Log:Rogue Squadron: Bait and Switch

Rogue Squadron: Bait and Switch

OOC Date: March 7, 2021
Location: Edge of the Codru Munto System
Participants: Callax Dalso, David Ironside, Zul Gradnk, Zandra naMuriel, Karas Darkwing, Tallie Lintra

It's like the old days - a war of attrition because they don't have the Fleet to go toe to toe with the enemy, so they return to what works. Guerrilla bait and switch tactics are well known to the New Republic.

On the other side of the Munto Codru system, the 'Birena' slips between asteroids, leaving mines in strategic spots. The last communication from them brought a muted cheer to the group assembled in the Ops Room. The Irregulars had found a rhydonium mining operation in the asteroid belt and set a trap. Not only had they found it and booby-trapped it, but they had uncloaked the site in a bid to draw the FO's attention to that quadrant.

Will the FO take the bait?

The question rolled through the Commander's head tiresomely as she paced the flight deck waiting for the signal from the Renegade's bridge for them to release and go after their prey. When the word comes, she signals to the other pilots.

"It worked. Scans showed a Raider Corvette jumping in the direction of the asteroid field that you were briefed on. You will have the short jump coordinates loaded into your computer. We will jump as a group as close to point zero as we can. As per your briefing, we will break into two groups - X-Wings on the Eyeballs, and Y-Wings are attacking the Raider. Communication silence is in force until we engage the enemy. Good luck out there!"

Tallie looks at each pilot in turn before turning to board her X-Wing. "See you on the flip side," she calls from the top of the stairs.

Callax hates the helmet that goes with the NR-2.

It's a bucket. Just like the helmet that came with the original BTL-series, the helmet's claustrophobic and full of shock-absorbing foam. It's meant to keep your head well-insulated against the blasts of torpedo and bomb explosions; what it does, of course, is restrict the senses. In the NR-2, everything is muted. Peripherals are somewhat blocked. In a way, it's like a fathier being guided via harness, just instead of a racing line, it's a bombing target. Today's target, of course, is one of those damned Raiders.

Callax can kill a Raider. They've done it before. But this needs to be done clean, and it needs to be done without a bunch of daft-arsed flying. Bombers do not handle acrobatics well. << All right, >> Callax calls over comms as Callax and their pair of attending Wishbones. << Rogue Leader, this is Rogue Ten and Fabulous flight. Fab One and Two, report status and get into formation. We're going to be holding back until they've got everyone else's attention. >>

<< Fab One, green. >> << Fab Two, green! >> Professionals, certainly, but there's a certain reticence (or resignation) to the utterance of their tags today. Alas. But they will do their jobs!

<< Beautiful, darlings, beautiful, >> Callax says ecouragingly. Then over the intercom, they say to Babo in his socket, << You make sure those two are doing their best. I'll have their guts for garters if they shirk. >>

Flying! That is something Zul loves, grinning as she starts her X-Wing up all the way until she is in space <<"Rogue Twelve, calling in!">> she announces, staying quiet otherwise, as she gives a small wave with her X-Wing. Radio silence is relative Radio silence.

David Ironside, flying the X-Wing designated Rogue Eight, with s-foils open. This is an ambush after all, and it can spring at any moment. He busies himself until go-time by marking the mines on his sensors into his targeting systems, then sends the info to the squadron. The only words he speaks are to his astromech droid. "Well, Ones. Here we go again, let's hope they take all of the bait, huh?" he offers encouragingly, to a reply of enthusiastic beeps and whistles.

With the orders provided and them going back to old guerrilla tactics which Karas is used to. Having taken the information in stride he smiles to the others and rolls his shoulders a little bit. He stretches the back of his head and he looks to everyone before they launch, "May the Force be with us." he says as he quickly climb up the ladder of his X-Wing. Plopping down into the cockpit and begins strapping in.

Once he's in and his fighter has gone through pre-flight. When the order comes for them to launch he launches. He heard the command for comm-silence so he doesn't say anything at all, moving into formation Rogue 2 is ready for action.

The cockpit wasn't silent. There was the constant beep of the long-range scan, the deep thrum of the co-axial engines. A proximity buzzer turned down low told Tallie of the looming asteroid that they were about to swing around to descend on the Raider. Its name, 'Wrath', spoke volumes of the FO. Let them feel the wrath of the New Republic. Voices break comm silence ahead of schedule in the Squadron's enthusiasm to engage the Raider.

