Pity the Hunters

[wristclerk]

The absolute last stop in the Galaxy for most everyone, is Boz Pity, The Grave Yard Planet. For Frankie, this would be her second time coming to bury someone. The first was when her Father never returned home from war. They buried a small box of his things and other mementos. This time, it would be to bury a group of Mandalorian Bounty Hunters hiding out in the sector. Not extremely strategic if they wanted to hit major supply lines of the Empire, but Boz Pity was a thoroughly unsuspecting planet, and the Hunters knew this, and they used the seclusion of the planet to their advantage. However... the Empire knows no limit to their might, or their hatred.

"Intelligence reports that these Mandalorians act on their own accord. They have no connection to the Dominion... yet. It is out duty to secure the planet once and for all. Even though this is a small incursion against the Empire, we cannot stand for such tyranny against our Order! Cadet squadron Zeta will be led by Sith Master Soren Tizoc. He has served the Empire faithfully for many years, and has earned quite a reputation as a skilled pilot, among other things. Cadet leader Pvt. Flynn will be squad second in command for today. Understood Zeta Squadron?!"

"Sir yes, yes sir!" Zeta Squad replied back in unison. The Leviathan-Class Corvette shot out of hyperspace next to Klatooine. The ship, nicknamed 'Hawthorne's Omen', for reasons beyond Frankie, was a smaller, dingy looking ship compared to others fresh off the line on Korriban. The Corvette had seem some battles. It was Frankie's first time aboard it, so naturally she hadn't grown to respect the ship that so many others before her had come to appreciate. Zeta squad was released from briefing, dispersing from the control bridge after the pep talk. They had just fifteen minutes before arrival. They wouldn't be fighting an armada of Bounty Hunters, maybe five ships in total if that, but they would be fighting against seasoned veterans. Frankie recalled what an old pilot master had taught her when she was too young to fly, 'The amount of ships doesn't matter, its the men and women behind the controls that do'.

The headache inducing florescent lights of the ship flickered for but a moment before turning to a low red. Scientific studies have shown that seeing in a certain color of red increases the adrenaline in the body, as well as makes you go faster. Just one of many tricks the Empire implemented in the training and conditioning of their soldiers. The entire hall way was lit in a dark blood red light. Frankie stopped for a second, closed her eyes and breathed. The sudden change made her head spin, but when she opened them again, she could feel her heart beating faster. The calm before the storm was always invigorating. She usually took this time to prepare her X-58 Interceptor. She wasn't squad leader today, which meant her mind was focused on one thing only, killing the Bounty Hunters.

Frankie stepped into the hangar. It was cooler in here than the rest of the ship. She wasn't sure why, but at the moment it didn't bother her. He ship was fueled, she was ready, and she had a purpose.

@Sarah

 

[Sarah]

Soren was surprised to be leading the squad against a group of bounty hunters, but far more surprising was that a very green group of fighters would be going up against veteran bounty hunters. He read through the briefing dossier, finding little of interest other than the odds, and one pilot in particular, who had done extremely well in every test so far, the appointed second in command over the squad. "Seems this would be a suicide mission if not for myself and this... Francesca Flynn. We also outnumber the suspected group by almost 2:1, so that'l help the odds even more." Although outwardly Soren maintained his normal fearless disposition and no-nonsense attitude, internally he was... Nervous, at this situation. An estimated group of five ships was nothing to worry about, but these pilots hadn't seen much action, in some cases none at all. He decided he would meet with Frankie once his ship was prepped.

The ship's lights flicker, turning to a dark red. Soren takes a moment to embrace the adrenaline and anger the red brought him, and approaches Frankie as they enter the hangar "I am told you are the best pilot of this squad, as well as my right hand in this mission. How confident are you of your skills, as you will need all of them if we are to destroy these... Scum."

