Log:Jedi Order: Vestige of an Old Empire I
Vestige of an Old Empire I
OOC Date: November 15, 2022
Location: Interstellar Space
Participants: Jedi Order: Finn, Jax Greystorm, Galen Dawnstar, Chani Tahn, and Ruur
Somewhere on the Trailing (Galactic West) side of the Core rests a derelict imperial fleet. It appears there was once a battle here. These ships, while many in number, are not seemingly alive their lights dark and engines silent. Yet still the cold hulls of even destroyed Star Destroyers were intimidating. Other than this field of seeming debris, there was nothing but the harsh light of the galactic bulge, a clump of tightly packed stars/nebula/and black holes which dissipated and spread out towards the west where the unknown regions lay. Just as good a place to hide as the deepest reaches of the Outer Rim.
[ Ruur (Ruu)]
An Actis Eta 2c Fighter with the markings of Saber Squadron shot rapidly through a Hyperspace Tunnel. The pilot, Ruur Cedid, was large enough to where movements in the cockpit of the vessel had to be carfully thought about and dexterously employed. Yet he seemed comfortable and at ease as he stared at a pair of thick rimmed sunglasses with very dark mirrored lenses. He didn't know what to make of it. Finding it odd that Rey had given them to him. He was told that he would know what they were for when the time came.
Strange...
He stuffed the fashion excesory into his robes and looked to the Navi-computer. He (And those joining him) Were about to reenter realspace. The computer beeped and the bright blue and dark spotted swirls turned into star lines which then formed into stars. The inertial dampners kicked in as well as the sublight engines.
Before them was a massive ball of debris. Ships, mostly imperial, dead in space and wrecked from combat. <<"Saber Eight, reporting in.">> He announces, waiting for others to sound off, setting his fighter to cruising speed.
[ Chani Tahn (Chani)]
The swirling miasma of hyperspace vanishes into the abyssal black of realspace and her breath is taken away. Space, for all its hostility, could be deadly. The night sky is, after all, beautiful. It's not beauty that robs Chani Tahn of her breath on the transition from lightspeed to reality, but the derelict fleet sprawled out in the dark ahead of her. Looming, dead giants hang suspended, but they're all wrong. They list to the side at odd angles, with some sickeningly broken along their spines, their guts exposed to the vacuum and an array of debris scattered around them like fine dust. Or diamonds, with the way the system star's light casts across them. <"We're supposed to find something in all of that?"> The Jedi are here for something. The labyrinth of old vessels promise to be no easy maze.
[ Jax Greystorm (Jax)]
Moments later, Jax's Helix Interceptor dropped out of real space in formation with Saber Eight, << Painted Guardian, Saber Leader, Crab and Plus 1 reporting in.>>> Jax looked over at the Co-seat, "You fine over there?" He points at the controls for the turrets, "Those work like the a blaster but bigger, if we need them." Jax cycles his own shields and weapons. Then mumbles, "I can hope we don't and it come true sooner or later."
[ Finn (Fn)]
Finn occupies the co-seat and is staring at the controls when the ship comes out of hyperspace. He spent the trip running down the different kind of setup this was from the Falcon's turrets. He looks up, then over to Jax. "Yeah, I think I got it." He says confidently before his eyes go back out the viewport.
"Look at this place. IT's a damn mess. Don't these people know to clean up after themselves?" He asks in a slightly distracted manner.
Another glance goes to Jax then. "Don't mind me, that's just the sanitation worker in me talking."
[ Galen Dawnstar (Galen)]
Galen's in the Hostile Negotiator, legacy name from an old owner, the blue tunnel of Hyperspace whipping past the Pacifier Scout as the man relaxes slightly in the pilot's seat before the ship drops out of hyperspace the pilot of the ship blinking some as he leans in to start flying again sublights on the scout ship kicking in as he looks over at the droid over near him, "Hey Stumpy got anything on the sensors beyond the debris field?"
