Log:New Alderaan: All Fighters On Me

Lord Thul leads a sortie to protect the city of Bastion

OOC Date: October 25, 2021
Location: Droalder Bay, New Alderaan
Participants: New Alderaan, New Republic, Bors Thul, Aubrei, Ulani Kalgaav, Rune, Sorin Endesea as Jan Kyrel, Chani Tahn, Aryn Cortess

The cruiser, Bail Organa, has made its presence known by breaking through the storm clouds. Already, enemy squadrons bank and maneuver around the massive vessel doing their best to get beneath the shields to harass its surface cannons. General Cara Dune appears in holo within the cockpit of each fighter pilot joining the sortie high above the the snowcapped mountains of Droalder bay.

<<"This is General Dune. I need pilots in the air to take care of a squadron that's harassing my guys. We're hunting for a bomber squadron, but we can't do that if we're in a fist fight with these other guys. Lt Thul is to lead a sortie of fighters to run screen while my guys go hunting. Bring these huttsuckers down quickly.. and my guys will do the rest. General Dune out.">>

Aryn Cortess activates the shields around her T-85 X-Wing Silver Two. Wearing only the headset, the young Jedi timidly takes the stick for her fighter and guides it toward her second conflict in a fighter; ever. <<"This.. this is Silver two, standing by.">> Aryn shakes her hand out and reaches for the the lever that controls her S-foils. She waits to pull it until they've found their intended bad guys.

One of those from the ground that can take to the air, Aubrei straps herself into her fighter and is soon in the air. Tapping into the comms the mandalorian keeps her gear on a she comes up behind the lead. <"Green two, present and accounted for," she says, quickly going through the systems as the little BB unit in green - how apt beeps and boops at her. "Yes, I understand Star. It is nice. An X-Wing. You wait until I get the other ship up and running at peak. Then we can have this talk again."

She waggles her wings as a wordless hello those around her, her fingers flexing on the controls as she waits for instructions for engagement.

It was a mad race to get back to Bastion city from the frozen forests and to the starport where Ulani had left her X-wing. Scrambling up the ladder, Ulani settles into the seat and puts the flight helmet on. "Okay, um... you... Let's go." Along with Black Eight of which Ulani has only recently been assigned, the R2 unit situated in the droid slot is quite new to her. So much so that no name has been given and, in fact, the little droid is rather cold with her. As cold as a little astromech droid can be. Which means a lot of one or two beep responses and little else in the ways of chatter.

Repulsors lift the craft from the tarmac and after clearing the starport, a flare of the engines sends Ulani into the atmosphere. <"Black Eight, standing by."> Okay, Ulani. Just remember the drills. Remember all the lessons and training and other missions you've witnessed. Don't. Blow. Up. Don't. Blow. Allies. Up.

In the cockpit of his ETA-2c, Rune watches the message broadcast to the pilots in their respective craft, nodding to the hologram that winks out shortly after her information is delivered. He too reaches forward to flip a lever, activating the shields around his craft. He turns his head to peer out at the enlarging cruiser, the mentioned huttsuckers buzzing around the larger ship like bees around a hive.

Ecksdee whirs and beeps in his modified slot, his domed head swiveling this way and that as he checks components and tries to keep track of all the activity around the ship. Rune, who had been slowly learning some binary to speak with his droid, caught a few things that he can respond to. "No... we will be fine, we have been through this before. Well, no... not this. You are right, but like this." The young Jedi chuckles as he slips up onto Black's wings, following in formation with the two X-Wings from his other squad. <<"Saber Six, standing by and ready to engage.">> he remarks, a thumbs up given to those in his near vicinity.

Among the ships sortied to engage with the incoming Panteer wing, Jan Kyrel sits within the cockpit of an Incom-Freitek T-85, the latest iteration of the venerable X-Wing line of space superiority starfighters. In line with the rest of his squadron, Blue, fingers deftly shift from console to console, preparing his rife for combat.

The fighter's S-Foil configuration selector is engaged, and cross-wings transition into that familiar form, Taim & Bak lasers upon each wing-tip dialed in to a targeting distance of three hundred meters. The whine of the X-Wing's fusial thrust engines thrums through the hull, and that sound takes on a different timbre as shields begin powering up.

Jan is ready. Stick in hand. Helmet mounted combat readout fed a new series of data points about each nearby starship. <"Blue four in attack configuration and standing by."> A veteran of dozens of missions, a steady hand keeps him in precise formation, though ready to peel off at his individual target once the order to break and engage is given.