 

[wristclerk]

'Attention on deck!' Frankie heard the familiar call of authority from behind her. She stood at attention until Soren was standing directly next to her. He seemed even more menacing in the low light of the Corvette. Somehow his appearances had drastically changed since the briefing only a few short minutes ago. "Yes Commander, I am second in command to the squad today, however I've only flown with a few of them, the ones piloting the Interceptors to be precise. Zeta Squad is a cadet only group. So when they graduate they leave Zeta squad, or, more often than not, when they die a position opens for new members to join. The men and women I've seen in training are excellent. But they aren't ready for a mission such as this. I, on the other hand, am entirely ready for the mission. I have the utmost confidence in my skills as a pilot and my abilities to lead as second in command. My total for the squad is 15 including me, not including you sir, our grand total would be eight X-57 Starfighters, five X-58 Interceptors and two X-57 variant bombers. I'll be piloting an interceptor sir. And... if I may commander, what are our chances against the enemy? In your opinion."

 

[Sarah]

Soren looked down at the pilot, thinking for a brief moment before speaking "Honestly I have little faith in most of the crew, too fresh, to green. You, however, show something the others in the group lack, and that is skill. If we lose you, our chances of winning drop significantly... You said you are flying an interceptor, correct? I hereby put you in charge of the offensive line."
Soren turned to the other cadets, announcing his plan of attack.
I will be guarding the bombers, along with the other fighters. I am putting you in charge of our offensive line, which will be made up of the interceptors. If you see any bounty hunter's ships, take them out swiftly and without mercy, if they get near the bombers, circle around them, this will create a flank on their front and back, with you at their back, and the fighters and bombers at their front... " Soren took a breath before continuing "However, if the bombers are destroyed, we go on a full offensive. Either the empire destroys her enemies and this is no exception." Soren gave a salute, and went to make sure his ship was prepped.

 

[wristclerk]

Frankie watched as Soren walked to the corner of the hangar to check on his ship. It wasn't a large hangar, just big enough for the sixteen starfighters being hauled in it. Frankie found her way over to her personal Interceptor. She had been through a lot with it. Training, a few ground battles here and there. It was a lucky charm to her. Pvt. Landen Corso was a friend of hers, shes known him since their academy days, call sign Zeta 5. "Whaddya think of the Commander Corso? Seems devoid of hope for us greenies." she said with a sarcastic smile added at the end.

"He's smart, and cunning. His dossier reads like a damn kill count list. His skills with a starfighter are unmatched, and he's faithful to the Empire. That's more than enough to make him qualified to judge us Flynn."

"Jeez lover boy. Maybe if you suck up a bit more he'll make you second in command."

"Knock it off Flynn. This is our first serious mission with a trained Sith. And you're leading us."

"Don't have to tell me twice..."

The alarms in the Hangar sounded off, bright red warning lights flashed over the already darkened red hangar. "Pilots to your starfighters. Entering Boz Pity system in 30 seconds..."

Frankie breathed out a quickened sigh. Her blood was pumping, she could sense every inch of her body. The battle hadn't started yet, but the inner war had begun within her. Mind over body. Make the body do what the mind must think of. She climbed into her Interceptor, switched on her comlink to the Interceptor squad, "Zeta 1, Flynn reporting in."

'This is Zeta 5, Corso ready.' 'Zeta 13 good to go.' ' Zeta 6 check.' 'Zeta 8 here.'

"Entering system in... 5....4....3....2...1"

The Leviathan class Corvette shot out of hyperspace, the ships insides rattled and clanked around. The deep red that was once covering the entirety of the ship was now replaced with a blinding white of florescence again, the signal to go. The Interceptor squad were the first ones out of the hangar, soon followed by the Bombers then the eight other starfighters. Just as quickly as the corvette shot out from hyperspace the starfighters shot into the atmosphere of Boz Pity. In the Bounty Hunters last raid the Empire was lucky enough to attach a homing beacon to one of their ships, leading us straight to their campsite. Perhaps they knew we were coming, maybe they didn't. One thing for sure was this would be a fantastic first fight.

 

[Sarah]

Soren practically flew into his fighter, taking off after the interceptors and heading the group of bombers and fighters, the interceptors taking the lead of the entire group. "Zeta leader check." as the group closed in, the signal emitting from the homing beacon began to move. Slow at first, but gained speed fairly fast "Zeta squad be advised we have targets incoming, mark those coordinates from before targets were moving. We'll need them after we crush their offense." By the time he finished, some ships were visibly incoming.

