The Rendezvous Point

[Hugo Ion]

Quellor Sector​

Out of hyperspace came twelve SP2 Dancers. Leading in the center of a v formation was Hugo Ion. Inside the cockpit, the Duros checked the readings from his navicomputer. Nodding with approval, he turned on the intercom. “Arrow squadron, status report.”

“All wings present and accounted for.” A baritone voice answered back, belonging to Arrow two. Commander Ion grinned, they made it. This feels right. He thought to himself.

Whatever their troubles the Alliance was on the move again. “Very good Arrow two. Trained your pilots quite well.” Hugo commented with full praise. This approval earned a reply from Arrow Two who had a hint of pride in his voice.

“Just you wait, Commander when we reach our next destination.”

Hugo imagined many in the squadron felt the same way. Others no doubt nervous as well. He could hardly blame them at all. Soon three more squadrons of Alliance fighters and bombers appeared from lightspeed. They flew in and gathered around Hugo’s unit.

The Durosian rebel slightly grinned looking out to the side on the left, knowing more will follow up. “Star Squadron report in.” He commanded, hoping they were present.

Spoiler: OOC

This takes during the events of Hoth.

@Wit

 

[Quil Satorian]

"Trim speed to 75 m-g-l-t." Came the monotone command from Dagger-One, the squadron leader, in the lead flight. Cruising speed. Greeeaaat... Quil thought from his position on the tail end of third flight. Cruising speed meant nothing exciting was going to happen. Cruising speed meant yet another pointless presence patrol in the middle of nowhere, harassing the occasional bulk freighter dropping into the system on it's way through to Commenor or one of the other backrocket worlds along the Nanth'ri trade route. Cruising speed meant they were going to be here for awhile, spinning in circles for many kilometers over many hours until someone came back to pick them up. Razor squadron was probably hanging out on the other side of the nearby nebula playing pazaak from their cockpits...

"Anyone know a good song?" Quil quipped over his flights frequency.

"Cut the chatter Dagger six." Came the expected response from his flight leader, Dagger three. Dagger three didn't like chatter... or singing... or fun. Quil resigned himself to boredom with a sigh and settled into his Vexatious fighters cramped seat for the long haul. Luckily he'd brought a handheld datapad game to play while his ships autopilot held formation and stuck to the patrol pattern.

"Contact. Max Range. Bearing 3-2-0 coreward." Dagger one broke in unexpectedly. It seemed awfully early in the patrol to already be running into some poor freighter captain or smuggler. Quil checked his sensors as numerous little pin pricks of light popped into existence on the far side of Dagger One and his flight of interceptors. They were still a dozen or so kilometers out... Oh... Oh flaming karkodon the pilot thought to himself as the sensor data resolved. Not a freighter. Ok. Not lots of little freighters. Probably not a school of wild giant mynocks who somehow learned to make hyperspace jumps either.

That really only left one option.

"Dagger Squadron, break by flights and prepare to engage." Came the command from Dagger One.

@Minuteman75

 

[Hugo Ion]

Concern surfaced on Hugo’s face as Star Squadron failed acknowledge their presence. Meaning they were not here. Star Squadron was to be here at the rendezvous. Something is wrong. The Duros thought. Soon further trouble came, when a dozen pings appeared on the screen map. “Commander, squadron detected. Likely hostiles.”

All of things to run into an possible Imperial patrol so soon... If they were closer to their objective Hugo would’ve chosen to fight. Yet the fact remains whatever the outcome they lost the element of surprise crucial to the long term objective. This realization caused the rebel leader muttered a curse in Durse then gave the order, one he hated. “All units pull back and head for lightspeed. We will fight them another day.”

Shaking his head in disgust Commander Ion twist his starcraft around along with many others and began punch in the coordinates. Considering the long distance between them and the enemy flight groups flying toward their direction the rebel task force had enough time to get away. Squeezing his hands at the controls with frustration Hugo silently vowed.

There will be a next time.

Subsequently, he and the rest of the rebel force jump into hyperspace one after the other until they were all gone.

@Loco

//Exit

 

[Quil Satorian]

"Two flight, break off and alert the fleet. One and three, on me."

