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

Charlie Flight
Swordfish System
The Bith Marquis

IC: Louise "Lou" Gray, Flight Officer Ianna Mcear, Sergeant Joy Sunwalker

Lou skimmed the accretion disk and kept a sharp eye out as Bravo flight engaged the approaching Imperial Gunboats. Blasts were exchanged, sensors were jammed, as Bravo flight did their due diligence and kept the heavier weapons of the Empire at bay. She'd have to buy Kayn a drink when this was all over.

"Charlie Lead to Charlie Flight," Lou said opening up her throat comm, "form up in a column nice and tight. I want to mask our signature even more as we approach the target. Stay alert. We could be bounced at any time by the Imperial Navy's finest. That means the Skulls. Any hyperspace signature shows up on your sensors let me know."

"All Sheep, Black Five is poking the guard in the eye with a sharp stick. Everybody come running in while it's blind. Make it quick, I can't hold out for long here."

That was Kayn doing what Kayn did best. Improvise, kill, and improvise some more, Lou thought as she visually spotted the Lancer class frigate formally known as the Prince Eugene hulking in front of the damaged Star Destroyer.

"Course correction," Lou called out, "heading 030 degrees, full speed ahead. Cannons only I want to save our payload for the real target. We'll make a hard charging pass, guns hot, against the deflector shield projector. High angle attack, one pass, and then we'll carry on past toward the Bith Marquis. When we get closer we'll spread out into finger four and launch our assault against the Star Destroyer's forward hangar bay."


Ianna looked up scanning the space for the distinctive trip-wings of Defenders descending upon them. While she didn't fancy her chances of winning a fight with them she knew if she had everyone with her they could do it. The fight kicked off and the young woman followed the orders brining her fighter/bomber around and slamming the throttle full. Behind her, the sound of her ion cannon spooling up was heard. For just a moment she wished Jeen was with her, sitting behind manning the turret. Closing her eyes tight she threw the thought out of her mind. She had a job to do, and it wouldn't do to go getting distracted.

"Understood Lou, coming around." She replied with a smile on her face.

Jocelyn keyed a couple of commands and made a last check of her instruments. She clicked her comms to show she understood. There was no need for a long conversation. Shadow was transmitting telemetry to her computer, showing all necessary data. Good thing that Kayn resorted to his antics as that would give them enough time to move towards the real target. But what was Lou thinking? They wouldn't do much damage with a strafing run, without missiles. Maybe the Ion cannons could at least disable the shields. "Copy Lead, Kid stay with me." she said in the Charlie Flight comm. channel.

"Six is clear, Lou, switching control of ion cannons to you," Airen commented internally as Lou pushed the Y-Wing toward the Prince Eugene.

"Understood," Lou replied as she slipped into her zone. It was a place where everything seemed to slow down. A place where the sharpest decisions, the fiercest decisions, of combat and life and death all seemed to come together.

Lou zigged and zagged as the Lancer class frigate opened up with its guns. A sort of lazy, sporadic, drunk fire. The frigate, well equipped to down snub fighters, was having trouble targeting thanks to Kayn. They knew something was out here, of course, but whether or not they'd have a targeting lock was something else. She did know that the Empire wasn't fond of teaching its minions to think outside the box. That, ultimately, would be their downfall.

She cycled her targeting computer to latch onto the deflector shield projector. It was a hard object to hit even for the lumbering Y-wing with blasters only. She knew the others probably had their doubts as to what she was doing. She'd feel the same way if she'd been given the same orders. She pivoted her Y-Wing so that it was on the same axis as the deflector shield projector as she began her final attack run.

"Change of plans," Lou commented, "let loose one torpedo at the deflector shield projector. Visual attack only. We've got a good line of sight so now it comes down to your skill. One torpedo, dumb fire, no targeting computer. I don't want the Imps getting a lock. Stay together, fight and fly as one."

Now, Lou, now! She thought as the projector loomed large in her cockpit window. She thumbed the toggle switch and felt a torpedo leave her Y-Wing. The blue streak of the proton torpedo flew away from her Y-Wing at the same time as she depressed her trigger sending swaths of energy directly at the deflector shield projector.

Then she was rocketing past and beginning the inevitable thundering run toward the Bith Marquis.

Lou looked over her shoulder and waited for any signs of damage. She'd cut it close but when had that ever stopped her from wrecking the life of an Imperial Navy ship?

Ianna put her shields double front to try and ablate the incoming fire. She wasn't the best at dancing between the lasers though she was aided by the fact they couldn't see straight it seemed. Her cockpit lit up with green energy as her shields took a glancing blow. It took a chunk out of her energy and caused her to grimace. The new orders came in, and she lined up her run, still trying to avoid the hail of fire coming in. Quickly her shields were getting chipped away and she didn't know if she was going to make it. No, of course she was going to make it, she had to.

"Torp away!" She called out pulling the trigger on her torp slotting it perfectly behind Lou's. They would hit the exact same spot...or as close she could be.

Joy avoided the blasts as best as she could. Her Imperial training surely helped as it helped her understand the thinking of the gunners and how they operated. The new order was a tough one given the speed with which they were flying, but doable. She instructed her astromech to prepare a torpedo for launch on her mark. As soon as she had a clear sight of the target she pressed the trigger and saw the "mynock" fly from the tube and race towards the Lancer Frigate. Hopefully it would do some damage...

Tag: @Bardan_Jusik, @TheAdmiral; @galactic-vagabond422; @TheSilentInfluence

 

IC: Kayn "Mean Streak" Balzroth
Free at Last

Kayn wanted to cheer as C Flight swooped in like avenging angels and blasted Prince Eugene at close range. That wasn't part of the plan, they were supposed to be attacking Bith Marquis, but he wasn't about to complain about getting some much-needed close support. He'd have to buy Lou a drink when they got back.

As torpedoes exploded against the frigate's shield projector, the Y-wings turned toward the star destroyer. They were the last of the bombers to reach the primary target of this mission. And that meant the Lancer was no longer a threat to the Sheep; all the fighters could engage the Bith Marquis at close range to minimize the effectiveness of the anti-fighter frigate's weaponry. Which meant he didn't have to stay stuck where he was, immobilized with enemy fighters closing in.

He synced his blasters and let loose with one last concentrated blast of plasma at PE's targeting sensor dish, then opened up his throttles, pulling clear of the frigate and moving in on the Imperial fighter screen. Looked like a full squadron of gunboats had launched; those were pretty tough opponents for an A-wing's light armament. But there were still a handful of TIEs to deal with.

"Bravo Flight, this is Black 5, let's take out those TIEs. Let the X-wings engage the gunboats." He loosed one concussion missile toward the gunboats, trying to keep them distracted and off-balance to help A Flight, then he was closing in on an Interceptor, pulverizing it at point-blank range with his heavy blasters. Another squint rolled in on his tail, lighting up his aft shields with green blasts. Kayn skidded away from the shots and pulled in closer to Bith Marquis, skimming across the upper hull, turning toward the superstructure, and yanking Rebel Rouser into a tight horizontal turn around the star destroyer's support pylon, zooming under the blocky bridge module as he circled beneath it.

As the hull plates blurred past just a handful of meters away, he caught a brief glimpse of a Corellian light freighter docked just below the destroyer's bridge. He hoped the plan was going more smoothly for the boarding party than it was for the fighters.

Maybe I could ask Skipper to use his turret guns to knock the squint off my tail ... No, I'm not sure what game he's playing, and I don't want to give away his identity.

He jinked slightly away from the superstructure, then rolled in even tighter to continue his circle, trying to line up his blasters for a backwards shot at the persistent Interceptor clinging to his six, but the angles just weren't there. One more lap... ?



TAG: @Adalia-Durron @Anedon @Mistress_Renata @BobaMatt @Rebecca_Daniels @The Vanguard @Vehn @TheSilentInfluence @TheAdmiral @galactic-vagabond422 @Mitth_Fisto @Bacta Bubble Bath @Corellian_Outrider @The Real Kyp Durron

 

Ic Mullen 'Priest' Shetland, Genevieve 'Foxxy' Lehrsherr , MacKenzie 'Fox/Flanker' Hollymander, Cassell 'Skipper' Wystari, Zephyr,
Bridge - Bith Marque


Mullen pulled his respirator up clipping it to his helmet as he pulled it low. Double checking he pulled his sleeves down to his gloves and tightening them down. The hall was clear, but that could change on the turbolift. Clearing the hall he stood post on the entrance to the lift waiting for the Spook and Foxxy to enter.

Moving up behind the Marines, MacKenzie punched in a common turbo lift code as all lifts to the bridge were coded. He turned to the others and said. "Standard procedure has the bridge crews blasters set to stun." He turned to the woman, "Zephyr's.......trick will buy us time to get some shots in. After than what ever she is delivering should take affect. Some will attempt to switch to 'kill' and fire back. Take out as many as you can. We need to get the shields down, and." He glanced back to the Valkyria. "I want to turn the Marques guns on the Prince. We clear?" He waited for a response before he pressed the 'go' key.

Foxxy nodded at the command. Her blaster was ready, she only needed a target. Hopefully they won't get into a crossfire with the EVA group. She had to protect the Spook. The man had field experience, but she and Priest were trained for this. Genevieve signaled for Priest to cover the corridor while the elevator came.

Mullen nodded his head as well, words being somewhat too slow in these kinds of small quiet operations. A simple head nod, or gesture the quickest quietest way to convey information. He checked his blaster one more time and moved into a niche sweeping his vision back and forth keeping aware of any patrols heading their way. They had this corridor locked down so he wasn't expecting much. Though they could have overrides. Couldn't let his guard down.

Zephyr took Matey with her as she headed for the maintenance access for the environmental systems. Getting there took slower than normal as the battleship was under battle conditions and the crew were on alert. Several times she had to use the treadwell droid to distract personnel away from her path.

"This looks familiar…" Zephyr said as the maintenance access hatch opened and she saw inside. Stepping in, she set to work with installing her concoction into the air regulation systems. It was a variation of the Dream Flower Potion. If drunk, would put a rancor to dreamland though her adaption had turned the potion into a gas. Airborne is a more useful delivery system... but the time it takes to fill the volume... and the potency was not as effective as ingesting it.

Matey warbled that it had disabled the fail-safes and changed the conditions of the command section to a higher humidity. "Good..." the Nosaurian chirped and injected the concoction into the system. The humidity should give the effects a boost in these conditions. "Should take a few moments."

With his back to the wall, MacKenzie scanned the empty corridor. The adjoining doors wouldn't stay sealed for much longer and he knew they needed to move soon. Very soon. He lift his comlink "Zeph, we nearly set?"

"Just letting it run its course... I'm on my way back to you." Zephyr responded, her voice quiet over the comlink. "I'll be a few minutes... most should be dropping off like flies by then."

"Good," He turned to Marines as he pushed the button and the turbo lift opened. "Time to go." He entered the lift first leading as he said he would. "When we hit the top, there will be opposition. As I stated the blasters will be on Stun. They will fix that as soon as the shooting starts, so be accurate." He adjusted his mask. "And make sure your masks are secure." He looked up to see Zephyr coming. It was time to make a mess.

Shetland kept his place sweeping back and forth as an eerie quiet began to settle in. He was used to this by now, the echoing silence as you waited for retaliation, or for a counter boarding party. Through it all he kept his breathing steady, it was only thing he could hear ringing in his ears until Spook gave his command.

Moving quickly he entered the lift after the others taking a post at the front, being the first one to be shot should someone be waiting on the other side. Though he did try to use the corners to shield himself a little, his wasn't completely suicidal. He hadn't survived this long by just being lucky. With one hand he pulled up his re-breather and clipped it to his helmet.

MacKenzie lifted his comlink as the doors shut. "Digger, in 30 seconds from my count I want you to shut down the main doors to the corridor off the bridge, clear? On my mark. Now." He hoped the droid heard, this would close the entire bridge off to the rest of the ship for at least a minute and that's all they needed. He turned to the group. "When the doors open," he pointed to the Marines "Go left, Zeph and I will go right. Watch the centre, but I doubt there will be anything from there." He glanced at his chrono, "The doors will open in 15 seconds, be ready, main doors if Digger got that, in 20. Clear?"

