Log:Resistance: Repairing Tomorrow
Repairing Tomorrow
OOC Date: July 26, 2018
Location: Klawto System
Participants: David Ironside, Ektor, Elrych Cometburn, Jenna Lag'Shar, Jessika Pava, Karas Darkwing, Karé Kun, Poe Dameron, Rey, The Resistance
As the Starfighter Corps Task Force, lead by Major Poe Dameron in Black Leader, exits hyperspace at their given coordinates, they are greeted by the expansive greens and blues of a jungle planet half covered by water and continents. The gentle haze of its atmosphere is visible at its edges, and, beyond the port curve, a hint of the distant star supplying it with the needed ultraviolet radiation and light to allow it to be a life-sustaining planet. Looming immediately closer is a large orbital platform. Three different vessels are approaching it. The Voidslip, Mynock Hunter, and Deep Trawler cruise at their max speeds, and glide through the darkness of space at a steady pace while making all the necessary arrangements to land at the facilities where they will load with the last of their cargo before heading for the Resistance base. It's not long before a channel is opened between them.
"This is Captain Krasin Jalba of the Voidslip. Good to see you. We were worried you might not have gotten our call. We're preparing to land and gather the last of our supplies. Appreciate the cover while we can't even run." Not quite in sync, the Gallofree GR-75 and the two Ghtroc 720 class freighters set down on their platforms as their main engines cut off and they fully switch to repulsorlifts to steady their vessels. The ships visibly shift as their weights settle on their deployed landing struts, and then all comes to stillness. "Shouldn't be long. Hopefully we won't ev-- wait. Getting sensor readings from near our entry point!"
In a sudden blink, a cascade of ships exit of hyperspace in staccato. One. Four. Seven. A total of twelve Hoersch-Kessel Drive, Inc. R-41 Starchasers appear on sensors. A moment later, after the slightest bit of delay, a Corellian Engineering Corporation YT-2000 joins them. Without hesitation, the dozen fighters begin streaking forwards. Eight of them rush towards the Task Force, while four wing up with the YT-2000 and set their vectors towards the landed ships.
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Organized so that Red and Gold made up the front ranks of their formation ensured upon arrival they could initiate Phase one: staging. Silver squadron was oriented beneath and behind Red and Gold, which left Green Squadron with Black Leader at the very end of the entire make up. The Resistance arrival began by Poe immediately switching his sensors to max. "Alright, Pal.. this is it. Scan everything, BeeBee!" Poe pulled the blast visor down on his helmet. <<All call signs, Phase One deployment. Get into your positions!>> -- At the sound of Captain Jalba speaking, Poe listened until she spoke of multiple readings on their sensors. It seemed the Pirates were going to ambush before they'd staged. Poe cut the Captain off as he resisted the urge to bring up his engines and move to the front of the formation. <<Red and Gold Leaders, push to intercept and get there fast! You're going to buy us time. Silver, get to our friendlies, and Green stay with me. Let's go people, don't let these thugs scare you!"
Poe remained back, letting the three squadrons ahead of Green move as they needed to. <<All call signs, I have positive ID on that Freighter. She's marked, she's marked.>> When Silver moved, Poe remained with Green. He needed to read the battlefield to make adjustments where needed.
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The quickness of coming out of hyperspace causes Kare to take a deep breath as the green and blue planet comes into view. Kare double checks her position to make sure that it was a good jump and seemingly satisfied angles 'down' towards the planet. A quick double check of the comm's channel is negated as the Captain of the Voidslip speaks. "Brat, get me a fix on those ships, /quick/," to which her droid answers back that some would say in a sarcastic way as Kare gets her ship ready. S-foils spread, shields go up and her tact screen comes up. <<Roger that, Black Lead>> she says in response to Poe's orders.
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<<Gold Squadron, we have our instructions. Maintain intercept formation, keep the enemy off those freighters.>> the voice of David Ironside crackles to life over the Gold Squadron comms immediately following their hyperspace exit and the appearance of the pirate vessels. Pushing the throttle forward, the T-85 X-Wing blasts through space with its S-Foils still closed. No sense in wasting time by readying the craft's weapons ahead of getting in range, after all.
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As per usual, Jenna slept through the hyperjump and only woke once the proximity alarm blarred into her helmet of the imminence of realspace. Beeping in her comms and she's popping up with a stiffled yawn against the back of her hand, <<Copy that Black Lead.>> She flipped flight controls over from automation and grabbed hold of the control stick to adjusts her course to bring herself up along Black Leaders nine. Once she's in place, she lazily settles into her seat with her fingers laced back behind her head watching both the forward view and the screen of highlighting signals dotting the sensor reads. "Ugh' ugh tuhg ugh ugh... boug doo doo tugh ugh ugh..." She sings to herself in that way people do when they hear a popular song in a language they don't understand, but still know the words.
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<<Tally Ho, we see them.>> Karas says as he begins diverting to a intercept course, <<Alright Red Squadron fall in and lets go light them up.>> he says into his comms. They were going to be the aggressors which he didn't mind, seeing Gold Squadron also moving to intercept. <<None of them are to make it to the freighters, once in range Lock S-Foils into attack position.>> he says as Red Leader streaks ahead at full burn. Towards the eight coming towards the Task Force.
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Exiting hyperspace with the rest of the Starfighter Corps, Jessika Pava adjusts the flight stick of her X-Wing and adjusts her vector to be on Red Leader's right side. <<Red Two is on your wing, Red Leader.>> Short and simple, she keeps her communication succinct, given the number of individuals on the operation's channel. She adjusts speed to maintain her position, and receives a warning warble from her astromech as multiple blips start appearing on the sensor. "I see it, Case. Get ready for a fight." Quickly reaching forward, Jessika toggles her s-foils into attack position, splitting the wings apart and setting her quad laser cannons into the spread out formation that will allow them to spit destruction at any enemy targets that get in her way.
