The New Republic, in an unprecedented offensive move, has been engaging the Empire's larger ships with their smaller more maneuverable assault craft. In response the Empire has pulled their larger vessels back from the current front and have sent their own smaller more maneuverable craft to scout for confound and engage new republic forces. The battle group, Kaph Squadron, was assigned to included a Strike Cruiser, three Lambda-class shuttles and Kaph squadron being temporally assigned to be the strike cruisers fighter complement.

Over the last few weeks the small battle group has been successful in engaging the New republic's forces. Attacking the smaller escort craft first than going after the larger ships like a large swarm than mopping up the left overs. Now the strike cruiser is running low on supplies as well as the other craft in the battle group it was time to return to a friendly port and restock. Since receiving its mission the battle group has been pushing further and further in to enemy space each engagement pushing enemy forces back further and further making friendly space a hyperspace jump or two away from their current position.

After the last engagement with New Republic forces the Kaph Squadron docked with the Strike Cruiser and the battle group set off for a friendly port. The first jump was going to be the longest and the end point was in an uninhabited binary star system consisting of a blue giant and white dwarf with 3 bespin class gas giants and several smaller planetoids with an asteroid belt approximately at the mid point between the two stars. The star system has been quizzically nick named the brayer patch.
        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


The trip through the brayer patch was going to take several hours but would cut hyper space travel by days. Because this system was uninhabited and had very little strategic value he crew was allowed to relax some.  Captain Polix of the Strike Cruiser The Hammer and Anvil propped his feet up and drank his coffee as the battle group passed by the blue giant followed by brayer patch one. The crew busied its self with the generic every day tasks that was needed to keep the ship running. Periodic maintenance of the ships equipment, diagnostics and repairs of the tie interceptors, running fire drills, and general quarters. All was quiet through out the system scans showed no other ships in the area.

As the Hammer and Anvil passed  the space between brayer patch one and brayer patch two the only indicator of what would soon be happening was a blip on the ships IFF and RADAR screens that laster not even a second. The crewman at the RADAR station reported “Sir we just had a blip on the RADAR immm not sure what it was it didn't last long” Captain Polix got up from the captains chair and looked at the crewman's station and began shifting and adjusting the spectrum and  intensities of the RADAR, LIDAR and IFF trying. But nothing showed up on the scans. Captain Polix asked “Where was it heading?” Looking up toward the captain the crewman replied “Sir I am pretty sure it was heading toward Brayer patch two.” The Captain patted the crewman on the back and said “It was probably just an asteroid being pulled in by the planets gravity well. But just in case...”

Captain Polix went to the intercom and announced “General quarters general quarters from this point on until we reach friendly space we will be running on a general alert. All hands are now required to be near your Damage control and battle stations. All pilots report to the hanger briefing room...that is all.” The next few hours were intense as the Hammer and Anvil neared Brayer patch two Captain Polix held his breath. Seemingly out of no where a loud ping echoed through the RADAR's speakers and on its screens as one, two, fore ,seven a total of twelve enemy A-wing fighters spilled out of hyperspace nearly right on top of the Hammer and Anvil.

As soon as the A-wings screamed out of hyperspace they unleashed a quick strafing run against the Lambda-class shuttles. At the same time Captain Polix began shouting orders “All pilots to your fighters engage those A-wings those Lambda's are not fast enough to take them on their own!” Kaph Squadron was on their feet and flying in no time and giving chase to the A-wing fighters. But that was just the bate....

While the battle groups attention was drawn to the immediate threat of the A-wing fighters another threat loomed closer to the Hammer and Anvil than they new. Just under the first layer of clouds hiding in the unstable magnetic field of Brayer Patch two another squadron eased its way out of hiding. The RADAR blip that the crewman saw that was mistaken for a an Asteroid was actually one of several Y-wing fighters that were now sneaking up under the belly of the Hammer and Anvil armed with ion canons and proton torpedoes. The first hits came from the ion cannons pelting and finally disabling the  capitol ships shields and with out skipping a beat the fighters switched to torpedoes and drastically crippled the Hammer and Anvil's engines beyond the point of repair by the damage control teams. Once the damage was done the mission for now was completed the Hammer and Anvil was dead in the water. Both flights of enemy fighters disappeared in to hyper space.

