Log:Resistance: Welcome to the Jungle, Part 2

Welcome to the Jungle, Part 2

OOC Date: June 18, 2018
Location: Stend IV
Participants: The Resistance, First Order, Ektor-Xer Apollyon, Jessika Pava, Emma Starflare, David Ironside, Asiir Cuul, Devii, Jaya Kassis, Karas Darkwing, Kaiden, Nova Korell, CV-4377, Jonn Drayson, Syrus Volo, Kylo Ren

The First Order research facility (evil bioweapons, says the Resistance; harmless medicines, claims the First Order) is almost invisible from the air, set amongst the dense jungles of Stend IV. The designated landing zone is nearly a kilometer away from the facility, connected by a thin road cut through the foliage, large enough for a landspeeder, nothing heavier. At one corner of the landing field, a Resistance Sentinel-class shuttle has settled, defended by a half dozen varied snubfighters in the air. The Resistance ground team has just left the facility with a large load lifter bearing a heavy data core- the brains of the research computers- along the narrow track toward their evacuation point.

<<Ah, we got company,>> Ektor mutters over the comms, from the Y-wing cockpit. <<Another half squadron of TIEs and a shuttle. Ground team, how long you need, yeah?>>

Maintaining an intercept pattern over the facility and the landing field, Jessika Pava, Red Squadron's executive officer, flies with Red Five on her wing. Green Two's callout comes just after Case's warning beeps and right before she can toggle the communications switch to bring it up herself. "Yeah, Case, I see 'em. Looks like they came to spoil our party." Adjusting the frequency to the squadron net, Jessika glances out of the transparisteel viewport of her T-65c-A2 X-Wing, catching a glint of light on the Tierfon Yellow Aces symbol on the side of the helmet, so she can peer through the yellowed visor at the presence of her wingmate. <<Red Five, Red Two. Things are gonna get pretty busy. You ready for some more dancing?>> A hand reaches out to pull the glove on her flight stick hand a little tighter.

Em-1710, or Emma as her identity in public had come to be known as, had been promoted. Newly minted as a commissioned officer, the special forces trooper stood dressed in her armor and armed to the teeth, checking over her currently inactive cloaking device and then blasters in turn. She was perfectly accustomed to ambushing the Resistance in a jungle, she'd done it quite effectively before and it was far more comfortable for her than her recent time with the starfighter wing, but she wasn't alone this time! One last glance over her shoulder and she seals her helmet in place. Time to work.

In his N-1 starfighter designated Gold Leader, David Ironside gets on comms. << I see them. Moving to engage. >> he calls out. The hand on the control stick to his right squeezes a bit tighter. <<Gold Leader to Ground One. It's about to get hairy, if that shuttle lands.>> He veers off, away from the base and in the direction of the two TIE flights.

Warning sirens blare over the comm systems of the First Order transport as it hurtles through hyperspace, and then abruptly shudders as it falls into real space, a contingent of TIE fighters surrounding it as engines ignite and shove the transport through space and on a course to break through atmosphere of the planet looming ahead. Storm Troopers stand rank and file along the center of the ship, facing the closed boarding ramp and holding tight to hand held safety rings that dangle from the ceiling. "ALL UNITS, BE PREPARED FOR IMMEDIATE CONTACT. HOSTILES PRESENT!" is shouted over the comms to the ground troops waiting in the transport.

At the rear of the line stands a figure clad in black. A long cloak drapes from his shoulders with a deep hood pulled up over the short black fur that crowns his head. A subtle shift of his head allows light to spill beneath the brim of his hood to expose the features of the cathar beneath, however, revealing the once amber eyes that are now beginning to rim red with something not-quite bloodshot due to dryness, the iris beginning to turn more yellow than amber. His voice is low as he looks to those troops around him, hand pulling free the hilt of the lightsaber hidden beneath. "Fight well for the First Order," he growls out. "Crush this scum that would dare strike out against us."

Devii is moving along with with the sled as she listens to the comm chatter. She dosn't like it, not at all. "This was a dumb plan and who ever came up with it should be demoted and then cycled out an empty airlock..." She wasn't a special forces operative with super badass training. She had been a Cop before this, still was in some ways. At least in the way she conduted herself. Down to earth, nothing special about her. Maybe that was the difference here. "Keep your eyes open, make sure you HUD's scan passivly on all frequencies." She's look around herself. "Important thing is, we keep moving and we get out of here with the Cargo." GAME: Ektor has added Devii to the pose order.

<<You betcha, Red Two. Lead the way!>> Jaya Kassis, or Red Five, had just flexed her shoulders and adjusted her seat. The first round of fighters were hunkered flaming wastes spread out across the ground below, and now they had more coming in, ready to fight. Jaya took a deep breath and glanced toward Red Two, peering out her own canopy of transparisteel to flash the pilot a thumbs up. She intended to stay in formation with the XO, accelerating as she did, but adjusting her course for an intercept path. The fighting was never easy, but Jaya was beginning to develop a taste for it again. She had a very Corellian smile on her face as the stern of her craft lit up, accelerating her, and Jolts her droid, toward more danger!

