Log:Derelict in the Drift

Derelict in the Drift

OOC Date: May 29, 2020
Location: Cron Drift
Participants: Ektor, Bizz Bliptettjupp, Merek, Tallissan Lintra, Elrych Cometburn, Jessika Pava, Poe Dameron

The Cron Drift is a vast, stable belt of asteroids, the result of some ancient supernova that had eradicated what was once a prosperous star cluster, thousands of years ago.

Now, it is a scarcely used layover between the Perlemian Trade Route and the Lianna System hyperspace hub, visited primarily by those ships wishing to avoid the more heavily trafficked lanes. The complex radiation still inundating the Auril sector plays havoc with short range sensors, doing much to mask the comings and goings of various spacecraft.

Everyone's favorite Ugnaught (except perhaps for those who know more than one Ugnaught) Bizz Bliptettjupp had purchased the coordinates of a particularly curious piece of detritus, drifting among the ancient remnants of a hundred worlds. The reason he asked for help claiming it? The area is a nest of piracy. And not the fun pirates who will get drunk on a beach, the nasty pirates who will sell you into Hutt slavery. Ektor was very specific on that point.

Near the coordinates in question half shrouded in the dust of an asteroid belt is an Imperial, civil-war era space station, long given over to rust and radiation until recent tenants had moved in, with a blocky CorellianA heavy transport moored with the station.

Brother Bizz Bliptettjupp is in the cockpit of the GHOST. He is wearing his holy Jedhan robes over a tight swoopsuit and has a bottle of green Bonadanian Ebla beer in his hand, made from the finest Ebla grains of Bonadan. The holoprojector of the Ghost's sensor station is punched up to show Poe and any others in the cockpit (and perhaps other ships sharing their feed) an odd-looking courier starship. "It must be ancient! It tumbled from an asteroid into range of solar radiation, and I believe that activated the ship's navigational broadcast. Once it is towed back to safety I am sure it is full of databanks of treasured information." He has a sip of that fine green beer.

The Actis ETA-2b was a clone war relic, perhaps a pre-cursor to it's uglier offspring, the TIE Fighter. The original models lacked huyper drives, armor, and shielding, but the escourt B models made later in the War had more armor and shielding. Spark 1, flown by Jedi Initiate Elrych Cometburn was one of these class of fighters. The order had gotten their hands on a few to go with their old Aethersprites. His music was playing loudly as the ship appareted into normal space, but the jarring wound in the force from what ever cataclysm befell this place caused the Jedi to turn it down some. <<"Spark 1, here... Hundreds of million... billions died here. This... woah.">> It was jarring at the least.

Poe is seated next to Major Jessika Pava, who is helping from the Co-pilot's seat, something that replaced the old single-seater from the previous Captain who had owned the Ghost. She operated the guns from this position, but presently, had no need to. So her attention was on Bizz's holo-scan, which she pulled up on the center console to project the image between her and Poe. Weathered dark eyes studied the static-unstable image as it flickered before she turned her attention ahead. "I don't like the effects of this radiation. Bring the shields up." Says Jess, in her concise manner.

Poe Dameron, who is actually flying, glances at the image briefly, but turns his attention toward the controls, going through the ritual of smacking down a series of switches before complying with Jessika's wish by raising the shields. "Shields are up. Turrets and cannons online." Poe says after a glance on the systems monitor to his left. He slides on a vox headset and switches it on. <"Bee-Bee Eight.. buddy.. how do the engines sound back there?"> BB-8 answers in a series of enthusiastic warbles and Poe chuckles. <"Good job. Be ready to jump to repairs, buddy. This could get hairy.-- Sergeant Black.. everything checking out on the aft guns?">

Poe's voice crackles over the encrypted net they're using, occasional static from the interference. <<"Ghost is on station. Heads on a swivel everybody. Testor (Jess) has a bad feeling about this.">>

The A-Wing doesn't show its age, having been babied and polished to a fresh-off-the-assembly-line patina by Tallie. Shades of growing up and flying her father's RZ-1 A-Wing though this one has not been stripped to be a crop duster. Unrecognizable in a void suit, only the top of Tallie's good luck white scarf brings a memory of the Resistance with her into the cockpit - that, and the other pilots flying incognito to pitch in.

