Log:Rescue at Danuta
Rescue at Danuta
OOC Date: April 25, 2018
Location: Above Danuta
Participants: Ektor, Karas Darkwing, Fuze, Emma Starflare, Evie Leven, First Order, The Resistance
The planet Danuta in the Saari Ha sector is a terrestrial body composed largely of barren badlands, it's face littered with the deep scars left by centuries of mining. Only ten percent of the planet holds standing water, concentrated largely at the poles. It had been a wholly unimportant place for many years, until today: twenty minutes ago, a First Order light corvette reported damaging a terrorist freighter that was seeking to smuggle banned nerve toxins to the Resistance. The stricken smuggler had gone to ground and managed to evade the corvette's sensors in the deep canyons, but not before sending a distress call.
Suspecting more terrorists to be en route, the First Order commander called for reinforcements from the nearest garrison. Aurek squadron was given the assignment of hunting down and destroying this threat to the security of the sector.
At the same moment, a distress call was received by the Resistance: a ship of refugees had been damaged and driven into hiding on the surface of Donata. It was only a matter of time before the First Order found them, and they needed help to escape. A motley collection of whichever ships were on standby at the time promptly launched with orders to see the freighter safely into hyperspace.
<<Green Two, in the air and standing by for jump. Somebody say when, yeah?>> Ektor reports over the comms, as his Y-wing rockets out of the Renegade's hangar, and hyperspace coordinates are verified.
<<Blue Squadron reporting in.>> Karas calls as he and Blue 2 fly into formation, moving along with Green Squadron. <<Alright ladies and gents, we got work to do, lets get in and provide assistance.>> he says as the coordinates have been transmitted to the Resistance fighters. They already have a tall order to deliver on and Karas is already thinking up a battle plan.
Squadron Leader FZ-4792 has been having a hard time of it recently. Sidelined to babysitting freighter trainee pilots for a while didn't help her mood. And, after the order came to come up with a more publicly-friendly designation, the woman who was raised in a secure indoctrination and training facility and never had a name picked 'Fiona'. It isn't working for her, but it's stuck. Assigned back to a front-line fighter squadron in her old position, she heads across the hangar bay floor swinging her helmet from her hand, glancing at the gunner she's just met for the first time and beyond him to the other pilots making for their TIEs. At Evie in particular. Then comes the business of sliding into the cramped confines of the cockpit, checking systems, fastening on the bulbous helmets, sealing themselves in the flying coffins. "Aurek flight, sound off with a 'go' for launch," her voice crackles over comms.
Emma technically counted only slightly above the trainees herself, even with her particular history and record, the woman was very much comparatively new to flighting fightercraft. Now at least, she had a single combat engagement under her belt. It was still strange to her to be wrapped in the black TIE pilot suit, but she had been trained her entire life to be whatever she needed to be, so why not add pilot to that list. Climbing her way into one of the TIE SF's, the blonde woman gives a thumbs up before securing her helmet and then keying her comlink. "Aurek 3, systems green and go for launch."
For Evie, the black suit of a TIE pilot was almost like a second skin. It fit like a glove, and it felt like /home/ when she was wearing it... because, in truth? She's been wearing one for much longer than her actual service time with the First Order. The designs may have been a little bit different, but it didn't make it feel any less right -- much like being in space itself.
"Aurek 2, we're five by five and go for launch." she offers over the comms -- confidence evident in the woman's voice.
Both wings of six fighters arrive in the Danuta System within minutes of each other, a thousand kilometers apart. Both will read each other, and the First Order light corvette 'Enforcer' in orbit on their sensors. Six TIEs on one side and a two each of A-wings, Y-wings, and N-1 Naboo fighters on the other.
<<Green Two here, I got six TIEs fresh outta hyperspace, and a light corvette in orbit. Huh, looks like my computer has seen a couple of these guys, before. What's the call, Blue Leader?>> Ektor wonders over the comm, as his Y-wing's engines flare orange and the light bomber accelerates toward the distant planet, and First Order craft.
