Another Razor burst into flames a few hundred meters of his starboard wing.  Man, this is scary as shit.  I like it, Gunnay thought as he spiralled into a barrel roll, locking onto another target.  The shields from his interceptor hadn't gotten much use, but without them, the four or so laser blasts that hit his shields would have normally have turned him into spacejunk.  He let his finger apply some pressure to the trigger, firing off single laser shots at a rapid pace, allowing them to track up the engine of the Razor he was pursuing.  He pulled up a little, following the Razor's attempt to shake him and switched to quad burst, punching a hole through the enemy's cockpit.

"Nice work, 10, but you don't need to show off using that quad where a single laser will do just fine.  It may be a good kill, but if you miss, it might give the enemy time to find a friend or shake you," Trevor said.  Gunnay fell back onto Trevor's wing and acknowledged his mistake.

"Roger, 9, I'll keep that in mind for another time," Gunnay replied.  Then he noticed something out of the corner of his eye, but not soon enough.

"Shit, T-Wing has a lock on me, gotta shake him," Trevor's voice came in. a bit annoyed.  They were all getting tired out here, having to deal with so many enemies, even after destroying the majority of their forces.  Gunnay throttled up to 95%, breaking the lock on his Flight Leader's fighter.  Trevor took the advantage and pulled an amazing maneuver, inverting his fighter and sliding under Gunnay's.

"Target acquired," Trevor said coldly, "This is when you can use quads, 10, like shooting nerfs in a mudpit."

Gunnay watched as he pumped shot after shot into the Gunboat.  The shots must have been a little off because it took six bursts to blow it up.  "Damn boat pumped all its energy into its shields.  Would have been better off going to engines and trying to get away.  Hah, or not, I had him cold."

"Enough chatter, 9, 10, keep the frequency clear in case we have some real trouble," Shazam's voice cut into their conversation, "You have a pair of Die-wings at your three o'clock.  Have some fun."

Gunnay grinned, he loved the I'n-going-to-reprimand-you-so-I-look-like-I'm-being-a-hardass-but-then-let-you-have-some-fun types.  Yeah, it was a long classification, but necessary, "Die-wings?  Where the hell did they come from.  Oh well, it's their death.  They're flying pretty close together, I'll bet you a round I can take both of them out with one quad laser blast."

"Oh, really, I'd like to see that.  It's all you," Trevor sounded more curious then annoyed, so Gunnay went for it.  He had managed it once before in the sims where two Rebel X-Wings were doing about the same thing, but then he used a proton torpedo and the second ship was down to more or less 10% shields.  Here they didn't have any so he thought he could pull it off.  He moved a little to his right and aimed just right of the Die-wing's cockpit, letting his finger and the trigger meld into one for barely a second and watched the laser fly.

"YEEHAW, that's what I'm talking about baby," Gunnay whooped into his intercom.

"Lucky bastard, fine, first round's on me when we get out of the shit."

"Oh, wow, you owe a round to a pilot in his first battle, way to go 9," Arturus chimed in, his voice dripping with sarcasm.  Gunnay thought he heard faint laughter in the background, probably the other pilots unable to control themselves.  He smiled to himself, the shit wasn't really all that bad.

(OOC: Just for reference, the shit is a term used to describe a hostile area.)

-----------------------
Senior Crewman Gunnay
Nazgul 3-2
Adjutant to the Training Officer
A:TO/FM/SCRW Gunnay/Nazgul 3-2/Wing I/mSSD Atrus/1VIF/VEN/VE (=*A*=)

"That's more like it..."  Shazam smiled as the remaining fighters disappeard and the command over the radio issued a return to base.  "Alright, you heard 'em, boys- lets regroup and assess the damage..."  Shazam dropped his head from side to side in an attempt to roll his neck a little, but the constraints as well as the helmet kept him from doing so.

