeat, Code One Five." Shirl didn't react right away, he just kept flying. Hoping he would wake up from all of this and be hungover in real life. Real life, where he didn't ruin peoples lives by betraying them or getting them killed. Then, like a flipped power switch, Shirl pushed his steer stick and banked onto a flight path towards the main hanger. "Thunder lead, Ditch here, I lost Frenzy on the last pass, heading back to base." His words hung in the air like a bad joke, a joke he wouldn't live down.



Bardan_Jusik Mitth_Fisto

 

IC: Ianna Mcear
Hyperspace

Kid made her jump to hyperspace as the last cruiser detonated behind her. She let out a breath, a long one. She'd survived, she'd made it through another battle with her life. That was something to be happy about. Her, Joy, the other woman, Lou was it, they'd made it through, and hammered the Empire on their way out. A blow had been struck but, did it outweigh the losses sustained. The lives taken by the evil imperials.

Maniac, a rush of sadness mixed with rage, came over her. She slammed her fist into her thigh, she should have done more, should have stuck with him, she could have saved him. She hit herself again, no it wasn't her it was that stromie, that plastic man that killed him. He was most likely dead now, blow away by the flurry of torpedos that rained down on that position as the brave pilot fell from the sky.

Good, one less to worry about.

She continued to simmer in her hatred, her anger, her pale face becoming more and more red. Then she thought of the day before.

They had to wake early and Ianna was having none of it, remaining in her bunk under three blankets. It was always so cold when she was trying to sleep.

"Kid, time to get up." Maniac cooed. Ianna just curled up tighter into her blankets pulling them over her head to block the noise of the people around her. "Don't be like that." he replied almost like her father. "You know you're going to miss breakfast. I hear Foodie's got something special planned." She lowered the covers just a bit a single green eye peering out at him.

As much as she liked Foodie's creations, she was unsure if it was worth getting out of her warm bed. After a little more thought she turned back over.

"Alright, it's your fault." Maniac said sounding like he was walking away.

Ianna snuggled deeper into blankets finally getting just a little more rest. She didn't know how much time passed, maybe a minute, or less when she felt her covers be lifted up and a handful of snow and ice, plentiful substances in a base made of the stuff, be shoved under them. Right away she sucked in a deep breath throwing the covers off herself and leaping out of bed. In front of her, with his back turned, was Maniac broad shoulders shaking with uncontained laughter.

"I told you." he called out.

The young woman stood with bare feet on the solid ice dressed in her light pajamas, not meant to be out and about in snowy weather, shivering with her arms wrapped around herself.

"You're mean," she replied through chattering teeth.

"But, you're awake now aren't ya." he called out again with his back still to her. "Now get dessed and come to breakfast."

She just stuck out her tongue as she pulled her uniform from her footlocker.

In the present, in her claustrophobic cockpit she could not escape these thoughts, this memory. She would never see his smiling face, hear his boisterous laugh that came from deep in his chest. Another tear came to her eye followed by more rage.

Maniac, Striker Lead, and so many more were killed, taken from her by the Empire.

As her anger built she slammed her fist into her thigh once, twice, three times, knowing that it would leave a bruise. And as her angst crested into a crescendo she screamed, shouted into the blue void of hyperspace. All of her anger, all of her rage was released in a single yell from her small chest. Her throat was raw, torn by the scream that ripped through her but, afterwards she felt better, more in control, drained of the dark emotions that overwhelmed her.

Dropping out of hypersapce she put another smile on her face. Looking around to see if anyone else would appear before making another jump.

"Don't let the universe take that from you." Maniac's words call out to her.

He was right, the Empire could take people, places, things from her but, it couldn't take her spirit, her smile. She was determined to hold onto it, she would smile, even if her heart was broken, even if a storm of rage swirled inside her chest she would continue to smile.

They'll never take that away from her, not ever.

TAG: Rebecca_Daniels, Bardan_Jusik, The Admiral, Mostlymad, Vehn, Chyntuck.

