Log:Saber Squadron: Sentinel Hunt

Saber Squadron: Sentinel Hunt!

OOC Date: February 16, 2022
Location: Kulma System
Participants: Jax Greystorm, Ax, Zandra naMuriel, Jessika Pava, Vega, Karas Darkwing

Kulma system was astronomically a mess. Asteroids and starship wrecks filled the system creating a Sargasso Sea of the stars. At it's core rests a single red star as it showers the entire system in an eerie red light. Sensors weren't at their best here as star ship wrecks and asteroids created sensor ghosts and only allowed for certain ways in and out of the system.

Most of the space trash was the result of a battle between the Rebellion and the Empire, thirty plus years ago. The mostly intact remains of a Imperial II Star Destroyer lie as the crown jewel of the system. It's the home to the Sentinel Prime.

Saber Squad or a portion of Saber Squad jumps into the system. Saber Leader is in the lead. Jax turns to look out at the stars and the trash. "Exine, you getting a much of a reading?" The astromech pings a negative at him. Jax sighs, "That's what I figured." Then forming up to take the lead, << Alright, listen up guys. We have a two prong mission, scout the system to see what the jedi landing shuttle is going to get itself into and hopefully run out the pirates in the system. Maybe ask them nicely to leave so they don't get caught between the Sentinel and the jedi. Gremlin you're with me. Saber 7 and 13 form up together. Let's get some good scans and call out if you come across anyone living. We'll assume none friendly till confirmed as this hostile territory but don't go weapons hot unless they open fire first.>>

"Buster, keep an eye on sensors and see if you can clean up the readings a bit, this place is hard to read," Ax says from the cockpit of Saber 3, not far behind Saber Leader. <<"Squint here, just let me know what you want from me, boss. I can go see if I can find some of the pirates and lure them into the open if you'd like.">> Ax says over comms, illiciting a bunch of chirps and beeps from his droid who obviously doesn't want to get shot at.

The tinted visor of Commander Jessika Pava's Tierfon Yellow Aces helmet filters out eye-damging radiation to prevent macular degeneration and to keep the violent eruptions of explosions from searing her corneas, but paired with the light of the red star in the system, it tints everything a color she's not used to. The transparisteel viewport of her snubfighter does little to help. Her gaze drops towards her instrument panel, but her hands maintain their positions: one on the stick, one on the throttle. With her starfighter's s-foils set into the cruise position, she's able to ease a little more out of the fusial engines that flare bright and red. They're almost lost in the wash of color from the system's star. "That's a lot of junk. Ailee, focus sensor scans on debris. Look for any background radiation that's not uniform with the age of what's around it. If there's anything that's decided to hide in there recently, I want to know it." Unmuting the toggle for the communications net a moment later, her voice responds. <"One-three copies. On you, Seven."> Adjusting her vector, Jessika brings her snubfighter into position high, behind, and off center so they aren't all nice and lined up.

Karas is lagging behind as rear guard of the formation, his head looks from left to right as they come in system. This is a mess and honestly this makes for a good base of operations for anyone not wanting others to find out what they're doing. Bringing his ETA-2c up with Saber 13, <<Copy that Saber Lead.>> he says. <<Nice to be flying with you again Saber 13.>> Karas chuckles as he swithches his sensors, "Alright Spark, let me know if you find anything." he says. The droid tootles at him.

"Copy that, Saber Leader." Vega states over the comms as she directs her Aethersprite into position with Jax. Round One is warbling in the back and there's a bit of a frown, "Yeah, something seems a bit off with readings." she states. "Diplomacy first, heavy laser fire if Diplomacy fails. Seems like a pretty straight forward situation." she tells Jax.

Zandra, in Saber 05, simply listens, monitoring chatter and channels, as well as the readings she's got. << Saber 5 checking in. All systems green and ready to go." She has her fighter move to keep up with Ax's, since there's partners set up. Preconfigured and all. <<Sensor readings are weird, that's about all I can say at this point. But roger that. Don't fire first, but maybe we can go with fire last? >>

<<Trigger and Squint. You guys bring up drag on the scans.>> Jax calls out over the channel before getting to work. It's tedious work as the Squadron moves slowly through the grave yard of ships. The Imperial II Star Destroy floating there ominously the entire time. The work shows little results as far as the pirates and nothing on the Prime's defenses.

Jax goes skimming across the top of a split down the middle MonCal. He looks to his port side for a moment, "Did I just see something across the hull of that Mon Cal?" Exine responds with, 'You're going crazy. There's nothing out there.' Jax shakes his head, "Got a bad feeling." Then opening his com up, <<Sabers, I swear I saw something scurrying across a piece of the hold of this old MonCal. We may not be alone.>>

Ax jerks his head to the side, "You catch that, Buster?" he asks his droid, who beeps in a bit of a warble. There was something that popped up on sensors, but not long enough to get a full reading on what, and it was not there now.

