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ComNet > Imperial Navy > Archived Naval Story Board > VEN:Into the Invisible
 
 
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Author
Topic:  VEN:Into the Invisible
Bacredi
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Bacredi
 
[VE-ARMY] First Sergeant
[VE-NAVY] Captain
[VE-VEEC] Essayist
 
Post Number:  1555
Total Posts:  1594
Joined:  Apr 2008
Status:  Offline
  RE: VEN:Into the Invisible
February 14, 2011 11:10:03 PM    View the profile of Bacredi 
Cockpit, Challenger Leader, the Epsilon System

The 33rd special operations squadron, Challenger, flew straight past the Daring’s bridge. The TIE Interceptors buzzed quickly past the 6th special operations squadron, Twilight, who were in measly TIE bombers. The fighters both reached the edge of the safe zone in a minute.

“Task force commander this is Challenger Leader, we have left the ‘safe zone’” commed Challenger 1-1, Simon Peck. The ‘safe zone’, as defined by the makeshift task force command, was the area one kilometer from the Daring. Tiger, Charger, Touring, Gladiator, Royal Rampant, and Wild Ace squadrons all accompanied Challenger Squadron. The force was the first wave of attacks composed of four separate bombing runs, all being covered by interceptors and fighters. The bombing runs would go straight towards the smaller CR90s, taking out the weakest links first.

“Alpha Wave, this is the Daring, you have enemy squadrons incoming,” the radar operator of the Daring said in a monotone voice.

“Alpha this is Challenger Leader brace for enemy squadrons, cover the bombers!” Challenger Squadron did evasive maneuvers and went to cover Touring Squadron, who was also being covered by Charger Squadron. Two of Peck’s men, Challenger 3 and 10, were killed in the first shots fired. Challenger one gave a scramble order and immediately flew towards two sluggish Y-Wings as they made their way towards the battle. He fired to shots, both going stray, and then shot again, hitting one Y-Wing and forcing it to spin into the other.

“That’s two down,” Simon tapped twice on a counter he kept in his cockpit, making his kill count 10. His radar began to beep and he looked behind him, seeing an A-Wing up his chuff. “I have one on me!” he yelled, “anyone around here?!” He checked his radar, seeing Charger 12 in his direct location.

“Charger Leader this is Charger 12, I’m on my way,” Charger 12 flew in between the leader and the A-Wing. He let off one shot as he made the way through the small distance, missing.

“Shit man hit him!” leader yelled, being panicked.

“I got him this time!” 12 said, acting calmer than his last transmission. He got up right behind the A-Wing, who fired at leader, missing by an inch. “There we go!” he yelled, destroying the A-Wing, yet when he began to pull out his fighter collided with the rubble. “Aaaaaahhhhhh!”

“Dammed man.”

Security Center, the Doashim, the Epsilon System

Chief Petty Officer Luke Maggey sat at his station, surrounded by other members of the security staff. There were twelve stations in the room, and in front of all of them was a map showing all of the Doashim’s entrances and exits, with red or green lights. The red lights meant security needed, and green lights meant the opposite. All of the doors inside the Doashim, along with all of the rooms, were either highleted in red or green for the same reasons.

“Security this is the bridge, over,” the security technician on the bridge said, hoping to get a quick reply. The men and women in the room did a game of no nose goes, and Maggey lost. He picked up the transmission.

“Bridge this is security, over.” Maggey said, rolling his eyes.

“Our radars detect boarding craft five kilometers out, we believe that they will head for sectors AZ8 and AA1, could you also please reinforce all other security stations.” Maggey felt a sense of reality as the blood drained from his face. He had join the navy security force because who the hell would want to fight on a ship? He hit the red button on his station and replied to the officer, and then ended the com, taking off his headset.

“Security stations this is the security center, request all patrols to return to their stations and go to the armoury and mount up. All external entrances get flash masks, we’re going into Zulu Alert.” Everyone in the station now was responding at full pace, and almost all of them had gone and retrieved rifles from the back of the room. They all headed out to the stations that needed them, and Maggey de-activated his camera station for the engine room, and then retrieved his rifle and walked along to AA2, where he was stationed regularly.

Turret Station AA2, the Doashim, the Epsilon System

“Station listen up, we have boarding craft incoming and they believe they’re heading straight for us.” The leader of the turret station said, sending them into full awareness. The blast door to the ship was literally feet from the entrance to the turret station, and for some reason or another there was no door. After all the technicians had boosted the guns, and they began to fire rapidly. “Boarding craft spotted, along with a fighter complement, oh fu—” the large window to the turret exploded, killing ten people in the front of the station. The room was immediately closed off by blast doors, and in the next minute of agony for most crewmen in the room they heard a boarding craft dock up to the blast door.

Maggey ran down the hallway towards the station, which was two desks attached to the ground and had eight or so men with rifles aiming at the door. Ten men were behind Maggey, following him to the station. An explosion then occurred at the blast door he was looking at, and the debris killed off two of the men on one of the stations. Maggey raised his rifle and fired, and then walked into the sealed off turret room. He stepped over a few bodies as he fired out the door, and then raised the bridge on his com.

“Bridge I’m here at AA2!” Maggey yelled, firing again, killing one of the troopers. “AA2 is compromised, seal off the rest of the ship that is connected to this or, uh, fuck.” Maggey leaned out only to be met by a shotgun to the face, killing him.

“AA2 respond, identify.”

Silence.

“AA2!”

Bridge, the Doashim, the Epsilon System

The bridge of the Doashim was filled with the regular crewmembers, but behind the reflective mirror at the back of the bridge was three high ranking VENI officers who had come to the ship right before it left for Epsilon. And before them was a hologram of Zhar Bacredi, and then they were shortly joined by the ship’s captain.

“Captain, gentlemen,” the captain said, nodding to them.

“What is the status on the ship?” said one of the VENI officers in a Coruscanti accent that he had perfected years ago. The hologram of Bacredi coughed in his hand and then withdrew his handkerchief.

“We have been breached at four different places,” the captain said, and then a hologram of the ship arose, showing the four access points.

“Can you repel them before they get to the prison bay?” asked Bacredi, worried about their “cargo.”

“I’m afraid not, sir,” the captain lowered his head in shame, “they must be removed from the ship or placed in a safe room. I believe that they should be removed under a large fighter escort, but the risk is great that they could die.”

“The chances of them surviving that are nil,” said another VENI officer. 

“My crewmen have devised another plan: we put them in an escape pod and simultaneously launch three pods, all from different parts of the ship. This pod will land on Epsilon though, and there it will be secured by the ground forces.” The group deliberated for a few moments and finally agreed that that course of action was the best. One of the VENI agents spoke into his sleeve.

“Agents, remove the prisoners…” he explained the entire operation to him, and he was given a brisk and confirmed reply.
Zhar "Senior Chief" Bacredi
Captain, Vast Empire Navy, Vast Empire
Director of Naval Intelligence, Vast Imperial Intelligence
Captain, ISD-II Daring, Fleet Commander, Seventh Vast Imperial Fleet

DI/CO/CPT Zhar Bacredi/Lion 1/Lion Wing/ISD-II Daring/7FLT/VENI/VEN/VE
[MC:1] [EER] [SoV] [SRC] [LoM] [NSM] [MC:1] [KST:1] *[NST:1]*
(=AE=) (=SAE=) (=*ME*=) (=*MAE*=) (=*FOCE*=)
{BWC} {SWC} {GWC} {BRC}
Slasher
ComNet Member
 
Slasher
 
[VE-NAVY] Chief Warrant Officer
 
Post Number:  605
Total Posts:  1054
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  RE: VEN:Into the Invisible
February 15, 2011 11:20:23 AM    View the profile of Slasher 
Master Chief Petty Officer Ren Fams pulls off the access panel for the shield generator and smacks a nearby comm panel as he begins to check out the generator.

“I'm still figuring that out sir, might I ask Captain what the hell you are doing to my ship?”

“We're in a firefight right now Chief, not really my fault, some idiot in a CR-90 wants to destroy us.”

“Well we've got 90% damage to starboard shields, port shields holding, and looks like power to the starboard turret's traverse system is interrupted, damage control is on their way there, and we're gonna get you back those shields as soon as possible.”

Back on the bridge Slasher is starting to issue orders when the voice of the ship's doctor comes over the communications network.

“Captain, this is Crewman Fil, Crewman Dinat has been injured by an overloaded power conduit rupturing near the airlock, He's critical. I'll do my best, but he has a lot of injuries.”

“Just do what you can Doctor, if you need some help there is an old FX-7 medical droid listed among the cargo currently aboard ship, it should be in cargo bay 2, scans show it as active, so you should be able to summon it to the medical bay for assistance.”

“Aye Captain, I'll do my best to stabilize Dinat, but he's going to need to be transferred to either a larger ship or a medical frigate as soon as possible in order to make a full recovery.”

Slasher turns his attention back to the combat at hand, and begins issuing orders again.

“Helm, bring us about, get our good shields in between us and the enemy ship, and begin to head toward the Cerulean at best possible speed, keeping our good shields toward the enemy.”

“Captain, we've got a problem!” yells Leekin, and Slasher looks up and sees the mass of the CR-90 looming above the viewport and feels the Onyx shudder, immediately followed by a call from below.

“Chimo to bridge, they're starting to board, looks like they are trying to slice into the outer airlock controls.”

“Hold your position, don't let them get out of that area, We'll get reinforcements down to you as soon as possible.”

“Aye Captain, they're through the outer doors, you better get me some help soon, or I won't be able to hold them.”
Slasher turns and asks, “Leekin, who aboard has any hand to hand combat experience?”

“Everyone has gone through the basic combat training in boot camp, but other than you, no one really has any experience.”

“Ok, you have the conn Leekin, I'm going down to assist with repelling our boarders, have the damage control team join us once they have completed their work.”

“Aye Sir” comes the response as Slasher jumps up from his chair and runs back to the lift, drawing his blaster as he leaves the bridge to go assist Chimo.

OOC:
504 words, Just to keep Onyx up with the rest of the combat, more posts to come.
XNT/CWO Rorran "Slasher" Gorma/PLT Cappadocious/VENA/VEN/VE
XO/CWO Rorran "Slasher" Gorma/S:137 "Raptor"/PLT Cappadocious/VENA/VEN/VE
SCAP/CWO Rorran "Slasher" Gorma/LCR Onyx/TF:R/2nd FLT/VEN/VE
[CBV.][MC:1][MC:2][SoL][SWC][BWC][NS-1](=*A*=)(=*SA*=)(=^ME^=)
Slasher
ComNet Member
 
Slasher
 
[VE-NAVY] Chief Warrant Officer
 
Post Number:  606
Total Posts:  1054
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  RE: VEN:Into the Invisible
February 15, 2011 8:10:20 PM    View the profile of Slasher 
As the lift arrives at the upper deck of his ship, Slasher hears blaster fire coming from the direction of the airlock, and begins to head that way. As he runs he sees the FX-7 unit making its way slowly toward the sickbay and stops to wait for it to pass, reaching down to his utility belt he grabs the comlink which he has been issued and contacts Chimo.

“Crewman Chimo, this is the Captain, report?”

“They've made it through the airlock doors, but I've managed to hold them there right now, they have not managed to get any farther/ I've taken out two of them, but they have the weight of numbers.”

Slasher looks over at the slowly lumbering droid and an idea comes into his head.

“Chimo, fall back to the first hallway, when they move in I'll attack them from the side while they are busy trying to reach you, call behind you like you're yelling to a team to get heavier weapons.”

“Hurry, I'm not sure how much longer I can arrgghhhhhhhhhh”

The scream of his crewman, heard not only over the comlink, but also carrying down the corridor to his ears, causes Slasher's heart to sink.

That's two now i've lost... two... in a single engagement

Slasher is about to head in when he realizes that the sounds of blaster fire have not stopped. The realization that his crewman is still alive, fighting, and also injured and alone, causes something to click inside of Slasher's head. Throwing all caution and planning to the wind as a red haze falls over his vision Slasher storms around the corner unleashing a resounding battlecry as he falls upon the enemy flank before they have any idea what is hitting them.

As Crewman Chimo's consciousness ebbed and flowed, one coherent thought stood out, [[What the HELL did I get myself into?]]

He returned fire the best he could. he barely recognized the image of his captain entering the fray. the enemy falls back, several of them succumbing to the quickly whirling blades of the captain. His gun drops as he drags himself down the hall toward the emergency airlock close panel; just scant meters beyond the emergency decompression forcefield. Chimo managed to regain his footing, the pain-intense, and slapped the switch just before the pain carries him away.

When the haze of the bloodlust raised its red veil from Slasher's vision, he saw that there were no live foes left, though there are a number of them dead both inside the corridor and out in the airlock, he grabs his comlink again and demands a status report from the bridge.

“We're up to 25% shields on that side Captain, and engines are ready at full power on your command.”

“Well we've secured the airlock, fire the emergency release bolts around the outer doors, and then go to full sublight, I want to put as much space between us and them as possible.”

“Aye sir.”

===Throughout the battle===
Crewman Chimo slides in and out of consciousness during the next hour or so,

snippets of conversation from the ship's doctor and the FX-7 droid...

The Damage control team...

Dinat in the bed across from him, the FX-7 droid constantly monitoring his vitals and stabilizing him...

A humanoid form, covered with a white sheet...

Blissful unconsciousness...

OOC:
553 words
XNT/CWO Rorran "Slasher" Gorma/PLT Cappadocious/VENA/VEN/VE
XO/CWO Rorran "Slasher" Gorma/S:137 "Raptor"/PLT Cappadocious/VENA/VEN/VE
SCAP/CWO Rorran "Slasher" Gorma/LCR Onyx/TF:R/2nd FLT/VEN/VE
[CBV.][MC:1][MC:2][SoL][SWC][BWC][NS-1](=*A*=)(=*SA*=)(=^ME^=)
[This message has been edited by Slasher (edited February 15, 2011 11:01:31 PM)]
Drac
ComNet Marshal
 
Drac
 
[VE-NAVY] 2nd Lieutenant
 
Post Number:  1144
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  RE: VEN:Into the Invisible
February 16, 2011 3:45:15 PM    View the profile of Drac 
The Cerulean began driving forward, but was still well out of engagement range when a transmission broke in. It was Captain Bacredi, “Cerulean, I need you to go shield the Pioneer, we’ll cover your approach. My XO and technicians are-“ the man turned away briefly, listening to a bridge officer’s report, then turned back, “Cerulean, move out.” The transmission ended.

Chief Pilot Groenveld turned back to look at the dark skinned Mon Calamari sitting in the bridge’s central chair, “Orders, sir?”

“You heard the man. Set course for the Pioneer. Let’s get between her and the enemy task force.” Turning to look at his Communications Officer, he added, “Comms, send out a message, VEN battle frequency: Cerulean requests fighter cover and assistance for rendezvous with and escort of the Pioneer.”

The small Warden-class vessel sped out toward the Pioneer, a large transport designed to carry huge bacta tanks. Drac winced at the vulnerability of the design, knowing that if the transport’s shields went down those tanks would be easily punctured and their contents ruined. He shrugged off the thought and checked the ship’s sensors.

Fighters were beginning to swarm and flurry through space as the opening volleys were exchanged in what was shaping up to be quite a dogfight. He noted the twelve blips labeled as the Regents in the thick of it, then winced as one disappeared. Closer in, though, he noted four friendly fighters still in formation, their labels indicating they were Backlashes Nine through Twelve. They appeared to be on an intercept course for his ship. With the flick of a finger the Mon Cal brought up their vital data, then selected their squadron frequency, “Backlash Third Flight, I’m glad you can join us. This is the Cerulean. Please make your course out to intercept and screen the bacta tanker- they’re the more important ship.”

“Backlash Nine here, Cerulean. We’re happy to be of service. Altering course now, per your orders.”

Moments later the four TIE Interceptors swept past, quickly forming up on the lumbering bacta tanker. Drac checked his ship’s ETA and was pleased to see they’d be in position in under thirty seconds. He opened a channel to the Pioneer, noting Crewman Weasse’s return to the bridge with one eye as he did so, “Pioneer, this is the Cerulean. We’ll be escorting you out of the thick of this. Once we’ve reached station between you and the Reshies, make your course directly toward our fleet, but up incline by forty five degrees. I want us out of the line of fire as soon as possible.”

A gravelly voice replied, the man’s pronunciation speaking of a career freighter captain, “Pioneer acknowledges, Cerulean, and will comply. We want out of here as bad as you do- and probably worse.”

“I’m sure that’s so, Pioneer…Okay, we’re in position. Begin your run.”

“Acknowledged.”

Drac looked out the viewport as he spoke, watching the stars wheel by as the Cerulean came about to interpose itself between the tanker and the New Republic ships. Their back was to the tanker, their front to the enemy ships- most of his small craft’s weapons pointed that way, after all. Due to that, he could see all too clearly as a CR-90 and a group of X-wings began to head for the freighter and the small cruiser protecting it. This…this is going to hurt, I think. A lot. Well…one must weather rough seas sometimes to make it safely to port. He spoke up, still contemplating the enemy forces arrayed before them, “Stations, report.” His bridge crew sounded off one by one.

“Navigation here. We’re at full reverse, sir, following the Pioneer from the battlefield. Engines and steering systems are all green.”

“Communications here. We’re green across the board, Captain.”

“Engineering reporting. Shields at full, inertial dampers up, and damage control crews standing by.”

“Weapons here, Captain. Both laser turrets are primed and ready to fire on your command and we’ve got two concussion missiles in the tubes.”

“Medical?”

Kora jumped a little and spoke up, “Oh! Here, sir. My apologies. I’m ready to go.”

“Excellent,” Drac nodded, “Let’s hope you’re not needed.” A moment later an open-band communications came through, which Jash piped to the Captain’s holopad, showing an older Mon Calamari in the uniform of the New Republic Navy. Drac looked at his dark orange skinned fellow coolly, then asked, “May I help you…?”

The Mon Cal’s deep voice was calm, for the most part, though surprise at being addressed by another Mon Calamari was evident, “This is Captain Vossi of the Pride of Undlion. By authority of the New Republic, I am ordering you and your tanker to halt engines and prepare to be boarded.”

Drac was silent for a moment, staring at the man without any emotion in evidence. Then he spoke quietly, “I am Captain Mihawk of the Cerulean. I have but one thing to say in reply: Mern. Cresh. Krill.”

The older Mon Cal just turned his head to one side, indicating aggression, and heatedly replied, “Stop speaking nonsense, traitor. Halt engines or be destroyed. We will take the tanker in either case.”

Drac killed the channel with the touch of a button. Then he looked over to Petty Officer Groenveld, “Give me the estimated time until the Pioneer can clear the combat area and jump to safety and the estimated time until that CR-90 has us in range.”

A short moment later the Chief Pilot replied, “Two minutes remain until the Pioneer can jump out. The Undlion already has us in range, though. I can only assume they wish either to wait for a clear shot or would prefer to tractor us and capture the Cerulean for their own use.”

The Warrant Officer contemplated this for a moment, idly rubbing the smooth armrest of his command chair as he did, “It’s the former. They’ve no need of this ship, but they won’t want to damage that bacta.” He reopened the channel to the tanker and to the fighters of Backlash who were already fending off X-wings, “Pioneer, this is Cerulean.”

“We read you, Cerulean. Pray tell, what do you intend to do about that CR-90?”

“You just leave that to us. We’ll get it taken care of. In the meantime- you’re about two minutes out from jump, correct?”

“Affirmative, Cerulean.”

“Very good. Backlash pilots, you stick with the Pioneer. Keep those X-wing dancing. They won’t want to destroy her or her cargo, which means they’ll be shooting at the bridge. Don’t let them line up for torpedo runs. As soon as Pioneer’s away, either return to your squadron or form up on Cerulean.”

“’Lash Nine here. We read you, Cerulean. They’ll pay in blood before they so much as scorch the paint on Pioneer.”

“Good to hear. Good luck. Cerulean out.”

Taggert Unos, Drac’s rodian Chief Gunner, turned around, “[Captain? What are you planning to do?]”

“The Cerulean’s not so nimble as a starfighter, but she’s small enough to have on-par speed with the slower ones. We’re going to take advantage of that and, by so doing, save the Pioneer.” He pointed at the dark skinned human male, “Mr. Groenveld, plot me a course that’ll take us directly under that CR-90’s belly.”

“Done, sir. But why.”

“You’ll see. Guns, face all weapons forward and be ready to hit with everything we have when I give the word. Do not fire at the CR-90 as we pass it. Chief Pilot, engage course. Engines full ahead.”

The Warden-class Light Cruiser quickly came to a halt, then began to surge forward as its engines reversed its backwards course. Within moments the hammer head of the Undlion began to grow rapidly, then began to rise up and out of sight relative to the viewport. Drac sat calmly, one eye fixed on his readouts, the other on the ship he was about to assault.

