Log:Resistance: Lead the Charge

Lead The Charge

OOC Date: May 25, 2018
Location: Wobani
Participants: Gren Delede, David Ironside, Ektor-Xer Apollyon, Jessika Pava, Karas Darkwing, Ambrosia Greystorm, The Resistance

Wobani. A system controlled by the First Order and used in part to house prisoners of war, and others that the evil regime have labelled as enemies of the state. The kind of people that the Resistance is keen to get to know, truth be told. Their a transport train somewhere down on the surface with prisoners aboard to be liberated. That is not the immediate concern.

The immediate concern would be the pair of Nebulon-K frigates, their fighter detachements, and TIEs patrolling from the garrison below. These are the concern of the Renegade, Flurry, and their combined fighter complement.

The pair of capital ships blink into the solar system without ceremony, and their well-drilled crews get to work, finishing preparations for the pending engagement.

"All hands to battlestations..." Gren finishes repeating over the intercom aboard the Renegade, and then reaches down to punch a button on his chair's left arm. <<Flurry, maintain formation on our six, and pitch in whatever firepower you can manage...I'll give the word, when its time to launch your transports.>> A deep breath is taken, and the man looks fixedly at the sensor readouts that have begun to be transmitted to his command console's display. "Helm, lay in a course for the Neb-K formation. Guns, prepare anti-fighter firing solutions for our defensive batteries, and keep them up to date, as we close." Another breath, and he lifts his handset. <<All fighters, launch...prepare to engage the enemy. Good shooting.>>

The enemy is coming out to meet the encroaching Resistance fleet. The Nebulon-Ks light fighter detachment forming up with the patrolling garrison starfighters, and plotting an intercept course on Renegade.

David Ironside is one of the first in the air, leading Gold Squadron with the R2 unit known as Ones. <<We're on it, Renegade. There's absolutely no way this could possibly blow up in our faces, right?>> The fighter accelerates to intercept speed immediately. <<Gold Squadron, report in. >> he calls immediately, the sleek fighter a stark contrast to the dour, muddy planet below.

Ektor chimes in, <<Green Two, in the black and on the move,>> as his Y-wing angles toward the oncoming First Order fighters. "Shelds double front for the opening joust, then stabilize rear shields after, yeah Tenner?" he drawls lazily to the R2 unit.

Lined up on the deck, Jessika waits for the fighters ahead of her to launch before opening the throttle up. There's a lurch, and then the interior of the Renegade is speeding by in a blur. Lights flash, gray streaks, and there's a lot of shaking as artificial gravity exerts its forces on her fighter. Then, in a moment, void. Darkness all around, and a smooth, strange sensation of gliding. "Mind yourself back there, Case." Jessika murmurs to the droid.

<<Gold Two, standing by.>>

Either this is going to score some valuable allies or take a disasterous turn and render the crammed troop transport a smoldering mess, scattered along the rail route. Ya know, assuming they make it that far. The entry phase of this operation is entirely out of her ground-pounding hands, and that does not sit easy with Greystorm. Never does. She's triple-checked the roster of her loaded team, but while they sit in their seats ready to get launched into space (one way or another) the Brig Gen is pacing little circles outside the hatch, tuned in to a couple comm frequencies to keep tabs in what tiny way she can. (And that's it from me till you Navy peeps do your thang)

When the call for all hands to report, Karas was rushing off to his fighter. Quickly climbing the ladder and dropping into the cockpit of his A-Wing. The canopy slides him and locks in, the engines begin whining as Karas begins pre-flight and soon his hands quickly reaches for the controls and the A-Wings lifts up on it's repulsers and the A-Wing takes off. Karas is pushed back into his seat as he guides his fighter to catch up with the others, <<Blue Leader, standing by.>> he calls.

The time to engagement is brief, as Renegade and Flurry run at full speed toward the First Order fleet. Renegade's turbolaser and laser batteries begin to spit fire, and the large ship hums with the massive amounts of power being pumped into her weapon and shield systems. Ranging fire from the Nebulons' turbolaser batteries begin to wash over the pair of Resistance capital ships, lighting up their shields.

"That's a solid hit! Nice shooting, Guns!" Renegade's own guns impact the lead Nebulon K, causing the target's shields to glow, but at this range, damage continues to be minimals. Anti-fighter laser batteries do their job with mixed results, scaring off a few TIEs beginning attack runs, but do little damage. The majority of the TIEs are intercepting the Rebel fighters, of course. They come screaming in, shooting pairs of green laser bolts.

