Recon on the Hydian Way

[Galavant]

This mission sucked.

Jillian hadn't signed up with the Border Alliance to fly a "recon" mission. She'd signed up to shoot some other fighters, not fly a sluggish bomber around taking pictures and seeing the sights. Like there was anything worth looking at on Serenno anyway. Still, she supposed it was necessary on some level. Doing recon of the planet from space was a good way to feel out how much of a presence there really was on Serenno. It was kind of a no-lose scenario in terms of objective. if there wasn't anything there, then they'd just found a potential ally for the Border Alliance, and someone could go scout on the ground. If there was something here, it proved that...well there was something out here. Either one was good for the Border Alliance, but Jillian wasn't so sure how good the latter was for the men and women involved. A cynic might look at the situation and say that was also part of the no-lose scenario. If they ran into heavy trouble and didn't report back, so what? The BA was out a few fighters, and maybe a transport. No real loss for them.

Jillian of course had a very personal reason to think poorly of such mathematical ways of looking at things. Namely because she was in the cockpit of one of those expendable ships. The H-Wing however, for whatever faults it might have had, didn't feel like an expendable ship however. Sturdy and well built, Jillian had discovered it's rather sluggish nature, and also a few tricks that should shake any fighters that tried to get too close before she could make a getaway. Ships like these weren't the fastest, but could take a beating, and with a little teamwork could be exceptionally deadly. Of course Jillian wasn't the best when it came to teamwork, so there was that slight fault, but it wasn't any problem with the H-Wing really.

When the ship exited hyperspace, the little astromech droid plugged in started to beep excitedly.

"Keep those circuits freed up little buddy, I'd like to be able to get the hell out of here if things go south," Jillian told the droid, as she brought the fighter around, headed for Serenno itself. Everything seemed quiet at first glance on the instruments, but they were still a ways out. Flipping a few switches here and there, Jillian prepped everything for the recon itself. Shields up, weapons hot, sensors actively looking for anything out of the ordinary...

"Hey other guy," She said over comms to one of her wingmates. The BA was informal as hell, and she loved that part of it. If they thought Jillian was going to address anyone any particular way they were dead wrong. They were actually lucky that she wasn't being a lot lewder, and a lot cruder. But that was mostly because she didn't know them all that well. Once she found out something embarrassing about them it'd be all over for that. She had no idea which one, didn't really know who they were, and didn't much care. Teamwork really wasn't her strong point, and she was probably jumping the gun to a degree. It hardly matter for what she was going to ask of them though. "Mind getting in position right next to me? We'll get a good old beam position going if any asshole shows up and wants to die a cold a death."

That was how she saw it at least. She'd really prefer to do something more aggressive, and get out there and shoot something, but she was well aware of her bomber's limitation. She was as aggressive as they came, but not suicidal enough to charge anything on her own. Besides there shouldn't be any fighting in the first place.

Now it was time to see if they could stir up a hornet's next, and get some good sensor readings on it to report back home with.

They weren't here to fight.

Which was what made it suck so hard.

@Aurek @Ecclessey

 

[Aurek]

Lieutenant Rolan Aurek cursed to himself as he awkwardly maneuvered his way about from the cockpit of his assigned H-Wing, all the while kicking himself for having signed up for this op in the first place. Rolan knew his strengths and he knew his weaknesses. He was a skilled marksman and a true and tested soldier. He even considered himself a capable leader.

He was not, however, a pilot. This was evident as he not-so-gracefully flew about, attempting to mimick his more experienced pilot companions.

"Hey other guy," said the female pilot. Informal and blunt, the typical demeanor of the BA, one he had become accustomed to associating with in his years with the alliance.

"Mind getting in position right next to me? We'll get a good old beam position going if any asshole shows up and wants to die a cold a death."

Rolan nodded, looking to the third member of the 3 man unit before quickly returning his gaze forward. Reluctantly, he responded in his usually gruff voice.

"You got it — moving into position." Rolan was no ace, but he was certain he could hit a target. After all, how different could it be from a rifle?

 

[Cavalas Wren]

Cavalas, emerging from hyperspace, got his first suprise of the day when he had to dive left instantly to avoid collision with their novice wingman. It became immediately clear that the H-wing wasn't nearly as maneuverable as the A-wing he had flown in flight school and that he would need some time to get used to. But the worst thing about it was that his novice wingman didn't even notice what he did as he tried to mimic Jillian's turnabout a tad too early and almost crashed into Cavalas.