Karas hears Red 4, his XO, he than rolls his X-Wing and breaks from where he was attacking to join up with the rest of Red Squadron. <<Alright Red Squadron, balance out your shields and keep sensors high.>> he says. The S-Foils on his T-65c X-Wing are closed and as he manuvers ahead, Red 3 and Red 6 are flying in formation along with the others. Scanning the area, <<Let's try to use all of our surroundings to our advantage Red Squadron.>> he calls as he prepares himself. GAME: Ektor has added Karas Darkwing to the pose order. A particular Zeltron sticks out against the backdrop of the jungle and sled due to his red-pink skin and violet hair that escapes from beneath his helm in wisps like purple brushstrokes, but he somehow manages to seem to fit in among the others in their little cadre of Resistance Army, seated alongside a Mirialan with green skin for example. Hell yes he is nervous, a battle that is more than covert operations and actually risking facing the First Order's might? "Seconded. Should we look for white?" He nervously chuckles, humor mechanisms activated.

"Let's stick to the philosophy of water," Nova Korell suggests, quoting an ancient philosophy book she remembers, one which doubled as a tactical manual. "Give way where force is greatest, wash back where it is not. We have a job to do, and it isn't fighting the Order's killer's to a standstill." Leapfrogging with Devii, she works on making sure the way's clear before them. Maybe it's not a big facility by galactic standards, but small is plainly a relative term. "We'd better make sure we have a way out, once we're done here."

CV-4377 is burried somewhere in the middle of the transport with all of the other troopers. His head swivels about as he performs a visual check on the others before he runs a sort of self diagnostic. He adjusts his armour, ensuring that it is flush with his body. The man draws up his rifle and double checks to make sure that it's set to a lethal setting.

"Foah a cahp, you are tinking well like a soldyer," was the thick, rumbly, accented voice from the bodybuilder crammed uncomfortably into some Jedi robes. His name was Jonn Drayson, Action Hero, and he was in fact a long-retired Special Forces soldier that had been rudely interrupted by the galaxy at large and shanghai'd into the war effort. He was hella rusty. He had followed Devii and the sled out of the transport and he was always on the lookout for trouble because trouble had a way of finding him. "You remind meh of mai waif. She was verreh clever. Able to adapt. I lyerned much from her." With that spirit-raising talk done (unexpected from someone who looked like a brick wall), he looked over at his Jedi compatriot and said, "Do you tink we're ready to tangle wid any odder guys like us?"

Syrus Volo wanders out behind Jonn, moving to pat the big (althought slightly smaller man) on the back. "It's always a possibility, my friend," he says to the man. "Keep your wits about you, Drayson. "

Standing the back of the transport Asiir is riding in is a tall, black-clad warrior whose chrome -lined helmet is a familiar and ominous sight for some among the Resistance. The lightsaber in his hand ignites with a hungry growl, a guttering jet of red plasma spitting out before the crossguard shoots forth on either side. A cowl is pulled up over the helmet, and he offers no words of encouragement as he prepares to stalk towards the sounds of battle, the unsteady hum of his weapon his only accompaniment.

In the air, the Resistance fighters angle upward to protect their grounded shuttle; Green 2 takes a light hit to the forward shields from a more nimble TIE ace, his own light bomber unable to bring cannons to bear.

The First Order landing craft abruptly dips into a dive at the defended landing field, managing a potshot at the grounded Resistance shuttle that scores the Sentinel-class hull plating, but the range is too great for a killing blow. The black clad pilot settles to the ground, the landing ramp opening even before landing struts find earth. The stormtroopers and their ominous leadership are roughly alongside the road being used by the Resistance troopers.

Angling her vector towards the incoming TIEs, Jessika pushes the throttle forward and flicks the toggle for her s-foils. They separate, splitting the Taim & Bak KX9 laser cannons into four distinct weapons as her fusial engines put her back in her seat thanks to the forces exerted on her by the acceleration. <<Let's get to work, Red Two.>> As usual, the game of flying at each other as fast as possible turns to banking at the last moment. This is the deciding second that determines whether or not a pilot will be the predator or the prey. The veteran Resistance pilot barreling towards the TIE in front of her? She blinks last. Immediately cutting speed and guiding her flight stick, she maneuvers the nose of her snubfighter to follow the juking TIE.

Indicators along her targeting reticle, which is the center panel of her instruments, flash rapidly as she quickly acquires target. The leather of her glove groans as she squeezes, and a pair of red lances--superheated tibanna gas--spike out to immediately dissolve the fighters shields and leave carbon scoring along its hull. The other pair go wide as the enemy pilot evades, and she maintains her pursuit.

Into the jungle Em-1710 moves, her form striding down the ramp before she nods to the lightsaber -wielding Knights. "On the move," she speaks calmly and flicks a switch on her gear, shimmering out of sight. Keeping the cloak up ment moving more deliberately rather than running, but the sniper didn't exactly need to be in close!

David starts to engage the enemy TIEs. Without noticing nobody got on his wing. Dude really needs an active squadron to be leader of. Anyway, before David can get into a good position to shoot at the TIEs, they've already opened fire on him. The combined assault shreds through his shields, his hull and worst of all, his engines. On -both- sides. The N-1 loses altitude rapidly, David yelling expletives and also yelling at his droid. Through a combined effort, and a sizeable helping of luck, David and Ones manage to get the engines back online, the fighter brushing against the tree tops dangerously. "Okay, now try getting the shields back up."