Without warning his feet began to feel insecure. In fact everything started to feel light. MacKenzie had felt this once before. The Anti Grav Wells were malfunctioning! Grabbing the side of the turbo lift he began to push down. "If you two have grav boots on, activate them now!" he snapped as he attempted to push himself down.



Tag @galactic-vagabond422 @TheAdmiral @Corellian_Outrider @Bardan_Jusik

 

R2-MA16, “Digger”
Starting out on the Valkyria, on the Bith Marquis

Digger knew his pilot had a low opinion of the new Intelligence officer, and he was beginning to understand why. The only order he’d received was disturbingly vague. “Digger, get everything you can, download it!” Did the man not know just how much information was stored in the databanks of an Imperial ship? Did he want small arms maintenance logs, the menus for the officer’s mess, PT schedules for the Stormtroopers, requistion request? There was intel to be gleaned from all of these, but there was a time factor involved. Digger pondered the order. His own pilot would be more specific. What would she want?

Personnel roster, especially senior officers. Yes. Mission logs for the last few months. Incoming communications. Intelligence reports and communiqués, especially recent ones. That would be something to focus on, he’d have to take some extra time to access those. What else? Fighter squadron flight rosters and mission logs. That was plenty to start with. If he could get anything else, that would be a bonus. He looked through a supply bin and found three blank memory cores. He hoped they’d be able to hold enough.

Matey had the input access point for the hangar, and some of what Digger would need he couldn’t get from there, anyway. There was no way he could access the Intel files, except from the bridge or from the office of the Intel officer. Well, the team was headed for the bridge, he could be the advance team, probably… He sent a message to Matey in binary, letting the other droid know of his destination, and rolled casually out the door towards the lift. Up three levels, to the…right. Up another two levels, and then there was the smaller lift specifically for droids. Much better. Up to the bridge level, and access code…easily cracked. Alarms went off and the ship shook. The Sheep must have begun their attack already.

He paused only for a moment, then turned to the right and rolled up a short ramp towards the main corridor and the ship information central bay. An officer was just ahead of him, and he rolled in behind the man, as if they were together.

Three others were in the room, and they looked up. “Have they found the captain yet?” asked one.

“No,” said the man Digger had followed. “He’s vanished!”

“And now we’re being attacked by the Rebels,” grumbled another. They paid no attention to him, and why should they? He was just a droid. Plugging in, he found an access point. Some of the information he wanted he could get easily, with only the most basic request. He plugged a memory core into an open slot and ordered a download of the flight rosters and mission logs, with a request for a roster of the senior ship personnel. Then, he set to the delicate task of trying to access the intelligence information. The access codes for those would be harder to crack.

As he worked, he suddenly heard a message from Hollymander. “Digger, in 30 seconds from my count, I want you to shut down the main doors to the corridor off the bridge, clear? On my mark, now!” Digger suppressed a grumble. He’d have to re-try to get to the Intel files afterwards, he had to follow orders. Lives depended on it. He found the door controls and then felt a shift in gravity. Automatically, he activated the magnetic field on the base of his supports. The human crew of the room didn’t fare so well. They floated into the air, shouting in alarm. The man was trying to get back to his console, where the ship’s environmental controls were located. Digger rather wished he had a blaster, but there was nothing he could do. He hoped the boarding team were prepared for this. One of the crew spotted him.

“Droid! Droid! Activate gravitational controls! Activate gravitational controls now!” he shouted. Digger chirped an acknowledgement, and rolled over to the environmental control console. He could slice the intel files from here just as easily, and it wouldn’t hurt for the Imperial crew to think he was one of them. The clock ticked on.

9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…now. Main doors closed. And now for another shot at accessing the intel files.

TAG: @The Real Kyp Durron, @galactic-vagabond422, @Corellian_Outrider, @TheAdmiral, @Bardan_Jusik, @Sarge, Anyone else on the Bith Marquis

 

~OOC~ joint post from @galactic-vagabond422, @TheAdmiral, @The Real Kyp Durron and myself. Many thanks

~IC~ Mullen 'Priest' Shetland, Genevieve 'Foxxy' Lehrsherr , MacKenzie 'Fox/Flanker' Hollymander, Zephyr Trillo,
Bridge - Bith Marque

Matey gave a worried warble as the droid started tipping over from the weightlessness. The raised end dropped back down with a thud as it magnetised under the treads to maintain contact with the surface.

"All part of the plan, Ody?" Zephyr grabbed hold of Holly's shoulder to keep herself close as momentum lifted her off the ground. She took the electro whip from his belt. "How about you give us a ride, Matey?"

The droid gave an inquisitive response before finding the unpowered wire wrapping around its torso by an expect flick of Zephyr's wrist.

"Hold on and careful of the goods."

"Yeah, not part of my plan!" MacKenzie said attempting to find ground. He felt her hand on his shoulder and then watched as she attached his whip to the droid. 'Genius' he thought. He smirked when she told him to be careful. "I'll do my best." He reached down and grabbed her around the waist. This wasn't going to be very becoming, more awkward. Looking at her he noted her gun belt hung loosely on her hips and in a second he reached his arm through it and hooked on with one arm. "I got you, and my blaster." he grunted getting a better grip.

Mullen felt his feet leaving the deck Spook didn't have to order him to activated his mag boots, they were heavy, but invaluable when boarding a ship you were looking to make a chaos on. Seemed that had already been done. He gave a look to the First Sergeant nodding his head before following behind the pair seeming to fly through the air. His canter was slow having to step in the specific cadence to release and then secure the boots with each step. Also he was not flying down the halls without a care. The stormtroopers might be disoriented, but they would get their bearing soon enough and then they would have issues.

Foxxy felt uncomfortable, she was a ground pounder after all. The weightlessness was so unnerving to her. Added to the awkwardness were the mag boots. She was forced to walk slower and in a particular manner. She was used to speed and manoeuvrability. Switching the mag boots off would not work either as Genevieve had limited experience with zero-g, so she will be basically sitting ducks. The two floaters made their jobs harder as they too were easy targets that needed to be protected. Whoever had the bright idea to turn off the gravity will have problems with her... If it was part of the plan, that is... "I guess you should direct us where to go, sir, given the situation."

Mullen kept as good a pace as he could with the heavy boots and awkward jog he had to use. Spook and Zephyr were getting further and further ahead which wasn't good. They were also an open target. At the end of the corridor he spotted a white clad body floating through the intersection. Almost instantly Mullen stopped bringing his rifle up and squeezing off a few bolts. The trooper was already turned toward the small boarding team as the red lances of energy struck him in the chest.

"Contact." He called out moving to another niche and taking cover. "Sir I'd suggest taking cover." His words were meant for Holly they were a nice easy target right now, and the element of surprise was gone. Three more stormies rounded the corner each of them seemingly adjusted to the zero-g environment, so that advantage was gone as well. The corporal line up his shots and took them. Another trooper fell but, the return fire was quick. Ducking behind his cover he waited for a break in the fire.

They were moving and it wasn't slow thankfully. MacKenzie just hoped the gravity would return and even this fight out. The Marine calling himself Mullen told them to take cover. He wasn't wrong. Despite the lack of gravity they were taking fire. Rolling himself toward it he attempted to aim and fire. He had no balance nor control and his shots went wide. "Frack it! We need Gravity!"

Foxxy considered joining in the firefight, but she had to protect the civilians. She turned back to check if someone was trying to sneak up on them. Score one for her, there was a Navy Trooper who appeared from another corridor. Even though the man did not wear mag boots he had zero-g training. He managed to take a shot, but the blast flew past her, the Spook and the Nosaurian. It struck a lighting panel sending sparks and dimming the lights a bit. Genevieve pointed her rifle and took a couple of shots sending the body fly back and crashing in the far wall with a thud. "You okay, Mullen?" she asked the other Marine.

The troopers halted fire giving Mullen a chance to look out and line up his shots. He only had a moment as plastic men readjusted their aim. One quick burst caught one in the helmet sending the body tumbling back in space crashing into the wall behind them. It would almost be entertaining if there wasn't more deadly fire coming the marine's way. He was just a little late in returning to cover a blast just grazing his shoulder. Gritting his teeth he took a breath stepping out and put one last trooper down. In front of him four troopers were tumbling and spinning in the zero-g no longer moving.

"I'm good Sarge," He replied to the woman's question. "Got a little scraped, but nothing I can't handle." He followed up behind the Spook and the droid.

Soon they reached the main bridge entrance. Knowing his training he took a post on one side of the door rifle at the ready, prepared to lay down suppressive fire.

Hanging on, he had no way of controlling his body roll and moving to shoot was near impossible. "Matey! Weapons console!" He pointed across the Bridge. MacKenzie knew if he could get there, he'd be able to turn all weapons on the Prince. Blaster fire was everywhere and try as he might returning it wasn't going well. Attempting to roll whilst holding to Zephyrs' belt he suddenly felt a shot of pain in his leg. He'd been hit. Looking down he gritted his teeth at the burn on his upper thigh. It wasn't bad, a burn at best, a new scar at worst. He winced as he was being dragged, they were close now.

TAG: @galactic-vagabond422 @TheAdmiral @The Real Kyp Durron @Bardan_Jusik

 

GM Update Part I:

Operation MIDWAY

​

Able Flight/Baker Flight:

IC: Commander Flagg (NPC)
Leading the Black Sheep

In an effort to take stock of what was happening, Flagg took a moment to pull his fighter up "over" the battle, looking down at what was transpiring beneath him. He and Max had managed to blow through the TIE Interceptors, though there had been at least two survivors which had leaked through. The first was quickly cleaned up by one of Baker flight's A-Wings, while the second latched onto the rebel fighter's tail like a mynock. Meanwhile, the attack craft of Charlie and Delta flights had begun attack runs on the Prince Eugene and the Bith Marquis respectively, taking out their shields. Flagg would have liked to have taken the vessels out in turn, the escort first followed by the destroyer, but battle rarely turned out so neatly. Meanwhile, the remainder of his own flight, Vixen and Vet were taking on a pair of the gunboats, ensuring that they couldn't harass the attack craft as they went about their attack runs.

Out away from them a pair of TIE fighters were still trying to make good their escape. Where they were escaping to Flagg couldn't fathom, neither craft was equipped with a hyperdrive, but it looked like one TIE was damaged and the pair were trying to put as much distance between them and the ongoing battle as possible. Looking up, the rebel commander could see a pair of TIE bombers circling the battle area like a pair of vultures. Active scans from them showed their targeting systems were active, trying to get missile locks on the craft below them, though so far their efforts had been in vain.

Looking back he saw Max's craft still hanging off his wing. It was time to go back to work. "Max, let's hit those starwings near the destroyer's bow," he commed to his wingman, indicating the group of twelve that had emerged from under the destroyer and were trying to catch up to rebel attack craft. It would be twelve on two, but rebel pilots were used to such odds, even if these were further stacked against them due to the gunboats being equipped with shields. Flagg ensured that she had heard him before pushing his craft's nose over, diving down on the gunboats from above...

TAG: @Adalia-Durron @Mistress_Renata @Anedon @Sarge @Rebecca_Daniels @The Vanguard @BobaMatt

---

Charlie Flight/Delta flight:

IC: Major Beskaryc Taab/Major Grace "Boomer" Valor (NPC)
Leading Delta Flight

Taab yanked the steering yoke of the Iron Cross this way and that, seemingly at random in an attempt to throw off the firing solution from the Prince Eugene. It seemed he'd managed to find the one gunner that hadn't been hoodwinked by Mean Streak's jamming, and his fighter now was solidly bracketed by green turbo laser fire from the escort frigate. "Down!" Boomer called out from the backseat, screaming at him to push the B-Wing's nose over and get closer to the Bith Marquis. "Use her for cover." She screamed again, until Taab finally complied.