Completing the turnabout towards Serenno as he leveled with the other two, he checked if all systems had come out of hyperspace alright, which seemed to be the case, and took position to Jillian's left. "Mission briefing said nothing about engaging the Sith Brotherhood" he responded over the comm to the implication that if anyone showed up they'd die of a cold.

Serenno was shrouded in stormclouds, which made recon from space impossible and the three pilots would have to enter its atmosphere and navigate through the storm in order to get reliable intel on what was on the ground below. Cavalas sighed, looking passed Jillian to the novice pilot and feared the mission was going to be a lot tougher than he'd hoped. "Lieutenant Chalu'kan- Jillian, lead the way for lieutenant Aurek through. I don't want to scrape him off a mountain because he can't fly blind." Cavalas tried in his best commanding voice. Opposed to Jillian, he was very much a stiffler for protocol as they'd been actively beating it into him until only recently. If they'd follow his suggestion he'd make up the rear so if things did go wrong he'd have something of a visual, at least that's what he told himself, as he felt a small drop of sweat running across his temple and knew that he was more nervous about flying into that particular storm than he'd like to admit.

 

[Galavant]

"Whatever," Jillain replied to the stuck up dude. Who did he thnk he was? Her supervisor? As if. Jillian did do as he said though because it made sense, but refused to acknowledge that it was an order of any kind, and she was obeying on any level out of principal. As the fighter's neared the atmosphere she pulled ahead of Aurek who had done a pretty good job of getting right next to her, in order to take the lead as they headed in. The storm was a bit of a concern, but also a bit of a blessing in Jillian's opinion. It'd mask their presence...well not perfectly, but well enough that it'd be difficult for any SAM's to get a good lock on them before they got close enough to get some really detailed sensor readings.

As Jillian's fighter plunged, turbulence suddenly became a thing. The storm was on the severe side with lightning, thunder resounding even through the insulation of the cockpit. The canopy soon became useless for seeing anything, which meant fly by instrumentation.

"Don't worry about the view, worry about the controls ground pounder," Jillain told the novice pilot. It spoke to the state of the BA that people who weren't pilots had to be on some occasions. Of course that probably meant the inverse was true...Jillian didn't look forward to having to fight on the ground. She was a pilot, by definition above all that. Hanging out in the mud with some weirdos from whocaresalia giving each other gross nicknames whilst eating whatever slop the BA could afford for rations getting all kinds of diseases due to poor sanitation.

Screw that. That the other guy might've though the inverse didn't really cross her mind.

"As soon as we get through this crap two of us should hit the deck, same formation as above. Get in low to keep sensors confused, and make sure we get as high resolution shit as possible. One of us should stay up here in all this to dive down and blast the hell out of anyone that tries to follow us," Jillian suggested in a way that hardly sounded like a suggestion. That was the biggest reason she appreciated the storm. It would let them play roller coaster if anyone tried to stop them. The two down on the deck would get a chance to climb into the storm whilst the third of them dealt with anyone on their tale. And then they could dive down and get anyone off of his tail if there was anyone, each time bringing the engagement a little further up until they were all in the storm from which they could get out in the clear and make the jump to hyperspace.

Simple as that.

In theory.

@Aurek @Ecclessey

 

[Aurek]

"Lieutenant Chalu'kan- Jillian, lead the way for lieutenant Aurek through. I don't want to scrape him off a mountain because he can't fly blind."

Rolan grunted in response, half ignoring the younger mans jab as he sloppily managed his way through the turbulence of the raging storm. He felt tense, as if his entire life depended on the condition of this damn machine. His heart jumped every time he heard the ferocious roar of thunder overhead, fearing the engine or the hyperdrive may have given out. This was new to him, flying. Having grown up and living the better part of his entire on a farm, he was a stranger to flight, let alone in the mess that was this storm. He kicked himself for being such a wimp and took a deep breath.

"As soon as we get through this crap two of us should hit the deck, same formation as above. Get in low to keep sensors confused, and make sure we get as high resolution shit as possible. One of us should stay up here in all this to dive down and blast the hell out of anyone that tries to follow us," instructed Jillian.

Rolan nodded, clarifying the position he would take. "Copy. I'll get in low as I can when you give the word."

It was rare for Rolan to trust another person with the success of the mission, but as it stood, Rolan was the weak link in the trio, as far as piloting goes.

He prayed they'd be landing soon.