They've had their home back, in a manner of speaking for less than two months and already the predators are swarming. Turning their planet into something ranging back centuries. Blood has been let in gallons already, dozens if not hundreds... if not thousands dead. Houses that must be brought to heel or,

"Expunged."

<<"What was that?">> The woman's voice was low and flowing, cultured and supremely measured - even in that brief and sudden shift to confusion. Open mic. Distracted. Amateur mistake.

Bors was tired, it'd been constant since the fighting broke out at the palace, since he had shifted from dress armor to show his representation as a member of the New Republic Armed Forces... now he was back in the familiar flight suit. No rank pips, no name, no indicator of who he is other that he's clad in black from helmet to boots.

<<"Nothing, Uypiia, I have to go soldier now.>> <<"Be well.">>

Settled into his cockpit, helmet adjusted and thrusters already heating up for the initial takeoff, Bors nods to himself while flicking a switch to shift comms to the amalgamated task force's.

<<"Black Seven, flight groups. Hile to me champions of Alderaan.">> punching in a code to send his beacon, <<"Link up with your wing and keep loose. Classes match up, A, X, Y and down the line.">> the engines scream and the RZA-2 lurches into the air, throttle lever pushed to the personalized '11' notch at the furthest point. <<"Eyes open, watch your scanners, watch your tails. May the force be with us.">>

Chani double checks and triple checks her instrument panel in a bout of barely contained anxiety. The shields are up, the holocomm is working, and Sky speaks to her via a central display that spits out Aurebesh characters translating the various warbles and beeps of the droid that she can't hear over the notable drone of the four fusial engines at the back of the craft. "Of course it's my first time! Who does this on purpose?" The screen spits out an answer as fast as she can read it. "Well, maybe you should join Black Squadron, then." It's impossible to keep the exasperation from her statement. "I think I liked it better when we couldn't talk to each other," she mutters a moment later. Silver Three keeps its nose towards Silver Two.

Aside from sharing an identical coloring in the fuselage, the Incom-FreiTek X-Wing piloted by Chani Tahn is different from the other. Rather than bearing the iconic quad laser cannons with their crescent tips, this one is equipped with four ArMek SW-7a light ion cannons. The destructive proton torpedoes have been swapped out for Galactic Electronics Mag-Pulse warheads, meaning the X-Wing has more bark in the engines than it has bite in the weapons. Fastened into the seat via the harness over her robe and cream garments, Chani's dark hair is swept back into a tight bun and communication to the rest of the squadron is done by headset comlink banded over the top of her head, with a two-pronged golden half-band curved around her forehead.

<"Silver Two, uh, standing by."> Everyone else sounds confident, and Chani manages to make her voice sound even. In the calm before the storm, she tries to quell the frantic energy of her anxiety by focusing on the calming river of the Force and trying to submerge herself into its influence.

Their mission becomes a marked location when an adjacent squadron leader calls out, <<"Black Seven.. got an entire squadron of Cutlass fighters on us.. sharing the coordinates. Pull these guys off us so we can get these bombers!">>

The Cutlass-9 patrol fighters are sleek vessels with distinct blue and white painting marking them for Delaya. They weave in and out of the New Republic squadron like an angry hive of stingwingers. <"I see them,"> Aryn comments over the private comms to the squadron. <"Cedar is saying there's twelve (12).. I can't see them that well.."> Aryn is clearly not an experienced starfighter pilot, but Alderaan needed every able body in the air. Figuring this was as good a time as any, Aryn pulled back the lever to lock her S-Foils into attack position. She felt the sudden drag from the transition which forced her to lean forward abruptly, "Oh my goodness!"

Sure enough, twelve Cutlass-9 Patrol crafts edge closer, but are still occupied with Red Squadron. It looked like Thul's squadron had the jump on them.. for now.

<<"Black Seven, all fighters - copy all.">> fighter banking into a turn that sets it vertical as he comes around, <<"Black Seven, Intercept Squadron - proceed on mission, we have your back.">> already spitting plasma from cannons as he makes his arching turn towards the cutlass formation: twisting into a tight spiral as he runs head to head with the squadron leader.

Shields spattering and bursting under the hail from the A-Wing as it screams past.

<<"Shield splash, open target. Focus fire, squadron - no time to joust this day.">>

The X-wing is nothing like the Kimo she normally flies but the moment she moves to engage her weapons the wings split apart and she lets out a cheerful sound as the speed changes and she swings off in a roll to the right. She cheers as Star lets out a squeal as her sights pull in on the third target from the center right. She takes a moment gets centered on the fighter.

