Cyleaf did as ordered, checking his systems quickly he got the answer he wanted, still in excellent shape. Configuring his shields to normal coverage and making sure his weapons were linked he formed up with the rest of Kaph and headed towards the shipyard.

Quickly glancing at his radar and sizing up the ships they were about to encounter, "Hey Krius, feel like capitol hunting?" Cy asked as he directed his fighter towards the forward ship, "You know it" was the eager reply. "Easy guys, we are doing this together, they are still capitol ships" Will said, Cy double clicked his com in acknowledgement.

Will, Cy, Krius, Kal and Than formed up into a staggered diamond pattern. Will took lead, Than to his right, Kal to his left and Kirus staggered down behind. This left Cyleaf about center of the formation and above. It was a sight to behold the Hawkbats were almost touching adding shielding overlaps to the other ships.

"All right Kaph, lasers followed by missiles, we are gonna streak along its side and gut it like a Bantha" Will ordered as the ships began their broadside run. Turbo lasers lanced out towards the incoming fighters, the speed of the Hawkbats made them hard targets for such a large ship. The concentrated fire from the squad pelted off the shielding making blue luminescent auras where they struck.

Cyleaf checked his readings; the shields were dropping slowly from the steady pelting. Kaph was taking some hits from lasers and a couple turbo lasers, but the overlap was handling it just fine. "Ok arm missiles, and release on my mark, the target is the bridge" Cyleaf punched in the necessary commands and waited for the reassuring lock.

"Kaph 6 has lock" "Kaph 8 also," "And 5" came his other squadmates, the computer acknowledged lock, "Kaph 3 is good to go" Cy called still firing away with his lasers. "Fire!" all five released missiles towards the bridge; it took two to tear down the remainder of the shields while the other three blow apart the bridge. Veering around they made another pass decimating the ship's already weakened state.

Cyleaf smiled as the explosions rocked through the capitol ship just as it was starting to launch extra fighters. They never made it as the ships were engulfed in the flames while exiting the hanger.

"Nice job Kaph" Will added as they prepared themselves for the fighters that were approaching. "No sweat leader" Krius chuckled Well at least he doesn't crack under fire thought Cy. That was his fear during his first battle that he himself would hesitate.

"Ok guys let Alpha and Delta take the next cap, we'll play with the fighters" "Copy that 1" Cy replied checking his shields, they were down to 65% from the pass at that capitol. Throttling up Cy sped off going head to head with an incoming x-wing. Blasting lasers at it's shielding the Zabrak veered off to the side braking hard coming up behind the fighter. Lighting up the fighter with shots he watched it explode as the fuselage took a direct hit.

Turning back towards the firefight he sped back up rejoining his team.


-----------------------
FM/PO2/Cyleaf Aehait/Kaph 1-3/Phoenix Wing/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE/(=*A*=)

The Zabrak yanked on the stick and pressed down on his right foot yoke as a red beam of light skimmed by narrowly missing his shields.  Pressing on the other peddle and pulling back sent the Hakwbat into a spinning flip trying to come in behind the pilot. Space was pretty crowded between the capitol ships, rebel fighters and the Imperials.

Coming in behind an a-wing instead of the x that has shot at him Cyleaf squeezed the trigger sending green lances towards its shields, under the constant fire its shields winked out and shortly after blew up sending debris in all directions. Cy felt his ship vibrate, looking over his shoulder he saw that same x-wing lancing into his shields.

"I got one on my tail" he called into the comms to receive a double click from someone unknown. The computer was scrolling information across the console as the trailer tried to get a missile lock, break turning hard he tried to through the other pilot off but without success. Cyleaf began punching the command to divert stored shield power from his front shields to the rear with one hand and tugging on the flight stick with the other.

"Ok 3, on my mark pull up and out to the left&.mark!" The Zabrak slammed the throttle home and did as ordered, looking to his left he saw a Hawkbat swoop down onto the x-wing from above making short work of it's shields, it was followed by a second that took out one of it's engines sending the ship spiraling into space. "Nice teamwork" Kal came over the com, "Like always" Than added. Those two are an incredible team, always doing the impossible together he thought in awe watching their flying skills.

Turning his direction towards Krius he watched the young pilot chase and x-wing firing lasers into its wake. The pilot barreled and Cy frowned as Krius shot past putting himself right into the x-wings line of fire. Veering towards them at full speed he hoped that there was time enough to help his squad mate.

What is that fool doing? He thought watching the Hawkbat speed directly towards a capitol. Kirus was dodging the incoming fire from the huge ship gaining closer with every second.I won't make it in timeCy though baring his teeth and white knuckling the control stick.

Watching as Krius put himself into a dive and streaked down towards the ship looming in front of him brought back thoughts of when he did that. Cy had barreled towards the ground trying to evade a missile and nearly lost consciousness. It was hard to just sit there and watch someone who appeared to be heading towards their death; silently he wished the kid luck with what he was trying to do.

A dim blue glow lit from below the other Hawkbat as Krius kicked in his repulsors, almost seemed to stand still. Finally the engines caught up and it rocketed away from the ship, but the x-wing wasn't so luck slamming into the capitols side making a good sized hole.

Nice move man, definitely nice move he thought turning back towards the rest of the squad as Will came over the com. "Kaph, let's go head on over to the next capitol ship, form up on my tail," "Roger that Kaph 1, Kaph 5 forming up," said Kal, his voice still strong and confident.  "Did anyone happen to see what I did over there?" Krius asked, his voice ringing with excitement. All Cyleaf could do was nod to himself I did Krius he thought and I'll congratulate you when we get home .

 
-----------------------
FM/PO2/Cyleaf Aehait/Kaph 1-3/Phoenix Wing/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE/(=*A*=)

Kal locked his laser cannons to the turbolaser, when suddenly his fighter began to shake. He took a quick look around the back port to see a see a black coloured x-wing in pursuit. "Pull of your attack, now!" he said, pulling up. "Flight two to all Kaphs! We're being assaulted by Sensor-Masked fighters! Requesting immediate assistance, over!"

