Log:Black Squadron: We Are the Night

Black Squadron provides CAS for ground element.

OOC Date: February 04, 2021
Location: Airspace above Capital Codru, Munto Codru
Participants: Jessika Pava, Ektor, Bors Thul, Magni, Poe Dameron, Black Squadron

It is night, and the storm rages on. The air is choppy with moisture and heat, but the faint flashes of blaster fire fill the streets beneath their flight; Capital Codru is locked in a heated battle. The First Order pushes through attrition, throwing what it can at the Republic defenders and showing superior force, fire power, and resolve. The Republic makes them bleed for this. Every street taken costs a platoon, every section of the city, a battalion of men; a value that becomes harder to justify to leadership given constant casualties.

The mission tonight is slated for special forces, and Black Squadron fits the bill. Recon scouts have set up LP/OP points through the city identifying targets of opportunity. Eliminating these targets in quick fashion will further the Republic defense and help soldiers hold their positions. The first spot is at defense point Besh.

Besh is by itself, cut off from the Republic, and the forward most fighting position surrounded on all sides. Combatting constant power issues has had an effect on their turret fire, relegating the platoon stationed there to frequent close quarters fighting. To make matters worse, scouts have spotted a duo of AT-ST armor pushing toward location Besh, which is certain to crush that defense and eliminate any possibility of survival; unless..

<"I have the targets marked, transmitting now, Black Squad."> Poe relays from his cockpit, flipping a switch to open up his relay to transmit. The squadron received the data from the war network, and sensors picked up on the AT-ST, which was closing on the starport by 100m. <"Eyes open for TIEs. In this kind of weather, they'll be hard to spot. Fly low just in case. We'll pass over Besh to let them know we're here, then engage the armor.">

Rain pours, lightning flashes. A glimpse of the squadron appears for a second, casting eerie, fast moving shadows over the valley before vanishing in the downpour. Engines burn so hot, the moisture evaporates when it comes within the vicinity of the output, leaving contrails of steam in their wake that's quickly 'washed away' by the rain that resumes once they've passed.

<"Target data received, Black Leader."> Major Jessika Pava of the New Republic Defense Fleet is not flying into combat in an X-Wing, and it is the singular time since rejoining the fledgling government that she has not been in a craft of her own choosing, tuned by her own hands. The E-Wing escort starfighter doesn't feel sluggish, though. It's quick. Nimble. It's got fewer guns, but those cannons are stronger. They'll need them against the armor, she thinks. It's what she thought when she suited up and boarded this craft, tagged Black Eight on its friend or foe identifier. Ailee interfaces with it flawlessly. BB units are more advanced than even the specially designed R7 astromechs that had been specifically designed for the E-Wing.

It's still alien to her. It's still unfamiliar. It's got a different fuselage. It's got a different wing configuration. The weight is different. She can feel all the minute details that make it so different from what she's used to flying. The only thing that can compensate for this is the two hands and the mind behind the flightstick. She hopes it's enough. "You heard the man. Monitor sensors for incoming enemy fighters. I'll have my mind focused with this." 'This' is flying. Ailee knows well enough just to warble a confirmation. Beads of rain streak along the transparisteel viewports in front of her. The flashes of lightning are nothing more than streaks across the sky through the tinted visor of her Tierfon Yellow Aces helmet. They keep her retinas from burning under the intensity of such a powerful, natural force.

<<"Seven copies, I see your marks on my board.">> Forced to use the 'Peasant's Tongue' on comms. So uncivilized! Jessika is likely giddy beyond belief. Meaning that there -might- be the slightest fraction of a degree of a grin on her face over there, in her cockpit. OVER THERE. Gloating. Gloating as the manka does on the ridge over the fallen prey-beast that she has herded o'er the cliffs edge, to batter itself to it's own end - to soften the meat and ease the kill.

She's so... damn... devious.

Siiiiiigh.

She probably doesn't even care. Jessika does not smile. Smiles get her permission to survive briefly before they are remade as ash to be carried on the wind to blind the eyes of her many foes.

