Vandal Squadron - Chapter 1

Admiral Duck Sauce 2005-06-09 19:24:20
Starfield, Star Wars logo, theme music, cue opening crawl:

WAR sweeps the galaxy. With victory after victory over the GALACTIC EMPIRE, the REBEL ALLIANCE grows bolder. The Imperial Moffs and planetary governors may fight amongst themselves, but the IMPERIAL NAVY still controls the spaceways with its iron fist, united in its battle against the Rebellion.

Officially known as the 11th Wing of the Alliance Combined Action Group, VANDAL SQUADRON is one of the Alliance's newest weapons against the Empire. This hodge-podge of soldiers, idealists, and pirates is left to their own devices between missions, much to the chagrin of the Empire...

---

"Sith-spit!" Aurelia curses as the hyperdrive cuts out with a whine whine whirrrr. She unbuckles herself from her seat and stumbles back into the Rusty Dagger's belly.

Arnae wipes some sweat from his forehead as he relaxes his grip on the yoke. Jumping in and hitting that Imperial garrison seemed too easy - with TIE Fighters inbound from further in-system, and no way to escape, the Corellian ex-smuggler's situation began to feel comfortable again.

"I've got... four wings of TIEs on my scope", Jorm Taban comms to the rest of his wing. "Closing fast, mark two-twelve in quadrant six!"

Mandall Daygon and Calsera, both piloting the venerable but reliable X-Wing, Immelman towards the incoming Imperial starfighters. Slower to turn are Dutch, Jorm, and Eritram in the Sith Eater, a re-fitted Skipray Blastboat.

Ganet Hran, watching his sectors inside the Dagger's quad turret, sees the TIEs scream in from above the wing. Four TIEs break off, a pair going after Calsera and the other two bearing down on Mandall. The remaining four TIEs drift into a strafing formation and head right for the Rusty Dagger...
Gatac 2005-06-09 19:43:26
Mandall opens the comms to a standard Imperial frequency.

"In space, nobody can hear you scream. So go ahead, I won't think less of you for it."

He rakes the TIEs that head for the Dagger with a quick series of bolts, trying to get their attention.

"Suck it down, cloneboys!"
Dieter 2005-06-09 19:52:39
"Vandal Leader to all wings, looks like they're going for the Dagger let's help 'em out."
fanchergw 2005-06-09 19:52:50
Seeing Mandall open up on the wing of TIEs thats going for the Dagger, Calsera decides to join this game of dance-partner-swapping. Ignoring the two TIEs that think they want to tangle with her, she vectors off after the 2 that split off to chase Mandall. Wheeling into a barrel roll, she opens up on the lead of the pair.

"Hear me roar, baby!"

(Edited by fanchergw at 10:53 am on June 9, 2005)
Gatac 2005-06-09 19:54:41
"Roger that, Vandal Leader. I confuse 'em, you abuse 'em."
DatonKallandor 2005-06-09 19:56:15
Seeing Calsera going after Mandall's TIEs Eritram aims for the two that head after her.

"Time to play, Cat-Girl."
Aihal the Silent 2005-06-09 20:19:36
After rattling off the vectors of the incoming fighters, Jorm begins readying the ship for combat. He reduces power to non-essential systems and begins boosting power to weapons and sheilds.

He leaves the engines alone for the moment, knowing that there's no way Sith Eater can compete with the TIEs...for now.

He looks up from his panel, the light from the screens casting strange shadows on his face. "We're good to go, sir." And then goes back to watching power indicators and sensor screens.
Dieter 2005-06-09 20:30:42
Quote:

Quote: from Aihal the Silent on 2:19 pm on June 9, 2005

He looks up from his panel, the light from the screens casting strange shadows on his face. "We're good to go, sir." And then goes back to watching power indicators and sensor screens.

"Roger that. Let's run interference. We're not going to be able to outmanuever the TIEs but they're going to have a helluva time getting close to the Dagger. Keep an eye for reinforcements from the garrison."
fanchergw 2005-06-09 20:33:41
Quote:

Quote: from DatonKallandor on 10:56 am on June 9, 2005
Seeing Calsera going after Mandall's TIEs Eritram aims for the two that head after her.

"Time to play, Cat-Girl."

"Yup, and I so love mice..."
threadbare 2005-06-09 21:55:26
Ganet takes a few quick ranging shots and begins unloading on the TIEs following Calsera.

"Just keep swapping targets, and get 'em off me."
Admiral Duck Sauce 2005-06-10 00:19:17
The silence of space is split with the whine of ion engines and laser cannon!

(I know how untrue that actually would be, but bear with me)

Mandall easily slides in behind the group of TIE fighters gunning for Arnae, Aurelia, and Ganet. Unfortunately, his aim isn't as precise as his maneuvering - the flame-hued bolts whip under two of the Imperial fighters.

