Log:Mando Arc: Part 3
Mando Arc: Part 3
OOC Date: January 6, 2016
Location: Hoth
Participants: Russ Ordo, Narsai Ordo, Laika, Kitfox
The call sent out was urgent the emphasis clear, get to the ship as fast as possible or be left on the golden jewel of the galaxy known as Nar Shaddaa. As those that made it back to the ship assemble in the now familiar common room/briefing room it becomes clear that Russ is flustered and mad beyond reason. Luckily he has pretty good reign over his emotions when the situation calls for it.
The remnants of the Mandalorians who have pledged to my cause are under attack. A traitor has been lurking in our midst this entire time, steering our forces into the disastrous ambushes one of which you have witnessed. He has also betrayed out sole remaining base where we were recouping our losses as we drew up our battle plans. He has deactivated the shield generator allowing at first orbital bombardment and following the enemy landing artillery support. Now the deathwatch are in an active assault on the base. Without assistance they are sure to fall."
Kitfox is there and ready. She doesn't often venture off the ship on her own, not yet anyway. She looks up from her datapad, going over, at a glance, what looks like some porn. Food porn, that is. She -is- trying to learn to cook after all. "Will this be the end of the Deathwatch if we finish this? Or is it a way to at least cement our allies in the endeavor of shutting them down?" the woman asks, staring at the information presented.
"The earlier attack?" Laika speaks up from where she's resting on the nearby couch, adjusting her armor while tilting her head to the side. "The one before we attacked the base? That was the traitor's work?" The Cathar herself rolls over to look at the others with a frown. "Will they expect us then? When we come to help them out? We don't want to walk into the same ambush they did."
The younger Ordo sibling is already tinkering with her armor while they talk of the attack. Words enough? They're enough for her to stand before moving towards the cockpit. The ship is already powering up pretty quickly when she moves back to join the others. "Orbital bombardment means that they've got a few ships of there own. Maybe something big. We'll need the guns manned and the shields at full the second we step out of hyperspace."
"As soon as you get us out of orbit set course for Hoth, i think we are for one hell of a bumpy ride. We won't have the time needed to take down any of their big ships if there are indeed any present, that will be a future us problem. We are needed to assist on the ground. But expect heavy fire and an attack from fighter class ships."
Russ turns back to the others to answer their queries. "This may not be the end of deathwatch, they are like that mythical beast. What is it called? The one where if you cut off one head two more rise to take it's place?" He shakes his head "If we are victorious however it should cripple their operations towards us for at least the time being. And i us saving all of their lives doesn't show them the need to unite under a shared banner and properly combine our forces i don't know what will."
He turns towards Laika now "It may not have been the direct action of the traitor, but who knows what actions at this point his lies have infuenced. We will not be flying into an ambush. We will be flying into a war already in progress. So i want you all to be ready. This is going to get really ugly."
"Hydra?" Kitfox suggests, regarding mythical beasts. "So it is not a snake, but something worse..." she says quietly. "I will offer what I can, but as durable as my body is, I am still without armor. And in comparison to what the Deathwatch are weilding, my civilian-modified blaster rifle is not up to par. I will have to do my best to aim carefully. That said, if we are entering a warzone, I can offer fire support and there are likely to be many wounded by this time. If I cannot offer direct fire support as effectively as needed, I can at least bring our allies back into the fight."
No ideas of myths and monsters, Laika nods to move towards the weaponry they'd amassed in their collection...that probably could have been bigger if she hadn't gotten a little overzealous in her destruction of their opposition last mission. The cat woman moves to nod at Russ. "I will not be much use in the ship, but if it comes to ground combat again I will follow your lead."
Moving towards the cockpit again Narsai listens to the others speak up and discuss the invasion. Moving to sit herself down in the control seat and setting the hyperdrive. "We'll see what we run into over there. Be ready for a messy entry." Flicking a few other switches and charging the weapon systems of the Thunderheart the younger sibling looks towards her brother. "Be ready. It might be a war, but if we can't get our people to safety it might be all for nothing." With that thought left to be stewed upon, the pilot activates the hyperdrive and the ship surges forwards into the blur of stars.