Asiir falls into step behind Kylo Ren as the Supreme Leader moves forward when the ramp lowers and the white armored Storm Troopers begin to rush free of the transport, boots stamping into the ground with ill intent. Blaster fire shoots across the open field and slams into an unfortunate Storm Trooper that is off of the transport a few steps ahead of Asiir, and the trooper falls back to the ramp with a scream as blood already stains the gleaming white plates of armor and slides down the slope of the ramp. Asiir pauses as he passes, kneeling down and tugging free the Trooper's helmet with one hand and tossing it aside.

The face of the woman beneath stares up at Asiir with wide, terror filled eyes, seeking out Asiir's eyes for help, or perhaps for comfort. He offers her a humorless smile as he places his left hand on the woman's forehead, and suddenly the flesh around where his hand contacts her face seems to shimmer as a red glow burns and flows into Asiir's hand. The woman's flesh grows pale, her struggling ceased into the stillness of death, even as the Knight of Ren stands and toggles the power of his lightsaber, first an emerald green blade erupting from one end, and then the angry red from the opposite. Again he stalks after the Supreme Leader, heading toward combat.

Devii frown deepens, "They're here... on the ground. To the South." She says to Nova, "I shoulda brought my stang Flamethrower..." She looks back to those around. "This has gotten way out of hand and we need to MOVE. Moonbeam. I want this Datacore rigged to blow incase we need to ditch, yeah?" She wasn't an idiot. She knew they were probably outnumbered and likely out classed and trained. That didn't stop her effort to put her all into this mission. "Keep your eyes open..." As they move along she does just that, orange eyes keen about the jungle. Even using her Echolocation, a natural ability to her species to see if she can pick up on anything, not just relying on her gear's HUD.

Initial combat, it was always the same. Who could gain advantage over the other fighter, then it was just a matter of seconds before one was reduced to rubbish falling from the sky, and the other had a new tale to share. Jaya turned hard, peeling off from her formation and the intercept pattern they had adopted. Thankfully, the angle she turned prevented the advantage from the pilot chasing her. Unfortunately, she had to test her luck in getting away from them. She twisted starboard, rolling downward and away.

Kaiden is in the jungle! He's actually just behind Devii, ironically, though he's not hiding. His own violet stare is not as keen as the Mirialan's, and he can't listen to anything much over the din of the wailing sirens and overhead battles. He tries to steady his breathing, and keep his hands from shaking from nerves, idly causing the shock of electricity to spark between the gloves.

Focusing on the situation of the fight, <<All fighters break and attack, Flight leaders take'em in, all pairs cover your wingman.>> he calls as he sees Red 3 moving to to follow him. Flipping the switch, his X-Wing S-Foils opened, separating his laser cannons, though Karas could've left them closed. Still as he climbs and spirals in towards the enemy fighters, they change their trajectory and bank hard catching him in their sights. <<Red 3 Break, break, break!!!>> he calls into his comm over the tact net. Red 3 does as they are told and Karas tries to quickly shunt the power of his shields to protect him, but the volley of green laser fire knock out his shields and there is a slight explosion in the horizon, but Karas isn't a rookie, he dives clearing himself, but smoke trails from his fighter, electric plays over his console. "Spark, get to work, I need some of this repaired as best you can buddy." he says.

"We need to get off this road, let our camouflage work for us," Nova says, hearing Devii's warning. "We're just sitting targets here." She pauses to snap a prepared charge onto the side of the sled, setting it for ten seconds. "Just press the big button and /run/. We'll have a few seconds to get away, if it comes to that."

CV-4377 was a lucky duck when it came to dodging the first sniper shot of the day. His head turns back to take a look at the other trooper struck by heated plasma. The trooper can't bother to help them in the moment and presses on. He sprints behind his white armoured breathern, hoping that the darker colours he wears will shield him from being spotted as easily. The man moves alongside the left of the flying wedge formation, watching the flank for the center. His blaster is brought up and leveled with his sights near the head of the rebel driving the lifter. A solid red blaster bolt flies across the field and slams into the side of the vehicle, missing its intended target.

The chaotic sound of the furball erupting above Jonn Drayson made his hairs stand on end. It was hard to tell whether it was nervousness or an intuition through the Force, because those things were less like 'Okay here's exactly what you need to know' and more 'OMG DUCK'. At least right now. Blaster fire began to erupt all around him and a blue beam of pure light burst into existence. "GO!" he roared at the Resistance troops around him, "PUSH DER CART!" Saber up, ready to block, waiting for those 'OMG BLOCK' intuitions to come.

Hearing the fighting pop off, Syrus squints and whips his saber around before lifting his free hand. A moment's concentration and a flick of his wrist and he sends a telekinetic punch flying toward the Stormtrooper with the fancy pauldron. It strikes center mass and sends the man flying. "Stay near, Jonn."

The Resistance load lifter glides along the narrow jungle road, Private Glasvyrn guiding it along rather deftly, though nowhere near fast enough for the tastes of the squad around him. The first flickers of movement to the south tell of the impending clash, glimpses of white armor on one side, and of the load lifter and its escorts on the other. The first shot screams out of the trees, narrowly missing Glasvyrn. A captain in the Stormtrooper Corp strides up next to CR-4377, seeming to approve of the junior trooper's target, as he raises his own rifle to add another shot, before being forcefully flung backward off his feet with an uneven scream.