"I got you...now just hold on..." her voice beckons it even if the the other can not hear her. But maybe its warning enough as she squeezes the trigger, the S-foils striking hard, knockign out the shields and leaving the ship prone even if its still moving. <"Shields down on target, vulnerable!">

Just as Bors announces his own success.

The battlefield is chaos, but the enemies have made themselve conviniently easy to spot with their proud blue and white colours. Prideful. Stupid. S-foils fan open and the control of the entire craft changes. A lurch, a drag; it feels just a little heavier but balanced.

Black 07 does what Black 07 does best: push ahead hard and fast; drawing attention. Knowing she can't keep up with the speed of Bors' A-wing, Ulani banks hard to follow close behind Aubrei as they run against Cutlass 03. The shimmer of the enemy's shields flare then die. The pilot inside has no time to consider running their repairs as Ulani is right behind, opening fire the second Aubrei is clear.

<"Black Eight, splash one."> She calls out as her X-wing flies over the destruction and twists in a barrel roll. <"Well done, Green Two.">

Enemy about to be engaged, Rune reaches forward to activate the next toggle, the smaller S-Foils on the 2c rotating into place. The craft's speed decreases and Ecksdee whirs quickly about the number of craft they're engaging. "It is not the number that is important, but the skill of the pilots. We are with a skilled group..." the Ysannan looks out the window at a few of the more novice crew, even more so than him. "Well, we have heart at least." The droid didn't seem to like that answer as he warbles in response.

It matters little since the battle is joined, the line of New Republic craft sneaking in to take the Delaya fighters off guard. Rune watches as Black Squad breaks off, Bors and Ulani both angling away to catch different targets, the latter destroying a fighter that Aubrei had disabled the shields on. With thinning their numbers in mind, he pursues the ship Bors had struck, lining up his attack and squeezing the trigger to fire... and his attacks go wide, streaming off into the atmosphere with no damage done. Ecksdee beeps loudly, something about who exactly is the inexperienced pilot, and Rune winces. "Yes, I know. I am the only one who has missed."

Those Cutlass fighters scream in and are met with the first round of stitched fire from the assembled - if under-sized - defensive wing. An A-Wing breaks for the lead Cutlass, followed by a handful of snubfighters that follow in, taking their own targets and in some cases, like Jan's, focusing on an untouched Panteer ship.

The joined battle is chaos, and within that mess of actions and reactions Blue Four is no longer standing by. The T-85 screams in, executing a loose spiral and a Cutlass finds itself within digital crosshairs. As those fusial thrust engines purr, gliding the attack craft forward as if it were a void predator, a trigger is squeezed.

Bolts lance from each wingtip, and while the Panteer pilot is good, and jinks hard in defense, a couple of bolts impact the Cutlass's shielding, weakening it significantly. <"Blue Four engaging Cutlass Two.">

Chani's s-foils deploy half a second after Aryn's, splitting the flat wings into their symbolic namesake and not experiencing near as much sudden drag because the speed throttle isn't maxed out on her craft. An indicator on the PAD switches from red to green, indicating the weapon systems are now active. "Put everything up on the viewport." A small projector beneath it goes into use, displaying the information that would normally be on a helmet mounted cueing system and feeding her real time information as a virtual representation of her attitude directional indicator, horizontal situational indicator, and vertical situation display. Perhaps most important is the lead reticle on the weapon system. Chani doesn't keep it on cannons.

A glance down towards the molded grip flightstick watches her thumb brush the selector that switches her from ion cannons to mag-pulse. It changes the display, too, as an IN-630-B "Sightline" holographic imaging system comes up and links with her Fabritech ANr 1.3 tracking computer and Melihat sensor systems. More Aurebesh spills out on the display central on the console. "We're going for the closest one. Just make sure our shields are good, or something." The Chempat generator is operating at maximum capacity, though the shields themselves are currently invisible around the craft. She feeds as much speed into the 5L9 engines as she dares, but it's never full throttle. She needs maneuverability, not just speed in the inertia-heavy combat that comes with atmospheric flight.

Silver Two dips towards one of the Cutlass-9 craft on an intercept vector and the targeting computer begins a rapid countdown of distance separating it and herself while the reticle weaves and slips across the heads-up display. It settles on the SoroSuub Cutlass-9 Patrol Fighter and a tone fills the cockpit to indicate that she's locked on.

