Log:Resistance: Ghosts of Cron

Ghosts of Cron

OOC Date: July 6, 2019
Location: The Cron Drift
Participants: Jessika Pava, Tallissan Lintra, Ektor, Nova Korell, Merek, Elrych Cometburn, Miri Sakir, Karas Darkwing, Poe Dameron, The Resistance

The Cron Drift is a vast, stable belt of asteroids, the result of some ancient supernova that had eradicated what was once a prosperous star cluster, thousands of years ago.

Now, it is a scarcely uses layover between the Perlemian Trade Route and the Lianna System hyperspace hub, used primarily by those ships wishing to avoid the more heavily trafficked lanes. The complex radiation still inundating the Auril sector plays havoc with short range sensors, doing much to mask the comings and goings of various spacecraft.

Resistance Intelligence concluded that the Sienar Corporation was discreetly moving a large shipment of bacta into the Corporate Sector via the Shaltin Tunnels, making this waypoint the most advantageous ambush point, allocating a Corvette and half of Black Squadron to the heist.

For those who only listened to the end of the briefing: hide in space rocks, knock out baddies, steal good stuff.

<<"This is Black Leader. All call signs check in and relay any anomalous activity.">> Poe is seated in his T-85 X-Wing, one hand flexing slightly while the other is reaching up above him to flip a switch down. Shields are now active. "Can you hone in on that signal, buddy? No..? Well, can you translate it?" Poe was picking up an angry feminine voice that was speaking in a language he didn't understand. <<"I've got an odd signal. Someone sounds really angry about something.. I don't know what she's saying though.">>

<<Whatever she's mad about, I blame Xer,>> Miri remarks over the comms. Her nose itches. Why does her nose /always/ itch when she's got her helmet on?

Jessika Pava stares at the same blank piece of rock she's been staring at for hours now. Another brain cell expires because of it, and Jessika thinks she might just have forgotten how to calculate the energy conversion between a small personal shield generator and one of the vehicle sized ones. <<"Haven't we had enough with weird nebulas that screw up our sensors? And whatever happened to those guys from that one race?">> No sooner has she asked the question than something a little more exciting than watching rocks turn in space happens. A distorted broadcast is picked up by her astromech, who immediately transfers a translation to one of her X-Wing's cockpit displays while playing the audio file at a higher volume. Jessika keys up again.

<<"Break break break.">> Once she's sure the traffic's halted on the net, she goes. <<"This is Black Two. I'm picking up a broadcast from an outpost. Designation Aurek Xesh tac two three five. They're reporting the Empire is there and are sending a mayday.">> Letting her thumb off the toggle, she half turns her helmet covered head towards the back of her seat. "Ali, relay broadcast to Black Leader immediately." An acknowledged bleep is given while the droid simultaneously transmits it to both Poe's X-Wing and his own astromech.

Merek is back in Ektor's Y-Wing, while he has put on his flight suit to come as a gunner in the ship. He checks on the helmet while he links with the ship to bring the targeting system online and makes a few checks as well. <<Cloak, doing comlinks check, all gunnery systems are working,>> he says, while he nods a bit to the pilot also.

Elrych is sitting in his X-wing cockpit, glad to be back and recently cleared by the doctor after being unthawed. <<This is Black...">> He has to peer out the cockpit window at the s-foils, <<"Three? I think? I don't know... anyways. I hear it too.">> He's currently cleaning out his ear with a cue-tip. He reaches forward and presses a button putting his s-foils into attack position.

<<"The space Wizzard feelies are giving me some bad Juju about all this. Something really big happened here that wasn't at all good.">> Music can be heard playing softly in his cockpit. His fresh droid from the pool was quiet and attentive in his socket.

Elrych is sitting in his X-wing cockpit, glad to be back and recently cleared by the doctor after being unthawed. <<"This is Black...">> He has to peer out the cockpit window at the s-foils, <<"Three? I think? I don't know... anyways. I hear it too.">> He's currently cleaning out his ear with a cue-tip. He reaches forward and presses a button putting his s-foils into attack position.

