Log:New Republic: Ressl River Skirmish

Rogue Squadron is Intercepted by Corsair

OOC Date: July 18, 2020
Location: Ressl River Valley, Carida
Participants: Karé Kun, Jessika Pava, Elrych Cometburn, Lofty, Zandra naMuriel, Jax Greystorm, Tallissan Lintra, Callax Dalso, Karas Darkwing, Poe Dameron

Carida

Ressl River Valley

A massive canyon valley with a river that's approximately 5km in width, and stretches the entire continent. It's a freshwater vein that pours out into the southern seas, passing through all manner of environments during its journey.

Rogue Squadron, whilst following the valley, has come within range of the desert mesa plateau regions. While, not completely desert in fashion, the river is flanked on both sides by looming ridgeline mountains dotted with amber colored rocks and tall evergreen trees. The shoreline is chocked full of forestry, intermingled with the desert cactus and yucca palm like vegetation. Venomous serpents, and small lizards frequent most here, with mangy scavenger mammals that come out at night to yelp and howl at the night sky.

The river is emerald green and beautiful from the air. Not much is known for what dwells beneath its surface, but from outside it appears peaceful and constantly flowing with a steady current.

Time: 20:00

Weather: Clear Skies

Enemy Contact: Unknown..

Poe Dameron is settled in the cockpit of the advanced T-85 X-Wing, and when he glances out port and starboard of his canopy, he sees the line of Rogue Squadron formed up alongside him. In cruise mode, they currently embark on a rapid deployment mission to deal some damage to a facility's air defense turrets. Flying low to minimize detection, the squadron has adopted a familiar formation above the river, their wake kicking up a cloud of mist as they travel near super-sonic speeds.

<<"All callsigns, this is Rogue Leader. Comm check. We're nearing our target location. Connix said it was just around this bank.">>

Reaching out to tap the console, then up to engage his shields, Poe initiates his thrusters' afterburner, propelling him into a super-sonic state to take the bank at a dangerous angle.

As they round the bank, a facility very similar to a massive dam looms ahead. All at once, turrets begin to rise up, deploying from proximity triggered alarms. Taking to the night air in a shadowy formation is Corsair squadron. The TIEs scream, in their own unique way, angling high in a graceful loop before acquiring an intercept course.

<<"Alright.. objectives are the turrets, but we've got those TIEs in the air that wants some too. Let's spread the love!">>

It had been a while since the dusty-skinned woman had been behind the stick of an X-wing. It felt good to be back, her head leaning back to relax only briefly. Her eyes going over the controls and read out. She flips on the come and turns her head as if to actually yell back, "Hey Rev, double check the port stabilizer - it's feeling a bit sluggish. It could be tied into the ACS system." She pauses a moment as the beeps come back, "Are you ever going to stop complaining about the new body? It's so much better.." A binary response, "No.. Let's not tell the R2's I said that."

Her eyes go back to the controls and then out at the River. It was beautiful - she always enjoyed the sights that could be seen. The Ridgeline and colored rocks, zipping by so fast, were no less as beautiful. She is brought out of her reverie as she hears Poe.

<<"No Joy, Check.">>

She was going to keep it simple and sweet, as Rogue Leader engages into super sonic - so does she, bringing both shields and weapon systems to full power. She reaches over flicking one of the switches, "Rev.. Do a full scan for me.. Let me know if there's anything we need to worry about." She banks right and comes around to flank.

<<"Rogue Leader, No Joy. I'm getting some.. pretty weird readings here. I think there is more to that facility than meets the eye. Looks like it can move.. or more importantly - submerge.">> A soft curse coming under Kare's breath after reporting it. She looks up at the Ties incoming, that would be the more immediate concern.

Years ago, Jessika saw a sight just like this one. The glistening water outside her canopy is cast up near the front of her snubnose fighter into a wide V that's forced up and around the craft due to its speed. The quad engine exhausts of her X-Wing are nearly lost in the wake. They flew low, fast, and hit the enemy almost out of nowhere. They're looking to do it again. Gazing through the yellow visor of her flight helmet, Jessika glances towards her instruments before flicking her gaze back up. Her hands are steady on both the throttle and the stick, and behind her, Ailee warbles something about not needing a wash. Jessika only grins. <"Rogue Leader, Rogue Three. Read you loud and clear."> Answering the commcheck is an answer of readiness, too.

Seeing the shimmering bubble come into existence around General Dameron's fighter, Jessika toggles her own shields. The mist becomes even more pronounced, with an indicator on her console lighting up to signal proximity danger between herself and the water's surface. She ignores it. All that matters is sticking on the General's wing. Ailee rattles off information about sensor pings. "I see them. We're gonna follow Poe's lead." All the nervousness of getting there starts to bleed away. What replaces it is cold determination and clarity. It's time to fight now. Nothing in the galaxy matters anymore but this moment and the next. Nothing matters until she either can't care about the targets anymore or they're all gone.