The next orders that came from Captain Polix were with a shaky voice “All fighters and shuttles return to the Hammer and Anvil.” Once all ships were rendezvoused with the Hammer and Anvil the captain began going through a new plan to get home.

“All right ladies and gentlemen the Hammer and Anvil is dead in the water and can't be fixed until we reach a safe port, unfortunately that is now at least three hyperspace jumps away. The plan to get home is to have the three Lambda class shuttles attack toe cables to the Hammer and toe us home. Our weight will significantly drop the hyperspace range of the shuttles but its all we can do. Kaph Squadron will provide our protection until we get home you guys know what to do.”

It didn't take long for every thing to get set up and moving...slowly it was going to take a while to get the Hammer and Anvil out of the Brayer patch system and in to hyper space any thing can happen now.

OOC:

Here's what i'd like to see posted for now the events leading up to the last briefing and the shuttles attaching tow cables to the Hammer and Anvil. That includes the waiting after general quarters, engagement with the A-wings, return to the Hammer and redeployment to escort the Hammer out of the system.

I apologise for not clearing this up earlyer

“General quarters general quarters from this point on until we reach friendly space we will be running on a general alert. All hands are now required to be near your Damage control and battle stations. All pilots report to the hanger briefing room...that is all.” said the Captain Polix over the intercom.

As his voice sounded out through the ship, every pilot looked up. After he finished, a rush of activity began as pilots ran to the hanger to enter their ships and everybody else ran to their battle stations. One of those pilots was Hunter Morrell, a flight member of Kaph Squadron. Hunter had been eating when the orders came over the intercom. Not even finishing, he just threw away his food and ran to the hanger. On the way, he saw a few fellow pilots, most running the same way as he was. When he arrived at the hanger, he entered. Looking around, he saw a few of his fellow Kaph members already entering their fighters. They had just received a new TIE class, TIE Interceptors, a few days earlier, and Hunter had been itching to try his out ever since. Now that he had gotten his chance, he more than ready to go. Jumping in through the hatch on top, he started it up and flew out the hanger.

Wow. This is a lot faster than the TIE Fighter I have been flying. It’s a lot more responsive too. Hmmm… I think it’s time to test it out in an actual battle.

Hunter sent the Interceptor screaming towards the A-Wings that were approaching. There were a few TIEs flying around, but not many. Grinning, Hunter targeted an A-Wing and let loose a volley of laser bolts at it. The A-Wing managed to dodge every one, but nearly didn’t.  Pressing the attack, Hunter managed to clip it and send it spinning out into space. Its erratic flight path was finally ended when it collided with another A-Wing.

“Yeah! Two down. A heck of a lot more to go.” Hunter yelled over the com, grinning.

Then, an alarm lit up which signaled a missile lock on him. Swooping and diving around in an effort to avoid the A-Wing, he managed to lose it. Flipping over, he searched for it and found it on the tail of another Kaph member, Strickler. He flew towards them at full speed and caught up with them, though it was for nothing. Right after he arrived, Strickler barrel-rolled around and the A-Wing overshot him, giving Strickler the chance to shoot it down, which he did so. Cheering him on, Hunter turned around to find another A-Wing to kill.

Sabian Conrade call sign Sovern was in the galley eating some half cooked rations when the call went out “General quarters general quarters from this point on until we reach friendly space we will be running on a general alert. All hands are now required to be near your Damage control and battle stations. All pilots report to the hanger briefing room...that is all.” A bit of a smile cracked on his face as he stood up and stretched. Grabbing some left overs he proceeded to the hanger briefing room propped his feet up and waited for further orders. Looking around he he had seen a lot of new recruits a Twi'lek and two humans the others were either experienced crewmen or vets. The hours went on and Sovern looked over the roster and noted who was in his flight for future reference.