The Iron Cross pushed over in a straight line, and Taab immediately regretted his decision. This was going to get him killed he thought as fire from the Lancer walked right along with him for a few moments before slacking off completely. Risking a glance over his shoulder he saw that the fire from the Prince Eugene was being redirected towards Charlie flight's Y-Wings which were now swooping down on the vessel, pouring in laser and ion fire before each launching a single torpedo.

"shab," Taab thought to himself as his own craft sped towards "safety". One torp each is not going to be enough to destroy that thing, and until it's gone we can't assault the hanger deck of the Bith Marquis. "Their targeting computers are off..." Boomer said, her voice almost a whisper. "shab it all..." Taab replied. So not only were they launching a smaller than needed strike, they were doing it by the seat of their pants. They were going to have to either be very lucky, or very good if they wanted to ensure that half their torpedoes didn't miss the ship entirely, much less strike at vital systems. The one thing they did have going for them was that they all seemed to wait until the last moment before launching their heavy ordinance. They actually might have a chance at hitting something then Taab thought, though getting in that close they ran the danger of...

A bright explosion lit up the sky as Cadera and Saeli's Y-Wing exploded a moment after they had launched their torpedo, giving expression to Taab's as yet wholly formed thoughts. Still their torpedo tracked true, following after the others before exploding close aboard to the Imperial vessel. "Their shields are down." Taab jerked his head back and asked for clarification, and it seemed Boomer was only too happy to confirm the news. "Prince Eugene's shields are down." Taab grinned at the news, the Prince Eugene wasn't out of the fight yet, but this was the next best thing. Even better his course downwards towards the Bith Marquis saw him in perfect position to watch Wolf and Runaway's own attack run on the remaining shield generator for the Bith Marquis.

"And so are the destroyer's" Taab reported, nearly shouting it out to her. "Confirmed," Boomer replied happily before comming out to the rest of the Black Sheep. "Black Sheep, Black 13, Bith Marquis shields are out, repeat star destroyer's shields are out." Taab meanwhile had used the moment to pull the Iron Cross out of her headlong dive towards the now defenseless star destroyer. He had just the pair of torpedoes left, and Wild Card, who had somehow stayed on his wing throughout his maneuvers, had just the one. The plan was for them to hit the destroyer's vulnerable underside, the belly of the beast, and to his mind that was still the plan. But he needed a moment to catch his breath first. He noted that fire from the star destroyer had died away to nearly nothing, and from his position out in front of the destroyer's bridge tower blocked any attempt at the Lancer frigate from resuming it's attack upon him. He throttled back, almost to zero as he instructed Boomer to put power back into weapons and shields.

"Roger that," she replied as he got to work following his instruction as he scanned for incoming threats. So busy was she that she didn't notice the emergency transponder signal from Cadera and Saeli's Y-Wing indicating they had ejected, a signal that was cut short before she was finished. Taab meanwhile was watching as a combined platoon of space troopers and jumptroopers made their way along the upper hull towards the damaged bridge. He considered for a moment about going after them with his auto-cannon, knowing it would shred the group before they could reach their objective, but thought better of it. With his torpedoes all but expended he would need what little power he could feed the weapon's system to attack the Bith Marquis herself, not the few troopers moving along her hull. Nor did he have the marine's comm frequency to warn them of the incoming danger. So he blinked his landing lights at the bridge a few times before he began to apply forward thrust again.

"Delta flight, form up on me," he commed out instead, watching as the remainder of Charlie flight zoomed out overhead, laser bolts from the Prince Eugene nipping at their aft shields. They still had to take out the escort before they could begin their main attack run on the destroyer, and it looked like Charlie flight's first pass hadn't been enough. He applied full throttle even as Boomer reminded him. "We don't have enough warhead to take her out alone, and if we use the guns we'll have to recharge again before we can hit the destroyer..." she sounded despondent, and for once Taab could sympathize. It was then that he had an idea.

"We don't need to destroy her, just disable her." He smiled wolfishly behind his T-Visor as he brought his craft up and over the destroyer's bridge tower and back into the firing solution for the Lancer. A mission kill on the escort was as good as kill here, they only had to keep the escort from destroying them as they went in for the kill on the destroyer. Disabled would indeed be good enough, and with her small size and Charlie flight having taken down her shields, the Prince Eugene was vulnerable to this sort of attack "Delta flight, set shields double front," the Mandalorian commed even as a blast stuck his shields causing the Iron Cross the shudder. "And set forward guns for ion cannon only, save your heavy stuff for the destroyer" He paused for a moment, letting loose a string of milky blue ion bolts at the Lancer, watching the sparky impacts as they hit the vessel's hull. "Boomer, see if you can't get Charlie flight to join us, they have ions too."

TAG: @Mitth_Fisto @Bacta Bubble Bath @Vehn @TheAdmiral @galactic-vagabond422

OOC: I had expected Charlie flight to lay down enough firepower to take out the Prince Eugene, but this works out too and I think will be even more fun. The fate of Silent's characters is being left ambiguous for now in case she decides to rejoin us at a later date. For those in Charlie and Delta flights, feel free to post your own attack runs on the Prince Eugene separately and I'll sum up in my update. Or if you wanted to do a joint post, feel free to have your joint post attack run end in the disabling of the Prince Eugene via combined ion cannon fire from the lot of us. That is of course if Charlie flight decides to join in on that attack...


The rundown:

Able and Baker flights are tasked with engaging and destroying Imperial fighters in the area. These imperial fighters are now limited to:

• Two (2) Alpha-class Xg-1 Star Wing gunboats engaged with Vixen and Veteran near the Prince Eugene. These will all have some degree of battle damage/shield degradation and are free use to damage or destroy as players see fit.
• One (1) TIE Interceptor on Mean Streaks's tail. It is of course free use to damage/destroy at will
• Two (2) standard TIE fighters. One is damaged and is moving away from the battle area. The other is in formation with it. these are far enough away now that they cannot be immediately engaged, though any player may choose to try to run them down. As such they are not yet free use.
• Two (2) TIE Bombers. These circling above the Bith Marquis and are now actively trying to get missile lock on any bomber/attack fighter from afar. These are free use to engage and damage/destroy as any of you see fit
• Twelve (12) additional Alpha-class Xg-1 Star Wing gunboats which have launched from the Bith Marquis. These have now run up and over the bow of the Bith Marquis and are attempting to close in on Charlie and Delta flights from behind (unless Charlie flight decides not to join in on the attack on the Prince Eugene, in which case these gunboats are on Charlie flight's nose, your call Charlie flight, though until the next update you can each engage with either the gunboats or the Prince Eugene). These are free use for Able and Baker flight (and potentially Charlie flight members as well depending on what they decide to do) to engage and destroy as you see fit in your posts.

Both the Prince Eugene and the Bith Marquis have had their shields knocked out. Delta flight is leading an ion cannon attack on the Prince Eugene in an attempt to disable her and expects that Charlie flight will be joining them (again, your call Charlie flight, you may choose to engage the group of twelve gunboats instead). The Bith Marquis has ceased firing upon anyone, the next part of the update will explain why. Any questions, feel free to post them in the fanclub or just PM me directly.

 

GM Update Part II:

Operation MIDWAY

​

OOC: Still splitting this up so everyone gets the appropriate tags. Again any questions, you all know how to reach me.

IC: Executive Officer of the Bith Marquis (GM restricted use NPC)
Bridge of the Imperial Star Destroyer Bith Marquis, confused and alone.

Still dazed and confused, the XO barely comprehended the multitude of reports being thrown at him now. "Prince Eugene reports their shields are knocked out, will continue to provide cover fire as able." yelled out the communications officer as another pair of B-Wings ran the gauntlet of the Bith Marquis' forward section, annihilating the last remaining shield generator dome of the Star Destroyer. "Shields have failed complete..." the damage control officer began before she was drowned out by an explosion at the front of the bridge. The XO's immediate reaction was that they had been hit by another torpedo, but if he had thought about it, the explosion wasn't nearly large enough for that.

Blaster fire now cut through the bridge, though it never registered with the senior officer that he should duck and cover along with the rest of his crew. Instead he was cut down by a string of red blaster bolts fired by one of the marines who had blown into the bridge. However, losing the XO, paralyzed with indecision and ineptitude, was a blessing in disguise for the crew of the Bith Marquis. The damage control officer was far better suited to performing her functions, and even as the bridge seemed to explode around her, (and what were a few explosions to an officer trained to deal with repair work?) and the blaster fire that rang out around her she called out an alert that the bridge was under attack by boarders. As the few naval and storm troopers tried to contain the attack in vain she used her last moments to try to salvage what she could out of the situation before she too was cut down by enemy fire...

---

IC: Lance Corporal Manx "Terminal" Bane (NPC)
Aboard the Bith Marquis

Bursting onto the bridge, the Duros marine laid down fire at whatever moved out in front of him. That was until the variable effects of the gravity generators being thrown between max and zero caused him to nearly heave out the contents of his stomach. By the time he recovered, the battle on the bridge seemed to be over, and the marines were rushing forward to take control of key systems aboard the ship. Bane for his part found himself at the damage control station, it wasn't a vital system, nor one likely to to any more damage to the vessel, but it was one that might inform the marines of any other vulnerabilities to the Bith Marquis. It was also a console he was able to interpret fairly easily.

Pushing the remains of a female officer out of the way, he took a moment to gather his bearings before he began to call out essential information to the other rebels on the bridge. "Helm control has been re-routed," he began. "Looks like that happened before we even got here." He paused for a moment scratching his head on that one. "Fire control is out," he looked forlornly at Hollymander, the plan to put the Prince Eugene under the big guns of the Bith Marquis seemed rather moot now. "The targeting and fire control computers were taken offline..." He paused as it took a moment to realize that indeed the guns of the Star Destroyer had gone totally silent. It looked as though in her last moments the damage control officer had been rather busy. The computer could be brought back online, but it would take time, time that the DC officer had thought the Imperials would use to retake the bridge. In the meantime, the guns were useless to the rebel boarders.

"Shields are..." he took a moment to check on the readings again. "Gone, looks like the fighters took out the shield towers." He looked to the other marines. "So...what are we doing here again?" He asked in bewilderment as a sudden light from outside the bridge shown in brightly. The lights blinked again before the Duros figured out they were the landing lights of a B-Wing blinking on and off at the ruined bridge window. The lights blinked a third and final time before the craft soared off, up and over the bridge. "Now what do you think that was all about?"

TAG: @Vehn @Sarge @Corellian_Outrider @The Real Kyp Durron @TheAdmiral @galactic-vagabond422 @The Vanguard and @Mistress_Renata for Digger

 

IC: Ethan Malek, Amber Tehanis (combo with @Adalia-Durron)

Amber glanced back and caught sight of explosions. "One down." she muttered as she opened a channel to Ethan. "Vet, lets take the other one now." She began to pull back on her controls. "90 degrees, let's tickle it's belly!" she suggested, knowing the thing had a 360 degree turret on top. "Same move, hopefully they've not figured us out yet!"

"Depends on what the pilot is like," Ethan replied. The first skipray had fallen into their trap easily which gave him hope the second´s pilots where unused to void warfare as well. The empire really must be struggling at all front that they send more and more untrained personal in these battles. Taking aim he fired a few probing salvos at the enemy to see how they would react. "Would suggest us hitting the engines, if they can't move they will be helpless."

"You got it Vet." An almost predatory smile spread as she accelerated. "Going in hard and heavy." She switched to single fire, "Squirt, front shields still, same game." The droid gave an affirmative beep as she began to fire upon the gunboats tail end. There was narrowed piece there, if they could get through the shields and take that out. "Vet, go for the same spot, weaken the shields, then double torp it again!" she told him, she had not right to give a senior officer orders, but she felt she was the more aggressive of the two at this point and happy to be in the line of fire. Maybe Ethan had more to lose than her, she didn't know, she just knew it felt right.

"Already on it," Ethan said while taking aim. It was a bit risky to spent their remaining torpedoes here but they had no other choice. He opened a ray of fire with his turbolasers at the point already penetrated by Amber. As he saw the enemy shields flicker he took another second to adjust his aim before firing both of his torpedoes at the enemies weak spot.