[ Ruur (Ruu)]
Ruur looked ahead towards the debris as the odd flight of ships cruise towards it. <<"We're looking for this Sentinel Prime... why put it here? This is morose, indeed.">> His adopted core accent shining through. His glowing red eyes, that of a hunters, catch sight of something moving between the debris. Perhaps just more pieces of destroyed ships... Yet. He takes a breath and calms himself, remembering the teachings.
[ Chani Tahn (Chani)]
"Run a scan on the field," Chani murmurs aloud to Sky while guiding the sleek starfighter into a new heading that approaches their destination head on. "Then use the data to construct a three-dee model. Extrapolate a course through it based on that. Real time updates for shifting debris." The contoured grips of the Theed-designed ship's flight controls twist and shift in tandem, and in turn control the Nubian engines Chani can see in her peripheral out of the transparisteel bubble. "Ca--," The young Jedi is interrupted by her astromech a moment later. The warbling beeps read out on one of the panels in front of her, and her gaze coasts across the Futhark. <"Sky is picking up faint life signs in the wreckage. There might be possible engine signatures coming online in response to our approach. We should be careful.">
[ Jax Greystorm (Jax)]
Jax shrugs, "You do you man. There's alot of things you can hide among trash. It's camouflage up until you kick in the thrusters or something that generates an energy signs or life signs." He says making a few adjustments to his scanners to try to pick up what Chani and her droid are detecting, <<"I think I saw an engine fire for a moment.">> He then shakes his head, <<"When you're dead you don't mind being in a grave yard. It adds to his mystique and besides he can use it as cameo, like I was just telling Finn.">>
[ Finn (Fn)]
Finn touches his chin for a moment as he stares out in to space. He listens to the others over the coms and then motions. "There's lights out there." He says. "I mean, it could be star light shining off of glass, but... Mm, something isn't right here. Ghosts." He finally surmizes. "It's definitely Ghosts."
After a second, he points toward a clearing. "Navigation pathways. Pickers have been here, maybe. Scavs." He considers Rey's expression she'd give him for using that word, were she able to be here. "Lets be careful, everyone. The Sentinel Prime might be looking for /us/ too."
[ Galen Dawnstar (Galen)]
Glancing over at the sensor readout Galen leans over to start working on the console trying to fly the ship and run the sensors while BD-57MP7 is standing near the datalink port tapping his foot almost comically with impatience. After a fumbled attempt he returns to being the pilot chuckling a bit, "Sorry Stumpy I know you've got this. I'll stay in my lane I promise." If a droid could sigh Stumpy would be sighing right now as the datalink connects with the ship's console for the BD droid to take over the sensor station.
[ Ruur (Ruu)]
With the 3D map that Sky is able to put together and share with the rest of the Jedi Flight, they start to enter the debris field. Of course, while the course isn't that difficult, things did tend to move in space. Panels, guns, bodies... All things the Pilots of this group would have to keep a look out for. Thankfully, they were all fairly confident pilots and weren't distracted enough to run into anything or take a wrong turn and leave the rest of the group behind.
While the first set of ships were dark and far too destroyed in order to support any life, as they got deeper clusters of light could be scene in some of the more intact derelict vessels. They only got more dense the deeper the group went. It was like entering the outskirts of a small city on some backwater planet.
Finn might have had an idea about broken glass, another bit that floated around out here in the derelict road to Sentinel Prime. While the starlight did reflect off of some of them, the sight of something else lurking in the background following or stalking them like a phantom could be seen.
Ruur glanced around, his visual scanning frantic, the result of one of those <<"I got a bad feeling about this...">> Moments. Then, tumbling through the debris pounced the predator hunting the Jedi. An old but fast Tartan Class Patrol Vessel, bristling with twenty or so laser Canons ready to bare-down on the Jedi.