"Ones, did it just get darker, or is that just all those TIEs over there?" David glances at his systems, getting a fix on a cluster of TIEs. About to fire, the Renegade seems to make them reconsider. <<Gold Leader to Gold Squadron. Going after those TIEs that broke off.>> he tells the others. The TIEs do seem to know he's on them, the swiveling turret underneath the cockpit sphere turning to return fire, getting a couple of good hits in. "Ones, tell me the shields aren't down already?" The pilot swivels between the two TIEs, dodging the lasers effectively after mostly losing the shields. Finally squeezing the trigger, David manages to take out the first TIE immediately, the solar panels flying off in opposite directions as the cockpit explodes. Still giving chase, David flies through the explosion, hot on the heels of another TIE. Another squeeze of the trigger sends the swivel gun flying, giving Dave time to place another shot between the cockpit and one of the solar panels. The second TIE spins out of control, eventually losing altitude and exploding against the planet's surface. <<Scratch two.>> David reports to command.

Ektor's Y-wing flies toward the fight with the whisper of full blast ion drives. The light bomber jukes and corrects immediately upon reaching cannon range; he does it every time, but these opponents haven't seen it before, and Green Two weaves between emerald lances harmlessly, letting loose with a volley of his own cannons to little effect. "Xantious, you awake back there?" he gripes to his gunner.

<<Gold Two acknowledges.>> Keeping her communications chatter succinct, Jessika banks her fighter in pursuit of Gold Leader. As the TIEs begin swarming, she fixates her targeting reticle on one of the squints blitzing through the void. A squeeze of her yolk's trigger spits fire, and the impact of one of the bright lances grazes the top of one of the TIE's wings off. Jessika adjusts speed and jukes her fighter behind it.

With the group of Resistance fighters streaking in to intercepting the enemy forces, a white and blue A-Wing flashes forward. Weaving in and out of laser fire, the fighters speed allows it to get in close with the TIES. Manipulating the controls of the A-Wing Karas sees a TIE breaking away from it's run on the Renegade and he slips his fighter in on it's tail and begins firing. Not allowing the enemy TIE to break away, red blasts of laser chews up the right solar panel wing. Not destroyed, the A-Wing keeps on it's tail.

Renegade's pilot was chosen for a reason, and she proves it. The Rebel Assault Frigate isn't nimble, but it manages to dance as the distance closes to the Nebulon Ks. The pilot manages to keep the strongest shields facing the enemy at all times, dispersing the potential across undamaged portions of the defensive bubble, keeping the flagship safe. Flurry's pilot isn't as talented, and the lighter capital ship's strong shields take a beating, shaking the carrier ship, and tossing her crew(and the troopers snug aboard their transports) around.

Renegade's gunners continue tradition, as her heavy turbolasers begin to tear away at the lead First Order frigate's shields, with a follow-up salvo punching a hole, and rending the target's hull, spilling oxygen and crew into the void from a hole just aft of the bridge pod. Her laser cannons aren't so accurate....nor are the Admiral's attempts at plotting anti-starfighter solutions of his own. "Bloody hell..." He murmurs, before lifting his voice for the rest of the Bridge. "Keep it up, people! At this rate, we'll have them wrecked in no time!"

TIE fighter formations continue to swarm the Resistance snubfighters, though their numbers have been thinned by the combined might of the fleet. From the surface, sensor contacts indicate that a squadron or so is incoming.

The lead N-1 swings around in a wide arc, dodging laser fire of any and every kind. Briefly going straight up, David pulls back the stick, nosediving the craft back into the fight. "Ones, see if there's anything.. anything at all you can do about those shields. We're not gonna make it out on 2%. " Dave tells the droid with an eye on the status display. Pushing the throttle forward, Dave pushes through the furball at full speed, finding a TIE out of the many and letting loose with a barrage of green laser fire. <<Confirmed hit, that's another TIE crippled.>> Dave calls as he pulls back the throttle to stick on said crippled TIE.

"Switching primary fire to torpedoes, try and hit something back there, yeah?" Ektor mutters to his newest gunner, flicking the 'ordnance' controls live, and maneuvering for a quick target lock. The ship rocks with impact provoking a curse from the pilot, "Drek. Shields down- Tenner, get on that, and Umyn: keep that Hutt-sucker off of me for a second!"