"Negative five, we've got our own attackers to worry about. I'm sorry, we cant assist." Said Will. Kal sighed, then looked around through his visuals to locate the fighter again.

"Alright guys, this is going to be one rough fight. We cant establish targeting locks easily, nor can we see them on our sensor displays. Use your eyes, try and wound them with manual fire. A good hit or two should at least damage their masks or give us a solid heat signal to track our missile's with." The pilot said, catching a glimpse of one of the fighters closing in behind him. He barrel rolled, allowing the fighter to overshoot him. He sent a volley at the x-wing, causing a small fire near the engines. He seemed to have hit the sensor masks, because suddenly the ship came alive on his radar. The X-wing broke away.

"Form up guys, their splitting us up. We're heavily outnumbered, if we don't stick together we're going to get fried here." Kal said, and they formed up into a three man wing.

"Kal, we cant hold out against this much fire!" Than said. Kal knew it was true, but they didn't really have another choice. They destroyed one fighter, but the other eleven were taking turns rushing them, and they could only do so much to evade.

This is it... Kal thought to himself. This is were I'm going to die... Why now? I know that flying a starfighter puts you in a situation were you can die at any time, but why this particular fight? He closed his eyes. Their shields were all low, and there was no way they could survive the next barrage of fire.

"Kaph five, this is alpha squadron moving in to assist!" Alpha leader said. Kal sighed with relief, remembering that Alpha had joined their assault on the corvette, but had been separated by enemy fighters. The black X-wings broke off their assault as alpha squadron opened fire on their position.

"Thanks for the assist Alpha squadron." Kal said. He watched as suddenly Than shot forward, sending a blast of lethal energy into the turbolaser, which was now once more intent on destroying them. The weapon burst into a cloud of flames, shards of durasteel flying out into empty space.

"Nice Kill Than!" Krius said, beginning to fire upon vital areas of the ships hall. Kal went about this too.

"Well, it looks like we're in the clear now, lets get this corvette fried!" Kal said, target locking onto a sensor output array and firing a few laser shots towards it.

That was close... I guess its not our time to die yet after all.


For those of you who are crying injustice, Art changed the rule to 8 hours (or thats what he told me).


-----------------------
|FL/CPO_Demonic/Kaph 5/PheonixWing/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE| (=*A*=)(=*SA*=)(VC:B)
100% on both Exams, looking good.
Demonic = Darr-Rann
Kaph 2nd flight leader

"Alright Kaph, let's go give'em hell. I want flight two to hit them from the left, and flight one will get them from the right, over and out." Will said.

This should be easy. The five X-Wing's had made the biggest mistake of there lives. They were picking a fight with the wrong squadron, at the wrong time. Krius quickly spread his shields evenly around his Hawkbat, and made sure all systems were fully operational. His Hawkbat had taken no damage in the battle so far, and he was doing pretty well for his first mission. Now all Krius had to do was survive and make sure his fellow squadron mates made it out alive.

"Prepare to engage the fighters," Demonic said over the Intercom.

Krius clicked two times on the Intercom, signaling that he was good to go. "Kaph 7 to Kaph 5 and 6. I just wanted to let you guy's know that the fighter on the far left is mine. Don't you dare take my kill, over and out."

Krius started playing with the nobs; he didn't want to take to long with this fighter, so he decided to try and get a lock instead. When the fighters noticed there approach, they broke formation, forcing Krius to break off the lock. Krius put the throttle to max, the sudden change in speed pushing Krius into his seat. The fighter tried to Barrel Roll, making its loops as big as possible, but the only thing it did was break off Krius's line of fire. The X-Wing Break Turned port, with Krius right on its tail. "You're not getting anywhere buddy," Krius cut through his turn, and let off three shots of linked canon fire right into its flight path. The shot's hit, decimating the fighter's shields. The X-Wing quickly pulled up and pulled off a full spin on its way up. Krius followed the fighter who was trying to pull off and Immelman, but before it could complete its loop to invert, Krius started ripping shot's at the fighter. Krius watched as the green lightning bolts pounded into the fighters engines, which seconds later turned into an inferno of twisted metal and fire.

"That's another one for me," Krius said with a cocky grin. Krius relaxed his grip on the Control Yoke, letting the satisfaction of another kill take over him. Unfortunately for Krius, his satisfaction was cut short as new orders came over the Intercom.

"Kaph, let's head on over to the engines and blow this piece of shit to hell," Will said, a bit of excitement creeping into his voice.

Krius eased the stick to port when they passed the engines, taking them around in a loop and coming face to face with the engines of the Corvette. "This is it you guy's, on my mark, I want you to fire one missile into its engine tubes."

This is gonna be awesome! Krius's hands started trembling from the excitement that was building up inside of him. They would have no resistance what so ever, a clean kill.

"FIRE!" Will shouted into the Intercom.

Will let his missile fly, which was closely followed by Krius's and the rest of Kaph. The missiles blew up on impact, followed by the huge explosion of the engines on the Corvette, spreading from the back of the ship to the front. It was a spectacular site, one that Krius wouldn't forget any time soon. "Good job Kaph, let's head on over to the next capitol ship." Will said, the sound of a approval in his voice.

 
-----------------------
KaphSquadron
FM/ LCR Krius/ Kaph 8/ Wing 2/ mSSD Atrus/ Pheonix Wing/ VEN/ VE/ (=A=)
Krius=Leon

"Thanks 6, I owe you. I thought I was a goner there," Krius said with a relieved tone. Sweat could be felt pouring down his face, a mix of heat and nervousness. Thing's were starting to get really heated, and fast. Fighters could be seen zipping around the view port, a couple exploding every once I a while. Krius looked down at his diagnostics screen; he only had major damage to his shields, which were at 20%. Krius returned his gaze to the heated battle, a flight of enemy X-Wings could be seen meeting up with two other stray X-Wings. I don't want to give them a chance to regroup, better head on over there and give'em hell.