<<"The space Wizzard feelies are giving me some bad Juju about all this. Something really big happened here that wasn't at all good.">> Music can be heard playing softly in his cockpit. His fresh droid from the pool was quiet and attentive in his socket.

In Black 11, Nova Korell quietly plays word games with Jammer to alleviate the boredom of waiting. And waiting. And waiting…

"Ten letter word for energy sword... lightsaber!" she says triumphantly.

Jammer blats derisively about a lucky guess.

Nova's thoughts on another word are interrupted by something over the com system. She blinks. "Jammer, did you get that?"

The droid whistles in the affirmative.

She hits the mic. <Lead, Two, Black Eleven here. I'm getting a similar broadcast. I'll have Jammer play it back.>

She patches the message into the tac net: <<This is outpost AX-235, the *static* is here! Mayday, mayday, all craft able to respond, we need help!>>

Nova returns to the airwaves. <Dunno what it means, but I'm with Three-ish. It can't be good.>

Tallie startles out of her revery over the asteroid with the heavy canted spin to it. The open com channel spits and crackles with unintelligible words, it fades out whining and comes back stronger as though the vector was changing. The voice steadies into what is identifiable as a woman's voice if the speaker is human or near-human. High pitched then.

"Well, can you translate it, Fiver?" She asks almost petulantly.

A negative beep whistle is her answer. But then Pava's broadcast is relayed. Simultaneously Tallie and Fiver react. "Empire?"

<Black Five reporting a garbled transmission, no translation forthcoming. Over>>

Having launched with the rest of the squadron <<Black 4 here.>> he says as he quickly catches the others and as he does he does a general scan to see what he is able to pick up. As he does, he finds a signa. <<Black Lead piping this to you. <<This is *static*, the Empire is here! Mayday, mayday, all craft able to respond, *static* help! We're losing life support!>> >> he says sending this transmission ot Poe.

In Gold 1, Ektor rolls his eyes at the chatter, snickering, <<Not for nothing, she DOES sound a bit like an old girlfriend a mine, yeah?>> When Jess cuts in with actual info, he goes quiet, and mutters over one shoulder, "First of all, you ain't *Cloak*, yeah? You?re *Spooky-cloak*. There's a kriffing difference. Second of all, you can just tell me that stuff, it ain?t gotta go over the comms, yeah?"

The Sienar convoy arrives toward the end of its anticipated arrival window at ten thousand kilometers distance. They're running late.

A capital class YZ-2500 heavy transport (*Star of Ranroon and a pair of Gozanti escort craft (*Control* and *Projection*) arrives in system, pulled out of hyperspace as expected by the gravity well of the Cron Drift. Banking ponderously toward the exit vector, engines flickering to life, the three large vessels blink onto the (occasionally static-scrambled) scopes of the Resistance craft.

<<"Black Leader copies all.">> Poe is suddenly overwhelmed by the amount of traffic that is sent to BB-8 and broadcasted. It takes some time to organize all the information and listen to it, but he's got something of a hunch that these were old transmissions. He is about to respond when something catches his eyes. There's new signal read outs. He taps the side of his monitor to make sure it isn't messing with him. <<"New contacts, extended range. Punch in coordinates and prep for a micro-jump. We've got to move fast and block their exit vector.">>

Poe's engines come to life, and he twists the craft away from the rock he's been covered behind to align with a clear trajectory. A second after his Nav-Computer beeps, he's pulling back the lever to launch into his hyper jump.

<<Black Eight copies>> Miri replies, punching in her microjump coordinates. Pull the lever, awesome levels of nausea, boom. You'd think she'd get used to that. She never has, but she also doesn't seem to really care.

<<"Black Three acknowledges new coordinates and jump orders.">> Disengaging the magnetic locks on the landing struts of her X-Wing, Jessika is quick to use the crafts guidance thrusters to push away from the asteroid at an even level. A quick flick of switches on her instrument panel brings the craft's power levels up to an operational level, and once ensuring she's clear of debris and other surrounding objects that might make her have a real short trip, she reaches for her hyperdrive lever and throws it. In an eerie lurch of realspace, her X-Wing transitions beyond. The transmission from before is still on her mind, but she's adjusted most of that focus to the task and the mission ahead. Can't have an ambush without the surprise element.