"Negative, One- the cruiser that dropped off those fighters is hangin around..."  This is all a little weird...  So far, very, very little had been adding up in this battle.  From everything he'd learned as a pilot in the VEN and as the nephew of a rather prolific smuggler, he'd seen and heard his share of stories concerning pirates.  All that he learned indicated that they were dealing with a rare breed.  When talking about pirates and their tactics, manurisms and overall style, the word 'loyal' was rarelly mentioned.  But what Shazam had seen today required an unparralelled amount of unity- the Hapan battle cruiser as well as the other massive ships...  While that doesn't really seem to be anything but a lot of firepower, when it comes down to it- they're pirates...  Right?  It struck him as odd to think of pirates working together, not thinking of themselves and doing things for a 'greater cause' as Tokijin seemed to so elequently put it.  While that could just be very organized crime, it was still remarkable the sheer number of pirates invovled in this.  Despite that little image, they also appeared to be less vicious and more or less arbatrary, all going against the pirate way.  While pirates could organized or un-organized, they were usually ruthless.  Where they dealing with good pirates?  He nearly chuckled.

"I copy that transport- do you have a read out on that ship?  I'd like to see what we're dealing with before we rush in after it."  This too was strange.  It made sense for pirates to leave their own behind- the every-man-for-himself rule was well known.  However, earlier on when the second corvette came to assist the first- that was strange.  While mutually beneffited from the materials, it was still far more likely that one of the ships would have abandoned the group rather than help the other.  These were either very selfish and greedy pirates with a powerful avarice that would drive tem to such a feat, or...

"It looks like you've got a high number of cannons on each side...  Wow- very high.  This thing might as well be a nubulan-b..."  We'll be blasted out of the sky if we aren't careful-he and the rest of the squadron knew it all to well.

"Alright, where are those placements?  Can you give us a quick location so we can get a better approach goin..." Art had returned from his little excursion with no battle damage and seemed to be in a slightly better mood.

"They are alligned along the sides as always- it looks like its got two missile placements as well- one on top and the other on the bottom..."  Shazam held back from from sharply inhaling- the death rate just went up about fifty times...  Then again, if they played it smart- well, it'd still be risky.

"We've got four gunboats remaining and I beleive our entire group, so that's a good thirteen people.  Just over one squadron versus the heavilly armed corellian cruiser..."  Jack figured the numbers.  Shazam had to mentally figure out who was still in the battle-Me, Art, Jaden, Dar, Toki, Trevor, Jack, Crimson and the new guy...  And those gunboat pups...

"Well, I can see one place they wouldn't be able to arm themselves and it'd provide cover for us..." Shazam vouched and Crimson quickly replied-

"The engines..."  Shazam smiled breifly, thinking of the hours the young man must have spent over tactical breifings and debrefings as well as scattered schematics. 

"Correct, young one.  So- if Art concurs, we'll head in from the back, one after another, and bombard the little..."  Jen reannounced herself in the conversation suddenly-

"I remind you of your fuel gagues Nazgul squadron- have you enough fuel?"  Crap...  We aren't too far from land, but the drag in the amosphere would more than compensate for the distance, not to mention the fact that the base was probably a ways in land... He got an image of the crashing waves demolishing the base in a tide of triumphant fury. 

"My fuel gauge is reading at just over a quarter- I don't know if I can say the same for the rest of the group though..."  Shazam admitted it, as if slighted by Jen for uncovering such an obvious problem- Art would have probably brought it up though he comforted himself. 

"Everyone in flight two is under a quarter- about right to get into space with a minor detour..." Trevor announced. 

"So we're talking a maximum of one strafing?" Shazam now wondered if the attack would be possible yet- by the time the group had enough time to refuel, the corvette would be long gone.  The gunships alone probably wouldn't take the ship down without getting themselves killed...

"Time is not stopping people- lets do it or not do it." Tokijin said matter of factly.

"Alright- one last thing; what do we have for whether?" Art queried, he was still Nazgul One, but Shazam sensed some confusion amongst the squadron members now.