Amber pulled up had having let her torpedo go, behind her Ethan made the killing shot and Squirt informed her the Gunboat was doomed. "Whooo!!" she almost squealed as adrenaline was coursing now. She opened a channel to Kayn, this was the bit she was looking forward too. "Vixen to Streaker, your butts been saved by Vet and I, you're welcome." She closed and smirked awaiting the response.

Tag: @Sarge

 

IC: Kayn "Buns of Durasteel" Balzroth
At the Center of Attention Again

"Thanks for caring about my butt, Vixen. Go kill some Imps." Poor girl, she's obviously still in denial about her feelings for me.

The squint on his tail had fallen back a bit, unable to keep pace with the A-wing it was chasing in tight circles around Bith Marquis's superstructure. White blurs streaked past as he ripped across the star destroyer's upper hull, white blurs that hadn't been there on his last lap. He retrieved a freeze frame from his cybernetic eye. Stormtroopers going EVA! Frack, I don't know the marines' commlink frequency! Mental note, coordinate that info for all pilots and ground pounders next time we do a combined op.

Kayn continued his circle at full speed. He had just enough of a lead over the Interceptor that he was able to spare a shot at the white-shelled Imps making their way toward the bridge. Rebel Rouser's blasters pivoted downward and opened up at maximum rate of fire, carving twin swaths through the troopers. He had no idea how many he had killed. Too many. Not enough.

He had been circling under the BM's bridge too long, making the move predictable. Time to mix things up. Abruptly rolling 180 degrees, he reversed his turn in front of the superstructure, making a figure 8 that extended toward BM's bow before looping back aft, putting him head-to-head with the squint that had been pursuing him doggedly. They fired simultaneously. Kayn's forward shields flared, the Interceptor exploded spectacularly, so close he couldn't avoid the fireball. As the A-wing escaped the flames, it forward shields died completely.

Much as he hated pointing his tail at hostiles, that was the safest move he had left. Pulling for vertical, he soared upward. TIE Bombers lurked overhead.

"Bravo Flight, this is Bravo Lead, let's go high and nail these dupes."


TAG: @Adalia-Durron @Anedon @Rebecca_Daniels @BobaMatt @The Vanguard

 

IC: Maxime “Max” Pallas
Following the Leader like a good little Sheep…

They had gotten through the TIE fighters without too much trouble. The enemy pilots had been focused on trying to take out the lumbering Y-wings of C flight, and between the incorporation of the gunners on the bombers and the agile X-wings, all but two had been destroyed. She looked at the two fleeing TIE fighters, headed away from the ships under attack. They didn’t have hyperdrives, no place to flee to… what did they know that the Sheep didn’t know?

She wanted to mention that to Flagg. If there was a threat, a base on one of the larger asteroids in the debris field or a hidden Imp ship, they might want to factor that in sooner rather than later. Before she could say anything, though, he was speaking up. "Max, let's hit those starwings near the destroyer's bow."

She could see them, emerging probably from one of the undamaged hangars, ready to come up for the Rebel bombers who were moving towards the destroyer. Starwings. Ugh. I hate these guys. They had shields, they had hyperdrives, they had decent peripheral vision, they had rudimentary tractor beams and they had more torpedoes than was reasonable for a ship their size. On the plus side, they weren’t particularly fast or maneuverable, putting them on a par with the Y-wings.

“Got it, Boss,” she said. She linked the fire from her cannons, knowing she’d need more impact to get through the shields of the gunboats, and brought her torpedoes online. She hated to use them; the Rebellion was always short. They were coming in from below, and were lined up in attack formation. “I’ll take the right.” He was banking away, ready to shoot, and she came straight at the guy on the right. “Boost the power on the forward shields, Belgium.”

“No shavit! I’m not suicidal, even though you are!” He’d been grumbling and arguing the entire trip, and Max couldn’t wait to get Digger back. If she had her way, her astromech was never getting a vocabulator.

She jinked slightly, with the starwing in her sights, and fired before she was completely in range. She could see her initial blasts flaring off his shields, but she kept at him, then pulled away to the right, still firing, rolling slightly to avoid her opponent’s wingman, who was trying to target her. She could see her shots stitching across him, too. She pulled her nose up, climbing, and pushed the throttle forward for more speed. The X-wing responded, kicking her hard back against her couch. Max blinked, looking at her controls. Sparky had said she’d given the ship a few upgrades, but this was crazy. She looped, dropped the nose back down, and came back at an angle to the starwing which had tried to follow her, sending another blaze of bolts across its flank. With weakened shields and all those torpedoes onboard, it looked pretty spectacular as it went up.

Well, that’s one down. Now if the rest of A-flight would decide to join us, we’ll be sitting pretty. Better yet… Max looked towards the destroyer and the frigate. How long could it possibly take a squad of Marines to blow up an enemy Star Destroyer? She didn’t dare take her hands off the controls to touch the corley wreath in her pocket, there was another starwing in front of her. Mom, help them, if you can. Get them out of there.

TAG: @Bardan_Jusik, @Adalia-Durron, @Anedon, Anyone

 

IC: Louise "Lou" Gray/Flight Officer Ianna Mcear/Sergeant Joy Sunwalker
Swordfish System and the Bith Marquis

"The Star Destroyer's guns have stopped firing," Lou commented as she zipped along in the direction of the triangular weapon of war.

Blasts on her aft shields from the Prince Eugene reminded Lou that the battle was far from over. She banked her Y-Wing and gently zoomed back toward the Lancer class frigate to inspect the damage of their attack run. What her sensors told her surprised her. The shields were out but the frigate and its valiant crew continued to do everything in their power to slow the Rebel attack.

She watched as Delta flight zoomed on ahead of her with a full on ion cannon attack. The intent was clear. She glanced over at the Bith Marquis as the primary objective of the battle hung heavy in her mind. She could order Charlie Flight to support Delta or she could have them knock out the secondary hangar and complete their objective.

Decision time, Lou.

Lou pursed her lips in concentration. Go or no go. Either way the Rebellion would deliver a heavy blow to the Empire. Weighing on her mind was the nascent knowledge that Saeli Y-Wing has been obliterated by the Lancers guns. She hadn’t seen if Saeli made it out. In the chaos and confusion of battle it was clear to Lou that her decisions could get people killed. Good people. Friends.

She took one final look at her sensors and the battle situation before opening comms.

“Charlie lead to Charlie Flight,” Lou began, “we lost Saeli. Don’t know if she evacuated. New orders head for the Lancer full ion attack. Save your payload for the Destroyer. Let’s go show Delta how it’s done!”

Lou pushes her throttle forward rerouted power to her lasers and linked her ion cannons. The Prince Eugene grew steadily larger as her targeting computer screamed it had a lock. She opened fire and watched as the hull of the frigate ripples with ion energy.

Ianna kept with Lou though she couldn't put the thought of loss out of her mind. They were good pilots, and now there were another causality. That didn't stop the young woman from checking to see if their beacon was on. Failing that she left a marker on the point they were shot down reminding herself to swing by and check on it.

"Understood lead." She said throwing her shields double front as she began to dive in on the Lancer. Her ion cannon blasting away living spiderwebs of lighting arcing and dancing across the hull. The steady stream ice colored bolts poured out from her fighter hopefully they would be enough to shut them down.

Jocelyn frowned at the apparent destruction of one of their own. She barely knew the woman, but nevertheless it was hard. She checked her instruments and saw that Ianna was not with her as she had previously instructed. Probably didn't hear her order to form up. Either way they were doing another run. Jocelyn instructed her Astromech to put the weak spots of the Lancer to her targeting computer. Hopefully the ion blasts would disable at least some of its systems, making it an easy prey. Joy manoeuvred to avoid a crimson blast distracting her from her attack run. She managed to take a couple of shots at the communications array. Hopefully that would silence their comms., at least for a while.

"She's disabled! Ain't nobody getting off her!" Lou commented as she zoomed on past the crippled Lancer class frigate. She looked over her shoulder and watched with satisfaction as the Prince Eugene went dark. Life support would be failing soon and it would be a very cold day in hell for the Imperial Navy personnel trapped aboard.

Lou brought her craft around in a lazy curve was the battle seemed to ebb in favor of the Rebel Alliance. Her eyes shot out once again to the Bith Marquis and the objective she hadn't completed. She checked her armament. Still plenty of torps to use against the hangar bay.

"On to the primary, let's go," Lou ordered as Charlie Flight tightened up and headed in the direction of the Star Destroyer that had ceased firing.

Tag: @Bardan_Jusik; @TheAdmiral; @galactic-vagabond422

 

IC: Akiva “Wolf” Lurell
Courting Death, Delta Flight

Watching the gauge of shield health take a few more dips on it's slow recharge was hard, but when silence reigned she quickly scanned her enemies map. Silence was bad, normally meant something had you targeted. Luckily she saw it was the other way around this time as Charlie Flight made a run at the Prince Eugene, granted it wasn't enough to eliminate the problem, it was still enough to see her own tail saved.

A sad tone beeped from a console, a programmed alert to the loss of a friendly from the scopes in a bad way. Hopefully it wasn't one of the one's she had started to get to know. It may sound callous but it was easier to ignore the deaths of the unknown newbies to the flights, those that hadn't earned her right of knowing their names. So it was bittersweet that a glance did show she was in the clear in her sweep over the back of the destroyer still. For a brief moment, she saw her own shadow due to the rotation of her cockpit backlit on the hull of that behemoth.

"Black Sheep, Black 13, Bith Marquis shields are out, repeat star destroyer's shields are out." Taab meanwhile had used the moment to pull the Iron Cross out of her headlong dive towards the now defenseless star destroyer. Noting that she was out of position with the wing lead she pulled up and began the flight around the far side of the command tower to regroup.

"Delta flight, form up on me," Delta lead commed out.

"Working on it." she grunted as a rescue sound pinged in her cabin and died away as she focused on swinging her crafts tail up and over so she wouldn't catch a wing and die avoiding the flak from. . .where was the flak? For some odd reason the Star Destroyer was silent, the marines might be good, but really? This seemed too good, which meant she didn't trust it. Not a drop. "Keep it tight Runaway, somethings about to go sideways soon."

"Delta flight, set shields double front," the Mandalorian commed even as a blast stuck his shields causing the Iron Cross the shudder. "And set forward guns for ion cannon only, save your heavy stuff for the destroyer" He paused for a moment, letting loose a string of milky blue ion bolts at the Lancer, watching the sparky impacts as they hit the vessel's hull. "Boomer, see if you can't get Charlie flight to join us, they have ions too."

She spotted a few shapes on the hull as she looped tight up and over the command tower to join Delta lead on his run. "Roger, Roger." Flicking a switch she left quarter shields aft on a trickle charge, cut power to the lasers which should hold on capacitors for a bit, and dumped to forward shields and ion cannons. Squeezing the trigger as she juked and jived, shrugging off glancing hits as the enemy tracked her own fire storm she had a moment of glee before shame set in. The large cannon at the tail had fired with the ion stream of milky blasts, a ball of red in a stream of blue. "Oh kark it." she muttered as she quickly reset the switches, of all the times for the fire control to. . .wait, nope. This was her, she had clicking the breaching storm instead of lame aak dog. She never liked leaving an enemy at the rear, but hopefully she would be able to recharge enough after she could lower her shield diversion rates.

TAG: @Bardan_Jusik , @Bacta Bubble Bath , @All

 

Ic Mullen 'Priest' Shetland, Genevieve 'Foxxy' Lehrsherr , MacKenzie 'Fox/Flanker' Hollymander, Zephyr, Digger
Bridge - Bith Marqis - attempting to make a big mess, and somehow being successful.



