Log:Black Squadron: Here Comes the Parade

Black Squad is ambushed by Besh and Cresh Squads from the FO

OOC Date: February 13, 2021
Location: Atmosphere above Capital Codru
Participants: Black Squadron, Jessika Pava, Ektor, Lofty, Magni, Bors Thul, Poe Dameron, Suralinda Javos NPC

Black Squadron is on station and heading toward an aerial offensive intended for the city, or so intelligence seems to think. Reinforced with more craft, Black Squadron looks more like a squadron now with several members present. <<"All wings check in, and prepare for battle. I'm reading twenty-four (24) targets closing quick from high orbit, and it seems they're intercepting us.">> Poe's voice is calm despite the revelation about what's ahead of them. Locking his S-foils into attack position, Black Leader goes through their pre-battle ritual, which includes its shields shimmering to life around the craft.

From cloud cover above the squadron, black shapes, in the design of TIE/fo, cut through like razors and increase speed, screaming toward the squadron.

Over the private net shared only with black squad members, voices began to check in.

<<"Javos checking in.">>

<<"Q'Kika here.">>

<<"This is Girnod, checking in.">>

<<"Ima present.">> Chuckling.

<<"Vorpul standing by.">>

<<"Rel also standing by.">>

<"Twenty-four? Does anyone else feel insulted?"> Releasing the snubfighter's throttle with her left hand, Jessika Pava reaches over to toggle the craft's s-foils. The wings split, aligning in their iconic configuration so that the quad laser cannons are aligned. She double checks their linked status, ensuring that it's not paired, but sequential, and will keep going as long as she pulls the trigger. Her hand returns to the throttle and its edged forward to the limit, giving her as much speed as she can muster out of the craft while they approach the target sensors on display. <"Not even a single dagger configuration among them."> Is it disappointiment? Something else? Difficult to tell. Jessika angles her vector in challenge of the intercept.

<<No Daggers, but I bet they got some special forces- Drek, nah. Still, two squadrons is.. almost worth getting outta bed for, yeah?>> Ektor rambles in response to Jessika. When R2-G13 warbled that he neglected to actually check in, the Tionese pirate adds, <<Oh, and uh.. I'm here, too.>> "There, you happy now? Of course you're not- I did TOO say my name!" No, he didn't. The Y-wing angles toward the oncoming phalanx of TIEs, deflectors set double front for the initial joust.

Lofty and his Sullustan co-pilot Haozipliirs Stebbs have been running medevacs for the ground battle throughout the past few days. His Auzituck-class gunship WHORRWAARR can hold 8 Wookiees in the back, so retrofitting it with medical equipment wasn't difficult. After a call for casualty evacuation or 'Dust Off' from the main city on Munto Codru, he decides to tag along with Black Squadron for fighter cover. "<< Snowball in formation.>>" The troublesome starboard engine rattles its pylon as the fuel mix fluctuates in its ionization chamber, causing Stebbs to fiddle with its controls and mutter curses in Sullustese.

Magni toggles switches and pushes forward on the throttle and flight stick. <<"Black Six here. And only 24 man I'm with ya its a little insulting yea.">> He chuckles. "Oh quiet Dive, I'm not being cocky or arrogant I just know how good we are."

<<"Well perhaps they thought they were heading to engage Rogue, Testor?">> Bors quips as he flips down his helmet visor and matches speed with the others, <<"Seven reporting in.">> adding that at the last while he surveys the incoming fighters. <<"Let me know if you want me jamming them.">> even if it jams them too - but it could be of aid with the numbers.

He is beaming up at the lot, even waving through his canopy - resisting the urge to go on broadcast to request they surrender or turn back. It would be a simple pique of conscious - a boast even. To give them the chance in courtly fashion. So for now he murmurs to himself a quiet prayer and readies himself for what is to come.

<<"And here comes the parade. Heads on a swivel, Black. Here we goooooooo!">> Poe leads them into a head on intercept course for the two squadrons Besh and Cresh, making use of the air pressure to give them the extra speed. <<"Engage these TIEs and bring them down!">>

And so it begins!