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Silver Leader pops out of hyperspace and the pilot inside of it looks over to her side to make sure the engine that was recently damaged was working. "Its actually working better than the others." Rey says to her droid in the socket behind her pit. The droid beeps back at her. "It is so. Point five percent performance boost over the others." Artoo whistles at that. "Later." The pilot replies before her eyes go forward and she sees the others ahead of her in their faster and newer X-wing.
<<Silver Leader copies. Enroute to defend.>>
Rey's orange visor-covered eyes look over to Silver 2. <<Silver One to Two. Ready for this? Don't outrun me in that thing.>>
The T-65's four engines flare brightly as it proceeds toward their escort mission.
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Elrych Cometburn blasts out of hyperspace behind rey and to the port side. "Woah Baby looks like the party wants to get started right away." He presses his engine to match Reys and aknowleges over the comm
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<<Rancor Squadron, tear those Resistance fighters apart. Those are the kriffers that took our base!>> From the bridge of the YT-2000 Hullcracker, Captain Caalin Lomax begins calling out formation commands. Rancor 1 through Rancor 8 break off and begin veering towards the intercepting X-Wing squadrons that are heading for them. <<Nine through twelve, on me. We're going to soften up these targets. Blast 'em out of the sky, Zeb.>> From Rancor One, Zeb Kord relays an affirmative to the command ship. <<Let's show these pieces of drek what some real flying is.>>
On the orbital platform, the landed ships immediately stop their cargo loading procedures, and, once everyone is clear, the ships activate their shields for protection against the oncoming pirates.
Rancor Nine through Rancor Twelve change course for the two fighters going for the transport, while the Hullcracker lines up to make a strafing run on all the ships waiting like nice little prizes. The gunners on the YT-2000 open up, and most of a quad salvo of fire manages to find the Voidslip, though the shots are eaten up by its shields.
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Poe opened his S-foils to attack position just as his engines' contrails lit and expanded as the T-85 X-wing launched into the frey. Opening fire on the YT-2000, Poe scored a pretty good hit making the shields shimmer before banking right and fluidly barreling off leaving the fighters to Silver squadron. <<Light 'em up Green and stay close to me. We'll need to cover each other if we're going to bring this thing down!>> Poe adjusted in his seat, moving the stick with ease and tracking what's going on around him. He's already increasing his speed to swing wide to come about for another pass. <<We're at Phase Two now. No body give them a meter!>>
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Kare, while staying on the wing of her lead, lines up on the closest attacker "Get ready, full shields forward, Brat,", she calls out. But before she can fire her shields sparkle and her ship rocks "Damn, from long range too." she notes. "Brat see if you can do anything with those shields." <<Took a hit but shields stopped it. Good to go," Kare says over the comms.
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David reaches for the lever that releases the S-Foils into attack position. Dodging the incoming fire just barely, he returns fire on the Starchaser attacking his wingmate, The engagement leaves him open for a counterattack, and the pilot's vision is briefly obscured by the flash of the X-Wing's shields tanking a hit. Behind him, the droid beeps in a slightly urgent manner. "Well. Yeah, they would be low. Do something about it, Ones!" he replies to the report on the shields status. When the shields over his viewport settle down, he's able to see the same manner of shields dimming on the Starchaser. <<Direct hit on target designated Two. Status report, Gold 3.>> he reports and requests over comms.
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Jenna drops her hands down from behind her helmet and pulls the stick into her right hand grasp. Her left hand snaps at one of the keys on her side console and brings up the pair of s-foils on either long side of her slender main body into an attack position. The B-Wing (green 4) leaps into the fray after Black Leader, turning on a long axis to bring her cockpit down along the body and her forward guns pound wide open as they weave into the fight. The pair of Ion green lance off to either side of the ship she was aimming for.
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The T-65 designated Red One streaks into the fray, knowing that they have to take these fighters down fast, the S-Foils stay closed and as incoming laser fire streaks in, Karas settles back into his seat. His eyes narrow just slightly as he moves the controls causing the X-Wing to roll and climb. At the Apex of his climb and roll, the X-Wing dives down coming upon Rancor 3. The S-Foils open and red laser fire erupts from the four laser cannons the X-Wing is equipped with, they race ahead of the snub fighter and burns against the shields of the Starchaser. Seeing the shields shimmer, the X-Wing pulls up and drops in behind Rancor 3. <<Engaging Rancor 3, got his partner on my six.>> he calls into his comm.
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Seeing Red Leader engage with a pair of R-41s, Jessika is quick to slow her speed as he pursues one of the craft. As predicted, another one quickly swings in behind him. <<I've got the one on your six, Red One.>> Lining up her targeting reticles with the fighter in front of her, she jockeys for a good shot. They twist and arch through the void, light cascading through the cockpit from the hint of the star in the far, immeasurable distance. Sighting up the target, she squeezes the trigger, sending a quarter of fire spitting in rapid succession from her cannons to pepper the craft in front of her. Its shields violently react, but they hold, refusing to die.
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The T-65 X-wing Silver One rushes into the fight and glides over the transports that they're to protect and the pilot arrives just in time to sever a wedge between her fighter and the enemies. When her targeting sight lights up with a lock on the 12th fighter, Rey's gloved hand squeezes the trigger on her flight stick and the X-wing's cannons begin to unload hot death onto the enemy. Pirates are the lowest of lows right? Her cannons tear into the ship and land solidly, tearing it up and apart, leaving a trail of burning wreckage wildly rolling through space in her wake.
