Log:Black Squadron: You Are Not Alone II
Black Squad takes out as many transports as they can
OOC Date: January 28, 2021
Location: Above Capital Codru Spaceport, Munto Codru
Participants: Jessika Pava, Lofty, Ektor, Bors Thul, Magni, Poe Dameron, Black Squadron
The invasion has begun.
Black Squadron passes over the city, Capital Codru, on intercept course for the invasion force aimed at the city itself. The sky, peppered with white clouds, begin to darken as AAL Troop Transports make their way to the surface to begin deploying ground troops. The transports, unfortunately, are not alone, and a second after coming into view the TIE/fo squadron follow.
The transports are slow, sluggish, and have decent shielding and hull ablative plating to withstand a good thrashing from snubfighters, but it was never a sure thing. Fighters complicated things, but the situation was dire and the Republic forces on the ground needed them to slow the invasion enough that positions could hold.
Poe's eyes widen. <<"This isn't good. Our priority is to shoot down as many transports as we can! Fighters are going to be a problem. We're gonna have to play this by ear. Check in for logs, and let's get to it. Nothing about today will be easy.">>
<"Black Two, checking in. The only easy day was yesterday, Black Leader."> Despite being faced head on with the numerous TIE fighers and transports heading for the landing pads of Capital Codru's spaceports, Jessika Pava's voice is even. Her blood is up, but she's controlled. There's method to her movements, practiced and as automatic as the instinct of breathing. Shields up. S-foils split into attack position. Throttle to the max as they race towards an overwhelming number of sensor blips and IFF pings. It's another day in the office for Black Squadron. They'd been doing this gig since the earliest days of the Resistance, and a few extra ships in the air aren't going to scare her now. Her leather gloved fingers tighten around her flightstick, and her body makes the most minute adjustment against the harness strapping her into her seat. Through the yellow-tainted vision provided by the visor of her helmet, Jessika searches for the closest transport to make them regret showing up today.
<<Aww, they gone and rekked up, now: Hutt-suckers brought so many birds I couldn't even miss if I tried,>> Ektor cackles lazily over the comms. <<Just like old times, yeah? Black Three, ready to wreck face.>> Cannons live, shields double front for the opening joust.
<<"Seven reporting, easy is for Rogue Squadron, Pretty Boy. Not for us.">> Bors's voice chimes in over comms as he slips his fighter in -snug- with the other. A snug fighter formation, with just enough room to maneuver when needed. Keeping himself in check until he might find himself sent forth as to the orders of Poe or Jessika.
<<"Tion, shall we toast success already or would that be too assuming, m'lord?">>
Lofty is following as support for Black Squadron in his Wookiee gunship, the WHORRWAARR. A painting of a bantha on the side is half-finished. "<< So when they little, they is wolfs and run around barking, but then they go in cocoon...">> The Talz was explaining something to his Sullustese co-pilot Stebbs, but then he spots TIEs coming to defend the raft of transports dropping from the coronasphere. "< Snowball checking in!>" "< i aya magiuka!>" Stebbs the Sullustan chitters, translating from Sullustese as 'here they come!'
Magni chuckles as he checks his scanners. <<"Black Six checking in. If it was easy it wouldn't be any fun would it?">> He laughs harder putting up his shields and locking his S-foils into attack position.
TIEs /scream/ toward the snubfighters ready for action, creating a line in front of the initial transports. This would be difficult, but their mission was everything. Poe flipped down his visor and slapped the switch to expand his s-foils to attack position. Jess had it right, yesterday was easy, and the challenge ahead was something to look forward to.
The sounds of all fighters dominate the air, and streamers fill the space of the sky with multi-colored lances of laser fire trying to blindly intercept the TIEs and AAL transports alike. The chaos of war began to filter in and Poe smiled. This was home; this was where he felt alive.
The responses from Bors and Xer left Poe laughing off comms, but his expression sobered as the distance closed. <<"HERE WE GOOOO!">>
<"Concentrating fire on the transports."> As the only female voice among the chorus of men, Jessika doesn't deign to provide her designation with her net traffic. Instead, she sweeps her snubfighter towards the transport angled hard for the planet, black and orange fuselage standing out easily against the bright sky around them. Her helmet mounted cuing system allows her to track it as she changes vector to intercept it, vision shifting around the struts of the transparisteel viewport until it's centered in the angled panel directly in front of her and over the console of glittering lights and important flight data and battle information. Fusial engines burning bright, Jessika lines up her shot from data fed through by her targeting computer.
