"...don't care how many you want to kill" Came Ryn's voice over Hades' comm as he tried to wipe the blood of the dastardly creature off his cockpit. Hades gritted his teeth - he was senior to Ryn, but he knew she was right in this instance. He rolled right, around an asteroid and engaged his lasers as a bug came into his sights. It vaporised in his sights and he grinned, before executing a 180 vertical flip and heading out of the asteroid field.

"Roger that, Ryn." He sighed "Coming out of the asteroid field now-" Hades cut himself off as his sensors blared at him, red lights coming alive across his sensor console. He keyed his comm urgently, on an open Imperial Frequency. "Contacts reading 2 by zero five - just outside the asteroid field. It looks like... a dozen.. no, two dozen X-wings and 3 New Republic warships!" Hades growled and floored his throttle, shooting off toward the Surprise to buy himself time.

"Requesting immediate orders!" He looked for Ryn on his sensors, and saw she was right behind him, to his relief. She had a scratch on her left wing - one of the scree must of been close, or she had a clos call with an asteroid. Hades didn't care, as long as she hadn't been killed. He guided his fighter in toward Shock and Awe, as they regrouped, and joined formation with Ryn on his wing.

OOC:

REALLY short post. Just to get me updated.

AAR: Hades shoots a bug and gets out of the asteroid field, only to detect incoming enemy vessels. Requests immediate orders from the leader of Shock Squadron or from the Surprise

Agent Exodus listened as Wyl Trykon, the commanding officer of the SMC Surprise, outlined his orders. The Imperial Marines would board with the first wave and eliminate any enemy defenders. Then, he and Doctor Gibbs would board the New Republic freighter from the second shuttle, and he would secure whatever treasure the freighter held. His arms were crossed over his chest, causing his VENI tunic to crumple a little at the armpits as the Intelligence Officer went over the plan in his head, and compiled a course of action. The entire time, his expression did not change from the slight frown of concentration that he’d adopted when he had informed Trykon that he wanted whatever the ship contained.

“Your will be done, sir.” He said softly, his voice still carrying that odd twang, an accent that only two individuals currently aboard the bridge would recognize. Without another word, his booted heels snapped together as he sharply stood at attention, and raised a hand to his brow in a crisp salute. Then, he turned on his heel and swept from the command bridge of the SMC Surprise, his heels clicking on the polished floor as he did so, a small, grim smile tugging at the corners of his mouth as he stepped past the blast doors that separated the bridge from the rest of the ship, his face creased with shadow as the heavy airlock sealed shut behind him.

He raised the commlink mounted on his wrist to his face in one swift motion as he proceeded down the corridor towards the nearest turbolift, and pressed an unmarked switch on it. None of the buttons or dials on his wrist-comm were marked in any way, much like the Thermal Detonators issued to Imperial Stormtroopers.
“99, have yourself and my armour moved to Shuttle 02, then prepare for boarding action.” His voice was barely a whisper, more of a sibilant hiss than anything else, and the reply he received was equally quiet, a single burst of static. It was all that he needed, as he stepped into the turbolift and descended towards the hangar bay.

Two seconds later, he stepped out onto the flight deck. All of the TIE Fighters, as well as Shuttle 01, had been launched, and the only spacecraft left in the hangar bay were The Revenant, Wyl Trykon’s personal TIE Defender, and a TIE Vanguard that had been supplied to Agent Exodus for the duration of his time aboard the SMC Surprise. He nodded to himself as he saw that the boarding ramp of Shuttle 02 had been lowered, and a small, spherical object was floating in it, remaining perfectly silent as a single, gleaming optic stared directly at him. The agent wasted no time in crossing the distance between himself and the boarding ramp, and entered the Lambda-Class Shuttle.

The ramp closed behind him the moment he was aboard. Apparently, the pilots and other passenger were already on the ship. The agent looked around the passenger compartment, and saw a middle-aged man in a white labcoat, the Imperial emblem on his left shoulder, and the rank patch of a Petty Officer (1st Class) on his right. Sitting on the other side of the room was his reconnaissance droid and a suit of gleaming white Storm Commando armour. Walking over to the armour, the agent had already discarded his jacket, and had removed his bandolier and boots by the time that he spoke, not bothering to turn to face the doctor. Time was of the essence, after all.

“You’re Gibbs.”
It wasn’t a question.

The Doctor tried not to stare at the numerous, deep scars that criss-crossed the Intelligence Agent’s back as he shrugged into an armourweave flight suit, and gulped before responding, a pale hand running nervously through his brown hair.
Y-Yes sir. I’ll be on hand to assist and injured.” He stammered in response clearly unnerved by the idea of being stuck alone in a cramped shuttle with a man who was, without the slightest hint of doubt, an Imperial Assassin. As a man who saved lives for a living, the two could not have had more contrasting occupations. Their life views were likely also drastically different. In fact, the only things they seemed to have in common was an allegiance to the Vast Empire, and ice-blue eyes.

“Any Imperial injured, you mean. Tragically, only one member of the New Republic will have survived this operation. The rest, of course, died as heroes – but the moment I was instructed to board that ship, they DID die. Alas, the one survivor died soon after, as a result of his injuries. I do hope I’m speaking clearly, I’d hate for there to be any…misunderstandings.” His voice was not cold, but quite friendly, as if he was simply correcting an obvious but understandable mistake an old friend had made. His voice did not in any way match the obvious threat that the words he had spoken contain.

An uncomfortable silence filled the small shuttle, and it dragged on for a few tense moments as Exodus clipped a pair of armoured greaves onto his legs. The man stopped, and looked over his shoulder at the man, his piercing blue eyes boring directly into the doctor’s skull. He was rewarded by an immediate reply.

“I…understand. Sir.” His voice was still tinged with a hint of fear, but now there was another flavour in the Corellian-accented words. Just the slightest hint of disgust, carefully disguised, but not quite carefully enough to escape the Intelligence Agent’s ears. He paid it no mind as he turned back to the task of donning his combat armour. The process took no longer than two minutes, and after he was done, the Agent rose to his full height, a pair of E-11 Blaster Rifles strapped to each hip, and no less than fifteen throwing knives mounted on his belt in quick-draw holsters. He felt the hum of the sublight engines below his booted feet, and nodded to himself in satisfaction as he stepped from the passenger bay into the cockpit.

The co-pilot turned to regard him, his face hidden behind the armoured helmet of an Imperial Pilot, and inclined his head in a silent nod of greeting. Agent Exodus returned it, before speaking.
“What’s our ETA?”
“40 seconds, sir. You’d best get down to the boarding ramp.”
Well, if Agent Exodus had one thing to say about the shuttle’s crew, they certainly were efficient. He hadn’t expected them to close the distance quite that quickly. He nodded, gratified by the news, and turned, stepping out of the cockpit and taking the co-pilot’s advice. He drew both of his Blasters, and stood on the lip of the ramp, lowering his center of gravity to keep from losing his balance as the ship decelerated, then boarded the New Republic freighter.
“99, get me that navicomp data.”