Coming out of hyperspace one thing is beyond clear. They are terrifically and horribly out gunned. Their flagship a marauder-class corvette floats in what seems to the lone Thunderheart as sea of snub fighters. Four off them peel off immediately and scream towards the T, the turbo lasers on the corvette visibly swivveling towards the light freighter. Probably not best to get caught by those. The planet Hoth floats big before the Thunderheart, so close and yet seemingly so far through that sea of lasrer fire.
The worst part about hyperspace? When you come out of it half the time you're coming in blind. The moment the ship comes back into perception of the real world? The entire vessel shudders as Narsai yanks the controls to the side but still can't quite avoid the bolt that slams hardy into the shields of the ship. Spitting a curse she white-knuckles the sticks. "This is going to be nasty! Strap in!"
It's worse when you come out of hyperspace and there's a battle going on. Or a bunch of starships. Hostile ones. Kitfox hears the shout and double-checks her seat bindings. "We expected as much, did we not?" she asks. "How large is the fleet? Perhaps we should tell them we've brought pizza for the ground crew?" she smirks a little.
Laika however isn't so glib as Kitfox. When the pilot yells or panics? You listen. Even with the artificial gravity in the vessle the feline grabs for the nearest handhold on the wall near the ramp and hisses a little despite herself. "I've braved enough vacuums this week. I don't have a suit like yours if we suddenly get a new window in this ship."
The disorientation of coming out of hyperspace straight into a cosmic shitstorm like that proves to be too much for even one of the galaxies best pilots. The fighters split off and rain bolts around the Thunderheart, a couple hitting the shields causing the lights to dim in the vessel and sparks to fly from immaculate control panels. Russ swivels in his turret tring to get a bead on one with his quadlasers. "Narsai we have two fighters coming up from bravo seven niner." He watches as a bright green turbolaser blast fly past into the depths of space "Even when we get to the ground getting back off again is going to be fun."
The Thunderheart streaks into the space battle as Narsai pilots her through the tricky airspace, reacting on instinct and pure talent as she manages to bank the craft in a way that clearly suprises the pursuit fighter Russ is able to blast into with the mounted guns. Trying to line up a fighter of her own her shots go wide as she's forced to bank away from one of the larger cannons. "Someone scan that cruiser, if I can fly inside their shields we may be able to hit their bombardment guns before we touch down!"
Russ woops as he blasts down one of the following fighters with the quad laser as his sister leaves them behind with her somewhat suicidal flying. "Yeah sister thats the way! Keep up the flying!" He watches as another fighter cuts underneath them by the other turret before arcing away. He yells back into the ship "Someone get on that other gun, it doesn't matter if you miss just put out fire or they will hit us in our blindspot!" He looks towards the cruiser as Narsai yells to scan it, unable to do that from the turret "You sure we want to get near that monster? Our shields won't handle hits from those turbos!"
"I am more suited to firing smaller blasters," Kitfox responds swiftly, "I will patch myself in to the ship's systems and run the scan. Just hold us steady a moment so I cn properly jack in." She grips her seat with one hand, the other reaching back behind her neck to unspool the cable hiding behind her hair. It takes a few moments but she manages to plug herself into the nearest jack and get herself into the system. "Forwarding the data to your readout, Narsai."
"All yours!" Laika calls towards Kitfox before she runs for the gun not occupied by Russ, barely even bothering to strap herself in as she holds on for dear life and jams down on the quad-gun's triggers, firing hard at the target's baring down on them
"Well then lets take out those turbos!" Narsai yells back, sweepingthe ship in between fire. Whincing as passing through the shield and taking fire shorts the Thunderheart's own shields out she primes the concussion missles on the ships nose. "C'mon baby, hold together for me now." She murmers while the ship's warning system blares about their lack of defenses and she sweeps in. "Fox, give me that opening!" Sure enough, as the ex-Imperial finds her success, Narsai presses the buttons for missle launch, intending to take out those guns.
Laika actually manages to take down a target, not a bad start for her first time trying gunning! Of course, when the missiles fail to take down the turbo-lasers the Cathar whinces and starts to turn her gun towards them, but the fighter still on their tail takes priority. "This is geting dangerous!"
"I can draw power from the guns to restore the shields, or would you prefer if I were to boost engines?" Kitfox says absently, eyes closed as she monitors the ship's systems internally. "Narsai, you are at the helm, tell me where to re-direct power. If we need a hard burn to the surface or the shields back up, give me the word."