With luck, no TIEs would deploy from the Wrath before Rogue appeared on scans. More likely, the comm chatter announced their coming. Let the FO think it was overconfidence.

The first view on the scan was of a ship that hadn't seen them coming. The Raider began belching TIEs like a frantic fish giving birth. Six TIEs are born and race toward them.

And so it begins. Callax reaches out to switch channels to short-link to the Fabulous Twins, slowly bringing the ship up to half throttle and steering it into the asteroid field. << Fab One, Fab Two, >> Callax calls over comms, tone cheerful despite being chopped up in de-encryption. << This is Fab Leader. Form on my wing and follow me through the rocks, darlings. We'll swing around and stab that big bastard in the kidneys when it's not looking. Lock targets and prepare to emerge on my signal, half speed till we are in position. >>

Then, to Babo: "Mind the shields, darling. And remember what I said about those two." By the Gods of Blood, Callax will /not/ suffer slackers.

Zul Gradnk blinks.... TIEs! Now, that is the moment to be a hero! EXTERMI- I mean... ENGAGE! There is the first, unlucky enough to be in a tWi'Lek's sights! A worthy opponent! Their battle will be legendary! That is, if the Twi'Lek took the time to aim, instead of the TIE easily dodging the ship

When the others chatter confidently about giving away the element of surprise and whatnot, David's hand slips to his chest, to briefly press on a thranta-shaped pendant around his neck, before accelerating to attack speed in an effort to head off the newly-launched TIE squadron. <<"Going in, Rogue Leader.">> the pilot reports, and moments later his opening volley smashes through the central eye of the leading TIE in one wing of them. <<Scratch one, Rogue Leader.">> comes the immediate follow-up through comms.

Rogue 2 streaks through space with the rest of Rogue Squadron, as the targets make their way presence known, Karas flips the switch for the sf to open. Once the famous X form is taken, Karas quickly looks over the sensors to see where each of his squadmates are. He sees a miss from Zul, and gives a nod of his head to David as he makes his shot. Karas turns on the music and moves to line up his shot on Besh 2 and as he fires the TIE evades but this doesn't make Karas mad, he adjust himself and gets ready to protect Callax as they get ready for their attack.

The trap that had brought them to the asteroid, pockmarked by its travel in the herd of rock debris left from a planet breaking apart eons ago, looms behind them. The naked eye might see the dome that housed the mining facility. The background of the long scan is the Rhydonium mining operation's signal that brought the Raider out into the belt, a traitorous voice.

Six TIE/SFs deploy and race for their group, which disperses to make point defense more difficult. The Wrath rolls its wedge shape to bring more guns to bear on Rogue, missing the nimble fighters as Callax gets target lock on it. One TIE is an expanding balloon of metal and gas after Ironside decimates it in a volley of lasers.

<<Good start. Let's keep them on the run while we do a little Corvette pounding.">>

Once the fighters are engaged, and properly exploding like all TIEs not flown by Callax and friends are doomed to do, Callax angles their fighter toward the enormous drives of the long, flat pyramid that is the /Wrath/ and touches the 'LOAD' button under the ship's ordnance console. << Fabs, load tubes and prepare to fire on my mark. >> Then to Rogue in general, << Rogue Leader, Rogue Ten and Fabulous Flight here. We are making an attack run. Brace for fireworks. >>

With that, Callax punches the ship to full throttle, followed by its wingmen; out of the rocks the wishbones roar, drives flaring bright, /almost/ dangerous speed. But bombers are never meant for speed, are they now? << Fabulous, this is Leader. Fire on my mark. Three, two, one, /mark/. >> With that, Callax squeezes the thumb-triggers on the bomber's yoke, releasing a pair of bright blue proton lances just as the corvette's point-defense guns open fire upon the oncoming ships; the others fire in turn, and five torpedoes land squarely into /Wrath/'s aft quarter, pretty as you please. Its shields are nearly depleted with that one salvo, though they aren't breached - and as the Fabs break, Callax reports progress over comms.