Time seemed to slow to a stand-still as Agent Exodus’s adrenaline kicked in, the way it always did just before combat. He knew that chances were the Marines would have eliminated most of the defenders before he got the chance to get any killing in, but a man could always hope. He punched the button to lower the ramp, and felt the floor beneath him descend as the boarding ramp and into the umbilical link the shuttle had made with one of the docking rings of the ship. A moment later, and he found himself standing inside the freighter, on one end of a short corridor.

It occurred to him that this section of the ship appeared to be undamaged. Obviously, the Imperial Marines had not yet reached this section of the ship. He raised both of his blasters cautiously, and was rewarded as a New Republic soldier leaned across the end of the hallway, a DH-17 blaster gripped firmly in both hands. At the exact same moment that the soldier pulled the trigger, Agent Exodus fired his own weapons. A trio of red laser bolts criss-crossed the corridor. One slammed into the ship’s hull, just beside the Imperial Agent’s head. Exodus’s own shot, however, did not miss, and the man, now a corpse, fell back onto the floor with a heavy ‘thud’.

His face did not join him.

That marked Agent Exodus’s first kill since he had stepped aboard the SMC Surprise and begun this mission. Inside the privacy of his helmet, he smiled. It was a good feeling, knowing that one more person was dead – and that he was not. It made him appreciate just how nice being alive was. The Imperial Agent stepped forward, keeping the smoking barrels of his blasters raised and aimed out in front of him, as if daring any more troopers to try their luck. When no-one did, he felt an abject pang of disappointment, and sighed to himself, jerking his head forward.

“Let’s go. Keep behind me, stay calm, and yell if you see anything.” Exodus’s voice sounded mechanical in nature as it issued forth from his helmet, filtered by both the microphone and speakers mounted within. Not waiting for a reply, he started to move forward, one blaster aimed down the corridor, and the other at the nearest door. Knowing that the doctor didn’t know how to move silently, Exodus didn’t bother, replacing stealth for speed as he walked quickly up towards the first door, and with the muzzle of one of his blasters pressed the button that would open the door.
When nothing happened, he had an anti-climatic feeling. He sighed, and lashed out with his left leg, the armoured boot connecting with the door.

This wasn’t a military vessel, and as he’d expected, the door was rather flimsy, popping clean out of its frame. A pair of New Republic Marines were crouched behind an upturned bed, and both were aiming straight at him. Exodus, however, didn’t give them a chance to fire, a bolt from his blasters finding each of their foreheads and sending them slumped against the wall without any ceremony. He quickly surveyed the room. It was just sleeping quarters – nothing of interest apart from the two corpses. He shook his head and stepped out, before advancing menacingly on the next door, already raising a boot…

…Five minutes later, and he’d kicked his way through ten rooms, none of which contained anything of interest to him. A trail of corpses – all marines and low-ranking crewmen – led from his entry into the ship to where he currently stood. The door in front of him was actually armoured, which was a very good sign. Something important almost certainly lurked on the other end. Alas, the fact that the door was armoured also meant his boot wouldn’t be able to crack it open as easily as the others. He shook his head, and slipped one of his blasters into its holster, handing the other to Gibbs. The doctor took the weapon, but he didn’t appear to like the idea, if the grimace on his face was anything to go by.

He reached for his belt, and drew a single object. It looked like a cylinder cut in half, with a single, unmarked button in the middle. The Imperial Agent pushed the flat edge of the device onto the center of the door. It stuck, as the magnetic clamp kicked into effect. He reached out for his other blaster…which was when he heart footsteps, and a single blaster shot. His ears told him it had come from an E-11 Blaster Rifle, but he looked over his shoulder, just to be sure. Doctor Gibbs stood with his feet shoulder-width apart, a smoking blaster in his hands as he looked blankly at the corpse of the New Republic marine he had just killed. The shot was well-placed, right in the center of the man’s chest.

Even if he didn’t like killing, it was clear that the doctor was quite capable at the art of death.

“Good kill.” Exodus said softly as he pressed the button on the object he’d clamped to the door. A dull ‘crump’ could be heard, and the door fell backwards, blasted off its hinges. A pair of Marines raised their blasters, and two shots rang out. The two marines fell to the floor, dead, as Exodus and the doctor stepped over the threshold into the room, the doctor passing a smoking blaster back to Agent Exodus as his gaze swept across the room, before resting squarely on an elderly man, his labcoat as white as his wispy hair, a computer with a smoking hole in the side resting beside him…and a blaster pistol pressed to his own head.

“One more step, sonny, and I’ll-“

He never got the chance to finish the sentence, though,  as a pair of brilliant blue stun bolts caught him in the chest, causing the man to fall limply to the floor. The man obviously knew something important – Exodus had himself a prisoner. Before he allowed himself to gloat, however, an alarm started to sound. He switched over to the Marine’s comm. channel, and within three seconds of doing so, realized he was in trouble.

…going to blow!”

Well, that was either erotic or ominous. Exodus was leaning towards ominous.

OOC:

2,202 words. Exodus snatches himself a prisoner.

The number of enemies vast outweighed the friendly on Ryn's readout. Her hands were sweating in her gloves and her eyes kept darting to the long scratch on the wing left from a persistent Scree.

"Hades, what's the word?"

The senior pilot clicked his comm on. "We need to keep the way clear for the transports, boarding parties are in evac, once they are safe we will be cleared to land and get out of this hornets nest."

"So basically don't get dead."

"In a nutshell."

She came about on another sweep of the freighter. Her viewport showed the asteroid field that was filled with smaller objects she now knew were Scree. They were making it very difficult for the X-wings to get to the merchant ship. The freighter with them was completely cut off.

Ryn watched as a pair of x-wings lost control and slammed into each other in the panic of trying to get away from the insects. Undisciplined and caught off guard, the pilots lost their cool then allowed their fear to kill them before she and the other TIE's had the chance. Even the Scree had to feel somewhat cheated by such a senseless death.

"One got through." Hades voice was filled with a combination of excitement and shock.

It took a moment but she found the single wing breaking through the asteroid field and screaming towards their position.

"Hey Hades, ya bored?"

"I think we can handle our unlucky friend."

"Let's go."

OOC:

Word Count: 247 - i know terrible, just wanted to get something up, good hunting hades

Jack watched Moor work on the door. She had to admit, deciding to bring a blow torch had to be the most inventive thing she had seen in awhile. She vaguely remembered a holoshow that awarded people, typically women with large purses, for having random objects on them. Her mother loved that show. Jack always found it too loud and gaudy.

"Sarge, we've got movement in the vents."

Jack grabbed her blaster and the troopers, save Moor, took up positions around the air vent leading out of the room. She was internally kicking herself for missing the open shaft leading out of the room.

A woman dropped down and dusted off her hands, she was facing away from the squad or she would have warned her fellow engineers.

"Hands up, how many more are in that vent?"

The woman stiffened and shouts were heard above from her co-workers. "Everything is locked down! There's nowhere else to go, would you move." Two more techs collapsed to the ground, the younger one looked as if he would shake apart as he wobbled to his feet. Their eyes darted to each of the barrels of the rifles pointed at them and the older man with the blow torch a third of the way through the door.