 

IC: Kayn "Mean Streak" Balzroth On The Rocks

Hours later, the three X-wing pilots were a little better rested, ships patched up as well as they could manage in austere conditions, and hyperspace microjumps plotted from the point where they expected to move clear of the asteroid field. Kayn had recovered from his neural withdrawal headache, plugged into Starfiend III again and was ready to take on the galaxy. Still maintaining radio silence and passive sensors, they lifted from the moonlet and moved off into the maelstrom.

Kayn couldn't help humming one of his favorite tunes for this kind of flying as he wove through the rocky space. Life as a rebel was no bed of roses, but these moments of sublime flying bliss made up for a lot.


A signal from the sensor warning receiver flashed red warning patterns in his brain. Something was transmitting up ahead, a weak, scattered signal coming from behind a big asteroid. Looked like an Imp sensor scan, not a standard TIE fighter or bomber. He ran the signal through his neural database and grinned at the result. TIE/rc. The recon TIE carried better scanners than most TIEs, but at the expense of one of its laser cannon. That lack of firepower tended to make them easy kills. And they usually operated alone, scouting ahead of larger forces. We can swat this one like a bloated bloodfly on our way out of here.

Rocking his wings to get his wingmates' attention, he beckoned them in close and waved with his hands, showing a plan of attack. He pointed at the big asteroid ahead, then at himself, and waved his hand to show himself going to the left side of the asteroid, then he pointed at Paladin and signaled for him to go right, then at Vixen to swoop under it. With a cocky grin, he gave both his wingmates thumbs up and accelerated to attack speed. It's a race now! Which of us is the first around the asteroid to nail the TIE?

TAG: Adalia-Durron

 

IC: Louise "Lou" Gray
Hyperspace

Lou ripped off her helmet and flung it onto the dash. Her hair was sweaty and matted from being trapped under her helmet and her arms ached from working the the stick. The mental fatigue associated with coming down from a stressful situation was starting to flood her mind. For a second she allowed herself to rest her eyes on the blue tunnel of hyperspace. Only a second. It was dangerous to look into the tunnel for too long. People went crazy. People went nuts when they reverted back to realspace.

Lou closed her eyes and exhaled allowing the stress to roll off her shoulders and chest. She'd forgotten how stressful combat could be at times. Not that she had a lot of combat experience. The last major engagement she'd participated in was over Scarif. She'd seen limited action but gotten her first TIE kill. She could still remember the pilot ejecting from the wounded TIE into zero-g, air hose hissing around his neck, body writhing and gasping for air, and then an eery stiffness signaling death.

"No regrets, Lou, no regrets," Lou whispered quietly to herself as she remembered something her husband, a flight instructor with the Imperial Academy on Carida, had told her once.

Husband.

She glanced instinctively down at her left hand, her ring finger, and half expected to see the diamond ring shining back at her. There was nothing there. She'd taken the ring off shortly before Hoth and misplaced it in her belongings. A furious scramble here, the threat of Imperial invasion there, had stalled the search for the one thing tying her to her past. The ring, just like her marriage, was lost.

Lou knew she flew a bit recklessly. It was her way of getting back at her husband and those like him for drumming her out of flight school. Every turbolaser she took out, every bomb she dropped, every time she took the life of an Imperial pilot she knew she was one step closer to finding her husband and ending the rage that swelled deep inside.

Flight school.

She had been getting decent enough scores in the standard TIE fighters and was about to move into the Interceptor when her husband had called her into his office and told her the news. They immediately fought. It was a heated argument. Lou remembered saying a few choice words. Words that would really set her husband off.

Her husband lost his temper and landed several hard blows on Lou's face in retaliation. She nearly pulled her blaster pistol out on him but he knocked it away just as she pulled the trigger. The stray blaster bolt started a fire. Alarms went off all over the facility and for a brief moment their struggle, symbolic of their rocky marriage, was over. Lou slipped out the door and never looked back.

Lou opened her eyes as the Y-wing reverted to realspace. She spotted Kid's Y-wing drifting off to starboard. She gave a brief wave before plotting another jump. It felt good to belong again. The loss of Gold Squadron in the first Death Star was hard on her. The recent transfer hadn't helped much. There was still time to form bonds. Time to make friends. There was plenty of time for all of that.