Tone, both in her ears and on the screen just in front of her flight stick, shows she's got her floating reticle lined up just right to lead. A squeeze of her leather-gloved finger sends a rapid spray of laser cannon fire that pelts the transport, hammering its shields into almost non-existence and softening it up.
Ektor drawls in answer to the A-wing, <<Nah, Buh-Bors.. The brass get pissy when they find out I drink on missions, yeah?>> The Y-wing is a step back of the faster fighters, following Black 2 as Jessika drives through the TIE screen and hammers the shields of the first AAL. A crooked grin is audible in his voice, <<Coming in on your six, Jess.. Wanna see a magic trick? Watch, I'ma turn a troop transport into a DROP ship.>> Ion cannons crack the last remnant of shielding, and ionize the AAL. In atmosphere, the descending transport plummets like a brick, exploding in a satisfying fireball. <<Get it? Drop ship, yeah?>>
"A ship, she dreams of wind in her sails... Of wind in her sails, unfurl." Bors of course is singing to himself even as Poe declares that they are, in fact, GOOOO-ing. Flicking throttle limiters off and slamming the lever full forward to bring one of the transports into his sights.
To think they use -droids- for this work. Tosh.
Pish perhaps.
Pish AND TOSH.
Drawing his reticles over one of the remaining transports, Bors twists his craft into a spiral to spray crimson plasma bolts across the side of the craft, flaring shields to opaque in places as particle tears begin to form <<"Shields damaged, ere the villain shall be laid bare to thine rage and spite, comrades!">> blowing past and picking up where he left off.
"And shining as we cross the sea, we cross the sea for hope. Then we're all raise our voices..."
Lofty flips a few switches made of Bonshyyyr timber as they transition to atmospheric flight. The targeting computer of his gunship beeps vigorously when it obtains laser lock, and the front-facing Sureggi cannons open up with a rapid PENK-PENK-PENK-PENK-PENK-PENK-PENK, sending orange lasers to punish the atmospheric assault lander for its audacity. "<< Snowball going for lander. Cover us.>>"
Looks to his targeting computer he lines up his shot. He tries to lead the shot at the transport taking a deep breath. He squeezes the the shots off and as he thinks he's about to miss the idiot pilot of the transport flies right into his shots. <<"Got one. Thats one more down guys.">>
The initial tradeoff is heated. Nine TIE/fo engage Black Squadron as a simultaneous effort to blow up FO transports concludes with the third being shot so many times by Poe, the craft began to combust from its stern before being consumed by flames. His craft is blitz through the flame as afterburners expand with sudden propulsion, his X-Wing instantly going supersonic with TIEs hot on his tail. "I see them, I see them!" Poe tells BB-8.
<<"Third's down.. thin out the herd here and look for the next ones!">> Poe twists, flying low over Capital Codru, the TIEs still hot on his tail.
TIEs have honed in on Black Squad, trying to bring down the squad with continuous fire!
The one-two punch is a common tactic in any kind of fight, and for Black Squadron, it's not different. Only for Black Squadron, the one two punch is typically the combined fire provided by Black Two and Three on the same target. They've used it to devastating effect in the past, and they use it to devastating effect, now. Jessika softens up the target, Ektor blows it out of the sky. Well, usually. This time, the Tionese pilot simply disables the ship, and Jessika's flight stick is angled so her craft moves up onto its wing so she can spy it plummeting to the ground below, where it meets the valley's hard surface with an explosive greeting. <"Good shot, Three."> She scans for the next transport in the mix, but the rest of the squadron has shot them down.
What they haven't contended with is nine angry TIE pilots who have failed miserably at their job of escorting the transports to their landing destination. They're made about it. The concussive impacts of the lasers don't hit her hull, but the feedback sent through them to the shield emitters is enough to rock the craft. She veers, rolling hard and diving as she turns her cockpit towards the ground and then yanks the nose that direction, avoiding another salvo of fire that veers off into the distance and smashes into the mountainside. Jessika corrects, sharply coming back up and grunting deeply as the inertia of the motion pulls her against her restraints. She goes for one of the TIEs pursuing her, angling for the lead one on the right while both it and its wingmate barrel down at her.
Ailee is already hard at work in the back, slightly descended into the astrompech pit with her extended arm plugged into the craft itself. She works to help restore power to the craft's shields at a rate far faster than Jessika could hope to manage. Especially while fighting against multiple opponents. Opponents who apparently don't think the New Republic starfighter they're chasing will turn around to face them, because they either believe in their supriority or something else, but neither moves. Jessika squeezes the trigger, causing the tips of her laser cannons to bristle as they fill the air with deadly fire that rips through the TIE she's targeted and causes a massively violent explosion that sends superheated debris flinging through the sky towards the ground.
