Climbing into the snug cockpit of the A-wing, Calsera is giddy like a schoolkid with a new toy. She purrs in anticipation of the speed and exhiliration of this sleek craft.
Moments later, they are lifting off and heading for the jump point. The trip to Anteevy goes smoothly enough until they come out of hyperspace. Looking down at the planet hanging in the sky like a giant grape, the hairs on the back of Cat's neck prickle.
Something's wrong.
Almost immediately, a crackling message of distress comes through from 12. Calsera immediately punches in the new coordinates, waiting only for word from Arnae or Dutch before making the jump.
"Copy," calls Jorm over the comm. He makes sure weapons and sheilds are powered up, cuts back on non-essential systems, points the shuttle toward 12th squad's location and kicks the engines to full power.
Mandall and Calsera zip into hyperspace, followed soon after by Lambda 1.
(OOC: Everyone else. you can stay or go as you choose)
The trip through the blue swirl is maddeningly long. 10 seconds... 20 seconds.... almost a minute of silence, then a TIE Advanced and an A-Wing pop into view over a small moon, pock-marked with Imperial structures and orbiting a ringed green/blue gas giant. Dutch comes through a moment later. The silence of hyperspace is broken by the cacophony of battle. The Vandals come out of their jump in time to see the Imperial firebase explode in multiple plumes of fire.
*Suck it down, you sons of bitches!* Rog Mixon's voice cuts through the chatter, coming from an X-Wing that's lost an entire S-foil but still keeps flying somehow.
*I can't keep 'em off me! My deflectors are gone! Stabilizer's out!* Dak, aboard the Sith Eater, is being hounded by a veritable swarm of TIE Fighters. The source, an Imperial Escort Carrier, sits in the void, its turbolasers chugging away at the flitting snubfighters that just destroyed its home base. There are... multitudes of TIE Fighters. It's a miracle that 12th Wing was able to survive this long. *Get that comm dish on the carrier! We hit that, we're outta here!* Mixon counters with a slight problem: *My hyperdrive's gone! I'm heading for the rings, maybe I can lose 'em!*
*Roger that. 12th Wing, make for the rings, cover "Sandcrawler". Wait- I've got two more on my... make that three more contacts... no... *
*Fuckin' A! It's the fucking Vanda-* screams Wildman. A TIE Interceptor scores a lucky hit across his X-Wing's fuselage and Wildman disintegrates with the rest of his ship.
Dutch accelerates the shuttle, plotting a course for the battle's periphery. The pig he's flying isn't meant for dogfighting, so he'll be engaging the stragglers.
As the remaining Vandals jump into the maelstrom, Jorm immediately angles his deflectors and starts trying to crack the local Imperial frequencies. Dutch is broadcasting his sensor patterns to the rest of the Rebels, giving short, terse orders. "You got three below you, Mixon. Cat, one 12 o' clock high."
*Run and hide, rebels. Run. and. Hide.* The open channel bristles, directed from the TIE Interceptor who just killed Wildman. He loops around to engage Calsera, who spins her way through a group of TIEs and comes out the other side unscathed and with a kill.
Ganet plunges the B-Wing into a high-speed bombing run on the Imperial carrier. His passing shots go wide of any TIEs but keep them from getting any free shots. Eritram locks on and lets two torpedoes fly. The shots slide past the carrier's turbolaser fire and blossom into magnificent jagged holes in the carrier's hull, sparking off secondary interior explosions. The AA guns strike home, however, ripping deflectors and then armor plating from the B-Wing. The consoles spout flame for an instant, sparks shooting from ancillary systems. Every light in the cockpit is flashing red... but Ganet and Eritram look at the carrier and see air and crew hemmoraging from the shattered starboard hull. They gave worse than they got.
As it turns out, the carrier can't even call for help, as Mandall goes completely unnoticed by the Imperial fighters, lines up as if he were coming in to re-arm, then strafes the comm array. It goes up in a shower of fire and debris, silencing any transmissions the Imperials might have been making.
Dak and his boys on the Sith Eater are given a moment's reprise as their pursuers break off to swarm after the new arrivals. The Vandals get a broadcast: *We're buggin' out, heading for those rings. Our package is secure, the Imps do NOT, repeat do NOT know about the package.*
Jorm gets the local chatter filtered and pipes it through to the rebel ships. It seems the Imperials have caught on to Mandall.
...*Son of a... he's in a TIE! Epsilon, regroup and stay with that Skipray! All other units, engage the B-Wing! We'll handle the fighters!* *Copy that, Alpha Leader.* *Delta Leader, engaging the bomber.*
Calsera uses Mandall's brief surprise attack to get behind the mouthy Interceptor. He sees her in time, however, and jinks free of her laser fire once, then twice as she tries to swat the Imperial fighter. *I'm over here! Come on, you've got worse aim than a Stormtrooper!*
The prick's wingman, also in an Interceptor, engages Mandall but falls for a quick Immelman. Mandall and the Interceptor come head-on for a split-second but nobody scores a hit.
Mixon's still harried by a TIE Fighter whose comms are out or simply doesn't want to give up on a wounded opponent. Dutch breaks and fires a long-range fusillade from his shuttle's cannons, turning Mixon's pursuer into ashes. *Yeah! Get some, Chief!*
Ganet's craft is shot to hell, but it's worth it to put two torpedoes up the ass of an imperial escort carrier. Given that 12th wing has kept it secret, kept it safe as regards the codes, he's aiming to disengage and let the squirrely craft do the dogfighting.