Finally the call to arms came “All pilots to your fighters engage those A-wings those Lambda's are not fast enough to take them on their own!” Sovern calmly stood and proceeded to his fighter helmet in hand. He noted that every one else was running like chickens with their heads cut off except for one other and she was in his flight.

Looking over to her he spoke “Jolinar right?”

He paused to let her answer than continued “I'm going to need a wingman if you're up to it I'd rather it be you.”  Once he had his answers he jumped in to his interceptor and launched waiting for his wing man.

Silently, Strickler ate his still cold rations pack silently while at the same time sitting next to his squadron executive officer. Sabian was the only person who had made the new recruit feel anything close to at home since he was stationed with Kaph.

    Without warning, a man came across the speaker in a monotonous voice saying, “General quarters general quarters from this point on until we reach friendly space we will be running on a general alert. All hands are now required to be near your Damage control and battle stations. All pilots report to the hanger briefing room...that is all.”

    Following Sabian's lead, the Crewman stood up and began towards the hanger, matching pace perfectly with his superior. Once in the briefing room, Alex took a seat adjacent to Sabian, sitting behind and left one seat.

    A few minutes later and the same man came across, this time with more enthusiasm in his voice. “All pilots to your fighters engage those A-wings those Lambda's are not fast enough to take them on their own!” The new recruit bounced out of his seat and fumbled to keep control of his helmet while Sovern casually stood up and strode toward the hanger. After catching up with himself, Alex took off to catch up with Sovern to discuss different tactics that should be used during combat engagement. Hopefully, he thought, this will save my hide.

Rink walked out of the hangar bay and realized that he hasn't eaten anything. He decided to go to the lunch room and snack on a cold ration before he goes back into battle. Rink sat himself on one of the chairs, removed his helmet, and pulled out a ration pack from his side pocket. A pilot approached Rink while he was eating his ration pack. Rink stared at the pilot with food stuffed in his mouth. The pilot slapped the ration pack from the table that Rink was eating on and Rink stood up looking at the pilot.

"What's your problem?"

"You flew my Interceptor!" said the pilot

"Oh... that was yours.... I thought that was mine..."

"You don't even have a Interceptor! Last I heard you have a TIE Fighter." said the pilot

"Uh..."

"Now your gonna get back in space before I throw you in space."
said the pilot

"Fine jeeze..."

Rink went to his TIE Interceptor and he opened the hatch of it and climbed inside the TIE Interceptor. He pulled a lever and pressed a few buttons and buckled himself in. Rink then attached his helmet on securing it on his body. He then flew out of The Hammer And Anvil and saw a A-Wing infront of his view. Rink saw his wingman on his side and he grinned at the ship through his mask. Rink thought to himself;"Man, this thing is a peice of junk, it's not even that fast." Rink sent a barage of laser bolts at the A-Wing but miserably failed. His wingman flew infront of Rink and Rink tried to see what the wingman was doing but he failed to see anything except the A-Wing exploding. Rink then saw laser bolts coming to his wingman. He realized there was two A-Wings coming from the rear.

As soon as Jolinar was in position Sovern spoke to her over the comm system “Ready ...lets go.” With that he pushed the throttle of his TIE interceptor  to full attack speed.  Looking over to his wing man he felt a bit of relief to see her keeping up. He could see the A-wings swarming around the shuttles and start pulling away toward the asteroid field away from the Hammer and Anvil. As they started pulling away from the capitol ship he saw some newer members start plugging off the A-wings easily. Sovern thought to himself “This is too easy.”  Another fighter exploded to his count that was number three pushing his accelerator a bit further to catch up.  There was some thing in the back of his head that told him that some thing was not right but checking his IFF he only checked the enemy squadron infront of him so he shook his head and shook off the bad feeling.  Nearing the enemy squadron his fighters sensors registered numerous energy spikes and the remaining A-wings disappeared in to hyperspace where the TIE's couldn't follow.