<<Arright, Black SQUAD,>> Ektor crows as the handful of fighters wipe out the first wave of transports. <<Good score, Magnet, he was really.. drawn to your guns, yeah? Yeah?>> A dumb laugh and he banks to stick with Black 2, switching to the light bomber's lasers and hitting a double blast on the shields of a TIE. <<This one's limping, somebody kick em along, yeah?>>
Lofty begins the slow turn of his large gunship, looping through a cloud and emerging through the small cirrocumulus with wisps of moisture evaporating off the craft's large outboard engines. An R2 unit in the back lifts up a Wroshyr panel to insert its scomp link and begin fiddling with the shield power levels. "<One squint in sight, locking on!>" Both Lofty and his tandem gunner Haozipliirs Stebbs fire a stream of lasers through the atmosphere. Only the shields are impacted, but they continue pursuit.
Magni moves into position after evading fire. <<"Thanks three.">> He responds looking for his next target he finds it a damaged tie. Targeting the tie he fires tagging it hard with his shot.
SHK-SHUUNK, that old familiar sound and sensation as Bors catches sight of a lock warning and his hands are moving instinctively. Dumping auxiliary power into engines and lateral thrusters, singing stopped and the very gal of these vagabonds to interrupt old Alderaanian sailing music is enough to put him to an absolute -STATE-.
Putting himself into what would have become a black spin if not for raw, flavorful, well marbled, grass and beer fed, daily massaged talent - with a dash of ego - Bors twits and then rolls to his side to arrest momentum before hitting his throttle anew. <<"Cads.">> lining up with the target Ektor was damaging, the spit of crimson connects him to the other craft, metal boiling away and a dent from kinetics becoming a hole that spits fire that extinguishes the twin ion engines of the fighter.
<<"EJECT YOU FOOLE!">> yes. With an E. Refined jibes. "Mother guide his hand that he be spared the coffin of their own craft and land to be taken prisoner and thus be shown that the Republic is kind to its captives, that he or she be given their chance at redemption from our example..."
Eject you FOOLE.
The battle rages above the smoking city, and TIEs are sent spiraling down in traps of fire before combusting and exploding on impact. Sometimes, one is simply picked apart from the air. The fighters are not giving as good as they get, but it's because Black Squad's focus is not split.
That changes when five transports pass through the clouds and begin to approach the city. <<"We have more transports! Let's go, Black Squad! Take those transports down!">> Poe's voice is still passionate despite the robot tone of encrypted comms. Black Leader evades fire from a TIE as the craft goes supersonic to close the distance to the transports.
The only relief the TIE pilots receive from their time spent in the sights of Black Squadron is when more of the transports launching from the Resurgent-class Star Destroyer above the planet begin to streak straight for the landing pads. Jessika angles off to intercept them as Black Leader calls out the targets, thankful for Poe's greater picture attention in the midst of a wild fray of combat. <"Here we go again, Three."> Jessika wonders if the stormtroopers aboard that transport are aware of the danger coming their way. She has no sympathy for them. She knows if the situation were reversed, there'd be no mercy shown to them. Leading reticle edged ahead of the craft to match an intercept vector, Jessika squeezes the trigger without hesitation.
The rhythmic hammer of her craft's laser cannon fire pops the protective shields around the transport in a single go, leaving it vulnerable. Black Three doesn't miss the opportunity, because even before she peels off, she sees Ektor's ion cannon blast smash right into the transport. It's engines die. It loses all flight capability. Jessika doesn't blink as it plummets, with gravity pulling it into its loving embrace to rush its trip to the ground in what'll be another fiery monument to their foolishness. <"Another transport down, Black Leader.">
Lofty's co-pilot Stebbs asks, "<We mwene; eha?>" as TIE fighters fire on the ship. A light hit is taken, but one of the outboard engines flames out and dies. The Wookiee gunship is old after all, and maybe Rose Tico is a crappy mechanic. "<This Snowball. We lose engine! Have to leave fight!>" He fires a final staccato of YEEP-YEEP-YEEP-YEEP-YEEP-YEEP-YEEP-YEEP-YEEP at one of his pursuers, then turns to begin shakily descending through the clouds. His target is a Republic firebase. Hopefully they can make it on one engine!
Ektor banks hard to the clouds as Poe calls five more troop transports inbound. <<Coming in hot behind you, Jess,>> Once again falling in behind Jessika, as the Major's cannons tear away the AAL's shields, Ektor activates ions and fries the electronics with a cascade of blue fire. <<Happy landings,>> he bids the doomed craft in passing.
