| abstract
| - It was another deepspace convoy, and there was nothing out in the blackness of space but stars and the buoy. Soon, 2 Imperial Neutron Star-class Bulk Cruisers arrive, commanded by a local commander. However, Marshal Inrokana and Captain Nelhrn were on board one of them; they were in transit back to Carida from the border worlds with supplies for new military construction. They also were around to see that the shipment got through as the rebel raids had picked up in intensity in these regions. The two ships had cargo on board as well, 5000 metric tons on board each. They lumber along through space, the freighters not showing yet. It appears the Imperial tactics have changed. The peace of deep space is broken, as a New Republic task force appears, a pair of large Mon Calamari cruisers making up the center-piece of the force. A full six squadrons of starfighters, and eight boarding craft also accompany this force, while a smaller, but still tough little Marauder corvette is also deployed, which is escorted by a smaller RX4 Patrol ship. The fleet moves to intercept the convoy, with squadrons surely quick to deploy. The Bridge of the Eternal Vigilance is calm, and quiet, with the battle klaxons having been muted. Gren Delede, a man experienced in both fleet, and starfighter combat, is sitting quietly in his command chair, eye glued to tactical screens. "Signal the fleet to launch fighters, Comms. Tag that second Neutron cruiser for one of our fishy friends...the other cruiser will join us on the lead ship." A glance to the communications officer, before he speaks once again..."Guns, we'll tackle the leading Neutron, begin plotting firing solutions, as soon as we're in range. Full speed ahead, Helm." A slight pause..."Twila. Keep the Diligence on our port side, and engage alongside us." Accompanying the forces are four squadrons, one of which is Ghost. Its leader, Kyrin Sh'vani, checks her instruments for the umpteenth time as the signal comes in. "Command, this is Ghost Leader," she states calmly as she begins preflight button-pushing, cycling up the engines. "Acknowledged. Ghosts, we have a launch authorization. Go, go, go." And with that, her lovely X-Wing rises off the deck and into space. "Blue Squadron, you are taking the lead on this venture with your B-Wings. All wings report in." As she listens to the responses, she adds, "All ships, lock S-foils into attack position. Good hunting. Ghost Leader out." And she directs her ship into the warzone. Amongst the ships buzzing into space, Ghost Six deftly launches. Within sits Lance Corbet, AKA Wildman, hands swift at work setting his X-Wing for the battle which is to come. "Ghost Six is a go, Ghost Leader." he says into the comm system, and even as he speaks, his S-foils are opening, locking into attack position. Without another word, Wildman leads his ship once more towards hostile territory. The much smaller Diligence is pulled up along side the larger ship's port side and the guns are readied, all at the command of Twila. She looks around the bridge and her small crew, her expression a bit blank...or perhaps stern is the better word. "Alright, Blinky.." Twila says with a slight snort of laughter, the Twi'lek still not used to her husband's callsign. We are awaiting your command to engage." Leading the two cruisers from the bridge in his flight gear, Krieg watches as the rebels jump out of hyperspace, another ambush. Only this time, they would not survive if they didn't fight and give the freighters a path to fly through. He gives the order, "Mount the defense." In short order, the 4 fighter squadrons with them deploy, headed to engage the rebels until the freighters could pull through. He looks to Keline, "Captain, take charge of this fight. Give us a way through and out, the fighters can only hold them at bay for so long." He doesn't go to the flightdeck, yet. He has hopes they will make it out of here first. Keline nods, saluting Krieg, before she turns to the communications officer. "Contact the other ship. Bear on coordinated 3740, bring us around to to the right, we'll try to break down their formation on that side to give the rest of the ships a chance to break out. Pick your targets and start firing; we have to make this fast." While the Mon Calamari Cruisers move to engage the Nebulon-Bulk Cruisers, they fire at freighters that they pass, assisting the B-wings as they can, though the bulk of their fire is quickly turned on the largest of the Imperial vessels, while small-scale point defense batteries are used as fighter support. A small smile forms on the lips of Delede, still pleased that he was given an assignment this important by the New Republic...he must have really impressed Madine, during their meeting. A few steps take him across the Bridge, and he looks over the shoulder of his gunner, pointing to what he feels is the best firing solution......"Pakt....forward batteries, fire at will." A smile, and he delivers more orders..."Diligence, try and use the larger ships as a shield, but contribute what you can, Blue. Bug out, if