Open Ajan Kloss Amidst the Canopies

[Roland Rook]

Mood music - Death Enabled​

A glowing green and blue pearl sat in the darkness of space. Basking in the void thanks to the bright warmth of a distant sun, it was a thing of beauty among nothing. In the same abyss, Roland sat alone in the Cobalt Viper with an unfocused gaze. The Captain knew it was a lush and beautiful world but now had been trespassed by the Sith.

"Nothing on scanners Captain." Came the voice belonging to one of the barge crewmembers.

Taking a deep breath before answering, a gloved hand rose to gently accelerated the patrol ship forward. Its engines rose to a thrum alongside the IT-6. "Keep your eyes open. There's a lot of radiation fluctuations in this system." Most of the interference was avoided due to the local magnetic field generated by the local gas giant, Ajar.

"Double check your readings." He added simply. Roland considered them in no safer a place than Dathomir space. Already the Jedi had been driven from their temple and if the Sith were traipsing around the northern side of the galaxy. It had been made abundantly clear the redsabers were able to travel where they wanted just as freely as any other citizen. That wasn't something Roland could control but the Captain could still get information and set some things right.

 

[Darth Stolas]

The second set of scans would eventually pick up a squadron of Starblade fighters as they emerged from the influence of Ajar's magnetic interference. The fighters had picked up the arrival of the two Ranger ships on their long-range scanners. They flew in a recon and patrol formation, three groups of four ships in W shapes, each group spread out somewhat from the others for sensor coverage.

Storm Squadron approached the two Ranger ships, scans specifically targeting both now they'd passed through the interference. Quietly their weapons and shields were powered up, though they didn't switch to an attack formation and, while they flew at 100MGLT, did not do so directly toward Roland's ship or the drone shepherd. Instead their path was only angled in their general direction, coming from closer to the system's outskirts. Neither group was immediately within weapons range, though at the speed the fighters moved that wouldn't last long.

"Stand down and identify yourself," crackled a voice over comms toward the pair of Ranger vessels, disguised by Morgan's helmet without distortion. He wore a further modified set of his black ops attire that was quickly becoming the standard for his personal squadron, military and functional for pilot use. His two more ordinary red lightsabers were on his utility belt. Dante in the astromech socket warbled a confirmation that only two ships showed up on scans.

Although their approach wasn't overtly aggressive it wasn't particularly friendly either, akin to a systems patrol intercepting potential smugglers. Ajan Kloss seemed to attract attention mostly from people the Sith weren't terribly fond of, after all, despite the Shrike being used to slag four different ships recently.

Stolas was polite enough to ask before shooting this time, but Storm Squadron would still happily go on the offensive if scanners picked up weapons being readied. Any ship in the system was assumed at least potentially hostile.

@Darasuum

 

[Roland Rook]

The a light blinked and alert beeped with each new contact. The starblades and their numbers would become clear in the following moments as the scanners defined the information on a visible readout. They were moving to close the distance indirectly and Roland knew fightercraft could be on the two ships shortly. Hit and run tactics were something the Mandalorian was versed in and there were subtle hints about the nature of the ships given away by the information before him.

The Cobalt Viper could hold its own against most starfighters. But against the present number of starfighters let alone with the drone barge to think about, this wasn't a fight they could win. "Sheperd-6, get out of here." The Captain gave the order to the drone shepherd over the secured channel. "Jump to hyperspace the moment you've got an escape vector." The larger of the two craft had relatively little armament with only two turrets. It was enough for defense and to do some damage against normal pirates, but even a dozen vulture droids were capable of doing some harm. The Sector Rangers were here for reconnaissance on and this was as much of a sign as any that Sith were still operating in the area.

Roland switched the channels to reply to warped voice over the channel. "Funny. I was going to say the same to you. You have to be some of the most well trained brigands I've seen." Roland also needed to buy time if the squadron of starfighters wanted to turn their weapons on the drone barge. The IT-6 moved to follow the Captain's orders and point away from the planet while the Cobalt Viper remained between them and the formation of starfighters.

