[OOC: I know I'm not part of the Navy, but I feel this part most logically fits into the Navy section /OOC]

Vosla smiled as the Goliath began to exit the atmosphere of Bestine IV.  'I may have lost Anubis, but I shall just continue my search for him again on some other planet.'  The smile quickly faded as a barrage of ion blasts hit the ship's shields.

"My Lady, they are attempting to disable us."  The Captain of the Goliath quickly informed Vosla of the situation.

Vosla's eyes flared with anger, then she turned to the Captain.  "Very well then, it's time we show them the true power this ship holds.  Once we are safely out of the atmosphere, head straight on towards their capital ship and fire the turbolasers.  As for now send all escort craft to do their best at distracting them for the time being.  We must escape."

The Captain nodded, and performed the duties that were required of him.  'This ship may not be the best Starship fighter, but once they are in our sights, our turbolasers will give them hell.' Vosla thought as she looked back out at the battle raging in and out of the atmosphere.
 
-----------------------
TRP/LCPL Anubis Benor/4SQD/1PLT/1COMP/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE
Wraith Squad
Vast Empire Army

[OOC:  As long as it's all good.  /OOC]

Daishi chuckled.  The enemy ship had tried to drive straight at a flotilla of capital warships headed by an ISD MkII.

They were either exceptionaly stupid or exceptionaly desperate.

The transports scurried toward the ship with the tugs moving in to keep the ship from falling into the atmosphere once it was disabled.

"Target will be disabled shortly and boarding parties are away."  The Flag Captain announced.

"Once the mines are cleared I want planetary targets reconned and all ships to prepare for invasion procedures.  Have all craft reconfigured and back out in force as fast as possible Captain."  Daishi barked.

Things were shapping up for an easy victory with the planetary power grid shut down and Daishi was no fool.  He intended to make full use of this opportunity by blasting everything not in VEA hands that could be blasted.
 
-----------------------
Kuroishi Wraith VEA
Daishi Raptor VEN
Assistant Writer Why Project Copyright Infringment
Ich bin hessliche amerikaner.
Nehmen mir zu dein frauen von vernunftig preis tugendhafte.
"And the sound of many heads hitting many solid objects was heard throughout the land." me

Shazam had taken his sweet time out in space and returned to the hanger for reloading and a bathroom break...  After he was done using the 'refresher' he headed to the kitchen to grab some toast and then rebreif himself on the situation at hand... 

So we're blowing up min fields now eh, he thought...  A comm report inturrupted his thoughts.  "All mine fields have been destroyed, return to the bay to get re-armed, re-suited, re-booted all together...  We'll be heading down to the planet now, so your ganna be needing a lot of fire power men..."  Shazam heard some squeals of joy and other of pleading...

Shazam shook the thought of laying back listening to some music while he blew up mines and instead reverted to his image of flying around on the planet not being able to hold onto his toast...  He could imagine smeered butter on the front of his cockpit and having to land in the middle of battle just to wipe it off... 

Never the less, he felt a fervent attidute re-awakening itself from the pit of his empty soul, he would fight and probably get pretty beat up in the act...  Oh well.  Shazam picked up his toast from the dashboard of the starship he was sitting next to and left for his ship...

                                    * * * * *

I wonder, Shazam thought as he started flipping switches, where's Chip?  He hadn't actually seen the man since he started losing oxygen.  Hope he's not dead er something, he thought to himself, so he started asking around.  "You had any reports of a guy getting blown up by the name of Chip? Chip, do you know him...?  Havn't heard of his death...  Well if there havn't been any explosions..." Chip probably wasn't dead...  Chip wouldn't die in the old fashion suffocate or freeze in space stunt...  That was a jedi trick not a pilot death...  No, he's probably flying around blowing stuff up somewhere.  Of course, I could always check at the bridge if he's a gonner...  Nah...  I don't feel like it.  I'll end up running into him anyways... 

Shazam's thoughts droned on for a few minutes when some indicater lights finally kicked in and grabbed his attention.  He motioned to the man next to his craft to step back.  Shazam slid his helmet on and pulled the hatch down.  He was in the mood for some kind of fighting, flying required the least amount of energy so it would probably do best...  Shazam gave out a sigh and flipped some more switches before pushing a few ignition buttons...  After a few seconds, the engine hummed to life and brought a quick shiver down his back when the vibration went through the ship...  It was awfully cold in the cockpit so he decided to turn off the A/C and put on the heater for a while...