<<"Going ahead to make friends and turn heads for you all to righteously strike the cheeks and necks of whilst they stand in surprise!">> Shimmy-shifting in his seat to get his rump-groove properly snug about his sculpted and most handsome posterior, squinting hard against his monocle as he flicks the throttle to '11' (still a non-standard mark) and letting himself be pressed by invisible hand into the cushioning of his seat.

"Forward, forward to the shadow - ye noble souls who carry the hopes and lives of others on braced shoulder..." more Alderaanian historical tosh, of course.

<<You want a fly by and a wave, or are we mooning somebodh on the ground, yeah?>> Black Squadron's resident bomber pilot wonders, in a signature moment of professionalism. He muses on, "So, walkers is pretty much the same as a dancing tank, yeah? Or is they some kinda.. un-tank? I don't know army drek. Yanno, in case it wasn't clear. And Buh-Bors, stop talking about slapping asses on comms, it ain't rekkin professional, yeah?>> he quips with an audible grin as Bors mentions striking cheeks.

Black 06 <<Black 06 copies I've got the read out here. Flyover say hello let them know the Cavalry has arrived got it.">> He says flicking the throttle and keeping up with the rest of the squad. "Alright Dive we've got our orders lets do this yea?" He asks and his R2 unit beeps and whirs in confirmation. <<"Oh come on we gotta have a little bit of fun three don't we?">> Magni says with a laugh as he scans the skies.

Black Squadron passes over point Besh, roaring by in quick succession with only thunder rumbling in their wake. From the sky, they could see the flash of laser bolts being sent out in every direction, and the elegant, if not choppy, glimpse of a pair of lightsabers as they stood out in the dark. Small beacons upon a second's glance before the dark of the night and raging storm swallowed them back up.

FOR THOSE WHO PASS SPOT: Black Squadron is not alone. A flash of lightning reveals the sudden appearance of a TIE squadron that 'screams' through the clouds and angles down toward the ground. It's not clear what the squadron's mission is, but they are moving further into the city, with two breaking off and approaching point Besh.

Additionally, Black Squad has visual on the chicken-walker 'untanks', as Ektor called them. 'Red eyed' control cabins give the vehicles an ominous disposition intended to strike fear in their enemies. The metal clanking untanks shuffle slowly toward their intended destination wholly unaware of the squadron closing in fast to end them. TWO Chicken Walkers (150 Difficulty), and TWO TIE/fo (Standard Diff).

They're moving faster than sound. The sound Jessika hears in her ears is just the engine itself, pouring power through the thrusters and turning the thruster nozzles at the back of the craft hot with the outwash. A literal hell seems to burn inside them, propelling the E-Wing forward towards the approaching walkers. Passing point Besh is a moment she'd miss if she blinked. To those there on the ground, they're silent darts cutting through the sky. The boom doesn't come until after, trying and desperately trying to follow them. Everything's tinted for her to see through her visor and her console, which means that despite the dark night, Jessika has eyes on the two lumbering giants approaching the spaceport to put an end to the holdouts.

Not on her watch. Lining up her reticle with the machine out front, Jessika has a small target and a limited window of time. She's not one to waste it. A squeeze of the trigger lights up all three heavy laser cannons on the E-Wing and the lances boil through the rain hammering down on the planet and the craft flying through its atmosphere. They obliterate the AT-ST, rendering it into nothing more than hulking, punctured pieces of metal slapped together. Metal which explodes violently outward before the machine itself pitches and smashes into the dirt, scouring up deep divots into the ground and carving a path marking its downfall. <"Armor eliminated!"> It's a quick, short blurb over the net. She's too focused to pay attention to either Bors or Ektor bantering back and forth on the comms. For the men and women on the ground, it's life and death. And those soldiers? They deserve her utmost attention.

<<"Seven, Squadron - Two enemies on visual, marking on sensors. Angling towards Besh - I'm pursuing. Magnet with me - suggest Tion stay with Testor to deal with that armor.">> speaking plainly again. It's TERRIBLE. Absolutely terrible. <<"Make them into craters, brother.">>

Hauling over hard and slamming the aerospace rudders to put him into a hairpin turn that sees his ship rotated on its side and cannons spitting fire but ever falling short of their marks while the recon-fighter twists into a spin, trying to be on all sides of the TIE's six at once as the pursuit begins.