The firespray patrol ship had its own weapon systems charged and warheads were loaded into the missile tubes. The man didn't need to target a ship to make sure he had was locked and loaded. The tractor beam and aftermarket groundsweeper would remain powered down. They didn't have enough of need yet to have them draw on the ships reactor. If they hadn't been out of range he would have target locked them. Such was the way of the outer rim, and he was fine with saying hello.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Darth Stolas]

As expected the two other ships weren't exactly friendly. The Firespray had charged weapons and Darth Stolas buzzed a command over squadron comms, the three groups further spreading out with the two outside groups taking flanks. The center group, containing Stolas as Storm Leader as well as two, three, and four, angled directly toward the Firespray.

The two flanking groups were on a course to move around Roland's Firespray and chase down the drone barge, using their far superior speed to approach from the side, one group more dorsally oriented and the other ventral. Stolas' group instead kept their course and locked scanners on the Firespray, missiles readied in ordnance launchers.

"I suggest surrender," the Darth intoned before the channel cut off.

Stolas and Storm two fired a brief crossfire barrage of four medium laser and two ion cannons once they were in range toward the Firespray's center while the targeting computers tried to get a missile lock. Storm three and four edged out to the side, on course to pass by the patrol ship.

@Darasuum

 

[Roland Rook]

The change in movement was like watching pack animals spread out before taking down larger prey. Roland's instincts sending alarms off in the back of his mind. They definitely were not friendly. Roland hadn't strayed from the drone shepherd to meet the starfighters but that wouldn't stop them from trying to out maneuver the Sector Rangers.

The threatening tone came over from the lead formation of starfighters, not slowing its speed. The Mandalorian depressed missile firing, considering the line was cut. How's that for an answer? Two concussion missiles would fly across the distance that remained between them, towards the front running ship. The starblades had flat out speed, and Roland needed to make his own cover in space. Thankfully he could fire and forget the missiles.

The small wings of the firespray turned and Roland felt the change in momentum put him deeper into his pilot's chair. The performance of the firespray took some experience to master but the Captain had plenty of that. He hoped it would just pay off in this case. Performing the hard turn, the maneuvering capabilities of the ship had it turn to face the IT-6 and fly over its ventral side and past the hardy ship. The two medium turrets on the barge would fire at the nearest contacts which would also be Storm Leader and Storm group since they took the most direct route, aiming for the Captain's Patrol craft.

The Cobalt Viper's engine flared towards starblades as the cannon fire flew through the void. Two of the laser cannons impacted the shield of the Mandalorian as he tried to be as evasive as possible. The impacts fizzled blue around where the cannon fire had struck . One more hit like that and his shields would be gone completely. One of the cannon shots from the wingmate also hit, this one breaking through the weakened shields and frying the communications array. Sparks shot across the Captain's shoulder but he didn't flinch Two of the ion cannons would miss the Mandalorian's ship while the IT-6's shields took the rest of the neutralizing shots meant for him. The IT-6 was not going to last long either. Tapping the controls on the still working navicomputer, he needed to tap in the quick coordinates for the best hyperspace jump out after he knew the IT-6 made the jump. But that was going to be hard to do with the numerous fighter craft closing in.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Darth Stolas]

Roland's lock on the forward fighter resulted in a lock alarm in Stolas' cockpit and a fanged grin behind his helmet. The fighter's nose briefly tipped just slightly up and then dipped down into a short spiral corkscrew beneath the missiles, both flying past by his upturned ventral side. Roland's missiles suddenly lost their target lock as a result. Storm two moved further out to the side and matched his orientation, on guard for additional targets.

Storm three and four were targeted by the barge and angled for the dorsal side, course evasive but steady toward that side's turret. Short bursts of ion and laser shots along with a pair of missiles each streaked toward it before they broke off. Turret fire streaked around them, two bolts skimming Storm three's shields and one getting a solid hit to Storm four, the bleed through taking off a chunk of the port wing plate and disabling the guns on that side. The plating did it's job, however, and the thrusters were safe.

