Log:Resistance: Hyperspace Snare

Hyperspace Snare

OOC Date: October 26, 2018
Location: Omicron 097-C System
Participants: Calevaro, Ektor, Elrych Cometburn, Karas Darkwing, Poe Dameron, The Resistance

A string of unaligned freighters have gone missing in the hyperspace lanes between Sullust and the Tion Cluster, including several Resistance-friendly smugglers. All the ships were observed safely entering hyperspace, but roughly once a day a ship just.. vanishes. Clearly, some sinister trap awaits vessels making use of this back route into the Sullust system, and the Resistance has chosen the highly technical strategy of sending Black Squadron in to spring whatever trap awaits.

The fighters all entered hyperspace in formation, with courses charted to bring them out of hyperspace 0.1 parsecs outside of Sullust, so as to avoid the First Order ships in orbit. Perhaps it will be a boring, uneventful jaunt around the Outer Rim. Their navigation computers had been thoroughly scanned and cleared by Resistance Intel to ensure no bugs or latent programs had been inserted, and all that remained was to wait.

Ektor, renowned for his (lack of) patience has at least been mercifully quiet over channels, likely limiting himself to irritating Tenner.

Black Leader slows to normal space after the indicative beeping began in the cockpit. The swirling blue slowed and stretched until space came into view, and suddenly everything was not so bright. Poe's craft was the second to arrive in the system, its engine's red contrails glaring brightly as he pushed the accelerator to take him into a casual cruising speed. <<All call signs, this is Black Leader, check in and widen our formation. See if we can maximize our sensor range.>> Poe voice sounds slightly robotic over the comms, but it's clearly him.

The leap into hyperspace was always thrilling. The sudden roar of the engine, the rumble of the seats, and the astonishing view. Poe understood the science behind hyperspace, but seeing it in action made him wonder how many times people tested hyperspace theory before they got it right. Then he wondered how someone could supposedly perfect a method to pull ships from hyperspace entirely. Science and advances in technology like this were cutting edge and dangerous. Poe didn't understand why groups took such risks, but perhaps they found the rewards worth the effort. He, like Ektor, is pretty quiet while the craft jerks and rattles through hyperspace.

"No, we aren't there yet!" Calevaro says for the hundredth time since the trip started, rolling his eyes at the ship's only other occupant. He would look to his Astromech. "You are directly linked to the ship's computer.. Why don't you ask it instead of asking me?" Calevaro asks the droid. As the electronic noizes are translated by the ship's computer, Calevaro would simply close his eyes, another sigh escaping his lips. "One of these days, I swear, I'll reprogram you.." He would grin, despite his annoyance: This was Rocks's way of saying he cared. "Are all systems working as they should, buddy?" Calevaro asks the Astromech, nodding after it replies, Calevaro simply shrugs. "Good," He would simply look out the ship's view port for a moment, openly gazing at all the colors shown through the viewport. Hyperspace was, certainly, a beautiful thing.. Its for things like that that Calevaro was glad to be out here

Having jumped and keeping within formation, Karas had did quite a bit of reading for fights back in the days of the Rebellion. Figuring they could use some of the tactics for the fighter squadrons they used back then. Still he read about the Interdictors and that they were able to pull ships out of hyperspace. If that's the case he has a feeling that may be something that is happening, but still he will have to keep his eyes peeled.

Elrych Cometburn is snoozing and drooling, his shades making it look like he might be awake still. Soft Jizz plays in the cockpit of his X-wing. One this was sure, the aethersprite was way more comfortable.

It is the proximity alert which interrupts the boredom. Typically, the failsafe hauls ships out of hyperspace with at least a few seconds of reaction time to avert any collision, in the case of a rogue gravity well, whether it be an errant asteroid, irregular movement of a comet, or any other celestial body of sufficient size to interfere with vessels in hyperspace.

This is different. No sooner have the star streaks receded into the black void of space than a field of a dozen chunks of ice- each at least several hundred meters wide- loom ahead, threatening a collision.

<<Gakrifandagabad->> Ektor's initial commentary as Black 5 swerves abruptly out of the path of an oncoming space glacier is distinctly unhelpful.

Poe emerges from hyperspace with proximity alarms going off all around him. His shields are up, S-foils open, sensors on, and Poe was antsy. BB-8 sounds a cautious warble. "Yeah.. that /was/ a close one." Poe grimaces as small ice shards pepper his canopy, but his ship readout displayed green across the board. <<This is Black Leader.. is everyone okay?>>

Coming out of hyperspace, Karas hears the arms going off and he quickly get his shields put up. He isn't fast enough to evade the ice chunks fully and he sees his shields wink out after absorbing a lot of damage. Still cringing and rolling away, his ship takes a bit of damage and his shields wink out. "That was fun."

