Ty follows at a brisk pace, calling out "Milady? Milady?" and some Hapan curses he recalls under his breath just barely loud enough to be heard. However, as soon as he is out of earshot, he sprints to catch up. "How can I help," he asks as Aurelia sets to work.
Ty and Aurelia set about bringing the deflectors back up. The Dragon's no warship, though, and they've been spoiled as of late with the Alliance's military-grade systems. The big bastard's shields won't be up for a handful of critical seconds.
That vulnerability might prove to be moot, however, as Calsera easily dusts her second TIE, planting a pinpoint shot right through the Imperial's cockpit. She's turning to engage the second wing of TIEs when Mandall divebombs the Imps as they're bleeding off speed, turning to make a second attack run on the Dragon. Through the gray haze, the Headhunter's wingtips spit blaze orange and send a TIE spiraling down in flames.
The two remaining TIEs Immelman to meet their attackers and the wingman catches some ground fire from MDK-911. The killer droid's AA fire shears off a solar panel and the TIE explodes. Black streamers of debris punch through the cloud cover, the wreckage falling well beyond the immediate area.
Without any time to regret his decision to stay and fight, the last TIE fighter sails up through the sky, spraying green fire towards both Cat and Mandall. No hits. Mandall can almost hear the Imp's flight suit recyclers straining to keep up with the mess the pilot just made.
Without the deflectors, and with MDK-911 turning his attentions towards the Imperial fighters, the AT-STs have clear shots on the freighter. Shots shudder, crater, and then rend the Dragon's bow. Aurelia grabs a nearby readout, scanning the damage report for any critical areas. It's mostly superstructure and hull plating - the ship's still spaceworthy, but more hits like that and it won't be.
Then Eritram's Hapan bomber blasts off from the cargo bay, its contrails spiraling through the black smoke pouring from the Dragon's bridge. He screams upward in a lazy arc, putting enough distance between him and the Imps to make at least two good shots; one for each walker.
Down on the ground, the insurgents are getting the worst of it. The AT-ST's secondary gunners are blanketing their targets with concussion grenades. From the Imperial lines the multiple reports of a repeating blaster can be heard over the dull whumps of the explosions sending insurgents into the air.
Ghosted sensor images come in faintly now as well. Two starship-sized contacts are approaching fast. They're not coming from the Imperial lines.
"That's our pickup!" Lee shouts into his commlink. "Just have to hold them off a few minutes!"
Her second TIE goes out with finesse, as she pierces the canopy with precision laser fire. She turns to pursue Mandall's trio just as he takes one out and - quite impressively - Murdock takes another down from the ground.
"Fine shooting, Murdock!" Calsera purrs. "You are now my absolute favorite bucket of bolts."
With just one TIE left, Cat triggers her radio again. "This one's all yours, Mandall. I'll go help Eritram with the ground forces."
Looping around, Calsera follows Eritram in. If he takes out both walkers, she'll concentrate on the ground troops, otherwise, she'll try to finish off the remaining ST(s).
"Gotcha," Mandall calls into the radio. It's not quite clear whether he's talking about understanding Calsera or having already moved into an intercept position for the last target.
Ganet takes the steps two and three at a time, barrels down the corridors, and leaps into the pilot's seat. He yanks the yoke back and pushes the Action IV into the air. A gray-white sheet of ice and dirt explodes from under the freighter, its cargo no longer impeding maneuverability.
Above, Mandall chases the last TIE - the last one he can see, at any rate. The gray Imperial fighter leads Mandall up through Mygeeto's soup in a desperate bid to lose the "pirate" Headhunter. Mandall sees stars twinkling and the gray turns blue, then black. He has good tone. The TIE explodes, Mandall's centerline shots impacting right in the engines.
Up in the high atmo, Mandall's sensors are coming in a lot clearer. He picks up the two insurgent freighters faintly as they sail full throttle for their cargo. The Dragon's in the air now, but it still just looks like a foothill on the scopes. Without the energy cast off by the battle, you'd need a coordinated effort to have any idea there was a freighter landing there. A mole or turncoat would be the simplest answer to the Imperial ambush, but as the red warning lights glare and Mandall sees the Star Destroyer in high orbit launching two more wings of TIEs, this time escorting two TIE Bombers, he realizes the Pacifier let them go through the blockade just to get to Lee and Landa's insurgents. The Dragon was probably marked as soon as it landed by ground forces.