Dagger One's orders were calm and collected, which blew Quil's mind. The squadron of interceptors was outnumbered three to one, at least, and backup from Razor squadron or the rest of the fleet would be slow to respond and may not arrive until well into the dog fight. And yet here they were, following One into battle like it was nothing. That's the sort of pilot I want to be, Quil thought as he checked his instruments and studied his scanners. The bogeys on sensors appeared to be flying SP2's- pretty high end for non-imperial forces, but still scrap heap assembled. As they Sith element began to close, the enemy unexpectedly broke off and began to head directly away from Quil and his compatriots. The young pilot refreshed his sensors, unable to believe it. They were... running? Wow. He staretd running some quick mental math and then consulted his sensors again. Having just dropped into the system, the enemy would have to calculate an escape path- a luxury not afforded to the Sith pilots, who didn't have hyperdrives- and that would take some time. On top of that, at full intercept speed the Vexatious class fighters had a significant speed advantage. They would slowly close on the Rebels, and the few kilometers between them would still allow the Sith to make contact well before the Rebels would be able to jump. As the distance reading between the forces slowly ticked its way down, Quil began sweating.

"Five seconds and counting. Maintain locks and let fly." Quils flight leader muttered, his voice sounding tense and strained, unlike Dagger One. Quil flicked his acknowledgment switch to green and stared at his targeting computer. He was squared off facing the tail end of one of the slower rebel bombers who had begun lagging behind their fighter escort... three... two... one... Quils targeting computer went from an interval tone to a solid lock, and he depressed the firing stud, sending a missile screaming off toward his target. Immediately he swapped targets to the bombers wingman, and waited for the tone to change. Several of his wingmates dropped attacks of their own as they quickly closed to laser range.

It dawned on him that he had fired his first shot in live combat. This was it.

@Minuteman75

 

[Hugo Ion]

Inside the cockpit Hugo checked the radar showed the Imperials were closing in fast. In that moment Hugo realized the truth. There was not enough time to escape without a fight. He had to respect the enemy pilots’ bravery in the face of larger opposition. Though in the back of his mind, Ion took a good guess the one flight group flying breaking off were getting reinforcements.

“All units change of plans. Arrow and Lance engage the enemy I repeat engage. Hold them off until we can set the coordinates and get out of here.”

So as the Interceptors were closing in fast on the rear attacking the bombers, the two squadrons of rebel fighters swung around firing upon them. The Vexatious had a speed advantage it is true but the Alliance bombers had shields and the starfighters maneuverability. The small Imperial squadron will soon find too occupied with the counter attack to bother further with the bombers. Commander Ion twisting his fighter craft to the left just as the massive dogfight broke out. Increasing thruster speed Hugo made a hard dive.

Using the targeting computer Hugo locked on a swift Inceptor making a turn. Squeezing down the trigger, letting loose a salvo of three bolts at the center mass. The Vexatious sped out of the way but took a shot in its right wing, damaging it in the process. ”Got to work on my aim.” Hugo admitted through gritted teeth.

@Cazar @Loco

 

[Mig Cabra]

Lagging behind seemed to be Mig's style lately. He had the best equipped bomber in the fleet as far as he knew and it could come in handy to support the Commander's squadron. The Gotal Captain left behind his large vessel and resources to come with just his old bomber crew and his favorite ship. This would be a nice break from leading his mobile cell of rebels. The Antar's Fist was a dangerous vessel piloted by a dangerous person. Mig was skilled and would not go down easy or let his Commander fall. It seemed the battle had already begun by the time the group of Gotals and their ship came out of hyperspace.

"Shields up to max!" Mig shouted as he saw action was erupting ahead of them. "Turrets, get mean!"

A pair of Gotal pilots ran out of the central corridor into the turrets. The ship was fully manned and ready for battle. Mig pushed the accelerator forward to push them to max speed. They're be in combat range shortly to help shoot down fighters and maybe even torpedo an unlucky soul. The military grade deflectors were powered up and the power core hummed happily. They were in business.

"Dorsal turret, live and ready." Came a call over the ship's comm, indicating the crewman was ready to begin using the medium lasers. "Ventral turret, live and ready."

"Shields at full power. Systems optimal." Came the co-pilot as Mig grinned wide, watching all the reports coming in.

"Wooosssh....," he whispered to himself as the combat scene came fully into view, ready for the bomber to begin causing havoc.

@Minuteman75 @Loco

 

[Ilyra Visz]

Ilyra had been just another pilot enjoying a boring flight path when it all came to an end when it turned out the patrol had actually done something that patrols were meant to do; caught the enemy in action before they were ready.

Honestly it was such a surprising thing that it had taken her a second to actually remember what she was supposed to do before she pulled herself together. Honestly, patrols never really picked up any enemies - they were mainly to discourage enemies from even trying.