One thing she was certain of, however, was that her time to find her husband and make him pay was beginning to run out. She knew he had been pressed into active duty and commanded his own squadron. Sooner or later they'd meet again. She was sure of that.

If they did, well, she'd be ready.

Tag: Bardan_Jusik;Rebecca_Daniels;TheAdmiral;galactic-vagabond422

 

IC: Max Pallas (flying as Bandit 6)
Ethan “Veteran” Malek
Trapped by the Interdictor Grappler, Battle of Hoth
Ethan grinned as he felt the Grappler´s tractor beam pulling his X-Wing towards the ships hangar. So far his plan seemed to work, the Imperials had taken the bait and decided to pull them into the hangar. His hand clasped around his blaster and he felt how his heart started to beat faster and faster in his chest the closer they came to the Star destroyer. The Omarian Star was before him and Ethan watched as the ship was dragged through the hangar shields. Behind him came Bandit 6, followed by the No Deal. "Wait until we are all within the hangar," he whispered over com. Then his X-Wing crossed the shields and Ethan saw the steel ceiling of the imperial hangar above him. He turned towards his droid. "Be ready R7, magnetize us to the ground as soon as possible." Having served on a Star Destroyer before, Ethan knew the standard procedure in case of an attack on the hangar. The Imperials would deactivate the hangar shield as well as the gravity, venting the hangar into the void. Ethan had advised the soldiers on the Omarian Star to wear their space fighting gear, armored spacesuits with magnetic boots that would help them stay on the ground in zero gravity. Though he knew that even with these the attack would still be critical, if the Imperials managed to seal off the hangar, the game was over. They had to be quick.

Ethan left his thoughts as the No Deal entered the hangar behind him. Now all Rebel ships were in position. The Omarian Star had already landed and a company of Stormtroopers had begun to encircle the ship, with more coming off the other rebels. Slowly the Star lowered its ramp towards the hangar and Ethan saw the Stormtroopers raise their weapons on what they believed to be helpless surrendering Rebels. "Now." Ethan whispered over the comm and all hell broke loose in the hangar.

Max had been in no hurry to get out of her fighter. She’d reluctantly retracted her S-foils, knowing it would take her weapons offline, and followed the other fighter and the two freighters in to the hangar bay. She’d taken her time to power down and begin to exit. The rows of Stormtroopers awaiting them didn’t increase her haste. I have a very, very bad feeling about this.

Her canopy was still closed when the other pilot, “Veteran,” and the Rebels off the Omarian Star began their attack. She had seen the Stormtroopers cock their heads and change their stance. She wasn’t entirely surprised when the magcon field came down, sucking most of the contents of the hangar out into space. She’d already anchored her ship by powering up the magnetic boots in the landing gear. The Stormtroopers stayed put, of course; their boots could be magnetized and their armor had self contained life support. She couldn’t see the Rebels, though, with the Star blocking her sightline.

She glanced back over her shoulder at the maw of the hangar bay, with cold space beyond it, and then over to the right, where the hangar control center was. Somehow, they had to get that magcon field up again.

Max punched a control on her chest box, and pulled an emergency breather out of a compartment on the side of her cockpit. She opened the canopy of her ship, while tucking the hold-out blaster into her right boot, undid her crash harness, and unlocked her astromech’s docking mechanism.

“Digger,” she said, “we need to get the magcon field back up. I’m going to need you to boost me over there.” The little droid returned a happy whistle, eager to be useful. Max carefully climbed out of the cockpit and moved cautiously over the hull of her fighter to the small droid. With the atmosphere of the hangar vented, there wasn’t the same suction now, the pressure was equalized. There was no gravity, though, so she was using her hands to stay anchored.

Digger let itself float upwards, so that it hovered above the connection socket. It opened a small port in its side, and whistled interrogatively. Max could see a snap clip and a metal cable. “Good thinking, Diggs,” she said, looping the cable through her belt and fastening it with the snap clip. She would stay tethered to Digger now, no matter what. She grasped the curve of its leg. “Ready!”