"Kaph 7 to Kaph leader, there's a flight of enemy fighters that are picking up there strays, should we engage?" Krius asked, eager to jump into the battle.

"That's an all green 7. Cyleaf, Krius, form up on my left flank, and I want Kal, and Than to form up on my right."

Krius signaled an affirmative, by letting off two clicks. He quickly brought his Hawkbat to the right of Cy's, who was on the right of Will's Hawkbat.

"Look's like you're my wingman now 7, glad to have ya," The Zabrak said, his voice somewhat cheerful. Krius enjoyed Cy, he was by far one of the nicest people in the squadron, and was an excellent fighter pilot.

"Same here 4, let's show those Rebels what were made of," Krius replied.

Krius eased the stick back so he could level out perfectly with Cyleaf, he wanted everything to be perfect. Krius followed suit as they turned Starboard, ending up on the enemy group's tail. Will let out three bursts of linked canon fire that tore the enemy's shields apart before break turning port. The rest of Kaph engaged the enemy fighters, unloading a volley of lethal energy.

Krius followed the enemy fighter who was putting up one hell of a fight. Krius could barely keep up with the enemy fighter who was constantly jerking up and down. "Stop moving you bastard!" Krius screamed, his anger getting to him. The next thing Krius new, his fighter was getting pounded from the back and his shields were gone. "This is Kaph 7, my shields are gone, I need help bad!" Krius shouted over the intercom, and to his relief Cyleaf came, his canons blazing. The X-Wing managed to get in one more shot, which skimmed Krius's Hawkbat's starboard wing. For a second, Krius started to panic but then quickly regained his cool.

Its just a scratch. And in fact it was, nothing bad had happened to his starboard wing, just a black mark on the edge of his wing. Krius reached over to the right of the control panel and transferred some of his canon energy back to his shield energy, bringing it from 0% to 25%. "Good I got that fixed now all I go-" The missile lock alarms went off in Krius's cockpit. Flashes of red and beeps from his consol started going nuts. Krius began a dive, pushing his Hawkbat to the limit, but the missile kept up with his fighter.

"Oh shit," Krius said as he pulled the control stick, making it touch his chest. His fighter leveled out, and Krius slammed the right rudder pedal and pulled the control stick to port. The sudden change in direction threw Krius forward smashing him into the straps that held him down, causing a huge pain to spread through out his chest. Krius quickly followed the sharp turn with a very wide Barrel Roll, causing the missile to fall off his tail, not being able to follow the two fast maneuvers.

"Glad that's over," Krius said aloud to himself.

"Kaph, we got to take out this gunboat, let's try and do as much damage as we can to it on this run. Form up on me, and I'll come up with a plan, just give me a sec."

Krius wasn't too happy to be making an attack run on a Gun Boat that was fully operational. It was suicidal. But then again, when am I not suicidal? Krius thought to himself, a grin once again spreading across his face.


-----------------------
KaphSquadron
FM/ LCR Krius/ Kaph 8/ Wing 2/ mSSD Atrus/ Pheonix Wing/ VEN/ VE/ (=A=)
Krius=Leon

Updated
 
-----------------------
WAJ/2LT Corran "Arturus" Hargraves/M-SSD Atrus/VE/VEN/(=A=)(=SA=)(=*MA*=)(=JCPA=)(=SCPA=)[MC:1](x2)[SV][BRC][VC:B][LSM][LoC]


"The way of war is a way of deception. When able, feign inability; when deploying troops, appear not to be. When near, appear far; when far, appear near. Lure with bait; strike with chaos. If the enemy is full, be prepared. If strong, avoid him. If he is angry, disconcert him. If he is weak, stir him to pride. If he is relaxed, harry him; if his men are harmonious, split them. Attack where he is unprepared; appear where you are unexpected. This is victory in warfare; it cannot be divulged in advance. Victory belongs to the side that scores most in the temple calculations before battle. Most spells victory; least spells defeat; none, surer defeat. I see it in this way, and the outcome is apparent." -- Sun Tzu

"Ultimate excellence lies not in winning every battle but in defeating the enemy without ever fighting." -- Sun Tzu

"Sorry, some rebels wanted me to come out and play.  Joining you now," the newly arrived pilot said.

According to Will the new pilot had actually been in Kaph before, he had just been on really long leave.  It must have been quite some time considering that Sion had joined the Vast Imperial Navy and had ended up two ranks ahead of Scout in his absence.  I wonder what had kept him so long, thought Sion.  He seems to be a good pilot, though, considering the show he just performed.

"Damn, more fighters," said Kal.

"They keep on coming like flies on a rotting piece of meat," replied Sion.

A fresh squadron of A-Wings had come in to reinforce the battle fatigued NR fighters.

Than Sion went head on with the enemy fighters, hoping some of the other TIEs would catch on.  A faction of Alpha and Demonic got the picture, lining up along either side of him.  When they came with in firing range of the enemy fighters, they let missiles and bolts of energy loose taking advantage of the poor shields and laser cannons on the A-Wings.  They successfully destroyed about half of the squadron and half of the survivors took damage.

"Five," said Demonic, "what would you have done if we didn't  catch on?"

"Hopefully I would have aborted my lone charge before it was too late," replied Sion.

Kal let out a short laugh and then it was back to business.  Sion caught one of the injured A-Wings making an attempt to limp away.  He got behind the A-Wing, it had only one functioning engine, and blasted it to pieces mercilessly.

The mixed group of Kaph and Alpha moped up many of the remaining fighters,  they now had a clean shot at the Gunboat.

Wow that is a lot of guns for a ship its size, thought Than.  Eight standard turbo laser batteries, 6 quad lasers, and 4 missile tubes, I wouldn't want to be going up against that thing alone.

"Ok Kaph and Alpha," said Will, "Let's drop this Corellian jack hammer's shields and turn it into scrap metal!!!"

This reminded Sion of something...

"Damn, can't this piece of scrap metal go any faster," Jak had said.

