| abstract | - The space in between Nak Shimor and Carida has been a matter of contention for some time, but only recently has it heated up to more than just light engagements. Moving out from the Imperial line is the HIMS Pillager, a Maruder class corvette along with the HIMS Stormfire, a Lancer class frigate. The Stormfire was carrying a special person to the line today, the Marshal of Task Force Inquisitor himself. Therefore, it's orders were to move him to the front line, but stay back and out of the fighting to pick him up as the dust settles. As for the Pillager, she was in this for a scrap. Pressing forward after exiting hyperspace it searches the depths of space, looking for prey. Launching from the Stormfire Krieg pushes forward as well, catching up in a few moments to run forward recon for the Marauder, and to see what they could see of course. The Audacity had been pressed into service in Nak Shimor, the small ship finding itself busy patrolling the outer regions of the system. The vessel's landing bay is not, as usual, filled with X-wings, the sole one present being one that is not assigned to that squadron. The cavernous area is filled with a small number of probes, the small machines designed to warn of any foreign excursion this deep in the system. Rasi is overseeing this tedious task, the boring minutae of the ship's operations always assigned to him. He does not complain, at least not openly. When it transits out of hyperspace, its previous spot having been in another part of the system, the scanners are let loose in the area, just in case there should be a surprise awaiting. Still a guest officer on the Audace, Lynae is standing on the bridge near Cen, both observing things from her point of view and attempting to view the current status from his. She too is studying the sensor readings as the ship makes the transition back into normal space, her attention shifting from the read out to the forward view screen and back. Although Ikihsa Enb'Zik has much to burden him lately, he sits now in the cockpit of his own X-Wing fighter with a certain sense of freedom settled about him. With the small snub docked on board the Audacity, he reflects on how just a week prior, being here would have felt... cumbersome. Now, though, having left the New Republic, he somehow finds himself more able to work alongside it. Maybe it's the fact of having divorced himself from the government. From having to run things. He isn't sure, really. Now, Enb'Zik simply waits to launch. His eyes unfocused, he listens passively to radio traffic and stretches out with his feelings. He's been doing that more and more in that intervening week since becoming independent. Indeed, he hadn't realized that he'd waned on it until he resumed the practice. A faint stirring in the currents of the Force draws his attention, and he observes it in a detached manner, even as the comms start to pick up in response to the Pillager's arrival. Standing by Lynae, Sadim is also looking at the various readouts that can be seen from his position, the vast majority of them are ignore in favour of a view readouts. He scratches his chin and looks like he is about to say something, but he stays silent. Quickly spotting the new arrival on sensors, Krieg pushes the throttles forward and moves into closer contact with their new arrival... which seemed to be a Marauder class corvette as well. With the Pillager in support, they move forward to engage the other vessel and see what else they can ascertain as to why the rebels are out here this time. Not to mention, they were curious as to what the rebels would do when provoked. Keeping the comms clear they move in on sensor and datalinked information only, the need for further communications uneccesary. "Red Alert, red alert, all crew to battlestations, this is not a drill." With the all-too familiar alarm drowning out his full tone, Rasi calmly instructs his bridge crew to prepare the vessel for battle. Already several of the probes are sent out, and the sole X-wing within the bay is instructed that it has priority clearance to take off immediately. "I'm worried about that Lancer over there, but the Audacity will try and tie up the Marauder for as long as possible while a small force is detached from the garrison." Already the large vessel has begun to maneuvre towards the Pillager, the navigation officer having been informed to place the enemy corvette between the Audacity and the largest of the three capital ships gathered here. "Krayt Control to Ikihsa Enb'zik, please be informed that we are detecting only one enemy fighter and it is all yours. However, be prepared to leave battle and jump out should that Lancer intervene or more vessels arrive. Good hunting, Audacity out." Lynae studies the sensor readings while Cen issues orders, moves to one of the unoccupied consoles and punches up the data stream and takes a closer look at the profile of the ships in system. She stands silently for a moment before her gaze lifts and she speaks to Cen, "That's the Pillager," she says simply, "I recognize that ship. She's .. she was at least, assigned to my.. " she clears her throat, "she was assigned to the task force," she amends after a quiet moment to clear her throat. "Where you find one asset of the task force you are