Russ howls as he guns down another of the fighters, the quad laser battery his is manning easily blowing the light fighters away once he has them in his sights. He curses as he spots the explosion of the concussion missiles as they impact on the surface failing to set off any secondary explosions. "Laika focus on the guns as we pass, hopefully Narsai can land a solid hit ahead. We can't take another hit from those turbos!"
It's as she banks and twists the Thunderheart that Narsai's eyes fall on something. Something insane and blinking at her. The missile controls are still lit with a nice green light that's not what you need in a fight. Muttering a string of curses the redhead flips a switch as they sweep by the guns. She'd missed her window to hit them all, but as the flipped switch illuminates the word 'ARMED' on her launch controls she fires the now activated concussion missile into the second gun. She's at least done a little damage. "Fox. Divert power from the pilot guns to the shields after we make our pass, it's time to get down there. I hope we at least softened things up for the others."
Cecily furrows her brow as she nods, instructions coming hard and fast. She waits for the right moment, when the targets are thin for Narsai and the main guns are no longer absolultely necessary. "Redirecting main cannon power flow to deflector screens..." she states as crisply as a bridge officer could. The pilot would find the guns under her fingertips to be as useful as a laser pointer by now, but the flicker and flash of shields restoring are probably much more welcome sight. The indicator puts them at fifty percent, and she says as much, "Shields at half power. We've got a window. Will focus the facing to our rear once we're on burn for the surface."
Another blast of quad cannon comes from Laika's turret. She might be getting the hang of this! This time it's not a fighter that she takes out but the barrel of one of those large guns, giving her own little woop of celebration as she ship goes streaking away from the capital ship she trains the guns on any fighters that might give chase. "Great flying Narsai!" she calls back to the pilot.
As Russ's turret is blown clean off the main body of the Thunderheart his comm goes dark, the Mandalorian presumably taken with the turret or lost to the vaccuum of space. The Thunderheart has seen better days, electrical circuits blowing and spitting out sparks all over the shiney interior. Even as Kitfox manages to bring the shields back up to half strength a spot electrical fire bellows out from a power circuit to her right.
The entire ship buckles and shakes as the turbo-laser hits the ship before the shield comes back up and Narsai grunts, her eyes flicking towards the damage readout. They widen just a little, cold horror threatening the back of her brain before she tightens her hands on the controls. Not now, there's no time. There's still a ship, there's still others in danger! She can feel guilt, horror, dispair or whatever else she needs to after they're out of the way of the cannons. "Darasuum fucking kote..." she grits through her teeth as the ship screams down towards the surface of Hoth.
"Number two turret down," Kitfox says quietly, "...our comm array has been destroyed as well. We had better hope there is equipment we can use to make repairs if we all live through the landing and the battle on the surface." Her announcements are grim and cliipped, matter-of-fact. She pulls what power was left in the external turrets into the engines to make Narsai's job of getting them to the ground in one piece instead of many easier. "Redirecting remaining weapon power to engines."
Laika hears the explosion above, but she doesn't look up. Sealed down in her turret she just keeps her gun on the pursuit firing weapons for as long as she's got power. Keying her com, if it still even works she contacts the other two in the cockpit. "Take the turret power for the shields, you'll outrun them before I hit them at this rate."
As the crew of the Thunderheart breaks atmo and swings down low over the snow covered barrens of Hoth something becomes very clear. They have arrived in the midst of a full scale war. Explosions cause huge plumes of snow to be thrown high in the air, all terrain transports fly across the snow delievering there payloads to the battlefield. There are obvious trenches dug with passages leading deep underground, battles obviously raging within as a huge section of snow blows up into the air before it crumples inwards. Jetpacks flare and send soldiers flying towards their foes, multiple colours of life ending lasers filling the battlefield with death.
The Thunderheart does not break atmo alone as another squadron of fighters claps through behind them seemingly lighting on fire as they break through barely a second behind the Thunderheart. Taking it in low a missile fired from a hidden pillbox narrowly misses the Thunderheart. It doesn't miss one of the fighters ferciously pursuing however sending it flaming, cartwheeling through the dense snow.