"What did you do to him!" The woman forgot her common sense and the impending danger of the stormtroopers and alarm klaxons and ran towards the prone body of the tech on the floor. She held his head in her hands and started to weep. "You are animals, all of you."

Jack repositioned her blaster to point at the woman's head. The sight was steady but her head continued to bob with each sob. "Listen lady, you work here, that much is obvious. So we need the code."

Moor raised an eyebrow and paused to look at the scene.

"The code?" She choked the words out between sobs. "The...you let the...god dammit." She rubbed her face and stumbled to the keyboard. Five keystrokes later the klaxons stopped and the door disengaged. "There, now shoot us and go, you bastards." She spit on Jack's boot and let the tears run unhindered down her dirty face.

"Moor, the door." Jack maintained eye contact with the engineer. She heard the swish of the entrance and sidestepped in its direction, keeping her blaster on the woman. "Thanks for the code, sorry about the...this." Jack lowered the barrel and stepped through the threshold. Once the rest of the squad was there, Moor closed and locked the door leaving the engineers trapped behind it.

"We need to get back to that transport, I've had enough of this transport."

Ryn clenched her teeth as the x-wing rolled out of her sights. The guy was no rookie that was for sure. That much should have been obvious to her since every other member of his squadron had been obliterated by the scree.

The insects would haunt her nightmares forever, with visions of mandibles and antennae crawling up her viewport.

Hades shouted a curse as he fired shots into space missing the target completely. She could see through the asteroid field another group of x-wings had been deployed and were going around the long way so to speak. They had ten maybe fifteen minutes before they would be a threat. The freighter would take even longer.

If the two TIE's could take care of their lucky friend and the strike team could get their asses back to the transport, things might work out. Ryn suddenly realized the odds involved in what she was thinking and decided to focus on the task at hand.

The x-wing was smart enough not to move closer to the infested asteroid field, but also he kept his distance from the rest of the TIE's flying patrol around the merchant ship. She used his tight trajectory to her advantage. He had little room to work with and she had a wingman.

Ryn increased the throttle and drew fire from the x-wing. The maneuver allowed Hades to move in behind and get a decent shot on the enemy. The pilot must have noticed this was probably his last ditch effort before Ryn and Hades were joined by other members of the squadron or they got a shot off and ended things themselves.

"Hades you ready?"

The comm clicked in response. Ryn grabbed the throttle control and the yoke at the same time, sending the TIE in a vertical rise and slamming the pilot against her restraints. It was enough of a surprise for the x-wing to throttle back his ship and give Hades a clear shot. It was all they needed the x-wing exploded in a brilliant flash of light and smoke.

"Nice shot. Let's get back to the transport."

OOC:

Word Count: 352

Wyl Trykon stared into space, the stars stretching out beyond the transparisteel viewport in every direction.  Somewhere out there, his opposite on the bridge of a New Republic warship was spurring his battlegroup forward, eager to engage and destroy Trykon's solitary vessel, while TIE pilots dueled to the death with their doubles flying X-wings, and all ran in terror from the nightmares-made-real, the Scree.  In reaction to all that, the bridge behind Trykon was a madhouse, with crew members scrambling to finish the mission before escaping the death trap that the Hirisi System had become.  But amidst all the chaos, the violence, and the fear, Wyl Trykon was staring into the starscape, and smiling.

Our very first successful interdiction, Trykon thought to himself, and we have the incomparable good fortune to stop the most important ship in the Sector.  Trykon ran through the numbers again in his head, comparing Intelligence reports and enemy strength estimates which he'd memorized before launching the mission, and nodded fractionally when he'd completed the calculation and reached the same result again: the little battlegroup which had rushed to defend the freighter Salvation from him and his crew was effectively one third of the total battle-ready strength of the New Republic, locally.  There was only one conclusion to be drawn: the Action VI freighter was carrying something the top NR brass considered vital to their future plans.  After Belgaroth they had been forced to stretch their defenses thin across the Sector, yet they had assigned fully a third of their available assets to keep tabs on a single Action VI, and had rushed those precious assets into a pitched battle without hesitation when that single Action VI had called for help.  And now, Trykon thought, whatever salvation they thought was theirs, we're going to steal right out from under the noses of those rapid-response guardians.  He had to stifle the urge to laugh.

Behind him, Trykon heard his XO clear his throat softly.  Without turning, the captain acknowledged the polite request for his attention: "Yes, Mr. Zail?"

"Most of our pilots are aboard, sir, except for a single flight from Shock.  They're waiting to escort Dread Squad's shuttle back.  The, uh, the Scree-" he continued with distaste, "seem to have lost interest in TIEs; or at least, they seem to be more interested in the New Republic forces."

"It's working out better than my best projections, Pherik," Trykon said with sincere, understated happiness.

"Sir?"  The man's tone was disbelieving.  Trykon turned at the word, only to find a haggard-looking young man staring at him with a look in his eyes that approached reproach.

"Apologies, Serpent," Trykon said then, placing a hand on his Executive Officer's shoulder.  "I don't mean to seem out of touch.  I know that this," Trykon said, gesturing to indicate the bridge activity, and the battle beyond, "is much more than either of us had planned for our first blood, and I know it must seem out of control... we're winning, though, Serpent."  He flashed the same self-satisfied smile again, and pretended not to notice how his XO reacted to the grin.  "The deaths are regrettable, of course," he added, "but there was no way to anticipate the Scree.  Really, we've done very well today."

The younger officer bowed his head slightly, and moved back far enough to break the contact between his shoulder and Trykon's hand.  "Respectfully, the battle's yet to be won, sir," Serpent said quietly.

"You're right of course, Mr. Zail," Trykon said, drawing himself up to his full height.  "Get the boarding party back, and then we'll celebrate."  He grinned, careful to make the expression seem sheepish, rather than predatory.

As Serpent moved to the communications station, though, Trykon let the hungry smile break out again.  When we win this battle, he thought, we'll have something that can help us end this whole damn war!  And then, the entire Galaxy can celebrate the end of civil war and the reestablishment of Empire.

Carefully, he composed his face into the stern expression which served him as his neutral "command mask," and paced toward comms to give the last orders of the engagement.  Once the boarders were back with their prize, the next stage of the Surprise's mission could proceed, and Wyl Trykon was very much looking forward to that.

OOC:

719 words.  Trick knows more than he has let on, which is why I've avoided Trykon-POV posts so far.    Enjoy the glimpse into his thoughts! 

AAR: Despite the reversals and danger, Trykon seems confident in victory.  In fact, he's already extrapolating beyond this engagement, in a way that makes his XO uncomfortable.

"We've had an extraordinary few weeks," Wyl Trykon said, addressing the Surprise's senior officers, who'd hurriedly assembled in the main conference room at his summons.  "In less than a month, the Surprise has encountered a score of enemy-aligned freighters, transports, and warships, along with dozens of escorting starfighters, and I suppose everyone here knows the final score: every single enemy we've found has either been captured or killed, with no exceptions, and all of their vessels have been destroyed... all for the loss of only two of our pilots, and three TIEs."  There was a rustling as the officers shared celebratory glances, but then the captain spoke again: "But unfortunately, our mission to completely destroy the New Republic merchant marine will be left unfinished; as of this moment, we have more pressing concerns."

