Log:Black Squadron: Diplomatic Rescue
Black Squad rescues a New Republic corvette
OOC Date: November 25, 2020
Location: Ithor Orbit
Participants: Black Squadron, Jessika Pava, Elrych Cometburn, Ektor, Poe Dameron
The sudden flashes in the black void signify the rapid arrival of Black Squadron. Four craft in total arrive in real space and almost immediately receive Poe's transmission. <<"This is Black Leader: Comm check for all call signs.">> Sensors are coming online and long range scans reveal an ongoing skirmish near the planet Ithor. Poe marks the location and broadcasts it to the other members of the team. Impulse engines come to life then, and the X-Wing carrying Black Leader launches forth, its s-foils still locked to cruise. The presence of a shield shimmers to life as BB-8 can be seen (if near) tilting its dome-head to 'look' beyond the crest of Poe's canopy and toward their area of operations.
New Republic transponders were firing off, verifying that the ship under attack was indeed friendly. A squadron of fighters pursue, firing bright green bolts at its stern as the pilot of the New Republic vessel tries their hardest to get away.
<<"Black Six here...">> Sounded the voice of Elrych Cometburn over the squadron's encrypted frequency, his usual mellow tunes playing in the background. Not too loud to drown out his voice but just enough to give him aided concentration. He was DEFINITELY in an E-Wing and not an X-Wing. So he didn't need to engage sfoils when they hit realspace. Instead he goes about attempting to scan the far off battle, his icy blue eyes focused on the distant flashes. <<"Can't pick anything up.">> He says. El's droid Eggsy whines behind him in his socket, causing the pilot to pure his slips and shake his head. "Could be Pirates... Smugglers. All the outer worlds are rife with hidey holes for those types... actually I think I might still have a stash out here... remind me to give it a check before we leave."
<<Black Three, remembering my number,>> Ektor greets lazily by way of checking in. <<Looks like a squad of birds on the mark. Time to wreck some face, yeah?>> The twin nacelles of the Y-wing light bomber flare orange, as the Tionese pirate diverts auxiliary power to engines, in order to keep pace with the faster fighter craft of his squadron mates.
<"Black Leader, Black Two. Loud and clear."> Eyes forward on her sensors, Major Jessika Pava pushes forward the throttle with her left hand and the sublight engines of her snubfighter light up red in the cold vacuum. <"Black Two to Black Squadron. These hostile signatures are identical to the drone-like craft we encountered on Rishi. Don't get complacent, though. Could be modified or any number of things."> Jessika adjusts vector with her flight stick and rotates her craft to be canopy up with the New Republic vessel attempting to escape the onslaught of the squadron tailing it. "Ailee, prioritize collecting data on the targets. Scans, recordings, the works. We'll turn it over to New Republic intelligence when we get back to Chandrila."
<<"Copy, Testor. Lock em open if you got 'em. If I recall, these are the same ones that fight to the bitter end. Pair up to help cover each other and call your shots. Elrock, you're with me, pal.">> Black Leader's wings locked open and the priming sequence for the cannons came online. The target computer in the cockpit beeped and Poe flipped several switches before going live over the air.
<<"Unidentified craft, you are in New Republic territory attacking a New Republic vessel. You are to cease immediately or we will be authorized to use deadly force.">> The net crackled after this, and the squadron observed as their opponents continued to open fire on the Republic craft. <<"Positive I.D. established; Black Squadron is cleared to engage all hostiles.">>
<<"Understood, Two... let's hope that Harrower doesn't pop in to have some fun then.">> Elrych comms just before saying to Eggsy, "Keep the passive scans up, Eggsy... but focus on target allocation."
The Jedi Ace switches his shields to double front and pushes the throttle of his craft as far forwards as he can. The purplish red engines glow bright as the fast escourt snubfighter blasts forth through the empty void. He turns hard after one of the Red Claws, firing when his retical flickers green. Yet just as quick as it lit up, it went cold and dead leaving his three bolts to zip off into the cold black.
<<Drek, then they ain't gonna panic.>> A shrug. <<Oh well, get we gotta rekk up some drones, yeah? Got an attack vector onnnn, THAT one, cannons hot.>> Attacking on Major Pava's wing, his nose cannons land on the drone's shields. "Hey Genius: if I wanted to piss off a droid pilot, you got any advice how I'd do it? ...Whaddya mean 'I already am'?"