In the air, Ektor mutters, "Drek, they did NOT send the scrubs, today.." Veering abruptly off target in a bid to pick up the TIE that hammered Karas. He lands a light hit, but it's enough to buy Red Leader some breathing room. Of course, now there are two TIEs on him, but the Tionese makes the light bomber dance, and his gunner collapses the shields of the pursuing TIE with a lucky shot.

Jockeying behind the enemy TIE in front of her, Jessika is unprepared for his sudden reduction of speed. It's either smash into him or juke down, so her fighter dips. It's a well played maneuver that ends with the enemy TIE in pursuit, and Jessika curses under her breath as Case bleeps a warning. "I know!" Jessika is already banking hard after turning her X-Wing up on its port side, and it's that reason alone that the salvo of laser fire meant to shred her snubfighter only glances off its shields. Red Two adopts an immediate evasive pattern and weaves, refusing to be a sitting duck that'll allow the TIE a clear shot on her six. "Keep your dome on," Jessika calls to her astromech as she focuses on flying, rapidly glancing between her radar and out her viewport to make sure she's not going to smash into something while evading.

Lightsabers were...awesome and terrifying. Em had seen what they could do many a time. They were also a rather large target indicator for a sniper. Usually, the blonde woman subscribed to the 'one shot, one kill' doctrine, but Jedi had this knack for blocking single shots. Training indicated violence over stealth and so she squeezed the trigger. Her cloak? It immediately deactivates under the stress of having to conceal the muzzle flash while she takes aim at the shouting man with the blue plasma blade. He was probably in charge, barking orders like that...right?

Asiir continues to stalk along toward the approaching troops, his feet angling him in the direction of the approaching soldiers. He is still too far to engage in lightsaber combat, so instead he focuses on in on one Resistance soldier near the forward end of the column of ground troops. He reaches out toward one, focusing the hate and anger collecting inside of him and with an angry clench of his fist, the poor Resistance soldier's head suddenly alights with flame.

Just as David manages to get up in the air, find a target and move to engage, the ship is again rocked with laser fire and immediately goes practically vertical, headed for the ground in spectacular fashion. Strapped in as he is, David seems to remain -much- calmer than he was the first time the engines quit on him. David pulls back on the stick, his other hand moving to slide the canopy forward. He might be going down for real this time, but he wasn't gonna eject -forward-. Able to pull the craft upright again, David turns to his droid, telling it to eject. Protested beeps indicate a 'no', but David insists. "Lock the canopy open like this, I'll be right out with you. Unless I smash into a tree." The droid does the binary equivalent of a defeated sigh, then pops out the bottom, activating the jets on the sides when it can. David is cruising through the tree tops now, doing his absolute best to only crash land. A spot opens up where there's no trees, the fighter lowering, lowering, mowing the grass.. slowing down only a little.. David curses and pulls the ejector seat lever, shooting up into the sky where repulsor jets slow his descent. He looks down the side to see the N-1 skidding over the ground and coming to rest against a tree. If it's salvageable at all, it won't be anytime soon as both engines are on fire.

Devii ducks as the blaster bolt erupts against the hull of the Cart. Then Jonn is pushing it and Nova is suggesting heading into the woods. One of her men's head is aflame. Troopers are bearing down on her position. She had felt it, and seen a shimmer and then. Yes, the blaster bolts that would impact against and around Jon. "I need supressive fire in that Direction!" She yells aiming her own blaster in that direction, having a better idea of where this person was. The squeezes the trigger rapidly three times before attempting to move over to Jonn to see if she can help. "You!" She says to Sylus... "Get after that Light Sword wielding sarlacc muffin." She swore like a silor.

Sparks shower over Jaya as her Headhunter is struck so hard it's left a large scoring across one wing. She's shaken by the hit and instinctively pulls to the port, as if to dodge any further damage and angle back up. Sweat has already formed across her brow, and her breathing picks up a tick. <<There's one on my tail. I can't shake him!>> Her comms cut just as she pulls back the speed and turns hard starboard, the pressure from which produces a groan from her as she strains to stay with it. Turning to look back over her shoulder, she tries to see if he's still there, but she can't see! Panic settles in as she takes another evasive turn, this time she forces the throttle forward just as she banks, tearing through the sky low and just over the treetops below.

<<Green 3, no fracking dying on me. I'm coming in on your 5'oclock.>> Karas says into the Squadron tact net, with the assist he just got from Ektor he wasn't going to lose this opening. Pulling back the control yoke, the heavily damaged X-Wing banks, quickly adjusting the inertia dampners Karas is able to withstand the force pushing him back into the pilots couch. Still pulling off a snap roll and climbing, coming in at a angle, the X-Wing is able to get a bead on the one of the two TIEs chasing Ektor's Y-Wing. The HUD goes green as he gets a lock on and he fires sending quad burst firing in towards the TIE, heavily damaging it. <<Green 3, one Eyeball off your ass, break to 10.5.3, I will try to get the other off you so you can re-engage another target.>> he says to him.

CV-4377 stops advancing as he comes into optimum shooting range. He doesn't seem too willing to get close to the plasma sword waving heretics across the way. The stormtrooper looks to the other men and shouts, "Hold here! Make them come to us! Shoot the driver!", as he waves his offhand arm across the ground to show where to create a line of fire. His gaze is cast over the other troopers as the wedge formation begins to collapse into a column alongside the road.