-----

On the New Republic warship Pride of Undlion, Captain Vossi watched the little cruiser skitter under his ship with curiosity, wondering why it fled. One of his crew spoke up, “Captain, should we engage the Warden?”

“No,” he shook his head, “He’s running, like the coward I knew him for. Tractor his ship as he comes out behind us. We’ll disable the tanker, then turn to punish the arrogant little fool. I think I’ll interrogate him myself.”

“But what did he mean by Mern Cresh Krill, sir?”

“Stow that. It’s not your concern in the middle of a battle anyway, but I must admit that I have no idea.”

-----

The Cerulean emerged from underneath the much larger CR-90, surging quickly away. Then Drac felt the ship jerk under him, throwing everyone forward. He smiled. They’d tractored his ship, just as expected. Slowly they began to lose speed until the small Warden stopped in relation to the Undlion, about two hundred meters aft of the corvette.

Drac stood, thumbing the intercom, “Navigation, cut forward thrust and give me a maximum speed turn. Flip us end for end and point us at those big, lovely engines. Shields, all forward half and dorsal. Weapons, four concussion missiles and as long a turret barrage as we can manage, but wait for my word. Damage control crews at the ready.”

A chorus of aye’s came back and the little ship began to turn, more slowly than usual, but quickly enough for his purposes.

-----

Captain Vossi turned as his Tractor officer shouted, “Captain! The Warden’s coming about! She’s turning  in place within the beam.”

Vossi regarded the man in confusion for a moment before both of his bulbous eyes widened and he jerked to the left to face his Weapons and Shields offices, “Chrevon! Kill that Warden now! Parnowski! Bring up the aft sh…..”

-----

Hands clasped behind his back and smiling grimly, Drac stood before his command chair and spoke calmly, “Weapons, send our regards.”

A second later first one, then two pairs of concussion missiles raced out of the Cerulean’s new nose tubes, followed by volley after volley of coherent green light. Four laser bolts impacted on the minimal aft shielding of the CR-90 first, making it stutter. Then the first of the concussion missiles smashed against the shields. They overloaded and disappeared with a flash, allowing the missile’s mate to pass through and impact on the CR-90’s now defenseless engines. Those big, lovely engines, Drac thought to himself once more. The second pair disappeared into the fireball created by the first set of missiles as laser bursts hit in a varied pattern, spreading damage over the face of the engines. The sudden, catastrophic damage was too much: Pride of Undlion accelerated abruptly on a ballistic course as her engines went critical and then detonated, spreading chains of explosions throughout the rest of the ship. Captain Vossi died in a hail of fire and shrapnel, his body twisted and wracked by decompression, before he could finish his command.

However, the brief exchange did not all go one way. The Undlion got a full volley of its aft turbolasers off, smashing into the smaller ship and physically staggering it. The bridge went dark for a moment and the inertial compensators lost power for a second as energy flashed over and through the shields and ship. Drac was thrown from his standing position by the impact, smashing his head into the Chief Engineer’s console. Everyone else was tossed in their seats. The lights came back up a moment later and everyone straightened themselves up. They looked away politely as Drac stood, using the console he’d crashed into for support, then made his way shakily back to his chair and dropped into it. He blinked, clearly his right eye of the blood trickling down from a cut high up on his scalp. Kora rushed over, but he waved her forward, “I’m fine. Check the crew.” Raising his voice, he spoke clearly, “Report.”

Marden Ludwig, the XO, had pulled himself to his feet as well and was looking over the shoulders of several of the bridge officers. He half turned his lanky frame to face the Captain and replied, “The Pride of Undlion is a dead hulk, sir. Her own engines all but disintegrated the latter half of the ship.”

“Excellent. Damage report?”

“Minimal, sir. Our shields were knocked out, but are slowly coming back up. It appears we didn’t damage the generators. Unfortunately, our Comms gear took a direct hit.”

“Can we fix it, get Comms back up?”

Jash turned around, shaking his head, “I’m sorry, sir, but it just won’t work. They’re not damaged- they’re gone.

"Anything else?”

“Coming in now, sir,” Master Chief Ludwig replied, then winced, “Looks like it was a bit worse than first thought, sir. We’ve been holed in the cargo bay and crew quarters. Mobility and fighting efficiency weren’t affected, but the ship’s stores are a mess. Damage Control reports two injured- Crewmen Yairn and Hetrad. Neither is seriously injured…Crewman Grebble was killed. She was in the hold when it opened to vacuum.”

The bridge fell silent for a moment. On a ship this small, everyone knew everyone else. It was much like in a starfighter squadron. To lose a friend and comrade was quite a blow. Drac bowed his head for a moment in respect, then raised it and spoke again, his voice heavy, “That is most unfortunate. Crewman Weasse, please go assist Yairn and Hetrad.” He looked over to his XO, “Are we in any danger currently, Mr. Ludwig?”

“Not as such, sir,” came the man’s sober reply as the female Mon Calamari left the bridge quickly, “the X-wings took off when the CR-90 blew. Pioneer is approximately one minute from jumping out of the system. We’ve been dead in space and running on little energy since the exchange, so the rest of their fleet may be under the impression we’re dead in space- not that that’ll stop them from turning us into scrap for revenge.”

“Good. Run a systems check, everyone. Let’s make sure we’re still good to fight. This battle’s not over yet. There’s still blood to be spilled, and now more for the life of Ms. Grebble.”

At the Engineer’s station Petty Officer Tlig Marril didn’t move. He just stared into his screen, facial tentacles suddenly still. Ludwig was about to get on his case when the quarren spoke quietly, his voice strained with as much pain as ever caused by a wound, “That should have been me. I should have died, not Stadine.”

Drac walked over and put a hand on the quarren’s shoulder and spoke, “That’s not for you to say, Mr. Marril. But we need you right now. You’re the only Engineer we have left. You’ve got a job to do, friends who’re still here that still need to be kept safe.”

OOC:
Word Count: 2464
[This message has been edited by Drac (edited February 16, 2011 3:53:32 PM)]
Trykon
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Trykon
 
[VE-NAVY] Senior Crewman
 
Post Number:  41
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  RE: VEN:Into the Invisible
February 16, 2011 7:28:54 PM    View the profile of Trykon 
“Okay, Mr. Trykon, let’s go,” CPO Petty snapped.

With the boarding party away, the Hammer was clear to engage the incoming frigate… the frigate that dwarfs and outguns us.  Trykon brushed his doubts aside as he punched the comparatively small CR-90 forward at maximum acceleration.  Within seconds the training course’s waiting laser turrets were back in view, and Wyl’s shoulders tensed involuntarily, anticipating another round of intense blaster fire.  But this time, the hail of bolts never came.

“The guns…  They’ve stopped,” the Crewman at Sensors said, his tone disbelieving.

“Never underestimate the efficiency of properly trained Imperial marines,” Captain Firekeeper’s wry voice broke in, as he made his way from the aft door of the bridge to his command chair.  “Report.”

Petty stood, and the Captain slid into his seat.  “No incoming fire from the facility, sir,” the Chief Petty Officer said, “and if we hurry, we’ll intercept that Lancer inside the belt in about two and a half minutes.”

“I can get us there in two, sir,” Trykon interjected.  In the periphery of his field of vision, the motion accentuated by her jostled red brain tails, Wyl saw Eslara snap her head around to shoot him a look, though whether it was one of admiration or disbelief he couldn’t register, and he didn’t have time to ask.

“I like the enthusiasm, mister.  Now let’s see if you can back up that claim.”

“Aye sir.”

One minute and fifty-four seconds later, the corvette corkscrewed through the center of a large, rotating, ring-shaped asteroid, and emerged in a relatively clear section of the belt, just as the enemy Lancer entered the same open area on the opposite side.  Immediately, the frigate began firing its massed quad laser cannons, and once again, the Hammer’s shields crackled blue, fending off this new assault of coherent energy.

“Well done, Crewman.  Shields?”

“We can’t take much more, Captain.  Deflectors recovered a bit with the reprieve, but…” the man’s voice trailed off in a kind of verbal shrug.

“Very well.  Helm, Weapons, I want a full starboard broadside, and then a port turn.  Hit them again with the port batteries on our way back into the belt.”

A chorus of “Aye”s, and then the Bridge crew set about their work.

“Let’s play hide-and-seek,” Firekeeper said quietly.

As the enemy frigate continued to pour fire onto the Hammer, the smaller corvette’s turbolaser batteries opened up in angry reply, joined brief seconds later by a spread of four concussion missiles.  Savagely, the warheads exploded against the Lancer’s shields, one after another, but despite the vicious pounding, they stayed up.

“We hit ‘em, sir, but they’re still coming.”

A shrill voice interrupted: “Forward deflectors failing!”

“Keep our bow away from them,” the Captain warned, unnecessarily.  Without shields, the bridge was dangerously exposed, and even light, anti-starfighter bolts would be enough to cripple the Hammer.

Trykon brought the ship around into a turn to port, making again for the cover of the asteroids.  His copilot throttled back, trying to tighten up the turn, and their now-vulnerable hammerhead soon faced the approaching rocks, their stern taking the brunt of the incoming fire.

“Cancel that second broadside, Weapons.  We’re outmatched in the open.  But not, I think, in the belt.  Helm, see if you can’t keep an asteroid between us and them for the next couple of minutes, if you please.  Astrogation, feed our evolving course to Weapons and help plot firing solutions for the inevitable moments during which Mister Trykon fails in his task.  And Trick,” the Captain added, using Wyl’s callsign, “casually make your way back toward the Asteroid 19 facility.  It’s time we capitalized on our home field advantage.”

Wyl grinned.  The Captain knew what he was doing, sure enough.  The Hammer had accurate charts of this asteroid field, and could anticipate firing opportunities; the enemy frigate didn’t, and couldn’t.  That would even the odds a bit.  And if they didn’t realize the corvette was leading them back to the training base, or if they didn’t realize the base was now reoccupied…  This is going to be fun, Wyl thought.

For long minutes, the deadly game of sabercat-and-mouse continued.  The Lancer fired almost continuously, draining its energy reserves in a frustrated and vain attempt to hit the nimble corvette as it darted in and out of cover.  Brin gave Weapons timely and accurate updates, and the Hammer’s counter punches were much stronger, every well-aimed volley slamming into the larger vessel.  And then, they had arrived.

“Coming up on Asteroid 19, sir,” Trykon reported, almost smugly.

“Communications, raise the marines.  Tell them we thought they could use some gunnery practice.”

The response was swift: the entire belt seemed to explode with weapons fire.  The Lancer chugged out of the denser part of the asteroid field, directly into a withering crossfire of blaster bolts, and actually stopped firing for a moment, as if in shock.

“Helm, bring us around.  Weapons, fire at will.”

Wyl swung the corvette back, and the port missile batteries launched.  The four concussion warheads streaked out toward the Lancer, and when the first two hit, the combined power proved too much for the frigate’s overstressed shields, and they collapsed in a brilliant flash.  The final two missiles detonated directly on the vessel’s hull, and explosive decompressions rippled out from the dual impact.  The laser and turbolaser fire from the facility and the Hammer continued, until with a perceptible lurch, the Lancer lost main power and stuttered to a stop, dead in space.

“Hold fire,” Captain Firekeeper ordered.  A few more blasts came from the point-defense turret closest to the enemy derelict before the order was relayed, and then all was quiet.

Wyl let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.  Brin laid a reassuring hand gently on his right shoulder, and he turned to her with a shy smile.

“Keep our bow away from them until we’ve got forward shields back up to minimum safe, Mister Trykon.  Weapons, if he twitches, you’re clear to vape him.  Comms, put me through to the marines,” the Captain said.

“Gunnery practice, he says,” the marine CO said jovially, once the connection was established.  “Well, how’d we do?”

“Just fine,” Firekeeper said.  “Thanks for the help.  You and your troopers are to be commended.  Report?”

“The Facility is secure.  Nineteen enemy dead.  Two captive.  The power plant was rigged to blow, but we put an end to that nonsense.  If you ask me, sir, it looks like amateurs.”

Wyl’s characteristic frown returned.  Amateurs with a Lancer-class frigate as back-up?

The Captain echoed his thoughts: “We may have won, today, troop leader, but try not to forget, we’ve had our share of losses this week.”  Everyone tried not to think about the attack on Capp Station, and the grisly deaths of so many Navy officers.

Chastised, the marine’s sullen reply came back: “Aye sir.”

“Was that all, troop leader?”

“Erm, no.  Sorry, sir.  There’s a back-log of comm messages in the base’s main computer.  Mostly status requests, wondering why the garrison went silent, but there’s a new batch, marked ‘Urgent’… look to me like new orders, sir.”

“Transmit the files to the Hammer,” Firekeeper said.  “Comms, I’ll look them over in my suite.  Chief Petty, you have the Bridge.”

And with that, the Captain left, his victory secure.

CPO Petty came up behind Wyl and Eslara, and cleared his throat.  The Twi’lek jerked her hand away from Trykon’s shoulder, and averted her gaze, staring very hard at her duty station.  Wyl suppressed a blush, and glanced up at Petty.  “Sir?”

The man was smiling broadly.  “Nice flying, Trick.”

“Yes sir.  Thank you sir.”  Wyl turned back to look out the main viewport, and for a moment, with Ms. Eslara Brin beside him on the bridge of an Imperial warship, he was truly happy.

The moment didn’t last long.  “Mister Trykon, report to the Captain’s Quarters.”  Firekeeper sounded distracted, even over the speaker, and Wyl thought it best not to keep him waiting.  But even so, as he left, he took one last look at the Bridge, and at the stars and asteroids beyond.  This is where I’m supposed to be.

A quick jog down a hallway, a short journey down a level on the central lift, and then through another corridor, and Wyl arrived at the Captain’s Suite, on C Deck.  Firekeeper was waiting for him at the door.  “Come in, Mister Trykon.”

The room was furnished rather lavishly by Imperial standards, even for a ship’s captain, but Firekeeper’s words cut Wyl’s appraisal of the décor short: “Two shuttles are coming out from Abrae, with a replacement garrison for the base, a repair and salvage team, and some people from Intelligence.  One of the shuttles is earmarked for prisoner transfer, but the other is going directly to the Ator system after it clears the belt.  You’re going to be on that second shuttle, Crewman.”

Wyl’s mouth dropped open a couple of centimeters.  “Bu—Sir, I—” he sputtered.

“Orders, Crewman,” the Captain said simply, handing him a datapad.  “In Ator, the shuttle will return to its home vessel, the ISD Devastator, which will in turn take you to your new assignment.”

“My new assignment,” Wyl repeated, unable to mask the frustration creeping into his voice.  “Sir, I just got this assignment!”

“Mind your tone, Mister Trykon.  You did well today, and no mistake.  But that doesn’t give you license to question orders.”

Wyl paused, considering the compliment and the warning.  This is just another opportunity, he reminded himself.  “No sir.  Sorry sir, and thanks.  I’ll stow my gear and be ready to go by the time the shuttle arrives.”  So much for capital ship duty, he thought glumly.  And so much for Eslara Brin.

“Don’t worry, Crewman.  You’ll get another crack at capital ships,” the Captain said, as if reading his thoughts, “especially if I have anything to say about it.”  Wyl nodded.  “But for right now, the Navy wants you in an Interceptor, with the 82nd, so that’s where you’re going, right?”  His tone was kindly.

“Right.  Thank you for this opportunity, sir,” Wyl said, drawing himself to attention and saluting.

Captain Firekeeper returned the salute.  “Thank you, Mister Trykon.  That’ll be all.”

Wyl turned, walked out of the suite, and paused outside the door.  “Well, Nightshrike Squadron, here I come,” he murmured.  He trailed his fingertips along the Hammer’s bulkheads as he walked down the hall to his quarters, deep in thought.

OOC:
1,745 words, approximately.  Wrapped up this little mini-plot about the Hammer on my own, since Rocket's still on leave.  Intel people, got a couple live enemies to interrogate now - might give us some leads on who we're fighting, and why.  And finally, I think I've figured a plausible way to get from Vectra to Sedratis (by way of Ator), so I can start my new assignment.
"Don't look for the difficulty in every opportunity; find the opportunity in every difficulty." -- Wyl Trykon

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Crew/SCRW Wyl "Trick" Trykon/CR90 Hammer/TF:A/1FL/VEN/VE/[SoA]/(=*AE*=)(=^TG^=)
Crew/SCRW Wyl "Trick" Trykon/CR90 Hammer/TF:A/1FL/VEN/VE/[SoA]/(=*AE*=)(=^TG^=)
[This message has been edited by Trick (edited February 18, 2011 4:17:45 AM)]
Slasher
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  RE: VEN:Into the Invisible
February 17, 2011 8:59:20 AM    View the profile of Slasher 
Slasher looks around as he storms back onto the bridge, his mood foul, and the look on his face saying that the next target of his anger will find themselves in a very painful situation. Taking the center seat on the bridge again he tries to get back up to speed with the larger combat situation, ignoring the pain from a number of minor injuries he has sustained in the hand-to-hand fighting near the airlock.

“Leekin, how are we doing?”

“Engineering reports that if we give them a couple more minutes we'll have full shields back, however it looks like the Cerulean isn't doing as well, they appear to be dead in the water, sensors indicate she is repairable, but there is an assault frigate heading this way, not sure if they are aiming for us or the Cerulean, but I doubt it will be good for either of us.”

Slasher leans back in the chair and considers his options, quickly coming to the conclusion that the only way he can assist the Cerulean is to get in between them and the oncoming frigate.

“Well we can't leave our fellow ship dead in space at the mercy of that frigate. Helm, set course for the Cerulean, get between them and the incoming frigate.”

“Aye sir” responds Acorn at the helm, her hands flying over the controls as she brings the Onyx about, putting themselves in between the Frigate and the Cerulean.

Hitting the comm Slasher calls down to Engineering, “Fams, how soon can you give me full shields?”

“Say about a minute, maybe two, Captain.”

Slasher turns to Leekin at Operations, “How long until the Frigate is in range?”

“Fifty seconds Captain,”

“Alright Fams, you have Fifty seconds, after that I'm gonna need whatever you can give me.”

“Aye Captain”

“Cevdis, see if you can raise the Cerulean's captain for me, I need to find out how long they are going to be down. Helm present our port shields to the Frigate.”

“Aye Captain”

“I've tried sir, but their communications seem to be shot, I'm trying comlink frequencies right now just in case someone on board has their comlink at the moment.”

“Very good Cevdis, keep me updated, Leekin, how long until the Frigate is in ra--” Slasher's question is stopped short as the entire ship shudders under the weight of the frigate's weapons impacting on the Onyx's shields. “On second thought Mr. Leekin, I think I have my answer, Shields status? And are they in range yet?”

Leekin glances down at his console, “Shields holding at 95% sir, they are at the very edge of their range, but are still out of range of our guns.”

The ship shudders again, the Frigate coming ever closer as the Onyx sits and takes the full force of their assault, giving the Cerulean behind them time to pull themselves together.

“Port Shields at 80% sir, they've found their range, not sure how much longer our port shields are gonna hold Captain.”

The ship shudders again, but the shields continue to hold.

“Captain, Enemy frigate in range.”

“Open fire,”

The two ships exchange fire, the laser cannon of the Onyx having almost no effect on the shields of the Frigate, as its blasts slowly eat away at the shields of the smaller vessel. All of a sudden one of the shots by the Frigate penetrates the shields, slamming into the hull and causing a wave of energy feedback, which races along the power conduits of the vessel, until it reaches a console in engineering which overloads and explodes, flinging Petty Officer Second Class Aly Krailles across the deck, where she hits the ground and her limp lifeless body slumps against another console.

On the bridge Slasher grabs the arms of his chair as the ship rocks, “What the blazes was that Leekin?”

“I don't know sir, Portside shields down 88% with that last salvo Captain.”

“Time to turn the other cheek as it were, Helm, spin us around to take up exact same position with starboard shields toward our enemy, Gunnery, turrets fire as long as you have a lock, Missile control, fire as soon as you have lock as we come about.”

Moving quickly around him the crew follows his orders, the ship comes about quickly, never once exposing the Cerulean to enemy fire and launching four missiles and a hail of laser fire at the oncoming frigate. As they complete the maneuver the damage reports start to come in.

“Captain, engineering reports that last hit disabled all the lifts, and Petty Officer Krailles is dead.”
OOC:
788 words 2 wounded 1 kia
XNT/CWO Rorran "Slasher" Gorma/PLT Cappadocious/VENA/VEN/VE
XO/CWO Rorran "Slasher" Gorma/S:137 "Raptor"/PLT Cappadocious/VENA/VEN/VE
SCAP/CWO Rorran "Slasher" Gorma/LCR Onyx/TF:R/2nd FLT/VEN/VE
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DeepSix
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  RE: VEN:Into the Invisible
February 17, 2011 8:41:35 PM    View the profile of DeepSix 
"Sitrep everyone."