@Ecclessey @Galavant

 

[Cavalas Wren]

With the winds gushing about and the occassional lighting flashing ever so close, Cavalas dreaded the fact that he'd have to stay up in the storm to cover Rolan and Jillian while they went down for their mission objective. Alas, with Jillian being the most experienced pilot she was best suited to hold Rolan's hand and it was a risk for him to stay up in the storm for too long. There was no reason to underestimate him, however, as High Command would never send a truly novice pilot into Sith space, recon mission or not, and Cavalas wondered whether Rolan was accepted into Defiant Squadron because he was a crack shot at hitting moving targets. Who knew, they might get to find out soon.

"I like the view up here. I'll stay and look out for bogies." Cavalas told the others and continued his dive in a lower angle, making sure that while he stayed in the storm above them, he'd have them in his sights to match their speed.

His task now was to spot bogies on his radar, but the echoes created by the thunderstorm made this a lot harder than he'd initially thought. Only comforting fact was that if he had trouble separating the real thing from the echo then so would any potential Sith flying about.

 

[Galavant]

"Alright beginning scanning run," Jillian replied, flipping a few more switches and making sure everything was good to go. With mountain ridges and trees the color which just seemed wrong, she couldn't say Serenno was a planet that she'd want to live on. The terrain was almost as bleak as the sky, and with the rain drizzling down the entire scene was depressing enough to be a painting in an art museum back home in her opinion. The scanners weren't showing anything much, which wasn't surprising since they were flying over open terrain, but one of the famous Serenno Manors was up ahead. The large complex could hardly be missed, and if there was anything fishy on Serenno it would undoubtedly be there.

Lining her bomber up, Jillian switched her shields to double rear. If anything was going to be shooting at them for this part of the adventure, odds were strong it'd be coming from behind after they made their pass. Anything shooting in front of them was something she'd be able to see, and evade. Well she hoped she'd be able to evade. The H-Wing wasn't exactly maneuverable, but it had the advantage of gravity assisting it in heading at least one direction, so there was that. The stubby bomber was also going as fast as was possible and safe, which again wasn't incredibly fast. But it had better legs than even Jillian would have given it credit for just looking at it. A fast and low pass would, in theory, give them plenty of useful data.

Flying over the place was tense, but incredibly uneventful. They were going too fast, and the rain was too heavy, for her to make out anything. It all happened in the span of about thirty seconds, the manor had been close to where they'd come down. But regardless, the data was theirs. It'd take a while for the ship's computer to process it all, and it wouldn't be able to do so completely. They were going to have to get back to Bandomeer for anything useful to be done with it, which meant they needed to get away now, but hopefully that was it.

Of course they did have all these bombs...

 

[The Kyzer]

Fraaaaaaaak...she hated this place, but the Sacred Ham and Toast...Sacred Spam of Jokes....kriff what was their name? The Darkie dudes had some cool explosive stuff that Invidia needed for some stuff and they were one of her unofficial suppliers of The Fun Sauce so here she was...being bored. If there was one thing the Darth Lord of Awesome couldn't handle, it was boredom. There was a growing nagging feeling in the back of her mind that dared her to activate a thermal detonator and toss it in the men's restroom.

Suddenly the air was filled with this unsettling noise as air-raid sirens kicked on. Some commander was running around giving orders to some mooks about possible enemy activity. Intercepted comm transmissions? Did they even know what was said? Nope...just that there was some comm chatter that they couldn't understand using an encryption that didn't match any known Sacred Lamb protocols.

Well, it was good enough for her. It only took her a minute to break into one of the many Hunter-things. Toast Hunters? Sure, why not? The name didn't matter. What did matter is that there was a button somewhere that turned the damn thing on. Honestly, they really should put labels on this stuff. Wait! Giant red button! Invidia smashed it. Nothing happened. Frustrated, she smashed it again and added a little bit of rage-lightning to it. The inside of the craft was suddenly lit up by thousands of small diodes and readouts as it powered up.

Invidia smiled with glee as she smashed this hand-grip lever-thing forward and pulled back on what she could only describe as a overly-complicated steering wheel. The X-57 screamed away from the airfield. There was a big indicator on the steering wheel's display. Maybe that was where the SUSPICIOUS THINGS were? By the Chancellor's left butt cheek, she hoped so.

As she rose into the storm clouds, Invidia wondered how in the hell she was supposed to find anything in this nerf chowder. Oh look! There was a button that she recognized!

"Oi, mates! This is Toast Leader. Let's vape these fools!" Darth Rockstar declared loudly on the Darkie comms before switching to a wider broadcasting frequency. Putting on her best interpretation of HoloDrama pilots, Invidia opened communications with the unknown contacts with proper comm-fizz noises. That's how these sorts of things went right?