Digger switched on its rocket boosters and they shot over to the side of the hangar, as bolts flew around them. Max was surprised how quickly they moved; the little guy had speed! It reversed, attached to the bulkhead with its low-carbon steel treads, and rolled down to the deck, towing Max behind it.

She tapped its dome in a particular rhythm. Digg offered up another compartment, a hidden compartment. Max considered the contents and pulled out a dataspike. “Here we go!” She plugged it in to the hangar’s command terminal, and did a little searching. It was no good. The magcon field had been shut down from the bridge, there was no way she could get it back up. However… yes.

To the right was a lever, marked in a warning yellow, nearly flush with the wall. It was an emergency blast door, to be lowered in the event the magcon field went down, and it was manual. It couldn’t be overridden from the bridge. It wasn’t easy to move; it was stiff and without gravity, Max didn’t have much to push against. But soon there was a rumble, and she could see massive metal doors sliding together to block the hangar. If she could bleed atmosphere back in, they’d be good.

“You there! Freeze!” Max looked to her left. A Stormtrooper. Stang. Digg was up for the challenge. It barreled towards the man suddenly, extending its electroprobe and zapping him in the leg, just behind the knee, where the armor was weakest. “Ow! You—“ Max had drawn her blaster. Her first shot was a hip shot, tagging him on his side. She had a little more time for her second and third shots, and was able to hit him in the vulnerable spots, under the arm and in the throat, when her second shot knocked him backwards. He slumped, then, although the magnetics in his boots kept him upright. Okay. That’s creepy.

“You’re a very smart droid, you know that, Digg?” she asked. It purred happily. She pulled herself along the cable to the dead trooper, automatically taking his blaster and the grenade at his belt. An habit she’d picked up with the Bandits, scrounge the useful stuff. What she really wanted…oh yeah! It was slipped in along the back of his vambraces. Code cylinder. Even if he wasn’t very high ranking, it was what she needed.

She went back to the command center, plugged his identity code cylinder into the dataspike and furiously set her hands over the controls. A moment later, she crashed painfully to the ground. For the hangar, at least, the gravity was back. The atmosphere should be slowly coming back too, although the battle between the Stormtroopers and the Rebels was still going on.

There was a loud crash behind her, and she jumped in shock, whirling as the landing ramp of the No Deal came down. Figures poured off it, firing at the Stormtroopers with a wall of blaster bolts. The Marines had landed.
Tag: Mistress_Renata

OOC: More coming soon…

 

IC: Akiva Lurell AKA 'Wolf'
Thunder Flight, Battle of Hoth

The response from lead saw her and Waxer turning back into the fold, "Negative that Wolf and Waxer. Return to base immediately, we have TIE's inbound." Without a word between her and Waxer they obeyed orders and headed back into barn. Every member of Thunder Flight would have heard the evac code, it was up to them all to follow that order...as one.


Landing in a retreat from a battle always seemed to be a sweet release from the dangers and near misses of battle, a view that although there were losses, this was proof you were not one of them. She could see someone shooting down bits of the ceiling to bury supplies before they evaced, but the truth was much simpler, they were cooked if they didn't evac soon enough and stopping to bury supplies the Empire could purchase as an after thought wasn't going to do them any good unless the supplies had leading information tied to them that might implicate sympathizers. Thunder Lead lifted herself out of her cockpit as soon as she had popped the canopy. Wolf was doing some last second checks to see what her speeder was like after all of this. If they had to ditch one and not take it, hers would likely be easily sacrificed. Leaving it idling she slowly stood up as she noted the eye contact from her flight's lead.

"Anyone have any thermal dets or even some conc grenades. I'd like to put these out of action before we go," she indicated the speeders they had flown in on. One of the few remaining hanger workers nodded his head eagerly. Traitor. No craft deserved to be blown up by those that they had faithfully served just moments before. It showed a measure of lack of faithfulness that turned her stomach.

