| abstract | - Fighting was erupting all over space, the fireball of combat was scene everywhere now; the guns on every ship were blazing with intensity - the night sky was becoming as bright as day - the massive capital and star dreadnaughts fully engaged in battle. The unsung heroes - the pilots of the small fighter craft - were the ones out here in the mix of it all braving the worst from both sides. Weapons ten times their size and able to vaporize them in a single shot - these were the sorts of things they avoided to tangle with the fighters of the enemy. Some Navy people forgot their power as these instruments of death were capable of unloading massive amounts of firepower on the larger vessels, and capable to disabling and destroying the largest of behemoths. The NR was ordered to hold the line; the capital ships were committed to it. But it was the starfighters that went out and actually struck the heart of the enemy. For those rebel pilots nearby their target were a pair of Nebulon - B frigates that were supported by a Strike Cruiser. The NR line was shorthanded... it would be up to these pilots to bridge the gap... As the free flow of combat envelopes her, the new pilot flies about in formation, taking the wing like the new pilot is supposed to. Strangely enough for a new pilot, though, Talia does not do too much talking over the comms... Instead, she fiddles with the sensors, attempting to ensure that whatever fighters will be coming for them will not be catching them by surprise. Of course, in this kind of a situation, playing with active sensors would not be too much of an issue, especially with all the sensor arrays going off on the big ships... The twelve b-wings of Dagger Squadron fly in formation, with Dagger Three currently taking the lead role of the squadron. The Iktotchi pilot grinning as she says, "Alright, let's take this frigates out boys and girls." Various acknowledgements are given as the squadron pulls into active formation. The Ikototchi's hands are steady on the controls, the woman at ease during something as simple as flying in for the attack run. The pew-pews haven't started yet at least. So new that the paint still smells even if it's not wet, the XJ that's been issued to Catriona Phoenix now that her old one was heavily damaged by some crazy-good Imperial pilot has gotten prepped for launch. The Wroonian wrinkles her nose at the ugly-orange flight jumpsuit, as always. "They need new tailors," she mutters under her breath as she flicks the switch to cycle up the engines and slips her silver hair into a cap to better fit with the standard helmet. Her helmet is barely dinged, although it not has a badge or two of honor from the scuffle the other day. When the order to launch is given, Cat shouts, "Yahooooooo!" at how this new X-Wing responds to her commands. "Oh, I can't let 'em shoot this one up!" S-foils are locked open on command, attack speed achieved faster than with her old ride. "I'll be paying it off til Doomsday!" And with the order to hold the line coming in, she acknowledges formally, although there's a devil-may-care grin on her face. The A-Wings were targets today, and a pair of TIE Avengers had her in their sights. They were not wasting any time in the matter either and make it an express trip to be engaging her. One of them hangs back as the leader opens up on the fighter, letting his wingman come in for a run after he breaks off in combat. Wraith squadron's E-wings sweep up and outwards as they spread out into attack formation. "This is Wraith three, Wraith Squadron on station." The Falleen pilot announces on the force's communication channel. "Wraith squadron forming on dagger. Wraith to Dagger command, feel free to fly hard pilots. Wraith is on over watching, spreading the umbrella to keep out the rain." Switching over to the inter-squadron command channel he issues orders to his flight. "Wraiths, spread out to two hundred meters, each element form up near your opposing in dagger. Watch their ion's pilots. Keep the ties off the bombers." He flips a few switches then announces. "Laser cannons cleared to engage, announce ready and fire at hostiles as they bare." "Heads up, flight leader, we have some super-squints coming in hard and fast... Looks like they're heading for us. Their leader's coming up front, another one in back..." She rolls hard port, evading the first barrage of TIE laser fire, before returning fire with her own cannons. "They seem to be aiming to take out the rear fighters in formation first; I think they've finally learned about the Break-And-Backstab." Talia seems oddly calm, almost as if she's done this before. A lot. Indeed, as the leader tries to get her into a head-to-head, Talia slides to starboard, opening fire as the TIE powers by... The life expectancy had gone up for most pilots these days with the advances in technology, though that statistic was about to hurt today. Explosions and debris litter space as the NR pilots move out on their assault of the frigates and strike cruiser - all in the name of holding the line. The A-wings had the forward intercept position and were already engaged with the Avengers that had spotted them. The B-Wings were not alone either; a squadron of TIE Avengers along with supporting Scimitar bombers were moving in on them... a second squadron of Avengers was also coming; the E-wings would prove to be most useful here very shortly. Coming into range the Avengers all open up; the A-wings were being attacked along with any X-Wings and B-Wings in the advance group. It was the age old dilemma... the main objective versus the imminent threat. The B-wings were also loaded with Heavy Rockets... perhaps a bit more punch should they break through the fighter screen. Irsu grits her teeth as the lasers come in, and she isn't quite able to get the B-wing out of the range of fire in time, as her shields flare when the green lasers splash against hers. "Oh... I hope you enjoy that shot, its the only one you're getting," she says as she rotates the B-wing to the side, "All squadron, switch to ion canons, knock their shields down and finish the job," she says into the comm, before she follows suit, switching over to ion canons, before she locks onto the fighter that decide to splash her shields. "My turn," she says with a hiss, a manically glint in her eyes. Catriona says a particularly grumpy Corellian epithet as she has to roll her new X-Wing out of the line of fire, but fortunately, the bolts flashing past her cockpit weren't all that close, only a few meters. Not even enough to scorch the paint. "Okay, let's see how they like it," she growls, her yellow eyes double-checking the fire control panel and nodding as her astromech squeals a readiness tone indicating that the new ride was made right. "Lead, this is Three, I'm going in..." And she and her wingman both break slightly from the