As they come out of hyperspace, Karas call for everyone to sound off. <<Blue Leader here.>> he says as he looks around, his sensors pick up the enemy crafts, and as he gets a situation report Karas looks around for a moment. <<Blue and Gold squadrons are weapons free for the fighters. Green Squadron the Corvette is yours. We want to give our ships enough time to make repairs so they can leave, or at least drive off the F/O off.>> he says to the fighter squadrons.
It's just like riding a bike. You never forget. Fuze's body relaxes as she drops out of hyperspace, the colored blips of other ships blinking into appearance on her displays. She smiles gently at the familiar environment and the responsive fighter's controls under her gloved fingers. A touch of the wrong control on her keypad fails to adjust the color-coding of the ships on her display, but that doesn't disturb her calm. "Aurek squadron, weapons cleared hot. Aurek Four, take Five and Six and start searching for that freighter. Line abreast ten clicks apart, grid pattern, fast coverage, cleared to engage. Aurek Two and Aurek Three, on me. Let's go see who our friends over there are." She peels off, the TIE accelerating hard towards the group of contacts.
Well, they were being engaged. Em actually inhales a breath before she moves to swing in support of Fuze. She was...actually nervous, something she hadn't felt in quite a while but something easily enough squashed down. There was no time for it. She glances over her shoulder, nodding at her gunner before she hits the thrusters and makes her move to intercept.
Evie takes a deep breath, letting her fingers work over the various controls in her cockpit as the enemy fighters come into view... what she sees? It brings a smile to the lips under that helmet.
"Looks like these are old friends of ours -- they flew the skies of Mon Calamari." Evie reports to her compatriots, maneuvering herself into position with Fuze without any hesitation... or real difficulty, for that matter. Aerobatics? That was her speciality, it's just the actual /combat/ that trips her up sometimes.
<<Acknowledged, Aurek Leader. Descending into sensor range.>> Aurek Four reports, breaking formation with two wingmen to bank toward the brown planet.
<< I hear you, Blue Leader. Starting our attack run on the->> checking the transponder, Ektor rolls his eyes and mutters, <<Who names these things? Starting our run on 'the Enforcer'. Green Three, keep up, yeah?>> Flipping fire control to torpedoes, the Y-wings dive at the triangular corvette. Green 2 is in the lead and drawing the Enforcer's turbolaser fire; Ektor jukes and weaves to avoid the bolts of green death, and largely does so, but loses his torpedo lock. Green 3, following behind and to to one side, gets a solid lock and fires a pair of proton torpedoes into the corvetteâs shields.
<<Blue and Gold Squadron lets make sure Green get's to their destination.>> Karas says into his comm. <<Blue 2, on my tail, pick your target and take's down.>> he says as the engines of the A-Wings glow brightly as they both take off. Karas selects a target, <<Just so you guys know, some of these fighters were at the Mon Calamari assault. Let's take'em out.>> he informs the pilots. As the targeting reticle locks onto Aurek 3, the A-Wing climbs and rolls going into a forward loop, outpacing the TIE and as the lock confirms, the A-Wing fires at Aurek 3, red laser fire erupts from the laser cannons striking at the TIE.
Fuze's TIE leaps forwards. "Aurek Two, try to keep up," she grins inside her helmet. As the A-wing comes at her, she starts a gentle clockwise corkscrew, accelerating the rate of roll as she picks up linear speed. It's a simple maneuver designed to disorient the opposing fighter. In this case, however, it's Fuze's gunner that freezes as he tries to keep his breakfast from exiting, and Fuze is just a trifle slow in breaking the roll sharply anti-clockwise. Maybe the A-wing pilot has seen it before, maybe he or she is just that good. The A-wing finds its target and Fuze/Fiona's shields erupt into a brilliant sparkling flash of light that hiccups and dies, electrical arcs discharging in little bolts of lightening that dance over the solar panels. Fuze's TIE spins erratically, for now by design rather than accident as she buys time to assess the holiday display of warning lights that have lit up the cockpit.
There's no time for banter for Em, instead she flies into the melee. Twisting her craft around as the lead A-Wing goes after Evie, she makes to engage. The pilot was almost certainly more skilled then her, her battleground was on the ground, but at least she might be able to stop one of her few 'friends' from getting shot to hell. The flare on her own shields brings a small hiss. "Aurek-3, we've got one chasing Aurek-2 and one on my tail."