"I think we can scrounge something up!" He shouted to her over the din of the bay as a chef droid(!?) piped up with an even better idea. “If I may say so, Captain Wystari,” Thunder Lead was still processing that this was a cooking droid of some sort making the suggestion. “I believe that I have a somewhat safer solution to offer. Perhaps we could weaken the structural integrity of this cave in a few well-chosen places, and let these droids strike the final blow after we are gone?”

Her mouth hung open at this, that droid had to be defective! It was tantamount to her saying they should strap a bomb to her pet and send it running into a structurally weak corner to die! Thunder Lead smiled at that idea, as more blaster fire broke out in the hanger, already looking at her and about to protest this insanity and apparent lack of planning had her watching as Thunder lead fell from her craft and toppled to the hard frozen deck of the hanger, a blaster mark scored through her chest. Instinctively dropping over the side of her craft away from the blaster fire left her safe for a moment. Only she knew that moment wouldn't last as the number of active shooters grew rapidly while their side seemed to be whittling down instead of growing as what she estimated was two squads of snowtroopers that were bursting into the bay. Their blaster rifles chattering putting red bolts into whoever, whatever, they could target. One of those targets was an unknown wounded man, who stared down at the brand new hole in his chest with a curios look on his face until the pain stuck him. Then he felt nothing as a moment later he joined Thunder Lead, dead on the deck.

Drawing her four hold out blasters she ducked above cover to do a wide spray of two quick shots from her weapons, largely this was a covering fire tactic but she still got the grim satisfaction of seeing a couple go down with a shot to their head or torso before she ducked back to her cover and began shifting herself over. Only to have her beginning of a rhythm taken by that blasted malfunctioning droid and sadistic hanger techs calling out to her about needing to hotwire her speeder. "Welcome to if you know how!" She hollered back before peeling back her flight suit sleeves to reveal her vambraces. Tapping the correct one she holstered that arms weapon before rising and activating the shield to hold in front of her head and upper torso as her three free arms continued to pump fire in a steady fashion to give the tech a fighting chance to run to her speeder. Hopefully whatever their plan was, it better be better than the last one.

TAG: Outsourced, Chyntuck, Corellian Outrider, Bardan_Jusik, The Vanguard

 

GM Approved!

General Information:

Character's Name: Anthony Walker
Callsign: “Ghost”
Species: Human
Gender: Male
Rank/Affiliation: Flight Officer
Languages: Basic, Droidspeak, A bit of Binary
Residence: Wherever based at
Home Planet: Bespin (Cloud City)
Age: 24
Approved Special Features: N/A

Character Traits:

Personality: A bit of a prankster, Friendly to everyone
Habits/Mannerisms: Loves playing practical jokes when outside of missions, but laser sharp focus in the pilot’s seat
Likes/Dislikes: Enjoys jokes and flying, can’t stand anything to do with the Empire.
Racial Traits: N/A

Strengths and Weaknesses:

Physical Strengths and Weaknesses: Quick and agile, smaller than most at only 5’4”, but surprisingly strong.
Mental Strengths and Weaknesses: Brilliant pilot, able to calculate where enemy pilots will be due to trajectory.
Emotional Strengths and Weaknesses: Very passionate for his friends and family, would break down if anything happened to any of them.

Looks:
Appearance:
Picture:


Eye Color: Brown
Hair/Fur: Mop of hair on top of head
Skin Color: Light-skinned
Clothing: Flight suit

Personal History:
Immediate Family: Born to wealthy merchant parents, Desdemona and Trill Walker
Spouse/Children: Single, no children
Biography: Walker had a special talent when it came to flying, so it was no wonder he was enrolled in the Empire’s Air Force as soon as he was able to. While there, he earned the nickname “Ghost” for always moving around so quickly and easily that one couldn’t keep track of him. Walker soon fell out of love with the Empire, and left to join the Rebellion.

Miscellaneous:

Pets: None
Weapons: BlasTech DL-44 Heavy Pistol
Starship Qualifications: All Models of TIE Fighters, X and Y wings. Prefers X-Wing!

Droid: Walker found his Astromech droid, A4K7, while on the planet Yavin, and took him in as his personal flight droid. Nicknamed AK47!