Log:Saber Squadron: To the Hilt
Saber Squadron follows a mysterious message in order to retrieve one of their own.
OOC Date: July 6, 2022
Location: Corporate Sector
Participants: Ax, Jax Greystorm as Self/GM, Nerys Greystorm, Sesti Greystorm, Shemar Eisley, Zandra naMuriel, Saber Squadron
[ Jax Greystorm (Jax)]
The coordinates that Jax had provided leaded to an uninhabited star system with a yellow sun, a smattering of gas planets with moons. The systems name was Thesh-12. The most notable feature of the star system was the fact it was full of trash. Not asteroids but the remains of star ships. It looks like the system has long been the private play ground of one of the ship manufactures. There were remains of capital ships that could have only been protypes to the more mundane. The most noticeable part of the system was there was no Jax nor the Lambda that must survive.
[ Zandra naMuriel (Zan)]
The group has gathered over at Smuggler's Run and hit hyper space together. The trip through hyper is uneventful, and then Zan in her ETA - Saber 5, comes out of hyper in the Thesh-12 system. "Get on sensors, Bubbles," she says, as she takes a look around curiously. << Alright Saber squad, let's hear everyone sing out - status and call sign, please. I'll even start. Trigger, Saber 5 all green. >> That said, she waits for the answers as she looks around. << See if anyone can see anything I'm not seeing - because I've got a whole lot of ship debris, no Crab. No lambda. >>
[ Nerys Greystorm (Nerys)]
The X-wing flown by one Saber 10 was exceedingly overstuffed, at the moment. In addition to the R2 droid which was actually in the droid socket, there was one pilot, that would be Nerys, as well as one ID10 droid jammed in behind her head, and one BD droid sitting almost on top of her head, all three sets of eyes keeping a weather eye out for anything which might lead them to Jax's possible location. "Numpty, if you kick me in the head again, you're going right out this canopy." The BD tucked its leg back up, as the trio continued to scan the skies, <<"Saber 10, Break. Nothing looking like a viable target so far.">>
[ Ax (A)]
Ax had flown the Aftermath after Sesti had insisted on coming. While bigger than a starfighter it flew much the same and thanks to the upgrades his wife did, it didn't have a problem keeping up with the other ships in the formation. "You buckled in Sesti? This might get bumpy. I'm transferring power to the turrets to you now. They should show up on your screen. Left is the top turret, right is the bottom, just flip the switch to go from one to the other," Ax says to the Senator in the co-pilot/gunnery seat of the ship. "And, if Jax asks, you forced me at gunpoint to bring you along," he adds with a chuckle.
<<"This is the Aftermath, designation Saber 3 for this run,">> Ax says over comms as they emerge from hyperspace. "Isn't this a fancy spot of the galaxy?" he mutters as he sees the debris fields scattered about the system. "Buster," he says to his droid, "keep on sensors and power management."
[ Sesti Greystorm (Sesti)]
Buckled into the co-pilot seat, Sesti nods at Ax's instructions, watching the screen light up, and familiarizing herself with the new controls. "Except you and Jax both know that blasters are not my preferred form of persuasion," she replies to Ax, looking over towards him to give an amused smirk before she returns attention to the monitors. When they come out of hyperspace, she blinks at the sight before them.
She didn't expect to see Jax just sitting there with a big 'X' on his head, and is not surprised to see no sign of him. "Looks like the kind of place you could take Kadi on a date and she would say you are the best husband ever," she considers lightly. "Can you imagine what she could build with all this junk?"
[ Shemar Eisley (Shem)]
Saber 13 drops out of hyper a little behind and slightly off to port of Violet's stern at a safe distance. Shemar Eisley immediately begins checking his sensor readings like the rest of them but grimaces, <<"Saber 13, green to go.">> Shemar didn't tell anyone what his old callsign was - he must have hated it. The former LT frowns, <<"That sure is a lot of junk out there.">>
To his droid, Eisley adds, <"Scan everything you can. Let me know if anything pops up.">
He keeps position off of Zandra's wing briefly then eases out to keep looking, cautious and shields up just in case of surprises.