"The storm appears to be moving away from the mainland, but it's certainly picked up in forocity.  If you go down in it- you're done for..."  Jen's tone was more ominious than usual- she seemed to be thinking of more than what she showed.

"Very well- anyone who doesn't think they'll make it to space or they aren't lookin good in terms of any extra flight- go back to base or move to mainland.  That goes for you to Transport- I know Trevor is running the risk of space problems- no need to lose a pilot to a simple malfunction."  Art seemed happy with his order and began to move into the vector that would bring them up behind the corvette.

"I'm still doing the strafing though..." Trevor announced, whether anyone heard or payed attention- he didn't care.  No one argue so the line continued to form, the gun boats catching on quickly and taking the lead position.

"We'll see if we can get the shields down first- it looks to be picking up speed though.  If it tries to run, we won't catch it..."  The commander of the gunboat squadron sounded wary- losing a pilot that you knew so well was tough.  This was a planetary group, they'd probably known eachother since school, Shazam thought.

"Very well- being your run..."  Art stayed a casual distance behind the fourth gunboat and twisted a little in his seat.  The stick was a little different in these airs, he thought as the group burst through the high level clouds.

"If you've got missiles- don't use them unless you are going on the second run- I want to make that clear.  Anyone who lets one of those off and is responsible for the death of anyone else is dead as well..." Shazam seemed to say it lightly but then added- "I'll see to it myself."

"Heeding warning, commander," Gunnay announced as if he were supposed to.  Shazam nodded to himself, still zooming about Art's behind like a pesky fly.  The defender was too excellent to just 'fly.'  He longed to just let go as soon as the mission was complete, but he knew that the debreifing would be a long, lengthy process and it was likely they'd only remain in system until extra-security arrived.  Yes, the fleet would be moving its different ways again...  And yet, Shazam had the sharp feeling in the pit of his stomache they would remain together and even grown in number in the coming months.

"Is that the same for us, commander?" The gunboat pilot appeared to have 'heeded the warning' as well.

"No, we'll just be farther apart three..."  The commander didn't take the situation lightly and for good reason- if he lost another freind because of some silly manuever or hastey inquiry he'd regret it for the rest of his life.  He was probably already regretting coming up in the first place...  "Plus, it'll make those strafings worth a crap..."  The commander must have noticed his dull and unreceptive tone, for this one was more mock-battle toward the imperials than the imenent threat.

"Dully noted, one..."  The first missile went off immedietly after and struck the full fortified aft sheild as the corvette appeared in front of them.  The electric blue of the sheilds blossomed ambience against its water-color wash, creating a beautiful but deleterious message for the rest of the crew to examine.

"Missile, away," came the second gunboat as the blue orb crashed into the even lighter sheilding, melding it into a shade of violet. 

"Bringing it home," the third missile seemed to engulf more of the cruiser's hind-quarters, the bright light of the engines permeating the sheild's surface more and more.

"Watch me now!" The fourth member let his off moments before reaching the ship and the craft rolled low instead of high, taking the fellow who was manning the missiles off-guard.  The fourth missile took on an eerie look as it seemed to detonate as if it were a nuke rather than a simple detonating bomb.  Engulfing the whole hindquarters, it flashed bright red, then steadied to crimson before suddenly blinking out.  Their attempts to re-route power to the back had apparently short-curcuited.

"Make it count now, Nazguls..." Art led the way with a double shot of linked fire, obviously taking off his previous strafing order.  Shazam's pass was slower and let off three shots of linked fire, all six cannons reaching into the engines and detonating multiple minor explosions.  Three engines ignited hot then burned cold as they went out from Art and Shazam's passes alone.  The two of them picked up speed after letting off their burst and went flying past the missile's bay at such a close range that the only way they coulg get a shot off was to dumb fire...  Dumbfire...

"Stay clear of that missile bay, people- all they have to do is count down to blow you away...  Swing right or left if you have to..."