likely to find other assets. I advise a deep system sweep and put eyes aimed at the surrounding space." She stares at Cen, hoping he's learned from their training and talks and war games to expect the unexpected. Realizing what he's seeing, Enb'Zik blinks quietly and begins moving his hands. It's not just that another ship has arrived that pushes the Sullustan into action, but the fact that there is a sense of conflict accompanying it. "Beefive," he states, "set systems status 7B." The droid toodles an inquisitive, but even before it's finished, the red alert call is going out. The automaton's pitch changes to an affirmative one as launch clearance arrives. "Copy that, Krayt Control," Zik speaks calmly, letting the calm professional demeanor that had been his trademark for years enter his voice. "Launching now. Please transmit IFF information via tightbeam. Beefive, mark that bandit as soon as we've got the friend or foe and give me best acceleration under 7B. If you spot any bogeys besides the known ones, make sure I know about it." A second later, /Patriot/ clears the magshield holding the Audacity's atmosphere in the launch bay, and Zik is surrounded by stars as he speeds away from the friendly Marauder and begins angling in the direction the Force prods him. At full speed Krieg makes his way to the enemey Marauder to give it a flyby and confirm what cargo it carried and it's full identification. There's a small note on his sensors that they were deploying probes, and makes note that future skirmishes may have to disable the ones it puts out if the Pillager couldn't take them out now. Gripping the flight column a bit tighter he moves in, his skill being put to the test to get really close to the enemy vessel without being hit. The other half was to provide a targetting solution for the gunners on the Pillager that would be opening up very, very soon. For now though, they had the jump on the rebels and this should be a walk in the park. Sadim looks at the incoming sensor reports and listens to Lynae's comment on other task force assets expected to me in the area. Quickly tapping an innactive console, Sadim brings up an alternate shield configuration. Looking to the Cen, "I think this configuration might be slightly more useful. It should better protect the ship if the Pillagers friends come out to play, but it does not make it obvious that we know they are there." Already rocked by the enemy fire, the Audacity's guns begin to unleash on the Pillager, already the gunnery chief and his crew begin to calculate firing solutions for the most sensitive on the enemy corvette. Of particular importance is its engines, the lifeline of any Marauder and the maneuvers of the Audacity are aimed at placing the vessel's batteries in the perfect spot to get the drop on them. For his part, Rasi holds on while the ship steadies itself, "We're taking care of that and our probes are already feeding us information. We'll try to drop some of them closer to the Pillager, it might help us in this battle as well. What of that Lancer over there, do you know it?" "Negative," Lynae replies bluntly, hands braced against the console to steady herself while she continues to study the sensor display. "Lancer frigate, they're usually light and easily maneuverable. Not sure of it's fighter capacity complement either, but where you see two ships, bet on four or six or eight. Prepare for the worst and hope to be pleasantly surprised," she suggests in a quite tone. "Spool up your fighter units, prepare to engage on all fronts. Plot their trajectory, where were they headed before we jumped into system. Relay all that you have , data wise, in a data packet to your superiors and do it now," she suggests further in an urgent tone of voice. "Belay that," Lynae says suddenly as she stares intently at the screen, "Stormfire, that's the ship, the Lancer. Never set foot on her, but that's the HIMS Stormfire. put that in the data packet." Patriot's strike foils part from one another and lock into the well-known configuration the X-wing is named for as R6-B5 correlates the IFF information from Audacity and feeds it into Ikihsa's HUD. Peering at it through the variable-tint visor on his helmet, Zik shakes his head. "Just one," he confirms about the number of enemy fighters. "That doesn't make sense. I wonder what they're up to. The whole thing is either an advanced scout, or that pilot is terrifically sure of himself." He adds after a moment, "... and the Empire was never known for sending out one scout when they could send two for twice the price." An exchange of cannonfire lights up the space around him as Enb'Zik drops his X-wing's nose. The fighter's computers are still figuring up firing solutions -- on a much smaller scale than those of the capitals, naturally -- when Ikihsa squeezes the trigger and unleashes a stuttering barrage of laser fire with opposite cannons firing in tandem. Spinning in and around the Audac, Krieg gets so close of a view that he can actually make out some of the people on the Audac in the viewports - and of course the view would be recorded and used for the ISB and whatnot after the mission. As he's pulling this manuever the Pillager continues to fire upon the Audacity, the exchange of fire so far remaining on the shield hits only