The man looks around, failing to spot the captain after the poor guy was flung back. Under the armour, he shivers as he brings up his rifle for another shot on the driver. Pew! flies the blaster bolt across the field and into the driver's chest, rendering the the fellow into an unconscious ragdoll that slumps in their seat.

"So that's what a double-bladed lightsaber looks like," Nova muses, snapping her rifle up and firing at the shape behind it. She doesn't waste time watching for any signs of the result (which is nothing), instead fading back into the treeline, where her dark green attire might be of some use in staying less visible to enemy eyes.

The stun shot to Jonn scorched his chest and made him twitch wildly. The second shot, the lethal one , knocked him back to his senses but left a hell of a crater in his stomach. The third was caught by Jonn's wild lightsaber flailing and knocked into a tree. Boom! "GO!" he cried out to the assembled Rebel column. "GET AUHT OF HYERE!" Clutching the steaming wound in his stomach, he held the saber up with one hand and directed the pure raw sensation of GO AWAY at the individual that had shot him. Emma might notice it get a little bit windier for a sec. Maybe. Hard to tell. Still, if Jonn had to sacrifice himself, so be it. Men fell in the line of duty all the time. There was no nobler way to go. "Syrus, we have to cover der retreat!" And hold the line no matter the cost. "Dis is moah impoahtant dan us!" His daughter would have been proud.

"Agreed," is Syrus's response to Jonn, accompanied with a swift nod. He lifts his emerald blade and swipes an incoming blaster bolt out of the air before lifting his hand in Asiir's direction. Whoosh. Force punch headed straight for the dark jedi. After all, everybody here with a lightsaber is the biggest possible target. As the mad chaos of the ground skirmish continues to unfold, and blaster fire cris-crosses the narrow jungle track, the wheeling dogfight above turns explosive, with one fighter on each side falling from the sky. Still, the load lifter presses on, clearing the half kilometer marker to the waiting shuttle... until Private Glasvyrn is struck badly slumps over the driver's yoke with a cry, unconscious or dead. The load lifter lurches along, but without guidance, it will not keep the track for long.

Ektor crows aloud when Karas comes back into the fray and knocks out the TIE on his tail, but the victorious howl is cut short when Gold Leader goes down. "Kriff- Tenner, find where he went down, and send a datastream to the Ground team, see if they can get him out on the way, yeah?" The old warhorse of a Y-wing whispers through the atmosphere and his cannons drive one TIE out of pursuit of a squadron mate, but he lands no hits on the nimble craft.

They're all fighting for their lives here. She's pretty sure she sees Gold Leader's N-1c go down, and the last time she checked, both Red Leader and Red Five's craft were in far worse shape than her own. Jessika has no time to worry about them, though. She has to bank fast to avoid a shot, but even then the TIE wants to stay with her. Jessika immediately shoves her throttle forward and then pulls an immediate loop after evening off. The forces pushing her back in her seat and the motion of the maneuver strain her against her restraints and leave her vision blacking out at the edges. It also makes her want to vomit all over her console. The sudden reduction in speed very nearly makes her bite her tongue, too, but amid such a move, the TIE ends up swinging wider since it doesn't adjust.

Jessika feeds her snubfighter speed and tries to maintain a calm mind as her briefly oxygen -deprived brain fires all the synapses she needs to do something as complex as dogfight. Lining up her targeting reticle on the TIE, she squeezes and spits another paired burst at the hull-damaged fighter, but its shields merely shimmer.

David -runs- over to his downed fighter, bravely climbing into the cockpit to retrieve his sidearm. When he's out, Ones comes rolling out over the grass. The little droid heads over to the N-1, doing its absolute best to extinguish the flames. "Yes!" David shouts. "You do this, Ones. I'm going to head into the woods and maybe be useful still. Take this, contact me when there's any news." He unclips his flight helmet, tossing it at the droid before turning away and running off, shrugging the top half of his flightsuit down as he goes. It's no good running around being easily visible after all.

There are times to mind the Zeltron charging your way, and then there are times to look past him to the man who just sent a telekinetic blast at you. Asiir is driven back by the telekinetic attack, his leather boots sliding across the ground as he manages to nimbly stay on his feet. There is a baring of sharp teeth and then the Cathar charges straight for Syrus Volo. His attack style is one of finesse and wild improvisation, aggressive as he slashes across at Syrus with first the red blade, then whirls around to perform a backhanded swipe with the green, and then a downward chop with the red that sadly falls short.

She was hurt, she was hit, but Emma was still standing. Turning her blaster carbine towards the woman who'd shot her now that her cover was blown, the sniper fires through the treeline at the woman with the pistol, only to switch fire at the Zeltron charging Asiir...right until some invisible force rocks her, sending her staggering but not throwing her back.

Devii keeps as low as much under cover as she can when the inevitable return fire comes, sending off three more shots in the diretion of the Carbine wielding sniper. At least one hits, probably when Jonn staggers her slightly. "This Kravas licking Bantha is wearing some heavy armor." She grabs Jonn by the arm. "Are you sure? I can help you..." She's about half his size. Another one of her privates go down. A team she's been with for a wile now. She grinds her teeth. "We need a new driver!"