"That got him." Rey says, Artoo beeps an alert and she's hit from behind by a blast that splashes off her shields. She shifts to the port and angles back, cutting her throttle to fifty percent and coming about in a hard turn!
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<<Right, I've got the flight on the other side.>> He says to Rey and peels off in after the other flight. He can't manage to get a bead on his even with the juking and jiving of the sleek Jedi Starfighter. Though this distraction, in following through instead of peeling off and trying again, the wingman moves in behind him and slams tow bolts into his shields which puddle then flip away. Elrych growls and flips the arrow head shaped craft into a spin to move away from the engagement slightly. <<Shields are down, Lead.>> He says to Rey. So much for him being useful ever.
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As the battle unfolds, Rancors Five through Seven break off from the main fight and veer straight for the transports, as the elements of Red and Gold are caught up in their own fight. They saddle their sights up on the Mynock Hunter and the Deep Trawler. The YT-2000, despite taking some hits, swings hard around and lines itself up to go through another run at the Voidslip. The voidslips shields take a heavy barrage of fire and shimmer violently, but they still seem to be holding. They are far dimmer than they used to be. Fire from the other Rancor elements streaks over the other two transports.
<<We're taking some heavy hits here, Resistance, but our shields are holding. Don't know for how much longer! They're extremely low! We need some help over here!>> Captain Krasin Jalba informs them of the situation over their comms, while a light show of cannon fire fills the darkness of space as the fighters jockey for each others positions. The platform around them is showing scorch marks, but there's no hulking wreckage of ships, yet.
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Poe brought his craft around, yanking the throttle back as the smaller thrusters initiated, his stern whipping around. There's a moment of pause as Poe narrows his gaze on the freighter again and shoves the throttle forward again. <<Pass two on this freighter! They're gonna remember we fought!" Poe's fighter streaks forward, leaving a contrail for Green-4 to follow in. Poe's face is illuminated when he squeezes off another set of shots this pass, three of which smash into the craft so hard the shields show visible distortion. <<Good hit, and opened the door for you Green!>> Poe pulls off to the right again, but pushes past the freightor to get a good look at their convoy. He notices that there are six fighters attacking the convoy. <<There's 6 fighters engaging our freightors. Any available fighters converge and chase these thugs off.>>
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Kare is cycling her shields while 'Brat' also does his thing behind her. <<Just a glancing blow Gold 1. Nothing at all to it,>> she tells over the comms. Even while doing all that and having blown past the other fighters she pulls back hard on the stick and rolling it to the right. "Brat, that didn't work, keep working on the shields." The little droid answers with a series of beeps and whistles. Even as she swings her fighter the other guy gets the jump and shoots her from her six. Shields go out with a flurry of color her craft shakes and in the cockpit warning lights light up while a buzzer sounds. "Well crap," Kare mutters as she jinks to try to clear her six and to see what she can do about her now damaged craft. In a calm voice that masks her inner fight <<Took a little bit of a hit there, someone clear my six for me?">>
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<<Copy that, Gold 3. Covering your six.>> David replies, in that routine, almost lazy tone a pilot adopts when flying. Utterly free of emotion. Circling the fighter around to end up behind Rancor Three, he opens fire before getting into position, shredding through the shields as a covering Starchaser engages him, missing all shots before flying off again. Finishing his maneuver, Dave's barrage of laser fire rips through Rancor Three's engines, breaking it apart slowly before an explosion vaporizes the craft from behind. <<You're clear, Gold Three.>> he reports.
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Jenna sucks her bottom lip between her teeth as she snaps the control yolk to the right, cuts power to her left thrusters, and whips the B-Wing around in a point turn to drop it in behind the Hullsmasher. Her hand presses the accelerator forward in an open palm, to keep it easy in grasp if needed as she squeezes her hand around the firing controls of her pair of turbo-lasers. The first smashes into the shields of the freighter which quickly decides to come out of its strafing run on the Voidslip, <<Direct hit! Nice opening, Black Leader. He's coming off his run on the freighters.>>
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Watching as Rancor 3 is destroyed, Karas checks the sensors and sees that Rancor 5 is further back, "Spark lock on to Rancor 5." he says to his droid, <<Good shot.>> he calls out to who destroyed Rancor 3. The T-65 banks hard right, and at the same time the S-S-Foils close adding speed to the X-Wing. Karas switches to proton torpedos, but as he tries to get a lock on the Starchaser. The pilot reacts, keeping out of range of the torpedo lock, still the X-Wing dogs the Starchaser, <<Red 2, I'm going after Rancor 5, I will try to take care of it and get back to you.>> he calls to his wingman. As the X-Wing rolls, a solid tone sounds in Karas ear and he presses the trigger on his joystick. One torpedo streaks out towards the Starchaser. It catches it and destroys the enemy craft, <<Splash 1.>> he calls as he banks hard and quickly heads back, but as he does laser fire streaks past him. "I got company, bringing them to you Red 2, let's make them dance."
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Hearing Poe's command, she notices her squadron leader breaking off to engage the enemy starfighters making runs at the freighters. Banking off, Red Two increases her speed, and Jessika keeps an eye on Karas' six while still at his wingman position. As he locks and fires, another starfighter attempts to swing in around behind him. Jessika quickly arches off into intercept position, and as her targeting reticle lines up on the craft, she squeezes the trigger. A rapid series of four bolts lance from her laser cannons, completely obliterating through the enemy fighter. <<That's one more down, Red Leader. Let's keep it up!>>
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<<Keep it up, Silver Two. We'll get them.>> Rey says over the comms, reaching out to flip a switch on her control board that adjusts her shields after that last blast she took. "Keep them even, Artoo. I don't want to have my engines blasted out like last time... or worse."