level, but the two of them knew that they would have to tangle and manuever with each other if one was going to attain the upper hand by knocking out the engines. Already the three tractor beams were being utilized to the max extent to remove the probes that were deployed by the Audacity, and attempts were being made to ram them into the Audacity as projectiles would. Krieg on the other hand gets a good look at the sensors and knows that an X-Wing launched, and was now being engaged. Quick, even for a rebel... Snapping over and out Krieg makes to evade and get himself clear of the Audacity's fire at the same time, but it wasn't enough and the optimal route out of this was blocked. His shields take a massive hit, and rolling away he throttles full up and over to engage the enemy starfighter up as close as possible, now opening up with his own weapondry. The two titans, even if they are small by current standards, tangle, dodging this way or that though they are nowhere near as nimble as the smaller fighters engaging in battle around them. Many hours practicing just such maneuvers show their effect as the bridge crew on board the Republican vessel goes about its task with relative ease and much aplomb, perhaps taking cue from their XO's behaviour. The man is standing calmly, hands clasped behind him and the display screens and his personal console absorbing much of his attention. "Probe X-826 has not been touched yet, try to move us towards it, should it remain undetected it might provide accurate telemetry that should allow the gunners to slow the Pillager down." Only then does Rasi focus on the Caspians on his bridge, "Duly noted, and yes, we are prepared to jump out at the first sighting of either. The incoming force has been informed that it should be ready to jump out quickly should this be a trap." That isn't precisely what Lynae would've done, but she is an observer, an advisor. She is not in command of this ship or any task force, and being the XO of the Audacity is not the same as being the XO of the Audace. She stares at Cen for a moment then shifts her gaze back to the sensor screen, watching as the probes are being launched back against this ship and impacting against their shields. The call to battle, though, is one that runs through her blood and she knows better than anyone else on this ship precisely who they are facing. She knew this day would come, someday, and now it has. "If you jump out now there is the school of thought that you've gathered intel and bring it back in person. Or you send the data packet and fight here and now," she says in a calm and clear tone of voice. As his X-Wing screams past Krieg's TIE at combat speeds, Enb'Zik marks his hits with calm satisfaction and prepares to loop up and over for another approach. His blood is pumping now from having been fired at, though the Force had given him that nanosecond's worth of foresight to successfully dodge. It's a sensation he's tested with live fire too infrequently. Flipping his fighter's starboard wings up and over, he releases a volley of bright red laserfire into the Pillager's shields without taking time to aim, then dives sharply and begins hauling around. He maneuvers his ship toward the enemy TIE in hopes of dropping in directly behind. As Zik completes his turn, he pulls portward out of the way of a probe flying back to the ship that released it. "Geez, Beefive," he deadpans at his droid, "I'm surprised they don't have Stormtroopers leaning out the windows and throwing sinks from the galley while they're at it. Modulate the scanning arrays to watch out for those tractor beams. I don't want to get stuck in another one." With his shots falling wide and long and not even being able to get close to the enemy fighter, Krieg becomes a bit concerned with who they had launched, and namely why the rest of the fighter compliment wasn't around to protect the ship. This was the Audacity, a ship that he had skirmished with the past and Ghost Squadron was always with them. That probably meant this guy was an ace... or... maybe this man was someone like that very elite pilot that he had flown against once. The man that seemed more than a sentient, reading his every move before he got to execute it. This man wasn't quite as good as that ace, Krieg thinks, but he still was really fracking good. And for that, their withdraw from the field of battle may come sooner than expected. Transmitting the information for an early withdraw in a data package to the Pillager, Krieg continues to evade, putting his full effort in this to be taught in the way to fight more than Admiral Rall could teach. The Pillager continues to move and engage the Audacity, it's guns bellowing out green streaks of death as the tractor beams fight to eliminate the rest of the rebel probes. On the edge of the battlefied the Stormfire begins to power up, readying to move into the engagement. However, the frigate does not move for now. As Krieg rolls out of the way he sees that the other fighter was going for the Pillager and so he quickly moves to pursue, taking a bit more time to lock on and fire than normal, triple checking and reading his foe to fire upon the other man. The Audacity's bay is still pumping out the probes, the last of them, and the largest, now being sent off and when