Log:Black Squadron: Shadows in the Night
An ambush on a convoy
OOC Date: June 10, 2021
Location: Corellia
Participants: Jessika Pava, Ektor, Bors Thul, Suralinda Javos NPC, Poe Dameron, Black Squadron
Corellia's night sky is without cloud cover tonight which provides ample lunar light and making it dangerous for an ambush. Deployed for a purpose, Black Squadron holds formation below sensor range, breaking supersonic speeds and tracking a flagged coordinate from long-range scouts that have established positive I.D. on the convoy and they can hear the scream of TIEs overhead, though soldiers have a tough time spotting those.
Poe breaks radio-silence to begin the mission ritual and start their mission log.
<<"This is Black Leader.. all call signs check in. We're ten kilometers out from the target area. Push up, seven to give us good scans.">>
<"Black Two, checking in."> The night is dark, but Jessika Pava's cockpit is filled with an array of lights casting their variant glow across her flightsuit, her face, and on the yellow visor of her flight helmet. <"Affirm. Pushing seven."> Jessika adjusts the X-Wing with deliberate, measured movements. "Ailee, begin scans at target coordinate." A warbled reply from the astromech signals acquiescence. Jessika keeps her hand steady on the stick. Even without much movement, she can feel the difference between atmospheric flight and space. This is more fluid. The air resistance and the stronger forces of gravity mean she has to fly in a different way and pay attention to more factors unless she wants to smash her craft into the ground.
<<"Copy Black Leader, pushing to scout ranges, m'lord.">> drawn back into the command couch by the pressure of the engines bringing him ahead of the X-Wings. Keeping the wedge shaped craft low while sweeping with the advanced sensor package.
<<"Picking up six escorts for a five unit transport team. Tight-beaming information.">> Bors's fingers practically dancing across the control keys, trying to angle for at least a partial visual while making sure to keep himself below sensor levels. <<"Trying to see if I can give us a good starting attack run.">>
<<"Black Eight, standing by..">> Announces Javos, whose Y-Wing brought up the rear of the four man squadron. As targets began to populate the scanner range because of what Bors' craft was able to convey, Poe took on a new understanding of their battlefield and separated his s-foils to prepare for the attack. Hanging back slightly, he opened the way for Javos to pass him so he could cover her.
The TIE/fo's were onto them, and the six (6) crafts angled toward the unit spraying green cannon fire even before the squadron was in effective range. The convoy took it as a signal to begin prepping their mobile anti-air turret trucks. <<"Eight, you should probably focus on that convoy while we jump into the stinger nest.">> Poe advises.. prepping for the initial joust. "HERE WE GO, BUDDY!"
"Keep an eye on Javos, Ailee. Let me know if she starts taking too much heat." Jessika angles up and away from the convoy targets to level her starfighter's nose at the encroaching TIE/fos approaching them. Despite the dark craft blending in with the sky, her sensor pings pick them up on radar and her targeting computer is able to lock onto their electronic signals. The information is fed into the cue mounted system on her visor, and that means all the information is overlaid over what would normally be just the clear viewport. Jessika lines up on one of the TIEs when the New Republic and First Order forces go for the break and as soon as she's in range and feels like she has the right lead, she unleashes a salvo of laser cannon fire.
It lights the night up with bright lances of red. Those lances hammer straight through the shielding on the TIE and the final beam of death pierces right through the center of the eyeball and straight out the back. It doesn't hit any mechanical parts that are critical, but the TIE veers wildly out of control and begins to plummet towards the ground. There's no pilot left to fly it. <"Black Two, scratch one!">
<<"Making my attack run!">> Goosing the thrusters and bursting towards the TIE escort craft, Black Seven twists a sharp S turn with intent to sweep fire across the port panel of the Order craft. A splendid show of skill and marksmanship confounded by superior evasive capability and canny nerve of the pilot behind the opposition's flight stick.
<<"Zounds...">> Such foul language, Bors. SO foul. But his capers are for naught as he is only able to warm the metal and tingle the shields in his pass, dashed hopes tumbling rather than the craft sought after!
The initial joust yields a TIE death, and shields shimmering. The night sky is filled with criss-crossing cannon bolts, misses sailing skyward or pocking up the Corellian soil. Javos scores a hit on one of the two AA trucks on the surface, skimming low and blasting it with cannons. The explosion dominates her wake as she angles back up, immediately picking up a tail (TIE 6) and taking a harsh hit to the stern.