The Y-wing skims low over the battle-torn city, in the steaming wake of Jessika's interceptor. His good eye is angled up at a fortuitous moment as lightning crashes, illuminating the enemy squadron. On the heels of Bors' report, he adds, <<Rest of a squadron at.. uh. Like, four o clock, and UP, yeah?>> As Major Pava annihilates one walker, Ektor is close behind, a stream of red cannon fire making smoke of the second with a pair of hits so central that the mechanical legs fall in opposite directions with nothing left binding them together. <<We shoulda mooned the wizards. Oh, un-tank dead, too.>>

<<"Copy that seven I'm on your six, no pun intended haha.">> He coms as he punches it heading for the ties. "Dive all my systems are good yea?" His R2 unit beeps its confirmation indignantly. "Alright alright no need to get touchy sheesh." Magni switches on his targeting computer waiting for just the right moment and when he has it he fires 3 cannons blasting into it but not quite destroying it. <<"Kriff I tagged it and tagged it hard but its still up.">>

Two explosions shake the space port with kinetic waves of explosive concussion sending the rain out in every direction but down. The explosions were both succinct and distinct, concluding with the metallic crashing of the AT-ST walkers. The fires, of which there were many, showed the smaller shadows of troopers running by the flames, pushing toward point Besh.

The TIEs that had broken off from their squadron are alerted to the Squadron's presence when lances of laser fire pass by their hull. One is tagged, hard, by Magni. It breaks its course from Besh to circle back and engage the X-Wing. Even though Bors is on the other, it's Poe that smacks the TIE hard in the stern to encourage the remaining enemy craft away from the defense point and allow the Republic soldiers to only worry about the ground. Both the TIE and Poe pass over the defense point in close proximity, the pair shooting at one another. <"I have the other,"> Poe says, urgency coloring his robotic voice (a side effect of encrypted comms).

<<"Black Squadron, this is El-Pee-Oh-Pee Four. We got two walkers in our vicinity, and are marking them for close-air support. We know you're busy, but we really need your help. Over.">>

BB-8 broadcasts the next location of Chicken Walking Untanks just as three more TIE/fo's join the two slugging it out with Poe and Magni. THESE TIE's, much like the other two, show up on sensors now.

Jessika banks hard after the destruction of the walker and turning her E-Wing up on its port wing. The air resists her hard cut through the atmosphere, but the power output of the starfighter's engines wins that battle. She feels it in her seat, though, and in the way the harness digs so hard into her shoulders that it hurts even through her flightsuit. She takes a vector back past the outpost, and for the brief second that she blitzes by it, she thinks she sees flashes of green and white somewhere in the mix of red flying from all sides. Her brain registers it, but she doesn't submit it for her own analysis. She'll think about it later, sometime, and wonder what it was. For now, Jessika takes her E-Wing into Capital Codru proper, where the city needs help.

<"Making a run at one of the walkers positioned to hit the city."> Point Besh might be the holdout point, but all the Republic troops down there need help. If Poe and the others need help with a few TIEs, they'll say something about it. She's relegated herself to armor hunting duty. Something about those Sith Eternal troops in their lumbering walker just rubs her the wrong way. They love to prey on fear? She'll give them a taste of their own medicine. Not that they'll feel it long. However long it takes for the blistering red beams of destructive force fired from the three heavy laser cannons aligned on the E-Wing to zip out of the darkness to smash into them and destroy them. <"Another one down!">

<<"Magnet, I have scared him thusly for you to properly handle them!">> that's the excuse. That'll totally be believable. "What are you doing, old man? The aim is to -hit- our targets?" muttering to himself as he continues his spiraling course, whipping about the chase and skimming past both building and ground whilst he thoroughly illuminates the hull of his quarry. So regal in red! So wonderfully vibrant! Yes, but he dare not -hit- anything! For that would prove he is no good at shooting around things to point out where they are!