Evie's not surprised at all when one of the fighters decides to go after her. There's an old saying that goes to be the man, you have to beat the man... and when it comes to fighting in space? She sure considers that role to be hers. Of course, there's a look of frustration that crosses over her face as she finds herself slightly outmaneuvered by the A-Wing as she was trying to get into position on Blue 2 to help Fuze trim the numbers down -- only to have her own ship rocked with the ugly red lasers of the other A-Wing.
At least it was an A-Wing and not an /X/-Wing.
"I've got this under control -- just luring this punk into a false sense of security," she explains. She /knows/ she could've gotten around on him if she'd tried harder... but she's not going to put all her cards on the table just yet.
The Enforcer alters its orbit, continuing turbolaser fire at the pair of Y-wings. <<This is the Enforcer, we are breaking orbit. Shields down, aft armor plating at ninety-five percent.>> Meanwhile, Aureks 4-6 are descending into the upper atmosphere swiftly enough to make the solar panels of their fighters glow red. <<Commencing scans.>>
The minor alteration of the corvette’s firing solution is giving the Y-wings a problem. While avoiding any significant hits, Ektor curses, <<Break off this run, Green Three: the fire from this angle is too heavy, come around again, yeah?>> After getting a warble of warning from his R2, Ektor adds, <<Green Two to Blue Leader, I got three TIEs going into the atmosphere. They're looking close, yeah?>>
The Blue and white A-Wing keeps with the F/O TIE chasing after it wanting to put it down before moving on to the next target, having managed to evade this TIE's wingman. Still when the pilot of the TIE he's chasing manures and escapes him, Karas tries to quickly roll and climb away to get out of range of the three TIES, he failed, because the TIE he damaged came at him. Karas isn't panicking, worried yes, but not panicking, his fighter shutters and electricity pops around him as his shields are just blasted away, the hull of his fighter is sparking and burning, but he's still flying. Warning sounds erupt in his cockpit, <<Krif...!>> he says. <<Gold pull in to cover Blue 2, and Green Squadron.>> he calls. Than the other TIE comes in, "Shit, this sucks." he says as he tries dive and roll away to escape, but the concentrated fire of the TIE S/F fighter hits him repeatedly, he can't save his fighter, he was beaten today, Karas quickly pulls the eject lever and ejects, the canopy blows off the fighter and Karas is ejected from the A-Wing which explodes. His suit sealed and mask covers his face.
The TIE mechanics hate Fuze for her abuse of the airframe. She whips the TIE into a savage high-G inverted turn to fire at Karas, the black pressure suit driving blood back down towards her legs to avoid a red-out. The structure of the ship groans in protest, solar cells from the side shield spreaders shattering as the substrate flexes. She's flying half-blind, too, the flight computer still recovering from the hull damage just ten or so seconds before. Ten seconds is a long time in space combat. Enough time to die. A dispassionate glance, devoid of pity or hatred, is given to the tumbling form of the downed pilot, but the glance lasts barely long enough to register that the pilot may have survived. "Aurek Two, stay on me," she orders curtly. She spins sharply around to dive down behind Emma, head twisting sharply to cover all the angles and get whoever is on Emma's tail off it.
Another attack, Emma was at least putting on pressure if she wasn't putting bolts on their target. When the A-Wing errupts, there's no time to celebrate before she takes another hit to her shields that has the blonde cursing. Orders are coming as readily as hostile fire, so she simply nods and turns to twist her craft around. "Roger that Aurek-1"
To be the man you have to be the man -- but this woman, the self-styled Empress of Aerospace -- is the one left standing after the first skirmish. As she successfully paints the A-Wing with pretty green lasers, Evie lets out a woop of victory over the comms... only to see her newly chosen target blown to pieces by a follow-up shot from Fuze.
"We make a pretty good team, Aurek Leader -- don't worry, I've got your six." Evie crows, even as her TIE is rocked by another shooter, consoles starting to flash warnings at her -- which she promptly chooses to ignore. Is she concerned? Somewhere, in the back of her mind. She knows the danger of flight. It doesn't mean she's going to give up, though. She's a fighter, and no matter how many times she's knocked down? She's going to get right back up again. "Hang in there, Aurek Three -- we're coming."