"Ummm....crrrrr...Delta Indie Charlie Kilo six niner....kshhhhh... We...uhhh...read you as drowning in Serenno's special brand. What is your...uhhhhhhh... flight plan, over? Kkrrrkk"

Far below, one of the SBZ commanders smacked himself so hard in the face that he drew blood. What had the Supreme Leader unleashed upon him? Nevertheless, he quickly directed a supporting squadron towards the errant Sith (Lord?) in the hopes that he could possibly salvage this train wreck.

 

[Aurek]

Data received, Rolan was looking foward to wrapping up what had been a hectic and ultimately uneventful mission.

Note to self, never sign up for another mission where flying is involved.

He didn't know if he was getting the hang of it or his lowered elevation was a result of his smoother flight, but he was finding this a lot easier than he had a few minutes prior, he was almost proud of himself. He still hated it. Damn machine felt just about as steady and reliable as a gungan with a slugthrower. Rolan tried to get his mind off that analogy, instead opting to survey the landscape that seemingly flashed before him. Blast, this thing was fast...

Honestly, Serenno reminded him of home. Forests, bleak landscape. Though Serenno wasn't as nice, in his opinion. Regardless, it was all too familiar. And he hated it. He wanted to get off this bloody rock as soon as possible. When he spoke next, it was more or less in a reserved monotone. The fragile pride he had felt minutes prior to feeling like he had mastered the machine were gone. He then remembered why he had signed up for this.

"We got what we came for?"

 

[Galavant]

"Yep let's head home," Jillian replied. And almost as soon as she said, she knew it was mistake. Declare victory now? Too easy. So of course there was going to be a challenger approaching to see what they were up to.

"Ummm....crrrrr...Delta Indie Charlie Kilo six niner....kshhhhh... We...uhhh...read you as drowning in Serenno's special brand. What is your...uhhhhhhh... flight plan, over? Kkrrrkk"

"Keep in tight formation and get ready to climb like a bat out of hell. If they get close we need to weave back and forth," Jillian said to the rookie. She turned her ship around to head back in the direction they'd just came. It might have seemed counterintuitive, but Jillian was assuming that anyone coming to challenge them would be headed from the place they'd just flown over considering that was not a peep up until then. And she'd rather have the big guns facing them for the first pass if push came to shove. Everything she knew about flying starfighters told her that you didn't dogfight if you were in the slower ship. You did things like the beam defense, and tried to get out of the area. Of course that went against her basic instinct which told her to turn the fighter around and try to blow the newcomer out of the sky regardless. But Cavalas was still overhead, and he'd be able to spot trouble headed their way, which meant they'd have the advantage, no matter how short, in deciding what to do next. Quickly switching her shields back to their normal stetting, Jillian decided to try something. Switching to a general comm channel she replied.

"This is Indigo Five Alpha, you are interfering with an experimental test flight and have violated test flight air space. State your clearance code and give us your name so we know who to report for this."

And then she switched the comm channel back. Would it work? Probably not, although she'd done her best to sound authoritative and jerk like. She wasn't exactly a lord of lies though, and doubted it would fool anyone sane for half a second. At the very least it would probably annoy them, and that was worth doing it all on its own.

Now all they had to do was climb, get out into space, and make the jump to hyperspace.

And if that didn't work out, than Jillian would get to shoot someone down or at the very least drop bombs on something.

 

[Cavalas Wren]

It was all going smooth and for a short moment Cavalas could all but taste the Corellian Ale that would be gliding over his tongue in a cantina on Mandalore tonight when an unknown voice yanked him back to reality. "What the kes is that gibberish?" he exclaimed, somewhat annoyed that unlike the training simulators no one seemed to follow any kind of communication protocols in the real world.

Switching his shields to active he banked to the left to make the turn back to where they had come from and gain a little altitude in the proces. Once Jillian, who by this time had turned her ship around as well, was back in front of Cavalas he'd start a very slow dive to better his view over the area and not having to rely on the radar that the storm had made somewhat unreliable. Ofcourse, he was trained to separate the storm-produced echoes from the real bogies but in the heat of the moment he'd prefer being able to confirm any presence visually. Besides, that made it easier to aim those heavy laser cannons up front. Cavalas resumed his position behind his fellow pilots as before, assuming Aurek followed Jillian's example and kept their formation, to be sure to keep them both in view for as long as possible.

 

[The Kyzer]

"This is Indigo Five Alpha, you are interfering with an experimental test flight and have violated test flight air space. State your clearance code and give us your name so we know who to report for this."

"How can you test a bomber's agility by flying in formation? How can you know how tough it is without shooting it up? Don't worry, man. I've got you covered. Toast Lead, out."