"It's a Lambda, not a two man fighter." Than had replied.  "Don't worry about my flying, you just keep on taking down bogies with that tail."

It was after his ill fated vacation back to his home world of Kazaar after the Academy.  He had escaped with the help of a mysterious human (who he found out later his name was Jak, but he went by Shadow.)  They had hijacked a Lambda Class Shuttle and were now being chased by two A-Wings and a craft that Sion couldn't identify but dubbed it "dark star" after its shape and color.

The problem was that the Dark Star ship somehow had the ability to temporarily generate a strong, consistent  laser beam from the huge cannons on the wing tips.  As far as he could tell from then, they both thought they were going to die.  Sion had somehow evaded destruction and made the jump to hyperspace.  The term "scrap metal" ever since had always gave him shivers from the memory of that event. 
   

 
-----------------------
FM/CPO Than Sion/Kaph 6/Wing 1/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE(=A=)(=*SA*=)[MC:1]
I must have the power of the force, Trix lost three games due to early eight balls in pool.  

Krius Snap Rolled port, and quickly followed up with a dummy shot. The missile made impact with the gunboats forward shields, but the damage was minimal. "Krius watch out!" Cyleaf screamed over the Intercom. Krius had managed to dodge the Turbo Laser Battery blast that was aimed directly at him.

"Thanks 4, that was a close one," Krius said, letting out a sigh of relief after.

This reminded him of something familiar that happened in a fight he had a long time ago.

"Krius watch that jab!" Kuar the Twi'lek screamed. Krius ducked just in time, the jab flying straight over his head. He was losing the fight, every hit bringing him closer to unconsciousness. Krius backed off, trying to zone everything out, but it was hard. His opponent was setting the rhythm now, controlling Krius's moves, and pushing him towards the ropes. If Krius didn't do something quick, it would all be over now.

"Krius don't let him back you into the ropes! C'mon you gotta move!" Kuar screamed again. Krius looked over at his coach for a brief second, a look of worry in his eyes. His coach had been through a lot with Krius, and had made many sacrifices to let him fight.

"I won't let you down," Krius said to himself, but it sounded like a jumble of words through the mouth piece. Krius quickly started switching stances, no longer aware of his fatigue. It was Krius's turn to set the rhythm, he didn't like being controlled and wasn't going to back down now.

Krius almost seemed like he was dancing, swiftly dodging punches and managing to land one here and there. His opponent was faltering; the aggressive pace that Krius had set throwing him off balance, no longer being able to stay on the offensive. Krius took this to his advantage and started throwing more punches, most of them were blocked, but Krius was slowly backing him into the ropes. Krius let out a half toothed grin, angering his opponent who started throwing reckless punches. Krius saw an opening and shot a jab straight through the middle, nailing the opponent square in the forehead. The big man stumbled back, the lights becoming a blur.

As soon as he hit the ropes, Krius was on him, viciously throwing punches into his face. Krius new that the man didn't stand a chance now; there was no way he would get through this fight. The ending blow was a great one, and one that would always be remembered. It was just how Krius pictured it, his opponent on the ropes trying to get away from the flurry of punches, trying to duck and swerve out of the way but just meeting more blows. And he would end it with a left hook, smashing it right into the side of his face.

And that was exactly how it ended. Krius threw the left hook, the impact of leather against skin making a thud come out from the collision. The man fell, his feet breaking from underneath him, he tried to grab onto the ropes but he missed and fell flat on his face. He got up, a sign of determination still in him, but stumbled back onto the ropes. Krius had to throw one more blow in to make sure he was down, and landed another jab straight into his nose, knocking the man down once more.

This time, he wouldn't get back up. The Referee started counting to ten, each number sounding better then the last. When the Ref got to ten Krius shot his left arm up into the air, the crowd going nuts and his coach jumping into the arena. Krius let the moment soak in, there was nothing better then a hard earned fight.

Another Quad Laser rocked Krius's Hawkbat. Krius snap rolled starboard and stuck on Kal's tail. They were making one more run before the Gunboats shields were out. "Just hang on a bit more 7, when I fire follow it up with your missile," Kal said, sounding like he was under major stress.

Krius swerved around the oncoming shots, just like how he had swerved around those punches. They would make the huge blow now, in a matter of seconds its guard would be broken, and the enemy Gunboat would be pinned down on the ropes. Kal let his missile fly, which was shortly followed by Krius's. Kal's missile hit, the shields turning a blood red, Krius's missile hit shortly afterwards and the explosion ripped open the shields. Just like boxing

 
-----------------------
KaphSquadron
FM/ LCR Krius/ Kaph 8/ Wing 2/ mSSD Atrus/ Pheonix Wing/ VEN/ VE/ (=A=)
Krius=Leon

"The gunboat is limping now," Willtconq said, "Lets finish this thing off and get on with the mission!" The quadlasers were becoming more of a problem now. The fighters had not been troubled a lot with the larger turbolasers, but the quadlasers, which had been designed for anti-fighter protection, were being more of a problem. Already, the star fighters had lost a few of their numbers to the deadly rapid-firing lasers.

"Another engine assault looks like a good idea, but the back and is pretty well defended. Flight two, Delta, Gamma, Try and damage some of the weapons. Beta, Alpha, you come with flight one, we'll hit the engines soon as it is vulnerable.

"Roger that Kaph leader. Alright guys, form up on my wing, lets take out those guns! Try and hit all the quad and turbolasers that you can manage, to make their run easier." He saw Willtconq's team heading away from the engines, gaining some distance for their run.

"Alright guys, go!" He said, speeding forward towards the weaponry near the back of the ship, laser cannons blazing. The others followed, each targeting a few weapons. A Delta fighter and two Gamma fighters were torn apart by quadlasers, but they managed to cause some serious damage to the enemy weaponry. Not enough though. Kal watched to see Willtconq's team was at the halfway point. "Quick, another run!"