Maintaining her predatory position behind the TIE whose wing she'd clipped, Jessika follows him through his attempted defensive maneuvers without losing him. Enemy fire fills the void around her, but the nimble, gold fighter zips through it. The TIE goes to juke left, but Jessika is already there, and a squeeze of her finger sends both pulses of fire from her fighter straight into the enemy pilot's craft. Superheated tibanna gas melts through its hull and forces it to erupt in a shower of spinning debris and stardust.

<<Gold Two, scratch one.>> Jessika banks around to find another TIE to engage.

The dance that pilots do with their aircraft is a deadly and high stakes on, Karas is pushing the A -Wing hard and as the TIE pilot tries to loose him, Karas is able to mini-late the controls to his fighter to keep on his enemies tail. Lining up a shot, Karas presses down on the trigger, but the shots miss as the TIE rolls and dives away. Karas curses as he misses with the shots, he still keeps on the fighter not allowing it to have any room to breath.

Renegade and Flurry's pilots are both working in concert, maintaining their close formation, and overlapping their defensive capabilities...and it shows. The First Order capital ship-sized weapons continue to hit strong points in the shielding, and do little more than incidental damage.

Red Squadron's ARC-170s and Z95 Headhunters are in the thick of the dogfight, as they continue to try to clear a path to the objective. Snap Wexley leads the way, crippled a TIE fighter while his squadron is less sucessful in their efforts. Red Four, flown by a rookie pilot, ceases to exist as a whole starfighter. A pair of TIE fighers were on its six, and despite the tail gunner doing her best, the heavy starfighter's just not nimble enough. The pilot just wasn't good enough. Hopefully SAR is able to rescue the crew...but it isn't likely.

On Renegade's bridge, Gren has stood from his chair, and walked over to the study the console where the senior gunnery officer is doing their job. He thumps the man on the back, as the gun crews execute a particularly damaging firing solution. Renegade's heavy turbolasers walk a barrage up the spine of the damaged Nebulon-B as the RAF passes the lead First Order ship. Hull plating is vaporized, power conduits explode, and weapon emplacements are melted with the many impacts. The target isn't dead, but its hurting badly.

Ektor guides the light bomber through the dogfight with a deft hand, needling his poor gunner through the spiralling turn, "See, Umyn... this- is why.. no one likes you." Ektor makes the old warhorse prance like a showpony, Tenner restores shields with a long suffering warble and Green Two is whole and fighting, though the maneuvers result in no dead TIEs.

<<Renegade, we just lost Red Four.>> David reports, seeing the ARC-170 go down. He focuses on the TIE in front of him, blaster bolts gradually chipping away at the hull. Finally, a fire starts on the rear, spreading from one engine to the other before the whole rear of the fighter gives out, sending the TIE straight down out of its flight path into the mud. <<Scratch one more. Gold Squadron, how are we doing?>> David calls into the comms as he banks the fighter to find another target.

Speeding towards one of the other fighters, a TIE attempts to dive strafe her. Jessika sweeps and rolls around the engine-screeching craft, and lines up on the fighter she was originally targeting. Another burst of fire splashes across the TIE she's gunning for, leaving visible scorch marks and hull scoring across its centralized cockpit. <<Flying right now.>>

Rolling left and climbing, Blue Leader A-Wing races after the damaged TIE as smoke trails from the left wing. The enemy TIE isn't able to shakes off the Resistance A-Wing, Karas pushes the controls forward and as the TIE sees an exit vector to escape, Karas fires. Red darts of destruction stitch up alongside the middle of the cockpit blowing the TIE apart. The A-Wing banks away from the explosion to go chasing down another fighter, <<Alright, where do we have the most resistance?>> he calls into his comms to get a strep.

Renegade's guns continue to smash in to the First Order frigates, while managing to avoid more than cosmetic damage....and Flurry's own meager weapons systems are able to pick away at TIE fighters wheeling about. The Resistance Navy is making it look easy, as the engagement closes to point blank range. The forward turbolasers begin to slam hard into the shields of the second Neb-K, and the aft guns continue to pound the crippled lead vessel as it passes. A final bright light fills the void, and a shockwave buffets any starfighters that happen to be engaged in the immediate vicinty. The dying First Order capital ship's reactor has gone critical.