main formation, lasers spewing out toward the oncoming TIES. Talia's opponents may have been schooled in tactics; however, it's the application of tactics in which they are lacking. Instead of merely sitting still, Talia slides around to one side of the incoming shots of the first pilot coming in, her bootlegger turn allowing her to catch the Avenger in her sights for the split second it takes for a confirmed acquisition, lock, and fire, causing the lead Avenger to burst into a blazing fireball. She pulls out of what appears to be an uncontrolled spin just in time to dive, evading the second TIE before it even has a chance to acquire her, and as she goes into a full Immelman, she gets behind the second Avenger, in what some fighter pilots call the Death Cone, that thirty-degree spot where if you're in it, you're as good as dead. Another pull of the trigger, and the new pilot reaps the second of her kills of the day. Paav hauls back on his flight stick, as lasers flash around the wing and strike out at the B-wings. "Wraith squadron, here they come. Too far out for torpedoes, charge lasers and open fire." Bringing his stick in line with the oncoming targets he waits for his reticule to go green over a tie advanced and depresses the trigger. Each of the E-wings rattle as their blasters erupt towards the advancing enemy, searing bolts of light screaming out in response to the earlier attacks. "Remember Wraiths, keep them off the B-wings." The objective here was the strike cruiser, her escorts were secondary but also necessary to take out the cruiser. Right now the Medium strike cruiser is flanked by a pair of Nebulon B frigates... Talia's A-wing picks up new contacts on her sensors, as well as Chase's fighter; a pair of Lancer frigates! One of the NR pilots calls out in exclamation, "Those things are meant to take us out, sithspit!" There's chatter to calm them down, but their task was no less daunting. For those with Irsu, Talia, Paav, and Catriona, their target remained the same - the strike cruiser and her escorts. However, if they were going to be successful at all Chase, Akane, and Raxis would have to disable or destroy those Lancer frigates. To make matters worse there was at least 1 squadron of scimitars attacking and about 4 squadrons of Avengers either upon them or about to jump them. It was going to be one crazy day for them all... Irsu grins as the Avenger suddenly starts to spin out of control. "There's one," she says with a smile as the Iktotchi continues to maneuver her B-wing, the entire ship rotating around her cockpit to avoid fire as her eyes remain dead set on the objective of the sortie. That does not mean that she isn't firing still at any TIEs that thing it is a good idea to get in the way of her squadron. The rest of her squadron firing with their ion cannons as they seek to punch a hole through the fighter screen to reach the soft sensitive meat of the cruisers that are the objectives. A hand going from her controls for a split second to idly rub a black horn. Her eyes looking at the squadrons coming in, as she swears, "Dagger squadron, break up and head for the objective, do not give them easy targets," she yells into her squadron com, as she picks out fighters among the scimitars, and splits away to give her squadmates some room to breath, heading straight for the squadron of scimitars her one laser cannon spitting out fire. As the second group of Avengers begins to get into range, Talia triggers off another barrage, but somehow just misses the front Avenger in line. "Sithspit." says she as she hears that there are Lancers out there with eager eyes and hungry cannons, just before going into a wide barrel roll, hoping to get the Avenger in front of her to overshoot so that she can take out one of the Scimitars before they become a threat to the Independence... The Falleen commander of the Wraith squadron hisses low as the E-wing's lasers knock shields down on the oncoming TIE menace. "Decent shooting Wraiths, but they're still coming on. Switch to torpedoes and lock your targets. Wait change to those Scimitars. Wraith Squadron shift." Flipping up the torpedo-firing switch he tracks an incoming Scimitar Bombers and waits for the red to signal. "We can't risk just scorching them again, they can't break through to our bombers." Wraith leader evens out with his portion of the command. As the red brightens and the chime rings in his cockpit he thumbs the trigger and fires. "Wraith Three, Torpedoes away!" The other E-wings responding to his command shudder as the blue-white trails of proton torpedoes are launched from their tubes. Swarming forth towards their targets in a bid to turn them aside from the B-wings, or destroy them outright. Catriona cheers as her lasers splash on the shields of the TIE she's firing upon, and those shields fizzle out. "Awesome, let's keep on him!" she tells herself, coaxing her fighter into a corkscrew as that Imperial tries to escape her lasers. "Can't let him get away like that other guy... the boss'll kill me if I get this one shot up." And then someone in charge tells her to knock off the chatter, and she sticks her tongue out, knowing it can't be seen. "Roger that, Lead," she answers brightly, switching the voice-activated button to click-to-talk, so she can keep up a chatter to herself. Or to her droid. Raxis is there with Rogue squadron, missing a few of course, but being XO means that he drew the assist card on this one. When the targets jump in, Raxis calls out to his fighter group, also known as group Alpha. "Alpha we have contacts, Rogues form up." Raxis adds, as he unlocks his S-foils and lets them whir into attack formation. Pressing forward, he calls out over the comm to Akane and Chase. "Let's go in. Rogues are going after the Scimitars. Chase, clear a hole for Akane and company, over!" Raxis calls out, veering on an attack vector. He'll be damned if the bombers will get close enough to attack... "Condors, let's break over behind the wake of these X-wings and do as the Looie says, clear that road. Focus on the starboard flight to soften them up and wedge it open. Ride our wake and we'll get you clear." The voice of Chase Pitt echoes through the coms of the A-wings in Condor Squadron as his fighter slips behind the X-wings momentarily to wash their presence and then springs over and under their dorsals at full acceleration towards the intercepting vessels in an attempt to clear the road open. Each of the groups of fighters had their orders, and were executing it well. However, with any successful operation there was always a measure of risk. The Avengers were falling, but the Lancers and the strike cruiser were moving /forward/ to support their craft. Soon the firepower would be upon them all, and the Empire was not known for showing mercy. They were a part of that insane lunatic's force, and were blindly firing at