Five minutes or so went by since last the Onderonian petty officer asked for anything else. Five minutes filled with absolutely nothing. It was funny how in a fight one would give anything to be able to just fly through space unhindered one more time whereas upon actually flying through that infinite universe one would on the contrary eventually start wishing for anything to happen if only to get rid of the setting boredom.

"This is Slick - nothing to report."

"Beta-3 here, nothing on my end either. Am also almost done recalibrating my sensors."

"Gamma-1 here, also got zilch sir."

"Sssavage ssseesss nothing eitheeer."

Great, more reported nothingness. As if it wasn't bad enough not seeing anything, now Seth could also hear about how others were in the exact same situation as well.

To see nothing... To hear nothing... To do nothing as a consequence...

The Onderonian pilot nervously tapped the yoke with his fingers, almost pressing the lasers trigger each time. One could say that he was literally itching to shoot something. Or maybe just shooting empty space. It wouldn't make a damn difference but who knew, maybe it would make him feel better... Of course each time Seth was about ready to do that he stopped in the nick of time. Although the possibility of that course of action making him feel better was real, the chances of that actually happening were rather slim though. On the contrary however the chances of him looking quite stupid for doing something like that were rather high.

I'd be hard pressed to think of a good explanation for something like that...

"Alpha-1 our shuttle just reported seeing something. We're investigating now."

The XO's voice managed to put an end to all the nonsensical thoughts that kept running through Seth's mind. Not a moment too soon either.

"Roger Gamma-1, holler if you find anything."

Instinctively Seth checked his scanner for the XO's position. He also plotted a course towards her general direction just in case. He chose not to rush there yet cause until confirmation it might just be more nothing after all. Truth however was that he really hoped it would be something cause then maybe the search could end and everyone could return to base.

"This is Quicksilver. My sensors just picked up four unknowns... They're fairly small, either fighters or shuttles... Sir they're heading straight for us, please advise."

"Standby Quicksilver." Seth then opened a channel to the Star Destroyer "Command we have four confirmed unknowns in the area of operations. What are the chances they're friendlies?"

"Unknown. Nightshrike leader we recommend you not engage them unless hostile actions are taken against you, over."

"Roger that Command." The petty officer once more switched comm channels "Gamma-1, you and Gamma-2 are to remain on standby and not engage the unknowns unless provoked otherwise. You are to also send the shuttle back towards the ship just in case things get nasty after all."

"Acknowledged sir, sending the shuttle back now."

"Hang tight Quicksilver, i'm taking Alpha flight to you now. To all other teams - immediately report if you see anything else and if so turn back towards the Duke. There's no telling exactly what's out there."

Some forty or so seconds later the squadron's XO was updating everyone else:

"Alpha-1 i have a visual on the unknowns. They're Imperial Interceptors sir. They're coming straight towards us and they don't look like... Sir they just opened fire on us. They're definitely not friendlies."

"Dammit! Hang in there Quicksilver, help's on the way. ETA fifty seconds."

"Sssavage isss enviousss of team membersss that get the chanceee to take on the eneeeemy on their own."

As Seth continued to strain his engines he couldn't help but wonder about something regarding the humanoid reptile. Was it more disturbing that such an individual was allowed into the Navy or that the petty officer wished there would be more like him fighting on their side? Hmm, now that was a dilemma worth pondering on. Just not at this particular time however...

"One tango down but our shields are starting to dwindle as well..."

"Still thirty seconds out. Quicksilver take your wingman and lure the bogies towards us. That should move things along a bit."

"Roger that sir."

Each following second after that felt like an eternity. Finally the XO reported once again:

"Sir our shields are almost fully depleted."

"Don't worry Quicksilver, cavalry's arrived."

As if to stress that out Seth began firing at the closest enemy Interceptor. He was still a bit far so his shots proved ineffective. Then again he was only hoping he'd get lucky that way. The real reason he opened fire was to let the enemy know that the tables were about to turn and that they'd be the ones outnumbered next.

Gotcha!

Firing at the enemy fighter allowed Seth to keep the fellow in his sights long enough to get a lock-on and shoot a missile his way. Moments later the 3 vs 2 engagement just became a 2 vs 5 one. At this point the two remaining hostile Interceptors tried to back out and get the hell out of the situation they clearly had not foreseen. Seth almost managed to get a lock on another one when the ship just blew up before he had a chance to contribute in any way. He knew the missile that took the other fighter our came from his left and that could only mean Alpha-3.

"Nice..."

It would've been great to deal with the final enemy in the same manner but alas he was now speeding away at full speed and the distance between him and everyone else was now too great to deal with the armament they had at their disposal.

Some turbolasers or torpedo tubes would be great for situations such as these...

"Command the unknowns proved to be Imperial Interceptors. They were hostile so we dealt with most of them. One of them is however eluding his fate. Do we pursue and deal with him or do we turn back instead?"

"Stick to your original objectives Nightshrike leader. The presence of Imperial forces in this sector isn't unforeseen. It is however unrelated to our mission here."

"Copy that."

A tad disappointed Seth slowed down and eventually came to a halt.

"Let him go everyone. We are to return to the Duke and resume previously handed out assignments."

With that the Onderonian petty officer turned around and restarted his engines. It would take him two to three minutes to return but the good news was that there was no longer any hurry this time around...
SC/PO2 DeepSix/A-1/S:82 Nightshrike/W:245 Scimitar/ISD Iron Duke/TF:A/1Flt/SFC/VEN/VE [MC2] [IG] [=^TG^=]
StOrMz
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  RE: VEN:Into the Invisible
February 18, 2011 12:13:19 AM    View the profile of StOrMz 
Sedratis sat directly infront of the Devestator. The world as Stormz saw it, was dark as they were on the far side from the sun. The Wookiee waited impatiently for his reports to funnel into his office. Geordi knew how much he despised waiting, he also liked to make the Admiral somewhat flustered every now and then.

A few more minutes passed before the initial status report fed through. As expected, the Atoran Commander had a full green light status on his ship and was ready for anything. Commander Ward's ship was green light as well, aside from the replacement crew that were to be picked up. In lue of this vague information, Ph'rranix opened his comlink to Commodore Atrasin and the Devastator's Captain, giving them instructions to jump in unison to Rrulinn . Rrulinn was a common midpoint for freighters jumping around the Corellian Run. It would be difficult for the New Republic to follow the small fleet as well, since there were some many places to jump to. They'd remain invisible, only appearing when and where they wanted until the necessary supplies had been attained.

Another standard hour before the replacement crew had boarded their new home vessel and made their way to the chambers assigned to them. In the meantime, Stormz had meandered up to the bridge, keenly observing the goings on of the lower officers. Behind the Wookiee, Commander Ward informed him, "Sir, all systems are green, we are ready to jump when you give the signal."

[Verry well, Commanderr. Inform the Irron Duke that we'll jump firrst, have them do the typical thrree second countdown beforr joining us on the otherr side,] informed his ship's Captain. As usual, Vance Ward nodded an affirmative and turned to instruct his communications officer and navigational officer of their newest tasks.

***** Rrulinn System *****


"Lietenant, scan the freighter to our port for anything unusual, he's too close for my comfort," demanded the Commander.

"Yes, Commander," began Lieutenant Horner, "The only information I have for you is the tag belongs to an old Rebel fighter pilot. A man named Jerrod Hensborro," added the Lieutenant. Stormz' face twitched slightly at the name, calling to memory thoughts he'd long ago attempted to rid himself of. Jerrod Hensborro was responsible for the torching of his village, The Wookiee had taken great joy in the capturing, torturing, and killing of Jerrod's son, his only son. Now, the Admiral had an opportunity to capture yet another of his villages, and more importantly, his families enemies.

[I want a trractorr beam on that ship rright away, ion cannon firre as soon as it's tarrgetted,] the Wookiee rumbled.

"Aye, Admiral," Vance had the targetting and weapons officer working double time to capture the ship that was now attempting to flee for its life. The ship only made it a few hundred meters out before the Star Destroyers tractor beams grappled the tiny ship, stopping it in its tracks. Stormz instructed the comm officer to relay a message ordering the captain to stand down and prepare to be boarded. A few keys quipped as the officer fumbled to get the message sent of.

The Naval Commander in Chief watched as one of his longtime foes was drug slowly back toward the main hanger array. Determined to see his next victim, the Wookiee, escorted by a squad of stormtroopers, made their way to the main hanger. The ship had already been cleaned out of crew, those who had resisted were stunned, their motionless bodies strewn about the deck. One of those bodies belonged to the ship's captain, Jerrod Hensborro. Stormz slowly approached the man, step after step, the Admiral filled with more rage. Just as the Wookiee began to lean down, the Star Destroyer rocked violently. Again and again, the ship moved as something smashed into it's shields. Springing up and into action, Stormz darted back toward the command bridge, roaring orders to detain them, keeping the captain seperated from his crewmembers.

****

Back at the bridge, the Admiral looked out the front viewport to see the night sky filled with New Republic capital ships of varying sizes. Enraged, the Wookiee let out a battlecry, echoing through the bridge and stifling everyone's work momentarily.

[How did this happen?] he enfuriatingly asked Commander Ward.

"The communications officer was relaying all of our information to the vessel next to us, who was so kindly transfering that to a fleet sitting just a few systems away." Stormz turned toward the officer, contemplating whether he should rip the pathetic traitor to pieces with his claws or not. The officer was being detained by a pair of troopers, holding each of his arms.

[Lock the doorr and rrelease him. I'll be dealing with this cowarrd myself,] groaned the NCC. The troopers did accordingly, letting the man free, but only momentarily, as Stormz made a pair of giant leaps to negotiate the distance between him and his new found enemy.

Stormz' fangs protruded slightly as he strained to grab the being by the neck and slowly raise him off the floor. The Lieutenant gasped for air and fought against the Wookiee's powerful grip with all his might, but he was no match for the Admiral. Ph'rranix could feel the life draining from the man, and soon he fell slumped, dead. The bridge crew watched in horror as the to troopers drug the old, traitorous Lieutenant to the nearest airlock and dispatched him.

[Who's next?] Admiral Krazanr asked, still pumped up from the rush he'd received from his recent acts. [No one? Then get back to worrk, I want these sithspawn wiped from my view.]

Stormz' took the helm, ordering the whole wing to launch one squadron at a time. He knew it was dangerous, but the Vast Empire's pilots were known as some of the best in the Empire. They could handle themselves. [Venom wing, get some firre on the Corrvette just starrboarrd of the Mon Cal crruiserr. I want that thing up in flames. Port side batterries, open fire on the bridge and relay systems on the crruiserr. Trry to knock out theirr targetting firrst,] the veteran commander ordered, calmly but decisively. All the while, he wondered what was taking Atrasin so long. Having two Star Destroyers alone was almost suicide out here. [Commanderr, get in contact with the Irron Duke as soon as possible, we need them herre. Also, orrderr the Atrrus to get herre as soon as possible. I have a feeling this will get nasty.]

Ph'rranix returned his death stare on the Mon Calamari Cruiser. Green bolts plunged into the ships shields and spread as they lost their power. The Cruiser was still attempting to turn for a full broadside fight, but the TIE/sa Bomber squadron had made that difficult by knocking out the forward thrusters. The squadron commander was one of, if not the most experienced TIE pilot that the Vast Empire had to offer.

A whiff passed through the Wookiee's overly sensitive nostrils, one he'd not smelled in years. Someone had turned the air purifier to mimic the atmosphere of Kashyyyk. Although not paradise for humans, it was definitely more comfortable than Mon Calamari. Ph'rranix took another deep breath, a faint worshyr tree smell touching his senses. Instantly, he calmed more, the Wookiee could now focus on the task at hand, keeping his ship alive long enough for Tinker to get her ass over here with his ship.

A flash blipped on the starboard side of the Devastator and a moment later the Duke appeared. Noticing his reinforcements, the Wookiee let a sly grin cross his furry face. He knew the Rebels would be hurting now. [About time, Commodorre. Prrimarry tarrget is Mon Cal Crruiserr, orrderr all squadrrons to attack the Corrvettes. They seem to be laying down a heavy amount of firre as well.] The Admiral received a confirmation and watched as the other Star Destroyer repositioned itself for a better firing angle. A bright flash lit up momentarily below the bow of the Devastator before Commander Ward informed Ph'rranix of the destruction of a Corvette.
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Imperial Baronet of Kashyyyk
[This message has been edited by StOrMz (edited February 18, 2011 12:20:10 AM)]
[This message has been edited by StOrMz (edited February 18, 2011 12:25:31 AM)]
Kazack
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Kazack
 
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  RE: VEN:Into the Invisible
February 18, 2011 3:59:47 PM    View the profile of Kazack 
Kazack, as he sat in his chair on the bridge of the Iron Duke, was astounded. He thought that Moff Caerbellak would surely notice their presence. I mean come on! He thought, An Imperial Star Destroyer isn’t exactly a small craft. If I were Moff Caerbellak, I would be a bit concerned if some snot-nosed VE Commodore started poking his nose around the edge of MY territory.


Kazack looked out the bridge window anxiously, watching Nightshrike Squadron and the Lambda class shuttles searching the area. His eyes were particularly drawn to Nightshrike Leader, who he knew was his former wingman, Petty Officer 2nd Class Seth ‘Deepsix’ Quorbin. He regretfully, hadn’t known Seth very well at all. Maybe if we get out of this then I will find him and we can talk, Kazack thought. Kazack quickly looked at his console on the ship’s scanners, still nothing. This is too quiet! Kazack thought, then suddenly, comms chatter picked up Remnant fighters moving in on Nightshrike Squadron. Kazack watched as Nightshrike quickly despatched the enemy fighters, barring one who escaped. Kazack quickly relayed the orders to Nightshrike squadron as they passed down the bridge crew to get back to the Duke. When Nightshrike was safely back the Commodore received confirmation that Rear Admiral Stormz had jumped in with the Devastator.


The Devastator soon turned to jump again, this time in the Rrulinn System. The Duke was due to jump with them. “All Systems Report” Commodore Atrasin ordered, with Captain Mallou at his right hand side. “Bridge is Green sir” Kazack replied.



As the other stations reported Kazack couldn’t help but notice that there was very little fear in their eyes. Only courage and sheer determination, they had not fought a major engagement in some time so Kazack hoped that they would soon see some action, as he was as keen as the next fellow to destroy the bastards who had hit the VEN so hard just a few days previously. Suddenly more comm chatter picked up. It seemed the Devastator had encountered hostile New Republic forces in the Rrulinn System.


“Iron Duke this is the Devastator, we need an ETA on your arrival in the system.” A voice came over Kazack console as he switched it to incoming transmissions. “This is the Iron Duke” Kazack replied, “we have an approximate ETA of forty-five seconds” “Get here fast” ordered the voice and cut the transmission. Kazack made a last two second check on the systems and they were all green. “Something’s really gone south” Kazack muttered to himself as the Duke went in.


There were NR capital ships of various sizes all around, with the Devastator in the thick of it and Imperial Fighters engaging the CR 90- Corvettes who were flanking the Mon Cal Cruiser. As Kazack noticed Commodore Atrasin talking on his comlink he realised that he was talking to the NCC. “Turn to give that cruiser a broadside” Atrasin bellowed. The hands of the bridge crew fumbled on their consoles as the Duke turned around. “How long until we are in firing range?” asked the Commodore. “About ten seconds max sir” replied Kazack. His hands were shaking; this was what he had been born to do, to kill Reppies. As the Cruiser drew closer Commodore Atrasin counted down the seconds on his non-prosthetic hand. “FIRE” Bellowed the commodore. “Missiles are away sir” replied Kazack. As the missiles sped toward the cruiser Kazack held his breath without realising it. Then they impacted!



Nothing could have withstood the first barrage, the cruiser’s power failed and its shields flickered and were down to less than half power and the port side section of the ship shattered under the impact as one of the hangers on that side collapsed in a ball of flame. The power on the cruiser came back and the report came in “Incoming Torpedos sir” one of the Bridge Officers called to Commodore Atrasin. “Bring it on!” Kazack muttered under his breath.


(OOC: 662 words.)
BO/LCRW Fremen Talla/ISD Iron Duke/Aurek/1st Flt/VEN/VE
Atrasin
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Atrasin
 
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  RE: VEN:Into the Invisible
February 18, 2011 6:29:16 PM    View the profile of Atrasin 
“Gods damnit!”

The lone TIE was long out of range by the time Nightshrike reported it gone.  Geordi didn’t like loose ends; he liked untidy engagements even less.  By now that pilot would have reported back to Caerbellak the presence of hostile Imperial craft and the Moff, while borderline schizophrenic, was not stupid.  He’d have his dogs here, teeth bared, looking to defend his turf.

“Get ‘Shrike back here now, and tell Mr. Qorbin I want to see him in my ready room within five minutes of his boots hitting deck.”


Bridge officers scrambled to comply; one of Atrasins blows was brewing

“MALLOU, I want the Lambdas back now, I want the other squadrons to begin flying CAP alongside ‘Shrike, we seem to no longer be doing what we came here for.”

The XO stood quietly, waiting for the Commodore to finish

“WHAT?”

Captain Mallou handed the padd to Geordi and took a full step backwards.  Perusing the information, a dark veil lowered over the Atorans visage.  The padd, grasped in his left hand, was crushed like so much rice paper.  The shattered remains hurled against the far bulkhead of the bridge with a velocity furious enough to shatter the remnants to microscopic size.  Shrapnel flew everywhere and several of the bridge crew were nicked by the debris. 

“COMM, recall all fighters now, combat jump as soon as they are aboard.  HELM, lay in a course to Rrulinn.  ENGINEERING, I want all the power this pile of dung can give me!  Mallou, what in the name of all the hells is going on?  Why is Stormz ordering us to this dead end when we have a credible lead before us?”  His tone and posture conveyed his frustration.  He was not looking for a true answer, but venting the inanity of the request put to him by his CO.

A youngish bridge officer pinged the conn, “Course for Rrulinn laid in sir.”

Driver snapped around, fire dancing in his eyes, “Hard about, make for a safe jump location.”

He barely registered the ‘ayes’.  Out there, somewhere was someone who had the ability to piggyback onto the most secure communication system they had and he was being pulled from the hunt.  Caerbellak be damned, he would find that person and he would have his answers.

Mallou interrupted his inner monologue, “All fighters aboard sir, we are now clear of the system.”

“Then jump damnit, let’s see what the good admiral wants,” as he threw himself into his command chair.

The Iron Duke lurched into hyperspace.  A brief jump, only about 45 seconds was required.  The ship emerged into chaos. 

“What the hells has he gotten into…”

Mallou screamed from her command chair, “Sir, Admiral Ph'rranix, on comm.”

Grabbing the handset from his XO, “Who first?”

On the other end the Wook barked, “[Hit that Cruiser, hard!]”

“Turn to give that cruiser a broadside”

The Duke heeled hard to port, diving below the plane of the Devastator

“How long until we are in firing range?!” hungry anticipation dripping off his question; the reply quick and satisfactory.  Absently he flicked away the seconds on his right hand as the firing solution gelled in his head

“FIRE!”

A gout of flame belched from the side of the Imperator Class ship, as a wave of missiles, turbo lasers and ion cannons erupted on the New Republic ship.  The shields fluttered and died the weaponry shattered a starboard shuttle bay and staggered the craft

“Fighters away. All Squadrons.  Tell Qorbin he can redeem himself for losing that one in Sedratis now.”

Kazack caught sight of a launch on his screen, “Incoming Torpedoes sir”

His blood up, but still under control, Geordi climbed the dais to his command chair, sat and turned toward the bow, “Bring it on, “ he mumbled, “Angle our shields and brace for impact!”

The shudder of the impacting ordinance vibrated up through the bottom of his chair.  Several warning klaxons wailed failures of bulkheads and hull breaches, “Status!”

“Medium hit, no major systems down, “Mallou was almost as calm as her CO, years spent subjugating the Hegemony had brought her the gift of battle serenity, “Fighters away.”

“Excellent, HARD ABOUT, I want a second broadside on that cruiser NOW.”

“Commodore, Admiral Ph'rranix requesting status, “came a disembodied voice.

“Let him wait, I’m having fun, “he growled through gritted teeth, “Launch the bombers.  Let’s give these Bowlheads a proper Imperial send off.”

“Sir, “came the confused voice again?

“CUT HIM OFF!”

Shaken and frightened Kazack cut the line to the NCC.  The Duke contuned her barrelroll and completed the loop bringing her starboard weapons into play.