Elrych Cometburn bobs his head to a more mellow tune that plays inside his cockpit only interupted by the voice of the Squadron CO. He listens carefully as ye flies his T-85 as smoothly as only an Ace pilot coyld through the valley ain formation with his mates. His eyes scan the sensor read outs, Eggsy his R2 unit beeping and whusyoing at him and the information there. <<"Got it lead.">> is all the Corellian offers over comms for the time veing, maneuverung to intercept their targets.

Lofty the Talz is flying the HOTH HOG as supplementary militia. It is a skipray blastboat, perhaps better designed to strafe ground-based turret emplacements than the typical X-Wing or A-Wing. The older craft rattles as it enters atmosphere, its fins changing configuration to give an advantage to the vessel's manuevering thrusters in the Caridan troposphere. The topside laser turret is locked forward and his co-pilot Haoziiplirs Stebbs is on the missiles.

"<<Snowball check in>>," he says on the Rogue Squadron secure channel. In his cockpit he has procured some Adegan-style Dynamo pink lemonade glazed donuts with a candied Roonan lemon quarter on top and is nibbling at one. A 3.78 liter bucket of Jedi Juice is in the cupholder with an extra-long straw for his snoot to reach. "<<Migwi Kunyuguta,>>" Stebbs says from the sensor station in Sullustese. The rough translation is: the arrows are ready to be thrown, with force. In this case, arrows mean missiles!

Zan is in Rogue 5, an A Wing, which probably ruins the pristine lines of things, truthfully. She for the moment is holding formation, as they cruise along. <<Violet - five checking in,>> she replies to the comm check, easily enough. She's obviously not quite sure what to call herself, but well, that really isn't new. That said, she listens for orders as bogeys squirrel up into the viewer and the computer starts identifying them with numbers - turrets, ties, and wait, it can submerge? <<Cause that won't make things way more fun, right? These fighters don't swim, do they?>> A breath as she centers herself, concentrating briefly, before she too flicks shields on and kicks into high gear following along with the rest of her wing.

Jax was <Nine, here and ready.> He says double checking his shield and pull the lever to open the S-foils. He flicks the channel to the wing channel. <Sunshine, following you're lead. Let's show first wing how 2nd wing does.>

Afterburners burn golden as they boost Rogue 7 into speeds that match the rest of the squadron. Flying high at 180 degrees to their 90, her group has a view on the sinuous river below blown into a mist by their engines racing close to the surface. Lintra touches the white scarf knotted at her neck that has accompanied her since she left the academy.

<<Rogue 7 copies that Rogue Leader. No Joy, what are your readings? Nine, copy that!">> She banks the T-85 slightly to port.

"Fiver, what do you have upcoming on us?" The droid's head rotates as it bleeps a stream of binary showing TIE's incoming on the targeting computer. Orange brackets stutter on two targets closest to engagement.

Descending from on high over the main formation, Callax flies in formation in Black Ten with Tallie and Jax; the fighter's hull gleams in the light of the Caridan sun, a silver cruciform against the bright desert sky. << Rogue Ten, reporting in, >> Callax calls over the comms net - it isn't often that they fly the skies, friendly or otherwise, being far more at home in the darkness of space. Blue eyes track the blasted earth and the canyon below, their pupils are twisted into three-lobed shapes behind the helmet's visor, made so to give their vision a hawkbat's sharpness from on high. Genetic trickery, friends. It has it advantages.

And then, there is the dam. And the fighters.

"Right, then," Callax calls over immediate intercom to the droid in back, gloved hands tightening on the yoke. "Babo, darling, make sure to see to the antgravitics and the shields, please? I'd hate for us to auger into a canyon wall thanks to some damn fool trick of mine." The R2's reply, piped into the cockpit's monitor in vivid red aurabesh capitals, brings a laugh to Callax's lips. "Well I don't imagine we'll /die/, darling, I'd just rather us not scrape the paintwork!" Drawing a deep breath, then, Callax closes their eyes - for just a moment - and when they open, lets the amusement fall from their face so that it is unto a pallid mask. "Now then, darling," they say to their partner, pulling the actuator lever that bids the strike foils to open. "Let's get into character."

BB-8 communicates through the interface of all Rogue crafts, 'spilling the beans' about target priorities. These become evident in their targeting computers when Poe marked the turrets as first priority, and fighters as a /close/ second.

With crafts going to attack mode, Poe lifts his X-Wing higher. <<"Looks like they're coming right for it. Go straight at them! We'll double back for the turrets.">> BB-8 appears to duck slightly inside its socket as Poe flies right for the formation of TIEs intercepting them.

<<"Copy, No-Joy. We'll need to make sure we hit quick before they try to submerge and hide the defenses!">> The heat begins then, as green lances from the TIEs spew at the Rogues (and Lofty). Missed shots begin to dot the river below, creating pocks of towering water that both steams and splashes as a result.