"Whoa!" Jaden had been next in-line and swung out of the way just as the missile went out from the surface of the corvette.  "Thanks..." 

(Decide if you want to return to base- discuss in the topic of course, then meet up with some people and start takin off.  I'll finish this next time- rock on.)


-----------------------
*Flash Was Here...*

CMDR/ESN Shazam/Nazgul 1-1/Phoenix Wing/mSSD Atrus/1VENF/VEN (=A=) (=*SA*=) (=*MA*=) (=*FOCE*=) [LoM] [LSM] [VC:S] [DSM]

The trip from atmosphere back into space was a short one, spanning a little under fifteen minutes.  Once outside of the thick, misty air, the fighters felt free again so avoiding foreign debris from pirate and imperial ships a like was a breeze and kind of breathed some life back into pilots.  While they'd just gotten done engagind numerous fighters with apparent ease, there had been turmoil in their minds the entire time.  It seemed at times as if things could change for the worst without so much as a moments notice, and that played hard on the thoughts of the pilots.  Of course, the resurrection of Shazam Money was something of an anomoly as well, but no one appeared all to suprised by the nebulous miracle.

There was much to think about, Shazam decided as he gave Japheth's fighter one last role before coming into the tractor beam range of the Atrus.  Despite his frustrating understanding of the battle that had just taken place, he felt somewhat at ease by the fact that it was over...  For now.

"This is Nazgul Squadron and Venom One reporting in..." Shazam's voice must have sounded tired because the first question the bridge commander asked was-

"Have you any injuries, Nazgul or Venom?  You look to all be intact, but our sensors don't have anything on your physical being..."  The man sounded kind and Shazam wondered momentarilly who he was- he'd met most of the bridge crew by now through breif aquaintances or concistent experiences- bad or good...

"We've got one dead on board our ship," Jen announced rather crisply as if she was afraid of a harsh rejoinder from someone nearby.  A sigh could be heard through the channel and it was apparent this was a downer to the good news he'd seen so far- the pirates gone with a low level of casualties.

"Very well, pulling you in now..."  Shazam glanced at the radar then brought his eyes up to re-evaluate the carnage.  The first thing he noticed were the massive Transport-Class cruisers covered in repair crews with other small support craft sputtering and swarming around them.  Below them was the Interceptor-class cruiser, or as Shazam saw it- the mini star destroyer.  It was badly damaged...  The unerbelly appeared almost swollen frolm the blast it must have taken from the Hapan cruiser- black welts decorated it's undercarriage as if a brutal beating had taken place.  And yet, despite the disentigrated gun emplacements and the redoubtable appearence of sensors array, the light played across the bridge delicately, as if raising the cruiser up on a pedestal in triumph.

In front of them, the Atrus remained totally unharmed and shown like a beacon to the rest of the sparse attack force.  While it promised power and devestation with its actions, it appeared saddened as it launched support vessels to its downed compatriets, slowly looming past decrepit sector control craft and the remains of various craft obliterated by cannons, missiles and collisions alike.  Right now the death toll was probably being ringed up, but nothing was definete at this point- search and rescue would be aorund for the next few days and then debris collectors would come to clean up the area so that Cepany could return to its usual gleaming, orb-like appearence.  I presume you'll be remembering us now that we died for you... Shazam thought in quiet fury at the population of the small planet.  For a long time they had outwardly spoken against the rule of the VE over their sector, but maybe this would change things.  The fact that more outpost would probably set up for security purposes promised continuing commuting between the VE and Cepany.  Hopefully, over time, any distinction between the two would melt away so that those wanting a place to live would have one...  An image of a dark haired women and children sprang into his mind and he had to shake it away...  Not now...

The white light of the hanger bay was understandably awe-inspiring and rather relaxing after the tension that had built up through the battle.  The defender sat down with a soft 'thud' and a hiss escaped the pressure arm at attached the fighter to it's claw.  Shazam sighed as Art commented about the excellence of the squadron through the battle and how proud he was of them all...