 

[wristclerk]

"Zeta 5 mark the coordinates. We have three bogies incoming! Looks to be one light freighter and two starfighters. Bank left! Watch your flanks Zeta 13!"

The light freighter stormed through the interceptor line, sustaining decent damage, however most shots fired were light grazes or complete misses. The one starfighter each went to the outer edges of the group, targeting the rear X-57 starfighters, slicing through them like butter with a hot knife.

The comlinks exploded with a roar of screams ad yells as the pilots inside the ships were being massacred. "Interceptor squad, target the starfighters. Zeta 5, you and I will take out the freighter."

Frankie and Corso both throttled up and looped around. They came in just behind the Freighter, which was making significant head way towards the bombers. Both Interceptors fired on the rear engines of the ship, disabling the forward momentum of the ship, leaving it open for a wide attack, which the bombers used to their advantage of slamming two well placed bombs right into the cockpit of the light freighter. The ship was instantly turned into space dust. The other members of the Interceptor leaders were able to take out one starfighter but the other was too elusive for the young cadets.

The Interceptors made their way into atmosphere finally. Rolling green hills and large monuments were the first things Frankie saw as the clouds and fire cleared from her visor. Then two more starfighters came out from cover. Surprising Zeta 13, the two bounty hunter starfighters fired on the tail of the interceptor, causing 13 to lose control and crash into the country side, becoming a permanent resident of Boz Pity. The other starfighter from earlier connected with the two new starfighters, moving quickly to dispatch the rest of the trailing X-57 starfighters,

"Zeta Leader! The starfighter squad is getting slaughtered, permission to assist?"

 

[Sarah]

"Granted!" Soren shouted over the comms, he engaged one of the starfighters at once, and, once they got into the atmosphere, the bounty hunter made a hammerhead turn, making him turn almost 180 degrees. Soren rolled, nose of his starfighter pointed down low, and dropped into a steep slice turn, turning with the fighter, and opened fire, shredding the right wing of the enemy fighter and causing it to spin out of control to the left and join the fallen imperial in the graveyard down below "Destroy them! Leave no one alive!" Soren quickly rejoined what was left of the starfighter group to guard the bombers.

 

[wristclerk]

"Sir! four starfighters left! Their tearing us apa-" The comlink from the other end was distorted and came back as nothing but static as another X-57 starfighter was destroyed, scattering the red hot remains of the fighter over the littered graveyard bellow.

Frankie cut the engines, throttling back on her speed. She was being tailed by an enemy starfighter, as she cut back the starfighter passed her at shattering speeds. She opened up her main engines again and boosted towards her opponent, now directly behind the hunter. Frankie opened fired on the hunters ship, obliterating his rear steering, causing the engine to stutter and the cockpit to fill with black smoke. The enemy pilot hit the lever on his control board and he was shot out of the top of the starfigher. "Blast it! He ejected!" Fate seemed to favor the bold as the Bounty hunter cut loose from the seat, initiated his foot jet packs and started trying to land on Frankie's passing interceptor. "Oh no you don't!" Frankie screamed out as she cut upwards, throttling the engine power to max, hitting the Bounty hunter with the edge of her wing causing him to spiral out of control and plummet to the ground.

"Two starfighters remain Commander! Wait, getting a couple blips on the navigations. Reinforcements!"

 

[Sarah]

Soren was livid by now, and was formulating a plan as quickly as he could. "Zeta 1, you take the remaining right of the two, I'll take left. All other ships assume staggered formation around the bombers, fall behind and check in. How many ships went down in that attack?" He did not wait for an answer, immediately setting out after the starfighter closing in on the group. The fighter opened fighter early, forcing Soren to take evasive action. Fortunately his targeting HUD was still able to lock onto the target. He launched his missiles, the bounty hunter evaded, but left himself open for the canon fire, which hit the cockpit head-on. It went down like a giant metal brick, but didn't explode "Hopefully I hit the pilot..." He thought as he headed toward the other fighter in case Francesca needed help.

