"While your argument sounds logical Arcas I don't think too many people here will agree with you.  If this team had followed logic they never would have attempted the prison rescue in the first place.  The risk involved was far too high.  I think you'll find this group would rather go down fighting then abandon their charges.  Is it logical, no.  But it's who they are."

The comm was a mix of confusion, threats and demands.  Arcas ignored it.  He could imagine the poor communication officer at the other end.  Imperial protocol was clear but there had to be that little nagging doubt about tangling with the ISB.

In the end their deception bought them a further forty-six precious seconds.  The response to their continued silence was a flight of four TIE fighters emerging from the Star Destroyer.  Arcas wondered why they sent a flight instead of a full squadron but then he reasoned it was a balanced response.  If it turned out there was an ISB agent on board, four TIE's could be argued to be an 'escort'.  Plus, while it was not overwhelming in power, it should also be enough to deal with the shuttle, especially if it was being handled by a few renegades, not in complete control.

Kyvarr did power up her systems yet though she knew that was not far away.  She noted two of the four turrets were occupied.  Kira forward and Fiarr up the back.  That left her two.  Given they had four TIE's incoming she could use more gunners.

"Anyone who thinks they can shoot a turret better than the automatic fire control  please report to the front lower turret."  She would keep the remaining rear turret for herself.  The would be running so more likely to be targets behind for longer periods.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:55, Thu 26 Oct 2017.

Fiarr sat patiently in her turret.  She was used to sitting still for long periods.  Her role as a sniper had demanded it of her many times.  She didn't imagine it would be long now before she would put her guns to work on the Imperials though.  Part of her relished vapourising some TIE's, though the more pragmatic side of her would be even happier to see the signs of hyperspace flash past her instead.

Kira sat patiently in the torrent, looking out too the void of space, wondering on her path that led her here....sitting in the turret of a shuttle with renegades and a team of people she had known for a short time, fav night down TIE's, while her Mentor, a bothan of unusual skill, sat not far.

...if someone told her this suituation a year ago she would have laughed.

Yet, here she sat, supporting a team she trusted with her life, protecting  the downtrodden and injured. She couldn't help but allow a small smile as she sat there, arms crossed.

...What a ride. She thought to herself.

So. There they came, in an orderly flight. A sensible Flight Leader would form a tight wedge to minimize the amount of turrets firing and overwhelm their shields with a squadron's worth of firepower. Or if they are fancy, send the best wingman to bait the turret, concentrate on dodging fire while the rest hang back and fire with impunity.

But protocol states to form two elements and send one for a close flyby. So they have that going for them; If the TIEs become hostile, they will have to either regroup and allow the transport more time to escape, or attack immediately and face every turret.

"If the situation deteriorates, may I perform command duties? I think I know how to counter their tactics."

"Roger that Five. Heading to front lower turret right away."

While Dohr didn't have proper training in spaceship weapon systems, he is an army guy after all, he does know how to use heavy weapons and is a pretty decent shot too. The sims on Nar Shaddaa had given him some insight on how the spaceship guns differed from the ground based heavy weaponry. Therefore the Doc believed he might actually be able to hit better than the onboard fire control could. Might. It would be his first time in real space combat though.

"So, four eyeballs incoming. I can go for active sensors for a better targetting solution, though it will mark us outright to anyone with any more brains than an Klatoonian Flobberworm. I can also try disrupting their targetting, though without proper equipment that will be pretty difficult to achieve", Lin said. The choice was, of course, Devon's. Lin buckled herself in just in case they'd get in to a fight. It was not her first and certainly not the last if she stayed with the Talons. Had they had starfighters underneath them, she'd probably been a pretty good addition to their numbers, even though she was not a military trained pilot.

At the call for manning the turret, Mika shrugs.  She could be one of the best gunnery people around, but she wasn't going to leave her post at Engineering, it was too critical a post.  Besides, she wasn't anywhere near one of the best gunnery people around.  In fact, if the servos would allow for it, she'd probably manage to blow up the shuttle herself, save the Imps the trouble.

"Now it gets interestin'."  Devon mumbled.  "At this speed, those TIEs are gonna have two minutes to chew us up before we can up... at least we don't gotta worry about that Destroyers guns - we're outta range."

Devon chewed his lip for a moment, thinking.
"Stay passive for the moment, sensors...  I figure they're gonna close in an' give us at least one more chance to turn around... maybe a warnin' shot as well.

