Log:Resistance: In Fair Veruna

Resistance: In Fair Veruna

OOC Date: August 10, 2019
Location: Sea of Veruna, Naboo Sector
Participants: Ektor, Jessika Pava, Callax Dalso, Tallissan Lintra, Merek, Zandra naMuriel, Elrych Cometburn, Lofty, Poe Dameron

Patrols of the Naboo System by both Resistance and Royal Naboo ships remain frequent, despite the relative peace that has settled over the sector. It has been over a month since the last outburst of violence in these spacelanes, but the defending forces remain vigilant, using the periods of peace to conduct numerous training flights. A line of freighters on slow approach to Theed, a trio of Victor Squadron N-1 Naboo starfighters patrol the civilian traffic, while Red and Blue Squadrons share patrol duty around the ships of the Resistance fleet, with Black Squadron on alert standby. A Y-wing training flight of Golds 1 and 6 is also underway.

Two bulk freighters have docked in space near the edges of the vibrant nebula known as the Sea of Veruna; a Xiytiar and a Corellian Action V. Similar meetings are not uncommon when a large ship is incapable of entering atmosphere, and nothing about the exchange seems amiss when Victor Squadron conducts a casual scan. <<A thousand tons of sea water being transferred. Will never understand who pays so much for that->> one Naboo pilot comments aloud, before being cut off. <<This is Victor Leader, we're receiving a distress call from the Xiytiar, reporting shots fired during freight transfer->> The two bulk freighters abruptly break docking seals, with the Action V (the *Long Wampa*) ignoring the order of Victor Leader to power down, instead blasting the Xiytiar at close range with batteries of heavy laser fire. <<Victor Leader requesting support from all craft able to respond->> the Naboo pilot broadcasts as the sleek trio of native fighters also come under turret fire.

A general alert is sounded on the Valor, triggering a reaction from those who were on duty to form a rapid response squadron. Poe Dameron is seen running from the bridge, down the corridor and finally up to the fighter pylons. "Let's go, buddy!"

In quick fashion, Black Leader launches from the Bunker Buster, its engines red and bright when compared against the backdrop of dark space. Poe brings the shields online, then triggers his comms. <<"This is Black Leader; all responding craft form on my wing and report in.">>

The alert goes off and Captain Jessika Pava, who makes a second home out of the flight deck and its associated areas, is quick to respond. Quickly moving to the pylon with her X-Wing, she's into the seat, strapped in, and helmet on as quick as she can fashion it. "Quick start the systems, priority on engines and shields. We'll let everything warm up on the way." She's speaking to her astromech in the back, and they work in tandem as Black Three launches from the Valor to follow Black Leader into combat. <<"This is Black Three, I'm on your starboard, Black Leader.">>

Scramble alert goes up in the pilot's quarters. There is a little grumbling from the pilots who just came back in but they are zipping under vests and running for the helmets in their racks. "Feet get moving," Tallie quips breathlessly as she runs for the X-Wing bay.

They launch in good order behind Black One. <<Black Five on your six and reporting.>>

Merek is with the patrol, as a Cadet he's looking to do his goals, while he maneuvers the X-Wing. Then it looks like there's a call for assistance, <<Red 6, coming to assist,>> he offers. He then forms up on Poe's wing also.

Black 12 Elrych was slacking and snoozing in the common area of the Yelsik when the alert came. He woke with a start at the alarms before stumbling towards the pilons with eggsy.Through some merical in yhe force he gets out in time to join yhe frey. <<"Black twelve... mostly here.">>

He had just returned to the Flurry, did Callax, when the alarms went up - already halfway out of the battle armor he wore on a civilian cruise, he still wears the bodyglove of the suit under the loose-fitting orange of his milspec flight suit. He and Fang are in Black Ten and out in the void toward the back of the sreadm of ships, thanks to this, but they are present and prepared for action.