Speaking of those Imperial ground forces, things are looking up for them as their superior firepower reduces the insurgents down to a mere handful. Then Eritram punches through the sky. He locks one AT-ST, looses a torpedo, and then eyeballs the second one. Both shots hit the Imperial walkers and they flare like novas, half-melted wreckage spiraling into the Stormtroopers. With the troopers thrown into disarray, Murdoch takes the opportunity to put a stream of blaster fire downrange. Four stormtroopers vaporize, their fellow shellheads seeking all manner of cover.
Calsera screams overhead, strafing the Imperial lines. The stormtroopers lose their morale and their repeating blaster team in a firey cyclone. Calsera's orange blasts, the exploding rubble, and the loss of their armored support is simply too much to take.
The two insurgent freighters - a YT-1200 and a Nova courier ship - land hard on the flattop, their holds disgorging more armed fighters and techs. They start moving the cargo onboard and carrying wounded back to the freighters.
"Guys, we have more TIEs inbound, including groundpounders. I'll do my best to occupy them, but please do me a favor and clear the fuck out, on the double."
Mandall brings the Headhunter around for interception - if he can keep the bombers away, the team should be able to hold their own against the rest of the wings.
Eritram turns the two STs into slag, so Calsera opens up on the ground troops. Between her strafing and Murdock's return fire, the stormtroopers turn tail and run.
Calsera lets out a whoop.
Then Mandall's news cuts in, flattening Cat's elation. Pulling hard on the stick, Calsera stands her V-wing on its tail and heads for the upper atmosphere. "On my way." Gotta stop that next wave...
Aurelia surveys the damage to the wounded freighter, mostly smoke pouring from fried electronics and buckled hull-plates on the exterior of the ship as she triggers the fire suppression system.
"Ship's still spaceworthy, for the most part. But she's a freighter, not a warship. If we take a beating from those TIE's in orbit - and we will - they may actually manage to hit something important."
(OOC: I forgot to check the shield repairs last action, terribly sorry)
Ganet takes the Dragon higher as Calsera blasts by, followed a little later by Eritram. The recent onslaught of bad news is tempered slightly as Aurelia and Ty manage to coax some power out of the much-needed deflectors. They weren't very strong to begin with, but any shielding is better than no shielding. Fire suppressant settles in the corners and nooks of the bridge.
Mandall pushes his Headhunter towards the surface-bound TIEs, zig-zagging slightly to throw off incoming fire. He hits his man - the Headhunter's cannons shudder a TIE Bomber, shearing off plating and burning precious liquids off in glittering contrails - but the Bomber continues on its run.
Mandall's through the pack of TIEs in a flash. Four break formation to shoot down the wily dogfighter. The blue-black of high orbit splits with green streaks. Mandall twists the venerable Z-95 in ways its designers never intended. The TIEs are still on his tail, but their aim leaves much to be desired.
Cat picks the Imperials up on her scopes first - the two bombers, flanked by two fighters, are still on their murderous course for the surface and the insurgents' freighters. Mandall's leading four TIEs in a merry furball, and above it all is the steel gray arrowhead of the ISD Immaculate. The Imperial capital ship would no doubt be launching more fighters in the coming moments.
Mandall barrels around, jinking to avoid the TIE fighters' fire, and heads back towards the bombers. He and Cat zip past each other as Calsera aims her V-Wing for the first two TIEs pursuing Mandall. Her first target rolls past, her shots zipping between cockpit and solar panels. The next guy's not as lucky; the laser blasts shear off a panel and the TIE begins its long spiral down to Mygeeto.
Calsera's got two dance partners now; the TIE she missed settles in behind Mandall and fires quick bursts at his Headhunter. To the TIE pilot's and Mandall's surprise, the Z-95 shudders as the green bolts slam through the rear deflectors and rip one of the engines to pieces! Mandall's yoke goes dead for a few seconds but he still manages to down the wounded TIE bomber he was pursuing. He gets control back and spares a worried glance at his readouts. The hyperdrive's still green; weapons are hot; the deflectors are gone and they're not coming back; and he's got the maneuverability of a YT-1300 right now.
One bomber and three TIEs vs. him and his half-dead fighter. He's been in worse places.
Calsera's charge seems to have shaken her TIEs up a bit - they have none of the luck that Mandall's opponent had.
Everyone aboard the Dragon who's not Ganet or Murdock is busting their rears trying to astrogate their way out from under the impending turbolaser fire from the Immaculate.
Eritram takes his Hapan bomber gingerly inside the freighter's makeshift hangar, feeling a sigh of relief as the docking clamps engage.