Jessika waits until they're right on top of the enemy squadron before triggering her s-foils into attack position. They snap open, and Jessika unlinks her laser cannons for a more rapid, individual staccato of fire. They swing into the thick of it, with Ektor lighting up one craft and Jessika doing the same to another. Neither are destroyed, and neither show signs of being thrown off their game after taking fire. That's the dangerous part about these things. They'll never make mistakes if Jessika had to guess about it. They're nothing but machines in machines, and so all they rely on is math. Until they get damaged enough that they're suffering from malfunctions, at least. <"Stay nimble, Three.">
Initial skirmish pops off the moment Black Squadron is in range. Two Red Claws take hits, and one combusts and explodes. Poe angles over the corvette pushing away from the large craft with three fighters tailing him. "Yeah, yeah I see them," Poe calls back calmly, flying in what might be a defensive manner. It does not help though, a pair of shots cause his shields to shimmer!
The others of the squadron are being pursued too; two on each of them. <<"New Republic Corvette, start pushing out of here. We'll cover you!">>
Elrych feels the slightest tinge of someone getting ready to blast him full of holes. He turns his helmeted head sharply to look out the cockpit, noticing one of the Red Claws angling in for a rather well practiced but predictable attack. He waits right till the last moment before pressing the reverse thrusters and turning hard to come about and out of the targeting sights of the enemy craft.
THe Corellian then pushes the forward thrusters to their limits as he hunts down the 'leader' of the pack he had missed earlier. Eyes focus intently as his music starts to pick up in tempo and rhythm. He places the nimble E-Wing in an intercept path for the craft... waiting for it to cross his path. As soon as the retical turns green, the Jedi fires his heavy canons... the thick lances of scarlet death slamming into the bogie causing it to spark and explode in the darkened void of space.
Few pilots alive or dead have amassed more combats in a Y-wing than Ektor, and his familiarity with the bomber pays off. The pilot manages to make a deft evasive maneuver look lazy as he weaves between the bolts of two drones, expertly placing a linked laser blast through the central processing unit of Alpha 2. <<Jess, I am so rekkking nimble right now, yeah?>> You can *hear* the dumb grin.
<"You really gotta stop pissing everything off, Lead."> It's a jest about Poe's tendency to have the most targets trailing after him and trying to blow him up, but he's not the only one evasive. Jessika rotates and dips, changing planes to avoid the laser cannon fire that stitches through the darkness where she just was. Despite the harassment, she refuses to let her target get away. Ektor says he's nimble, and Jessika trusts that he can weather a few shots long enough for her to finish off the target she'd damaged. Ektor downs his. She blows up hers. There's already a chunk of targets missing from the playing field, and that bodes well for the mission at hand. <"Is it me, or do they seem to wait to get a jump vector DURING their rescue?">
"Nice work, buddy!" Poe calls to BB-8. <<"I guess it's just something about my face,">> Poe replies back to Jess.
Black Leader returns to the Corvette only to pass it over and engage another fighter. The trade off is one sided, much like the fight that's happening now. Four Red Claws are erased in quick succession of each other, but the fighters remain locked onto their mission, well their secondary mission! Kill Black Squadron.
<<"Understood, starfighters. Give em hell! We're getting out of here.">> The Corvette's engines begin to function again and the craft is moving away, bits of small debris falling off the exterior hull.
It's hard for the Red Claws to keep up with the rather unpredictable movements from the nimble E-Wing, Black 6. Up, down, port Starboard... he never stopped moving while angling in on his next target. Any fire zipping past him harmlessly.
Scrolling through the list of bogies, Red Claw three pops up as the next target in line. Elrych turns hard, pulling his craft up behind the unsuspecting craft... ripping into it with linked canons, instantly ripping the starfighter appart into multiple fragmented and exploding pieces.
Ektor laughs sharply at Jessika's last observation. <<They *do*, yeah? No lie, they straight up WAIT until we get here.>> R2-G13 begins to point out the complex gravitational obstacles which require large ships to follow a precise series of beacons, but Ektor interrupts, "Blah blah, I boom now." Bringing Black 3 around to blast at the Red 5 drone in pursuit of his wingmate, he hammers the shields. << I got em warmed up for you, Jess: show em some love, yeah?>>
The intricate ballet of craft dancing through the void boils down to brief moments of opportunity for the pilots behind the controls. Black Squadron is finding more advantages than the drones. The ones chasing her are doing a poor job of putting the pressure on, and Ektor manages to peel one off of her as it attacks. She uses that moment to turn the tables, angling her craft in on the same one that was shooting at her. It's an effective strafe, but not the kill shot that she wants. Instead, it's given carbon scoring along its hull. <"I'll show it some love, alright."> Famous last words, of course. Jessika wouldn't be surprise if she missed every single shot after saying it.