Jaya is struck again, clearly her tactics here aren't what she thought. Alarms begin sounding throughout the cockpit and her hearing begins ringing, everything blurring together. Her craft is dying, she can feel it with the jerky responses and the sputtering engines. It's everything she can do to keep it in the air now, and the shaking is nearly unbearable. Angling the ship away from the fight, she tries to turn on her pursuer, angling her craft toward his for a final pass. Either she's going to get shot down, or he's gonna remember he fought one pissed off Corellian.

Kaiden makes a charge, right at the deadliest one of his foes! Actually the closest. But deadly nonetheless, considering the crimson and green blades that the Cathar wields. He doesn't even know that he's lucky that Emma was thrown and shot and that she even fired at him, her blaster bolt going awry. But then Asiir just flippantly passes him by, which, in all frankness, offends the Zeltron. What! He launches himself again at the dark-sider, flinging a devastating one-two combo with all of his might, and hitting... nothing?!

Sensor data is coming in to him, Spark does list them priority to less. The tact net is a chaos of noise and frantic hollering and some being silenced. He has to get control of his squadron, <<Red Squadron!>> he calls out to them. <<FOrm up and pair off by wings. No show boating, utilize wingman tactics like you were taught, now go!>> he calls over the squadron channel. His X-Wing is badly damaged and not fairing well, but he is used to flying like this. No he isn't a Corellian but he's a helluva pilot. The X-Wing angles down as it turns right, the S-Foils close and he powers on the power. Smoke trials are easily seen coming from the engine nacelle as his fighter seem to morph into a bird of prey and the TIES are ripe for the picking.

Getting confirmation that Gold 1 survived his crash, <<Gold Leader, you alright>> he calls but just than he sees that Red 5 is in trouble, "Sithspawn!" he growls as he climbs up doing a reverse roll keeping the TIE from seeing him and let it focus on Jaya seeing as it's already hit her, he thinks he has a lock and fires a proton torpedo. He watches as the torpedo misses, but at least he manages to get it to break from Red 5, but Sparks informs him he has someone else on his ass. <<Red 5, get to your wingman, I got ya covered.>> he says as an order breaking and diving towards the treelike.

"If we can just..." Nova interrupts herself as she sees the driver of the loadlifter go down. "Frell ..." Barely waiting for Devii's call, and that only because she has to sling her rifle, the soldier dashes for the cab, quickly hauling the dead man out and stepping behind the controls herself. "Get on and let's go!" she shouts, pushing the throttle forward and straightening up the machine's course, getting this mission back on the empty track... literally. "We just have to get away from their fire and we're home free!"

Nova Korell turns the safety of her BlasTech EL-16HFE blaster rifle back on, and lowers the weapon.

Glasvyrn is not /quite/ dead. He's getting better.

CV-4377 smirks as he watches the driver slump over. He lets out a groan as he realizes that the controls are stuck, moving the vehicle forward in an uncontrolled manner. The stormtrooper thinks quickly on his feet, drumming up a haphazard strategy to get in front of the loader and bring it to a stop. "Dig in! Keep firing!" The man calls over the communicators whilst he dives for cover behind a tree.

The trooper peeks from behind cover carefully to get a glimpse of the road. "Corporal. Pick a fireteam. Sprint west, destroy the loader. We can't let it escape." He orders whilst taking a horrid shot at Nova. "We will provide suppressing fire for your advance." His helmet swivels, looking about the line. "Where's that medic for the Captain?"

Jonn Drayson was a beaten man, but don't tell him that. He might be loud about denying it. Against all odds, he straightened up, the Force infusing him, radiating through him, empowering with a strength slightly beyond that of which he was normally capable. "Knight of der oah-der!" he bellowed at Asiir, completely losing any attempt at a surprise attack he might have made. "For mah famileh, I must break you!" he cried, swinging his lightsaber in a wide arc and slamming it into one of the Sith's exposed blades. THE FIGHT (sad though it may be, sorry Jonn) WAS ON.

Syrus Volo narrows his eyes at the charging Asiir and twirls his saber around. It must be said that Mr. Volo is not well-versed in lightsaber combat. He's also a big target. The Cathar's first slash catches him across the stomach, singing fabric and flesh. The second catches him in the arm. Luckily, Syrus slides backward and away from the third. He spins down to his knee, jabbing his palm out toward Asiir. Reaching out through the Force, a circle of dirt is kicked up around him, but the brunt of the impact flies wide.

The elite squadron of TIE pilots are giving the Resistance's best all they can handle and a bit more: Ektor's Y-wing is hammered by lances of emerald energy, collapsing his shields, and tearing into the fuselage. "Eh, Leidhe is gonna kill me," he growls through clenched teeth, as he jukes and weaves in the tattered fighter trying to avoid a killing blow, while his gunner opens up wildly with the ion turret, taking a bit of revenge for the abuse Green 2 is getting.

On the ground, the advance fireteam of stormtroopers have managed to fire a magnetic charge onto the load lifter, an ominous blinking red light on the housing a clue of doom to come.

As they blitz through the skies over the battle on the ground, Jessika can feel the fatigue setting in. The hyperawareness of combat and the constant state of tension is starting to make her muscles ache. That isn't even considering the strain she's putting on her body with some of these maneuvers. The TIE pilot ahead of her is no slouch. They're weaving to avoid getting in her sights for more than a split second, but he makes a mistake and tries a maneuver she's already scene before. The TIE jukes to port, as if it is going to bank, and her gut instinct tells her it's just not going to. Her patience pays off, because the TIE immediately then tries to sweep starboard. Passing in front of her crosshairs, Jessika anticipates and squeezes at just the right time.

