Log:Black Squadron: Gone Hunting

Black slugs it out with Kappa Squad in the void.

OOC Date: February 23, 2021
Location: Deep Space
Participants: Black Squadron, Jessika Pava, Bors Thul, Ektor, Poe Dameron

Black Squadron has deployed from the cruiser Pantheon, and exited the conflict zone to patrol deep space. Reports from deep space scouts had come back detailing the presence of anomalous scans indicative of cloaked vessels. It was not the substantial size that the fleet need be worried about, but fighters patrolling the area were at risk of being stalked and taken out with little to no warning. Long range scans carry a lot of value for the fleet, often warning of impending arrivals that could be outside sensor range!

When Black Squad exited hyperspace from their micro-jump, they found themselves surrounded on all sides by the void. It is quiet. Too quiet. At least until the robotic sounding voice of Poe Dameron cut across the comms to address the team. <<"You guys have anything on sensors?">> Poe starts flipping several switches on, and his craft begins to move forward at a standard impulse speed.

"Shields at full, Ailee." Leaving her BB astromech to take care of powering up the deflector emitters to full by activating the Chempat generator so the protective bubble around her snubfighter comes to life, Jessika's left hand eases forward the throttle of the Incom-FreiTek T-85 X-Wing. She glances down to her multi-control display panel and toggles through it, bringing up the Faberitech and Melihat holographic imaging system and toggling it out into it's longest range. A shimmering field appears around the snubfighter, and Jessika feeds a little more power into the the 5L9 fusial thrust engines. The nozzles help keep that bright red flare mostly hidden, save for anything on the craft's rear. <"Lead, Two. I'm getting ghost blips. Might just be an error with the sensors."> Jessika frowns at the display. "Ailee, run a background scan for any kind of interference across the wavelengths.

Tapping keys, no real reason - just blanking and refreshing his sensor readout, the same readings over and over, and then his head rises. A momentary thing that makes him sit up to lean forward and squint through his canopy. Lips pursed. Mmmmmmmmm.

<<"Seven, lead, I just saw water-ripple over the stars... for but a moment.">> his own shields engaging, Bors angles his craft to continue on his path, trying to determine if what he saw had one, or if it was just another play of the light on the bubble canopy.

<<"Peculiar.">> flipping his helmet visor down now, <<"Shall I pursue and investigate?">>

Ektor's Y-wing emerges into regular space in formation with the faster fightercraft, lazily activating shields and initiating a sensor sweep and peering at the readout. "Ah, drek-" he mutters, abruptly breaking formation to take the sluggish bomber evasive. << I ain't sitting still to get rekked by no ghost, yeah?>> he cracks wise. <<Well.. maybe for some ghosts, I might. But I ain't rekking just ANY ghost. Don't sit so still, yeah??>>

They see it after a moment, the sudden sleek manifestation of a half squad of TIE/Silencers. The eerie smooth sight is one that invokes fear in the very heart of any ace pilot worth their salt. Five (5) Silencers close, sensors reading that their weapons are charged and online, and already closing in to give Black Squadron a fright.

Poe and Jess do not see them immediately, not until they're right up on the squad and ready to rock!

<"They're on top of us!"> Jessika tries to cut hard once she realizes what they're dealing with. The Silencers are deadly, and her sensors refuse to pick them up in any kind of meaningful way. She's got to rely on her naked eye, and against the darkness of space? That's extra hard. The delay in realizing what they're up against leaves her as a sitting duck, and her shields pay for it. The hard shuddering isn't just the deflector emitters being overwhelmed. Black Two's hull gets decorated with two spots of carbon scoring along its fuselage, flaking the black and orange paint with spattered blasting that's even darker than the paint. She's not one to just take a hit, though, and lines up her leading reticle with her naked eye, finger squeezing to unleash a salvo that batters against one of the Silencer's shields.

"HA! I knew it!" a momentary pause. The little indicator light isn't on.

• click*

<<"Ha-HAH! I knew it!">> the extra HAH of course for decorum, we must be proper. The monocle'd man seems to enjoy the luck of the A-Wing pilot. No one pays attention to the superior design and elegant structure of the Kuat Systems RZ-2. A grander model than Jan Dodonna's design, sleek, gorgeous, a jaw dropping creation of utterly devastating in person. Just like her pilot.

Bors spins his craft around after letting the TIEs blow past, giggling to himself as he makes to slip behind and make his presence known with a burst of cannon fire that stitches over shields - no penetration, but then he's just making acquaintances right now.