They attacked the weaponry again, causing a bit more damage this time. They lost another fighter from gamma and from Delta. Willtconq's team had now made the loop around, and were heading towards the gunboat. Suddenly, Than noticed something.

"The medical supply ships! Three of them have broken away from the dreadnaught, their going to try and get a clear spot to make a jump to hyperspace!" The pilot said.

Willtconq broke off. "That's one of our primary objectives, Kal, take your flight and intercept those cargo ships! We'll follow once we've dealt with the gunboat.

Kal and his flight flew towards the cargo ships, in attempt to prevent them from escaping. Will's team closed in upon the the engines of the gunboat. "Fire missiles into the ion engines in the back, lets wreck this thing."

They targeted the ship, firing a set of concussion missiles. They struck the gunboat, which suddenly began to shake violently as its engines tore apart. Small explosions ripped open various points of the ships hall, and a few escape pods could be seen launching from the ship. Suddenly in a huge bust of flame the ship was gone, all that remained being small fragments and dust. Willtconq turned his fighter around in the direction of the escaping ship.

"Kaph five, this is kaph leader, we're moving to reinforce your assault." Willtconq said. His flight, along with Alpha and Beta, followed him.

"Roger that Kaph leader." Said Kal, who was now drawing near the cargo ships. "They've nearly hit a clear spot, fire on their engines now! Gamma flights one and two, take the closest one. Beta flights one and two, take the middle one. Everyone else, join up with my flight and we'll hit the furthest one."

The susess of this mission depends on this. We cant let those guys jump.

 
-----------------------
|FL/CPO_Demonic/Kaph 5/PheonixWing/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE| (=*A*=)(=*SA*=)(VC:B)
100% on both Exams, looking good.
Demonic = Darr-Rann
Kaph 2nd flight leader

"Um, guys, that thing is huge," Krius's jaw dropped.  "What is it?"

"That, Krius, is a Golan gun platform, mark II: thirty-five turbolasers, ten torpedo launchers, and eight tractor beam projectors.  That would make short work of any small ships that passed within range.  The dreadnaught would be ripped apart within ten minutes of a confrontation with one of them.  It's our job to destroy it."  Scout answered him.  Damn.  It was big.  There were supposed to be two more of them somewhere, and he just hoped that they weren't anywhere nearby.  It would be tough to get this one, much less two others.  "I think that we need something bigger than missiles to bring the platform."

"Good thinking, Scout.  Kaph, report back to the dreadnought to refit for rockets.  It's just a quick in-and-out pit stop.  We need to take it out."  As it was, the platform was taking pot-shots at the Dark Shadow with its turbolasers, and torpedoes streaked inward at the dreadnaught, barely being taken down by the gunners before smashing into the diminishing shielding.

Scout abruptly stopped, rolled hard port, and fired a few missiles at the pursuing A-wing.  Might as well use them, since we're getting refitted anyway.  The interceptor tried to dodge but only succeeded in shaking one, getting smashed in the engines by the other, lamed and easily dispatched. So much for their jammers.  He must have been drawing power off it to try to keep up with us in speed.

Back in the hangar, Scout took a drink from the cooler beside him.  He used the fighter for long trips on his own, so it was there to stow away food and beverages.  Eating and drinking were too dangerous in the riggors of battle, aside from losing his life-support systems in the his suit when he removed the helmet to drink.  The cool liquid slid down his throat.  It was just one of those sundrops or whatnot, nothing mind-altering, for now.  His friend, Chipmunk, had introduced him to those, so long ago.  Whatever became of the guy?  He tipped the can back to get the very last of the swee liquid inside and crushed it, dropping it into a storage compartment he used for his refuse.  It was refreshing, and he needed something, glad that he was flying his personal hawkbat, instead of a squad-issued fighter.

Click, clang, and a hissing sound;  the refit was done.  His missile launchers were replaced for some expanded rocket launchers, carrying a whopping payload of four.  This would be a tough job.  They would have to synchronise the attack,  the station at almost the same instant, piercing the shields under the suddent impact and breaking through the hull.  Time was essential.  The dreadnaught couldn't hold its position much longer.

"Hey, guys, I think that we need to come up on the platform planetside so that we avoid some of its heavier armament and try to punch a hole through its underside.  It might work if we all hit it at the same time in the same place."  Scout said as they took off, one by one from the hangar.

"Sounds like a sound plan."  Than Sion said, and the rest of the squadron chimed in agreement.

"Well, a hammer blow from the underside, it is," Will commanded, as they formed up into a pair of V's.  "Full throttle, Kaph squadron, we need to get in past the guns as soon as possible.  Alpha, Delta, and Gamma are holding off the bulk of the fighters, still.  Beta is coming with us for support, drawing off fire and keeping lasers trained on the shields, at least keeping a little bit of strain on the stations generators."

"Got it, sir,"  Scout reported in.  The squadron sped off, he at Will's port and Cyleaf at Will's starboard side. 137 mglt.  It doesn't seem fast, at least, it doesn't when you're on approach toward a giant station more than 10 kilometers away, and you're trying to get in past it's guns.  Nothing is fast enough, then, not when you need to avoid deadly shafts of energy traveling at you at three-hundred million meters per second, any one of which could very quickly give you a view of the afterlife if it caught you.

Minutes later, the two flights came under fire from the slew of batteries on the gun platform.  "Kaph, take evasive.  Flight one, come with me.  Demonic, take flight two around the other side.  We'll meet up in the middle and try to take this thing out.  Target shield generation units in the middle.  With luck, we may just come out of this alive," said Will.  This would be a tough one.

-----------------------
Hello.
Some guy who plays clarinet.  What a loser.


FM/PO2 scout/Kaph 1-4/PheonixWing/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE

Krius started to click his teeth together, a nervous habit that was beginning to get worse and worse. The attack they were about to make was suicidal, the odds of surviving a raid like this were slim, let alone the fact that they had to go up against two more. Krius closed his eyes and said a prayer to himself and with new found determination opened his eyes. The massive gun platform was only a few miles away and in a matter of seconds they would be under fire.