Calevaro's contemplation is broken as proximity alarms start to be heard around him. He has to react quickly: He quickly turns on his ship's shields. "What the.." He says as he sees a large piece of ice going straight for his craft. The shields save him, this time: The X-wing's shields shimmer as they are hit by the ice but Calevaro manages to bank the ship away from the ice. "This is black 10. I'm ok, moderate damage to shields," Calevaro reports over the comms. He releases a sigh of relief, glad his ship hasn't been turned into space dust.

Elrych Cometburn is a fucking savant but it's more probable that some jedi wizardry is at work. He jots out of his soumber before any alarms sound. "Baby... ready the shields." And then it happens. He takes his stick his other hand sliding onto the brace as he maneuvers around the ice obstacles. He engages his S-foils, locking them in attack position.

The squadron finds itself in the Omicron 097-C system; an unremarkable white dwarf system whose spreading halo of cooling gasses trail off of it like a colossal gaseous tail. Long ago having swallowed its terrestrial planets, only a single gas giant remains trailing the star, its gravity trapping tremendous rings of dust and ice in its orbit. All of it has been charted before, and none of the celestial phenomena explain this seemingly random cluster of space glaciers in their flight path. A scattering of small ice crystals rattles against the starfighters harmlessly, part of a spreading field of water particles which have not yet been drawn back into the system's gravity well; a pocket of ice in the hyperspace lane without any natural explanation.

Also, there are a pair of armed freighters near at hand. A TL-1800 and a YT-2000, both of which open fire on the Resistance starfighters after a moment's hesitation.

<< I'm good, yeah? Just gotta- KRIF,>> This is not among Ektor's more coherent days, as Black 5 belatedly sets its S-foils to attack position.

"I see them!" Poe yells over BB-8 with a sudden sense of urgency. He slaps the accelerator forward at once, spiraling forward just as massive bolts sail past him to collide with the ice around him. <<I'm engaging. Kick it into gear, Black Squadron!>> Poe leads straight into an attack, slamming a series of red bolts against the TL's shields, eliminating them in one pass and leaving the hull scorched. Poe's snubfighter glares past them, angling wide and setting up another pass.

"Roger, black leader, black leader preparing to engage," Calevaro's tone is calm over the comms. He flips a switch on the control panel, the S-foils opening with a wine, the sound being comforting to the pilot. Without being asked to, Rocks would go to work on recharging the shields. "Keep trying, buddy," Calevaro would smile fondly at his droid, before his attention is set on the enemies. With his s-foils open, Calevaro would push his throttle forward, his Fusial engines accelerating towards the enemy craft.

With all that’s going on, Karas tries to get his bearings but he is hit by the ion cannons of one of the freighters. He grunts in frustration as his systems go down. This doesn't mean he can be idle, he quickly begin working on getting things back up. With a few tweaks and system resets he is able to his engines back online, "Spark get the lead out, get the shields on." he says to her droid, though when they begin to power up they go out again.

Elrych Cometburn is no more fresh into scanning as Ektor is screaming over the comms and Poe is declaring bogies. He only has enough time to cycle to the YT as it shoots him hard. His shields taking a big hit. "Baby get on it." The droid whines about it being difficult. Elrych pushes the T85 into over drive and links his lasers all four striking fiery death into the CEC vessel. << “Shields down light damage... my shields took a hit.">>

The pirate light freighters, having snared a more dangerous prize than they had expected, bank and begin accelerating away from their own icy trap, looking for a hyperspace vector to make their escape. Turrets spitting as they go, the spacefaring predators have no intention of throwing down with Black Squadron.

Black Squadron, of course, has other ideas. <<Cannons live, going in,>> Ektor reports plainly, deftly avoiding a burst of turret fire, but having little effect with his own assault.

As Poe angles away, his ship is rocked hard from turret fire from one of the ships. He couldn't tell which one, but he understood it'd been a good hit. "You're up, pal. Work your magic!" Black Leader is seen chasing after the YT 2000, swooping across its bow to land another solid blow. <<Karas, talk to me, buddy.>> Poe isn't giving precise instructions this go round. Everyone seems to be contending with something. BB-8 announces that Poe's shields are climbing back up. Poe passes Elrych and angles back to set up another run.

Calevaro continues to accelerate. He sets his sights on the YT freighter, paying attention to his targeting solution. As his craft approaches, the YT fires, the shot missing Calevaro's X-wing by an inch. He sighs as he hears electronic noizes, quickly reading the translation on his computer. "I trust you, budy.. Keep trying to repair the damage," Calevaro tries to reassure his droid. He finally gets close enough to his target, his craft's four wings glowing as he sets the cannon to synchronised fire. The shot isn't perfect, the freighter only being hit by one of the cannons, its shield slightly dented. "Black leader," Calevaro starts over the comms. "If these pirates are anything like the ones we faced last time, they will probably attempt to flee if things go south for them.. If this happens, should we pursue?" He asks.