 

[wristclerk]

Seeing the piloting skills of Soren was incredible. He was a true master at the art form, and every move he made was precise. Frankie executed segnors loop, maneuvering from the front of the pact to the back, instantly coming into visibility of the enemy starfighter. She opened fire, landing several direct hits onto the left wing of the fighter. However not taking him down all the way, the two passed each other at incredible speeds. The Bounty Hunter following, slowly, at the end of the pack, while Frankie had to make a large K turn to get in behind the starfighter again. This maneuver though opened the fighter who got away to a perfect attack by Soren as he was just turning around to face the enemy fighter head on.

 

[Sarah]

Soren was, to say the least, impressed with Frankie's own skills, and felt she may even be holding back, waiting for the other enemies to come in to pull out her best tricks. He could be wrong, but, as usual, he was sure enough that he was right to trust his intuition.
The injured enemy ship managed to resist spiraling out of control, and instead pulled down and away from the two skilled pilots "I've got this one, Zeta 1." He said, performing a somersault with his ship, causing him to join the enemy very quickly, and even more so, lock onto him. He fired another missile, which hit the left wing of the ship, and disabled most of it. He was going down, but the Sith do not show mercy, and Soren was no exception. He fired his canons at the ship until the middle was no more, pulling up and barely avoiding a collision with one of the huge monuments. During his time gaining back precious altitude, he opened a private channel between him and Francesca. "You live through this, and I'll put in a very good word to your supervisors, Zeta 1. You've proven yourself worthy of that much." Soren did his best not to sound too proud, didn't want this pup getting cocky, but she needed to know that she was a cut above, and worth mentioning. Not to mention, she needed to get out of Zeta squadron... After seeing this battle so far, Soren realized that this should have been named death squadron, as far too many pilots here left in body bags... He needed to help Frankie, at least, get out of here. For her sake, and more importantly, the Empire's, as they could use as many of her as they could get..

 

[wristclerk]

An exuberant smirk creased her lips as the private comlink channel message was delivered. This could be her ticket out of Zeta Squad, perhaps even stepping stones to her triumphant role as a squad leader. Though of course it would take officers training, perhaps another couple years of flight school along with that. Frankie immediately shook her head of such thoughts. She had known of others to be offered such a position and in the heat of the moment they squandered it. Frankie refused to be some fool to ruin chances so quickly.

"Zeta 5, send the coordinates from the base tracer, lets hit them hard."

"Roger Zeta 1. Coordinates uploaded to squad navi-computer."

"Zeta Leader Soren, have you received the coordinates? Seems like their base camp is behind those hills, they could ambush us. But I think we should hit them with everything we have, a show of force if you will."

 

[Sarah]

Soren fell silent for a moment. He thought, planned, and painted out the different scenarios in his mind. IF they hit the base with everything, their mission would be all but complete. However, if they were ambushed... Soren had many kills under his belt, and there was generally a lot of red in every mission he had completed, of both enemies and allies. Collateral damage, he thought, but now, seeing this young squad being nearly destroyed once, he felt he should prevent it if he could... If they were ambushed, it could cause a lot of devastation. A thousand possibilities played out in Soren's head, until he came to a conclusion. He had difficulties, but remembered his studies of formations and tactics that he read up on just before this mission... He would combine a few formations for the situation, just as he did with his blades, combining and creating new moves as he fought. "It's just like a duel, only large-scale, large scale and in starships... Right." He thought, and, taking a deep breath, he commanded the pilots "Zeta squad, make a Closed Grand Battery formation with the bombers in the center, the starfighters in the middle, and the interceptors form the outer-most if the bombers come under any fire, the interceptors and starfighters will need to take most of it for this to work. Zeta 1, Zeta 5, take the right and rear edges of the formation, Zeta 10, take the front edge, I'm taking left." He contemplated his orders, knowing there would be more of their deaths on his hands. He could live with that, easily... He just hoped there'd be a Zeta squadron left after this.