And just as she says it, the guns from Rancor 11 slam into her shields and the pilot junkes to the right. Artoo starts whistling and beeping wildly.
<<My shields are out!>> Rey says over the comms. <<No hull damage.>> She banks her fight to the side, grits her teeth and tries to get back around to find another chance to toast Rancor 11 for that!
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Elrych Cometburn swings in under the freightor they're trying to protect buying some cover from the flight that's likely after him again. "Baby, get on those shields." It takes a moment but the R2 unit has is back real well and is able to get some shields back, just a bit. Enough to get back into the fight and just as Rey's own shield get taken out too. <<Silver 2 to Wing, We need the pressure taken off down here a bit. It's like flying through a brick wall.>> He punches the triangular fighters thruster to full and slips up and twists around from under the freighter to comes head to head with his previous nemesis. He fires but misses as the fighters pass, her wingman not able to keep up with his movement's this time.
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Taking sustained fire from the fighters on its six, Hullcracker banks off and begins to sweep around away from the platform. It sweeps around, trying to give one of its gunners an angle. It is unable to do more than angle its dorsal turret around towards the fighter. Rancor One and Two have peeled off from the engagement with Red and Gold, and are now also in a position to make a run at the freighters on the platform. Rancor Seven and Eight make another run on their previous target.
<<It seems the enemy freighter broke off! The others are still taking shots. We're attempting shield repairs right now!>> Krasin Jalba continues to keep the starfighter corps appraised of the situation going on around the platform as the battle begins to center right above them. The captain barks orders at the crew, urging them to repair their shields as fast as possible. They're a giant bomb if they take too much damage, afterall. The control console reads that some of the power is returning, right as fighters begin to strafe them again, reducing the shields to their previous state. The Deep Trawler sustains damage, too, and Captain Wyrren Rendix comes over the comms. <<Sustaining a lot of damage. Shields close to failure.>>
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Poe growls when his craft is hit three consecutive times, leaving his shield alarm blaring and a new gouge mark on his external armored hull. Breaking contact from the freighter, Poe keeps his cool evading further shots and angling away. He had attempted a shot at the turret which was responsible for the damage done to his craft, but they were feral and went too wide. Taking a higher position to come from above again, Poe lines up his next pass. "BeeBee, get ready to give me some more power, buddy." <<Red Squadron, can you give Silver a hand? They're getting chopped up!>>
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<<Thanks, Gold One>> Kare says as her six gets cleared. Still the craft is a bit sluggish and red lights are flashing Kare continues on into the fight. She angles the craft sharply, causing creaks and groans protesting the moves she is coaxing out of the X-Wing. Then one of the bad guys flies right in front of her! A quick snap shot sends the fighter into a ball of bits and pieces. Right before her own fighter takes heavy damage from the fellow's wingman. "Yea, this ain't good," Kare says worriedly as her stick gets all loose and power shuts down. Gold 3 begins to spiral and Kare fights with the hardly answering controls till at last they stop responding at all. "Very not good" she says to her self as she now sees planet, space, planet, space in a rapid succession. Hoping there is enough power for her comms left <<Gold Three is going down. Repeat, Gold Three is going down>>. Brat continues to try to get some power back to the ship to give Kare as she plummets towards the planet below.
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<<Gold Three, I can't help you, I'm sorry.>> David grits his teeth, juking down towards the fighter that took down Gold Three. The pilot, apparently not satisfied with downing Kare, has no idea of what's coming next. "..But I can make sure this one doesn't get you." He mutters, through clenched teeth. Lining up his X-Wing with Rancor Nine, he lets loose laser fire in the unshielded rear of the fighter, causing it to explode. The debris shoots forward from the fire, David maneuvering his fighter straight through the fiery cloud. Coming out of it, he watches Gold 3 plummet down further, at which point his ship is rocked with laser fire. "Ones, report!" He calls. Said report indicates his ship is shieldless and in a bad way hull-wise. David shakes his head. <<Gold Leader. Lost shields, have a Starchaser on my six. Leading it away from Gold Three.>>
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Jenna stays on the Freighters six with her hand dancing across the control stick trying to capitalize on the damaged shields. Her hand snaps out to flip her trigger to torpedos on the side panel and squeezes off a pair of protons that fly wide. <<Green 4 Kath one and two.>> They explode in extravagant (harmless) fashion when the firing pin burns out. "Well that sucked..."
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Having spotted new targets, Karas checks his six seeing Jessika. As he glances back ahead, he sees Rancor 2 barley doesn't have any shields, <<Alright, new targets, lets show'em who's the best Red 2." he says to her. He breaks though Spark sends data to Red 2 and as the T-65 rockets towards the enemy fighter. The fighters S-Foils open up, though as he gets within range, the enemy Starchaser is able to do a Keigan Roll, and the X-Wing tries to attempt the maneuver but the high stress on the hull causes Karas to pull out of the turn and bank left, but as he does this, the Starchaser is able to get into position. "Krif!" he calls into his comm, as he feels his X-Wing shudder and buck from the impact o the lasers. "Spark, our shields are down, get them back up!" he calls to his droid.