Shazam was one to have certain modifications done to his ship...  Including his three disk CD player...  Of course, at the time he didn't have enough time to get anything larger than that so it was the only exceptable thing...  Still thinking about this, Shazam continued to flip switches, set up his radar to his liking and read some specs...  He was 'Multi-tasking...' ooo yea...

Journey started up in the backround as the pilot finally put his hand on the throttle. He eased it in a little bit as he turned the controls with his other hand, the ground dropped out from below him and he began to ascend higher into the hanger until he finally reached launch zone.  He sped up his push on the throttle and watched the indicaters light up, the speed jumping.  As he neared the edge of the hanger he pushed the throttle to maximum and flew back into his seat. 

Shazam pulled in hand from the throttle and started looking along a menu on his Navigation screen for the coordinates he was supposed to be checking out...  He started humming along with the main chorus to 'Any Way You Want It' as he turned towards the planet... 


(I just realized I havn't shown any activity in quite some time, and it ends up the only way to get paid more is to get promoted...  And I'm pretty sure.....)
 
-----------------------
*Flash Was Here...*
My Real Bebop: (=A=)

    By now 38 Specials' Hold On Loosely was coming to an and School's Out for Summer was forming in the backround, soon enveloping his senses and causing a slight hyped up sensation running through his chest into his legs.  He always thought it was fun to run around in a fighter when there was music blaring in the backround.  Of course he couldn't have it blaring right now cause he needed to hear the updates from the Navy at all times, but he always made sure that he could hear it clearly...
 
    Shazam shook his head and got the wandering thoughts out of his head, but still aloud his head to nod back and forth to the beat of the music. 
 
    From space the planet only looked like a marble, but once they neared it, the thick layers of of atmoshpere became far more apparent.  The feeling of cutting through soft dough was crisp in his mind during the entry.  It's about time we got onto the planet, Shazam thought to himself. 

    How long had it been that they'd been in space?  Just creating a sense of just war upon the blackness of the deep vacume...  Shazam felt he was in the middle of deep thought so he kind of winced his eyes, so much that he hadn't realized they're was another fighter directly next to him.  The face in the fighter was staring right at him trying to figure out exactly what he was doing.

    "Dude, are you constipated or something?"  A voice came through the channel, bringing Shazam out of his immense concentration...  Shazam sat there for a moment wondering who the voice was speaking too although it was a private line...  Realizing the voice was talking to himself, Shazam spoke into the com," Who's this?"

      "Your new flight member," the voice quirked back.  The man was still staring at him through his window as they entered the atmoshpere...  Shazam's eyebrows lifted in surprise and started to lower into a gaze of intrigue...

      "Fine, then whoever you are, get down here and help us out."  Shazam could feel himself wanting to push this guy around for some reason.  Maybe it was because of the fact that he was talking to him over the com and not face to face.  He'd wimped out a few times when stuff like that would occur... 

    "I'm already here," the voice said quite matter-o-factly...  Shazam again had the same look on his face when this was said... 
   
    "Well where are you?  Maybe I can meet you on the way and we can get on the site...  Actually why are you there before me, I sh..."  Shazam started as his temper began to rise, but he was cut off by the voice.

      "Look to your right," the man said quickly.  The two voices ceased for a moment as Shazam slowly turned his head to his rightside window.  The Flight Leader jumped in his seat when he saw the fighter entering directly next to him...  "Welcome aboard..." he sighed...  Jack Nebulax nodded his head in the ship next to him...


                                      *****

    "M'kay...  Here's a quick rundown of what's goin on.  We're trying to take over this planet or something like that, and we were supposed to be providing air support for the army but we got held up in space for some reason...  And, I heard Daishi even jumped in to help out the army...  Which was another set back, then..."  Shazam was rambling as always when the new recruit cut him off. 

    "I've been breifed, lets just get to it man."  Shazam made a face as if to say 'Alright'.  They were already through the atmosphere and making their way to the coordinates when he started picking up some interesting beeps on his scanner...  Shazam pushed a few buttons trying to figure out exactly what it was that needed to be taken care of.

      "What the hell does this mean," Shazam muttered under his breath as he walked through the manuel and put the fighter on auto pilot for a few seconds.

    "Think it means you have some incoming com transmissions," Jack pointed out, almost as if Shazam should have known that...  Well he should have, but he'd be damned if he'd let himself think that so he just gave Jack a dirty look.  He turned back to his console and started playing with something on his radar. 