Watching Jessika and Ektor's work making a short job of one of the newest arriving transports and Bors leans into his turn, bringing the A-wing hard over to make his way into their wake. Lips in a tight line to see the ship falling like a durasteel stone for the land below.
<<"Two, Three - coming in behind, going to try and drop shields on the next transport.">> dual cannons screaming and spitting at everything that is just air and not the transport in question.
<<"Or I'll miss embarrassingly - that works too.">> sweeping past the craft again, shaking his head and rolling his eyes at himself.
angles his fighter toward the transports. <<"I'm on your six guys. Taking the shot.">> His shot hits though not hard enough to destroy it. "Kriff... yea I know I was a bit off dive no need to rub it in."
Two AAL transports do not make it, but three do, and they land on the surface deploying their troops. The battle below is something the fighter pilots can see in brief glimpses, revealing a smaller scene where white troopers storm positions below. Turret fire erupts along the spaceport line, but it seems to cut out, giving the stormtroopers the opening they need to close the distance to Republic lines. The battle is intense.
Above the spaceport, Black Squadron slugs it out with TIE/fo's, and now another 5 AAL transports are coming down through the clouds toward the space port to join the 3 that just landed.
<<"We have five more! Five more! Do what you can, it's getting crowded here!">> And dangerous. The fighters are becoming a problem because their distracting fire is dangerous enough to take the squad out of the sky if they're not careful! Poe accelerates back into the sky, rocketing toward the transports.
It's getting crowded. There are more sensor targets than there were to begin with, and Black Squadron is out one member. Not shot down, but out of the fight, and that's one less gun they have in this fight. They needed it. Ailee updates her with status on the other fighters, and while everyone is up, Black Six has sustained some pretty hard hits. Shields still up, but barely. Jessika hesiates for the briefest of moments, but angles for one of the transports rather than going for the enemy craft on his six. <"Stay evasive, Magnet."> Perhaps his callsign was a bad omen, rather than just a funny one. There's little time to think about it. <"Going in again, Tion."> Blitzing through a cloud that leaves a scattering of moisture beaded across her cockpit's viewport, Jessika is on intercept for another one of the transports.
The big lumbering things just can't get out of the way, and the more that are taken down, the less the soldiers on the ground have to deal with, and by all reports, they don't have a large force in the first place. Jessika's willing to take some of the heat up here if that means protecting some of them down there. Another squeeze of the trigger leads to another overload of oscillating shield emitters failing to deal with the sheer damage pumped out by the X-Wing. Again, the impact of a blue bolt, triggering a cascade effect over the hull that robs the craft of any ability to operate. Jessika searches out the next one, attention honed like a fine blade and the desire to kill burning in her chest.
Black 3 weaves among the green spears of cannon fire sent by pursuing TIEs. <<Right behind you, Jess.>> Drawing a slow breath in through flared nostrils as he follows Black 2 on another charge through the screening TIEs, ions cutting down another troop transport in the wake of Jessika's cannonade. << If these Hutt-suckers let up for a minute, How's about we strafe up the bucket heads on the ground, yeah?>>
<<"Shields are still green, trying to help clear the air.">> Bors's craft seems to buck and systems grumble for the poor work he's done at keeping it untouched, "Now now, nary need for that my dear." a clunking sound as he taps his system checks, and wheels around in an S-curve that is aimed to try and sweep fire among the TIEs screening for the transports that others are doing a far grander job of dealing with.
<<"No glory, Six I am trying to move on your friends.">> crimson shooting stars as tracers around and behind his nimble nemesis seems to waggle his wings in mockery of the A-wing's shooting.
"Confound it!" both brows are lifted. The Monocle -DROPS-. Now, as they say in the streets.
Shavit got real.
tries some fancy flying when those ties start firing at him. His reflexes however aren't quite as good as hed hoped or maybe after all the evasions he'd done he was getting cocky either way he doesn't get out of the way in fact his hit hard. <<"Kriff... I'm hit hard!">> He growls into the coms as he finally gets away to target the next transport and he fires his shots doing no real damage. "Dive get to repairing the shields will ya? I know I know, listen Id like to see you do better." He says tobhis Fiesty little astromech.