Well...at least the cool air will stop the ship from burning up! The pilot sweeps the freighter sideways trying to avoid the pursures. She's got no guns to fire back with, but she's got a shield and she's probably the fastest thing in the sky right now. "lorda, jee-jee mruishani jee-jee copah copah nibobo coo D'emperiolo nibobo mee D'emperiolo lorda dopa peteessa copah pankpa nobo mruishani apenkee jee-jee!" Yanking on the controls she tries to drag the fighters past those pillboxes and defences, setting them up to be knocked down.
Well...at least the cool air will stop the ship from burning up! The pilot sweeps the freighter sideways trying to avoid the pursures. She's got no guns to fire back with, but she's got a shield and she's probably the fastest thing in the sky right now. "Fox, broadcast our codes to the ground team before we accidently get shot out of the sky by our own people!" Yanking on the controls she tries to drag the fighters past those pillboxes and defences, setting them up to be knocked down.
"I will require a few moments. Our comm array is down," Kitfox replies crisply, moving to get out of her seat and grab whatever she can to practically drag her way to a working radio set. Or a spare helmet. "Best I can give us is something short range and hope for the best with all of the fighting going on."
A desperate escape is the best they can hope for now. With power cut to the quad lasers and the other turret missing the Cathar just crosses her arms over her chest and grips the harness holding her into her seat for dear life. Their survival is firmly in the hands of the other two women keeping the ship up in the air.
The other three deathwatch fighters keep in close pursuit as Narsai flies periously close to the ground, most of the defensive turrets and built in defences where flattened by the orbital bombardment and initial strike. But if Mandalorians are a stubborn bunch of bastards. Two of the fighters go up in plumes of smoke and flame as they are raked by heavy blaster bolts and missiles the origin hidden by the disconcerting amount of snow. The other fighter seems more skilled than the others, keeping his dogged pursuit even through the screen of battery fire. As the Thunderheart flips to it's side and tries to plunge into the barely wide enough canyon they scrape the edge sending up a huge shower of ice and snpw in their wake.
Thankfully Kitfox doesn't have to slip out of her seat to get the comms organized. What's left of them anyway. She starts to broadcast on all friendly Mandalorian wavelengths, hoping to catch one of the men on the ground or a still-intact radio beacon. "This is TRN Thunderheart to all Mandalorian forces. We are friendly, I repeat, friendly. We are here to provide assistance against the Deathwatch. IFF transponder code follows. Please do not fire upon our vessel, we have already sustained considerable damage. Message repeats..."
Laika? She has her slitted eyes shut tight and she's holding onto the holy crap harness while the vessle bumps and bucks through the insane flying and minor collissions. If the ship stops and she's able to open her eyes? She'll know she hasn't exploded. Till then she just holds on!
Narsai is pretty well screaming as the ship goes flying through the too-small grip. If the dish hadn't already been blasted off the ship it'd probably be somewhere back in the show. Yanking back in the controls before the ship goes skirting and skidding into the snow of the canyon and out of sight from those above them. The explosion throwing snow and shrapnel in their wake as the Thunderheart finally comes to a landing. Even if that landing might skirt the edge of being called a crash.
As the ship lands it sinks a good meter in the snow, the landing gear being completely swallowed. For now they are safe. But if they wish to effect the results of the battle they cannot stay safe for long. They need to get out of the canyon. There are multiple cavemouths along the length of the chasm leading into the labryinth of tunnels winding up towards the 'surface'. They show at least there at least one path up, the walls of the canyon show a possibly faster way if they can brave it.
Laika gives a yell of her own as the ship comes to its enthusiastic landing Laika moves to unclip herself. She's not dead yet, is she? Climbing out from the gunners seat she makes her way towards the other woman. "You two still breathing?" she manages, already able to claim upwards join the others out in the snow. She's suddenly very glad she has both armor and fur to protect herself from the cold.
Cecily unstraps herself once the shaky landing is over. She doesn't seem put off, or too worse for the wear. Freakin' cyborgs. She starts loading up, getting cold weather gear on. She flashes a look to Narsai before moving to check on Russ' turret. Or what's left of it. Maybe he got lucky and is there, injured. Or sucked into a hole they blew in the Deathwatch ship... she can hope, right?