you start to take too much damage." As the X-Wings of Ghost Squadron are swiftly outpaced by the B-Wings of Blue Squadron, Green sitting pretty halfway between the two, Kyrin checks on her kids. "Wildman, I will appreciate it if you actually followed orders this time around," she notes in a private comm chatter to Six. "Regardless of provocation." Keeping the X-Wings in check until they see the results of the first bombing runs on the Imperials, the Chyleni pilot frowns as she checks her scopes. "All fighters, remember to watch your fire. We wish to damage things, not destroy the convoy. Ghosts, concentrate on the fighters to keep them off our bombers. Green, Blue, you have a go. Remember the plan." Silence is all that greets Kyrin's ship-to-ship transmission, but soon, Wildman's voice comes over the main comm. "Understood." is all he says, his words somewhat distracted, though to all others, it would appear he's replying to the general orders. The last of the preparations are made, and Ghost Six is prepped for combat. Instead of engaging, however, he hangs back along with the rest of Ghost, upon Kyrin's orders. At least for now. Twila grins as she sees the firefight begin and she moves towards the gunnery's console, leaning over the weapons' officer's shoulder as she nods. "I think it's safe to assume we're able to fire, now.." She taps the gunnery's shoulder who in turn nods and the weapons are shot, their fire aimed for the same ship Gren just Keline studies the sensor logs, observing the approach of the Mon Calamari ships before she turns to look at the weapons officer. "Concentrate fire on the lead ship… Navigator, position us so we can fire all our side batteries on the Mon Calamari vessel. Order the other ship to do the same...if we can punch through the shields it might just disrupt everyone else. Order the fighters to keep the enemy fighters off us for as long as possible." Krieg watches as the rebel bombers make their runs on the two bulk freighters, the two ships they have in the area taking fire from all directions. Their fighter screen would be out shortly and the furball would ensue. But that was still in the near future to happen. Watching the sensor officer he checks to see what is engaging them, looking to see if there were any special craft out there. When he sees the transponder of one craft in particular he has the sensor officer open a tight beam communication to his area on all frequencies - the other pilot would likely hear. "Enemy craft, identify yourself or prepare to die." Krieg then stands up straight and tells the comm officer to contact him on his commlink as he makes his way to his fighter. That man was his today. The New Republic B-Wing squadrons are swift on the mark. Not as swift as the A-Wings of squadrons like Falcon, but this one called for ships that could take a pounding and were fast. Blue and Green both separate neatly into two pairs of arrows lancing against the various enemy targets. Their bombing runs are done up precisely despite Imperial fire. The problem is that the shields are too tough for their first round of attack. As they swing around for another pass, their egg-shaped cockpits rotating around neatly, Ghost Squadron brings up the rear and continues the barrage, lasers working against the fighters in their way. "Watch out, Twelve," Kyrin states calmly as her own lasers work on a TIE fighter with her usual precision. "Ghost Leader, this is Eternal Vigilance....feel free to send some torpedoes the way of that first Bulk Freighter, if your people can spare a volley." A smile, and Gren clicks frequencies over, his headset comlink patched through to his ship's communications system. "Lead Cruiser, tackle that first Bulk Cruiser, and Second Cruiser, you're going to help the Vigilance and Diligence with the second, for the moment." Those orders sent, the hired commander reaches down to the arm of his command chair, without sitting, and fires the forward batteries himself, the weapons fire heading toward his earlier target, the second imperial cruiser. In the middle of the fray, 8 Corellian Action VI Transports enter the scene, all of imperial marking. It appears that they each are heavily loaded with 10,000 metric tons of cargo, the real prize that the rebels were more than likely after. They come lumbering in right between the two bulk cruisers on their way to the beacon and then beyond, to depart for their destination, if they even make it that fare. As a familiar voice comes over his comm system, Wildman cannot help but grin to himself. "Is that you, Krieg?" he asks, chuckling, though soon he pays attention once again to his own comm. As Kyrin calls out a warning to Ghost Twelve, Lance, with no one to shoot at immediately, slows, falling in behind Twelve. "I'm on it." calls Lance calmly, rolling, and coming in from behind and to the side of the TIE come up on Ghost Twelve's Six. A round of quad-fire is then sent towards it. The Twi'lek smirks a bit as she hears the 'request' for them to identify themselves and she just can not help herself. "I want an open channel.." The comms are turned on to a frequency that everyone can hear and Twila speaks into it even as she motions via a wave of her hand to her gunner to fire upon the same ship yet again. "You might as well just drop your cargo and run. I mean...your track record is not that hot, you know. Just cut your losses before any of your people get hurt." The comms are shut off just as their guns fire; once again working on taking out the target she had shot at before. Keline turns to the sensor display again, casting an eye over it, before she turns to the weapons officer again. "Let's see if we can add another distraction to them..target that ship. *she indicates Twila's craft on the sensor display.