“FIRE!” 

The right side of the Star Destroyer lashed out at the craft as the left had.  Shields again buckled and fell; damage was spread across the underside of the ship and trailed into the engines.  One of the leviathans’ power plants blew a massive hole in the underside of the ship.  The Devastator took full advantage of the Atoran’s tactics and hammered the bridge and upper portions.  Drive could see the faint glimmers of the T-65’s vomiting from within like so many angry raptor-wasps.

“Fire at will, It’s the TIE’s turn now.”

OOC:
Tally-ho Nightshrike, bring me some scalps.
CNO|COMD Atrasin|ISD Iron Duke|TF:A|1Flt|VEN|VE [=A=][=^SA^=][=^ME^=][=*MA*=][=FOCE=][=*TG*=][=*Eng*=][=*BO*=][MC1]{BWC}[NSR:1]{SAS}{SWC}(SOL)[LSM][VC:B][DSM]
Vacuus Ordo, Nex  -Without Order, Death
All a man can betray is his conscience. - Joseph Conrad
We few, we happy few. We band of brothers. - Henry V
May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't. - General George S. Patton Jr.
[This message has been edited by Atrasin (edited February 18, 2011 6:33:16 PM)]
Romanflame
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  RE: VEN:Into the Invisible
February 19, 2011 1:42:38 AM    View the profile of Romanflame 
Arthur saw the Cerulean dead in the water, and the Onyx moving into the assault frigate path.  The Onyx would be no match for that frigate.  With the damage the Onyx took it might not last the fight.  Arthur had not received any orders from the Naval High Command, so he decided to try to assist the Onyx hoping that his attack would be enough to help it survive.

“I want the Amaranth on the port side of that assault frigate now.  We need to help both the Cerulean, and the Onyx.” Arthur told his crew.

The bridge crew all reported “aye’s”.  They moved past the large Star Destroyers, and towards the Onyx.

“Give me a com link to the Onyx.”

“Right sir, com is ready.” Jaeron Wacok responded

Onyx this is the Amaranth we’re moving to the Port side of the frigate to give you support we will be there shortly.”  Arthur told them.

“Roger, we need all the support we can get.”  They responded.

“How long until we are in range Hissack?” Arthur asked.

“Ten seconds sir, were coming up now.” Harald replied.

“Fire I want their attention on us.  Let the Onyx have time to replace their shield strength.”

The Amaranth closed the gap and began to fire at the ship.  He saw the bolts hit the shield and the wave after.  “Fire two missiles at it.”  Arthur said.  He saw the missiles fly towards the frigate and hit its shield.

“I think we have its attention sir, they have locked on to us and are beginning to fire.”

The Amaranths shields took the hit, and dropped five percent with the first few hits.  The next wave hits and breaks through the shields and hits the starboard cargo hold.

“Damage report!”  Arthur yelled through the com link.

“Minor hull breach in the cargo hold, luckily no one was in there.  Damage control is heading there to try to seal the hold till after the fight.”

Arthur continued to press his attack trying to keep his fellow VEN members alive.  He was sad that his life as a pilot was over.  He missed being able to fly his way and make decision that really only effected him not a whole crew.  He missed the freedom of being able to go anywhere in the battle he wanted.

Arthur was so busy thinking about the past and also the current battle that he almost forgot about the rest of the area of battle.  Never having to worry about getting boarded he displaced the fact that there was an enemy shuttle in-bound.

“Sir what are we going to do about the shuttle It’s almost here?”

“What side is it on?”

“It’s coming to the starboard side heading for the hole in the cargo bay, and its twenty seconds away.”

“Have Matker, Harth Farscape, Susan Farscream, and Hekev Hamoev meet me there.  Ariyn you have control, keep us alive.”  Arthur said as he left the bridge.  He went to his room and grabbed his blaster and knife combo.  He got to the sealed cargo hold where the Security team was setting up a barricade to hold off the boarding party.  They got ready then they saw the door being cut open.  The second the door opened the Security team opened fire, the shots took two NR agents down.

The NR team returned fire most of the shots hitting the barricade one shot hit Matker in his right shoulder.

“MEDIC!” Harth shouted.

The next five minutes were like a giant blur to Arthur.  All he could remember was Hekev was shot and killed and the boarding party was killed by the remaining security team.  Arthur took a grazing shot in his right arm.  The medics gave him a once over and allowed him to resume his post on the bridge.

OOC:
637 words, I thought I should help in this battle
SCAP/WO1 Arthur 'Romanflame' Dragon/LCR Amaranth/TF:Resh/2nd FLT/VEN/VE
[MC2] [MC:1] [CBV][SoL][CO][IG]
Blades
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  RE: VEN:Into the Invisible
February 19, 2011 3:17:34 AM    View the profile of Blades 
Econd was working on one of the prisoners when the rest of the VENI agents came down to him.  He heard them outside the room in between screams.  The prisoner was holding out longer than he expected him to.

“Who do you work for?”  Econd asked.  There was no answer, when the lead VENI agent walked in to the room.

“We need you out here now.”  Stess followed him outside.  “We need to move everyone of these prisoners out we are about to be boarded.”

“Do we have any backup coming with us?” Blades asked.

“We have nine troopers coming with but we need them to leave now.  Is he still able to move on his own?” He asked as he pointed to the prisoner.

“For now he is, sir.” Econd replied.

Econd walked back into the room, and released him from his restraints.  He placed the cuffs on him and walked him outside.  He dropped him to his knees and waited for the rest of the agents to arrive with the rest of the prisoners.  When they showed up they took the lift to the main deck where the troopers were waiting for them.  The fifteen of them lead the five prisoners to the hanger bay.  The ship was boarded soon after they started their journey to the escape pods.

The group was making their way down when the first group of NR agents made their way on-board the Doashim.  The agents walked down the hall when an explosion went off a few rooms ahead of them. The group moved to the sides of the halls and led the prisoners into one of the nearby rooms and left three troopers in to watch them.  They grouped out and waited for first contact.

The first few out the door made it across the hall and in the alcove.  The next few were shot down by the troopers.  There was a small fire fight between the two groups two of the troopers got shot but weren’t killed.  A second group of troopers came to reinforce the Agents.  With the larger group they were able to fight them back into the room they breached.  The Econd grabbed the prisoners and the guards and they resumed their travel to the escape pods.

The group walked down the hall passed the medical bay and turned to the port side aft section of the ship.  They walked past a hanger bay and walked into another small battle which was inevitable because the ship had a large number NR soldiers on-board.  The fight took place between their current location and their escape pod.  Econd had the prisoners lay flat on the ground and grabbed his blaster and fired down the hall.  The group took cover behind anything that they could.  The first few to die were luckily the NR soldiers each took a hit in their chest killing them instantly.  The NR returned fire each shot either hitting the wall or the item the troopers were hiding behind.  The NR did get two clean kills when the troopers stood up to shoot over the crates.

OOC:
519 words.  This is Romanflame BTW.
DeepSix
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  RE: VEN:Into the Invisible
February 19, 2011 8:15:48 AM    View the profile of DeepSix 
Seth, accompanied by four other members from the Nightshrike squadron, was still en route back to the Iron Duke when the new orders came:

"To all crafts - you are to return to base ASAP. Repeat, all crafts are to return to base ASAP."

I'm not keen on sticking around all the way here in the middle of nowhere but that seems kindda rushed though...

"Sir, you think it's because of us? Because of that fighter that got away?"

The voice came over the squadron's channel and Seth recognized it straight away as belonging to Quicksilver.

"No idea. It's possible though there's no way of knowing for a fact at this time."

"Sorry sir, if i had done a better job at distracting them then we would've been able to get them all. I'm taking full responsibility for it."

"Alas i cannot leave a lady to take the blame for something i feel more responsible for. XO how about we share it? You know... 60-40? 75-25 even?"

That would have been Gamma-2, the individual Quicksilver warned Seth as being a sort of a playboy, one trying to hit on any member of the opposite sex, human or not...

Wonder where he draws the line. Wonder if he draws the line at all. Hmm, better to stop wondering about such things though. They're none of my business after all.

"Well it's nice to know i have such responsible pilots surrounding me. Gamma-2 i'd also be willing to take one, maybe two percent off your hands but alas i fear my position entitles me to the full hundred. Perks of the job, you know? But in all seriousness in that sort of situation there really isn't anyone to blame. If the target is outside the range of lasers or missiles then there's nothing we can do till we bring the target back in range. If however both the target and pursuer fly identical crafts at identical speeds well that too is no longer possible. It's not a matter of piloting skill but rather technical limitations. You know, the one responsible for these situations is the Navy itself. If we faster ships we wouldn't let enemies to escape. If we had bigger weapons we'd be able to shoot farther and harder. And if we had better shields then we'd be able to take on multiple enemies at once. So here's to the Navy - the one responsible for everything and also the one never to be blamed by anything."

"Hear hear!"

"Aye to that!!!"

"To the Navy!"

"Hey couldn't we get in trouble for badmouthing the organization we're a part of?"

"Of course Alpha-4. Then again name one organization whose employees are completely and honestly content with."

"I... can't really think of any at this time sir."

"Well if you do let me know. I might just consider leaving you guys and applying for a job there."

"You mean you'd trade crappy food, sleep deprivation, constant danger and a bunch of rules and regulations for safety, comfort, money and normality in general?"

"Come Beta-2, when you say it like that it almost sounds like a good thing... But no, in the end i guess i couldn't really go through with it. I'd end up missing Savage's charming nature too much."

"I donnn't underssstand..."

"Don't worry about it big guy, that's just part of your unique charm."

Well, some joking, a bit of cynical remarks... being a Navy pilot wasn't all that bad at the end of the day. Besides, talking between themselves had helped pass the time long enough that everyone was about ready to get back in the Duke's cozy hangars. No sooner had everyone landed that the ship already made a jump.

Now that was really quick. If i didn't know better i'd have said that we just retreated from a losing fight.

In less than a minute the petty officer realized he wasn't that far off either. Rather than retreating from a fight though the Iron Duke apparently decided to dive right in the middle of one. From what he could see outside the hangar's force field he had no doubt in his mind that any moment now the order to launch would come and then some real fighting could start. The enemy might retreat this time as well but at least this time around he'd have plenty of targets to take down before that might happen.

I knew i should've been more careful with what i wished for...

The realization made him snicker as he watched a couple of mechanics rearm him with a missile. Alpha-3 was also receiving one and Gamma-1 and 2 were having their shields recharged as well. What Seth sort of liked about the Navy was its discipline... the way it made lots of people scurry around and do their jobs as fast as humanly possible. Especially during emergencies.

"All squadrons you are clear to launch. Repeat, you are clear to launch. Nightshrike, Commodore says this is your chance to make up for earlier. Over."

Make up for earlier? Well let's see... We lost one fighter but got three earlier. Now there are dozens of fresh new ones to choose from as well. Wonder how many would be needed to make up. Hmm...

"You heard that gents. Move out and unleash hell."

Most if not all fighters were already lifting off when the hangar trembled slightly, a few crates and mechanics losing their balance because of it.

And so it begins.

Not wishing to spend more time than he needed to in a bombarded ship Seth pushed the yoke forward and shot out into the rather stuffy space outside.

So many targets... So little space to hide...

"Alright Nightshrike, scatter and take down as many targets as you can. There's a prize involved for whomever gets the most. Just make sure you stick close enough to your wingmates in case they need to shake any tails."

"What about you sir? Who'll watch your six?"

"Not to worry about that. Flying solo is a specialty of mine. Now cut the chatter and get to it already!"

"Acknowledged Alpha-1, engaging the enemy... now!"

Wingmates were useful to have around but Seth didn't lie about his solo fighting skills. That was because in fights he tended to change into an opportunist, flying below the radar and appearing rather harmless until an easy mark would get in his sights. He'd take care of that and then just repeat for the most part. The petty officer liked the bigger battles all the more because there was never a shortage of unaware victims. Most were preoccupied with either pursuing other ships or running away from them. So preoccupied in fact that they often overlooked the Onderonian pilot as the latter got behind them and with a few well placed shots took them out.

Now that's what i'm talking about...

Only a few seconds out into space and already the petty officer managed to paint an enemy fighter.

Note to self - remember counting the kills during this battle. And that's... one!

The concussive missile flew straight into the evading X-wing. The petty officer preferred using his lasers whenever possible but right now he was still a few seconds out of range and just didn't want to miss out on the chance to get as many rebels as he could.

C'mon, c'mon, c'mon...

Another X-wing kept jumping in and out of his sights and Seth just couldn't resist the temptation to bring the fellow down. He fired a few random shots to force the enemy fighter to stay put a bit longer and when he had managed to get a fix on it Seth fired his second missile. Moments later his second victim was confirmed. That was also when the Onderonian pilot noticed a B-wing preparing to make a run on either the Duke or the Devastator. Whichever its target may have been Seth thought it best to stop it before that could happen.

Nightshrike's CO decided that his best bet would be a head on attack. He closed the distance to his target and managed quite a few good hits but the bomber's shields were sturdier than expected. Deciding not to waste the opportunity to finish it up however the petty officer pulled the yoke upwards and allowed himself to gain a bit of distance. When he considered it enough he again pulled back on the yoke, thus ending up performing a loop of sorts. Rather than making a full loop however Seth instead turned towards his former target and proceeded to shoot at it once more, this time from a vertical plane. To ensure he'd be more successful this time around the Onderonian pilot also quad-linked his lasers. The first shots were again deflected by the shields. The second ones appeared to damage the craft though. Before the B-wing could break left as it apparently intended however the third shots took it out.

Wonder if i should award extra points for bombers...

Again finding himself without a target the petty officer checked his surroundings for some more easy pickings. This time another X-wing seemed to best fit his criteria...
SC/PO2 DeepSix/A-1/S:82 Nightshrike/W:245 Scimitar/ISD Iron Duke/TF:A/1Flt/SFC/VEN/VE [MC2] [IG] [=^TG^=]
Trykon
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  RE: VEN:Into the Invisible
February 19, 2011 6:35:41 PM    View the profile of Trykon 
Alarms blared throughout the Imperial Star Destroyer, announcing General Quarters: all crew were to report to their stations.  Wyl Trykon pulled his flight suit on and grabbed his helmet, and pressed through the crowd of other pilots, troopers, and officers, all scrambling to their posts, until he made it to the main hangar bay and belated realized that he wasn’t a member of this crew; this was the ISD Devastator, and he was due to report for duty on the ISD Iron Duke!

“You there,” the Officer of the Deck waved Wyl over.  “You look a little lost, son,” the older Warrant Officer said, sizing up the Senior Crewman in his flight gear.  “You’re not one of my pilots, so what are you doing on my hangar deck?”

Wyl tugged on his flight suit’s sleeve absent-mindedly.  “I was supposed to transfer to the Iron Duke,” he began, “but then—”

“So you’re a passenger?” the Deck Officer interrupted.

Wyl frowned.  “No, I’m an Interceptor pilot, with the 82nd Squadron, and—”

“The 82nd isn’t on the Devastator,” the man interrupted again.

Wyl felt his free hand ball into a fist, and he had to repress a sudden urge to bludgeon the senior officer to death with his flight helmet.  “No sir,” he said through clenched teeth.  “Like I started to say, Nightshrike Squadron is on the Iron Duke, but we’re at General Quarters, sir, and I should be out there, fighting.”  He jabbed a finger at the hangar’s forcefield, and the stars beyond.

“What do you think this is, Crewman, your own personal starfighter hangar?  Look around.  The Devastator’s pilots took all our available Interceptors.  Why don’t you just head on back to the Passeng—”

“What about one of those?” Wyl asked, indicating a row of Interceptors parked to the side of the hangar.

The Warrant Officer shook his head.  “They’re all out of the rotation.  Maintenance.”

Wyl considered his options, briefly.  “I don’t care; I’ll fly one of them.”

“Are you barvy?” the man asked in disbelief.  “They’re in various stages of full overhauls!  Not a one of ‘em has any missiles loaded, and—”

“Sir, my Squadron is out there, in the battle, and they’re one ship down.  If my wingman gets vaped because I wasn’t there to cover him…” he trailed off.  “Please, sir, put me in a TIE.”

For long seconds, the Warrant Officer was silent, the muscles in his jaw working as he made up his mind.  “Alright, son.  The one on the end there’s the closest to combat-ready,” he said, pointing to the nearest Interceptor.

Wyl started jogging toward the bank of partially-disassembled starfighters.  “Thank you,” he yelled over his shoulder.

“Remember, kid, no missiles, and that one’s been having trouble with energy reallocation,” the Deck Officer called after him.

When Wyl reached the Interceptor, he found a maintenance technician cleaning the Interceptor’s starboard wing.  Ignoring the man, Wyl wheeled a portable ladder over to the craft, climbed it, and opened the TIE’s rear hatch.

“Hey—” the startled technician finally managed to say, as Wyl swung himself into the Interceptor’s cockpit.

“Shuttle off, tinker-tot,” Wyl muttered into his helmet as the hatch closed behind him.  He hurried through the preflight sequence, all the time worrying about the long minutes of battle he’d already missed.  You'll just have to make up for lost time, he told himself.  He flicked the starter switches for the twin ion engines, and the spherical cockpit came to life around him.  He keyed the comm system: “Control, this is Nightshrike Two reporting two good starts.  I’m launching.”

“Wait, what was that?  Nightshrike Two?” a confused voice came back.  Wyl didn’t even bother answering, as he passed through the hangar’s forcefield and into vacuum, cleared the Devastator's massive arrowhead-shaped bulk, and flew directly into the largest space battle he’d seen since Kuat fell to the New Republic.

Trykon focused on his scanners:  NR corvettes, a Mon Cal Cruiser, the two star destroyers, and a confused jumble of TIEs and snubfighters tangling in between.  He evened out his shields, quad-linked his blasters, and started for the nearest enemy corvette.  I’ll do one pass on my way over to the big fighter melee in the center there, Wyl thought.  The rest of the ‘shrikes will be somewhere in that dogfight, and it’s about time I introduced myself to my new squadron...

OOC:
730 words, and Trick is in the fight!
"Don't look for the difficulty in every opportunity; find the opportunity in every difficulty." -- Wyl Trykon

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FM/SCRW Wyl "Trick" Trykon/A-2/S:82 Nightshrike/W:245 Scimitar/ISD Iron Duke/TF:A/1FL/SFC/VEN/VE/[SoA]/(=*AE*=)(=^TG^=)
FM/SCRW Wyl "Trick" Trykon/A-2/S:82 Nightshrike/W:245 Scimitar/ISD Iron Duke/TF:A/1FL/SFC/VEN/VE/[SoA]/(=*AE*=)(=^TG^=)
DeepSix
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  RE: VEN:Into the Invisible
February 20, 2011 9:52:10 AM    View the profile of DeepSix 
And that's five...

"Requesssting permisssion to ssshot down alllllied Interceptorsss, sssir."

The hell?

"Elaborate on that Gamma-3."

"Twiceee alreadyyy have othersss took oveeer my preyyy..."

Wonder if he's for real...

"Ehm... permission denied at this time Savage. Ask me again after the hundredth time it happens. If it happens that is."

Then i might even grant it to him. A hundred stolen kills is a fairly large number after all...

"This is Bliz leader - things are getting a little bit too hot here for my liking. Can anyone spare a few more fighters to watch our asses?"

"Bliz leader this is Nightshrike leader. I'm sending a flight your way, over."

"This is Ice Cat leader. Also pitching in with a flight. Over."

Switching back to the squadron channel the Onderonian pilot tried coordinating this as he also tried bringing down his sixth victim.

"Gamma-1, how's your flight doing?"

"Not bad team leader. Three is still irked by our allies but combat wise we're good. Shields at more than 50% and still a few missiles left as well."

"Glad to hear it. I'm sending you over to the bombers then. Keep 'em alive and try to impress them as well. It'd be nice having another squadron commander watching over our backs at the following debriefing. Quid pro quo, you know?"

"Roger that Alpha-1. We'll do our best to make you proud."

"I know you will Quicksilver, i know you will."

Strike three and you're... out!

Coordinating an attack whilst being a part of it at the same time wasn't exactly easy but the Onderonian petty officer managed to pull it off just fine. Proof of this were the six bogies he managed to bring down, three through use of missiles and the other ones through use of good ol' outflying, outmaneuvering and outgunning.

"This is Beta-4, i've got a couple of fighters harassing me and i can't seem to lose them no matter what i do. Damn, they're trying to get a lock on me."

"This is Beta-3, i got my hands full with a tail of my own, over. Don't know how much longer i'll need to get rid of it..."

"Hazard this is DeepSix. Fly straight towards me and i'll see about taking care of your problem."

"Roger that Alpha-1, coming your way now."