Merek nods a bit to Ektor, while he takes a moment to check the system again, then he waits for any orders looking to the target screen also.

<<"It's Twelve, Black Twelve... sorry. I wondered why this seat was kind of small. I'll have to talk to chief about that.">> Elrych says over the comm, his fresh R2 Unit bleeps that his processor and programing are not equiped to handle the translation that's required to be done. "That's all good..." He reaches forward, one hand on the hyper levers, another pushing the s-foils back into cruise mode and punching in the coordinates transmitted from Black Leader, <<"Copy Lead, Jumping on your mark.">> He takes a deep breath and reaches out the the Force to aid him in the coming conflict.

<Any idea what language that is? I've never heard anything like it,> Nova says, consternated.

<Annoyed woman, contact warning, whatever that just was... is this normal out here?>

Poe's message breaks in on her musings. Which is good, because her scope's fritzing so much she can't read it. She looks again out of habit. <Ew. This thing looks like the Force threw up on it.>

Jammer whistles and tries some retuning, while doing some quick hyperspace jump calculations. The course flashes up on the sub-display as the sensor screen clears up a little, this time showing contacts.

Nova clears her throat. <Black Eleven. Kinda caught with my pants down, but I'm pulling them up now. Microjumping to join the party.> She fires up the engines, vectors clear of the asteroid she's hidden behind, pulls the little magic lever, and vanishes momentarily into hyperspace.

<<Copy that Black Leader>> "Line us up, Fiver. We are bugging for a micro-jump Black One's coordinates." Tallie taps the screen in front of her and toggles switches while Fiver calculates their jump. The X-Wing drops out from behind their screening asteroid then she is pushed back in her seat as they punch up speed to make a run for the jump. Stars smear into white…

Karas hears the order given by Black Leader, <<Black 4 confirms.>> he says as Spark is already inputting the coordinates and jumping using them. His X-Wing moves with the others though he does make it to the rendezvous last, still Karas reverts back to normal space he begins looking for targets.

<<Gold One- err.. Black, whatever. Rekk it, I hear you, jumping now,>> Ektor sounds off at Poe's instructions, commenting to his gunner while activating the microjump, "See, Spooky-cloak, just like that, we're there. None of that 'S-foils' opening and closing trash the X-wings gotta deal with-" While he rambles, the Y-wing has emerged from the microjump, shields are powered up, engine nacelles flare to full acceleration, and he switches fire control to torpedoes. "Just another reason why wishbones is better, is what I'm saying," he summarizes. "If we pull any tails, you can shoot em up, just be ready to focus fire on the big Hutt-sucker once them shields come down, yeah? Should only take a couple volleys." Switiching open the comms, <<Hey, it's me, again. And Moonbeam, your pants is in a perpetual state of down, yeah? Establishing a torpedo lock on the big boat.>>

The sudden appearance of a Resistance squadron elicits a frenzied series of encrypted transmissions from the heavy transport and its escorts, which promptly begins firing their turrets. The two Gozani gunships each deploy a quartet of TIE fighters, but the suddenness of the ambusher's appearance grants the initiative to Black Squadron.

<<"Lock torpedoes on the big boat for an initial pass. Gold Leader will maintain a constant presence on that thing until it's disabled. Break.">> Poe initiates his targeting computer and glances aside at his terminal to see that TIEs have launched as a result of their presence. <<"After our pass, Black 3, 4, and 5 will take fighter duty. The rest of you will stay with me to make these escorts hate life. Watch each other's backs here; it's bound to get really hairy.">>

<<Maybe carbonite made your butt bigger>> Miri suggests unhelpfully to Elrych after she gets out of the microjump. <<Okay, going to try and take out one of these rekking cannons..." And... she does!