* "Concentrate your fire on that one...order the other cruiser to continue firing on the Mon Cal ships to for covering fire." Wishing to draw the man out, Krieg gets the confirmation from the comm officer. Entering Raptor I, Krieg does not use his name or callsign. Rather, he deploys from the cruiser, headed to a quiet area as he says on that same frequency Lance called back on, "This is Raptor. Fight or die." The transmission is short as Krieg sizes up the situation and how things will play out for them all. He moves under the shadow of the ship, but his presence is known to the rebel pilots as they fly in combat. Getting a good lock on to Lance's ship he rockets out into combat, a not too far distance away as he opens fire at long range, looking to get a hit or at the very least rattle the other pilot. It was game time. As Ghost Squadron splits up to deal damage to the Imperial fighters, Kyrin orders Kesander's flight to go to torpedoes and help damage the shields the B-Wings are swinging around to try and have a go at once more. Kyrin's got her hands full with a TIE on her tail and another one that she waxes decently, her X-Wing flying through its remains, the hot shards glancing off her shields neatly. "Six, you have a bogey on your six. Need an assist?" Kyrin queries as she keeps one grey eye on the readouts from the other ships under her command. "The shields on the first Bulk Cruiser are taking the majority of the damage, so let's focus on it. Fishies, target the cruiser with the weakest shields, only fire at the other if you've got it within your firing arc." Gren gives this order, and looks down at his chair's command display, selecting solutions for turbolasers that can be brought to bear on the lead Imperial Cruiser, and fires the weapons himself. "Diligence, I want you landing....now." It's not his favorite course of action, but they can't risk the RX4 in this kind of fight. The Mon Calamari cruisers slowly change their courses, moving to box in the first Imperial cruiser, and leaving Keline's ship to its own devices. Chuckling to himself as the voice comes over his comm once more, Lance watches as the TIE on Ghost Twelve's tail loses its shields, breaking off. He draws a breath, as though about to say something else, when his sensors begin screaming at him at the incoming fire, Wildman snaprolls out of the way, barely managing to avoid the assault. "Let's play." he says privately to Krieg, his voice low, confident, as he continues the roll, banking hard to his left, and coming about to face off against the incoming Raptor I. "No need, Ghost Leader. I've got this one." comes his reply to Phoenix's query. Pounding the throttle forward, Ghost Six hurtles inwards towards his opponent, seemingly taking little care of the battle waging around him. Instead, as he closes, he dips down for an instant, soon jarring upwards on his stick. This causes his ship to drop a little below Krieg, and the nose to raise and point in front of the other ship. At that instant, the throttle is cut, and Wildman continues his forward trajectory, his ship aimed to slip beneath Krieg's ship should this maneuver succeed, his nose end pointed upwards as he passes, and soon sending forth a volley of quad-laser fire at his exposed underbelly. With that hit, it's safe to say that Twila's a bit shaken, the woman not so cocky that she is about to risk her life and that of her crew just to stay in the fight. "Blinky, we're going to try and rendezvous with you...we're just not able to stay in the Fight. The ships are too big." Frowning, she gives several commands at once, one to the helmsman, telling them to get them the hell out of the fray and to whomever else would be in charge of getting their shields back up. "Small fish, little pond...By the Maker, this sucks." Twila's not happy about having to go home early, it seems. Keline turns to look at the sensors officer as the officer relates that the first cruiser is tacking the bulk of the damage before she turns to look at the sensors officer before she begins to issue commands. "Order the second cruiser to move to starboard...shift our position to cover it while the cruiser reinforces it shields. Ignore the other ship and start firing on the lead Mon Cal ship again...all batteries. We've got to get those shields down if we want to get out of this." His first shots were close, but that