A few X-Wings and a whole lot of TIE fighters begin the split. Jessika's finger squeezes the trigger on flight stick, spitting death towards the craft that most directly matches her own callsign. The TIE/fo weaves, avoiding her fire. Unfortunately for that TIE, the X-Wings aren't the only thing they have to deal with. Lofty's own gunship is in the mix, and Jessika watches as the TIE she targeted is almost reduced to nothing but metal wreckage. <"Great hit, Snowball."> Then they're through the split, and Jessika's breaking, going evasive. This swarm of TIE/fo fighters reminds her of long ago, above some desert canyons. The first time they ever went toe to toe with the First Order and tested their mettle. The Final Order hasn't impressed her yet.

Ektor jukes and weaves on approach in the light bomber, nose cannons firing a burst harmlessly through the TIE formation. "Now the fun begins, yeah?" he mutters through a crooked grin as the glittering green specks of incoming cannon fire grow into deadly lances. Shields are balanced ad the Wishbone banks to join the dogfight, proper.

Lofty opens up in tandem with Jessika Pava at one of the encroaching TIE fighters, Besh 2. The rapid-fire Sureggi laser cannons on his craft go PENK-PENK-PENK-PENK-PENK-PENK-PENK as the atmosphere is lit up with laser fire! Multiple shots hit and Besh 2 bugs out for lower atmosphere. "<<He not be back!>>"

Magni switches on his targeting computer and starts getting everything lined up. In his excitement and eagerness he fires earlier which gives his target ample time to evade his shots.

-BwatBwatBwatBwat- No quad guns firing, nor criss-crossing fields of fire - just rapid firing twin blasters flanking the side of the RZA-2 speaking when Bors dips his craft below and away from the others to give them maneuvering room. Staggered lines that cut across TIE shields while the Alderaanian sweeps his scout fighter among the throngs.

<<"Lead, Seven, I found one of their lead craft - in pursuit. Anyone wishes to follow target, sensor data is out.">>

Weaving side to side and twisting into a curving spin to try and hold the six of the octagonal winged craft, attempting to cling and keep his quarry in sight.

The fight is in full force, and Black Squadron is outnumbered. TIEs chase the Republic fighters through the sky making it a web of complicated chaos to navigate. Comms become very busy as each pilot details their current situation, ire, and terror as TIEs scream in pursuit, issuing discharged cannon blast that are intended to blow the snubfighters from the sky. Poe's voice cuts through the thick of the comms. <<"Try to cover each other if you can. Spread this stinger nest out a bit, and let's catch them in the open!" This is where they had the advantage. Droids were incredibly valuable with repairing shields and increasing survivability.

It becomes chaos. Red and green laser fire stitches through the sky, missing some craft and smashing into others, and ships start taking damage. One already flees, turning it into a twenty-three on... Jessika can't remember how many craft they have. Rather than focus on that, she focuses on staying alove, and that means hard, quick banks down and away from the fight, angling left before cutting right to keep her pursuants from getting any kind of easy firing solution through their targeting computer. Jessika goes after the one that Poe damgers, but likt the X-Wings, the TIE/fos are also evasive. No one wants to be hit or killed. It doesn't surprise Jessika in the least. The string of fire she lets off after it sails through nothing but empty air.

Ektor banks and rolls in his ponderous snubfighter, anticipating the evasive maneuver of the much more nimble Besh 3 well enough to catch even a skilled opponent with the Ruby trail of fire. Shields holding as the Y-wing evades any punishment in return. <<Hehehe... Hey, Jess: you remember that scrap at Naboom, yeah?"

Lofty takes his cue from Jessika Pava again, blasting the TIE's shields with his angry Wookiee laser cannons. "<<He running!>>" he toots triumphantly over the shared comms. "<<Ngai enda!>>" crackles Stebbs in Sullustese from the co-pilot's seat, loosely translating as 'God willing.' Whatever god the Sullustans worship, that is. Lofty uses his massive paws to ease back on the flight yoke, soaring through wisps of cloud which sizzle off the large outboard-mounted engines.

Magni growls trying to get that shot off on target missing but at least a bit closer this time. <<"Damn this guys good.">> He growls into the coms. "Yea yea Dive a little less critique a little more shield repair yea?"