the biggest concentration of fighters; friendly or not. As the fire comes in, the NR fighters would start to note that their systems are going off with all sorts of warnings. If someone didn't do something quick, they would all be doomed! So far the NR forces were doing well, but things always had a chance of changing in the heat of combat. Irsu grins as one of the Scimitar's shields flicker and die under her assault. "Dagger Five, Six, and Seven accompany me. Daggers Four, Eight, and Nine start firing torpedoes at those Lancers. The rest of you, stay on target and take out the objective. We'll work with the fighters to make sure that you all don't take the main brunt of these fighters," Irsu says over the comms as she twists her B-wing around, grunting faintly at the g-forces it causes within the large ship. Even with the fancy manuever it isn't enough to keep her shield from flaring by a hit from one of the Scimitars. "Fun times," she says with a grin, before her laser begins to open fire on the fighter that she had disable shields on. Her squadmates fire focusing on their own Scimitars, each of them using their ion cannons against the oncoming onslaught. As Talia sights her next target, and next victim, she goes into a spinning roll in order to be able to catch up to her target... Sighting in, she prepares to fire, her eyes sharp as she makes a rapid 180, perfectly timed so that while she's turning, she simply pulls the trigger and fires one burst, right through the Scimitar's shields and into its cockpit, killing its pilot and bisecting the Scimitar with almost surgical precision, her third kill of the day. Even as she manages her third kill, and makes the kill look easy, she climbs rapidly, causing her to rise gracefully out of the way of another linked quad laser blast. Finally, she breaks radio silence, adding, "Could someone deal with those Lancers?" Smiles grimly as his torpedoes streak away and lance into the heart of a scimitar, blowing it apart in a satisfying explosion. However the joy is short lived as enemy fire flights up his canopy, lasers pelting his E-wing as he tries to dodge out of fire. "Wraith Squadron, break formation, peel back from those Lancers, priority is changing, we don't have time to play games." He snarls into his mike then continues. "Reform into elements and target those lancers. Looks like we're getting the hard jobs. Evasive maneuvers and close to torpedo range." As the red sights chime out again he depresses the trigger and sings away a pair of blue-white proton torpedoes with the rest of the squadron following his orders. "On your lead, Two," Catriona chimes in once she remembers to press the button to transmit this time, giggling to herself for missing it and talking in her cockpit to herself the first time. "And your wing, sir." Her lasers find their mark and the TIE she's firing upon explodes in a rather pretty display of pyrotechnics. "Scratch one," she remarks in a calmer voice as her X-Wing gets a little bit dirty from the glowing ash and shrapnel from the explosion as she flies through it. As the Rogues get near the Scimitars, the Wroonian flicks the trigger once more, sending out lasers with almost cheerful abandon toward one of the closest fighters. With a wail from Vee-Ten, Raxis dives into the defensive screen the Avengers make, trusting in his comrades at arms to protect him and the attacking element. Righting his X-wing towards the squadron of Scimitar Bombers, he lines up a shot and opens fire. Angry orange blasterfire erupts from the wingtips, causing one to sputter and spin off out of control until it implodes in a painful display of crushed metal. With just a little more time, Raxis lines up a second volley of shots in passing and a second bomber explodes. "Good run! Keep it up!" Raxis calls out, veering towards another pass and decides on going after the Lancers. "Those Avengers can't stand up near the strike cruiser so we've gotta do this fast then get on those Lances. Let's get some torps on those Lancers!" Raxis calls out, lining up a firing solution on a Lancer. As the A-wings of Condor break through the lines of the Avengers, Chase and his wing trio break free after clearing a path and swoop upwards in a pair and loop under in a pair, attempting to pincer trap the rest of the Avengers between them and opening up fire with the laser weapons in what could almost pass for a coordinated attack. The darty A-wings rotate and slip between the other ships using their agility to keep in good positions. A flurry of fire towards Chase's ship has him quickly spinning out of the line of fire to open up on another vessel. As the NR forces attack, the Imperial forces do not slow down; in fact they continue to surge toward the battle line. Perhaps it was odd for them to do so, but anyone knew that the Empire could be suicidal. There were no other defenses behind the NR fighters in this portion of the line, and the whole NR was counting on them. Scimitars and Avengers were going down, but the Lancers were only taking minimal damage. They'd have to launch a greater offensive as one of the Lancers only takes moderate damage. The combined fire of several of the bombers and Raxis's well placed shot puts the other under heavy damage, but neither of them was out of commission yet. The Imperial commander on the Strike Cruiser orders on an open channel, "Full speed! Run the rebel scum through!" The order is only acknowledge by a surging in the engines in all of the ships; the frigates now close enough to open up fire themselves on the NR forces. Things were heating up indeed... Irsu grins as the fighter that was in her sights is destroyed, before she turns her B-wing as more alarms start to go off. "Alright, enough playing, lets go ahead and get those Lancers out of the fight," she tells the rest of the squadron as she swings around towards the lancers. That's when she is struck by another hit, but this time some of her controls fizzle, "Sith spit! They got my laser cannon." The Iktotchi growls as her eyes narrow at the oncoming Lancers, "Oh... you're getting killed now." The Iktotchi switches over to her torpedoes as she says into her comm, "All Daggers not attacking the target, concentrate fire on the nearest Lancer." Grinning wildly as she swoops up before swooping down to strafe right across the lancer as she fires her torpedoes.Once again torpedoes lance away from Wraith squadron, these impact a lancer and seem to do only minor damage. As the wing twists, breaks and dives to escape the hail of laser fire orders go out. "Wraith Squadron, shift for new attack, we're coming back up at the Lancer. Coordinate fire for effect. We've got to punch these things out before they can sweep through our people." Twisting back on his stick the stars swirl and roll until the lancer looms large in his cockpit.. "Lets hope the second try nets us a big