    Shazam turned back to his own scanner and pushed a few buttons allowing the com message to com through.  The message was mostly static so far, but the few words that got through sounded like coordinates of some sort.  To a base maybe?  Shazam thought back to the time with Chip when they got attacked from the canopy and ended up finding a base later that day...

    "Sounds like coordinates man," Jack mentioned through the com.  "Should we head over there?"  Shazam shook his head as he wrote them down on a slip of paper...

    "Nope...  If anything we should go to the original coordinates first, then we can get somebody to check out this message.  Besides, if we just head over there, no one would know we were changing our course, and we'd be presumed dead or something...  Plus it could be a trap, a false transmission of sorts," Shazam said letting his eyes roll up to his eyebrows in thought, tapping a pen against his chin. 

    "Or it could be the enemy asking for re-inforcements..." Jack queried...  Shazam thought that seemed reasonable, but it didn't quite make sense to him that way either...  How did they pick up a transmission that would probably be blocked out from the Imperial scanners...  Unless they were really, really, really close to it...  Even then, they'd have to be practilly on top of it...  Shazam was pondering this when Jack suddenly made a right barrelroll and some red bolt flew into the sky... 

 
-----------------------
*Flash Was Here...*
My Real Bebop: (=A=)

[OOC: Someone wrap up and get pilots back onboard the ships. I have other plans. Double, triple, quadrouple post if you have to. Monday (the 20th) afternoon I'm making a post, assuming everyone is back onboard, regardless of story continuity. We can go back and fill in the gaps later if we have to.]
 
-----------------------
Rear Admiral Japheth Cappadocious, Krath Templar
Naval Commander in Chief, Captain of the mSSD Atrus
Headmaster of the Dark Jedi Order Academy
-----------------------
NCC/RAD Japheth Cappadocious/NHC-1/Raptor 1/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE/(=MA=)(=SCPA=)(=FCO=)[BRC][LSM][MC:1][KC:OC]
HM/KT Japheth Cappadocious/DC-3/Krath Order/Elite Griffen Sect/VEDJ/VE

      Chip brought his fighter back into the hangar and went through the shutdown procedures. Good Lord, he was tired. He was going to have to get himself a warm meal and a nap; candy bars and Jolt caffeine gum just weren't cutting it anymore. It took him about five minutes before he could scrape himself off the seat and climb out the top hatch. Hmm, he could just imagine the cheeseburgers in the lounge: big soft buns, a half pound of angus beef, pepper jack cheese, some bacon and smokey barbeque sauce... Gah, had to stop that or he'd start drooling...

      The mechanic boys were swarming all over. Hmmph. Guess all the fighters were being recalled... New orders? Good, that'd give Chip some nap time. As strong as the lure of food was, Chip couldn't eat while spleep walking. Okay then, back to his quarters. Set the alarm for thirty minutes? Small bit of recharge time... Ah screw it, a full hour.

      Chip's alarm went off an hour later, though Chip smacked the snooze button twice before getting up. Okay, food time. He ordered two of those lovely western burgers, with the pepper cheese and bacon and BBQ sauce. Nah, hold the fries, send along some apple cider. Chip wanted to avoid caffeine for the moment, didn't want to get a downer from it in his TIE. Best to wait until he had to launch. Gene Starwind, his new flight member, walked in. "Hey Gene, sit on down."

      Gene's eyebrows rose. "Lotta food, sir..."

      "Don't have to bother calling me sir. And yeah, I'm about starved. Don't mind me if I get a little cranky, still kinda tired." The cider came. Chip took another bite. He'd finished off most of the first, figured he'd wait a minute to let it reach his stomache before he started the second. Ah, if he wasn't careful, he could fall asleep again right here...
 
-----------------------
FL/PO2 Chipmunk Man/Kaph 3-1/Phoenix/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE/(=A=)[LoC][MC:1]

Explorer's Post 1863

He who can laugh at himself shall never cease to be amused.

(I'm just kind of going on, as if to let the story fill itself in a little...  Well, that I have nothing more to write on, besides...)

Shazam pulled himself out of the fighter, taking his headset with him, he headed to get something to eat.  He'd been chewing gum for the last hour, and gum always made his stomache feel empty for some reason.  As the song "Beth' began on his CD, Jack ran up from behind him and started walking alongside him.

"Where ya goin'?" he asked.  Shazam patted his stomache as KISS's chorus of instruments began the main melody on the track...  Jack nodded.