For a few moments, Jessika gets to observe the battlefield from far enough away that it looks like a game board with pieces ready to be moved to obtain victory. Shaking herself of the disassociation and reminding herself that this is combat and it's real, Jessika activates her targeting computer and lightly leans her head to the side to ensure the robotic arm that pushes it forward doesn't encounter her head in the process. <<"Black Three acknowledges. Make a pass on the big one, then tag the squints.">> It's a simple plan, and one she can get behind. Leaning back into original position, Jessika checks through the viewfinder of the targeting system to get a read on distance and to be prepared to fire her torpedos when she gets a solid lock.

Merek looks over when Ektor speaks, then he lifts his brow as they come in from the hyperspace. He notices some of the TIEs, as well as the transport. "Copy," he says with a husky drawl, while he takes a moment to check on the turrets. He then takes a shot at one of the TIEs, which is dodged. He seems to adjust for the next volley also.

Elrych can feel the Force flowing through him like spice through a drug addicts vains. "Ahhh... there it is..." And his movements are smooth and almost perfect as he locks s-foils and turns up his music. <<"Understood lead, moving in for Torp Lock...">> He switches firing modes and turns on his computer but he's look more for a feeling from his connection to the force over the technology.

Nova lets out a relieved breath as she slips back into realspace, exactly in the right place. <Eleven, starting attack pass as ordered,> she calls, centering the big freighter in her viewfinder and kicking in the thrust. <And leave it to you to be worrying about my pants instead of the mission, Ek,> she ripostes at the only Y-Wing in the sky.

She adjusts sensor range, taking a deep breath as she sees all those TIEs. "Watch out tail, Jammer... here we go!"

Blue smears into black space as they emerge. A couple deep breaths are needed to bring Tallie down but she is already studying the projections that Fiver puts up for her. A momma freighter and her escorts. Black One's orders come in within the first minute of their drop back into the black.

<<Black Five acknowledging Black One.>> Torpedo lock is made as the squadron converges on their target.

Watchign as the others are going after the freighters, << I will cover you guys, take it out quickly.>> he says to the squadron as he breaks and pours power into the engines of his T-85. The X-Wing races towards the incoming TIEs, coming in at an angle, "Alright Spark paint all eight TIES, we need to buy the others time." He says and he glances at his sensors seeing that all of Black Squadron is whole, he grins a bit. It's ben a while since Karas has been a little reckless.

Settling back in his seat, Karas watches his threat display and with precision, he deftly flies his fighter getting within range he fires off a quad burst of lasers at the lead TIE though he watches as they miss. Pulling back on the stick he climbs and rolls as he does he takes two hits knocking down his shields. "Kriff, get those shields back up Spark!" He calls to his droid.

Gold 1 draws a pair of TIE pursuers, as Ektor guides the bomber in its approach. "See, Spooky- these Hutt-suckers fly pretty good? But they ain't never seen a wishbone do this- hang on, yeah?" The Y-wing maneuvers out of the firing lanes in a deceptively graceful and irregular series of jukes. None of the shots from TIE or turret come close. Of course it also makes shooting hell for his gunner, but.. "See, MOST bomber jockeys just fly straight in and trust their shields, yeah? But I figure, what the rekk? Let's make em feel stupid while we do it, yeah?"

<<"Black Leader has an angle on the big craft. I'm taking it. -- Torpedoes away!">> Two, pinkish-purple torpedoes emerge from the lead X-Wing just before it angles away sharply, expertly avoiding fire from both a stationary turret and an agile fighter. Poe twists his craft into a short spin, then slams the throttle forward, increasing his speed enough that he is planted firmly against the back of his seat. "Hang on, buddy!"

Miri gets rocked by a pair of good hits, knocking out her shields. Henibi gets to work on that while Miri goes in to take out another turret. No sass. Only business. <<Another turret down!>>

Racing in on Black Leader's proverbial six, Jessika keeps checking between the actual display of the ship out of her cockpit's viewport and the virtual one represented in her targeting computer. The numbers are rapidly ticking down, the activity on the screen is getting more fervant, and Jessika can feel the familiar thump of a rapid heartbeat triggered by the anticipation of the attack. Black Leader makes his run and so does Black Eight. She follows in behind them, tone blaring, and flicks up the housing hiding the button on her flightstick meant for releasing ordinance. <<"Black Three, torpedos away!">> Jamming the button, two of her craft's proton torpedos launch. Only one hits, and she finds herself cursing given how weak the shields look.