"Matey! On the antigrav generators now!" MacKenzie ordered. He couldn't do what he needed to do before that happened. A familiar sound rang out and he turned to see the bridge main doors closing. 'Good work Digger' he thought, making a mental note to thank the droid. They were almost on the weapons console and pit. He just needed to get there. Around them blaster bolts, impacts and yelling could be heard. He needed to focus on the job at hand. Matey had reached the edge of the weapons console pit. With no gravity he had to find a way down there. He stuffed the weapon into his belt. "Zeph, stay here and cover Matey." he reached the railing and took hold before letting the belt he'd been holding go. Inching his way down he heard a blaster bolt go past so close to his ear he felt it's heat. Reaching the console he began to program the guns, turning them toward the Prince Eugene. He was putting in the code to delay them four standard minutes when pain shot through his side. He'd been hit again and duly let out a cry of anguish. Breathing heavily he looked down to see a burn in his side, the bolt had grazed his ribs heavily. Blood oozed but the wound was quatarized for the time being. Turning back he tried to focus on his task, it had to be done. Once the timer was set, he changed the codes essentially locking anyone else out. His eyes were blurring, pain was robbing him of the ability to escape. He pulled out his comlink "All team Fall back, Repeat, Fall back, it's time to go." He spoke through gritted teeth. He wanted to let go, pass out. He'd accepted long ago he would probably die being a Rebel, so this made sense. Then her voice echoed through his head.. Be safe out there, hope I see you on the other side. She'd kissed him and said that, he had to come back. "Zehpyr, it's time to go, I need help!"

Shetland, entered clearing a path for Spook and his plus one, as best he could. Moving through the first section letting off controlled busts. Most of the crew had been cleared out, but those remaining where clearly lucky or good. Taking cover he lined up his shots and took them. First one down looked to be an officer of some kind though they seemed to know what they were doing. He caught them through the eye sending the body spinning away. It was chaos, bolts flying every direction. He heard a cry of pain finding Spook his side sizzling a little from a too close graze. A Navy trooper lined up another shot, Priest didn't let them. Three shots thudded into the trooper's chest the limp form crashing into the console behind them.

Spook looked deep into something, Mullen would do his best to protect him. It is a blur of fire taken and fire returned. A near shot sent sparks raining down on him. As he was blinded a bolt from an enemy, hopefully, stuck him in the shoulder. He grit his teeth fighting through the pain...it wasn't the worst, but it didn't feel good. Leaving his rifle hanging from a sling he took up his pistol letting off shots striking some, but missing more. It was enough to keep him covered, though not much more.

He rose resting he inured arm in the sling to take some weight off it. The order came to bug out and Mullen looked to the Major, the main doors were locked, and he wasn't equipped for EVA. Maybe there was another plan?

"What's the plan Major?" He called out over the com.

Digger continued to work on accessing the Intel files. That string of numbers was familiar... he'd seen it before... oh, yes! He knew this software, he'd sliced it before. It was easy now, to get in and set things to download. Max thought there was a mole on the Intrepid; and getting incoming reports and communiques might help flush them out.

"DROID! ENGAGE GRAVITATIONAL CONTROLS!" The Imperial personnel were trying to get to a handhold. Digger whistled apologetically and went back to the other station to retrieve the other memory core.

"What did it say?" asked another officer.

"How would I know?! I don't speak droid!"

MacKenzie was hardly focusing now. "Back the way ….we came." It was all he could come up with as struggling to stay conscious was now the major concern. He held his side and attempted to get back to Zephyr as she was still holding Matey. Without gravity he could see no other course of action as the Marine nearest to him was now hit.

Genevieve was pinned down. A couple of Navy Troopers and an Officer were shooting at her. She was hiding behind a console and looked at Shetland and the "civilians". The other Marine was injured. Foxxy frowned a bit, but she couldn't do anything right now. Molten pieces of metal and sparks flew everywhere. She managed to take a couple of shots, but missed. One of the bolts struck a console adding to the mix of sparks and parts flying around. At least that made the Officer flinch and hesitate for a moment. It was all it took for her to gun him down. The Navy Troopers tried to position themselves in such a way as to be able to both cover her and her team. Given Shetland's condition she doubted that he would be able to protect the civilians in a crossfire.

Foxxy managed to strike a headshot, blowing the face of one of the troopers sending him tumbling back. The other one seemed to have lost his "cool" as he started to fire at her frantically. Genevieve heard the order to retread but couldn't move as bolts flew everywhere. "Need a little... help... here..."

It came through his comm that one of his Marines needed help. He called them mentally his as they'd followed him. He couldn't help, he was incapacitated himself and couldn't even get to her. The other one had been hit, this wasn't looking good.

As Digger worked, the call came over his internal comm. "All team Fall back, Repeat, Fall back, it's time to go!" The little astromech had no problem with that. Through the thick door of the small room, he could hear explosions and blaster fire. The Intel files were still downloading, but he canceled the command. The most recent were in there, and that might be enough.

As his last action, he changed the access passcodes for the Imperial personnel in that room, and went out the door, locking it behind him with a new code. They'd be trapped for a while, long enough for the Rebels to escape...he hoped. He rolled in the direction of the lift.

Matey gave a distressing wail as the droid urgently rolled to one of the outlets. It's head swivelled, observing the positions everyone had found themselves as it searched the Destroyer's system protocols for the proper command. A few seconds later it was found and executed. Whatever wasn't bolted down and affected by the lack of gravity came crashing to the decking.

He was half way out of the Weapons pit holding the rail as he floated. Then he wasn't. With a thud that hurt bones MacKenzie hit the floor or more so, the stairs. He let out a grunt of pain as his burnt leg took a good deal of the impact. Around him he heard the sounds of others hitting the deck. The sound of stormtroopers was gratifying. They would struggle to get up. Gritting his teeth he pushed himself up as his head was spinning with pain. He had to push through it and he knew he'd felt worse. There was no time for self pity. "RETREAT!!!" He yelled to all nearby, this was their chance. While the deck crew were disoriented they could make their escape. The timer on the weapons was counting down. He struggled to his feet as the majority of the blaster fire had ceased in those seconds. He looked over and saw the Marine nearest to him who'd been hit. "Unlock your boots." He bent and wrapped his arm around the mans waist. "Let's go!"

Foxxy followed the command. The sudden return of gravity was a bit disorienting and the shift in weight made her a bit queasy. Oh how much she hated space battle. Nothing like a solid ground underneath. Good thing that the Navy Trooper was not secured so he fell on the floor with a grunt, followed by the coagulating blood and bits of brain from his fellow splatting on the pristine floor. Genevieve took position and shot the remaining trooper. She then looked around to see where the Spook was and when she saw him she headed towards him "Do you need help, sir?" she indicated at his wounded leg.

Shetland, still nursing his injury felt the Major's arm around waist helping him along, despite the fact the major was in much dire straights. He sent off a few shots to suppress the troopers around Foxxy, though it was more a token effort as he was only firing with one hand.

Mullen kept quiet moving as quickly as he could to the exit. He gave a nod to the sergeant, not minded that she did not mention his state. He was a marine, dealing with pain is what he did. His boots deactivated now that the gravity was restored, his movement much quicker now that he didn't have to engage and disengage his mag boots. They might get out of this.

"I can help or I can shoot mam' which do you need?" He asked of the NCO.

His arm was still in the hasty sling blood dripping from his elbow, his face was pale, only really running on adrenaline at this point. They were all still alive, and if they moved quickly enough they all would get out of here. It would be nice, not to be the only one to make it out of a mission.

Foxxy frowned for a moment, just noticing Shetland's injury. She had been focused on the commanding officer that she forgot about her men. The man was clearly in no condition to fight. "Will you be able to support him? I will cover the retreat."

"I can mam'." He said tucking his good arm under Spook's armpit and supporting him. He tried to move in tandem with the officer keep him moving quickly towards their goal.

"I'm good." MacKenzie lied. He turned to Zephyr, "Got anything to distract them?" He hoped she had a trick up her sleeve as he ducked and tried to move with the Marine he'd collected. Cassell had indicated she was dangerous, he hoped it was in their favour. "We need cover to make the lift!" He looked to Matey. "Get back to the ship!" Pulling his commlink out he held it in his bloodied hand. "Skipper, coming back. Be ready go."

Electrowhip in hand, the length of the cord cracked the air like a deadly bolt of lightning with the intention to draw attention away from the others. Working her mouth, Zephyr jerked her head forward and beak wide open. A deafening shrill was let out as a blinding flash of light emitted from the lining of her jaws.





Tag @Corellian_Outrider @galactic-vagabond422 @TheAdmiral @Bardan_Jusik @Mistress_Renata

 

Fantastic combo with @Vehn



IC: Gunnery Sergeant Tyrone Clark, TSgt "Kraken" Kradkans
Bridge of the Bith Marquis

Clark hit the deck hard once gravity was restored. So hard he split his lip and chipped a tooth. Blood went flying out of his mouth out onto the pristine, clean, Imperial command walkway. He scrambled to cover behind a sparking console. The battle raged all around him. The other Marines had broken through and he'd caught a glimpse of an astromech doing something in one of the side rooms. He wondered what that was all about. Not his business and certainly not his problem.

He watched as Hollymander gave the order to retreat. The astromech whirled and headed for the turbolift. His aging eyes narrowed as he realized the Marines were leaving having done their duty. He gathered his thoughts and scrambled after them, temporarily breaking his cover, only to have a sharp pain erupt in his side. He gasped and fell to the hard deck. He'd been around combat enough to know he wasn't shot. This was something else, different, sharper, more intense.​

Frak, Clark. You stupid old fool. You should've stayed down. You knew better than to go after them!

Clark, gasping, panting, and feeling the pain, dragged his weary body behind the shuttle operations alcove and performed a self assessment. Limbs worked, trigger finger operational, and then his eyes settled on the source of the pain. An Imperial vibro-knife embedded deep between his fifth and sixth ribs on the right side. A wave of nausea rolled over him as he extracted the blade from his ribs with both hands and attempted to apply pressure to the wound.

His attacker, a wounded Imperial Navy trooper, chuckled as he stood over Clark ready to finish him off.

"Frak you," Clark growled.


The lights on the bridge consoles turned dark. Someone had shut down the ship's mainframe. The Bith Marquis was inert. Weapons and helm had already been taken offline, so what was left to sabotage? Kraken scanned the bridge.

With many years of deep-space salvage and rescue experience, he instantly recognized the tractor beam control console. Like everything else, it was dark and silent, but that was only a momentary obstacle. A few twists of his multi-tool and the access panel at foot level popped off. The heavy gauge wires must be the console's power supply lines. He snipped those wires and looked around for a power source.

Gravity returned with a bang. The Mon Cal grimaced as he dropped a few centimeters to the deck. The body of an Imperial officer fell next to him. Look to the sea, and the sea will provide. He grabbed the man's pistol and removed its power cell. In moments it was hotwired into the tractor beam console power lines, and the display screen glowed to life.

He cracked his webbed fingers and glanced around briefly as he got to work on the control panel. Shots were still criss-crossing the bridge, but someone seemed to be laying down cover fire so he could continue working down in the pit. Best way to thank them is to do the job fast and do it right.

The tractor beams were still useless as long as the star destroyer's mainframe was offline, but that was likely a temporary status. He programmed the console to activate tractor beams as soon as main computer control was available, locking on to the nearest and most massive asteroids below, and drawing them toward the emitters at maximum power. Automatic safety protocols would cut tractor power when they detected dangerous vectors, so he overrode those protocols and disengaged the automatic cut-offs. As long as the shields stayed down, the impact would be severe, probably terminal. Finally, he found the wires that powered the console display screen and cut those. The screen faded to black, and the console seemed as dead as the ones around it. But the power cell should keep the program running for at last an hour.

Satisfied he had done all he could, Kraken stuffed his tools back into his utility belt and readied his rifle. He grunted with the effort of jumping against gravity, caught the edge of the catwalk on the main bridge level, and dragged himself upward.

A naval trooper was standing over Clark. Kraken shot the trooper, two to the body and one to the head, and ran as best he could to the gunny, thumping heavily on the deck plates in his armored vac suit. He drew up short at the sight of a knife lying in a puddle of blood next to Clark's side.

"Dammit, Gunny... " Kraken dropped to his knees as he grabbed his medpack. He wasn't a medic, but his rescue worker training and experience had included a lot of good first aid techniques. "Can you walk? I don't think I can carry you all the way to the freighter. Or we could go out the window; I can float you along in 0-g, that would be a lot more comfortable for both of us."