[ Chani Tahn (Chani)]
Gliding through the abyss like a dagger, Chani's starfighter enters the debris field with a graceful weaving of the delicate craft's frame around chassis-crushing obstacles. She doesn't fly fancy, but slow is smooth. There's elegance in simplicity. Reports from the other Jedi regarding specters in the debris and sensor alerts pinging from various positions inside of it lead Chani's grip to tighten on the flight sticks. Her thumbs graze the edges near the array of buttons capping each control without ever wandering centerward. A proximity alert based on the data flashes early, leaving Chani plenty of time to sweep and loop around a looming, drifting chunk of what might have been a thruster cone on a capital ship. Just after that is when chaos erupts. Scattering minor debris off its deflector shields, a craft suddenly looms out of the derelict belt, leading Chani to call out. <"LOOK OUT!">
[ Jax Greystorm (Jax)]
Jax has flown the Painted Guardian through a Star Destroyer with Bizz on the turrets. This debris was cake in comparison. "There's always something hunting us. It's best to be on guard. Trust in the force.." Then he hears Ruur and Chani, "Like that, I wish I had a credit for every time somebody had a bad feeling." He makes some adjustments to shields to the front, <<Moving into intercept pattern. Weapons hot on order, Saber 8. This is your party and your orders. What's the chance it's pirates in the wrong location and wrong time?>> He's not opening fire yet and giving Ruur a chance to get them out out of this turning into a fight.
[ Finn (Fn)]
Finn's eyes are on the debris fieled, loomed in to it by the magnitude of it, and the history that embodies it. But when things suddenly heat up, with an alarm on his board going off, Finn snaps out of it. He reaches down to flip on the power to charge up the systems, as he exhales softly, muttering. "Sometimes I hate being right."
"We're ready here." Finn says. "Remember, everyone..." He speaks in to the comms. "If things get too hot, we don't need to die here, we gotta have exit routes ready, and not be ashamed to book it to them. We're scouting here, not saving the galaxy."
[ Galen Dawnstar (Galen)]
Galen blinks a bit as he shifts his throttle some to adjust away from the Tartan Class, "Well that's a big sucker." He's double checking his shields ensuring they're powered on and he looks over at BD, "Can you get the sensor jammer up and running on that thing? Might make it a bit harder for it to hit us without 'em right?" The droid doesn't say anything and just stares at him, "Right. Forget I asked. Get the sensor jammer ready then." Keying up the comms, <<"If I hit that thing with a sensor jammer is that going to impact you all much?">
[ Ruur (Ruu)]
It was Ruur's party? Is that what the Sunglasses meant? He was in charge of this mission. Was it some sort of rank assignment? The extensive pondering fell away as the Tartan Cruiser came crashing through and into the space the Jedi were currently flying around in. Ruur didn't have time to respond before the ship's green colored bow canons started to fire on the larger craft, Jax's Helix Interceptor. Then one soul decided to fire upon the Naboo fighter, striking true. <<"Engaging craft... Hold off on the sensors jammer. We'll loose comms and our own proper targeting ability too. If we're careful we can take this thing out.">>
Angling the nimble fighter around, he lines up his retical. His R2 unit whistles with a lock tone and he squeezes the trigger. A concussion missile rockets from the launcher, smashing into the shields of the patrol craft.
[ Chani Tahn (Chani)]
The dark of space makes the green lances erupting from the turret of the enemy cruiser so much more vivid. The refined, super frozen tibanna gas might be beautiful to look at, were it not meant to destroy her. The impact of the turret's laser fire hitting her starfighter causes a kinetic jerk of the ship and Chani hits against the tightened crash harness by proxy. "Ungh!" The oscillating emitters of her deflector shields work to fill in the gap caused by the destructive force that rended the protective bubble around her in the first place. <"I'm hit! Going evasive!"> Chani shoves the flight controls of the Naboo craft forward and its nose lurches down, leaving her the opportunity to view the ship that's targeting her while also trying to get out of its firing arc. Sky works on bolstering the shields by shutting off unnecessary subsystems in the middle of combat, and Chani's left hand flies off the flight grip it's been resting on to switch from laser cannons to the magpulse warheads the pacifistic craft sports as its targetted weapons.