<<"Seven, I've gained dance partners.">> Where was this instinct on prior engagements? He can practically feel the cannon blasts crossing towards him, the high pitched scream of Sienar blasters and the stuttering hiss when the burst ends. Shield warnings giving notice of proximity before Bors cuts engines and drops like a stone in the sky while firing directional thrusters to reorient him.

<<"Still have their lead, engaging.">> the red glow of Black Seven's engines bursts to twin stars and the tiny fighter streaks upwards again, angling on Besh 1 and spitting fire anew, splattering on shields that have begun to grow opaque from the punishment levied on them. Tongue momentarily poking from the corner of his mouth as he whirls and twists in air to keep on target, heedless of his pursuers.

Three TIEs are routed within a few minutes of the heat, and Lofty is responsible for two of them. Poe finishes an attack that shatters the shields of a TIE/fo, damaging the hull in such a way that the pilot has no choice but to break off and beat feet. Q'Kika and Vorpul both celebrate their kills over the comms, announcing that Besh seven and eight are history. Q'Kika even makes light by echoing an old Ektor joke because she shot the engines off her target and it dropped from the air.

Black Squadron is not escaping this heat undamaged though. Six of the twelve fighters are showing wear in their shields, and Girnod has been hit twice now. He's beginning to lose his cool and feel claustrophobic in the skies, his chatter conveying that fear over comms as well as his flying erratic. <<"Stay focused, Black. It's chaos now, but hone in on what's in front of you. One task at a time!">> Poe encourages whilst BB-8 has ducked low in the socket to begin looking at the damage to the shield output.

They may not be confirming kills every time, but they're still taking TIE/fos out of the sky. A pair of kills, a few bugouts, and Black Squadron keeps swinging. Jessika's been unable to land so much as a ping off a pair of shields and realizes she needs to break from her current engagement and focus on a target that's not paying any attention to her at all. She spots it on sensors and the indicator says it's below her. Twisting her X-Wing hard on its horizontal axis, Jessika inverts her craft and then yanks the flight stick back towards herself. Black Two plummets, blitzing straight down through the swarm towards Cresh Two. And the enemy pilot has no idea. Tone. Lead. It's all there. When Jessika squeezes the trigger on her flight stick, it's over.

The rapid hammer of laser cannon fire pops through Cresh Two's shields, cut through the eyeball between the wings, and sends both panels spiraling madly off in different directions as the metal explodes from inside out, superheated but lost in the bright flare of the TIE's internals going critical. When what's left of the TIE/fo hits the ground, it carves a massive crafter out of the dirt and then goes rolling, spinning so fast that it's ripped apart by the forces of gravity and inertia acting on the integral weakspots caused by the damage it sustained. <"Black Two, splash one!">

Ektor barks a sharp laugh at the 'drop ship' joke. <<HA. Good one, Q'kickass.>> It is entirely possible that Ektor has forgotten ever making that joke, himself. He evades the cannons of a pair of pursuing TIEs, hammering the shields of Besh 3 with a double blast. He breaks off pursuit of the wounded FO fighter as he spies an inbound WHORRWAARR. A small cackle rises in his throat.

Lofty completes a loop through some wispy clouds in the Codruvian atmosphere, shaking his TIE tail and barely avoiding laser blasts. "<<Locking your target,>>" he says to Ektor, whistling through the air to take up a crosswise position to Ektor's damaged target. Then he unleashes a barrage from his deadly laser cannons; deadly, despite the fact that they are named for a 30-legged amphibian from Kashyyykk used as a riding mount of sorts. The explosion of the TIE is more satisfying than normal due to the oxygen present, so fires burn brighter. "<<Yakua ku!>>" Stebbs says - something about a chicken dying stone-dead.

Magni banks left rolls right getting out of the way of enemy fire. Finally he gets a lock and fires one of the canons tagging the enemy. <<"Well I finally tagged him.">> "Dive keep on those repairs."

Back in the saddle, so to speak, even so with the narrow miss as more green lances threaten the scout fighter, confidence in skill that had been waning with prior failure kindled as the tests to himself are proving themselves again. "There you go, competent is why he let you join Black, isn't it old man?" the tone pitched in both mockery and jest before he heels over and turns into the center of a display of acrobatics while he maintains his pursuit.