“Out the window,” Clark groaned, “our best chance to get out of this mess."

Kraken packed the wound with sterile gauze, sprayed on a layer of coagulant, and covered it with a bandage. That might be enough to keep the man alive until they got him to surgery. A wrapping of sticky tape around his suit would keep the air in when they got back into space.

Clark winced as Kraken administered first aid. He was thankful the bleeding was stopped but if he didn’t get medical attention soon the game was over.

"I am locked and ready to rock," he added. "Let's go."

Clark looked behind him as he was assisted to his feet. A bright light erupted from some strange being's mouth. It blinded the few survivors left. Now was the time to bug out.

The two EVA experts hobbled back to the smashed bridge window where they had entered just minutes ago. Kraken bit back a curse at the view outside. Multiple squads of white-shelled space troopers, crossing the upper hull, moving toward them. An A-wing whizzed by, spitting plasma bolts, scattering the enemy soldiers, but they'd be regrouping in moments. Not much time...

Kraken leaned Clark against the metal window frame. "Watch my back." He knelt in front of the broken window, applying plastex detonation matter to the bottom of the frame. No point in conserving it now, he slapped the soft, clay-like material on liberally. A nearby crewman's body would do for tamping mass, he dragged the corpse over and pushed it into place. The mass of flesh would minimize the back blast into the bridge, concentrating the explosive force forward into the window frame.​

"We'll get a little boost out of here," he told Clark. "Hold tight and be ready to shoot at spacetroopers."

Taking a tight grip on the wounded gunny, Kraken stepped to the side of the broken window and pressed his remote detonator.

With a resounding bang, the dead body was flung back from the window. The explosion smashed the window frame as well as the atmospheric containment field emitters built into the frame. Air screamed and howled around them, blowing from the bridge into space. Kraken stepped right into the airstream and jumped out the window, hurling himself and Clark out into the black, riding the cyclone away from the bridge in a wild tumbling ride that carried them about fifty meters away from the hull before he could try to stabilize their tumble.

Clark howled as he was shot out and away from the bridge. End over end he went until he was able to slowly stabilize his trajectory and get his bearings.

What he saw made his heart rate increase. Multiple squads of zero g troopers were creeping across the upper hull and so far hadn’t seen them. Surprising considering they had blown in and out of there like no tomorrow.

Clark readied his rifle as one of the zero g troopers examined the broken window and started to draw his own conclusions. The stormtrooper's attention was drawn to the remnants of the floating Imperial body and then seemed to stare directly in Clark’s direction.

Clark paused waiting for the right moment and quietly praying through wheezing breaths that he hadn’t been seen and that the void was hiding his position.

The trooper started to enter the bridge through the broken window and then suddenly spun around weapon at the ready and fired lazily into space. The blasts illuminated off of Clark’s armor and he knew he had been seen.

“Kraken, contact! Opening fire!” Clark yelled as he sighted down the rifle and pulled the trigger.

His blast caught the lead trooper squarely in the face sending him tumbling hard into the pristine white hull of the Bith Marquis.

Kraken pushed away from Clark. The enemy soldiers were concentrating all their firepower on the two of them, they were better off as a more dispersed target. His laser rifle felt warm in his hands; it was draining fast as he loosed pulses of coherent light, tearing through space and armor and flesh. His own vac suit scorched in several places as the ablative armor boiled off from the impact of plasma bolts. He fired his rifle's underslung grenade launcher, using the recoil to jerk himself out of Imperial aiming sights, and filling the space below him with shrapnel.

Suddenly his rifle was yanked out of his hands. A jetpack trooper had come in from behind and grappled him. Kraken twisted in the man's grip, yanked out his survival knife, and slashed it across the neck joint of the trooper's armor. Air and blood vented into space.

Kraken clung to the body and turned, trying to keep the inert white armor between his body and the enemy blasters. He found himself face to face with another trooper and stabbed with his blade. The trooper blocked the thrust with his rifle butt. Kraken swung again, a wide round-house blow with the blade coming around from as far to the right as he could reach. As the trooper moved to block the attack, Kraken flicked his wrist and flung his knife across to his left hand, caught it and sank it into the trooper's armpit.

A heavy blaster bolt slammed into his knee. His ears popped as air rushed out of the vac suit for a moment before emergency seals closed off the limb. There as a brief moment of disorientation as he glimpsed his lower leg spinning away.

More hands grappled him. They wanted a live prisoner. No. He lit his plasma cutter and jammed it up against the hip joint of the nearest foe. The trooper spasmed and jerked himself away, leaking air. Already another spacetrooper was wrestling him, trying to pin his arms. Kraken twisted and turned like an eel, somehow keeping his arm free, and he saw the enemy had fragmentation grenades on his belt. He turned the plasma cutter against the grenades and spoke to the trooper in his native tongue.

"The rocks of the shore are hard, but the waves will always break."

Blast and shrapnel flung them apart. The Mon Calamari drifted away into the black sea of stars.


Clark wasted two more troopers before the rest closed the distance with knives in hand. He had lost sight of Kraken but from the flashes in the corner of his eye he could see like a good Marine he was defying the odds and giving hell with every opportunity.

He felt a punch in his gut as the remaining troopers mobbed him and punctured his suit left and right with their own weapons. He fought one off with his own knife slashing his throat and the proceeded to take out another when the butt of a rifle came down hard on his helmet fracturing the protective glass. More oxygen leaked out. Copious amounts. Deadly amounts.

“Is that all you got!” Clark hollered in a weakened voice, “you clamshells always were soft!”

Air leaking, blood flowing, and an eternal fatigue sinking over him Clark slowly came to the realization that this was the end. A small smile passed his face as he realized death was at hand. Even the pain of being stabbed repeatedly seemed to grow numb in the void. The struggle was at last ending. There was only one request as oxygen left his brain: end it on my terms.

Clark shakily reached for his grenades and armed them as the space troopers swarmed and mobbed him eager for the kill. Still they stabbed outward and still they continued their attack. He couldn’t hold on much longer.

Clark laughed as the grenades activated.

The explosion that followed was worthy of the Marines and might even been seen by passing star fighters.

Gunnery Sergeant Tyrone Clark was no more.


TAG: @Vehn @Corellian_Outrider @galactic-vagabond422 @TheAdmiral @Bardan_Jusik @Mistress_Renata and all the honored dead. Warriors are among you.​

 

Ic MacKenzie 'Fox/Flanker' Hollymander ​

Bridge SD Bith Marquis.​

​

​

He was lifting his free hand to shield his eyes to the blinding light as he moved. Determinedly crossing the void with the Marine 'priest' in tow. The lift had thankfully remained open, the chaos had made sure no one else had used it so he stumbled through the door. MacKenzie turned his left side toward the back wall despite it being the side the leg had been hit. He knew the side wound was losing more blood and he could taste it now. "Retreat!" he yelled. They needed to get back to the ship as he'd told Cassell they were coming and he knew that the timer on the weapons console was counting down. "MOVE IT!" He yelled again. Over the din of blaster fire and the panic due to Zephyrs move he needed to be heard. He let his counterpart go and slid down the back wall the taste of metallic blood was so much stronger and the pain becoming overwhelming. Letting his head drop back he hoped the three beings and Matey were nearly there.

​

​

Tag @Corellian_Outrider @galactic-vagabond422 ​

​

 

~OOC~ Extra special thanks to @Bardan_Jusik for this joint post

~IC~ Captain Cassell “Skipper” Wystari + Troopers
Location: Valkyria - Docked with the ISD Bith Marquis

Cassell paced up and down. He couldn't stay idle in the cockpit. Someone had to make sure the Valkyria was not compromised. The two fallen troopers had been disposed of. Unforuntately, a marine had made a mess of one of them. Sloppy. No finesse. The opposite of what is required for an infiltration mission. Maybe they do things differently now since their opponents are of the living, not droids.

The other thing was their cover story. Their exterior looked like a prospecting vessel and yet they were posing as a pleasure craft. He already knew how to spin that one, to keep their passengers safe from those who'd prey upon them. He gathered some clothes from one of the guest cabins, including the purple gown he had loaned the Zeltron Harley for their mission to Naboo. As he scattered the feminine effects throughout some of the other cabins, he heard a set of boots echo through corridors.

Purple gown still draped over his arm, Cassell stopped what he was doing as he approached two troopers whom had made it aboard the Valkyria.

"Good day, officers. How may I be of assistance?"

The two troopers stopped short as they were confronted by, unknown the them, the master of this vessel. Their duties here were fairly clear, securing the area for the captain's "visit". It was a standard light protection detail for a high value target, but the troopers were relaxed. This obviously wasn't a high risk environment, and among the stormtrooper corp aboard, this was seen as more of a perk than an assignment. Sure they couldn't touch the "merchandise", but that didn't stop them from looking.

The pair looked at each other quizzically now though at the man's question. Never before had they been asked... well anything, while on similar assignments. They were to be seen, not heard. Spoken of not to; at least not by anyone not in their own chain of command. Still, they had to have some sort of reply.

There was a long beat before the higher ranking of the two, a private first class, finally began to stammer, the junior member looking on with a bemused expression on his face, one thankfully hidden by his helmet.

"uhhh, well we uhhh...." The PFC began before being saved from further embarrassment by a call from central. "Security alert, security alert." The voice sounded in each trooper's ear piece. "The ship is under attack, bridge section has been boarded." the troopers again looked to one another, this time each unknowingly mirroring the horror on the other's face.

It took a moment for them to steel themselves before the PFC now took a step forward, speaking much more confidently this time. "We need to see the captain," his voice was accented by the sound of their blaster rifles being clicked off of safe. "Now."

"Sure thing. Captain Jitin Leong is unwell, but don't let that phase you since you both are the battle hardened finest of the Empire. I take it you've never heard of what happens when one gets a bit too frisky with a Gamorrean." Cassell said as he waved the two to follow him. "I've heard you need a thick hide to handle the love bites from those tusks but that's another story altogether. What they make up with vigour, they lack the personal hygiene. It's not pleasant." He opened the door to one of the cabins then quickly slammed it shut. The brief view showed the room was a mess of clothes strewn about. "Oh, we don't want to go in that one. We'll try the next. Life on this cruise is not what it all made out to be." Cassell continued, shaking his head as he lead them deeper into the ship. "Half of them are slobs, emotional train wrecks. Always falling in love or someone fallen in love with them. That's why we have to keep changing up our ship as a few times several pining admirers have attempted to stowaway… and then some of our ah… passengers have been caught trying to leave with the first one they meet on each world…"

The stormtroopers were growing impatient, though Cassell's words kept them from growing suspicious. They just needed to find the captain and get off this scow. Their ship was being boarded, and it seemed the captain hadn't heard the alert! The lower ranking member of the pair sighed loudly, he wanted to get to the action!

"Look, we don't care about the vagaries of your lifestyle," said the more senior stormtrooper. That wasn't quite true, just a few minutes ago they had both been very interested, and even hoped to catch a glimpse or two of the goings on, but now other matters took precedence, matters of shipboard security. "If you can't bring us our captain now, we'll impound your vessel and tear it apart ourselves."

"Captain? Your Captain? Why didn't you say so?" Cassell chuckled. "So that's who the client was! I'm glad you didn't want to see my Captain whose suffering from- ah never mind." He waved his hand dismissively then jerked his head for them to follow him. "Syrena would have claimed first pick this time around so if you follow me…"

Cassell lead the way two cabins down, then held up a hand and index finger for them to wait as he placed his ear to the door for a few seconds. He flashed a smile then carefully opened the door.

Strewn across the floor were parts of an Imperial officer's uniform, a purple silk robe and other unmentionables. On the bed was a figure in their undergarments, their wrists tied to the top corner posts and a gag fastened about their mouth. The Captain was out cold, it looked as though he was fast asleep from exhaustion.

"Well I'll be…" Cassell remarked under his breath and turned and winked to the troopers as he stepped aside at the doorway for them to enter. "The 'Siren' has a way."

