"Alderaan Apokqlyps...a bunch of no-talent hacks if you ask me..." Ganet mutters as they drift towards the zone.

"Everything's a-ok, but seriously, suits again? Running like that makes me feel like a blasted Ubese."

As the sluggish B-Wing closes in on its hiding place, Eritram gets ready for a bit of wait. How come I always get the boring parts?

"Well, Cat, lets see if you learned your lesson. Did you bring any entertainment with you?"

Quote:

"Everything's a-ok, but seriously, suits again? Running like that makes me feel like a blasted Ubese."

"I may not have to reroute life support, but you know how slow these Y-Wings are. Would you rather be stuck in a space suit or a coffin?"

"Of course, silly," Calsera replies. "I've got a datapad with my favorite new game loaded up. If you've got one, I can link you in and we can play tandem or deathmatch."

As he goes silent, Mandall switches on the sound system and loads his playlist. He hits play and leans back as his ears are flooded with - white noise.

Silence. Wonderful silence.

Now if only he could put on a sleep mask, too...

"Sounds interesting. But go easy on me in the first few rounds."

Eritram establishes the datapad-connection and prepares for a few quick matches of deathmatch till their prey arrives.

Aurelia brings the Dagger's systems offline except for the bare essentials, even the lights dimming to until the lights were barely visibile.

"Rusty Dagger, going black." is the last thing to come over the comms as she brings them as well. Proping her feet up on the consol of the disconcertingly empty transport, she produces the meal she had swiped from the carrier's mess before they left, eating quietly as she watches the universe out of the bridge windows.

The Vandals sit in the twirling behemoths for a few minutes, the only sound the various heartbeats and the rasp of rebreathers - and the *pings* and other electronic sounds of Cal's and Eritram's datapad game.

Five minutes after going black, passive sensors indicate three ships exiting hyperspace. A quick visual scan shows a Lambda shuttle escorted by two assault shuttles; ungainly tri-winged cousins of the Lambda built for firepower. Their vector should put them in the rocks close to Jorm and Ganet in 2 minutes. They're flying slow, probably computing the safest course through the rocks. The assault shuttles take up positions in front of the Lambda and to either side, their ball turrets tracking the smaller asteroids.

As the convoy enters his visual field, Mandall switches the white noise off and starts to map the out attack angles.

I gotta hit them quick, draw away the escort while we disable the shuttle. And throughout all of it, I've got to make them see that they're outmatched at every turn. If I make them believe that I can crush them...I won't have to. More ships for us.

Strike first.

Strike fast.

Strike hard.

Jorm and Ganet power up and prepare to engage. Mandall's a split-second behind, powering engines and plotting an intercept course that might give him a chance to pull off a roll, just to show off.

*Tau Leader to Tau 2 and 3, keep it tight and watch for rocks.*

*Roger that, Tau Leader- hey, I thought I saw something-*

*Tau 3, say again?*

*I've got a bandit on my scopes! Heading... 3 mark 12! No, make that... *

*I see them too! Four bandits... uh, 3 fast-movers, 1 transport! Tau Leader, get out of the field, we'll hold them off!*

The Lambda banks and turns, narrowly dodging a small asteroid in its haste to head back the way it came. One of the assault shuttles fires too early - a concussion missile dusts a floating boulder off Ganet's port engine as he sees the warhead coming and twists the old fighter out of the way.

As the targets warp into range, Cat shuts down and stashes the game. "Time to play a different game, Eritram. And see, I did take it easy on you, just like you asked.

"You know, I'm not always this gentle with my victims..."

Lighting up her engines, Calsera sets a course to cut off the Lambda's escape. It's up to the others to keep the escorts out of their way. She's counting on their superior speed over the shuttle to get them in range. Due to the need to avoid the space rocks, Cat leaves all of the shooting to her gunnery expert.

"Fire when ready, boss," she says to Eritram.

"Primary target is making a break," calls Jorm as Ganet pilots their Y-Wing. "These guys must have been awake during the 'The Mission Comes First' brainwashing session. Those Assault Shuttles look like they mean to do us harm. Reinforcing deflector sheilds. All weapons primed and ready."

Wait for it... give me a good tone, Ganet thinks as he quickly lines up a fly-by torpedo run on the shuttle that missed him.

*He's got a lock on me!* Tau 3 screams from the the escort shuttle's bridge. *Taking evas-*

The assault shuttle is rocked by Ganet's torpedo, shearing off one of the wings and sending residual ionization over the hull. Miraculously, the ship still seems to have power, although any deflectors it had up are down and not coming back.

As the Y-Wing arcs past the wounded shuttle, Jorm brings the ion turret to bear on the fleeing Lambda. Blue bolts streak from the fighter, stripping the shuttle of its deflectors but dissipating before they can shut down vital engine systems.