<< Leader, this is Rogue Ten. Successful run, enemy shields at one quarter power. Coming around to hit it again. >>

Well, the first attack was a failure, to be fair. But there is another TIE to engage, so Zul flies towards it... sending her shots flying wide <"Leader, This is twelve... still unsuccessful.">>

Rogue 2 and Besh 2 were still dancing both jockeying for a shot. After Rogue 2 missed it's first shot, Besh 2 was able to get a lock onto to him and fire. Karas enjoyhing the music he is listening to and checking his sensors and glancing behind himself he breaks right evading the shot from the Besh pilot. "You're pretty good." he says to himself and he pulls back on the yoke to climb but he doesn't stop until he begins a loop and he rolls bringing his fighter above the TIE but as Rogue 2 is at it's apex Karas fires but the TIE dodges him. Shaking his head, as he completes the maneuver.

David re-enters the fight, taking on a TIE that had been harassing one of the Rogues. He opens fire on one of the sides of the TIE, its largest surface after all, scoring a hit as he turns to pursue from the rear. If nothing else, at least he could tell Anessa how he wasn't useless to the Republic one more day. <<"I'm on its tail, I'll keep at least this one off your bombers.">> he comms out to put Callax' group at ease.

The zippy A wing slinks along, and then makes an attack run on one of the enemy fighters. << Rogue 5 here, going after enemy Besh 2,>> she is following the team, and helping out. She waits just for David to clear, and her lasers are dancing across the enemy craft's shields, sizzling them down significantly. << Shields are wearing out there,>> she comments.

The asteroid lazily flips end to end in its eccentric flight while above it, laser fire streaks between Rogue and the FO Raider and its complement of fighters. The Raider's shields reverberate with the explosion of no less than five torpedos aimed by Fabulous and his flight of Y-Wings. Five of the TIE's still try to knock Rogue out of space, the Raider concentrating on the gadfly bombers that threaten its existence.

<<"This is Rogue Leader. We want them to remember us. Fire on the Raider when possible when its shields fall. Good going, Rogue.">>

Well, the orders are to fire torpedoes, but Zul has her hands full with a TIE... and now she seems to have remembered that shots don't need to go into the vacuum of space, hitting thrice, cheering for herself "I knew I still had it!"

The sudden cloud of laser fire that meets the trio of bombers is not unexpected, but it /is/ furious. The crews on board /Wrath/ are skilled, and even the heavy shields and armor afforded to the NR2 are not sufficient to keep Fab Two from the heavy guns that hit it almost center mass. << Ten, this is Fab Two, >> the pilot calls over comms. << They've put some vents in me! Shields down, hull damage! >>

But the worst of the work is done, and daredevilry is not required. << This is Ten, >> Callax radios back. << Get out of there, Fab Two, break and go evasive. Keep out of the fight until we're done here. >> Then, to Fab One: << Fab One, keep formation. Let's let out its belt a little. >>

Which is, of course, what they do; the two bombers release another synchronized salvo of proton torpedoes, which impact the Raider's port side; its shields flare and die, and one of the torpedoes get in to blast away a section of its hull armor. << Excellent marksmanship, One, >> Callax calls over comms. << Now, let's get into position and go in for the kill. >>

<<"Let me know when the Raider's shields are gone.">> David Ironside comms. <<"Til then, I'll be mopping up these TIEs.">> And indeed, even as he speaks up about it, he tears into another TIE, shredding shields apart to give way to massive hull damage. When he realizes just then that the Raider's shields have gone down, he pulls away from the TIE. "Must be your lucky day." he comments with a wry grin as the X-Wing sets off for the Raider, target lock long since synced in.

This was turning out to be a helluva fight, Spark gives Karas updates as the fight continues. Still Besh 2 was giving Karas some issues but he was done playing with the TIE. Rogue 2 throttles his fighter up to max, the engines glow bright pink as power is pushed into them sending the fighter rocketing forward. Throttling back and spinning the fighter, Karas finds himself looking at the TIE that's been fighting him. He let's loose laser blasts at Besh two and as he does he notices one of his shots striking the TIE and he watches as the fighter explodes. Karas pilots his fighter out of the way of the incoming fireball.

Zan hears the commands, and breaks away from the fighters, her A wing showing it is indeed zippy as she makes a strafing run at the Raider next. She's sure she won't do a lot of damage, no torpedos, but she might draw some fire away from the bombers so it's a good move, far as she's concerned. << Switching targets to help out the big guns, >> she calls. << Rogue 5, moving to fire on the raider. >> She reaches the end of her run and flips an aileron loop to come back again.

