| abstract | - With a check of his scopes, Kesander shifts his stick to allow Firecat 3 to settle in on the port side of Ghost 4 and his comrade Kyrin. "Ghost 4, this is Firecat 2, I've got your six, partner, let's go see what there is to see. Sandman, out." Off away from traditional civilian lines of traffic a disturbance of space begins to occur as a shuttle comes out of light speed. The shuttle has seen better days as there are signs of severe carbon scoring and its entire rear dorsal fin is simply missing. The ship itself has no discernable markings and as soon as it drifts into range of the system it begins broadcasting a distress signal, directly to the Reprisal. "This is the shuttle hope-" the communications is full of static, "-we were attac*static* Imper*static* ships. They *static* following us! Requ*static* amnesty*stratic*" The Shuttle's flight path is somewhat erratic as it turns rapidly toward the NRSD Reprisal, and crawls across space toward the massive destroyer. On board, the would be refugees prepare for battle, loading a series of rifles and placing them within their cloaks; masking their faces behind rather elaborate and high tech prosthetic faces. Among them Darth Malign, he begins to outline the basic operation, "Gentleman, the key is direct extraction. We have a forty standard minute time limit on this operation, according to our tactical officers. That is if our ships stay out of direct combat with the Fleet. Our objective is this." Malign raises a picture of Lynae and passes it around, "Not all of us will return, Glory to the Empire." Following shortly behind from the depths of hyperspace comes the Broadsword in all her glory. All her guns are run out and are teeming with energy and death. Jumping into Coruscant, a heavily guarded NR area did not even phase her. She lights up the shuttle with all of her batteries in attempts to bring her down. All of her crews are at high alert as they track down the refugees, a sight they don't seem to be wanting anyone else to see. The comm frequencies are all silent as she rails green fire across the sky. Anyone watching this would quickly see that the shuttle's speed was no match for the Broadsword, as they didn't get close enough to engage tractor beams. Various elements of 2nd Fleet begin to move into a battle formation protecting vital areas of interest on the planet. The stronger more robust ships stand guard in their section of space preventing Imperial ships from nearing the planet. With overlapping fields of fire, any ship trying to bombard the planet will have a run for its money. Further out in the system, the NRSD Reprisal and her three supply frigates are placed on full alert. X-Wing fighters placed on ground alert status beginning their launch sequences and slowly one by one begin to emerge from the underbelly of the Reprisal. "Distress shuttle, proceed to -135,-70,-190 and await further instruction. Ghost 4, and Firecat 2 will escort you to a safe location. NRSD Reprisal out." - Intergalactic Distress Frequency. Aboard Ghost 4, Kyrin Sh'vani touches the controls and sets her ship for what she wants it to do. A grim expression crosses her face, and her gray eyes narrow. "Firecat 2, let us get the civilians out of danger," she says crisply, tilting the stick to the side to heel the X-Wing over into a proper escort position with the shuttle. "Be wary, keep your eyes on your scopes." Down on Coruscant, the New Republic's primary military headquarters' command center goes into alert mode. High-altitude airspeeders and A-wing squadrons are scrambled, to protect the city should falling objects or a high-atmosphere battle come to their doorstep. Luke Skywalker was about to leave the headquarters, when the alert sounds. Snatching a comlink, he calls the command center for a status report. Kesander toggles his mike, "Right with you Ghost 4," transmits the Corellian. Staying on his partner's wing, the Corellian blinks a bit at the damage sustained by the shuttle. "Seems they really want this bird. Expect we'll have company soon." When the Broadsword comes out of hyperspace it makes things much more complicated for the shuttle. Suddenly it tries to lurch into some technical maneuvers to evade turbolaser fire, having little success. The small shuttle is lanced several times by the high-powered cannons adding pockmarks along the hull of the shuttle, which had long lost its shields. It continues to crawl toward the Reprisal as it looses one of its engines and momentarily begins to spin, before the pilot cuts some of the thrusts and stabilizes the vessel. Silently the shuttle obeys, moving toward the coordinates that were specified by the Reprisal, and into the shadow of the massive vessel. On board, Malign gives his crew silent nods as they are edging closer to their objective. Soldiers begin checking their gear, explosives, grappling hooks, headset comlinks, armor, ammunition, etc. "Affirma*static* moving to requested coordin*static* But please hurry!*static* Life*static* systems failing." The communications sounds rather grim. It would seem, after all, that the Broadsword was making some sense. Her bridge crew was constantly monitoring the emergency frequencies; the XO heard the Reprisal’s response and let out a chuckle. "All fighter crews to standby launch. Prepare for hyperspace. All hands standby." The XO sat in the captain's chair watching the crews relay the commands and waiting for things to unfold before him. The plan was to remain in radio silence, it was not needed for this part of the operation. The shuttle was slowly making its way to the Rebel fleet... just as it was planned. Turning to Keline the XO says, "Lieutenant Nehlm, prepare to engage the hyperdrive on my order." He watches the screen for the unfolding events and makes their movements appear to be a hit and run maneuver, just the timing on departure has to be correct to keep the proper perspective. The shuttle's distress is genuine enough, the XO thinks. Soon, the Reprisal and its fighters would be all over it... The New Republic 2nd Fleet has now completed its fleet movements. The ships are poised in strategic positions outside of Coruscant’s atmosphere. Various A-Wing Squadrons have been launched and orbit they're respected capital ships awaiting further instructions from Fleet Command. The A-Wings squadrons stand by waiting for Imperial Forces to make a break for the planet. The NRSD Reprisal has now launched the last of its X-Wing fighter. The Eight-ship squadron moves into wedge formation and accelerates for the Broadsword in preparations for an attack run. There was much space to cover before the X-Wings would be within Torpedo range. The NRSD Reprisal sensor crews work the difficult task of assessing the damage of the inbound shuttle. Several life forms had been detected onboard, but further time would be needed to confirm much more vital information. Once within tractor beam range, the NRSD Reprisal locks onto the damaged shuttle and begins to guide her into the hangar of the shuttle. Kyrin nods to herself, even as she acknowledges the comm. "Sandman, it is time to have fun." Such formal phrasing for pilot-speak. It almost sounds poncy. "Fire at will, fire at will." She flicks off her safeties and flips her ship around to better take on the fighters heading their way. "Tally ho." In Firecat 2, Kesander switches his S-Foils to attack position and begins acceleration to attack speed. Like any good combat pilot, the Corellian methodically keeps his eyes on his scopes, the space in his vicinity, and his wingman. "Ghost 4, this is Firecat 2, I have friendlies on my scope, looks like they're going after that Imperial capital ship. Expect we'll have company soon. Of course if they don't launch, I wouldn't mind expending some more torpedoes on an Imperial Star Destroyer." Once the shuttle is in the tractor beam, weapons disappear underneath cloaks, as the alleged refugees prepare for disembarking into the New Republic Destroyer. The Shuttle slowly crawls into the hangar bay of the NRSD before it. The ship contained maximum crew and passengers, sixteen people. Slowly the vessel, now severally damaged, its engines stop operating and the S-foils struggle to rise up as two of the three landing struts deploy. Everything was in place now, Malign nods to his crew, "The operation is go, standby for execution signal on the flight deck." He says simply as he takes a seat amongst the faceless men disguised as refugees. "I copy." Luke flips a switch on the comlink, sending it to a different frequency. "Artoo, fire converters on the double." He takes off at a fast paced run, doubling back through the corridors of the headquarters as he heads for the hangar below the landing platform. There, R2-D2 is loaded into his socket and gets the X-Wing ready to launch, as Luke races for the hangar bay.
|