<<Quick Event, here. High ho for treasured information, Brother Bizz.""

Merek places on that armor of his, from the shadowsilk of the suit to the white plate, then he nods a bit while he begins to adjust that helmet, speaking into the comlink, "Yes, all looks fine in the weapon seat," he offers to Poe. With that, he begins charging up the dual cannon weapons.

<<Come on, she always has a bad feeling. Just tell her that next time I swear- I SWEAR we'll go someplace with a real beach, yeah?>> The Longprobe broadcasts, as if Ektor doesn't also promise a beach every time. As usual, it's Jess who is proved correct, when a half squadron of fighters launch from the station: old model civil war TIEs, retrofitted with shields. An interceptor in the lead, with five line fighters in a horde, behind. Behind them, the heavy transport detached from the station, ponderously maneuvering toward the new arrivals.

Elrych doesn't enter into the frey right away even though his sensors are screaming. Instead he lets the force inside himself and uses it to calm him as he focuses on the task of trying to find this specific ship they're after. His walking meditation is broken by Eggsy's quick and imediate blipping. "What do you mean you found it alread.y.. alright alright, don't get cocky." The Jedi looks over the data. <<"Booty is 15km away... in the deep drift, request confirmation."

Elrych Cometburn makes a rapid controlled spin as he passes into the fighter screen, avoiding fire.

Sensor suite in full operation, the cockpit pips and sings to itself as Tallie does a full sweep of the system. She misses having Fiver loaded in with her, even if it's eternally cranky with her.

The first sweep brings in nothing with the background noise of the system's ambient radiation. The second sweep produces a ping that, on the third sweep, starts to resolve into an old Coruscant class heavy courier in an eccentric sideways drift.

<<"Happy days, Brother Bizz. I've pinged a heavy courier drifting about fifteen kilometers from my position. Mark that. Sending coordinates to you now.">> Within a minute of the transmission, her canopy lights up as a lurid green laser misses bathing the A-Wing in its beam by a whisper.

<<"You say that everytime, Tion. All of the times, and I've yet to sink my toes in the sand. Not cool.-- We've got activity ahead, a squadron of fighters and a larger transport.">> Jess says over the comms, her voice, like Poe's, crackling a bit in response to the interference. Heavy cannons spool up soundlessly in space as Jess initiates the combat protocols in the cockpit. <"Black,"> Jess says over the local channel in the ship. <"We got company.">

Poe rocks the Ghost from side to side, slipping between the TIEs and angling for an attack vector on the transport. "Eyes on that transport there.. it's just sluggish enough to pound into slag while the others play with TIEs." Blue ion fire is accompanied by large red lances of cannon fire that slam into the invisible shield barrier surrounding the transport. "Good effect," Jess says cooly, a grin forming on her usually neutral face. Poe retorts, dipping below a wall of retaliating fire from the transport. <"Starting another approach..">

Bizz nearly spills his bottle of Ebla beer as sensors report a hostile station. "Those must be the pirates the Clan told me about!" He guzzles his beer, attempting to steady his nerves before the fight, and seats himself at the cockpit's sensor station to bring up the rear ion turret controls. Apparently the GHOST's Phantom-class interceptor's turret has been wired to the cockpit for remote control, and Bizz takes advantage of it. He tosses down the big green bottle with the 'E' on the label as Poe Dameron dives the ship forward. Bizz fires the ion cannons with a rushing SHOOOM SHOOOM SHOOOM sound but that big bottle rolls from one end of the cockpit to the other, smacking Bizz in the foot and distracting him. All of his shots miss! To Tallie he responds, <<"Oh uh, it is smaller than I thought.">>

Merek takes focusing upon the weapon to those pirates, while he nods a bit, <"Taking aim on the TIEs."> The cannons fire into space, not managing to take on the target, while he begins to adjust the target main solution.