was exactly what he had in mind for the opening round of fire. Keeping his focus, he takes on the single craft while evading the furball that happened to take place around him. During this time Krieg noticed that Kyrin was out here flying as well, an old enemy indeed, the other pilots words on playing were not lost either. He really wanted to know who in the intel world had his number, as he was constantly in these engagements. Dropping down and banking around hard, his fighter with the cerulean blue stripes on it was back into combat again, pressing hard into the enemy. He knew the freighters just arrived not long ago, but the jump was miscalculated and ended up early. Not good whatsoever, as it was going to take them a long time to jump out. Calling his new nemesis, "Do you all ever learn, will you ever stop? These are attacks are futile." Breaking hard to one side and barely missing the other pilots fire through it all he snap rolls back over and gets a good lock, triggering his lasers. "We've almost got the shields down on the first Imp cruiser....keep up the fire. Don't let the second absorb any of your fire, fishies. Go around." This is transmitted to the Mon Cal cruisers, which move to go over, and beneath the second Bulk Cruiser, weapon batteries blazing. "Helm, let's see if we can finish the shields, at least." A tight smile, as he punches in firing coordinates, and opens up on the first Cruiser, raking it with his more powerful, but far less numerous laser batteries. "Prepare to launch boarding shuttles....hopefully we'll get ourselves a prize, shortly." This is also sent to the New Republic fleet..."And, prepare to accept Diligence into the bay, Ops." This time, Raptor's fire is true, though a glancing blow only, reducing his shields, Lance regardless curses beneath his breath. Switching to the comm used by the two, he puts out a simple thought. "If they're so futile... how is it that we keep coming away with your goods, while you wind up floating debris?" Momentum yet carrying him forwards, Wildman disconnects the port thrusters a moment, and soon presses his throttle forward, sending him in a tight spiral to face Raptor I once again. As his nose yet again lines up, his quad-lasers open fire, spewing forth at his nemesis. Continuing the circle, Lance reengages the port thruster a moment later as he jolts forward, taking off to Krieg's starboard side, and heading past and behind him, away. "If you want me, come and get me!" he calls back as he heads back into the massive furball. Docking, the Diligence makes its way back home with nothing more than its proverbial tail tucked between its legs, the crew grateful to be able to get back with the ship, and their lives intact. Once the ship's powered down, Twila bolts from it and runs to the bridge where her husband can be found while he directs the battle from their end of things. "Never...-ever-...stick me in that small of a ship ever again. That was not fun!" She chuckles as she says, "You can fly that tiny thing and I'll be in charge!" Keline notes the changing position of the Mon Cal ships as she turns to her navigational officer. "Turn the ship to a heading of 9280..order the second cruiser to turn to starboard and then move downwards while we move up...try to shield them from the enemy fire as much as possible. Meanwhile keep up the firing on the most damaged Mon Cal cruiser. Having her own fight to worry about, the bigger picture, Kyrin orders the B-Wings to focus on the weaker target, the one with the downed shields. "Disable only. If we can capture it..." she comments to Green Leader, even as she listens to the updates on her own ship's status from her astromech. A shield hit, but nothing nasty yet. "Wildman, do not be stupid out there, or the Imperials will have to wait in queue to shoot you." Changing frequencies, she adds to Krieg, "I see courage is fleeting, if one must fire upon lesser targets..." Pulling hard into an immelman followed by a snap turn barrel roll Krieg is able to avoid fire just as soon as he gets clear he pulls a split S to take up a firing position, noting the immense skill at which the other craft takes to bring him down. In a way it was an honor for an enemy to have to go to such lengths. But just then the other man runs into the furball, and Krieg is inclined to pursue. He knew the engagement was going to be brutal for them, and they may have to sacrifice a great deal. Keline had orders for the first cruiser to evacuate if it went down and then to have the second cruiser conduct recovery operations, fall back with as many freighters as it could, having the freighter crews evacuate if necessary and self destruct, then leave. But his focus now was on this 'wildman.' Pressing forward he takes his time to get a lock, aware there were more fighters in the area now as he lashes out green death. The battle is tense within the furball, but Wildman enters it freely. Dipping and dodging, barely avoiding laser fire time and again, occasionally he has to snap-roll or jerk his stick up or down in order to avoid another