Body language varied greatly between representatives of different species, but in their own ways, all of the officers seemed to straighten up and listen more intently.

"During the first action of this cruise, we were almost overwhelmed, but our resident Intelligence operative managed to snag a very interesting prisoner..." Trykon trailed off, and nodded toward the far wall, where Exodus, the VENI agent, stood passively.

All heads turned to face the spook as he began to speak in his unique accent: "Yessir.  You might call him interestin', mightn'tcha."

"Brief them, Exodus," Trykon commanded.

"Right.  The subject," Exodus said, making sure to make eye contact with the ship's various division heads as he continued to speak, "is one Doctor Vandros Erlich, an engineer who specializes in experimental hyperdrives.  Now, he's a humble sort - was rather reluctant to say anything more about himself or his line o' work - but I kept asking, and eventually we had a real heart to heart."

Trykon noted the officers' reactions to the torturer's euphemistic tangent: some looked uncomfortable, others smiled with approval, and some merely seemed to be awaiting the real substance of the briefing.  Every reaction offered the captain more insight into his crew.

"Seems Doc Erlich was on his way out to the Brinlik System," Exodus continued, "where he and some of his mates were going to put the finishing touches on a prototype warship they've been building for the New Republic: a modified Star Destroyer, with a new type o' cloaking device, no less!  The thing uses hibridium ore, but somehow they've solved the double-blind problem, and Erlich and his mates were close to getting the system stable enough to survive the jump to hyperspace.  I guess I don't have to say much more: a capital ship with a fully-functional cloak would be a right mess for us, and no mistake."  The murderer looked back at Trykon, and ceded the floor back to him: "Sir."

"We have precious little time," Trykon said into the suddenly-tense room.  "The New Republic has to assume their facility at Brinlik is compromised: even though Salvation blew up at Hirisi, their task force saw our boarding shuttle return to Surprise... they know there's a chance we took Doctor Erlich from the freighter, and therefore that we know about Brinlik.  The first chance they get, they'll move the prototype - a modified Imperial II they're calling the Umbral Blade - away from the base they've built at Brinlik, and we'll lose this chance to take it out."

"How do we know this Umbral Blade is still there now?"  The question came from Eslara Brin, the Chief Astrogator.

Trykon frowned.  "We don't.  Not for sure.  But they can't move the ship until they overcome the instability inherent to hibridium-style cloaks while going to hyperspace, and we have to hope that our capture of Doctor Erlich has delayed their progress on that front.  Regardless, with most of our fleet still recovering on the other side of the Galaxy, it's up to us to destroy this new threat before they can ramp up to full production.  I've been in communication with our nearest sister ship, the Success; she's on her way here.  We'll rendezvous, and immediately jump to Brinlik.  Hopefully, the Umbral Blade will still be docked with the New Republic research base, and Surprise and Success can destroy her, but even if we're too late to get the prototype, we still must fight our way through what will undoubtedly be heavy resistance to destroy the cloaking device production facility.  If we fail, the New Republic will soon be able to put a battlegroup in orbit around Abrae, or Tadath, without our defenders even being aware that enemies had entered the Sector; we cannot fail, gentlebeings.  Get to your stations."

OOC:

763 words.

After Action Report: Trykon briefs the Senior Staff.  Surprise is going to rendezvous with her sister ship, the Success, and together they are going to hit a secret New Republic base in the Brinlik System where the NR is developing a new type of cloaking device.  The main target is the research/production facility, but if at all possible, the pair of VE ships must also destroy the prototype cloakable warship: the Umbral Blade.

Details beyond that have been left up in the air on purpose: use the discussion threads to talk with your fellow members, and let's develop a "Brinlik System" (complete with NR defenders) together, team!  This should be an exciting fight, with plenty for everyone - capital ship crew, starfighter pilots, and boarding team troopers - to do!

Ryn rolled her shoulders against the harness in her TIE interceptor. The past two weeks had been hard and the nights even harder. She discovered she had a sudden and powerful fear of insects, especially the giant kind that lived in space. Her brain even decided to add in some even more terrifying sound effects as the Scree grappled her and chewed on her body in the nightmares.

"I've got a bad feeling about this one Ryn."

She glanced over at her wing and could just barely make out Hades sitting in his cockpit. The two pilots had become closer after the encounter with the merchant ship. They seemed to get picked to be deployed together on all the patrol missions over the past two weeks as well. Someone must have noticed that they managed to get things done without getting themselves killed.

"Its just another patrol, what could go wrong?"

"Famous last words there Ryn."

She laughed and shook her head. The faint click over her comm channel was the indirect hint from Shock lead to cut the chatter. She and Hades had been spoken to about their unnessary comm traffic before.

The route of their patrol today took them through an asteroid field which was between them and the Umbral Blade. She could see on the sensors that there was even more out their than they had managed to gather intel about. The mission was just seeming longer and longer.

"Lead to Shock eleven. I want you and twelve to get in closer to that large asteroid, I'm getting a strange energy reading."

Ryn laughed nervously. With every fiber of her being she wanted to avoid the blasted space rocks. Every time she looked down at them through the viewport they seemed to squirm with twitchy movement, as if they were covered in insects even though she knew they really weren't. Her dreams were a different story.

Hades cautiously responded when Ryn did not. "Acknowledged Lead, we are on the case." He flipped to a private comm. "Ryn, lets just skim the surface, five hundred meters, quick rotation, we'll be back to boring patrol in no time."

She smirked. "Thank you Hades."

They rounded the asteroid, performing a standard sensor sweep. Everything looked fine, then suddenly the image filling her viewscreen made it clear that it was not.

"Kriffing Hell." She breathed the words, they were less of a conscious utterance and more just pure reaction as the adrenaline reached her lips.

Half of the asteroid had been carved out by some massive tools. In its place was a scaffolding and several structures attached in a manor which made it look like it had been done in stages rather than all at once.

She could hear Hades yell, 'evasive!', into the comms but her body didn't react for several moments as she had to convince it that this one wasn't a dream. The absence of flying insects should have been her first clue. Pure instinct took over and she punched the throttle and barrel rolled with Hades away from the sentry ships that had been launched and were blazing towards them.

"You with me Ryn?"

A deep breath went in through her nose as she focused on the one thing she had grown to love since joining the navy, a straight up dog fight with no strange space insects. "I sure am Hades, lets show them how its done."

OOC:

Word Count: 574.

AAR: On patrol Hades and Ryn find a base hidden in an asteroid and are engaged by sentry ships. Gotta clean out the asteroids before they can reach the cloaked ship.