Ektor reads the scanners, sees the name of the (bad) pirate home ship. <<The rekking Void Reaper? Hell, we got a REAL bunch of try-hards here. They moving on us fast, though- watch this, I bet I can get them to all shoot at me..>> He switches to open comms, <<Hey, Hutt-suckers. I see a bunch of Eyeballs coming at us, so how about you peel them and recognize that you just got a bunch of TIEs, whereas WE.. have a *Y*-wiiiinnnggg. So, uh. You can surrender whenever you want, yeah?>> He certainly got them to shoot at him. Though Ektor knocks out the shields of one Line TIE, three others hammer his shields. "Whoa, whoa, they trying WAY too hard."

Elrych Cometburn catches onto one of the ties hitting it with his two lasers.

Lintra flips the blunt-nosed wedge of the Quick Event into a dive at the nearest TIE fighter. The Novaldex J-77's light up golden as she kicks in the afterburner to charge the Eyeball, they pass each other like jousters. The TIE is left with all shields gone, damaged on the brink of collapse but still in the fight. "Not quite. Next time they are goners," she mutters.

"I've got them dead center." Jessika says, lighting up the transport with the heavy cannons, shading the cockpit in the glow of red before blue follows subsequent of her shots. Ion sparkled light the arms of lighting over the shield impacts and Jess curses. "It's fine, hang on.." Poe says to the pair in the control cabin with him. The Ghost begins to tick as it takes a turn, spiraling slowly simultaneously. But it's not enough boogy to avoid being tagged. They feel the impact and Poe shakes in his seat. "Sorry.. I'm trying..!"-- "Try harder, pretty boy." Jessika replies back, not as forgiving, but smirking all the same.

<"Alright BB-8, we need you, buddy!">

Bizz keeps on firing at the big slow moving transport - the same one Poe and Jess are firing at. SHOOOM SHOOOM SHOOOM ! The shields are collapsing. "Oh I hit him, the FORCE is with me today!" But the Ugnaught monk finds himself rocking and nearly knocked out of his seat as two laser blasts hit the GHOST's shields. "I thought you were a GOOD pilot," he says to Poe Dameron.

Merek keeps firing while he takes aim at the TIE, taking the time to try and line up the fixed mount while Poe begins piloting. The man takes a moment to comlink, <"I will keep on them.>"

Ektor chuckles at the discomfort of his astromech, while guiding the recon bomber in pursuit of the damaged TIE. He misses, but the pair on his tail manage a light hit to the newly restored shields. <<Jess, you KNOW I'm good for it. Real nice beach. Sand, sun, water. No drek in the sand or nothing. It's gonna happen. Smell good and everything, I got just the spot in mind.>>

The *Void Reaper* manages to repair a small measure of it's lost shields, but is losing the war of attrition, and begins vectoring slowly clear of the belt's gravity well.

"RRRROOOOOOWWWWWWWW!" Eggsy exclaims as Elrych weaves through laser fire unlike anything human. He's completely calm as he does so, simply bobbing his head to the beat. He gets a lock on the fighter he had just hit hard,. It only takes a light touch of the thumb to twitch to ions, but his first pass goes wide. "Stang..." He wispers to himself.

The little A-Wing nearly stands on end when Tallie pushes its limits to reengage. Cannons pivoted back behind her, she manages one shot into the limping Tie that takes it out of the fight. <<"Splash, number two in the formation">>

BB-8 emits a celebratory warble to announce the shields were back to reasonable levels. "See.." Poe said, glancing over at Jess. "I told you he would fix it." The Great Destroyer (Jess) was to honed in on her next shot to give Poe the satisfaction. Red lances of cannon fire shatters the shields for the transport, and Poe's gazes turns ahead to trigger the discharge of the Ion cannon he's got control of. Sparks flash over the damaged hull as Poe angles the Ghost up (in orientation of the transport), giving Merek and Bizz appropriate shots should they take them!