The two of them approached the cafeteria, as they were walking, Shazam couldn't help but run through the battle of the last hours in his head.  Quick little moments flicked through the back of his eyelides like movie previews.  They didn't really get that much action, but his near suffication made Shazam feel like turning in would be the wisest choice after he got done eating.  He also felt the urge to play his guitar.  Let some of his thoughts come together while he played, jamming out will do that to you, he decided.

Shazam walked into the Cafeteria and spotted Chip right away.  Chip looked half dead, about ready to let his head drop into the montrous meal before him...  He seemed to notice him as well. 

"What's goin on man..." Shazam said as Chip lifted his arm into the 'pound it' position.  Shazam pounded it in turn.  Shazam pulled a chair out from another table and sat it down at Chips table with another pilot Shazam had only seen once or twice, and that had been in the last couple of hours. 

Noticing Jack, Shazam said,"Oh, Chip, this is my new flight member, Jack Nebulax.  Just call him Jack, his last name reminds me of that pink stuff you take when you have to throw up..."  Jack shrugged the notion of as Chip nodded. 

"Pepto Bismol..." he said in a half stoned voice.  Noticing his own flight member, Chip said," Oh, this is Gene Starwind, my new flight member.  He sounds like something from those old holo movies," Gene shrugged it off like Jack had.  Chip and Shazam had a good little chuckle. 

"We're just kidden guys.  Your guy's names are probably better than most around here...  There's some guy called Lenny Cravitz around here." Shazam grinned...  "Chip, you look kind of tired, you realize it'll be a couple of days until we have to do anything again, right?"  Chip, acknoleged this fact and took another bite of his burger...  "Well, good to know your still alive, I'm ganna grab something and take it to my room.  I'll talk to you later man." Chip nodded his head as to say 'the same for you'. 

Shazam got some toast and a tall glass of milk and walked out of the cafeteria.  The two new flight members stayed and talked for a while...  Chip, eventually finished his meal...

(I'm good on this story, I think I'll wait now for next one.)
 
-----------------------
*Flash Was Here...*
My Real Bebop: (=A=)

Twenty-four hours before exiting hyperspace, Rear Admiral Cappadocious began his briefing.

"I'm sure you're all wondering where exactly it is that we're headed. Now that we're well under way I can tell you. We're headed for Thyferra. For those that don't know, Thyferra is the number one producer of bacta in the galaxy. They export more bacta in a month than some star sectors can even use in a year.

"Our mission is three fold:

"One: We are going to land freighters at key bacta production plants all over the planet and liberate as much bacta as they can hold.

"Two: We're going to destroy around two fifths of the bacta production plants on the planet.

"Three: We're going to cripple every major starport."

Japheth pressed a few keys on the panel infront of him and the holoprojector threw up a blue wireframe of a planet with also-blue contenints matching the configuration of those on Thyferra. A handful of red dots and many green dots began to speckle the continents.

"The green dots represent major bacta production plants, " he pressed another button and about half of the green dots turned orange. "These are the ones we plan to raid, they'll also be the ones we'll be destroying on the way out.

"The red dots are the major spaceports we'll be taking out.

"Kaph squadron will be attacking one bacta production plant and one starport," a Kaph Squadron icon appears next to the plant and starport, they were reletivly close together. "They are to escort in the two freighters assigned to the bacta plant and fly cover for them while the freighters are loaded.

"We expect fairly heavy planetary defenses to be in place. You can expect to be shot at by planetary-based ion cannons and turbolasers until you're below their minimum range. From there you can expect attacks from their ground-based squadrons of Z95s and R41s. Because a great deal of the combat will be atmospheric we're temporarily placing you in Assault Gunboats, which have shown to be superior to any TIE model in an atmosphere.

"Once the freighters are loaded half the squadron will escort them to the edge of space, where we'll take over the escort duties, the other half will destroy the production facility. The two halves will then reuinite and proceed to the starport and neutralize it.

"The starport is much more heavily defended than the production facility. It has turbolaser turrets mounted around the perimeter and two squadrons of locally based fighters. You will probably have encountered one of the squadrons at the production facility, expect the other at the starport."

"After the starport is down, head for space. Your mission will have been completed."

Japheth pressed another button, shutting the holoprojecter off.

"Thats it, your dismissed."