fighter. He seems to be doing quite well, too, until another shot is incoming from behind, knocking his shields out the rest of the way. Cursing softly again, he responds to Kyrin, "I'm fine, Ghost Leader. I know what I'm doing." Switching over to ship-to-ship, even as hands play across, attempting to bring the shields back up, Lance says softly, "Sir... please. Trust me." "Launch the first assault shuttles, we'll have that first Cruiser disabled in no-time..." Gren turns toward the primary tactical display, and frowns, as the report comes in regarding the first Mon Calamari Cruiser losing it's shield. "Fall back, lead cruiser, into the convoy. I want every ion battery firing on the shield less Imperial cruiser on your way out, though.. Second cruiser, join us in targeting the second Imperial cruiser." A glance forward..."Helm, move to engage the second cruiser, and Guns, fire all available batteries." A sigh, and Blinky looks at his wife..."We'll just get you a bigger ship. Now, I want you to oversee the assault shuttles, make sure they get routed to the proper targets." Another X-Wing in her squadron is hit, but the damage isn't horrific, yet. It does lead to the pilot calling for help to cover him while his astromech works on the stabilizers real fast. The Ghost Squadron teamwork is in full force as the second X-Wing follows the basic 'stay with your wingman' rule, fire lancing out toward any TIE fighter inbound until the first can get his ride situated. "Thanks," the first pilot notes before the two get back into the fray. The B-Wings of Green and Blue keep focusing on the weaker targets, pounding away at their shields and armament, anything to give their side an advantage. Kyrin frowns as she monitors the contest between Lance and Krieg, her own fire aiming for another one of the TIEs in her path. Taking over for Gren, some, Twila shifts into a different mode entirely. Taking comms, she gives orders to launch with their target being the first cruiser. Once they are safely off for battle, Twila sits back, putting her feet up on the console before her once they get comfortable. "Actually, you should be getting me on the ground to fight. You know that." She shakes her head as she laughs, the Twi'lek apparently self-amused easily. Flipping the comms onto an open channel, she begins to speak again, this time to the Imperials as well as those they fight with. "Imperial ships, you should just give up. Save yourself the humiliation of being vaped and stand down." Keline listens to Twila's message with a faint smirk as she looks up at the firing Mon Cal ships before turning to the helsman. "Turn to port, heading 323...transmit a signal to the second cruiser to put as much power as it can to engines...no need for a pointless sacrifice. Let's give what cover we can to them and try to keep the force off her for as long as possible. Krieg had caught Kyrin's message, but did not have time to respond to it until now. Starting a Cuban eight he replies to her, "This man has a debt to pay from the last time we met. I'm sure you have the holos." Switching back to Lance he says, "Pity your leader is weak and runs away from fights, unlike some of you, she is easy to shoot down." It's an insult followed by what may seem like a compliment, but a nemesis needed people to fight, and lasers could only take on one target at a time. Besides, shooting down Kyrin was easy. Seeing the flicker of life to the other craft's shields Krieg takes the opportunity to fire again, this time sighting in his enemy longer before pulling the trigger. Growling as he's struck once again by Krieg's fire, his shields flicker and drop after just managing to get them back up. Intaking a deep breath, he murmers to himself, "Fine. I'll leave 'em down, and take you down next." This is meant for himself, but it carries to Kyrin's ship, for he has not turned off the ship-to-ship comm yet. Pressing forward on his stick, Wildman ducks down, soon throwing off his throttle, and slamming on the breaks. Drifting below Krieg's ship, he waits for the TIE to soar by above him, before he reignites his engines, and expertly slips in behind his opponent. Punching a couple buttons, he initiates a ship-to-ship with Krieg as he utters, "My turn." Finger presses back, gently squeezing the trigger, and sending laser fire at Krieg's six o'clock. Within her cockpit, Kyrin rolls her eyes and begins counting to herself to see how soon Lance actually returns fire. When that return fire is given, she nods to herself. "That truly is a remarkable display of arrogance," she observes to Lance. "And your inability to keep your emotions in check." Calmly, she receives the report of another X-Wing losing its fight with a TIE in a most explosive manner, and she shakes her head. The B-Wings report that their latest wave of fire did little damage, but they'll try again, even as their ships and shields take damage from Imperial fire. "Keep on the weakest vessel," she instructs. "We must prevent their victory, or all of this will be for nothing." And, because she's not about to leave one of