Merek looks to the TIE which is on the target sight, then he lines up his weapon. Then he manages to fire into it, the ship going up in flame while he speaks to the comlink, <"Alright, got that TIE.">

Bizz Bliptettjupp keeps rattling off the ion blasts at the main berthship. Ionizing radiation crackles across the hull as systems begin to fail. "Ho ho! You naughty pirates! We will fight you like Indrexu fought Xim!"

The frustration of the bandit TIEs is becoming palpable as the trio of outdated fighters flown by Black Squadron pilots are thoroughly outdueling the half dozen... still outdated, but recently modified pirate half-squadron. Some secret signal is sent, and as the battered *Void Reaper* restores the flicker of a shield to protect itself from the Ghost's onslought, and launches an unguided torpedo at the light freighter is a desperate bid to dissuade their attackers long enough to escape into hyperspace, the remaining quartet of TIEs maneuver for distance.

Elrych lines up another green match on his retical after chasing the fast tie around... except he was more clever and probably just a wee bit faster. His Ions fire and slam into the TIe, rippling blue electrical energy. The engines go dark and it drifts under nothing but the power or innertia. <<"Got one Ionized... if they escape we can pick them up and see where their hideout is...">> He scans for another target.

On the second run in search of a target, the A-Wing rocks and is pushed sideways as the Quick Event's aft shields are tagged. Rolling the ship, Tallie returns in search of the closest target, she lights up a TIE with two hits leaving it lightly damaged.

Poe brings the Ghost back around after sustaining a series of hits once more. He defends himself again Bizz's insult by saying, "I /am/ a good pilot. We're just easy to shoot at! Coming about.." Poe growls and pivots the ship back around to line up the shots. This time, he increases the speed. From all sides, the Ghost lights up the void, the result rendering the transport inert and floundering in space. The Ghost's golden engines glow bright as it pulls away. <<"Transport is floundering.. the others may flee..">>

Merek keeps firing upon TIE fighters while he watches the transport get disabled by the ion cannons. The man lines up his weaponry, then he speaks to the comlink, <"I think we can say this is a success."> The man begins to work on the console to power the weapon back to standby.

Half of the modified old model TIEs survive to vanish deeper into the Drift, but the base ship, and <<Arright! Nice shooting.. Looks like they're running, alright.. This weren't a bad little scrap, yeah?>> Ektor decides over the comms. << Somebody found this wrecked boat we came for, yeah? Elrock? Sunshine? Great, I'm gonna call in backup with the tractor beam, so we can pack this junk up and get outta here.>> Switching the Longprobe's holo online, he tells R2-G13 to establish the designated link up, but the image is more scattered, for all the interference. "Hey- hey, you hear me? HEY, GIRL. YOU HEAR ME? I got some junk for you to come grab, yeah? What- aheh.. Okay, that was funny. But for real, come and get it."

Elrych Cometburn flies in a patrolimg pattern now reducing to crusing speed. He can onlyanage a laugh and to turn up his music as tue mission comes to an end.

<<"Do we get to go to the beach now, Tion? I could use getting rekked good under the sun on some nice fine sand. Shellfish on a platter of ice and somebody good to look at, so that excludes you, and I will be one happy pilot.">> Pulling back on the rudder Tallie lines the A-Wing up for the hyperspace route, tips her to port and puts her through her paces.

<<"Good stuff everyone.">> Poe offers, circling back slowly. <<"Except for Poe. He flew awful this time.">> Teases Jess, though the topic shifts. <<"The perfect beach, huh Tion? I wonder where that might be?">> She hoped it wasn't Corellia. Please not Corellia.

Poe triggers the programming of the Nav-Computer, inputting their next destination once the old rust-bucket Bizz was after is collected.

Merek nods a bit, while he waits along in the seat. It looks like he will be relaxing for a bit while he listens.