Poe attempts to blast a TIE, but his shots end up scoring the earth and the TIE pulls away, joining the pair that were chasing Bors in his interceptor. <<"Black Seven, you have three chasing you, pal!">> Nevermind the poor soul chasing Poe, who can't seem to hit the erratic ace pilot. <<"Got one on my tail, guys..">> Groans Javos, who tries spinning because it's a good trick. A barrage of laser cannon fire lights up the dark sky and leaves deep tracts of ground dug up when shots miss their mark. Some race off into the sky to never bee seen again. As the TIE/fo begin to maneuver for superiority, Jessika cranes her head around to search to look for a next target. The decision is made for her when she notices Seven's A-Wing zipping away with three enemy craft in pursuit. <"On your six, Seven."> Jessika angles her craft and banks it around with a quick jerk to the side on the stick and then a yank of it back towards her torso. The inertia puts her in her seat and doesn't alleviate until she events out and lines up for her shot. They're correctly placed, but the enemy craft is juking and weaving even while chasing.
Green fire all around him, dancing along the shields of his A-Wing, Bors is forced into a series of twists and rolls to keep the damage minimal and limited to the shields of his fighter. <<"I've made friends again, jovial sorts. They've a poor selection of party gifts though I must say.">>
A hard set of weaves can't even get him behind those in pursuit for more than a split second, <<"Oh dear. Black Incompetent - in a touch of a pickle. M'lady Testor... Might you be so kind? M'Lord?">> he's still giggling though, more cannon fire scorching the air around him. And then Jessika is noting where she is, jubilation!!
<<"Ever yours is a welcome voice, M'lady. Saintly and timely as ever!">> Unless he upsets her and she decides to destroy him. That could certainly happen. Maybe. Don't look back, they can't see you if you can't see them?
Javos' shields go up, then they go down again, her stern hit hard with a pair of cannon shots that rock her hard inside her cockpit. She hisses, glaring back over her shoulder. "I know we're hit again! I KNOW YOU JUST FIXED THEM. Just keep doing it!" Javos is feeling the pressure, the two TIEs following close behind her. With so much on the line she misses the shot on the AA and curses, angling away again. <"Poe.. I need help!"> Javos called out.
To which Poe replied, <"YOU need help?"> He spins, flying low to the ground and avoiding the blasts from the THREE TIEs chasing him. "Yeah, I see them.." Poe declares to BB-8, who had been calling the TIEs behind them out again, just in case Poe had missed it.
Five (5) TIE/fos fight for air superiority while a convoy of four (4), one of which is a mobile anti-air turret, speeds away from the battle trying to get away from Black Squadron. Everyones' sensors begin to pick up two (2) more TIE signals, which seemed to be chasing a friendly IFF labeled 'Black Three'.
Ailee alerts Jessika to the endangered state of Suralinda's Y-Wing before the pilot breaks over the net to call for help. When she asks for it, Jessika is already flipping her craft nose up and around. She winds up pointed at the ground. The pull of gravity increases her speed beyond what her throttle is set at, allowing her to approach her target both quicker than she would in space and in a position of advantage because maneuvering for the TIEs is as different as it is for the Republic craft. <"Coming in from high, Javos."> As her fusial engines scream, so do her laser cannons. They stitch through the darkness, but only one manages to smack the TIE's shields. The rest splatter into the dirt and leave burning pits in the ground.
<<"Following in Testor.">> Unsurprising - another is in need of aid and that is when Lord Bors of House Thul finds his talent. Fighting to eliminate the foe is never something he has sought. No tally sheets, no mark of ace (even if he has gain such a lauded title) his tails lost due to the rescuing aid of Poe and Jessika allowing him to refocus.
<<"Javos, you are flanked by allies, fear not to continue your duty!">> staccato line stitching across shields and hull of one of those fighters threatening her attack run. <<"I have Testor's wing and she has you held is safe stead!">> fancy talk! Behold his tongue of silver and watch it smooth over even the roughest of scenario.
Were the TIE pilots to look at his canopy bubble the sparkle of his smile might render them blind, perhaps enamored. Both?
As the elite pilots of Black Squadron turn their cannons on the TIEs assailing Javos, the newly arrived Ektor chimes in with his own distinctly less heroic form of help, <<Don't worry, Bombshell, I'll get their attention, yeah?>> A distinctive dumb chuckle, and Black 03- with the bolts of its trailing TIEs searing the atmosphere around him- arms proton bombs and noses into an aggressive dive, deploying the first blue ball of destruction and leaving two of the target speeder trucks annihilated in the detonation.