The Raider visibly vents gas as yet another edge of its flat silhouette loses definition under the Y-Wing bombardment. Violet and Sunshine lay down fiery trails of laser that add to the mayhem. Onboard, crews fight fires, desperate to pull away from the asteroid's gravity well and jump to safety. Three of the TIE fighter complement remain in the now unequal fight. They fire on Rogue, damaging the shields on Rogue Twelve.

<<"Rogue Twelve, give us a damage report. We have nearly made our final point, Rogue. Lay it on the Raider and then jump for the Renegade. The Renegade is prepped to jump on our arrival. We've hurt them, pilots. Great going.">>

Zul Gradnk clears her throat "Shields down, currently being repaired by Beepo." she announces, moving onto the next TIE fighter, opening fire onto the fourth of them, which will probably en up cursing the day it was born. Well, hopefully. And... she does hit. Something. Good enough for her

Executing a long, tall loop, the two intact ships of Fab flight come around with every intent of finishing off the burning corvette. But even heavily wounded, the ship is dangerous, and so Callax decides to count the coup de grace. << Ease up, Fab One, >> Callax tells the other bomber. << Get out of blast range. Leader, this is Ten. I'm cutting the corvette's throat. Better get clear. >> This said, Callax punches the ship down toward its aft section, a steep and perilous dive, and touches the 'ARM' switches for the bomb chuts under the ordnance panel. The indicator lights for the chutes glow blue, and they are off to the races.

Callax's dive is sharp, yes, but at this point the pale pilot has grown very accustomed to bombing runs. Rolling into it, avoiding the corvette's heavy guns, Callax waits until only a few hundred meters above the /Wrath/ before pulling up hard, very hard, pulling back the throttle until the ship nearly stalls - if it could - as it flattens into a lateral course along the hull. Even with its modern engineering, the ship's engines scream and its spaceframe groans; it is a testament to the engineering and to Callax's own piloting ability that the ship is able to take off along its new path without crashing. << Weapons free, >> Callax calls over frequency as they squeeze the ordnance triggers; falling from its dorsal apertures a pair of vivid crimson orbs fall down into the surface of the ship, striking it amidsips - exploding on impact, their lethal influence spreading rapidly through the hull.

And then, as Callax pulls away, /Wrath/ dies. Initial explosions cause secondaries, and secondaries chain - flowers of flame billow through the ship's superstructure, sending up plumes of fire and wreckage in multiple directions, until after a few seconds it is a bouquet of destruction. As Callax peels well clear, the ship's hull shatters, breaking in half, dead in space and rapidly cooling as the last of its death throes fade away. << This is Ten, >> Callax reports in, a dark little smile on their lips and in their tone. << Capital target down. I repeat, capital target down. >>

David grins at the pretty explosions lighting up his cockpit from afar. <<"Well done, Rogue 10.">> he comms, the light fading from his panels just in time to be re-lit by the lasers the pilot fires into a TIE, sending it on its way with no shielding left. He smiles and pushes the throttle forward to give chase to his target, pending a 'mission success' call to pull away.

Karas hears the call from Zul as she lets them know her shields are down but are getting repaired. "Mark her fighter Spark." he tells his droid as his fighter picks up another target. The system cycles and the snubbed nosed fighter locks on Besh 5, narrowing his eyes and rolls and begins dropping in behind the fighter. <<Pull back until your ships are repaired Rogue 12.>> he says not wanting Zul to get shot down while her droid repairs her fighter.

Karas glances about the battlefield as he begins chasing down Besh 5, though noticing the Raider taking heavy hits from Callax ship, he gives a nod of his head. <<On Besh 5.>> he calls and he fires on the enemy TIE scoring a few good hits.

The call from Callax has Zan peeling her A wing away from the Wrath at top speed. She doesn't want to get caught in the blast, definitely not. She doesn't head away from the fight though but towards the fighters, picking one up as she goes. She lines up, waits for the targetting reticule to flash green and fires, before she circles around, ready for another attack run or a disengage order. << Well done! >> she chimes in, pleased to see all the successses her team mates have had.

Lights go out on /The Wrath/ as a final chain of explosions rolls through its triangular shape. Fires, an angry red, suffocate at the lack of air but move from compartment to compartment on the dying ship. The Fab cohort has dealt the final death blows, leaving the FO's incursion into the Munto Codru System weaker.

Only three TIES remain - two without shields, one with half shields but unwilling to run Rogue's deadly gauntlet.

Tallie coms the squadron, pride in her voice, <<"Pull off and jump for home, Rogue. We've done what we came for and more.">>