<< Black Ten reporting, >> Callax speaks over battle coms as he brings the ship into line with his squadronmates. << Forming up and ready for combat. >>

Lofty the Talz is crammed inside the turret on Gold 1, getting some more flight hours on Ektor's dime. He had been slurping a Fizzy-Bip can through a straw during the lull in training, but now he is forced to pinch it between his knees and fire up the ion turret. "There is alert!" he says to Ektor up front.

Aboard the pair of venerable S-3 Y-wings, the less-than-venerable Ektor is directing a cadet through their paces. He had been attempting to convince the rookie to paint a friendly Resistance fighter with a torpedo lock as a prank, but the rookie was either too smart or too timid to be suckered in by the Tionese. <<Damn. I mean- uh, good! That was.. a test, yeah?>> Further messing with cadets must wait as distress calls and laser cannons erupt. <<Huh. Looks like the boring drek is on hold. Gold Squad, inbound. Gold Six, get on my back wing, but keep it loose.>> Over one shoulder, he informs Lofty, "Turret is live. Don't drop a can in my cockpit this time, yeah?"

In Blue 3, the A-wing on missile defense above the Warhammer, Po-Sre La'Durg holds her position and calls for the Renegade to launch more fighters to maintain Fleet perimeter, in order to free up the elite Black Squadron. The repeated attacks in past months have turned fleet defense into a finely oil-bathed machine. Po-Sre instructs Zandra, <<Alright, rookie: one A-wing always stays on cap defense and that's me. You fall in with Red Squadron, and *don't outrun your support*. The Force itself won't save you from the Chief if you wreck an A-wing today, so don't die.>>

Meanwhile, as the *Long Wampa* fires thrusters to maneuver away from the stricken Xiytiar, firing more cannonades as it goes, a half dozen modified fighters of mixed classes launch from the Action V's hold (Nimbus V-wing, Cloakshape, 2x Headhunters, Kimogila, and a Preybird).

Ektor winces as one of Victor Squadron is blasted into oblivion. <<One Hatpin down. Gonna tag the big one with a missile lock, that oughta get their attention, yeah? Let's get em!>>

Poe Dameron smirks. The feeling when your wing is with you right before a battle is something that can't quite be described, but it's a good feeling. <<"Gold Squadron, this is Black Leader. Follow me in. Everyone else, rekk these fighters.">> Poe makes it known that his targetting computer is locked with the Long Wampa because he's made that his priority target. His S-foils lock into attack position and he slaps the throttle for more speed. "Hang on back there!" BB-8's head begins to tip backward and it warbles a worried sound!

The chaos that has sent them out into the void is not a fully realized situation until they're well on the way. Intelligence reports from both the Valor and information feeds from her astromech finally paint a picture that Jessika can understand: two freighters docked, one got blown up after being invaded. Now fighters are launching into space, and Resistance forces are bearing down on the enemy targets on the heels of a Royal Starfighter Corps squadron. Ali reports one of Victor Squadron has gone down, and Jessika's leather glove groans under the pressure of her fingers squeezing tight around the flightstick before her. Her first urge is to tell the remaining fighters to back off, but she knows that's not a good idea.

<<"This is Black Three, engaging fighter support.">> Black Leader and the Y-Wings can go for bombing the big target. Jessika sets her sight on the maneuverable craft trying to support it. Getting in close, the Resistance pilot doesn't open her s-foils until the last possible second. Inertia throws her against her harness, and she cuts a sharp, banking turn towards one of the Headhunters. A spit salvo of red lances streaks out. Most will most the target. The one that was going to hit is avoided entirely. Cursing under her breath, she sets on a pursuit vector.

Black 12 El would have started a target lock on the freighter but when he is told to break off and attack the fighters he complies. "Taking care of the flies... on this head hunter" He easily vectors in on his target, hammering it with two of four cannons. He prepares to come back around.