The good news: the Dragon will be able to make a jump as soon as it breaches Mygeeto's planetary shield and gets into orbit. The bad news: It'll be in turbolaser range as soon as it breaches the shield. Ganet loosens up and prepares to fly the pig of a freighter like he's never flown anything before.
Calsera chews up one of the TIEs pursuing Mandall, but isn't so lucky with the other. In fact, luck seems to be with that particular Imperial pilot as he critically wounds the Headhunter!
"Get out of here, Mandall!" Calsera nearly shouts into her comm. Ignoring the TIEs on her own tail, Cat focusses on the bomber and TIEs harassing her wingmate.
"It's your skin, poodoo-for-brains. Sorry for trying to keep you alive." Calsera doesn't change her targets in the least, unless one or more of the TIEs break off to go after the Dragon - then Mandall's on his own.
Ty surveys the situation mentally as the shields hum back to life. He starts to head for his ship until he feels the rumble of weapons fire. Instead, he stops at a convienent console and sets in motion the calculations to generate hyperdrive coordinates for the ship and the fighters, then for a rendevious point. He directs the console to send them out encoded to the fighters as soon as they finish generating. Then, he continues a rush to the fighter bays and his ship.
Mandall disregards the state of his Headhunter, the TIE on his tail, and his wingmate's help as he focuses in on the last bomber, now dipping into the highest layer of clouds. The ship shakes as it plunges into atmo, the fresh oxygen fueling a flare-up on his right stabilizer. Mandall waits for it - his weapons might not give him a second shot. He squeezes the trigger and turns the TIE Bomber into a firework show.
Mandall snaps out of his tunnel vision - the two escort TIEs have dropped back to form a rudimentary "claw" formation with the third and they're coming in blazing. The Z-95's not the most nimble craft, and with one engine out and stuck in a power dive, Mandall's an easy target...
Until he cuts his engines completely and simply disappears into a cloud bank. The fog around him glows as the TIEs' bolts zip past. Mandall kickstarts the ion engines again, pumps what power he can to the repulsors, and just plain yanks back on the stick. Now it's cat and mouse.
Speaking of cats, Calsera tangles with her two TIEs for several lethal moments, but can't get a shot. She curses as a stream of green blasts barely misses her and sees her opening. The TIE left its wingleader to get his shot, and Calsera makes him pay the price. One of the TIEs explodes and now it's one-on-one.
Back in upper atmosphere, Mandall arcs low and comes up with a beautiful view of the TIEs' tailpipes. The shredding of their wingleader spooks the two surviving fighters back into low orbit with Mandall hot on their heels, his Headhunter's engine straining.
Ty blasts past Mandall and looses a fusillade of bolts at one of Mandall's TIEs. The shots pass between the solar panels and up past the cockpit. The TIE pilot's waste recyclers kick in and he banks left to deal with the new arrival.
The Dragon's orca-like bulk breaks atmo, a space whale surfacing on a ocean of clouds. Every warning indicator on the bridge flares red - the Immaculate is locking weapons.
Almost as an afterthought, the Immaculate launches fighters. Twelve more TIEs drop out of the gargantuan craft in twos and threes.
---
On the ISD's bridge, Admiral Taris slams his fist onto the comm console, cutting off the Pacifier's captain.
"The Interdictor's not going to make it in time. Gunners, target the engines and prepare to engage tractor beams," Taris barks. "I'm going to barbeque your ass in molasses," he smirks.
---
We're not clear yet, is all Ganet can think. The Star Destroyer doesn't bother with warning shots, and it's a miracle Ganet manages to shove the Action IV out of the fire lines. Below him, the planetary shield glows blue-white as it absorbs the turbolaser shots. Almost there... Ganet spares a glance at the astrogation panel. A few more seconds...
She doesn't seem to be able to do much to help Mandall. Fortunately, he disappears into the clouds and the TIEs can't seem to find him.
Meanwhile, she's having to jink sideways to avoid heavy fire from her own pursuit. A tight spin, and she's raking one of them with her own guns. That cuts them down to one.
It will soon be zero, if she has anything to say about it.
OOC: I'm not at my home computer, so I can't pull up the longer, more detailed post I had, but the gist is that Ty's going after the first of Mandal's two TIEs. (The one that is coming at him, actually.)
With his entire cockpit flashing red, Mandall keeps his hand on the stick and does his best to keep from losing control. With a quick flick, he switches the G compensator down a notch - he can take the forces, and he needs to really feel his ride if he's to win this fight.
Hold together, baby...hold together...If we make it out of here, I'll have you refurbished...total overhaul...you'd like that, wouldn't you?
e of pi
