Log:Saber Squadron: Bellow's Last Gasp
A deep recon mission sees Saber Squadron tracking a lead on the source of a covert excavation of unknown origin.
OOC Date: October 12, 2022
Location: Deep Space
Participants: Jax Greystorm as Self/GM, Kael Greystorm, Karas Darkwing, Nerys Greystorm, Saber Squadron
[ Jax Greystorm (Jax)]
The mission was simple, the small flight of pilots were to jump into a series of star systems, scan for things out of the ordinary and jump out. It was recon. It was boring but it needed to be done. Jax was sitting cockpit of his jedi fighter as the ship dropped out of hyper space. The system was blue, really blue bathed in the blue light of a cool light in the center. There was trash in the system mostly of the asteroid variety. There was a few unnamed fat gas giants with rings in the system. The sensors were full of clutter. "We're never going to find anything in here, Exine."
[ Nerys Greystorm (Nerys)]
Nerys, who had agreed to this mission because a girl could do with some light relaxation, manuevered into position once the flight appeared from hyperspace, her E-wing chugging along at best speed, as she tried to wrangle the trio of droids with her. The R2 unit, at least, was no trouble. She knew where she was supposed to be sitting. Not so much the other two, who were having a foot and fist fight somewhere behind her head. "I have the eyes of a hawk." She might be batting her eyelashes, but who could tell in the vacuum of space?
[ Kael Greystorm (Kent)]
Kael is relaxing in his fighter almost lounging in the X-Wing's cockpit as best he could as he glances back to the R2 unit socketed behind him, "Keep the sensors going properly. We're... Here for scouting only so keep the rest of our signature as low as possible and boost sensors as much as you can."
[ Karas Darkwing (Kar)]
It was good to be flying back in the squad, it's been a while but here he is. Recon isn't bad at all, he's used to doing it back in his Resistance Days. Still his T-70 with it sleek lines move into position as he keeps within formation with the rest of the squadron. Spark tootles at him and he smiles, "I know buddy, it's been a while doing this." he says and he keeps a look out.
[ Jax Greystorm (Jax)]
Jax begins the sweep of the system, as exine sets up tight beam communication with the other star ships, "Remember, we're running on low power, and direct communications. We're trying to find them without being seen. I'm not looking for a fight just what we can find." As the ships move quietly in formation through the clutter. Exine scanning things, Jax almost meditative.
[ Nerys Greystorm (Nerys)]
"I am picking up a big sack of nothing in this system." Whether that was because there actually WAS nothing, or because she and the astromech were still trying to get their systems in order, it all amounted to the same thing. Nerys kept the ship in good formation, and continued to keep a weather eye on the system as the patrol made its way from marker point to marker point.
[ Kael Greystorm (Kent)]
Kael looks over the sensor readout and hmmmms, "Looks like I got some signs of mining up around the 'roids. Metals line up part o the Avenger 2's. Should we peel off and get a better look?" And then as Jax says not looking for a fight he sighs, "Nevermind on the peeling off then. Just keep an eye out for the mining operations here. We'll get closer in our routine search pattern I'm sure."
[ Karas Darkwing (Kar)]
Looking over his sensor data, he sighs a little bit, "I got nothing but trash showing up on my scopes, but this is typical for Imperial ships before jumping into hyperspace." he says as Karas looks over things. He gets another read out and he nods to Spark as he gets the same thing, a smile shows on his face, hearing the others, Karas just double clicks his comm to give acknowledgement.
[ Jax Greystorm (Jax)]
"Break, I'm confirming your find that we're alone in the system. Alright guys, Let's investigate and see if we can find anything more on this. See if we can do some extractions to see if we figured out where they jumped out too and how long ago." Jax turning his ship towards the asteroids. His sensors power going to a higher setting and communicating normally.
[ Nerys Greystorm (Nerys)]
One of the reasons Nerys had done so well in her career - her actual career, not her side hustles, was that she had a keen eye for determining the after effects of exploration, of civilization long since gone to seed. It was the primary way that explorers determined what plughole they were supposed to be down. It wasn't just about finding traces, but of trying to determine when those traces had been left. As Nerys' ship moved with the team towards the asteroids, Nerys did what she always did. She looked at the fields as if there were some treasure there she herself might want to...let's be honest, steal. "I see signs of excavation, but it's at least a few weeks old."