There came a knock on the top hatch; the imperial rays poured along with gloved hands as it crooned melodically and opened.  As he was pulled up and out of the fighter he felt jubilation at seeing Art with one of the smuggest grins on his face that Shazam had ever seen.  Yea- definetly an imp...  The crews that had helped him out rested him on the rip of the opening and began to clap his back heartilly, the rest of Nazgul squadron just getting out of their fighters and jogging wearilly to the defender. 

"I should have known..." Art said first as the Theta-class shuttle landed last.  One crew of medical technitions reached the ramp, two men with a stretcher of tough leather.  There would be a funeral soon enough for all that died...

"You couldn't have, man- that guy was a..." Shazam presumed Art was talking about Warren Dimmias but Jack cut him off-

"You can tell us all about it later over a round of drinks man...  It's been a rough couple days- might as well sit down to," his face contorted suddenly...  "By the way...  I'm ganna be a dad."  At first there was total silence- the euphoria that was probably going to erupt after the initial suprise of everyone making it back alive seemed to die abruptly.  Then a wide smile went across Trevor's face and a dull roar began to brew as everything seemed to be leaving the pilot's minds...

"Nazgul Squadron!"  The bridge officer peirced their rambling conversations with stark energy.  His face was tight and his eyes narrowed....  Ganna have to put off the celebration for a little while he thought after climbing down the side of the defender and feeling two arms grab him from behind in a powerful embrace.  He didn't have to look back to know that the slender arms of the young woman belonged to Jen Knight- her releif was palpable as the officer continued.

"Debreifing is to be held in the mess hall instead of our usual operations room.  Also, Shazam Money," he said this one with a strange eye after thinking about the obviously made up name," and Arturus Hargraves need to report to the bridge- immedietly."

Art glanced at Shazam with an odd look- neither appeared non-plussed, seemign to know within themselves what this would be about.  The officer turned on his heels curtly and left the upper deck, his shoes chomping up the silence.  The rest of Nazgul Squadron shrugged and looked malcontent with the need for a debreifing when there was so much to celebrate.  Shazam knew for the members that had other obligations now, particularly Jack Nebulax and he supposed Darius, it was tough to run off to a dawdy room when their wives awaited.

Nazgul Squadron left, Jen Knight last after giving Shazam a quick peck on the cheek and another strong hug as well as Art a slap on the back and finally a restored and memorable, glowing grin.  Shazam and Art glanced at eachother once more, a strange cheeriniss to them at seeing eachother intact once again.  Venom One chuckled heartilly and shook his head as the two of them began to quest to the bridge.

"I really thought you were dead..." Art said it as if stuck in a state of consternation- unsure of whether to be happy or sad, so Shazam gave him yet another slap on the back.  "I mean- it's great you're back...  But...  I wanna hear this from you before anyone else..."  Art looked him in the eye with a mixture of imperial supuriority and a look of freindly right- he deserved to know all that had happened.

So, Shazam went through as much as he could about Warren Dimmais, Jen Knight and himself before reaching the bridge about ten minutes later.  They'd purposefully taken the long route rather than take a direct route by the series of lifts throughout the modified star destroyer.

The bridge itself appeared busier than ever Shazam had seen it as atleast double the usual staff bustled around with reports of anything and everything.  Shazam ended the story at the point where he was about to take a training group out but decided to go solo with Japheth's defender.  The two of them stopped at the entrance of the enamel arc of the entrance, looking down the length of the bridge to see the sollem figure of commander Japheth Cappadocious.  His hands held eachother behind his back as he stood in a perfect, imperial posture.  As their eyes ran up and down him he turned his head as if feeling their eyes on him.  As the commander turned to face them directly, his eyes blossoming even from the distance, Shazam got an eerie feeling.  The presence of so many people aboard the Atrus seemed to intensify the ominous preminition...  Japheth nodded curtly to them and the two Nazgulians moved to the commander-in-cheif with their greatest stride.  Japheth held up his hand and instead came to them, drawing them through a door to the right of the bridge- a small corridor with dim light brought them to a single door with only a small plate on the left hand side.