Kriff yeah. She could totally do this pilot crap. She'd even found herself some boogers. Of course, Invidia didn't know that her sensor data was automatically being transmitted to the other starfighters in her squadron, or rather her Hunter's assigned squadron, but it wouldn't have mattered to her anyway. What did matter to her was figuring out how to turn the Roast Hunter's weaponry on. After punching a few buttons and flipping some random switches, her cockpit was filled with an odd robotic yet feminine voice.

"X-57 V.I. activated. How may I assist you, pilot?"

Invidia jumped at the sudden noise but then grinned broadly. Maybe this computer lady could help her turn the bloody fighter!

"Hello Vicky, I'd really like to go shoot those enemy boogers down but I can't seem to make this bantha turn!"

"I couldn't understand that, pilot. Please repeat."

"Oi, I just told you. I can't turn the stupid ship! HELP ME, YOU USELESS BUCKET OF CIRCUITS!"

"The ship is currently running on auto-pilot."

"Alrighty. How the frak do I turn off the frakking auto-pilot?"

"The ship's auto-pilot is controlled by Auxiliary Console B."

Invidia could feel the rage rising within her as the starfighter just climbing into the massive cloud bank. On the plus side, sensors would have a harder time actually locking onto her. On the down side, she couldn't actually engage the enemy.

"AND JUST WHAT FRAKKING CONSOLE IS CONSOLE FRAKKING B, VICKY?"

"Searching... Searching... There are no files with that title found."

"You are totally worthless!"

"Searching... Searching... The current price of nerf is nine credits per pound."

The woman slammed her left hand down hard on a nearby console in a fit of rage.

"Auto-pilot disabled."

"Frakking finally! Now, Vicky, where are my targets?"

"Auto-pilot disabled."

"Yeah you said that, Vick. I asked where the hell were those boogers!"

"Auto-pilot disabled."

The X-57 was simply climbing higher and higher into the storm clouds and had begun a lazy corkscrew combined with a bit of left rudder as Invidia had yet to actually properly work the controls. She tried to stop the maddeningly awkward maneuver and succeeded in turning the ship around to re-engage. Meanwhile, the supporting squadron of X-57's was now beginning to engage the three Republic bombers.

Invidia tried to drop down below the clouds but she used the wrong control for doing so. Instead of pushing forward on the yoke-wheel, she pushed down on the throttle. Her ship began to plummet as the engines were cut. This did have the accidental benefit of making her nearly invisible to emission sensors as her electrical signature was heavily masked by the errant lightning around her. The woman herself simply squealed in delight as the feeling of weightlessness overcame her.

 

[Aurek]

Rolan maintained his bombers pace, staying in formation as a hostile squadron flew towards them at full flight.

Fuck.

Flying was one thing, facing a squadron of what must have been a dozen or so skilled pilots was something completely different. He prayed for his own sake that his three m—make that two man team would be up to the challenge. Retreat wasn't exactly an option anymore, this was a matter of survival now. They had to get the data received back to Bandomeer.

Rolan closed his eyes and visualized the corpse of his mutilated son, and was given the courage that he desperately needed to push through this less than favourable situation.

"Let's give these assholes the deaths they're asking for. What's the plan, people?"

 

[Galavant]

"Let's give them something else to think about and lighten ourselves up," Jillian replied as troubled by the twelve fighters coming at them as her wingman. She shot at them as they approached but wasn't particularly worried about getting a kill in these circumstances so much as keeping them from staying in a perfect little formation as the bore down on the H-wings. She was aggressive, but not aggressively stupid....sometimes. Maybe if she were in a fighter with a little more engine power. Maybe not. Twelve fighters at once seems like a lot, but if you had the craft and mindset there wasn't much that could stop you, in her opinion. The question was, did the Border Alliance have the right craft? She certainly hoped so, the only thing she knew for certain is that this one wasn't it. As it was, it was very clearly time to vacate the premises, they had more than enough proof of an enemy presence here at this point.

Since she'd sent that lovely message to the theoretically sane pilot on the other side, Jillian and her partner had been heading back in the direction of the base they'd passed over, and climbing at the same time.

They were in bombers.

They had bombs.

There was a target below them.

What followed was the logical outcome of such a situation.

"Bombs away!" Jillian shouted with a little glee. Whilst the pilot with a name like a bad graphics card maker got lost in the clouds, they were going to be doing some serious damage courtesy of the proton bombs they carried. With the bombs gone, the H-Wing lightened up some. Not a huge amount, but being in atmosphere the effect was more pronounced than it would have been out in deep space somewhere. The second she was sure that there wasn't anything left in the bomb bay, she pulled it up as fast she could. She kept pulling it up until the bomb was climbing nearly vertically, clawing its way back towards the clouds and the safety of space. Any enemy fighter that tried to get on her tail would soon discover that the H-wing had the neat feature of a rear facing laser cannon to dissuade people from taking such actions.