her Ghosts to fight alone against the Empire's brightest, she also directs her own wingman along with her as the pair join with Lance in his crusade. Kyrin also directs fire at Krieg, whilst her wingman goes after the next nearest Imperial. As damage reports regarding the first Mon Cal cruiser began to be reported on the Eternal Vigilance's shield, Gren doesn't hesitate..."Lead Cruiser, calculate the jump to hyperspace, and exit. We can soldier on without you." A look at his tactical display, and the black-clad Captain snaps more orders for the helm..."Get between the second cruiser, and the Imperial ships firing on it...." This is both ordered to his own helm, and the second Mon Cal Cruiser. "Ghost Lead, I really need those B-wings firing on the shield less cruiser, if you actually want to capture something, today." This is a less than subtle reminder of their mission, apparently. "Keep firing with ions on that unshielded cruiser, Fishies. We'll keep plinking away on the second Impie." And that he does, raking Keline's vessel with fire. Twila looks over towards Gren and smirks a bit, shaking her head, her eyes narrowing in thought as she does so. "We need to get you a new callsign, Blinky." She chortles a bit while shrugging, the Twi'lek not even bothering to apologize. "I would like for us to get some of whatever it is they're hauling. Bet it'd sell well. Or maybe we could use it for our own ships." Nodding as she says that, the Twi'lek adds, "Either way, we'd profit from this." Piercing through the firefight, Raxis flattens his lips and keeps a steely glint to his eye as he raps his helmet twice for luck. With a gritting of his teeth, he maneuvers through the furball and makes a heading towards the TIEs attacking the B-wings. Strangely cold and quiet over the communications system, he hasn't made his presence known, although Krieg surely has made his. "Ghost Leader, maneuvering to give the B-wings some room. One eye on the squad, Raptor out." He says muttering, as he crushes downwards towards a TIE and opens fire. Keline is seated in her command chair, eyes fixed on the sensor display, as she continues firing even as her ship is raked with fire from the assault just launched on her. The shields hold, however, as the orders that all unnecessary systems be channeled into restoring the shields. "Helsman, target and fire upon the ship that targeted us. We'll knock them out and keep going until we can't do anymore." Noting that the enemy was concentrating fire on him now, brining more craft into the fray, Krieg's squadrons turn from their engagements as the fight slowly moves to center around Lance and his fight. Dodging fire from not one craft but two now, Krieg presses up his throttle to max and uses it in that setting, pulling a chandelle to quickly be followed by a spiral turn through fire and down on Lance. He knew the other craft was unable to bring its shields back up for whatever reason, and now he was going to see that the other pilot left him alone. Kyrin knew what Krieg could do, and the confidence Lance had from their last fight might prove to be his downfall today. The Ghosts were here, another transponder Krieg recognized as the good target Raptor. On an open channel he says, "You really need to teach your pilots better..." Just as he opens fire once more on Lance. Lance may be cocky, but he knows better than to be downright stupid. And, due to this fact, he is able to detect what Krieg has in mind before the laserfire is sent spiraling down at him. Instead, Lance snap rolls to his left, avoiding the downward trajectory of Krieg, and while upside down, Lance points his nose downwards, soon coming in once more behind the enemy craft. "Well done," he says solely into Krieg's cockpit. "But not quite good enough." And yet again, a volley of quad-fire is sent towards Krieg's tail. The battle has been a slugfest, with one of the Mon Calamari cruisers leaving the system in a flicker of light, thanks to having taken minor damage. The Eternal Vigilance and the remaining Mon Calamari cruiser continue to work against the Imperial Cruisers, though they are leaving the unshielded, and somewhat ionized first Cruiser to the B-wings, and assault shuttles, focusing on the second cruiser. "All Republic forces, this has the potential to get very ugly, very fast. Focus your fire on a single ship at a time..." A look at Twila, and the man shrugs, pointing at his eye-patch..."A new call-sign, love? What's wrong with Blinky..." A shake of his head, and he looks around at his crew..."Take us closer...and fire at will..." Lance pages: ... Kyrin's own shots on Krieg don't seem to have much effect, but then... there's bigger fish to fry. "Raptor, you have operational lead. Two, with me." Ghost One and Two peel off from the main fight, focusing instead on something that might seem inconsequential. Supporting Blue One and Two on a special bombing run as Blue One's shields seem pretty well buggered up, torpedoes lance in on a lovely Imperial target, leaving Ghost behind to deal with the fighters. Passing through the explosive