Aryn comes in at a varied angle from Bors, who had earned the attention of a Cutlass-9 Squad Leader. Without putting too much thought into the action, Aryn aligned the shot and fired the moment she heard the tone inside her cockpit. Scarlet lances of energy impact the Cutlass-9 three times, each doing more to transform the craft to slag. She passes the craft by just after its explosion expanded, her craft spreading the fire and shields glimmering from the shrapnel and energy. <"Cutlass leader is down, good call, Black Seven.">>

Aryn earns the ire of the Cutlass squadron though, four fighters lock onto her tail, and it's everything the Jedi can manage to avoid being tagged by the excess of laser fire. She dives low, spinning and leveling out just above the Droalder bay, water spreading behind her. <<"I have ..like.. several behind me. I dare not look..">>

Meanwhile, the rest of the squadron is being attacked. With Cutlass leader down, they've shifted their sights to Thul's squad, allowing the New Republic interceptors to get away. They break off, each diving low and into the crook of the mountain passes. <<"Thanks for the assist, Red Squadron returning to its mission!">> Their leader calls out, leaving the Cutlass to Thul's sortie.

A larger fight occupies the air above Bastion. Anti-air turrets lay out fire that can be seen for miles around while cannons on the Bail Organa release a deadly salvo that tracks a pair of corvettes, impacting their shields and causing them to shimmer violently.

Shields battered, his scanners showing all sorts of Cutlass crowding him while his computer system gives all manner of colorful indicators and alarmed sounds to inform him,

"Yes... yes. I know. Less than optimal. I get it."

BWEEEP! BWEEEP! BWEEEP! BWEEEP! BWEEEP! BWEEEP!

Twisting his yoke to spin his axis to inverted before he pulls back into the inverted climb, gaining speed from his descent before he's around again, facing opposite from where he started.

BWEEEP! BWEEEP! BWEEEP! BWEEEP! BWEEEP! BWEEEP!

"Oh for the love of... I get it!" smacking one of the consoles, earning a tweep of the computer that one might think was -affronted-. The very idea. But at least the alert has stopped. <<"Black Seven, Silver Two, copy that - on my mark adjust three-quarter axis rotation starboard and pull up hard.">> the A-Wing practically dancing with Bors's hands at the controls - light shield damage... naught to worry on as of yet and there is the wing for that cur whose shields he had spattered. The explosion without that ones defenses there to protect in full following in Bors's wake,

<<"Black Seven, Silver two, Mark. Rotate and pull up! I'm your wing, copy.">> there's a song in the back of his voice - it's good to be home.

Some of those same fighters come around to say hello and Star is the first to alert her. Aubrei glances back briefly and tilts her fighter this way and that, trying to get her out of their firing field but it seems that neither have the guts or the gumption to make the hit. Maybe a lack of skill.

Aubrei rolls out of pursuit and heads for her next target but with the weight of others piggy backing she shoots a bit too quickly, her shots going off behind the ship instead of in front of it as it jerks itself out of the way.

<"No joy! My target is still up! Good shooting, Black Seven.">

Before he can even turn about for another pass, there is a fighter on his tail and red lasers are flying past his cockpit windows. One of the shots glances off the shields that protect the pair in the ETA, the bubble around their craft shimmering orange for a split second though the display reads at full shields. "Close one!" Rune calls out to the BB-Unit who echoes his thought in binary. He yanks the flightstick to the side to spin their ship away, removing the craft that harried their rear.

Aryn's voice cracks over the comms and Rune searches quickly to find her location. Spotted down near the water with at least four harassing her, the young Jedi angles that way to pull up behind one of her pursuers, water from the lake spraying out with the speed in which they travel. <<"I copy, Silver Two, trying to pry them off your tail.">> At that, he depresses the trigger and lets loose with a blaster salvo... this time the shots end up only launching liquid in the air. Ecksdee beeps again and Rune fights down the frustration that starts to bubble up within him.

Evening out from her roll, Ulani orients herself long enough to assess the battlefield again. A few less blue-and-white buzzing around. She cannot tell if any of her allies have dropped or not. There's a few explosions all around them lighting up the night sky; debris raining down to the fields far below.

So many have enemies on their tails. Blue eyes catch Jan's ship taking heavy damage from the pair on his six. <"Hold on!!"> She says to either the droid behind her or just out loud. Black 08 drops suddenly like a rock; the G-force sending her insides all up into her chest cavity. The X-Wing pops up right in front of one of the Cutlasses chasing Jan and Ulani rains fury from her cannons. The shields flicker but hold and already she is banking out of the way.

Blue four remains on the tail of the Cutlass it had just skimmed a bit of shield off of, the two ships weaving back and forth in a deadly game to decide who might get the next shot in. In fact, the next shot comes from neither, but instead a pair of Panteer fighters that had claimed positions to Jan's rear.