Storm leader and two rolled to orient the narrow sides of the ship toward the IT-6's cannons and presented the smallest target. Stolas increased his speed to 110MGLT and barked an order. Both pilots used the Starblade's forward maneuverability to dip and dart, making for difficult targets for the turrets, bolts zipping past. One clipped the shields of Storm two and it slowed and turned, firing all guns directly toward the ventral turret. It would pass by and arc back around to follow Roland.

Stolas, seeing his initial shots hit, continued his evasive pursuit while avoiding the unfocused turret fire. He rolled and corkscrewed down toward the barge's ventral side and then up and over across the dorsal side, avoiding the scattered and unfocused turret fire. The Shrike came away from the drone barge right after the Firespray did, slowing to more closely match it's speed and angling to engage right on its tail from it's advantageous position above and behind it. Another burst of mixed laser and ion bolts was fired from the Shrike toward the Cobalt Viper's engine glow, now without the cover of the barge in open space. A missile lock was confirmed.

The turrets focusing on the lead fighters meant the other two fighter groups were free to engage on their terms. Once each was in range they fired sustained barrages of their own, medium ion bolts streaking out across the void toward the IT-6 from the dorsal and ventral sides in the immediate wake of the others. They had clear shots at the large, flat top and bottom of the sluggish drone barge and targeted the aft section to try and disable the engines and hyperdrive.

@Darasuum

 

[Roland Rook]

The IT-6 in a few moments would receive attention from multiple members of Storm squadron. Cannons, laser and ion alike raked across the ship's hull. Impacts getting past the shields of the drone shepherd and causing small explosions where they scored on its hull.

One ship in particular did its best to seek him out, the lead ship. Darth Stolas's ship came around though and was not giving him any breathing room. Jerking the controls away from the direction of the IT-6, the barrage from the Shrike would clip the edge of the Cobalt Viper, diminishing what it had left in terms of deflector shields to nothing and blasting a hull panel above the main engine and resulting in a brief burst of flame in the vacuum and then smoke and minor shrapnel being quickly trailed behind.

The angle of his ship was now pointing back towards Ajan Kloss but Roland knew he would need to align himself away if he wanted to jump out of the system. The fast approaching pincher attack from the two separate starfighter squadrons would possibly knock the IT-6 out completely if not disable it in the next few seconds. The Captain's teeth gritted as he willed the larger vessel to escape while doing his best to avoid any further fire.

Another two warheads had been loaded into his own launch tubes since the Cobalt Viper had last fired. It continued to try to gain lock on the other starfighers in Storm Squadron that were in front of it while Roland turned all possible other turrets to face behind it. The two light ion cannons had faster tracking and rate of fire. While Roland anticipated his own jerks and jives, the chasing starblade would have to deal with chased prey that shot back.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Darth Stolas]

Damage to the Cobalt Viper was noted on the Shrike's display, although the effect was visibly obvious enough for Stolas to see it with his own eyes. He watched scanners alert him to a shield drop and his gaze locked onto his prey with increased focus. The Force amplified his hunting instincts to a razor's edge and the Shrike turned to follow, rolling 45 degrees to starboard and chasing above and behind the turning Firespray.

Mid-turn a concussion missile fired from the port tube and arced around toward Roland's ship from his left tracking his thrust signature. The Shrike immediately unleashed a hail of laser and ion cannon fire that swept left to right as it turned aimed toward those same glowing engines. Stolas dipped up a little to keep himself above and behind his target to make it more difficult for the rotated ion cannons to properly fire behind around the wide aft thrusters' wide aft plating.

Storm squadron kept up the attack on the IT-6. Ion bolts impacted the vessel as intended with further shots across the hull as part of their attack run. The focused dorsal turret was disabled while the bottom merely damaged by laser fire. Each pilot did their job as ordered and continued to fire the ion shots. They weren't going to let the big ship escape easily and the rain of blue unhindered could easily disable the barge's ability to flee.

Storm three and four, who had attacked the dorsal turret, banked around to another pass. They were the ships most immediately in Roland's view as well as closest. He could easily enough get a lock on them as they turned so long as he didn't jerk away too quickly from incoming fire. Storm two was rapidly catching up behind them but had yet to fire himself, instead simply following the nekfight and not interfering.