[ Jax Greystorm (Jax)]
Mere breaths later as the last complaint about where was the Lambda and where was Jax? There's the briefest flash as a Lambda shuttle appears out of hyperspace flanked by a pair of Tie Avengers that move up in escort position. So the Lambda has been found, but where is Jax?
The Lambda and it's escorts haven't had a chance to identify them. A hail of laser cannon fire strike one of the Tie Avengers causing it to explode.
A second group of Tie Avengers, five of them, were slashing down toward the Lambda and her now lone escort. This new group of Ties smaller than the regular model, with droid sensors where the cockpit are supposed to be. There movements and formation were text book perfect.
Then a voice comes across the ship coms a bit tinny but that Coruscant accent there, "Saber Squadron, this is Lambda Shuttle Fire Dancer, formally requesting protection. If you can assist me and my escort. I will have information to trade."
[ Zandra naMuriel (Zan)]
It's good when the action starts without making them wait. Nobody has a chance to get antsy. The incoming lambda gets noted, as does its tie - TIE? Tie escort. << Alright Saber, you heard our shuttle. We are trusting Crab on this one - wouldn't be here if not needed so let's protect that shuttle and its escort. Stay with your wingman and look out for each other.>> She then flips to the nonsecure comms to say, << This is Saber squadron. This shuttle is under our protection.>> She's not a diplomat and she's not noble, and it probably shows given her next statement. << We're not going to warn you more than once. Get lost. >> She follows that up with engaging her S foils and hitting attack speeds, gaze on the targetting reticule until it goes green and she hits the trigger. The tie's shields sizzle a bit, as Zan's shots both hit, giving a very physical threat to go along with her words.
[ Nerys Greystorm (Nerys)]
"No, I don't trust this either." That, was meant, and said, only for the trio in Nerys' cockpit, but as the current squadron leader moved into to protect the lambda and its, now, lone, support, Nerys did the same, the X-wing spinning as she tried to pick up speed to angle herself to engage one of the droid TIE-fighters, managing one good hit on the fighter, but certainly not enough to destroy the fighter. Alas.
[ Ax (A)]
"Well, that didn't sound like Jax," Ax says to his guest aboard the Aftermath. "Brace for accelleration and combat," he adds, throttling the skipray to full and lining up the rotary lasers that he had put in place of the ions on his bird. "No time for practice," he says to Sesti. <<"Saber 3 engaging.">> he says over comms as he begins lighting up the drone TIEs. "Kadi would love one of those, hell I'd love one if it could be reprogrammed."
As Ax and Sesti light up one of the droid fighters, he can't help but be impressed. "Nice shooting, Sesti. Keep that up and I'm going to press-gang you into Saber Squadron."
[ Sesti Greystorm (Sesti)]
It's been awhile since Sesti flew with Jax into space combat... and maybe it's thinking of Jax that brings out her determination and all of it comes flooding back as she watches the sensors, targeting the tie that Ax lit up to finish it off. "Sorry to wreck your anniversary present," she quips, her intership comms off as her input is not needed. Her visual attention is now wholly on the sensors and targeting systems, though she does multitask in answering Ax. "If this Senator thing does not work out, I will look you up for a job."
[ Jax Greystorm (Jax)]
The Tie Avenger Droids give as good as they get. They scored a solid hit on Nerys but her shields take it. They all but strip the shields off the Escort Tie. But other than that most of the droids have took heavy damage to their shields. They moving about like angry insects as if they're trying to recalibrate the increase of the firepower against them.
The voice on the Fire Dancer continues, "If you can get me out of this, I will provide the specs for these fighter droids. Their master wants me wiped out."
The Escort Tie breaks off from the Lambda after most of the shields get destroyed. It turns and joust with its target the one that stripped it's shields. Then gives the droid the same amount of damage. There's a voice crackling on the Saber Squad's channel. "Squint, I leave for five cycles and you've upgraded your fighter. I know it's a sour deal but it's the best we got. There's about to be a whole bunch more of these things in the galaxy."