So we're gonna continue jus' like we are till they close in, an give us nice, easy shots - then sensors go active, gunnery nukes those TIEs, an' we pour the speed on."
He sat in silence for a moment, then added conversationally:
"Of course, if they actually shoot AT us... you shoot back."




"huh?"  Devon glanced round, and looked at the ex-Imperial, trying to decide how far he could trust the man.  Then he remembered Fiarrs words:  If Arcas couldnt be trusted with this, then he was a dead man - one way or the other...
The knowledge that the former officer was quite literally betting his life helped Devon make up his mind.
"You got a bright idea to ruin their day?  be my guest..."
He turned back to his controls, focusing on the coming fight.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:43, Sun 29 Oct 2017.

The next minute or so pass inexorably slowly.  There is little to do but wait, travel as normal and prepare.  All eyes were drawn to sensors as the flight of TIE's closed in.  Those in the bridge also consistantly flicked their attention to the navigation system which showed distance to the jump point - 123 seconds.  Almost an eternity.  The jump was already calculated and as long as their entry point didn't vary, they could leap to safety as soon as they reached that point outside the gravity well.  But that was a big if.

At their stations everyone went through last minute checks.  Devon could do little.  The more he evaded, the more time they would spend here.  Plus he'd mess up the jump calculations.  Next to him Arcas watched the TIE's, trying to discern wether they followed traditional doctrine or perhaps would differ from normal.

Lin sat ready to provide sensor data where needed.  Down in engineering, Mika grumbled to herself as she prepared to start shunting power and manning damage control.  Her lack of droid or humanoid support was annoying but she'd have to make do.

Kyvarr sat at tactical.  Three of her turrets were manned.  Kira and Dohr were aimed forward, Fiarr was in the back top and she had kept one rear turret for herself.



OOC:  Well battle is almost upon you.  Given you a little time for any last second plans/role changer before the TIE's are in weapons range.  At present I have:

Devon: Pilot
Arcas: Commander
Lin: Sensors
Kyvarr: Tactical (can fire any turret and shield facings)
Dohr/Kira: Forward turrets
Fiarr: Rear turret
Mika: Engineering

Unassigned Members - Heigren, Zyra
Unassigned positions - Co-pilot (Arcas is sitting there right now but you can't command and fly)

Kyvarr switched her comm so all people in the cockpits and the turrets could hear her.

"Alright people this is how we play this.  We'll work in pairs.  Forward gunners will work in tandem and so will the rear.  Concentrated fire will help reduce the numbers against us.  Golden Eye can feed one group sensor data to help us."

"We work together and we whittle them down as best we can.  Six, I'll send you info on which target we'll focus on.  We'll fire when ordered.  Golden Eye, initial shot support our turrets, I'll feed you my target."

She switched off the comm and looked forward to Devon.  "Sir who is giving the fire order?  Is it you, Arcas or would you like me to decide?"

"Understood Five.  Just tell me what to shoot and when to shoot it and I'll be ready."

Fiarr waited for the targetting data to come up.  Then she waited for the orders.

If there was room on the bridge, Heigren took a chair out of the way in case his 'ISB services' were needed again.  Otherwise he headed back to the main section and strapped in.

"Once the shooting starts, I'll go active on the sensors for fire-direction and will do my best to jam the enemy systems", Lin said. She set up the comms to send out static on the Imperial frequencies at maximum power the system could muster, so it would interfere with the communications between the TIEs and the Star Destroyer, but did not push the transmit-button - not yet. If and when the shooting would start, she'd cook the enemy ears with it. No communications, no tactical advantage.

Lin Daochi rolled 18.  Computers, jamming the enemy transmissions.

Arcas knew only basics of astrogation calculations, so he allowed the Rebel leader to work on the jump coordinates fully, instead concentrating on reading the TIE flight leader. He wasn't too concerned about the starfighters; The survival rate against turreted ships wasn't fantastic in simulations. The Star Destroyer was another matter.

"As stated, the TIEs are the least of our worries. If you'll follow my lead, we will persevere", he with a calm and collected voice.

Kira sits put, knowing her task to come. "Roger that Five.  Awaiting targets."

She shifts in her seat not for the sake of comfort, but more for something to do.  She knew that at times she had to be still and silent, but this was one of those times it wasn't as important. She sighed and muttered to herself. "For TOIE's, their taking their time to get here." In truth, she didn't want them to come any sooner....or even get here at all, but she hated the waiting.

The TIE's quickly closed with the shuttle while the Star Destroyer continued to call, question and threaten.  The comms were ignored, all attention focused on the incoming TIE's as the ranged close.