@Darasuum

 

[Roland Rook]

With lock acquired on two starfighters, Roland depressed the controls and fired off a salvo of his missiles. Roland could feel it through the controls. The shake of the Cobalt Viper and the way it was responding added to the alerts reflecting off of his helmet were indicative of his dire situation.

One warning specifically told him there was a warhead locked on. There wasn't any cover or quick maneuvers in his current position and even less time to think. He hadn't forgetten about his persuers.

The Mandalorian slammed the fusial afterburners into action causing the Cobalt Viper's engine signature to flare and then gain distance with the missile. The Captain at the controls was pressed further into his seat from the acceleration as the ship's sublight engines rocketed only faster in an arc more towards the jungle moon.

The starblades had reduced their speed in order to keep behind the firespray but even they would suddenly find a distance between them and the Captain's ship. Even a high performance starfighter would struggle to recover that lost distance and match the now 100 MGLT speed at which the patrol craft was flying. Roland knew in a long distance race they would eventually catch up.

The break away strafe that happened a moment later stretched out into the dark to Roland's port side before getting closer. It felt just as dangerous as a baskad coming towards his neck. Pulling on the controls during the high acceleration, the raked fire would pass beneath firespray added with a rotation on its own axis to do a one hundred an eighty degree rotation. This inverting and constantly changing the side at which the 'bottom' of the firespray and top of his ship was intended to force any pursuers to constantly adjust or risk tanking the ion cannon's shots in order to land an accurate shot just as much as it was evasive fire. The targeting computer continued to show the angle and the image of pursuing starblade even if it forced the Captain to regularly adjust to keep his pursuer on their toes, they were not making it easy.

The missile fired by Darth Stolas was still pursuing Captain Rook, after all. A loosened piece of hull from earlier separated from the cobalt viper from the maneuvers. Roland knew the viper was falling apart and he was buying seconds. The navicomputer that usually told him when it was good to jump had an message saying +gravity well safety measures engaged | Return to safe orbital distance to jump + The downside of him traveling so fast was that his ship got to certain places a lot quicker. Roland just needed to return back out to a safe distance and jump. Fix one problem and I get another

Behind the Cobalt Viper as it was relentlessly pursued by two Starblades, The IT-6's systems went dark one after another. The bridge crew knew to prioritize the hyperdrive and rerouted power, isolating the systems to escape the harrying squadron. First the shield seemed to dissolve and then the engines and hyperdrive were knocked out. Return fire from the shepherd's defensive turrets ceased all together. Onboard, the hyperspace calculations were almost locked in and safe to jump. But the navicomputer terminal display followed the rest of the ship as attempts were made in vain to carry out the Captain's order. Soon, the drone barge's outrigger style bridge dropped to the minimal dark red emergency lighting. For now, they still had life support and artificial gravity.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Darth Stolas]

Both fighters Roland's missiles targeted broke off and away, accelerating toward full speed and banking widely around chased by the guided projectiles. The Firespray suddenly shot forward with a rush of power through the engines with the Shrike's missile following after it. Stolas sank back into his seat as his own thrusters flared out behind him, not immediately matching the Cobalt Viper's speed but ensuring he stayed within weapon range.

The Firespray was clearly damaged and the Firrerreo Sith could smell blood. He had no intention of allowing his prey to escape.

Roland's speed boost and rolling maneuver had done their intended job of avoiding the shots and delaying the missile, but the afterburners also reduced how maneuverable the Firespray could be. As the Ranger's ship inverted the Shrike dipped and rolled to present the narrow side toward it's ion cannons as a difficult target and leveraging the Starblade's excellent forward agility to angle an attack.

A burst of mixed laser and ion bolts shot from the Starblade into the path of where the widest 'top' portion of the aft behind the wings was turning into, flying out to meet the Cobalt Viper and turn its evasive maneuver into a swift and sudden decapitation. Striking on target could be lethal to both ship and pilot whether by simply disabling the engines or setting off a series of secondary explosions that cracked the vessel in half.