With a little a luck one or two would go down as result of the laser cannon fire between the two H-wings. With a little more they'd be distracted by the plethora of bombs detonating on their miserable little world. And with a little more they'd be too disorganized for a proper pursuit since "Toast Leader" had presumably gone tumbling into nowhere...yeah that one wasn't going to happen.

And with a lot more they'd all make it through the cloud layer and on to home in one piece.

 

[Cavalas Wren]

Well this went to hell in a handbucket. Cavalas had barely caught a visual on the twelve enemy fighters when Jillian started to fire her cannons. They were fastly approaching but due to his position in the clouds they'd fly passed underneath him, possibly without noticing him if he didn't fire his cannons at all and betrayed his presence. Leveling out, he was guessing the distance and speed of the Ziost Hunters and made split second calculations. He could easily be wrong and miss, but instead of firing his cannons up front, Cavalas dropped some of his bombs hoping one would land on an enemy starfighter as they flew below him or at least scare the shit out of them.

When he flew over the base a few seconds later he dropped what remained of his bombs. But despite emptying the bomb bay, Cavalas did not yet pull up to cover Jillian and Aurek as they made the climb. He had seen one enemy starfighter dive, or really plummet, really fast and if it was a novice pilot he'd probably crash. There was however one demonstration in Flight School that immediately came to mind. The pilot might be pulling an Ace maneuver to unexpectedly target the climbing bombers from an angle where they were defenseless. Cavalas, preparing for the worst, actually pushed down slightly so he was sure that if the Ziost Hunter recovered from his fall and came after them, he'd be there to shoot him down and cover the escape of the bombers carrying the valuable data.

 

[The Kyzer]

As Invidia noticed the numbers ticking away on her weird steering wheel thing, she realized that the ground was getting closer. Well...that could be problematic. After all, how was she supposed to help those nice guys test their bombers if she became a big kriffing crater in the ground? So she yanked on the weird lever thing again, causing her fighter to suddenly increase in speed even more. She then pushed on the steering yoke as hard as she could. Anything was better than a perfectly vertical line towards the ground, right?

Well, the resulting maneuver was an inverted loop that caused her stomach to flip over. The feeling was indescribable and caused her to cackle with gleeful insanity. If a true pilot had done such a maneuver, military strategists might have called it tactical or clever as it allowed the starfighter to maintain speed and agility without overshooting the bombers. Buuuuut this was the fantastic Darth Hellyeah piloting and thus it was simply impressive that she hadn't crashed by now.

Meanwhile, the other X-57's were trying to engage the incoming bombers but found themselves on the defensive almost-immediately. Their captain, still trying to figure out what was happening, was killed by a pair of perfect heavy cannon shots directly through the cockpit. The rest of the flight broke formation. Two of them thought themselves safe by flying beneath the bombers, thus avoiding the defensive turrets and target-locks. Instead, the lead starfighter took a proton bomb to the bow and his death-explosion crippled his wing-mate so badly that he quickly turned into a falling brick. The resulting fireball made Invidia grin like a mad woman.

Still, there were still nine SBZ pilots flying and ready to lay down some serious hurt on three Republic bombers plus a psycho with a lust for the lethal. Invidia had just pulled out of the loop when the final bombs exploded on the airfield.

Suddenly her cockpit was filled with exclamations by the other members of Toast Flight. Something about their comrades or...something or another. Darth Whuppin couldn't pay attention to their incessant bitching. Invidia simply tried to line up behind the fleeing bombers and prepared to open fire. Well...she hit some things on her wheel-yoke screen. This caused flashy circles to appear around the bombers. First the lead, then his wing-man, then the one flying way overhead. Nothing really happened though. The weird rotating circle just kept jumping between them. The woman seethed as her frustration built...until she noticed a big red button near her thumb. She jammed it down.

Suddenly the fighter shook as a concussion missile screamed out of its launch tube. Laughing, Invidia smashed it a couple more times before discovering a pair of triggers hidden behind the yoke's handles. She pulled them a couple times and shrieked with joy as big green lances of energy streamed out of the fighter's laser cannons. The missiles, meanwhile, had locked onto the lead bomber's wingmate and were ready to ruin the pilot's day.

"Auto-pilot disabled."