that is done a path is cleared for their sole X-wing should it need to come in hot. With a quick instruction to the crewman manning the engineering console, the Audacity's engines are readied for what should be a rather explosive burst of acceleration. Its weapons prepped to unleash a solid and hopefully devastating barrage. "Now.", Rasi says when he sees the Pillager's dot nearing a grouping of probes. A small signal is sent to them, and as a group their auto-destruct mechanism is engaged, a blinding flash of white light appearing in that small sector of the system. The Audacity pulls into a quick turn aimed at putting on a path head straight towards the enemy corvette. That small maneuver designed to overwhelm, if only for mere seconds the Pillager's sensors and create the opening necessary. The untested nature of the maneuver is ignored as the Audacity's batteries begin to fire salvo after salvo of crimson-coloured plasma. "Krayt Control to Patriot, prepare to pull out, we will be departing soon." The Lancer's engines being prepped being enough of a sign that the battle is close to winding down. "Certainly, Commander. Caution is the route we will take here, particularly given that the Lancer is readying itself. However, it does not mean that I will permit the Pillager to not receive at least a few bruises." A rapid-fire series of scolding, yelping chattering sounds from behind Enb'Zik's cockpit. The Sullustan doesn't even have to hear the crash of Krieg's fire slamming into his forward shields, or see the incoming verdant lances, to know what's got the droid so crotchety. "I know, I know," he replies evenly. "Just readjust the shields. I'll be more careful next time. Maybe. That's what they're there for, isn't it?" The droid's tone doesn't sound convinced. Allowing himself a tiny lift of one corner of his mouth, Zik returns his focus to the one-on-one that has again turned into a high-speed game of chicken. As his focus narrows in on Krieg's fighter, Enb'Zik can sense a niggling agitation in the Force -- one of danger. "Beefive, as soon as I fire these shots, reroute thirty percent cannon power to the engines and widen out the fuel feed apertures. We're going to need some mmph!" The Sullustan pilot switches his guns over to tandem fire, so that all four unleash at once. He squeezes the trigger before thrusting the stick forward a second later and throwing the X-Wing into a dive just as the probes' white flash detonates behind him. His visor darkens to compensate for the flash and at the same time makes his readouts all but impossible to see. "Understood, Krayt Control," Zik replies over the comms. "I'll cover your departure and meet you back at our destination. No landing necessary." "Information gathering then," Lynae guesses aloud, "the question that begs to be asked is: is this the only sector that they're testing your defenses in?" Of course this is one that also can't be answered with a snap of the fingers or a quick glance at the sensors. And /as/ a guest officer it still isn't within her guidelines to do more than observe, bending the rules once and getting away with it is one thing. flying in the face of the rules repeatedly tends to get one put up on administrative review, something Lynae isn't interested in doing again. At least, not so soon. "IF this is just a system feint, Commander Cen, then you need to relay in person that these two are assets attached to the task fore. The encounter with Inrokana was no accident, he IS the task force commander." With the explosion going off all nearby of the probes, the Pillager takes a beating it was not cut out for, and it was one that took it's shields in a fury of fire. Pieces of armor begin to float away from the ship as it suffers the beating, but the goal of taking out the probes was accomplished. It too begins to withdraw as the Stormfire powers up and moves in on the fight, looking to extract the lone fighter and end the skirmish, for today anyway. Meanwhile Krieg is taking a beating of his own, knowing that the other fighter pilot was able to dish out more than he could take. However, there was still a lot of fight in Krieg. Today was just a day to get close to dying, not the actual day to die. And with that in mind he throttles forward, seeing the X-Wings shots and knowing they were going to hit him well before they do, and when they actually impact it takes his shields as well. However, the interceptor was still designed with quite the armor, and was far from being out of this fight. Taking the hits in grace in order to move in closer for a better hit, Krieg waits for good tone before firing. It's only for a split second he wonders who this is he is engaging, but the thought vanishes as he focuses all his attention on the control of the fight. Sensing blood, Rasi does not pull out the Audacity just yet, the vessel staying in the battlefield longer than some others would have kept it. The corvette's guns open up on the downed if not necessarily out enemy vessel, the gunnery chief having designated the engines and sensor arrays as well as the bridge as the primary targets. There is little chance that the Pillager will be left stranded here, or worse, but at the least Rasi can see to it that the Imperials show a bit more caution the next time they decide