[ Kael Greystorm (Kent)]
Kael's sensors are sweeping over the asteroids and the mining, "Looks like they've been taking as they please but it's not normal deep mining operations. Done in a way to conceal themselves I don't think they're far away but they need the resources from here."
[ Karas Darkwing (Kar)]
Karas brings his fighter into a lazy turn as he moves through towards a set of asteroids but as he does his eyes widens, "Contact!" he says into his comms. He quickly rolls his fighter to the left to get a better firing angle and he quickly flips the switch for the S-Foils and at the apex of his roll, red energy bolts streak from the tips of his laser cannons, though the viper droid manages to dodge as the bolts impact against the asteroids missing their mark.
[ Jax Greystorm (Jax)]
As Karas calls out Contact, a viper probe droid emerges from the pile of trash, it's anntena raising as it goes darting towards a place to transmit it's signal. It's silent as there is no atmosphere but it surely making the binary clicks and snaps that viper probe droids make as it moves erratically proving it's a hard target to hit.
Saber Leader turning his head, "Kriff. Kriff me. Exine, see if you can get a lock on it! We're in trouble if it reports us!"
[ Nerys Greystorm (Nerys)]
As soon as Nerys heard the call for contact, the E-Wing swung around, moving to align itself with Karas' ship, focusing its scans on the point of contact that lit up on her sensors. One hand on the stick, the other began to tap out a program on the system's sensor computer, only for the meatdroid's hand to be slapped away in favour of a three fingered one that jammed itself, and the resultant body in against Nerys' side as Bitty got to work. Never let meat do a real droid's job. Of course, that distraction meant that Nerys' shot went wide, but at least they had something decent to report. Or Bitty did. The droid did not speak Basic often, though she certainly could. So it was Bitty's voice, which sounded vaguely Corellian, as if she were trying to adopt the familiar Corellian Greystorm cadence with reluctance, that came across the comms, cutting off Nerys, "I have traced the destination of its signal."
[ Kael Greystorm (Kent)]
Kael whips his X-Wing around S-Foils opening as he fires a burst of lasers at the droid as soon as he's able to get it in his crosshairs after verifying that there's no friendlies on the other side, "Miss. Dang it that sucker is fast and nimble."
[ Karas Darkwing (Kar)]
Karas is used to this, done it to many kriffing times, as Nery's E-Wing moves near his fighter, he smiles. "Hey Break, joining in?" he asks over the comms seeing that Kent missed. Viper droids are fast, but steadying himself, Karas waits for a target lock then at the first sound of a lock he fires destroying the viper droid. "Did we get what we need from that droid." he asks.
[ Jax Greystorm (Jax)]
The Viper probe droid explodes when Karas shoots it or moments before. You can never be sure. Though for certain It had reported it's finding as BItty had intercepted them.
Jax frowns, "Break? Exine is reporting that didn't sound like your voice coming from your ships mic. Everything alright over there?" Just making sure the Sith hadn't hacked her. "If things are alright. Let's see if we can use that data to figure out where to jump too. They're going to be expecting us. We jump in and take a peak then jump out."
[ Nerys Greystorm (Nerys)]
Oh right. This was what a droid got for speaking up. For once. In a language humans could understand. "This is ID10-B87Y." This time she dropped the pretense of a Corellian accent. "I have a lock on the destination of the droid's signal. The meat was too slow." Take that faux-human, "We're fine, just multitasking," came Nerys' own voice, "I've calculated a jump that will take us to the system where the receiver is located. Sending the coordinates for a second look. We're prepped for jump as soon as we have the okay."
[ Kael Greystorm (Kent)]
Kael's already working on the jump as well sighing a bit as he listens to Nerys and Bitty having some fun, "I'm just finishing up with plotting the jump as well. Swap and verify?" He sends his jump data to Nerys and Bitty for verification along with the rest of the team as well because it's only polite.
[ Karas Darkwing (Kar)]
Once the coordinates were sent, Spark updated the navi-computer, "Alright coordinates set." he says as he flips the switch to close the S-Foils. "Yeah, no fighting, scan, record and bounce out." he says agreeing with Jax. "This is where the fun begins." there is a bit of mirth in Karas voice but then again, Karas has always liked hard complicated fights situations.
[ Jax Greystorm (Jax)]
"I did not know Bitty could vocalize in Basic. Good to know. Thank you for the help Bitty." As the hyper drive coordinates are fed into they hyper drive computer. Jax frowns, "Alright we're going to be in and out. Break you're in charge of visual observation. Collect as much visual information as you can. Boss, work us up an exit strategy. Lucky collect as much data as you can on the sensors. You're T-85 should have the best sensor of the group. May the Force be with you. We're jumping in 3,2,1, jump!" Jax pulling back on the hyperdrive lever and the Fighters disappear.
