Several seconds went by as Zenna made her way to the cockpit of the shuttle. The door hissed-snapped open and a young woman entered the cockpit, in her hand was a Blastech DL-22. She holstered the weapon when she saw it wasn't needed.

"What's the situation?" Zenna sat in an open seat and began to check the screen as she waited for a reply.

"Yes Sir," he replied and plotted a course towards the explosion of the headhunter. He had thought it would be a simple enough course to pull up behind the Reprisal and target its engines in the corvette's blind-spot. It would be important to pick up the pilot if they were extravehicular. He angled the shields on the lambda-class shuttle towards the Reprisal and made his way towards the headhunter debris.

Zyra watched Daron's apparent lack of reaction to Zenna's mysterious appearance.  'Must be good at keeping his emotions in check.  There was no way he could have known she was here' she mused.

"Zenna, meet Daron Fellinx.  He's interested in meeting the boss.  He sounds like his skills are similar to yours.  Perhaps you can arrange some testing for him at a more appropriate time."

She gestures Zenna to the commander's chair.  "Pull up the sensors and you'll see the situation quickly enough.  We're running under the belief that the Cruiser and Headhunters are being operated by members of the team.  The corvette at Cloakshapes seem to be members of the Hydian IV defence force.  We're going to offer what aid we can.  I've tagged a destroyed Headhunter, pilot status unknown.  I think a little search and rescue is better then gettinginto a dogfight."

"So I need you to power up the aft turret in case we need to operate it.  We also made need to suit up to recover the pilot or at least his transponder.  Either of you trained in Zero-G?"
This message was last edited by the player at 23:34, Fri 18 Jan 2008.

"Nice to meet you," Daron said without looking back to the newcomer. He kept his eyes on the situation in front of him, not wanting something to get the drop on them. He shook his head no when the Captain asked them if they were zero-g trained. Daron much prefered the cockpit of a fighter than floating dead in space.

Zenna slid into the Command chair and began to pull up data on her screens. "That's a negative on the Zero-G."

"Aft turret is powering up." Zenna checked some of the readings on the screen. "I'm going to have to rebalance the power matrix. Seems that all the power for weapons has been redirected to the engines and the shields."

"That would be me. We were outside our weapons range and I wanted the extra power just in case it was needed," Daron explained. They would certainly need the weapons since they were going in closer to the action. The shuttle continued to angle towards the headhunter, hopefully reaching it under good circumstances.

"Rediverting power back to weapons."  Zyra spoke as she worked.  "I've got a heading on that downed Headhunter, plotting a course now.  We should have convergence in under a minute."

"Since neither of you has zero-G experience, it looks like I'm elected for retreival.  Now that turret does have an automatic function but it works much better if operated manually from the turret itself.  I leave it to you Zenna to work out where you're most needed should trouble start.  You're in charge while I'm EV."

"Guess I'd better get suited up."  Zyra moved into the cargo hold to put on her space suit.

As Zyra left, Daron fixed his course to converge with the Headhunter.  As he did so he noted that the other Headhunter might soon be joining his friend.  A pair of missiles was fired by each attacking Cloakshape.  No matter how good the pilot was, dodging four missiles and two enemy fighters would challenge anyone to breaking point.

"The other headhunter is in trouble. Targetting missles and requesting permission to assist," Daron asks, flipping a series of switches on the console  before him, measuring the range to the missles, hoping it was inside range of the lambda's twin-linked blaster cannons. He didn't figure they were, keeping his shields angled towards the corvette.

Zenna wasn't sure who was in the Headhunter. Two fighters against a single headhunter were not good odds. She knew that the captain was thinking the shuttle was going to be on a recovery mission, but she figured it would be better to have one recovery mission than two. Besides, there would still be two enemy fighters bearing down on them.

"Daron, you've got a green light. I know what the captain was thinking, but we can't ignore the threat right now."

Zenna focused a tight transmission bean to the headhunter. She hadn't been briefed on the communication codes, so she decided to go with an older one. "Headhunter, headhunter. This is Grey 6 in the shuttle. Break right and we'll try to give you some cover. Grey 6, out."

"Copy that, sir. Aquiring a shooting solution." Daron altered their course slightly to bring them in line with the active Z-95 Headhunter and the missles that followed after it. With the capital ships occupied with one another, Daron angled the shields towards the cloakshapes.

The shuttle began closing with the battle. Though they were still a good 25 kilometres out, the range was closing quickly.  Zenna's comm was quickly answered.

Shuttle - I cant accept that ID without some form of proof; and we're a little busy here, so talk fast.

As he spoke the Headhunter went through some wild maneuvers, trying to shake off its pursuing missiles.  One of the gunners on the cruiser, nailed a Cloakshape with a turbolaser volley.  The Headhunter then dived at the Corvette and skimmed it so closely, Zenna and Daron swore it had to crash.  Somehow though, the pilot avoided the corvette, and skimmed its surface from stern to bow.

The missiles were not so skilled.  Locking on to the heat of the corvette's big engines, they smashed into the them with incredible force.  Combined with several hits from the cruiser, the corvette had lost half its hull integrity and several key systems.

Seeming to realise it was overmatched, the corvette ceased firing and began to try and limp away.  As it did a message cqame in over the comm.