[ Jax Greystorm (Jax)]
As the guns on the Tartan go hot and they open up on Jax. "Hope you're strapped in. That goes for you too, Exine!" Jax says as he banks between the shots fired at the Painted Guardian. Then starting a strafing run, he fires a pair of heavy cannons across the tops of the Tartan, <<Sliver, if you're damaged enough that you need to fall back. Do it. Finn said we're not here to be heroes.>> He calls back to Exine, "See if you can keep track of the status of her ship." Jax lets out an deep breath and focusing on the force as he slips into an almost meditative state.
[ Finn (Fn)]
Finn has to try and focus as best as he can, which is never easy in these scenarios. The flashing of fire outside lights up his face, making him rapidly blink it away before he sweeps the guns around outside the ship, watching them aim on his terminals framing him in to his seat. He squeezes the firing studs and returns shots back at their new enemies!
"We gotta get between them and Chani if she gets hit any more. That Naboo thing is pretty, which means its not very strong." He speaks of that fancy starfighter of hers.
[ Galen Dawnstar (Galen)]
Galen blinks as the Tartan starts to shoot and moves away from the others before he points the nose of the Pacifier towards the ship and mashes the fire button the lasers darting off into the wild black yonder, "You heard the boss Stumpy no jamming sorry. Start working on a missile lock maybe I'll get luckier with that." He looks over at the other flashing lights before he glances over to watch the Helix doing some impressive fancy movements, "That's a good pilot." A look over at Stumpy, "Don't say a word."
[ Ruur (Ruu)]
Ruur's hair was already somewhat shaggy and patchy but it was even more so when that old fashioned natural warning kicked in. He felt the deadly intent and let himself go. The force flowed through him. A twitched the stick of his fast and agile interceptor, the craft spinning rapidly as green shot past him.
The Patrol Craft had finally turned, coming about so more of its guns could properly target the fighter craft. It was made for combating fighters but it lacked the firepower of it's predecessor the Lancer Frigate.
Ruur came back around and let loose another Concussion missile, the warhead flaring red as it streaked from the single tube, smashing into the shields again.
[ Chani Tahn (Chani)]
"Get me a lock on one of those turrets!" A quick glance at the shield readout shows an even distribution of repowered deflectors. The starfighter's Nubian engines propel it faster forward courtesy of Chani feeding them, casting the dagger-like shape of her red and black sleek fighter in darkness as the craft that's targeting her eclipses the system star. It comes up and around the other side, with Chani looping the nose an an arch that sets her up for a run at it. She uses the craft as a gyroscope and twists the flight controls to port, rolling the craft along its horizontal axis until the shape of the patrol vessel is a bar across the nose of her ship. She doesn't run at it nose on but at its side, with Sky acquiring a targeting lock on one of the turrets through the ship's computer. Chani release a magpulse warhead as soon as she's got tone and the carrier missile rockets from the curved underside of the starfighter. It breaches through the shields and then the warhead separates, smacking into a turret and disabling it as power to it is suddenly lost. <"Got one of the turrets down, I'll focus on some others!">
[ Jax Greystorm (Jax)]
One of the turrets go down from Chani's magnapulse. <Unidentified vessel, we have the ability to disarm you. Come on We should be friends?" It wasn't his most diplomatic speech. Jax looks at Finn, "Too soon?"
[ Finn (Fn)]
Finn's hands grip the controls of the turret, a bit of perspiration growing between them and the controls. "Come on..." He tells himself as he works the turrets to get them in place, squeezing the triggers to cause the cannons to open up again. He watches one cannon strike land on the enemy, and it makes him sigh a small sigh. "Every hit counts." He mutters further.
Over hearing Jax to his left, Finn glances over at him. "Good job, buddy, that'll work, I'm sure."
His left hand reaches over to shunt some powerflow to the turrets again, to recharge the lasers for another volley. "We better skip out of here if things keep up like this..."