Ganet banks hard behind an asteroid to dodge Tau 2's rear turret fire. The rock absorbs the shots, fragmenting into a sparkling gravel field.

*Keep it together, Tau 3, I've got this son of a-*

And then Mandall screams out of the black, strafing the second assault shuttle with his quad lasers. The deflectors soak the shots, but they're running out quickly. The shuttle unleashes its wingtip cannons towards Mandall, but the shots are aimed with the accuracy of a drunk bantha.

Eritram and Calsera are approaching as quickly as the asteroids and the B-Wing's engines will let them. If it were clear space, Eritram could make a shot. As it is, there's no way he's got a shot at this range. Cal will have to get in closer...

Mandall banks hard as he lines his X-Wing up for another run, switching his Comm to the imperial frequency.

"You know what really kills my motivation? You guys can't fight worth shit. Heck, why should I bother when you don't bother? That's really rather inconsiderate of you."

He grins as the convoy comes back into sight.

"Oh, I know what'll cheer me up! Explosions!"

As the B-Wing speeds towards the Lambda, Eritram sees the red and green bolts of the opening shots. He quickly checks his sensors to find out who to shoot at.

"Aiming for Tau 3, and firing as soon as I get a lock. Just keep it steady and that Escort is toast, Cat."

"Doing the best I can, Eritram. However, all of these terribly-inconsiderate asteroids make it kind of difficult to fly in a straight line.

"Of course, if the Lambda could fly in a straight line, it would be out of here by now..."

Since Eritram is focussed on Tau 3 with the torpedoes, if she gets a shot at the Lambda, Cat will open up with the ions.

(Edited by fanchergw at 11:46 am on Nov. 19, 2005)

Tau 2 spirals out of Ganet's firing line, and then the Y-Wing's past the escort and Jorm is lining up another fussilade at the Lambda. Meanwhile, Mandall takes up the slack, hitting Tau 2 once more with his cannons - this time the deflectors flicker on their way down. Tau 3's laser cannon rip past Ganet, followed by a poorly-aimed second missile.

Tau 2's rear cannon actually come close to Mandall - he has to bank close to a rock to dodge the fire. Apparently his taunting has... riled the Imps. The assault shuttle arcs around to bring its forward weapons to bear and Mandall hears the almost-welcome tone of a missile lock. The shuttle's concussion missile comes straight for Mandall. He jinks left and then thrusts in a hard loop, sending the missile under his right wing and into an asteroid.

Jorm's ion fire is close, but the Lambda is reckless in its flight, powering its way through the field. If it keeps its pace it will be clear in 10, maybe 15 seconds.

Tau 3 explodes. Eritram grins.

Calsera pulls around and tries for a long-range shot on the Lambda, but her shots are off-target as well. She burns closer, trying to cut the shuttle off and maybe give Jorm an opening.

Mandall keeps up his 'draw fire' mode.

"Aspect-seeking warheads my ass, you fuckers can't even use self-guiding missiles right. Don't make me revoke your pilot's license!"

As combat begins, Jorm's focus narrows. Ganet can worry dodging rocks and Imperial fire, but Jorm has only one task...disable the shuttle.

"Sith Spawn!" curses Jorm as his second volley goes wide. "Ganet, stay with this guy." Jorm tweaks his sensors for better fire control and lets loose with another volley.

Tau 2 follows Ganet and Jorm into the rocks as they in turn pursue the Lambda, firing ion bolts that finally strike home but don't stop the shuttle's progress. Jorm curses once again as Mandall, on the tail end of the multi-spacecraft chase, loops around and waggles his S-foils at the assault shuttle, then barrel rolls to the side as the escort's rear turret once again just barely misses. Mandall lines back up and fires back, this time scoring more than a glancing hit. His blasts rip through the escort's tail, blossoming firey wreckage in a nimbus of sparkling debris.

Mandall's not quick enough to prevent Tau 2 from hitting Ganet's Y-Wing with a spray of lasers - one engine pod flares and blinks out, the trail of flame soon replaced with faint wisps of carbonized hull plating as Jorm lets off the ions long enough to cut power to the starboard engine.

Without power, Tau 2's victory is short-lived. The assault shuttle drifts into an asteroid and is pulverized.

Taking up the Y-Wing's slack, Calsera and Eritram burn hard for the shuttle, loosing a fusillade of ion love as they near the escaping Imperials. They strike home, sending the shuttle into an uncontrolled drift. The blue glow of the Lambda's engines fades out.

The shuttle disabled, the next phase of the operation begins: capturing the Imperial ship before they bring their systems online... or worse, as the expanding cloud that was Tau 2 illustrates.