Her thumb switches to the comm toggle. <<"Black Leader, Black Three. Solid hit, one negative impact. Shields still holding, but they look weak!">>

Merek lifts up his target system, then he takes a moment to aim when the shields of the transport are taken care of. He then places his fingers to the controls to fire, ion blasts shifting in space to hit the ship, ionizing it also.

The computer is processing the Target as Elrych speeds closer towards their collective prey. That's when the hair on the back of his neck stands up. "Oh, hello. Come to play have we?" He saw the perusing TIE way before he even started firing thanks to his connection to The Force. He keeps his nose pointed at the target and simply spins wildly in a continuous barrel roll on his X-Axis, avoiding the shots. "WOOOOOOAHAHAHAH!" He's having far too much fun, but it had been a long while since he had a change to sit behind the controls of this superiority fighter.

The Targeting Computer starts beeping at him, so he brings his fighter level before sending his two purple fire coned shaped torps screaming with rage towards his Target. <<"Black Twelve, Torps Away.">> Solid hits, bringing down the shields, assisting Jess, and hitting a bit of the hull. Breaking off He then angles in on the new bogies Nova and him were ordered to engage after the run on the big ship.

<Yow! Watch out, Miri!> Nova yelps, seeing Miri's fighter getting stitched with fire. That's about when her own ship shakes under a volley of unfriendly fire. She winces and barrel-rolls, trying to confuse the pursuing TIE's aim while still staying on target.

Fortunately, Miri's already taking out the turret that's so hot to knock her out of space. And salvos of torpedoes are blasting away the shielding on that wallowing bulk freighter. Ion cannon fire is already reducing it to a floating swag chest. <Teamwork for the win!> Nova cheers. <Switching targets to that lively escort.>

Her hasty pass doesn't do a lot of damage, but the Gozanti's shields drop a little. She flashes past the ship, already pulling a Split-S to come around for another pass. Hopefully it'll keep those annoying TIEs guessing.

Suddenly the black silence of their trajectory blazes into a lurid swampy green. Tallie and Fiver float in the light for what seems like an eternity before they emerge with shields half down.

Fiver whistles his intention to begin repairs while Tallie concentrates on targeting the torpedos on the freighter. Orange light splashes on the young pilot's face as the targeting projection encircles the freighter. But another in the group destroys the shields completely on their main objective leaving it vulnerable.

<<Black Five switching targets>> Brackets stutter into position around one of the freighter escort's icon and she fires. Shields flare briefly before she pulls Black Five out into a turn.

The shields of his fighter is back up, not full strength but they are better than they were, weaving through laser fire as TIEs are now starting to focus on him. "Kriff....this never gets old." He smiles a little bit as he pushes the controls forward and his X-Wing rolls and dive evading more laser fire. Karas sees a flash as now he is coming in towards the Gozanti and he peels off to the left as the shields drop.

The volleys of torpedoes from Black Squadron smash through the shields of the *Star of Ranroon*, followed up by a crippling stream of ion cannon fire from the Y-wing. "See, the bigger ones are easier to hit," Ektor observes for his gunner, helpfully. "Real hush hush ace secret there, don't tell nobody, yeah?" In the course of his banter, one of the TIEs still in pursuit manages a light hit on the shields, causing Gold 1 to rock slightly and its pilot to chuckle. <<Switching target to Gozanti two. Hey Sunshine, Moonbeam: coming in hot on your six.>>

Poe's craft is rocked with a heavy hit, and this draws his attention away from the immediate mission. They were supposed to be hammering the escorts now, but Poe felt like this pilot needed some encouragement to go away.

Through a daring display of Ace flying, Poe spirals to his starboard and cuts the speed suddenly. The TIE pilot behind him has to bank away, and Poe shoves the throttle forward again with a grunt. Targeting systems begin to blare as he squeezes the trigger, his craft emitting four red bolts, though only two smash their shields. Poe continues to follow them, but his shots are not nearly as effective as his initial flurry. He growls.