Infomation on the planet Thyferra:
Planet: Thyferra
Planet Type: Terrestrial
Climate: Tropical
Terrain: Forests, tropical jungles
Atmosphere: Breathable
Gravity: Standard
Diameter: 10,221 km
Length of Day: 21.3 standard hours
Length of Year: 479 local days
Sentient Species: Humans, Vratix
Major Exports: Bacta
Major Imports: Technology, foodstuffs
Moons: 2
Region: Inner Rim
 
-----------------------
Rear Admiral Japheth Cappadocious, Krath Templar
Naval Commander in Chief, Captain of the mSSD Atrus
Headmaster of the Dark Jedi Order Academy
-----------------------
NCC/RAD Japheth Cappadocious/NHC-1/Raptor 1/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE/(=MA=)(=SCPA=)(=FCO=)[BRC][LSM][MC:1][KC:OC]
HM/KT Japheth Cappadocious/DC-3/Krath Order/Elite Griffen Sect/VEDJ/VE

Gene sat in the cockpit of his Assault Gunboat, looking out the docking bay hatch. The ISD Nemesis hadn't yet dropped out of hyperspace, so the star lines were still streaking past.

Suddenly the reversion alarms blared, and Gene roused himself from his daydreams. Flexing his artificial left hand, he began his powerup procedure.

Denethor's voice crackled over the ship's comm system. "Ok boys, you heard the alarm, two minutes to real space. power up your birds now."

Already ahead of his squadron leader, Gene flipped the last of his startup switches. The faint hum of the powering up ion drives turned into a loud roar as the entire squadron powered up. Gene watched as the crews for the freighters ran for their ships, obviously caught off guard by the early reversion.

All of his system light showed green, and Denethor's voice came back over the comm. "Reversion in 30 seconds, launch in 40. Kaph Squadron, check off."

The one-flight all checked in, reporting ready for launch, followed by two flight. Chip started off the three-flight check-in, followed by Jazon, then Gene said, "3-3 good and green"

"3-4, ready to go." Came over the comm, and Gene vaguely wondered who the new pilot was. It didn't really matter, although now it meant he wasn't the greenist member of the squadron.

Outside the bay, the stars reverted back to spot decorating the black vastness of space, and they were given the order to launch. "Kaph squadron, launch and break into flights, proceed to target." Denethor's voice sounded strong and resolute over the comm system.

Kicking in the repulsor-lifts, Gene lifted his gunboat off the deck and gently turning the etheric rudder, rotated it towards the docking bay hatch. Throwing down the throttle, the gunboat shot out into open space. Gene quickly picked up his flight-mates, and moved to take his designated postion on the left wing of Chip.

In front of him, the green and blue world of Thyferra loomed, a display of natural beauty. "Its a shame we have to go down there and trash it." Chip's voice said over his com.

"Yeah well, it's all part of the job," Gene replied. His craft jolted as the squadron hit the outer edge of the atmosphere. angling his shields fulyl front, Gene hoped to neutralize the bouncing inherant in atmospheric flight.

"All VE forces, this is Admiral Japheth, we have multiple contacts rising from the planet at point oh-four-seven. Looks like a squadron of R-41s. They launched from the facility. Time to intercept, 45 seconds. Good hunting."

The Admirals transmission cut off, and Gene muttered to himself, "Here we go again." Switchin his targeting computer to the nearest R-41, he gently applied pressure to the left rudder pedal, turning the gunboat in a long arc to face the incoming Starchasers. The rest of three flight was already doing the same, lining themselves up with their targets.

"Three flight and Two flight break into pairs and engage fighters. One-flight, stay with the freighters" Denethor announced.

Checking his armaments, Gene saw he had a full bay of advanced missiles, 12. Switching his weapons to missiles, Gene leveled his HUD on the approching R-41. It went from yellow to red immediately, and he launched a single missile. Switching back to lasers, he quickly linked them, then turned sharply as the R-41 desparately tried to avoid the missile.

Squeezing the trigger, Gene peppered it with laserfire, the pilot tried once more, unsuccessfully, to avoid the missile. The r-41 exploded in a brilliant fireball. Gene had forgotten how big explosions were where there was air for them to burn in. He watched with mild amusement as the burnign wreckage fell to the surface, then turned his attention back to the task at hand...
 
-----------------------
Leading Crewman Gene Starwind
Three Flight: Kaph Squadron
Defensive Fleet

FM/LCRW Gene Starwind/Kaph 3-3/Phoenix Wing/m-SSD Atrus/1VENF/VEN/VE (=A=)

Pulling up sharply on the flight yoke, Gene's eyeballs threatened to pop out as the G-forces quadrupled inside his cockpit. Red laserfire burned through the air his craft once occupied, followed closely by more splashing against his rear shields.