One of the TIEs who split off to engage Mandall explodes off his port side. Calsera's X-Wing arcs past, her strafing run overshooting the second TIE.

The quartet of Imperials fly by the Sith Eater before Eritram can get a good lock. His hastily-fired shots send one of the fighters into a spin, which the pilot recovers from just in time to be turned into a glittering fireball by Ganet's turret-work. The Alderaanian walks his cannon fire, crossing Calsera's path and ripping a second TIE fighter in half. The debris ignites, flaring in the Cathar's rear scopes.

The trio of TIEs open fire on the Dagger in a well-choreographed strafing run - and hit nothing but void as Arnae flips the nimble freighter laterally and runs straight through their formation! Scattering to avoid a collision, the Imperials swoop around to regroup.

Mandall's dance partner breaks off to engage Calsera while her original attacker sprays green lasers towards her. Cal barrel-rolls to avoid the first flurry and jinks towards her new assailant. His shots are close, but fail to do damage. His TIE screams over Calsera's X-Wing close enough for Cal to spot a decidedly non-standard row of kill markers along the cockpit - this guy's an ace, and a multiple one at that.

(edit: Ivan beat me to my first edit)
CrazyIvan 2005-06-10 00:35:47
Aurelia makes her way back down to the Rusty Dagger's hyperdrive unit, slapping it with an open palm when she arrives.

"Knew the motivator was touchy...should have replaced it months ago..."

She pulls one of the access plates open, sliding into it to try to rewire a workaround. She's very well aware that a serious hit to the Dagger is going to end with her having a bruised forehead as she yanks the errant part out.
fanchergw 2005-06-10 01:31:33
"That's one mouse bitten," Calsera says to herself as her first target vaporizes into space dust. Unfortunately, her angle isn't quite right to get his wingman as well.

Moments later, one of the TIEs on her own tail gets shredded. "Thanks, Ganet!" she calls into the comm.

Just then, Calsera gains a new dance partner who abandons Mandall's tail and comes her way. The kill indicators on his cockpit bring a smile to her face. "Oh boy! The big daddy mouse! I'm eatin' good tonight!"

Cat stands the x-wing on a wing and peals off after the Empire ace. Time to show him what a true dogfighter can do. Pulling out all the stops, Calsera does her best to light him up.
CrazyIvan 2005-06-10 02:26:16
Aurelia continues to dig into the ship's innards, picking out the culpret, a badly burned circuit board. Coughing from the slightly ozonized air nearby, she disconnects it, and fishes out something that will do for the time being, reconnecting the main power and controlls through the temporary patch.
Aihal the Silent 2005-06-10 03:46:42
Jorm continues updating target data and relaying it to the fighters, keeping his eye out for any tricky manuvers or additional guests.

Jorm also checks the Eater's power grid to sure that no system failures are lurking around the corner for anyone except the TIE Fighters.
CrazyIvan 2005-06-10 05:21:32
Arnae jinks the Dagger as best he can to evade incoming bolts and arcs in to give Ganet a good shot on a TIE, grumbling about the motivator all the while.
Gatac 2005-06-10 07:56:38
"Here, cloney-cloney-cloney..."

Mandall weaves through the remaining TIEs like a madman, even wiggling his s-foils at one - he's clearly out to make them all follow him.
Admiral Duck Sauce 2005-06-10 18:33:20
Aurelia pieces her hyperdrive back together after flushing the circuits and shouts back to Arnae to "punch it!" When the inevitable whurrr whurr whurr whiiirrrr happens again, Aurelia realizes she forgot to reboot the astrogation console! She slides the panel back on and sprints for the cockpit, rebounding off a corridor wall as Arnae banks suddenly, luring a TIE into following too close. Ganet gladly opens fire but his shots are only glancing. The TIE, its solar panels crackling with errant jolts of electricity, fires back to even less effect.

Nearby, Calsera whips her X-Wing around, aiming to furball with the Imperial ace she just spotted. He's squirrely, jinking back and forth, trying to fly Cal into the Blastboat or the Dagger while simultaneously trying to line up on Mandall, but she stays on his tail like stink on a bantha. She waits for good tone - not as much to brag about if you fire lasers all day and eventually score a lucky hit - and fires one barrage from the quad lasers. The red bolts hit the ace dead center, turning the TIE into a glittering fireball.

Jorm slots some power into Eritram's laser cannons, boosting their fire rate. With Jorm's help and Dutch's steady hand, the young noble traces cannon fire across two TIEs still strafing Arnae, finishing off the one Ganet wounded and dusting a second.

The last Imperial starfighter tries to disengage but can't resist Mandall's tempting target and breaks off to try to keep the Rebels' victory from being a complete shut-out. He misses, the green bolts flying wide of their target as Mandall easily anticipates the pilot's tactic and rolls right.
Gatac 2005-06-10 18:37:52
"Wow, good trick shooting, nobody would ever believe that you actually wanted to hit me."