<<"Keep the fight up, Black Squadron!">>

<<Don't worry, Moonbeam. I'm too cute to die>> Miri sings out, rolling to avoid fire from a TIE. Her head starts to swim from all of the tight maneuvering and she banks and takes slow breaths to get her head on straight.

Swinging off the pass at the larger vessel, Jessika sets course for the two flight groups of TIE fighters swarming the battlefield. <<"Black Four and Black Five, this is Black Three. Target priorities are fighters. Knock some out of the battle.">> Identifying the lead fighter out of the group her sensors have designated as Alpha Flight, Jessika adjusts course for the squint that's hunting her friends and allies in the void. She approaches fast, s-foils split and laser cannons primed for firing. Whether the pilot just doesn't notice or is doesn't care, she's got good position on them within moments. It's a position she uses to engage, and her cockpit lights up with the quartet of cannon fire spit in its direction. At almost the same moment she squeezes the trigger, the pilot seems to realize what's happening, and banks away so that their shields only take one hit.

Merek lifts up his fingers to the controls, positioning it so he can aim to one of the TIEs. As Pava takes a shot, he then lines up his ion cannons with the same target, the system firing solution managing to adjust, then he clicks the controls. Those bolts of the ion energy hit the shields of the TIE to bring them away also.

Elrych attracts another TIE, but the Jedi coursing with the power of The Force is far too fast, anticipating every shot and move from his would be assailant. He turns his sights towards the Projection, noticing Control weaponless and fleeing. Mercy was the name of the game of this Jedi. He angles in and lets scarlet fire rein down upon the already weakened shields of The Projection, weakening it even more. <<"Twelve on the remaining escort, Projection.">>

Black Eleven jolts and shakes under a volley of heavy laser fire. <Wish this bully thought the same of me, Miri,> she growls, bringing her sights down on the irritating Gozanti. Her strafing run peppers red lances of annihilation down its keel, badly reducing the shields but not getting through yet. < I think he'll need something stronger than lasers to do much good...>

Jammer, for his part, keeps up the fight in his own way, bringing shield levels back up. He also blats a complaint at Nova about actually dodging.

Nova bites back some strong language. "I don't see /you/ up here flying, smarty-chips..."

The whole squadron is taking hits. When Tallie takes her eyes off of the tactical displays to look out into the battlefield she winces as she sees shields flare green around her.

<<Copy that Black Two>> "Reorient Fiver to the second TIE group!" They flip upside down relative to the Escort named 'Projection'. Throttle forward, G's press her face into an involuntary grimace. As they barrel down on Alpha 2, three volleys from her lasers breaks their adversary into pieces. <<Splash Alpha 2>> she announces as they drop into a new trajectory to chase the other TIEs.

<<Copy that Black 2, breaking off to engage Beta Squadron.>> he says into his comms and as he rolls his fighter up and over another freighter, he comes up on the group of fighters from Beta Wing. He is rushing himself and his first volley of laser fire at the lead TIE, he misses. "Ease up Karas, this isn't you. Find your groove." He says to himself. Taking deep breaths a few times he pivots behind another enemy fighter though listening to the comms, his head perks up and his attention focuses. <<Black 3 watch your six, no getting it shot off. Join me so we can take on these TIEs.>> he calls to Miri as he squeezes off another volley of laser blasts hitting one of the TIEs. 'Finally, get your head back into the kriffing game Karas!'.

<<Here comes the boom,>> Ektor drawls, with an audible grin. "Hey, Spooky-cloak: if the Chief gets pissed at me when we get back, I need to to swear it was like this when we found it, yeah? Rules are made to be broken, and safety timers are just fancy rules, if you think about it..." A catastrophic cascade of proton toroedoes streak out of the Y-wing, slamming through the battered shields which the Black Squadron X-wings had torn into before him, and sending the second volley deep into the Gozanti's shell-like hull, where a series of secondary explosions tears the escort craft apart. A few escape pods launch, adding their automated distress beacons to the fog of static and scrambled transmissions of the Cron Drift.