<<They're coming in hot- five marks at two-ten,>> Ektor calls out as his erratic evasion of ghosts manages by dumb luck to give him a line of sight (on his good side) on the incoming half squadron of Silencers. The enemy are clearly elite military pilots, and the reformed pirate's HIGHLY irregular method of maneuver causes both fighters aiming at the light bomber to miss badly. Keeping his eye on the TIE that had tagged Black 2, Ektor leads the cloaked interceptor with his cannons, hammering its shields with a pair of blasts, seeking to drive them off Jessika's tail. <<Get rekked, ghost.>>

<<"DAMN.. where the HELL did they come from? HOLD ON BUDDY!">> Poe leads his fighter through an immediate action, much like the drills they did in the flight academy. It was purely luck that kept him from getting scorched as two Silencers closed in QUICK on his tail. Being brave, as that's the only setting Poe has, he joins with Bors in attacking Kappa Leader. Their red bolts smack the craft with equal skill, but it's anyone's game at this moment and Black Squad is out numbered by one. <<"Javos.. if you're out there, we could use your help right about now..">> Poe is trying to avoid being smashed by the two training his stern, and it's taking every ounce of skill he can muster to do it. "I hate Kappa squadron!" He laments to BB-8, though the amiable droid has no response.

"No, abandon the background wavelength scan! Get the shields working again!" She's barely got the time to divide her attention to Ailee's question. "It's not radiation, it's their generators!" While Ailee turns her efforts to turning off non-essential systems to bolster the deflector shields, Jessika concentrates on sweeping around to deal with the Silencer that almost put her out of the fight from the start. She pays back the favor, chewing through his shields with a deadly salvo of laser cannon fire that punches straight through its fuselage and leaves something sparking visibly. What that is, Jessika doesn't know. A moment later, the craft itself explodes, because Ektor's Y-Wing destroys it with a follow up punch of laser cannons. <"Thanks for the help.">

<<"Dare I say they seem at odds with us as well, Pretty boy.">> looking over his shoulder when the lances of green begin spitting past his fuselage. Bucking his craft up and giving a spectacularly uncourtly gesture for the cockpit of the silencer as he heaves over. The motion keeps him from fire - but likewise allows his target to get a little more space to maneuver when his own shots come. A tatou of bright flashes that wheel around the ball cockpit, but nothing making contact with shields.

"Come come, show me your face and I shall alleviate thy ailments..."

<<Where'd they come from?>> Ektor echoes Poe with an audible cackle as he watches Jess come around and put a big hurt on Kappa 2. << Same place we're gonna send em back to, yeah?>> The TIE is left an easy mark by the heavy damage, and the Y-wing's nose cannons finish Black 2's work. <<Got your back, Jess. Now let's wreck some more before these Hutt-suckers wise up and go all 'oh drek, this Black Squad is too bad ass for us', yeah?>> Highly efficient tactical insights, as usual.

Avoiding another pair of salvos, Poe laughs, then he cusses, slamming his hand down on the throttle to expand the space between he and his foes. A momentary window allows for a shot, but Poe rekks it up and the agile fighter he's pursuing gets away leaving Poe to cuss more as he rips after them in pursuit. <<"I can agree to that, Tion.">>

Even the damaged Kappa fighters are not retreating. They have a reputation to stake down and fight to the death, and Kappa is just as deadly and dangerous as the top squadrons in the New Republic, including Black Squad. They live up to their reputation, staying hot on their intended targets and relentlessly firing. <<"You still got one on you, Tion!">> Says Poe, who is being chased by two still. Bors, it seems, is slugging it out with Kappa Leader.

<"I'm on him!"> A quick blurt over the comms indicates it's Two coming up on Tion's six to try and get Kappa Three to bug off the Y-Wing. A dangerous proposition, considering her shields still aren't up as well as they should be and the Y-Wing can take more of a beating than the X-Wing can. She still doesn't let the Silencer sit comfortable on Ektor's six, even if all she manages to do is sling some fire in its direction. Fire that misses by a mile, necessitating she not break off but commit to the chase. It tickles the back of her mind and makes her anxious, because she's essentially a sitting bantha, but commits she does, craft angling and vector changing so that she follows the arc of the slower Y-Wing and the TIE trying to blast it out of existence.

Alerts go off and Bors's shields begin making that 'pwong bwong pong!' within his canopy as cannon fire threatens to rip them apart. Expression a dark grimace and he is made to dive and bank into a Z turn that fails to quite shake his attacker - who is doing an fine, absolutely, FINE, job of keeping the Alderaanian from getting a proper bead on his target.

"Oh bother." head shaking while trying to see his opponent over his shoulder. Threatening the absolute beauty of his baby. The nerve. THE. NERVE of it.

<<"Picked up fan. They're insistent.">>

Ektor continues being deceptively hard to hit in Black 3. The light bomber isn't any faster or more nimble than any other of its class, but his simultaneously lady and erratic movements keep him safe yet again. <<Thanks Jess.. you're the best, yeah?>> he drawls sounding half asleep as Black 2's cannons cause s course adjustment that forces the Silencer on his tail to break off, leaving the TIE vulnerable to a pair of shots in the aft. <<Little ass slap to hurry you on, ghost.>>

<<"Damn it! I'm hit.">> Poe laments, his voice laced with frustration and a bit of worry as he manages to stay just cool enough to avoid the second salvo. There is no breathing easy around this squadron, as Poe's been shot down by them before. There's history! "Come buddy, time to work your magic. I'll do what I can up here!" Poe says, encouraging the BB-series droid that dips back inside the vessel from its socket to cross wires and find some give with shield energy.