<<"The way they run away, I wouldn't be surprised if they added the feature to hide from us.">> Captain Kare responds to Zandra (Violet) as the fighter continues to move forward. Her eyes go to the stabilizers again and a slight frown. A soft exhale, it was with in tolerances but she hated seeing anything not completely to spec. Her eyes returned to the ties infront of them, th targeting computer already starting to pick out targets just waiting for her to confirm which one she was going to give a bad day. A deep breath in, "This ones for you, Snap." She softly says to herself, "This mission will succeed. No. Matter. What." Images of a previous mission a long, long time ago filter through her head after the words are said. Her resolve steeling itself - No. Matter. What.

She glances to the comms as she hears the familiar voice and a faint smile. She clicks the button <<"Transferring Information to your and all X-wings. It seems like the installation is more than it appears. It has some dual purpose and is submersible. I can't get anything better until I get closer I'm guessing.">> She clicks the button, "Rev - Transfer all the information."

As the order to engage is given, Kare's eyes go over the targets being generated by the tactical computer. She smirks as she finds the one she wants, and taps a few buttons locking on, "Gotcha.." She hits the boosters and turns the stick causing the X-wing to do a Barrel Roll and fall down - aiming directly at Ace Pilot. She leans back, "Rev.. Give priority to the ECM Systems, I want ECCM at less than 30" A frenzied point of beeps, "Yea - I know that'll make it easier for them to hit us.. That goes both ways." She brings her finger to the red trigger and pulls it.

Red fiery death is slung from the fixed turrets - splashing against the shielding, the computer reporting the significant damage being done, "Let's play.."

The order given, Jessika's gloved hand angles the flight stick so that the nose of her craft is aimed at the incoming TIEs looking to mix it up. <"Leader, Three. Copy."> Succint in her acknowledgment, Jessika focuses more on the targets lighting up on her vertical situation display and her helmet mounted cueing system than being poetic over the channel. Her right hand thumb rests near the weapon select on the front of her flight stick while her index hovers over the trigger. Her left pinky is ready to engage countermeasures on the throttle. What it is right now is a game of chicken played with highly-destructive weapons. As soon as they're in range, Jessika's face and visor are tinted with the display of laser cannon fire stitching off between the groups. Hers joins the fray, with the tip of each of her craft's wings spitting rapidly at the sensor ping that matches her own callsign. The shots streak by into the sky, missing her target.

"TIEs or turrets, TIEs or turrets..." Elrych considers as he cycles through the targets on his HUD... "Let's see if we can raise that count firt." He pulls hard on the stick, angling his T-85 up in a hard burn right towards once of the First Order superiority craft. He flips around and comes in behind, waiting for a green tone before firing, only one of the canons splashes against the shields. "So that's how it's going to be..." He glances towards the information Kare sends across the Squadron comms. "huh..."

Lofty keeps his rattling skipray heading toward the turrets. "<< Setting up attack run!>>" The Senko Systems 5000 x2 "Tru-Lok" laser turret belches lasers and blows up one of the turrets; meanwhile, Stebbs works to establish a lock with missiles during the approach.

With the instructions given, Zan picks her target, letting her targetting computer show up who she's aiming at. She lets her zippy little A Wing keep up with the x-wings, as she gets a lock on C5. A match in number, seems a good target to her. She zooms right at the ties, following along with the team, right in formation, breaking off at the last second to acquire a target lock and fire. Two cannons hit, though the shields manage to hang in there on her target. No doubt that fighter jock felt that one. She's quiet now, concentrating, and once she's fired, she hits her throttle, and the A wing ZOOOOMMMMS ahead, hitting a quick aileron roll as she turns to head for the turrets, playing zig zag and weave as she goes.

Everyone's got a plan till the got hit, and that seems to be the same thing for Rogue and Corsair Squadron. Things turn into a general brawl it seems as Jax stays information with Rogue 7 and Rogue 8. Exine wobbles in the background as Jax targeting system brackets Corsair 6. When his cross hairs turn gold, he pulls the trigger. THen moments later one of his canons is skipping off the Tie's shields lighting up briefly. Exine quips something, "Look, I hit him didn't I? It's a work in progress. We're calling it a work in progress."

It's a zenlike feeling that steals over Callax in the face of the oncoming TIEs; they're not elite, not like the squadron that descends upon them, and so Callax knows that a well-placed salvo will nearly kill any fighter that comes across the targeters. Best to make sure that happens, then, especially with the sheer number of them ahead.

<< This is Ten, Corsair Eight selected. >> Methodical and cool, Callax dives in conjunction with their wingmates, the genetic alchemy that gives them such sharp vision spelling further doom for the target ahead. Squeezing the triggers on the yoke, there's a brilliant halo of red light that rings the fighter's cockpit as the guns spit a hail of crimson - shattering the tough deflector bubble of the targeted Order fighter and tearing holes through wings an connective spars alike. "Don't be here when I come around, darling," Callax murmurs to themselves as they prepare to bring the ship around to another pass. "No need to die for your country today."