Zan's eyes go wide, where she is, in Blue 2. Then there's Blue one telling her to fall in with red squadron, and - okay. Wait now, where, what? How? Deep breath, and the startled Zandra concentrates to get herself focussed. <<Roger that. Blue 2 falling in with Red Squadron. >> She's got to go catch up, and join in the party apparently. Red squadron - red. Where is red squadron in this mess anyway? Her hud shows her anyway, and she comments, "here we go," to the R2 unit she hasn't named yet. "You totally need a name, orphan." That somehow helps her concentrate, and she sounds calm as the A-Wing moves to join in with the other squad, speeding up, as she spies one of the enemy fighters there needing someone to shoot at. So she takes a shot which misses, but it's the first shot at target, and it also helps to settle her into this, hopefully, spinning her ship to come back for more.

The s-foils shift into position, while Merek speaks to his comlink, <<I'm on you, Sunshine,>> he says, then he lines up his cannons towards the cloakshape which he takes a few shots at, one striking lightly into the shields as well. He then switches the targeting system while he speaks to Gadget, "Alright, you keep on the shields buddy," he says.

<<Black 5 on the Cloakshape>> Tallie calls as targeting projections strobe orange light in the cockpit. She takes a wide port roll veering out of formation to target the Cloak. They vector for one another while behind them others in the squadron engage. Cannons lance into the black and flash red on her target. She can imagine the pilot watching his shields glow as three of the lasers hit. A snap roll leaves black space in place of her previous position.

"Lofty never spills!" he warbles back at Ektor as the ArMek SW-4 ion cannon turret comes online. He gives the pedals a couple of presses to loosen up the massive overhead turret, then presses one eye (out of four) to the target scope and spots a cloakshape fighter down the barrel. "Firing!" Blasts of bright blue ion cannon fire spit from the turret, impacting the fat cloakshape and draining its shields.

With the first native fighter going down and all sorts of nastiness emerging from the /Long Wampa/, the biggest danger is made clear as the transport spews energy from seemingly every pore; grimly does Callax grip Black Ten's reins, and steering the ship toward the great slab of durasteel. "Target lock on that awful wasp-hive, Fang darling," he calls to his droid through the ship's intercom. "And weather eye on the shields, please, I fully anticipate bad weather."

To the rest of the squadron Callax says, << Black Ten, reporting target lock on that transport. Torpedoes hot and on approach. >>

Both Y-wings are hammered by the dual heavy laser turrets of the *Long Wampa*, the lead wishbone taking an especially heavy hit. "Drek- Genius, balance that out, yeah?" Ektor orders the astromech, while guiding the light bomber on approach. "Now the fun begins-" he cackles, stating over the comms, <<Gold flight, bringing the pain. Torpedoes->> the comms cut out at the same moment his targeting computer had been about to register a lock. "What the- DREK," he curses harder. "The Hutt-suckers got a jammer running, I lost the targeting computer." Teeth gritting, he turns his head to get a visual read on the unfolding battle.

When the comms go out, Poe groans. "I know, BB-8. Find that stupid comms array and lock onto it. We're going to knock that huttsucker out." BB-8 does his part and outlines the portion of the ship they need to target. Now it's up to ace piloting and luck. "It always comes down to these moments.. hang on, pal!" Black Leader skims along the surface of Long Wampa, passing through the shields in a flying feat few pilots are even capable of. "Alright, we're in.. hang on." Poe has to eyeball it, and he squeezes his trigger, emitting four blasts but only one of the large bolts hits it. "Damn it!" Poe says, angling to the right and hugging close to the ship to manage another pass. He glances up to see if any of the others had followed.

Just as Jessika is coming about to re-engage the Headhunter she's been trading shots with, Ali gives a warning warble. It's not necessary, because Jessika can hear the static in her ears. The communications chatter from the rest of the Resistance pilots has died, and a quick look at her instruments tells her that a sensor jammer is blocking their frequencies. "Yes, I know we're being jammed!" While she may not be able to talk or get a lock on anything, Jessika can track the source of the emitter. She spies Black Leader going in with the same idea, and rather than race him, she slips in behind him. They hit the shield at a perpendicular angle and slip right through it, and Jessika's teeth grit as the surface of her fighter skirts the freighter.