A brief cheer goes up on the bridge of the Renegade, causing Admiral Delede to stifle a grin. He forces a stern visage, and lifts his voice. "Easy, people. Act like you've been here before. We've still got hostiles to deal with." The reported loss of Red Four causes his frown to become rather more real. "Bombers, sir! They're incoming from the surface! I count six." From crew pit, a shouted report of incoming danger.

<<Gold, Green, and Blue squadrons. Divert to intercept incoming TIE bombers. Red will continue to engage the eyeballs.>> Orders from Renegade crackle across the starfighter tactical band.

<<Copy that, Gold Squadron diverting to intercept bombers.>> David replies to the new orders, forwarding them to the others in his squadron. The fighter pulls out of the original furball, moving to intercept the bombers coming from a base on the surface. << If we hurry we might catch some of them unawares. Full speed. >> he instructs and immediately carries out his own command. The targeting computer beeps, and beeps, and beeps, then quickens into a single tone, at which Dave pulls the trigger, striking the lead bomber in the ordnance pod, causing the entire vehicle to immediately vaporize. Passing the fighter through the dust-like debris, Dave reports <<Scratch one bomber, Renegade.>>

Umyn Xantious, unfortunate gunner of Green 2 complains, "Stop yelling at me!" as he blasts ineffectively away with the ion turret. Ektor yells back, "Then hit something, already!" The directive from the Renegade gets a prompt, <<Green Two, intercepting.>> The nice thing about enemy bombers is their slow, straight approach; a missile lock is easily achieved, even as Ektor swoops in and among the ongoing dogfight to line up a clean shot, loosing a bolt of blue proton death at the second bomber in line, consuming it with a torpedo hit that utterly consumes the dupe. <<Yeah, I don't think he's getting up from that one.>>

Immediately breaking off at Renegade Leader's updated tactical orders, Jessika veers off the damaged TIE and feeds her craft a burst of speed to send it streaking through the void. She's not flying straight, but she is maneuvering with as little vector change as possible in adherence to the idea that the fastest way from point A to point B is a straight line. As soon as she gets within firing range of one of the bombers from the side, Jessika depresses the triggers on the back of her dual controls. One shot zips by close, without hitting, but one leaves a solid impact against the bomber's wing.

Hearing the report that there are six incoming bombers from the surface are moving in. <<Blue Squadron diverting.>> Karas says as he breaks from the Eyeballs and goes after the Bombers. Pushing the throttle to MAX, the white and blue A-Wing rockets forward, faint blue energy can be seen coming from the engine nacelles of the Interceptor. Laser fire is raining in from everywhere, but still the A-Wing is piercing through the void of space to meet the new threat. The A-Wing manuvers into position and as one of the bombers is targeted and as the targeting reticle goes red, laser fire rapidly hits the bomber destroying it, <<Scratch another bomber.>>

"Three of the bombers have been knocked down, Admiral! We've got warheads incoming from the rest, sir." The sensor officer reports from his station, placing his hands on either side of it, and bracing.

"Helm, keep our strongest shields between us and the bombers. Guns, don't slack off, now. Focus fire on that last frigate!" Gren's voice is lifted, carrying over the general din of a bridge in the midst of combat. He braces himself as best he can, and a few moments later, the Renegade shudders. A number of warheads slam into her shields, and a few slip through and impact her hull. Externally, the damage doesn't look so bad, though a handful of laser mountings appear to have been demolished, and hull breaches stream oxygen into the void.

The turbolaser exchange between the fleets continues to go the way of the heavier Resistance force , though. The second Nebulon-Ks shields are already showing signs of heavy punishment, with lasers creasing her hull, here and there.

Captain Wexley and Red Squadron continue to mix it up with the eyeballs, and vape another few, and take some damage in the exchange, though no more Red ships explode.

<<Gold Leader. Halfway through the bombers, coming around to make sure they don't get another run at the Renegade.>> The strike on the first bomber went pretty well, so the moment Dave positions his fighter behind the next one, he targets the same pod. Letting loose with the laser fire, several bolts hit the target, though no explosion follows. The TIE Bomber emits thick black smoke from the rear, but is definitely still flying. David pulls back on the stick, forced to pull away at the N-1s current speed. <<Gold 2, finish that one off, it's barely keeping in the air.>>

<<Negative, Gold Leader.>> Jessika's reply is short as she continues her run at the bomber she's been engaging. A squeeze of one trigger sees a solid strike that detonates the bomber's payload and triggers a shockwave of debris spreading out in all directions. She quickly rolls and maneuvers to the left, so she's lined up on another one of the bomber's. Another squeeze sends a second shot boiling straight into that bomber's payload, too, and the successive chain leaves an even bigger cloud of space junk drifting in the cold.