TIEs trail smoke as the squadron hits them hard in the initial foray. The targeting computer gives Lintra green on the seventh TIE/sf zinging her way. Red lasers bubble its horizontal wings. An oily black trail follows it as shields fall and pieces of the hull ablate falling into the river below. It drops out of the immediate fight.

<<"Sunshine calling TIE Seven in a pack of trouble.">>

Red 2 joins up with the Squadron, but still as he does reach the of Rogue Squadron he grins as he sees the HUD light up with enemy targets. <<Rogue 2 here and ready to ROCK!>> he calls out into his comms. The T-85 X-Wing streaks in towards the incoming fighters, the snubnose fighter drops below the rest of the others fighting his target. As he moves into position, he opens his S-Foils and rolls his fighter. As he does he fires striking the TIE a critical blow.

Breaking away as there was too many on one target. <<Alright people, don't bunch up. If your jumping a target, two max no more!>> he calls into the comms. Most of the pilots were Black Squadron but with new pilots, this had to be stated. As he was speaking, he saw streaks of green flying past his fighter. He pulls up and does a roll to come around to go after the TIE.

The initial heat is intense. Rogue Squadron is living up to their name! Poe engages the Ace squadron leader before angling high to fold back into a dive. <<"Alright, let's take out these turrets before we mop up what's left of this TIE squadron. Follow me in!">>

Rogue Leader makes for a daring dive, weaving as Corsair one pursues, its shots splashing the river's water below.

Meanwhile, the facility that is the source of these air defenses has sounded an alarm. Small white specks that turn out to be cute little stormtroopers run along gangplanks, adding their small arms to the heat, sending small bolts that criss-cross in the night sky where TIEs and Rogue Squadron dance. Orange strobes begin to flash, and water starts to churn around the station as it starts to do what Kare had warned about initially! It's going to submerge, oh no!!

<<"We're only going to get one shot at this!">> Says Poe firmly in the comms, his voice intense. BB-8 can no longer keep its head forward, the momentum and G-force of the X-Wing prompting his head to fall back and thunk against the threshold of its socket. AHHH!

There is definetly satisifcation at the first volleys from her ship. She glances down briefly at the scanners, her eyes quickly scanning the green targets engaging into the red. She glances out at the battle in the sky as well. She wanted to make sure that the other pilots were fairing well in the brief moments. A soft grumble as she considers the state of the New Republic.

BWEEEP. BWEEEP. The panel flashes red and Rev squeals as the FO Ace Pilot decides to return the favor. Kare looks down as her eyes widen, "Hold on.." She brings pushes the stick forward and to the side - the aerospace fighter ducking down and to the right. The return fire barely glances over only missing by inches. She pulls back up the ship, the engines whining and her feeling the increase of gravity on her body as the ship corrects itself.

"Do not say a word Rev." She brings the ship up and does a loop to turn on the other aero fighter. She is about to continue when the order is given. Another soft curse. Click.

<<"Orders Recieved.">>

She then turns on the Public Comms. << Imperial Starfighter, this is Captain Kun.. Don't go anywhere.. We're not finished.>>

Shen then pulls up - letting the lock fade to follow Poe, the ship pushing up into the atmosphere only to let it fall back down - beginning a deep dive towards the installation. Her eyes going to the weapons on the installation. As soon as the lock occurs, "Gotcha.."

Boom goes the dynamite.

Jessika risks a glance at her MPCD to give her some sense of organization in the chaos of combat. Her fellow squadron members get into the fray, with some immediately taking on more targets than others. "Ailee, give me radar warning on the PAD." The astromech fit into the socket of her X-Wing beeps in a manner that's as focused and short as her own communication. A quick shift of her right thumb upwards, off the weapon select and to the castle switch, changes yet another display before her to show the engine management. Now that they're not skimming the surface of the water, and since they're not in the cold of space, Jessika's got to make sure she doesn't put too much pressure on her thrusters lest they overheat and ruin her maneuverability.

Chatter coming in over the system is not even a minor distraction. After so long, her mind knows what to filter out and what to pick up on, and there's no mention of her callsign or designation, which means most of the chatter is on-the-fly updates. "Don't display the information uploaded by Kare, yet. Let's worry about these fighters first." Worry she does. Her targeting computer begins acquiring another lock on the TIE she's after after a salvo from the enemy craft was predicted and Jessika juked well out of the way of where it would have hit. She jostles for reacquistion right up to the point that Rogue Leader calls out a priority change. Compliance is as easy as throwing the stick forward and banking her craft down. Jessika hisses as she hits her restraints.

Seeing the base, Jessika understands what all the fuss was about. It can't submerge fast enough, though. One turret outright explodes as it takes fire from one of the Rogues diving onto it. Her own squeeze of the trigger causes nothing so spectacular, but the first shot spears through the anti-air turret and renders it useless. Rather than continuing the dive, she banks off and moves out of the way for other craft coming in to take shots at the remaining targets. <"Leader, Three. Turret neutralized.">

Elrych Cometburn becomes locked in a dogfight with Corsaire 4, dancing through the sky. Scatlet bolts zip past, smashing violentlyninto a r9ckside cliff not too far away. The pace of his music has picked up qyite a bit as Eggay puts together the proceeduraly generated playlist.