"Four, where are you?" Gene said into his comlink, desparately trying to evade the fire of the R-41 hounding his tail. A quick glance showed his sheilds down 57%, but still holding. Flipping a few switches, he drained his lasers and reinforced his shielding. This left him without any viable weapons, but at this point he was only concerned with survival.

"I'm on him Three, pull back hard to port, I'll engage him there." Pandamans voice came over the comm.

"Affirmative." Slamming the etheric rudder with his left foot, the assault gunboat shuddered as it fought the thick atmosphere. Black spots started to form on the edges of Gene's vision as the blood rushed from his head into his feet. He held the turn until he saw another Gunboat flash past his cockpit windwow, then he levelled out and checked his six.

Panda had made short work of the tailing R-41, which had its shields aft, not expecting a forward attack. With his tail clear, Gene tipped his wings toward his wingman in thanks, then checked his scopes.

Two and three flights had made short work of the Thyferran defense force, and One flight was still making its run with the freighters.

"One-One this is Three-One, Chip to Denethor." Chip's voice crackled.

"Yeah Chip this is Denethor." came the reply.

"Republic Squadron neutralized. Requesting orders."

"Three flight, stay high and watch our sixes. Two-flight, regroup on the freighters. We're 5 minutes out from the target." Denethor said.

"Acknowledged." Chip replied, "Three-flight, re-form at...point 6-9."

Gently pulling on the yoke, Gene aimed his craft for the rally point. For the biggest bacta producer in the galaxy, the Republic sure has this lightly defended. Knocking on his control panel lest he call down an NR fleet, Gene cut his throttle back as his flight-leader's gunboat came into view...
 
-----------------------
Leading Crewman Gene Starwind
Three Flight: Kaph Squadron
Defensive Fleet

FM/LCRW Gene Starwind/Kaph 3-3/Phoenix Wing/m-SSD Atrus/1VENF/VEN/VE (=A=)

      Chip sighed. Watch the sixes. Ah well. Chip took a sip from the drink straw he had jerry-rigged into his flight suit. He's even managed to give it a shut off switch for during flight manuevers, to keep from spilling his drink all over the inside of his helmet. It was odd that there seemed to be so few rebel fighters. One would think that a planet like this would have more in the way of defenses. Perhaps they were still on the ground, being prepped, or waiting on the other side of the planet. Maybe the VE would even be lucky enough that the planetary defenses had been shipped out, to defend some other place? Then the scanners lit up like a Christmas tree.

      "Three, get your shields up as fast as you can! We're gonna need all the cover we can get in just a minute here!" Chip fliped through his targeting computer, viewing all the craft arrayed against them. (OOC:I'll leave the composition of the reb fleet to the higher ups, if they want it) A flight of Y-wings was headed striaght for the Nemesis. Well, that just wouldn't do. "1-1, this is 3-1. Permission to engage Y-wing Gold, over."

      "Granted. Happy hunting."

      "Thank you, sir." Chip flipped channels. "Three, we've got work. Form on me and head to intercept Y-wing Gold, three klicks from the Nemesis." The various "roger" calls came back, and Chip banked to port and up. The Y-wings were on a horizantal plane above third flight, so the imperials would come from slightly underneath and at an angle to the rebels' left. Not always the best angle, but it would work for now. Chip figured he'd try to make it look like he was heading past, towards another reb flight of X-wings. A nice, quick cut upwards might throw gold off a bit, give Chip the edge he needed. He was still in vacuum, which suited him just fine, except that the gunboat wasn't the best choice for this kind of fighting. The interceptor would have been lovely, but Chip would just have to make do with what he had.
 
-----------------------
FL/PO2 Chipmunk Man/Kaph 3-1/Phoenix/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE/(=A=)[LoC][MC:1]

Explorer Post 1863 photos - - Explorer Post 1863 Main Site - - Co. D 62nd PA Volunteer Infantry

Co. E 30th PA Volunteer Infantry - - James Buchanan's Wheatland

"And I wouldn't trade ol' Leroy or my Chevrolet
For your Escapade or your freak parade,
I'm the only John Wayne left in this town!" -Big & Rich

(OOC: I know that. Can I not create a twist anyway?)
 
