Log:Resistance: Circle of Mystery

Resistance: Circle of Mystery

OOC Date: September 10, 2017
Location: System 332-1124-4
Participants: Triz Dermout, Jax Greystorm, Rake

And so it is that the three of you are sent to System 332-1124-4. Situated on the edge of the Unknown Regions, the only thing known is its structure: a bright blue-white star with a vast asteroid belt at its outer edge. Since the systems have been mapped, but not explored, that's all that's known.

Hunter Squadron has been sortied to investigate reports of First Order activity somewhere in the belt. Flying Longprobes, Jax and Triz are to explore the belt, cataloguing what they can while seeking First Order forces. Enemy engagement is not requried, unless it will keep them from being reported on discovery.

Colonel At'aani has pulled some strings on Nar Shaddaa, as well - Rake has been sortied to provide support and detailed sensor support. The three of you will act as a two-fingered hand, with Rake searching for points of interest and the Longprobes going in for more detailed information.

And so, you arrive at the edge of the system, the great ring spans around you into darkness, and at its distant heart the great blue star glows like a cold, baleful eye. Time to put your game faces on.

Rake leans back in the comfort of his cockpit, running with minimal power to his engines, no shields, and his sensors set to a passive scan for now. The Shistavanen scout calls into the comms. <<Hunter two to Hunter Leader. Those longprobes have good sensors but shit computers, so relay all sensor data back to me, I'll let my computer crunch the data,>> he says. He'd had experience in the scout ships, didn't want to spend any more time in one. "I still don't know why they didn't just send me," he says to his bb-unit, Chew Toy. "Want something scouted in as low-key a way, you don't send old rebellion era birds. Dumb brass..."

Jax was in the Y-wing designated Hunter Lead. He doesn't look over his shoulder as he adjusts the shields on the y-wing. "These things were ancient when my Dad was fly them." He mutters. There's some chitter in the back, "Nah Lucky, don't worry about it. I'll handle any requests for new ships when we get back to base. Just help Hunter two with any data and coordinate the project." The Captial grade astromech ping an 'affirmative.' Then Jax coms, <<Affirmative Hunter 2. I'm having Lucky coordinate and broadcast data to you. Lets get this done Hunter 1. I'm taking the lead.>> WIth that Jax sets course into the field towards the first nav point.

Triz shivers and flips the environmental controls again "Still no damn heat. Tin, See what you can do. I am freezing in here. Look," she breathes out "I can see my breath. Piece of crap," but the rest of the bitching, the same that has been going on since they started, gets cut off as the radio crackles to life. "Tin, you heard that, route all sensor data to Hunter two." Another shiver, hand hits the controls before she fiddles with it again. "Damnit". <<Copy that, Hunter two. Routing all data to you.>>

The waypoints are arranged in a simple chain around the belt, though that is /quite/ a chain; it's going to take twelve hours, at least, to go through each one. The good thing is that Rake is on a transport-sized ship, and the Longprobes have even /more/ tanks strapped to their spaceframes. So, while they're a little chilly, they've got the puff to get the job done. At the very least, the droning hum of their engines has a somewhat calming effect.

The nav point is coming up. Time to get started.

Rake was actually quite comfortable in his ship. It's why he refused to fly anything like a damned Y-wing on missions like this. <<Stay alive out there>> he says into comms as he begins running the sensor data through the Pacifier's computers. <<I'll let you know if I come up with anything>> he adds. He powers down the internal lights of the ship, and even lowers life support systems to only the cockpit to cut his sensor profile even further. This wasn't his first rodeo after all.

Triz continues to fly the mission, letting the scanners do their thing and the data being transfered to Rake.

<<I'm picking up Ion trails on the second sweep.>> He says and then coughs at some beeps, <We're picking up. Looks like their hours old.> He says as he preforms a sweep. <<Change course to follow the trail.>>

Rake crunches the intel via his ship's sensors. <<They're old, Hunter Leader. At least a few hours.>> He directs a little bit more power towards his engines and maneuvers in a little bit closer. <<Those longprobes ain't gonna be able to punch through the metal structures of those asteroids if they've got a cavern base. They ain't exactly good scouts, just what the Rebellion could afford at the time.>>

The trail is...old, just as Rake ays - but they're strong. First Order TIEs have far more firepower than their Imperial forebears, to say nothing of the shielding; thus, what would have been a much threadier exhaust trail is fairly easy to follow. Slowly, running under low power as you are, you travel along the trail as best as possible until it dies out - but this takes you halfway across the system, and narrows things down tremendously.

By the time the trail peters out, you find yourselves in a particularly dense portion of the belt. It's harder to find sensor purchase here, owing to some natural compounds in the surrounding asteroids. It's going to be harder to scan, even with your advanced sensors...but on the other hand, it's going to be damn next to impossible to find /you/ unless you start acting up.

<<Awaiting orders, Hunter Leader>> Rake says over tight-beam comms. <<High ore content in these rocks is meddling sensors, gonna take quite a while for the computers to filter it out,>> he adds before turning to his droid. "That's if it can at all," he mutters.

<<Hunter 2, taek point. Hunter Lead and Hunter 1 will take escort. I want both of you to plot escape routes. This gets messy we're not in ships designed For First Order Ties.>> Jax says moving into an escort positon. "Lucky, I want escape routes."

Jax shakes his head, "Yeah I know Lucky. I'm not worried as much about active pining things as make sure we all get home. We got the night stalker. Though next time we're bring T-70s for this work." He makes some subtle adjustmetns to the shields and recheck weapons. <<Anything active on your sensors? If we get the location we can go home.>>

Tin starts beeping and whistling "What is that?" Triz asks a rhetorical question <<Hunter Two, sending you info I got. Looks pretty serious but I figure you can make more sense out of it than me.>> She nudgles the Long probe around a rather large chunk of rock before taking up position again. Waiting on the data to fully transfer over to Rake.

<<I've got solid contact on my sensors, and my computers are analyzing more from Hunter One.>> As he crunches the info on the ship's advanced systems, he calls out. <<Power down all but the most essential. I think we might have found something big. Not first Order though. Looks like an old science station, and there's a whole mess of activity there in and around its hangars. Might be something we should come back in more force to deal with.>>

<<Affirmative Hunter Two, reduce power to essentials. It's time to bug out as quickley and quietly as we can. We're just for a sneak peak. Snap shoud be here.>> Jax says starting to power down systems. Then startign to lead the ships for their exit point.

Rake nods, holding position while the two Longprobes turn. His ship was a bit faster than the Y-wings and had a decent amount of firepower to boot. <<If things go south, boss. I've got a full suite of comm and sensor jamming hardware.>> He waits for the two fighters to make the jump to hyper.

<<Copy that,>> Triz responds as she begins to set a course to bug out. "Get us home, Tin. And make it a fast way, I am frozen solid."

A successful mission, by far - and an absolutely sterling debut for the newly-minted Hunter Squadron. Once get gets the report, Colonel At'aani will doubtless by very happy with the results. Well done, Hunters, but tomorrow, the hunt continues!