to venture into Republican territory. When the Lancer-class frigate gets dangerously close, a few of its initial shots(should it have gotten that close) already having hit the Audacity's hull, the XO gives the signal to pull back. The Audacity lurches back and away from the enemy corvette, its engines pushing it far enough away quickly. "Krayt Control to Patriot, we are out, recommend pulling out immediately if procedure hasn't been initiated already. Audacity out.", quite literally, the vessel jumps out back towards the safety of the main garrison area closer to Nak Shimor. "I will warn the higher command and request that they pay close attention to the Task Force and its actions. I am still not certain just where it is headed, though I do have my ideas." There is a bit of irony that the last time Ikihsa and Inrokana engaged one another, the Imperial had shot the Jedi down into a Beggar's Canyon crash landing. Enb'Zik and his passenger had both been lucky to a miraculous degree in surviving. This time, though, it appears the Sullustan will come out on top. Still unable to see for a few critical seconds as Krieg fires, the Jedi reaches beyond his blindness and jukes his fighter just enough to leave the other pilot's shots wide. As the explosion clears and Zik's visor lightens once more, returning his vision, the Sullustan quickly picks up on the Republic ship's tactic of leaving the enemy vessel both blind and paralyzed. Enb'Zik recoils from targeting the Pillager's bridge, and he's heading in the opposite direction of the corvette's engines. But he can help with the third bullseye. Rolling his X-Wing, Enb'Zik switches hotspots on the Pillager as his targeting computer highlights it automatically. Double-checking the full-on configuration of his cannons, he opens fire and starts a strafing run down the ship's dorsal plane with the sensor array as his ultimate target. "Understood, Krayt Control," he replies, his shots audible over the comm, "As soon as you're out and this run is complete, I'll break for a safe spot and leave the system. Zik out." To his astromech, he adds, "Beefive, set Four-Omega and get ready to close the strike foils." Once the Audacity makes it's jump from system Lynae turns slightly towards Cen and studies him for a moment, "I believe that it's time that I had a talk with your admiralty," she says softly. The Pillager was taking a beating, and from more than one direction. However, it was far from being down and out and what it was going through at the moment had it a bit blinded, and it was firing like a wounded animal trying to push its attacker away - for now. The Stormfire was barreling in, and getting really close to weapons range. Soon it would bail the Pillager out, but not before the other vessel could take a bit more damage. Krieg on the other hand had seen his shots go wide, but not by much and he knew that the other pilot was taking him for granted in some areas. Pushing the power up and hoping to have him pull off from the Pillager. Not watching the Audacity Krieg moves in for another attack run, firing all four at the same time and aiming to do some damage, but moreso to let the other pilot know he was still very capable in combat. His answer is delayed by the instructions given to the damage control officer and the quartermaster, already an inventory is being taken of all the new parts they will need and the repairs that will be reqired. "I will make certain that something can be arranged as soon as we return to Mon Calamari, maybe even with the highest of command in the Navy.", and he can mean only one group, and one individual in particular. Explosions of various degrees and varying levels of damage well up along the hull of the Pillager as Enb'Zik completes his run by firing several bursts at the ship's sensor array. He doesn't have time to determine how much damage he's done, nor is he all /that/ interested. He's done what was needed, simply in covering the Audacity's jump to lightspeed. Again, Enb'Zik senses that urgency at the back of his mind that warns him to move, and he throws his fighter into a sharp dive around the Pillager's nose, intending to use the vessel as a screen for his own escape. Indeed, the snub fighter's foils are already closing down as Zik completes the maneuver. He pushes his X-Wing away from the Marauder's ventral surface and reroutes almost all power from his cannons, leaving only enough energy to maintain their current charge. At the same time, he shunts energy from his shields, as well, leaving them at fifty-percent power and directing them to double-aft to protect his back while he flees. Snapping over to pursue, Krieg can see that the other man was making quick to leave and that his window of opportunity was coming to a close. Though he could technically try to fight and chase him away, there were other matters at hand - checking on the Pillager and removing any other probes the rebels had planted here before making their own withdraw from the border region. With a sort of salute to a good foe Krieg rocks the wings and pulls away, headed for the Stormfire. The rebels were leaving, they had gained some information and no doubt the other rebel vessels would be here and they could ascertain the rest of their response, and plan accordingly next time.
|