-----------------------
FL/PO2 Chipmunk Man/Kaph 3-1/Phoenix/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE/(=A=)[LoC][MC:1]

Explorer Post 1863 photos - - Explorer Post 1863 Main Site - - Co. D 62nd PA Volunteer Infantry

Co. E 30th PA Volunteer Infantry - - James Buchanan's Wheatland

"And I wouldn't trade ol' Leroy or my Chevrolet
For your Escalade or your freak parade,
I'm the only John Wayne left in this town!" -Big & Rich

Shazam's draw dropped.  Quite literally infact, that he actually sat there astounded for about ten seconds before someone spoke across the com to give orders.  Shazam shook himself of his daze and clicked into his private channels to reach his Flight members... 

"Hello!  Who's out there today?" Shazam said, pulling his craft around in a u-turn towards the closest cruiser, messing with some buttons and trying to get himself more comfortable, adjusting the seat belt as he went... 

"YEA!  This is Jack, I'm comin' your way, we should probably keep ourselves a little distance from eachother, cause' theres ganna be a crapload of fire coming our way in about a minutes.  I'd say they'll be almost into attack range by the time we get grouped up." 

Shazam nodded, scooting around in his chair and finally pushing his belts into place, and pulling them tight, he said," Just be prepared to continue going forward, even if you think your going to get blown away, remember where the target is at all times.  And try to keep your heads on straight..."

"Ha...  That is if we don't get blown up first..."  Blah's mocking voice suddenly filled the private channel with innocent laughter. 

"PRECATIONARY STEPS...  That is what we are taking my man, so just follow me, and we'll see if we can't make our way up to the big ships," Shazam let them all know.  He shook his head, rubbed his hands as if to warm them quickly, and then pushed the throttle into full towards the small cruiser.

They had been lucky, the attack force that had apparently been sent to trap them was off in thier landing, so they would lose most of thier effect.  Hopefully, if we group correctly, Shazam thought, there would not be many casualties, and the surprise attack would be nothing more than just taking out some extra garbage... 

Shazam couldn't help but be annoyed by the rebels any-more, at first, he thought of them as just sucky people because of the bullcrap he had to go through with his family.  However, since he'd been about of the Navy in the VE, he'd grown irritable of thier incescant pilgrimage to save some rebellion...  He shook his head one last time and noticed two radar beeps, alerting him of his arriving party members...
 
-----------------------
*Flash Was Here...*
My Real Bebop: (=A=)

Putting his gunboat in a long slow loop, Gene brought the Republic fleet square into his viewport. An MC40a Light Cruiser whose IFF transponder registered it as the Redemption, a Nebulan-B Frigate registered as the Maverick, and two CR-90 Corellian Corvettes identified as the Mad Dog 1 and 2. 

Checking his remaining arsenal Gene frowned. As if reading his thougths, Chip's voice came over his helmet's comm system. "Three Flight, weapons check."

"Three-two, full bank of torps." Jayzon replied.

Hitting the transmit button on his console, Gene answered, "Three-three, 5 torpedos ready to go."

"Three-Four, 4 torpedos." Panda said.

"Roger that" Chip replied. After a slight pause his voice crackled over the system once again. "We have the green light to take out the Maverick. Two and Three. Gene, you and Jayzon take the first run, Panda and I will cover you."

"Roger that One." Jayzon replied. "Gene, form up on me."

Nudging his yoke slightly up and to the left, Gene brought his Assault gunboat up alongside his wingman's. Staying back and a little to the port side, Gene brought the Nebulan-B up on his HUD.

Switching his weapons over to proton torpedos, Gene cycled through the targets on its hull.

"Confirmed. Two and Three, two squadrons of X-Wings have launched from the MC-40, and two sqadrons, one Y one A from  the Neb-B. Fighters and Interceptors from the Devastator engaging." Panda reported.

Ahead of Gene space lit up in a brilliant light show as he finally cleared Thyferra's atmosphere. Brilliant explosions dotted the blackness of space as red and green laserbeams lanced out from ship to ship.

The Devastator and Overlord had already moved to engage the MC-40a. The two corvettes hounded the Overlord, while their target was moving into position on the opposite flank of the Devastator.

Jayzon began a slow drift to bring the Maverick back into his display and Gene followed suit. As the range to the frigate closed to 4 and half klicks, his HUD turned yellow as it tried to obtain a target lock.

Nudging his gunboat a little to the left, the HUD went from yellow to red and a loud trilling filled the cockpit. Making sure his torpedos were linked, Gene pressed the trigger and two scarlett bolts shot from the belly of his ship. A few seconds later the launcher and reloaded, and Gene dumped his second pair, followed closely by his last torpedo.