The surviving enemy craft adopt evasive maneuvers and bank for escape when the Resistance Cr-90 corvette blinks in from its micro-jump, and locks tractor beams onto the crippled *Star of Ranroon*.

With the destruction of an escort, Poe recognizes that the remaining defenders are pulling away. Rather than chase them down for the kills, putting unnecessary risk to person and gear, Poe takes the win for what it is and closes his s-foils. He breaks off from an attack pattern and enters into a defensive position above their corvette. Shields are recovering and BB-8 is tracking the last skirmishes. <<"Once we have what we need, lock that ship into place and let's jump out of here.">> Poe is already putting in the jump coordinates.

Just like that, it's over. Jessika's leather glove is the only sound she makes in the cockpit for a moment, twisting as it does during the journey to flip her targeting computer back to standby so the arm near her head retracts. <<"Affirmative, Black Leader.">> Like their squadron leader, Jessika begins feeding in the necessary data to the navicomputer while her astromech takes care of the rest.

Merek listens to the comlink, then to Ektor, "I was watching the targeting, my apologies if you said anything," he says, which is an answer also to what he said as well. He then nods a bit while they plan to make their way to hyperspace, "Alright, well that was a thing," he adds.

<<"Understood, Lead.">> Death toll minimized, none of his own hurt too bad or at least enough to inflict bodily harm, Elrych follows suit and lets the escaping craft do exactly that. He brings his t-85 to a stop and starts going over the coordinates for their jump out with his new droid. <<"Hey guys, what should I name this droid. He's a real egghead ya know?">> He unvelcros a top pocket in his flight suit and pulls out a flask, taking a victory sip of Corellian whiskey. He tucks it away, not taking more than that, doctor said he needed to take it slow. He turns up his music and waits for the coordinates to finish coming through and the command to jump.

Nova blinks in astonishment as what was once a target suddenly becomes a massive fireball and a memory. <Remind me not to fly in front of you, Gold Leader,> she says, her tone wryly congratulatory. The appearance of their supporting Corvette moments later prompts a reevaluation of priorities for the Seinar forces.

Not that their breakoff is clean by any means. Nova rolls in on the tail of one of Tallie's formerly-persistent opponents, but the TIE is too slippery to hit. </Dammit/! Sorry, Tallie. That one's getting away,> Nova says apologetically. <Breaking off. Assuming escort position. Hopefully they won't stop running 'til they're back home hiding under their bunks!>

Once again the world turns green accompanied by red flashing lights and alarms announcing that they have lost all shields. Tallie pulls up hard out of the line of fire and banks to change the X-Wing's profile to the TIEs. Fiver beeps its dismay at the repair job awaiting it and sets to work.

"Hey, we are still in one piece count that as looking good. Not like that escort." <<Yo, Ektor>> she yells.

Squadron leader pulls them off the chase when the Corvette winks back into existence and begins its tow job.

<<Copy that Black Leader. On your six.>> she calls with a satisfied air apparent even through com static. "We need every little bit, Fiver."

Karas is still fighting, his X-Wing is dogging another TIE. The X-Wing lets loose another volley of laser bolts hitting a TIE and robbing it of all it's shields, though as it exits and break away, Karas hears the call to come back. He lets out a breath and breaks right, at the same time hitting the switch to close his S-Foils. << I will fly guard to make sure we don't get jumped.>> he calls back.

"You really gotta pay more attention to your pilot, Spooky-cloak. There is.. SO MUCH great drek you could learn from me. I'm a regular font of rekking wisdom, our some drek. Well- okay, maybe not *regular*, but still-" He switches the comms live, << I hear you, lead. And Moonbeam, I can't help it: you're faster than me, always end up staring at your engine wash, yeah? Oh, and are we using real names, now?>> he teases Tallie, with an audible smile.

The Resistance craft complete their assignment, with only a few more garbled sensor ghosts, ancient distress calls, and- for Black 12- a lingering sense of dread, and the crackle of a harsh feminine laugh over his comms.