<<"Saber Leader, I swear I just saw a TIE of some kind, but either I'm imagining things or it friggin vanished. Buster caught something on sensors briefly, but couldn't get a full reading. Might be some of those damnable stealth models, be wary.">> Of course, Ax was jealous. "How come the pirates get cool toys, huh?" he mutters in his cockpit.

Already, he's breaking away from the bulk of the formation to take up the rear to do scans on the drag. <<"Trigger, make sure to have your counter measures ready. If that's a stealth craft, we might be flying into an ambush. I've got your wing.">>

At the same moment that Aurebesh rapidly flashes across her MCPD, Ailee is warbling through the starfighter's internal net. "You saw a what?" She adjusts her own gaze out on some of the wreckage being highlighted by the beams of her starfighter's forward facing lights and takes note of how black the carbon scoring looks on some of the metal pieces stuck in perpetual spin. <"Lead, one-three. I got a contact reading from somewhere in this wreckage, and it looks like fresh carbon scoring. Paint's not even done peelin' off."> She doesn't switch her s-foils out of cruise position yet. Their encrypted channel will keep their chatter a secret, and she's not trying to jump the gun too quickly if the ghost blip is proof of danger lurking. <"Seems like it might have been a quick power up and down.">

The sensors of the ETA-2c isn't able to pierce through the wreckage, and Spark isn't able to scan anything. <<Alright. Copy that 13.>> he says. <<Eyes peeled everyone.>> he says as he replies to the call outs. Karas tightens up his formation with 13. <<Be ready to break and form up again if attacked.>> he says as he looks in the direction of the major area of the wreckage.

Vega cocks her head to the side for a moment, listening to her droid, "No little one I trust you." she states. <<Ladies and gents, that Imperial II Star Destroyer's engines are firing up. So we most definitely need to figure out what is going on before we find out if it's armaments still work.>> she states over the comms to her fellow Squadron members.

Zan isn't sensing anything, neither is Ono. Go figure. She shrugs a bit, and keeps her fighter out to pay attention to the drag and the sensors. She frowns at it, as she's not seeing anything unusual despite the chatter. << Not seeing anything. Maybe the sensors are out, and I'm not even in an A-Wing.>> She shakes her head, a bit on edge now, and continues trying to figure out what the heck is going on.

The engines of the the ImpStar Duce flare to life briefly and instead propelling the spear head ship the engines push a wave of asteroids and broken ships at squadron giving them only moments to react.

As the wave of debris rides past them. Then from among the hull of the Mon Cal Jax had sworn he saw something, what looks like a metallic beetle about the size of a star fighter. The back of it's torso black and the color solar panels. It twists it's head and sensor to look toward where Saber Leader just was. Then it adjusts itself and repulsor engines whine as the droid rises unfolding the solar panels and pulling the legs it crawled around into itself. The end result was a Tie Avenger about 75% of the size and where the cockpit sit the CPU and sensor of a droid. It is joined by a full squadron of droid companions.

<<Good catch Gremlin! It's firing junk at us!>> Jax calls out as he threads the needle between an asteroid and the hull of a T-65. Exine screaming at him as the jedi levels out and then starts telling him he has incoming. The looks up to see a small Tie Avenger come screaming towards him. There's a quick turn as his agile fighter dodges his tails fire. <<And Good eye too, Squint. Weapons Hot and open fire. I think we know what happen to the Pirates one-three.>>

Ax goes into an evasive maneuver, avoiding space debris. "Why don't the Sith come here with their super destroyers and clean up?" Ax asks, nobody in particular. <<"What the hell? Don't tell my wife about this, she'll want to experiment on my avenger, combine it and Donk.">>

With a mental thought, Saber 3's weapons go hot, thanks to the headset that, through the force, allows the fighter and the jedi to more effectively work as one. <<"If they kept the Avenger loadout, they're going to be very fast, very well armed, decently shielded, we've got a fight on our hands. Be safe.">> As he speaks, the Echani pilot is throttling forward, his rotary lasers lighting up the darkness of space.

Karas grins and flips the switch and the S-Foils unfolds. <<Copy that. Oh well, still good intel.>> he says as the Eta-2c rolls as it splits debris and flying between two Y-Wing engine nacells. As he flies through, red energy blasts fire rapidly at the droid controlled ships. <<Keep on my wing 13, we will weave back and forth to keep one another covered.>> he says to Jess as he is in a faster fighter. <<Throwing space junk at is, that's just wrong.>> he comments.