Hades was in his cockpit just seconds after the alarms blared to life in the hangar. He and Ryn had received the orders stating that they were nearing their destination about an hour before - both of them had been relaxing together in the pilot's lounge when they'd received the news. Hades and Ryn had both traveled down to the hangar, sitting near their respective fighters as they made final pre-battle checks. Their conversation had been short; Hades' mind was on the upcoming battle. Ryn knew it and had tried to ease his spirit, but he would not lighten up. He had a bad feeling about this.

After their brief comm. exchange in their cockpits was cut off by lead, Hades focused on the asteroid. It looked strange from here.. when the orders came in to investigate, he heard Ryn hesitate, so answered in her stead, knowing that she too felt some nervousness about this mission.. When the alarms blared to life as they skimmed the asteroid, it was almost too late. Hades threw his fighter into a barrel roll seconds from being melted by a blast of energy from a laser turret.

'Evasive!' he yelled into his comm, noting Ryn's inaction. At the last moment she barrel rolled to follow him, narrowly avoiding another blast of energy. That was too close Hades thought to himself. He shot away from the asteroid, before coming around in a  wide circle.

"You with me Ryn?" He asked, noting her on his sensors to his right. She gave the affirmative, and Hades increased his throttle, targeting one of the sentry ships.

"I'm going for the sentry ship.. cover me" Hades said calmly, shooting toward it in his TIE. Ryn started to retort with an objection, but Hades clicked his comm once - the message was clear: he would not be deterred. Hades again threw his fighter into a barrel roll, slowing himself down as he approached the oncoming fighter. He thumbed his fire control on, and green laser blasted through space toward the sentry ship. He was still in a barrel roll, so the fire was far from accurate and merely grazed the ship's wing before Hades shot past him, even with the slowing capabilities of his roll in effect. He heard Ryn shout over the comm and an explosion was detected on his sensors. Hades looked around, worried, - but the explosion had jammed his sensors briefly. It wasn't until he saw Ryn's fighter with his eyes that he knew she'd blasted the sentry ship after he had flown by.

"Nice work, Ryn." Hades exhaled a sigh of relief, knowing one enemy was down and his wingmate was fine.

"You're getting soft, Hades" Ryn joked through the comm. Hades gritted his teeth, unhappy that she had taken 'his' kill. He couldn't help but smiling, though and he responded in turn to her jibe.

"Well, I can't take ALL the credit for the victory. Sharing is caring, right?" He prodded. Ryn did not grace him with a response, but he could tell she was grinning too as she clicked her comm in acknowledgement. Shock lead then interjected.

"Cut the chatter. Some army folks will be boarding the asteroid, apparently." lead said, his voice dripping with amusement. "Don't destroy it.. and don't let our army comrades get blasted into space dust on their way over." Hades acknowledged with a click, and Ryn responded.

"Baby sitting? Aww..." feigning disappointment. Hades grinned again as Ryn cut the channel and they both brought their fighters around, checking the space for more sentry ships.. Hades spotted another and pointed it out to Ryn. They both pointed their fearsome machines of destruction in that direction.

"I'll beat you there" Ryn challenged. Hades took the bait.

"You wanna bet on that?" He responded as his TIE fighter shot off in the direction of the sentry ship.

OOC:

Word Count: 649.

AAR: Hades and Ryn blast a sentry ship and participate in some unnecessary chatter. Now they're off to blast another one - competitively yet comradely in their nature. Also gotta protect those land lubbers.. :P

"Captain Trykon signaling, Ma'am," the communications officer aboard the Strike-class Medium Cruiser Success called out, his high tenor slicing through the din of a warship bridge in combat.  "We are to route discretionary power to shields and follow them to intercept the target."

Lieutenant Jan'tera - the Togruta commanding officer of the Success - grimaced, the expression twisting her red-and-white features into a mask of annoyance.  Her left brain tail flicked once, the slight gesture accentuated by the broad black-and-white stripes ringing the appendage.  "Yes.  Good.  Of course," she bit out.  The ship captain then pointedly turned away from the chaos of her bridge crew, and walked forward to the room's main viewport.

Dark thoughts filled her consciousness, even as the darkness of space began to be broken up by faint, briefly-burning lights: distant explosions, marking the first casualties of the battle.  We were almost done with this pitiful exercise, Jan-tera said to herself, thinking back on the weeks of boredom she had endured, forced to patrol convoy routes and ambush civilian ships without much chance for glory.  I did everything that thrice-damned Kuati ordered.  Even managed to find some glory in the trivial task: Success destroyed fifteen New Republic vessels, and didn't suffer a single casualty ourselves... talk about living up to our name.  She sucked in a breath, and forced it out huffily.  And now he orders me to abandon the very mission he forced us all to take, placing my ship - and our record - in jeopardy, and he has the audacity to suggest that I - a Lieutenant - follow him - an upstart Ensign with delusions of grandeur - in the line of battle?!  She smiled suddenly, then, letting her sharp teeth show through parted lips.  "He tells me to follow him," she muttered darkly under her breath.  "Not a chance."  She turned around, and jogged the few steps to her Helmsman's station.

The Gran male looked up at her with all his eyes.

"Give the engines as much power as you can, even the weapons back-ups.  We're going to beat Surprise to the prize!"

The Gran nodded, and the Cruiser leapt forward.  Jan'tera was a bold captain, and not always by-the-book, but she'd never led them astray before; her crew was used to following her orders even when they didn't fully understand them, and this seemed benign enough.  A little friendly competition between captains, perhaps.  But in the excitement of racing to draw first blood on the Umbral Blade, no one aboard the Success bothered to inform Surprise that the "race" had begun.

Wrapped up in the process of launching their own boarding party and coordinating its escort, long seconds elapsed before the crew of the Surprise noticed their sister ship's sudden burst of speed.  Immediately, Success received another signal, ordering them to reduce speed, and Jan'tera complied.  By that point, though, her ship was well ahead of Trykon's, and Captain Jan'tera let herself relax, secure in the knowledge that the arrogant Golden Boy from Kuat would follow her into battle, and the Success would have the glory of being the first to hit the fleeing Umbral Blade.  "Tell him we plan on approaching the target's starboard dorsal quadrant, and he should plan his own attack to support us," Jan'tera ordered.  "Let's go kill a Star Destroyer, team."

OOC:

555 words.  A little something from a different point of view.

After Action Report: The frustrated captain of the Success, personally resentful towards Captain Trykon, has disobeyed his order to follow his ship to the target, instead pushing her own ship to overtake the Surprise.  Captain Jan'tera is described as bold, hungry for glory, and not exactly "by-the-book."

Three things happened in sequence: The Success jumped forward, breaking formation - along with its TIE squadrons - and speeding off toward the Umbral Blade. Hades cursed and watched on his sensors, wondering what the kriff that ship was doing. The second thing that happened was the dropship exploding - seemingly stranding the army personnel on the asteroid. The final thing that happened was a comm from Shock lead.

"Shock Squadron, this is Shock Lead. We are to run fighter support for the Surprise, meaning, we don't let ANY damned X-wings slow them down. Clear?" There were a chorus of clicks and acknowledgement. Hades clicked his comm, as did Ryn. He pulled his fighter into a tight turn and rocketed toward the Surprise, careful to make sure Ryn was on his wing. The rest of Shock Squadron was forming up too.