debris of his most recent kill, Raxis opens the comm inside of Ghost 3. "Confirmed, Ghost Squadron this is Raptor taking operational." He begins, angling through the fight that leads him closer and closer to Krieg with each passing moment. "Continue defensive screens and bulk down on those TIEs. Do -not- back down from them. Give them hell and everything it comes with. You can do it. Raptor out." He adds, pushing through the fight to find a TIE approaching on Lance's tail. Lining up the shot, he squeezes the trigger. Taking fire from new angles Krieg notices that there are a few new members to the party, and that one of the rebel cruisers has left. The Imperials keep up their fire, but the first cruiser does not have much longer before it is unable to fight back. Soon, escape pods may be seen ejecting from it, but that was still to come. The second cruiser keeps up its fire as well, trying to repel the enemy cruiser. Mixing it up still were the other TIE squadrons, some of them possibly stranded, but they still fought. Taking his fighter back around Krieg calls back to Lance, "Right. That explains why your shields are down." It was a mere saying to rattle the other pilot and force him to realize the fact Krieg may just be playing with him after all, buying time before the convoy left. Krieg manages to get around him, and another shot is taken. This time, however, Lance is not quick enough to avoid the laser fire, the blast slamming into his side, and rocking his X-Wing. Growling to himself, Lance rolls once more, then takes his ship about and behind Krieg once more. "One more shot..." he murmurs to himself, ere finger presses gently back on the trigger, caressing it, ere laser fire rocks through his ship, sending a loud barrage into his cockpit, and volleying forth at Krieg one last time. Seeing another round of blaster fire trail into Lance's Ghost Six, Raxis turns his flight control to place him on a course to interrupt their duel. Hoping to avoid another incident with the pilot known as Wildman, Raxis avoids flashy flying and simply bears down on Krieg for the kill. No comm chatter, Raxis keeps his eyes on Krieg's ship and gives Lance two clicks from the comm to let him know incoming is inbound. Lining up the shot as Krieg trails Lance. Even as another X-Wing goes up in flames, one of the other squadron supporting the B-Wings' runs, Kyrin's ship takes more damage, enough that it's starting to get a bit dicey. "Command, I have a problem. Astromech working on it." But that's the last communication from Ghost Leader for the rest of the skirmish. By the time New Republic forces finish up their work and leave with whatever they can... Ghost One is nowhere to be found. Whether the ship arrives at the rendezvous point is another matter entirely. Slowly picking at the other craft as Krieg chose, he hits Lance once. Still pursuing the target he presses his attack, hoping to end their dogfight in short order, but then again, there wasn't overly that much time that the Imperial force would be able to stay here. The larger ships were still slugging it out, but the first bulk cruiser was almost down for the count. Pressing his craft harder into the fight, Krieg seeks out his prey once more, looking for that good tone once more, easily ducking around the other man's shots as he charges Lance, dead on; only that there was another entering the fray, sizzling his shields. If one of them didn't break off, they would slam straight into each other, lasers blazing past each of them. Blinking, Raxis narrows his eyes and keeps his angle on Krieg's craft. Feeling deep in his gut that Krieg is trying to goad Lance into another daredevil fit, Raxis decides to close the distance. Giving his blasters a moment to recharge as he swoops in again for the kill. Flipping his comm on, Raxis speaks to Lance. "You keep your cool now Wildman..." He says as he opens fire on Krieg again. Keeping his cool. That is precisely what the pilot of Ghost Six does as he closes on his opponent. The two hurtle towards one another, nose to nose. A game of chicken, and Wildman seems determined to win. With a neat spin, Wildman avoids the shots of the TIE fighter, yet the two continue to stream in at one another at top speed. As Krieg flies straight at Lance, his craft takes another sizzling to the shields, more than likely from another x-wing trying to engage him. Seeing that the other craft would be successful at drawing him and knowing the bigger battle was at stake, Krieg calls, "Another time then." He takes his own fighter out and evades, working the shield controls to attempt restoration to engage his next foe. Chuckling to himself as Krieg bugs out of their little contest, Lance comes over the Ghost comm. "Wildman to Raptor, I need to bug out. I'm lightly hit, and need to get back before anything worse happens. Ghost Three out." With that, Flight Officer Corbet turns his X-Wing back about, and makes for the rest of the New Republic fleet. The battle was not going well for the convoy, the two capital ships pulling away from each other, the first