<<Renegade Leader, Gold Two. Two more scratches off your bogey card. One more for a free drink at the bar.>> Her quips are interrupted by the warning lights flashing urgently on her console and a hard shudder from her fighter. Jessika sharply turns her fighter in an attempt to shake the craft on her six. 'Shields down. The tail fuselage has sustained damage.' The bleeps and wharbles leave Jessika cursing under her breath. "Do what you can about it, Case."

Jinking left and right, the bombers do fire upon Blue Leader, still Karas is able to control the fighter moving it how he wants to. The HUD on the A-Wing dances about trying to lock onto the bomber, still Karas keeps control of his fighter and as he closes in, the targeting reticle goes red indicating a lock on. The trigger on the control stick is pulled back and red lances of energy streak towards the incoming bomber, the shots blow off both wings and then into the central cockpit of the bomber destroying the bomber completely. <<Scratch the last bomber.>> Karas calls as he banks away and forms up with the other Resistance Fighters.

The Resistance capital ships' pilots continue to do their jobs, and the large vessels manuever so that their weakening shields continue to absorb firepower rather than the now-damaged hull. Damage reports are being shouted out across the bridge. "Hull breaches on the engineering deck! DamCon teams are en route!" Gren's hand snaps around toward the voice that's reporting, but it seems like the crew has it handled, so he focuses on the tactical situation. With the last Nebulon-K under fire, and the TIE fighters mostly handled....he squares his jaw. "Send word to Flurry. Launch the transports....let's finish this." The warships continue to exchange heavy fire.

<<All fighters, prepare to take up assigned positions, and escort the transports to their objective. Red Squadron will remain on station to cover the fleet.>>

<<Gold Leader. Copy that, coming around to escort.>> David replies immediately to the command. The fighter spins around gracefully, the twin engines burning brightly, back through the furball. Opportunities just happen, and Dave lets loose a stream of emerald laser fire on a passing TIE. The damage isn't critical, but it doesn't matter much in the grand scheme of things, as the assault allows Dave to pass unharmed through the clump of TIE Fighters and onwards to the Renegade.

<<Niiice shooting, yeah?>> Ektor commends his fellows who mop up the last trio of bombers. Hearing the rally round for escort duty, Green 2 banks back toward the Flurry, flying straight and stubborn and taking a hard hit for it. Xantious yells with alarm that shields are gone and hull damage is showing. "Yeah, yeah, shut up," Ektor drawls back, focusing on establishing another missile lock, and obliterating a damaged TIE. "You know what, Umyn? Just- just there and think about what you've done, yeah?" <<One more down on the way to escort. Oh, and I got hit a lil bit.>>

Banking out of the debris left behind by the bombers, new orders relayed by Renegade Leader have her turning towards the fray. She comes face to face with a pair of TIEs bearing down on her hard. In a brief moment like this, a rookie pilot might choke up. Jessika doesn't. Growling in her throat, she forces her fighter to dip in a narrow dive that allows the TIE's fire to zip past her tail.

That narrow, potentially life-saving dip is corrected after a split second, and Jessika's nose rises back up at the TIEs. Her own starfighter returns fire, and the hopeful TIEs seeking to take advantage of her damaged state are instead treated to their own deaths as they quickly go from having an advantage to evaporating as payback for their hubris.

'Some of the shields have been repaired.' Jessika files that note away in her mind. <<Gold Two acknowledges.>> Just like the rest of the squadrons aside from Red, Jess speeds off back towards the Flurry to take up escort position around the military transports. She gazes to the side, out where fighters are swarming all over each other, and a clench in her stomach leaves her feeling nauseous. Knowing Snap and Nien are there, fighting for their lives, makes her hand itch with the desire to swing off and join them. "Good luck, boys."

Getting her head back into the game, Jessika focuses on the task at hand. "Nice work on the shields , Case."

It's chaotic, but still the battle rages, Karas sees the battle with the frigates still raging. Checking his sensor data, there are multiple boogies so it's time to get back into the fray, dialing down the inertia compensator, Karas feels the rush of the g's pressing him into the pilots couch, though it's not enough to black him out.