[ Zandra naMuriel (Zan)]
Zan flips her ETA about, dodging the shots fired her way. As she hears the voice from the tie escort, she manages, << Crab, you have some serious explaining to do. >> There's almost amusement in her voice with that comment. She fires again at the droid tie she aimed at, zipping around and firing. Another hit, but the sucker continues to fly. << I really don't want there to be a galaxy full of these things, if we can help it.>> Talk about motivation! << I suspect we all got the same feeling here, so let's get rescuing! >>
[ Nerys Greystorm (Nerys)]
Binary chatter came down along the internal comms of Nerys' X-wing, "She says she'd rather be back in the clearwater. She doesn't get shot at in the clearwater." Numpty, so helpful. "Yes, I heard what she said." This was a three way conversation between three of the droids, as Bitty, the lone sensible fourth, only reached over a hand to smack the BD droid on the back of its head as Nerys charged ahead, watching the shields go into green, and she opened fire on the TIE she had targeted before, the ship careening off into space dead as its pilot was eliminated. <<"One target down.">> Then, back on the internal comms, "We kill him later, Bitty."
[ Ax (A)]
<<"Crab, glad to hear your voice. My usual ride isn't very good at carrying your wife, who threatened to beat me to a pulp if I didn't bring her, looks like you upgraded though.">> Ax looks to Sesti. "Don't shoot the Avenger," he says before he's looking back to the fight ahead of them, maneuvering the heavy ship easily to line up shots on another of those droid fighters.
[ Sesti Greystorm (Sesti)]
As Jax's voice cuts through on the comms, even if it's crackly she's not fooled; especially with what he says. Even so, she still doesn't toggle the intership comms from her station. She'll have plenty of time to talk to him later. She may be able to keep a professional hold on her chatter, especially since Ax takes care of letting Jax know she's there, but she's not professional enough to stick to the cleaning up Ax's hits when she notes a tie on Jax's tail. The switch in targets takes its toll, though. She's right on target when she sends the lasers out, rather than being ahead of the droid tie. "It is so tempting," she replies to Ax's don't shoot order, her teeth clenching a little as she sees her target still in pursuit of her husband.
[ Jax Greystorm (Jax)]
The Tie Avenger Droids are down to three and one of them is adrift after Jax had took out it's engines. The Corellian voice is still tinny, "The Wife's here, while Trigger and Break are demanding answers and threating my life. I'm officially worried. I'll explain it all in the debrief. We just got to get there and that means taking out all the flight droids."
[ Zandra naMuriel (Zan)]
Things are going - reasonably well, the toe-to-toe action engaging and doing damage to both sides. Zan hears Jax, and now she really gets a smile on her face. She concentrates though, dodging yet more fire from the tie droid that doesn't want to die. "Yeah, those shots were closer," she says to Bubbles, because there's a warble of binary from the bb droid with her. "But they missed. You get to laze around and look pretty." There's a droid raspberry back at Zan for that comment. Meanwhile, Zan's eta zips up, zig zags over and then swooshes back in at the tie droid. Zan fires, and this time manages to take her target out. Taking a moment, she calls << Target down. Everyone still okay out there? >> She's not hit, but she's checking sensor readings on all the friendlies.
[ Nerys Greystorm (Nerys)]
Nerys, despite the chatter that was going on in the cockpit, or perhaps because of it, because this was what happened when you let a space dumpster diver into your squadron, kept on one of the TIE droid fighters, hitting the engines to close in on the ship, though that did nothing to help her in actually hitting it as she fired. But if it kept it from attacking either the lambda or its escort, she would find a way to live with that. <<"We're fine.">>
[ Ax (A)]
Ax lines up with another of the TIEs, unleashing the rapid fire lasers at it in the hopes that he's giving Sesti a clear shot at a TIE as well. <<"Well, don't blame me, you're the one who vanished, Crab. But, I got your back. They can't take us both down, right?.... Right?">> There's a chuckle heard before his mic cuts out.