one As the red sights chime out yet again he depresses the trigger and sings away a pair of blue-white proton torpedoes with the rest of the squadron following his orders. "Scratch two," Catriona singsongs out, trying to keep her mood light despite the death and destruction around her. "Two, can we make up our minds, sir?" she asks as she swings her X-Wing around to follow his lead, leaving her second kill behind without a second thought. There'll be time later on to wonder if that pilot had friends or family or a pet womprat or whatever. Raxis lets loose two Proton Torpedoes and narrows his eyes as the flash from the Lancer erupts as he passes overhead. Definitely causing an explosion on the dorsal foredecks of the Lancer. Hoping he scored some shaking and roughing for the bridge crew, he rolls his X-wing so that the cockpit is facing downwards as he flies over the engine-wash. Slowing his speed, he does an immelman style loop to come back around for a second pass on the Lancer. "Rogue Two to wing. Making one more pass at this Lancer...Fox two!" He says, launching another torpedo. The group of A-wings continue opening up fire on the groups of fighters that attempt to deter the bombers of the Republic. "Break and fire on any targets, after a flurry, let's regroup for another organized pass." Chase's voice calls out over the coms in a rather calm sounding tone to his wing. The speedy fighters duck outwards, scattering almost incoherently to pick off some of the Imperial fighters with blaster fire, travelling in pairs, before collecting themselves back together into an organized wing. The Lancers were not prepared for the wrath the NR fighters gave them. Though their fury was righteous and they were able to destroy about a full squadron of x-wing and a-wing fighters combined, their might was not enough. The Avengers, though ever so aggressive were being swatted by flies by the superior NR pilots. It seemed they were more than their match, and though it might seem hopeless the Avengers and Scimitars press on, missiles starting to fly now. The Nebulon-B frigates were fully in range and were opening up, and behind them the Strike Cruiser was starting to put heavy blasts in the air, their fire incinerating full x-wings that venture too close to its field of fire, along with the Avengers that just happen to be in the way. Disappointing to Imperials, however, is the fact that one of the lancer's goes up in a plume of fire; more importantly is that its explosion clears the way to the frigate behind it; the combined fire of torpedoes lands on the hull of the frigate leaving gaping holes and taking out a large portion of its firepower. The other lancer is hit hard as well; its engines go out in the heavy onslaught - it doesn't stop there though. The entire ship shudders and soon escape pods are seen - the reactor is going critical. The frigate on its flank was too close as well, and this time she takes significant damage as well. The NR was breaking through, but the Empire wasn't done fighting. It was going to be bloody until the very end... Irsu swears as her rockets go wide and miss the target. "Damn... targeting systems," she says as she grimaces as she is shot again, her console sparking as she loses her ion cannons as well. "Sith spit," she says, starting to really get angry in her cockpit. "All of Dagger Squadron concentrate fire on the strike cruiser, take that son of a sith out," she says, as her B-wing moves through space, launching her rockets along with the rest of Dagger Squadron as they narrow the gap between them and the Strike Cruiser. "Good shooting Wraiths pull around for a second run on the Lancers, prime torped" His orders are cut short as a hail of enemy fire slices into his ship. Stabilizers explode and warning lights erupt all across the ship as the engines whine and struggle to stay online. "Starfighter command, this is wraith three I've taken extensive damage, continuing on attack run. Lancers are bleeding." Changing back to fighter communications he continues his orders. "Wraith elements, pick your shots where you can, aim for the holes in the Lancer frigates, lets see if we can punch through this time." As the red sights chime out yet again, a hail of lasers hurl forth as he depresses the trigger. Unable to use torpedoes he centers in on the lancers all guns cycling for effect. The XJ that Catriona's flying shakes when incoming fire makes itself known, and the young pilot swears impolitely in her cockpit, making sure that she's not hitting her PTT button and allowing her fellow Rogues to hear her not so cheerful invective. Her shields flicker under the barrage, but she doesn't flee or retreat. "Going after the frigate," she finally answers Two. "Fox two!" And her ship fires a two-fer of torps toward the wounded frigate damaged by the one Lancer going critical. "Evasive, watch out that Lancer's going to meltdown, get out of the blast radius!" Raxis calls out over the comms, pulling up on his flight stick to soar up and out of the way. "They're throwing themselves on us. Blow the engines and keep them out of blast range, SAR will get the escape pods." Raxis calls out, diving down on an attack on the last Lancer's engines. Loosing another torpedo focused squarely on the engines, he lets the heavier bombers focus on the Strike Cruiser and frigate, getting the initial threat of ramming away from the NR forces. The A-wing under Chase's control slips around one ship to let his wingman take care of it and opens up fire on the back vessel, laser fire ripping it apart before it explodes. Flying through the debris, the A-wing spins and dips just as return fire lances across it. Checking his systems, Chase calls out to the wing as it regroups, "Got some light damage, nothing that will be to bad, just watch my three so I don't get toasted there since it's softer hull than usual." With the entire wing back together, the Condor group takes a moment to evaluate, a split second that is like an eternity in a fighter battle before they break again, groups of threes, darting in to clear off the fighters that are attempting to get to the bombers that are making their runs on the frigates. The droid seated behind Akane let out a long string of comments, of course they sounded to the average ear like beeps and low whistles. "I know" replies the little blue pilot, "They think I talk a lot" But still she rolls the E-wing around the lumbering bombers and takes lead of her wingman. The pair of snub-nosed fighters remains in tight formation with the more aggressive 'Jammer' taking point and the less aggressive Wraith as flanker. She was flying on pure adrenaline, her yellow eyes darting all over the space. The drifting debris were just as dangerous as the incoming Frigates, one misjudgment and the wrecked hulk would add Akane's fighter to the ranks of the useless. Sevens continued to