Storm two accelerated after them but kept its distance, sensors keeping an eye on the Cobalt Viper's location and direction. With the IT-6 disabled the remainder of the otherwise unoccupied squadron broke off their attack run and began to circle the ship at a distance like a flock of black birds, active scans of it and the area of ongoing. Storms nine and ten slowed and kept within range of the bridge. They were under orders to introduce the drone barge's bridge crew to what explosive decompression felt like if they continued trying to escape and would fire their lasers into the transparisteel paneling of the bridge under those conditions.

The only reason they weren't trying to board was Roland's continued presence.

@Darasuum

 

[Roland Rook]

The angle of the turrets were limited, struggling at their limited angle to allow the chasing Starblades to remain in the Viper's blindspot. Their fire quieting as no target presented itself. The Mandalorian had only bought himself seconds. The Captain's ship sped ever closer to the moon even as he pulled the ship away, cutting off the fusial afterburners. The IT-6 came back into view. But this time it was dark and still in the system, surrounded by starfighters.

From the corner of his eye he saw the imminent approach of his closest foe. The chasing ship's had him in their sites and dead to rites. The lights from the lower engines cut out immediately as the ion shots sapped the power and the laser cannon fire blasted chunks of the patrol ship.

The top rear glow from the firespray flickered for a brief second. The ship separated as light bloomed from an internal explosion, triggered by one of Stolas's shots. It tore the Cobalt Viper violently in two abnormal direction. The chasing missile tracked the two all the same, catching up and exploding the two pieces into a scattering of wreckage.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Darth Stolas]

Light ion bolts whizzed overtop the dipping and diving Shrike, one even impacting a part of the rear top shield which flickered in protest. Bites on above in the form of lethal bolts flew forth and impacted their target as the fighter winged in to meet it's prey. The Shrike slowed and angled to circle around the crippled ship.

Every shrike caught its prey and impaled it proudly, a triumphant display of victory, upon an appropriate plant it chose as its own. In the flashing light of the detonating power systems of the Ranger ship a missile streaked across the avoid. Stolas had mortally wounded and cracked apart its prey, and now that projectile soared forth to ensure a truly finished fight.

The shrike to a sharp and glorious thorn.

A detonation torn the two halves to further pieces, kinetic energy ensuring no survivors. The Shrike slowed and began a scan as the pieces fell toward Ajan Kloss far below, a wretched and wrecked corpse of twisted metal and shattered bodies. Stolas followed it down and gave the order for Storm squadron to board and take the barge. Surviving prisoners welcome, but not necessary, of course.

The Starblade landed on the planet's surface and stepped from his ship closely followed by a single seeker droid. He approached the wreckage that had scattered across the forest, another ship to join what was quickly becoming a graveyard. Sith and droid both combed through it to see what they could find. Understandably there wasn't much left of the ship itself, but he did retrieve a piece of bright blue plating while he was there.

Eventually the pilot itself was found. Or at least what was left of them, torn into by secondary explosions and shrapnel. Morgan noted with some surprise the design of the helmet when he turned the body. He hadn't expected a Mandalorian, the helm easily recognizable despite the blackened and dented form of it. The glass was cracked but not quite shattered as a testament to its quality of manufacture, living through even that which its owner had not.

He found also a damaged Ranger badge that identified who exactly the man was, although it failed from the damage it had taken soon after and shorted. It was pocketed for the moment before he returned to the corpse. The Sith stared at it for a minute or two, thinking quietly to himself.

Morgan turned the body so it was face down and delicately removed of the carbon-scored and bloodied helmet from its wearer from a position neither he nor the droid could see his face. The Drast prince stood back to his full height, looked down at the corpse, and gave it a small but respectfully held bow. Roland Rook had lost the fight, but he'd still had the courage to fight all the same.

Now he was just another dead man.

Black boots took Stolas back to his ship with the small collection of items he'd chosen to keep and lifted off back toward the IT-6. He still had work to do yet.

/End Thread

@Darasuum