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Seeing her flight lead juggle for advantage over one of the enemy craft, she also hears Gold Leader call out an enemy on his six, with no shields. Knowing her Squadron leader is undamaged, Jessika banks off and sets herself up behind the enemy fighter on Gold One's six. They bank and dive, as Jessika's rapidly beeping tone seeks to go solid now that she's switched to her proton torpedos. They evasive maneuvers they sweep through leads through a violent twist of fighters, and for a brief moment, Jessika thinks she hears the tone go solid. Squeezing the trigger, a pair of proton torpedos launch off, but the beeping tone after indicates there might not have been a lock at all. They go streaking off into space. <<Gold Leader, Red Two. Negative joy, but he's off your six!>>
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Rey is quickly working on her own shield strength controls while glancing up and down at the viewport and flying her ship around the vessels they're escorting. "You can do it, Artoo. You know this ship way better than I do!" She cheers her droid on who's frantically working at the interior of the droid socket to get the starship's power allignment back in order so the downed X-wing's shields can flash back on.
And when they DO! Rey silently cheers for her friend and co-pilot then swings the craft around to face her enemy and release a series of blasts at the Rancor 11, but sadly the pilot swirls and twirls to avoid them. "Who is this pilot!" Rey shouts to herself and Artoo, keeping the pursuit going though.
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"Come on Baby, get with the program." Elrych clammers to his droid who struggling now to raise the shield of the fraction he was able to restor. But even that dosn't last long, as 9 goes out Elrych focuses on 10, the wingmate who had been giving him trouble all op. Of course it would mean that that this one seems to be a better shot than even his now dead wingmate. Blaster bolts scortch across the shield putting them out again and the light fighter rocks as some hit the hull and scortch the craft. <<Silver Leader. Silver 2 shield are down again, I'm taking minor damage.>> The corellian grits his teeth, "This is pointless."
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As Gold Three is shot down over the planet, the desperate struggle continues. Rancor Squadron has lost multiple fighters, and currently only has two that are attempting to attack the freighters on the platform. Rancor Seven and Eight continue their strafing run of Deep Trawler, while the Hullcracker breaks off from the fighters that were engaging it to make a run at the Mynock Hunter. The freighter unleashes a torrent of fire which makes the Hunter's shields distort and restablish, though they've clearly taken a lot of damage. Another strafe from Rancor Seven leaves its shields barely shimmering. <<Keep at it, Rancor! They can't keep this up. We'll have the day.>> Captain Caalin Lomax's smugness is evident in his voice.
<<Resistance, this is Wyrren Redix on the Deep Trawler. My shields are almost completely gone. I've barely got anything left for it. If you don't do something soon, we're going to have a much bigger problem, and they'll be hitting us directly.>> There's grim determination in his voice, mostly because they realize that there's nowhere for them to run, and the only thing they can do is continue to sit on the orbital platform above the planet.
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Several things happen at once. The first, Poe manages to bring his shields back online by flipping a set switches up, then down, up, then down, and a few more times before the shields come back online. The second is BB-8 shrills about something in droid speak that not even Poe can understand, but he has no time to look back as he's already performing the third and final act. Engines shake the craft as Poe streaks back down toward the Freighter before breaking off to the left this time to circle about. In Poe's stead are two rockets with vivid blue contrails. While the ship evades one, the other smashes into the freighter forcing it to jerk in one direction, causing massive amounts of damage. <<WooohoooO!>> Poe calls out, adjusting in his seat to look at the battle, but in particular, Green 4. <<She's bleeding now, Green 4, punch her right in the nose!>>
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<<Gold Leader. Headed to intercept hostiles attacking Deep Trawler.>> David reports. Approaching the hot zone, David maneuvers around the errant shots from the YT-2000 with a scowl. "Busted the 1300 line.. should've broken these, first.." he mutters, glancing at the ship that's just designed.. wrong. His momentary lapse in attention is rewarded with a hail of laser fire, just as Ones reports his inability to pull the shields back together. A panel pops out with a high pitched bang, shrapnel hitting David in the neck area. The other displays flicker and die, the nose of the T-85 tilting down, making a spin not too different from Gold 3's earlier. <<Gold Leader, sustained damages. Going down.>> Surprisingly calm, the pilot reports his own downfall, knowing that panicking in this situation won't do anyone any good.
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Corellia forever.
This is why the planet was taken.
Can't even hit a ship as it limps across the sky
"I'm showing the stars the business though." She mumbles to no one in particular as, yet again, her torpedos explode against the backdrop of the planet in such a way as to be absolutely harmless to anyone, but the environment in a decade.
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Karas is in it now, keeping his cool and rolling, with the fighter as Rancor 2 tries to lead him into cross fire, but Karas isn't having that at all. Still as they fly he isn't able to get a lock, "Spark take over the targeting" he calls to his droid, but he quickly rolls right and dives as laser fire comes after him, but not doing any damage. "Whoa that was close." he says more to himself. He sees the reports, "Kare..." he says as he hears the chatter. There was nothing he can do now, but hopefully she will be ok. He sees Red 2 off going to help Gold Leader.
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The fighting is still thick. Quickly weaving through combat back towards her squadron leader, Jessika observes him going head to head with one of the other fighters while another tries to get around behind him. <<Red Leader, one on your tail. Stay evasive, I'm on him.>> Adjusting her speed so that she's sinking in behind the fighter on his tail without overshooting, Jessika shifts one way in her harness and then the next. They're still affected by the gravity of the planet at this range, and the inertial forces here are stronger than farther away, even if not quite as rough as the atmosphere. Finding her target, she lines up her shots on the R-41 trailing her leader and waits to see the cascading lights letting her know that her targeting computer is reading a go. A squeeze of the trigger sends a spattering of laser cannon fire at him that eats through his shields and causes him to erupt and spiral off to be caught by the planet's pull, where the wreckage of his fighter will crash into the planet. <<Got him! Another one down, Red Leader.>>
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Rey adjusts her course at the sound of Elrych calling out for aide. She abandons her target on Rancor 11 and goes after the fighter attack Silver 2 instead. <<I'm on my way, S2.>> Rey says over the comms, her X-wing rolling through space and coming around behind the wingman that she sees getting attacked. She angles th enose of her ship just right until a tone signifies her lock and she fires her lasers at the enemy, peppering its shields with her red glowing energy. She feels frustrationg pouring through her at this point, hearing her companions getting shot down is making her quite unsettled, but she's trying to remember her training to keep herself calm...