Sheath was the back up of Dagger Squadron, a smaller squad of three fighters that was supposed to cover the rear of the squadron. With Dagger moving forward to engage, Ilyra and her two wingmen did the same, coming up from behind Dagger to cover them.

Including spotting a bomber that appeared to be separate from the others (@Cazar ). She called it in as she made sure the weapons systems were armed and her fighter was prepared to hit higher speeds and pull off some moves. Her fighter was the kind that relied on speed and hitting hard so she would fight according to it's strengths.

"Dagger Squadron, this is Sheath, over." she reported over the coms to Dagger, "Confirm lone Starlightning bomber that appears to be operating independent of bomber squad. Be advised, possible enemy ace. Out."

She was one with the Force and the Force was with her.

@Loco
@Minuteman75 @Cazar

 

[Quil Satorian]

Quil was so caught up in the curious mix of fear and excitement and the feel of adrenaline spiking his system as he saw his missile impact its target that he almost missed the transmission from Sheath. Dagger squadron's intial salvos had dealt a heavy blow to the slow moving rebel bombers, and first flight was already mixing it up with their fighters, turning the mass of ships into a vicious dog fight (25-11). Two flight had swung wide enough to get of their transmission and had begun coming back around to engage the enemy (23-12).

"Stick with the bombers." Dagger Three commanded, and Quil snapped his attention back to the task at hand. Instinct and training were taking over.

Having already ravaged the nearest bombers and wanting to keep their forward momentum going, three flight adjusted their approach vector to intercept the new Bomber that Sheath had called out (@Cazar). As they came into range (23-9), Quil immediately depressed his firing studs and sent a steady stream of green energy bolts into the sluggish ships flight path, bracketing the craft with laserfire as his targetting computer locked on.

@Minuteman75 @Nefieslab @Cazar

 

[Mig Cabra]

A Captain of the Galactic Alliance fleet was no pushover when it came to a space battle. Mig put on a big stupid grin as a fighter moved to target him. Laser fire came in hot but it was easy to see coming. The Gotal jerked the controls to one side and avoided the burst of fire easily enough. There would surely be plenty more to share and his shields would give him a nice security buffer. The ship had rolled onto its side compared to the orientation of the assailant which meant both turrets were able to get in shots fairly easily. As soon as the Antar's Fist moved, as the laser fire blew by into the endless void, return fire erupted from both medium lasers with two shots each heading on an intercept path with Quil's ship.

"Keep it up! It's zippy! Snip it out of the sky!" Mig shouted through the comms as he began trying to get a target lock with the torpedo launcher. "Keep it away from us while I lock on!"

The last bit was sent to the commander who would likely be pulling around to assist with his fighter soon. Nonetheless, Mig glanced to the indicator that beeped faster and faster as the targeting computer calculated the lock. Other than a couple quick glances though, he kept his eyes peeled for fighters that might make a run at the bomber. It wasn't the most nimble but it had better shields than anything in the system. The Gotal wanted to use that to his advantage as much as possible which meant avoiding hits and keeping the shields alive.

@Minuteman75 @Loco @Nefieslab

 

[Hugo Ion]

Pursuing the tail of an Imperial fighter, Hugo pressed down on the fire control, shooting a small stream of red bolts in the center. Moments it was destroyed. The commander did not have time to celebrate when he detected new ships entering the fray. Three more Sith craft now on the right flank and a lone rebel bomber appearing from the opposite way close to him. Immediately Hugo recognized the voice from the latter’s comms and grinned.

It’s Mig, thank the force!

Of course the enemy noticed as well and a flight of them moved in to intercept. Increasing thrusters Hugo pressed forward in reply. From the comms the Duros heard Mig’s request and without hesitation obliged. In range (25-10) Ion used the targeting computer to aim for Quil’s starfighter and fired four shots at his path while three more rebel fighters went after other Sith of Flight Three. Quill would find himself hard pressed to avoid being shot at by both Mig and Hugo.

@Loco @Nefieslab @Cazar

 

[Ilyra Visz]

Well it looked like things were heating right on up!

Ilyra pushed her ship onward, using it's speed to her advantage to cross distance as she came in on an attack run from the 'right' side of the bomber that was acting independent of the squadron. Her wingmen peeled off from her to take on any and all fighters who had moved to intercept her as she prepped herself.