chatter in droid speak, but the proximity klaxons were turned off. Of course they sounded when the shields took a shot, Entering an S-turn, the nimble little fighter rolled up and over and then lined up for a shot. Lasers weren't going to punch the hole she wanted, so she dropped the hammed. Coming down from above, the Avengers are broken down into flights of two now, their numbers shrinking dramatically; though the main point of this battle is that the line is to be held, no matter what. The last of the scimitars is taken out by one of the escorts, her missiles falling silent once and for all. For those that see the final lancer evacuating they know something is wrong; though those still shooting at her were about to get a surprise. Raxis and Paav's fighters are nearby when the reactor goes up... Akane is nearby but not as close... the blast is significant and the radiation emitted is far more than what the small fighters could take, no matter how well they were built. The first frigate to take damage starts to rock, her hull cracked and her spine broken; the fire from her ceases altogether and escape pods are starting to be seen. The other frigate near the lancer that radiated emissions of death slows as well, the explosion knocking out her power and possibly killing many of her crew; it starts to list - a few escape pods are seen there as well. The strike cruiser seems mighty through all this; all the way up until the heavy rockets pound her hull. Her shields go down and her hull is scored, but she's not out of the fight yet. There are about two squadrons full of Avengers still left fighting the good fight; the NR squadrons were down to about half strength of what they started with; they still had some expert pilots. The Imperial commander is forced to give a call for help... it's desperate and in the open. "We can't hold the attack here, requesting immediate support!!" Irsu breaks into a smile as her squadron's rockets break through the strike cruiser's shields as she brings her b-wing around. "Stay on target for another run, this should be the last run, folks," she says with a smile. Her eyes focused on the target as she bears down on the target. "You're support isn't coming, my friends," she says as her rockets beginning to rain down upon the ship.Snarls as he rides a wave of laser fire down into the Lancer, his cannons cycling until they're glowing with the effort of spitting out fire. His already damaged E-wing is buffeted by waves of defense fire, overloading his shield system and finishing off his damaged torpedo bays. A hail of sparks and smoke filling his cockpit trumpets another wave of problems throughout the ship as he hauls down and over on the stick and barrel rolls away from the frigate. "This is Wraith Three to Wraith Two, I've taken a lot of damage. If I go silent, take command, I'm going to try and .." His eyes close in a moment of pure pain as a wave of radiation sweeps through his ship as he passes the lancer. "Make sure the bombers make it to their targets. Wraith three heading.." He snarls as the communication system shorts, adding a new pungent odor to the already heady fragrance of burned electrical wire. The heavily damaged E-wing rolls one more time as it angles away from the fighting, trying to gain distance from enemy fire. Trailing a few outer panels into the depths of space. The X-Wing Catriona is controlling judders under more fire, but thankfully, none of it does more than mildly rattle the pilot within, not having hit her ship. "New target acquisition," she says to her droid as they peel off from the frigate they were attacking before. "Looks like the boss is in trouble." Tabbing the key to turn on her mic, she asks, "Spider, need a blue hand?" in a voice that belies the utter danger they're all in. But then... "Poodoo!" is heard through the comms. "Spider, talk to me, boss..." Even so, her targeting computer has locked onto the strike cruiser, and the Wroonian sighs softly. "Commencing attack run," she says in a formal fighter jock tone of voice, locking onto the Imperial vessel. "This is for Spider," she murmurs softly after releasing the PTT button as two more torps streak free of her vessel and arrow in toward the deadly interloper. When his torpedo misses the mark, Raxis scowls and rushes over the top of the last Lancer. Barrel rolling and screaming over the craft quickly, he narrowly avoids the incoming fire towards his craft. Vee-Ten, in the back, warbles about the status of the rest of the attack group on the Strike Cruiser and the Freighter. "I know I know hang on getting there..." He blinks, scowling and shuddering at a burning sensation. "Kark the last lancer's leaking rads! Stay away from it..." Then it explodes, toasting his X-wing a bit much to Vee-Ten's disappointment. His rad meter spikes. "Kark!" He calls out, wiping away at his slowly trickling bloody nose as he turns the fight towards the main strike force. "Take out that communications array!" Chase's A-wing shimmers a bit as a bit of the hull plating sizzles and goes flying off into space. "Got a hull hit." The pilot states into his com to the rest of the wing. "They're adjusting so let's mix up our tactics a bit. Let's go with the quad formations, layered. Center work on dashing through and the top bottom cross-overs." Even as he speaks, the A-wing he flies moves into formation. "We're down to one last frigate folks, let's clear the road for these bombers." The A-wings move towards the remaining Republic Bombers and after a moment, dart ahead, dashing amongst themselves in a ballet, letting loose laser fire to attempt to break up any remaining Avenger resistance on the run to take down the last Frigate. Her course Akane was snake bitten when it came to the heavy weapons, and the blue orbs just went wide, smashing into a wrecked fighter and disintegrating it. "Son of a bantha!" Of course that was the small of the problem, the turbo-lasers leveled their revenge and hit Wraith two like she wasn't looking. The E-wing almost performed an endo, and in one fell swoop she lost shields, her launches and sections of hull plating just got ripped off in mass. The Wroonian pilot had no choice but to switch to lasers, and even she was too busy trying to fly to say much. The only thing she managed to get out was 'Sevens, get me flight control back on line YESTERDAY!" there wasn't a hint of panic in the woman's voice but there was a sense of urgency. The Strike cruiser shudders as it continues to be pounded by the NR assault. There isn't much she can do under this assault but fire back. However, some of her gunnery crews already had enough and were starting to eject into space... a testament to the fury of the NR assault. It wasn't over yet; the cruiser might be under fire and breaking - her hull venting atmosphere... soon her guns fall silent as the process of her death begins, the NR