“All fighters and shuttles return to the Hammer and Anvil.” Were the orders Sovern heard on his communicator soon after the A-wings disappeared. Approaching the Hammer and Anvil the damage looked extensive the engines were still smoldering shields were down as was the holonet communicator. The Hammer and Anvil was in bad shape, docking with the damaged ship Sovern grabbed the nearest crewman and asked what happened. The crewman replied “It was a trap the A-wings pulled you guys away from us and a squadron of Y-wings hit before we knew what was happening hit us hard too.” As people were scrambling Sovern made sure to hear the briefing and plan to get the Hammer and Anvil back home.

OOC:

an update will be posted soon, sorry if things were a bit rushed but I felt that certain things needed to be fixed and this is the course of action I took to fix it.

OOC:

Okay this is going to be a short update to get the story back on track and moving forward.

The briefing was a short on as the ship needed to be moving as soon as possible “All right ladies and gentlemen the Hammer and Anvil is dead in the water and can't be fixed until we reach a safe port, unfortunately that is now at least three hyperspace jumps away. The plan to get home is to have the three Lambda class shuttles attack toe cables to the Hammer and toe us home. Our weight will significantly drop the hyperspace range of the shuttles but its all we can do. Kaph Squadron will provide our protection until we get home you guys know what to do.”

Several storm troopers in zero-g suits helped attach the tow cables securely to the Hammer and Anvil. Once the tow cables were attached the three shuttles began to move forward slowly until the cables were taught. Once the cables were taught the shuttles accelerated to maximum thrust and the strike cruiser began to trudge forward at what seamed to be a snails pace. There would be no quick maneuvers coming from the shuttles or the Hammer and  Anvil it was going to be up to Kaph squadron to ensure that the entire battle group got home safely.

Not more than an hour passed by until trouble loomed its ugly head in the form of a bothan assault frigate. Out of the frigate came a squadron of Y-wing fighters presumably the same fighters that disabled the Hammer and Anvil in the first place now it was here to finish the job. To complicate matters even more a Squadron of B-wing and X-wings exited hyperspace with the BAF.

Orders echoed through each flight members head sets “The priority is to protect the shuttles first than the Hammer and Anvil. Keep the battle group moving once we get to the other side of the Brayer patch system we can jump to hyperspace.”

The BAF was just sitting there letting the fighters swarm the Vast Empire battle group in a supportive role rather than a combative role.

OOC:

Okay this is why the story is called the gauntlet a long way to go and the enemy at out heels at every step. The goals are run interference for the shuttles and damaged capitol ship. The BAF will not make an aggressive move unless engaged so concentrate on the fighters and please make the kills realistic. Keeping that in mind and as much as I hate to do this I'm setting up a quota.

To shoot down a Y-wing I want 250 words, to shoot down a X-wing 300 words and to Take down a B-wing 325 that shouldn't be to terribly hard for any one in this squadron to do. Any other questions see me on IRC or send an FPM

Jolinar sat through the briefing, barely masking her impatience.  She wanted to be flying and fighting, not sitting around talking.  The briefing, though short as briefings go, was still too long for Jolinar’s liking.  The only sign of her impatience was the twitching tips of her lekku.  She had taken the seat closest to the door, and as a result, when they were dismissed she was the first one out.  She walked as fast as she could back to the hangar, and even broke out into a light jog where the number of people allowed for it.

Finally back in space, Jolinar spotted a B-wing trying to sneak its way around the main fur ball and get close to the shuttles on tow duty.  Her guess was that the craft was going to take a shot at one of the cables.  That’s what she would have done if she were the attacker in this situation.  She angled her interceptor towards it.  As soon as she was within range, she fired a couple of shots at it.  The B-wing broke off its attempted maneuver and twisted away to port.  Jolinar’s lasers hadn’t done more than skim the hull.  She would have to get closer in order to do more damage.

Jolinar angled her interceptor to follow, but a target lock warning beeped on her console.  She swore and pulled the control yoke up and to the starboard sharply.  She swooped back around, losing her pursuer.  Jolinar located the same B-wing trying another run at the shuttles.  There was an X-wing flying cover for it this time.  She grinned widely.  This little skirmish would be a challenge, but Jolinar was more than up for it.  She was in full Mandalorian combat mode.  Essentially, her heart rate was nearly double what it usually was and her blood was flowing faster to all her organs and limbs, making her reflexes and reaction times faster.  She was firmly planted in the moment, living for the fight.  If the enemies could have seen the almost manic look in her eyes they’d have wet themselves in fear.