Arcas nodded to himself as the TIE's seperated into two flight elements and drifted apart.  One par were drifitng to port, the other to starboard.  Standard pincer attack.  He knew they'd fly out to the flanks and then come in on perpendicular attack runs to each other.  The question was would they fire on the shuttle first pass, fire warning shots or merely 'buzz the shuttle'?  Any was possible depending on the orders they'd received.

The call would have to be made as the TIE's closed.  Twenty kilometres, fifteen, twelve. . .


OOC:  Maximum weapon range is 10km so ships are almost in range of each other.  Shields and weapons are currently down and sensors are set to passive.  The second any of those systems goes active you reveal yourselves.  The longer you delay the closer the TIE's get (making shots easier) but if they shoot while your shields are down you could take severe damage.

We are now in combat rounds so posting rate will increase to 3/week.  Keep up or be left behind!

Kyvarr watcher her plot closely.  "Golden Eye, determine which of those two elements will overshoot us first.  Six, you and I will target the lead TIE in the slower pair.  We'll shoot as late as possible unless Arcas says otherwise.  Two, Eight, you take the rear fighter in the lead pair when they overshoot."


OOC:  Figure this way both sets of turrets get to fire close together for maximum 'surprise effect'.  Plus if we can take out one in each pair, time is wasted as the survivors regroup.

Kira smiles at the orders, knowing the time was upon them. Cracking her knuckles, she shifted in her seat with a smile. "Roger that five." She checks all the console that was her weapon system. She felt as ready as she could be considering there was a flight of TIE's in flight with the aim to shoot them down.

Despite the thought, she couldn't help but smile.

She muttered to the console and the darkness outside. "Bring it, you plastic coated sons of rancor's. I'll show you what a piece of crap those fighters are"

"Acknowledged", the blue woman said. So, we'll have ourselves a shootout, she thought. Hopefully they'll figure out the need of hacking the security codes or the likes a bit earlier. But in the end, it did not matter. She was still in that post-miraculous feat high that had resulted from the hacking of the code cylinder and it would carry her forward for a while, even though she was tired, hungry and could have used a hot shower. All that would have to wait just a bit longer. She looked at the screen, measuring the speeds and vectors of the fighters from the passive sensor data - she'd still keep the active sensors offline, so they'd have the advantage on the fighters that got within point-blank range.

Lin Daochi rolled 31.  Computers, measuring the speed and vectors of the TIEs.

As the Star Destroyer was left behind, with no way to catch the shuttle on its own, Arcas breathed a sigh of relief. Just the TIEs and they would be away. Now they had no obligation to obfuscate anything and could rely on combat tactics.

Regarding the starfighters, Arcas concluded after a moment's thought to leverage their primary strengths: Shields and turrets. He felt a pang of empathy towards the TIE pilots; Someone signed their death warrant when they gave the command to flank.

"When you have the faster element, activate weapons and fire at will, targeting the lead TIE. Raise shields and if possible, jink toward the survivor to force them on the defensive. Angle shields towards the remaining element and when they begin their attack run, target their wingman. After that, engage at will and maximum speed towards the jump point", Arcas stated, keeping his eyes in the sensors. He was glad that the felinoid's tactic was exactly what he had been thinking: Disruption and forcing the TIE's to waste time.

Now he just hoped that the gunners were up for the task; If the TIEs manage to break and evade, they can swarm and overwhelm the slower shuttle.

Kyvarr acknowledged Arcas's instructions with a simple "Understood."

She turned back to her screen.  "Alright Six we've got Bandit Three.  Two, Eight you try for Bandit Two.  Then fire at will.  Weapons free on my call.  Counting down from five, power up on Three, Goldeneye feed us active targetting data when we go live."

"Five, Four, Three, Two, One, FIRE."  Kyvarr immediately opened fire on the assigned TIE.  After that she fired at the most appropriate TIE.  She aimed for damaged TIE's if she could, else she opened up on the closest.




OOC:  Goal is to let the TIE's close as much as possible before firing.  Kyvarr won't wait for active sensors if they're too slow.

"Acknowledged", Lin piped and got her fingers ready on the buttons for the active sensors. When Kyvar hit three in her count, she activated the sensors, sending a full ping at the TIEs and fed the data to the gunners. The next thing on her menu was to flood the enemy transmissions with static, just to make them unable to work together.

Lin Daochi rolled 14.  Computers: Active Sensors, assisting the gunners.

"Understood."

Fiarr noted the target Kyvarr had chosen, took aim, listened the countdown and depressed the fire button halfway between one and fire.