Good man, Bors! Bors the Illuminator they shall call him!

<<"Never fear comrades, the new guy shall carry me to victory!">> When in doubt? Sarcasm. Twisting his stick to change his spiral, hoping he can get one good turn for a lock so that he can open fire and strike something.

Ektor banks his light bomber toward the next targets, making a wider turn than Pava's more nimble E-wing. <<Got your back, Jess.>> Racing over the city toward the next walkers, his cannons tear up the street, narrowly missing the second walker. <<Drek, someone want my leftovers, yeah?>>

Black 06 banks and maneuvers away from the Tie's fire. <<"Thats great seven next time do me a favor and scare him into not returning fire yea?>> He asks with a laugh and takes his next shots missing wide. <<"Kriff I'll take him out next time.">>

<"I've got it, Tion.. look out, guys.. we have a lot of company!"> Poe had followed Jess and Ektor closer to the city to hone in on the targeted armor. Poe witnesses the destruction of one, and it had been Tion's miss which prompted him to respond. Poe follows through by twisting his craft so the wings were vertical, and red lances of cannon fire smashed into the walker reducing it to the fiery grave the other had become just a split second before.

<<"Good effect on target, Black Squad. Thanks for the assist.">>

TIE/fo complicate the air space above Capital Codru, and the fighters have to slug it out with one another, seemingly in the dark of the skies. Occasional flashes of lightning reveal the battle, but for the onlooker, all they see is the red cannon fire trading back and forth. In the crafts, it's a matter of reading the sensor equipment, and pilot chops.

<<"Black Squadron, this is Riley One at the hospital. Two of our med-evacs just got shot down by TIEs! We also have armor outside crushing the local defense. We need help ASAP!--">> The comms cut out with the sound of laser fire. BB-8 transmits the location.

They're starting to become overwhelmed. More targets are popping up on the sensors and at a rate faster than before. Jessika forces herself to maintain her cool when the local hospital outpost sends out a signal that they're under a two-pronged attack from incoming armor and from TIE/fo trying to take down their medevac transports. <"Black Two, heading for the transports."> Jessika's kicked back in her seat as she angles her nose up towards where the TIEs are trying to make runs on the roof of the hospital. They're so focused that Jessika's sure she'll close the gap before they know what's up. That's almost true. Whether by sensors or some other alert, the TIE/fo are alerted to her presence and break off on their harrassment runs. She's committed, anyway.

And her committment pays off. Juking through the storm wind, Jessika lines up her lead reticle on the TIE banking to starboard to try to maneuver behind one of the city's many buildings. She's ready, though. She's on it. All her senses are honed in. The reticle on her helmet mounted cuing system lines up with the reticle ordained by her targeting computer and her finger is squeezing as fast as it can when she hears the tone. A triple salvo of heavy laser cannon fire lights up the world around her for a second, and then the world as a whole when two of the three beams obliterate the TIE's shields and punch right through its engine housing. It doesn't make it behind the building it all. It makes it into the building, and instantly explodes as thousands of pounds of duracrete catch the metal in a sickening crumple of the craft itself. <"Black Two, splash one.">

OH! A friend! He has a fried at last. And they have presents. But green is such an -ugly- color! Oh and there is so much of it! Bors is quite glad for the aim his enemy has - much like his own of late. It's been a horrible showing on their last few fighter ops - unlike his inexplicable barbaric capability on the ground on recent forays. Really. He'd been as a Corelian at such rate. Or a Kijimian! The idea!

Time soon to spend days at Delaya, once leave was possible. To then hover on the edge of the shattered ruin of the world he had been born on but could remember nothing of. The very thought of it a danger to bring a tear to his eye, to tumble down his cheek and run away as a drop of water, running down a mountain side.

OH! And there is more, <<"OH! OH! Cad! Thou hasn expelled thine green filth upon my person!">> blaster fire swirling past him and Bors accidentally on comms, spying those craft heading after the medical craft and banking to take an attempt at firing upon them - while avoiding his own pursuers.