Jolinar glanced at the display screen only long enough to see where her wingmate was before angling towards the two fighters.  Jolinar approached the two fighters from the top to their sterns.  The B-wing would be an easy enough target, being focused on reaching the cables.  The X-wing pilot was the one she’d have to watch out for, since that one would be the one watching for incoming enemies.  Jolinar formulated a plan, and relayed it to her wingmate.

“Hey, Sov.  Fire a couple of shots at that B-wing.  Not kill-shots, though.  Draw that X-wing away.  I’ll take out the B-wing and then come back to help you.”  Jolinar waited until the X-wing swerved away to attack Sovern.  She made a quick mental calculation, and then shoved her throttles forward to maximum speed.  She waited until she had the tail of the B-wing clearly in sight through her forward view port and fired a large burst from her lasers right into what was essentially the tailpipe.  As soon as the laser bolts where released, she pitched her craft forward and went under the explosion and the shuttles.  She barrel rolled around to port and angled back around to take a look at the shuttles and make sure the blast hadn’t damaged the towing cable.  Luckily, it hadn’t.  Some debris was close to it, and some probably had bounced off the hulls of one or two of the shuttles, but everything was still intact.  She would revel in her kill later, after the battle was over.  Jolinar checked her visuals and her display screen and located Sovern, still fairly close and still being pursued by the X-wing.

Must be a new pilot, she thought.  An experienced pilot would recognize the ploy and would have broken of pursuit to go back to the B-wing.  The X-wing was firing at Sovern’s interceptor, but hadn’t made even a glancing hit yet.  However, the X-wing was closing fast and the shots were coming closer.  Time to lend a hand.  Jolinar pushed the control yoke forward, pushing her interceptor to maximum speed.  She came up close behind the X-wing and fired at the engines, as she’d done with the B-wing.  Unfortunately, the shots only glanced off the hull.  The pilot had realized he had a tail, too late to avoid taking damage, but soon enough to avoid being killed.

The X-wing pilot feinted to port and broke away starboard.  Jolinar followed, seeing that Sovern was swooping around to pursue as well.  She fired a few shots at the X-wing, keeping it distracted while Sovern swung around in a wide arc.  He stopped facing the X-wing and waited for it to come within range before firing.  Jolinar doubled her fire on the stern of the X-wing.  Jolinar didn’t know if he was her fire or his that took out the X-wing, but between them she shields were overloaded and the enemy craft disappeared in a fireball a little brighter than the one that had consumed the B-wing.  Jolinar grinned and slowed her fighter to normal attack speed.  She twisted her craft around so she had the shuttles and the cluster of fighters in her view ports.  No one else had been brave enough or stupid enough to try to slip around the main battle to come in close to the shuttles.  At least, if they had, they had been destroyed or chased off.  Jolinar checked her viewports and display console for another target.




OOC: 933 words :-P

Sovern counted out the ships on his RADAR thirty six enemy fighters, he grinned as he accelerated toward them along with his wingman Jolinar.  As the whole of Kaph squadron clashed with the incoming enemy fighters Sovern locked on to a B-wing and engaged. The B-wing accelerated as soon as it noticed Sovern moving to engage. The B-wings engines couldn't compete with Sovern's Tie Interceptors engines but the pilot compensated by a high velocity maneuver changing the B-wings direction by ninety degrees and it started a roll as it dove below the Hammer and Anvil's plane of movement. In hot pursuit Sovern pitched his fighter down ninety degrees and pushed the throttle all the way forward. As Sovern started to accelerate downward his fighter was moving two directions at once thanks to inertia the original direction of the fighter and the new downward direction.