It took the Onderonian pilot a few seconds to find the Twi'lek member on his scanners but finally he noticed her. He plotted a course straight towards her as well. Less than ten seconds later both crafts were a little more than a hundred meters apart but quickly getting closer to each other.

"On my signal roll left."

"Acknowledged."

Closer... closer... closer...

"Do it now!"

The Twi'lek pilot immediately got out of the way, leaving her CO with a clear line of sight to her pursuers. Seth of course immediately opened fire, taking out one fighter and damaging the other. He'd have dealt with the second one as well if only his speed wouldn't have sent him flying past it.

Still, not bad i suppose...

"Hazard, can you handle things now?"

"Sure thing. Thanks for the assist sir."

Right, now all Seth had to do was get rid of the fighter he had damaged earlier and that for some reason now thought about returning the favor.

At least he has guts, i'll give him that.

"Thanks Quicksilver, that was a close one."

"Gamma-2 what are you talking about?"

"Didn't you take care of my tail just now?"

"That's a negative, i've been busy keeping a couple of X-wings away from our bombers in the Bliz."

"Guess it was someone else then. Just assumed it was you like always. Force of habbit i suppose..."

"Less talking, more shooting Playboy. Take Savage for example."

"Die rebel ssscum!!!"

"... Ehm, no disrespect to the big guy over there but i think i'll pass on that Gamma-1."

"Yes, i see your point there."

Well at least they're having fun...

Seth had managed to get his damaged pursuer to overshoot, a mistake that less than three seconds later proved to be fatal.

"Okay, sitrep everyone."

"Alpha-3 - 5 confirmed kills, 1 missile left, 40% shields capacity, no current pursuers."

"This is Alpha-4, i got 2 kills, 2 more missiles, shields are at about 60% and am currently trying to bring down my third target."

"Beta leader reports 3 kills, 3 missiles, shields at half capacity more or less. Right now trying to save Beta-2's arrogant ass from a pinch."

"Like i told you before i don't need the help dammit. This is Wildcat, i have everything under control. Managed to down 2 fighters, still have 3 of my missiles and my shields are still holding just fine."

"This is Beta-3 reporting one less enemy bomber. Still have all my missiles and shields are at 67% capacity."

"Hazard reports two downed bogies, two more missiles and almost 40% shields."

"Five kills for Quicksilver. A couple of them were hopefully flashy enough to get our bombers' attention. No more missiles but still plenty of shields to go around..."

"Gamma-2 reports 2 kills, 1 missile and a third shields capacity."

"Sssix killsss for Sssavage, but threee othersss were ssstolen frooom meee. No mooore misssiles eitherrr. Ssshields are irrelevannnt."

"This is Saint. One downed enemy fighter, all four missiles still available and a little more than 70 percent shields as well."

Hmm, well all in all things weren't really that bad. By now Seth also came to realize what his pilots were best at. The top three killers appeared to be Alpha-3, Gamma-1 and Gamma-3. The Trandoshan had a rather raw and brutal approach to things, just rushing head first into any situation and causing as much damage as he could. His flight leader on the contrary had a more subtle approach. She often appeared to tire her opponents and get them when they'd drop their guard. As far as piloting alone went the XO might have even been better than Seth and he realized as much.

Even so both the XO and the alien seemed to lack a certain something. They got results sure, but their methods although greatly differing were still fairly predictable. This was where Alpha-3 came in however. The pilot didn't really talk much and he mostly kept to himself back at base as well. The rather large list of transfers attached to his dossier told Seth that there was a lot more to the fellow that met the eye. His secretive background aside however one thing couldn't be denied about the bionically enhanced human - he knew how to think outside the box. Or at the very least outside the restrictive rules and regulations enforced by the Navy. For this reason Seth sort of liked the man somewhat more than the others.

The petty officer was still figuring out his other teammates though. Aside from these three for instance he knew that Alpha-4 was more or less just average at about anything. As he was warned what she lacked in excellence she more than made up for with her big mouth. Myles, the recent Beta flight leader seemed like he had the makings of a great leader in him. His wingmate alas was somewhat problematic as she believed herself too self-reliant. It wasn't a problem all the time though... just when she was proven wrong.

Pops, the male Twi'lek was a quite decent pilot. Like Myles he also had the makings of a good officer in him. As far as Seth could tell though the Twi'lek would've fared better as an analyst or strategist though. The other Twi'lek in the team was just as reckless as Wildcat, the only difference being that she seemed not to be doing it on purpose. What she may have lacked in actual skill she made up for in luck. At least there was no other way for the Onderonian pilot to explain certain situations regarding her. Gamma-2 and 4 were again just average pilots for the most part. Gamma-4 in particular though seemed to be fairly good at flying. The thing he appeared to be having a problem with was shooting down enemies. This Seth knew he'd have to change in the future. Or at the very least better understand at any rate...

"Alright, keep up the good work everyone."

"Alpha-1 this is Gamma-1. Our flyboys in Bliz have just managed to take out one of the enemy's ships. By the looks of it their cruiser won't last much longer either."

"Understood Quicksilver. Alright Nightshrikes i want you to double your efforts. Losing their capital ships should screw with the enemy's morale. I want you to exploit this as much as possible, over."

"Acknowledged team leader."

We may still be outnumbered and outgunned but it seems we're capable enough to hold our ground though.
SC/PO2 DeepSix/A-1/S:82 Nightshrike/W:245 Scimitar/ISD Iron Duke/TF:A/1Flt/SFC/VEN/VE [MC2] [IG] [=^TG^=]
Trykon
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Trykon
 
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  RE: VEN:Into the Invisible
February 22, 2011 5:13:20 AM    View the profile of Trykon 
Wyl Trykon kept his borrowed Interceptor’s comm system set on the main fleet frequency, hoping to hear any mention of Nightshrike Squadron’s position, as he began his attack run on the nearest New Republic corvette.  The ship’s ventral turbolaser battery opened up in anger as the TIE streaked in at it from below, and to his surprise, Wyl found the incoming fire to be both accurate and precise; the first volley of bolts came close enough to drain some power from the VE Interceptor’s forward shield, and the second volley slammed into the shield directly, almost causing it to collapse.  “Blast!” he exclaimed, breaking into a wild, spiraling, evasive barrel-roll.  Leave it to me to stumble into the sights of the rebels’ best gunner, Wyl thought to himself.  His quad-linked blasters belched green bolts back at the corvette’s underside, and seconds later he was clear of the rebel ship altogether.

“Watch those A-Wings, Daggers,” someone said over the comm.

The massive central dogfight loomed ahead.  In his immediate area, Wyl’s sensors picked out a few scattered flights of friendlies, mixing it up with several full enemy squadrons.  At least it’s a target-rich environment, Wyl mused.  “Let’s even up these odds,” he murmured to himself, reallocating energy from blasters to reinforce his battered forward shield.  At first, nothing happened, and then, slowly, the power began to flow.  Wyl frowned.  That mechanic did mention something about an energy reallocation problem, he thought, but before he had time to even think about running a system diagnostic, a TIE Interceptor broke out of the melee and headed straight for his position, an X-Wing hot in pursuit.

Calmly, Wyl brought up missile control, and a targeting box appeared on the heads-up display, directly over the incoming New Republic snubfighter.  Almost immediately, the box went red and a solid tone rang in Wyl’s ears, indicating a good lock, but even as he hit the trigger Wyl remembered the mechanic’s other warning, given just before he’d impatiently launched from the Devastator’s main hangar in the almost-combat-ready TIE: “Remember, kid, no missiles loaded.”  Cursing into his helmet, Wyl throttled up, switched back to blasters and linked his offside lasers so they fired two at time, and triggered a burst that peeled away the X-Wing’s shields, but didn’t destroy it outright.

The enemy craft drifted to the right, apparently forgetting its former quarry in the face of the new threat, and then it came up in a roll that brought it around and over Wyl’s line of flight.  No way, the Kuati pilot thought.  It’s going to take more than a barrel-roll to out fly me.  He throttled back a bit, and followed the X-Wing through a scissors maneuver, matching the rebel pilot turn-for-turn, and reversal-for-reversal.  Eventually, the Interceptor’s edge in maneuverability won out, and the X-Wing glided in front of Trykon’s sights.  “Who needs missiles,” Trykon murmured, sending another short burst of coherent energy into the now-unshielded enemy fighter.  As the X-Wing exploded, Wyl was already pulling back on the yoke, breaking hard left to avoid the rapidly expanding cloud of debris, on his way to reenter the fray.

“This is Bliz Leader,” a taut voice said through the speakers in Wyl’s flight helmet.  “Things are getting a little too hot here for my liking.  Can anyone spare a few more fighters to watch our asses?”

Bliz is one of the Iron Duke’s bomber squadrons, Wyl remembered.  Gotta help ‘em make their attack run.  He had already turned his Interceptor toward the source of the transmission, when another voice broke in: “Bliz Leader, this is Nightshrike Leader,” the familiar voice said.  That’s DeepSix, Wyl thought, his excitement building.  “I’m sending a flight your way, over.”  So if I help the bombers’ escort, I’ll be helping a flight of ‘shrikes!

“This is Ice Cat Leader,” another voice broke in.  “Also pitching in with a flight.  Over.”  Wyl watched his scanner as two groups of four Interceptors each disengaged from the roiling dogfight, and made their separate ways toward a group of twelve - no, now it's eleven - TIE/sa Bombers, themselves trying desperately to avoid two flights of New Republic Y-Wings, and a few more X-Wings.  Frowning underneath his helmet, Wyl throttled up along an intercept course, and got to the beleaguered bombers just as his fellow Imperial pilots reached the maximum missile range.

The slaughter was brutal.  Missiles converged on the hapless Y-Wings from both sides, taking out many of them immediately, and distracting the survivors just long enough for Wyl to vape two of the lumbering rebel ships before they could even react.  As the incoming Imperials swarmed over the remnants of the rebel flights, the TIE bombers disengaged, flying more or less straight towards a massive Mon Calamari Cruiser and an escorting CR-90.  In just a few standard minutes, the area was clear, and Wyl and the two flights of Interceptors took flanking positions behind and to either side of the bomber squadron as it loosed a staggering spread of missiles at the enemy ships.  With a satisfying flash, the Cruiser lost its shields, and the tiny corvette was struck so many times that it literally split in half, its decks seeming to crumple as gouts of fire rippled through the ship and went out, starved of fuel in the cold vacuum.  Bliz Leader announced a successful bombing run over the comm, and the two flights of Interceptors turned to seek other targets.

With no way of knowing which flight was made up of Nightshrike pilots, Wyl simply joined the closer of the two, trailing it at some distance, and hoped he’d continue to be useful without the benefit of a communications connection.  We’re still outnumbered, and still outgunned, Wyl thought to himself.  But I think we’re winning.  He grinned wryly beneath his helmet.  “This must be how you bastards felt when you successfully stole my planet,” he said, staring out the viewport at the foundering New Republic fleet.  “Well, how do you like the taste of your own Bacta?”  The Kuati pilot followed the other four Imperials back into the thick of the battle, bent on causing as much pain in the next few minutes as he’d been forced to endure in all the years since his home world was overrun.

OOC:
Word Count: 1,046, or thereabouts.
"Don't look for the difficulty in every opportunity; find the opportunity in every difficulty." -- Wyl Trykon

Imperial Network Star Wars Image

FM/SCRW Wyl "Trick" Trykon/A-2/S:82 Nightshrike/W:245 Scimitar/ISD Iron Duke/TF:A/1FL/SFC/VEN/VE/[SoA]/(=*AE*=)(=^TG^=)
FM/SCRW Wyl "Trick" Trykon/A-2/S:82 Nightshrike/W:245 Scimitar/ISD Iron Duke/TF:A/1FL/SFC/VEN/VE/[SoA]/(=*AE*=)(=^TG^=)
Slasher
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Slasher
 
[VE-NAVY] Chief Warrant Officer
 
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  RE: VEN:Into the Invisible
February 22, 2011 11:15:46 AM    View the profile of Slasher 
There is dead silence on the bridge as the words hang in the air, a silence so complete that the wheezing of Slasher's breath sounded thunderous in his head. Slasher quickly compartmentalizes the feelings welling up, and concentrates on the combat at hand.

“Cevdis, any luck raising Drac on the Cerulean?”

“Negative Captain, I have not been able to make any contact with the Cerulean, however she appears to be combat ready other than her shields, which are recharging, currently at 45% shields on the Cerulean, and her engines appear to be coming up sir.”

“Very good, Helm, prepare to go to full sublight speed on my order.”

“Aye sir.”

Slasher watches the approaching enemy vessel, the Onyx's shields hold as it unleashes a barrage of laser fire, however the ship has slightly changed its course, shielding one side of the ship, where the missiles launched by the Onyx during their last maneuver. Slasher pulls up the sensor readings of that side of the ship so that he can see how much damage they have done before they make any further movements.

Hmm, looks like we managed to take out one of their batteries on that side during the combat, let's see if we can cause any further problems for them there.

“Helm, on my command, bring us to full sublight and bring us around the far side of the enemy ship.”

“Aye sir.”

“Mark”

The Onyx surges forward, moving away from the Cerulean as her engines come to life and she moves off as well. On the bridge  Slasher gives orders, guiding the ship through battle, farther back in missile control, Leading Crewman Turruo is freaking out.

“Turruo to Engineering,”

“This is Fams, what is going on?”

“I've got a problem, tube one is showing loaded and ready to go, but tube two is not showing green, I'm getting some sort of error, I cannot confirm that the missile is loaded.”

“Roger that, do not, I repeat, DO NOT, fire tube two until you are authorized by me.”

“Aye Master Chief.”

In engineering Ren Fams turns to the engineering crew and begins to issue orders, Zakben, Kin, go see if you can get those lifts working again, Dulev, I need you to go check on the status of the Missile Launchers, I'm going to stay here and see what I can do about this mess.”

“Aye Master Chief.”

Crewman Dulev grabs his kit and heads forward from engineering, he finds the access panel for the missile bay, and carefully removes the  panel. Squeezing his way inside he looks around and begins to check the various systems within the bay, he sees the rack for storing the missiles, but nothing seems amiss, it isn't until he checks the tube itself that he sees that the tube itself is dented, and this has prevented the new missile from being loaded. Having found the problem, but unable to figure out anything to do about it, he pulls out his comlink,

“Dulev to Engineering.”

“This is Fams, how's that missile tube repair coming along?”

“We've got a problem sir, looks like part of the tube has been dented inward, there is no way to load a missile, it won't fit in the tube.”

“Any sign what caused it?”

Dulev looks around again to see if he can locate a source and notices something that escaped his first examination.

“Sir, you may want to come down here, I'm not certain, but it looks like I have the remains of an explosive here...”

“I'm on my way, I'm calling the captain down as well.”

“Aye Master Chief.”

Slasher arrives at the missile launcher confused and angry, although he knows that Leekin is perfectly capable of commanding the ship in combat, it rubs him the wrong way to be leaving the bridge of his ship when they are in combat, but evidence of sabotage on his ship is a very serious danger to his ship.

“What is this Master Chief?”

“I do not know sir, I checked these just before we arrived at the Rheagent system, but this looks like an attempt to destroy our vessel.”

“How so?”

“Given the location of the dent, I think the intent was to detonate the missile loaded in the---” The ship shudders as there is an explosion across the ship, and the alarms indicating a hull breach begin to sound.

“what the hell was that?” Slasher asks, whirling to face the direction the explosion came from as Fams rushes past him heading toward the other launcher.

“I just sent Crewman Zakben to check the other tube to see if there was another charge, I guess there was, must have been meant to go off at the same time, but something probably went wrong.”

As they arrive they see Crewman Zakben motionless on the floor, the back of his uniform smoldering, Fams kneels next to him as Slasher grabs an emergency seal from the kit Zakben had been carrying and places it over the breach, the forcefield having failed to activate to seal the breach.

“How is he Master Chief?”

“Not sure, but he's still breathing, we need to get him up to medical.”

“I'll take care of it Master Chief, I need you to do what you can here, I need to find out whether or not we have any missile capability left.”

“Aye Captain,”

Slasher reaches down and picks up Zakben, slings him over his shoulders, and begins to head toward the lifts before he realizes that there is no way for him to get up to the upper deck alone while carrying Zakben, so he heads toward the bridge so he can get some help to get up to the upper deck with his load. He reaches his quarters and moves through them, reaches the bridge a second later and calls out,

“Mr. Cevdis, help me get Zakben up to the upper deck, he's pretty badly hurt.”

“Aye Captain”

Cevdis jumps up and runs over, dragging himself up to the upper deck, and then helps Slasher take the injured crewman up to the upper deck, Slasher is about to continue on his way when Cevdis says “Captain, I'll get him to Sickbay, you're needed on the bridge sir,”

“Ok, hurry Mr. Cevdis, see if you can help the Doctor while you are there.”

“Aye Captain.”

Turning back to the bridge Slasher takes the center seat and reroutes communications through his auxiliary console at the command chair and quickly addresses Leekin,

“Report, Mr. Leekin”

OOC:
1202 words
XNT/CWO Rorran "Slasher" Gorma/PLT Cappadocious/VENA/VEN/VE
XO/CWO Rorran "Slasher" Gorma/S:137 "Raptor"/PLT Cappadocious/VENA/VEN/VE
SCAP/CWO Rorran "Slasher" Gorma/LCR Onyx/TF:R/2nd FLT/VEN/VE
[CBV.][MC:1][MC:2][SoL][SWC][BWC][NS-1][=*IM*=][=*SWC*=](=*A*=)(=*SA*=)(=^ME^=)
Ruwe
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Ruwe
 
[VE-NAVY] Master Chief Petty Officer
 
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  RE: VEN:Into the Invisible
February 23, 2011 5:59:26 PM    View the profile of Ruwe 
Bodies all around him moved swiftly, both furred and scaled. Ruwe glided through it all. Slashing, killing, moving. Always moving. Ruwe looked for his friend Marmmaloompa amongst it all. They managed to get separated a few minutes after the first Katarn had reached the village. Ruwe lopped off the head of a Katarn that was missing a front leg, with a Wookiee arm clenched in its teeth. It seemed he had been just a little to late to save the Wookiee, that Ruwe seen on the ground six feet away. Mangled, mauled and missing more than just the arm, Ruwe realized in an instant that the Wookiee was his friend Marmmaloompa. A pit of sourness and loss formed in his stomach, as a knot choked up in his throat. A large thump and a small tremor in the branch beneath Ruwe’s feet, made him turn and face the largest Katarn Ruwe, and possibly any Wookiee had ever seen..

The thought of his mangled friend stayed etched across Ruwe’s vision, as he felt his own Rrakktorr coax into a warm sensation across his whole being. A quick maneuver, a small dive, a quad burst, an enemy exploding, brought his Rrakktorr into full power. Every fiber, every tissue, every hair, on Ruwe’s body felt like it was being overflowed with heat, as if he was standing next to a ten foot tall ceremonial fire. Ruwe let his instincts and his Rrakktorr take over his flight. He could hear screams of dying comrades over the comm as they mingled with the screams of the dead and dying in his memories.

“You got three hot on your tail Ruwe! Get the hell outta there!” Ruwe acknowledged Amacuse’s warning by flipping his craft over and dived. Reverse immelman out after three seconds, long enough for his chasers to have to slow down in order to make the quick adjustment to stay with him. A TIE streaked by his viewport on fire with an A-wing in hot pursuit. Ruwe quickly adjusted and blasted the A-wing with a quad burst as well as a chin blast for good measure. With a satisfying explosion, he quickly turned around as X-wing bolts flew by his fuselage.

Ruwe jinked and juked to make sure the bolts stayed missing his fuselage. I can’t hold out the battle doing this. If we don’t get some reinforcements soon, Regent’s going to be just another ‘dead’ imp squadron. As if in answer to his thoughts, an Imperial Star Destroyer dropped out of hyperspace, immediately moving into a firing position and out of the Devastator’s line of fire. Ruwe had no time to watch what the Star Destroyer did after that. He had to focus on the dog fight around him and only hope that there was some decent imp fighter pilots on that ship.

Some small shudders indicated he wasn’t focusing enough as laser bolts pinged off his shields. Yanking hard to starboard on his yoke, he barrel rolled. The battle seemed to constantly flip end over end to Ruwe. Another bolt hit and a warning signal started blaring in his right ear. Curse these blatantly redundant reshies. I swear if I ever get a hold of.. Ruwe let the battle roll over another couple of times before straightening the yoke and yanking backwards. Gaining some speed, he rolled as he ‘climbed’. Pulling out again he rocketed away from the pursuing X-wings.