The troopers looked at the scene in horror for a moment, before looking to each other in disbelief before turning back to see their captain bound and gagged. They rushed forward now, not sure what to think, and indeed in the tradition of Imperial stormtroopers everywhere, not really thinking at all.

Each took a knee on opposite sides of the bed as they placed their rifles on the ground next to them. "He's alive," the senior stormtrooper said, the relief obvious in his voice. "Looks like he had a very good time." the other replied...

"What can I say? The 'Siren' knows her craft…" Cassell stood at the door frame, hands on his hips. Carefully his hand lowered to the GL-77 in his holster. "…and if you're lucky, you'll probably experience her song-" He shot from the hip, two bolts of blue rings rang out and connected with the troopers.

Cassell flashed a tight smile as the bodies slumped over. Smoke and mirrors. It felt wrong misleading them like that but if it was any consolation, he probably just saved their lives. He bound them and collected their weapons, belts and boots. Just as he was finishing up, his comlink chirped. It was Holly.

["Skipper, coming back. Be ready go."]

The Major sounded distressed. Injured? Losses? To many unknowns with the limited information. Yet maybe there was something to help the man to keep going. "Get back on the double. Don't make me cancel that date of yours." He snapped back with some incentive for the man to keep going. He gave the three 'sleeping' Imperials one final look before sealing the door behind.

TAG: @Bardan_Jusik, @The Real Kyp Durron, @galactic-vagabond422, @TheAdmiral, @Mistress_Renata

 

IC Ethan 'Veteran' Malek & Amber 'Vixen' Tehanis (Combo with @Adalia-Durron)
Space, the final Frontier......

The skiprays where dealt with and Meany had left back towards his position, now it was time for them to do the same.
"Vixen, I would suggest us returning to the rest of alpha flight."

She glanced down at her comm as she brought her ship around to rejoin the fray. "You wanna fly with Her?" she asked. "Cause I know she hates us both, doubt Max'd give us a second thought if we bought it." she said bitterly.

"I know she hates us, but she is still one of us," Ethan said calmly. Max had shown nothing but hate against him since the battle of Hoth but they still needed to aid her, he had lost more than enough squad mates in his life.

Amber sighed dramatically, no one would see or hear to a closed comm, so she didn't care. She pursed her lips, he could pull rank, he did outrank her. "Ok, lead the way Vet, on your port six."

Distributing more energy to his engines Ethan took the leading position. This was unusual, so far he had been at Amber´s six, but this was his mission it seemed. "Thanks, I know you don´t like her but lets not become like her." Though he quietly promised himself that if Max would give them an as rude answer as Kayn had he would gladly hold her down the next time Amber wanted to beat her up.

Dropping engines she fell in behind Ethan, 'not used to this view' she mused. "You give the orders now, in your six." She had a feeling no matter what they did, Max wouldn't change her opinion of either of them. She figure Ethan's idea of 'a last chance' was his call, she'd go for the ride but would never say 'told you so' later, she liked Ethan!

Bringing himself in a new position behind Max and Taab again Ethan opened a com channel to their flight leader, "Reporting, Vixen and Veteran have returned to formation and are awaiting orders." He tried to keep his voice as professional as he could, feeling guilty about having broken formation earlier. In most armies saving a fellow soldier from mortal danger was a valid reason for doing so but Ethan still knew it would be better to not provoke Taab, as he still hadn't forgotten how the Mandalorian had nearly shot him for merely suggesting a different strategy.

Tag: @Bardan_Jusik, @Mistress_Renata

 

GM Update Part I:

Operation MIDWAY


​

Able Flight/Baker Flight:

IC: Commander Flagg (NPC)
Leading the Black Sheep

An eerie calm descended over the battlefield as Flagg pulled his formation high over the Bith Marquis in an effort to expand his situational awareness to take in the entire area and not just what was going on around his own fighter. The Lancer class frigate was out of action, sparking the distinctive blue haze of a vessel that had been disabled by ion fire. The ship had taken other damage as well, carbon scoring marks dotted her hull where laser cannon and blaster fire had made their marks. There was no telling how much damage those weapons had done, but it was certainly more than just superficial. Even if they somehow got their main systems back online, the ship was out of the fight. Out over her hull, he could see Charlie and Delta flights as they soared past, their attack runs completed. With the escort out of action they would no doubt be setting up attack runs on the primary target now, the Bith Marquis.

Shifting his gaze towards the star destroyer, he saw that likewise the Bith Marquis now hung silently in space. She wasn't exhibiting the tell tale "ion hue" as he would call it from now on, but her shield domes had both been destroyed and defensive fire form the vessel was nearly non existent. What little there was, the work of individual gunner crews trying their luck on their own without help from fire control, was grossly ineffective against the agile rebel fighters. If they could be kept in the clear the Black Sheep attack craft should be able to make finish her off now, but that was a big if.

That brought Flagg's attention to the further reduced fighter screen. Able and Baker flights had cut down their numbers to just 11 gunboats and a pair of TIE Bombers, which were circling even higher overhead than the four X-Wings of Able flight. While they circled overhead impotently, their scanners still unable to make a missile lock on the fighters below them against the background noise of the accretion disc, the gunboats were trying to reorganize themselves out around the dagger like prow of the star destroyer. They could see the condition of the vessel as well as the rebels, and probably had an even better idea of just how badly hurt the two vessels were. That wouldn't be good for their morale. Flagg figured that was partially the reason why the pair of standard TIEs, one damaged, had fled so far afield now that they were essentially non entities.

Suddenly the TIE Bombers broke formation, as much as a two ship was, and ran dumping their laser energy into their engines for maximum speed. Flagg saw the reason why, Baker flight had pulled up after them. Flagg smiled grimly. Even with their laser energy dumped to the engines, and the engines at full throttle there was no way the TIE Bombers would be able to outrun the A-Wings. The TIE Bomber pilots must have know that as well, as they tried to escape by splitting up, their efflux trail forming what looked like a letter V behind them as they shot upwards, one going one direction, the other fighter in another.

'"Able, leave the dupes to Baker," Flagg order. It didn't take a genius to see the TIE Bomber's efforts were doomed. It was four A-Wings chasing two TIE Bombers. Splitting up wasn't going to help them. Desperate and panicked minds did stupid things sometimes, and Flagg had no doubt that the A-Wings would make short work of them. "Let's take on those remaining gunboats, keep them off the our own bombers." It would be eleven to four, and the eleven were just as heavily shielded as the four were. Able flight did have a couple of things going for them though. The first was the X-Wings they were flying were a faster and more agile platform than a StarWing Gunboat. The second was that they were pilots of the Black Sheep, and Flagg would put money down that they were the best pilots in the galaxy. The StarWings wouldn't have a chance.

TAG: @Adalia-Durron @Mistress_Renata @Anedon @Sarge @BobaMatt @Rebecca_Daniels @The Vanguard

OOC: The eleven Xg-1 StarWing Gunboats are free use for us Able flight. You may control their actions in your posts as you damage/destroy them at your own leisure. Baker flight, the TIE bombers have split up, but they too are there for your free use to damage/destroy as you see fit in your posts.

---

​

Charlie Flight/Delta flight:

IC: Major Beskaryc Taab/Major Grace "Boomer" Valor (NPC)
Leading the assault on the Bith Marquis

As they roared past the besieged frigate, Taab could see that they had indeed managed to disable the Prince Eugene. She began to list heavily to port even as a string of red bolts struck her hull, intermixed with the blue ion bolts that had been ordered. His first thought was Harley, and so he was surprised to see them originating from Wolf's B-Wing. "Knock it off Black 15," he ordered over Delta flight's frequency. "Save it for the destroyer." He shook his head and smiled even as he let loose with the reprimand. He didn't blame Wolf at all for the burst of laser fire at the stricken vessel, killing Imperials was his new mission in life after all, but they needed to save their power reserves for the Bith Marquis. That would kill many times more than eliminating a single frigate. If they had anything left over after their runs on the Bith Marquis, then Taab fully intended to revisit the disabled frigate.

"Delta flight," Taba commed out, noting that Charlie flight was already well ahead of them and on their way to the destroyer. "Let's duck low and hit the destroyer's main hanger with what we have left." It didn't seem the ship was launching any additional fighters, but the gargantuan vessel's most vulnerable areas were still those hanger bays. If they could set off a fuel line there the entire ship could be destroyed.

Pulling low and curling around the still listing and disabled Lancer Taab pulled the Iron Cross behind and under the Bith Marquis. The defensive fire from her down here was totally non existent, and the only enemy fighters were the gunboats near the ship's prow. Those were busy engaging Able flight's X-Wings, which left Charlie and Delta alone to to their dirty work. With no threats Taab began to slow the Iron Cross down, making her a more stable gunnery platform to hit the hanger deck. Rather than zoom and strafe, he planned to sit there and lay in continuous fire on the vulnerable target while he could.

"Don't chop throttle," Boomer admonished him. "If I shunt power from the engines to the weapons system it will have the same effect as cutting throttle in terms of our speed, but with the added bonus of recharging the guns more quickly." The Mandalorian though about that for a moment before assenting. "OK Boomer," Taab said, sarcastically giving her the go ahead. He maintained full throttle even as his backseater began dumping engine power to the main guns of the Iron Cross. As she did so he got a target lock on the ship's main hanger bay, and let loose with his remaining torpedoes. A blue streak of flame from Wild Card's B-Wing showed that she had done the same. They tacked true and after a delay the warheads exploded garishly from deep within the hanger bays.

"Switching to lasers and light turbo." Taab announced to no one in particular as the Iron Cross just seemed to hang there under the looming bulk of the Imperial Star Destroyer. He mashed down on the trigger, pouring heavy fire into the hanger bay. More immediate explosions resulted even as the other Black Sheep commenced their own attack runs. This would all be over soon.

TAG: @Mitth_Fisto @Bacta Bubble Bath @Vehn @TheAdmiral @galactic-vagabond422

OOC: Feel free to make your own attack runs on the Bith Marquis here as you see fit. Explosions on and within her hull as a result of said attacks are of course free use for you in your posts but save any final destruction for a GM update. I just want to give the Valkyria a chance to escape, and maybe time the destruction of the Star Destroyer with...other events.

 

GM Update Part II:

Operation MIDWAY

​

IC: Lance Corporal Manx "Terminal" Bane (NPC)
Aboard the Bith Marquis

As the short lived battle raged inside the bridge, Bane caught a flash from outside the bridge port windows followed by crimson bolts. One or more Black Sheep fighters had just made a strafing run on the ship's hull. Bane thought about that for a second and didn't much like the conclusion he drew from it. The ship he was one was being fired upon by his own side! Yeah, that meant it was time to go. Looking around the wrecked bridge he saw the rebel marines had done as much as possible to sabotage any efforts the Empire might undertake to get the vessel under way again. The ship shuddered once more under Black Sheep assault. That's if the destroyer survived long enough for any repair efforts to be made.

Hefting his blaster rifle he saw that the marine droid, whatever the nine hells it was called, had been destroyed by the few Imperial defenders that had managed to get a shots off. Circuits, Circuits is what it had called itself. The Duros shrugged, well it was better than an organic dying. Something the major was very much in danger of doing he thought now realizing the former Imperial had been wounded as had Priest. Things were not getting any easier here.

There was suddenly a loud shriek, and a bright light that even Bane hadn't been ready for. The fire from the enemy died down for a moment as everyone wondered what had just happened. In the confusion the rebel marines managed to pull out from the bridge and were soon headed back to the lift. Red blaster bolts sizzled past them, scoring the bulkheads as they reached the lift. More stromtroopers had emerged from cross corridors and were in pursuit now. Bane rushed ahead, reaching the lift doors first in an effort to secure them., but the doors suddenly opened, something that surprised Bane, he had half expected them to be on lockdown with a security alert. He wondered perhaps if one of the droids had managed to slice into that particular subsystem, though his musing didn't go far. Instead his eyes widened in surprise as the lift was filled with a squad of stromtroopers, all who raised their blaster rifles at the rebels marines and began to fire. The first burst cut Bane down, the Duros was dead before his body hit the deck. The stormtroopers though didn't seem to notice as they just kept firing at the rebel marines.