attack being successful. The remaining Avengers try valiantly to survive in all of this, but their fate is that of the cruiser until that alarm sounds in the NR fighters. Incoming! Akane's wingmen notice there is something wrong with her and call for help; a call that has a NR shuttle scrambled to retrieve their pilot as she no doubt had taken some form of damage. Quickly their mission of holding the line was complete, but it was changing into the recovery of their own; the Avenger pilots being sadistic in some cases and targeting downed pilots. However for them, the other problem was now 2 new squadrons were incoming of Avengers to sweep the area... One of them declares on the open comms, "NR forces withdraw immediately. Imperial forces, you are hereby ordered to fall back." It's a calm voice, some might recognize it as Marshal Inrokana... and apparently he wasn't all too happy with something. Raxis tastes the blood from the radiation heating up some of the capillaries in his nose. Turning his X-wing to face the incoming opposition, he blinks when he hears the voice over the open channels. Vee-Ten warbles in surprise. "Yeah that's him, Vee...that's definitely him." He aches, he does want to go home himself, he needs a bath in a vat of bacta with an anti-rad injection. Patching to the comms, he opens up. "NR Forces this is Rogue Two, Spider, go evasive and do not engage. Repeat, do not engage. Focus on SAR." He offers up his end of the stalemate, enough lives have been lost already. Jammer's trio of lasers hit the cruiser with deft skill that was far more luck. Object A was pointed at object B, nothing more. Of course the woman never saw her shots hit. The effects of the radiation that had seeped into her body were wreaking havoc. In fact she couldn't keep her chin up, every time it dropped and touched her chest she tried to lift it. Maybe she was successful, maybe she wasn't. It didn't matter, time slowed down. She could still hear everything around her, but that didn't matter either. The Klaxons sounded, warning lights flashed and she did nothing. Irsu says over the comm to the rest of her squadron, "That's enough, we've taken enough damage today, and we've given it back. Back to the ships." Three acknowledgements come over the radio as the remaining b-wings and her lick their wounds on the way back to the ships. Paav manages to reroute his communications with the help of his R7 unit. "Wraith wing, this is Wraith Three, form screen for Dagger squadron and Wraith Two. Watch for enemy fighters looking for revenge." The Falleen pilot guides his stick around as the fighter angles back towards the combat zone. Flinching as an overhead compartment explodes in another shower of sparks. Switching communications over to open band. "Avenger leader, this is Wraith Three, we are commencing fighter recovery. You are advised to keep distance, any attempt at drawing near, or firing on Republic forces will be met with deadly force." Switching back to fighter communications. "Keep to your elements Wraiths, we need a staggered formation if we're to react to enemy movement. Wraith Two do you read? Wraith Two do you copy?" Catriona sighs softly as Raxis gets on the horn again, but she can deal with that later. "Get yourself out of here, sir. We'll handle this." When the voice comes through on the open comms, and a whisper goes through some of the NR regular comms. "/Him/." Not even a name, just a personal pronoun. "Who, Spider?" she asks through the Rogue channels. Meanwhile, she flies picket near Rogue Two, but at a safe distance, a warning to any Imperials who might want to defy Krieg's order. She doesn't bother replying to Inrokana. The bigwigs can do that. Almost at the same moment that the voice comes over the comms, there are several small flashes of light off to the side of the skirmish. A closed frequency broadcast to the New Republic Fighters opens with a slight crackle as a woman's voice comes over it shortly after, "Though you ladies could use a little assistance out here. I brought some friends with me." And sure enough, accompanying Wraith One is two other fighters of the same wing, apparently they had been out on a patrol in another sector before stopping by this one. "Alright Condors, let's keep our spacing. We got the sensors, we got the speed. Do not engage but let's get out there and keep our readings up for the recoveries." Chase states over his coms as the remaining A-wings of the Condor Squad break up and begin to set up a sensor grid as best they can for the recovery process and avoiding the Imperial forces. The Avengers that were still in the fight continue to try and target the people that are downed, the backdrop that of the strike cruiser going down in flames and explosions. There wasn't much more that could be done, and seeing the whole thing was a mess in Krieg's eyes. But what had to be done would be done. Krieg says one more time on the comm, "NR forces, clear out immediately. This is your final warning; we are here to purge the area." He's still calm about it, but they were in gun range; the second flight being that from Sando's and not his own. His Raptor squadron was in close, the other was not - and opens up on the wounded NR fighters and ships to aid their comrades. Seeing what is going down, Krieg signals his flight to slow; it was time to target the true attacker here. A scout in the background engages its jamming, suddenly making this portion of the battlefield invisible from Imperial eyes. Raxis switches over to NR frequency. "If that's who I think it is, I'll tell you when we get back home but I'm staying. Flight group, accept the truce. Jammer's been picked up and she's being moved out. Everyone set course for back home so that we can regroup." He says, checking over his instruments. "Wraith Leader and flight wing...plot your courses to rendezvous. They've offered a stalemate. Repeat, this sector's been offered a stalemate." Raxis says, maneuvering to his jump point. Wraith Two did copy Wraith Three and so did the poor Astromech R7-D7, (Sevens) in the back seat. Who didn't copy was Jammer. Touch's call registered somewhere in her mind, but the gray-out she was suffering from was slowing her responses down significantly. In fact her entire body was rebelling on her. Akane's hands dropped away from any flight control. The E-wing just drifted through the battlefield like a piece of flotsam or jetsam on the waves of the ocean. With her blood pressure dropping, dizziness and disorientation had set up shop. She was unable to protect herself or anyone else. She was in all sorts of a bad way. "Alright Condor's we got to keep the retrievals clear now. Let's scrape off any of those Avengers that get in range of the rescue ships and keep are recoveries clear." Chase's voice calls out over the coms and those remaining in the Condor group come together and break