<"Nice of you to join us, Tion. I see you brought more for the party.."> Javos says, the tension in her voice easing back with the help of her squad mates pulling the heat from her tail. She shows her appreciation by adding to the destruction wrought by Ektor by blowing up the last AA truck. Although her droid isn't successful in helping the shields, she's free for the moment and not sweating it.
Poe lands a shot on the TIE he's chasing, but he's earned the ire of the pair which force him to remain more defensive than offensive for the moment. Bors has two sticking with him, just like Xer. They give chase, spamming the green bolts with the hopes of scoring a kill against the Republic squadron!
Poe's voice cuts over the comms. <<"We have one truck left. Let's crush it and turn our full attention to this squadron!">>
As soon as the TIEs have been chased off Javos, Jessika cranes her head around to see Bors is once again being hounded by a pair of the First Order craft. "They're pairing up a lot this time," Jessika mumbles to herself. She uses the momentum she'd built diving towards Javos' tail to climbing again, though it begins to bleed off quick. Not before she gets within range of the target, though. As Bors sweeps around in his craft, Jessika orients her nose towards him so that her lead is on the TIE/fo wailing behind him. A squeeze of the trigger on the flight stick sends bristling red light out towards the A-Wing, but it's where the A-Wing was, not where it's going to be. It's for where the TIE is going to be, and Jessika watches its shields shimmer as it takes a few hits. <"Engaging one on you, Seven.">
Oh! He's done it again! Upsetting the jaga-fruit cart as it were and setting the rabble on him, shields opaque and show tears in the particle field as cannon fire washes across the prow of the scout fighter. "What the deuce!?" he had just been watching that other TIE line him up, getting OH so close to a deadly lock before heeling over and dipping dangerously low to allow the pursuer his blessed chance to turn part of the ground into a froth of super-heated soil and plant matter.
Instead of Bors. But that one's wing! Clever clau'for! Using the distraction to threatening end, causing a riot of warnings about the man's shields. "Yes! Yes! Certainly aware of the predicament that I have found myself in once again, my dear." tap tap tap. Good. Alert volume down.
Well he can try to assert himself at such a fiend, can he not?
No. No he cannot.
Even with Jessika giving ample distraction for the confounded borat harrying him, Bors himself continues to do what he does best. Draw attention while leaving the work of killing to the others. A distinctly valorous job! Valorous indeed. Fighting without fighting.
<<"Appreciated, two. I appear to be toing the line of my place here in Black again!">>
<<You know me: the more the merrier. And I'm feeling *really* merry, yeah?>> Ektor drawls amiably over a live combat channel. Seeing the convoy reduced to one last truck, he flips fire control to cannons, cackling under his breath as the bomber rocks with a first hit to the rear shields. A precise cannonade destroys the last of the convoy, despite the best efforts of the game driver. <<Annnnnd that's the convoy. BOOM, baby. Arright, work is done, I'm ready to party, where's the drinks, yeah?>>
The last of the convoy is destroyed, which leaves the two squadrons to duke it out. The TIEs mission has already failed, so they want to exact vengeance so that returning to command they at least have something to offset the failure with. However, that is beginning to look slim. Poe goes into a complex maneuver blasting apart one TIE before chasing another and bringing their shields dangerously low. <<"Good work, Tion.. Bombshell.. let's clean the skies up and head back for that drink!">> Poe takes a hit then, prompting him to dive away to avoid further damage.
<<"I heard that..">> Javos called, taking up the spot behind Xer to try to cover him. Her miss plops against the ground, but she tries to get a better angle on her target. "How are those repairs going back there?" Javos' droid replies with a raspberry sound.
"Abort sensor scans and go to active air radar," Jessika barks the command to Ailee while twisting her X-Wing up on its split s-foils and yanking around in another bank. Rather than divert her attention to try to cover Ektor or Poe, Jessika continues to hound the TIE that she'd chased off Bors' tail. "Not getting away this time." She jukes through the sky after him. They're outnumbered by two, but the casualties are so far limited to the First Order craft. If they don't take care of a few more, that might change for the worse. Jessika plays the patience game. The lead passes over the TIE a few times, but they're all short visits. She holds. She feels the TIE pilot out. And when the pilot makes their mistake, Jessika erases them from the sky.
<"Black Two, scratch two.">
"Now then, nothing can quite spoil your day like turning a corner and stepping in a big steaming pile of--" Cut off as his fighter slews to catch the TIE that had been wing to Jess's victim coming between the brackets of his crosshairs, "OH!" instinct takes over to unleash rapid fire bursts of crimson plasma that tunnel past the solar array and into the support stanchion.