A quartet of laser fire chews straight through the shields and leaves the TIE smoking from chunks turn out of its hull. Gritting her teeth, Red Two continues her pursuit.

Another hit, it was indeed only Emma's armor that kept her standing. Her blaster was spent, but the woman wasn't out for tricks yet. That charge was in place, but someone could get to it if they were quick enough. Time to change that. The blue-ringed grenade is pulled from her belt and Emma cunts off the fuze before throwing it hard at her target.

The bomb bounces, glows and then....explodes. Not with a boom, but with a splat! Sure enough, the core and its charge are sealed together under layer of heavy adhesive. No snatch and runs today!

Devii is tired, sick and tired of this mission. Jonn and Syrus are trudging off into battle. There's a sticky on the core... and then that armored creaton is making sure things just go completely south if Devii even attempted to try to disable the charge. "Grenade, get clear of the lift!" She says before sending three more rounds down range and she herself retreats a bit into the tree line to let the charge detonate. "Clever..." She says to her self, "Or thinks she is..." There is a moment before comms, "Nova... you still there? Get back on that roller and lets get the hell out of here. Plow through that line of troppers for all I care. We need to get the hell out."

David runs through the woods, slowing down when the sound of battle comes closer. Are those.. are those lightsabers? Red, green and blue flashes up ahead.. then a single figure leaps up and throws something. David hesitates for only a second, aiming his blaster and opening fire twice. The first bolt strikes the target, but being that Dave doesn't often find himself shooting unexpectedly, he overadjusts and blows away a fallen leaf with his second shot. He trains the blaster on the target, silently daring the sniper to turn around and face him.

As the three men close in on Asiir, the cathar gives a toss of his head, sending the deep hood back and baring his head and face to those around him. Yellow and red eyes glare hatefully at Jonn and the Jedi will no doubt feel the hate emanating from the Knight of Ren. As Syrus falls away, it leaves Asiir with only two targets. There is a warning strike with his green blade at Jonn, almost as if he were gesturing the man away before he turns on Kaiden in a sudden furry. His lightsaber twirls in a fierce spin that causes emerald and ruby blades to run together in a multi-colored blur of light that hums with deadly intent, until all of a sudden it doesn't. Asiir brings the red blade of his saber staff up in a fierce uppercut that catches Kaiden just beneath his chin, and then with a roar of anger he spins and shoves backward with the green, the blade piercing through Kaiden's chest and protruding out of the Zeltron's back.

Her first time to actually fire at the enemy ends in failure, and both of them manage to avoid one another, banking in opposite directions. Breathing hard, Jaya adjusts her bearings just as she hears her CO over comms telling her to find her wingman. She acknowledges the order and breaks pursuit, pushing toward Red 2.The read out across her console indicates her shields have passively been recovering, and Jaya's happy to see them back online. Shaken up, Jaya's voice sounds over the comms. <<Red Two, Red Five.. I'm here to help, if I can..>> That was enough to show their CO that she was following his direction despite the dire situation.

Seeing the chaos, he knows what his pilots are capable of, right now they needed to regroup. His X -Wing breaks left and coming around as the TIE tries to use the trees, but it wasn't able to. Karas hands jinks with the fighter, but when he gets a lock, the TIE pilot is able to break from the missile. Catching the TIE as it continues it's bank, Karas pushes his X-Wing, but than he climbs, not getting caught up in a turning war, his fighter rolls in mid-air gaining altitude.

The Zeltron really had no chance against an enemy of this calibre, and it shows as he's slashed upward, cauterizing the once-open gash immediately and putting him stumbling back, but his world seems to stop and hold frozen as the blade protrudes from his back, impaling him clean through his midsection. It is grevious, utterly, but narrowly missing more vital organs, allowing him much more time to survive than were that blade impaled through his chest or even one of his stomachs. His mouth drops with a strangled gurgle, his hands uselessly moving to the hilt and Cathar's own on them, as if he had the strength to even try to push the other away. The Zeltron's adam's apple bobs with the strangled noise he makes and violet eyes wide, demanding all of Asiir's attention.

"Frell..." Nova ducks down behind the protective plating of the cab, wincing as the blast sends sticky glop spraying around from the adhesive grenade. Standing again, she shoves the throttle forward, guiding the slow, gloppy junker towards the shuttle. At least it beats walking. "Let's just try to get this thing and some of us to the shuttle alive! Maybe some of the data didn't get blown up..!" After a night like this, all you can do is hope one blasted thing goes right.

Now! Jonn Drayson struck like the galaxy's most injured, ungainly, awkward cobra! The blue shining blade caught the edge of Asiir's saber and Jonn applied pressure, his Force-boosted strength giving him the power to remain steady despite his grievous wound. Curse you, snipers! "NAOOO!" he cried out, straight into the catman's face. "YOU FACE ME! I MAY BE CRIPPLED, BUT I WILL FIGHT YOU!"

Clearly, she had pissed them off...but she'd done her job. Em-1710 could say that much. When the next shots hit her, then the bolt in the back, she draws a breath and reaches down, drawing her blaster pistol. Her back slams against the tree, using it to take full cover from Devii and her quick firing while she turns on David. Him she couldn't hide from.