"This is Vandal Phalanx. We took some fire and pissed them off, so we could use some cover."
"Silly mouse, don't you know cats always play with their food before they kill it?" Calsera purrs into the comm. "And you look like such a juicy morsel..."
Staying right on his tail, Cat continues to try to light up his life. It's only a matter of time...
"Phalanx, this is Nerf Herder," calls Jorm into the comm unit. "Bring her around 30 degrees and let's see if we can't distract them a little bit."
Jorm angles his shuttle to bring some covering (and hopefully deadly) fire to bear on Ganet's pursuers. As always, he is in his space suit and dials back life support to minimal levels, using the power to reinforce forward sheilds and weapons.
Cat continues to stalk her prey, dancing in and out of the wounded carrier's AA fire, taunting the Interceptor to follow her. They trade barrage after barrage, seemingly evenly matched. Cat loses him as they zip through and past Jorm, Ganet, and their TIEs, but sees him again trying to come in high and fast. She hits her brakes and spirals up, bleeding off speed. The Interceptor overshoots and Calsera sees an opening. It's a split-second shot and Calsera hits! Her red bolts rake the Interceptor, but it's the barest of glancing shots - it wouldn't even drop an X-Wing's deflectors, but the Interceptor is spouting particulate and ion castoff from its rear. Not a fatal hit, but it should make the chase easier.
As for Mandall, his target leads him on a merry chase, looping in and around the clouds of laser fire filling the void. It's all the TIE can do to keep Mandall from blasting him right then and there - the Vandal certainly isn't letting him take any shots of his own. Still, he has some skill... Mandall hasn't landed a hit either. All good things must come to an end, however. The TIE makes a mistake, veers to avoid the carrier's AA guns, and heads in a straight line for one second too long. Mandall's TIE Advanced spits green death and the wingman fragments and explodes.
Meanwhile, Jorm comes straight in as Ganet breaks off his attack on the carrier, switching full weapons control to Eritram and concentrating on not getting hit again. Desperation breeds excellence; Ganet puts the heavy craft into maneuvers that threaten to shake it apart. The Imperials can't hit him, but the chaotic dance ruins Eritram's aim for the moment as well. Jorm unleashes hell on the multiple wings of TIE fighters flocking to the B-Wing. He dusts one and makes sure the others know Ganet doesn't fly without cover.
*Thanks for the cover, Vandals. We're in the tall grass.* Dak's gunners manage to clear the Skipray's tail and the remainder of 12th Wing heads into the dense ring fields surrounding the gas giant.
The Dagger barrels through the battle, dancing out of the carrier's field of fire. It's amassed a few stragglers as well, but Arnae is in top form and keeps the green blasts from touching his ship. He puts a quad laser burst into one of his foes, the weapons having been fixed to fire forwards until a proper gunner comes aboard.
The AA guns are beginning to fire more sporadically as their crews leave in order to combat the various system failures aboard their vessel, but the carrier is still live and is still dangerous. Jorm manages to get a good sensor picture of the battle now, and places 15-20 TIE Fighters in space currently.
Quote: from Aihal the Silent on 3:51 pm on Dec. 10, 2005
Jorm relays his sensor data to Dutch. "Please advise, sir. Should we disengage or continue the attack?"
"Looks like the fighters have everything under control. Break off and head for the rendevous point."
The TIE Interceptor isn't giving up without a fight. He brings Cat back towards the carrier, hoping the increased AA fire will do his work for him - at the very least, the A-Wing'll have to dodge while he can pour on what speed he has left. Calsera swears as precious seconds go by in hails of turbolaser fire. Every time she lines up she has to jink out of the way of incoming fire.
Meanwhile, Jorm and Dutch are punching in for the hyperspace jump. Free from the Imperials for now, Dak encrypts and sends the two Lambdas the Imperial codes that have cost 12th Wing so much. Some stray TIE Fighters get a little too close to Dutch's shuttle; distracted by his astrogation, he feels the shudder as his rear deflectors drop. There's no hull damage, however.
Mandall flashes past the B-Wing's pursuers, drawing four of them off and leaving Ganet and Eritram with only three TIEs. Mandall chuckles to himself... there's no way those Imperials are going to hit me-
whump whump BANG
The sheer numbers catch up with the Vandals' ace. There are too many guns, too many things to dodge. Mandall's puny TIE shields get pummeled and then the left top solar panel breaks off in a small fireball. He's still in one piece, although more than a bit rattled.
Once again, Ganet remains untouchable, rivers of sweat running across his face, his hands slick inside his flight suit gloves. Eritram uses Mandall's distraction to punch in two things; the impending hyperspace jump and two more gaping, firey holes in the Imperial carrier. The torpedoes pop the big boat right in the flight deck, spewing forth a geyser of plasma and wreckage.
The AA guns stop suddenly. Calsera can imagine the shock on the prick's face now that he's got no cover fire and the A-Wing is right behind him. Cat fires - her stream of laser bolts arc over the Interceptor, strafe down, shearing off a solar panel, then find purchase in the TIE's cockpit. The Imperial loudmouth goes out with a bang.
Arnae comes in behind Mandall, taking a glancing hit in the process, but clears one of Mandall's tails.
The remaining TIEs are scattered. Some are recently launched from the carrier, forming up for attack runs. Others have been drawn away from their carrier by 12th Wing in a futile chase through the rings. The carrier's crippled, the Vandals are as clear for a jump as they are likely to get.
fanchergw