Rolling through incoming laser fire, the A-Wing comes across a TIE attempting to make a pass at one of Red Squadrons Arc-170s and he quickly triggers the cannons of the A-Wing, but all the A-Wing hit is empty space. "Sithspit." he curses and he quickly banks hard to try to keep up with the TIE.

"Well, it's about damn time." When the call from Flurry's command comes through, an only /slightly/ ruffled looking Army general eases her white-knuckled grip on her hips and scrambles aboard her overstuffed warhorse. Combat boots march between the knees of her seated troopers to squeeze into the 'pit and commandeer the pilot's comm for a moment by pushing her face uncomfortably close to his. How many cups of caf can he count on her breath, I wonder?

<<Renegade, this is 'Drop One'. Launch protocol acknowledged and initiated. Hope your boys and girls have still got it in'em.>> In other words: dont let me die? Cept old Ice Queen Aderanne would never say /that/. She relinquishes full ownership of the pit to their pilot and returns to her own seat of illusory safety on this hellacious ride to come.

<<Drop One to Gold Leader, Dropships One and Two will proceed directly to projected coordinates and pursue target for contact. You fellas gonna keep those turrets busy?>> Heh. Heh. Heh.

The bridge of Renegade is rocked, as the Nebulon-K's turbolasers bite deep into the hull, finding a hole in the shields. Klaxons sound in the corridor, and red-lights over the main hatchway go active. The door locks close with an audible *SNAP*. "Hull breaches on the command deck! The Observation Lounge is gone!"

Gren, still posted up behind the gunnery console, clenches his fists and watches as firing solutions are input, and buttons are pressed. Turbolaser fire lances out from the Assault Frigate's turrets, slamming into the damaged Neb-K's hull, ripping holes along the doral hull of the target hull of the vessel. The Admiral leans in, and gently pushes an assistant gunner out of the way. He punches in a series of coordinates, gives them a squint...and presses the firing controls for a section of the aft guns that are just coming into line with the First Order ship. Another series of explosions rock the smaller warship. There's no bright flash, this time. It's just a grinding down of the target, until finally, the Nebulon-K rolls in space. It's dead, or at least...dying. Escape pods shoot out in all directions.

Delede is about to lift his comlink to address the fleet, when a shout goes across the bridge. "Red Leader is gone! A TIE slammed into him! SAR is scrambling now." A sigh follows this report, and the Admiral keys his comm. <<Good luck, Drop One. We'll be here when you get back....Captain Numb, let's finish off the last of these eyeballs. Keep Red together.>>

<<Copy that, Drop 1. We'll keep those TIEs off you.>> David replies, banking around the Renegade just as the Observation Dome gets blown off. A single tear streaks down David's face, coming down over the Flurry and moving to intercept the dropships. David salutes the dropship pilot, his hand off the control panel long enough for a TIE to blast his ship. "Son of a.." David rocks in his seat, watching the shields fizzle out on the display. <<Drop One, Drop Two, did any of those bolts hit you?>> The negative reply puts a wry grin on David's face. <<Means I'm doing my job.>> The TIE comes around for another run, but David's wise to it, still covering the dropships he returns fire, forcing the TIE to abort its run. Downwards. And smoking.

Aboard Green 2, Tenner scrambles to contain the damage inflicted upon the craft by enemy cannons (though he'll blame Ektor later), as the pilot switches back to cannons, firing with the effect of ensuring space ahead of the shuttle is clear. Which is good, since he doesn't hot anything. Umyn Xantious tentatively tries to fire the ion turret (poorly) before being scolded angrily, "No! No! You do not get to shoot anymore. You should've hit something by ACCIDENT, by now; you are both a drek shot AND unlucky- Your luck the first thing you'd hit would be Drop One, and-" The browbeating cuts off, sparing the gunner further bruised pride, as word of Red Leader going down is registered.

"NO!" It's not the volume of her outcry that hurts in the enclosed space of the cockpit. The helmet stops her ears from being bombarded. It hurts her throat to yell so harshly, though. The sudden maelstrom of emotion surging through her leaves her simultaneously light-headed, sick, and full of hatred. Adrenaline pours through her veins and leaves her unable to sit still.