"Prepare for evasive maneuvers, this is gonna be ruff," Demonic said.

"Copy that Flight leader," Krius replied, his voice filled with confidence.

Just like that fight I was gonna have, I was never more nervous in my life. Krius thought to himself, a flash of that day coming back to him.

It was the end of round three, Krius's opponent was winning by a long shot. "I don't wanna fight Kuar, I'm out of it." Krius said, barely able to get the words out from the pain he was in.

"Shut up Krius, don't talk like that. I've seen you come back from matches like this, what's so different about this one!?" Kuar said while pouring some water in Krius's mouth.

Krius just sat there for a second; his coaches face a blur, and the blending of colors swirling around. "I'm too weak for him Kuar. Look how big he is, he shouldn't even be fighting against someone in my weight class. What the hell were they&"

Kuar cut Krius off with a sharp slap. "Don't make excuses boy! You know you can beat him, so stop making excuses and fight!" Kuar screamed while helping Krius up and pushing him in the center of the ring.

After the two fighters touched gloves, Krius backed off. The man was a good three inches taller then him and at least weighed six more pounds. Krius's left eye was almost swollen shut, and a cut rested above his left eyebrow. He quickly tried to regain focus, while backing away from his opponent. Angry cheers could be heard from the crowd, but Krius new what he was doing. After a few seconds Krius stopped backing off, his focus regained, and his anger pressing him forward.

Krius took two small steps forward, and his opponent attacked with a jab. It seemed like it was coming in slow motion to Krius, who quickly ducked around the punch and let loose two jabs straight into the man's jaw. The crowd cheered; there spirits aroused from the sudden come back. Krius's confidence slowly rose with the crowds cheers. His opponent no longer had a cocky smirk, but now a determined expression, unfortunately for him, it wouldn't get him anywhere.

Krius began bouncing around, left to right, and right to left. His opponent slowly backed off, seeing the fire burning brightly in Krius's eyes again.

"Alright this is it," Than said over the intercom as they met the approaching blasts from the Turbo Lasers. A smirk came across Krius's face; he felt exactly how he had on that day.

 
-----------------------
KaphSquadron
FM/ LCR Krius/ Kaph 8/ Wing 2/ mSSD Atrus/ Pheonix Wing/ VEN/ VE/ (=A=)
Krius=Leon

We nearly had it! Kal thought, turning his fighter off to make another run.

"Damn, we didn't get the shields down with that blast. On second run, dump the entire remainder of your payload and give it some high-energy cannon blasts. If we give it everything we've got we might be able to get this thing cracked open," Willtconq said, "Gamma, stand by for assault on shield generators. Alpha, Beta, Delta, keep any fighters away from us. We have enough to worry about with the Golem trying to reduce us to atomic dust."

They turned around speeding towards the Golem at high velocity. Kal armed his missiles, targeting what looked like would be a particularly vulnerable section. He then increased the power to his laser cannons, drawing away power from non-essential functions. Well, this should be fun. He thought. He couldn't believe it. He had been in the navy less in a year in total, and he was a Chief Petty Officer, and a flight leader. He was in one of the most elite squadrons in the imperial navy. And now he was fighting against one of the most legendary defensive systems in the world. Life sure is interesting.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was getting near to the end of the race. Kal, along with two others, were in the lead. Everyone else had dropped behind to try to avoid crashing or had already crashed attempting to take the lead. Kal couldn't believe it. He actually had a chance to win this thing.

"Kal, slow down! If you thought the race was tough before, wait until you hit death's leap. There is a one quarter success rate on that thing, I don't want you getting hurt. Take the side route."

"But if I take the side route, I'll lose the race for sure! Its only a jump." Kal said. He didn't want to give up. He couldn't give up.

"Kal, dammit, why did you pick now of all times to start rebelling against authority? You don't need to prove anything to us, you've already shown you have racing talent. Please." Ben said. Kal felt a little guilty for disobeying him.

"Its not that. I just& I dunno, I have to do this for some reason. I just have to." He said. He could see the the death's leap ahead. Formerly, there had been a speeder junction from the ground level to the mid level of Coronet. But when the Republic police took over, they decided it would be easier to simply disconnect the two levels then deal with the crime of the ground level.

They had left the ramp, but removed the platform it connected to. The ramp soured high in the air, over most of the track. There was a second ramp on the end, which the riders had to hit and race down. The finish line was only a short time after that. He closed in on the ramp&

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They closed in on the golem platform. "Fire all guns now"! Willtconq ordered, firing his payload. Rockets soured ahead of the hawkbats, followed by a volley of laser fire. A huge fiery bust tore open the shields, burning a gaping hole into the hull of the station. "Gamma, move!" Willtconq said.

Gamma squadron increased speed, flying towards the shield generators. The Golem focused it's fire upon the squadron, but it was too late. The shield generators exploded violently. Gamma came away with only a few casualties.

"Lets kill this thing!" Willtconq said, turning around for another run.

 
-----------------------
|FL/CPO_Demonic/Kaph 5/PheonixWing/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE| (=*A*=)(=*SA*=)(VC:B)
100% on both Exams, looking good.
Demonic = Darr-Rann
Kaph 2nd flight leader

*Earlier*
Another blue contact appeared on Cyleaf's radar, though the rest were already identified this one hadn't. The only thing his radar had was that it was another Hawkbat. Probably someone new he thought just as the fighter began to broadcast on the Kaph channel.

"Kaph 3 awaiting orders, Will. It's good to be back." "It's good to have you back, scout. Join up with the rest of the guys. We've got one gunboat left to blow."

The Zabrak raised and eyebrow and chimed in on his mic "Who's the new guy?" he asked and abruptly jerked the control stick dodging space debris that had appeared out of nowhere, he let out a sighalmost had me there. "This, Kaph Squadron, is Scout. He's been around longer than I can remember, though he's been on extended leave." Will replied.