Lofty keeps the HOTH HOG angled down, firing his dual laser cannon wildly. BRAP-BRAP-BRAP goes the cannon as he strafes the ground, tearing up a turret emplacement. Meanwhile Stebbs fires two concussion missiles, but targeting countermeasures interfere with the lock, causing both missiles to miss their targets and splash into the water with a PLUNK and spume. "<<Yakua ku!>>" Stebbs exclaims in Sullustese, roughly translating to "the chicken died stone dead."

Zan moves automatically with the ship, concentrating. She gets that little sense of trouble that niggles the back of her neck and zags instead of zigging, watching as the shots fired at her go wide. A slight smile, and then she hunkers down, aiming at the turrets. She's not actually fired at planetary targets before, but it is a stationary target. She hits the same one that Jessika already neutralized, finishing it off. <<Ad they won't be fixing that one,>> she puts in, with some satisfaction. Teamwork. She pulls back, zooming up and heading back towards the fighters, since it seems that's the target next. << Work's done, now it's time to play?>>

Corsair 6 was returning the favor and Jax banks quickly out of the way as the shot goes wide but just barely. Exine is complaining at Jax, "Yeah, but we didn't get hit did we?" Then Poe gives the order to take out the turrets. Jax goes into a dive beginning a strafing run on one of the targets. The turret goes up as Jax percisely destroys it. <Maybe Rogue 8 (Dave) has something about shooting KNights of Ren from X-wings. Nah.> Then pulling back on the stick pulling up just as another tie fires at him. Jax proves that he knows some manuvers by going left. <This NIne, I think I'm making friends here.>

Corsair 7 tries to have the last word, a valiant if vain attempt on the pilots part. Green lasers streak past the canopy missing them, then a little tap reminds the commander that the heavily damaged TIE still has teeth.

From a distance, the air battle is a filigree of lace contrails shot with red and green lasers. Lintra pulls the T-85 into tight loop that presses her hard against the seat s they return to position.

"Going in for the primary targets, Fiver." The acquisition tone sounds in her headset as they come back into range. Four lasers streak towards the turret that is being pulled down underwater. It disappears in a roil of steam that makes a column reaching as high as the dam towering over it .

Wheeling round in formation with their commander and wingman, Callax sweeps forth through enemy fire to find the dam's defenses left in shambles and many more fighters still in the air - including Eight, that poor unfortunate fighter made collander on the first pass. "Oh, darling," Callax sighs, angling their ship to catch the hapless, smoking fighter squarely between their gunsights, "I /did/ tell you." Twin triggers depressed, the halo lights the cockpit once more, and this time the stream of light pouring from the fighter's guns tear the craft apart, sending segments of it falling everywhere amid a trailing cloud of smoke and flame.

<< This is Ten, >> Callax reports, their all-business tone hiding the smile tugging at their lips. << Splash Corsair Eight. Retargeting. >>

The TIE that Rogue 2 was chasing was intercepted by another Rogue, which was alright. They are a team and Karas is apart of this team, pushing the control yoke to the side, the T-85 banks right and begins going in the direction of the ACES. He's defeated quite a aces and this was nothing new. He adjusts himself in his seat. He takes a calming breath as he pushes his throttle forward.

Streaking in at the lead Corsair, the X-Wing weaves through the other fighters, and when a lock tone goes off, red thunderous streaks of energy chase after the TIE but misses. He doesn't allow hiimself to get mad, it's not his style in combat, all it does is allow him to get complacent. As he tracks the fighter, another TIE is on his tail, he didn't want ot lose his opponent so he tries to make small adjustments here and there but is tagged along his shields but he keeps on his target.

The facility has begun to submerge, but not before Rogue Squadron followed into a diving formation to angle at the facility responsible for powering the defense grid! Laser cannons begin impact the facility, showering sparks and massive, concussive impacts that send white-shelled troopers airborne. Many were consumed by the blasts as the turrets (intended to drop larger ships and not fighters) begin to fire blindly. Each green blast kicks up moisture along the metal gangplanks and rushing water beneath, producing bright lances that streak past the canopies of the brave fighter pilots aiming for them. In quick, uniform succession, the super-sonic fighters roar by, leaving in their wake the towering explosions and smoke of firm solid hits.

Scans indicate that the turrets are gone, and BB-8 relays the Mission Objective Complete to all fighters just as Poe is encouraged out of the formation by four TIEs.

"I SEE EM, I SEE EM.. HANG ON!" Poe yells, turning one way in his seat, then the other before diving low to trail along the river. The TIEs follow in hot pursuit, sending green lances all around him. When one hits his shields, Poe curses. "DAMN IT. BB-8, work your magic, buddy!" Unable to provide direction for the pilots at the moment, the pilots have to figure out what's next. SECONDARY OBJECTIVE: DEFEAT CORSAIR SQUADRON flashes, a message from BB-8.