The 12 fighters came up on Surprise's tail, overshooting it purposely. Enemy fighters were dotted throughout the asteroid field, and those were on Shock's sensors. Hades grinned and opened a comm to Ryn - seeing as she was behind him, he was going to make fun of her in some way or another.

"I'll make a note not to destroy all of the X-wings. I'll leave say, one or two for you?" Hades said, barely stifling his laughter as they rocketed toward the X-wings ahead. Ryn did not reply - either not amused or too concentrated on what was to come to bother with her joke-cracking-wingmate. Hades shook his head and juked his fighter right to avoid an asteroid, coming around it and-

-into a formation of X-wings! Hades immediately threw his fighter into a full throttle, shouting 'Engage engage!' into his comm. He activated his wingtip cannons, blasting green death toward the center of the formation. An X-wing's shields flickered and then failed, before several shots to the fuselage caused it to explode, taking the nearest wingman with it. Hades grinned, and suddenly was through the formation - they had passed him on either side.

"These guys are right in the Surprise's course - take 'em out" Came the voice of Shock Lead as Hades came around, already intending to do that with orders or not. Ryn had not shot anything as they went through  - she'd just followed him, but now as they came up on the formation, both their lasers were spewing green lasers. A shot in return flicked past Hades' cockpit - close, too close. Hades dove under the formation as Ryn blasted another X-wing, subsequently following him. He wondered if she was getting annoyed by his lack of communication - but Hades was in kill mode, and thereby not a very talkative person right now.

The rest of Shock had engaged the remaining X-wings, tearing them apart with the speed and efficiency of the Vast Imperial Starfighter Corps. It was a beautiful sight, TIE Interceptors zipping around X-wings, X-wings blowing up in bright flashes. The people on the Umbral Blade would be crapping themselves by now, in Hades' opinion. A turbolaser blast rose the temperature in Hades' cockpit and blasted a nearby asteroid - Hades looked up to see the Surprise looming. That was too close.. Hades thought. He hadn't come all this way to get evaporated by friendly fire.

"Watch your six, Hades" Came Ryn's familiar voice. Hades nodded - although she couldn't see that. He clicked in acknowledgement, searching his sensors for the next target. There, Hades picked out two X-wings on his sensors, to the front starboard side of the Surprise.

"Ryn, I'm reading two X-wings bearing seven zero. Let's get 'em." He told her. Ryn giggled quietly through her comm and Hades frowned. Women giggling was rarely a good thing, as he'd found out. Anyone giggling was rarely a good thing.

"Took you long enough, didn't it?" She jibed, Hades grinned instead of growling and pointed his fighter in that direction, careful to stay away from asteroids on an intercept course with the Surprise, this time. The X-wings had seen them too and for some reason began to retreat, putting full power to their engines and shooting off toward the Umbral Blade. Then it dawned on Hades - The Blade was obviously recalling it's fighters. Which meant, it was preparing to jump within the next five minutes. Hades gritted his teeth and shot off after the X-wings. They were no match for the Interceptors in speed, and Ryn and Hades caught up to them rapidly, blasting their fuselage from behind. One of the fighters broke left, the other right. Hades was on the right, so the logical choice was-

"Hades, take right!" Ryn said shortly through the comm. Hades shook his head in disbelief - they'd both been thinking the same thing. Hades complied and broke right, onto the X-wing's tail again. He opened fire, green bolts again singing the X-wing's wing, this time. The X-wing pulled up - revealing a small asteroid in its path. Correction - what used to be a small asteroid. Now, however; it was a small weapons platform. Hades let out a yelp of surprise and dove, narrowly avoiding a blast from the laser turrets.

"Engaging a weapons platform in sector seven-zero!" Hades shouted to no-one in particular as he came up below the platform, firing his lasers and strafing it as he shot past. A blast of red laser flickered past the corner of his vision and he noticed the x-wing on his tail. Hades cursed and feigned a left break but instead broke right. The X-wing followed him still, so he barrel rolled and, when inverted, pulled up on the stick, thereby pulling him into a dive.

The X-wing was slower to react this time, and by the time he had gotten back on Hades' tail, Hades had blasted two of his warheads at the small weapons platform. He passed the weapons platform in a blur at full throttle, as the missiles caused a brilliant explosion, catching the turret's power source unshielded. The following X-wing was caught in the very same explosion, disintegrating. Hades let out a woop of victory, then looked around for Ryn.

He saw her locked in combat with an X-wing, which had somehow gotten onto her tail. Hades grimaced as he saw a blast singe her wing, and directed his TIE toward where she battled the Rebel fighter. As he approached, the X-wing hesitated for the briefest of seconds - but that was enough for Ryn to get him off her tail,  inverting, reversing and then blasting the offending X-wing's fuselage with a linked blast from all four wing-tips.

"Thanks Hades - I needed a distraction." Ryn uttered her thanks over the comm, albeit in an informal way. Hades smiled.

"Wouldn't want to have to take you home as a jar of space dust, now, would I?" He quipped once more. Ryn cut off her comm as a sign of supposed displeasure - but he knew she was smiling.

OOC:

Word Count: 1,196.

AAR: Shock squadron is recalled for close protection and clearing of the Surprise's path. They blast a squadron of X-wings to bits, then Hades and Ryn engage two on their own. A disguised weapons platform nearly ends Hades and he figures out the Blade is about ready to jump. They blast the last two fighters on their own and are waiting for orders/contacts to engage!

Whilst the members of Dread Squad were pinned down in the first hangar, the orders had come in for Success' own marines to assist. The Captain had absent-mindedly approved in her single-minded  determination for glory. So now Warrant Officer 1st Class Vik'tor Krii and his squad sat aboard the outdated troop transport dispatched from the Success, en-route to this asteroid base. Chatter was sporadic and quiet - most of the Marines were focused on the mission to come. The quiet rumble of the shuttle's engines that permeated the atmosphere was akin to the sound of a stampede in the distance.

Over that sound came the characteristic howling of the twin ion engines that belonged to the escorting TIE's of the Success. Someone coughed, and the shuttle pilot banged on the door between their respective compartments twice in quick succession - two minutes until touchdown. Krii returned the gesture, confirming that he had heard it. He checked his E-11 - it was primed and ready to go. He smacked the next man in line.

"Two minutes, people" Drall shouted through the shuttle. "Lock and load marines." A chorus of enthusiastic war cries came back from the gathered marines, and Krii could not help but grin. A siren sounded over the PA, indicating proximity to touchdown. Krii stood, grasping a handle above his head to keep himself anchored as they touched down. A not too gentle bump shuddered the shuttle as it came to a halt - and touchdown. The ramp lowered.

"Go, go, go!" Krii shouted, albeit unnecessarily. The marines had already surged forward in an orderly fashion, and Drall was the last to get off. He clicked his comm once and the Dropship took off, engines whining with the exertion. Needs replacing, Krii thought obviously. He was right, too. As the shuttle lifted off there was a coughing sound before the left engine exploded - showering the squad with sparks and shrapnel. A yell of 'take cover' was heard, and marines dived every which way, to get into the closest cover available.