Cy smiled to himself, he wasn't one to turn down good help and this pilot must have been either brave or crazy to fly out in the middle of a pitched battled. Hopefully both. Kaph mopped up the rest of the fighters in the immediate area and turned their attention to the gunboat ahead, this was a fighter's nightmare.

"Ok Kaph and Alpha," said Will, "Let's drop this Corellian jack hammer's shields and turn it into scrap metal!!!" Adjusting his position to form up on Will's left putting Scout on the right, checking to make sure his lasers were linked Cy began to pelt the shields along with the others. That got the ships attention real fast.

The gunboat lanced out with turbo laser fire, easily dodged by the Hawkbats, but those roaring quad lasers proved another story. "Krius watch out!" Cyleaf screamed over the helmet com, as a big stream of red laser blasted through where the younger pilot was, what were you thinking, pay attention he thought, though Cy should follow his own advice as a shot from the quad hit him directly in the shields jerking him hard.

Thank god for those babies he thought referring to his shields as they held from that last his hit, launching a missile he watched as it screamed through where the shields used to be and into one of the quad batteries, a lucky hit. The overwhelming assault brought down the shields and now the boat was taking some serious damage, but as usual it's guns still barked.

"The gunboat is limping now," Willtconq said, "Lets finish this thing off and get on with the mission!" "Another engine assault looks like a good idea, but the back and is pretty well defended. Flight two, Delta, Gamma, Try and damage some of the weapons. Beta, Alpha, you come with flight one, we'll hit the engines soon as it is vulnerable.

The Zabrak double clicked his mic and assumed the regular formation on  Will with Scout. The new pilot proved to be exceptional and was fitting in just perfectly with the squad. As the Hawkbats screamed toward the engines occasionally barrel rolling to avoid incoming fire they shot out past and continued into space. "Ok boys we are going to get us some distance and come in firing, don't be afraid to let loose some of them missiles. Cy nodded to Will's words though it might seem foolish cause he couldn't see him. Realizing he still had some info to share he called out over the comms, "I believe that some of those A-Wings have targeting jammers."

As things were starting to go good Than noticed something that put a hurry into the squad, "The medical supply ships! Three of them have broken away from the dreadnaught, their going to try and get to a clear spot to make a jump to hyperspace!" "That's one of our primary objectives, Kal, take your flight and intercept those cargo ships! We'll follow once we've dealt with the gunboat," said Will.

"Let's turn around and give it hell!" pressing his foot peddle and pulling up on the stick Cy followed the others turning in a loop and vectoring in on it's engines. The Hawkbats were at full sublight and closing fast, the diminished laser fire that greeted them meant that Demonic and his flight had been doing their jobs. Punching commands into his computer to take the guidance of the missiles that would lock onto something he positioned himself at a good spot, well hopefully.

The Zabrak let loose with his hail of green death and watched as it made little tiny explosions off to the side on one engine, while turning slightly and hitting the firing control two missiles were away towards the engine itself. "Pull up" Will called as the flight veered up and over the gunboat, which began to erupt in explosions. When we put all of Kaph's pilots to something it goes Kaboom Cy thought admiring his Squadron.

"Confirmed kill on the far craft," yelled Demonic. "The other two craft are also down," said Will. Flight one had engaged them after tearing apart the Gunboat, Will destroying one and Scout getting credit for the other. Now it was time to assault the orbital space station.

As Kaph formed back up into their flights and proceeded towards the large looming figure Alpha, Beta, and Gamma joined. Though Kaph hadn't lost anyone so far, it was the other flights that had taken the losses, it was almost spread evenly.

The platform loomed closer, it sent a chill down his spine even before Scout made it worse. "Um, guys, that thing is huge," Krius's jaw dropped. "What is it?" "That, Krius, is a Golan gun platform, mark II: thirty-five turbolasers, ten torpedo launchers, and eight tractor beam projectors. That would make short work of any small ships that passed within range. The dreadnaught would be ripped apart within ten minutes of a confrontation with one of them. It's our job to destroy it."

All Cy could do was gulp, his mouth suddenly had gone dry. And just how are we, three squads of fighters supposed to do just that? his mind was racing. Scout was just ordered to go refit with rockets and the game plan had changed to assaulting it from beneath and planet side. Fun Fun.

After what felt like an eternity, but realistically would be hard to count Scout returned with the new armament, "Got it, sir," the other had said as he took Will's left and Cy stationed himself on the right. Though he wasn't religious he thought it might be a good time to pray to some god somewhere as this was going to be the hardest thing he has done yet.

Flying towards the massive platform of what seemed to be only metal and weapons the Imperial force got the greeting of a lifetime. It opened up fire with it's massive turbo lasers, sending red beams of death the fighters way.

"Kaph, take evasive. Flight one, come with me. Demonic, take flight two around the other side. We'll meet up in the middle and try to take this thing out. Target shield generation units in the middle. With luck, we may just come out of this alive," Will called, his squadron obeyed without hesitation. Dodging large laser fire Cy let loose with his own lasers though tiny in comparison, watching as they impacted the shield with blue light and were easily dispersed.

This isn't going to be good he thought as Will again issued orders. "Ok, everybody fire NOW!!!" yelled Willtcong and Cyleaf did just that, missile after missile jettisoned from all the fighters as the kept up a steady salvo of laser fire. But it was to no avail, the giant shield has withstood the entire assault.

Will issued another order to regroup and fire everything they all had while gamma went after the generators. Cy just shrugged, Why not, I'm not one to disobey orders he smiled cause this was starting to get fun.

The whole company of fighters returned back towards the platform on their second assault, it was enough trying to dodge the huge amount of fire from the platform but add fighters into it and the chances of success were slowly dropping.  But Will had all the bases covered, assigning Alpha, Beta and Delta to fighter detail. That was another good thing about Kaph, it the Commander didn't have something covered someone else did, they were always thinking on their feet, or well their engines.