It's a small, narrow window she has to react, but when the emitter array comes into view, she doesn't hesitate. She's ready for it. A squeeze on the trigger spits another salvo of fire from the tips of her laser cannons, and like Black Leader before her, Jessika manages a solid hit. A second even skims so close by that she physically hurts when it doesn't connect. "One more pass!" She doesn't even try keying up her communications toggle, but the emitter itself is carbon scored and sparking from the damage it's taken, marking it as the one to attack the next time around. She hopes someone else picks up the last hit. "Come on!"

The telltale screech of a jamming signal sets Tallie's on edge followed by dead silence. Worse. The silence is much worse in a way She has the last tactical positions and can see the shift in Black Leader's and Black 2's positions.

Tallie only knows what she would do. A fierce grimace pulls her lips back in a grin. Alright, two on the emitter, she can stay on the Cloakshape with a bankroll she moves on him strafing him but only hitting with one cannon. Could be worse and she zig zags off to reposition the X-85.

Merek looks to the screen while he takes a strike that manages to get into the shields, his ship rolling into a spin from it, then he does his best to adjust his position. "Alright," then targeting systems are offline. He looks to the droid with him, nodding, while Gadget works on the shields. He then takes a shot at the Preybird which was shooting towards his ship, managing to hit it as well. "Alright buddy," he says also.

Black 12 Elrych squits his eyes a bit as things go quiet... "Huh... hey this thing on?" No responce... the corellian shakes his head sucks in a breath and pulls around for another attempt at the famaged headhunter. "Oh you decided to wake up, huh?"

"All right, darling," calls Callax over Black Ten's intercom to Fang as he sees Poe and Pava make their daring run along the hull of the Long Wampa, "Brace your servoes. I'm going in."

These are words you should never say. The universe has a sense of humor.

And so Callax makes the dive, thumbs moving from the launcher trigger to those of the guns; but the flare of cannon fire stitching through space and concussions from laser blasts ringing off shields sees the pilot pulling down just a little too shallowly - he overshoots the shield envelope, barely managing to salvage the maneuver to turn into the start of a loop that will let him start over again. Careful, Icarus...

Zan comes around, and then is totally bewildered when everything goes quiet. "Wait, this - " It takes her a moment, but she figures out at least - "Jammer." Right then. "Okay Orphan, you keep us in one piece, I'm going to try to shoot that ship that we shot at before. And hope it's sort of the right thing to do. But space, it's big! And while Zan does shoot at the Cloakshape, it has no difficulty dodging her shots at all. "Just like in the sim," she grumbles. (repose)

Lofty is a victim of the sudden shuddering as laser fire strikes Gold 1's hull. Unfortunately, his can of Fizzy-Bip falls to the floor and starts leaking out with a fizzling hiss. "Poodoo!" the Talz curses. He turns Gold 1's topside turret around to target the Long Wampa and fires, impacting her shields.

The bombing run is a robust failure, as the Action V's heavy turrets rake both Y-wings, causing the rookie in Gold 6 to veer off target heavily damaged, and seek retreat back toward the Resistance fleet. Gold 1 is no less damaged, though as Ektor growls in frustration and wastes a pair of torpedoes in a long range, unguided shot, it is only through nerves and experience that ge keeps the light bomber from destruction. "Rekk, Sera's gonna be *pissed*," yet he still hears the clatter. Amidst a chaotic life and death battle, he prompts sharply of Lofty, "What was that? Did you just spill?? You SAID you never spill!"