Lots of things happen at once. The communications net comes alive with callouts and Ailee's beeping blends with it to create one cacophonous noise droning in her ear. "Source that power grid, Ailee!" Calling out to her astromech alone, Jessika banks her craft towards the oncoming swarm of.. "What the drek are those?" Expletive kept off the live net, Jessika nonetheless toggles up a second later. <"Lead, one-three! These droid fighters are gonna keep us tied up while that thing hurls garbage our way and all it takes is it getting lucky once! Let me have a run at it."> For now, Jessika snaps her s-foils into attack position. It immediately bleeds speed from the snubfighter, whose engine output lowers to compensate for the sudden power surging to the laser cannons on the tip of each wing. She lights up the void, though the red laser cannons stitching towards her target go wide when it yanks itself out of the way. She scores nothing but space debris already slagged.

Vega's making notes! Buzzard droid abominations! Yes, that'll get her kicked out of the hangar. She locks in one of the incoming bundles of trash and fires. It's not as pretty as some, but she's not a combat pilot really. She's just using the skills that she knows how to use sometimes. <> she calls out.

Well, scanning certainly wasn't working for Zan. Her eyes widen as the bogeys come into view. << Oh good grief,>> she mutters, and then she aileron rolls her craft, getting out of the way of some space debris reasonably handily. The fighter responds like an angel, and Zan finds herself tracking along by her wing mate. << Coming in hot, >> she calls. << S foils open and firing. On your wing, Squint. >> There's a moment as she fires, her shots not too far off, but missing the mark.

Jax pulls a K-turn finding himself facing the Avenger droid leader as Exine had marked it. He pulls the trigger on the rotary cannon and scores a hit phasing the shields before the droid having no use for a human turns and is gone. <<Seven, there's nothing about this that's right. It's Palpatine. He doesn't do right. Get as many scans of these things as possible. I don't think anyone is going to believe us.>> Exine, like all the other pilots astromechs, gives a quick warning the ImpStar Duce's engines are firing again, << Another Wave incoming!>> The Aeserprite carefully carries Jax out of wave of a front half of a dreadnaught. The Tie Avenger droids? Most of the convert back to droid form as the wave of debris hit them crawling along it before launching again at different angles coming toward the squadron. Though there is an explosion destroying one of the droids. Exine pointing that out to Jax. "Take what you can get buddy."

<<"Targeting bogey 2,">> Ax says over comms towards his wing mate, then he's unleashing hell upon the funky Avenger-droid. "Buster, log the location of any salvage of these things, I might need spare parts for the Specter." he tells his droid.

No response from lead means Jessika maintains the current plan: gunning for the abominations buzzing around them. "Keep an eye on that debris! Try to give me incoming vectors!" She doesn't want to be in the path of it when it comes hurtling through space, and she doesn't even need to see one of the droid craft be absolutely annihilated by a flung piece of trash to know. She witnesses it anyway. It obliterates what it comes into contact with. Jessika pays extra attention to where she is at any given time from that point forward. Never too long in the first spot is the goal. Never let it get an easy shot. Jessika chases down the target she's been after, once again hitting nothing but void and space litter that's sent spiraling off in new directions from the impact of her laser cannons.

Things were getting intense and after taking out a fighter, his sensors are still scanning, and flight cameras recording. Karas is about to focus in on another fighter when his shields are grazed, causing him to jink right. "Whoa that was close." he says to Spark who hollers at him. "Hey I know, when did you get so kriffing pushy!" he hollars at his droid who snickers?

Seeing more debris coming and hearing his wingman speak about going at the Imp Deuce. <<Actually that's a good idea 13.>> he says, <<Saber squad, I'm making a run, 13, I will break and follow you if you want to make a run, you're right about what's going on.>> he says to her. Karas pushes the engines hard and he rockets forward, weaving through debris and rolling his fighter as he dodges the debris fired at them. "We have to be quick." he says to Spark and once he sees his chance, he blind fires one of his concussion missiles and he breaks hard to the left, <<Missile away!>> he calls over the tact comm.

"Alright, Round One we can't grump at Ewan when he gets hit anymore." Vega states as she manages to get hit. Dang it! She just fixed the ships! <<Gotta clean this up.>> she states to the others. <<How is everyone looking hull wise, we all good to take a few more hits if necessary?>> the mechanic asks.