Just about everyone has a TIE on them, and the fight has grown with intensity.

The fight was going relatively well, the ship was handling decently - everything was green lining. Kare continued zooming down towards her the installation. Her eyes going down to the Radar as she see the other Pilot not letting her off the hook. She jerks right - barely avoiding the hit again. She opens comms back up talking to the pilot again.

<<Hey.. Mom and Dad are having a conversation. Don't worry, I know its bring your kid to school day and you're excited but I'll be right back.>>

She leans back, "Rev.. Giving me a targeting acquisition on the motor that is causing that thing to submerge and prepare Concussion Missiles." Her eyes look over the information as she tries to find the weak point, "Come on.. Come on..." The information finally begins to pick up and a smile, "Good going REv.."

Once she is able to identify the internal structures that are allowing the facility to submerge she quickly begins working on getting a precise lock. She turns on her comms to Rogue Squadron.

<<"No Joy Here, the facility is going to be submerged and out of sight in minutes - I have a lock and am now on an attack run.">> (Kun)

Ailee relays the updates sent from BB-8 and Jessika acknowledges with a grunt. She's climbing right now into a spiral that weaves through the enemy fire attempting to hit her craft. "I don't think they're going to let us leave, so that makes sense." It's dry and almost directed at herself rather than her astromech. Evening out, Jessika banks down a second time, ignoring the harsh snap of the harness straps against the bruises around her collar bones and ribs a second time. It's enough to make her wince, rather than just hiss. Knowing the TIE is going to bank after her, Jessika yanks back on the throttle right before the apex of the maneuver, which means that the much faster TIE goes zipping right by underneath her craft, as if on the inside.

Smashing the throttle forward again, Jessika's snubfighter is in a perfect position behind it. There's little time between the TIE appearing on her targeting computer and the tone sounding in her helmet. There's just a little more between that and the squeeze of her finger against the trigger. It maintains for two seconds, and the destructive energy from her Taim & Bak KX14 laser cannons disintegrate the enemy target's shields. They proceed to annihilate its hull, too, by puncturing through it and nearly tearing off one of the TIE's panels. Jessika's surprised the target is still flying. She's sure the other pilot is, too. Ailee alerts her to Poe's predicament, and Jess spares a look at the MPCD. "Poe isn't happy unless he's being chased by a whole squadron."

Moments later, fire from a different source streaks by her target. A single impact obliterates it into a fireball. <"Not cool, Snowball! Thanks for the assist."> Banking off, Jessika adjusts vector for Rogue Leader's six.

Elrych powers into a full barrel roll, it's violent and dangerous, the kind of thing only an Ace Pilot /and/ force user could accomplish as green bolts lance out towards him. "This kriffin'-" He pulls on the air breaks, allowing the TIE he's been chasing, as heavily damaged as it was, to slip back in front of him. How the crafty pilot managed to get ba ckbehind Elrych was beyond him. His own red lasers lance out attempting to tag and end the craft, but the wiley transgressions of the TIE pilot continues. "Sack of Drek...."

Lofty pulls up from his base dive with plenty of time, having bested two turrets and completed his primary mission. His massive paws move to fire up the triple Mendarn Arms Dar-2 ion cannons while his Sullustan sensor officer Stebbs takes over the turret. "<< Snowball on C3!>>" Lofty announces, twisting his blastboat up into the troposphere and through a small wisp of cloud. He draws a bead on the TIE and blasts him with a triple blast of ion power. SHOOOM SHOOOM SHOOOM go the ions. Ionizing energy dances over the TIE's outer surface as it plummets to the ground, disabled. Stebbs finishes it off with a BRAP-BRAP-BRAP from the twin laser turret. <<"Uka haha, mwici mwaganu!">> Stebbs chitters, roughly translating to "come here, naughty thief" in Sullustese.

Thing about A wings? They really are fast little things. Zan zips perhaps a little faster than expected by the tie pilot facing her, because his shots are so far off, they might as well be at his own facility. This time. Zan hits the throttle when she gets her target lock again, picking up the dogfight with her previous opponent. She hears Kare's commentary about the submergible base, and her brown knits. But her a-wing has no missiles, so she continues on her attack run, cannons blasting at the unfortunate tie, shattering his shields, and watching as C5 goes out of control to spin into the river with a kersplash that might rival the world's biggest cannonball dive. << Splash five, finding another target,>> Zan reports, as she spins her ship, and takes a good solid look at the status of the battle arena.