It's a good game, and the pilot before him no slouch - akin to a Ser of Alderaanian Legend and the Beast some planets would call a dragon - Besh 1 had Bors, and Bors had them. Cannon shots illuminating the other as Bors himself had been by their squadmates.

"Come now, break off and take flight, ere we do this dance until death take us..." murmured only for himself as his head turns in quick jerks to check his visuals while blasters charge again. Lord Bors and His Dragon duel in the skies. Though living mount is traded for one of durasteel and electronics, without companion of metal and wire to share their adventure. Bors alone, to fight and watch for his fellows - to see if he finds need to break his pursuit to protect his squadmates.

Poe catches one in his sights, blasting it to pieces in a single pass before engaging his afterburners to go supersonic, leaving the pair of TIEs chasing him behind, their shots feral and inaccurate. He spins off, stretching out along the furthest most perimeter of the battle to take stock of the battle. <<"Black Leader, splash one.">> He announces before diving back in again after realizing his tail had caught up again.

Ima screams victoriously, blasting the engines out on a TIE to watch it fall right out of the sky and splash in the river below. Even Girnod shows improvement, his fear from earlier subsiding and evolving to a successful hit. Rel comes in to help Javos as they chase Besh Five together, and suddenly the skies are seeming a lot less crowded! Black Squad is still showing wear and tear, and the first of their number takes hull damage (Magni).

After ripping Cresh Two to shreds, Jessika sharply banks up towards Black Six being tailed by a pair of fighters. They were all dealing with at least a pair, but Six's shields had gone down, and Ailee warns her about it. Corkscrewing away from the laser cannon fire on her own tail, Jessika follows Lofty and Stebbs in on a run against one of the TIE/fo trailing him. The Talz's gunboat softens him up and Jessika bears down, following the impacts of his laser cannons with a salvo from her own until it, too, has its shields popped and the craft vanishes in an abrupt explosion. The wreckage trails a large plume of smoke on its way towards the ground. <"Black Two, splash two. Got your six, Magnet."> Jessika breaks off Lofty's wing to rengage somewhere else.

Lofty's gunship the WHORRWAARR is struck by a deliberate laser blast, its heavy shields lighting up blue against the green bolt. But one of Black Squadron is in trouble and, along with Ektor, he yanks the flight yoke into a turn as they dive for Magni's pursuers. Ektor explodes Besh 6 out of the air but Lofty only manages to sap Cresh 6's shields with a sprinkling of red laser fire. Jessika Pava follows up with the kill. "<< I almost wax him!>>" he complains over comms through his snoot. There's more to complain about as his diagnostic screen blinks ENGINE THRUST, showing the mix in the starboard engine is off again. "<<Poodu. Stebb, engine bad again.>>" "<<ny ndyroona>>" Stebbs replies, or 'I see' in Sullustese.

Freed of his former mark, Ektor brings his light bomber around in an irregular arc, and zeroes in on the TIEs chasing the Squadron's rookie. By conventional reckoning, Y-wings were a poor match for TIEs in a dogfight. Too slow, too sluggish, undergunned.. No one told Ektor. He anticipates the shots and movements of the TIEs, evading two blasts and piercing the shields, hull, and reactor with a perfectly placed salvo. It detonates instantly, <<And I got your OTHER six, Magnet. Boom, baby.>>

Magni feels his ship rock as he's hed but that just redoubled his resolve. When he hears Ektor and Bors over his coms he laughs and responds. <<"Thanks guys I owe ya!">> He gets a good lock and fires tagging the tie hard. <<"Yeaheh golem! Hes trying to run!">>

Keep them away, the blasts and the threat to send his body, keep to the mission. No personal pride here, only his job. <<"Seven, anyone need me?">> that's the real focus. The real need. They're, the lot of them, better soldiers - so often. But he can be their shield as well. Draw attention, let them do the better job.

Magnet had picked up trouble but sensors were showing him the clear and Bors's shots go wide, distracted, "Or we can keep missing." laughing and catching his reflection and shrugging, "We have fun, don't we old man?" the left eye winking, the right too busy holding his monocle in place with pressure of brow to cheek.