This second salvo got the desired results as each fighter unleashed all it's missiles, rockets and constant barrage of linked cannon fire. It burned a big gaping hole in the shields, "Gamma, move!" Willtconq said to the standby fighters.

The Gamma squad flew bravely inside as the platform began to target them as the most immanent threat. They took a few casualties before taking out the shield generators, "Nice flying Gamma" Cy commended them just before Will issued the advance, "Lets kill this thing!" Willtconq said, and they turned around for another run.

 
-----------------------
FM/PO2/Cyleaf Aehait/Kaph 1-3/Phoenix Wing/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE/(=*A*=)

Kal swore as the edge of a quadlaser blast scraped the side of his hawkbat. "We have to deal with this thing, and quick. We aren't going to be able to hold out against this many guns for long." He said, wrecking a quadlaser with a few shots from his TIE's laser cannons.

"Do you guys remember the diagnostics we had of the station? Do you remember were the energy connects to the weapon batteries? Hit those spots, it'll deal with it a lot faster. It should be easy to get to if you focus your fire on the plating." Willtconq said. Kal looked at the ship, trying to remember where the lines were located.

"Alright, flight two, focus your fire on the target I just marked." Kal said, targeting a section of the Golem. He, Than, and Krius focused their fire, scorching the plate. Suddenly the target was visible. "Okay, hit that wiring!" The flight leader said, firing. The beams cut the wire, small explosions shattering out shards of metal into space. A few cannons above came offline.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kal increased speed as he got higher and higher on the ramp. The other two had followed him, and they were also increasing speed. One of them in particular was getting closer. He closed in on the ramp. The race was now down to the point were the speed and time in which they each hit the ramp would decide the victor.

Kal let his speeder reach maximum speed. He and the closer racer hit about at the same time, and a moment later the other hit. They flew through the air. Kal looked down to see the ground was a long distance under him.  He wasn't sure if he'd make the platform&

He landed at the edge of the platform, then sped down the ramp at high velocity. The other racer landed a moment later, hot on his heels. The third wasn't so lucky however, and he crashed into the back of the platform, managing to grab on to the edge of the the platform and pulling himself up as his speeder bike fell and crashed to the groud below.

Kal closed and the other racer closed in on the finish line. Kal could see Ben and the others up ahead, along with a large crowd of other spectators. It was anyone's race now, they crossed the finish line&

"Kal of the Demonic is the winner! Amazing! The first-time substitute wins the suicide circuit over the veteran Kayla DeCel of the Legendary! Truly unbelievable&"

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kal barrel rolled to one side to avoid a concentration of turbolaser fire. He fired back at the battery, destroying one of the weapons.

"We're making progress guys," Said Willtconq, "If we keep this up this thing will be trashed in no time!" The Golem II was in a horrible state, damaged and struggling to fight off the attackers. Golems were designed to concentrate their fire upon large ships, and use it's quadlasers for anti-fighter purposes. But many of the quadlasers had been destroyed now, and the turbolasers were having a hard time keeping up with the hawkbats.

We might actually beat this thing Kal thought to himself, taking another attack run.

 
-----------------------
|FL/CPO_Demonic/Kaph 5/PheonixWing/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE| (=*A*=)(=*SA*=)(VC:B)
100% on both Exams, looking good.
Demonic = Darr-Rann
Kaph 2nd flight leader

OOC: The story isn't over yet Scout.

As the Golan exploded, Willtconq contacted them over the comset. "Alright guys, on to the next objective. There are two other Golans but we can ignore them for now  they aren't in a position which will threaten us. However, there is a set of smaller gun platforms which still lay between us and the target. We're going to need to eliminate most of those platforms to get at the objective. They aren't nearly as big, powerful, or heavily armed as the Golan. However, there are quite a few of them, scattered through the space between us and it."

They set their heading towards the platforms. Kal took a quick look down to his sensors. His eyes widened. "Um, Will? Something huge just came in out of hyperspace!" He looked to the side viewport.

"Shit. A Mon Calamari light cruiser. That things pretty big for us to handle." He said. "Kaph to Capitols, a Mon Calamari Light Cruiser has just entered our area. We need support, now!" He waited a few moments, then the response.

"Negative, Negative, A few other  cruisers just pulled in our position, we have our hands full. Sorry, your on your own." Kal spoke up.

"Will, we've taken out smaller capitols, and that Golan was a lot more dangerous then this thing. Why don't we take it?" He asked.

"We cant afford casualties  we need all the numbers we can get for the attack."

"But sir," Said Krius, "If we continue with our objective, it'll hit us from behind. We'll be slaughtered between them. We cant go back to the capitols, the situation is even worse over there. And if we wait here&"

"I get it. Alright lets engage that capitol. Beta, go with Alpha, Delta, come with Flight one, and Gamma, go with flight two. Lets hit this thing by the book  Smash it's quadlasers and kill the shields, then kill it by the engines."

"Roger that Kaph leader." Kal said, turning off to one side, the fighters under his formation following. "Six, Seven, how are you doing?"

"I'm good to go five." Said Than.

"Everything is green." Said Krius. Kal increased speed, the others following. They had to take out the shields quickly, or the superior firepower of the capital ship would easily overwhelm them.

"Kaph Five, this is Gamma leader, all of my men are in a relatively stable status. We're ready to give you any help you need."

"Thanks Gamma leader. Alright guys, remember, we don't have any explosive payload left. We're going to have to rely of Gamma's missiles mostly to overwhelm the shields, I'm afraid lasers wont be too effective until their down." Various acknowledgements filled the com. "Alright, on my wing. Lets show these guys why the imperial navy is the most feared fighting force in the galaxy."

They closed in on the Mon Calamari light cruiser, looking for the shields. They had to destroy it, and quickly. Their lives, and the empire's victory in this battle, depended on it. They had to win.

 
-----------------------
|FL/CPO_Demonic/Kaph 5/PheonixWing/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE| (=*A*=)(=*SA*=)(VC:B)
100% on both Exams, looking good.
Demonic = Darr-Rann
Kaph 2nd flight leader