Elrych Cometburn is hammering this YT2000. Maybe that's because his own personal ship was one and he knew exactly what she was capable of. Baby updates him on the shields and he gives an encouragement to keep working on them. <<"Lead. Lets mop up this hunk of junk. Its almost dead,">>

Karas hasn't been just sitting around him and his droid has been making repairs as best as they can. Though once the engines were up, he corkscrews his fighter away from the fight so that he is able to get things back up. Spark isn't doing so hot right now, but now the shields have come up, still the air is getting thin, so he's already knowing what he has to get done next. "Hey buddy work on the Life Support." he says, "I will get the weapon systems back online."

<<Come on, new kid! What kinda question is that?>> Ektor scoffs over the channels to Calevaro's query. <<How can we blow them up if we don't pursue?>> For a moment, Black 5 is alone in pursuit of the TL 1800, making him the sole target of all the ire of its gunners, but the nimble X-wing weaves in and among the cannon blasts without harm. << I'm a switch to torpedoes, yeah? This thing's trying to bolt.>>

<<We pursue predators like this because they need a taste of their own medicine.>> Poe added on after Ektor's statement. Poe chuckles. Black Leader is coming about in time to see Elrych plant another series of shots against the YT. <<Roger that, 11. I'm coming in for another pass now. Jump up to Ektor if you can.>> Poe does as he promised and sinks all cannon shots into the YT, detonating a series of sub-systems along the upper hull that result in catastrophic failure. A moment later, after Black Leader is sailing away, the YT 2000 detonates and is reduced to scrap. <<Talk to me, Karas. Let us know you're alright. We've got you covered out here.>>

"Understood," Calevaro replies over the comms, nodding as the YT exploded. His attention would then turn to the other hostile freighter, Calevaro now pointing his X-wing towards the other threat. Even as he flies, he would open fire. The other pilot avoids most of his fire, except for two bursts that hit the freighter's shields.

Elrych Cometburn isn't so clairvoyanty with the other ship. He gets a lock but the other pilot is just a bit better. He pulls around for another pass, switching to torps. "Baby... I know the systems are different... you'll just have to keep working on it and get used to it."

"You got to be kidding me, seriously!" he grumbles as he thought he had the weapons back up and Spark was working with him. Growling a little, "Alright Spark, I will fly, you try to get the weapons back up." he says to his droid. Systems are powering back up, <<I'm good, weapons are still out, that damn ion cannon got me good.>> he says as he reorients himself. Settling himself down, the engines of the T-85 spark to life and he is now moving and streaking off towards the others, he could at least play decoy.

The larger pirate vessel is being piloted very ably. They have avoided any damage thus far, and gave grown tantalizingly close to escape, already the hyperdrive is spooling up when, by some mix of luck and skill, Ektor blind fires a linked pair of proton torpedoes that slam squarely into the well armed freighter, smashing through shields and vaporizing the dorsal armor plating and sensor array, setting off every alarm on the vessel. <<BOOM, baby,>> thr Tionese crows through clenched teeth. <<Somebody kill these Hutt suckers, yeah?>>

In the wake of the first explosive death, Poe has sped ahead to assist in the second. Ektor plants a pair of torpedoes that leaves them contemplating their purpose this run, and Poe leaves his mark by taking out their engines. The two veteran pilots (Ektor and Poe) criss cross with Ektor's hit landing first and Poe's being the subsequent. Poe angles away, swinging wide this time to watch. <<Mop it up, boys!>>

"What a blast!" Calevaro can't help but comment. He prepares his ship for his run, his wings glowing as his ship's lasers fire. He can't help but wince as he sees the breach start to form on the other vessel: Cables are snapped as it begins to break apart, the vessel wobbling through space as its rattled by Calevaro's fire.

As Karas is quickly racing to join the others, he toggles the switch for his S-Foils to open and they do. It's around that time that another system powers up and he grins, "Good going Spark!" he calls. <<Black 2 is back online and joining in.>> he calls into his comms to the others in his squadron. As he comes back, his X-Wing races, the T-85s can damn sure move and the black fighter does, once within range Karas locks onto the dead freighter and fires of rapid shots towards it.

Elrych Cometburn swings around and switches back to his lasers as he makes another pass on the last freighter, crippled and weak. His fire storm of laser bolts blasts heads on into the hull plating, secondary explosions following and debris ejecting.

<<There it is, kriff em up good, yeah?>> Ektor cackles as he veers around opposite Poe, as the flash of a detonating power core follows the strafing runs of the remaining X-wings. "Hey, Tenner.. do a long range scan, yeah? Were these losers just ..sitting out here the whole time?" A shrug and the passing idea is discarded. <<Good shooting, yeah? Somebody caught a bigger fish than they was expecting, yeah?>>