Poe angles back around, making an approach for the ship again. "Shields to the front, BB-8, and hang on.. we're going back in!" Turret blasts flash by the view from Poe's cockpit as his craft dances nimbly between each. Successfully passing beneath the shields once more, he jerks the stick and weaves past a turret. His craft levels for a moment after, and Poe's eyes narrow. A firm squeeze of the trigger and the comm array goes up in flames. Black Leader spirals away from the larger ship. <<"WOOOHOO! Let's go, bomb this huttsucker.">> A gloved hand comes up to tap the private comm channel option on his dash. <<"Thanks for following me, Jess. Good flying.">> He flips the comms back to the Res encrytped and sets up for another pass.

There are multiple Resistance pilots moving in a loop to finish off the sensor jammer. Jessika banks off as soon as Poe destroys it, and is on the hunt for the Z-95 that had been pursuing her the entire time. It's not on her sensors anymore. She can only assume it was destroyed. There's still another Headhunter in the mix, though, and Jessika vectors for it. <<"Good shooting, Black Leader!">> Now that their communications are back online, might as well use it as an excuse to celebrate. Lining up her sights on the second Headhunter, she jukes and weaves to compensate for its evasive maneuvers in a complex ballet that's all about moving her closer and closer to a good shot. Once she has it? She takes it, and laser cannon fire chews through the ship.

<<"This is Black Three, splash one Headhunter.">>

Merek begins setting the targeting system on the ship which is shooting his, then he begins to prepare for another shot. Because the systems are only back on now, he doesn't manage to escape from the next cannon fire. It cleans through the shield as well as the hull even as he begins to initiate ejection. The blast from the ship waves through him and his droid while they escape, and blasts from the ship begin to scorch and sear his flightsuit as well as the pilot himself. There is only a shout from the comlink also.

Out of her starboard canopy window Tallie watches Poe dive back down towards the freighter in a heart stopping manoeuvre. The silence is suddenly broken by the crackle of all the ships emitting at once. "Drek, happy days. Look at that man go!"

The Cloak, the Cloak flies well, too well for just some amateur out to prove his worth. Another run at him has her side rolling and hitting those shields which flare nicely. She'll know on her next turn how badly. <<Great shot, Black Leader>> the grin can be heard in her voice.

Black 12 Elrych watches one headhunter slam into hull and explode and the Jess come in to finish off the one he haf been chasing. He turns his sights on yhe preybird, "Lets get a little payback for yhe Bad Day huh?" The first assult goes as horrible as usual

Executing a smooth roll up and over, Callax is back on the dive once more - and now that telemetry is clear once more, the pale pilot locks on target once more. "Right, and now prepare for more point-defense, Fang," he calls over the intercom before announcing to the formation, << Black Ten on another pass, torpedoes locked. >>

There's a bit more static and then the familiar sound of voices, and infinitesimally, Zandra relaxes. She probably didn't even know she was tense. The flash of fire near catches Orphan's attention (until she gets a better name) and the blurpbleepwarble warns Zan as the comms come back and she jukes her Awing just in time to the side. She is still targetting the Cloakshape, but the compliments to Black Leader bring a smile if not a comment. Right at the moment, Zan's doing as much as she can to point and shoot. And fly. It's a starting point. She catches the Cloakshape in her sights and lets loose, firing and scoring a couple hits on the shields, collapsing them. Zan then zigs down and to the right, banking to come around again.

Lofty splutters as the contents of his fizzypop can bleed onto the titanium-reinforced flooring of their shared cockpit. "There barely nothing left in the can! No big deal!" He continues to blaze away with the ion cannons at the Action VI which has nearly ended their life on two occasions. "Hurry up, kill it before it kill us!"

"WRONG, Fluffy. It's a very big deal!" Ektor complains back at his gunner, the shouted words a mix of irritation and manic laughter, as a cascade of sparks sprays up from a fried power conduit in the light bomber's port console. "Hahahaaa, you got ANY idea how hard its gonna be to get cooked glug off the floor of a wrecked bird? I ain't gonna die with fizzyglug on my damn flight boots, yeah??" Gold 1 weaves through the defensive fire and Ektor's smile sharpens when the tone of a successful missile lock sounds.