 

[wristclerk]

"I'll take the right edge Zeta 5, you take up the rear and provide cover fire. The ones in the front are going to get hammered the most."

Frankie stayed on the right side of a bomber, she tried to remember the pilots name, but nothing came to mind. It seemed like it didn't matter at this moment, even though he may have the most important job right now. If we can deal a large blow to their base camp and then turn around and take them out from the air, we wouldn't even have to land to have Soren take them out with his force abilities. Though that seemed like somewhat of a long shot. 'Oh!' Frankie thought, 'the pilots name is Hagen Grey, Zeta 11'

"Zeta 11, ready for your first drop?!"

Before Zeta 11 could answer the starfighter group cleared the first hill and a huge volley of blaster fire sprayed the first who were exposed to it.

 

[Sarah]

Over the hills sat two guardian-class gunships, hailing fire down onto the squad. Seeing the front edge being dessimated by the blaster fire, Soren ordered the other fighters to fire all remaining missiles... Most were destroyed far before hitting their target, but those that did, did massive damage to one of them disabling its torpedo launchers . "Zeta 1 to the damaged one, interceptors guard the bombers on the way to the bunker. Sarfighters, engage the ships at will." Soren flew near the less damaged ship, which targeted him with six of its missiles, all locked on. He took evasive action, shaking two off of him and sending them crashing into each other. The others kept him to busy to attack for now, though. "I need one of those..."

 

[wristclerk]

Frankie broke off from the squad at intense speeds towards the damaged gun boat, dodging several blaster canon shots along the way she fired her primary weapons, landing several direct hits on the wing and sternum of the gun boat, causing the pilot to lose control, dropping in altitude it fired off several more missiles, they were all shot down by Frankie as she flew over the destroyed gun boat. In her rear view camera she saw the ship smoke and crash into the side of the hill, killing the crew.

Frankie then made a wide turn, noticing that Soren was being targeted by the still functioning gunboat, she tore ahead, still too far out to gain a perfect target lock on the gun boat, she fired off a few missiles which detonated next to the ship, shredding the cockpit with shrapnel. While the gunboat pilot tried to make evasive maneuvers Corso, zeta 5, made its way to intercept the missiles following squad leader Soren. The rest of Zeta Squad grouped together to take down the remaining gun boat in a fiery mass of smoking metal, adding to the mass grave site bellow as a monument to Imperial victory. A collective 'yee-haw' could be heard from all com-link communications. "Seems like Zeta Squad is getting itself together Zeta Leader"

 

[Sarah]

"Good job, Zeta squadron. Let's take out their bunker, so this doesn't happen again... Five star fighters at most they said..." Soren sounded pleased with Zeta squad. And significantly less so with the intelligence departments of the Empire. He re-opened the channel he opened for Francesca "Well, that couldn't have gone worse... For them." He laughed a bit, then his sonar equipment detected another blip, far away, but moving near the group "Lets check it out, Zeta 1" he said, back on the public channel.

 

[wristclerk]

Frankie watched as the bombers delivered their payloads on the Bounty Hunters bunker. The bombs seemed to be enough to completely shatter the roof of the bunker, and even cause a landslide to spill into and around said bunker as it was built into the side of a decent sized hill. Zeta squadron, besides for Frankie and Soren, doubled back to take out any stragglers from the air, though it didn't seem like anyway made it out. However the few blips onto the radar screen announced that there were more to come. Maybe hunters back from a mission or ones who tried to getaway decided to stay and fight instead? The reason didn't matter, only that whoever was coming towards them wanted them dead. And Frankie didn't plan on dying today.

"Commander Soren, two Aggressor Class Attack vehicles are make their way here. Any suggestions?!" Frankie was a little worried, she had heard about this craft before, only the baddest of the bad flew it, yet they weren't bad in terms of skill.

 

[Sarah]

Soren cursed, then got on the channel "We engage them one at a time. These ships have some serious armaments... Wait till they fire missiles at one of us, then fly near the other ship, maybe the missiles will detect its higher heat signature, that's all I got, to be honest" Soren knew they probably wouldn't make it through this, but at least the squad would make it through "for the empire!"