The shuttle spiraled out of control, scraping along the hangar floor and exploding in the entrance. Showers of rock - from the asteroid - crushed the shuttle's remnants and blocked their exfil point. Damn it! Krii thought, assessing the situation. Everyone had by this time made their way into cover, no orders needed there as a hail of blaster bolts pinned them down, originating from some point ahead of them. They had landed in the second hangar - which meant that Dread Squad was only one hangar across from them. If they could somehow meet up... But Krii had no idea how large this place was, they had received orders and a brief outline but no in depth description.

Frak! thought the Warrant Officer from Cularin, looking around. He could see passageway about 50 meters from where he stood, which probably led to the first hangar. With bad intel, this mission had a bad chance of failure. Krii turned back to his squad, addressing the Sergeant. "Sergeant, I want you and half of the men to stay here and provide cover fire while the other half and I make our way down the left flank toward the entrance way approximately 50 meters from this location!"

The sergeant nodded as the WO1 shouted to be heard over the blasterfire. One Private leaned over cover to fire his T-21, letting off a few shots before ducking back down.

"Roger that. What's the plan?" The sergeant responded.

"We'll take out as many enemies as we can on our way there. Then we'll attempt a link up with Dread Squad in the next Hangar." Krii told him. The Sergeant nodded again and relayed the orders down the line. Krii found himself with no less than nine Marines as he sprinted to the next set of crates, ducking and rolling to avoid blasterfire. One by one they made their way through cover until the passageway was just 10 meters from where they hid behind cover.  Krii leaned out with his E-11 and fired off two shots, one of them hitting a rebel that had just emerged from the passageway, the other going wide and adding yet another scorch mark on the hangar wall.

"Suppressive fire!" He yelled, before chinning his comm. "Warrant Officer First Class Vik'tor Krii to Dread Squad. Do you copy?"

Krii's last words were drowned out by a cacophony of blaster shots and the whump of a grenade going off.

"Repeat, do you copy?" He said again, looking around. The situation was getting worse as more reinforcements filtered in on the far side of the hangar, where the Rebels had a repeating blaster set up and several crates stacked to provide cover. Krii cursed again.

He had a bad feeling about this.

OOC:

Word Count: 816. Something different

AAR: Warrant Officer 1st Class Vik'tor Krii boards the 'asteroid' with his squad, and almost immediately things turn sour. Their shuttle crashed, Rebels at the far end of the hangar with a repeater trained on their position have them pinned down, and they have little-no intel on this asteroid. Krii attempts to contact Dread Squad to link up with them.

"Signal Triumph Squadron to reform with the surviving elements of Victory... line them up for another attack run!" ordered Lieutenant Jan'tera, never taking her gaze away from the real-time tactical holo of the battle-torn Brinlik System that shimmered at the back of the command walkway.  The Togruta captain of the Strike-class Medium Cruiser Success was in her element, teeth bared in a hungry smile under eyes that glittered with supreme confidence and something akin to lust.

From across the chaos of the bridge, her communications man yelled back: "Aye, Ma'am!"

Jan'tera watched as eighteen Vast Imperial TIE Interceptors pulled together from disparate triplets, flights, and pairs, locked themselves into a tight, layered-diamond formation, and whirled around the far side of a moderately-sized asteroid to attack the fleeing Umbral Blade yet again.  Again, the starfighters launched dozens of concussion missiles in perfect unison.  Again, the missiles raced ahead and exploded against the shields of the prototype New Republic Star Destroyer.  Again, the Destroyer's shields held.  And yet again, as the formation of TIEs was caught in the Umbral Blade's ferocious counter-volley, multiple Vast Imperial pilots died in quick succession.  Jan'tera's smile soured.

"Pull the survivors back," she snapped.  "Status of their shields?"

For a moment, she thought her question had gone unheard in the din, but then a sensors tech spoke up excitedly: "Starboard rear quarter is in pretty bad shape, actually.  If we could get a bit closer I think we could collapse the entire quadrant of coverage!"

"All ahead flank!" Captain Jan'tera roared, her brain-tails swinging as she turned to look her Helmsman in the eye, emphasizing the order with body language.  But even as she made eye contact with the man, something in the periphery of her vision drew her attention back to the tactical holo: there, to her utter horror, she saw another ship come into view just ahead of Success, emerging from behind a tight cluster of rocks like some monster from a children's story.  The new ship, unseen before that moment, bore the familiar shape of a Lancer-class anti-starfighter frigate... and the sensors had color-coded the vessel's silhouette the deep crimson that indicated an enemy.

"Belay that last!" Jan'tera bellowed, biting back a curse.  "New priority is turbolasers: kill the Lancer!  Kill the Lancer!  Bring us about!"

Even as the Success began to roll to starboard to face the new threat, the ship's XO came up his captain with a confused look on his bland, human face.  "The Umbral Blade...?"

"We can't catch her with that frigate pouring blaster bolts into our underbelly the whole way," Jan'tera snarled.  "We'll be dead before we can punch through to their hull.  Our only chance is to kill the Lancer, fast, and hope we still have time afterwards to stop the Destroyer!"

The ensuing duel was short, one-sided, and brutal.  Even in her commerce raider configuration, Success was built to engage capital ships, whereas the much-smaller, much more lightly armed Lancer-class was only designed to effectively engage starfighters.  Within minutes, the Vast Imperial Cruiser's turbolasers boiled past the New Republic Frigate's shields, and a massive explosion signaled the end of the fight.

"Time?" Jan'tera asked, croaking the question even before Success's gunners had stopped firing into the wreck that had only moments before been the Lancer.

"The Umbral Blade's out of our effective weapons range, only thirty seconds from clearing the field and jumping," came the soft, sober-sounding reply.

"Well, glory never comes easy," Jan'tera said, and her crooked smile returned.  "Engage the gravity well generator."

A split second of silence greeted the order.  Every one of the officers and crewers present knew what that course of action would mean: weakened by the dash through the asteroid defense turrets and by the duel with the Lancer, if the Success turned on her interdictor field generator, her overtaxed shield generators would fail.  On the other hand, the Umbral Blade would be effectively trapped, and would have to turn back and finish off Success before it could escape.  It would buy the other VE forces time to join the fight, but it would also leave them totally vulnerable to the much more powerful Umbral Blade.  To the credit of everyone there, though, the moment of reflection and inaction lasted only a second.

A chorus of "Aye"s rang out, and Jan'tera watched the tactical holo as her own vessel's shields failed, and as - simultaneously - the New Republic Star Destroyer abruptly began to turn around, bringing as many of its guns to bear on Success as it could.  "We hold them for as long as we can," Captain Jan'tera said softly to the suddenly-quiet bridge.  "If we play hide-and-seek long enough, we might just be able to give Surprise and her fighters the time they need to actually do something."  At the final comment, the other bridge crewers matched their captain's smile, before scrambling to continue the Battle of Brinlik.

OOC:

820 words.  Really moving now!