The socketed R3 unit warbles a warning as those unfriendly fighters gain firing solutions, but Jan experiences that form of obsessive focus that has proven so dangerous to so many pilots throughout history: tunnel vision. His retical nears the Cutlass again as Jan follows the enemy pilot into a hard left bank.

There's a blaze of energy absorbed by his X-Wing's shields, and then an alarming lack of that absorbtion as a sequence of bolts impact Jan's ship's hull, throwing the fighter off its prey and into a hard spin. Alarms begin sounding and the R3 unit warbles its own objections and initial damage assessment. <"Try and get our shields back.">

Not good. The damage readout highlights mild axial stabilizer damage and the loss of that bit of maneuverability is felt as a Cutlass drifts across Jan's retical, and then back out just as that trigger is pulled. Lances of multi-hundred terawatt packaged energy slice through space just behind the Panteer craft. <"Kriff,"> he mutters then instinctively jinks, just in case.

Even with the tone on, it takes Chani a few more seconds to depress her thumb against the stud on top of the flight stick. Being locked on and firing an active missile at a target are two different things. The final tip is the bleat of binary that bursts through her headseat when Sky warbles its equivalent of 'Fire, already!' in her ear. Chani holds her breath when her thumb presses down and launches the mag-pulse from the bay beneath the snubfighter. It speeds out with a burst of burned fuel speading the body of the missile along. Chani watches its tail in the dark night as it veers towards the intended target. The missile itself is a two-part delivery system. Once the mag-pulse warhead gets close it separates from the main body with a burst.

What continues on is the warhead itself, zipping through the thin atmosphere and gliding straight through the shielding of the Cutlass-9 designated Cutlass Seven to smash into the hull of the patrol craft. It does almost no damage. Not physically. What it does do is send a sudden haywiring jolt shocking through the craft's subsystems. Warning systems inside the pilot's craft go off to indicate there's suddenly no juice to their weapons. They've become absolutely worthless and turned the craft into little more than a flying target in the sortie. Chani's flinch on the impact of the warhead turns into an exhaled sigh of relief when Cutlass Seven doesn't explode outright. There is something frantic about the way it begins to move, however, as if to reflect the sudden spike of panic seizing the pilot inside.

<"Cutlass Seven is... disabled?"> Chani watches them break off and speed away, no longer interested in sticking around now that they can't attack, much less defend themselves. Sky alerts her to multiple targets converging on Blue Four and Silver Two, with Blue Four being heavily damaged and Aryn juking around the multiple craft on her tail. Seeing Black Eight helping out Four, Chani sets her own vector for Silver Two, computer hunting for another target to lock onto.

Two of the fighters tailing Aryn are pulled off and she feels the relief immediately, but it's not enough to be complacent. She responds to Bors by saying, <"Copy.. doing it... NOW!"> Aryn shifts suddenly in the cockpit as ventral thruster jettison hot steaming air and afterburners engage. Her X-wing rotates, then angles up. For a brief second it looked like the craft was doomed to just free fall after the movement, but the sudden gust from the thrusters sent the X-Wing high into the air, hitting supersonic speed in a thunderous couple of seconds. Red glares of angry laser lances pass by her cockpit and Aryn realizes she's still being pursued. She changes her angle to deal with it, coming about. <<"Silver Two here, my gratitude for your assistance!">>

The fighter Chani hit with the magpulse experiences a sudden weapons failure as ion-like energy pulsed over its weapon platforms. Unable to 'perform', the Cutlass numbered 7, breaks off from the fight with their tail tucked.

The rest of the fighters from the Cutlass squadron are still holding their own, attempting to break through Thul's squadron so they can get back to hunting those interceptors!

<<"Black Seven, Silver Two, copy that. Keep close.">> Spinning, relatively slowly, on axis Bors's head is moving while his sensors go through their programed sweep, reporting distances and when he's picked his target, the black and orange painted scout fighter suddenly drops. Forward steering thrusters turning the craft nose up.

<<"Splash two.">> a little cocky perhaps but when the Cutlass streaks past it is into a wall of cannon fire that splits the down scooped nose of the sleek craft, slowing it and focusing the majority of the barrage into the underside of the cockpit before it begins to summersault and twist into itself, consumed by the fireball blooming from sundered engines, realizing at that moment the callsign he is trying to remember... doesn't exist.

"Well. Butternuts." Language, Bors.

<<"Tahn, call targets - you weaken we disable, or if we'd already weakened; do as you do.">> she had those ions and magpulse weapons, after all, <<"Black Seven, Squadron, numbers are fading, if your neighbor hits their shields, take them. We're not here for kill-counters, we're here to save this world.">> heaving over into a looping corkscrew that passes over Aryn as he continues to sweep.