The lines of hyperspace go streaking by as the stars zip past. It was surprisingly short jump. Then they're back into real space once more. The system they found themselves in showed nine planets in total, with a series of gas giants out closer to the edge of the system. The inner planets Terrestrials. Among one of the moons of the Gas giant hunt a Star Destroyer. A fleet of small ships were slicing chunks of the moon off and ferrying them to the Destroyer.
[ Nerys Greystorm (Nerys)]
"I do not enjoy sullying myself." Bitty was a proud droid, who, generally, preferred to speak in the language of her people. Whatever else she was going to say, Nerys cut off, "Coordinates confirmed. Jumping in 3, 2, 1." And then the ship was gone, joining the rest of that squadron on that space that was not a space for the breath of barely a heartbeat, or so it seemed before they came to normal space. As soon as the ship appeared, Nerys and Bitty got to work. They did not bother with banter now, only reporting facts, the two voices speaking in tandem, all business now, "We mark a heavily modified Victory Class-II Star Destroyer, with a smelting and manufacturing facility built into its hull. The shuttles are harvesting ore from that moon."
[ Kael Greystorm (Kent)]
Kael nods not that it can be seen but he nods as he listens to the instructions, "I'll see what I can do. Can't make any promises though." As they go through hyperspace the man starts to get ready for the sensor sweep but it seems nerves is getting the best of him. As the X-Wing exits hyperspace he starts the sweep and just gets a buzzing error sound, "Uhhhhh.. See what you can do back there that's not supposed to happen right?" The socketed R2 droid starts to work on the sensors and gets the closer to where they should be but there's still an error someplace... Then HiBall crawls up and starts to slap Kael's hands away from the controls, "The error is between the keyboard and the seat please stop you're hurting my processors..." Then the ID-10 droid taps into the system to fix everything Kael had managed to bungle and then send out the sensor data to the others in the team. Kael keys up the direct comms, "Uhhh... we managed" Another voice comes over, "Idiotic human I did it not you. Now jump out of here I'm too young to die." Kael's voice comes back on the comms, "Lots of microjumps and too many for us to handle safely. I think we've overstayed our welcome."
And still over the comms is HiBall, "No kidding. How have you survived this long?"
[ Karas Darkwing (Kar)]
The T-85 was the newer fighter, "Copy that." he says. Karas is quickly working, Spark assisting. He pulls back on the lever to jump into hyperspace, "Going Comm Silent." he says. Karas wasn't looking forward to finding out where they would be going, but this information is going to help them with their next leg of the mission. An alert beeps through the cockpit, Karas stretches out a little, happy to have a bit more room in the cockpit, Karas settles himself, "Get ready Spark." he calls to his astromech and as they come out of hyperspace, he sees where they are, taking a moment to look around and coordinates are rapidly tapped into his navi-computer. Spark is able to help with their exits, information is tight beamed to the others with their exit trajectory, his sensors and camera's record what's happening.
[ Jax Greystorm (Jax)]
There's a series of flashes and a bigger one as the Victory II and it's shuttles all jump out of the system, the timing as the flight of Saber move to make their exit. Jax calling out, "Get to hyper space. We're not able to fight this off! See you back at the barn for a debrief. Drinks are on me!" Then there is a flash and a group of angry Tie Avengers are swarming the area with no dance partners.
[ Nerys Greystorm (Nerys)]
"Getting everything we can before we jump." Bitty was hard at work and Nerys left her to it, focusing on the flying. THAT, at least she could do marginally better than the probe droid. "Jumping out to our pre-arranged coordinates." They might be leaving together, but they would not come out together. The better to stop the whole squadron from being destroyed in one go. "See you back at base." And then the E-wing was gone.
[ Kael Greystorm (Kent)]
Kael flips that X-Wing around and chuckles, "Don't gotta tell me twice. This is not a fight I feel like dealin with." He punches in the exit jump and with a zip and a zoom Kael's gone vrooming away, "Drriiiiinkkkksssssss."
[ Karas Darkwing (Kar)]
Karas keeps his holo-recorder going making sure to get as much as he can, sensors running. Spark taking over as he banks his fighter around pulling up the rear on their exit vector. He pulls the lever back and his X-Wing jumps back into hyperspace.