towards the disabled NR ships to keep them safe from the still present Avengers, peeling them, strafing them with laser fire and attempting to run them off. Irsu is on her way away from the fighting when she gets hit by a shot from the thing. "Ahhh... this is Dagger Three.. I've gotta bail," she says into her comm as she her hands move over the console. Good thing that the ship was equipped with a escape pod as the cockpit separates from the ship and begins to fly her to safety, or towards the Imperials, the Iktotchi in the cockpit is rather confused as to which way she was facing after taking the shot. Catriona mutters another curse as Inrokana makes it clear that they're going to murder everyone's fallen pilots. "Savages," she adds aloud, forgetting that her mic is hot. "Sir, we can't leave anyone behind!" she protests and veers off the protection detail. "Anyone need a hand out there?" she asks on the NR comms, having her astromech scan for life signs or buoys, keeping an eye on the incoming SAR shuttle. "I'll keep the Imps off you." She pops on the public comm that Inrokana was using to note, "If any Imperial pilot decides to prove their inability to be civilized and allow /both/ sides' wounded to be evacuated, we'll go around again. No one loses anything by waiting until the theatre is clear to dance again." Looking over her radar, Ranma's smirk slowly fades as she takes in what is going on. She shakes her head slightly and flips over to her ship-to-ship frequency with the two other ships accompanying her, "You two, fly interference for Jammer. Make sure nothing gets to Wraith Two and get her out of there safely. I don't care if you have to get out and push that fraggin' E-Wing with your bare hands." A pair of quick confirmation of the orders crackle over her comm before she switches back to widebind, "Imperial Fighters. Stand down per the previous orders or we will engage. This is your only warning." She fidgets slightly behind the control as she gives them a couple of moments to comply. When there is no response that she can see, she switches back to the New Republic Frequency, "New Republic Forces. This is Captain Hoshiakarui. You are free to continue engaging the enemy. Though only those ships that are not following the retreat order. If they open fire, you have permission to dust them." Clicking off the comm, she slams the thrust controller to max and jets into the fray. Taking aim on one of the still attacking vessels. Paav rolls over hard on his stick. Spiraling his ship from formation at the command. He thumbs down on his stick and lets a ripple of laser fire rain down on the fighters that fired on Irsu and Dagger squadron. "Wraith Three, opening fire on hostiles." His shift drifts high as it continues to fire, the wreck of an E-wing dancing into combat with it's wingman following close by. "Wraith Four, stay tight on my wing we've got a small thread to cut here." The Falleen pilot smiles grimly, his head bathed in sweat as he can feel the blisters and burns forming on his skin. The evil Avengers that are taking the wounded and blasting them continue their tirade while they are to be joined shortly by another full squadron of fighters. Many of the ones staying around are destroyed to only a handful left, but the other Avengers entering don't care. There is a distinct other formation that starts to move behind the first attacking wave and by all appearances appear to be on an attack run of their own. Krieg gets the all clear by a few sensor ships that the area is blacked out, then gives the order to his squadron. "Raptors, execute. Good Hunting." Clicking the comms off his missiles lock onto the Avenger in front of him as he kicks off the missile at the engines of the evil Avenger; his squadron doing much the same. Dissent in the ranks, perhaps treason... whatever you might call it, the Imperials were attacking their own. Raxis gnashes his teeth as the fight starts up again. "Damnit!" He snarls off of the line and yanks his flight stick to get back into the action. He's still combat worthy and he's not intending to leave the field. He clicks back onto the NR frequency. "Rogue two to all rogues. You are cleared to return fire. Repeat. Return fire. Karking Imperials..." He switches onto the open frequency as he moves back into the fight, screaming towards the combat in his X-wing. "Damn you, Inrokana we have wounded we're evacuating! Show yourself or back your men off. We are not leaving without our wounded you treacherous bastard." He barks angrily, rushing to the aid of his people. Then he blinks. TIEs are attacking TIEs. Finding an Avenger attacking one of the NR, he opens fire, glad to help with the cleanup. "What the blazes?!?" Catriona squeals incredulously as she continues escorting the shuttle toward the fallen fighters and ejected pilots. "Boss, are they... shooting their own people?" she asks on the Rogue channel. But then, the order is given, so Catriona follows suit, speeding ahead of the shuttle and firing her lasers in a deadly dance. However, some sense in her chooses to follow the one part of the order. Her astromech tags the ones in Krieg's squadron as yellow for now. Not friendly, but not enemies, so her lasers only target the hapless Imperials who wanted to disobey his orders. The two fighters that were accompanying Ranma previously slow their speed as they approach the crippled vessel of Wraith Two. Ranma only spares them the briefest of glances to make sure they are doing as instructed. One moves into a defensive position next to the crippled fighter, while the other gently nudges its landing repulsers to lift it under the belly of Akane's ship. Ever so gentle a bump indicates he is in position before lightly firing his thrusters to begin moving towards the New Republic lines.Seeing that Akane is being looked after, Ranma lets the rest of her focus return to the fight at hand. She sizes up the situation quickly, "Astro, mark any Imperial craft attacking another Imperial craft as non-hostile for the time being. If they don't shoot at us, we're not shooting at them." She glances at the radar and a bit of a grin spreads the corners of her mouth as she picks one of the red dots as her target. Looping and rolling through her own fighters as well as the enemy fighters, Ranma lines up her targeting computer on the target of her choice. Several moments pass as she tries not to be too hasty in firing. Then when she thinks it is as clean at shot as she is going to get, she fires the lasers towards the vessel, their brilliant color lighting up the space around her as they lance towards the object of her wrath. Paav guides his smoldering space junk of an E-wing back from having randomly fired on enemy tie fighters. Bringing his ship in line he begins flying slow circles around Akane's fighter. Guiding his own ship and his wingman in close protective arcs