Aubrei manages to bring herself out of the way of her pursuer, interlacing with a few of her fellow fighters as she watches one of the cutlasses take a hit as the shields hold. There is a rumble, <"Coming in to add injury to insult."> Without much fanfare she is aims herself broadside at the cutlass and unleashes her cannons, slamming the rest of its shields into non-existence. <"Shields down! Vulnerable target. Clean up that mess!">

She pulls hard on the controls to get out of the way for anyone coming in behind her and make preparations for her next target or a possible next run on her last target if it still exists when she comes about.

Mad beeping from the R2 unit erupts from behind her head and Ulani tucks into an aileron roll; a helix of her vapor trail forming with a rain of ion cannons coming in from behind. More mad beeping from behind and Ulani actually finds herself laughing a bit. <"It's just as he said.... be unpredictable!">

Ulani feigns a shift upwards then drips her nose down and kills the thrusters momentarily. Both Cutlasses scream overhead as they pass her, waking up her thrusters as if by magic -- or just by instinct of the pilot. Swooping back up to get one into her sights, Ulani shatters the shields with a twin direct hit. <"Black Eight. Copy, Black Seven. Cee-Eleven is open!">

Not only is he ineffective at removing any of those chasing Aryn as she shoots skyward, he seems to have picked up one of his own again. And this one isn't as poor of a shot as his previous tail. Rune's ship rocks as cannon fire slams into his shields, the orange hue flaring brightly while the readout of shields drops below a third of its power. Ecksdee wails loudly at the attack, his domed head spinning before he drops from sight. "Dee! See if you can..." the droid is already on the shields before Rune can even finish his statement. Whatever the droid is doing helps somewhat, the indicator raising to hover around the fifty percent mark. "Thank you!" He calls to his metal pal while yanking back on the stick, sending the ETA-2c skyward.

With Bors' recommendation, Rune eyes the ship that just lost its shields, Aubrei having plinked the craft down to its hull. Gritting his teeth, Rune lines up a shot across the ship's bow, squeezing the trigger to loose fury on the aggressor.... or so he hopes. It seems his aim is true and the Cutlass takes the brunt of the attack, lines of fire appearing in the holes punched into the metal. The ship careens off its course, exploding and scattering its debris down to the ground below. <"Target down, looks as if six remain.">

The break afforded by Ulani's dive on his pursuers has allowed Jan the space needed to recover, the little R3 unit having brought partial shields back up, and locate his next target. <"Thank you, uh..."> The veteran pilot checks his nav readout. <"Black Eight, for the assist. Tails have broken.">

The break afforded by Ulani's dive on his pursuers has allowed Jan the space needed to recover, the little R3 unit having brought partial shields back up, and locate his next target. <"Thank you, uh..."> The veteran pilot checks his nav readout. <"Black Eight, for the assist. Tails have broken.">

Free of that entanglement, Jan searches for his next target. One is found, a series of cannon strikes from a pursuing fighter seen collapsing its shields just as a firing solution is attained. Bolts stab forth, alternating from each wing-tip, but they skew short and miss. As the X-Wing veers off, to allow any follow-on strikes at the Cutlass that may be lining up, Jan glances down at the shield status display. <"See if you can punch the rear screen up a bit more,"> he asks of the R3 unit sitting behind him, receiving an acknowledging warble in response.

The shields are stripped off multiple of the Cutlass craft and Sky feeds the data through the sensors by highlighting them on her multi-purpose color display. With Aryn aided by Bors, Chani breaks off for one of the stripped targets even while Black Seven singles her out over the communications net. She says nothing in response. Chani's eyes clench shut for a few moments. Just a few, though. She can't fly the X-Wing blind in this frenzy and hope for everything to go okay. Though no one can see it, Chani shakes her head and feels the slight brush of her bun against the headrest behind her. No words, but action. Rolling the X-Wing on its horizontal axis until its wings are vertical, Chani guides Silver Three around towards Cutlass Eleven.

The reticle creeps through the black night towards the highlight imposed over the target in question. The patrol craft's maneuvers keep the reticle from settling for the first few seconds, but a longer bank allows it to settle. The same familiar tone fills the cockpit to indicate her targeting computer is locked on and Chani avoids holding her breath the second time around while waiting to pull out of the turn they're rating through for a more straight-on shot at the patrol craft. The missile itself might be more maneuverable, but Chani still waits, thumb hovering over the switch so there's no accidental pressure to set it off and send the warhead towards the target currently lacking shields.