AAR: The Success breaks off the pursuit for a minute to deal with a Lancer-class frigate that was lying in wait to ambush anyone pursuing the Umbral Blade.  At the last moment, just before the cloak-capable ISD can escape, Success engages her gravity well generator and projector, even though the power drain takes down her own shields.  Success is now naked, and is desperately trying to remain close enough to the Umbral Blade to keep the ship in range of the interdiction field, while staying far enough away to avoid most of the bigger ship's weapons.  It's a delicate balance that can't be maintained for long... we have to help the Success, right now!

Explosions wracked the hangar. Moor didn’t know when he had gotten separated from Dread Squad. But he knew that they weren’t too far away. He had been swept up with a squad of marines, luckily one of them he had trained himself. The old sergeant had hailed him and clapped him on the back for his work so far, then berated him for getting lost from his superiors. Now Moor himself was leading the marine squad to cause as much trouble as they could.

Artemis had once again lost his helmet, and was now using a headset. Chatter had been erupting from Dread Squad over the headset. Moor was not sure what exactly they faced, but he knew that the marines and him were in some trouble themselves. Security forces had flooded this hangar, along with the chaos of pilots scrambling for their fighters. Moor dropped another soldier with a solid shot, yelling over his shoulder for a grenade. A marine dropped a grenade into his hand.

The sergeant gave a quick look at the grenade, thermal detonator, good choice. He chucked it towards one of the nearby fighters. It landed firmly in the cockpit just as the pilot was climbing inside. The fighter exploded greatly, injuring a great many in the fire and force. Moor smiled wickedly. He loved explosions and from the whoops of the Marines behind him, he could tell they did too.

“This is Sergeant Moor, does anyone read me?” Moor yelled into his comm.

“Moor, I hear ya, you’re trying to reach the starfighter corps, you know?” the answer came.

Moor sighed, “I know! I need a package dropped off.”

“We’re not the mail service and I don’t have the clearance.”

“I’m talking about a missile, you lout!” Moor yelled in his best commanding voice, “A missile straight on my location!”

“I still need clear...”

“Screw your clearance, if you want both yours and my job to be easier, you’ll do it!”

OOC:

WC: 327.
AAR: This post really sucked, but Moor is requesting a missile drop on the hangar Moor and the marines are occupying.

Hades could hear blasterfire echoing in the hangar. He wasn't sure who was shooting, but he could only hear the sound of the standard New Republic blasters so he assumed they were shooting in frustration of losing him. He did not take notice, then, as he peered around the corner and into the fighter control bay. There were conveniently two X-wings and a Skipray Blastboat in the hangar. Hades breathed a sigh of relief. If he could just - Hades froze as he heard a characteristic whine... the whine of twin ion engines. A TIE fighter. If the whine was not disconcerting enough, the blasterfire was. On top of the New Republic blasters he could now hear a standard DL-44 blasting away at something. What the kriff? Hades wondered, dumbfounded.

He whirled around, heading back in the direction he'd come. The marines knew he was here, but they didn't know specifically where which is why he'd managed to stay alive and unharmed. But this changed things completely. Someone in a TIE fighter, wielding a DL-44, had boarded the Blade. Hades could not leave in good mind without first checking it out. As he loped down the corridor, he heard the fire stop and a door slide open. Freezing, he pressed himself into a shadowy alcove. He could not see who it was, but he could hear their boots clicking on the floor. They seemed to be hesitant..

The steps came closer, and Hades levelled his blaster at the place the owner of said steps would first appear. The person stepped past the alcove and Hades stepped out, pressing his blaster against the back of the female's head.. he thought she was familiar, but he didn't think more of it until he spoke.

"Don't move." He said. The woman froze.

"Hades?" she responded, obviously confused. Hades lowered his blaster.

"Ryn?" He stated, dumbfounded. He pulled her into the shadowy alcove, peering up and down the corridor before turning back to her, a confused expression on his face.  "what in the blazes are you doing here?!"

"I..I saw you go in. Shock Lead ordered me to attempt an extraction" Ryn explained, looking at him and noticing the blood on his face. "You're hurt!"

"It's nothing. A bump from the crash" Hades brushed off her concern. He was not harmed beyond a few scrapes and bruises - perhaps a little tired too, but nothing worth worrying about. "Shock lead ordered what? You shouldn't be here!"

"Well someone had to rescue you." She quipped playfully, hefting her DL-44.

"Do you even know how to use that thing?" he frowned at the blaster in her hand. She pouted defensively, and lifted the blaster up.

"Well of course I do!" at his doubtful look she took the power pack out and put it back in. "Point and shoot, right?"

Hades sighed and leaned back against the wall.. this complicated things considerably. If he were alone, he could probably steal a fighter and get out of there. But now Ryn was here, he had to make sure she got off safe too.. he would never - could never leave her here. He would rather see her safely off and remain behind if it came to it. There was a large chance of that happening, but he wouldn't tell Ryn that. He knew she wouldn't leave without him either.

"You came in your fighter right?" He asked her.

"How else?" Hades bit his lip at her answer. He had hoped she had come in a transport with marines or something. That would be more helpful.. how in the blazes would they extract in a TIE interceptor? Was Shock Lead on Spice or something? He needed to get his meds checked.. But now was not the time to question operational decisions. He needed a plan, and fast.

"You were ordered to extract me in a TIE interceptor?"

"IN retrospect, it may not have been the best plan. I guess we could... squeeze?" She ventured, and Hades rolled his eyes.

"We could. But that's our last option. Our best option right now would be to go for the Skipray I spotted in the hangar. We can get your fighter later. Together we can probably pilot the Skipray. Unless you know how to fly an X-wing?" He looked down at her as she shook her head. She was a TIE pilot and to the best of his knowledge had never had experience with X-wings before, so he was expecting her answer. "Mhm.. neither do I. But I do know how to fly a Skipray."

Ryn nodded slowly and Hades peeked around the corner again. It was clear. He could hear boots echoing down the other end of the corridor, and shouts reverberating through the corridor as well as several faint shaking booms. He turned back to her and looked her in the eyes, making sure she was paying attention to him as he outlined what he wanted to do.

"Okay, the place I saw the Skipray is two corridors down from here. There are only a few technicians. I'll probably have to deal with them but it shouldn't be too much to handle." Ryn again nodded, not replying. Hades frowned. Her blaster was loosely pointing toward the ground... He assumed it was just her nerve getting the better of her - she wasn't used to this kind of thing obviously.

It took many times to get used to it, Hades knew this and he understood - or thought he understood - how she was feeling. He reached down, grasping her forearm gently but firmly and lifting it up. He placed his hand over hers and closed her fingers so she was holding the blaster properly, with no chance of dropping it. He looked into her eyes again, calm and confident.

"We're going to get out of here fine," he reassured her, "we'll reach the blastboat and it will be alright."

OOC:

Word Count: 1,000.

AAR: Hades meets up with Ryn, outlines their plan and reassures her as to their success even though he had his own private doubts. He thinks she shouldn't have come, but he will see her out of the Blade at all costs.. Time for some hijacking action!