"DAMN IT, VICKY! SHUT UP OR I SWEAR THAT I'M GOING TO USE YOU AS A KRIFFING CAN OPENER!"

"Auto-pilot disabled."

 

[Aurek]

Rolan jolted forward in his seat as his ship was nailed in the side by a torpedo. Cussing loudly, he frantically clawed at the controls, hoping to set the ship back on course. Realizing his efforts were futile, he smashed his fists down on the dashboard, forced to watch as his ship plummeted towards the surface. His heart raced and his life flashed before his eyes as he began to panick, realizing that this could very well be the end for him. He forced his eyes shut, praying a silent prayer before opening them again. Suddenly, all he could hear was a terrible screeching sound as the belly of his ship scraped up against the concrete, coming to a crash landing. It was one of the most terrifying moments of Rolan's life, as the ship spun and flipped as gravity settled itself. Finally, the ship came to a halt.. upside down.

Rolan hung in his seat, held there only by the seatbelt he had made sure to securely fasten before lifting off in the first place. He took a moment to savor the silence in the cockpit. While he could hear the sound of firing torpedos and explosions in the distance, it felt to Rolan like one of the most tranquil moments of his life.. at least until the dashboard started sparking and exploded. Rolan released himself from the firm embrace of his seatbelt, landing on the pavement littered with the shattered glass of the cockpit window and grunted in irritation as he felt a few shards dug into his cheek. The pain was managable, however. He was just relieved to be on the ground again. It took all his willpower to not kiss the dirt on which he laid.

Unfortunately, his relief was shortlived. Turning his attention to his surroundings, he was made aware of several scattered patrols and the persistent use of anti-aircraft turrets that had not been destroyed in the bombing. Taking a moment to look up at the sky, he could see the dogfight that he had been removed from was still in full flight. He had to do what he could to help out. He was of better use to his squad on the ground anyway. What had minutes ago been a beautiful complex was now a ruined battlefield. The smell of smoke and blood filled his nostrils and the sounds of blasterfire and screaming perforated his eardrums. He was in his element.

For two pilots, his partners had sure caused quite a ruckus in such short time. It was reassuring to know the Border Alliance had brought in such capable people. With nine fighters remaining, he needed to do all he could to help out.

Rolan jogged towards a pile of dismembered corpses, burned and seperated from the bombing. He'd seen this sight before and he was unaffected by it. What did pique his interest, however, was the heavy duty rifle that laid by one of the corpses. Picking it up, Rolan took a moment to look through the scope. The rifle seemed reliable, it wasn't too badly damaged by the bombing. Whether it would work, however, was to be seen. And there was only one way to find out.

After a minute or two of walking, Rolan had found a perfect vantage point: a crater. He had a full view of the skirmish both groundside and in the sky. Propping up his newly acquired sniper rifle, he took aim and locked his sights on one of the anti-aircraft turret operators, about 300 meters away and fired a straight shot into the mans head. The man crumpled out of his seat and onto the ground, dead.

Rolan took his eyes away from the scope to marvel at the weapon he held. He grinned coldly before returning to the scope, searching for his next target.

 

[Galavant]

"Oh shit!" Jillain exclaimed as the bomber next to hers exploded in fire and started falling to the ground. Little bits of shrapnel that would have torn a person apart bounced off the armored hull of the bomber like hail on a tin roof while the main body of the craft plummeted It was one of those moments that made your heart freeze and a knot form in your stomach as you realized that it could have been you. The worst part was that there wasn't anything Jillian could do to stop it. It wasn't like she could go back and try to keep the bomber from falling to the ground. The most she could was to to hope the other guy made it to the ground in one piece. And also try not join him down there. As much as she might have wanted to help, she didn't relish the idea of getting shot down herself. As green laserfire danced around her ship there wasn't much Jillian could do but jink from side to side in hopes of keeping the fighter from getting a solid lock. As the fighter was still climbing nearly vertically as the very least it meant that the target area wasn't the entire length of her ship, and she worked to make sure it stayed that way.

"I think we lost Mike," She said to her one remaining comrade. She couldn't actually remember the name of her wing mate, and wasn't exactly in a position to really give it a lot of thought. And no sooner had she said did a stray laser bolt find home, and Jillian heard a definitive boom. For a second she thought she might get shot down as well, but looking down at the instruments she saw that it hadn't done any damage to the engines themselves, and that the bomber was still in one piece.

Well or less.