[ Galen Dawnstar (Galen)]
Galen's still flying? He's doing something there in the pilot's seat and it vaguely resembles flying although with none of the grace that the other Jedi are showing with their ships he's got a bit of a smile on his face until his shields sparkle from the impact of a laser to them, "LE could you get those shields back up as much as you can? I'm not a good enough pilot to let them drop down too far." Then he's pointing the ship in the general direction of the really big Tartan and mashing the fire buttons as he watches the lasers once again go off into the darkness beyond.
[ Ruur (Ruu)]
It was easy in space combat to loose orientation and get tunnel vision, especially when chasing after an enemy fighter. While the clearing they had found them selves in was relatively free of debris... The stray laser fire had hit some of the debris on the outskirts of this bubble.
<<You think one Canon down is going to end this, Rebel Scum! Taste... wait what?">> The Captain's voice was cut short by the engines flaring to life in an attempt to avoid some of the previously mentioned debris. It was slow enough that it cut through the shields and ripped the craft in half...
Ruur was stunned as he watched the ship split into two, the lights flickering out, fire bursting from the bifurcated sections along with sparks of ionized energy. <<"Well... okay...">> Seems even Capital Ship Pilots weren't immune to tunnel vision. <<"I suppose we better finish what we started... form up on me, we're almost there.">>
Another few moments and the group flies into another large opening. It was clear now all this debris was floating around this one thing, orbiting it and it's natural gravity well. The unfinished superstructure of a Deathstar Planet Killing laser. Scans would reveal corrected and shielded sections, preventing the previously exploited hard points from destruction. The only way to end this weapon was from the inside... which meant landing.
[ Chani Tahn (Chani)]
Falling into formation with the rest of the Jedi, Chani maneuvers her craft through the debris field on approach, and only after emerging through a more narrow opening of a large, destroyed cruiser does her mind start to fathom what it is they're looking at. Like the dread portent of death has reached out to touch her, Chani's breath hitches in her throat. Her fingers tighten until her knuckles blanche from the blood squeezing out of them and the ergonomic countours of the ship's flight grips feel coarse and painful rather than comfortable. She's seen this image before, though not in this state. She's used to its full, whole state, not one lurking like the lord of a graveyard pulling the debris around it in like a blackhole. "Shiraya help us.."
[ Jax Greystorm (Jax)]
Jax looks at the Tartan splitting in two, "Well there goes another friend that I'll never make. But yeah spatial awareness in space combat is a thing." There's a comment from Exine in the back ground, "That one time! We got you you a new dome didn't we?"
He links up with Ruur and flies in formation and sees a Death Star and hear's Ruur's comment about landing to destroy it. "What would I give to it having a thermal port right about now."
[ Finn (Fn)]
Finn's eyes are on his turret displays when the enemy ship is ravaged by the debris that its captain fails to navigate properly around. "Woooo...." Finn exhales the exclamation at the sight, both out of joy that their enemy is gone, and surprise at HOW it goes. "I don't wanna go out like that... Lets keep our heads on a swivel, huh?"
He touches a comm panel. "You guys good out there? Nice shooting. Nice flying."
Once he leans back in his chair though, Finn pushes the turret controls forward and puts his hands on the arms of the flight chair. As they navigate in to the debris, and the source of what they'd been searching for comes in to view, the man's eyes go pure focused upon it. A serious expression befalls over his face. "It's big." He finally says. "They're always big though, aren't they? Either way, it's not even close to being finished. Maybe that means the self destruct buttons are easier to get to?" He asks, glancing to Jax. "Or... maybe they were never installed." He looks out the viewport once more. "Either way. WE should send out a message to the other Jedi. Let them know we found it. Let them know we're gonna find a way to blow the damn thing up too."
[ Galen Dawnstar (Galen)]
Galen just stares at the Tartan is cut in half... "Well that escalated quickly." He looks over at Stumpy, "Do a sensor sweep and look for anything living in that wreckage." He forms up on Ruur's ship as they continue through until they emerge into the opening... <"Oh.... My.">