Rolling his fighter in alignment with the enemy B-wing Sovern leveled off took aim and fired a barrage of green laser fire at it. The B-wing's pilot was quick and patent and listed his fighter lazily to the left throwing off Soverns fire. Thinking to him self “Okay this guy is a decent pilot..lets see how he does with unorthodox maneuvers.” Grinning to him self he accelerated over took the B-wing and than cut his engines. Letting inertia push him forward Sovern pitched his interceptor up hard and rolled it. His orientation was now one hundred and eighty degrees from the direction his fighter was moving...at one hundred five MGLT. As Sovern was pulling away, the B-wing pilot some what astonished set up  a missile firing solution but never fired, he confused as o where the debris would go if he did fire for a split second. Taking advantage of the B-wing pilots hesitation Sovern fired another barrage of laser fire in to the cockpit of the B-wing. Atmosphere exploded out followed by the pilot a split second before the B-wing exploded in a brilliant flash of red light.

Soverns communicator chirped and heard the voice of his squadron mate and wing man Jolinar echoed over his head set. “Hey, Sov. Fire a couple of shots at that B-wing. Not kill-shots, though. Draw that X-wing away. I’ll take out the B-wing and then come back to help you.” Sovern replied “Roger that boss lady.” and pulled his interceptor up adjusting his power output for more acceleration. Spotting the next B-wing and pelted it with grazing fire before rocketing past the pesky X-wing at close proximity close enough for it to be shaken by Soverns ion and gravity wake. The rest is history the two partners successfully taking down the X-wing like they had been working together all their lives.

Pulling the Interceptor out of the hanger was a dream come true for Lukas as his eyes watched the view of space coming closer and closer. However, it was time to leave the fantasy world behind and get in the game of saving this ship from ruin. Checking the systems around him, everything was a go as the battle came into his view. Switching his guns to its quad-fire setting, Lukas looked for the first fighter to target, and it was with luck that he spotted Y-Wing heading towards one of the shuttles that was trying to help the Hammer and Anvil in its rescue.

It was time to dance.

Racing towards the Y-Wing's left side, Lukas saw that the shuttle was dock with the ship to perform its duty, and that enemy fighter was about to end it in one good swoop. Lukas squeezed the triggers on the stick, unloading a few laser shots at the Y-Wing, over its cockpit to give it a warning that someone was now on him. The plan worked as the enemy pulled away from the targeted shuttle, allowing it to continue its duties as normal. That was a good thing, for that ship needed all the assistance that it needed.

Lukas made the proper energy conversions as he pulled up behind the fleeing Y-Wing, making sure that the shields and weapons were at their limits. It was a good thing that the Y-Wings were the slowest fighters in the Rebel fleet, which would make this kill very easy. Just as the target sights went green, the Y-Wing made a hard right turn to evade the lock and the Interceptor in general. So, this pilot is no dummy.

Matching speed for speed, Lukas turned the Interceptor back to focus on the target at hand. The pilots didn't make things easy as it started to veer left and right to throw him off of its game. Luckily, Lukas knew exactly when to fire off a good shot when he needed to. With an exhaling breath, Lukas straightened the fighter up just as he squeezed the trigger, seeing the four-streamed cannon fire drill the Y-Wing just as it was making another evading turn. The lasers hits the shields hard, and with the increased energy strength, it didn't take long for the quads to rip through the shields and into the hull of the fighter. Within moments, the Y-Wing was no more as it exploded in a ball of orange flames.

Turning the Interceptor away from the explosion, Lukas looked to his scanners to see how many more enemy fighters were out there. His to his liking, there was a lot more about there for him to take out. One down, many more to go.

Steering the Interceptor into a hard left turn, Lukas guided his fighter towards one of the main B-Wing groups as they were heading towards one of the Lambda shuttles. It looked like these enemies were going to unleash their firepower upon the shuttle to slow the progress of the Hammer and Anvil. Lukas knew that this couldn't happen as he switched his weapons to missile mode, aiming his sights on the lead B-Wing to send a message to the rest of the group. Don't mess with us, or you will pay the price.