<<Renegade Leader, Gold Two requests immediate permission to support Red Squadron!>> Her fingers tremble around the flight stick, and Jessika struggles to take a breath that doesn't make her shudder. A clenched jaw and rapid blinking tries to fight the sudden lump swelling in her throat and control the moisture that wants to overwhelm her vision.

Already, her head is out of supporting the transports. She's not even received a response to her request, yet, but she's already starting to turn her fighter in that direction after spitting fire that forces a TIE to break off from an attack on one of the transports that leaves it with a cracked viewport.

Karas keeps on the TIE that he's pursuing, though some would say it's hard to keep up, but it's his job not to get lost. As the TIE does a rolling dive, Karas does it as well but almost loses the TIE. Pulling back on the throttle to slow the A-Wing, the TIE shoots right passed him. Fingers depresses the trigger of the control stick and red laser fire stick up along the right side fo the TIE.

Quickly inputing information into the system, he is able to designate the drop ships and Karas begins attacking TIEs that are trying to intercept the drop ship.

<<Negative, Gold Two! Stay with your squadron. Stick with the plan. That's an order.>> Gren's voice is firm, even through the distortion added to Resistance comm systems. He clears his throat, and looks around the Renegade's bridge. "Guns, maintain defensive fire, and pick off any figthers that your people can. Sensors, keep an eye out for reinforcements...we maintain position, and lick our wounds until the drop ships return." The fleet battle has been won, and nows it up to the SFC to protect the transports as they enter the atmosphere, and look for their target. A few TIEs remain, but Red Squadron hunts them down. A pair of Sentinel-class ships leave the Flurry, and begin Search and Rescue operations, searching for the pilots of the two downed Resistance fighters...and potentially taking prisoners if they find the time.

<<Atta boy, Gold Leader>> Drop One's pilot chuckles grimly while jerking his armored passengers into a clumsy evasive manuever, having NO desire to go the route of Red One. Go, go, go...This run to Wobani's surface is vaguely reminiscent of the Raddus evacuation, or so say the hairs prickling up under the flightsuit's collar.

Meanwhile, Amber's also prickly. In a pissy kind of way.

<<CLOSE CALL>> Drop Two announces its status after that narrow brush with TIE death leaves the pilot practically pissing themselves and the shield a little less trustworthy. Like a lot less. It's going to fail and they're powering into the worst of the atmo now. A singular (but obnoxious) alarm is going off inside the transport, alerting all on board that this could really suck.

<<Gold 2, stay on objective. I understand how you must feel right now, trust me, but Drop Squadron needs you more than Red Squadron does. And Search and Rescue is already out there looking for Captain Nunb, there's nothing you can do for 'em now.>> Dave turns off the private channel to Gold 2, managing to sound calm even as the adrenaline courses through his body. The cockpit suddenly lights up green when that same TIE, smoke and all, fires lasers at the N-1 from below. The smoke must have gotten in the way of accuracy though, as all it does is make a pretty light show. Dave pushes down on the control stick to his side, retaliating with equally green laser fire, finally ending the run of the scrappy TIE pilot.

Escort duty is rough: put yourself between the baddies and a big, slow moving target and see who blinks first. Green 2 takes another hit, erasing Tenner's hard work on the shields as soon as they're restored. Matching shot for shot, Ektor's aim is sharper than his foe's, and the Y-wing destroys another TIE. The resigned blips from R2-T10 (can a droid sigh?) are answered, "I know, I know, can't take another one like that, blah blah blah. Entering atmosphere. Hey, Umyn: mane yourself useful and lemme know where Gold 2 is, yeah?"

<< I heard Renegade Leader, and it's not Captain Nunb they're looking for. >> Jessika snaps on the private channel before it's closed. Nevermind wanting consolation regarding her former Squadron leader back when they'd flown in Blue, what pisses her off the most is someone not even remembering Red Leader's proper name. A quick juke of her fighter sizes up the TIE she'd already given a bloody nose and a burst of fire erases it from existence. Her fighter stays with the transports, and Case reports her shields have returned only to suddenly burst again from a glancing shot.

Climbing and banking right, following the TIE as it tries to lose him amoung the debris, it doesn't work. Karas isn't allowing himself to be distracted, still aware of his surroundings, and as he lines up his shot, Karas fires off a couple of shots which actually destroys the TIE. Rolling the fighter and banking hard to the left, the A-Wing is still pushing hard as it's pilot commands it's movement. Moving to cover any other fighters that may need help.