Making his way towards the new Star Destroyer, he saw the swarms of TIE’s being launched into space. Thank the Force, finally a little bit of back up. We’ve only lost just shy of half of Rhegent. Ruwe looked at his sensor’s to confirm his thoughts. Spotting a particular blue dot he adjusted his course to Amacuse. Switching to the squad comm, he made sure he wasn’t going to get blasted as he spoke his next inspirational words. “[Alright ladies and gentlemen, it seems our brave command force has little faith in us, and has proceeded to send us some ‘backup’. How ‘bout we show these guys how Regents does things and show them the right way?]” A chorus of cheers answered him on his comm. Ruwe knew for sure though that he heard a lot less then there was when they first left the hangar. However much of a bogus message that was, it might keep a few of them alive a bit longer.

Ruwe approached on Amacuse’s location, and quickly made his efforts doubled as his wingman seemed in a small bit of trouble with two X-wings close on his tail, draining his shields. Approaching from the starboard side, he sprayed blaster cannon fire across the closest X-wing, quickly depleting the shields. A quick chin burst finished off the X-wing. “[Looked like you could use the help sir.]”

“Are you kidding me? I totally had those guys lured in. If you had waited only but a might minute longer you woulda really seen some fancy flying.”

Ruwe could hear the smile in the captains voice. Ruwe watched the other X-wing break off and speed back towards it’s own cruiser. “[As much as no one else believes such a phony lie, I won’t lie when I say I’m sitting at six kills, and I’m slowing down so you can keep up.]”

“Ha! You wish I was. Have you know I’m at seven so unless your getting rusty in your old age, you might wanna catch up ole chap!”

“[Oh you can bet every bowl head flying here, that I’ll win that bet sir. I say we get back into this over-congested shooting gallery. What say you?]”

“Agreed.”

Ruwe stayed on Amacuse’s wing as they headed back to the main dogfight. Now with odds a bit more in our favour, I say the chances of our survival went up about 10%. Ruwe reflected for a second. Man oh man, you are the cheery one anymore ain’t yah Ruwe?

OOC:
996 words..the flashbacks are coming to a close soon for those who are tuning in
VEN
FM/MCPO Ruwe/A-2/S:153 "Rhegent's Reign"/W:58 "Javelin"/VSD Dead Gun/TF:R/2Flt/SFC/VEN/VE
(MC:2)(IG)(CBV)(=*A*=)
[This message has been edited by Atrasin (edited February 23, 2011 6:26:10 PM)]
[This message has been edited by Atrasin (edited February 23, 2011 6:29:37 PM)]
[This message has been edited by Atrasin (edited February 23, 2011 6:31:19 PM)]
DeepSix
ComNet Initiate
 
DeepSix
 
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[VE-NAVY] Petty Officer 2nd Class
 
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  RE: VEN:Into the Invisible
February 24, 2011 6:47:46 PM    View the profile of DeepSix 
"This is Daggerlip leader. Enemy fighters seem to be experiencing difficulty choosing whether to stay and fight or retreat to their ships and defend those instead. This may be premature but i do believe we are starting to win this one gents."

"This is Ice Cat leader. We shouldn't pat ourselves on the back quite just yet Daggerlip."

"Nightshrike leader here. How 'bout a friendly little competition between the Duke's fighter squadrons? Whoever racks in the most kills gets free drinks from the losing squadron next time we're on leave. Whoever comes in second also gets to treat our boys in the Bliz, cause bringing down those big ships is more impressive than bringing down these small fries after all. Any takers?"

"Ice Cat is in. Everyone better ready those creds 'cause we are planning to win this."

"Bliz is also in. No reason to refuse such a tempting proposal after all."

"Daggerlip leader here. Don't know who's been feeding you stories but it should be clear that we are going to win such a competition. Daggerlip in like everyone else."

"While you all stand there and bicker like old ladies my boys will show you who truly is the best squadron aboard the Duke. Boar-Wolf agrees to these terms. Don't hold it against us when we crush everyone else's dreams and delusions..."

Now that went pretty well, or so at least Seth thought. He hadn't proposed this little competition because he was confident enough that he could win. He hadn't done it out of ambition and he really had little interest in the glory... or the free drinks. Those rewards were after all fleeting and in the bigger scheme of things rather meaningless as well. The reason the Onderonian pilot suggested such a competition was because he knew that would be enough to make all those pilots act even more aggressively than before. He knew that in turn would lead to more enemy losses which in turn would further cause them to rethink their current course of action.

A smart leader would only stick around and fight either if the plan he had still had chances of success or if he had no other choice but to sacrifice himself for some greater good. Since the latter usually involved being cornered by an enemy first and since that was obviously not the case here, Seth only assumed that with enough losses the New Republic would turn around and flee into hyperspace. At least that seemed like the sensible thing to do in this situation. That is unless the NR had a hidden ace hidden in its sleeve. Like perhaps the promise of reinforcements...

"Sir, are you by chance already gunning for the Captain's Own?"

The message came over the squadron's channel and Seth recognized his XO's voice. He felt a little bad thinking that his XO would consider him another glory seeking jock interested only in personal gain but then he realized she still didn't know him that well after all and thus it was perhaps understandable.

"Not particularly, no. Am just trying to make things a little more entertaining. Besides... stick with me and we'll likely get a lot of commendations to hang around our briefing room."

Not that they would really mean much to me though...

Oh yes, still having a smuggler's mentality there was no surprise there really. The Onderonian cared about tangible things. Things that would actually be useful in one way or another. Things like money, guns, ships and maybe even booze. Medals, commendations and similar - those were mere symbols at best and although there were plenty of individuals that could be swayed by them... Seth just wasn't amongst them. That is not to say he didn't understand the value of such symbols. He just... looked at it from a different point of view.

"Team leader this is Beta-1."

"What's up Beta-1?"

"You were right sir. Enemy fighters do seem to be easier to kill now..."

"Beta-1 this is Beta-3. Like the commander said - losing their capital ships is making some enemy pilots angry or desperate. Either way they are more likely to make mistakes. These mistakes can subsequently get them killed. The more enemy fighters get vaped the better our own space superiority is established. This in turn leads to more enemy losses. In other words if we maintain our current advantage then chances are we will be on the winning side when this is all over."

"You're showing off again Pops..."

"I do apologize if that's what it looks like to you Banshee. I assure you that is not my intention however."

"Was only teasing Pops. Only teasing..."

Well at least he did understand the ramifications of taking out some of the enemy's capital ships. Wonder what else he may have figured out...

"Listen up everyone, i don't mind the chatter so long as you also keep up the killing. Beta-3, what would you say are the chances of enemy reinforcements popping out anytime soon?"

"Hard to say commander. This was a pretty big force to begin with. They attacked the Devastator knowing they could win but the Duke's arrival was most likely unforeseen. If there are more New Republic ships in the nearby sectors then chances are they aren't a part of this task force. That means that even if they had been requested here they shouldn't theoretically prove that big of a threat to us. If we manage to harass the enemy enough by the time they could arrive then their presence would no longer matter anyway."

"A good assessment, Beta-3. Remind me to bounce a few ideas regarding future plans when we'll get back aboard the Duke."

"Certainly commander."

His input should prove useful for what i have in mind... Anyways, that will have to wait till we're back on the Iron Duke anyway. For the time being i better take my own advice and shoot down some more bogies. I need to lead by example after all...
SC/PO2 DeepSix/A-1/S:82 Nightshrike/W:245 Scimitar/ISD Iron Duke/TF:A/1Flt/SFC/VEN/VE [MC2] [IG] [=^TG^=]
Slasher
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Slasher
 
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  RE: VEN:Into the Invisible
February 25, 2011 12:21:56 AM    View the profile of Slasher 
1st Lieutenant C-4RX looks over at the hologram showing the layout of the battle, and watches as the various ships of both the 2nd and 7th Vast Empire Fleets, and the New Republic force that had come to engage them, and quickly begins to issue orders to the rest of his task force, with the arrest of Jaden there was no longer a commanding officer for the Task Force, and so that duty fell to him, and so he began to issue orders to the communications officer for the rest of the task force, and to his helmsman for the Chrome Fox herself, “Helm, plot a course to intercept the Nebulon B Escort Frigate, Communications, order Regents Squadron to join up with any other available squadrons and engage that Dreadnaught.”

“Aye Captain”

As they begin to move toward the frigate, he turns to his executive officer.

“Task Force Status?”

“The Reaper is currently engaged with one of the enemy CR-90s, the Reaper is somewhat more heavily armed, and currently has the upper hand in that engagement.”

“Good, what is the status of the Light Cruisers?”

“I'm just getting in reports from the other vessels Captain. Onyx reports heavy damage, 1 dead, 4 wounded, The Amarath reports light damage, Burnish reports no real damage, and I am unable to raise the Cerulean although she is still fighting, so her communications may have been knocked out.”

“Very well, Gunnery, are we in range yet of the enemy frigate?”

“Negative Captain, 40 seconds.”

“Very well, Communications, raise the commanders of the Amarath and the Burnish have them go and assist the Onyx if at all possible, also, put me through to the Daring

“Aye Captain, channel open.”

“Ah, C-4, I was just about to call you, what is the status of the Task Force?”

“The Onyx is in pretty bad shape, reports indicate that the ship is down to lasers and has heavy damage, I've dispatched the Amarath and Burnish to see if they can help get them out of there, they are currently engaged with an Assault Frigate.”

“That's Slasher's ship isn't it?”

“Yes it is,”

“Leave it to him to bite off more than he can chew, it looks like the Amarath is already engaged there at the moment, and the Burnish is moving into position, I'm ordering the Daoshim to engage the Assault Frigate as well. The Dead Gun and Daring are currently moving in on a group of CR-90s and DP-20s, while the Fighter and Bomber wings are currently engaged with the dreadnaught.”
“Understood, anything else?”

“No, Bacredi out.”

The communication fades away and C-4 turns back to face the screen just as the first shots from the Escort Frigate impact on the Chrome Fox's shields. “Gunners, open fire, concentrate on their weapons and shields.”

“Aye Captain.”

====Space====

The tide of battle is slowly beginning to change, although those elements of the Vast Empire 2nd and 7th fleets present had been ambushed by the New Republic task force, they were beginning to overcome that shock and put up a coordinated defense. The Light Cruiser's Onyx, Amarath, and Burnish exchanged fire with the New Republic Assault Frigate, the Vast Empire ships were at a disadvantage there, but as the Dead Gun and Daring opened up on the CR-90s and DP-20s, the tide of the battle began to change, now it was the New Republic on the Defensive, their fighters withdrawing to try and protect the Dreadnaught from the attacks of the Vast Empire Fighter and Bomber squadrons, and their Gunships launching wave after wave of missiles at the Dead Gun and Daring.

OOC:
612 Words, NOTE: Before anyone edits this post, this was authorized by StOrMz in order to move the story forward.
XNT/CWO Rorran "Slasher" Gorma/PLT Cappadocious/VENA/VEN/VE
XO/CWO Rorran "Slasher" Gorma/S:137 "Raptor"/PLT Cappadocious/VENA/VEN/VE
SCAP/CWO Rorran "Slasher" Gorma/LCR Onyx/TF:R/2nd FLT/VEN/VE
[CBV.][MC:1][MC:2][SoL][SWC][BWC][NS-1][=*IM*=][=*SWC*=](=*A*=)(=*SA*=)(=^ME^=)
[This message has been edited by Slasher (edited February 25, 2011 12:23:19 AM)]
DeepSix
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  RE: VEN:Into the Invisible
February 25, 2011 3:55:33 PM    View the profile of DeepSix 
Things were going straight to hell and fast. This was the sole conclusion VENI agent Scott "Swift" Starfall came up with as he was informed of the state their current ship was in. The man turned to look back at his prisoner yet his expression was no different than before - calm, cold and calculated. For a moment the human prisoner even wondered if there was anything that could get to the fellow standing a few feet away from him.

"Understood."

That was the agent's simple reply to the trooper that just delivered the news and plan of action. As the trooper stepped outside the interrogation room Scott motioned for the prisoner to get up. He had not restrained him for he knew there would be no need for that. Scanners revealed no concealed weapons or harmful substances anywhere on... or inside his person. Since the VENI agent was also fairly confident in his hand to hand combat skills, chances of him getting overpowered were slim. Even if that would somehow occur... then what would be the point anyway? There was just no way for a single individual to go against the crew of a whole ship this size.

"Move out..."

The simple command came just after Scott finished cuffing the prisoner's hands behind him. He was fairly confident with his skills in a closed and controlled environment but he wasn't going to take any chances outside such an environment. Why the prisoner could get some funny ideas about a potential weapon within reach... Ideas that might lead to him or others getting hurt or killed. Normally the safety of everyone else would be the first priority. In this particular case however the safety of these captives was more important. They would continue to be more important than other crew members for as long as they'd remain a potentially unique source of information... after which chances were they'd end up getting flushed into space from a stuffy little airlock.

A few other stops were made along the way to collect other prisoners and interrogating agents. Last amongst them was the fellow called Econd. Judging by the state of his prisoner it was clear the man preferred a more personal and physical approach. Scott himself wasn't too shy to resort to such means if the situation called for it but at the same time he believed there were better and more effective ways to deal with problems most of the time. Of course that usually involved knowing some sort of personal information about the targets first - names, existence of family, known locations of said family as well as friends...

Drugs were great if available but there was no guarantee they could break someone. Spies in particular were after all trained to resist such techniques for as long as possible. Pain could prove to be another potentially useful incentive but the problem with pain was that again some individuals could choose to break rather than bend. Besides, their pain would only make them think about their own bad situation. They might even start considering themselves martyrs, willing to die for some greater cause they believed in. Here is where the mentioning of family and friends came in. Unless fanatical about their cause then it was rather unlikely for most persons to abandon those they cared about. It was still possible of course but if that was the case then the truth was that there was just nothing anyone would be able to do in order to get any information from them. For those hardcore captives death was truly the only safe and effective course of action.

"Take cover!"

Scott wasn't really sure who gave the order but then again that hardly mattered anyway since judging by the sound of that explosion ahead of them it was clear things would turn even nastier even faster than expected. Quickly reacting the agent helped push the prisoners into a nearby room and made sure they would remain covered by a few troopers. Should the following fight prove to be going badly then Scott was prepared to get back in there and execute the prisoners before they could be captured by the New Republic. If the Empire would not be able to get its hands on whatever information they possessed then the New Republic sure as hell wouldn't be able to either. That was the least the agent could do before being taken out.

Thankfully it didn't come to that as the New Republic soldiers that popped out of the blown up room were quickly taken out. When things started looking bad more reinforcements came and those troops managed to make a whole lot of difference. Leaving the newly arrived troopers to deal with the immediate threat the VENI agents grabbed their prisoners and pushed forward, towards the escape pods.

From what he already heard Scott knew that those troopers that remained behind wouldn't likely make it out of this alive. Heck, most of the crew wouldn't make it as a matter of fact. Their very escape plan was a gamble and on top of that it would require the potential sacrifice of even more Vast Empire servicemen. Three escape pods after all only meant a 1 in 3 chances of not getting shot down for certain. For those odds to stick however the other two pods would also need to be filled with some organic life signs. Since more prisoners weren't really available to sacrifice in this manner that just left those in the service of the Empire. A nasty business to be sure but a necessary one at the same time. All great things required sacrifices and compromises after all...

"Take 'em out!"

The troopers noticed more NR opposition and immediately began firing. Having taken advantage of the element of surprise a couple of the New Republic soldiers fell before they could fire a single shot. Trouble now was taking out the rest of them though. Needless to say the sooner the better considering how the ship was no doubt steadily being taken over by the enemy. To drag the fight for too long would be dangerous if not suicidal, for sooner or later enemy reinforcements would flank them from behind and that would be the end of everyone wearing an Imperial uniform.

Scott tried shooting from above and the side of the box behind which he was taking cover but his shots were hardly effective. It was one thing to properly see a target and be able to take it down and it was another to just know its general location and hope to manage a lucky shoot. Besides, a pistol was hardly the best type of weapon to rely on for lucky shots.

"Aaaagh!"

A trooper fell just a few feet away from him after getting hit. The VENI agent knew straight away that the man was dead considering the blast hit him straight in the face. Even so Scott still struggled to retrieve the body. First thing he did was take the man's E-11 rifle. Then using the trooper's corpse as a shield he allowed himself to fall on the side of the crate. From that position he was able to take out two of the closest enemy soldiers before needing to get back under the sturdier cover provided by the crate.

Scott knew he couldn't very well do that again... not without another body in better condition than the previous one anyway. He could however rely on his ingenuity instead. First thing the hardened agent did was grab a full clip from the fallen trooper's pocket. Scott reloaded his gun but did not bother using it straight away. Instead he went for the fallen trooper's boot. To be precise the shoelace. He needed it for what he had planned next.

"What're you doing?"

The question may have been addressed to him but Scott was too busy to tell who asked it. Needless to say he was also too busy to reply as well.

That should do it...

Scott angled the E-11 rifle a little outside from the crate. Then he tightened the loop he had made around the trigger, causing the gun to keep shooting. When that was taken care of as well Scott threw the weapon towards the enemies. He wasn't really hoping to get any of them this way but he was expecting it to be a decent enough distraction for at least a second or so. And a second was all that he and some of the other agents and troopers needed to get a few more good shots at the enemy, causing some more of them to fall, either dead or shouting in pain. By this point the New Republic troops were starting to lose their advantage and it was only a matter of time before they'd be taken out completely. Assuming the small Imperial party wouldn't be found by more enemy troops afterward then their original plan could proceed. Now whether it would also succeed or not though... well that was a whole different matter though and Scott did have his doubts about it. Then again he was smart enough to keep those doubts to himself...
SC/PO2 DeepSix/A-1/S:82 Nightshrike/W:245 Scimitar/ISD Iron Duke/TF:A/1Flt/SFC/VEN/VE [MC2] [IG] [=^TG^=]
Trykon
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Trykon
 
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  RE: VEN:Into the Invisible
February 27, 2011 11:55:49 PM    View the profile of Trykon 
The Vast Empire fighter jocks were steadily evening the odds, and Wyl Trykon felt a surge of pride in himself and his comrades.  Right now I feel like I could take on the whole Rebellion myself, he thought, smiling under his standard-issue TIE pilot’s helmet.

The tide of the battle had definitively turned.  As their capital ships began to withdraw for exit vectors, the New Republic starfighters were seemingly left to their own devices; some chose to stay and fight, but others limped back to the larger vessels in a half-hearted, disorganized rearguard action.  The Leader of Daggerlip Squadron came on the main fleet comm channel, and said, “I do believe we are starting to win this one, gents.”

DeepSix’s voice was next: "How 'bout a friendly little competition between the Duke's fighter squadrons?  The squadron with the most kills gets free drinks from the losers next time we're on leave.  Second place gets to treat our boys in the Bliz, ‘cause after all, bringing down those big ships is more impressive than swatting these little guys. Any takers?"

The responses were immediate, and enthusiastic.

“Bliz is in.  No reason to refuse such a tempting proposal.”

"Ice Cat is also in. Everyone better ready those creds, 'cause the Cats are going to win this."

"Daggerlip Leader here.  Don't know where you get your confidence, Cat Lead; it should be clear that the Daggers are the best pilots on the Duke.  Daggerlip is in too."

"While you’re all bickering like old ladies, my boys are racking up more kills,” the Squadron Commander of Boar-Wolf said.  “Boar-Wolves agree to these terms.  Just try not to be too hurt when we crush all your dreams and delusions."

A little competition’ll keep us all sharp while we mop up, Wyl mused.  Petty Officer Qorbin’s a good leader.  A sudden thought caused Wyl to frown beneath his helmet: Unless he’s just another glory hound.

But there was no time to guess at his Squadron Commander’s motivations: an X-Wing had broken out of the main melee, and was setting up for a head-on pass with Wyl’s Interceptor.

You want to see who’s a better shot, do you?  Wyl shunted some more energy to his forward shield, and quad-linked his lasers, slowing his potential rate of fire, but maximizing the power of every four-bolt volley.  If the rebel wanted a gunnery competition with a Vast Empire TIE Interceptor pilot, Wyl was happy to oblige him.

The two fighters rushed at each other headlong.  Wyl centered the distinctively-shaped X-Wing in his targeting crosshairs and waited for a good lock; he wanted a clean kill to demonstrate clearly the superiority of Imperial training.  The snubfighter flickered red as it danced in and out of his crosshairs, and then locked red as the two craft drew close.

The X-Wing pilot started shooting at maximum range, with his blaster cannons set to cycle singly in quick succession, and the red bolts splashed against Wyl’s shield.  From so far away, the lasers weren’t very powerful, barely even registering on the TIE’s instruments.  But the crackle of crimson energy on blue shield was distracting, and the rebel pilot used the distraction to juke out of Wyl’s crosshairs.  Wyl triggered a burst blindly, and whispering a curse, he switched his lasers to dual-fire mode as the X-Wing shot by his left side.