<<"Seven, splash one.">> more instinct - and perhaps his throat a little clenched. He's killed, he has to kill - to keep others from having to. Still doesn't have to like it. Nor let it interfere.
The ball cockpit begins to come apart and the fighter drops like a stone for the ground and Black Seven shoots past. "Mother carry them to rest." Bors's quiet prayer, looking for the next target.
Black 3 hooks back into the aerial skirmish, taking a target of opportunity as a damaged TIE crosses his flight path before flying through the fireball in pursuit of the same TIE Suralinda had fixed her sights on. The Y-wing's nose cannons hammer the eyeball's shields, prompting another dumb laugh. <<Drek, I love my work.>> No crisis of conscience in this cockpit. Another hit to his own shields and alarms blare. He pauses, before hollering at his astromech, "Genius, are you SERIOUSLY not even trying? Whaddya *mean* 'I didn't ask you to fix the shields'? NOW you're trusting my judgement with this drek? Is this some Hutt-sucking plot to get me to respect the regs or some drek, cause that is NOT happening. No lie, I will blow us both up, first."
<<"Good shots, guys!">> Poe calls out, diving once again with someone hot on his tail. With his shields not rising, he's beginning to worry what the deal is back there with BB-8; even more so when he takes a hard hit that jerks him around in the cockpit. "What are you doing back there, buddy. I need you to work your magic!" Not one to crack under pressure, Poe throttles it, angling high up again and flying right for Xer for the trade off.
Javos is doing her best to tag the one tailing Xer, but the bloody TIE is all over the place. <<"Tion when you fly erratic, they fly erratic, and I can't hit a bloody thing!">> Javos laments, doing her best to keep up. Three (3) TIEs hold the line against Black Squadron just confident they can bring at least one down! They refuse to return home empty handed!
Jessika's fusial engines burn hotter from the extra power fed to them after she scatters TIE three across the field beneath them. She's back into the combat without waiting and hunting the next target. The continued strafe of laser cannon fire stitching through the darkness of night lights up her viewport and taints the inside of it a mix of red and green, but Jessika's visor keeps her eyes from straining under the constant, bright show. One of the TIEs that streaks by does so with a detectable shimmer of shields around its craft and Jessika recognizes the sign of weakness that it is. She smells blood in the water. Rolling her craft and pitching down because the TIE is swooping around, Jessika knows she has to take a shortcut or she'll never catch it. X-Wings cannot match TIEs in a turn rate fight.
But she can reorient on a new plane and provide herself the lead she needs, because this craft is not just paying attention to her. It's not a one on one. This aerial fight is between all the elements on the field and Jessika takes advantage of the surprise on her side. The TIE never sees it coming. Or just doesn't react fast enough. The outcome is the same when her laser cannons punch through the craft's shields and separate the fuselage from the wings attached to it. <"Black Three, scratch three.">
<<"M'lord ordering Tion fly straight is...">> brows flicking, <<"Nevermind, carry on.">> Indeed carry on. His prior murder left behind and others falling Boors is made to hustle onward, looking for the one with leader's stripes, deciding to take on a bit of cheek for his own when a glimpse is caught.
<<"I say, you there. Hello! Might I be speaking to man or woman so I know proper parlance for this joust?">> we must be civil after all, <<"Need I not a name, nay concern yourself there.!">> rapid fire blasts trailing just behind the TIE now as he holds to its six. A bit of this. A bit of that! He has they, they have him!
<<"It's a lovely dance as well! This could be awkward.">> pause for effect, <<"Or is it?">>
<<Thanks for the handoff, Pretty Boy,>> Ektor notes to Poe in passing for the assist, before he drawls to Javos' complaint with an audibly dumb smile. << It's the kinda dancing I do best, Bombshell, can't help it- wait, did you say 'erratic'? Never mind, I thought you said something else.>> Throat clearing. Major Pava annihilates his former mark. <<Nice shooting, Jess. Someone's in a hurry to get back to the beach, yeah?>> His own guns are turned on the last of the TIEs who had chased him into this scrap, scoring their shields after a winding roll. <<Arright, Bombshell: here he comes..>>
<<"I see them, I see them..">> Javos calls out, setting up opposite to fly over Xer and engage the target tailing him. The switch off is smooth and Javos punches the TIE right in the kisser, prompting them to spin off to one side while she took the other laughing. <<"Yeah! That's how it's done!">>
<<"Looks like they're running away!">> Poe notes, watching as both the TIE leader and the TIE eight dip below sensor range and hit supersonic speeds to get away. He chuckles and flips back to the private channel. <"That's another for the books, team. Testor, let's Ar-Tee-Bee.">