Jax was gaining altitude as Corsair 6 was following him firing wildly at him. Exnine chattring behind him, "DO I think he's mad at us? Yes. Do I think he's clueless in what we're doing. Yes but in his defense, I don't know what I'm doing." That just causes a groan from Exine as Jax goes into a talon pulling the stick to the and hitting the rudder as he pulls to the right and completing a tight loop with him now facing 180 degrees of where he was a moment before. " I got you now." Then as X-wing complains about the stress on its frame, Exine yells, 'Space Only, Idiot.' A pair of laser canons connect as the X-wing goes streaking past Corsair Six. Jax trying to make the droid feel better, "It worked out. We're fine. It's fine. The X-wing's fine. Relax. Also names hurt."

Clearly, the pilot in Corsair 7 is giving it their all. Lintra had wished the pilot out of the fight after they took damage on their first engagement. Admiring the pilot's ferocity does not keep Tallie from lighting the TIE/sf up with all lasers. Two tag the limping fighter, barely pilot time to eject before it ditches into the broad ribbon of water below.

All those flashing lights, all those explosions. In atmosphere, the shockwaves buffet Black Ten like a storm pounding a rowboat. << Black Ten targeting Corsair Nine, >> Callax calls over the comms - all that heat and concussion makes it harder to get a target, but banking past the corpse of the unfortunate Corsair Ten, they're able to get the TIE square into the middle of the targeting computer's reticle. A hail of fire follows, though this time it's just a little bit off - devastating, the way the ship's shields nearly collapse, but not another collander. Yet.

Rogue 2 rolls wing over wing as he dives at C1, the pilot keeping ahead of him. Karas wasn't some novice pilot either, he was a Ace over he don't know how many times. "Spark, keep the lock on this one and I want a lock on the one that's on our kriffing ass!" he calls to hsi friend. THere is a seconday lock tone beeping through his cockpit. "Thank you friend." he says. "Sorry Spark, I've not been treating like a friend, need to do a better job." he says to him. As he fires on the lead fighter, it escapes him and he is able to keep out of target lock from the one tailing him.

Poe engages the drag, angling the ship up by yanking the lever back. Four TIEs jet past him before he growls, shoving the lever forward again. With his eyes narrowing behind the orange of his helmet's visor, Poe squeezes the trigger on the yoke, blasting out red lances that split the Corsair Leader's craft into two before it explodes and skids into the water below. Rogue Leader, twists, spinning after Corsair 10 who split from his wingmates. Picking the TIE/fo apart, Poe's craft spits out two seperate salvos of red lances, the second bunch breaking the craft into pieces to fall into the water as Rogue Leader engaged his afterburners, going super-sonic once more.

CORSAIR SQUADRON was not holding up, but their mission was to keep Rogue busy long enough for the station to submerge! That's what they're gonna do!

"Bee-Bee Eight.. my shields, pal!"

"I'm sorry, Snap.." Kare says softly, "I'm sorry I wasn't there. I wasn't able to help." The tactical computers confirms a lock, her eyes going down to the read out and the alarm letting her know she should be able to fire at any point. She continues the approach, Rev yelling things in Binary - probably not nice things as she is taking her time and the facility is coming up very quick. Her eyes flick to the top left, the back camera showing the Tie still on her. She looks down to the passive scans on how fast its moving and close to her she is. She looks back to the large facility, "But I promise you one thing, love..."

She finally flicks up the plastic covering over the red button and presses down. The encased bomb of death screaming out from the front ports of her fighter and connecting with the building. She quickly pulls up on the stick - Inertia, Gravity, and her own vessel fighting against her. The engines roar as the attempt to do as she asks, Rev screaming for his life. The starfighter pulls up, it's belly flying along the building as she barely misses it. Her eyes go up to see behind her as the tie pilot wasn't so lucky.

"... They'll never forget the mistake of taking you from me." She pulls the stick back and the X-wing pulls up.. away from the building and prepping to for another shot if she can get it. (Kun)

Well before she can get in range, Rogue Leader handles the situation of being chaesd by four TIEs. Rather than rush to his aid, Jessika takes survey of the field of battle. Kare is making a run on the facility again, but there's still eyeballs to pluck out of the sky, and her long-time friend leads one to its doom when it can't adjust and bank up in time. <"Six, Three. What's the deal?"> She's curious as to why Kare is so focused on the facility. They'd destroyed their primary targets and were now dealing with being a little less outnumbered. Keeping her ears tuned for the answer, Jessika turns her attention towards finding another target. The craft designated Corsair Eleven by her sensor array finds itself in her sights, but the abrupt nature of their sky ballet leaves three of Jessika's shots streaking wide. The fourth comes so close to hitting that Jessika's amazed when it doesn't.

Elrych Cometburn flips a few switches after twirling his t85 in some ungodly manner to avoid fire from Corsair 2. "Eggsy, boost the engines." The droid protests. "I know, just take power from the shields. Not too much though!" The sudden burst in power to tue engines put the Jedi Knight back in his seat. Tha maneuver was as elegant as 'Riding someones ass' in the speeder oane... which he promptly did to Corsair 4 before shooting red death into the TIEs hull. It spark, smoked... the fell violently to the ground. <<"Splash one tor four.">> You could year that smirk.