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Elrych Cometburn takes a moment to give himself a bit of a breather. The echo's of more than one pilot going down causing a bit of a commotion of the comm. He's drowning in it and the pain of the force. What did the masters say? Calm, serenity? How could you in this Chaos. A reprive... Baby chirps. "Shields? Oh SHIELD. YES you beautiful hunk of metal you!" He can see Rey, not far from him, Dancing with 10 who on her tail. He comes about, rolling the sleek jedi fighter up and atop of the two, out maneuvering them. And then, comes out of the sun, his bolts blasing and blasting apart his nemesis for the day. "I got your back Lead, Splash one Win. Where the HELL is Green?"
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<<"Sorry I'm late, yeah?">> comes a terse drawl over the Resistance SFC frequency. Ektor's B-wing howls toward the pirate freighter, spitting torpedoes that are each intercepted by the pirate flagship's defensive countermeasures. <<Still on attack vector, torpedoes live.>>
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Another Resistance fighter is shot down over the planet. Rancor squadron loses more in the process. The previous impacts of torpedos against the Hullcracker's shields leaves Captain Caalin Lomax veering away from the freighters, and for once, there are no fighters left to try and engage with them. Swinging the YT-2000 about in space, Caalin attempts to give his crew the best shots they can manage. Their shots lance out through space and hit Green Four, whose shields shrug the shots off with the determination of the late Admiral responsible for its design in the first place. <<BRING DOWN THE REST OF THOSE FIGHTERS.>> Growling his displeasure over the communications frequency his pirates are operating on, he turns to engage the Resistance task force hammering the shields of his ship, which have dipped below fifty percent.
<<Don't know what you did up there, Resistance, but we're not being hit right now. It's a damn miracle.>> All the Captains, Jalba, Covell, and Rendix chime in with their appreciation as their crews rush to restore some of the precious shielding that they've lost and is keeping them from being nothing but junk littering the orbital platform.
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Poe manages to angle his craft back around just as his shields are brought back to full strength. <<Keep it together, guys. We've got this. We're winning, just focus on your objectives. Red and Silver, link up and chase the rest of these guys out of the system. Look out for each other and call your shots. Green, form on me.. I'm taking us in for another pass on the good Captain here.>> Poe shoves the throttle forward again and expertly aligns his targeting computer up obtaining another lock. Blasts from the freighter continue to rain toward him, but Poe breaks off after launching yet another torpedo. This one strikes the freighter hard, like the last one, leaving their shields dimmer and flickering. <<There's your chance Green. LIGHT EM UP!>>
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<<Oh, look who decided to show up...>> Jenna retorts to Green squads comms, <<Just in time to be as useless as the rest of us.>> Green squad, certainly that's what she means. The Hullbreaker turns three of its turrets on the pursuing B-wing and light her shields up with a flaring hum of blue glow around the exterior of the long slender body of the sleek bomber. A glance down indicates that her shields are holding, but now she's being targetted.. and like the psychotic Corellian she is, suddenly has a swell of adrenoline akin to some death seeking lunatic!
Her hand yanks the control to the left, then back to right with her feet alternating controlled bursts of repulsors on either side of her cockpit to swim through the last lances of red energy that sail through the black towards her. "Hah.. awww.. they thinkt hey can hurt a B-Wing, that's absolutely adorable.. I'm literally ashammed of you flying a Corellian freighter.
Her hand squeezes on the firing controls and another pair of torpedoes whistle out from the fighter, exploding in brilliant fashion against the shields of the freighter, leaving them proper forked. <<Huzzah.. one more hit and he's toast!>>
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Karas isn't going to let this pirate out fly him, so as Rancor 2 bank right, Karas goes left. The T-65s s-foils closes so to give him that bit more speed, having heard and seen Gold 1 wink out, he grits his teeth, they can't be losing people like this. Even if two of them were shot down, he wasn't having this shit. As he levels out, going heads up with the Star Chaser, Karas thumbs to proton torpedo switch and fires just as it locks onto the enemy fighter. He climbs over it as the enemy fighter detonates violently, he sees a wing spin off in front of him. "Amateur." he says as he looks around to continue hunting. Seeing Rancor four he banks and begins hunting it, <<Splash 2. Red 2 I'm coming to you.>> he isn't losing his wingman.
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Selecting one of the targets left on the field, Jessika gets into a maneuvering match. It lasts barely seconds before she's swung around and lined up her targeting reticle on the enemy fighter. A squeeze of the trigger sends most of the bright lances of superheated tibanna gas off into space, but it only takes the one that punches right through the enemy fighter's shields and smashes into its engine compartment, causing a violent explosion that would be more flammable, if not for the vacuum that surrounds them. The twisted chunk of craft goes into a rapid spin and begins falling towards the planet. <<Red Two to all elements. That's another one down. We're thinning the herd!>> Adjusting her throttle, the X-Wing's fusial engines burn brighter as Jessika swings back into the fray.
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Rey breaks off after the threat left Silver 2. She spins her fighter around and listens to the comm chatter from her wingmates. "Come on, Artoo." Rey tells the droid, reaching out to jam the throttle forward. She recenters her attack run on Rancor 11 as she sees the craft zipping around some burnt out old satelite debris. On the prowl now, Silver Leader comes around the edge of the debris and finds that Rancor 11 had anticipated her and was on the return run!