She began the lock-on sequence for her concussive missile, locking onto the more advanced ship. While she was doing this however, she came within range and opened fire with her medium blasters on the enemy. Because they had turned their ship to be able to fire at Quil with both turrets, they showed a very large profile to Ilyra coming in at them from the opposite direction.

She pressed the firing studs, opening fire with a stream (four in this attack, two from each laser cannon) of medium laser bolts, slightly leading her shots to account for it's momentum and aiming to shoot at the exposed underside of the ship that was pointing in her direction. Or it was the topside. It didn't really matter either way; both sides had vital components and the enemy were leaving them wide open with the biggest profile it was possible to present on a ship that size.

If the sluggish bomber kept on course and committed to it's actions, her shots would tear the hell out of it's shields.

@Loco
@Minuteman75 @Cazar

 

[Quil Satorian]

Quil had anticipated for his firing in the bombers (@Cazar) path to make it juke one way or another, so as soon as it did so all Quil had to do was adjust his heading to follow the ship, strafing it with laser fire for a brief moment while it brought its own cannons to bear. Quil responded to the incoming fire by corkscrewing down in the opposite direction of the Rebel bomber, keeping the slower ship in his forward firing arc as they closed distance and making it so he was once again only in one cannons firing arc. This made it easy enough to juke his way through the bombers single remaining cannons fire, and let loose a missile at a quite close range as the ships closed. Quils speed- half again that of the rebel bomber- would let him zip right past the enemies belly and begin arcing around for another pass (27-9). Just as he began to do so, one of the Rebel fighters began firing at him (@Minuteman75), forcing him to reduce speed and juke up to avoid the fire. This would leave him in a prime position for the fighters to drop in on his tail, but Quil could only deal with one problem at a time.

@Nefieslab

 

[Hugo Ion]

Stang! Thought Hugo, watching the Imperial fighter (@Loco) evade his barrage. That’s quite the pilot he would admit. Commander Ion would’ve pursued him further, but he quickly noted the hyperspace coordinates were now fully set. Taking advantage of the fact that his enemy was fleeing from him and the other ones (@Nefieslab) were occupied Hugo twisted away. Subsequently he whispered.

“Here we go.”

A moment later Ion’s rogue fighter disappeared into lightspeed. Any other rebels able to followed suit leaving the battlefield. The rest however, fought on buying them time with their lives. The Alliance have lost this time. But there will be another day...

//Exit.

 

[Ilyra Visz]

Ilyra was a little bit irritated when she saw one of the enemy disappear off to hyperspace but that was not really going to ruin her good mood. Her good mood stemming from the fact that all four of her medium laser shots hit her target exactly where she wanted, right along the central body of the ship.

While the shields on the ship were good, they seemed to be medium shields against medium lasers. This meant that the four shots that hit did their job wonderfully, not actually blasting the ship to pieces (unfortunately) but completely breaking the shields around the ship.

Which left it exposed to the attacks from Quil.

Just to be safe, of course, Ilyra fired another four shots at the ship. Even if Quil's hits didn't kill the ship (which she doubted), Ilyra would finish it herself.

Spoiler: OOC

Cazar times out - attacks autohit.

@Loco
@Minuteman75 @Cazar

 

[Quil Satorian]

Quil caught sight of a brilliant flash in his periphery as he struggled with his control sticks, trying to bring his fighter around in a tight loop and trying to get eyes on the enemy who had taken a potshot at him. The Rebel bomber was too slow and unwieldy to avoid Quil and Illyras combined fire, and their laser cannons whittled away its shields before Quils missile hit it head on, turning the ship into a roiling fireball. Even if anyone had managed to eject in that time, which was doubtful given the range at which he'd launched that missile, the craft would be totally wrecked- just floating space junk with its flames quickly extinguished by the lack of oxygen.

As his craft came around, Quil searched frantically for the enemy who had set his sight on him, only to see a number of Rebel ships streaking off into little pin-pricks of light as they jumped to hyperspace. The pilot let out a deep huff as he released a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. The encounter had lasted mere moments, and in that time he'd shot down two enemy spacecraft- his first.

He could already see Dagger and Razor squadrons tearing through the remnants of the Alliance forces that were damaged or otherwise too slow to jump. What a ride... Quil thought. This had turned from a boring patrol to his first real engagement to a decisive Sith victory in a matter of seconds. He breathed a sigh of relief as his nerves calmed, and started checking his scanners for the wingmates he'd lost somewhere along the way.

"Thanks for the assist, Sheath."


@Nefieslab @Minuteman75 @Cazar