<<"Splash another transport.. we just can't keep up!">> Poe growls despite the successful run. These damned TIEs were swarming them, and having to contend with fighters and the objective, constantly, was beginning to give Poe a massive headache and cross his eyes. He glanced down at his sensors and saw that three more AAL transports were descending from the sky and emerged from the clouds. <<"We have three more! Three more transports!">> Poe called out, slamming the throttle with an opened palm to send his craft back into the sky after skimming over the cityscape. <<"Stay with me!">>
There's no seeming end to the forces brought to bear in the attempt to get them to the spaceport. Black Squadron is doing its best to take down transports, but the truth of the matter is that they just don't have enough firepower. There's not enough guns in the sky to compete with such a target rich environment. Jessika doesn't let it slow her down or discourage her. X-Wing leaving contrails behind its engines, Jessika rotates her fighter to drop in behind one of the transports. The spread of three is like looking at three different things she wants, but in the end, she goes for the outside left target. Her shots aren't as clean as she wants them to be. Two zing wide, coming so close they reflect off the craft's transparent shield bubble.
But she couldn't have ever predicted what happens next. One shot smashes the shields and bleeds right through it to smash into one of the hotly glowing engines. The shields as a whole around the transport fail, evaporating out of existence and ensuring that her next shot punctures straight through on the heels of the shot before it. Slagged metal leads it straight into the shuttle's power core, and in a brilliant light, the transport explodes loud enough that Jessika can hear it from here, over the sound of her craft's engine and through the sound dampeners in her helmet meant to help keep communication chatter audible. It's nothing compared to the two bright, glowing orbs that obliterate the next two transports, and Jessika can't help but cue up after watching them vanish. <"Show off!">
Ektor is shaking his head in the cockpit as Jessika annihilates one of the remaining three transports. <<Nice rekking shot, Jess,>> he commends, pulling a breath in through bared teeth as he eyes the last two AALs descending. "Rekk it. Genius, turn your optics off, I'm breaking some regs," he advises the astromech, vectoring to intercept, and arming torpedoes. The blocky craft are moving too quickly to establish a lock, but the reformed (?) pirate has an idea. Disabling the safety reload timers, he fires two pair of torpedoes in rapid succession, blindly trying to anticipate the seperate jukes of two different targets, without a lock. And the crazy pirate does it. The last pair of transports are destroyed in an unlikely pair of flash-detonations that light up the battlefield below. Him, a show off? <<Hehehe.. Boom, baby.>>
Castle Thul is burning, Castle Thul is gone. One day I'll be returnin', until then I must be strong." no enemies on his back, perhaps he was uninteresting to them, perhaps Magnet was an apt name, or maybe his flying somehow managed to dislodge the enemy craft. Maybe they really didn't shoot that green filth at him.
So he's singing to himself again. Jessika probably knows this, deep in her heart of hearts, there is probably a Look there that she isn't even aware of while she is so caught up in the slaughter that she is given up to. Or more likely it's the twin suns born from Ektor's shooting skills.
<<"M'lord Tion, a drink to you ere our return home. My purse shall be upended and thou shalt glut on a lake of spirits.">>
"Let's not ever upset that one..." the monocle is tucked back before his right eye with a quick flick of his hands before he is twisting into a aileron that caries him into a dive before one of the TIEs pestering Six. Bors actually waves as he zips past, likely too fast to be seen, nor does it matter when he slams hard on the thrusters to bring his nose up and pump blaster rounds into the belly of the TIE.
Thul was once a warring house. Thousands of years ago. Perhaps a little of that spirit yet lives on in this one's blood.
pulls the flight stick avoiding shots at him than there's the explosions from Jess and Ektors destruction of those transports. <<"Excellents shots two and three I owe you guys some drinks when we get home. Seven I'm on your six nice shooting friend.">> He says over the coms. "Yes Dive this is gonna be fun keep on working on fixing our shields eh? Thanks pal." Magni pushes forward speeding toward another enemy fighter. "You're mine." He grunts using his targeting computer he gets the shot lined up proper than fires hitting and destroying that tie. <<"Splash another one for me guys haha yea!">>
Two more TIEs are sent spiraling down to the city, smashing against the vacant streets in a fiery display as the shadow cast by Poe's fighter whips by, engines screaming. <<"Black Squad, form up on me. We have new orders-- the spaceport positions have fallen-- All but one, at least. We're needed for close air support. Fly low to scramble sensors and get your shields back up. We're in for a long night of fighting.">> Poe's s-foils stay open as he flies low over the city. They're pursued by the 3 TIEs that remain, and another squadron hot on their tail, though through the smoke and low altitude, the TIEs lose them for the moment.
Just as quick as Black Squadron arrived, they were gone again, moving toward marked targets to help the ground effort out. The fight below had evolved into a street to street, door to door assault. Despite Black Squad's efforts, it still wasn't enough to win the spaceport.