Aryn stays where Bors intended her to be, but she takes a shot of opportunity after he flies by, and moves after the Cutlass a second later. Her cannons test the shield integrity, causing them to shimmer against the assault. Aryn has found her calm, and it shows in the gentle movements she makes in the cockpit, what with a dainty flip of a switch and casual glance ahead, she can already her the toned noise of sight alignment from her targeting computer.

The fight is beginning to yield a win toward Thul's sortie, and the adjacent mission for bombers finally comes to fruition as Red Squadron is hot after the squadron of enemy fighters. They bring down two and center up on the last four.

It's not looking good for Panteer forces, but they stay locked in combat with the hope that the bombers will reach the city and hold out against Red Squadron.

There is a vocoded cheer that is further scrambled over the comm as Rune manages to strike down the shieldless vehicle. Aubrei sweeps her X-wing to the side and comes about quickly to find a target that she had missed earlier in the exchange. Fingers curl and tighten, flexing their hold as she barrels towards her mark.

As her cannons release, three hit and the shields melt, leaving the last cannon strike to slam into the unprotected side of the ship. Star is valiantly bring shields back up to max while Aubrei pulls them up to escape the wreckage of the ship she just toasted.

<<"Black Seven, Black Eight I copy. Moving in.">> Another sweep closer to Aryn's X-Wing and Bors actually waves at her, seeking to draw her gaze before a thumbs up is given and he falls away.

<<"Less than half remaining, as an associate of mine so oft enjoys to quote: Lets go people we have but one chance at this!">> ok so it's not a one hundred percent quote, but Bors is far too hoity and toity to not fancify the language given. The Cutlass that Ulani had rendered 'nude' to turn a phrase finds the nimble little craft dropping very suddenly into its seven o'clock. An instinctual juke towards their nine is countered with a matched swing of the ethereal rudder and by the time the Panteer fighter can correct the cannons are screaming again.

"That's three." mouth twisting into a tight frown, eyes momentarily following the growing debris cloud as it fades away to distance.

Unpredicatble.

The Maker be damned... it certainly does work. Until it doesn't. But that's a worry for another day. Ulani is already flying away after shattering the shields, opening C11 to be quickly dispatched by the nearest ally. <"Perfect shot, Buhbors!"> Black Eight flies next to him for a moment, the smaller pilot offering him a bright smile from the dome of her cockpick.

This lasts but a moment before Ulani is gone again, spinning away as the the second enemy on her tail doesn't take kindly to the loss of their friend and retaliates by gluing himself to trail. Expertly dodging the shots raining in from behind, Ulani draws upon the Cutlass with the crackly shields and breaks them the rest of the way, weaving in and out of whizzing ships and explosions as she goes.

<"Black Eight. Cee-Ten is open!">

After a wave to Aubrei, a small smile at the cheer, he pulls off to engage another craft. The combat is becoming less chaotic once more of the opposing pilots are brought down, Rune even manages to dodge an attack by doing a neat trick called 'spinning'. Once he rights the ship, there actually being an up and down since they're in low altitude combat, the Jedi Initiate spots one of the Cutlasses getting smashed by cannon fire. He flips the ETA and soars in that direction, his assessment affirmed by Ulani's call over comms.

The Jedi fighter lines up in an intercept course, his targeting computer giving a light tone as the reticle falls over the display of the ship. Confirmation of a good angle given, Rune depresses the trigger and lets fly with his laser cannons, scoring the defenseless ship from the front. One, two hits, and the ship explodes, its debris falling to the ground below as Rune's ship rockets through the trailing smoke.

<"Saber Six, Cee-Ten is down."> Ecksdee warbles his satisfaction at the successful attempt, the droid working quickly to raise the shields to a more protective state.

The Cutlass squadron is slowly but surely being whittled down to size, and as Jan swings his X-Wing around to scan and engage, he spots the three surviving ships making their own moves. His starfighter is nosed over, aimed at the Panteer starfighter nearest him, Cee-Nine, and the wingtip-mounted laser cannons bark at the Cutlass. There's enough bite to deplete the craft's shields by half, the other high-energy bolts lancing just a moment behind. Too late to do anything but tease a near hit, and sail off into nothing.

<"Cee-Nine shields reduced."> Jan pulls sharply up, pitching his craft away from the Cutlass, in order to allow others to finish the job.