Lieutenant Suralinda Javos announces that she, and Flight Officers: Q'Kika, Girnod, Ima, Vorpul, and Rel are breaking off to get the ones who fled. Meanwhile, Poe shoots down another by disabling their engine subsystem and dropping them right out of the sky. He glances down to watch the TIE smash painfully into the side of a mountain. Breaking away, Poe engages the afterburners again planting himself firmly against his seat only to take another hit to the shields that has him breaking course. <<"Black Leader, splash another one!">> He calls out. The fight is dwindling now, and only a few handful remain.

<<"Good work, Black Two and Three.. way to look out for our people!">>

Ektor swoops through the chaos, heavy fighter rocking with a solid cannon blast to his rear shields. An eye flicks to the readout as he follows Jess into a run on Cresh squadron. Javos' declaration of pursuing the routed TIEs draws a, <<Have fun and eat up, yeah?>> Cresh 3 is blasted hard, and Ektor holds his pursuit.

<"Tion, did I ever tell you I flew a Y-Wing once? Once."> Jessika postulates the question while angling in towards another TIE/fo. This one is Cresh Squadron's leader, and like all her other targets so far, Jessika has chosen to isolate in on him while not being engaged with him at first. This hit and run method leaves them unsuspecting of her strategy, and unlike the uneffective exchanges she'd had with craft already engaged with her, this has led to routine success. It does again, though as expected of a Squadron Leader, Cresh One is able to skirt being immediately destroyed outright. She still tags him, hammering at his shields and letting him know that she exists. Now she's wondering if she should follow up.

Lofty's ship is rocked by another laser blast! Some equipment used to monitor vital signs falls off the makeshift shelves left by the last MEDEVAC team. "<<We got to hurry, evac soldier soon!>>" He pulls back on the yoke and tandems with Jessika Pava, releasing all of the forward firepower of six laser cannons on Cresh 1. It explodes spectacularly and the WHORRWAARR putters straight through the fireball in triumph.

Magni evades the shots fired at him and gets a perfect lock. "This one is mine." He says to Dive. "You're getting those shields up great!" He says firing as his shots hit dead center blowing the tie out of the sky! <<"Haha I got one!">>

"Persistent!" Bors drops speed and flips his craft to one side to bank hard before goosing the throttle throws him up and over to let his canopy be viewed by the TIEs in pursuit of him, offering a gentlemanly salute for their attempts to pull him off of Besh leader. Beaming and laughing to himself before he drops thrust in one engine to spin him with such force that his vision grays and he evens out once again.

Then he hears that sound that moves his hands of their own accord, a low hum and a green bracket over the ball cockpit and Bors is firing again, shields opaque and then turning to glass that disappears to ether with bursts of molten metal and gouts of flame to chase walking up the hull of the craft.

<<"Seven, Opfor squad lead bugging out.">> clear conscious still, one less life on his hands - even if they may become a trophy for another, today or another.

Poe dissects a Cresh 12 when covering up on their stern. They attempted to veer off, but the X-Wing's cannons punched through the shields and chewed through their hull. The explosion didn't occur until after Black Leader had already passed by and began to engage a second TIE, spinning after them and pounding their shield with a quick salvo.

A few more TIEs join those burning in the valley below. Tall stacks of black smoke trail skyward marking each landing. In some places, the forest burns, fires stretching from tall trees and avian wildlife takes flight to escape the burning limbs. The fight is drawing to a close and somehow, Black Squad has crushed the odds.

Ektor remains a popular target of the TIEs, who no doubt continue to expect easy hits on a fighter once described as handling 'like a Hutt with engines'. Yet once again, Black 3 almost lazily avoids the emerald blasts. Ektor responds to Jess with an audible smile. <<No lie? Pretty great, yeah? I'm kinda surprised you could bear going back to an Ex after having a go with a Wishbone.. What did you think of it?>> While babbling over a live combat channel, the best/worst bomber pilot in the squadron casually cripples Cresh 3 before his stream of lasers goes on to rake Cresh 5.

Lofty destroys Cresh One, leading Jessika to break and hone in on yet another one of the Squadron. Besh is mostly eliminated, leaving only one craft left in the sky. Jessika's suprised the pilot doesn't just bug out, but maybe it's a thing of pride. If that pilot wants to die for the Final Order, he's more than welcome to. <"I got shot later that day, so I hate it."> Jessika says hate, but there's humor in her voice. That's the best answer Ektor will ever get out of her. She'll never admit to liking a Y-Wing, after all. It's the last quip before she's sweeping in on seven, releasing a salvo of laser cannon fire that the madly evasive pilot manages to avoid with ease. She maintains, pursuing after it and searching for a lock on him again.