Poe hasn't finished with the fight yet, but he knows that without Gold Squadron, or everyone focusing fire on the freighter, they have no chance of knocking those shields down and spacing it. He angles toward the fleeing fighters, targeting the preybird. With speed matched, Poe tilts his head. "Sorry pal, you should've stayed home."

He opens fire, red lances emitting from the charged tips of his fighter's cannons. The fighter's shield collapses, and the final volley chews into the fuselage triggering a sudden explosion that consumes the craft. <<"Black Leader here, splash one!">> He pulls away then.

Refusing to let the targets run without a fight, Jessika sweeps her fighter towards the V-Wing. The pilot is making panicked movements that are hard to predict, and it's some sense of providence that means when she finally gets a solid opening at the fightercraft, her laser cannon fire zips through nothing but space. She's not sure if it's a wild jerk of the hand or something else entirely, but the V-Wing banks at the exact right moment to snap out of her line of fire, ensuring that the craft survives and continues to drive forward. It's a dance the craft continues, further going on to sweep out of the way of other concntrated groups of fire from the other Resistance fighters determined to eliminate as many of the enemy as possible.

A set of some of the more experienced pilots they have come against for a while, suspiciously good. FO good. Tallie is on the Cloak's tail hoping to give it a lasting memory. Firing as she zeros in on its tail, the Cloak returns fire that has her jinking for all her worth. The rookie Zan gives him a kiss that he'll remember. <Pulling off, Black Leader> she reports and begins a long turn to bring her back to the group.

Lots of daring heroics out today, and the enemy is apparently /crazy/ good -- but Callax's focus is on that lumbering beehive of plasmatic death that is the /Long Wampa/ right now. << Target acquired and locked, >> he calls over the squadron frequency. << Torpedoes away! >> From the nose of his fighter the warheads streak like pale blue stars, slamming into the hauler's shields and lighting up a wide swath of its deflector bubble with Cherenkov radiation as the torpedoes' energy wildly test the generators' ability to ablate impact. << Solid hit, shields reading red. Coming around for another pass... >>

Banking away, Callax loads the tubes with its last load of torpedoes - and wondering, just about now, how his latest acquisition might have fared with the lumbering hulk.

Zan is tag teaming with Tallie, as they each target that Cloakshape. Perhaps dodging Tallie's attack brings the foe into Zan's? In any event, Zan manages to spray fire at the Cloakshape and hit it again. With a deep breath, she takes a moment to see what happens, but then hears the comments of pulling off. <<Blue two, pulling back,>> she echoes, trying to do what she's supposed to. Uhm, right, now where was she before all this started? Right - over there with Po-Sre La'Durg learning what it is A-wings do. Zan starts back that way, automatically.

Lofty gets a few of the aforementioned sparks in his fur. The sizzle and smell of burnt hair fills Gold 1's cockpit. "Lofty sick of this ship!" He rakes the Long Wampa with bright blue ion fire as Ektor fires torpedoes. But it may well get away despite their efforts.

"I smell something burning," Ektor mutters with narrowed eyes. "It BETTER not be your glug getting cooked into the floorboards-" as if literally anything else in a spaceship burning would not be worse. <<Gold Last, torpedoes away->> off comms, he tells the astromech, "Genius, disable the safety- what you mean you *can't*? So what if the reload mechanism is burned out- oh." A sharp laugh, "Lofty, don't talk like that- you'll hurt the bird's feelings, yeah?"

The Cloakshape, having dueled with several of the Resistance's best, is blasted to the very edge of detonation by the combined barrage of laser fire, one wing blasted wholly off, and blood visibly splattering the inside of the canopy as the mangled old fighter spirals uncontrolled through space.

The final pair of fighters- the V-wing and the Kimogila- leap into hyperspace mere moments after the heavily damaged *Long Wampa* limps into the safety of hyperspace. Recovery shuttles launch from the Renegade, as the all-clear is finally given, the bloody skirmish finally finished.