over the damaged ship. "Wraith three to Republic recovery teams, ETA to pick up Wraith Two and damaged E-wing?" He watches the events unfold among the imperials closely, his ship's radar and defense systems tuned to watch for anything heading in this direction. As the missiles fly from Raptor squadron the separate formation moves in elite precision, splitting up in pairs and rounding up the last Avengers that were killing indisciminently. With utter elegance and professionalism they take out the other ships; the missiles all timed to hit within mere moments of each other. The NR pilots were helpful enough for not targeting them - though they were prepared for that eventuality as well, their leader having briefed them on their mission well in advance... all were utterly loyal. As they round up the last of the Avengers Krieg says on the channel unblocked to him for transmitting, "Take care of those here, for I cannot see to them." If anyone knew him, that one remark would show it was Inrokana that was here. Snap rolling and pulling away after doing a snap barrel roll around one of their wounded ships, Raptor squadron forms up and moves away to the Imperial line, apparently off to engage some other target like this never happened... It's at some point after a roll or a diving attack that Raxis' stomach starts to lurch. He looks to his rad meter. It's unchanged, but he's definitely getting sick. "Gods..." He groans, flipping on the Rogue frequency. "Three, this is two..." He groans, pulling away from combat. Tasting bile in his throat, he starts to look a little green. "I'm RTB...I'm sick...I'll have Vee-Ten patch in the tow order..." He says, coughing over the comm-line. Swallowing hard, trying not to puke, he lets Vee-Ten do the astrogation. Leaning back in his seat, his X-wing pulls away towards the jump point, closing its S-foils in silence. He's gonna be sleeping in bacta tonight. Watching the rest of the hostile Imperial fighters evaporate into nothing, Ranma does a quick scan of her radar before flipping the comm on once more, "All fighters, disengage. Let them go back to their lines. Those who have the ability, piggyback any crippled fighters you can back to our lines. If you can snag any of the escape pods in the same manor, do it." Not having heard any response to the previous message requesting a pickup ship, she eyes her comm and lets out a slight sigh before setting up her ship-to-ship transmission with Wraith Two, "Jammer, you still with us in there?" She flies over top of the other vessel, he own upside down so they are canopy to canopy so she can get a view inside of the other's cockpit and see what is going on. Catriona kinda blinks her yellow eyes behind the goggles built into her helmet. "Someone has some stories to tell later, boss," she says pointedly to Raxis, letting up on her fire once the Imperials have gone bye-bye. However, she tells her droid to shift Krieg and company back to hostile status. "Get yourself home, we'll make sure everyone else gets out okay." And she keeps her ship on alert status as she listens to the other NR freqs to see what's up and who's needed. "Keep an eye out anyway," she says to the astromech. "That was bloody weird, but that doesn't mean they won't come back and bite us in the aft when our pants are down..." The X-Wing pretty much coasts as sensors keep sweeping for more downed pilots. "SAR shuttle, I've got a live one at point seven." And she tilts the X-Wing a little to give the area a visual, squinting into the dark, but the fortunate backlighting of pilot against the remains of his ship makes the Ithorian easy to spot. "He's leaking air, need assist ASAP." The Falleen pilot continues to make cautious circuits of Akane's and now Ranma's position. His ship tilted to give him the best view of the remaining fighting in space. The slow burn of his engines having his ship do little more then meander in its tight flying pattern. Paav continues to try and perform minor repairs to his systems, getting the ventilation going enough to start pulling the smoke out of his cockpit. "R7, we may as well begin the paper work. Record for play back Wraith Three requires repairs to all major systems and replacement of Shield generator. Restock of torpedoes and torpedo launches" He pauses as a few droplets of blood drip down onto his glove. "Also prepare a 742B Medical form, I believe I will require RAD-6 services. Sign on the alien species rider and log my access code to my personal medical records. Now, resume the requisition forms, there's no time like the present to put our house in order." And so continues his exciting continuing participation in the space battle, paperwork in spaaaaaaaace! When Wraith One pulls over Wraith Two what she is faced with looks dire indeed. Akane was in the full complement of flight gear, including helmet and life-support. However the little blue woman's head was pitched forward against her chest and cocked at an odd angle to the side. Her gloved hands had dropped off the fight-stick. Her ship was also shot to hell. Sections of armor missing, shields gone, nose cone mostly off - no launch tubes to speak off and Sevens was working feverishly to get the ship online. Seeing the state of affairs with Wraith Two, Ranma makes a quick judgement of the situation and decides that there was no way at sublight speeds it would make it back to the New Republic lines in time. Releasing the catch on the restraints, ship checks the lifesupport of her flight suit before speaking, "Astro, keep us moving at an even pace with Two. I'm going to retrieve the pilot." Pressing the release of to the canopy, she waits until it is opened all the way, this was going to be a tight fit, but should be manage able. Once the canopy is completely opened, she pushes herself downward towards the crippled Wraith Two and fumbles with its canopy release. As it opens, she reaches in as soon as she is able and removes Akane's restraints before putting her hands under the Wroonian woman's armpits and pulling her out. Looking back up to her own vessel, she pushes off to get a handhold before pulling herself and Akane into the cockpit.Tight fit was an understatement, but after several long moments she manages to get the canopy closed with the blue woman in her lap, "Astro mark the position of Two so we can get a ship to reclaim the R7 unit. There isn't enough room to take it along with us." Flipping the comm over to the pilot who was piggybacking Two she adds, "See to others in need of aid. I have Two. We're making the jump now to medical help." Before she can say anything further, Astro warbles to indicate that the calculations are finished and she pushes the controls forward, stars turning to starlines before becoming the swirling pattern of hyperspace, "Hang in there, Kid. We'll get you back safe."
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