His lightshow is -amazing-. Really.

<<"Pretty Boy, I'm remanding myself to the pods after this.">> Embarrassing.

Ektor frowns at Poe's report of 'a lot of company'. << I'm only reading five, Pretty Boy, where's the rest?>> He jukes to one side, barely avoiding the cannonade of a pursuing TIE/fo. << I got the walkers marked, leave them to me, yeah?>> he drawls with lazy confidence as the rest of Black Squadron break to engage the fighters hounding the medical transports. Surely enough, in a feat of flight and firepower, the light bomber strafed both walkers into oblivion with a precision fusillade. <<That's right, Hutt-suckers, grow some wings, next time,>> he advises the scrapped war machines. In a fluke of luck, as he noses upward, a TIE is unlucky enough to fly RIGHT in front of him, and he blasts the fighter's shields. "A freebie. Nice.

Black 06 grins and laughs as the tie that fired on him also misses. <<"Breaking off of the one I'm engaged with to pursue those attacking the med-evac.>> He coms over as he jokes and heads off in the direction. of the med-evacs. "Yes Dive I'm sure this is a good idea, yea yea yea, don't worry about all that I got this." Magni responds to Dives whirs and beeps of concern, he punches it closing the distance and firing on the previously damaged tie tagging it hard and by hard its hard enough that the other pilot tries to flee. <<"Hahaha little coward is running, I love this!">> He grins to himself. <<"Lets do this right so we can get on to celebrating yes?">>

<<"Armor is down, Black Squad! Thanks for the assist!">> Reports Riley One.

<<"This is Havoc Actual, city wide comms are indicating all hostile armor is down at this time. Thanks for the help, Black Squad. Havoc Actual, out.">>

<"With the armor down, let's slag these fighters and press on somewhere else. Morning's soon, and we need to clear the airspace!"> Poe announces as he's avoided by one of the med-evac TIEs expertly, leaving Poe's shots to go feral into the distant mountain. He curses, but doesn't have long to focus on being frustrated because two TIEs are on his tail.

They've saved the medevacs. That's the most important part. Jessika's felt a little bit of her cool slip, though. She can feel the heat of her anger trying to thaw around the edges of the ice cold center that is her clear, focused mind. Such a cowardly act to attack those who can't defend themselves. If Jessika had any mercy in her heart for the enemy forces on this planet, it has evaporated in the intensity of that heat. In the boiling hatred that simmers in her blood. She carves a new arc out of the sky, rolling her craft inverted and then forcing it to nose towards the ground. The momentum helps her turn faster to face behind her, where the craft that tails her has tried to get a shot off on her. Maybe it doesn't expect it.

She pings a good hit off the TIE's shields. The other two laser cannon blasts vanish off somewhere into the night, and Jessika prays there's no sentient collateral from it. This is a dangerous cat and mouse game they're playing. They could hurt their own allies if they aren't careful. As the TIE banks away, Jessika chases it, throttle pumped forward and engines screaming while rain hisses and evaporates off of the superheated vents on contact

Whatever blessing the Mother is granting to poor Bors as he continues to whirl and slew his craft in erratic weaving patterns to let the TIE's blasters only empty space and masonry to chew up. Hopefully no one still inside, if fortune smiles.

"Father guide my eye." muttered whilst the readouts show the assault craft all over the place, split seconds behind their reality. Thankfully for him the HUD on the canopy bubble is as close a guide as his own eye when he spies the flick to green and Bors opens fire on the next enemy craft to cross his reticle.

A section of a wing deforms and breaks away while crimson bolts slam into the central ball and the A-Wing blows past, split second before the detonation that spews fire and shrapnel in all directions.

<<"Splash one.">> reporting in as he begins to wing around.

"Mother guide them to rest."

Ektor banks toward the only ships in the airspace slower than his Wishbone, and takes aim at the last TIE harassing the Republic transports. The First Order pilot is good, but flies textbook. They maneuver the agile craft expertly in the recommended pattern Ektor has seen many, many times before. The Tionese pirate anticipates every juke and weave, pouring lasers into the TIE's shields. "Come on, Hutt-sucker, turn around and swing back," he mutters.