Immediately, Wyl snap-rolled onto his port wing and pulled up on the control yoke.  The Interceptor responded, and the nimble Imperial fighter easily out-turned the much-vaunted T-65, inexorably getting Wyl closer and closer to a rear-quarter kill-shot.  The desperate rebel rolled right, then climbed sharply.  Wyl started to follow him, and then the X-Wing came over to complete a loop.  Wyl snapped his TIE onto its left wing, giving his foe a clear shot at his starboard side.  The snubfighter’s shots passed wide on either side, but the rebel started to roll his ship to correct his aim.

Wyl didn’t give him a chance.  He applied rudder and rolled ninety degrees to starboard for another, much closer head-to-head match up, his Interceptor’s smallest possible targeting profile presented to the rebel.  Ignoring the single red blaster blots tracking towards his viewport, Wyl held his trigger down, sending out three pairs of verdant energy.  The first duo bracketed the snubfighter, the second brought down its forward shield, and the third pair of green blaster bolts slammed into the rebel fighter’s newly-vulnerable, exposed right side.

As his shots shredded the X-Wing’s starboard S-foils and the snubfighter’s engines detonated, Wyl couldn’t help but feel another wave of exultation.  Just one more kill and I’ll be an ace, he thought, even as the New Republic fighter in front of him broke apart.  Instantly, the thought soured, as Wyl flew through the wreckage and one piece of debris – colored bright orange – bounced off his shields.  “Emperor’s Bones,” Wyl gasped, as he belated recognized the humanoid shape.  “That was a rebel flight suit.”  As his dead enemy’s orange-clad corpse spun away through space, Wyl’s thought took on a slightly different emphasis: one more kill and he’d be an ace.

Sobered, Wyl checked his status displays.  His forward shield was still sluggishly trying to recover from the early-battle turbolaser blast it’d absorbed, and the recent dogfighting hadn’t helped, but besides that and the lack of missiles, the Interceptor he’d commandeered from the Devastator’s maintenance crew seemed to be in fairly good shape.  But while the collision with the other pilot’s body may not have damaged his fighter, it certainly had made an impact on Wyl himself: for some time, the talented (but inexperienced) killer was lost in his own thoughts, the battle raging around him momentarily forgotten.

Who was he, Wyl wondered.  What did he look like?  Who or what did he care about?  In Wyl's mind, the bloc of anonymous enemies that had served as the object of his hatred for so long was abruptly replaced by a group of individual beings, with names, and faces, and lives.  “Okay,” Wyl muttered into his suddenly too-tight, too-hot helmet, shaking his head to clear his thoughts.  The rebels are warmongering, thieving, anarchistic usurpers, he reminded himself, who can’t decide whether to conquer the Galaxy or simply break it into shards out of spite.  It’s good that you’re not like them – that you can’t destroy lives without a second thought – but that doesn’t change the fact that the traitors must be stopped.  “Okay,” he repeated, this time with more sincerity.  Purposefully, Wyl swung his Interceptor back around toward the battle and calmly picked out a target: a lone Y-Wing was skirting around the edge of the fight, probably trying to quietly sneak back to its home squadron or the cover of the New Republic capital ships after causing mischief with its proton torpedoes.  Bad luck, rebel.  You weren’t quiet enough.  “Time to get one more,” Wyl said out loud.  But for all his conviction, Trykon couldn’t bring himself to finish his sentence; he couldn’t say, “Time to get one more kill.”

OOC:
Word Count: 1,169 or so.
"Don't look for the difficulty in every opportunity; find the opportunity in every difficulty." -- Wyl Trykon

Imperial Network Star Wars Image

FM/SCRW Wyl "Trick" Trykon/A-2/S:82 Nightshrike/W:245 Scimitar/ISD Iron Duke/TF:A/1FL/SFC/VEN/VE/[SoA]/(=*AE*=)(=^TG^=)
FM/SCRW Wyl "Trick" Trykon/A-2/S:82 Nightshrike/W:245 Scimitar/ISD Iron Duke/TF:A/1FL/SFC/VEN/VE/[SoA]/(=*AE*=)(=^TG^=)
[This message has been edited by Trick (edited March 1, 2011 1:19:41 AM)]
[This message has been edited by Trick (edited March 3, 2011 8:33:26 AM)]
Kazack
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Kazack
 
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  RE: VEN:Into the Invisible
February 28, 2011 2:04:14 AM    View the profile of Kazack 
Kazack quickly checked the incoming missiles screen as the second volley struck home.  There not firing back, Kazack thought, odd, i would be trying to do as much damage as possible before I retreat. Noticing the massive hole in what appeared to be the Lower Engineering section of the Mon Cal Cruiser Kazack couldn’t help but pity the poor souls on that ship. They will be destroyed soon, and I hope we get to the bottom of this quickly.


“FIRE” Commodore Atrasin screamed and Kazack realised this was the third time he had given the order, and they were waiting on him to relay it. Kazack quickly relayed the orders to the starboard gunners and they unleashed a third volley. The damaged Mon Cal Cruiser was hit hard as her portside shields completely failed, permanently this time. Kazack pitied the dying ship even more as the missiles struck home. It made two more large Hull Breaches on the port side. Then suddenly, the Duke began to barrel roll. Kazack narrowly managed to avoid being thrown to the floor as the ship lurched back into position. He realised what had happened, one of the Corellian Corvettes had thrown a missile right at the unarmoured section of the bridge. It would have hit to, had it not been for a last minute swerve by the pilots. Kazack quickly took a break and glanced around at his fellow Bridge Officers, he realised he had sweat pouring off his brow. He quickly wiped it off and stared at the computer again. “Incoming Missiles again sir,” Kazack reported to the Commodore. The torpedos struck the Duke and the computer reported a minor hull breach. “Sir, we have a hull breach on one of the starboard cargo holds!” Kazack reported feeling alarmed. “well then fix It damnit!” the Commodore yelled at him. What do I look like, a mechanic? Kazack thought, but he kept the thought to himself. “Mechanic Squad Four reported to Cargo Hold Three we have a hull breach,” “I repeat we have a hull breach” Kazack gave the orders over the ships comm system and mechanics rushed to obey.


The Atrus was the largest ship Kazack had ever seen. It arrived as another corvette went up in flames. Well their finished now, Kazack thought with grim satisfaction. The arrival of the Atrus was the final straw for the NR forces as the fighters began fighting a sloppy rearguard action. All the while being shot to pieces by Nightshrike and the Duke’s other squadrons. The Atrus launched it’s first volley, which struck the Bridge of the NR cruiser head on.


Bridge Of Mon Calamari Star Cruiser General Moon

The bridge was a wreckage, the dead and dying were everywhere. The Captain. A human named Allan Hare, bleeding from a head and right arm wound, was about to open up a comm. He had hoped he would never have to do this, but to save the ship and the surviving crew some action had to be taken. Their jump drives were destroyed and their portside shields were gone. The VE First Fleet was closing in and the first attack had gone horribly wrong. The fighters had failed to stop the VE fighter squadrons from ripping into the NR squadrons. Only one course of action remained. The Captain sighed and opened the channel. A Wookie stood before him. The man he had been sent to ambush. “Rear Admiral Kranzhar, the captain and crew of the Star Cruiser General Moon surrender on the condition that you spare the lives of those onboard.” Said Captain Hare taking a deep breath.
BO/LCRW Fremen Talla/ISD Iron Duke/Aurek/1st Flt/VEN/VE
Slasher
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  RE: VEN:Into the Invisible
February 28, 2011 12:29:32 AM    View the profile of Slasher 
===Bridge of the Onyx===

Slasher holds tightly to the arms of his command chair as the entire ship shakes under the assault of the New Republic Frigate, “Helm, try and keep us as much in that dead area created by the destroyed battery as possible. Operations, what is the status of the enemy ship?”

“Their shields are holding at present Captain, neither the Burnish nor the Amarath have been able to get through to score any hits on their hull.”

The ship shudders again and immediately after Slasher hears the voice of Ren Fams coming over the intraship circuit.

“Engineering to Bridge.”

Slasher hits a button on his console, keeping the channel open, “Engineering, this is Bridge.”

“Captain, that last hit shook something loose in the engine repairs, we're losing power to the engines, current capability is 78% and falling sir.”

Slasher quickly thinks about the implications of losing engines, “Master Chief, what is our current rate of loss? And how long is it going to be before we lose the engines completely?”

“We're losing about .5% a minute Captain, but that is only if we don't get hit again, under current conditions, I'd give it 5 minutes before we either have something else shaken loose, or a disabling blow is landed.”

“Ok, I'll do what I can, get those engines fixed as soon as possible Master C-”

Slasher is cut off as the deck shudders again and a string of expletives is heard from Engineering.

“Captain, that just essentially eliminated our engines, and our shields are down to 13%”

“Dammit, without shields we'll never be able to get those engines back operational. Master Chief, do what you can, now would be a good time to pull a miracle out of that bag of yours.”

“I'll do what I can, Engineering out.”

Slasher looks up at the grim but determined faces of his bridge crew and as the Assault Frigate begins to move closer, looming over the small form of the Warden Class Light Cruiser Onyx everyone aboard the Onyx knows what is coming, behind him Slasher hears a slight thump as Cevdis returns to the bridge, and the Senior Crewman comes to attention in front of Slasher.

“Captain, the ship is a mess, the Doctor said that he had everything under control in sickbay and advised me to return to the bridge. Permission to return to duty station?”

Slasher looks down at the mini-console attached to his command chair and sees a bank of red blinking lights.

“Looks like that won't be necessary Senior Crewman, we've lost Engines, Shields are almost-” The ship shudders again and Slasher corrects himself as he sees another light go red, “Are gone, I think this is going to be our last stand.”

“In that case Captain,” Cevdis drops his hand to the holstered blaster at his side and continues, “Permission to resist capture sir.”

Slasher nods, “Permission granted”

===Onyx Main Engineering===

Master Chief Petty Officer Ren Fams picks up the pile of plating and wiring that had fallen onto the power distribution console and tosses it aside, punching a couple buttons on the console to see whether or not it still works, and in the hopes that he'll be able to pull up a schematic of the ship and find some power somewhere that he can utilize to give them a couple more seconds of life. As the display before him flickers to life, Fams experiences a glimmer of hope as he sees that the power generator is still showing operational, it just is unable to get any of that power to the other sections of the ship.

“Well here goes nothing,” he says to no one in particular, as he grabs his toolkit and some spare power couplings and runs toward where the power generator is stuck, it is a tight fit for the Master Chief, and he has to pull some fallen debris out of the way, but after about 30 seconds he is next to the power generator, and begins to replace some of the power couplings, while others he disconnects, causing some of the interior lighting on the ship to dim as it switches to tertiary power, but if he can manage to get the reactor back up and running using this generator, then he's sure that the rest of the crew won't mind the reduced lighting.

===Bridge of the Onyx 2 minutes later===

“Captain, the Assault Frigate will be within grappling range in less than a minute.”

“Thank you Cevdis, Acorn, any indication of where the Amarath and Burnish are?”

“Negative Captain,” responds the helmsman, “Last sighting I had showed them attempting to withdraw, I think they know we're done sir.”

“Very well, Any word from Engineering?”

Master Chief Ren Fams responds as he enters the bridge from the Captain's quarters, having made his way there from Engineering since the lifts were currently out. “I have one last trick up my sleeve sir, not sure whether it will work, but we'll either get power back for engines and shields, or we'll find ourselves spread about this sector as fine particles, either way we'll hopefully be able to cause some damage to that sonuvabitch who mucked up my engines.”

“Sounds like a plan Master Chief, we will engage in 30 seconds.”

“Aye sir.”

===Bridge of the Daoshim===

The Captain counts down the seconds in his head, as around him the crew sits very tense, knowing that unless they pull this maneuver off precisely they may end up losing the Onyx which they are trying to rescue, and the Amarath and Burnish as well as they carry out their parts in the rescue.

“Communications Officer, transmit to commanders of Amarath and Burnish, Mark.”

“Aye Captain,”

As the message from the Daoshim is transmitted to Stewart-Power and Romanflame their ships spring into action, although they had been moving at only 25% of their normal engine output as they withdrew, their ship's spin around and each charge the Assault Frigate at 85% normal velocity, the best they can manage with the damage they have sustained.

===Bridge of the Amarath===

Stewart-Power watches the seconds tick by as they re-enter range of the Assault Frigate, and as the chronometer reaches zero on its countdown, on the bridges of the Amarath, Burnish, and Daoshim the commanders issue firing orders.

===Bridge of the Onyx===

Slasher is looking over at Cevdis when all of a sudden there are violent green flashes from the direction of the viewport, and exclamations of, “Captain, Look!” and “SIR!” from those on the Bridge, as Slasher turns back to the viewport he sees the huge beams of energy that could only come from the turbolaser batteries on a capital ship slamming into the Assault Frigate, as the Amarath and Burnish flit across his view, launching missiles and barrages of laserfire at the Assault frigate, who's shields are in a disarray because of the assault from the unseen Capital Ship, Slasher quickly reacts.

“Whatever your trick is Fams, nows the time.”

Fams nods and reaches down, pushing a button on the mini-console and bringing the Reactor from it's full standby, to full operation, able to be done without a warming up period thanks to the reinforced forcefields which are flush with the surface of the reactor, and which ensure none of the explosive reactant comes into contact with the air, or the deck, outside.

“Sir, repair successful, reactor is back online, and holding, permission to return to Engineering?”

“Granted, and thanks.”

“Don't mention it sir.”

Slasher turns back toward the viewport and begins to issue orders. “Enough of playing bait, we will never live it down if they have to come in and rescue us, Full power to Shields and Engines, Gunnery fire at will.”

“AYE SIR!” come the jubilant shouts of his bridge crew, so happy to be alive, and ready to exact retribution on those who brought them so close to destruction.

OOC:
Word Count: 1357
XNT/CWO Rorran "Slasher" Gorma/PLT Cappadocious/VENA/VEN/VE
XO/CWO Rorran "Slasher" Gorma/S:137 "Raptor"/PLT Cappadocious/VENA/VEN/VE
SCAP/CWO Rorran "Slasher" Gorma/LCR Onyx/TF:R/2nd FLT/VEN/VE
[CBV.][MC:1][MC:2][SoL][SWC][BWC][NS-1][=*IM*=][=*SWC*=](=*A*=)(=*SA*=)(=^ME^=)
Slasher
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Slasher
 
[VE-NAVY] Chief Warrant Officer
 
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  RE: VEN:Into the Invisible
February 28, 2011 3:31:49 PM    View the profile of Slasher 
Chief Warrant Officer Slasher looks around, breathing a sigh of relief as the Onyx moves slowly away from the slowly expanding cloud of debris that used to be the Assault Frigate that had been menacing them. “Cevdis, please inform the commanders of the Amarath, Burnish, and Daoshim that we are going to be out of action for a period of time while we make repairs, I will provide them with repair estimates as soon as possible, in the meantime get us out of here at best possible sublight speed, head for open space, I want to be able to see anyone who is coming long before they get here.”

“Aye Captain.”

As the Onyx moves away from the combat, even temporarily, the crew breathes a collective sigh of relief and get down to the work of getting the ship back to combat readiness for when they will reenter the combat.

Once they are safely beyond the reach of any of the enemies immediately, Slasher stands and addresses Leekin, “Senior Chief, you have the bridge, I want minimum crew manning stations, everyone else is on constant Damage Control and repair efforts. I want Leekin and Acorn on the bridge, everyone else report to Engineering.”

===10 minutes later, Main Engineering===

Master Chief Fams is sweating slightly as he attaches another patch to the surface of the reactor, moving slowly out from under the reactor he yells to Cevdis, “There, that one is in place Crewman, run that diagnostic again to make sure it is sealed”

“Running now Master Chief,” a couple seconds later there's a depressing beep that causes Cevdis' expression to become a little more depressed, and a sigh from the Master Chief as he slides back underneath the reactor to try and find location of this breach in the reactor.

Across the way from them, Crewman Zabmen is working on the power conduits, replacing those sections which have been severely damaged, and checking those with minor or no damage to ensure that they are working, and replacing those that aren't. Beside him Crewman Kin is checking the wiring for other systems next to them, and replacing those that can be, bypassing those that can't, and doing his best to keep his mind off of the images still flashing through his mind of the falling body of Petty Officer Krailles.

===10 minutes later, Port Turret===

Ren Fams looks at the power conduits leading into the turret,
These look like shit... dammit, I'm running out of replacements, why are they failing?
He knows that in part it is because of the extensive use they have seen in the preceding hours they have been through, and he makes a mental note to look into getting better rated power conduits installed the next time they stop at a station, otherwise they may find themselves blowing out their turrets the next time they are in combat. Sitting up he sees Zabmen across the way, rewiring some blown circuitry, and trying to get the targeting sensors for the turret back operational.

===5 minutes later, Bridge===

Crewman Kin puts the panel back in place, having just completed the repairs to the lift on the bridge, and heads back down to engineering, quietly cursing the delays that are keeping them from combat, aware that nearby, and yet just out of reach, friends are dying, and there is nothing he can do.

===5 minutes later, Bridge===

Slasher turns to Chimo, who has returned to limited duty and is manning the communications console so that the able-bodied Cevdis can assist Master Chief Fams in Engineering, “Chimo, get me Main Engineering please.”

“Aye Captain,” the Rodian crewman grimaces as he bumps his injured leg, and nods to the Captain that the channel is open.

“Master Chief,” Slasher sits back in his command chair, bringing up a sensor view of the battle on his mini-console, “They could really use us back in the battle, what is our status?”

“We're ready sir, Shields are charging, at 78%, Lasers are back up, no missiles, Engines are available with 95% thrust. I'd rather not go back just yet, but we are ready.”

OOC:
697 words
XNT/CWO Rorran "Slasher" Gorma/PLT Cappadocious/VENA/VEN/VE
XO/CWO Rorran "Slasher" Gorma/S:137 "Raptor"/PLT Cappadocious/VENA/VEN/VE
SCAP/CWO Rorran "Slasher" Gorma/LCR Onyx/TF:R/2nd FLT/VEN/VE
[CBV.][MC:1][MC:2][SoL][SWC][BWC][NS-1][=*IM*=][=*SWC*=](=*A*=)(=*SA*=)(=^ME^=)
Romanflame
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Romanflame
 
[VE-NAVY] Warrant Officer 1st Class
 
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  RE: VEN:Into the Invisible
March 1, 2011 8:07:28 PM    View the profile of Romanflame 
The Amaranth kept assaulting the Frigate trying as hard as it could to wear out the shields to no avail.  The Frigates assault took the Amaranths down to 45%, and the barrages from both sides continued.  The Amaranth shook as it took the hits.

“Give me a damage report.”  Arthur said.

“Shields at 45%, the cargo hold patch failed so we sealed the hold till we could make a proper repair, lifts are down, all non-essential power diverted to shields, engines, and weapons.”  Polia Reack said.

“Med-bay how many injured?” Arthur asked.

“Three with non-serious injuries, not including you, so far just Hekev Hamoe is dead.  There is nothing else to report, Sir.”  Hanna Chambers replied

Arthur was sitting at his chair giving orders trying to keep his crew alive.  Arthur gave the order to fire another missile, when the captain of the Doashim opened a com link between them.

“Sir, we have a message coming from the Doashim.”  Jaeron said.

“Patch it through Jaeron.” Arthur responded.

“I have a plan to save the Onyx, Burnish, and your ship the Amaranth.  We want you and the Burnish to pull out at about 25% of your engine power, and when we give the single you need to turn around and head at the Assault Frigate at your fastest speed.  You won’t need to worry about their shields we will take care of them, just focus all your fire at it.”  He told Arthur.

“Yes, Sir beginning the feint now.”  He looked over to his crew “Give the order to fall back.”

They started to turn around and retreat.  Everyone else in the crew that didn’t hear the message was wondering why they were retreating.  They didn’t have time to ask Arthur what the plan was because he opened the coms.

“We are not really leaving the battle we are just pulling a feint attack in junction with both the Doashim, and the Burnish.  I need everything we got focused on the engines, and weapons, but leave something for the shields.  I would love to have us live through this assault.”  Arthur told his whole crew.

They made their way away from the Assault Frigate taking hits as they left when the Doashim got into range they gave the signal.  Arthur relayed the message to his crew and turned and went right for the Frigate.  He saw the Doashim blots hit the shields of the frigate and watched as they failed.

“Fire everything we have at the Frigate and do it now!”  Arthur told the crew.