"Japheth Cappadocious," the commander said evenly as the door sprung open.  He waved for them to follow and the two of them poked their heads inside to get a look at a single sphere in the center.  Underneath it was a holo array board and desk in the far corner, barely visible behind the translucent hologram.

"Surely you must know by now that there has been some interesting acivity within the Navy lately..." Japheth began; his eyes were rather unnerving at close range but Shazam held his composure with pride.  "Most certainly pertaining to Warren Dimmias..."  Two chairs seemed to appear behind Shazam and Art and Japheth motioned to the seats as if to say- "surely you are tired..."

"Right now its mostly damage control we're dealing with, but its important for you to know that there is a greater threat to us then whatever harm we may have considered from Dimmias." Japheth continued.  "This is the Harjanne System and the planet is Rameis Seven.  After the initial jump from the pirate cruisers we received an emergency transmission from Kaph Squadron.  Apparently there is a conspiracy to overthrow our system and create a new force behind it!" Japheth looked slightly bemused as the two leiutenants exchanged totally bewildered looks of both worry and curiosity. 

"I'm sorry sir?" Shazam queried cautiously.  Japheth eyed him thoughtfully then said-

"The Reugrand Sovereignty appears to be the one young Dimmias has alligned himself with.  Information is slow at this point, but there is word of experimentation with clones..." Another look between the two Nazguls...  "I tell you this so that you can control rumors within your own group.  Yes, forces engaging Aegis, Kaph and Nazgul squadron jumped out at almost the exact same time- no, we don't know if there is any affiliation and no- we are not departing to meet any new threats at this time.  There shouldn't be any word of the clone facility as of yet, but if you hear word..." Japheth paused- "I presume you'll know what to do...  Also, at this time, Shazam is taking back control of Nazgul Squadron- you can take a position in the group if you wish Arturus..."

"Heh, that's alright- can't say the work is quite what I was looking for anyways..." Art appeared to be either releived or deeply in anguish because he'd slumped into his seat and began looking into the distance like he'd done at other times of carreer changing moments.

The conversation had been so short- Shazam wasn't entirelly satisified so he asked," Is there anything we should be watching out for in terms of loyalty in our groups?"  The admiral looked away momentarilly then returned his firey stare and said-

"No more than usual...  But if you feel those hairs on the back of your neck rising on end at a particular phrase or feeling- you let me know.  Traitors are not going to be harbored an any kind manner now that we've seen one of our best turn on a whim..."  He looked at both of them quietly then nodded and said-" Report to the mess hall to receive your debreifing...  There's a lot to cover..."

(OCC: So, you have your glimpse at the wing story and the truth behind the events taking place today...  Post bits and peices of the debreifing if you wish, but it will only be tactical knowledge and figures- nothing that was given to Shazam or Arturus.  After story character post is what I'm kind of looking for, but if you'd like to revert back to your previous sitations and talk a little more about them before getting back up here- that's fine.  Well done to all of those who decided to participate- we'll have winnings soon enough.  Rock On.)

-----------------------
*Flash Was Here...*

CMDR/ESN Shazam/Nazgul 1-1/Phoenix Wing/mSSD Atrus/1VENF/VEN (=A=) (=*SA*=) (=*MA*=) (=*FOCE*=) [LoM] [LSM] [VC:S] [DSM]

(OOC: I thought this story was done... are we still posting on it?)
 
-----------------------
Senior Crewman Gunnay
Nazgul 3-2
Adjutant to the Training Officer
A:TO/FM/SCRW Gunnay/Nazgul 3-2/Wing I/mSSD Atrus/1VIF/VEN/VE (=*A*=)