"This is Hydia IV defence corvette Reprisal.  We have taken serious damage and have numerous casualties.  We are withdrawing from your secotr and ceasing hostilities.  I repeast ceasing hostilities and withdrawing, over."

"Daron, returned to pilot retrieval mission."

Zenna turned her attention back to the communications console. "I repeat. This is Grey 6, Grey 6."

"We are not a threat. This is a civilian transport."

Zenna tapped Daron's shoulder as she turned off the transmitter. "Do you have a fix on that downed pilot? I want to get there fast, and keep those shields up."

He nodded, remaining calm inside the pilots seat in the lambda-shuttle. "Yes sir," he said when Officer Kern asked him to resume the hunt for the destroyed Headhunter, turning the craft back in the direction of where the sensors were keeping track of it. He adjusted the shields, spreading them back out to cover the entire craft.

Daron swiftly turns the shuttle and flies towards the stricken Cloakshape.  Closure takes less than a minute and soon he has the shuttle pulled in front of the wreckage.  Matching speed, he drinfted close in front.

At the commander's station, Zenna watched the monitors as Zyra donned her space suit, depressurised the airlock and then opened the exterior doors and floated out.

It took less then three minutes for Zyra to reach the ship, extract the pilot and return to the ship.  Soon Zyra was safely in the hold and the airlock was repressurising.

On scanners, Zenna also notices the cruiser Sarratoga was bearing down on them and was less than 5 kilometres away.

"Zyra to the bridge.  Pilot recovered.  He's alive, but in a critical condition.  He needs urgent medical attention."
This message was last edited by the player at 11:19, Sat 26 Jan 2008.

An ooc note:

I'm happy for you to post any comms to the Sarratoga directly into the main thread (ie. Act 4: The escape) to save time.  Any shuttle-based comms can be kept in this thread to avoid confusion.

Daron lets Flight Officer Kern take the call from Captain Jax as she's in control of the bridge of the lambda shuttle. He starts to turn the ship away from the wreckage of the headhunter, taking it back towards the cruiser.

"Acknowledged Zyra."

Zenna nodded appreciatively as Daron turned the shuttle towards the cruiser. She hoped that they had medical facilities. But they needed clearance first.

She didn't know any of the pass-phrases or if the squadron had changed communications protocol. Zenna changed the frequency of the transmission to one she used a long time ago.

"Cruiser, this is Grey 6 requesting landing clearance. This is a medical emergency. I repeat. This is Grey 6 requesting medical emergency landing clearance."

Zenna stared out the view screen at the cruiser as it was getting larger and larger as they neared it.

OOC Note:  You are less than 5km from the cruiser.  You can close the range in one round.  Unfortunately until they slow, drop the port shields and activate the docking clamps there is little you can do but stare at the cruiser.

Daron pulled the shuttle up beside the cruiser, matching its speed with the larger capital ship. He awaited permission from the cruiser for them to dock so that they could move the wounded headhunter pilot onto their ship.

As Daron maneuvers the shuttle into position, a message comes over the comm.

"Grey 6, this is cruiser Sarratoga, identify your location and crew."

At the same time he notices that the cruiser has positioned itself to allow him to access the port docking hatch, matching speeds and trajectories.  He has not however received any permissions to dock, nor has anyone activated the docking clamps on the cruiser.

On sensors, Zenna notes that the sole surviving Headhunter had dropped in behind the shuttle.  He had no target lock on the craft but it was clear the fighter was getting ready to shoot if needed.  As the craft moved into position, a different voice came over the comm.

"Grey 6, this is an unsecured frequency so don't use real names - but we do need to be sure of who you are...  If you are who I think you are, I was once your wingman.  Last time we flew together what was my call sign, and who got shot down first?"

Zenna watched as the Headhunter moved behind the shuttle. "Daron, take things easy. We've got one on our six so don't flinch." She didn't know who was piloting the Headhunter, but she did wonder if the pilot knew that the aft turret was powered up. She made no move to turn the turret one direction or the other. There was no need to have a jumpy Headhunter pilot with a fast-trigger.

"This is Grey 6. I'm aboard the shuttle. There no reason to go over the details of the crew beyond the fact that we picked up your pilot who needs emergency medical training."

"Make sure that pilot in my six doesn't get an itchy finger!"

A smile came to Zenna's face as the second voice over the comm asked a series of questions. "As I recall, I was Grey 5's wingman until he got shot up pretty good. Then you allowed me to take the lead. Why is it was you're not in a starfighter? Did you get shuttled over to a desk job?"

"Who got shot down first? Don't know if you're trying to trick me. Green 1 got blasted first, but Grey 4 if you're only referring to the squadron."

Daron kept the shuttle steady alongside the cruiser, not worrying about the headhunter behind him. If it came to it, he could defend them against the headhunter but it wouldn't matter with them being right along side the corellian cruiser. They would be toast against that capital ship.

So Daron concentrated on flying the craft until they were given permission to dock and transfer their living cargo.

Less than two minutes later, docking clearance was granted.  The docking port lit up and the landing clamps were engaged.  Daron effortlessly maneuvered the shuttle over and wait until it docked with a thump.

As soon as he had good seal, Daron began powering down his systems.


OOC:  Now that you're docked watch the main thread (ie. Act 4: The escape) for posting.  Use this thread only for private conversations.  As soon as I post to the other thread (ie.  They board you) then you can start posting over there.  I intend to get that post out today (time permitting)