"Eh, kriff me in the ear-" Ektor curses at Karas' broadcast and the vanished blip on his targeting computer where Blue 1 was. <<One way or another, let's wrap up with this corvette in a hurry, yeah? Link fire the torpedoes; do em dirty, yeah?>> he mutters to Green 3. Juking and weaving among the lances of turbolaser fire, the pair of Y-wings each loose a volley of proton torpedoes into the Enforcer, doing catastrophic damage to the light corvette.
<<Enforcer to Aurek Squadron: we have multiple hull breaches, three engines offline,>> the Commander of the corvette states, with appropriate First Order detachment. <<Aurek Four, continuing sensor sweep,>> the probing TIEs report, following instructions as given.
Having gotten raddled a bit, Karas suit keeps him insulated so he isn't freezing to death out in open space. He can't follow the fight, but hopefully the rest of the Resistance pilots can complete the mission and get home ok. HE doesn't know what will happen to him, but still as long as they and those they came to save make it home safely is all that matters to him.
"Enforcer, Aurek One, copy." Fuze's voice is crisp as she slots her TIE in behind Emma's pursuer, fingers gliding over the thumb stud to unleash the forward cannons. Right as the stud depresses, her gunner, eager and green, yells "Incoming, high right!" Just a tiny amount of attention is paid to the call, enough to ensure the cannons mark up the enemy ship without doing significant damage. She zigs when the A-wing zags, flipping the TIE into a crisp barrel roll to distract her new harasser before rocketing planet-wards for two brief seconds. Even as she reverses direction, leaving more shards of solar cell cover glittering like diamonds in her wake, she calls the corvette. "Recommend you stand off while we wrap this up," she states. It's statements like that, to the Captain of a corvette, that keep assigning her to babysitting wannabe freighter pilots. Switching frequencies, "Aurek Four, Aurek One, status?"
When one's in space? There's a lot of strange things that can happen. One example of this is the very moment that Evie fires off a perfectly aimed shot in her target's direction -- only to have it collide with someone /else's/ perfectly aimed shot at /her./ She takes a moment to stare as the red and green energies collide in an ultimately harmless and surprisingly festive display of pyrotechnics. For once in her life, the pilot of Aurek Two -- very aptly given the callsign of 'Echo' for the way her voice echoes in the cockpit... is stunned into silence, hands working effectively on autopilot to keep on Fuze's tail as she flies in formation with the senior pilot.
The Y-wings bank up from their attack run on the crippled corvette, whose turbolaser batteries have gone silent, and veer down into the planet’s atmosphere to charge the trio of Aurek 4-6 from above. <<I'm leading with a torpedo, that'll get their attention. Cafzhoth, make some noise, yeah?>>
<<Acknowledged, Aurek Leader,>> the Commander of the Enforcer relates, slowly guiding the now sluggish light corvette out of the planet's gravity well. About then, the targeting alarms inside Aurek 4 begin blaring, warning of an attempted missile lock. <<Taking evasive maneuvers, moving to intercept->> The trio of searching TIEs scatter and come back around with admirable precision, blasting away into the shields of the older and more sluggish Y-wings.
That is the moment a new signal flickers into life on the targeting computers of all present: a Deepwater-class Calamari light freighter fires up its thrusters and rises up from beneath the surface of a large mineshaft, seizing the moment as perhaps its best chance to flee.
Fuze's expression is intense (under the helmet), her eyes bright and a half-smile on her lips. She dives towards the freighter with the throttles redlined, coming round in a gentle arc as she attempts to predict the other pilot's maneuver so she can hit the bridge. Her bolts simply make light play on the shields, shimmering ripples of force expending itself. She whips along the line of the freighter, bow to stern, head turning to look for the inevitable irritant fighters as her gunner pours energy into the target ship. She spots them. "Hostiles coming in hot. Ignore them, keep your fire on the big cow," she instructs on the intercom. And then, betraying herself with a grimace, a call on the flight comms. "Aurek Two, Three, status?" She can't see Evie behind her.