"And I just lost my rear laser cannon," She continued. As the fighter was still climbing nearly vertically that wasn't the worst thing that could could happen, but still it did not instill confidence in future survival if they stuck around. As the H-Wing passed into the cloud layer, she breathed a sigh of relief and straightened the bomber out. If she just continued to go straight up, anything that was following her would find her with no problem as she would have been essentially traveling in a straight line. Instead she'd fly through the storm a little, not too long lest they find her anyway, and hop out somewhere else, get into orbit and get out of the system. If things were still ugly when she got up there, she'd just get a gravity assist to get out of the area faster than the bomber could go by itself before making the jump to lightspeed.

She just hoped the other bomber got away. She was supposed to be the reckless one, and even she was scared enough that getting the hell out of the place seemed like the best course of action. She'd never actually been in proper combat before now, and couldn't say that she enjoyed being in the slower ship going up against guys in the faster ships.

Well at least she'd blown something up.

 

[Cavalas Wren]

Cavalas saw it happen, the firebal, Aurek going down. It seemed so unreal. When you were hit during an exercise you could just fly back to base like nothing happened. Part of him wanted to send the H-wing into a dive and land it on the rocky surface below, but he knew that the mission was supposed to come first and now the mission had become making sure that the images on Jillian's bomber managed to get back to Bandomeer. To make sure High Command knew of the Sith presence on Serenno, not by realizing none of its forces came back, but by hard proof that Serenno was housing strongholds in former estates of Serenno nobility. Cavalas was partly in shock, ignoring the creeping distraught and the fear, and fired his blasters to the Ziost Hunter that tried to line up with Jillian's bomber. It was far away and the hunter was really only visible on the radar, but it was where the missile had come from that part was sure. "Complete Mission Objective" he replied to his wingleader. It showed no emotion, no mention of their fellow pilot or correcting her on his name. Not because he didn't care, but because he wasn't capable of focusing on anything else but flying. The mission objective had been simple, and it was the only thing that really made sense right now.

After firing a few shots, Cavalas pulled back into the storm clouds he had seen Jillian disappear in and banked sharp to the right before he continued to rise through the clouds in an attempt to reach orbit. With the radar-echoes running wild inside the storm itself he had no idea where Jillian would surface or where the the various Ziost Hunters had gone, but luckily they same would count for them. He punched in a few coordinates and prepared the hyperdrive for an immediate jump once he'd hit space.

 

[The Kyzer]

She saw the bomber's engine explode violently and let out a scream of joy. Finally, things were getting interesting. The chaotic woman then pulled the triggers as she tried to line up with the dying bomber's friend but was interrupted as big lances of red hate cascaded around her. One clipped her right wing between the fuselage and engine, jarring the fighter violently. Invidia belatedly realized that she didn't know how to activate the fighter's shielding. Fueled by rage, she began to look around for her assailant but could only see the other members of Toast Flight heading up into the clouds.

"Auto-pilot disabled."

"I know that they disappeared, Vicky."

"Auto-pilot disabled."

"Well why don't you tell me where they frakking went!"

"Auto-pilot disabled."

"Then you're about has helpful as tits on a Hutt, aren'tcha?"

Invidia could still see the burning bomber's wreckage. Well, she could still have some fun with that! Gunning her engines forward, the clinically insane Sith squeezed the triggers with glee. The bomber's wreckage exploded into a beautiful plume of burning metal and white-hot flames. She didn't know that the pilot had already escaped but she didn't really care. It was only then that she took notice of Toast Flight's calls for help. Apparently, they were having a tough time finding and shooting down two kriffing bombers. However, it was at that exact moment that she noted a little beam of light rip out of one of the bombed-out craters. Immediately, one of the AA-batteries that had been arbitrarily shooting about in an awful attempt to look less useless fell silent.

"Errk...ummm...oh no...my fighter's going down for some reason! Must be out of...motivator...krrrrrk."

"Auto-pilot disabled."

"FORCE DAMN IT, VICK! I KNOW! I gotta go play with this dude, first."

The crazed woman cut back her engines and somehow managed to engage the repulsorlifts. To this day, no one knows how she did it, but some suspect the V.I.'s self-preservation protocols somehow managed to tamper with the controls. Invidia, assuming that she'd done all of the work, tilted the fighter down and began hitting a bunch of buttons with her left hand and pulling the trigger with her right. The result was a concussion missile streaking towards the crater with a few laser cannon blasts, the shields activating, the cockpit's speakers playing what Invidia called old-man-songs, the fighter to rotate along its X-axis until it had perfectly reoriented itself, and the inertial dampener reducing the internal gravity to a full zero.

"Auto-pilot disabled."

"I know I'm upside-down, Vick. Thanks for kriffing clearing that up for me, ya stupid frakking trash can."