CV-4377 smirks behind his helmet as the explosive detonates on the core. The man turns back just in time to watch the medic sprint over to the stormtrooper captain and begin an evaluation of injuries associated with the force throw. "The core has been detonated. Two lines, suppressing fire and advance. Pressure what's left of the column." The stormtrooper orders. The line of troopers performs a slow "pepper-potting" maneuver to assist Asiir Cul with mopping up. CV-4377 looks over towards the sniper in the bushes, and watches her take fire. The trooper takes a haphazard shot into the distance, missing his intended target.

Asiir can feel Kaiden's hands scrabbling at his on the lightsaber, trying to push the blade free of his stomach fruitlessly, but still he lets the blade burn. He stares back into Jonn's face, a wide and mean grin stretching across his features as his eyes bore into the Jedi's. Something happens, however, because there is a disappointed look that briefly crosses Asiir's features before he shakes his head and says in a growl to Jonn, "Looks like you live for now, Jedi. I will kill you another day." With that, he shoves forward against the pressure that Jonn applies to his lightsaber, and then ducks as he kills the power to the blade locked with that of the Jedi. He ducks beneath the hopefully stumbling man that is now leaning toward the wounded Kaiden, and delivers a backhanded chop toward Jonn's back before that blade is extinguished as well and Asiir is jogging away from the fight, yelling out, "I go back to the ship! Cover fire, now! Gather what wounded can be saved, leave the others behind."

A non-Jedi Jonn Drayson may have yelled something about reaching into the catman's stomach and ripping out his spine, but anger leads to hate and hate leads to suffering. Plus he was too busy reeling from the additional pain in his back, and simultaneously falling towards the pink man. "You will find it is nahd so easy to hate, when you haf someting to love," was his parting shot as he was on his knees above the fallen Zeltron. With the remnant of the strength the Force had imbued in him, he tried his hardest to lift the Zeltron up and over his shoulder. But Kaiden was either too fat or Jonn was too weak. He settled for dragging him by the torso. At least only his feet were scraping the ground.

The detonation on the load lifter has a far greater impact on the battle below than a muffled thud, sundered core housing and rocking hydraulics under a thick patch of adhesive would otherwise suggest. At a distance the full extent of the damage is difficult to gauge as the load lifter breaks into the landing zone, and the Sentinel-class shuttle draws into view. Powered up, engines running, its repeating blaster cannons deployed to lend cover to the tattered column of Resistance troopers break the treeline.

Overhead, neither wing of starfighters have decisively gained the advantage, each smashing away at their opponents with diminishing endurance. The order below is echoed above, as the four surviving TIE fighters and the four surviving Resistance craft pull apart in a slow pattern of mutual wariness, the former covering their own landing zone, the latter circling protectively above the Messenger, until the long awaited report that all are aboard and the shuttle is lifting off is had. <<Letâs get the kriff outta here, yeah?>> is the curt commentary from one Y-wing as the ships streak out of the gravity well, toward hyperspace.

A breath, a moment of tension as the pair lock eyes and then both Emma and David's blasters come up . Her first two shots hit him solid as his own fly past her, slamming into the tree she was using for cover. Still clutching her blaster, the blonde woman moves forwards past the fallen man, staggering towards the direction of evacuation. All she could do was hope her wounded self didn't count as those to be 'left'. There was a pause for a moment as she passes the injured pilot who'd been through a lot, but she doesn't go for the double tap. Instead she continues her pained retreat.. .hopefully she won't get shot in the back!

David, blaster trained on the helmeted shooter, paces slowly to the side. He steps on a twig, the snap triggering him into shooting. Both shots miss, but the trained sniper isn't as unlucky. David goes down, managing to activate his wristcomm as he does. "Man down.." he gurgles into it, speech warped by the fact his mouth is half in the forest floor. "Gold Leader.. by the First Order sniper nest. My fighter's down." He crawls ahead, dragging himself into cover with his other arm.

Devii does get shot in the back because the Resistance Sergant sees her plow some rounds into David. .. wait what is David? Oh yeah the telemetry. She dosn't stick around to see what happens. "GET OVER HERE IRONSIDE BEFORE I HAVE TO SHOOT YOU TOO!" She ant screwing around. SHe hops on the back of the damaged crawler. "You, Funny talking Jedi, grab my priavte and get aborad... they're pulling back."

CV-4377 slows his roll as the resistance fighters are allowed to retreat. Most of the troopers keep up the harassment as people begin to disappear from view. The man holds steady as the number of explosions reduces in volume and he sprints back towards the stormtrooper captain and medic. "We're to fall back and secure a permitter until we're able to get a body count." His helmet tips down as he looks over the vast foliage, looking for armoured covered corpses.

The trooper suddenly remembers the sniper and runs over to her position. He spots her staggering away from an engagement with David as she is stuck by more blaster fire from Devii. By the time he makes for a clearing, he isn't able to spot the two fighters. The man breaks out his medic pack and begins to render aid.

This dance was becoming a stalemate, too many ships were taking out and Karas isn't happy at all. <<Alright Red Squadron and any other fighters, lets go home, cover our transport as we go.>> he calls over the tact night. Pulling up, along with the other fighters, he takes off and once all fighters leap into hyperspace, he follows suit.