Rey's eyes go wide, she lights up her laser cannons and starts unleashing the fire! The two craft criss-cross each other in space, one of them blows up into tiny pieces and goes sizzling off toward the planet... the other is Rey.
"Goodness." She says, Artoo conquers with a louder whistle.
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Elrych Cometburn crosses around and banks wide as Rey takes out 11 after his assist. <<Thanks for the look out, Leader.>> He's computers bring up 7 and 8, close to him. He targets the former, twising around and pushing the engines to their max. He comes in behind the flight, locks on just as the wingman peels away to get the drop at him. He lets the duel linked lasers rip, tearing apart the R-41 just as 8 takes a shot. R2 Has just managed to get the shield up to full as the impact comes and the shot bounces off without a scratch. <<Splash Two, Wing...>>
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<<Bombs, I am ALWAYS in time to be useless. Target's shields are still up, gimme a second, yeah?>> Ektor returns, sardonic. He flies the big bomber in closer to lessen the effectiveness of the pirate flagship's defenses, and looses a torpedo. The shields collapse and the hull plating takes some explosive damage. <<Yeah, his pants are down, now; switching to ion cannons.>>
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Enraged at the losses of those around him, Captain Caalin Lomax swings the Hullcracker around back towards the platform. <<RANCOR EIGHT, ON ME.>> He's clearly setting up on some sort of attack run as the shields around his vessel dissipate, exposing his vulnerable hull to the Resistance for the first time during the whole fight. <<FIRE EVERYTHING!>> Yelling over both the ship's internal communications and the frequency the pirates are operating on, the YT-2000 and Rancor Eight unleash a barrage of laser cannon fire at Captain Krasin Jalba's Voidslip. Maybe fear of their leader intimidates them into choking up. Maybe they're just afraid for their lives. Whatever the reason, a majority of their fire misses, and the Resistance's ability to distract the pirates from attacking the freighters gave Captain Jalba the chance he needed to get his shields repaired, which is the only reason the fire from the Hullcracker doesn't hit his hull or cause a detonation that would have blown up the whole orbital platform considering how much fuel the Voidslip is carrying. <<KRIFF THIS! Rancor Eight, abort! We're running!>> Captain Lomax swings the Hullcracker around with his last remaining fighter and grimly looks at the long distance away from escaping the planet's gravity well, hoping that they can outrun the inevitable and escape the Resistance.
A loud cheer goes up over the communication frequencies as Captain's Jalba, Covell, and Rendix express their shock and amazement that the Resistance was able to keep them safe. And all of them, nonetheless. <<We don't know where you lot learned to fly like that, but that was some crazy drek. You've got our vote of support any day of the week. Sorry about your downed folks. We'll see what we can do about helping out when we can get to Blackrock if they pulled through. Let us know what's going on. We're gonna finish loading and start to get out of here soon as you give the all clear.>>
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<<Alright, let's get this hunk of bolts out of here..>> Poe aligns with the freighter, following its manuevers. Looking for just the right shot, Poe makes a comical face before squeezing the firing mechanism. Four shots from the X wing expertly pierce and eradicate the main turret aboard the freighter, killing the operator inside, as seen by the organics sucked from the gunner's position and left to pepper Poe's canopy. <<You don't need that anymore.>>
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Jenna rolls into flight at Poe's position after the freighters shields drop. She flips her firing control back over to Ion cannons and lets loose with a squeezed trigger a pair of lasers that arch outward harmlessly to either side of the limping, wounded, Hullbreaker. "And the moment passed.. like a fart in the breeze, we're back to being big, slow, and useless.. lament the passage of that brief moment.." She muses, <<Hey Rimjob, that freighter just pooped out a person... did you see that, tell me saw that...>>
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Seeing the last of the pirates being taken out, Karas does a quick sensors sweep and as he does he sees another of the Starchasers and quickly pushes the throttle forward. From the vector it's coming from it was attacking one of the freighters, not wanting to let it get away to inform the others, the T-65 rockets forward, S-Foils still locked closed. Knowing he will not be able to get into laser range, the X-Wing manuvers into position and as it does, a missile lock indicator tones in his ear and pressing the trigger, a slight thunk is felt and heard as the proton torpedo chases down the remaining pirate and in the distance a orange and red explosion is seen. <<Splash 3. Skies are clear.>> he calls in on the tact channel alerting the rest of their fighters. <<Red 2 form up on me and lets get into position." he says. <<Black Leader, any word on Gold Squadron, any survivors?>> he asks hoping that Dave and Kare are still alive.
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Veering off with her squadron leader, Jessika Pava orients towards the escaping R-41 Starchaser and the YT-2000 that has caused so many problems the whole time. Before she can line up the shot on the last starfighter, Red One's torpedos are smashing into it and leaving nothing behind but superheated particles that are there for a moment and then gone the next, as if the fighter never existed in the first place. <<Great shot, Red Leader. That's all the fighters. Let's not let that freighter escape!>> She knows she doesn't have the weapons to disable it, but she maintains her vector towards it, anyway, just in case they decide to destroy it if they cannot disable it by the time that it reaches a spot where it has escaped the planet's gravity well.
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Rey brings her fighter around to group up with other members of the unit. She watches the pirate freighter and sole remaining fighter, but lets other tend to that. Her eyes go over to Elrych in Silver 2 and she comms his ship. << Good job.>> She tells him. <<The Force was strong with you in that fight, I could feel it. We both came alive there at the end.>> The young woman is smiling now and then looking down to her ship's computer to see who was downed. Kare and David. Rey draws in an uneasy breath then, hoping that the two of them are okay... she hasn't ever gotten any of that cake David owes her after all. But then again, she doesn't know what cake even tastes like. Maybe its awful!