"I've taken a lot of fire here, Aurek Leader. They've got me hanging by the wires..." Evie reports as she feels her craft rocked again by the laser turrets from the Deepwater -- cursing those terrible Mon Calamari under her breath as she does. "...I can try strafing it again, or I can /ram/ it and make an expensive missile." she offers -- there's a third option, that of pulling back -- but she listens to that particular voice in her head as well as she does the warning lights inside her badly damaged TIE -- she shuts them off.
Warning lights use up power anyways. She didn't need to look at them.
"Your call." Because she's a good soldier, honest. A flashy one, but a darn good one.
The rising trio of Aurek 4-6 dash against the descending trio of the surviving A-wing with an N-1 on each wing, leaving the fate of the freighter to be contested between Aurek 1 and 2 against the Y-wings of Green Squadron. << I see one all chewed up,>> Ektor mutters, eyes narrowing on the pair of TIEs dogging the rising Deepwater. <<They gonna break atmosphere soon, one can't take it down fast enough..>> His gunner yells at Ektor to stop thinking on an open channel, and Green 2 dives toward the badly wounded Aurek 2, cannons blazing. He takes a hit that crumbles the last of his shields and impacts on the armored cockpit, but the warhorse drives on, guarding the freighter if only through sheer aggression.
Drifting in space, Karas is starting to get cold now, he's been out here for a bit and he sees the battle is still raging on without him. He is worried that they will fail, but he is able to calm himself and have faith in his team that they will prevail.
Fuze's expression twists into a grimace at Evie's words in her headset. There's the right thing to do, and there's...the other right thing to do. She decides. "Aurek Two, get the hell back on my tail," she snaps. "I need you to cover me, not play the hero." That's...impressive coming from her, hypocite-in-chief. She flicks the TIE around in a flat turn to pursue the freighter again, firing steadily into the engines as she rapidly overtakes the stricken ship. And then it leaps forwards, disappearing, and Fuze's TIE almost follows it into oblivion. She uncharacteristically releases an obscenity as she wrestles with the controls, the electrical power systems very, very unhappy at being in such close proximity to a jump. "Aurek Squadron, Aurek One, disengage," she calls tersely, starting to circle a little erratically. First in, and wanting to be last out, rounding up her strays.
Evie's willing to do what she has to in order to get the job done. If it means exposing herself to... significant risk? She's got nerves of steel and can handle it. "Yes ma'--" she's about to agree with Fuze's orders, when her position on her leader's six puts her in the crosshairs of one of the fellows they're dueling. "Engaging evasive action!" declares the Kuati pilot, sending her limping ship into a tailspin to make herself that much harder to target...
...and somehow ending up with a clear shot on her foe, instead. A very familiar foe, at that. Hasn't she shot that ship before? Fingers squeeze the trigger, and green lasers fly out with pin-point accuracy... but her poor ship doesn't have enough power left in it to fire a full-force blast against him, despite the good aim. "Yes--! ...no!" She's vastly disappointed that she failed, once more, to make that particular ship go boom.
This had been...a harrowing experience. But Emma wasn't dead. She'd been forced to break away, to continue her loop and fly defensively over the corvette. Her fighter might be functional and less damaged, but the sniper knew she was a little outclassed. She'd get better, she'd already improved, but this wasn't the day she was ready to take the same risks in a fighter she would on the ground.
The damage done to the Deepwater by Aurek 1 is catastrophic; sublight engines flicker and die as an explosion rocks the ship, one bulbous compartment depressurizing with a short lived gout of fire, and at least one body amid a rain of wreckage. Yet the dying ship has at least one system still functioning as amid a cloud of its own ruin, the Deepwater streaks into hyperspace.
<<Arright, the mark is away; Green Three you ain't got a gunner on board, yeah? You go pick up Kar,>> Ektor mutters as the TIEs break away. <<Blue wing, Gold wing, form up and once we got all of ours, let's get outta here, yeah?>> Off comm, the Tionese pilot groans, "I mean, kriff the corvette and all, but Gren is gonna be piiiiiiissed."