Black 06 <<"I'm on them.">> He coms over quickly adjusting his course. "Just take them out thats all I want to bag on and not just tag them." Magni says to himself as he takes his shot and devastates the tie in front of him and yet it still doesn't go down. "Kriff." He growls. <<"I got that one good just not good enough who's gonna take my left overs?">>

Two TIEs peel off in the slugging match, angling low and hitting afterburners to put distance between their stern and Black Squadron. They dip into the river valley to flee, disappearing from sensors. This leaves three TIE/fo bravely battling Black Squadron. They move higher into the sky angling away from the city. Morning light is beginning to chase away the dark. While it is not the start of a beautiful day, thanks to the greyish-blue rain clouds, there is light still. It has that morning feel.

Black Squadron can see their foes much better now, but so too can the TIEs. The fight rages, but it's clear that the airspace has not been wiped clean of FO fighters.

She'd punch that TIE pilot right in the face with her fist if she could. She can't. They've swept around each other, the TIE not managing to land any hits, but Jessika's pass managing to weaken its shields. Now they come back around at each other head to head, because Jessika's in the kind of craft that allows her to match the TIE speed for speed. It's a game of who blinks first. But 'blinking', in this case, is who hits first, because the space between them lights up in a maddening hail of each craft's weapons opening up. Where the deadly laser cannons touch, the rain just ceases to exist. The interior of her cockpit lights up not just once, but twice. When she fires. And when the craft firing at her fails to succeed in hitting her.

She'd punch that TIE pilot right in the face with her fist if she could. She can't. So she does the next best thing and punches that TIE pilot in the face with a blast from her heavy laser cannon. It smashes through the TIE's shields, punctures straight through the center eye of the canopy, and it kills whoever was sitting in the pilot's seat. Whatever hopes, dreams, and ambitions that person had are gone. And as far as Jessika is concerned, they were invalid the second they kept choosing to step into that TIE fighter to spread tyranny across the galaxy.

Bors has managed to be marginally effective so far, but he's not a killer; he's a scout and while combat may be part of that, expected in that and he may be skilled for just that. It's not his nature.

Even when he's trying.

Cannon shots bracketing his foe while he seems to evade all of notice now. Small and spindly as his craft is - so to are his foe who dance around the sapphire shots that create spirals of steam as the rain they pass through is super-heated by the passage of his weapons firing.

That could be it. Rain. Cursed rain affecting his skills!

<<"Testor, you're showing your ire again.">> flipping his craft in close, over hers to give a twiddle finger wave through the cockpit in passing.

Ektor cackles to himself as the TIE does indeed turn around and hit him back. The Y-wing avoids the worst of the cannons, but the cockpit does rock with a light impact on the forward shields. In return, the heavier fighter punches through the TIE's shields, scoring the hull badly. <<Black Squad rules black skies, baby. Even if.. yanno the sun is up a bit. And it was.. more dark dark blue than black- listen, my point is we win, yeah? Dark-Dark Blue SQUAD.>>

Black 06 takes his shot though its uneffectiveish. <<"Yea! Thats it way to go squad, we showed them whos best! I'm with ya there Three, these guys should just stay home and not bother.">> He grins as he watches the remainder of the scene unfold. <<We are the best!">>

The last of the TIEs flee the skies, leaving Black Squad to patrol from above and escort troop movements that launch from the mountain ruins and old castle. <<"Battleaxe, this is Black Leader. Skies are clear. Launch your troop carriers and let Medevac know they're good to go too. We'll stay here until it's done. Black Leader out.">>

<"Not bad, Black Squad. The night is ours.">

The squadron passes back over Point Besh, contrails of evaporated steam in their wake. Angling high up, they search for more contacts. The city has tall black smoke spires rising up from various sections, but those are defense points that hold because armor was unable to advance. A small victory, but one that saw morale raised on the field. Poe looked out over the blue-ish morning as water streamed by his canopy, a slow smile forming.