TAG: @The Vanguard @Corellian_Outrider @The Real Kyp Durron @TheAdmiral @galactic-vagabond422 and @Mistress_Renata for Digger

OOC: The stormtroopers in the lift as well as the ones in pursuit are all fair game for you. As a side note, given the progress the Black Sheep have made in their attack, if any of the surviving members of the boarding team are to make it out alive, they should probably be back aboard the Valkyria before my next update.

 

IC: Louise "Lou" Gray
Battle for the Bith Marquis
Swordfish System

Lou zoomed away, as fast as a Y-Wing could, from the disabled Prince Eugene. She immediately turned her sights on the dormant Star Destroyer Bith Marquis. The primary objective hung heavy in her mind. Dominated her thoughts. Dictated the movements on the battlefield. The objective, the complete destruction of the forward hangar bay of the Star Destroyer, was begging to be destroyed. Now was the time.

"Attack pattern Charlie," Lou said to Charlie Flight making mental note to check the irony of that statement or the redundancy or some such thing.

The order, clearly understood by Joy and Kid, freed up Charlie Flight to attack independently the primary objective. Lou switched her shields to double front as she began her attack run diving beneath the bow of the Star Destroyer and gunning directly for the smaller of two hangar bays. She had most of her main armament left to complete her assignment.

"Hang on, Airen," Lou commented to her rear gunner as she inverted her Y-Wing and continued her attack run along the once pristine white hull of the Bith Marquis.

"Ouch!" Airen exclaimed as a tool fell out from beneath his seat and hit him in the face.

"What happened?" Lou asked temporarily shaking her concentration.

"Failure to secure maintenance items," Airen groaned as he rubbed his forehead.

"Failure to follow protocol more like it," Lou grumbled as she returned her focus to the attack at hand.

Now that she was inverted she wouldn't have to worry about trajectory and flight time for her torpedoes. She'd release everything she had and it would slip quite nicely into the forward hangar bay for a timed detonation. It was all so perfect. All so clear in her mind. It was as if she were back home building klicks of fence lines under the withering sun of Roon.

The targeting computer screamed at her as the lock was good. Lou let loose with every single torpedo she had having made sure they were on a timed detonation. She saw blue streak after blue streak erupt fom her Y-Wing and make a soft impact inside the forward hangar. As she barreled past the forward hangar she gently pulled back on the controls in a lazy circle and quietly counted down to zero.

Boom.

The explosion was so worth the wait.

Tag: @Bardan_Jusik; @galactic-vagabond422; @TheAdmiral

 

Combos with @Rebecca_Daniels rock. ​

IC: Zara, Kayn
Showing How It's Done

"Thanks for caring about my butt, Vixen. Go kill some Imps." In a brief moment of respite, viewport clear of enemy starfighters, Zara chuckled at the response. Tehanis probably hated that, but Kayn was good at getting on peoples' nerves- intentionally or otherwise. She brought her A-wing around, still fresh compared to some of the heavy hitters, back in formation to Kayn's wing as he commed, "Bravo Flight, this is Bravo Lead, let's go high and nail these dupes." Easy enough, she could see them up above, relative to the battle, positively running, as much as they were able to.


Kayn started as the familiar all-black A-wing popped out of the darkness and formed up on his wing. You'd think I'd be used to that by now.

The two of them were more than enough to blast a pair of fleeing bombers. He commed B Flight's second element, "Black Seven and Eight, Bravo Lead, head down to help Alpha Flight with the gunboats, and don't be stingy with your missiles. We'll be down with you as soon as we swat the dupes. Six, let's be quick about this, Alpha needs all the help they can get."

With his tail momentarily clear, Kayn pulled power from what was left of his shields, boosting engines and weapons to full power, tearing through space in hot pursuit of the bombers. They split, and he adjusted course to intercept the one on the right. He wouldn't waste a missile on a TIE, even a bomber - Might need all I have left for the fracking gunboats - so he kept closing the range, lining up his blasters.


Zara was antsy, having done damage but no confirmed kills as of yet- not that she'd checked the flight recorder, which might change that- and she wanted to tear into this bomber. Normally she wasn't one to count kills, but the satisfaction of watching a fighter disintegrate had been denied her today, and unless more trouble came their way this was likely her last opportunity.

Veering away as Kayn made his own run against the other Dupe, Zara swung up and around in an arc unmatchable by these bombers. TIEs might be known for their maneuverability but not these ones, and not against her A-wing.

Checking her weapons, she considered dumping a concussion missile at it, then flipped back to lasers. Those still might be needed, and using heavier weapons on one final TIE would be a waste. If there was any more coming- and it was always best to assume the Empire had more- the actual bombers might be low or out of heavy weaponry. Even if concussion blasts didn't stack up to what the B- and Y-wings carried, they'd take out a fair few fighters.

Warring between caution and bloodthirst, Zara settled neatly in the bomber's wake, approaching rapidly. A few distant laser blasts scared the Imperial pilot, woke them out of their straight run into evasive maneuvers.


Kayn was about to comm Zara and tell her to stay on the other bomber, but she was already gone. So much for sticking with your wingmate.

Like you should talk, MS.

Shut UP, Paladin!

His sensor inputs picked up laser blasts. Zara had opened fire early, pushing her target into evasive turns, slowing it down and bringing it in closer to effective range. That tactic wouldn't work for Kayn, his blasters didn't have the range, so he held his fire, moving in, eating up the distance to his bomber. Suddenly it spewed out a cloud of chaff and flares, blurring his targeting sensors. Frack, that's annoying, don't you try to use my tricks against me! … My tricks...

Rebel Rouser swerved hard, turning away from the foggy mass of countermeasures. A moment later the cloud flared in a blinding explosion as the thermal detonators concealed in it blasted space. Kayn was jostled, but no real damage. He swerved back toward the bomber, staying relatively above it and clear of its path, and pivoted his blaster cannon downward as he swept in from behind and above it. The weapons fired twice and the bomber disintegrated.


The remaining TIE continued it's evasion, drawing Zara away from her wingmate even as she kept doggedly on its tail. This one was just getting too lucky, her lasers missing by inches, and yet she was forced to throttle her engines to keep from overtaking the slower craft.

A moment's alarm from her sensors was the only warning she got as the bomber dropped something in her path. Reflexes alone pulled her nose up, hard, but the object flew through her shields and impacted her canopy, radiating a web of cracks. But the canopy held, and whatever it was must not have been the dupe's payload. Before the thought had even finished crossing her mind, the object blew, a few hundred metres back and far enough it only peppered her rear shields.

But the explosion had done its job; the TIE was now lost in its own cloud of countermeasures and Zara was distracted by the damage reports on her screen, slowing again so she could read them. Minor oxygen leak could be taken care of, and some shrapnel had entered her engines. Another light blinked, but she was unfamiliar with the warning. Blast this TIE, maybe he was smarter than she'd given him credit. The charge must have been on a timer rather than impact. She'd been lucky.

Or maybe you're so overconfident you're making mistakes.

It had been since Hoth, the last time she'd taken any significant damage. Normally she was more careful than this... or at least not as stupid. You've been in two near collisions in just as many weeks, drinking on a mission, don't pretend you've been making the best decisions. Someday your luck will run out and there'll be nobody to pull you out of the fire.

But for now she could pull her own rear from the fire if she could find and blast that damned TIE. One kill, just one.


Another blast flared behind Zara's A-wing. And she still hadn't killed the TIE bomber. What's taking her so long? That should be an easy kill. Kayn almost transmitted that question, but at the last instant he kept it to himself. He didn't want to annoy her. That would be inconsiderate.


Movement from within the sensor cloud brought her back up to speed. More cautious this time, aware further damage might truly shatter the canopy, Zara approached from above the TIE's flight path and angled her lasers down just enough...

This time the starfighter was out of tricks, and her careful approach brought the TIE directly into her sights. Three red laser blasts and there was nothing but a dead hulk of a ship, hurtling off into space with a hole through the cockpit.

"Target down," she announced, voice even. And from the sensor readings, Kayn had easily gotten the other.


It's about time. Another thought that didn't need to be shared.

"Good, let's get down and double-team those gunboats."​

The A-wings dropped their noses and swooped down on the action below, closing fast on the StarWings. Kayn armed missiles and locked his targeting sensors on the nearest gunboat.


TAG: @The Vanguard @BobaMatt @Mistress_Renata @Adalia-Durron @Anedon

​

 

IC: Akiva “Wolf” Lurell
Getting Back On Target, Outside Imperial Hanger Bay

Hearing an admonishment come over the comms was unsettling, in the way when you know you did something wrong and then having it confirmed by someone in authority. It was just, ugh. "Knock it off Black 15," Delta Lead ordered over Delta flight's frequency. "Save it for the destroyer."

"Delta flight," Tab commed out. "Let's duck low and hit the destroyer's main hanger with what we have left." For the moment it seemed like the behemoth wasn't spewing forth any more fighters, whether that was because they had already been evacuated while the ship was adrift awaiting repairs or the off duty pilots were being held in reserve for some mysterious reason she didn't much care. Things were bad enough already and this squadron seemed to have gotten the habit of scraping by when it came to survival.

Pulling low and wide she kept Delta Lead in her visual as a quartet of distant engine lights. They were angling to come up and under from behind the Bith Marquis. The defensive fire from her down here was totally non existent, and the only enemy fighters were the gunboats near the ship's prow. Luckily those were busy engaging Able flight's X-Wings, finally this mission seemed to be less of a suicide proposal. Noting the engines getting bigger which meant that the Iron Cross was slowing down, she pulled back on the thrust and diverted energy back into weapons systems. Letting them recharge as she let first pair of Delta's make their slow straif and then take up gun platform positions. Marking where she wanted to end up at the opposite corner pocket to the hanger so they both could maximize basic weapons fire after she unloaded her torps.

Shortly after the Iron Cross and Wild Card emptied their remaining torps she glided into position and as soon as a positive lock and path loaded launched hers into the maelstrom. They tacked true and after a delay the warheads exploded garishly from deep within the hanger bays.

"Switching to lasers and light turbo." Taab announced as the Iron Cross just seemed to hang there under the looming bulk of the Imperial Star Destroyer pouring energy blasts into it. Taking up position she flipped the switch.

"Torps away, lasers, turbo, and dash of ion inbound." she stated over the comms. Explosions were good, explosions with arcing electricity causing safety systems to fail were better. Watching the nice light show and her scopes she kept one hand hovering over the switches to dump the power back into the engines. Sooner or later they would have to beet a hasty retreat and B-Wings were not speedboats.

TAG: @Bardan_Jusik , @Bacta Bubble Bath , @bombers

 

IC: Jocelyn “Joy” Sunwalker
Approaching Bith Marquis, Swordfish system

Jocelyn steered clear of the now disabled Prince Eugene. If only they could blow that up too, but the torpedoes were a precious resource that was reserved for the bigger fish. She felt good about this op as so far they managed to overcome the resistance pretty quickly and with minimal casualties. Then the “poison” of doubt started dripping in her mind. What if that was all a ruse? Surely the Empire could sacrifice a single Star Destroyer if it was to gain something more.

‘You need to see a therapist...’ she thought amusedly. This rollercoaster of emotions ranging from optimism to paranoia was troubling, but to be expected given the situation. Jocelyn doubled the shields in front, but kept some for the engine section just in case. She instructed the astromech to start calculating the optimal firing vector. Joy keyed some commands to ready the torpedoes as soon as the targeting solution was ready.

She acknowledged Lou’s command and saw her friend launch her payload. Jocelyn did the same. The Y-wing shook slightly as the proton torpedoes launched. The RELOAD sign appeared on her screen. There was not much time to see the results, but just as she maneuvered her craft she saw that a couple of missiles missed their mark and had exploded on the surface. Surely the whole load of three bombers would be sufficient to do enough damage.

TAG: @Bardan_Jusik @Vehn @galactic-vagabond422 @Mitth_Fisto