Danger. It trills up her spine like a shiver and makes her pores clench around follicles of hair. A flash of a scene in her head plays out a brief view of one of the Cutlass patrol craft hitting her from the six and the Force itself is what guides her hand along the flight stick. Chani's X-Wing changes plane, aligning its nose upward for the brief second it needs to veer perpendicular to her flight path without breaking the turn rate fight she's locked into with her target. The Cutlass behind her hits nothing but air and is left baffled by the split-second change of the starfighter that it should have landed solid hits against. Chani levels out with Cutlass Eleven and almost depresses the switch to fire the missile when the patrol craft explodes.

"No!" Chani jerks in her restraints in surprise, completely caught off-guard by the sudden, violent end to the craft that she's been chasing. Her eyes scramble over her display, looking over its many readouts in frantic little flicks of her eyes from one instrument ot the next. A zipping A-Wing streaking through the left-behind black cloud lingering in the wake of the violent destruction spells out the situation for her. Chani's X-Wing levels out for a few seconds and makes no further adjustments. She stares at the console, face expressionless. Her eyes aren't really focused on it so much as part of the metal framework between a display and a gauge. Another burst of binary in her ear and a quick scroll of Aurebesh encourages her to move instead of stay target practice.

Chani's movements are almost robotic. Enough so that the new craft she veers towards has no problems staying evasive of the reticle that tries to hunt it across her heads-up display.

Aryn's shots splash into the bay, leaving tall towers of water that spattered her cockpit window when she passed through it. Steam forms a contrail behind her as she gives chase long enough to realize that, <<"They mean to break away from the fighting; look.. the remaining three make for hasty exits!">> Aryn's voice is a mixture of relief and excitement. She banks away from giving chase, showing mercy in this respect to return to their squadron leader's wing.

Red Squadron has just brought down the last bomber, and a massive explosion is triggered over the bay yielding a concussive blast so powerful, it temporarily alters the flow of the waves. As debris falls from the sky to collide with the ground below, the bombers hit the water hard and promptly begin to sink.

<<"General Dune, that's the last of the bombers,">> Reports Red Leader. Dune replies, <<"Good work, boys and girls. The skies are ours again. Adopt defensive patrol patterns. Dune out.">>

Red squadron makes for the Bail Organa while surviving elements of Green and Blue sweep wide to fly over the Droalder mountains and the palace. Below, throughout the Yavon Forest, Bastion City, and Droalder mountain ranges, flares begin to rise high and arch, signaling more victories on the ground.

<<"Black Seven, General Dune - copy. BARCAP being established.">> Bors intones as he begins tapping keys and controls - to reroute shield power while also setting up a perimeter sweep to allow those who remain in the air a good view as well as something that can allow at least some relaxation before the next engagement.

<<"Black Seven, Squadron, those of you remaining in the air - follow this patrol pattern, keep eyes peeled, pay attention to your sensors. Battles and wars, it's where we're at for the present.">> a more somber sort of explanation of the situation for the normally irrepressibly upbeat Alderaanian.

But it's been that sort of week.

<<"Brother, I begin to think you're seeking accolade.">> Uypiia's voice jarring him out of his initial sweep to switch comms, <<"You take that back.">> <<"I'm telling Father that we must commission a medal for thee and thy companion warriors.">> <<"That's not funny.">> <<"Lord Bors, The Hero.">> <<"I will... oooo.">> Bors's face pinches up and he shakes his fist minutely at the comm board, <<"No.">> <<"Cake and maybe a gala as well.">> good humor in the woman's voice and not a small bit of jeering for the expression she likely knows is on his face.

With the remaining enemies flying away and the stand down being called, Ulani cools her jets (ha ha) and falls into the patrol pattern with those who are remaining. <"Black Eight copies, Buhbors."> Short. Sweet. And the less she talks, the less Ulani's voice can betray the gentle tremors now starting to shaker her body as the adrenaline ebbs.

The droid behind her is quiet as they patrol the skies; giving the new pilot a chance to contemplate her mortality. Or maybe he is just going back to his usually, short-beep self. But then he says something to her: an upwards whistle and series of boops.

Ulani chuckles breathlessly and nods. <"I am. Thank you.">

With Aryn's call, Rune looks to the remaining Cutlasses, the three turning tail to head into the distance. A wide smile breaks his lips and he cheers in the cockpit, Ecksdee echoing his delight. "Good job, friend." the Ysannan remarks to his droid, the BB-Unit beeping and whirring in reply. Once he verifies the enemy has bugged out, Rune reaches forward to flip the toggle on his S-Foils causing the little triangular pieces of wing to rotate back into place.

<"Good job, everyone. Well fought."> He calls through the comms, nodding to his wing mates through the tranparisteel window when he slips back into formation. Rune breathes a sigh of relief while plotting the pattern for patrol in the air. <"Copy, Black Seven. Following the route set.">