disabled being evacuated by what crew was able to. The second cruiser was pulling away for hyperspace, preparing for a general recall of all its fighters and the retrieval of the escape pods. The freighters too were lost and their crews were ejecting as well - there was no way they could get them to self destruct in time. Krieg was seriously engaged, and more stray fire or at least he thinks is stray hits him as he carefully evades, once again attempting to raise shields before fully engaging. Not letting Krieg get away from this one, Raxis' jaw muscles clench and release as Ghost Six remains silent. Putting aside his ego and his flashy flying, Raxis narrows his eyes and opens fire again. "Command this is Ghost Three, Raptor, pursuing Imperial Marshall. Stay the course Ghosts. Raptor over." He calls again, avoiding the urge to open a line to Krieg. Lining up behind the TIE Mk2 again, red bolts rain down towards Krieg's starfighter. Not wasting any time Krieg checked his sensors and knew it was Raxis that was his target this time around. He still had a bone to pick with the other man, and was not about to let this opportunity slip. Driving his fighter back around again through the different fights he opens back up on Raxis, for the first time this battle however. The tone is good, the only thing he has to worry about is the different fights around him and the evasive actions he would have to further pursue. Cursing, Raxis turns instead directly into the path of Krieg's incoming TIE, forcing the marshal to evade or ram ships with him. Opening fire in the process, Raxis prepares to rocket through the marshal, if not past him. As the battle was still far from over, Krieg wastes little to no time at all now. He was moving, and it was not a time for him to sit around and do nothing. It was life or death, and here on this field he was determined not to lose. Dropping down and shooting up and over in several spiraling movements that would make just about anyone dizzy he screams at full speed back at Raxis, lashing out with green vengeance. "Through me it is..." Raxis calls out over an open frequency to Krieg, refusing to yield to the Marshall. Gritting his teeth as his X-wing is venting gas, Raxis attaches his breath mask and seals up in the event of an explosion and opens the comm to command. "Command this is Raptor, taking heavy damage. Keep those Ghosts on the fight, over." He says, turning to face Krieg again. "You won't live forever Krieg..." He says, opening fire. "...and neither will I." Simply dodging out of the way it was much easier for Krieg now; the battle was starting to wane. As he comes back around he prepares for another strike on the stricken craft, this time he had had enough. On the rebel frequencies he says, "You people should know when you are conquered." Letting out his fury on this target, Krieg squeezes off more rounds in a display of Imperial precision, spraying the target area. "Shut up and play the game..." Raxis calls back to Krieg on the open frequencies, dialing up his shield recharge program as he scrambles, leading Krieg through the space battle. Seemingly...darker than normal, he curses and barks at Vee-Ten to help him bring the shields up. His enemy was cunning, but was not good enough; the other fighter it appeared was trailing some form of smoke or damage. As he comes around Krieg realizes the other man is trying to repair his craft, and his last run was too aimed for the cockpit. Assaulting this time around he flies in, knowing the other craft was really hurt. Triggering his lasers for what he hoped was the last time this round he waits for the result before breaking off his attack run. "Son of a ..." Raxis swears, slamming his fist down on his ejector as he feels himself launched out into the void. His spirit falling in many pieces Raxis hangs on as his shock-couch is shot from the craft and his X-wing's cockpit area is crushed by Krieg's blasts. Luckily the craft survives, but had he ejected a second later he'd be sandwiched in the debris and slag now floating in the dead of space. Holding on to his seat and harnesses, the bitter cold of the void starts to settle into his bones. The heating of his flight suit protects him, but the cold can't help but penetrate. The space battle was coming to an end. Krieg had beaten off their attackers, and was able to successfully disengage and return to their second bulk cruiser, the first's escape pods recovered, the fighters streaming in under fire as they all are in time recovered, the massive ship taking damage to its outer hull. Unfortunately, for the freighters they would not be getting away today, their cargos to be taken by the New Republic. Soon, as everyone was aboard Krieg lands and makes sure they have been recovered, what remained of the 4 fighter squadrons. Moments later the bulk cruiser departed for Carida, to report the loss of 8 freighters and a bulk cruiser, but they had given the rebels a run for their money.
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![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)