The Frigate could not withstand a full on assault by two Warden-class Light Cruisers, and a Strike-Class Cruiser.  The assault caused the frigate to explode, and with the Onyx moving out of the battlefield to repair Arthur moved onto the next target.  They started to repair some of the damage and restore power all around.

Outside the ship all around them the battle was going on they were able to help out some of the TIE Interceptors by removing their enemies Arthur made sure that they didn’t steal anyone kills.  Being a former fighter pilot he knew how it pissed them off when someone stole their kills.

OOC:
531 words
SCAP/WO1 Arthur 'Romanflame' Dragon/LCR Amaranth/TF:Resh/2nd FLT/VEN/VE
[MC2] [MC:1] [CBV][SoL][CO][IG]
Kazack
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Kazack
 
[VE-NAVY] Leading Crewman
 
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  RE: VEN:Into the Invisible
March 5, 2011 12:20:53 AM    View the profile of Kazack 
Kazack felt the ship rock as though it was his skin and bones shuddering as another missile, this time from one of the Correlian Corvettes hit the underside of the Duke when it formed up alongside the Atrus and they together moved toward the Cruiser.  One of the lucky surviving corvettes which had still managed to survive the barrages put on by the Duke, Devastator and Atrus was also there. Luckily the shields held and no hull breach was picked up. Commodore Atrasin supervised the moving of the ship as it rolled forward, not the roll of a sea ship mind you, but more the smooth roll of a Xeno-Martial Artist as they ukemied away from their opponent. Kazack suddenly felt a short stabbing pain in his arm. He realized that there was a tiny little shard of glass stuck into the skin. “Must have been from when the Commodore threw the datapad” Kazack said to himself as the ship rolled once more and he pulled the shard from his arm. He knew the injury wasn’t serious, and he wasn’t going to be a baby about it.

“Helm, come about to engage the Nebulon Frigate” Mallou ordered and Kazack relayed the orders, as did the other Bridge Officers. “Commodore, the hull breach in the starboard cargo hold has been sealed by our mechanics that are now on standby” Kazack reported. “Excellent, prepare weapons for firing missiles and torpedos.” The commodore ordered, somewhat calmer now that he had temporarily run out of people to shoot at. Commodore Atrasin was talking quietly with Captain Mallou, whose blood it seemed had not been at all raised by the bloody engagement which had left a heavily damaged and disabled Mon Cal starcruiser and several tattered New Republic Squadrons. Nightshrike had scored the most kills, they had, it seemed, ripped apart half a dozen fighters without even batting an eyelash, and the rest had been killed with virtually no losses. The Duke’s other squadrons had fared well too. [“This is Admiral Kranz’har requesting a status report on the Iron Duke”] Came the Wookiees  voice over the comm. “This is the Iron Duke admiral,” said Kazack, with a touch of awe in his voice as he was partially unable to believe he was talking to the NCC. “We had a hull breach in the starboard cargo hold which has been patched, our shields are at sixty-nine percent and we are ready for further orders” He continued and then quickly relayed that same conversation to Commodore Atrasin. “Tell him we are engaging the Nebulon frigate” Atrasin said. “Copy Commodore, We are engaging the Nebulon Frigate now sir” Kazack said. “[Good, hit them hard]” The NCC replied and closed the link. The Nebulon Frigate had suddenly realised the Duke’s hostile intent and was trying to right itself on to a less chaotic vector so as to get into a better retreat position should the time come to withdraw.


The Atrus appeared to cotton onto the frigate’s plan, as did the Devastator, and attempted to entice some of the protecting light corvettes into attempting to score some damage on the Star Destroyers as they moved towards the edge of what had previously been the battlefield which was rapidly becoming a massacre zone. The Duke for it’s part drew up within firing range of the Frigate. “Fire!” Commodore Atrasin yelled as his blood was again up. Kazack, for the fourth time in less then fifteen minutes, relayed the orders to the starboard gunners as they fired. The missiles impacted with devastating velocity and  quickly collapsed the portside shields and the others slammed onto the upper decks. “Sir, the frigate has a hull breach in the upper operations section of the ship, and is preparing to return fire.” Kazack reported, as was the nature of his job. “Angle shields and brace for impact.” Captain Mallou ordered, her voice completely calm as though she was ordering lunch. “Incoming Missiles” Kazack said. Due to his inexperience, (as he would later learn he was never supposed to do this) Kazack took his hands of the console’s keys and gripped the side of his chair. The missiles impacted next to one of the starboard hanger bays on the Duke and the ship shuddered again. “Damage report” Commodore Atrasin barked and Kazack scrambled to reply. “Light hit sir, still no major systems down, however, we have lost our comms in that area of the ship.” “Prepare for more fire in that area and divert power to engines. I’d rather that frigate didn’t get away from us” Atrasin replied. Kazack complied and the Duke seemed to speed up slightly, sliding across space as though it was smooth glass and rapidly closing the distance between themselves and the frigate.

(OOC Word Count 795)
BO/LCRW Fremen Talla/ISD Iron Duke/Aurek/1st Flt/VEN/VE
Trykon
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Trykon
 
[VE-NAVY] Petty Officer 2nd Class
 
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  RE: VEN:Into the Invisible
March 5, 2011 12:39:14 AM    View the profile of Trykon 
After his grisly collision with an enemy pilot’s corpse (an enemy he himself had killed), Wyl Trykon made a conscious effort to focus on the needs of the moment: efficiently hunting down targets and surviving combat long enough for the fight to end.  Any thoughts he may have had about the inter-squadron competition and personal glory when he spotted a Y-Wing on the edge of the battle were successfully suppressed by the time he intercepted and engaged the New Republic fighter-bomber, and in the subsequent dogfight Wyl was able to maintain a composed, dispassionate mind-set.  By keeping his cool – and by fully exploiting the inherent technical superiority of his TIE Interceptor – Wyl was able to out-fly the rebel (overcoming the being’s surprisingly competent piloting skills), and effectively maneuvered for a kill-shot.  As he guided his dagger-winged ship through the cloud of shrapnel and expanding gases that had been the enemy starfighter (and pilot), an excited thought broke through Wyl’s professional state of mind: he was an ace!

“That’s five!” he shouted into his flight helmet.

“I’m thrilled for you,” a voice grumbled over the comm, and Wyl realized sheepishly that his helmet microphone had been live, and the connection to the Fleet still active.  But other Imperial pilots were soon reporting their kill tallies, assuaging some of Wyl’s embarrassment: “Daggerlip Four’s bagged three X-Wings so far,” and, “I’ll see your three, and raise you a corvette,” and, “Another one for Boar-Wolf Squadron!”

“Keep up the good work, everybody,” DeepSix interrupted, “but cut the chatter.  Focus on flying; we’ll compare totals afterwards.”

Wyl nodded absently.  His Squadron Commander was right.  Back to the battle, he thought, looping his Interceptor back towards the main engagement.  He glanced at his sensor display to get a snapshot of the tactical situation as he shunted laser power to his twin ion engines for a sudden burst of speed: the fight was going well for the Vast Empire, with the New Republic capital ships apparently in a full rout, and their fighters confusedly trying to screen the retreat.

Imperial losses had been surprisingly light in the battle, if his IFF system was accurately reporting the number of active friendly beacons.  Hopefully that means the Nightshrikes are all still in one piece, Wyl thought.  He hated to think of losing comrades before even getting to meet them.  Too many people had already been murdered by the rebels: too many friends from the past lost forever.  Well, you may have stolen my past and killed my friends, Wyk said silently to the distant, glowing drive emissions of the rebel ships, framed in his octagonal viewport, but I’m running with a new crowd now, and the future belongs to us!  Not to mention the present…

The roiling mass of starfighters loomed ahead.  Wyl spotted a locally-outnumbered element of Imperials tangling with a full flight of X-Wings in the distance, and as he watched, one of the rebel snubfighters loosed a proton torpedo.  Wyl didn’t have time even to snap off a warning over the fleet-wide channel before the blue projectile overtook the lead Interceptor, and exploded.  From so far away, the flash marking the death of yet another Imperial citizen seemed very small, and very brief.

Okay, Wyl thought, setting his jaw.  Those first five were for me.  He exhaled deliberately.  The rest are for Nightshrike Squadron, and the Empire!

OOC:
Word Count: 561.
"Don't look for the difficulty in every opportunity; find the opportunity in every difficulty." -- Wyl Trykon

Imperial Network Star Wars Image

FM/PO2 Wyl "Trick" Trykon/A-2/S:82 Nightshrike/W:245 Scimitar/ISD Iron Duke/TF:A/1FL/SFC/VEN/VE/[SoA]/(=*AE*=)(=^TG^=)
FM/PO2 Wyl "Trick" Trykon/A-2/S:82 Nightshrike/W:245 Scimitar/ISD Iron Duke/TF:A/1FL/SFC/VEN/VE/[SoA]/(=*AE*=)(=^TG^=)

TO/PO2 Wyl Trykon/PLT Cappadocious/VENA/VEN/VE/[SoA]/(=*AE*=)(=^TG^=)
TO/PO2 Wyl Trykon/PLT Cappadocious/VENA/VEN/VE/[SoA]/(=*AE*=)(=^TG^=)
Romanflame
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Romanflame
 
[VE-NAVY] Warrant Officer 1st Class
 
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  RE: VEN:Into the Invisible
March 10, 2011 2:43:31 AM    View the profile of Romanflame 
Arthur looked over the battle field to decide what their next target was going to be.  Romanflame saw three DP-20 Corellian Gunships out on the battle field with next to no damage.

“Petty Officer Harald Hissack take us into firing range of the closest DP-20 Corellian Gunship we’re going to bring it down.”  Arthur said.

“Right away, Sir.” Hissack responded.

Hissack had Elither locate the closest DP-20, and he made his way over there.

“ETA Hissack?” Arthur asked.

“Twenty seconds, Sir.”  Harald replied.

The Amaranth moved closer to the DP-20.  Arthur let the gunner assist some of the TIEs during their journey.  They were ten seconds away when the DP-20 opened fire on the Amaranth.

“We are in range, Sir.”  Hissack said to Arthur.

“Ferth Wazz open fire on that DP-20.” Arthur said.

They opened fire on the DP-20 the shield was stronger than Arthur thought.  The Gunship hammered the Amaranth taking its shields from 80% down to 50%.  There was a hull breach on the port side of the Amaranth.

“Sir, we have a hull breach sending the repair crew.” Jaeron said.

“Where is the hull breach?” Arthur asked.

“Just received word that it is in one of the detention cell, and they were able to seal the breach and are using the field as a secondary seal.”  Jaeron replied.

The Amaranth continued to barrage the DP-20 and receive their hits.  Light went out all over the ship, and were soon back on thanks to the engineers.  The non-critical systems were soon shut down and all the power was transferred to weapons and shields.

“Give me a report on the damage.” Arthur said.

“Shields are holding at 35%, we have sealed every breach as well as possible, Sir.”

“Elither are they any ships helping us fight this thing?” Arthur asked.

“We are only getting help from the bombers right now, Sir.” Elither Anderson replied.

“Let’s hope that is enough.” Arthur responded.

Engineering Room of the Amaranth.

Womack was laying under the shield generators trying to get more power to them.  He had Rufus pull power from everywhere they could without removing power from critical points.  There were many power cables strung around the engineering room from one junction to another.

“Jason we might need to shut down the gravity generator and use the power from there.” Harker said.

“We need to get Arthurs’ authorization to do that.”  Womack responded.

“Would you like me to ask him for the authorization, Sir?” Rufus asked.

“Right now that’s the only place we have left to pull from so do it.”  Jason said.

“Warrant Officer Arthur I need your authorization to remove power from the gravity generator to try to restore power to the shields, Sir.”  Harker said.

“Granted, we need all the power there as possible.  I will tell the crew so you two focus on it.” Arthur responded.

With that they both started to get the shield generator set for the new power supply.  After Arthur made the announcement they were able to shut down the gravity and transfer the power to the shields.

Bridge of the Amaranth.

“Sir, the shields just jumped back up to 80%.” Elither said.

“We need to thank engineers for that large jump in shield strength.” Arthur said.

With the renewed shield power it restored the moral of the entire crew.  They fired the last of the rockets at the DP-20 and the shield held still they had no idea how low the shield was or if it was weakened at all.

“Warrant Officer Arthur we have two more injuries one is a minor cut from the torn hull plating, and one with a minor burn.” Hanna Chambers told him.
   
“Thanks for the update Hanna, keep me updated.” Arthur said.

They continued to barrage the DP-20 but now they firing only lasers.  The shields were able to give them a second chance at destroying it but so far the effects were looking bleak.  The DP-20s shields were holding strong and their punch was stronger than the Amaranths.

“How long will we last against this ship?” Arthur asked.

“If we remain unaided we won’t last more than fifteen minutes, Sir.”  Jason replied.

“Send out a message to any available capital ships that we need back-up, and tell him we won’t last longer than fifteen minutes.”  Arthur said, “If we don’t get help then in twelve minutes I want everyone to make their way to the escape pods.”

“Yes Sir, sending message now.” Wacok replied.

OOC:
747 words
SCAP/WO1 Arthur 'Romanflame' Dragon/LCR Amaranth/TF:Resh/2nd FLT/VEN/VE
[MC2] [MC:1] [CBV][SoL][CO][IG]
Amacuse
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Imperial Templar

 
Amacuse
 
[VE-NAVY] Senior Chief Petty Officer
 
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  RE: VEN:Into the Invisible
March 10, 2011 9:58:57 AM    View the profile of Amacuse 
OOC:
I'm gonna play with Regent 5 (SCRW Fianna Rehal) a little bit.  Plus... it'll give me an idea on how I'm going to do some things in the future...


Fianna watched as Ruwe's Interceptor chased after their squadron commander's.  Well... looks like the boys are having fun... time for me to get some action she thought, turning her fighter back towards the fray.  She looked to her left and saw her wingman's fighter, Leading Crewman Stren Dvanack, being chased by a trio of A-Wings.  "Regent 6, swing around the Dead Gun and line up with me.  I'm gonna clear out your backyard," she said, banking hard to the right as several missiles crossed her viewport.

[[Roger that ma'am.  Accelerating to attack speed.]]

She smiled as Stren's fighter accelerated towards the aft-section of the Dead Gun, the A-Wings following suit.  She began accelerating to the nose of the Victory Star Destroyer, taking a nice pair of X-Wings with her for the ride.  She flipped her comm to an open* channel and said "You want a piece of me, rebel scum?  Well, come and get me!"  She accelerated harder, draining power from her forward deflector screens to increase engine power.

Fianna closed the gap between her fighter and the hull of the Dead Gun, making it an extremely tight fit for the X-Wings on her tail.  She switched back to the Regents' channel and said "Stren, you had better be ready.  Because I'm packing a pair of crosses to match your trio of edges."

[[Fianna, I'm ready when you are.]]

"On my mark.  3... 2... 1... mark!" she said, putting her fighter into a hard barrel roll.  Her wingman copied her maneuver, and both fighters zoomed past each other, mere micrometers from each other. Once she was positive she was clear, she let rip green laser bolts into the rapidly approaching A-Wings, tearing the first two to shreds, and sending the third one into a hard turn right smack into the hull of the Dead Gun.  "Stren, status report!"

[[Just some singed solar panels, otherwise 2 crosses for the rack back home, Flight Lead.]]

She could tell Stren was grinning, and she realized she herself was grinning as well.  "Excellent work, Regent 6.  Now, form up on my 4.  We're going to show those other fighters just how we Regents get he job done."

[[Proceeding, ma'am.]]

OOC:
Now... we'll follow Cayden for a bit...


Cayden looked over at Ruwe's fighter and smiled.  At least the old wook is having fun.  So long as I stay ahead, I'm perfectly fine with him having fun he thought, decreasing power to his rear deflector screens.

Cayden watched as a flight of A-Wings broke off from an entire flock, making large headway towards the pair of Interceptors.  Cayden tightened his grip on his control yoke and said "Today is a good day to die!"  He accelerated his fighter past recommended speeds, firing his guns at the lead fighter.

His IFF showed Ruwe accelerating to catch up, but Cayden knew that he was going to beat the wookie to the battle.  He simply knew it.

What Cayden didn't know, was that a trio of X-Wings came up on their starboard side, firing some really shiny red laser bolts across Cayden's path.

[Sir, pull up!] he heard his wingman yell over the comm, but Cayden only smiled.

"I hope you brought your wallet, cause the rent in Hell gets payed in advance!" he yelled into his headset, letting lose volley after volley of green laser blasts as the blasts from the X-Wings began swarming around him.  Many of the blasts glanced off his shields, but seemingly failed to break through... until the alarms started blaring in the cockpit.

"WARNING!  HULL BREACH DETECTED!  WARNING!  ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE RAPIDLY DECREASING!" the computer repeated in the cockpit.

Cayden slammed down hard on the accelerator, zooming out of the thick cloud of laser bolts and past the A-Wings.  He quickly turned his Interceptor around, locking on to the X-Wings that caused this horrible tragedy for him.  "Atrevido encima de victoria!" he cried in the ancient Onderonian language.  He let loose a massive barrage of laser blasts, not caring or even trying to hit anything.  Several wel-placed shots from the incoming X-Wings put his fighter into severe disrepair, causing it to spin out of control and begin drifting at an alarming speed away from the battle.

Black-out Memory - Status: Drifting out of Control

Cayden looked around and saw a female officer standing at the top of a set of stairs.  All he saw was the officer and the stairs.  Moments later, he began to notice where they were: Rhen Var.

"Cayden, I warned you that this could be your last battle..." the officer said, sighing heavily.

"Cayla... I knew the risks when I returned.  I was prepared to die for the Vast Empire," he replied, taking a step forward.

"What about Bimmiel?  Is Bimmiel prepared to lose her beloved commander?" she asked, tears cascading down her face.

He fought the tears back, saying "Bimmiel was aware that I could die in service to the Empire.  I made sure they were prepared by preparing my highest officers for the day when they would have to step up and take command.  The real question is, are you prepared to lose me?"

She stared at him, then shook her head.  "No... I'm not... just like you weren't prepared to lose Ashley...  No one is ever prepared to lose the person they love.  Ever..."

Cayden was about to respond when his vision whited out, and he saw himself standing at the threshold of the Onderonian Royal Palace (now the Onderonian Imperial Palace).  He looked down the stairs and saw Ashley standing at the foot of them, several Royalist soldiers flanking her.

"Cayden, it is time to return home," Ashley said, holding a hand out.

Cayden took two steps down the staircase, then stopped.  "No, it isn't.  I've spent my whole life preparing for the moment I would die, and you know what?  I'm never going to be prepared.  I can spend sixty years preparing, and I'll be just as prepared as I am today.  No, it isn't time for me to return home Ashley... not yet, it isn't.  I have a duty to my people, to my friends, and to my home," he said, shaking his head.

Ashley stared at him and smiled.  "Good... cause the Cayden I grew to love would never back down from anything.  Not even death could stop him.  I'm glad... I'm glad I got to know you, Cayden."  Ashley walked up the steps and hugged him.  She kissed him on the cheek, and said "Go... your squadron needs you, Cayden..."

Epsilon System - Still Drifting out of Control

Cayden woke up and immediately felt pain in his right leg.  Will it never be left alone? he asked himself, checking the integrity of his ship.  Hull at 32%... Shields off-line... Engines operational... looks like I'm limping back to the Dead Gun.

He began to power up his engines when a female voice came over his comm.  [[Regent-1, this is Imperial-II Class Frigate Chrome Fox.  You are to land in our hangar for medical assistance and repairs.]]

"Chrome Fox, this is Regent-1.  Under who's orders am I to report to you?" he asked, anxiety and anger dripping from his lips as he spoke.

[[1st Lieutenant C-4RX, commander of the Chrome Fox.  You shall recieve further orders following treatment in the Chrome Fox's med-bay.]]

Cayden sighed.  Orders are orders...  "Very well, ETA with the Chrome Fox: 15 minutes."  He locked his fighter onto the Chrome Fox, and let the ship pilot itself as he tried to relax.  Orders are orders... indeed they are, Chief... indeed they are...

OOC:
WC: 1291

I'm not so good a pilot after all... :/  Nor a good wingman...

I'll be back in action later... maybe the fight will be over... who knows?  All I know is, Cayden is on the Chrome Fox, getting patched up, and getting ready to recieve new orders.

-SCPO Amacuse, Squadron Commander of the 153rd Regents Squadron
Senior Chief Petty Officer Cayden "Amacuse" Tavers

Squadron Commander of 153rd Vast Imp. Fighter Squadron Regents

SC/SCPO Amacuse/A-1/S:153 Regents/W:58 Javelin/ICF-II Chrome Fox/TF:R/2FL/SFC/VEN/VE (=AE=) (=*SAE*=) [MC:2] [LSM] [GCM]
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