Lofty and the HOTH HOG loop out of the clouds, the aging skipray blastboat moving to make another run at the more maneuverable TIE fighters. Jax's target, C6, had just lost its shields, and that proved to be too fine of an opportunity. The awkward-looking heavy fighter lances out with triple ion cannons and twin laser cannons to finish off the unshielded Corsair 6. "<< Snowball cover you!>>" Lofty declares triumphantly to Jax.

Zan frowns. She's got no droid yelling at her, but she has a feeling about what Kare's doing. It's enough that she breaks away from the fighters and hits her throttle hard, pushing the zippy A Wing to head over to that facility. She flips the switch from cannons to missiles as she does so, taking a deep breath, and letting the Force flow through her. She doesn't have the time for a full missile lock, she has to eyeball it. With the Force as her guide, she lets the missiles fly, and they slam into the facility, at least doing a bit more damage. She pulls back up into the atmosphere, taking care with her ship's finicky systems. Okay, who are we kidding? She's flying as fast as she can, pulling back up through the atmo to where the fighters have been playing tag.

Jax had a bead on Cosair Six as he goes to pull the trigger and destroy the tie figher explodes. Exine says something and Jax responds, "It wasn't me. I didn't pull the trigger. No I didn't use the Force." Then Jax hears Lofty call over channel and replys, <Thanks!> There's a chuckle from Exine. Then just barrel rolls as he targets Cosair 11 but there's no love there.

They are fighting in a tight perimeter. Once again, Rogue 7 zips out past their target, which is submerging quickly as the General had told them it would. Others in the squadron fire missiles in the last-ditch attempt to damage the facility before it disappears. Concentrating on the TIEs that are left to free the rest of the squadron up to hammer the objective, Lintra unleashes a full barrage of lasers on Corsair Seven. It explodes in mid-air, creating an obstacle for the other TIE's flying in formation with him. Her voice crackles over coms, <<"No more sun on C-7.">>

Sometime later, when all the carnage passes, people could come to the edge of the river and harvest up a feast of fish - because shockwaves rippling in the air are equalled now by the shockwaves over the water as the Republic pilots smash the dam with proton warheads and concussion missiles. "Darling," Callax calls to Babo, "Get a lock on that dam, will you? Can't have it going under after all." A moment of inquisitive squerking and Callax sighs. "Because I'm going to try and help sink it, darling. I haven't played it dumbfire for ages."

And so, coming down in a sharp loop to do their very best Stuka impression, Callax looses a pair of torpedoes at the dam - and proves just /why/ this isn't usually a good idea. Balls of blue flame snap forth from the nose of the ship, striking at the dam - and though the minor, localized thermonuclear impact shatters permacite and plascrete like a fountain of best holo-horror gore, all that carnage is utterly wasted as it only proves to rattle the structure on its tracks.

But fish? Forget about it. Callax just fed a town with that waterline impact. Call them the patron saint of pescatarians, if only in the moment.

Seeing his targets splashed, he at least contributed to assisting others this day. Breaking away and moving to one of the TIEs that's not been touched during this fight. Either they were holding back or just lucky, but it was time for one of them to get a nose bleed. Rogue 2 weaves and rolls and Spark his R2 droid picks out the target, the X-Wing streaks towards it's intended target and once Karas has sight on the TIE, he fires a long distanced shot. He knows it may miss but he is counting on this to hit.

The entangled battle swings to a one-sided massacre. TIEs from the Corsair squadron are picked apart as their best pilots are KIA, and morale has dropped. One drops, then another, then two, and before long only two survivors are left against a squadron of the Republic's best fighters. Flying evasively, Corsairs 11 and 12 book it, hitting super-sonic speeds and dipping low beneath the sensor capabilities to pick up. At the dead of night, the TIEs vanish from sight both physically and by sensors.

Meanwhile, the facility is ROCKED by Captain Kun's direct torpedo hit. The purple hue of the blast dips beneath the surface of the water before connecting with some unseen track. The facility leans suddenly. Then Zandra zips in QUICK.. firing a rocket that drops from her craft. The fins deploy, its engine igniting before the arm retracted releasing the ordnance to fly beneath the surface of the water during her pass, smashing the otherside of the facility and causing it to lean more!

Poe lines up on the structure just as BB-8 signals that his shields have returned. "Hang on to something, buddy!" Breaking super-sonic speeds, Poe's craft rattles just before he deploys a purple hued torpedo and angles away. A third collision times perfectly with the one Callax had landed, making the facility shudder and come to a halt, half submerged.

Clearly experiencing mechanical failures of catastrophic proportions, white specks of troopers trying to swim away from the facility indicate they've been forced to abandon the structure and are making for land.

<<"Rogues, this is Pretty Boy. /DAMN/ good flying..">>

<<"Connix, it's Poe. Send in the troopers. Objective is cleared of anti-air defenses, but tell the boys to expect some heavy resistance moving in. We're returning to friendly lines. Rogue Leader out.">>