The Wookiee gunship rattles as more laser blasts weaken her shields. "<<We mwene; eha?>>" Stebbs asks from the co-pilot's chair, looking up and down. 'Where is he' is the loose translation. "<<Get shields up!>>" Lofty warbles through his proboscis as he marks Ektor's target. There is a distinctive YEEP-YEEP-YEEP-YEEP-YEEP-YEEP-YEEP-YEEP-YEEP as the damaged Cresh 5 is relentlessly battered by laser fire, driving it away. "<< Snowball breaking off to medevac. Cover me!>>" While Stebbs fiddles with the shield power, Lofty begins to angle away from the dogfight, heading to the New Republican firebase near Munto Codru's main strategic city.

Magni evades more fighters and lines up his shot. "Dive get those shields up. Yes I know you're working on it faster though." He says with a laugh as he fires tagging the tie lightly.

Blasts from Six were followed, the target marked visually as shields are damaged but remaining steady. The crowd has thinned from better warriors, but Bors can try to be an asset yet. <<"Seven, on your wing Six.">> another spiral of fire drafted from rapid spin of axis, trying to give nowhere to run. It's a narrow corridor that his foe weaves through.

Skimming past shields and evaded, Bors slams his hand on his yolk momentarily, <<"How're you holding up, Magnet?">> status reports at least. To make sure of how close he need cling to comrade's side.

Poe sends another fiery mass to the bottom of the valley and slams the throttle to catch up with Black Two. <<"Black Leader here, splash another!">> The squadron is down to the last four (4) TIEs, and they're beginning to break contact to pull away despite taking their shots. Poe twists his ship to avoid taking another blow while BB-8 is informing him the shields have just returned to maximum. "Great work, buddy! Let's get this finished and head back!"

Only near the end of the engagement does Jessika feel the buck of her shields as an enemy TIE's laser cannons impact against them and force the oscillating emitters to shudder. She'd seen him coming in high and had immediately gone evasive, but the TIE has a good run on her and there's no way to completely avoid it. "Stang." Jessika changes angles and plane, advancing on Cresh Nine to beat on that craft's shields some. They're solid hits, causing an echo ripple across the surface and threatening to pop them. They hold. For all of a few seconds. Ektor sweeps in behind and decimates through them, eliminating the fighter in one fell swoop and leaving the remaining elements of Besh and Cresh horribly outnumbered.

Ektor cackles at Jessika's answer. << See, you left the Y-wing; that was your first mistake. You never get shot in a Wishbone, that's just.. a law,>> he claims of the MOST DESTROYED fighter in the history of the Rebellion and New Republic. Ektor may not know much history. He falls in on Black 2's wing, finishing off the damaged fight after it tries to escape Jessika's punishment. Trailing fire and smoke, it plows into the rocky terrain.

Magni feels that light tag and he checks shis monitors his shields slowly raising and repairing. "Alright Dive we got this buddy." He says getting a lock and firing his shots landing hard and blasting another tie to bits out of the sky. <<"Splash another one.">>

No word, but Magnet downs his target and Bors banks again, for new targetss - numbers diminished thoroughly in all of the chaos in the air that is fading fire and smoke trailing away or towards the ground.

Not speaking while the profile of the hexagonal wings come in view, fingers press on firing studs that chew a path over shields and rendering them weaker,

<<"Marking target, shields are reduced - all yours to claim, Black.">> smiling still, doing his duty.

That is the last of them, it seems. Two surviving TIEs dip low to escape in the wake of two others being shot out of the sky. Twenty-four (24) pilots tested Black Squadron's mettle and nine (9) were routed with fifteen (15) destroyed in the battle. Poe's voice is heard over comms then as he tags a fleeing TIE in the stern as if to slap its ass while it 'YIPED' and fled. <"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO!">

The day belongs to Black Squad, better luck next time Besh and Cresh Squadrons.

<<"Good work, everyone. Let's return to friendly lines. Black Leader, out.">>