Steadying his hands on the stick, Lukas's eyes were watching the red sights as the hope of a green light would come his way. He matched his speed to match the fighter, which was slow, but not as slow as the Y-Wing. Waiting and waiting, the light would come on for a clear shot. Finally, after a few seconds, the green light appeared, and the trigger was squeezed to unleash the missile that was inside the holder. A slight smile came to Lukas's face as he watched the missile head towards the lead B-Wing, switching his weapons back to the quad-linked cannons. He pulled up slightly as he waited for the enemy to pull up to try and avoid the streaking projectile, which was exactly what he did. However, it was a bit late as the missile impacted on the shields, lowering them to be around 5%. Once more, the triggers were squeezed to spray the rocked fighter with green laser fire. They all hit their marks, sending the fighter to its doom in a portrait of an exploding fireball.

Lukas couldn't do nothing but smile at that. The destruction of the lead B-Wing forced the others to turn away from the Lambda shuttle, hoping to regroup and try again. If they tried, Lukas would be there to stop them again.

However, that smile faded once he heard the alarms coming from his scanners. He looked to them to see that a X-Wing was on his tail, and it had its cannons locked on his position. Panicking just a bit, Lukas turned away from the pursuer as the Interceptor made a couple of evasive maneuvers to try and get away from ii, but it stuck to him like glue. This pilot was an ace, and he was about show it by blasting Lukas out of the sky. Luckily, there was someone watching out for him.

A large explosion came from behind the Interceptor, showing Lukas that the X-Wing that was chasing him was no more than an afterthought. Suddenly, a voice that was familiar to him came through the coms. It was Hunter's.

"Safe and sound, chief."

"Thanks, Hunter. I owe you one."

"Damn right, you do."

"Alright. Let's get back to business."

Lukas and Hunter guided their fighters back into the brunt of the fight, seeing the rest of Kaph Squadron defending the shuttles with diligence and grace. He was definitely proud that these were his wingmates, and the good news just kept coming. An unfamiliar voice enters through the coms.

"This is Lambda Shuttle 1. We have the tow cables secured upon the Hammer and Anvil, and we are ready to tow her away. However, we are low on shields, and we need fighter support to help us through."

Lukas puts his voice through the coms. "This is Kaph 2-1. We heard you loud and clear, Lambda, and help is on the way."

"Alright, guys. As far as I can see it, we have taken down around half of the Rebel fighter force. We have to protect those shuttles, so they can get the ship towards their hyperspace point. Keep those fighters away as best as possible. Understand?"

Several affirmatives came through the coms as Lukas turned his Interceptor towards another group of enemy fighters, ready to take them down. However, his eyes took a glimpse on something else that came into view. The BAF was moving towards them.

OOC:

Alright, guys. The BAF is moving only to block the shuttles from going into lightspeed, not to attack. Proceed as normal by taking down the enemy Rebels, but also add the shuttles moving the Hammer and Anvil to your RPs as well. Have fun.

Albinostorm winced as he pushed the Interceptor to it's top speed, he had spent all his recent flight time on the training TIEs, and The interceptor  was a lot faster than he'd expected and had gotten used to. Inside the cockpit, a red light lit up ,along with a siren indicating an incoming missile. Time to show off he thought, as he cut off his repulsors and flipped the craft 180 degrees. A quick pulse of weapons fire and the missle was detonated. Albino reactivated his repulsors, completed the turn and smiled to himself, he was going to enjoy this.

The sensory computor indicated that an A-Wing was throttling towards him, Albino began accelarating forwards, causing the A-wing to also accelerate. small flashed of red were flicking past his cockpit, While Albino was quite furiously jiggling his starfighter to match the line of fire emanating from the enemy craft. Albino then decelerated, whilst barrel rolling just as the enemy A-Wing lined up the perfect shot on him. The A-Wing shot past him, and albino gave chase. The enemy ship swung into a wide turn, and albino, seeing the opportinity, raised the nose of his Interceptor, then abruptly brought it back down, giving him a perfect line of fire on the target, which albino took advantage of, and let loose a burst of laser fire, penetrating the shields and flying down the engine hole, causing the A-Wing to explode.

"Where do you want me, hunter?" Albinostorm said smugly, whilst returning to his position next to the other Interceptor, "i think im about ready now"