Eight torpedos joined his five as Jayzon successfully launched his compliment. Gene was about to inform Chip he could start his run, when red bolts flashed past his viewport, splashing on his shields. Shit!.

Pulling hard on his flight yoke and slamming his foot on the etheric rudder, Gene killed his throttle to add his interia to the turn. The gunboat swung widly around, to see Three-one and four engaged with the half squadron of x-wings which managed to slip through the other fighters.

Cursing again, Gene levelled out his shields, and switched his weapons back to lasers. Gunning the throttle, he sped back to engage the Republic fighters.
 
-----------------------
Leading Crewman Gene Starwind
Three Flight: Kaph Squadron
Defensive Fleet

FM/LCRW Gene Starwind/Kaph 3-3/Phoenix Wing/m-SSD Atrus/1VENF/VEN/VE (=A=)

(I've just returned from cleaning mold from a bowl, hopefully this will get the image of the stuff out of my mind...  Uhahah*...)

It was nice to be able to get together with a flight as diverse as his own, Shazam thought in a battle weary mood.  Jack, the rookie; Blah, the mischevious flight member; and himself, a man trying to make his way up the ranks...  Although he'd had a couple years of VEN experience, he couldn't help but have that feeling of unease rushing into a battle like this.  There's going to be cannons firing every where, you'll never know when your going to be targeted by an enemy fighter...  Shazam's thoughts were clustered together as they approached a cruiser.  It looked to be some kind of passenger carrier.  What were they trying to do, board us?  Huh, Shazam chuckled at the relentess stupidity in such a move.  But then again, he'd done just as stupid if not more stupid in previous missions and actually suceceded...  Best not let them do whatever the heck it is they're planning.

"Hokay...  Watch yourselves in your passes, make sure you don't try to fly through the engine exhaust and end up like last nights supper and you should be okay.  Never the less, be aware of ominous looking equimpent...  Theres been to many times when you get a couple feet away and your suddenly vaporized by a hidden cannon."  Shazam annouced his usual 'be-awares' and let the men go.  They spread themesleves out about one x-wing's distance in-between eachother. 

Blah moved forward in the group, and into the center, Jack followed him and placed himself off to the right side to create a wingman effect, and Shazam sat in the back, covering them incase a pair of enemy craft decided to take a random shot at his men.  They set in at about seventy-five percent throttle and did some twitching movements to get themselves warmed up as the cruiser that was looming in the depths of space only moments ago began to fill thier views. 

The craft was pretty long for a cruiser and moving extremely slow, almost as if it were a yacht except without all the fancies.  It ran white with a red streak lining the sides of it, and the windows were tinted black and gleamed the planets light, reflecting the Imperials approaching craft. 

Their didn't seem to be to many weapons on it, a turbo-laser in the front and two cannons in the back as well as some minor rapid fire cannons lining the sides.  Nothing that would really hold up in a space battle of this size. 

Blah let off a couple of blast from his own cannon at the cruiser, followed by a blast from Jack.  It seemed to be going very text book as the bolts flew towards the cruiser, the space surrounding them seemed to enhance the dramatics of the whole things though.  A shield came alive as the bolts ignited the surface with quick fluid hits; immedietly absorbed...  Not surprised, Blah let off a second blast just before ducking under the craft, Jack followed closely behind.  Shazam let off his own fire at the ship, but instead passing over-head to check if their were any above cannons.  The bolts were also quickly absorbed into the shielding and the flight of Gunboats made a long loop, more spread out this time, preparing to launch a heavier dose of fire. 

"Alright men, aim for that little insertion into the side of the cruiser, won't be as strong there due to the angle its coming in at, the shields are sucking it up from sides there, protecting whatever passengers they must be carrying..." Shazam started, but a glint of steal caught his eye.  In an instant, the universe was silent as his viewport filled with red light, the gunboat shook violently in the silence, and Shazam felt his ship come apart.  Pieces of his craft flew ahead of him, Shazam tried his best to pull away, but the fire was two strong and he lost complete control of his ship as it tumbled through space. 

Shazam jumped into the com channels," Get out of there, they've got escort crews!"  He looked down at his dead radar and then out through his right window to try and catch a glimpse of what shot him.  Shazam quickly sent his remaining energy from his sheilds to his life support system... 
 
-----------------------
*Flash Was Here...*
My Real Bebop: (=A=)