Zandra is busy dodging incoming fire as more debris comes her way. There's a big piece of - well, something that maybe once was a fuselage that comes rolling her way, and she has to time her fighter's little jink just right to keep from being hit by the spinning thing which goes off into space behind her, glinting in whatever light there is. Zan flips her fighter and comes in again on her wingmate's target, though she still misses the shots, lasers spraying wide. << They are very fast,>> she says. She has Ono recording everything, taking as many sensor readings as the R2 droid can do. << So far unhit, >> she reports back to the squad leader and also to the mechanic. << I guess we keep taking sensor readings, mapping things and dodging space trash a bit longer.>>

There's an explosion as Karas missile slams home at the engines. Though moments later the engines generate another gravity pulse this time sending what looked like the remains of a squadron of RZ-1 A-wings flying at the squadron. Jax caught up in the middle of it misses his target. << Nice work, Saber Seven. I think it's safe to say the pirates are gone. Let see if we can thin out these droids.>>

"Damn these things are quick," Ax says as he's continuing to unload at the same drone he and his wingmate have been firing at. <<"We need to get some of this tech,">> Ax says over comms, more irritated than anything. This whole mission has been an exercise in being forced on the defensive, limiting their offensive capabilities.

"Kriff this thing," Jessika mutters under her breath. She jukes after it, disabling her atmospheric flight profile and relying purely on unlinked laser cannons and disabled inertial dampeners to give her true, unadulterated control of her fighter. She banks after it, firing mini-thrusters meant for positioning to make her snubfighter's nose track far more quickly and with more agility than it would have otherwise. Jessika unleashes a torrent of laser cannon fire after it. The barrage chews through it, carving off one wing and then puncturing straight through the center fuselage until it ruptures and becomes nothing more than superheated space junk forced to rapidly cool thanks to the significantly colder temperatures around it. "Scratch one for me." She doesn't say it over the net. No need.

Having scored a hit the first time, but with all the debris being fired at them. He brings his ship back around, <<I'm going back in, hopefully this will help us out.>> he calls into his comms. Karas maneuvers his fighter around and through debris, rolling and making a tight drift. Once in range he fires two concussion missiles to the engines, but as he fires, Karas sees that one went wide. He grimaces, <<Negative impact.>> he calls out as he begins to re-engage and form up with the squadron.

Vega's trying to keep track of friendlies and targets at the same time for a moment and her eyes almost cross before her BB-Unit screeches and brings her back to focus. <<We're doing good!>> she tells herself, but it comes across the comms as well. "Alright, we're trying to get out of here alive with the rest of the squad. We gotta start shooting better." she mutters as she takes another shot at one of the bogeys.

Sometimes a jedi's got to do what a jedi's got to do. This is patently clear and something they've all learned over and over. Zan takes a breath, focusing with a quick meditation exercise. She dodges the incoming lasers and debris, and then she says, << Squint, watch your tail, I'm coming in hot, >> as she sets her fighter to go fast, her finger on the trigger, waiting for that reticule to pop green. As it does, she hits the lasers, firing a barrage at that bogey that hits hard and fast. Her own fighter zooms by as the bogey implodes, escaping the cloud of debris that is left behind. << And I guess I'm leaving hotter? >> she remarks, though she then wheels her fighter around, flipping to scan for her next target.

Jax was dueling with one of the drones as Exine starts screaming at Jax about a target lock, "What where?" The Corellian calls out as he hit's the after burner on his fighter going through the debris of a old hammer head corvette. Moment's later there's explosion behind Saber Leader as a concussion missile strikes the side of the Hammerhead. << They've got concussion missiles! Target locks out of nowhere.>> Wait till the boss reviews those flight cameras.

Jax and Exine catch sight of the drone they've been dueling as it turns sharply barreling towards Saber 2. Jax reaches out to the force letting it flow through him and the ship. Letting the connection between him and the ship force become one. Then he pulls the trigger killing the leader of the drones. Exine starts to say something about a dreadnaught, <<Alright Sabers, lets get out of here, the Imps Duce is about to throw a Dreadnaught at us. Lets extract and debrief. I'm buying the first round at the bar on the beach.>> Jax sighs, "Why do the sith have to be extra." Exine goes to respond but the squadron makes the jump to lightspeed before he can.

<<"We need bigger guns.">> Ax says with a shake of the head. "Alright Buster, let's bug out," he says before he's keying up the nav-comp to load the pre-programmed flight back to Chan. He still had to fly to a better jump vector outside of the debris field, to do otherwise meant disaster. Pushing his throttle to the max, the Echani is goosing Saber 3 towards the evacuation zone.

Karas wasn't targeted again, but still there is a lot of debris in the vicinity, Karas is able to thread through the area, seeing that there is a dreadnaught about to be flung at them, <<Exiting now.>> he calls into his comms. Closing the s-foils and pouring power into the engines and catching up with the others so he can jump out, <<Cool, I need a drink.>>

SKREEEEE...

Is that Vega or RND-1, the squad will never know! "Punch it while we still can!" she tells the droid as she gets the cords for Chandrila loaded in. That was all she wrote folks. <<I'll fix ships when we get back to the hangar as soon as I can.>> she tells the others.