Recon on the Hydian Way

[Aurek]

The ground rumbled and shook as the air filled with the sound of yet another explosion. This one was closer than the others. Looking in the direction the sound came from, Rolan stared at what was once his bomber, now in more pieces than it was when he'd left it. These lunatics were bloody savages.

Before he could even consider returning his attention to the scope, he was made aware of a ship tilted facing straight towards him. Without hesitation, he dashed to climb out of ths crater, cussing loudly and leaving the sniper behind. He had just made it out of the crater when a hail of laser cannon blasts and what he could only assume was a concussion missile exploded behind him. He was only vaguely aware that the ground was crumbling beneath him as he was sent flying forward. When he landed, his vision was blurry and fading and his ears were ringing. An intense pain burned at him all over. He couldn't smell blood, but the odor of burned skin was all too present. Losing conciousness provided no relief.

When he came too, he couldn't see and he could barely hear. The pain had not dimmed. He could still vaguely hear explosions in the distance but the only thing he was sure that he heard was the cocking of a rifle and a voice.
"We've got one in critical condition. Please advise."

 

[Galavant]

Oblivious of anything else going on, cut off in the clouds, Jillian's fighter punched up out of them. She might have waited longer to get further from where she'd been, but really she just wanted to get out of the area at this point, and if she asked nicely and borrowed a cup of luck from her neighbor she might just get away with it here. Again. The view above them was far better than that below. Even without the enemy fighters, Serenno didn't come close to Jillian's picture of a nice planet. Above the clouds though it looked a lot better with sunlight pouring down the fluffy cloud tops. From there, there was still a ways to go before getting out into space and hitting the big red JUMP button to enter hyperspace after all the necessary calculations had been done. But could any of the remaining fighters catch her before she did?

Jillian looked around.

She didn't see anything.

"Hey droid," She said to the astromech droid, the name of which she couldn't be bothered to remember. Odds were she was going to go through them like tissue paper anyway. "You see anything?"

The droid did the usual incredibly annoying beeping in response.

"Didn't think so," Jillian replied.

Well that was certainly anti-climatic.

Pulling the bomber up into another steep angle, she headed for space in as close to a straight line as she could get.

 

[Cavalas Wren]

Flying free from the clouds Cavalas saw Jillian fly to his left and he banked towards her, lining out the bomber back to Border Alliance space. His head was pounding, sweat was pouring down his face and there was a slight trimmer in the movements of his right hand. The real thing had shook him up and as the shock from seeing his wingmate's bomber explode began wearing off it could only get worse. Unlike the training, he could've died. It was clear that the fancy rules of engagement were ignored in proper dogfights and the young pilot knew that the next time he went up into the air, he'd better bring something of an attitude with him. He'd gotten lucky this time, but you don't win with just flying without taking any real initiative or risks, that much Lieutenant Aurek's exploding bomber proved.

"Frick you think Lieutenant Aurek survived?" he'd ask Jillian over the comm as he lined up next to her, but there was no need to wait for a reply. Jillian wouldn't know, heck, he was the one with the best visual as it happened and he wasn't even sure. Seconds after he asked they left Serenno's orbit and were safe to jump. Cavalas went to the last check to make sure he had punched in the right coordinates and went to hyperspace.

 

[The Kyzer]

Seeing her prey fly a dozen meters was pretty great. It would have been better if she wasn't upside down and floating slowly to her left. It was slightly unsettling.

"Vicky! Be less useless and help me land this stupid fighter!"

"Auto-pilot disabled."

Suddenly the fighter righted itself and set down on the nearest piece of level ground.

"Thanks, Vick!"

"Auto-pilot disabled."

Hopping out of the fighter as nimbly as possible, Invidia approached her target and nearly tripped over what looked like a big canister. Swearing loudly, she spun around and picked it up to throw it. However, that's when she noticed the lettering on the side. Grinning like mad, she pointed it at a large piece of wreckage and pressed a button.

Nothing happened.

"Stupid piece of trash!" the crazed woman screamed while unleashing a blast of electricity into the device. The tube suddenly leaped out of her hand as a massive ball of energy and doom broke free of its confines...before detonating violently against the Toast Hunter. Pieces of starfighter fell all around her as Invidia's mind began to formulate a particularly nasty idea.

"Auto-pilot disabled...krrrrk...Auto-pilot disabled...krrrk....Auto-pilot disabled..."

Nearby, the core of the starfighter's V.I. kept playing its message over and over again.

"Don't worry, Vick! I haven't forgotten about you! We're taking our little show on the road!"

"Ma'am, we've captured one," said one of the Sacred Taters and Roast guys, "Should we bring him to HQ for interrogation or send him to Ziost?"

"Oh yeah! Let's take 'im to Ziost! Ziost. Zi-ost That's the name! Right right right! Supreme Leader Overlord Scary Lady will wanna chat with the dude."

 

[Galavant]

"Frick you think Lieutenant Aurek survived?"

"I hope so," Jillian said before hitting the button to enter hyperspace. Traveling through hyperspace was always weird, and she hated it. It'd be hours just sitting alone staring at a swirl that made people go mad. And there no one to talk to but a stupid a droid along the way. Alone with your thoughts there wasn't much to do but reflect, and Jillian spent the entire trip going over every little detail in her head. What had they done right? What could they have done better, and so on. Could they have done anything for the man they'd left behind? Was bombing the place the right thing to do? Well that didn't take much thinking at all. Of course it was the right thing to do. What the hell were they even out here for if they weren't going to be doing everything in their power to keep the Sith from actually entering Border Alliance space? Jillian herself wasn't the most gung-ho member of the BA in that regard, but she'd just been shot at.

She'd very much prefer to be the one doing the majority of the shooting next time. And if she had her pick, she'd be shooting over a Sith world rather than a Border Alliance one.