[ Sesti Greystorm (Sesti)]
"Daynas, talina kep," Sesti mutters at Jax's observation, scanning the debris of droid explosions, trailing plasma, and flaring shields until she finds a target that's still moving. She taps at the controls, then pulls around the sights until they have a lock. This time she takes a breath and the extra moment to make sure she's going to hit before she sends the bright, searing, bolts of death into the droid tie fighter. "Is that all of them?" she asks Ax for confirmation as she scans the targeting data in front of her.
[ Jax Greystorm (Jax)]
With the last Tie Avenger Droid dead. Jax and the Fire Dancer change course and begin to fly towards the Aftermath. "Glad you got my back, Squint. I'm going to need a pick up for myself and the Fire Dancer's pilot. We got to make it look like we took each other out and Saber was never here." Then on cue both the Tie Avenger and the shuttle's eject two individuals into space wearing Black Tie fighter flight suits. Then once cleared both the Lambda and the Avenger explode.
[ Zandra naMuriel (Zan)]
Well, that was unexpected. Zandra's brows both hit her hair line, and she takes a long breath. << Squint, you're up, I guess,>> she says. <<We'll hang out and watch, in case of more trouble. Let's make it snappy, pick up our space debris and head out of here. Good work, team. First round of drinks'll be on me when we get back to safety.>> She might have learned that from Jax? Or was it Ektor? Hard to say. The explosion of the lambda and the avenger certainly sends ripples right close by the ships, so thankfully those two black tie fighter suits are good enough to protect the pilots. << C'mon everyone, let's get back to base. >>
[ Nerys Greystorm (Nerys)]
"We came all this way and we're just leaving all this stuff behind?" And then Nerys came on the squadron's comms, so that it wasn't just a mostly silent protest to the peanut gallery in and around her fighter, <<"We're just leaving all this stuff behind? There could be some good stuff hidden in these old wrecks.">> Like mynocks and space dragons. <<Moving into formation while we're engaged in retrieval.">> Nerys did know how to get with the program. And then she got a smack from Bitty as well, "Don't worry, we'll come back after."
[ Ax (A)]
"Sesti, get to the airlock," Ax says to his co-pilot. "Buster, get ready to cycle atmosphere. <<"Roger that, Crab. Only one of you will fit at a time, this isn't exactly a drop ship or combat shuttle, it's an overgrown starfighter.">> Ax maneuvers the vessel to pick up the pilot from the Firedancer first, knowing that Jax had better chances of surviving longer than a normal person might. Also, it would give Sesti the chance to pull out an innocent before laying into her husband.
<<"Sabers, once I give the go ahead, clean shots to the cockpit of the shuttle and a few to the front of the Avenger, make it look like a head-on strafing run. Line up well, and if you're running heavy lasers, let those with mediums do the shooting on the Lambda. Finish it off with a concussion missile if necessary, but no proton torpedoes, TIEs don't have those.">>
[ Sesti Greystorm (Sesti)]
Sesti clips her tether onto a ring in the airlock, then waits for the cycle as she clips a tether on for the first catch. She's not disappointed or upset that the first one is not her husband, and reaches out to lock forearms with the pilot from the lamda. She patiently waits for the cycles to go through, checking over the newcomer with a professional healer's eye, then lets them into the ship, and cycles the whole process again. Once the airlock opens to the outside, she reaches to grip Jax with the same forearm grip and hauls him to safety. When the hatch closes above them, she pulls the black suited figure closer to her, and even with the armor, he can feel the squeeze of her arms as she holds him close for a couple moments. Then there's a ding as the pressure stabilizes, and she gives him a nudge into the safety of Ax's ship.
[ Jax Greystorm (Jax)]
With the mysterious Fire Dancer and Jax loaded up with Saber Squadron and the destruction doctored up some more is heading to the Eravanna and then the promised drinks. Jax has done little to explain himself other than there is trouble coming. That will come soon in his report. Though there was a warm squeeze of Sesti's arm. The mission is successful.