The Republic corvette has reached the end of the gravity well and slows to a stop. <<"Sithspit, we have an issue with the hyper drive. We're fixing it now.">> They inform, annoyance clearly on their voice. The squadron of enemy fighters dwindles to four, making the scale even (though is it?) The New Republic fighters toe the line in relation to technology, and it's becoming clear that the fighters they encountered on Rishi were far more suited to atmosphere than the void.
<<"Let's finish this out and get back home before dinner,">> Poe calls, his voice robotic sounding because of the crypto.
Another sharp turn as bolts zip through the area of space Black 6 had been, as if the person flying knew ahead of time that that is where the enemy was going to fire. "Hang on Eggsy..." Elrych says, grabbing into the cockpit handles with his free hand before manipulating the stick in a fashion that might seem unorthadox.
Elrych's craft does a vast loop before turning in tight to chase down Red Claw 6. He manages to hit it once, heavy canon bolt plashing hard against the craft's shielding.
The corvette has issues with the hyperdrive. <<HA. Sorry, sorry.. it ain't funny. But it's rekkking hilarious, yeah?>> Veering off of Red 5, he sets his sights on the eighth of the drones, but his ruby red cannonade doesn't land this time.
"I called it," Jessika mutters to herself, zipping through on the trail of Red Claw Five and trying once more to take the ship down. It jukes away at what seems like the last second, leading Jessika to loop after it and sweep around in pursuit of the craft that's turned more towards being evasive than attacking. She wonders if it's just a minor adjustment in the ones and the zeroes. A simple situation of an on in a spot rather than an off. That idle amusement will have to wait for later. Right now, she's still hot in pursuit of the craft.
<<"The hyper drive is back online, we're getting ready to jump out now. Thanks for the help!">> The corvette begins to prepare for its jump but Black Squad is still slugging it out with the remaining fighters. <<"Everyone still holding up?">> Poe calls out, twisting his craft away from a /really/ close shot. He sighs out and responds to BB-8's warble. "Yeah, I think it scraped the paint off the wing!" Four fighters left, and Black Squad's mission has nearly jumped out of the system!
The Enemy craft, though few in number, seem to get wise to the trickery of Elrych' maneuvers. There is one attack that he did not see coming in the Force. No... he saw it coming because he was also paying attention to his screens. "I don't think so..." Just barely does the Corellian squeek away from the incoming fire.
No matter, for he turns in on the clsoest target. Red Claw 7. His retical turns a hard green for a ong moment. He wonders if the pilot even knows he's tracking him. He's answerd, just as the three bolt that rip through the craft it starts to maneuver away. Too late to escape certain doom. <<"I think that's... three splashed... what's for dinner lead?">> Asks the Jedi over comms, his fast paced music blaring now in the background.
The Y-wing keeps Red 8 in front of it with a swift full-stop into a pivot and full throttle forward maneuver. Another pair of laser hits finish off the damaged drone. <<..I prolly should've thought a this before blowing it up, but these robo birds even *got* hypers? Or these little birds on a short range leash?>>
"Come here, you little.." Jessika mutters to herself, following the evasive pattern dictated by the craft that's fleeing. There's no flavor to the flying, but it's effective. It's textbook. And maybe that's why, in the end, the drones stand no chance against real, seasoned pilots. There's nothing creative in the way they try to evade. Jessika doesn't exactly predict what it's doing, but she counters it all the same, and given the advantages of her craft in space, she's able to set her lead on the drone. A squeeze of the trigger and a rapid spit of laser cannon fire smashes almost all her shots into the target, oblitering it. <"Lead, Two. I'm good."> Jessika swings back around towards ektor. <"That's a good question, Tion."> Jessika is legitimately surprised, and it shows in her voice. "What do you think, Ailee?"
<<"That's ALL of them, haha!">> Poe calls out just as the corvette makes the jump into hyperspace. Not long after, the four squadron fighters jump out of the system too, leaving slag to float aimlessly in space until the Ithorians sent a crew to come clean it up.