<<Silver Group standing by.>>
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"I dunno about that, Rey Rey." Comes Elrych's voice over their flight comms, <<But I did come out pretty good towards the end there. Wasn't really feeling it to be honest. Baby saved my butt... and so did you. Say, drinks on me after this huh? Maybe see a band?>> He's forming up with Rey who informs the rest of the group they were standing by and waiting for instructions.
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Ektor banks the bomber to bring his ion cannons on target, following in on the heels of Poe's annihilation of the upper turret to match speed with the wounded pirate, spitting blue energy from each S-foil until ionized lightning arcs visibly over its hull, and the freighter's systems die. <<Oh, I saw that, Bombs.. Well, the PIECES of a person, but it still counts. Oh, target is immobilized, yeah? Boarding party can move in when they're ready.>>
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Screaming in rage as the ion cannon blast smashes into the freighter, Captain Caalin Lomax is doubly sore considering one of his crew was sucked out of the turret when it was destroyed, leaving him with only three of the sixteen pirates that he'd come out here with. As the YT-2000 starts to list towards its side and drift slightly to the left, he orders his crew to prepare to repel boarders, knowing that their whole intent was to take the ship. They're already scrambling for their breathing masks, as they know they have a limited supply of air.
On the platform, the freighters have turned their shields off again as their crews begin to repair them, and they continue their loading supplies while the Resistance starfighter corps takes up defensive positions both around the freighter and around the platform. As planned, the Mynock Hunter lifts off and heads for the listing YT-2000, and a boarding crew heads into the Hullcracker to take care of the pirates. Although one of Captain Aerex Covell's crew dies, they stun and detain Captain Caalin Lomax, First Mate Kant Aath Vel, and crewman Hak Treboh. Crewman Bertos Annix died when Black Leader destroyed the dorsal turret of the freighter.
Once they've all grouped together again, and the replacement crew aboard the Hullcracker gets it up and running from being disabled, all the craft get together around the jump point. <<Black Leader, this is Captain Jalba. Thanks for the support. We're all ready to go to the next jump. We really appreciate this. Drinks on us.>>
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<<Happy to show our support to those who support us. I'll have Silver squadron escort you and the convoy home. Break--Break. All call signs, excellent work. We lost two, but do not lose HOPE. Silver squadron, break contact and escort the freighters home. Green squadron you will go with them. I will link up with the station here to obtain a transport to go to the surface once our pilots are found. Red Leader, you and Red 2 scour the surface and find our missing people. We're NOT leaving without them.>> Poe angles Black Leader toward the station. <<You have your orders, squadrons. May the force be with us.>>
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<<You hear that, Rimjob, we get to start drinking early.>> Jenna isn't against helping in the search for the two downed pilots, but she's more than happy to help seperate the freighter pilots from the credits in the pilots pit. Her comms switch to squadron wide, <<Hard copy, Black Leader.>> As she brings her B-Wing on one side of the convoy to Silver Squadron. <<Not bad flying for a couple of robed religious nuts.>> To Silver.
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Rey hears the comments from Silver 2 and she glances over out of her cockpit over to the Jedi starfighter which she smiles faintly at the pilot. << I don't think we're quite done here yet.>> Rey replies before angling her flight course to catch up with the freighter. <<Escort is on your tail, Freighter.>> Rey tells the civilians before her attention cuts to that of the one referring to their robes and skills. <<I'll have you know that those robes also function as portable blankets for any spur of the moment napping. So you shouldn't downtalk them so openly... it makes your jealousy show.>> Silver Leader teases back.
When Artoo has the hyperspace course set, she waits for the freighter to go before she preps her own jump levers. <<On me, Two.>> Rey tells her wingman for the mission.
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<<Copy that Red 2.>> Karas says as they begin thier sweep to keep the skies clear, but as everyone begins forming up to go home and escort the freighters, Poe's command come over loud and clear, <<Alright Black Leader. Heading down now, let's find them and bring them home Red 2.>> he says and turns his X-Wing towards the planet, "Spark start scanning for wreckage and both Kares and Davids astromechs or beacons." he says to his droid who responds with an affirmative.
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Aside from Black Leader and Red Squadron, all the remaining starfighter corps elements and the convoy of four leap to hyperspace, heading for the Resistance base. Jessika maintains her patrol route, though slows her speed greatly as the orders from Poe come over the communications. <<Black Leader, that's an entire planet down there, and we don't know if--,>> Case interrupts her with a series of warbles. <<Gold Leader's on my radar!>> The T-85, which suffered a catastrophic systems failure from a lucky hit bestowed it, is not as damaged as it seemed. Both Lieutenant Ironside and his astromech were able to repair their systems and save the fighter from a meeting with the planet. <<Recommend Red Leader escort him back to base.>> Opening a more direct channel to Poe, Jessika continues. "I know you don't want to leave Kare down there. I don't, either. But that's a big planet to scour, and we need to go back and make sure they're doing all the right things to get her back."
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"I don't like leaving her here. She wouldn't go if it was one of us down there. I will go back just long enough to get approval to come back." The sound of displeasure and discontent is present in his voice, but Black Leader complies with the logic, reluctantly. They were already low on fuel, and the station had just survived an attack on account of their presence. His presence might spark another. <<All callsigns, withdraw and return to base. We will be back as soon as we can to get Kare. Black Leader out.>> He waited until everyone had jumped, then considered going back on his word to fly toward the planet. BB-8 said something, and Poe sighed. "I know buddy. We'll get her." And at that, his fighter zipped into hyperspace.