Meanwhile, Kappa makes a subtle adjustment, and Jess will find she has one on her now too. Poe calls it out, only because he saw Kappa Five adjust course to chase her and try to relieve Kappa Three. <<"Testor, behind you!">> Poe has a moment, recalling the last time he said that was with Snap, just before he was killed above Exegol.

<"Yeah, I see it!"> She doesn't, but Ailee does, and the astromech is more than vocal about the danger she's facing. Jessika doesn't have the benefit of a generator that makes it impossible for targeting computers to lock onto her, so she relies purely on weaving her craft through a complex series of twists. It's easier in space. There's not the friction of the atmosphere and she's got the aid of both her thrusters and maneuvering nozzles to help. The Silencer probably would have destroyed her if she hadn't banked so hard that the straps keeping her secured to her pilot seat dig into her shoulders painfully. <"I'm clear!"> Ailee reports another of the Silencer's is destroyed, but Jessika's struggling to get shots on the one she's still chasing.

Still shooting at him

"Still shooting!" there's no droid to answer too - some people just need to talk, really? Otherwise it's a lot of grunting sounds, leather squeaks. The scream of TIE lasers and the sizzling sound that follows. "Let me be so that I might remove thy leader from the front yon uncouth nave!"

He should have said that over comms. That would have been better.

But lo! His brackets go green and tone brings him to the present. "What lo?!" Not one to look a gift ronto in the mouth, Bors swings the aft end of his craft to the side, anticipating the turn to fire anew, shields shredding into etherium before the engines themselves begin to gutter in the wake of hull damage blasting plates into space. A guttering puff of ion flames and then Bors is speeding past.

<<"Seven, splash Kappa Lead.">> oh yes, he's going to open the special champagne tonight.

Ektor scores another hit on the TIE he and Major Pava are harrying together, he idly chews his lower lip around a crooked grin as the dogfight grinds on. A glance at his scopes shows damage to his wingmates, but none destroyed. If the TIEs it shows nothing.

Poe smashes the shields of the TIE that he's targeted and stays with them for as long as his craft can manage it. The TIE is going so rekking fast, and with stealth, it's very hard to see them. He manages to avoid another salvo just as BB-8 warbles about the shields getting some juice. "Keep at it buddy, we're not out of trouble yet.." Black Leader twists away and Poe reaches up to shove the throttle again. The vessel puts him firmly against his seat and begins to shake. "Come on, ol' girl. Hold together.."

Kappa is still going toe to toe despite another loss. Kappa Leader is sent flipping end over end into the void with no way to restore engines. They're doomed to linger there until someone finds them, or their systems cut out and they freeze to death.

Snapping out of the little rut her mind is stuck on, Jessika consciously refocuses on the task at hand by interrupting her own thought process and forcing herself to hone what she's doing rather than get frustrated about it. "Stop trying. Just lead it. Shoot it." When she squeezes her flight stick's trigger this time, the array of red laser cannon fire stitches across the Silencer's shields, erasing them and allowing her to carve massive chunks out of its fuselage. <"It's almost done!"> She forces herself to watch her speed, ensuring she's not going to overshoot the target now that it's primed and ready to be taken out. The last thing she needs is for the TIE to turn the tables on her and put her right back into danger.

<<"Seven, Splash Kappa 4?">> Yes there is a question in his voice.

With the lead down he was free to maneuver, swinging into a whip-turn and pushing throttle to max, catching sight of the lattice like cockpit of the TIE in his view and Bors cannot help himself but wave in with a cheery expression on his features even as he begins firing. The pilot was good, but the Alderaanian was on point tonight, forcing the head to head as he begins to twist on axis, cannon shots blowing through forward viewport, vaporizing the opponent before the pain of the craft exploding could be felt nor the speeding A-Wing blowing through the craft as it became a ball of fire.

"Mother guide my spirit to find forgiveness for the lives that I must take to preserve others. Father guide my hand that it be the righteous and the aegis for those who cannot take up arms. Let me be wicked so they remain pure. Let me seek redemption so that they need not."

The pang of guilt to come with the kill.

<<Oh, it's DONE, yeah? Done up good, done dirty, done bad. See, yoo, en, DONE.>> Ektor doesn't seem to get pangs of guilt as the Y-wing once again finishes off the mess Black 2 makes of the First Order's bleeding edge fightercraft. << See, that was there first mistake: the bird was too new. New fly a platform that's been around less than a hundred years, yeah?>>

Poe follows up right behind Xer's Y-Wing, flying with practiced ease right over his craft to add some additional kick to Kappa Five's ass. It's enough to encourage the Huttsucker to engage full impulse and zip from view in the next second, leaving the squadron in the void with fresh wounds and a reminder that Kappa remembers Black Squadron, and a survivor will remember this slight. Kappa 1 Black 1.

Poe's voice cuts over the comms then. <<"They're gone. Let's get back and repair. Good work, everyone!">> Poe's s-foils come to a close as he prepares to micro-jump back to the fleet.